Labor History
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Socialist Appeal Magazine
Issue 37 of Socialist Appeal is now available.
El Militante Sin Fronteras
Nuevo periódico marxista de la Liga Internacional de los Trabajadores
The 1997 Teamster strike against UPS was not simply a victory, but a smashing victory for the US working class and therefore offers many valuable lessons for today’s labor militants, both with respect to the strategic orientation and the day-to-day tactics. UPS is a “Fortune 500” company, meaning it is one of the most profitable in the nation, boasting of a $1.15 billion profit margin prior to the strike. In 1992, the workforce was evenly divided between full-time and part-time workers, but by 1996, part-timers had increased to 61 percent and were only paid between $8 and $9 per hour. 
In 1997, Ron Carey, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), led the union to a smashing victory against United Parcel Service (UPS) by waging a militant strike, wrenching at least $1 billion in concessions from the company for the duration of the 5-year contract. The Teamsters estimated the real value of the gains, won entirely at the expense of UPS profits, ranged as high as $5 billion. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that this monumental achievement was waged in the context of a series of devastating labor defeats on a national level, including one concessionary contract after another, where workers lost ground so that corporations could raise their profits. And it was waged at a time when most of the high-ranking labor officials had signed off on the notion that “strikes don’t work anymore.” 
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