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A strike from UPS workers would be the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history.
WASHINGTON — Teamsters union leaders are urging UPS to present its final offer for a new contract by June 30 as a nationwide workers' strike looms.
Union leaders are negotiating a new contract for more than 340,000 UPS workers before July 31, when the current contract expires. Earlier this month, workers authorized a strike that could happen as soon as Aug. 1 if a final agreement isn't reached.
A strike from UPS workers would be the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history, according to NBC News.
“When we say the current contract expires July 31, that means we want a new contract in place starting August 1. Not in six months. Not next spring. We demand a historic new contract August 1, with more money in our members’ pockets immediately,” Teamsters' General President Sean M. O'Brien said in a statement. “UPS has wasted enough time and hoarded these record profits. Our members want what they have earned.”
On Tuesday, Teamsters had given UPS a week to present a tentative agreement for a new contract. However, when negotiations resumed on Wednesday, union leaders walked away from the national bargaining table and demanded a final offer.
If a strike occurs, it would be the first since a 15-day walkout by 185,000 workers crippled the company a quarter-century ago.
UPS has grown vastly since then and become even more ingrained in the U.S. economy. The company says it delivers the equivalent of about 6% of nation’s gross domestic product. That means a strike would carry with it potentially far-reaching implications for the economy.
The company delivers around 25 million packages a day, representing about a quarter of all U.S. parcel volume, according to the global shipping and logistics firm Pitney Bowes. That’s about 10 million parcels more than it delivered each day in the years leading up to the pandemic.
The union has been in negotiations with the package carrier since April 17.
The tentative agreement aimed to finally address delivery drivers' concerns with extremely hot temperatures. Heat-related concerns have been at the top of many UPS workers' complaints as temperatures continue to rise across the nation. In recent years, more than 100 UPS workers have been hospitalized for heat-related illnesses, NBC News reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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