Washington, DC – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Parcel Service wrapped up bargaining on all non-economic issues on Tuesday, June 20. The following day, economic proposals were shared, marking a new phase in negotiations.

The union and the company have been negotiating a new national contract. The existing five-year agreement will expire on July 31. The Teamsters’ new General President Sean O’Brien has promised to deliver the best UPS contract in the union’s history. On a UPS Teamsters member update webinar, Sean O’Brien spoke on the progress of the contract negotiations. Tentative agreements have been reached between the company and the union on a broad range of issues.

Overtime rules have been overhauled. The timeframe to request an eight-hour day has been reduced to three days, and penalties against the company for violating the request have been increased to four times hourly pay. Additionally, overtime over 60 hours has been made optional. Harassment penalties have increased, with potential payouts of up to five days of pay. Supervisors are now required to give as many as 24 hours of notice before doing ride-alongs with drivers and must provide a reason for doing so.

UPS has agreed to create electronic union membership forms and overhaul the broken payroll system. Grievance procedures have also been streamlined, with grievances over national language going directly to the national grievance panel. One of the biggest wins has been on the issue of air conditioning in buildings and delivery vehicles. UPS delivery vehicles regularly reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and a number of drivers have died due to the heat in recent summers. Under the new tentative agreement, all newly purchased vehicles will be required to have proper A/C, and many existing vehicles will be retrofitted with fans, A/C, and other cooling measures.

“We have reached tentative agreement on well over 40 non-economic issues that affect all our members at UPS, and we did it as a team. The Teamsters haven’t sacrificed a single concession in these negotiations” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. He went on to say, “Very soon we will review the language, changes and improvements in all articles with the entire membership. Plus, the fun part now begins to fight for significant wage increases for everyone — full-timers, part-timers, long-timers, everyone.”

Despite the victories made by the Teamsters during non-economic bargaining, many of the biggest demands and strike issues remain unresolved. Issues that will be negotiated in the coming weeks include higher wages for all employees, catch-up raises for part-time employees, expansion of pension and health benefits, additional holidays, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, and expanded paid time off. Of particular interest will be negotiation over the two-tier wage system in the current contract. The system, under which new drivers do the same work with reduced pay and rights compared to longer term drivers, has been demanded to be eliminated by the Teamsters.

The economic package presented Wednesday, June 21, by the Teamster National Negotiating Committee is the largest financial proposal ever made by a labor union. The company’s counter proposal that afternoon, however, saw minimal raises and net-negative cost-of-living adjustments. The Teamster National Negotiating Committee rejected the company’s counter proposal unanimously.

O’Brien states, “The Teamsters will not bargain or accept any contract that’s cost-neutral. We are not going to sell ourselves short in these negotiations, and we will not buy back terms and conditions to protect our members,” and went on to say, “This company is wasting time putting forth offensive proposals. If UPS wants to negotiate a contract for 1997 working conditions, they’re going to get 1997 consequences.”

While big moves are being made in the bargaining room, the Teamster rank-and-file members at UPS remain active. Parking lot rallies and contract action team trainings continue all over the country. The leadership of the Teamsters has called on local unions and members to organize pickets and rallies with the theme “Ready to Strike.”

With less than 40 days to go before the current contract expires, the pressure is on for UPS to settle an agreement. The recent strike vote saw 97% in favor of strike authorization, showing that the Teamsters are united and ready to go on strike if an agreement isn’t reached by August 1st.

A strike at UPS by the Teamsters at UPS would include over 350,000 workers, making it the largest strike since the 1950s.

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