UPS (Photo: MGN Online)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jessica Ray and her husband live in New York City, work full-time and don’t have a car. They now depend on the delivery of groceries and almost everything else for their homes. This means they can spend more time with their young son at the weekend instead of having to queue for toilet paper or lug heavy bags of dog food around the house.

“I don’t even know where to buy dog ​​food,” Jessica Ray said of the specialty food she’s buying for the family’s aging dog.

There are millions of families like the Rays who have traded store visits for doorstep delivery in recent years, meaning the contentious labor negotiations now at UPS could be far more disruptive than they were last time in 1997, when a gruff upstart Amazon called. com became a public company.

UPS is delivering millions more packages every day than it was five years ago, and its 350,000 unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, still fret over a deal they say was forced upon them in 2018.

In an environment of active labor movements and lingering resentment among UPS workers, the Teamsters are expected to have involvement and the potential to intimidate a major logistics powerhouse in the US

The 24 million packages that UPS ships on an average day equates to about a quarter of all U.S. package volume, or as UPS puts it, about 6% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to global shipping and logistics company Pitney Bowes.

Higher prices and long wait times are all but certain if there is a stalemate.

“Something has to give,” said Thomas Goldsby, logistics director in the department of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee. “The python can’t swallow the alligator, and we’re all going to feel that.”

In other words, get ready for Supply Chain Breakdown: The Sequel.

In the second half of 2021, the term “global supply chain” began to enter loose conversations as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses struggled to get what they needed, leading to higher prices and wait times. Automakers simply held vehicles off the assembly line because they didn’t have all the parts.

Some of these problems persist, and a UPS strike threatens to worsen the suffering.

Those who rely on doorstep delivery for essentials may need to reconsider their weekly schedules.

“We’ve finally gotten to a point where we’re finally feeling pretty good about it,” Ray said. “We can take a Saturday afternoon and do a fun family activity without feeling like we have to do all of the daily household chores.”

UPS employees believe they have played a role in changing the way Americans shop since the last contract was ratified in 2018, while helping make UPS a much more valuable company.

UPS’s annual profit over the past two years is nearly three times what it was before the pandemic. The Atlanta-based company returned approximately $8.6 billion to shareholders in 2022 in the form of dividends and share repurchases, and projects an additional $8.4 billion to shareholders this year.

The Teamsters say UPS frontline workers deserve a portion of that profit.

“Our members have been working really hard against the pandemic,” said Teamsters spokeswoman Kara Deniz. “They must see their fair share.”

Union members rejected the contract offered to them in 2018, but it was pushed through by union leadership on a technicality. So fierce was the dispute over the current contract that workers last year rejected a candidate favored by longtime union leader James Hoffa to lead the Teamsters, opting instead for the more combative Sean O’Brien.

O’Brien undertook a nationwide tour of local Teamsters stores to prepare frontline workers for negotiations.

In addition to tackling part-time wages and what workers describe as excessive overtime, the union also wants to scrap a contract provision that created two separate hierarchies of workers with different pay levels, hours and benefits. Driver safety, especially the lack of air conditioning in vans, also plays a role.

A win at UPS could have an impact on organized labor outside the company.

Teamsters are trying to organize Amazon workers, and dozens of the company’s delivery drivers and dispatchers in California joined the union last month. There are also prominent union campaigns at Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Apple and even strippers at a Los Angeles dance club.

“This has tremendous implications for the entire labor movement in the United States,” said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, referring to labor talks at UPS. “Many young union activists and some sections of the union establishment are showing greater assertiveness and militancy. Sean O’Brien is representative of that.”

When dozens of UPS locals met with Teamsters leadership earlier this year, O’Brien delivered a message of urgency.

“We go into these negotiations with a clear message to UPS that we will not go beyond August 1,” O’Brien told the gathering.

It would be the first walkout since a strike by 185,000 workers that paralyzed the company a quarter century ago.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé has remained publicly optimistic, recently telling investors that the company and the Teamsters are not far apart on important issues.

