Inside UPS. A Worker´s Report from the US

When I was first hired, UPS told me they expected a lot from their employees. I shrugged it off because the contract between the Teamsters union and UPS is extremely beneficial for part-timers. I was promised full benefits, health care, dental, job protection, paid leave, etc. These are things most young workers in the USA don’t get from employers today. I felt lucky and proud to have a union job.

But while the pay and benefits are decent, I quickly learned that the job conditions are terrible. UPS from the very tops on downward puts tremendous pressure are their employees to get a tremendous amount of work done. Area managers hound building managers who hound supervisors who hound drivers and inside workers. Everyone is stressed out, and tensions between workers and management run high. One driver told me, “I’ve never seen a workplace where it is so much the guards versus the prisoners.”

Everyday, workers must assert themselves to supervisors who try to squeeze as much work out of them as possible. The stewards are forced to fight on a daily basis with the manager. There is a constant war where supervisors write up workers for violations and workers file grievances.

Inside workers are overwhelmingly part-time, and make a very low wage, just above wages at Wal-Mart. Most of them have to work a second job. Many start their workday at 4 AM, and don’t finish until after 6 PM.

They are extremely exploited, forced to work at backbreaking speeds. In the morning, tens of thousands of packages must be unloaded from trucks, sorted and then orderly placed inside the delivery trucks in just 4 hours. The belt only stops if a major build-up occurs, which happens often. Falling boxes are a constant danger to the workers. Nearly 50% of the time, the inside workers are not finished loading the trucks when the drivers start their shifts, forcing the drivers to work even longer shifts.

The main complaint amongst full time drivers is the length of the day. Every single day, drivers are forced to work overtime, often working 10-hour days for five straight days. UPS claims to be a company that upholds traditional American family values, but many drivers only get to spend time with their families on weekends.

Driving for UPS is an extremely dangerous job. Injury rates at UPS are way above the national average. Drivers are getting in and out of their truck 120-150 times a day and handling packages that weigh up to 150 pounds. In my short time at UPS, I have heard of several drivers dislocating shoulders, breaking wrists, and injuring backs.

As a part timer I have been warned many times by full timers not to take a full time driving position. One driver quit and took a job with one of UPS’s competitors claiming the pay was not as good but the difference in job conditions were like night and day. UPS is a cruel company. As one worker explained, “The bottom line is money. They never take the human element into consideration.”