The agreement, which was reached Sept. 30 between UPS and Teamsters representatives, was approved by rank-and-file members by a 65 percent vote, according to a preliminary count released in a statement from the Teamsters.
Several riders to the agreement will need to be renegotiated, which is a typical practice, a Teamsters spokesman said.
The contract will raise wages annually and increase funds that provide pension, health and welfare benefits to the covered employees.
The agreement allows UPS to withdraw from the Central States Pension Fund, with the company making a $6.1 billion pretax payment to Central States. UPS has said it will borrow money to make the payment. UPS has said it will move employees into a single employer pension fund jointly administered by UPS management and the Teamsters.
The Teamsters represent 238,000 of UPS' 427,700 employees. Those represented include all hourly full-time drivers and part-time sorters.
The union said it will be several days before the final results of the vote will be certified.
Last month, Atlanta-based UPS, also known as United Parcel Service, said its growth in the fourth quarter, which includes the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, will be its slowest in four years due mostly to weak U.S. retail sales.
The company expects to deliver more than 22 million packages on its peak shipping day of Dec. 19, which would be flat with last year's peak day.
While it said its earnings projection for the year will be in line with previous projections, the company said it expects slowing retail sales will restrain U.S. domestic volume growth.
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On the Net:
UPS Inc.: http://www.ups.com
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/11/204206