The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS

by Joe Allen

Overview

If the 20th Century was the American Century, it was also UPS's Century. Joe Allen's The Package King tears down the Brown Wall surrounding one of America's most admired companies—United Parcel Service (UPS). The company that we see everyday but know so little about. How did a company that began as a bicycle messenger service in Seattle, Washington become a global behemoth? How did it displace General Motors, the very symbol of American capitalism, to become the largest, private sector, unionized employer in the United States? And, at what cost to its workers and surrounding communities? Will it remain the Package King in the 21st Century or will be dethroned by Amazon?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642591644
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Joe Allen worked for nearly a decade at UPS between its Watertown, Massachusetts and Chicago, Illinois Jefferson Street hubs. Starting out as a part-time loader he worked his way through a series of part-time sorting and driving jobs until his final year at UPS where he was a package car driver in Chicago's Loop. Allen's work life has largely revolved different sections of the freight and logistics including for such major employers as A.P.A Transport (Canton, Mass.), Yellow Freight (Maspeth, NY), and UPS. He has been a member of several Teamster local unions and a member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union. He campaigned for Ron Carey's reelection in 1996, and for Tom Leedham in the two following Teamster elections. Joe Allen lives in Chicago, IL.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the 2020 Edition 1

2015 Introduction: Troubled over Work 3

Chapter 1 The Package King 12

Chapter 2 Uprising in New York 24

Chapter 3 The Rise of the "Quiet Giant" 38

Chapter 4 UPSurge at the Tightest Ship 49

Chapter 5 Air War: Taking On FedEx 69

Chapter 6 Democracy Comes to the Teamsters 78

Chapter 7 A War on Every Front 86

Chapter 8 The Campaign to Destroy OSHA 97

Chapter 9 Last, Best, and Final Offer? 105

Chapter 10 Part-Time America Won't Work 121

Chapter 11 The "Get Carey" Campaign 134

Chapter 12 We Love Logistics 152

Conclusion: Who Will Move the World? 169

Appendix 1 Do Black Lives Matter to Big Brown? 177

Appendix 2 Hoffa's Numbered Days 185

Appendix 3 Logistics' Two Fronts 196

Appendix 4 James Hoffa's Anti-Democratic UPS Catastrophe 205

Acknowledgments 209

Notes 210

Index 238

Editorial Reviews

"UPS activists, Teamsters, and others involved in the labor movement will want to buy this book, put it in their libraries, and take it down and refer to it as they strategize with their coworkers. All of those interested in the increasing inequities societies and the forces that cause them should get this book or get it into your community or university library." —Solidarity

“Get a copy of Allen’s book for yourself and then pass it on to a UPS driver the next time you get a delivery. She is part of the most organized section of what is possibly the most important industry in 21st-century capitalism, and the outcome of her story will have a lot to do with what our world looks like on the other side of this pandemic.“ —Indypendent

"Excellent book!! If you're the least bit interested in the lengthy and nefarious relationship between the Teamsters and UPS, this book covers it all. I'm embarrassed that I've worked for more than a quarter century for UPS and been a Teamster for just as long and didn't know half of the stuff that's uncovered, exposed, and revealed in The Package King!" —Rob Atkinson, veteran UPS and Teamster activist

"The Package King’s step by step narrative of how major changes in the Teamsters and in labor history can and did happen, should serve as an example to any young militants entering the trade union movement today. Anyone interested in taking on the rich and powerful on the shop floors of the 21st century should download and read this book." —Guy Miller, In These Times

"His new book The Package King: A Rank and File History of United Parcel Service which was revelatory to me on a number of levels. “Oh, hell, you may say, I know what United Parcel Service is”—and that’s what I thought, and know you don’t is the answer!" —Rick Kogan, “After Hours with Rick Kogan,” WGN Radio

"The Package King is a wonderful look at over a century of capitalism, its transformations, and the rank and file militancy, and peaks and troughs that have characterized the U.S. labour movement of the last 100 years. It is also a call to activists to get serious about analyzing the modern logistics system and how to think about how to build worker power within it." —Gerard Di Trolio, rankandfile.ca

From the Publisher