(LOS ANGELES) — The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is expected to strike at midnight PT if a deal between the union and studios isn’t agreed upon, a move that could incapacitate Hollywood productions.
The major unions in Hollywood issued a joint statement Wednesday on their “unwavering support and solidarity” of SAG-AFTRA, including the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for more than two months with no sign of progress.
“Hollywood must be a place where every worker, on-screen and off, is treated according to the value their skills and talents command,” International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said in their statement.
The group added, “While the studios have collective worth of trillions of dollars, billions of viewers globally, and sky-high profits, this fight is not about actors against the studios, but rather about workers across all crafts and departments in the industry standing together to prevent mega-corporations from eroding the conditions we fought decades to achieve.”
The current SAG-AFTRA contract is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. PT Wednesday. The contract was originally going to expire on June 30 but was extended after SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached an agreement.
Union leaders and the AMPTP agreed on Tuesday to meet with federal mediators to possibly hammer out a deal before the current contract expires, according to SAG-AFTRA.
“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however, we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.”
If a deal isn’t reached between the groups, then a strike is likely. In June, 98% of members agreed to authorize a strike if an agreement isn’t reached, SAG-AFTRA said.
There are 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA and over 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America.
The unending writers’ strike, which began in May, is costing California’s economy $30 million a day, according to Deadline.
Writers are demanding that studios pay them accordingly as shifting into streaming has changed the way shows are made and monetized.
In a pre-strike protest in front of Netflix offices on Wednesday, actors told ABC News they are trying to get by financially and contracts have not kept pace with inflation.
Their biggest concerns are streaming residuals, the impact of AI technology and making more money.
“I think most people don’t understand that most actors don’t make millions of dollars. A lot of us are struggling to eat and pay rent,” John Jared, a SAG-AFTRA member for three years, told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — The Walt Disney Company has announced that Bob Iger will remain CEO for two additional years, extending his contract through Dec. 31, 2026.
The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors voted “unanimously” to extend Iger’s contract, seven months after he returned as CEO, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
“On my first day back, we began making important and sometimes difficult decisions to address some existing structural and efficiency issues, and despite the challenges, I believe Disney’s long-term future is incredibly bright,” Iger said in the press release.
Iger returned to Disney in November 2022 as its chief executive officer, after previously serving as CEO and chairman from 2005 to 2020. After his 2020 departure, Iger served as executive chairman and chairman of the board through 2021.
“Time and again, Bob has shown an unparalleled ability to successfully transform Disney to drive future growth and financial returns, earning him a reputation as one of the world’s best CEOs,” Mark G. Parker, chairman of The Walt Disney Company, said in the press release Wednesday.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — The slew of closures of retail stores in San Francisco in recent months doubles as a roundup of well-known shopping brands: Whole Foods, Old Navy and Nordstrom, among others.
Nearly half of the stores in the city’s downtown shopping district have closed since 2019, the San Francisco Standard found in May.
In June, the 70-store downtown Westfield Mall said it would stop making payments on a $558 million loan, relinquishing ownership of the shopping center and leaving the fate of the complex uncertain.
Dubbed a “retail exodus,” the trend has spurred criticism focused on crime and homelessness but a more complicated set of forces is driving companies away from the city, experts and a former downtown store owner told ABC News.
A diminished sense of safety among some shoppers has deterred foot traffic downtown, they said. Additionally, they pointed to sluggish sales at some stores due in part to a longstanding shift away from brick-and-mortar retail that went into overdrive during the pandemic.
The rise of remote work — a trend even more pronounced in the Bay Area’s tech industry — also has slashed the number of office commuters, who previously drove lunchtime business and after-hours shopping downtown, experts said.
“It’s all of the above,” Wade Rose, the president of business advocacy group Advance SF, told ABC News. “These dynamics are bigger than the city.”
Crime, he added, makes up “part of the narrative. It isn’t the full narrative.”
The office of San Francisco Mayor London Breed did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Last month, Breed told Good Morning America that San Francisco faces difficulties but she also faulted a disproportionate focus on exits from the city.
“San Francisco is a major city and it has challenges,” Breed said. “But let’s back up a little bit. You are talking about people who are leaving the city but not the people who are staying, expanding, coming to San Francisco.”
