Shutting down ‘Big Brown’: reassessing the 1997 UPS strike and the fate of American labor

Abstract

In the summer of 1997, organized labor won a major strike against United Parcel Service. Staying out for just over two weeks, more than 185,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) crippled UPS's operations, securing pay increases and more full-time positions as a result. At the time, observers widely predicted that the strike would lead to a revival of organized labor's fortunes, especially as it showed that American unions could still win public support. Revisiting the strike more than a decade later, this article re-assesses its impact and explores why the predicted labor revival did not happen, as union density has continued to fall since 1997. It argues that observers exaggerated the strike's transformative impact, overlooking the structural barriers that have continued to cause organized labor to decline. The strike was a defensive victory that helped uphold the pay and conditions of the UPS workers themselves but unions in general have continued to be undermined by broad trends such as the growth of the service sector, the decline of manufacturing, and ongoing corporate hostility to organized labor. In addition, there were many unique features of the UPS strike, including the favourable economic climate at the time and public sympathy for UPS drivers, which have ensured that the strike has not provided a blueprint for most American workers. Finally, ongoing political divisions within the IBT also thwarted efforts to capitalize on the strike.