Teamsters leader on tentative deal with UPS: ‘This is not just going to affect union people’

International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said Saturday that the tentative deal the union struck with United Parcel Service (UPS) to avoid a strike will also benefit nonunion workers.

“I’m confident based upon what we accomplished at UPS, we set the model for how to get a deal done,” O’Brien said in an interview with Fox News. “And a deal done in the best interests of the members, in the best interests of working people.” 

“And this is not just going to affect union people,” O’Brien continued. “I mean, we set the tone so high in the package delivery business right now, we set such a high industry standard. It’s going to help other folks that are not unionized to achieve the same things we have and hopefully we’ll put a plan together to organize those folks.”

The tentative bargaining agreement was announced Tuesday, just days before their current contract would have expired.

The Teamsters union — which represents more than 300,000 UPS employees — was threatening to strike if they couldn’t come to a deal on wages, benefits and compensation for workers amid contract negotiations.

UPS had made some concessions, including heat-mitigation efforts — like agreeing to air conditioning in certain newly purchased trucks — and making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a paid day off. However, the union also requested an end to the “two-tier wage system” opposed by members, and “ending forced overtime on drivers’ days off.”

The new deal includes higher wages, air conditioning in trucks and an agreement to hire 30,000 new drivers.

“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,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in a statement earlier this week.

With a tentative agreement in place, UPS drivers will continue to work as the contract is voted on by union members next month.