Teamsters ratify new UPS contract, avoid massive strike

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Tuesday that workers voted overwhelmingly to ratify a “historic collective bargaining agreement” with UPS.

The powerful labor union and the major shipping company were locked in tense negotations throughout the summer, with more than 300,000 Teamsters ready to strike without a new deal.

UPS and the Teamsters announced a tenative deal in July.

The Teamsters voted to ratify the agreement with 86.3 percent of members in support. It was “the highest vote for a contract in the history of the Teamsters at UPS,” the union said.

The union said the new five-year contract includes wage increases for full- and part-time workers, secures more workplace protections like adding air conditioning to delivery trucks, and would lead to “more full-time jobs.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien called the deal “the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS.”

“Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry. This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” O’Brien said.

The union, which represents over 300,000 UPS employees, said all supplemental agreements were also ratified, minus “the Local 769 LAI supplement which covers 174 members in Florida.”

It added the national master agreement would take effect “as soon as this supplement is renegotiated and ratified.”

Under the new deal, existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters would receive an additional $2.75 per hour this year, adding the negotiated increases will amount to an hourly $7.50 over the five-year period ending in 2028.

“Existing part-timers will be raised to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment will still receive all new general wage increases,” the union said among a list of highlights of the tentative deal. 

“Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour,” the union also said. 

The deal additionally makes Martin Luther King Day a full holiday for all UPS Teamsters, prohibits “forced overtime” on drivers’ days off and creates 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at the company, the union said. 

The union said over 60 changes and improvements were made to the national master agreement, which it called “more than any other time in Teamsters history.”

Updated at 4:49 p.m.