1997 United Parcel Service strike
The United Parcel Service strike of 1997, led by International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) President Ron Carey, started on August 4, 1997, and involved over 185,000 Teamsters (IBT members). The strike effectively shut down United Parcel Service (UPS) operations for 15 days and costs UPS hundreds of millions of dollars. The strike was a victory for the union, resulting in a new contract that increased their wages, secured their existing benefits and gave increased job security. Union history President Ron Carey had followed in his father's footsteps to become a UPS driver, and Union member. Carey rose to Presidency of the Teamsters Union in the early 1990s, and was heavily supported by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) President Ken Paff, mainly because of Carey's support of Union Democracy. TDU influence on the IBT was a major factor in the collective bargaining tactics used to negotiate the 1997 UPS Contract: militancy, union democracy, and rank-and-file intensive tactics. An earlier strike against UPS in 1994, which had been the first national strike against UPS, had been unsuccessful and led to the Teamsters being sued by UPS for millions of dollars. Causes Contracts between UPS and their Union workers were set to