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Technology Stocks : The Electric Car, or MPG "what me worry?" -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric who wrote (10604)	12/7/2021 8:07:43 PM
From: Aloner	1 Recommendation Recommended By Fast Eddie Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17382

You should be very PRO UNION, unless you're a Billionaire CEO.... On an October afternoon sultry enough that it has locals complaining, Sean O’Brien takes up his position outside the employee entrance at a UPS processing facility in Palatine, Ill. A former high school linebacker with a shaved head, O’Brien has still a gridiron hero’s physique, and he looks like someone who won’t be moved without a scuffle. That’s probably not a bad impression to make on the brown-uniformed UPS drivers and warehouse workers hustling in and out of the plant as shifts change. O’Brien, 49, is running for general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents these UPS employees, and he has a message for them. The workers on their way in get the abbreviated version: Your ballot will soon be arriving in the mail; don’t throw it away. He implores them to vote for his slate of candidates. Those wrapping up a day’s work receive the unabridged rendition. With a fist bump or a handshake that makes the muscles on his arm bulge, O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25 in Boston, tells them it’s time for a change at what he refers to in his brogue as “the Teamstahs.” The union has been led for 22 years by 80-year-old James Hoffa, son of the legendary Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa, whose 1975 disappearance remains a mystery. Hoffa is stepping down; O’Brien’s primary opponent in the race is Steve Vairma, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 455 in Denver, who has Hoffa’s endorsement. But lot of the time it feels like it’s Hoffa that O’Brien is campaigning against. O’Brien tells the UPS workers, those who aren’t in a rush to get home, that unlike Hoffa, whom he describes as weak and accommodating, he will face down corporate greed, in particular at UPS and Amazon.com Inc. The Teamsters would very much like to organize Amazon. O’Brien chides the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, for embarking on what he describes as a scientifically pointless foray into space and then nonchalantly thanking his customers and employees for making it possible. “What kind of arrogant piece of shit does that?” he scoffs. The Teamsters are one of the nation’s largest private-sector unions, with almost 1.4 million active members in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. They include public defenders in Minneapolis, beermakers in St. Louis, newspaper employees in Seattle, and zookeepers in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Diego. But the majority drive trucks or toil in warehouses loading and unloading them. Almost 350,000 work at UPS, and O’Brien has interacted with thousands outside their workplaces. He’s widely considered the front-runner in the race. Like Sara Nelson, the charismatic president of the Association of Flight Attendants, O’Brien represents a younger breed of labor leaders determined to stake out a more confrontational position with employers. Workers in the U.S. seem discontented and more willing to strike than they have in years, as evidenced by recent walkouts at John Deere, Kellogg, and Nabisco. The Teamsters haven’t had a national walkout since 1997, when contract negotiations fell apart at UPS. O’Brien sounds like he relishes the idea of changing that. “We’re going to be a more dynamic, more militant organization,” he promised in September during a debate with Vairma in Las Vegas. “We’re going to take on the fights.” He says that means tackling Amazon, which may sound fanciful after the failure of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union to organize workers earlier this year at a company warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. It may be less so if O’Brien can win a more favorable contract for his members at UPS. The current one doesn’t expire until 2023, but the maneuvering will start as soon as the union choses a new leader. Ballots are due Nov. 15; the winner is expected to be announced by the end of the week. There’s displeasure among many UPS workers over their current agreement, which permitted the company to establish a new tier of drivers who work weekends at a lower starting wage. It also opened the door for the company to hire drivers who deliver packages using their own cars. O’Brien wants to say goodbye to all that. “They know the concession stand’s closed if we take over,” he declares. UPS declined to comment on the Teamsters election. O'Brien won and we're on our way to a better life for all American workers. Next, to convince the unwashed masses that a Social Democracy is in their best interest.