UPS announces contract agreement with Teamsters to avoid strike -TGN

United Parcel Service announced on Tuesday that it has reached a preliminary agreement on a five-year contract with the union representing more than 325,000 of its U.S. workers, a major step in averting a potential strike when the current agreement expires August 1.

“Together, we have reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that matter to Teamsters leadership, our employees, and to UPS and our customers,” said Carol Tomé, the company’s CEO, in a statement. “This agreement continues to reward UPS’s full and part-time employees with industry-leading compensation and benefits while retaining the flexibility we need to remain competitive.”

The union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, reported in June that its UPS members had voted to approve a strike, with 97 percent of those voting in favor of the action. The preliminary agreement will now go to members for ratification.

UPS handles about a quarter of the tens of millions of packages shipped every day in the United States, and a strike could hurt economic activity, particularly the e-commerce industry.

The union cited the company’s strong performance in the pandemic era, with net adjusted income up more than 70 percent last year from 2019, as a reason workers earned substantial pay increases.

In particular, it had emphasized the need to improve pay for part-timers, who make up more than half of the American workforce represented by the Teamsters, and who are unionized. said earning “close to minimum wage” in many fields.

Negotiations had broken down in early July, largely over the issue of part-time pay, before resuming Tuesday morning.

This is an evolving story. Check back later for updates.