General Discussion

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/2/20/2369525/-Teamsters-supported-Trump-now-it-s-backfiring-spectacularly?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Last year, UPS closed 93 facilities and laid off 20,000 workers because of a “sharp drop in packages sent from China” after Trump imposed tariffs on the country, according to The New York Times.

Last month, UPS announced another 30,000 layoffs and the closure of 24 more sorting facilities. And earlier this week, the company listed the affected facilities, which were primarily in rural and southern communities. It’s also deployed automation across dozens of additional locations.
Leo Zambrano and other members of the Teamsters Local 848 walk off the job in protest of harsh labor conditions in Compton, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. More than seventy truck drivers who haul imported cargo for Toyota, Walmart, and Ross from America's largest port complex to inland warehouses and distribution centers went on strike to protest severe wage cuts and skyrocketing healthcare costs. (Drew A. Kelley/The Orange County Register via AP)
Teamsters members protest harsh labor conditions on Feb. 20, 2025.

And the Teamsters have been left sputtering about their contract.

“If UPS wants to continue to downsize corporate management, the Teamsters won’t stand in its way,” O’Brien said after last year’s layoffs were announced. “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.”

UPS responded with even more layoffs.