mid-1994 (and did just that during the national trucking strike in June 1994). Carey also said that the union's budget was significantly out of balance. The union had lost 500,000 members since 1979 and assets had fallen to $45 million from almost $200 million in 1990. But Teamsters members turned down the dues hike proposal by a 3-to-1 majority in March 1994, and as Carey predicted the union was forced to borrow money from other unions to continue operating. Carey balanced the union's budget in 1996, but did so (in part) by reducing strike benefits back to $55 a week and warned that the union would have to use its general fund to pay strike benefits in the future. Carey negotiated two major contracts in his first term (for UPS and freight drivers), and both included concessions. He led the Teamsters through national strikes against UPS and the trucking industry, and neither strike ended well. Carey called a one-day strike on February 6, 1994, against UPS after the carrier doubled the allowable weight limit on packages. Many locals did not establish picket lines (although company operations in the Northeast were heavily disrupted), and the company refused to enforce to the lower weight limit. It was the first national strike against UPS. Carey was strongly criticized by union members and leaders for mishandling the strike, and UPS eventually sued the union for $50 million in damages. A month later, Carey led the union through a long strike against the national trucking industry. Trucking Management Inc., a negotiating group representing 23 major trucking companies (including Consolidated Freightways, Yellow Freight, Roadway Express, and Carolina Freight), and the union fought over the use of part-time workers during peak freight periods and an increase in the use of rail rather than trucks to haul freight. The strike was considered a major test of Carey's credibility and his control of the union. But after 17 days the strike began to slowly die, and Carey agreed to federal mediation in order to win a new contract. Carey also beefed up the union's organizing efforts, and stanched the loss of members. By 1996, the union had reversed years of membership decline, recording a net gain of 4,000 new members. Within the AFL-CIO, Carey was considered a reformer, and he supported challenger John Sweeney's run for president of the AFL-CIO in 1996. Carey's Second Term Re-election campaign James P.