Numerous elected officials, union representatives, and former and current UPS employees gathered at City Hall last Thursday to protest the company’s decision to ax 20 of its workers. Photo by Phil Corso
City and state officials fired back against the United Parcel Service’s firing of 20 Queens drivers this week by threatening to cut a public contract with the company worth millions of dollars, as well as severing other deals saving UPS serious cash.
The delivery service notified 250 of its workers of their pending termination last month and passed out its first 20 pink slips last Monday, with potentially more to follow. City Public Advocate Letitia James helped lead a booming rally on the steps of City Hall Thursday morning in protest of the company’s actions, which a UPS spokesman said came in reaction to workers walking off the job in February to support a fired co-worker.
James stood alongside several city and state officials, including City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows), City Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who used the platform as a reminder to UPS that the company saves millions of dollars each year through various deals with the city, which they threatened to have revoked.
“We will not stand by idly when New York City workers are being mistreated,” James said. “They must come to the table and revoke these terminations.”
UPS currently benefits from a $43 million public contract in which the company provides delivery services to both city and state agencies, James noted. The company also gets millions of dollars in breaks thanks to another deal that reduces fines and fees for parking tickets, officials said.
The issue started in February, when UPS fired 24-year driver Jairo Reyes, who attended last week’s protest outside City Hall. Workers argued he was not allotted the proper termination hearings as stated in his contract and staged a 90-minute protest on Feb. 26 before returning to work. UPS argued the walk-out put the workers in violation of their contract and notified them last month they would be terminated.
A UPS spokesman said the threats of revoking city and state contracts with the delivery company would in return impact the lives of even more workers.
An inflatable “fat cat” strangling a UPS worker was set up outside City Hall last week. Photo by Phil Corso
“UPS appreciates its business with the New York public offices,” he said. “Ultimately if that business is reduced or eliminated, the result will be reduced need for UPS employees to serve the pick-up and delivery requirements of city offices, potentially impacting the livelihoods of the many local UPS employees that did not join in the illegal work stoppage.”
The spokesman added that businesses and unions could not coexist so long as public officials “arbitrarily choose when employees can break collective bargaining agreements or demand when employers must disregard the terms of agreements, irrespective of the officials’ motivation.”
Officials at City Hall became upset when asked if they thought snipping city and state contracts with UPS would only worsen the employment status of the remaining workers. James referred to the cause-and-effect scenario as a blind threat and reiterated that all the officials wanted was UPS management to come back to the negotiating table.
Tim Sylvester, president of Teamsters Local 804, has been a strong advocate for the UPS workers in the weeks since Reyes’ firing. He spoke loudly on the steps of City Hall demanding the terminations be taken back.
“We’re asking UPS to do right by the workers who have built this company and to do right by the customers who depend on these workers every day,” he said. “UPS should take back the terminations and resolve this through dialogue and negotiations – not intimidation tactics.”
By Phil Corso
