UPS rehires 250 workers fired for protesting

NEW YORK — Shipping giant UPS this week reached an agreement to reinstate 250 New York-area employees who had been fired after a walk-out in protest of what they called the wrongful termination of a colleague.

United Parcel Service Inc., more commonly known by its acronym, reached the deal with the local Teamsters union late Wednesday, after what the union called a "ten-hour marathon bargaining session."

Teamsters Local 804 in Long Island City, N.Y., said in a statement emailed to Al Jazeera that in exchange for reducing terminations to a 10-day suspension, the union chapter agreed to pay monetary damages resulting from what UPS called "loss of productive employee time, other company costs and the negative impact on goodwill." UPS said the unpaid suspension would last two weeks.

"We are grateful for the enormous outpouring of support from UPS customers, progressive elected officials and the public. It was that support that saved the jobs of 250 drivers," the union said, adding that under the terms of the deal, UPS would work together with the union to handle labor concerns "more expeditiously under the new grievance procedure."

The union declined to comment beyond its statement.  

In its own statement, UPS emphasized that the walkout on Feb. 26 to decry the dismissal of Jairo Reyes — a long-time company employee who reportedly pursued a dispute over work hours — had been "illegal" and "unauthorized." Reyes was also reinstated as part of Wednesday's deal.

UPS said it made the decision to rehire its employees to "settle the matter in order to return to normal operations at the site."