ROANOKE, Va. – A new study is warning customers and small businesses of the economic impact a potential UPS strike could have.
Anderson Economic Group released a report Friday looking into the economic impacts of a 10-day strike of more than 340,000 UPS employees.
A 10-day UPS strike could cost the US economy $7.1 billion. That could make it the costliest work stoppage ever in US history, according to the study.
Patrick Anderson, CEO of the company, says after years of research and studies into strikes, this one could be big.
“There’s not a small town or medium size town in America that won’t be affected if you shut down a third of the package delivery in the United States,” Anderson said.
The study says customers and small businesses alone could incur up to four billion dollars in losses.
Diane Speaks who owns She’s International Boutique in Roanoke is keeping a close eye on any news regarding a UPS strike.
“We receive about 65% of our international products from UPS. We get a lot from the other companies as well but UPS is the one who brings most of our products from all over the world,” Speaks said.
The Teamsters union has said it will go on strike on August 1 without an agreement on a new contract. Talks broke off last week with both sides accusing the other of walking away from the table.
UPS did say Friday that it has started to train its nonunion US workers, including managers to help continue at least some of the company’s operations if there is a strike. UPS has nearly 100,000 nonunion employees in the United States as of the end of last year.
“We can kind of keep an eye on it and see. Maybe in this situation, it might be delayed a little bit but we’re hoping they’re going to be able to work it out,” Speaks said.