On Tuesday, United Parcel Service (UPS), the multinational shipping company, reached an agreement principle with Teamsters, the U.S. strongest union that acted on behalf of 340,000 workers.
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Thanks to this five-year agreement, which still needs to be ratified by the UPS workers, the shipping company avoided a strike that its workers were going to start in August.
“Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits. Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien.
“UPS put US$30 billion on the table as a direct result of these negotiations. We’ve changed the game, battling it out day and night to make sure our members won an agreement that pays strong wages, rewards their labor, and doesn’t require a single concession. This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”
The 2023-2028 agreement includes a wage increase that will benefit workers by "US$2.75 more per hour in 2023, and US$7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract."
Teamsters also stated that "part-timers will be raised up to no less than US$21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases."
On July 31, the workers' representatives will meet to discuss in depth the tentative agreement reached with UPS. Afterwards, they will electronically record their vote supporting or rejecting the tentative deal. Voting will go from August 3 to August 22.