Some 340,000 UPS employees are inching toward a strike, threatening the largest work stoppage in over half a century, that could upend a part of the broader package delivery system that Americans have come to depend on.
UPS handles roughly 28% of the 75 million packages delivered in the U.S. on a typical day, split about equally between businesses and homes.
Negotiations between the delivery company and the union representing 340,000 of its workers have been at a standstill for more than a week with a July 31 deadline for a new contract approaching fast.
A historic double strike will effectively shut down Hollywood beginning Friday, after a union representing nearly all TV and film actors failed to secure a new contract with major studios.
As the industry undergoes a historic transition from internal combustion engines to EVs, the UAW sees this year’s contract as an opportunity to ensure representation in the industry’s jobs of the future.
The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming era prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios.
Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But WGA members say they’re making much less money and working under more strained conditions.
Legislation to avert what could have been an economically ruinous freight rail strike won final approval in Congress on Thursday as lawmakers responded quickly to President Joe Biden’s call for federal intervention in a long-running labor dispute.
The bill lawmakers are considering would impose a compromise labor agreement that was voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers.
A coalition of more than 400 business groups sent a letter to congressional leaders Monday urging them to step into the stalled talks because of fears about the devastating potential impact of a strike.
Railroads have already started to curtail shipments of hazardous materials and refrigerated products ahead of Friday’s strike deadline.
Freight railroads and their unions face a looming strike deadline on Friday, and business groups say a stoppage halting deliveries of raw materials and finished products that so many companies rely on would be an economic disaster.
Stellantis said that operations at the plant in Kokomo would resume late Monday after UAW Local 1166 workers voted to ratify the agreement.
The 1,200-worker plant, Kokomo Casting, is the world’s largest die cast facility, according to Stellantis. It makes aluminum parts for components including transmissions and engine blocks.
The railroad trade group said a strike would idle some 7,000 freight trains a day run by CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and other railroads and disrupt passenger operations nationwide.
The United Auto Workers union said 61% of its members approved the deal with Deere & Co. on their third vote, even though the new offer was strikingly similar to one that 55% of workers rejected two weeks ago.
The rejected contract offer would have covered more than 10,000 Deere workers at 12 facilities who make the company’s iconic John Deere green tractors and other equipment.
More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers went on strike Thursday, the first major walkout at the agricultural machinery giant in more than three decades.
A national coalition of labor unions, along with racial and social justice organizations, plan to stage a mass full-day walkout from work this month in more than 25 cities.
The United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler reached a tentative agreement Saturday on a new four-year contract that includes a total of $9 billion in investments but still needs final approval from workers.
