United Parcel Service (UPS) is set to lay off 20,000 employees and close 73 facilities as part of a planned reduction in deliveries for Amazon.com, and amid the ongoing global uncertainty and trade war initiated by the current US administration under President Donald Trump.
During the company’s first-quarter investor call, management said the goal is to reduce Amazon’s volume in its network by over 50% by June 2026, as the e-commerce giant’s business “is not profitable for us, nor a healthy fit for our network.”
The company did not provide specific details regarding which positions will be affected by the layoffs.
Reuters reported that UPS employs 406,000 workers in the United States, over 75% of whom are unionised. Under its current national master agreement with the Teamsters union, UPS is contractually obligated to create 30,000 jobs.
“But if the company intends to violate our contract or makes any attempt to go after hard-fought, good-paying Teamsters jobs, UPS will be in for a hell of a fight," the union’s general president, Sean O’Brien, told the news agency.
With the workforce cuts and other initiatives, UPS is looking to protect its profits by saving USD3.5 billion in 2025.
The company’s air cargo division, UPS Airlines (5X, Louisville International), operates 293 aircraft: fifty-two A300-600Fs, two B747-400(BCF)s, eleven B747-400FSCDs, thirty B747-8Fs, seventy-five B757-200PFs, six B767-300ER(BCF)s, four B767-300ER(BDSF)s, eighty-four B767-300Fs, one Citation Jet 4 Gen2, and twenty-eight MD-11Fs (currently on their way out, with three being retired this year).
UPS announced revenues of USD21.5 billion for the first quarter of the year, and an operating profit of USD1.7 billion.
