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UPS chief sounds upbeat
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August 15, 1997: 8:22 p.m. ET
Informal talks with union continue into the weekend
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The UPS strike slogged through its twelfth day Friday, but the ongoing informal talks have the shipping company's president sounding upbeat.
"As long as there's talking, there's always room for hope," said James Kelly, chairman and chief executive of United Parcel Service, appearing on "Moneyline with Lou Dobbs."
Some 185,000 members of the Teamsters Union walked away Aug. 3 from UPS's final offer of wages and benefits, but Kelly admitted that bid is now up for negotiation.
"That offer was characterized that way in an effort to get it out to vote," Kelly said. "We didn't think we would be able to reach agreement with the union, and that offer is still on the table."
The continuing conflict is costing UPS both in revenues and in reputation.
"We've lost a few hundred million dollars in revenue each week, but that's money that normally goes to pay the salaries of the people who aren't working," he said.
The leader of the nation's largest package delivery company said he is "terribly concerned" about the image of reliable efficiency the company has built in its 90 years.
"We have lost that credibility," he said. "When this thing is over, we're going to have to work very, very hard to reestablish and get most of it back."
UPS and the Teamsters stepped up negotiations Friday, but union president Ron Carey said in a news conference that strikers must win the bitter dispute on the picket lines.
Carey said there would be two dozen rallies across the United States next week, with similar events in Europe, to drum up support for the striking workers.
"A contract that provides the good jobs for working families certainly won't be won at the bargaining table," Carey told reporters. "The only way you can win that is either on the picket lines, and in the community."
UPS raised the stakes in the negotiations Tuesday, threatening to fire more than 15,000 workers in cost-cutting efforts forced by the strike.
But through informal talks, the parties were redoubling their efforts to reach a settlement, said Susan King, spokeswoman for Labor Secretary Alexis Herman.
Even if UPS solves its current labor troubles, it may face another strike during the busy Christmas package delivery season. Independent Pilots Association president Robert Miller told a Washington press conference that his union, whose members fly UPS's planes, also is mulling a strike. 
-Will Morton
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UPS
Teamsters Union
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