A 90-minute walk-off in late February has cost 250 UPS drivers in Queens their jobs — 20 of them now, and the other 230 when the company has trained their replacements, the Daily News reports. The protest was staged in response to the firing of an employee and union activist with 24 years of experience. “These are middle class jobs that sustain families, and we can ill afford to have [so many] adversely affected by a rash decision,” said Public Advocate Letitia James, who has taken the workers’ side.
“Although UPS maintains that the job action was illegal, these tools have been staples of successful labor movements, and union members should not be restricted from employing these strategies if they feel workers are being treated unfairly,” reads a city council proclamation, delivered ahead of a City Hall press conference tomorrow.
But UPS says the drivers knew the deal, even the one who just came back from an on-the-job brain injury:
One of the workers who faces dismissal just got back on the job following a near-fatal accident.
Domenick DeDomenico, 40, was in a coma for 10 days after getting hit by a car last year while delivering packages for UPS. He fought back from serious brain injuries and needed a year of speech and physical therapy.
Just in case the giant corporation was seeming too sympathetic.
