Teamsters president suggests UPS intentionally stalling on showing profits
UPS could be holding off on showing profits to get a better deal in union fight, Teamster boss says
Teamsters General President Sean OBrien tells "Your World with Neil Cavuto" UPS may be delaying reporting its profits in order to have a better negotiating position with the union.
Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said Tuesday the United Parcel Service (UPS) might be delaying the release of its latest earnings in order to maintain a better bargaining position amid its ongoing fight with his union.
Talks between UPS and the Teamsters broke down last week as the two sides remain at odds over the terms of a new contract. The current contract, which covers some 340,000 UPS workers, expires July 31, and UPS workers have already authorized a strike if a deal is not reached by the deadline.
Labor leader Sean O'Brien, president of Teamsters labor union, speaks during the Labor Notes conference, in Chicago. O'Brien suggested Tuesday that UPS is pushing back its quarterly earnings release in order to have a better negotiating position with … (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"One thing to point out is that UPS has moved their earnings call twice already, and that moved to August 8, the midterm earnings, so I don't know why they're not releasing their earnings because maybe they're trying to hopefully get a deal and not released the profits that they've made so far," O'Brien told "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
UPS announced earlier in the day that the release of its second-quarter results for 2023 would be pushed back to August 8, but made no mention of the labor negotiations as the reason for doing so.
UPS STRIKE LOOMS AS TEAMSTERS TALKS REMAIN STALLED
The shipping giant and the labor union have both accused the other side of walking away from the bargaining table.
Teamsters president Sean O'Brien speaking at a rally with UPS workers before their national contract negotiations in April. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images / Getty Images)
O'Brien told host Neil Cavuto that UPS "walked out" on the talks July 5. UPS released a statement to "Your World" saying, "The teamsters have stopped negotiating despite historic proposals that build on our industry leading pay…We're proud of what we put forward to these negotiations which deliver wins for our people…The Teamsters should return to the table to finalize this deal."
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The two sides remain at odds over part-time worker pay, which the Teamsters have referred to as "poverty" wages in some parts of the country.
A United Parcel Service (UPS) driver sits in his delivery truck on January 31, 2023 in San Francisco, California. UPS is under threat of a strike by its 340,000 Teamster union employees.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC. | 133.21 | -2.00 | -1.48% |
In its reaction to O'Brien's interview with Cavuto, UPS told FOX Business part-time employees at the company currently make an average of $20 an after after their first 30 days of employment, and receive the same health benefits as full-time workers. The minimum starting wage of a UPS worker is $16.20 an hour.
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The company did not address O'Brien's suggestion that the company was holding off on releasing its profit numbers as a negotiating tactic.
FOX Business' Joe Toppe contributed to this report.