Secret ballot votes were taken at membership meetings on May 18 and 19 of all 196 local unions who represent UPS Teamsters. According to preliminary results, members voted by a 93% to 7% margin for a strike authorization, the union said.

"It is time that we break the log jam at the negotiating table," said Jim Hoffa, General President and Chairman of the National Negotiating Committee. "Our members deserve a strong contract that reflects the success of UPS over the past five years. They deserve a contract that restores dignity and respect on the job. A contract that expands full-time Teamster job opportunities, preserves Teamster jobs, provides good wages and pensions and maintains health benefits. In short, a contract that reflects the members' contributions to the success of this company."

In 1997, negotiations continued past the contract expiration of July 31 and resulted in a 15-day strike. In 1993, a settlement was not reached until October-three months beyond the contract expiration.

"We have been at the bargaining table since February and we have been moving forward at a very slow pace," said Ken Hall, Co-Chairman of the National Negotiating Committee. "This strike authorization shows that the members are behind their negotiating committee and they demand a strong and fair contract by July 31st. These negotiations must intensify because we are bargaining against a rapidly approaching contract expiration date."

The May 13th unanimous recommendation of the union's two-person review committee of more than 300 local union leaders to hold the strike authorization vote has already moved the negotiating process forward. Following the announcement of the strike authorization vote, union negotiators achieved significant progress on a number of supplemental agreements that had previously been stalled. In fact, tentative agreement has been reached on more than half of the 32 supplemental agreements.

"We have reached tentative agreement on a number of major supplements this past week, including the South," Hall added. "The Southern negotiating committee has achieved their best supplement ever. We are hopeful that this process will continue and we can move quickly into the more substantial economic and non-economic issues that must be addressed to attain a successful conclusion to these talks."

Last month, the Teamsters approved a dues increase to finance a dedicated strike fund that will increase members strike benefits from $55 per week to ten times the worker's hourly wage, per week. As a result, the Teamsters are in the process of obtaining a $100 million line-of-credit to fund any potential strike action.