It’s easy to feel jealous when you find out someone earns more than you. In the same company - it may be a kick in the butt for self-improvement so you can earn more or inspire you to finally get a job where you’re appreciated more.
But when you find out that someone in a “less qualified” industry earns more, that’s an open invitation to conflict.
This UPS driver on TikTok shared that they actually earn $42 an hour – less than they deserve – sparking a heated discussion about wages and unions.
More info: TikTok
If companies won't make conditions better for their workers, it's up to them to stand up and fight
Image credits: Mike Mozart (not the actual photo)
A UPS delivery driver named Juan Trujillo shared his thoughts about the upcoming strike, causing quite the stink online
Image credits: juantrujillo027
"Yeah, $42 an hour is definitely not enough. Even the company thinks so - that's why we're getting a raise"
"Yeah, we're gonna get a raise, and we do every year by $1.40 to $1.50 every year, and it's going to be higher around this one. We're not going on strike because the drivers aren't getting their raise, you know - our raise has already been negotiated - the full-timers, the drivers, we're gonna get ours, $42 is not enough."
Image credits: juantrujillo027
"And we're gonna get more than that. We're going on strike because the part-timers are only making $16 an hour"
"And that's unacceptable. And I will stand next to my part-time brothers and sisters and make sure they get theirs on this one too. And I'll sacrifice two weeks of work if it has to. Because that's what solidarity is. That's what we do. All right? And how the hell do you think we got the $42 anyways? By sitting back and accepting $35?"
Image credits: juantrujillo027
"No, we demanded what was ours, and that's what we're doing now"
"And $42, that's what it is now. In August, when that contract gets signed, we'll have more than that. And it's going to keep going up every year because their profits go up every year."
Image credits: juantrujillo027
Watch the full video here:
Some people in the comments decided to pick a bone with Juan, saying that what they earn is far too much already
It all started with Juan Trujillo’s - the titular United Parcel Service (UPS) driver’s - video 6 days ago, in which he shared that drivers will be going on strike next month as they are “making $42 an hour and it’s not enough - they want a piece of that $13 billion” that UPS made just last year.
If you want the nitty gritty details, according to UPS themselves, their 2022 operating profits were $13.1 billion. Operating profits are the money that’s left over after all business costs, but before tax. And according to Macrotrends, after taxes, that 2022 number “shrank” to $11.548B, which is still a pretty big pie, if you ask me.
Most likely enough to feed their 536k employees and pay them a living wage, wouldn’t you agree?
Even if you took only a $1B slice of all that and spread it across every single one of those people, it would amount to a $1.8k bonus. That may not seem much at first, but if you visualize 536 thousand people standing all side by side, you can begin to understand how much only one of the 11 or 13 billion is.
Now Juan is advocating for the “labor awakening” that is currently happening and saying that UPS drivers earn so much, have so much time off, and get other benefits by sticking together and striking. As UPS is the largest privately owned parcel delivery company in the US, they had 450k delivery drivers employed last year - about 84% of their 2022 workforce.
If these drivers all solidarize, what can UPS do but improve their working conditions and accede to their requests? Together they can stand tall and mighty against the various Cs (I’m looking at you, Chief Officers) and the loads of investors.
Without action like this, things are unlikely to improve under capitalism. Why pay your workers more when your goal is to extract as much labor for people as possible, all while paying them less? After all, that’s the straightest route to undercutting your competitors.
Image credits: Tomás Del Coro (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda reached out to Juan with some questions and he graciously replied to us with some answers. Asked about the us vs. them mentality present among workers and even noticeable in the comments of his videos, he said that it comes from frustration. This frustration stems from wage suppression.
People break their backs at work and get to see their companies rake in record profits while they don’t get any pay increases despite rising inflation.
“When I come on here and say $42 isn't enough, people hear ungratefulness for a wage they would gladly take. But they don't have to take it from me or any other worker, they have to demand it from the companies they are making rich.”
If you’re feeling frustrated and looking for answers, Juan Trujillo says that sitting around and hoping for things to get better won’t work.
“We’re seeing record inflation and record profits, yet wages are stagnant,” he says. “The companies will get away with whatever we will allow them to. The only way to send them a message is to strike, that’s the only power we have.”
Perhaps that has left you wondering what to do next. Juan has some advice - contact your local Teamsters office, discuss things with your co-workers, and spread the word on social media.
Juan’s gotten a huge response since posting his videos and it has been mostly positive. According to him, workers are fed up and are looking for answers. People can barely afford to feed and house themselves and their families, while many are starting to feel hopeless and depressed.
“But there is an answer, and it's solidarity and unionization. The labor movement is experiencing a resurgence right now, and the 1% cannot ignore it anymore.”
In this particular UPS strike, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (or Teamsters for short) represent 340k employees. Before discussions broke down, they had reached tentative agreements on installing ACs in more trucks and getting rid of a two-tier system which pays weekend workers less.
The core of the disagreements seems to stem from the fact UPS refuses to pay its part-time workers more, currently giving them a minimum of $16.20, a fact which Juan Trujillo mentioned in his video.
Across Juan’s video, you can see people saying that drivers shouldn’t be earning this much in the first place for such “unqualified” work. On the flipside, one person in the comments batted back, saying that anyone can get work as a driver, but not many people can take the difficulty of it.
But that shouldn’t be the focus here. It’s never us vs. them in these kinds of things. Just because a UPS driver will be getting more money doesn’t mean that you’ll be losing out on anything. Well, maybe your parcels will be a bit late during the strike, but perhaps we’d be better off sitting patiently while people are literally fighting to make their lives if not simply better, than at least livable.
Now, let’s dig even deeper - the largest UPS driver annual salary is earned in Washington, a bit over $62k. Let's also look at UPS’s CEO, Carol Tomé. She earned $19 million in 2022. Some math and… we realize that even the most earning UPS drivers get 0.003% of what the CEO earns.
What do class distinctions even mean when a person working in the same company earns over 300 more times than an employee? I hope it makes you feel any better that she earned $27.6M in 2021. Oh wait, it probably doesn’t.
This all leads to one thing. Bickering amongst ourselves will not lead anywhere. The rich will continue to bloat in wealth, while the poor will continue to struggle as they have for hundreds of years. Only by working together will we get anywhere. Fight for the wellbeing of your friends, your neighbors, and your coworkers. Encourage others to do the same.
Unless you stand tall as one, you will fall, divided, until you are all alone.
Juan’s video got almost 3M views on TikTok. Out of all these views, 315k people liked the video and over 29 thousand of them had something to say about it. Many cheered Juan on, expressing support for the workers who may go on strike in the near future.
Have any thoughts about the video or the article? Please share them with us in the comments.
The commenters expressed support for Juan and his cause
