UPS plans to lay off 525 workers at Commerce City Hub

Commerce City, CO – On November 14, Teamsters Local 455 released an email stating that “approximately half” of the Commerce City UPS facility will be closing and undergoing renovations starting on January 15, 2025.

The renovations would automate a portion of the facility and are planned to take until around November 1, 2026. UPS management gave notice of the change on the evening of November 13, but have since given no further details, including specifically which workers in which areas of the building will be affected by the layoffs. This project is a part of UPS’s “Network of the Future” campaign announced in March of 2024, an attempt to automate jobs as a cost-cutting strategy.

While UPS has plans for their automation future, the announcement has left workers at the roughly 2500-person Commerce City hub feeling uncertain about their own futures, and wondering how the process will affect their lives and livelihoods. This new uncertainty has also led some of the affected workers to begin looking for other jobs, not knowing if they are going to lose their jobs after the holiday season, or “Peak Season,” officially ends on January 15.

Teamsters Local 455 has stated they will continue to gather information, including how to relocate a portion of the workforce to other nearby UPS facilities. Information about the process has been slow to reach union membership.

Union representatives met with UPS management on December 12, but the details of this meeting are currently a mystery to the workers. UPS management has also been unable to answer any further questions, with most of the management being kept in the dark about how this change of operations is going to look.

The Shop Floor Educators, a network of rank-and-file workers seeking to educate and help organize their fellow workers, have launched a campaign for disclosure of information to learn more about which workers, areas and shifts will be affected by the layoffs. The group has stated they will be making information about relevant contract language, unemployment, mental health services, and other topics available to members who may lose their jobs on January 15.

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