Teamster Union members at UPS parcel delivery business are moving closer bit-by-bit when it comes to approving a new contract.

Workers covered under the Southwest Rider voted overwhelmingly to approve the agreement that was rejected earlier this year when a new national contract was approved by a majority of all UPS union workers this past summer. Also Local 177 in N.J. approved their supplement by around a two-to one margin.

In the Southwest, the biggest union, Los Angeles Local 396, was split down the middle, but most other locals voted heavily yes, with Locals 186 and 986 voting no, according to the dissident group, Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

Despite the new votes, several remaining supplements have to be approved in different parts of the country before the new national contract can take effect.

The National Master contract, which covers approximately 235,000 full and part-time employees in the U.S., was negotiated well in advance of the current contract's expiration and will extend contract coverage through July 31, 2018.

A new separate national agreement between the Teamsters and the trucking operation, UPS Freight, still remains unresolved and is unrelated to the one between the union and UPS’s parcel operation.

The Teamsters UPS Freight National Negotiating Committee met with the company earlier this month to discuss outstanding issues that members have identified as concerns. Another meeting is expected soon as both sides work toward an agreement that can be brought to the membership for a vote, according to the union.