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Last week, shortly after the deadline for union members to vote on the newly proposed contract had ended, the Teamsters leadership announced that its contract with UPS was ratified. To the disappointment of many rank-and-file members who had been organizing a vote against the contract’s ratification, the vast majority of Teamsters who voted supported the agreement. During the vote, the union bureaucracy administered a massive propaganda campaign towards rank and file.

The day after the agreement was made between UPS and Teamsters’ leadership, union officials were outside the West Charlotte UPS warehouse claiming they had made a “historic agreement.” In the months prior to the contract signing, the union was nowhere in sight; but now their bureaucrats had come out to peddle the lie that the contract is a “historic win for UPSers.” 

Teamsters also employed bullying and intimidation to ensure the contract’s passage. One local 71 steward was overheard calling workers who wanted a raise to $25 an hour “stupid,” and at the gates of the warehouse entrance, out-of-state union organizers hired to push the union’s propaganda attempted to silence workers who voiced disagreement with the contract.

It would be a lie, however, not to say that many UPS workers voted yes simply because of the pay increase. Rank-and-file opposition groups are in their infancy, and for many part-timers who make up the majority of UPS’s workforce and are often struggling to make ends meet with few hours and low pay, the assurance of a couple of extra dollars was hard to say no to; especially with the massive propaganda campaign by Teamsters bureaucrats and their class sell-out allies telling them the lie that this was the best possible contract they could receive.

Now, many of those who have been opposing the ratification of the contract for the past month are wondering, “What’s next?” For UPS workers, there lies an uphill battle; one that can be won, not only against the company itself, but also against a class collaborationist union leadership that works against their interests, and a capitalist system that is at the root of all of these issues. The answer to this question lies in the establishment of rank-and-file groups, shop floor organizing, and independent labor organizations.

The struggle of UPS workers is a microcosm of the struggle facing all workers in the current establishment business unions. Over a century of anti-union legislation, purging of revolutionaries from unions, and intense collaboration between union leadership and the state have transformed modern business unions from basic organizations of the workers into tools that serve the capitalist class. Due to this, the only answer for workers who work within the current business unions is to build rank-and-file groups that fight for their interests today and can serve as the building blocks to day construct a new union that truly fights for their political and economic demands.