“While we anticipate there will be a lot of excitement during the negotiations, I remain confident that a win-win-win deal is very achievable and that UPS and the Teamsters will reach an agreement by the end of July,” he said tome

If Tomé is wrong, Americans may need to take more time to shop like they used to.

“It has the potential to have a significant impact,” Ray said. “My husband and I put a lot of effort into figuring out how to free ourselves from the burden of just making sure we always have toilet paper.”

The post UPS strike looms in a world grown reliant on every little thing delivered all over the place on a regular basis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

UPS is delivering millions more packages every day than it was five years ago, and its 350,000 unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, still fret over a deal they say was forced upon them in 2018.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jessica Ray and her husband live in New York City, work full-time and don’t have a car. They now depend on the delivery of groceries and almost everything else for their homes. This means they can spend more time with their young son at the weekend instead of having to queue for toilet paper or lug heavy bags of dog food around the house.

“I don’t even know where to buy dog ​​food,” Jessica Ray said of the specialty food she’s buying for the family’s aging dog.

There are millions of families like the Rays who have traded store visits for doorstep delivery in recent years, meaning the contentious labor negotiations now at UPS could be far more disruptive than they were last time in 1997, when a gruff upstart Amazon called. com became a public company.

UPS is delivering millions more packages every day than it was five years ago, and its 350,000 unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, still fret over a deal they say was forced upon them in 2018.

In an environment of active labor movements and lingering resentment among UPS workers, the Teamsters are expected to have involvement and the potential to intimidate a major logistics powerhouse in the US

The 24 million packages that UPS ships on an average day equates to about a quarter of all U.S. package volume, or as UPS puts it, about 6% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to global shipping and logistics company Pitney Bowes.

Higher prices and long wait times are all but certain if there is a stalemate.

“Something has to give,” said Thomas Goldsby, logistics director in the department of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee. “The python can’t swallow the alligator, and we’re all going to feel that.”

In other words, get ready for Supply Chain Breakdown: The Sequel.

In the second half of 2021, the term “global supply chain” began to enter loose conversations as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses struggled to get what they needed, leading to higher prices and wait times. Automakers simply held vehicles off the assembly line because they didn’t have all the parts.

Some of these problems persist, and a UPS strike threatens to worsen the suffering.

Those who rely on doorstep delivery for essentials may need to reconsider their weekly schedules.

“We’ve finally gotten to a point where we’re finally feeling pretty good about it,” Ray said. “We can take a Saturday afternoon and do a fun family activity without feeling like we have to do all of the daily household chores.”

UPS employees believe they have played a role in changing the way Americans shop since the last contract was ratified in 2018, while helping make UPS a much more valuable company.

UPS’s annual profit over the past two years is nearly three times what it was before the pandemic. The Atlanta-based company returned approximately $8.6 billion to shareholders in 2022 in the form of dividends and share repurchases, and projects an additional $8.4 billion to shareholders this year.

The Teamsters say UPS frontline workers deserve a portion of that profit.

“Our members have been working really hard against the pandemic,” said Teamsters spokeswoman Kara Deniz. “They must see their fair share.”

Union members rejected the contract offered to them in 2018, but it was pushed through by union leadership on a technicality. So fierce was the dispute over the current contract that workers last year rejected a candidate favored by longtime union leader James Hoffa to lead the Teamsters, opting instead for the more combative Sean O’Brien.

O’Brien undertook a nationwide tour of local Teamsters stores to prepare frontline workers for negotiations.

In addition to tackling part-time wages and what workers describe as excessive overtime, the union also wants to scrap a contract provision that created two separate hierarchies of workers with different pay levels, hours and benefits. Driver safety, especially the lack of air conditioning in vans, also plays a role.

A win at UPS could have an impact on organized labor outside the company.

Teamsters are trying to organize Amazon workers, and dozens of the company’s delivery drivers and dispatchers in California joined the union last month. There are also prominent union campaigns at Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Apple and even strippers at a Los Angeles dance club.

“This has tremendous implications for the entire labor movement in the United States,” said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, referring to labor talks at UPS. “Many young union activists and some sections of the union establishment are showing greater assertiveness and militancy. Sean O’Brien is representative of that.”

