A courtroom in Boston has become the latest battleground between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and delivery giant United Parcel Service, as the union presses for an emergency order to stop a sweeping buyout plan aimed at drivers.
The offer on the table is eye-catching: up to $150,000 for eligible employees willing to walk away. The union believes the number alone could trigger a rush for the exits. Its legal team estimates that more than 10,000 drivers may accept if the company is allowed to proceed.
At the heart of the dispute is the labor contract struck in 2023. The Teamsters argue that UPS launched the buyout program without negotiating, sidestepping provisions they say bar such individualized exit deals. The union, which represents more than 320,000 UPS workers, filed suit earlier this month seeking to freeze the plan before it gathers momentum.
UPS, for its part, frames the program as voluntary — and preferable to layoffs. The company has announced plans to eliminate as many as 30,000 jobs and shutter 24 facilities as it recalibrates its network and reduces its reliance on lower-margin deliveries tied to e-commerce heavyweight Amazon.
This isn’t the first attempt. A prior buyout initiative last year drew limited interest — roughly 3,000 drivers signed on after being offered severance calculated at $1,800 per year of service, with a $10,000 floor. The new package is significantly richer, a move the union says is designed to ensure far greater uptake.
Union attorneys warned the court that once drivers accept and depart, any later ruling by an arbitrator deeming the program improper could prove nearly impossible to unwind. Reinstating thousands of workers after they have taken lump-sum payments, they argue, would create operational and legal chaos.
UPS counters that federal labor law restricts the court’s authority to intervene in this type of labor dispute. Blocking the buyouts, the company says, would leave it with layoffs as the remaining path — a step it maintains is clearly permitted under the contract.
The company has also pointed to a decline in package volumes — down 8.6% — and expects further softness this year. From its perspective, the buyouts offer a softer landing: a voluntary departure paired with substantial compensation.
The presiding judge has indicated a ruling will come soon. For now, the question hangs in the balance: will drivers be handed a lucrative exit, or will the court put the brakes on a plan that could reshape UPS’s workforce in a matter of weeks?
