UPS, Teamsters seek agreement at local level

   While UPS employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday voted to approve a new national master contract, the union informed the company the agreement covering UPS Freight employees and some local agreements will require additional negotiation.
   “It will be ‘business as usual’ while UPS and the IBT resolve remaining issues and Teamster represented employees ratify new agreements,” said John McDevitt, UPS senior vice president for human resources and labor relations, in a statement.
   The national master contract, which covers about 235,000 full- and part-time employees in the United States, was negotiated well in advance of the current contract’s expiration of July 31 and will extend contract coverage through July 31, 2018.
   UPS said it’s committed to “quickly resolving remaining issues on UPS Freight and supplemental agreements.
   “This is part of the normal negotiating process and UPS is confident that these contracts will be resolved soon,” the carrier said.