UPS and Union negotiation session ends without deal to avoid strike

(CNN) – A marathon negotiating session between UPS and the Teamsters’ Union ended early Wednesday without a deal to avoid a strike.

Both sides accused the other of walking away from the table.

The Union hasn’t publicly disclosed how big of a pay increase it wants for drivers, but it points to record UPS profits over the past five years and executives earning multi-million dollar salaries as reasons its members should be better compensated.

The two sides have always agreed on several other issues, such as putting air conditioning in delivery vehicles.

The current contract expires at the end of the month, which means roughly 340,000 UPS workers could go on strike August 1.

The Teamsters and UPS had been trying to reach a deal to stop nervous UPS customers from starting to move their business to rival delivery services, including USPS and FedEx.

Some customers are likely to sign long-term deals with UPS competitors by the end of this week if there is not a tentative agreement in sight.