The labor contract between UPS and the Teamsters union is the largest private collective bargaining agreement in North America – and it expires on July 31, 2023. It covers 70 percent of UPS employees: package car drivers, air drivers, feeder drivers, part-time loaders, unloaders, sorters, clerks and mechanics.
The current contract was signed in 2018, and took effect even though 54 percent of the union membership voted against it. That act led to a change in Teamster leadership, and it is shaping the tone of the current negotiation.
If there is a strike, it would be the largest in U.S. history, and it would have a significant economic impact: 27 percent of product-based GDP moves on brown trucks.
In this episode of Dial P, host Kelly Barner covers:
- What’s at stake in the negotiation between UPS and the Teamsters Union
- Some of the colorful personalities we’ve met through news coverage
- What might happen if the two sides cannot come to an agreement, and what might happen if the Teamsters are successful
