A federal courtroom in Boston has cleared the runway for United Parcel Service to move ahead with an ambitious workforce reduction plan—one that places a $150,000 check on the table for tens of thousands of its drivers.
At the center of the clash was a challenge mounted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union representing more than 320,000 UPS employees. The union had urged the court to freeze the company’s new “Driver Choice Program,” arguing that it sidestepped the 2023 labor agreement and risked permanently thinning union ranks before an arbitrator could weigh in.
But Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper was unpersuaded. In denying the injunction, she described the union’s reading of the labor contract as “flawed,” noting that an arbitrator retains authority to nullify any agreements that conflict with the broader collective bargaining pact. In other words, the dispute can still be argued—but the buyout program won’t be paused in the meantime.
For UPS, the ruling is a green light.
The company says about 105,000 drivers are eligible for the voluntary exit package, which includes the lump sum plus accrued retirement benefits such as pension and healthcare. Details are expected to be circulated internally in the coming days.
The backdrop is a delivery giant recalibrating its footprint. After an 8.6% drop in package volume last year—and with further declines projected—UPS has already shed 48,000 jobs. It is also moving away from lower-margin, high-volume shipments handled for Amazon, its largest customer. Earlier this year, UPS announced plans to cut up to 30,000 positions and shutter 24 facilities as part of that pivot.
This is not the first attempt to slim down through buyouts. A prior round offered severance based on years of service, with a $10,000 minimum payout. Roughly 3,000 drivers opted in—far below what the company appears to be targeting now.
The union maintains that the new, more generous offer—potentially attractive enough to draw more than 10,000 acceptances—was rolled out without proper negotiation. It argues that individual buyout agreements violate provisions of the existing labor contract.
Still, for now, the program stands.
UPS remains the largest employer of Teamster-represented workers in the United States. Unlike competitors such as FedEx and Amazon’s in-house delivery network, its driver workforce is unionized and among the highest paid in the sector.
With the court declining to intervene, the choice now shifts to the drivers themselves: stay the course—or take the payout and step away.