In April, Whole Foods opted to close its flagship location in downtown San Francisco to “ensure worker safety,” the company said in a statement to ABC News at the time, noting that all of the employees would be transferred to nearby locations.
“We have made the difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being,” the company said.
Old Navy, which closed its store in downtown San Francisco in May, shared a statement made by its parent company Gap at the time. Old Navy is “always evaluating its real estate portfolio to ensure a healthy fleet of stores that can provide the best possible experience for our customers,” the statement said.
“As a result, we have taken the difficult decision to close our Market Street store when the lease expires, and we are already working to identify new locations in downtown San Francisco that will better serve the needs of the business and our customers,” the statement added.
In May, when Nordstrom announced plans to close stores in downtown San Francisco, the company’s chief stores officer wrote in an email obtained by ABC station KGO in San Francisco that “the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.”
Whole Foods and Nordstrom did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for additional comment.
Overall, crime statistics suggest mixed results. As of Sunday, the most recent data available, homicides have climbed nearly 8% this year compared to the same period in 2022; and robberies have risen about 12%, San Francisco Police Department data showed. Rapes have fallen almost 24% compared to the same period last year, however, while assaults have dropped nearly 5%, according to the data.
Compared to pre-pandemic performance in 2019, homicides are up 27% over the same period through Sunday; but robberies are down almost 6%, the data showed.
Denise Forbes, who co-founded the boutique California Girl Jewelry, said she noticed a rise in homelessness near the store’s downtown San Francisco location over the years before the pandemic struck.
When the pandemic began, the problems “piled up and up,” she said. The company suffered an 80% drop in revenue in 2020, owing in part to a pandemic-related shutdown that forced a complete shift to e-commerce. In the absence of shoppers near the store, she said she saw drug use and homelessness surge.
The following year, Forbes closed the shop and reopened at a shopping center in nearby Marin County, she said. “It was such a goal to have a business in San Francisco,” she added. “Then it turned out to be such a real disappointment.”
The steep decline of foot traffic downtown during the pandemic heightened a perception of safety risk, which in turn deterred the flow of visitors needed to ease the dismay, said Rose, of Advance SF. That dynamic has persisted amid the sluggish return of in-person office workers, especially in the tech sector, he added.
“A massive reduction in foot traffic translates into a significant reduction in sales,” Rose said.
Despite high-profile retail departures, the performance of in-person sales has shown signs of improvement this year, Ted Egan, San Francisco’s chief economist, told ABC News.
Over the first three months of the year, sales tax revenue in San Francisco grew faster than it did statewide in most categories, Egan said. Casual dining receipts in San Francisco were up 23% on a non-inflation adjusted basis over that period compared to 10% statewide, he added; and the city has seen solid growth this year in some types of retail, such as electronics and appliances.
Sales at the downtown shopping neighborhood Union Square were up 7.4% on a non-inflation adjusted basis over the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, he added.
Crime is “a problem” for retailers, Egan said, particularly shoplifting. Over the past four years, San Francisco “suffered a major economic shock during the pandemic and has been slow to recover,” Egan added.
Rose said he envisions a business recovery downtown focused on ensuring safety and reducing apartment rents but also on building parks and other attractions that draw fun-seeking visitors who could replace the lost commuters.
“There’s no silver bullet,” Rose said. “The issue for San Francisco is: What’s next?”
(WASHINGTON) — Consumer prices rose 3% last month compared to a year ago, marking a significant slowdown and raising hopes that a prolonged bout of heightened inflation is nearing its end.
The fresh data Wednesday morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics arrives days after a government release indicated that hiring slowed last month but remained solid. The economy, the jobs report suggests, continued a gradual downshift in June amid a central bank effort to dial back activity and slash prices while averting a recession.
Consumer prices rose 4% in May compared to a year ago.
The latest reading indicates a notable cooldown in June but still exceeds the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%.
The data released on Wednesday exceeded the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected inflation to have fallen to 3.1% in June.
Inflation rose a modest 0.2% on a monthly basis, accelerating from a 0.1% increase in May.
Despite the encouraging report, core inflation — which strips out volatile food and energy prices — rose 4.8%.
Food prices, meanwhile, continued to accelerate faster than overall inflation, rising 5.7% in June compared to a year ago.
The price of flour rose about 12% in June compared to a year ago, roughly quadruple of the overall inflation rate; while the price of bakery products rose 9.5% over that period and the price of cookies rose nearly 9%.
