With 16 days left before their current labor contract expired, the Teamsters Union came to terms on a new agreement with United Parcel Service late Monday afternoon.

Terms of the new agreement, which covers about 230,000 workers, are scheduled to be released at an Atlanta news conference on Tuesday. Teamsters spokesman Brent Caldwell says he expect the results of a union vote on the agreement will be available by about this time next month.
The early agreement is in sharp contrast to five years ago, when talks broke down and the Teamsters hit the picket lines for two weeks, costing UPS more than $750 million in lost business. The strike also hit the Teamsters finances, which were already hurting under then-President Ron Carey, by having to pay strike benefits to some 185,000 union workers.
This time around it was believed both sides wanted to avoid a repeat of the costly situation five years ago, with initial talks starting earlier in the process than they did in 1997.
The early agreement represents a major accomplishment for Teamsters president James Hoffa. The contract is the first major one put together under his leadership. He took no chances with the possibility of getting bogged down in talks by securing a $100 million line of credit and increased dues in case the union had to pay out a strike fund this time around, but he also got members to approve a strike well in advance in case talks broke down.
UPS had also started to feel the effects of a possible strike. Last week they reported package volume dropped 2% during both April and May and 4% in June as some customers diverted their shipments to other carriers in case a strike occurred.