UPS and its 340,000 union workers have just over a week to reach a deal — or a massive strike is possible. Here's where the negotiations stand.

• The contract covering UPS's 340,000 unionized workers expires July 31.
• Many thorny issues have been resolved, but a strike could still happen.

After weeks of negotiations, UPS and the union representing its 340,000 drivers and package handlers have agreed on some big changes at the logistics giant. But a two-week standstill has shaken any remaining certainty that a deal will materialize by the July 31 deadline.

UPS employees authorized a nationwide strike in June and say they're prepared to walk out on August 1 if the company doesn't budge on the final issue of part-time wages.

Since negotiations fell apart on July 5, Teamsters have been participating in "practice picket lines" across the country. And UPS has been training managers to fill in if the workers walkout.

But after two weeks of impasse, both parties announced Wednesday that they intend to return to the table next week.

The two sides have agreed on 55 non-economic issues, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said on July 1. O'Brien confirmed that all local units, including the one covering Louisville, Kentucky where UPS's WorldPort hub is located, have reached a tentative agreement.

"It marked a record number of revised articles and new language," he said of the milestone, though the process hasn't been without rough language and "noise," as many analysts have called it.

Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a webinar with members July 16 that if a tentative agreement is reached by the deadline, the union will continue to work through the ratification vote, which takes roughly three weeks. If the members don't approve the contract, the union would then strike.

These are a few of the major issues that have been resolved so far and what has yet to be resolved:

Turning down the heat

One of the first major issues to come up in this round of negotiations was temperature control in delivery vans. On June 13, UPS announced it had reached an agreement with the Teamsters to address the danger caused by heat in vans, which have never had air conditioning.

The company will equip all newly-purchased vans with air conditioning starting in January 2024. It will install fans in van cabs, install heat shields to keep the floors of package vans cooler, and add an air intake system to funnel the cooler air from the cab into the cargo bay.

The push for UPS to address heat was in part inspired by the death of a 24-year-old UPS driver in California who was found unconscious in his delivery truck on a scorching day in June 2022 and later died.

Weekend warriors

The thorny issue of how UPS will cover shifts on the weekend has been a major point of contention for some UPS drivers since a two-tiered system was instituted in the last contract in 2018.

Eliminating the so-called "22.4 position" (named for the section of the 2018 master contract that created it) was a "strike issue" for O'Brien, he told Insider last year.

On July 1, the Teamsters said that all 22.4 drivers would be reclassified as regular drivers and have their pay adjusted to the regular rate based on their seniority. The union said the company also agreed to end what it described as "forced overtime," when drivers are required to work six days in one week — a practice drivers have told Insider was a common occurrence during the package overload brought on by the pandemic.

Part-time pay is the problem

Pay is still the biggest issue on the table. O'Brien told CNN July 6 that part-time wages are at the core of the remaining disagreement. O'Brien wants to increase starting wages for part-time employees from $15.50 to $20 — and often emphasizes that though full-time UPS workers are among the best paid in the industry, the majority of UPS workers are part-time.

"There's no doubt that UPS full-timers make good wages, good benefits," O'Brien said. "Those trucks don't go out unless they are loaded and our part-timers are the unsung heroes. They are working for poverty wages and we need to drive up those starting rates of pay."

A UPS spokesperson told Insider via email that part-timers at UPS make an average wage of $20 per hour after 30 days of employment and receive healthcare benefits and pensions.

"We are pleased to be back at the negotiating table next week to resolve the few remaining open issues. We are prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits, but need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country," a UPS spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

The stakes for O'Brien go beyond the hundreds of thousands of Teamsters employed by UPS. The union boss has been clear from the beginning of this campaign that this UPS contract will serve as an advertisement for what the Teamsters can do for other works, especially at Amazon.

"This is the largest collective bargaining agreement in any private sector union," O'Brien said at a July 1 press conference. He added that this contract could "set the tone and set the standard high for labor — not just the Teamsters but the entire labor movement."