Egg prices, which surged last year after a severe avian flu outbreak, fell nearly 8% in June compared to a year prior. Prices for milk, seafood and bacon also fell over that period.
The Fed is set to meet in roughly two weeks as it considers whether to escalate its fight against inflation with an additional rate hike.
Last month, the Fed paused an aggressive series of interest rate hikes, ending a string of 10 consecutive rate increases that stretched back 15 months.
However, nearly all members of the decision-making committee believe the central bank will need to impose at least one additional rate hike this year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said immediately after the announcement of a pause.
In remarks late last month, Powell voiced an optimistic message about the U.S. economy and downplayed the threat of a recession.
“The U.S. economy has actually been quite resilient,” Powell said in Sentra, Portugal, at a conference organized by the European Central Bank.
While acknowledging that a recession is “certainly possible,” he said such an outcome is “not the most likely case.”
“The economy is resilient and still growing, albeit at a modest pace,” he added.
A major upward revision showed last Thursday that the U.S. economy grew significantly more at the outset of this year than an initial measurement indicated, according to the Commerce Department.
Gross domestic product increased at a 2% annualized rate for a three-month period ending in March — a sizable jump from the previous estimate of 1.3%.
A jobs report on Friday, meanwhile, showed that U.S. employers hired 209,000 workers in June, which marked robust performance, albeit a slowdown from the previous month.
Wage growth, assessed by workers’ average hourly earnings, remained unchanged at 4.4% compared to the same month a year prior. As part of its inflation fight, the Fed closely watches the pace of wage growth, since in theory employers raise prices to keep up with higher pay.
“The labor market is really pulling the economy,” Powell said late last month, before the release of hiring data for June. “It’s a very strong labor market.”
“In my view, the least unlikely case is that we do find a way to better balance without a severe downturn,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — Inflation data to be released on Wednesday will show whether the U.S. economy extended a monthslong cooldown of price increases in June, offering further relief for consumers and welcome news for the Federal Reserve as it weighs an additional interest rate hike.
The fresh data arrives days after a government release indicated that hiring slowed last month but remained solid. The economy, the jobs report suggests, continued a gradual downshift in June amid a central bank effort to dial back activity and slash prices while averting a recession.
Consumer prices rose 4% in May compared to a year ago, dropping more than expected and bolstering hopes that inflation will return to normal levels. The latest reading, however, is still double the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect inflation to have fallen considerably in June to 3.1%, which would mark the lowest reading since March 2021.
The Fed is set to meet in roughly two weeks as it considers whether to escalate its fight against inflation with an additional rate hike.
Last month, the Fed paused an aggressive series of interest rate hikes, ending a string of 10 consecutive rate increases that stretched back 15 months.
However, nearly all members of the decision-making committee believe the central bank will need to impose at least one additional rate hike this year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said immediately after the announcement of a pause.
In remarks late last month, Powell voiced an optimistic message about the U.S. economy and downplayed the threat of a recession.
“The U.S. economy has actually been quite resilient,” Powell said in Sentra, Portugal, at a conference organized by the European Central Bank.
While acknowledging that a recession is “certainly possible,” he said such an outcome is “not the most likely case.”
“The economy is resilient and still growing, albeit at a modest pace,” he added.
A major upward revision showed last Thursday that the U.S. economy grew significantly more at the outset of this year than an initial measurement indicated, according to the Commerce Department.
Gross domestic product increased at a 2% annualized rate for a three-month period ending in March — a sizable jump from the previous estimate of 1.3%.
A jobs report on Friday, meanwhile, showed that U.S. employers hired 209,000 workers in June, which marked robust performance, albeit a slowdown from the previous month.
Wage growth, assessed by workers’ average hourly earnings, remained unchanged at 4.4% compared to the same month a year prior. As part of its inflation fight, the Fed closely watches the pace of wage growth, since in theory employers raise prices to keep up with higher pay.
“The labor market is really pulling the economy,” Powell said late last month, before the release of hiring data for June. “It’s a very strong labor market.”
“In my view, the least unlikely case is that we do find a way to better balance without a severe downturn,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Bank of America was ordered to pay more than $100 million to customers for double-charging accounts with insufficient funds, denying reward payments to credit card holders and using personal data to open accounts without a client’s knowledge, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Tuesday.
