On July 3, local time, a U.S. international courier giant U** announced that it would launch "the largest network restructuring program in the company's history" and for the first time offer U.S. full-time delivery drivers a voluntary severance buyout program to address the current challenging business environment, cut operating costs and improve overall efficiency.
According to reliable sources, the company has announced plans to streamline around 20,000 jobs globally in April this year as a key part of its overall cost reduction and efficiency strategy. At the same time, the company will also close dozens of operational facilities in response to reduced parcel volumes from its major customers, cutting excess capacity and improving profitability.
In an official statement, the company said, "This is the first time we've offered a voluntary severance program to full-time drivers in the U.S. Participants who choose to leave the company will receive a sizable financial settlement and continue to retain their original retirement benefits, including entitlements such as pension and health insurance."
The company also emphasized that it has communicated with the drivers' union on the matter as part of labor contract negotiations and said it "will continue to honor all of the agreement commitments reached in the 2023 contract."
However, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents the company's employees, has publicly disagreed, accusing the company of violating the labor contract negotiated in 2023 with this move, stating that "the company is attempting to avoid its commitment to create high-quality unionized jobs stateside through unreasonable buyout provisions."
Under a previous agreement, the company was to create 22,500 new unionized jobs over the next few years. Union leaders emphasized that the company's move "constitutes a breach of contract." For its part, the union said it has encouraged its members to ignore and refuse to participate in the plan.
According to industry sources, the international courier giant's business network covers more than 200 countries and regions around the world, and currently employs about 490,000 people worldwide. It is worth noting that last year the company had announced the layoff of 12,000 jobs, and in April this year, it announced the layoff of about 20,000 people. In addition, in mid-March this year, another large U.S. postal service also laid off about 10,000 employees.
Against the backdrop of intensifying global trade friction, the logistics industry is facing increasingly severe challenges. Since the beginning of this year, a number of large U.S. enterprises have made staff adjustments of different scales, and the scale of corporate layoffs has continued to reach record highs under the market pressure brought about by the policy of tariff increases. Changes in trade policy have had an impact on the global supply chain, with far-reaching effects on freight volumes and jobs in the logistics industry.
The current global economic environment is complex and volatile, and enterprises are actively coping with the double pressure of transformation and upgrading and cost reduction and efficiency, in order to seek sustainable development and even survival. This trend has spread to the field of global logistics supply chain, and personnel optimization has become one of the important measures for enterprises to cut costs.
Author: Kim
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