- Oil prices hit by easing Middle East fears, most Asian markets rise
- Hopes pinned on peace across Taiwan Strait after drills
- Belgian pathologist and literary star gives 'voice to the dead'
- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
Teamsters hold 'practice pickets' for possible UPS strike
UPS drivers came out in force Friday for a "practice picket" event organized by the Teamsters as the union edges towards a possible strike in light of stalled contract talks.
Joined by progressive Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, workers at the UPS hub in Maspeth, Queens shouted demands for "fair contracts" and threatened to "shut it down" if the company doesn't return to the bargaining table with a better offer.
The negotiations for a new four-year contract have loomed for months as a question mark in logistics, but the odds of a strike rose earlier this week when labor talks broke down, with UPS and the Teamsters each blaming the other.
On Friday, a UPS spokesman reiterated a call for the Teamsters to "return to the table to finalize this deal."
The current contract expires July 31. The Teamsters represent about 340,000 workers, meaning a strike would be the biggest in decades.
Vincent Perrone, president of the Teamsters Local 804 in New York, said the practice picket events were designed for younger workers who were not around for the last UPS strike in 1997.
"You have to mentally prepare people that this could happen." said Perrone, who blamed the breakdown in talks on management not taking union demands "seriously."
Many of the speakers at Friday's union rally highlighted the need to provide more generous raises to part-time workers than UPS has so far offered.
Alease Annan, a part-time worker at UPS who addressed the rally, described the effort as "fighting for one single cause, which is leveling up the pay in New York City and everywhere in the United States.
Annan makes $16.65 an hour unloading trucks and sorting packages at UPS, one of three jobs she holds while working 60-70 hours a week.
"We're ready to strike if we have to," she told AFP. "That's not ideal, but we're absolutely ready."
A.Agostinelli--CPN