UPS driver Juan Trujillo leveraged the power of his TikTok platform recently to raise awareness about the imminent strike he and his fellow colleagues are set to join next month following the company’s billion-dollar revenue announcement.
For context, UPS released its first-quarter earnings for 2023 back in April. The announcement shared on UPS’ official website revealed that the company had earned $22.9 billion in revenue. Despite the massive profit, it was considered “a 6% decrease” from 2022’s first-quarter earnings. Overall in 2022, the company made a total of $100.3 billion.
In a clip uploaded earlier this week, Trujillo revealed that in light of the news, many workers have been negotiating their contracts to make more money. Even with their efforts, those negotiations fell through. Trujillo disclosed because of the employees’ unmet needs, they would be going on strike and encouraged everyone that worked for similar companies making billion-dollar revenues to do the same.
Things were going very well until Trujillo shared his salary as a delivery driver for UPS, which is $42 an hour. The reason surrounding the backlash was because many felt that Trujillo should be appreciative of how much he was making with minimal skills.
One TikTok user wrote, “No way you deserve [$42] an hour as a delivery guy, lol. Takes zero skills.” In another video, Trujillo would address those claims and inform the social media users of the sole reason why he and other employees are taking a stand.
Trujillo starts the clip by saying that although he is making $42 an hour as a delivery driver, UPS plans to give him and other full-time delivery drivers a raise because it has been negotiated in their contract. He said,
“Yeah, 42 an hour is definitely not enough. Even the company thinks so, that’s why we’re getting a raise. We’re going to get a raise. We do every year $1.40, $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 already been negotiated. Full-timers and drivers, we’re going to get ours. $42 is not enough and we’re going to get more than that.”
Also, in the video, Trujillo explained the main reason behind the strike is because of the low wages part-time employees receive. Furthermore, Trujillo disclosed he is “willing to sacrifice two weeks of work” to ensure they are fairly compensated for their contributions.
“We’re going on strike because of part-timers only making $16 an hour and that’s unacceptable. I will stand next to my part-time brothers and sisters and make sure they get theirs and this one too. I’m willing to sacrifice two weeks of work if I have to cause that’s what solidarity is. That’s what we do, alright.”
Trujillo wrapped up the clip by informing his followers how full-time delivery drivers got the $42 hourly rate. While mentioning that delivery drivers, at least full-timers’ rate increases because UPS’ profits “go up every year,” he stated,
“How the hell you think we the $42 anyway sitting back and accepting $35. Nah, no. We demanded what was ours and that’s what we’re doing now. $42 that’s what it is now and in August when that contract gets signed we’ll have more than that. It’s going to keep going up every year because their [UPS] profits go up every year.”
At this time, no additional information regarding the impending strike have been released to the public.