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The
scheduled meeting, which both sides have confirmed, would be the
first since UPS labor contract negotiators deadlocked on July 5.
While the company and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
have reached agreement on multiple issues including air
conditioning on delivery vans, the union is still pushing for
better wages for part-time employees who account for about half
of UPS workers.
Pressure is mounting on the parties. Teamsters-represented
workers have vowed to strike if they do not have a deal when the
current contract expires at midnight on July 31.
Investors have joined UPS customers in urging the two sides to
avoid a work stoppage that would disrupt shipments across the
country and create supply-chain backups that stoke inflation.
One estimate put the potential economic impact of a 10-day UPS
strike at more than $7 billion, the costliest in modern times.
That estimate from Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group
includes UPS customer losses of $4.6 billion, lost wages of $1.1
billion and company losses of $816 million.
"The vast, vast, vast majority of shareholders are eager to see
a strike averted," New York City Comptroller Brad Lander told
Reuters.
Lander serves as investment advisor for the New York Retirement
Systems, which held UPS shares valued at $191.1 million as of
June 30.
He said the better option is for the company to put "a good deal
on the table addressing the issue that the Teamsters have made
quite clear is the remaining sticking point."
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Jamie
Freed)
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