ROANOKE, Va. – UPS and its workers’ union, Teamsters, are closer to reaching a deal that could improve conditions for more than 340,000 employees nationally.
Over the weekend, the Teamsters Union announced it has reached a tentative agreement with UPS, a final piece in what the union has called “the largest collective bargaining agreement in North America.”
The labor contract between UPS and Teamsters will expire at midnight on July 31 if an agreement is not reached between the two sides. Contract negotiations started back in April.
A group of day-sort workers at the Roanoke UPS hub have been laid off from work every Friday going on seven weeks. During that time they would stand outside the hub to practice-picket. Rather than calling it an official strike Vice President of Teamsters Local 171, Scott Barry, said it’s giving Roanoke UPS executives a chance to see what could happen if an agreement isn’t reached.
“We’re letting them know early, no we mean business. This is what it is about. You can either pay attention or not … but if you don’t act, we’re walking out July 31st, midnight,” Barry said.
Michael Bergeron has shown up every Friday to voice his concerns. He’s worked at the company for 22 years and says seniority doesn’t matter when it comes to his paycheck.
“Anybody who’s been with a company for a length of time that counts on their insurance and counts on their benefits … they don’t want to pick up and run and have to start all over again. None of us want to do that. We just want we feel we have earned,” Bergeron said.
One of the major stepping stones during negotiations was when there was an agreement to put air-conditioning in delivery vehicles. Pay remains a sticking point, with the union seeking significant raises and higher company contributions to the benefits fund.
UPS workers’ pay starts at around $15 an hour and can go up to $38 for longtime employees, although pay for more recently hired employees caps out at a lower level.
Teamsters along with UPS have negotiated the economic terms of a contract for the past several days. On June 28, Teamsters walked out of negotiations.
“The company needs to get really serious, what are these people worth? Their proposal was a joke … let’s be honest it was a joke,” Barry said.
In a tweet Saturday, Teamsters announced UPS had tentatively agreed to a new contract UPS proposed on Friday which included three major contract revisions that would improve workers’ pay and schedules.
The changes include ending forced overtime on drivers’ days off, establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, and getting rid of a two-tier wage system the union says is “unfair” to drivers who are “flexible” and are not classified as full-time drivers.
In order to prevent a strike, UPS and the union must reach a tentative agreement in time for its union members to review the deal and vote to ratify the contract.