UPS workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and many rank-and-file Teamsters have been sounding the alarm, saying that automation will reduce staffing, degrade workplace safety and eliminate union jobs. As Teamsters leave UPS, in many cases the company is not expected to replace staff as they depart the company.

Glen Reed works inside the Lonestar and said, “Work that was once done by people has been directly replaced with automation. Inside workers are being forced to return to trailers, which routinely run [around] 20°F hotter than the outside temperature. This in turn has pushed some workers to quit, especially those of an older age group.”

Older workers, in particular, have been pushed to quit rather than endure the increased heat and strain. The company’s actions amount to a quiet long-term staffing reduction designed to hide job cuts behind attrition.

Workers at the Lonestar hub have reported that construction workers have been arc welding in or near active work areas without safety screens and that this has resulted in hub workers being directly exposed to bright flashes, flying sparks and noxious fumes. It has also been reported that at least one driver of an “irreg” (irregular package) cart had sparks fly into his eyes while passing by one of the areas where automation work was being performed, causing the worker to quit his job over the incident. Other workers have reported headaches that they say are from fumes due to welding in the enclosed warehouse. There have also been reports of congestion in walkways creating dangerous work conditions. Against the backdrop of this automation work, the Hub has continued to run with workers working their shifts loading, unloading and sorting packages in the same space with the construction work.

Despite the major impact on working conditions, UPS rolled out its automation plan with little to no consultation with the Teamsters union. UPS plans to automate through AI-driven refurbishment of buildings particularly ones designated as “automated hubs.”

UPS Lonestar is an automated hub. At UPS, administrators and specialists do a range of tasks to keep things running smoothly. Dispatchers and operations specialists, who help move shipments through the belts and yards, are among the most common positions. In automated hubs where UPS is shifting more of its volume, specialists are particularly crucial to maintaining advanced sorting and AI technologies. One thing is clear: without the workers, UPS's AI rollout falls apart.

James Dylan, another inside worker, said, “The rollout has been abrupt, with a clear priority of speed and production over worker safety.” This demonstrates a clear lack of respect on the part of UPS for the people who do the work to make UPS run.

Despite UPS moving fast to reshape its workforce around automation, workers will need to be just as organized and determined to defend jobs, ensure safety and protect the gains won through struggle.

The fight against automation-driven job cuts is not just about new machines—it’s about power. And workers at the Lone Star hub are making one thing clear, when the company attacks jobs and safety, Teamsters should fight back.

#ArlingtonTX #TX #Labor #Teamsters #Automation #UPS

On October 15, a White House memo boasted a $13 billion investment in five Midwestern plants by automaker Stellantis. It also announced projects by Whirlpool, General Electric and others. Thanks to tariffs, Trump tells us, the prodigal sons of industry have returned.

But how does the scoreboard really add up for reindustrialization?

Not quite as advertised. These aren’t new factories; they’re old ones being retooled. Tariffs shoot manufacturers in the foot, since they drive up prices for supplies. Investing in new technologies takes skilled workers. This is a hard sell when ICE just deported over 300 Korean technicians from a Georgia car factory. Auto corporations, hearts full of liberal compassion, fear that “first they came for Hyundai.”

That said, there is a real attempt by both parties to “bring manufacturing back.” The truth is, this isn’t the same thing as creating jobs.

Putting America back to work?

The latest factories will be more automated than those of the past. For example, the Wall Street Journal reports that Hyundai’s latest auto plant in Georgia has a robot-to-human ratio of 2 to 1, compared to the 7 to 1 industry average. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 23% of employment in direct production is mostly automated. While Trump promised booms in employment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a loss of 12,000 manufacturing jobs in August alone. The Bureau predicts continued stagnation through 2034.

This trend is not new. In 1980, it took over ten hours’ labor to produce a ton of steel, and by 2018 this dropped to 90 minutes. Production levels have stayed constant, but the number of manufacturing workers has declined since 1979.

Automation not only reduces the number of jobs, it demands greater levels of education for the jobs it opens. Programming, overseeing, operating and repairing equipment often requires either college-level education or specialized training. Workers late in their careers, rural workers, or otherwise poor job-seekers are going to have a hard time accessing these skills.

Economist Robert Lawrence summarizes, “the sector should not be promoted as a vehicle of inclusive growth and employment for low-skilled workers.”

Falling rate of profit

Automation has sharpened the tendency for the rate of profit to fall. In order to undercut each other, manufacturers race to adopt the latest technologies. However, by doing so, they’re permanently raising the bar for machinery used throughout the industry (i.e. think the robot-to-human ratio discussed earlier). That means that a greater portion of their costs are constant. It’s impossible to squeeze an extra dollar out of a machine like it’s possible to exploit a human worker. The overall rates of profit can go down.

This can be seen in General Motors’ average annual operating margin, which went from 8.7% in the 1960s to negative numbers in the 2000s. Since 2008, car companies have been able to buck this trend to some extent. But this is the exception that confirms the rule: they needed help from Obama’s bailout and Biden’s subsidies. They’ve also slashed wages and relocated U.S. plants to union-busting states in the South. The 2023 strikers in the United Auto Workers know this all too well. But even in the past few years, automakers have seen their profit margins dip once again.

The race to the bottom is self-defeating. Low rates of profit make it harder to attract the finances needed to stay on the cutting edge.

