OKLAHOMA CITY – Workers at United Parcel Service (UPS) have voted in favor of the national master agreement between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
All supplemental agreements, including Oklahoma’s Southern region, have passed with the exception of Teamsters Local 769 in Florida.
The national master agreement passed with 86% of the vote, and the Southern supplement that includes Oklahoma passed with 85% of the vote.
UPS and Teamsters reached a tentative agreement on July 25th setting in motion the vote that ratified the agreement and the regional supplements this week.
Overwhelming vote
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued a statement Tuesday:
Today, Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS. The five-year contract protects and rewards more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide, raising wages for full- and part-time workers, creating more full-time jobs, and securing important workplace protections, including air conditioning.
This was the biggest percentage vote in history for a Teamsters/UPS contract according to a press release.
“Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS. This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien.
“Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry. This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” O’Brien concluded.
We will continue to fight like hell to enforce this contract….
— Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman.
This is the richest national contract I’ve seen in my more than 40 years of representing Teamsters at UPS,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman.
“There are more gains in this contract than in any other UPS agreement and with no givebacks to the company. But the hard work doesn’t end here. We will continue to fight like hell to enforce this contract and make sure UPS lives up to every word of it over the next five years.”
Local, OKC reactions
Free Press spoke with Holly Baca, Package Handler at UPS, for her perspective on what the Teamsters are calling a “historic” contract.
“So roughly 60% of employees at UPS are part-time. Once you eliminate drivers, you’re looking at a much higher percentage for inside employees i.e. hub workers,” Baca said.
“Historically, part-timers have the lowest voter turnout, which I think is the biggest factor in not being properly represented (in contract negotiations),” Baca continued. “The problem is, for decades, part-timers have been a sort of ‘churn and burn’ kind of position. The company counts on its revolving door of low seniority employees, so why would they bother trying to take care of them?”
Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS.
— Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brian
Expounding on UPS’ business model, she said, “That is where profits come from: low-paid, part-time employees with less than half the daily hourly guarantee, half the vacation and holiday benefits, and half the pension. Part-timers with less than five years aren’t even vested in the pension, so anyone who quits at less than five years is basically donating the company contributions to the pension.”
On the differences between drivers and hub workers, she said, “I think AC in the package cars was made out to be a big deal because drivers are the face of the company, not hub employees.”
But the new agreement for AC in package cars comes with some cons.
“It looks like a big win to have AC in package cars – but for the record, UPS is not required to have AC in any package cars unless it was purchased after January 1st of 2024. All older vehicles will be required to be retrofitted with two fans and an exhaust heat shield. This is the reality behind our ‘big win’ for air conditioning in trucks,” Baca explained.
Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.
