The rolling tides of layoffs claim another victim—UPS is delivering bulk job cuts. United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced layoffs in 2025, culling 20,000 positions and shutting down over 73 of its facilities. The automatic response to UPS’ closures and layoffs in 2025 may be to assume that the cuts are occurring due to the tariffs, which is the reason many businesses have resorted to this drastic measure, however, the package delivery company has assured us that this isn’t the only reason.
UPS is to cut 20,000 jobs as a result of its decision to cease serving Amazon, one of its biggest customers. The company had hinted that it was headed towards such a move earlier in January, but with UPS’ Q1 2025 revenue drop, the decision has been solidified. A number of the workers being cut likely belong to the Teamsters union, which guarantees that UPS will see significant resistance to the layoffs it has announced.
The UPS job cuts will sweep across the company as it shuts down its business dealings with Amazon. (Image: Freepik)
UPS Job Cuts to Affect 20,000 Operational Workers
The UPS layoffs will affect 4% of its workforce and will significantly lower the volumes of delivery that it currently handles. Cutting ties with Amazon will allow UPS to shed around 50% of its shipping volumes, and with other cost-cutting measures in tow, it could manage to restructure its operations and business to better fit the changing times.
With “macroeconomic uncertainty” holding the company back from updating its profit and revenue forecasts, the company has turned to matters within its control to scale back the business.
Why Has UPS Announced Closures and Layoffs in 2025?
Despite Amazon providing more business than the company can hope to expect from any other client, UPS claims that many of the deliveries are not profitable and not a healthy fit for its network. Now, not only will UPS move ahead with the layoffs, but it will also shutter 73 facilities in the US by the end of June. The company aims to protect its profit margins by cutting $3.5 billion in 2025 with its overhead reductions.
UPS is also looking into reducing the number of hours employees work and exploring automation as a part of its operational shift, according to CNN, taking tasks like sorting, label application, package loading, etc., and handing them to machines. Around 400 facilities will become partly or fully automated in due time. The company is determined to lessen its dependency on labor, which is not what employees want to hear.
This isn’t UPS’ only attempt at downsizing in recent years. In 2024, the company cut 12,000 jobs in one go, bringing down its numbers significantly to 490,000 employees. The layoffs were not well-received but the company has felt the move was essential to its progress.
How Will Teamsters Respond to the UPS Layoffs?
The UPS job cuts may be a decision made by business leaders but when employees are represented by unions, they will be forced to take worker opinion into account. The Boeing fiasco from last year has taught us that much at least. The Teamster Brotherhood union, which represents more than 300,000 of the hourly workers at UPS, has stepped up to the battlefield and declared its intention to fight.
“United Parcel Service is contractually obligated to create 30,000 Teamsters jobs under our current national master agreement. If UPS wants to continue to downsize corporate management, the Teamsters won’t stand in its way. 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 International Brotherhood of Teamsters
For now, UPS does not appear too worried about the threat and has reassured the union that it plans to maintain the terms of the contract as decreed. With 75% of its workers represented by the union, it will be hard for UPS to cut 20,000 jobs while also ensuring that union-represented workers are not significantly affected by the cuts.
Unions Have a Big Role to Play in How an Employer Handles Layoffs
Union representation has been a matter of much contention between employers and employees. Most businesses make active efforts to prevent a union from ever forming at their organization, but if their efforts fail, union protections and negotiations also need to be respected in order for the company to continue business as usual.
Whether you consider Volkswagen and the resistance that was seen when union workers wanted to keep jobs in Germany, or the Boeing fiasco that caused significant damage to the business when it failed to properly negotiate with its employees, it’s obvious that employees will always fight to be heard. Working with unions respectfully and offering a decent severance package to workers terminated via layoffs should be a standard practice while making these tough decisions.
Even without unions, the scale of the UPS layoffs is such that the company has to acknowledge how its workers are going to be affected by the move. With the UPS job cuts, not only will the terminated employees be affected, but those who remain will have to work to fill in for those who are gone. Considering the full impact of job cuts is something companies cannot ignore.
Will the UPS job losses soften the economic impact of the changing tariff landscape or will the company announce another round of cuts in the coming months? We shall have to see.
Subscribe to The HR Digest to stay up to date with future updates on the UPS job cuts or more insights into how the world of work is evolving right now.
