- Anything Else -

Teamsters versus UPS

As I type this, the otherwise placid American capitalist empire is experiencing a slight disturbance. Members of the Teamsters union are on strike against United Parcel Service (the nation's largest package delivery company, for those of you fortunate enough not to live here). The corporate media, of course, are in an uproar over this latest affront to business supremacy.

In an article written by Kevin Galvin of Associated Press, we learn that the Teamsters strike "threatened to interrupt package deliveries for hundreds of thousands of businesses across the country." The horror of it all. These workers are obviously overpaid, spoiled crybabies who fail to understand that uninterrupted commerce is much more important than any ridiculous grievance about working conditions and benefits they might have.

Elsewhere we read that "local UPS managers began planning to move boxes themselves while drivers and sorters geared up for the pickets." Such dedication, such valor from the managerial class. Apparently the workers who "move boxes", load and unload, and drive on tight schedules every day are not doing anything special. The jobs only become heroic when they're performed by selfless bosses. Meanwhile the pampered workers can lounge around on the picket lines, unconcerned about not having the money to pay their bills. A travesty of justice indeed.

It's too bad that this is the only view of labor that Americans are exposed to. As long as the media is driven by corporate advertising revenue, they will continue to give us stories of evil workers battling good businesses. No wonder most Americans think there's something intrinsically wrong about a union.

Follow Ups:

• Let's talk issues Red, White, and Blue USA August 13 1997 (1)
  • Enter the vortex...... Quincunx August 14 1997 (0)
• Unions' Future: Bleak Red, White and Blue USA August 10 1997 (3)
  • You are highly indoctrinated. Get used to it. Quincunx Over there August 12 1997 (2)
    • "awakening" Red, White, and Blue USA August 12 1997 (1)
      • When the yacht capsizes Quincunx Over There August 13 1997 (0)
• hit the dog hard Red, White, and Blue USA August 07 1997 (4)
  • UPS bosses become dog food Ted T R U The USA--Do As We Say August 09 1997 (0)
  • The dog bites back ! Quincunx IWW Over the Hills and Faraway August 08 1997 (2)
    • Rights Red, White, and Blue USA August 08 1997 (1)
      • You have to look into your own heart first. Quincunx Over where RWB would be laughed out into oblivion August 12 1997 (0)
• powers that be want to keep us blaming each other Che August 06 1997 (0)