Minneapolis Teamsters walk ‘practice’ picket line at local UPS hub

Minneapolis-area Teamsters union members and supporters picketed July 8 at the UPS hub in northeast Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Labor Review, July 10, 2023

By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor

MINNEAPOLIS — Members of Minneapolis-area Teamsters locals walked a “practice” picket line July 8 to show their readiness to participate in a nationwide strike. The action at the UPS hub at 3312 Broadway St. NE came with July 31 looming as the expiration date for the nationwide contract between the Teamsters union and UPS.

The Teamsters announced June 16 that a strike authorization vote by members who work at UPS passed with 97 percent support.

Miles Bickford of Saint Anthony, a 12-year member of Teamsters Local 638, was one of the Minneapolis-area Teamsters walking the July 8 informational picket line at the Minneapolis UPS hub. Bickford wore his brown UPS uniform, adorned with numerous pins he received for his safe driving record. “I wanted the company to see what they’re losing,” he explained, “this is a lot of years.”

“I started here right out of high school — two days after I graduated, I was working here,” said Bickford, who now is a feeder driver driving the big semi-trailers.

“I like the consistency of it and coming to work every day and knowing I have a job to go to,” Bickford said. “It’s nice to be under a contract and know what protections and guarantees you have.”

For Bickford, the top issues in the current contract negotiations are winning cost-of-living raises and ending a two-tier wage system, where “you’ve got two people doing the same job” but earning a different rate.

Teamsters Local 638 member Miles Bickford said he came in his UPS uniform, adorned with pins honoring his safe driving record, because “I wanted the company to see what they’re losing,” he said.

Another Teamsters Local 638 member, Ignacio Velasco, was walking the picket line with his three kids ages 6, 8 and 10 in tow — all carrying picket signs. Velasco, Coon Rapids, is going on his ninth year at UPS and works as a package car driver, making deliveries to homes.

“I decided to bring my kids because they know why we’re doing this,” Velasco said. “The thing I can explain is we’re doing this to give people wages they can survive on. I tell them, ‘you need to speak up.’”

“I’m very vocal about the union,” Velasco said. “I explain to my kids: our house, our car, their participation in sports, our giving back to the community” all result from his paycheck and Teamsters contract.

“I tell them I have two families,” Velasco said, “our immediate family and the Teamsters.”

Teamsters Local 638 member Ignacio Velasco was joined by his three children on the picket line. “I decided to bring my kids because they know why we’re doing this,” Velasco said. “The thing I can explain is we’re doing this to give people wages they can survive on. I tell them, ‘you need to speak up.’”

During a break from the picketing, a few speakers addressed the crowd of several dozen Teamsters members who were joined by supporters from other unions as well as state and local elected officials.

“The 340,000 UPSers control what goes on in the US,” declared Tom Erickson, president of Teamsters Local 120 and central region vice president. “Come August 1, one way or another, we’re going to have a contract or we’re going to be out on the streets.”

“It all starts with your participation,” Teamsters Local 638 president Jonathon Kycek told the Teamsters members in the crowd. He reviewed how issues like member concerns about higher pay and forced overtime came from soliciting contract proposals from the rank and file members last fall. Those concerns went on to the Teamsters central region and then on to the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee, which includes union representatives as well as rank and file members.

“We ended up with a 97 percent strike authorization,” Kycek said. “Voting is the most important thing we can do to show the company we’re united.”

The strike authorization vote means that UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee can call a strike at any time if an agreement with UPS is not reached by July 31.

As Teamsters Local 638 member Ignacio Velasco said he told his three kids, “the way you get corporations to listen to us is you’ve got to walk out and demonstrate… We’re putting our foot down.”

Speakers during a break in picketing included Teamsters Local 638 president Jonathon Kycek (left) and Tom Erickson, president of Teamsters Local 120 and central region vice president.

State and local elected officials who attended the action included (left to right): Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley; State Representative Emma Greenman; State Senator Erin Murphy; State Represenative Kaela Berg; MN State Auditor Julie Blaha. Not pictured: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who addressed the crowd: “Minneapolis has been a union city, it is now a union city, it will always be a union city — because of you!”