Employees at United Parcel Service have ratified a recent five-year contract, the Teamsters union said Tuesday, closing the door on a possible strike that would have put timely Christmas deliveries doubtful and sent shipping costs soaring.
The deal raises pay and eliminates a two-tier wage system for drivers at Atlanta-based UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, which handles a couple of quarter of US parcel deliveries and serves virtually every city and city within the nation. It also provides one other paid holiday, ends forced time beyond regulation and adds air con to recent models of the corporate’s ubiquitous brown trucks starting next 12 months.
An awesome 86.3% of voting members selected to ratify the agreement that covers UPS employees within the US, of which there are about 340,000, in keeping with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“The agreement passed by the very best vote for a contract within the history of the Teamsters at UPS,” the union said. The Teamsters didn’t say what percentage of members voted.
UPS Teamsters and employees hold a rally in downtown Los Angeles in July.AP
General wage increases for part-time employees double the quantity obtained within the previous UPS Teamsters contract – and existing part-time employees receive a 48% average total wage bump, addressing a key sticking point in talks, the union said.
Under the contract deal, current full- and part-time employees will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract, in keeping with the Teamsters.
Ending seniority-based wage tiers that pay recent hires lower than veteran employees can also be a central issue for the UAW-Detroit Three labor talks. UPS is the nation’s largest private-sector employer of unionized employees and ending the labor cost-saving scheme there may very well be an enormous win for unions and a possible blow to firms.
Meanwhile, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien has made no secret of his plan to make use of the UPS deal as a recruiting tool – especially for warehouse employees at Amazon, the most important customer at UPS.
Under the contract deal, current full- and part-time employees will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract, in keeping with the Teamsters.AP
“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 must be paid and guarded nationwide, and nonunion firms like Amazon higher concentrate,” O’Brien said.
Unions representing “essential” transportation employees including pilots, port employees and delivery drivers are having fun with enhanced bargaining power as a result of the tight labor market and stronger public support for unions.
In July, pilots at UPS rival FedEx rejected their tentative contract.
UPS cut its full-year revenue and profitability targets earlier this month, citing higher-than-expected labor costs and business lost throughout the tumultuous contract talks with the Teamsters.
