United Parcel Service Inc. and Teamsters negotiators are poised to restart talks on July 25 as the two sides seek an agreement before the current labor contract expires at the end of the month.
The talks will resume on Tuesday, a spokeswoman with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Friday. The two sides had previously said they would return to the bargaining table next week without providing a specific date.
UPS confirmed the restart date to negotiate the “few remaining open issues” and reiterated its call for the two sides to work quickly to get a deal before the deadline.
“We started these negotiations prepared to increase the already industry-leading pay and benefits we provide our full and part-time union employees and are committed to reaching an agreement that will do just that,” UPS said in a statement.
The union said it walked away from talks on July 5 over UPS’s offer for part-time wage increases and that UPS subsequently reached out to the Teamsters to resume bargaining. The start date will leave little time for a deal to be wrapped up. Without a tentative agreement, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has said he will call a strike on Aug. 1.
Union negotiators have already won several concessions from the company, Dave Reeves, president of the Teamsters Local 767, said during a practice picket march in a UPS facility near Dallas. UPS has agreed to eliminate a category of driver that’s paid less and include air conditioning for new vehicles beginning next year. Reeves, who was a package loader for six years and a driver for a decade before becoming joining Teamster leadership, forms part of the union’s negotiating team.
“We’ve made some great gains up to this point. Now, here we are at the economic package,” he said. “It’s time to get serious, and Sean O’Brien does not mince words with the company.”
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