UPS Teamsters Warn: “Nationwide Strike Imminent” If Friday Deadline Not Met

The Teamsters Union, with hundreds of thousands of members who are United Parcel Service (UPS) drivers, “walked away from the national bargaining table” and demanded that the shipping giant deliver its “last, best, and final offer” by Friday.

“The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement.

“Executives at UPS, some of whom get tens of millions of dollars a year, do not care about the hundreds of thousands of American workers who make this company run,” O’Brien said.

UPS Teamsters have 340,000 members. The union has been locked in negotiations with UPS since mid-April. Earlier this month, it called a strike in the event the company refuses to negotiate a fair agreement before the current five-year contract expires on July 31. 

Today #Teamsters walked away from the bargaining table & officially demanded UPS exchange its last, best & final offer no later than June 30.

“The largest single-employer strike in U.S. history now appears inevitable,” said Gen. President Sean M. O’Brien: https://t.co/PSuGnC3VR1

— Teamsters (@Teamsters) June 28, 2023

UPS has quite a problem on its hands. The company delivers 20 million packages daily in the US alone – making it the second-largest ground courier behind the US Postal Service.

“With a deadline of Friday to return a last, best, and final offer, UPS risks putting itself on strike by August 1 and causing devastating disruptions to the supply chain in the US and other parts of the world,” the union said. 

None of this should surprise readers, as we detailed at the start of the year, “It’s Going To Be Spicy”: UPS Faces Upcoming Union Fight, Spike In Labor Costs.

“We have an economy today that is reliant on parcel delivery and no one in the game handles more packages per day or provides better service than Teamsters at UPS,” the union continued. 

With an economy addicted to e-commerce and package delivery, a strike would unleash a devastating economic hit.