Teamsters’ Hoffa Optimistic on UPS Contract

Teamsters President James Hoffa said he is optimistic about reaching a contract agreement for the 238,000 union members at UPS Inc., Bloomberg reported.

A settlement would help the UPS block competitors from luring business away who might be wary of a work stoppage next year, Bloomberg said. The current Teamsters contract with UPS runs through July 2008.

The Teamsters struck Atlanta-based UPS for two weeks in 1997 before coming to an agreement, and in 2002 some shippers steered business elsewhere when the two sides did not reach a contract agreement until two weeks before a strike deadline.

Hoffa did not discuss details of the talks, including the company’s request for a new fund for full-time workers now covered by the multi-employer Central States Teamster pension plan.

That plan is underfunded by an estimated $14 billion, and UPS likely would have to make a “multibillion-dollar payment” to leave it, JPMorgan Chase analyst Thomas Wadewitz said in May, Bloomberg reported.

UPS does not comment on labor talks, a company spokesman told Bloomberg.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.