December 11, 2006

Next year will be a special year for UPS as Big Brown turns 100 on Aug. 28. However, it is the other events that could occur in 2007 that will make it an important year for the company and the transportation industry and thus-provide a strong incentive for the UPS management and Teamsters leadership to cooperate in an unprecedented manner in the interest of the customers, investors, employees and management.

The Teamsters and UPS started talks last September. That provides more than nine months (which benchmarks well with previous contract talks) before the August anniversary for the two sides to finalize a new contract, which expires in 2008. During these talks, expect Teamsters to want new members while UPS seeks concessions on items affecting the integration of air express and ground parcel services, such as, part-time air drivers that only handle air express packages…