On strike: UPS workers could join Hollywood, hotel workers in 'hot labor summer'

Between a looming UPS strike that would be among the most disruptive in recent history and a shutdown of the film and television industry due to two simultaneous strikes, America is undergoing what some have called a “hot labor summer.”

The term was coined by union leaders in California, which has been an epicenter of the strike activity that has flared up across the country and could derail millions of package deliveries as early as next month. While the strikes could have an effect, labor unions currently enjoy broad public support, with Gallup finding their highest approval rating in more than half a century.

President Biden has touted himself as the most pro-labor president in history. Politico reported Sunday that union leaders were urging the president to stay out of the various negotiations, with administration members saying he planned to unless both sides asked for intervention.

Biden was harshly criticized last year for undercutting striking railroad workers and is currently dealing with a rift with the United Auto Workers over funding for electric vehicle production going to “right to work” states, which make unionizing more difficult.

A potentially historic UPS strike

If an agreement between UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents 340,000 UPS employees, isn’t reached by the end of the month, workers are prepared to walk off the job in what one study projected could be the costliest strike in at least a century.

The company handles about a quarter of all packages delivered daily in the United States, and even a short work stoppage would cost the economy billions. The union’s demands have focused on increased pay, particularly for part-time workers, and safer working conditions for delivery drivers as they deal with extreme heat.

UPS profits have nearly tripled compared with pre-pandemic levels, with more than $8 billion paid out to shareholders via stock buybacks and dividends in 2022.

A whopping 97% of the union voted in June to authorize the strike, with negotiations between the two sides breaking down on July 5. The pilots who fly the company’s air transports, who are part of a different union, said they would also walk off the job in solidarity.

With the deadline looming and workers digging in for a strike — the Teamsters have been holding practice pickets for months and had urged workers to save money in anticipation of a potential stoppage — UPS said last week it would return to the bargaining table with a better offer.

"We are prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits, but need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country," the company said in a statement.

Hollywood shuts down

While “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” fueled one of the biggest box office weekends in history, major film and television productions are shut down due to both the writers' and actors' unions striking together for the first time since 1960.

The Writers Guild of America has been picketing since May, and the Screen Actors Guild joined it earlier this month. Additionally, thousands of hotel workers have been striking in California, with many unable to afford to live near where they work.

The demands of both Hollywood unions are centered around residual payments from streaming services and concerns over the studios using artificial intelligence to replace human writers and actors. While many of the faces of the strike are financially comfortable A-list actors, the union has more than 160,000 members, including those who struggle to clear the $26,000 per year in earnings needed to qualify for health insurance.

Disney CEO Bob Iger called the union demands "disturbing" and said the striking workers weren't being "realistic." Fran Drescher, the SAG-AFTRA president and former sitcom star, blasted the executive for his comments last week during a livestream interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

“He stuck his foot in it so bad that you notice none of the other CEOs are opening their mouths,” Drescher said. “There he is, sitting in his designer clothes and just got on his private jet at the billionaire’s camp, telling us we’re unrealistic when he’s making $78,000 a day. How do you deal with someone like that who’s so tone-deaf? Are you an ignoramus? I don’t understand.”

Drescher has continually tied the high-profile actors’ strike to the larger labor movement — the nation’s largest nurses’ union announced its support last week — and has been quoting Frederick Douglass in interviews: “Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and it never will.”

SAG-AFTRA leadership has threatened that they’re prepared for the strike to go into next year if need be.

Studios are reportedly considering pushing back some of the year’s most anticipated releases, including the sequels to “Dune” and “Aquaman,” and have already bumped the Zendaya project “Challengers” from next month to April 2024 because striking actors are not promoting big studio projects.