The second-largest U.S. bank harmed hundreds of thousands of customers over a period of several years and across multiple products, the federal agency said.
In addition to the customer payment, the bank must pay $150 million in penalties, the agency added.
“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB, said in a statement.
“These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust,” Chopra added. “The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”
Under company policy, the bank imposed a $35 fee when a client purchase was denied due to insufficient funds, the CFPB said. However, the bank went further, charging the fee multiple times based on a single faulty transaction, the agency added.
Carried out over multiple years, this practice known as double-dipping generated “substantial additional revenue” for the company, CFPB said.
In a statement to ABC News, Bank of America said it no longer charges the fee for insufficient funds.
“We voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022,” a bank spokesperson said. “As a result of these industry leading changes, revenue from these fees has dropped more than 90 percent.”
In another alleged practice, Bank of America offered cash and points for customers who signed up for a credit card in an effort to compete with rival banks, the CFPB said. In turn, the company illegally withheld the bonuses from “tens of thousands of customers,” the agency added.
Bank of America, the agency said, also illegally applied for credit cards and bank accounts using customer information without their consent.
For more than a decade, the bank used customer information, such as credit reports, to complete applications under customers’ names, the agency noted.
In 2014, the CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay $727 million in redress to its victims for illegal credit card practices.
The company also paid a combined $235 million in fines last year for illegal garnishment and failed disbursement of state unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
The bank, the agency said, serves 68 million individual and small-business clients and holds $1.9 trillion in domestic deposits.
Bank of America shares inched upward less than a quarter of a percentage-point in early morning trading.
(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing rose to $725 million after no one won on Monday.
A single winner would take home an estimated $366.2 million cash option before taxes — the ninth-largest Powerball jackpot on record.
There was no big winner on Monday, but the lucky numbers for anyone checking to see if they won a smaller prize were 2, 24, 34, 53 and 58, with 13 as the Powerball. There was a $2 million winner in Iowa and a $1 million winner in California.
The April 19 drawing was the last time the Powerball was won, with an Ohio ticket taking a grand prize worth $252.6 million. The following 34 drawings didn’t have any winners, the lottery said.
A single ticket won a $2.04 billion jackpot in November 2022, marking the largest-ever jackpot in the Powerball’s history.
Meanwhile, the Mega Millions also continues to grow. The jackpot in that game is now $480 million with a lump sum payout of about $240.7 million, before taxes. The next Mega Millions drawing is Tuesday night.
(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot for Monday’s drawing rose to $675 million after no one won on Saturday.
A single winner would have taken home an estimated $340.9 million cash option before taxes — the ninth largest Powerball jackpot on record and the second largest Powerball jackpot of 2023. Officials, however, announced early Tuesday morning ET there had been no winner.
The lucky numbers in Monday’s drawing were 2, 24, 34, 53 and 58, with 13 as the Powerball.
The prize for Wednesday’s drawing is now an estimated $725 million.
The April 19 drawing was the last time the Powerball was won, with an Ohio ticket taking a grand prize worth $252.6 million. The following 34 drawings didn’t have any winners, the lottery said.
A single ticket won a $2.04 billion jackpot in November 2022, marking the largest-ever jackpot in the Powerball’s history.
(NEW YORK) — Negotiations broke down this week between UPS and its Teamster-represented workers, weeks before their contract is set to expire.
As a potential strike looms, UPS workers across the country have been holding “practice pickets,” holding signs that say, “Just practicing for a just contract.”
Here’s what you need to know about the labor situation and the impact of a potential strike.
Stalemate in negotiations
The UPS Teamsters contract covers more than 340,000 full- and part-time workers for the shipping giant and is set to expire on July 31, according to the union.
Following the latest round of negotiations on Wednesday, each side accused the other of walking away from the table.
“Following marathon negotiations, UPS refused to give the Teamsters a last, best, and final offer, telling the union the company had nothing more to give,” the Teamsters said in a statement.
The union claimed that UPS “walked away from the bargaining table after presenting an unacceptable offer,” which the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee “unanimously rejected.”
UPS, meanwhile, claimed that the Teamsters “have stopped negotiating despite historic proposals that build on our industry-leading pay.”
