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UPS workers ratified a large 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 best contract vote within the history of Teamsters at UPS, in response to the union.
“Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, advantages and dealing conditions within the package delivery industry. That is the template for the way workers must be paid and guarded nationwide, and nonunion firms like Amazon higher concentrate,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in an announcement.
UPS and the Teamsters union, which represents about 340,000 workers on the delivery giant, reached a preliminary deal last month, narrowly averting a strike that might 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 response to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The parties had until July 31, when the previous labor contract was set to run out, to succeed in a deal and avoid a piece stoppage. Workers began voting on the new contract Aug. 2. It is the single-largest collective bargaining agreement reached within the private sector, in response to the union.
Part-time workers will make a minimum of $21 an hour, up from a minimum of $15.50 currently, in response to the union. Part-time pay was a sticking point during labor negotiations. Full-time workers will average $49 an hour. Current workers will get $2.75 more an hour this yr 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 associated with the tentative agreement.”
The union is the most recent labor organization to push a serious 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 yr.
Southwest Airlines hasn’t yet gotten to a deal 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 new labor contract earlier this summer.