Teamsters to Resume Talks With UPS, Easing Strike Threat (2)

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will restart labor negotiations with United Parcel Service Inc., backing away for the time being from what would have been a colossal delivery drivers strike that threatened to snarl the national supply chain.

The Teamsters said they would return to the bargaining table after receiving an improved economic proposal from UPS. The union walked away earlier this week, saying that a strike appeared “inevitable.” But in a statement Friday, union president Sean O’Brien said UPS had returned with a more favorable proposal, and that the two sides had agreed to reach an agreement by July 5.

“UPS did not want to make progress on economics, but they conceded today that they will reach a deal by July 5 because they have no choice,” O’Brien said in a statement.

The Teamsters-UPS agreement is the largest private-sector labor contract in the US, representing about 340,000 delivery drivers. The current contract expires July 31.

The UPS negotiating team was encouraged by the Teamsters’ return to the table and believes the parties can reach an agreement by the July 5 deadline, spokeswoman Natasha Amadi said.

“It’s positive, it’s possible, and we share the same urgency,” she said.

The Teamster-UPS talks come during a summer of high-stakes labor negotiations. Nearly two thirds of hotel workers in Los Angeles were ready to strike Friday if their union, Unite Here, doesn’t reach a deal with hotel owners. The service workers want a raise of $11 per hour, about a third of their current rate, ahead of the city hosting the World Cup games in 2026 and the summer Olympics in 2028, union spokeswoman Maria Hernandez said.

The United Auto Workers will soon begin negotiations with the Detroit automakers before their current contract expires in September. Both the UAW and the Teamsters are led by first-time presidents who pledged vociferously to shake up the status quo—and not shy away from striking, as they felt their predecessors had.

The Teamsters haven’t walked out on UPS since 1997. The strike lasted 15 days and resulted in a pay increase for starting part-time workers, and the transition of 10,000 part-time jobs into full-time jobs.