Nuala Cacek

Nuala Cacek

US Teamsters on the Frontlines!

US Teamsters on the Frontlines! was a July 16 2023 Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! webinar on the looming UPS strike.

Participants included Nuala Cacek Teamsters Local 638.

Backing the Teamsters

Over the weekend of July 21and 22, 2023, members of Minnesota Workers United took to the streets in Minneapolis and Eagan, a Minneapolis suburb, with hundreds of UPS workers who are members of Teamsters Local 638 and their supporters. The workers and solidarity supporters conducted practice-pickets to show their readiness to strike if UPS doesn’t meet their demands for a new contract by August 1.

In June the Teamsters and UPS reached tentative agreements that represented significant progress for the Teamsters in every area except for part-time pay. According to Teamsters Local 638 member Nuala Cacek, “UPS is looking to drive a wedge between full-timers and part-timers by paying up for all of the above except the part-timers. This time around, the Teamsters aren’t falling for any of that. We aren’t leaving anybody behind this contract, so the choice is up to the UPS bargaining committee; pay up, or we shut it down.”

The solidarity with UPS Teamsters on display isn’t just within the labor movement, but also in their surrounding communities. Many local organizations have been arriving in contingents to practice picket with the Teamsters, including Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota.

SDS member Jasper Nordin emphatically stated, “UMN SDS stands in total and unwavering solidarity with the Teamsters union and their fight to win concessions from UPS. SDS has always been proud to fight alongside organized labor and these demands for fair wages and workplaces from the Teamsters are no exception. Solidarity forever!”