Breaking news: UPS and the union representing 340,000 delivery drivers reached a deal Tuesday, averting a nationwide strike that could have started on Aug. 1 and hobbled the U.S. economy.
“We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in a statement. “This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”“This agreement continues to reward UPS’s full- and part-time employees with industry-leading pay and benefits while retaining the flexibility we need to stay competitive, serve our customers and keep our business strong,” Tomé said.
Labor leaders say that the UPS contract deal is crucial to the union movement, which has shrunk by half over the past four decades and that a strong deal could influence future access to blue-collar jobs with middle-class pay and benefits. UPS members will now have the opportunity to vote to ratify the deal, a process that takes about three weeks. If members vote down that deal, the union would still strike, labor leaders say.At the heart of dispute was pay and benefits for the company’s more than 150,000 part-time workers today load and sort packages in warehouses. The starting wage for part-timers, is currently $16.
UPS officials repeatedly rejected the union’s claims that part-timers are underpaid, noting that part-time employees at UPS make an average of $20 an hour after their first 30 days on the job. They also receive annual raises, the same health benefits as full-time employees, and pensions that are exceedingly rare for private-sector workers, UPS has said.
The consulting firm AEG estimated that a 10-day strike would have resulted in losses of more than $810 million for UPS.
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