UPS Freight Makes Last, Best and Final Contract Offer – But is It Enough?

On Thursday the Teamsters UPS Freight National Negotiating Committee released for a vote to its members the Last, Best and Final Offer (LBFO) by UPS Freight for a new labor contract.

Voting on this new contract offer is scheduled for November 9, 10, or 11 at their local union hall or other designated local area. Each local office will notify workers on the exact time, date, and location for voting.

This new offer by UPS addresses some problems with the UPS Freight labor contract that was rejected last month.

READ MORE: UPS Workers Reject Labor Contracts – But Union Still Ratifies One Labor Agreement

However, the negotiating committee also stated that it does not believe the LBFO sufficiently addresses the issues raised by members that caused them to reject the last contract.

But, because UPS Freight there will be no other offer, it felt compelled to bring this LBFO to a vote by members so they can make their best informed decision.

If members reject this offer, there will probably be a strike as UPS Freight workers have already authorized a strike if no satisfactory agreement could be reached.

Impact on eCommerce

UPS Freight handles truckload and LTL shipments and is not part of the logistics operation for UPS parcel or any other UPS entity.

If members reject this offer, the strike will only impact UPS Freight operations and none of the other UPS entities that handle parcel shipments.

However, some larger warehouse and manufacturers that ship palletized goods may be impacted as removing trucking capacity during the busy holiday season will overload an industry that is already struggling with a trucking shortage.

And that could cause delays and higher freight costs for some vendors and retailers.

READ MORE: Trucking Shortage May Impact eCommerce Sellers

However, a strike could further poison the relationship between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) labor union.

Of concern to small businesses could be since IBT also represents parcel workers and Louisville airport mechanics (UPS Worldport hub for airfreight), ongoing negotiations regarding side agreements on the parcel side and the labor contract for the mechanics could be slowed down or come to a halt.

While UPS parcel workers have a new agreement, there are still some side agreements that need to be worked out. And the Louisville airport mechanics also rejected a UPS labor contract last month, which if there is no solution could lead to a strike that may impact UPS air operations.

Small business merchants should still continue to monitor the UPS labor situation should it take a turn for the worse. It would be wise for merchants to have a backup plan ready should there be a labor action that impacts UPS parcel operations.

UPDATE ON THIS STORY: UPS Freight Preparing For Strike – Will Halt Pickups

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Richard Meldner

Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.

To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.