CNN –
UPS and the Teamsters have reached a preliminary agreement on a new contract. This could potentially avoid a strike that could have started as early as next week and paralyze US supply chains.
“UPS has brought $30 billion in new money to the table as a direct result of these negotiations,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “We changed the game and fought day and night to ensure our members win an agreement that pays high wages, rewards their work and requires not a single concession. This treaty sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”
The deal comes as the American labor movement has gained increasing momentum and power. The pandemic caused wages for lower- and middle-class workers in the US to rise for the first time in decades, but contract workers missed out on much of those gains. That’s why recently unionized actors, writers, nurses and teachers have gone on strike, and UPS workers and autoworkers have threatened walkouts.
“Together, we have achieved a win-win-win agreement on issues that are important to the leadership of Teamsters, our people, and UPS and our customers,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in the statement. “This agreement continues to reward UPS full-time and part-time employees with industry-leading wages and benefits while maintaining the flexibility we need to remain competitive, serve our customers, and keep our business strong.”
The tentative agreement still needs to be ratified by about 340,000 Teamsters at UPS to completely end the threat of a strike. This ratification process will take a little over three weeks. A no by the members could still trigger a strike, but that strike would now take place at the end of August rather than the original date of August 1st.
The contract negotiations dealt, among other things, with air conditioning systems for delivery vans, demands for significantly higher wages, particularly for part-time workers and closing the pay gap between two different classes of UPS workers.
According to O’Brien, the two sides had previously reached an agreement on about 95% of the contract, but talks collapsed on July 5 over economic issues. They resumed talks on Tuesday morning and quickly reached a tentative agreement. However, details of the preliminary agreement are not yet public.
This is an evolving story and will be updated.