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UPS workers ratify contract
The union representing 340,000 UPS workers said Tuesday that its members voted to approve the tentative contract agreement reached last month, putting a final seal on contentious labor negotiations that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses and households nationwide.
The Teamsters said in a statement that 86% of the votes casts were in favor of ratifying the contract. They also said it was passed by the highest vote for a contract in the history of the Teamsters at UPS.
The union also said more than 40 supplemental agreements were also ratified, expect for one that covers roughly 170 members in Florida. The national master agreement will go into effect as soon as that supplement is renegotiated and ratified, it said.
“Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. “This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers.”
He said the contract set a new standard for pay and benefits.
“This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” he said, giving a nod to the union’s growing ambitions to take on the e-commerce behemoth.
Home sales drop 2.2% during July
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in July to the slowest pace since January, as elevated mortgage rates and a stubbornly low inventory of homes on the market combined to discourage many would-be homebuyers.
Existing home sales fell 2.2% last month from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.07 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. That’s below the 4.15 million pace that economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Sales slumped 16.6% compared with July last year. It was also the lowest home sales for the month of July since 2010.
The annual sales decline was steepest in markets across the Northeast and Midwest, where sales slumped 20% or more, the NAR said.
Despite falling sales, competition for a near-historic low level of homes on the market helped drive prices higher. The national median sales price rose 1.9% from July last year to $406,700, marking the first annual increase in prices since January.
The shortage of homes for sale has kept the market competitive, driving bidding wars in many places, especially for the most affordable homes. Roughly 35% of homes sold in July fetched more than their list price, said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.
Jailed FTX founder pleads for vegan diet
Defense lawyers say FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried can’t adequately prepare for trial in six weeks while in jail without proper access to computers, necessary medications to help him concentrate, and a better diet than bread, water and peanut butter.
The lawyers made their complaints Tuesday to a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court after Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to seven charges he is expected to face at an October 3 trial.
The California man was making his first court appearance in a drab prison uniform since his $250 million bail was revoked 10 days ago.
IBM sells Weather.com to private equity firm
IBM is selling assets of The Weather Co. — including Weather.com and The Weather Channel mobile app — to private equity firm Francisco Partners.
The two companies announced the sale Tuesday but did not disclose its price. IBM said it will keep its sustainability software business and plans to still use The Weather Co.’s weather data for that technology.
The sale is set to close in early 2024. IBM bought The Weather Channel mobile app along with the digital assets of The Weather Co. in 2015 for $2 billion — but did not acquire The Weather Channel seen on TV.
Allen Media Group has owned The Weather Channel television network since 2018.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner
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