The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union reached a deal with United Parcel Service Inc UPS last month to create more full-time jobs for workers and raise wages. UPS CEO Carol Tomé says the deal could boost pay and benefits to an average of $170,000 per year.
What To Know: The Teamsters union, which represents more than 330,000 UPS employees across the U.S., struck a five-year tentative collective bargaining agreement with UPS at the end of July.
Last week, the Teamsters received 86.3% of votes to ratify the historic agreement, which will bring full-time workers' wages up to an average of $49 an hour and raise part-time workers’ wages to at least $21 an hour. The deal also puts an end to mandatory overtime and increases holiday time, per a summary posted by the Teamsters union.
When UPS reported second-quarter earnings at the beginning of August, the delivery giant cut its full-year guidance, citing volume impacts from labor negotiations and costs associated with the Teamsters agreement.
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"When you look at total compensation, by the end of the new contract, the average UPS full-time driver will make about $170,000 annually in pay and benefits," UPS CEO Carol Tomé said on a conference call following the company's quarterly report earlier this month.
"And for all part-time union employees that are already working at UPS, by the end of this contract, they will be making at least $25.75 per hour while receiving full health care and pension benefits."
More than 70% of the company's employee base is represented by the Teamsters union, according to data on the UPS website.
Job searches on Indeed with "UPS" or "United Parcel Service" in the job title increased by more than 50% in the week following the collective bargaining agreement, per Bloomberg. The spike was UPS-specific, as searches for "delivery driver" reportedly didn't see a similar bump.
Job seekers aren't the only ones who took notice of the deal. Business Insider reported that the pay raise caught the eye of several tech workers, who took to social platforms to share a mix of anger and admiration.
"This is disappointing," one tech worker reportedly said. "How is [it] possible that a driver makes much more than [an] average Engineer in R&D?"
Photo: Elvert Barnes from Flickr.
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