When dozens of UPS locals met with Teamsters leadership earlier this year, O’Brien delivered a message of urgency.

“We go into these negotiations with a clear message to UPS that we will not go beyond August 1,” O’Brien told the gathering.

It would be the first walkout since a strike by 185,000 workers that paralyzed the company a quarter century ago.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé has remained publicly optimistic, recently telling investors that the company and the Teamsters are not far apart on important issues.

“While we anticipate there will be a lot of excitement during the negotiations, I remain confident that a win-win-win deal is very achievable and that UPS and the Teamsters will reach an agreement by the end of July,” he said tome

If Tomé is wrong, Americans may need to take more time to shop like they used to.

“It has the potential to have a significant impact,” Ray said. “My husband and I put a lot of effort into figuring out how to free ourselves from the burden of just making sure we always have toilet paper.”

Copyright © 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

The post UPS strike looms in a world grown reliant on every thing delivered in every single place on a regular basis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

WASHINGTON – Jessica Ray and her husband live in New York City, work full-time and don’t have a car. They now depend on the delivery of groceries and almost everything else for their homes. This means they can spend more time with their young son at the weekend instead of having to queue for toilet paper or lug heavy bags of dog food around the house.

“I don’t even know where to buy dog ​​food,” Jessica Ray said of the specialty food she’s buying for the family’s aging dog.

There are millions of families like the Rays who have traded store visits for door-to-door delivery in recent years, meaning the contentious labor negotiations now at UPS could be far more disruptive than they were last time in 1997, when a gruff upstart Amazon called. com became a public company.

UPS is delivering millions more packages every day than it was five years ago, and its 350,000 unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, still fret over a deal they believe was forced upon them in 1998.

In an environment of active labor movements and lingering resentment among UPS workers, the Teamsters are expected to have involvement and the potential to intimidate a major logistics powerhouse in the US

The 24 million packages that UPS ships on an average day equates to about a quarter of all U.S. package volume, or as UPS puts it, about 6% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to global shipping and logistics company Pitney Bowes.

Higher prices and long wait times are all but certain if there is a stalemate.

“Something has to give,” said Thomas Goldsby, logistics director in the department of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee. “The python can’t swallow the alligator, and we’re all going to feel that.”

In other words, get ready for Supply Chain Breakdown: The Sequel.

In the second half of 2021, the term “global supply chain” began to enter loose conversations as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses struggled to get what they needed, leading to higher prices and wait times. Automakers simply held vehicles off the assembly line because they didn’t have all the parts.

Some of these problems persist, and a UPS strike threatens to worsen the suffering.

Those who rely on doorstep delivery for essentials may need to reconsider their weekly schedules.

“We’ve finally gotten to a point where we’re finally feeling pretty good about it,” Ray said. “We can take a Saturday afternoon and do a fun family activity without feeling like we have to do all of the daily household chores.”

UPS employees believe they have played a role in changing the way Americans shop since the last contract was ratified in 2018, while helping make UPS a much more valuable company.

UPS’s annual profit over the past two years is nearly three times what it was before the pandemic. The Atlanta-based company returned approximately $8.6 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases in 2022, and projects an additional $8.4 billion to shareholders this year.

The Teamsters say UPS frontline workers deserve a portion of that profit.

“Our members have been working really hard against the pandemic,” said Teamsters spokeswoman Kara Denize. “They must see their fair share.”

Union members rejected the offer of a 2018 contract, but the contract was enforced by the union leadership on a technicality. So fierce was the dispute over the current contract that workers last year rejected a candidate favored by longtime union leader James Hoffa to lead the Teamsters, opting instead for the more combative Sean O’Brien.

O’Brien undertook a nationwide tour of local Teamsters stores to prepare frontline workers for negotiations.

In addition to tackling part-time wages and what workers describe as excessive overtime, the union also wants to scrap a contract provision that created two separate hierarchies of workers with different pay levels, hours and benefits. Driver safety, especially the lack of air conditioning in vans, also plays a role.

