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Should UPS Workers Be Allowed to Strike?

Rebecca Ailor and Shmuel Freedman

Department of Business Masters, Bellevue University

MBA 615: Human Capital and Organization

Dr. Marcia Brown

August 2, 2023

The UPS Strike: The reasons we are supporting this strike

A potential strike against the UPS delivery service by 340,000 workers could lead to slower delivery times, supply chain disruptions and higher shipping costs if the company and the Teamsters union don't come to an agreement over pay for part-time workers and cost of living adjustments by August 1possibly causing billions of dollars of economic damage (Roeloffs, 2023).

This was the headline that consumers were seeing in July 2023. Workers at UPS are seeking a more positive working experience than they have currently been experiencing. Some of the changes the UPS workers seek are higher starting wages for part-time employees and vehicles with air conditioning. This paper will highlight these changes and why UPS workers need and deserve them, even if it leads to a strike. We will also discuss why some regular anti-strike arguments have no standing in our situation.

Reasons for employees to strike if an agreement cannot be met:

Livable wage

"There's an unsung hero within UPS. And those are the 100,000 part-timers that are well under $20 per hour" (Lazar, 2023). The starting wage for part-time employees is $15.15 per hour. Equity theory states that people are motivated to put in a fair amount of work based on their pay and comparable pay for others in the same job (Kinicki, 2021).

The federal minimum wage in 2023 is $7.25. This has been the minimum wage since 2009. But a dollar in 2009 does not have the same value 14 years later. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to buy the same item that a dollar purchased in 2009, one would need to spend 1.45. Everything has gone up over the years, especially during Covid-19. And although some prices have started to come back down recently, they still arent anything near what they were 3.5 years ago, before Covid-19, which ironically is also when the last UPS teamster contract was signed. So part-time workers cannot live on that wage. UPS does pay $15.15 per hour, but it is still a wage that is not nearly enough for living expenses in the year 2023. With a profit of $100 billion in 2022, why can UPS not raise the salary of a part-time worker to a livable wage? Union representatives are asking that part-time salaries be raised to $25 per hour. This would help motivate workers to work more efficiently because they would feel appreciated. Maslows hierarchy of needs theory discusses the five levels of a motivated employee (Cherry, 2023). If an employee feels that they are underpaid, then they will never surpass the need for safety and security, level two. Furthermore, many of the lower-paid UPS employees are part-time employees. While many may be using this part-time job to supplement the income they get from another job, many of those part-timers likely dont have another source of income. This means that they may be unable to afford basic shelter, clothing, and food, which is all part of level one in Maslows hierarchy of needs.

FedEx and Amazon workers comparison

According to a ZipRecruiter article, the average Amazon delivery driver makes about $18/hour nationally (higher in places like New York). Meanwhile, Glassdoor.com says the starting salary for a FedEx driver is in the $18-$25/hour range. Furthermore, in about half of the states, the minimum wage is currently $10 or more, with several others scheduled for increases later this or next year. This means that the local greeter at Walmart, the cashier at the local grocery, and the person flipping burgers at your favorite fast-food joint are likely getting similar wages as the part-time UPS employee, without the physical labor, heat, and skills that a UPS driver endures. Forget about treating their employees properly; without increasing salaries, UPS will be facing a staffing shortage, much like many other industries that rely on low-paying employees.

Air conditioning

Air-conditioned vehicles are also an item the union is asking the company to consider. "After years of tolerating potentially deadly heat on their routes, UPS drivers will finally get air conditioning in their trucks (Ivanova, 2023). This will create more job satisfaction with employees, as stated in Maslows need hierarchy under the subset of safety (Kinicki, p.165). While decades ago, it was quite common and bearable not to have air conditioning in cars, business buildings, schools, and most of ones residency; now it is much less common. One cause of this is one of the worlds growing problems that is not going away soon; rising temperatures due to global warming. Data shows, according to a 2022 New York Times article, that between 2015 and 2022 alone, there were at least 270 instances of UPS and USPS employees having heat-related injuries, with a few even resulting in death (Albeck-Ripka, 2022). Being able to stay cool in dangerous temperatures will not only help keep the delivery driver focused on their job and allow them to work more efficiently, it will save many of them from injury. Air conditioning would also alleviate the stress that a driver would feel without it and help them have better focus when delivering packages.

Common anti-strike argument answers:

Ethical and Moral

Many argue that it is immoral for specific industries to go on strike, such as health care workers, as lives directly depend on those workers (Chima, 2013). It is for this reason that in many countries, only a limited amount of healthcare workers can strike at the same time. Furthermore, even here in the United States, there are stringent labor regulations about giving employers enough advanced notice to properly prepare for the strike to ensure that lives and essential services are not lost unnecessarily. But UPS employees are not considered healthcare workers, and for the most part, lives are not dependent on such employees, so an ethical argument cannot be made here.

Others argue that certain employees have a moral obligation not to strike. For example, federal employees are not allowed to strike. The reason is that either there are vast amounts of people dependent on these employees or that by going on strike, the industry economically will take a considerable hit and possibly not survive. This is why when air traffic controllers did strike in 1981, President Ronald Regan, rightfully so, threatened and then followed through to fire every single one who did not return to work within 48 hours (Schalch, 2006). But this argument, too, would have very little standing in UPSs situation as there are other national carriers, like FedEx, DHL, and Amazon Delivery, as well as regional and local carriers, that could easily pick up the slack should UPS workers strike.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while some of the initial demands of the UPS employees and their union may seem a little extreme, overall, they do have an excellent argument to request change. Not only are they underpaid compared to similar positions at competitors within their industry, and not only are their starting wages similar to wages of employees at other, less physical, and less skilled jobs across many industries, but their working conditions are also downright dangerous. Furthermore, the ethical and moral arguments that many make against employee strikes do not apply in our case. For all of this, we strongly feel that if an acceptable compromise and agreement cannot be met, UPS employees have every right to, and should, strike.