Senate Democrats pledge to stay out of UPS, Teamsters strike

More than two dozen Senate Democrats Wednesday sent a letter to leaders at UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters pledging not to intervene in the event of a strike.

“We are hopeful that both sides can negotiate in good faith and reach a consensus agreement that addresses basic human needs and allows workers to do their jobs safely and with dignity,” 28 Democrats said in the letter.   

“However, in the event a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement cannot be reached, we commit to respect our constituents’ statutory and constitutional rights to withhold their labor and initiate and participate in a strike,” they said.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) led the letter, along with a host of other senators, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien drew attention after revealing over the weekend that the union requested that the White House not intervene if UPS workers decided to strike.

The Biden administration previously intervened last year in negotiations to prevent a national railroad strike, helping broker a labor deal between freight rail carriers and unionized workers amid concerns of the economic consequences of such a protest.

“We told the White House — and I used this analogy throughout our negotiations, throughout our rallies and practice pickets that we have taken a strong position with the White House that, you know, my neighborhood where I grew up in Boston, if two people had a disagreement, and you had nothing to do with it, you just kept walking,” O’Brien said.

“And we echoed that to the White House on numerous occasions, and we don’t need anybody getting involved in this fight,” he said.

Talks between UPS and the Teamsters fell apart earlier this month as both sides struggled to reach consensus on the economic portion of a new contract, which covers issues like wages.

However, a spokesperson for the shipping company said on Wednesday that both sides will resume negotiations next week, as the threat of a strike looms in the coming weeks.

“We are pleased to be back at the negotiating table next week to resolve the few remaining open issues,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

“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 letter comes after more than 170 lawmakers sent a similar letter to O’Brien and UPS CEO Carol Tomé earlier this week. More than handful of Republicans also joined Democrats in signing onto the letter, which was led by Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan (Wis.), Donald Norcross (N.J.), Debbie Dingell (Mich.) and Steven Horsford (Nev.).

“Finally, we understand that Congress has not previously intervened in recent history to implement a collective bargaining agreement between workers and their employer under the National Labor Relations Act,” both letters state, “and we commit to not intervening in the collective bargaining process between Teamsters and UPS.”

According to the National Labor Relations Board, employees of air and rail carriers covered by the Railway Labor Act are among those excluded from coverage under the act, however. 

Updated at 5:27 p.m.