Dive Brief:
- Over 100 XPO workers in North Haven, CT, filed for Teamster representation last week, seeking to negotiate collaboratively for fair wages, affordable health care, retirement security, improved working conditions and "respect and dignity on the job," according to a Teamsters press release.
- The North Haven workers would be the first XPO warehouse workers to join the union, if successful. However, at least nine similar petitions from CA to NH have been defeated internally.
- XPO protested the move for representation in comments to Logistics Management, claiming the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was merely seeking more dues paying members and insisting their relationship with employees was good and open.
Dive Insight:
It’s an uncertain world for many those employed in labor and logistics, and warehousing it seems is in greater need of representation. Of the 21 divisions of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, warehousing is one of the largest.
Perhaps that's because unions are designed to protect jobs and wages, and as more and more warehouses move towards automated solutions warehouse workers fear they may be replaced.
In a study by researchers at Oxford University revealed that as many as 47% labor jobs that involve repetitive applications could be replaced by robots. In addition, a Pew Research Center series of interviews with technology exports also revealed many experts believe robotics will have distressing implications for workers.\
Another reason for seeking teamster representation would be a case of mismanagement, but XPO insisted to Logistics Management that their relationship with employees was not a cause for concern.
Regardless of the cause or result, the drive for representation should remind executives to be wary of how automated technologies is perceived or can affect worker relationships. Joint bargaining through unions can lead to short-terms disruptions due to strikes and higher operating costs.
