CHICAGO — United Parcel Service Inc. Chief Executive Michael Eskew said on Tuesday the world’s biggest package carrier is “getting close” to a contract with the Teamsters union representing 230,000 workers, a wire service reported.
“I’m confident we’re going to get this thing behind us,” Eskew said at a luncheon in Chicago.
Eskew said 60 percent of the company’s drivers own UPS stock and said he believes Teamster management is not as likely to strike now as it was five years ago when the union shut down UPS for 15 days. The company did not have publicly-traded stock at that time.
“We are making progress, negotiations are getting closer, but an agreement should not be viewed as imminent,” UPS spokeswoman Peggy Gardner said.
UPS and the Teamsters are “getting to the point where economics are being put on the table,” Gardner said.
The contract runs out on July 31. The union in May voted 93 percent to 7 percent to authorize negotiators to call a walkout, though both sides have reported good progress in bargaining.
The labor union and UPS have said they want to avoid a strike like the 1997 walkout that crippled the UPS domestic ground and air system.