Hello and welcome to Jacobin Radio. I'm your guest host, Barry Eidlin, filling in today

for your regular host, Susie Weissmann, who will be back soon. Today we're following

up on our discussion from a few weeks ago about one of the most important labor negotiations

in recent U.S. history, the contract involving more than 340,000 workers at United

Personal Service or UPS, who are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters

or IBT. Last time I hosted the show, talks had broken down on July 5th, and members were

preparing to walk out in what would have been one of the largest strikes in U.S. history

on August 1st. They were staging rallies and throwing up practice picket lines across

the country, sending a message to management that they were serious about getting a strong

contract. But on July 25th, the IBT announced a tentative agreement. That put an end to

the August 1st strike threat, although it does not fully avert a strike, as the contract

still needs to be ratified by the UPS Teamster membership. Teamster leadership has held

the agreement as historic and game-changing, pointing to dramatic wins on eliminating

two-tier jobs, creating more full-time jobs, limiting forced overtime, subcontracting

and surveillance, protecting workers from heat and significant pay increases, particularly

for part-time workers. Still, some workers are concerned that the contract gains don't

go far enough and wonder what they left on the negotiating table by not going on strike.

We'll get the latest on the tentative agreement of UPS and what comes next from three rank

and file UPS Teamsters who have been deeply involved in the contract fight. All that

and more when our program returns in just a moment.

Hello again and welcome back to Jackovan Radio. I'm your guest host, Barry Eidlin, filling

in this week for Suzy Weisman. After a year-long contract campaign, several months of negotiations

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