The Teamsters Union announced June 21 that it reached tentative agreement with UPS on a new five-year nationwide contract covering 260,000 workers. Bargaining continues on local supplemental agreements, with the next meeting scheduled July 9-12 in Minneapolis. Negotiations are also still under way on a contract for a smaller group of UPS Freight employees.
The union said it won’t release full details of the national contract until local bargaining is completed, but it did summarize some highlights:
- Across-the-board hourly wage increases of $4.15 over five years.
- Creation of a new classification of lower-paid full-time drivers that would do weekend deliveries. The drivers would work Sunday to Thursday or Tuesday to Saturday. Wages would start at $20.50 and reach a top rate of $34.79 by Aug. 1, 2022. Currently full time drivers earn over $36 an hour, and earn double time for Sunday work.
- For part-time workers, an end to a two-tier wage structure and an increase in the starting wage from $10 to $13 an hour as of Aug. 1, rising to $15.50 Aug. 1, 2022.
- Increased employer contributions to health and pension funds
After local negotiations are completed, the agreement will go before the membership for an electronic vote.
The current five-year contract runs through July 31, 2018.
The nationwide tentative agreement came after UPS workers voted to authorize a strike by more than a 90 percent margin. UPS publicly downplayed the strike vote, calling it “a routine and expected part of the negotiation process.”
