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UPS Workers Avoid National Strike Post Labor Deal Approval

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United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS - Free Report) received encouraging news on the labor front, when its freight workers voted in favor of a five-year labor deal. Notably, the workers were represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — a labor union in the United States and Canada. The deal covers approximately 11,600 workers at UPS Freight.

With a total of 84% freight workers voting, 77% or 6,935 votes were cast in support of this agreement. In fact, UPS was second-time lucky as its freight workers had voted down (62% votes were cast against the deal) the initially proposed labor contract in October. Following the unfavorable outcome, both parties had started negotiating and finally came up with the best possible offer, which was voted on during the Nov 7-11 time period.

By accepting the offer, freight workers of this Atlanta-based shipping giant have laid to rest the possibility of a massive national strike, which would have hurt freight operations bigtime.

Moreover, UPS had stopped pickups for its freight customers earlier this month. The move was aimed at emptying its freight network of any cargo that would have been stranded in the event of a strike materializing, had the voting procedure not been in favor of the company. .

UPS, through its freight division, trucks bulk shipments on pallets from shippers to stores and elsewhere. In the second quarter of 2018, UPS’ Supply chain and freight division had accounted for 20.1% of its revenues.

No wonder, the company breathed a sigh of relief following the ratification of the contract and announced the immediate resumption of normal freight operations. However, despite the positive development, investors would keenly await the performance of UPS’ freight division in the third quarter.

 

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

UPS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are Matson, Inc. (MATX - Free Report) , CSX Corporation (CSX - Free Report) and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC - Free Report) . While Matson and Norfolk Southern carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), CSX Corporation sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Matson, CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern have gained 20.3%, 12.3% and 13.2%, respectively, in the past six months.

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