After breaking off talks and being apart for nearly three weeks, UPS Inc. (NYSE: UPS) and the Teamsters union needed just three hours Tuesday to agree to a five year-contract that, if ratified by the union’s rank and file, would prevent a potentially crippling nationwide strike that could have started on Aug. 1.
Under the agreement, 7,500 full-time Teamsters jobs will be created and 22,500 open positions will be filled, according to a Teamsters statement. Existing full- and part-time workers will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023 and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract, according to the statement. Existing part-timers will be raised up to $21 per hour immediately. New part-timers would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour. The current national average floor for part-timers is $16 per hour.
Wage increases for full-timers will average $49 per hour at the top end of the scale.
