Who Moves America, a new documentary film by Yael Bridge, follows the thrilling journey of the Teamsters 2023 contract negotiations with United Parcel Service (UPS) and the possible strike by over 300,000 warehouse and logistics workers — a strike that could halt the nation.

In our hour-and-a-half viewing of the documentary, we follow several perspectives in the fight for a new contract which meets the needs of the workers who move 21% of America’s packages. We track the viewpoints of the 1997 UPS Strike veterans, the new guard of unionists carrying on the fight, as well as the staff organizers and representatives of the Teamsters.

Throughout the film, we see creative cutting back and forth between old footage of the ’97 UPS Strike — the last time workers at UPS walked off the job — and the present battle. We see and hear about the drama and real struggles involved in walking off the job and sustaining a strike, especially for the workers who are trying to navigate their first ever strike preparation.

Workers candidly speak on how to hold the picket line outside the shop, navigating police harassment and protection of the massive corporation, and the real worries of not being able to pay rent, buy groceries, or feed their kids at home. Also unforgettable are the shots of workers, who are struggling just to get by, to the audio recordings of UPS quarterly earnings calls, with reports of record high profits and dividend payouts.

It is notable that in 2023, despite an uptick in strike activity generally, a major concern of the union was the lack of strike experience and militant workplace organizing needed to protect and strengthen one of the largest union workplaces in America. The ’97 strike veterans notably speak about the life-changing experience of walking off the job and building the militant power needed to take power away from corporations and give it back to workers.

We then go to the new guard of workers organizing on the shop floor to turn out workers to strike meetings and practice picket lines. They gather at local cafes, restaurants, and anywhere workers will show up. We hear of the divisive tactics UPS employs, trying to pit low-wage and overworked part-time workers against higher-paid and more experienced full-time workers. We see the development of workplace leaders, workers organizing other workers, and the important guidance of union veterans to new union militants. The reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, plays a considerable role in the film helping to build unity and confidence among the workers as they prepare to take on UPS and win.

Of course, workers never strike for no reason at all. In the documentary, we see the still present issues of the crisis of everyday living, stagnant wages, the capitalist push for workers to enter in unorganized gig work, dictatorial management on the shop floor, a real lack of health and safety measures, workplaces overheating, and the sad deaths of union members across the country.

All of this leads to the heavy-hitting contract negotiations between Teamster staff leadership, rank-and-file activists, and organizers and the UPS corporate suits. And, to no surprise to those in the labor movement, UPS corporate executives drag their feet, all but ignore the workers’ demands, and do everything they can to make negotiations as difficult a fight as possible for the workers who are simply organizing for a better future and a better workplace.

A notable role was taken by the then-newly elected president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, who, among other staff organizers and representatives, took a leading role in negotiations and rallying workers in shops across the country. He said then that the UPS fight was “led by the rank and file” — the workers on the ground — and that “power was won by workers, not by the staff in the negotiation room.”

As UPS executives brought negotiations down to the wire and the contract neared expiration, workers began building “practice pickets” to prepare for the eventual showdown. However, at the final moment, the Teamsters negotiating committee brought the corporate executives back to the table and eventually secured a new tentative agreement for workers across the country to vote on.

After back-and-forth debate among workers in shops across America, the vote passed and the Teamsters secured another five-year contract with UPS. Their new contract rid workers of the gig-style work that UPS pushed, increased wages for part-time and full-time workers, provided air-conditioning for drivers, and included a strong list of benefits and protections for UPS workers.

But it was not without shortcomings, and some argue a strike could have won workers more — a debate still held today as workers continue to hold UPS accountable and enforce their contract.

“The Teamsters are the strongest union in the entire country, and the money that UPS makes is on the backs of the members we represent. We have to remind UPS who makes them money,” Jeremy Manley, president of Teamsters Local 245 in southwest Missouri, told me as we left the film.

“The Teamsters knew what we needed in a good contract for our members, and it was a fight to the very end with UPS trying to use delay tactics. But ultimately, they came to their senses and gave our members a fair contract,” he said.

Though the overall strength of the 2023 contract is still debated by UPS workers, it is hard to deny the important and historic role that contract fight played in reenergizing labor militancy across the nation. That year, their battle coincided with the Writers Guild of America strike, the UAW Stand-Up Strike, the SAG-AFTRA strike, and many other battles across the country, large and small. The potential shutdown of the country by UPS Teamsters brought much more attention to what the labor movement can provide for workers across the country if we get organized, united, and ready to fight back.

The UPS 2023 five-year Teamster contract expires on July 31, 2028. All eyes will then be back on the Teamsters.

The opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect the positions of the CPUSA.

Images: Who Moves America directed and produced by Yael Bridge. Film still of UPS Teamsters from Who Moves America. Credit: WhoMovesAmerica.com