Arbitrator: UPS Must Create Jobs

An independent arbitrator has ruled that United Parcel Service must add the 2,000 full-time jobs it promised in a 1997 labor agreement with the Teamsters union, Bloomberg News is reporting.

UPS agreed to the contract clause – which would add 2,000 full-time positions per year provided shipping volume recovered – to settle a 15-day Teamsters strike. But the firm argued the next year that the deal was void because business had not returned to pre-strike levels during the first year of the contract.

Arbitrator Gorge Nicolau said Wednesday that the decline in business wasn't sufficient to nullify the clause and gave UPS 90 days to create the positions, Bloomberg reported. UPS must also pay some back wages to the people who fill those positions, which are being given to current part-time employees.

UPS said in a statement that it is prepared to create the positions.