The strike threat is definitely easing for UPS and its employees. Members of the powerful Teamsters union organization approved, with a record 86.3%, the new collective agreement entered into by their representatives with the management of the US airline during tense negotiations.
The union announced in a statement Tuesday that the Teamsters had “voted a phenomenal 86.3% to ratify the largest collective bargaining agreement in UPS history.”
A “historic” level for such a contract between the union and UPS, he stressed. This is the “most lucrative agreement ever negotiated with UPS,” said its president, Sean O’Brien, quoted in the statement.
“Our employees, represented by the Teamsters, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ratification of the new collective agreement,” UPS reacted soberly on its website.
Salary increase and job creation.
The agreement provides for an hourly wage increase of $7.50 over the term of the agreement, including $2.75 beginning in 2023, and an hourly minimum wage of $21 for part-time employees. The agreement also includes the creation of 7,500 full-time jobs, the hiring of 22,500 people for open positions and the elimination of forced overtime. In total, according to the union, it contains more than 60 changes or improvements “and zero concessions by rank-and-file employees.”
This contract was announced on July 25, a few days before the July 31 deadline, and had to be approved by the union’s 340,000 members before it could be implemented. They voted between August 3 and 22. Subagreements were also put to the vote and all but one in Florida, which included 174 members, were accepted.
The new collective agreement, which covers the period from 2023 to 2028, will take effect once the local issue is resolved, the union said. The Florida sub-agreement “will be finalized soon,” UPS said.
After starting talks in April, both sides called them off in early July, accusing each other of leaving the negotiating table and ratcheting up the pressure. A strike threatened to have disastrous consequences for the US economy.
Source: BFM TV