A win at UPS could have an impact on organized labor outside the company.

Teamsters are trying to organize Amazon workers, and dozens of the company’s delivery drivers and dispatchers in California joined the union last month. There are also prominent union campaigns at Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Apple and even strippers at a Los Angeles dance club.

“This has tremendous implications for the entire labor movement in the United States,” said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, referring to labor talks at UPS. “Many young union activists and some sections of the union establishment are showing greater assertiveness and militancy. Sean O’Brien is representative of that.”

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When dozens of UPS locals met with Teamsters leadership earlier this year, O’Brien delivered a message of urgency.

“We go into these negotiations with a clear message to UPS that we will not go beyond August 1,” O’Brien told the gathering.

It would be the first walkout since a strike by 185,000 workers that paralyzed the company a quarter century ago.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé has remained publicly optimistic, recently telling investors that the company and the Teamsters are not far apart on important issues.

“While we anticipate there will be a lot of excitement during the negotiations, I remain confident that a win-win-win deal is very achievable and that UPS and the Teamsters will reach an agreement by the end of July,” he said tome

If Tomé is wrong, Americans may need to take more time to shop like they used to.

“It has the potential to have a significant impact,” Ray said. “My husband and I put a lot of effort into figuring out how to free ourselves from the burden of just making sure we always have toilet paper.”

The post UPS strike looms in a world grown reliant on deliveries appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Brick roasted chicken

Kelly Puleio

Bluestem Restaurant & Market located in the heart of downtown San Francisco celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and with it managed to overcome the peak of the pandemic and reemerge as a stronger, all-encompassing one-stop-shop for hungry guests looking for a dining experience, whether it be a quick midday lunch or five course dinner.

With a menu focused on utilizing the highest quality bounty of ingredients Northern California has to offer, combined with the global diversity of cultures and flavors San Francisco is known for, Bluestem offers diners a unique selection of sharable plates. The new menu takes inspiration from the many culinary traditions and techniques that has been brought by waves of immigration spanning more than two centuries to the city.

“Bluestem has always been committed to local and sustainable cooking,” says Adam Jed, co-founder of Bluestem Restaurant & Market. “With the reopening we decided to focus on California coastal fare, the ingredients that grow here and the cultural influences from the many waves of immigration who have shaped this region today.”

Kimchi fritters

Kelly Puleio

On the other side of the restaurant is Bluestem’s artisanal market. The market’s products are inspired by their chef’s pantry, offering a carefully curated snapshot of the Bay Area’s incredible community of local food artisans. Guests can expect to find Pastry Chef Lori Baker’s fresh baked Cinnamon Crunch Babka Muffins—made in limited quantities each morning—Nespresso coffee, cold pressed juices and wellness shots, sandwiches, salads, snacks, prepared food items, pantry staples including artisan coffees and sea salts, as well as vegan soft serve.

We sat down with Adam Jed, co-founder of Bluestem Restaurant & Market to chat about the restaurants 10 years in business, the new menu and market offerings and more. Here’s what he had to say.

Bluestem celebrated its 10th anniversary last year — how has the establishment evolved since opening? In what ways has it grown and changed over the past decade?

The core ethos for Bluestem has remained constant over the years. We are dedicated to farmers and ranchers who practice sustainable techniques, focusing on those which bring only the highest quality ingredients and share our ethos to the forefront of our culinary vision.

Over the last decade Bluestem has continued to honor not just its menu offerings but additionally the way in which we offer our products.

NY strip steak

Kelly Puleio

Talk about the new marketplace and offerings.

The dining consumer has evolved much over the years and it continues to be our mission to meet that guest wherever they are. We recently introduced a marketplace that features the ingredients we are using to produce our seasonal menu which provides the opportunity for our guests to take home (or give as a gift) unique ingredients that can elevate any cooking. We also added “a deli” section of grab n’ go daily fresh made meals and meal accompaniments for the guest to grab either by pick-up or delivery.

