Saturday, 12 July 2025

Major Union Accuses UPS Of “Illegal Buyouts” As Company Intends To Lay Off Thousands

100 Percent Fed Up
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UPS plans to lay off approximately 20,000 workers and offer voluntary buyouts to delivery drivers as part of its reconfiguration plan.

The downsizing efforts also include closing 73 facilities.

“SAY NO TO ILLEGAL BUYOUTS AT UPS! It’s time to demand UPS live up to its commitments and to the contract it signed in 2023 with 340,000 hardworking Teamsters. UPS and CEO Carol Tomé are obligated to create at least 22,500 new positions — not to try to erode the workforce with illegal buyouts in direct violation of our agreement,” the Teamsters Union stated.

“All full-time UPS Teamsters are strongly urged to reject UPS’s plan, stand up for your job, and fight for more!” it added.

USA TODAY noted:

The Atlanta-based company had in April announced a network reconfiguration plan following a reduction in deliveries for its key customer, Amazon.com, and amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

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The buyout package is in addition to any retirement benefits such as pension and healthcare, the company said in a statement.

“UPS is trying to weasel its way out of creating good union jobs here in America by dangling insulting buyouts in front of Teamsters drivers. It is an illegal violation of our national contract,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a news release, according to FreightWaves.

“UPS is obligated to establish tens of thousands of new full-time jobs under the agreement. But CEO Carol Tomé and UPS’s corporate managers are hoping that if they offer paltry severance packages to enough workers, no one will notice the company is setting the union’s contract on fire. UPS Teamsters work too d*** hard to be treated with such disrespect,” he added.

More from FreightWaves:

Teamster contracts enable UPS drivers employed 30 years or more to receive employer-paid health care throughout retirement, a benefit that would not be guaranteed to all workers under UPS’s severance plan, according to the union. The current contract calls for UPS to elevate 22,500 part-time workers to full-time positions and create another 7,500 positions.

“We have approached the Teamsters on this topic and remain committed to the agreements we reached in 2023,” UPS said.

The Teamsters, which represents 340,000 UPS workers, last week accused UPS of failing to comply with the hiring requirement and a commitment to provide 28,000 air conditioned package cars and vans for heat relief in many parts of the country. It requested data from UPS on the status of open positions, as well as the delivery rate for vehicles equipped with air conditioning. The Teamsters gave the company until July 1 to provide answers, but the company has requested additional time to respond, the union said.

“Our members cannot be bought off and we will not allow them to be sold out. The Teamsters are prepared to fight UPS on every front with every available resource to shut down this illegal buyout program,” O’Brien said. “UPS needs to live up to the existing contract. They must honor their commitments, just as Teamsters do every day, reliably delivering packages to hundreds of millions of Americans. Profits are not more important than people, not at UPS or any other employer.”

UPS executives said during April’s earnings presentation that the company expects to save more than $1.2 billion this year by eliminating 25 million operating hours across the workforce. A similar amount in semi-variable cost reductions are estimated from the reduction of 20,000 employees.


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