Members of the Teamsters voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against UPS starting August 1st, the latest step in the long-running labor tension at the delivery service, the Washington Post reports. While 97% of the union’s 340,000 members voted to authorize it, the strike isn’t a guarantee: it’s simply giving union leadership the authorization to order one.
Negotiations have led to a number of concessions from the company including ensuring new delivery vans have air conditioning and assuring self-driving vehicles and drones won’t replace human drivers, but the two sides are still far apart on key issues like minimum wages and benefits. As noted in the Post story, a nine-year UPS employee in Los Angeles is making just $18 per hour, less than needed to maintain a minimum standard of living in his community.