UPS is making record profits — while workers like me are falling further behind

The price of almost everything has gone up. Whether you're shopping at the grocery store, in line at the gas station or paying rent, we all have sticker shock.

Like so many workers across the country, everyone in my family is feeling the strain of rising prices. But one thing hasn't gone up — hourly wages for millions of working people.

I work for UPS, a global package delivery company. As a "preloader," I prepare packages for the brown trucks that you see on the road every day. I help children get their presents on time and businesses get critical goods that keep our economy running. If you clicked online to order a package, I likely helped get it to your door.

I take pride in my work, as do my co-workers. But our compensation doesn't reflect the work we put in for this company. I've been with UPS for 12 years and make $21 an hour. The starting rate for part-timers like me is only $15.50.

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It shouldn't be like this, and it doesn't have to be. UPS pocketed more than $13 billion in profits last year. This company can afford to pay us a living wage and provide better working conditions.

The benefits and protections we have at UPS were not given to us. They are only thanks to our struggles as a union over the years to gain them. UPS never wanted to pay us more and freely improve our health care and retirement contributions. We had to fight to get those things.

I'm proud to be one of 350,000 workers at UPS who are members of the Teamsters Union. Our newly elected general president, Sean M. O'Brien, is also from Boston, where he started as a truck driver. He's a militant leader who is fighting — for us and with us — across the table from UPS management on a new five-year deal. Our current contract with UPS expires July 31, and if we do not have a solid agreement by that date, we are united and prepared to strike. A strike is completely avoidable, and all it will take is UPS delivering us the contract that we deserve.

Thanks to our hard work, UPS made record-breaking profits over the last five years. We put our health and safety on the line during the pandemic to get packages to doorsteps. Demand for package delivery exploded, and we worked — and continue to labor — harder than ever. Meanwhile, UPS was more concerned with enriching its shareholders and executives than they were about us.

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I've worked at UPS for more than a decade, but the company hired new workers off the street and paid them more than me and my co-workers. Talk about infuriating. UPS called it a "market rate adjustment." When the company couldn't attract new workers, they started offering higher pay to entice people to work for them in certain parts of the country, including Boston. But once UPS brought new workers on board, it wasn't long before they lowered their pay, too. If UPS doesn't sign our pay increases on the dotted line of a contract, we know anything they give us can be taken away.

More than 27 million people in the U.S. work part time. The majority of us are women. About half of UPS's workforce consists of part-timers, yet we often feel ignored by the company.

While pay is important, our contract fight is about more than that. We need more full-time job opportunities, freedom from surveillance, safety improvements, an end to harassment from our supervisors and respect for our hard physical labor.

It's not an easy job. I wake up at 3 a.m. to start my workday at 4. Around the holidays, when demand increases, UPS shifts my hours. Sometimes I start as early as midnight. It's impossible to plan life or get the rest I need between shifts. Quality of life is a big issue for UPSers, whether we work in warehouses or out delivering packages, whether we're full-time or part-time.

I'm sharing my story because what happens for us in this contract fight is bigger than UPS. We're not just calling for the best possible contract for ourselves — we want to set the standard high for everyone who works in this industry.

We're not asking for handouts. We are asking for a fair return on our work. It's time UPS listens.

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