Workers at United Parcel Service have ratified a recent five-year contract, the Teamsters union said Tuesday, closing the door on a possible strike that might have put timely Christmas deliveries unsure 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 few quarter of US parcel deliveries and serves virtually every city and city within the nation. It also provides one other paid holiday, ends forced extra time and adds air-con to recent models of the corporate’s ubiquitous brown trucks starting next 12 months.
An amazing 86.3% of voting members selected to ratify the agreement that covers UPS workers within the US, of which there are about 340,000, in accordance with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“The agreement passed by the 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.
General wage increases for part-time workers double the quantity obtained within the previous UPS Teamsters contract – and existing part-time workers 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 workers will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract, in accordance with the Teamsters.
Ending seniority-based wage tiers that pay recent hires lower than veteran workers can be a central issue for the UAW-Detroit Three labor talks. UPS is the nation’s largest private-sector employer of unionized workers and ending the labor cost-saving scheme there might 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 workers at Amazon, the largest customer at UPS.
“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 workers ought to be paid and guarded nationwide, and nonunion firms like Amazon higher listen,” O’Brien said.
Unions representing “essential” transportation workers including pilots, port workers and delivery drivers are having fun with enhanced bargaining power on account 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 in the course of the tumultuous contract talks with the Teamsters.