Managers, contractor positions said to be affected by layoffs
The United Parcel Service (UPS) is laying off 12,000 employees in its workforce, according to reports, adding the organisation to the growing list of employers announcing job cuts this year.
The number corresponds to 2.4% of the more than 500,000 UPS employees across the world, NBC News reported.
A spokesperson from the package and document delivery company told NBC that the job cuts would impact employees across the world but won't affect union-represented roles.
All functions would also be affected, according to the spokesperson, adding that 75% of the cuts would be carried out in the first half of the year.
A CNN report also revealed that majority of the impacted staff would be managers and contractor positions.
UPS has about 85,000 managers in its global workforce out of 500,000 employees, according to CNN, while there are over 300,000 hourly US workers represented by the Teamsters union.
The organisation now adds to the list of employers announcing job cuts this year, which includes eBay, Riot Games, Levi Strauss, among others.
Lower consolidated earnings before layoffs
The announcement of job cuts at the UPS come as the organisation incurred a 7.8% decrease in consolidated revenues in 2023.
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Its latest 4Q 2023 Earnings report revealed that consolidated revenues declined to $24.9 billion, down from the $27 billion recorded last year.
"2023 was a unique and difficult year and through it all we remained focused on controlling what we could control, stayed on strategy and strengthened our foundation for future growth," UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in a statement.
The CEO attributed the company's recent performance to the "macro environment," as well as the disruptions that took place amid labour contract negotiations and higher costs associated with the new contract.
New union contract
In 2023, UPS and Teamsters union agreed to a five-year contract that saw full-time and part-time employees wages to go up by $2.75 an hour in 2023.
It will go up to a total of $7.50 per hour over the length of a new contract, according to Teamsters, who called it the "most lucrative agreement" the union negotiated at UPS.
The agreement is set to benefit 340,000 UPS Teamsters in the United States, according to the union, adding that it will create more jobs and secure further workplace protections.
"There are more gains in this contract than in any other UPS agreement and with no givebacks to the company," said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman in a statement last year.