Julius Krein, head of the New American Industrial Alliance, criticizes fellow capitalists for the big green dollar signs in their eyes. “During the last several decades, Americans found a way to financially engineer seemingly everything except for investments in critical techno-industrial capabilities,” he writes.

“Warning indicators are flashing red”

Because of this stagnation, more of the U.S. ruling class is ready for a heavier government hand. The prize at stake isn’t the average worker, it’s the average bottom line.

Oren Kass, chief economist at a conservative think tank, writes in Foreign Affairs: “Across the American economic dashboard, warning indicators are flashing red. The globalization and financialization of the past several decades have slowed investment, innovation, and growth. Industrial output and productivity have declined, and the United States has lost its leadership position in vital technologies – including in aerospace, energy, and semiconductors.”

It’s not just that lights are blinking on the dash, it’s also that capitalists won’t pay for a new car. “Simply put, the activities that generate the highest returns on capital are not the ones that have anything to do with building productive and innovative enterprises.”

Their solution is for the government to support gains that capital can’t achieve in the marketplace. Tariffs are one step of many. These are starting to compel manufacturers to invest in the U.S., which in turn forces companies to automate to avoid paying more workers. Industry representatives are also begging for subsidies and state-funded retraining programs. “Lead us,” the blind ask of the blind.

Salvaging jobs, or empire?

Attempts at reindustrialization have nothing to do with jobs and more to do with recovering profits. But above all else, it’s U.S. imperialism’s scramble against foreign competition.

Within U.S. borders, European and Asian automakers assemble more vehicles than the Detroit Three (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler/Stellantis). Julius Krein complains that the U.S. is in the “middle of the pack” for overall automation levels.

China is leading the pack. The ruling class has come to admit the country’s economic superiority. “China has achieved advanced electrification with astonishing speed in part because of government support,” a recent Foreign Affairs article noted. “If the United States wants to achieve results like China, it will have to build more like China by replicating certain aspects of how Beijing organizes and mobilizes its production economy.”

In the same pages, former US Deputy National Security Adviser Nadia Schadlow recommends: “A commitment to reindustrialization would undercut China’s efforts to weaken the United States.”

The motivation behind attempted reindustrialization is clear – the U.S. monopoly capitalists face an existential threat from socialist China. And they can’t foot the bill to pull ahead. They are right to be worried. Modern manufacturing is central for everything from cars to drones to artificial intelligence. As much as Trump wants to sell the idea of some untapped potential for jobs, he won’t revive the factories of the 1950s. He’s desperate to shore up imperialism by milking what he can out of a declining industrial base.

#Opinion #Commentary #Labor #Automation #Trump #Jobs #Unemployment #CapitalismAndEconomy

Chicago, IL – On Thursday January 30, UPS announced a major cutback in Amazon package deliveries, with the goal of dropping over 50% of the volume from the company’s largest customer by June 2026. In conjunction, UPS is looking to permanently shutter 10% of buildings, shrink their fleet of vehicles and lay off workers.

The plan to close more buildings comes on the heels of the hard fought 2023 Teamsters contract, which resulted in major wage gains for part-timers and the end of the 2-tier system among package car drivers. The credible threat of a strike forced UPS to concede to the union’s demands in contract negotiations and look elsewhere for cost savings. Last year UPS laid off 12,000 corporate employees and announced major investments in the automation of hub operations as part of their “Network of the Future” initiative.

“When UPS closes hubs for renovations, they are laying the groundwork for mass layoffs due to automation,” said Alex Carson, a part-time unloader out of Atlanta. “Workers whose hubs get closed for over a year are given the option to drive to nearby hubs, which is untenable for most, as it can add hours to commutes. This allows UPS to effectively conceal how many people actually lose their job due to automation.”

Despite leading the industry with $8.5 billion in profit last year, UPS is being driven by its Wall Street owners to push profits even higher. Under CEO Carol Tome’s “Better not Bigger” strategy, UPS has instituted numerous rate hikes and shifted focus from e-commerce to higher revenue segments like small business and medical. UPS hopes that reducing operations will free up $1 billion in capital which can be reinvested in higher margin sectors requiring less labor. UPS has been making big purchases in healthcare warehousing and logistics, for example the recent acquisition of Europe-based Frigo-Trans and BPL.

“This is why it’s so important that our union continue to put a lot of resources towards organizing Amazon workers,” said Jenny Bekenstein, UPS Teamster and Amazon organizer out of Los Angeles. “Because of how the companies are in competition with each other in the industry and how UPS has the power to downsize or automate if it wants to, our jobs and all of the good things that we fought for in our UPS contract are not safe until we organize Amazon workers to have the same thing and set a real industry standard in logistics that these companies can’t get around.”

Automation and a smaller workforce at UPS make organizing Amazon an existential question for the Teamsters. The growth of Amazon as a non-union, independent delivery service puts competitive pressure on UPS to continue with automation and layoffs. UPS is the largest Teamster employer and job cuts will weaken the union.

The growth of a militant rank-and-file movement makes the Teamsters well poised to fight back against any job eliminations at UPS. Additionally, some drivers and warehouse workers at Amazon have joined the Teamsters in demanding higher wages and better working conditions. By the end of 2024, Amazon had become the largest private delivery business in the U.S., moving nearly 6 billion packages. This past holiday season also saw the first national Amazon strike with Teamsters walking out in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #Teamsters #UPS #Automation