SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — After months of back-and-forth with the company, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union representing workers at Sandy Springs-based United Parcel Service will vote on a new contract.
Negotiations started in April and both sides reached tentative deal to avoid a potential strike. Workers had lobbied for multiple workplace improvements, including better pay for workers, ending forced overtime on days off, and adding air conditioning to work trucks.
The deal was reached on July 25. Now, members of the union will vote on whether to ratify the deal or reject it. Voting started Thursday and will continue through most of August, according to a Teamsters spokeswoman.
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Had a deal not been reached, the 340,000 unionized UPS workers could have gone on strike, with potentially enormous economic impacts to both UPS and the overall U.S. economy.
As a business, UPS handles roughly 6% of all American deliveries, or about 24 million packages every day, according to a logistical firm Pitney Bowes and UPS themselves.
Just over a week before UPS and the Teamsters reached a tentative deal, unionized workers voted to authorize a strike if an agreement couldn’t be reached.
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Across the Atlanta metro area, business owners told Channel 2 Action News they were relieved that a strike was avoided.
At this stage of the process, it’s a matter of counting votes and counting down the days.
Voting will continue from Aug. 3 to Aug. 22, according to a union spokeswoman.
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