The UPS employees represented by the Teamsters union have officially voted to authorize a strike that would begin in a matter of weeks as they push the company for a more favorable contract amid ongoing negotiations.
The union, which represents some 350,000 UPS workers, announced the results of the vote on Friday, saying the members voted "by an overwhelming 97 percent to authorize a strike, giving the union maximum leverage to win demands at the bargaining table."
"This vote shows that hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are united and determined to get the best contract in our history at UPS," Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "If this multibillion-dollar corporation fails to deliver on the contract that our hardworking members deserve, UPS will be striking itself. The strongest leverage our members have is their labor and they are prepared to withhold it to ensure UPS acts accordingly."
The strike authorization was largely expected in that UPS Teamster members elected O'Brien as their new leader after he campaigned on the promise to take a more aggressive stance against the company for the new contract.
The current Teamsters contract with UPS expires on July 31. If a deal is not reached by the end of that day, the strike would begin August 1.
UPS acknowledged the strike authorization while emphasizing that negotiations are ongoing and the company expects to reach a deal with the union in time to avert any work stoppages.
"The results do not mean a strike is imminent and do not impact our current business operations in any way," UPS told FOX Business in a statement. "Authorization votes and approvals are normal steps in labor union negotiations. We continue to make progress on key issues and remain confident that we will reach an agreement that provides wins for our employees, the Teamsters, our company and our customers."
UPS and the Teamsters have been in official negotiations since April, and some progress was made earlier this week when they reached a tentative agreement on workplace protections from heat.
Still, the pressure is on for the two sides to reach a deal on the total package in what is the largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in North America according to the union, as the strike threat ratchets up the odds of grinding the shipping giant to a halt.
If UPS' Teamsters do strike, it would be felt throughout the U.S. economy. The 24 million packages the company moves per day represents roughly one-fourth of all U.S. parcel volume, which UPS notes is roughly equivalent to 6% of America's gross domestic product.
The sheer volume of UPS deliveries couldn’t be absorbed by FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service in the event of a strike, which would create delays and increase prices due to the lost capacity in the logistics system. As Thomas Goldsby, a logistics chairman in the Supply Chain Management Department at the University of Tennessee, told the AP, "The python can’t swallow the alligator, and that’s going to be felt by all of us."
