When Teamsters Local 705 official Juan Campos heard that the Chicago Teachers Union was going on strike, his first reaction was to text union stewards, reminding them that Teamsters honor strike lines of other labor groups.
He also encouraged them to display their red-and-white buttons that state: "Teamsters don’t cross picket lines.”
Campos, the secretary-treasurer of a local that represents about 17,000 workers including UPS drivers in Chicago, said that’s important to him because “today it’s them, tomorrow it’s us.”
“We stand behind the teachers union 100% and believe they should fight for every form of benefits and relief for the children they are seeking,” Campos said.
“Our drivers are not delivering any goods across any picket lines that are manned by the teachers,” Campos said. He noted they do have to abide by the law, which means if there’s no line, they must deliver.
Because the CTU has been publicizing their picket plans, which tend to be in the morning, that’s created a window in the late afternoon when drivers are obligated to make deliveries, said Richard DeVries, another Teamsters official. He said in some cases UPS management has been checking picketing hours and directing drivers around them. The longer the picket line is up, the less likelihood the deliveries will go across, he said.
The Teamsters said in Chicago, some CPS deliveries scheduled for earlier in the strike were held back until the day of the big rally downtown, because UPS knew there wouldn’t be pickets during that time.
“My experience of strikes is, UPS typically will stock those packages on the dock, they won’t go out for delivery knowing there’s a picket line,” Campos said. “They’ll either try to figure out a way of getting to them, or a customer may come to UPS to pick it up.”
Teamsters Local 705 has a provision in its contract allowing members to refuse to cross or work behind another union’s picket line. That’s not uncommon for a union contract, and case law shows that workers have the right to refuse to cross a picket line or work behind a picket line, DeVries said.
“This refusal to make the delivery is called a ‘sympathy strike.’ The driver’s refusal is in concert with the strikers,” DeVries said. The solidarity has extra significance for DeVries, the proud father of a teacher at Pickard Elementary, a CPS school in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood.
Among the packages scheduled for delivery this week were testing materials for the PSAT and SAT, scheduled to be administered in CPS on Wednesday if schools are in session. CPS already postponed the tests from their original date of Oct. 16, the day before the strike began.
A message from UPS on Friday that one Local 705 member showed the Tribune stated “All High Schools need an attempt today,” and that high schools were in need of testing packets.
A CPS official said more than 30 schools had received packages containing testing materials by Thursday afternoon. On Friday, deliveries continued to trickle in to schools, and they were expecting to get all of them in time for the exams.
Alison Eichhorn, a member of CTU’s bargaining team and a history teacher at Lindblom Math and Science Academy, said UPS had stopped delivering mail at her school because drivers didn’t want to cross picket lines.
"Maybe some individual drivers are, but ours aren't," Eichhorn said. She said they were told that testing materials were among packages affected.
Eichhorn also pointed out the original PSAT/SAT date was before the strike, and CPS could have held the testing then.
“The board had the option to give PSAT on the 16th,” Eichhorn said. “Part of it is poor planning on their part. I am not against the PSAT. I’m a high school teacher, I understand the importance, but the board has the ability to settle this. We are asking what’s best for students and they’re the ones that set the date.”
Eichhorn said her classes were full on the 16th, but instead of giving the test she taught her students labor history.
“Hopefully we will be back in school on the 30th,” Eichhorn said. “If we are not back in by the makeup date, that’s on them.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com
