Labor News Weekly Roundup

Largest Contract in U.S. Will Settle Soon: UPS

Bargaining is nearing a settlement on the largest private-sector union contract in the U.S., for nearly 250,000 Teamsters at United Parcel Service.

But on one of the most important issues for rank-and-file Teamsters, union leaders have been vague, and may not make any gains.

That issue is working conditions: excessive overtime, surveillance, and harassment.

"UPS has made record profits in a recession by using harassment and technology to squeeze more work out of a shrinking full-time workforce," said David Levin of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the reform caucus. "Our focus is on making UPS create more full-time jobs instead of working members to death."

UPS's tight control of their every move puts UPS drivers among the most regimented workers in the country. Every second of a driver's day is monitored, through GPS and 200 electronic sensors mounted on each truck.

Supervisors know each time a driver starts and stops his truck. They know each time a driver backs it up or "brakes harshly."

Eleven- and 12-hour days are common. If a driver protests, the supervisor will ride with him for three days, issuing a constant stream of commands to work faster.

Postal Service Wants to Track Workers, Too

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If your neighborhood letter carrier seems more hurried than ever, please be understanding: her every step may now be tracked with a GPS device.

The rationale is to offer postal customers real-time tracking of packages-and to compete with UPS and FedEx, which already offer customers detailed tracking. But "basically it gives management real-time ability to track us"-the workers, said one letter carrier.

Postal managers were urged to use technology more aggressively to root out "theft of time" and "carrier misconduct."

But "management doesn't spend the kind of money it spends on monitoring just to catch a few slackers," labor educator Charley Richardson explained.

"Managers monitor to gather data and then analyze the work process and intensify it. They use data to cut corners, speed workers up, increase stress, and eliminate jobs."

On Facebook, Maria Roesch of New Jersey worried the new changes could mean interrogations: "why were you at blah blah's house for 2 minutes 9 seconds...?"

Chicago School Closings Spark Wildfire of Protest

The Chicago school district revealed its list of 54 elementary and middle schools to be shut down-the most ever in any U.S. city. Almost all the closings target black and Latino schools. All are in poor neighborhoods.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) brought thousands of protesters downtown to a March 27 rally. The planned closings have provoked unprecedented outcry from Chicago communities. A February hearing overflowed with shouting and protesting parents. The union is organizing teachers and parents who are "not just coming out to beg for their school, but coming out to fight for their school," said a union vice-president.

CTU organizer Martin Ritter said the closings would "further disrupt already impoverished neighborhoods," families' lives, and children's learning, besides furthering the privatization of public education.

School closing opponents are also concerned that making kids walk further to school, especially across territory controlled by rival gangs, puts them in danger.

In November, teachers held a sit-in at City Hall to protest closings, and 10 people were arrested.

The union opposes policy decisions to underfund public schools while boosting charter schools. Once public school enrollment drops, the school board can close public schools and justify charters.

The school board wants to get rid of high-seniority teachers, who are usually African American women-and who are higher paid because of their seniority-and replace them with young, inexperienced teachers with little training.