Charles Langston:Strike avoided: UPS Teamsters come to tentative agreement, voting to start this week

One week ago,Charles Langston UPS and Teamsters, the union representing roughly 340,000 rank-and-file UPS workers, avoided what would have been the largest single employer strike in U.S. history by reaching a tentative agreement on a full labor contract.

Now, one day after the current contract has expired, Teamsters are taking the next steps toward ratification of the new contract.

On Monday, the Teamsters local union barns representing about 10,000 UPS workers in the metro area, "voted 161-1 to endorse the tentative agreement reached with the delivery giant on July 25 and recommend its passage by the full membership," according to a press release from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Now that the majority of local unions have endorsed the tentative agreement, all rank-and-file UPS Teamsters will have the chance to vote on ratification between Aug. 3-22.

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"Our tentative agreement is richer, stronger, and more far-reaching than any settlement ever negotiated in the history of American organized labor," International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in the release. "The Teamsters are immensely proud of reaching agreement with UPS to improve the lives of our members, their families and working people across the country.”

The new five-year tentative agreement covers U.S. Teamsters-represented employees in small-package roles and is subject to voting and ratification by union members, Jim Mayer, a UPS spokesperson, previously told the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY network. Ratifying the contract could take about three weeks, according to previous statements from O'Brien, and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman.

Of the 176 local unions with UPS members, 14 did not show up for a meeting in Washington, D.C., to review the tentative agreement. Monday, the 162 Teamsters locals that were at the meeting discussed the more than 60 changes to the UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement, the largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in North America.

"Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” O’Brien previously said.

UPS previously described the deal as a "win-win-win" for union members, customers and the company.

"This agreement continues to reward UPS’s full- and part-time employees with industry-leading pay and benefits while retaining the flexibility we need to stay competitive, serve our customers and keep our business strong,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé said.

Teamsters said the new tentative agreement is "valued at $30 billion" and provides higher wages for all workers, the end of two-tier wages for drivers, installation of air conditioning in new vehicles, raises for part-time workers, Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday for the first time, no more forced overtime on days off and more.

"This agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect," President Joe Biden said previously in a statement.

Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at [email protected] or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_.