New York, one of the biggest hubs for e-commerce, is not immune to United Parcel Service’s nationwide layoffs.
The 116-year-old multinational shipping company plans to lay off more than 100 employees at one of its largest warehouses in the city this June, according to a state unemployment filing made public Wednesday.
The company is cutting ties with 103 employees who currently work out of its 643 W. 43rd St. hub in order to address what it says is dwindling demand.
“We continue to right-size our network and staffing to meet volume demands. … Our employees are extremely important to us, and we are working to place as many employees as possible in other positions,” said Mitch Polikoff, the director of media relations at UPS.
The notice comes after UPS last month announced its largest staffing cuts in history, which CEO Carol Tomé partly attributed to the rise of artificial intelligence, which has made some jobs obsolete.
The layoffs, which are set to take effect June 21, will impact 99 union members, represented by Teamsters Local 804, and four management-level staffers who now work the night shift at the 1950s-era warehouse between 11th Avenue and the Hudson River Greenway. Those staffers are responsible for sorting the hundreds of thousands of packages that get shipped into the Big Apple each day. New York City residents received an average of 2.3 million packages per day, Crain’s reported in 2021.
But these days there are fewer packages that need sorting, according to UPS. The company declined to provide the number of parcels that come in and out of its Manhattan warehouse. Nationally, however, UPS is delivering less as Amazon is far outpacing its competitors. In 2021, UPS delivered an average of 25.2 million packages daily while last year the company delivered only 22.3 million. And according to reports, e-commerce across the country, which is largely driven by Amazon, is only expected to grow over the next few years.
But Vinnie Perrone, the president of Teamsters Local 804, accused the company of spinning its own story about the layoffs, which he said are “destroying” his members’ lives. Perrone told Crain’s Thursday that UPS is not worried about volume but is diverting overnight work from two New York City warehouses to automated facilities in New Jersey.
“If they could do everything using AI and robots, they would gladly do it,” said Perrone.
UPS spokesman Polikoff disputed the union’s claims.
Julianne Cuba , 2024-03-28 18:32:40
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