UNLOCKED: Air Workers & Article 40 – a "Stain" On the Contract

The Upsurge

Originally published on April 13, 2023.

Matt Cavagrotti is a part-time UPSer out of Teamsters Local 519 in Knoxville, Tennessee. But unlike most of his part-time union siblings, he heads to the airport for work.

Matt is one of more than 15,000 "air workers" at UPS, who are responsible for sorting, preloading and unloading the millions of packages aboard the over 2,000 daily flights to 700+ airports around the world. Air workers are integral to UPS's revenues, and yet they're among the most exploited in the entire company workforce – and have been since the late 1980s.

This is because their conditions are governed under the egregious concessions of Article 40 in the national collective bargaining agreement at UPS – a "stain" on the contract. Alongside other air workers, Matt is organizing to reform Article 40 and break a lesser known division in the Teamster ranks.

In this bonus episode of The Upsurge, Matt unpacks the history and impacts of Article 40 in the national UPS contract, and why air workers deserve solidarity just like any other UPSer.

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Hosted by Teddy Ostrow

Edited by Teddy Ostrow & Ruby Walsh

Produced by NYGP & Ruby Walsh

Music by Casey Gallagher

Cover art by Devlin Claro Resetar

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Show Notes

• FixArticle40.com
• Reach Matt at [e-mail] and figure out how to get involved.
• Joe Allen, The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS (Haymarket Books, 2020).
• The Upsurge, Episode 3: Inside Part-Time America.