UPS and Teamsters Union Announce Tentative Agreement to Avert Strike
The Teamsters on Tuesday reached the most historic tentative agreement in UPS history, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters. The highly lucrative contract raises wages for all UPS Teamsters, creates more full-time jobs, and includes a wide range of benefits for UPS employees. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously endorsed the five-year tentative agreement.
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien commenting on the agreement said that Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get the country through the pandemic and also that the union went into the fight committed to winning for their members.
Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman commenting on the agreement mentioned that UPS came dangerously close to putting itself on strike, but kept firm on their demands which is why the contract was such that levels the playing field for workers.
Deal Results in Higher Wages, More Jobs, Equal Pay, A/C, MLK Day, Part-Time Rewards. Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:
* Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.
*Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.
*General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.
*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.
*Current UPS Teamsters working part-time would receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.
*New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.
*All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.
*Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.
*All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.
*No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.
*UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.
*The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.
*More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and zero concessions from the rank-and-file.
Members from the 176 UPS Teamster union locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will meet on July 31 to review and recommend the tentative agreement. All UPS rank-and-file members will receive a list of improvements in the contract. Locals will conduct member meetings and Teamsters will have several weeks to vote on the offer electronically. Member voting begins August 3 and concludes August 22.
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