The United Parcel Service and the Teamsters union reached a tentative deal on Tuesday worth $30 billion, meant to increase wages and better working conditions for union members.
Teamsters is one of the largest workers’ unions in the United States and includes 340,000 members. The union’s general president, Sean M. O’Brien, called the contract, which will be voted on later this month, a “new standard in the labor movement” that “raises the bar for all workers,” per a Teamsters’ release.
“We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said O’Brien. “We’ve changed the game, battling it out day and night to make sure our members won an agreement that pays strong wages, rewards their labor, and doesn’t require a single concession.”
UPS CEO Carol Tomé called the agreement a “win-win-win” on “issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and to UPS and our customers,” per a release.
Last year, the median pay for a UPS employee was $52,000, NPR reported. Tomé earned a salary close to $19 million.
The contract focuses a lot on fair pay and treatment for workers, including “historic wage increases” of at least $2.75 per hour for both full- and part-time UPS Teamsters, removal of a two-tier wage system based on seniority, and it ensures installment of AC units in vehicles, per Teamsters.
On July 31, union members will vote whether or not to adopt the tentative agreement for another five years.
It’s possible that if the agreement isn’t voted for, the company could still go on strike, which would cause a major disruption in package delivery, per NPR. The last nationwide strike in 1997 lasted for more than two weeks and cost the company about $850 million.