UPS has reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract with the Teamsters union for 11,000 workers at its less-than truckload (LTL) freight division, with a vote expected in 60 days, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A separate agreement was reached in June covering UPS’s 260,000-employee parcel division, which has yet to be ratified. It’s unclear at this point if it will create a new category of “hybrid drivers” to handle Sunday deliveries for the first time, although the Teamsters have been alluding to it in their communications.
“UPS routinely evaluates market opportunities where sufficient demand exists to offer our services,” said UPS spokesman Matthew O’Connor about Sunday service, adding no decision has been made. The U.S. Postal Service has been doing Sunday deliveries for several years, primarily for Amazon.
A vote on the tentative LTL contract between UPS and the Teamsters won’t come until the two sides resolve localized work rules and conditions, which is why they agreed to a 60-day extension. UPS’s use of subcontracting for freight services is reportedly one particularly contentious issue with the Teamsters.
UPS is the fifth largest domestic LTL carrier by revenue, behind FedEx Freight, XPO Logistics and others, according to SJ Consulting.
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