Georgia-based UPS reaches deal with unionized workers to avoid walkout
The shipping giant reached a deal with Teamsters Tuesday
If it seems like Summer 2023 has become the summer of strikes, that’s because it has. Headlined by the writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood, several workforces across the country have been walking out on their employers to demand better pay.
But a Georgia-based shipping giant has reached a preliminary deal with its unionized workforce to avoid what would have been a potentially disruptive strike.
UPS and the Teamsters Union, which represents nearly 350,000 of its employees, were facing a July 31 deadline to hammer out a deal and avoid a work stoppage that would have impacted millions of American households and small businesses.
Among other things, the new $30 billion deal includes raises for both full-time and part-time employees. Mandatory overtime on drivers’ off days will come to an end, according to CNBC. Furthermore, UPS has agreed to equip newer delivery vehicles with air conditioning starting in 2024.
The Biden administration is surely breathing a sigh of relief upon hearing this news. With inflation easing and the labor market holding steady, a UPS strike and its impacts would have cast a huge shadow over a seemingly positive economic outlook.
The President has spoken by phone with the UPS President and the head of the Teamsters union, the White House says.
Several Atlanta political leaders have also weighed in on the deal. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said that the deal was “welcome news” to the local and global workforce.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Atlanta) took to social media to praise the deal and called for more workforces to unionize. “Working families built this country and this is proof that every worker deserves a union,” she said.
The deal must now be ratified by the Teamsters.