BREAKING: Teamsters Overwhelmingly Ratify UPS Contract
Weeks after reaching a tentative agreement in late July with United Parcel Service (UPS), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced on Tuesday that the contract has been overwhelmingly ratified.
Had the union members rejected the contract, the Teamsters could have called its members out on strike.
“Today, Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS,” the union stated.
The five-year contract protects and rewards more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide, raising wages for full- and part-time workers, creating more full-time jobs, and securing important workplace protections, including air conditioning.
The agreement passed by the highest vote for a contract in the history of the Teamsters at UPS.
Although some UPS workers were unhappy with the agreement, the opposition was clearly not enough to those voting in favor of the contract.
In the Teamsters’ release, the union did not state how many Teamsters voted overall.
However, the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) reported that 58.1 percent of the eligible members turned out to vote.
There were 260,335 eligible voters of which 151,231 cast a ballot -- an unprecedented 58.1 percent voter turnout. (UPS Teamsters in Local 705 and Local 710 vote on their own separate contracts and are not eligible to vote on the national agreement. Non-members in Right-to-Work states are also not eligible to vote.)
Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement, according to the Teamsters’ press release, include:
Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023. Over the length of the contract, wage increases will total $7.50 per hour.
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.
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 will 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 will start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.
All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s will 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. Two fans, heat exhaust shields, and air induction vents in the cargo compartments will be retrofitted into all cars.
All UPS Teamsters will receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.
No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers will keep one of two workweek schedules and cannot 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.
Read the Teamsters’ press release here.