Transportation

UPS Faces Rising Labor Costs, Strike Risk in Upcoming Union Fight

Teamsters seek large part-time wage hike, unified driver pay
Union leader O’Brien says nationwide talks to start April 16

Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, at the union’s headquarters in Washington, DC, last March.Photographer: Michael A. McCoy/Bloomberg

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By Thomas Black

January 30, 2023 at 12:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

United Parcel Service Inc. will pay more for labor after replacing a union contract that expires in July. The main question for Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé is how much more — and if it’s enough to avoid a strike that would throw package delivery into chaos.

In what are likely to be the most contentious talks since UPS workers were on strike for 15 days in 1997, the Teamsters union, which represents 340,000 UPS employees, says it seeks to increase wages for part-time workers to more than $20 an hour and eliminate a controversial two-tiered wage system. On the table will also be demands for air conditioning in vehicles and for blocking inward-facing cameras.