Within the restaurant we have added upgraded features, an oyster bar, and BAOninis, our fresh approach to San Francisco street food. We “opened up” the space; adding living plants and a new layout provides a more airy & comfortable floor plan. We also added the ability for our guests to order and pay at the table, implementing QR and order when you are ready technology.

Many of our menu items are lighter now, with a larger focus on vegetables, nuts and seeds than ever before; because that is a diet that supports a more sustainable ecosystem. We also redesigned our menu so we could serve guests faster, and cross utilize ingredients across our restaurant and market so we could help eliminate food waste.

interiors

Kelly Puleio

Bluestem took a big hit as most restaurants did during the pandemic. How did you overcome this period of time and in what ways did you need to pivot to stay afloat?

The entire San Francisco Bay area took a hit during the pandemic. Many of the changes that we witnessed over the last two years in particular are no different than many other businesses faced during this time, it is our responsibility to figure out how to meet the new demand.

Because of the pandemic we had the opportunity to take a deep dive into many of the challenges that we have been facing in the hospitality industry and use it as an opportunity to challenge our beliefs and explore ways to improve the industry. We changed our labor model, eliminating tips and moving to a gratuity-inclusive menu pricing structure and introducing profit distribution for all Bluestem shared amongst all associates.

We also guarantee our teammates full time employment, 40 hours a week, with health, dental, vision, 401K, financial planning services, and programs like AFLAC, to help when those unexpected situations arise. We train our associates to take on more responsibility and learn important tasks, all to prepare them for their futures (wherever they may go), so making everyone stronger teammates.

It does financially cost the business more – but we know everyone needs the opportunity to actively develop their own personal growth plans, and everyone helps to make the restaurant even better.

Honolulu hangover cake

Kelly Puleio

What’s the inspiration for the menu? Menu highlights? Talk about your new all day brunch menu — why brunch and why the change?

We focus on Northern California coastal fare, working with local sustainable farmers, ranchers and producers to showcase local foods and acknowledging how many different waves of immigration have shaped our food system.

We realized that with so many working from home meal times are not as regimented as they once were so we moved to an all day menu – and given brunch has always been a favorite meal period and people love our brunch items, we wanted to make select items available all day – every day.

BAOnini

Kelly Puleio

Menu highlights include our signature BAOnini which we created to offer a delicious and portable meal to enjoy on the go – adapting flavors we know and love. Others include a crispy pork belly sandwich, a decadent truffle grilled cheese and our kimchi corn fritters; and of course the two items we couldn’t remove from our menu were our brown butter cornbread with honey butter and our Honolulu Hangover Cake.

What can guests expect when dining here as opposed to other downtown eateries?

By putting the power of ordering in the hands of each and every guest we can now tailor experiences to meet exactly when our diners are looking for when they are ready for it. By relaxing the traditional reservation style approach to dining we have been able to offer a more familial style of service.

We’re selling a crazy amount of oysters right now. But really what sets us apart is that we are open all day long and you can customize your own experience, you can be in and out in 10 minutes or you can have a 3-course meal paired with drinks. You can eat here or grab something to go. You can come for drinks and desserts after visiting a museum or grab a pre-theater dinner before a show or ballet.

Talk about the cocktail menu and popular sips

Like our food, our cocktails feature local seasonal ingredients that have been inspired by California cooking and the people who have settled here. One popular drink is the Bravocado with rum, avocado, citrus, mint and fine herbs.

Cioppino Cocktail

Kelly Puleio

Another is the Cioppino inspired by the iconic San Francisco seafood stew, it is like a lighter clarified bloody mary with tequila, mezcal, salted tomato water, lime, clam juice and hot serrano chili.

Anything new in the works for the rest of the season?

Our menu is seasonal so we’re working on some new dishes. We’re also working on introducing new items for our retail market, especially as we enter summer we want to offer more grab n’ go items that you can enjoy outside, whether hanging out at Crissy Field or enjoying a picnic in a local park. We’ll have pre-marinated meats to grill, our own bbq sauce, a collection of salads, sides and hot sauces, as well as cookies and cakes to go.

The post How San Francisco’s Bluestem Restaurant & Market Has Developed And Grown In The Previous Decade appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.