Teamsters union sues UPS over new driver buyout program

Feb 9 (Reuters) – The Teamsters Union said on Monday it had sued United Parcel Service, alleging the delivery giant’s fresh buyout packages for drivers violated their national contract.

The two ‍agreed to a contract deal covering 340,000 Teamsters-represented workers in 2023. The deal averted a strike at UPS, which has more Teamsters-represented employees than any other U.S. company.

In January, UPS said it would cut up to 30,000 jobs and shut 24 facilities as it looked to move away ‌from millions of low-profit deliveries for its largest ‌customer, online retailer Amazon.com.

“The scope of UPS’s updated buyout program is much broader than the payoff presented to workers late last summer, when UPS marketed payouts to more tenured drivers nearing retirement,” the union said.

The ​delivery firm had announced a buyout package for its drivers in July 2025 as part of a network reconfiguration, which included ‍20,000 jobs cuts and the closure of ​73 facilities.

The latest buyout, called the Driver Choice ​Program, is set to be announced this week, the union said in ‍a statement.

If implemented, the program would offer drivers a one-time lump-sum payment in exchange for “legally committing to never work for UPS again,” according to the union.

Teamsters said it has detailed at least six violations of its National Master Agreement with the company in ‍Massachusetts District Court filings.

Teamsters said UPS had failed to respond to more than 57 requests for information and documents related to the revised ‍driver buyout plan since ‍late January.

“We engaged with the Teamsters on this ​topic in early January and will address the ​Teamsters’ ⁠response through the appropriate legal channels,” UPS said ‌in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The court filing will not affect operations, UPS added in the statement.

UPS rivals like FedEx and Amazon Logistics are not unionized and offer lower pay to drivers and other delivery-related employees.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing ⁠by Sriraj Kalluvila)