UPS and its 340000 workers are close to a new contract. Here's what they've agreed to — and which issues could still trigger a historic strike.

United Parcel Service and the Teamsters hold a rally in Orange, California, U.S. April 15, 2023.

REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci

• The contract covering UPS's unionized workers expires July 31.
• UPS and the Teamsters have been negotiating a new contract for more than eight weeks.
• Many thorny issues have been resolved, but the Teamsters president said a strike could still happen.

After more than eight weeks of negotiations, UPS and the union representing its 340,000 drivers and package handlers have agreed on some big changes at the logistics giant. 

UPS employees authorized a nationwide strike on June 9 and have been preparing to walk out on August 1 if the company doesn't budge on a host of contentious issues. That escalated when the Teamsters on June 28 said a strike was "imminent," even as the company said it was ready to keep negotiating. 

So far, both sides have agreed on 55 non-economic issues, Teamsters president Sean O'Brien said in a video message released July 1. O'Brien confirmed that all local agreements, including the one covering Louisville, Kentucky where UPS's WorldPort hub is located, have reached a tentative agreement. 

"It marked a record number of revised articles and new language," he said of the milestone, though the process hasn't been without much rough language and "noise," as many analysts have called it. 

O'Brien has demanded the entire negotiation wrap up by July 5 in order to give members time to fully assess the tentative agreement and vote on ratification. Otherwise, they could strike as soon as August 1. He added that the company had agreed to meet this deadline. 

UPS said on Friday that it's ready to continue negotiations. 

"We look forward to the union's input so we can reach a timely agreement and provide certainty for our employees, our customers and the U.S. economy," a spokesperson said. 

These are a few of the major issues that have been resolved so far: 

Turning down the heat

One of the first major issues to come up in this round of negotiations was temperature control in delivery vans. On June 13, UPS announced it had reached an agreement with the Teamsters to address the danger caused by heat in vans, which have never had air conditioning. 

The company will equip all newly-purchased vans with air conditioning starting in January 2024. It will install fans in van cabs, install heat shields to keep the floors of package vans cooler, and add an air intake system to funnel the cooler air from the cab into the cargo bay. 

The push for UPS to address heat was in part inspired by the death of a 24-year-old UPS driver in California who was found unconscious in his delivery truck on a scorching day in June 2022 and later died. 

Weekend warriors 

The thorny issue of how UPS will cover shifts on the weekend has been a major point of contention for some UPS drivers since a two-tiered system was instituted in the last contract in 2018.

Eliminating the so-called "22.4 position" (named for the section of the 2018 master contract that created it) was a "strike issue" for O'Brien, he told Insider last year. 

On July 1, the Teamsters said that all 22.4 drivers would be reclassified as regular drivers and have their pay adjusted to the regular rate based on their seniority. The union said the company also agreed to end what it described as "forced overtime," when drivers are required to work sicx days in one week — a practice drivers have told Insider was a common occurrence during the package overload brought on by the pandemic. 

Pay is still on the table 

Pay is still the biggest issue on the table. O'Brien wants to increase wages for part-time employees from $15.50 to $20 — and often emphasizes that though full-time UPS workers are among the best paid in the industry, the majority of UPS workers are part-time. 

Though progress has encouraged many parties, including some drivers in contact with Insider, economic issues — especially pay — are often the most contentious in any union negotiation. And those largely, have yet to be resolved. 

"This is the largest collective bargaining agreement in any private sector union," O'Brien said at a Saturday press conference. He added that this contract could "set the tone and set the standard high for labor — not just the Teamsters but the entire labor movement."

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