United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement Tuesday, averting an August 1 strike pending a vote by union members.
A possible strike by the Teamsters’ 330,000 employees at UPS—the world’s largest parcel delivery company—had been forecast to be the costliest in a century, potentially draining the U.S. economy of more than $7 billion.
Instead, contract negotiations, which had broken down earlier this month, were restarted on Tuesday, during which UPS and the Teamsters struck a five-year tentative agreement that raises wages for all workers, creates additional full-time jobs and imposes dozens of workplace protections and improvements, according to the union.
Union workers went into negotiations arguing that the rank-and-file staff, who risked their health and lives during the Covid pandemic, ought to share in the record profits UPS made during those two years when so many people were sheltering at home.
In announcing the agreement Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement, “Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits.”
He added, “We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it.”
UPS CEO Carol Tomé likewise said, “Together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and to UPS and our customers.”
Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to a vote by the union members, existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract. Meanwhile, existing part-timers will see their pay raised immediately up to no less than $21 per hour.
UPS currently handles 24.3 million packages a day, totaling 6.2 billion a year, according to the company’s profile.
