February 9, 2023

Representatives from ten Teamster Local Unions in Washington State had their first meeting with UPS management to negotiate the Joint Council 28 Rider and Sort Addendum to the National Master UPS Agreement, which expires July 31, 2023. Negotiations lasted Tuesday through Thursday at the Teamsters Tukwila hall, with a Union bargaining committee of 71 – including UPS rank-and-file members from every Local Union and every job classification at UPS in the Joint Council.

Negotiations for a renewal contract were going to be contentious enough, but in usual fashion UPS complicated the process with the announcement of nationwide layoffs of the highly controversial ’22.4’ driver position, which was created during the last round of negotiations in 2018. The Union believes this announcement was intended as a direct shot at the new Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien’s commitment to eliminate this two-tiered position in favor of full-time drivers who are treated the same as all other drivers.

Progress in bargaining was slow, but the main priorities from each side quickly revealed themselves. For UPS, the major focuses appeared to be achieving workweek flexibility and addressing attendance problems. For the Teamsters, it all came down to respect – respecting our members, our seniority, our lives, our safety, our families, and our contract. Joint Council negotiations will continue February 21, while negotiations for the Western Region Supplement, which began last week, will resume April 3. National negotiations will be led by General President Sean O’Brien and General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, and those very critical talks kick off on April 17 in Washington D.C.

“We are excited to begin the long process of negotiating a contract for the largest group of members in our Joint Council,” said Rick Hicks, President of Teamsters Joint Council 28 and lead negotiator for the Union. “We have been telling UPS all along that they would have a lot more success motivating their workforce with a carrot rather than the stick, and our formidable rank-and-file bargaining committee sent that message loud and clear this week. A job at UPS used to be something people didn’t want to lose, and our goal with this contract is to get back to that point by helping to make UPS a better place to work.”