UPS Workers Win 21 New Full-Time Jobs in South Carolina

When UPS started replacing permanent drivers with temporary workers in Palmetto, South Carolina, two shop stewards decided to fight back with paperwork and patience.

John Gacsey and Russell Sires watched their delivery center shrink from 91 full-time drivers to just 75 between 2023 and 2026. Management claimed staffing was adequate, but drivers were drowning in overtime and temporary workers were doing union jobs.

So the stewards started documenting every contract violation they could find. Air delivery drivers handling ground packages. Temporary drivers working outside their allowed season. Workers from other buildings brought in to cover shifts.

For an entire year, they filed grievances nearly every single day.

At first, their coworkers blamed them for the chaos. Management told air drivers that Gacsey and Sires were costing them hours. Regular drivers heard the stewards were blocking help from arriving.

But the two kept talking to workers one by one. They explained that temporary positions weren't the solution. They helped air drivers file their own grievances when management cheated them on pay.

The turning point came when an air driver filed his first grievance without being asked. Other workers started documenting violations themselves. A dozen members formed an informal team, texting each other about temporary workers showing up and tracking overtime abuses.

Drivers who had never filed grievances before started enforcing their rights to reasonable work hours. The penalty payments to workers climbed into the thousands of dollars every few weeks.

The Ripple Effect

The pressure finally cracked management's strategy. When the grievance over seasonal workers reached the dispute panel, UPS offered to create three jobs. Local 509 backed the stewards and rejected the offer.

The company agreed to create 12 full-time driver positions in Palmetto and 21 total across the local union. These aren't temporary gigs but permanent jobs with full benefits and union protection.

The victory shows how worker organizing can counter corporate cost-cutting strategies. By turning individual frustrations into collective action, the stewards built power that management couldn't ignore.

Their success required patience, daily documentation, and dozens of uncomfortable conversations with angry coworkers. But it worked because they showed workers the real problem wasn't each other but a company trying to replace good jobs with precarious ones.

Now the challenge is keeping those dozen newly active members engaged in their union, turning a one-time campaign into lasting worker power.