UPS Teamsters Union members have voted to ratify a new five-year contract, officially shutting the door on any strike risk at the Atlanta-based delivery company.
Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86% in favor of the collective bargaining agreement. Over the next five years, the 340,000 union-represented UPS workers can look forward to air conditioning in vehicles, improved benefits, upgraded safety measures for drivers and increased wages.
Negotiators for the Atlanta-based delivery company and the Teamsters agreed to the deal in late July, with the ratification avoiding a nationwide strike.
Teamsters say that this was the highest vote in favor of a contract in the history of their time representing employees at UPS.
In late July, Teamsters agreed to a deal that avoided a potentially disastrous nationwide strike for the delivery company and the economy. Members started voting on August 3rd.
“The Teamsters are immensely proud of reaching [an] agreement with UPS to improve the lives of our members, their families, and working people across the country,” said O’Brien in a news release.
The tentative agreement includes:
- Air conditioning installation in new vehicles
- The end of a two-tier wage system
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day is now a paid holiday for the first time
- Improved benefits
- Upgraded safety measures for drivers
- Full-and part-time union workers will get $2.75 more per hour this year and $7.50 more by the conclusion of the five-year contract.
- The average top rate for full-time drivers increased to $49 per hour.
- Part-time workers will increase from just over $16 per hour to $21.
The deal caused a stir on social media after UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that an average full-time driver could earn around $170,000 a year, though that number includes about $50,000 dollars in benefits by the five-year contract’s end. Some users made jokes about applying to work for the company, and others questioned if drivers deserved to be paid that much.
The $170,000 covers both pay and benefits. That number is for the last year of the five-year contract and is only for workers who hit about 60 hours of work per week.
While the tentative agreement averted an August 1 strike, concerns over a potential labor cost increase exist.
UPS revenue even took a hit as a result of the talks taking such a long and tumultuous route, dropping almost 11% from this time last year to over $22 billion for the iconic brown truck company.
UPS officials say that some shifted away from the shipping giant to prepare for a possible strike after contract talks broke down last month.
Tomé said during the earnings call that the contract talks continue to weigh on the company’s bottom line.
“So it’s all hands on deck to win back the volume that was diverted as a result of the labor negotiations,” she said.
The delivery giant expects volume to build toward the holiday season when consumer spending and shipping typically pick up.