“We have nearly a month left to negotiate. We have not walked away, and the union has a responsibility to remain at the table,” UPS said in a statement while calling on the Teamsters to “return to the table to finalize this deal.”
No additional negotiations are scheduled, according to the Teamsters.
Last month, rank-and-file UPS Teamsters authorized a strike and the union has said UPS members will not work beyond the expiration of the current contract.
Any tentative agreement would need to be endorsed by the Teamsters’ national committee before being voted on by the membership by the end of the current agreement, the union said.
What the Teamsters are demanding
The Teamsters have said they want an agreement that “guarantees better pay for all workers, eliminates a two-tier wage system, increases full-time jobs, resolves safety and health concerns, and provides stronger protections against managerial harassment.”
The two sides have made some progress since negotiations began earlier this year, including reaching an agreement on heat safety that UPS said would equip all newly purchased U.S. small package delivery vehicles with air conditioning starting Jan. 1, 2024.
The sides also agreed to end a two-tier wage system for drivers, establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a full holiday for the first time and end forced overtime on drivers’ days off, according to the union.
The Teamsters are still pushing to raise wages for part-time workers at the company, with union leaders pointing to UPS’ rise in profits during the pandemic. According to global shipping and logistics firm Pitney Bowes, UPS saw a 5.5% increase in revenue year-over-year in 2022 and generated the highest revenue among other carriers.
“We’re trying to get a deal. We’re very close,” Teamsters’ General President Sean O’Brien told “Good Morning America” on Friday. “We’re trying to make certain that they understand how important this fight is for our 340,000 members that delivered goods and service through the toughest times we’ve seen.”
According to UPS, delivery drivers on average earn $95,000 per year in wages and part-time workers earn an average of $20 per hour and receive the same health and pension benefits as full-time employees.
O’Brien argued that that salary is for drivers working 60 to 65 hours per week, and that part-time wages are “selective.”
“It’s an extremely tough job. And when you talk about the part-timers, their part-time wage rate right now is about $16 per hour,” O’Brien said. “We want to establish a livable starting wage for part-timers, but also make sure we reward those part-timers who work through the pandemic.”
Economic concerns
UPS is among the largest shipping companies in the U.S. According to Pitney Bowes, UPS shipped 5.2 billion U.S. parcels in 2022, representing nearly a quarter of all parcels shipped in the country.
Should the UPS Teamsters go on strike, there’s “no doubt” the economy would be impacted, from businesses to individual households, Thomas Goldsby, a professor in logistics at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, told ABC News.
“You just don’t take a player the size of UPS out of the market or largely out of the market without people having to take notice,” Goldsby said.
The last time UPS Teamsters went on strike was in 1997. The 15-day strike “largely crippled” the company and “created myriad inconveniences, large and small, for companies and consumers across the nation,” the New York Times reported at the time.
In the decades since then, the volume of parcels shipped has significantly grown due to e-commerce, while other players, such as Amazon, have also entered the industry.
A potential strike could present a “golden opportunity” for competitors, including regional carriers, Goldsby noted. Companies have also worked to diversify their portfolio of shipping options during what has been a volatile period over the past three years, making them more prepared for a strike, though smaller merchants could be more limited in their options if other shippers are full, he said.
Another area that could potentially be impacted is the business of returns, Goldsby said.
“About 20% of the stuff that goes out through e-commerce comes back,” he said. “UPS handles a lot of returns for companies, and so it’s not just the forward deployment of that inventory going out to market.”
The negotiations could also have implications in the labor industry, in particular the Teamsters’ efforts to unionize Amazon drivers, according to Broughton Capital managing partner Donald Broughton.
“The bigger of a win [O’Brien] has against UPS, then the bigger his credibility is to go around to Amazon workers and say, ‘Hey look, I could really help you guys out,'” Broughton said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” this week. “It’s not just UPS management bargaining with the Teamsters; there’s a lot more at play.”
Broughton said UPS’ “best offer” likely won’t come until it’s down to the wire.
“Both the UPS management and the Teamsters know that you probably don’t get the best deal until the 11th hour,” he said.
UPS on Friday again called on the Teamsters to return to the table with three weeks to go until the contract expires.
“Refusing to negotiate, especially when the finish line is in sight, creates significant unease among employees and customers and threatens to disrupt the U.S. economy,” UPS said in a statement.
