A two-week strike by 185,000 Teamsters in 1997 cost the company millions of dollars, crippling the Atlanta-based package delivery giant. The five-year contract that was reached expires July 31.
``UPS respects the negotiating process,'' said Chris Mahoney, senior vice president of global transportation services and labor relations. ``And we believe starting early is the best way for the company and the union to arrive at an agreement to protect UPS volume, preserve Teamster jobs and continue to provide the reliable service UPS customers expect.''
UPS and the union exchanged proposals Wednesday at a Washington hotel, but neither would say what they contained.
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said the union intends to negotiate a historic agreement that increases wages, maintains a high level of health care benefits, increases pensions and creates 3,000 full-time jobs from part-time positions.
The 210,000 UPS Teamsters ``make UPS run on time,'' Hoffa said. ``They know the customer's name. They get the packages delivered on time. They are the face of UPS. It is time they get a share of the profits earned since the last contract.''
But the recession could dampen those efforts. While UPS posted a 3 percent gain in revenue last year, to $30.6 billion from $29.7 billion. the company's fourth-quarter results showed a moderate decline in total average package volume. It fell 0.5 percent, to 14.7 million packages per day.
UPS's volume also has not kept up with nonunion competitor FedEx, Mahoney said.
``Those are issues we're going to have to work real hard at to figure out how to keep UPS competitive as we move forward and yet produce the good-paying jobs that we have now,'' he said.
The Teamsters argue that pay has not kept up with company profits. Unionized full-time workers are paid an average of $23.05 an hour. That's a 3.1 percent increase from 2000. That year, UPS's net income jumped 216 percent. Hourly pay has risen between 2.8 percent and 3.1 percent a year since 1997.
UPS says it offers the best wages and benefits in the industry. The average hourly pay for package car drivers is $32.11, which is almost 25 percent more than FedEx's average hourly rate of $17.39 for a ground contractor. The average hourly rate for a U.S. Postal Service driver is $19.19.
Part-time Teamster workers earn an average of $10.72 an hour.
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