UPS layoffs to begin at New Stanton; shipper to cut 206 jobs

UPS plans to end its dayshift package sorting operations Monday, just as the company said in February it would eliminate 198 part-time jobs and eight full-time positions at its warehouse.

Regina Dalton, a UPS spokeswoman, said in a statement she was not aware of any changes in the plans for the New Stanton warehouse.

Eugene “Geno” Bosetti, president of Teamsters Local 30, which represents about 1,000 workers at the New Stanton hub, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The global shipper had notified the state Department of Labor and Industry in February of the reduction in jobs at the huge New Stanton warehouse. The federal Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires companies to notify the state of mass layoffs.

The union had met with its membership over the past two months to explain how the changes in operations would impact the workforce. Workers leaving a union meeting at the New Stanton fire hall in February said fellow Teamsters with more seniority at UPS would have the right to bump members on the evening shifts who had worked at UPS for fewer years.

UPS previously had said changes to its warehouse operations at New Stanton and other facilities were the result of the shipper meeting volume demands, while remaining competitive.

Several workers at the union meeting in February said shipping volumes after the busy holiday season had plummeted so much that they were working only a day or so a week. They talked of packages being handled at a more automated warehouse hub near Carlisle, not far from the intersection of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 81.

UPS said it will work with those who would be impacted by the layoffs and provide them with support.

UPS, which is the world’s largest package delivery company with $91 billion in revenue last year, will not release its earnings report for the first quarter of 2024 until April 23.

In the last quarter of 2023, when shipping volumes typically rise during the holiday shopping season, UPS said its revenue dropped by 7.8% to $24.9 billion. For the same period, UPS saw its average day volume of packages shipped in the U.S. fall by 7.4% to 22,450, compared to the same quarter in 2022.

The shipper is restructuring operations at a time when it expects a 1% increase in the amount of small packages that will be shipped compared to 2023, according to the company’s presentation of its 2023 financial results.