LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Teamsters Local 89 in Louisville no longer has concerns about the proposed contract with UPS and "emphatically" recommends its members vote in favor of the deal, the union said Thursday.
"Local 89 believes the 2023-2028 tentative agreement is the richest, most historic step forward for UPS members in our union’s history," the union said in a statement posted to its website. "It contains general wage increases nearly double what any prior contract offered, and dramatically improves wages and working conditions across the board."
The union’s unequivocal endorsement of the contract comes three days after Local 89 cast the sole dissenting vote against the agreement during a closed-door meeting of 162 Teamster affiliates in Washington, D.C.
At the time, Local 89’s representatives couldn’t be certain that the proposed contract would protect pay increases that UPS has already given in recent years in certain areas, including Louisville, the union said Thursday.
Those pay increases — called "market rate adjustments" or "MRAs" — represent higher-than-normal hourly rates that UPS chooses to pay because it would be hard to attract employees for less.
For example, at the Worldport global air hub in Louisville, UPS pays starting wages of $20 to $21 hourly, which is $4 to $5 more than required by the current Teamsters contract.
"On Monday, we had not gathered all the information we needed about whether UPS would take away MRAs and harm our members’ earnings," Local 89 said in the unsigned statement. "Local 89 refrained from recommending the contract as we continued our research into MRAs."
However, Local 89 "can now say with confidence" that its members will keep the higher pay rates they already enjoy, plus the raises called for in the new contract.
"UPS would be acting in bad faith and violating the National Master Agreement if the company attempted to reduce MRA wages in the future," Local 89 said.
The statement comes as the 340,000 rank-and-file UPS employees across the country begin voting on whether to ratify the agreement.
The voting period lasts through Aug. 22.
