UPS Teamsters vote to begin contract negotiations in September

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said this week that its leadership voted unanimously to commence negotiations for the national UPS and UPS Freight contracts, effective September 27.

The Teamsters said these contracts represent roughly 250,000 union members throughout the United States.

And they added that the current five-year agreements expire July 31, 2013, with the UPS contract covering package delivery drivers, loaders, unloaders and sorters at UPS, as well as employees at Cartage Services Inc., while the agreement with UPS Freight covers drivers, dockworkers and clerks.

Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer and Package Ken Hall said in a statement that starting negotiations this year means that “three weeks will be dedicated this fall to address important operations issues, clearing the way to start focusing in January solely on the critical economic concerns of job security, wages, health care and pensions for both UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters.”

And UPS spokesman Norman Black told LM that “this progress is the right thing to do for our employees and our customers,” adding that an early start to the negotiations greatly increases the chances of an early finish.

The Teamsters said that this effort was spurred by UPS’s strong financial performance. In April, UPS announced that first quarter revenue increased 4.4 percent to $13.1 billion and quarterly adjusted operating profit rose 6.6 percent to $1.57 billion.

“The struggling economy and the company’s recent announcements about record quarterly profits make this good timing to open negotiations,” Hall said. “We want to address operations issues now so we can concentrate next year on other important issues such as wages, health care and pensions.”

In April 2011, aircraft mechanics at UPS represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) ratified a new labor agreement through November 1, 2013. This contract covers 1,200 aircraft maintenance technicians and employees in related trades at UPS.