UPS Laying Off Thousands of Employees, What Does It Mean for 21,000 Workers in Pennsylvania?

One of the largest employers in the state of Pennsylvania just announced plans to lay off employees, and it could affect a lot of the state’s working class.

Could you or your loved ones be affected?

UPS Announces Plans to Lay Off 12,000 Employees Nationwide

Before we look at the effect of UPS workers on Pennsylvania, let’s dig into this:

Shipping giant UPS just announced that they plan to lay off as many as 12,000 employees nationwide.

They cited a decline in volume, revenue, and operating profits across the company. The news was shared on a company earnings call on Tuesday (January 30).

Labor issues played a role in the loss of business in the second half of 2023.

“Some of this performance was due to the macro environment and some due to disruptions associated with our labor contract negotiations as well as higher costs associated with the new contract,” UPS CEO Carol Tome said.

Last summer the company negotiated contracts with unions. As those negotiations dragged on, customers shifted shipments to other carriers like FedEx. UPS has only won back about 60% of that lost business, CNN reports.

Which Employees Is UPS Most Likely to Lay Off?

This round of layoffs will mostly affect managers and contractor positions, CNN reports.

It's reported that UPS has about 85,000 managers in a global staff of nearly 500,000 union employees. 

How Many Pennsylvanians Will UPS Lay Off?

The company has a substantial footprint in the state of Pennsylvania. A UPS facility in Dauphin County is actually the company's fourth largest in the entire country.

As of 2020, it was estimated that "more than 21,000 UPS employees" bring UPS services to Pennsylvania, the company said in a press release.

It was not immediately unclear how many Pennsylvanians will be affected by the layoffs that UPS has planned in 2024.

https://about.ups.com/us/en/newsroom/press-releases/customer-first/ups-kicks-off-2020-capacity-expansions-with-multi-facility-announcement-in-pennsylvania.html