US Chamber Coalition Urges Biden to Help Avoid UPS Strike

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading a coalition of over 250-organizations urging the Biden administration help UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters avoid a possible strike.

The chamber-led coalition made its comments in a letter to President Joe Biden posted by The Hill. The organizations include The American Association of Exporters and Importers, Home Fashion Products Association, The Roofing Industry Alliance, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

“Given the debilitating impact of a strike on American families and the economy, we urge your administration to provide the support necessary to help the parties reach a new agreement … the chamber-led coalition wrote.

“[T]he Administration has successfully utilized its formal and informal convening power in the past year to help parties reach agreements in both the railroad and West Coast port terminal contract negotiations.

“We urge you to lend similar help here and work with the parties to help reach an agreement by August 1.”

Senate Democrats on Wednesday notified the heads of UPS and the Teamsters Union, which represents more than 340,000 of the delivery company’s workers, that they will not interfere in the event of a strike.

Negotiations between the union and UPS have been at a standstill for more than a week with a July 31 deadline for a new contract approaching. The Teamsters, which said in a news release Wednesday negotiations are expected to resume next week, threatened to strike if a deal is not reached by the time the collective bargaining agreement expires.

“We are hopeful that both sides can negotiate in good faith and reach a consensus agreement that addresses basic human needs and allows workers to do their jobs safely and with dignity,” according to a letter signed by 28 Senate Democrats sent to UPS CEO Carol Tomé and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.