Freighwaves has this story, Fur flies as Teamsters begin hashing out UPS negotiating strategy, about the Teamsters approach to bargaining with UPS as their national agreement is up this year. Sounds like their new president has some ideas.
Sean is going to pick a fight with this company, and that fight is to get the very best contract we can get for our members,” Zuckerman said.
This contract will be unlike prior ones where UPS said it wanted what Zuckerman called a “cost-neutral” outcome. “It’s not going to be a cost-neutral contract,” Zuckerman said of the 2023 agreement. “We’re going to take from them what our members deserve.”
UPS executives have said publicly they expect negotiations to start relatively late and get heated along the way. CEO Carol B. Tomé, who will be sitting in on her first contract, has said she expects the agreement to yield mutual benefits.
The timing of the contract cycle virtually ensures the rank and file will receive a significant wage bump. The current contract, negotiated in 2018 but not ratified until the following year, has allowed UPS to skirt the significant labor cost inflation that has hit FedEx Corp.’s (NYSE: FDX) ground-delivery unit. UPS Teamsters have been receiving wage increases and annual cost-of-living adjustments of about 3% since 2018.
Note: The national agreements between the UAW and the Detroit 3 are set to expire in September, 2023. Ready for the fur to fly?
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