Episode 3: Inside Part-Time America
Elbe Lieb is a UPS worker in Bloomington, Indiana, but you wouldn’t know she worked for the company if you saw her on the street, or even if you saw her on the job. That’s because Elbe isn’t one of the package car drivers that we all interact with. She is part of the company’s “silent majority” — the part-time warehouse workers.
In this episode of The Upsurge, we're doing something different. This is the first of a two-parter on what it's like to be a UPS worker. The company likes to boast that it offers full-time jobs with middle-class wages, but they almost never mention that workers like Elbe, the part-timers, makeup over 60% of their workforce. They're the backbone of the company, but (surprise, surprise) they sure aren’t always treated like it.
The part-timers we spoke to were from all over: Tennessee, California, Indiana, and Illinois. All in different hubs, with different regional contracts, working under different union leaderships. But in all of them, part-timers are organizing themselves in preparation for the potential strike in August.
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Hosted by Teddy Ostrow
Edited by Teddy Ostrow
Produced by NYGP & Ruby Walsh
Music by Casey Gallagher & Lobo Loco
Cover art by Devlin Claro Resetar
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