Current:Home > ScamsUPS workers ratify new five-year contract, eliminating strike risk-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
UPS workers ratify new five-year contract, eliminating strike risk
View Date:2024-12-24 00:29:58
UPS workers on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new contract that includes higher wages for workers, effectively eliminating the risk of a strike that would have been the biggest in 60 years.
About 86% of voting members approved the contract, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a press release announcing the vote results. The agreement, which will also create more full-time jobs and will secure air-conditioning in new trucks, covers about 340,000 UPS workers in the U.S.
UPS drivers will earn an average of $170,000 in annual pay and benefits by the end of the five-year contract agreement, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in an earnings call earlier this month. The vote was the highest share in favor of a contract in the history of the Teamsters at UPS, the union said.
"Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS. This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers," Teamsters general president Sean M. O'Brien said in the Tuesday statement.
O'Brien said the new contract "raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry."
Teamsters general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman called the new five-year contract the "richest" he'd seen in 40 years.
What's in the new UPS contract
Here's some of what UPS workers are getting in the new contract:
- Both full- and part-time UPS workers who are union members will get $2.75 more per hour in wages in 2023
- New part-time hires at UPS will start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour. Wage increases will reach $7.50 an hour over the length of the contract
- Protections including in-vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a full holiday for the first time
- No forced overtime
Not all workers are happy with the deal, though. Anaheim, California-based package handler Jose Francisco Negrete, who has been working at UPS for 25 years, called the $21 an hour that new part-time hires will earn "poverty pay." He had been part of a contingent of workers calling for a $25 hourly minimum for part-timers.
In addition to the national master agreement, the union also said more than 40 supplemental agreements were ratified. One agreement covering roughly 170 Florida union members was not ratified. The national master agreement will go into effect when it is renegotiated and ratified, Teamsters said.
A UPS worker strike lasting 10 days could have cost the U.S. economy more than $7 billion, according to the consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. Such a walkout would also have caused "significant and lasting harm" to the business and workers, according to the group.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report
- In:
- UPS
- Union
veryGood! (9553)
Related
- Auburn surges, while Kansas remains No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports men's basketball poll
- Panel of judges says a First Amendment challenge to Maryland’s digital ad tax should be considered
- 18-year-old accused of shooting man 15 times, hiding body in air mattress: Court docs
- California Gov. Newsom proposes some housing and climate cuts to balance $38 billion budget deficit
- Young Black and Latino men say they chose Trump because of the economy and jobs. Here’s how and why
- Nebraska lawmaker seeks to block November ballot effort outlawing taxpayer money for private schools
- Wink Martindale's status with Giants in limbo: What we know after reports of blow-up
- See how every college football coach in US LBM Coaches Poll voted in final Top 25 rankings
- Mother of Man Found Dead in Tanning Bed at Planet Fitness Gym Details His Final Moments
- SEC hasn't approved bitcoin ETFs as agency chief says its X account was hacked
Ranking
- 4 arrested in California car insurance scam: 'Clearly a human in a bear suit'
- Ex-Norwich University president accused of violating policies of oldest private US military college
- Chiefs DE Charles Omenihu offers Peacock subscriptions for wild card game vs. Dolphins
- Volunteer Connecticut firefighter hailed as hero for quick action after spotting house fire
- New Pentagon report on UFOs includes hundreds of new incidents but no evidence of aliens
- Judge rescinds permission for Trump to give his own closing argument at his civil fraud trial
- Florida welcomes students fleeing campus antisemitism, with little evidence that there’s demand
- ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Defends Taylor Swift Amid Criticism Over Her Presence at NFL Games
Recommendation
-
Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
-
Miller Lite releases non-alcoholic Beer Mints for those participating in Dry January
-
2 young boys, brothers ages 6 and 8, die after falling into icy pond in Wisconsin: Police
-
Security of Georgia's Dominion voting machines put on trial
-
'I heard it and felt it': Chemical facility explosion leaves 11 hospitalized in Louisville
-
Taliban detains dozens of women in Afghanistan for breaking hijab rules with modeling
-
Ex-Norwich University president accused of violating policies of oldest private US military college
-
Court again delays racketeering trial against activist accused in violent ‘Stop Cop City’ protest