UPS/IBT Strike Ready campaign: the San Diego experience

DSA members with Teamsters, strike-ready San Diego style

This summer DSA members across the country stood with 340,000 UPS Teamsters in their struggle for a strong contract at the multinational shipping giant. On July 25th the union announced that a tentative agreement had been reached and on August 22nd the deal was approved by 86% on a record turnout.

A radical departure

The union's contract campaign this year was a radical departure from campaigns of the recent past. For the first time since reformer Ron Carey helmed the Teamsters and struck the company in 1997, the international union leveraged a credible strike threat to win company concessions, and rank-and-file leaders were empowered to organize contract actions at their buildings. In the weeks leading up to the settlement California DSA chapters worked with DSA’s national Strike Ready campaign to support contract actions taking place at UPS facilities across the ubiquitous network. In San Diego, Solidarity Captains connected with Local 542 Teamsters at the UPS San Marcos building.

The culture of rank-and-file organization is particularly strong at San Marcos due, in part, to the insurgent rank-and-file Members for Members movement that narrowly failed to take power in the Local in 2022. So it’s unsurprising that rank-and-file leaders began organizing weekly Unity Breakfasts during the contract campaign to bring union members together to discuss issues and plan contract actions at the building. After connecting with Local 542 members through a DSA comrade and Local 804 Teamster, San Diego DSA Solidarity Captains were invited to attend a Unity Breakfast.

Continuing to organize

At Duke’s Deli—ground zero for the rank and file-led San Marcos contract campaign—DSA members learned more about the issues affecting members and the demands that underpinned the national contract campaign. When invited to say a few words, the Solidarity Captains offered the chapter’s support for upcoming contract actions, which was well received by all in attendance. DSA comrades, including two key Local 542 rank and file leaders who joined DSA following conversations with members, mobilized the chapter in support of practice picketing at UPS San Marcos. Since then the group has continued to strengthen the chapter’s solidarity muscles by mobilizing in support of other workers in the area.

This contract campaign—one that unapologetically wields the threat of strike action and empowers members to take the initiative in support of the union’s demands—marks a break from a style of bargaining that became commonplace in recent years. This program, which we now see playing out in UAW’s negotiations with the Big Three, not only provides union members with opportunities to get active in their union, but also provides community members with opportunities to demonstrate our solidarity. San Diego DSA comrades and our new friends at Local 542 showed how we can seize these opportunities to bring our struggles for justice for working people together.