A strike has already been authorized by union members – who number 340,000 – should negotiations for a new contract fail
UPS workers moved closer to their first strike action in 27 years on Wednesday after the Teamsters Union said United Parcel Service “walked away” from negotiations over a new contract. The shipping giant denied the claim, lobbing its own accusation that the union had stopped negotiating.
The two sides traded salvoes in early morning statements even as they attempted to come to an agreement to prevent a strike when the current contract, which covers about 340,000 workers, expires at the end of the month.
Workers at UPS have already authorized a strike should the talks break down. Such a labor action would be the first since 1997 for UPS workers, in a strike that lasted 15 days, cost the company $850m and sent some customers to rivals.
Both the union and company officials have said before that they wanted a deal finalized to prevent a strike, which could put millions of daily deliveries at risk.
