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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE WORKERS AND MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS AS THEY NEGOTIATE A NEW CONTRACT WITH UNITED PARCEL SERVICE (UPS)
WHEREAS, 12,000 members of Teamsters Local 705 work for United Parcel Service (UPS) in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, the collective bargaining agreement between Local 705 and UPS expires at midnight, August 1, 2023; and
WHEREAS, Local 705’s contract with UPS expires at the same time as the rest of the Teamsters’ contracts with UPS, which covers 340,000 workers across the country; and
WHEREAS, the Teamsters nationally elected new leadership recently, the Teamsters United Slate, on a platform of building a fighting union that can not only win stronger contracts but also a stronger working class, including electing Local 705’s principal officer Juan Campos as International Vice President; and
WHEREAS, the Teamsters’ militant and rank and file leadership have spent the last year debating, deliberating, and organizing in anticipation of this contract fight; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting to eliminate the second tier of package car drivers, known as “22.4 drivers,” who make less money and have less stability in their jobs and schedules than regular package car drivers, to ensure that all package car drivers are treated the same; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting to end part-time poverty, ensuring that the thousands of UPS employees who work part-time are paid dignified wages, so they do not have to struggle to make ends meet for themselves and their families; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting UPS’s efforts to outsource deliveries to non-union, precarious “gig” workers who deliver out of the back of their own personal vehicles, forcing them to take on the cost and risk of the work while being paid even less than the value of their labor; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting to ensure that all UPS workplaces are healthy and safe by guaranteeing that UPS install air conditioning into all of their trucks and warehouses to combat the impacts of climate change as it continues to create more dangerously hot days; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting against the use of invasive surveillance technologies like driver-facing cameras that prevent workers from having a single moment of privacy during their workdays; and
WHEREAS, UPS Teamsters are fighting to ensure that UPS recognizes the history of the Black Freedom Struggle by making Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth paid holidays; and
WHEREAS, the fight over the UPS contract is a fight that will affect all working people in Cook County and the United States; and
WHEREAS, the demands that UPS Teamsters are fighting for, like living wages, reliable and stable jobs, and healthy and safe workplaces, are the same demands that working-class people across Cook County and the U.S. need to improve their lives; and
WHEREAS, 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the US depends on the labor of UPS’s employees;
WHEREAS, UPS, which reported 11.3 billion dollars in record-breaking profits in 2022, is fighting the union mightily, trying to maximize their corporate profits on the backs of workers; and
WHEREAS, major capitalist institutions like Vanguard and BlackRock, who own a majority of UPS, know that if they continue neglecting precarious and dangerous working conditions for these unionized workers by prioritizing their profits over the needs of the workers, they can replicate this profit-driven model over working people across the country; and
WHEREAS, while UPS Teamsters hope that UPS will agree to a fair contract, they are prepared to go on strike if need be and have already authorized a strike by 97%; and
WHEREAS, if UPS Teamsters go on strike, it will be the largest strike in the United States since the last UPS Teamsters strike in 1997; and
WHEREAS, Cook County is a proud union county; and
WHEREAS, the vast majority of Cook County residents are working class, who face many of the same issues that these UPS workers do.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, stand in steadfast solidarity with Teamsters at UPS in Cook County and across the country in their fight for a fair contract; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that if these workers find it necessary to go on strike to obtain a fair contract from UPS, we will support them in their struggle, including joining them on the picket line; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, we encourage all working people in Cook County to stand with these workers in their fight in any way they can.
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