Informal discussions may have resumed Thursday between warring Teamsters Union and United Parcel Service officials. But a settlement in the 11-day-old strike remained problematic.
After indicating some flexibility in its position early in the day, UPS late in the day denied its negotiating position had changed.
“Any report stating that we have changed our offer is false,” the Atlanta-based company said in a statement. “UPS continues to believe that the quickest way to resolve the strike is for Teamsters officials to let our people vote on our generous existing offer that was presented to the union on July 30th.”
Early Friday, the situation appeared a little more optimistic, however.
In Washington, the Teamsters and UPS engaged in 16 hours of “substantive” bargaining that ended shortly after midnight with the promise of more talks.
Negotiators recessed at 1:45 a.m. EDT Friday and planned to meet again at 8 a.m. Officials on both sides were going to “crunch numbers” until the main negotiators returned to the table, said Susan King, a special assistant to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman.
Teamsters President Ron Carey and UPS chief negotiator David MacMurray, along with representatives of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, were holed up in a Washington hotel, hoping to find a blueprint for the resumption of formal negotiations.
At the center of the impasse, which began late on Aug. 3, is the company’s extensive use of part-time workers. The union wants UPS to add 10,000 full-time employees from the ranks of the part-time work force, and the company has rejected the demand.
The privately held company wants the union to allow members to vote on its July 30 proposal, but union officials have rejected that proposal.
Sixty percent of the company’s 185,000 Teamsters hold only part-time positions. Part-time workers are paid $8 an hour to start while full-timers earn $20 a hour.
Meanwhile, the Independent Pilots Association, which represents 2,000 UPS pilots, warned that it might strike later this year unless its members receive what it considers to be a satisfactory contract. The pilots union has honored Teamsters picket lines, refusing to fly the company’s 500-plane fleet, all but stalling UPS’ air service nationwide.
