David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
UPS employees ratified an enormous five-year labor deal that features big wage increases and other improvements to work rules and schedules, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Tuesday.
The deal passed with 86.3% of votes, the very best contract vote within the history of Teamsters at UPS, in accordance with the union.
“Teamsters have set a recent standard and raised the bar for pay, advantages and dealing conditions within the package delivery industry. That is the template for the way employees ought to be paid and guarded nationwide, and nonunion corporations like Amazon higher concentrate,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in an announcement.
UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents about 340,000 employees on the delivery giant, reached a preliminary deal last month, narrowly averting a strike that would have rippled across the U.S. economy because the previous contract expiration on July 31 approached.
UPS moves $3.8 billion value of products a day, which is about 5% of the country’s gross domestic product, in accordance with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The parties had until July 31, when the previous labor contract was set to run out, to achieve a deal and avoid a piece stoppage. Staff began voting on the brand new contract Aug. 2. It is the single-largest collective bargaining agreement reached within the private sector, in accordance with the union.
Part-time employees will make a minimum of $21 an hour, up from a minimum of $15.50 currently, in accordance with the union. Part-time pay was a sticking point during labor negotiations. Full-time employees will average $49 an hour. Current employees will get $2.75 more an hour this 12 months and $7.50 an hour more over the five-year contract.
UPS drivers will average $170,000 in pay and advantages at the tip of the five-year deal, said CEO Carol Tomé on an earnings call earlier this month.
The corporate cut its full-year revenue and margin forecasts, citing the “volume impact from labor negotiations and the prices related to the tentative agreement.”
The union is the most recent labor organization to push a significant U.S. company for higher pay, schedules and other work rules within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and decades-high inflation.
On Monday, American Airlines pilots ratified a four-year deal that features roughly 46% increases in compensation, including 401(k) contributions, a deal the carrier sweetened after rival United Airlines reached a richer agreement with its pilots’ union. Delta Air Lines‘ pilots approved their deal, which incorporates greater than 30% raises, earlier this 12 months.
Southwest Airlines hasn’t yet gotten to a cope with its pilots’ union, which has laid the groundwork for a possible strike, though such stoppages within the airline industry are exceedingly rare under U.S. laws.
FedEx pilots turned down a tentative agreement for a recent labor contract earlier this summer.