UPS, Teamsters to return to table

With strike looming, UPS calls for quick action to finalize contract

UPS offers rebates in bid to win back diverted volumes (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

UPS Inc. and the Teamsters union will return to the bargaining table next week after what will be a roughly three-week hiatus in an effort to hammer out a new five-year term contract just days before the old one expires.

In a statement, UPS (NYSE: UPS) said that “we are pleased to be back at the negotiating table next week to resolve the few remaining open issues. We are prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits, but need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country.”

In its own statement, the Teamsters said UPS had agreed to resume talks after buckling to pressure from the union.

Talks stalled July 5 over the issue of part-time wage increases.

The Teamsters have said they will strike Aug. 1 if a contract isn’t accepted by the union’s negotiating committee. Should union negotiators agree to a handshake deal, work is expected to continue until the 340,000 rank and file review and ratify the agreement. That process is likely to take about three weeks, the union has said.

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Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.