Staff members validate historic UPS contract

The five-year national agreement has been approved by an overwhelming majority, and there is one annex that will be renegotiated

(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters voted by an overwhelming majority of 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in UPS history. The five-year contract protects and rewards more than 340,000 UPS team members nationwide, increasing wages for full- and part-time workers, creating more full-time jobs, and providing important workplace protections, including air conditioning.

The agreement was approved by the highest vote for a contract in UPS’ Teamsters history.

All supplemental agreements are also ratified, except for the Local 769 LAI supplement which covers 174 members in Florida. The National Master Agreement will enter into force once this Supplement has been renegotiated and ratified. The UPS Teamsters NNC will immediately meet with the company to work to resolve any outstanding supplement issues. Upon resolution, the amended supplement will be voted on by the UPS Teamsters in person in their area.

There are 44 Annexes to the National Master Agreement.

“Our members have just ratified the most profitable agreement 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. “Team members have set a new standard and raised the bar on pay and benefits.” and working conditions in the parcel delivery industry. This is the model for how workers are paid and protected nationwide, and non-union companies like Amazon would do well to pay attention to that.

“This is the richest national contract I’ve seen in over 40 years of representing the Teamsters at UPS,” said Teamsters General Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “There are more gains in this contract than in any other agreement for UPS and no compensation for the company. But the hard work doesn’t end here. We will continue to fight relentlessly to enforce this contract and make sure UPS lives up to every word of it over the next five years.

Highlights from the UPS Teamsters 2023-2028 Primary National Master Agreement include:

• Historic wage increases. Current full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will earn an additional $2.75 an hour in 2023. Over the term of the contract, pay increases will total $7.50 an hour.

• Existing part-time workers will be raised to a minimum of $21 an hour immediately, and the most senior part-time workers who earn more under the market rate adjustment will continue to receive all new public pay increases.

• The overall pay increases for part-time workers will be double the amount earned in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and current part-time workers will receive an average increase in total wages of 48 percent over the next five years.

• The pay increases for full-time UPS Teamsters will make the highest-paid delivery drivers in the country, improving their top average rate to $49 an hour.

• Existing UPS team members who work part-time will receive long-term pay increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of the new hourly increases, doubling their earnings.

• New UPS part-time hires will start at $21 an hour and progress to $23 an hour.

• All UPS Teamster drivers rated 22.4 will immediately be reclassified to Regular Packet Drivers and placed on seniority, ending UPS’s unfair two-tier pay system.

• Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab air conditioners in all large delivery vehicles, pickup trucks, and pickup trucks purchased after January 1, 2024. Two fans, heat exhaust shields, and air induction vents will be updated in the cargo compartments of all vehicles. .

• All UPS team members will get Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

• No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers will maintain one of two workweek schedules and cannot be forced to work overtime on scheduled days off.

• Part-time UPS Teamsters will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicle with an eight hour locked warranty. For the first time, seasonal work will be limited to just five weeks from November to December.

• Creates 7,500 new full-time jobs at UPS and creates 22,500 open positions, providing more opportunities over the term of the agreement for part-time workers to transition to full-time employment.

• Over 60 total changes and improvements to the National Key Agreement – more than at any other time in Teamsters history – and zero concessions from the general public.

Last month, the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee, as well as local UPS Teamster representatives in the United States and Puerto Rico, unanimously endorsed the agreement. The UPS Teamsters voted electronically from August 3-22.

The UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement is the largest private sector collective bargaining agreement in North America. Founded in 1903, the Truck Drivers Association represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org to learn more and follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.