DENVER — Delivery workers are usually in high demand when the holidays roll around, but the story is different at UPS, which recently told state officials that hundreds of layoffs are coming at the beginning of next year.
In a letter signed Thursday of last week, a human resources employee for UPS told the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and Commerce City Mayor Steve Douglas that “due to changing business realities in our network,” the company was moving to lay off more than 400 workers at the facility located at 5190 Ivy St., effective Jan. 15, 2025.
The layoffs come as the company works to add more automation equipment to the location, which is expected to save $3 billion in costs by 2028, according to our partners at The Denver Post.
In all, 404 employees will be laid off, including 401 on the package processing side as well as 3 revenue recovery employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter, or WARN, for short. The letter was obtained by Denver7 Monday and requires businesses provide employees with a 60-day notice in case of mass layoffs.
The layoffs will affect both union and non-union employees, according to the letter. Union employees with seniority at the company represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 455 will have bumping rights, meaning they’ll be able to apply to other positions within the company, according to the UPS human resources employee.
Permanent layoffs at Boeing
UPS wasn’t the only company to announce layoffs last week. On Friday, the aerospace company Boeing told state officials in a WARN letter they would be permanently laying off approximately 63 employees in Colorado effective Jan. 17, 2025.
Locations impacted by these layoffs, for which there are no bumping rights, include a location at 55 Inverness Dr. E in Englewood; Stapleton Intl, 8250 Smith Rd. in Denver; 4440 Discoverer Ave. at the Schriver Space Force Base in El Paso County; 440 Wooten Rd. in Colorado Springs; 5555 Tech Center in Colorado Springs; 720 Irwin Ave at the Schriver Space Force Base; and 9970 Federal Dr. in Colorado Springs.
Boeing has struggled in recent years with ongoing aircraft safety problems, which have damaged its reputation and caused headaches for its customers like Southwest Airlines, who recently blamed the company for layoffs. The Boeing Spaceliner had to return without its crew after suffering problems, leaving them behind on the International Space Station, the Denver Post reports.
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