Joe Boris
Local Teamsters leaders cleared the way for members in UPS Inc.'s Freight unit to vote on a new tentative contract that comes seven months after the company's original proposal was rejected by the union by a wide margin.
The union announced late on Jan. 6 that a meeting of local leaders backed the five-year agreement covering about 13,000 workers that includes a $2.50-per-hour wage increase. The union said the deal would make Freight employees the highest paid less-than-truckload workers.
About 70% of workers at UPS Freight in June rejected the company's first contract offer in a separate vote from the UPS package contract that was approved on a national level.
Also included in the LTL agreement are improved pension benefits, more job guarantees and changes to control medical costs for members, the union said in a website posting.
