LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After UPS announced it would be laying off workers at a Louisville facility next year, the local chapter of the Teamsters union says there are still a lot of unknowns at this time.
On Thursday, UPS said it would be eliminating the day shift sort at the Louisville Centennial ground hub (LCH) in February 2024. The company said the move was made due to low package volume.
In a statement released Friday, Teamster Local 89 said it’s not clear how exactly UPS plans to accomplish the closing, however the union is actively investigating the situation and plans to meet with UPS Labor Management soon to discuss the company’s plans.
“As always, we intend to enforce our contract and ensure all of our members’ contractual and legal rights are respected,” the union said.
UPS did not disclose how many people would lose their jobs; however, a spokesperson said it would affect a “relatively small portion” of the overall workforce.
According to Local 89, the union does not expect this closure to have a major impact on their membership beyond shift and schedule changes.
“The LCH day shift sort is a relatively small operation, and most or all its volume can likely be absorbed by the other, larger LCH sorts,” the union said, adding that they are still investigating precisely what effects this will have on LCH Teamsters.
The company said some employees will have the opportunity to be reassigned to other positions.
UPS said the layoffs are not related to the unionization effort by some administrative and specialist employees. Earlier this month, UPS and Teamsters reached a last-minute agreement to avoid a strike after 35 workers who were let go were later re-instated.
Those workers voted to join Teamsters 89 in October. The union made claims of unfair labor practices and threatened to strike.
The layoffs will impact part-time employees who sort packages at Centennial, and some administrative employees and management. Drivers are not affected.
UPS has implemented similar layoffs at other facilities across the US.
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