UPS drivers' new $170k per year deal shows that unions (and Joe Biden) may just save the middle class after all | Fortune

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Abstraction: UPS Teamsters $170k contract as symbol of union revival and Bidenomics

Key points:

Full-time UPS drivers saw total compensation rise from $145,000 to $170,000 annually under the new Teamsters five-year contract
Part-time workers also received raises to ~$21/hour; air conditioning in trucks was secured
Indeed reported a 50% surge in "UPS" job searches within a week of the announcement
Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien called it a new standard for the labor movement
Article frames the deal as validation of Biden's "bottom-up and middle-out" economic strategy (Bidenomics) vs. Reagan-era trickle-down
Union membership sits at its lowest on record (10.1% in 2022 per BLS) despite record-high public approval of unions

Connections: Ups · Teamsters · Labor Unions · Middle Class Economics