Goldsby said if the Teamsters were to strike, he does not think it would be sustained for long. Though he said he remains optimistic that a strike can be averted, particularly after the supply chain pains in recent years.
“No one really has the appetite for a strike that could be really detrimental to business and our economy and society,” he said. “Whether you’re on the labor or the management side, I just don’t think that anyone’s wanted to accept the black eye that would come with it.”
ABC News’ Jessica Hornig contributed to this report.
Ty O’Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Workers for UPS are edging closer to a strike after a breakdown in talks between the delivery giant and the Teamsters union representing its employees. Both sides have accused each other of walking away from negotiations.
A walkout would have ripple effects across the entire economy, with the company employing 340,000 workers who deliver millions of packages every day. The value of the goods it delivers annually has been estimated at 6% of the U.S. economy.
UPS workers are negotiating for better pay and the elimination of a two-tier wage system for part-time and full-time workers. Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, spoke to “GMA3” about what’s at stake.
DEMARCO MORGAN: Sean, good to see you. Thanks for being with us. So UPS is saying you guys walked away from the table. You’re saying UPS walked away from the table. What happened and what’s wrong?
SEAN O’BRIEN: Well, UPS can tell their story. We know the real story at 4:15 a.m., July 5, when we’re trying to get a deal, we’re very close, they said they had no more to give and so they actually walked away. And that’s why we’re here right now. We’re trying to make certain that they understand how important this fight is for our 340,000 members that delivered goods and services through the toughest times we’ve seen [in the] pandemic.
EVA PILGRIM: What needs to happen to prevent this?
O’BRIEN: Well look, I mean, our part-timers at UPS are working for poverty wages. Some of them are single mothers, single dads working crazy hours. And look, everybody loves the UPS drivers, who work extremely hard. But those packages do not get on those trucks without those part-timers. And, you know, UPS has the opportunity right now to do the right thing, because they can set the tone on how it is to reward their employees who have made them the success that they are. I mean, they made $100 billion with a B, and our members deserve to reap those benefits as well.
MORGAN: And speaking of part time, Sean, you’ve called part-time worker wages, part-time poverty. Let’s look at some numbers. UPS tells us that on average, they pay their drivers $95,000 a year with benefits and part-time workers get $20 an hour with health care eligibility, pension plans. Why do you call this part-time poverty?
O’BRIEN: Because they’re not telling the true story. $93,000 for a full-timer is accurate, but they’re working 60, 65 hours. It’s an extremely tough job. And when you talk about the part-timers, their part-time wage rate right now is about $16 per hour. UPS is selective. They pick and choose on who they’re going to pay, what area, and they can raise the rates.
We want to establish a livable starting wage for part-timers, but also make sure we reward those part-timers who work through the pandemic. We lost members as a result of going to work when there were no vaccinations, no protections. And all the while, bottom line of their balance sheet kept growing and growing and growing.
We want to be rewarded. There was no hazard pay. There wasn’t anything other than these people, our members, 340,000, providing goods and services to keep this country running.
PILGRIM: And we were all ordering all the packages because people didn’t want to go out. UPS issued this statement saying in part, “The Teamsters have stopped negotiating despite historic proposals that build on our industry-leading pay…refusing to negotiate, especially when the finish line is in sight, create significant unease among employees and customers, and threatens to disrupt the U.S. economy.”
O’BRIEN: We are not refusing to negotiate. They know what we want. They know what our members need. And if UPS causes a strike, it’s going to be on UPS. I mean, they’re going to self-inflict these wounds on themselves. Our members are the best in the business. They provide the best services. And it’s shame on UPS. They have an opportunity right now to do the right thing and be the model employer for the entire United States.
MORGAN: Can you talk about the concerns that you’ve been hearing from some of the Teamsters themselves?
O’BRIEN: Well, I mean, mostly it’s the wages. I mean, look, UPS is a very difficult job. We’ve made significant progress in negotiations. We’ve been negotiating since January. But it’s significant wage increases for the part-timers, but more importantly, dignity and respect in the workplace.
PILGRIM: What gets you guys back to the table? Is there something that needs to happen?
O’BRIEN: UPS just has to pick up the phone, tell us they’re going to agree to what our bottom line is and they know what our bottom line is. We’ve been very transparent in these negotiations, and they know what needs to happen.
