NEW YORK (AP) — UPS has reached a tentative contract with its 340,000-person union, potentially averting a strike that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses and households nationwide.þþThe agreement was announced Tuesday, the first day that UPS and the Teamsters returned to the table after contentious negotiations broke down earlier this month.þþNegotiators had already reached tentative agreements on several issues but continued to clash over pay for part-time workers, who make up more than half of the UPS employees represented by the union.þþUnder the tentative agreement, which still needs union members’ approval, full- and part-time union workers will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more by the end of the five-year contract. The agreement also includes a provision to increase starting pay for part-time workers — whom the union says are the most at risk of exploitation — from $16.20 per hour to $21 per hour. The average pay for part-timers had been $20.þþTeamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement that UPS put $30 billion more on the table due to the negotiations, saying the deal “sets a new standard in the labor movement.”þþThe two sides had already tentatively agreed to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a full holiday and to end forced overtime on drivers’ days off. Tentative agreements on safety issues were also reached, including equipping more trucks with air conditioning.þþUPS had also agreed to eliminate a lower-paid category of drivers who work shifts that include weekends, and convert them into regular full-time drivers. Under the agreement, the company will create 7,500 full-time jobs and fill 22,500 open positions, allowing more part-timers to transition to full-time.þþ“Together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and to UPS and our customers,” Carol Tomé, UPS CEO, said in a written statement.þþVoting on the new contract begins Aug. 3 and concludes Aug. 22.þþIndustry groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor leaders and President Joe Biden applauded the deal.þþThe White House said Biden spoke via phone with Tomé and O’Brien and pointed to their agreement as evidence that collective bargaining works and offered his best wishes for a smooth ratification.þþUnion members, angered by a contract they say union leadership forced on them five years ago, argued that they have shouldered the more than 140% profit growth at UPS as the pandemic increased delivery demand. Unionized workers said they wanted to right what they saw as a bad contract.
Source: apnews.com
