On July 1, UPS intends to temporarily close a sizable package processing plant on Swan Island in Portland for many months in order to automate a substantial portion of the site’s operations.
UPS union employees are worried that hundreds of their jobs would be replaced by machines as a result of the closure.
In an email sent Thursday, UPS spokesperson Jim Mayer stated, “We value our employees greatly and anticipate that the majority of them will relocate to a temporary facility on (the) property or to other UPS facilities in the area.” When the building reopens sometime next year, he will not reveal how many employees are on site or what the staffing levels will be.
We have plans in place to continue serving the Portland community, so this temporary closure won’t affect customer service, Mayer stated.
Over 300 day sorters, the majority of whom were part-time employees, were let go by UPS at the Swan Island location last year.
In anticipation of Swan Island’s shutdown, Teamsters Local 162, which represents the Portland workforce, has been urging employees to relocate to a UPS location in Hillsboro. When asked on Wednesday and Thursday how the automation will affect their membership, union officials in Oregon did not reply.
John Palmer, a Teamsters national vice president in Texas, stated that while some of those jobs would return when the building reopens, it will only be a minor portion.
UPS employees nationwide have been impacted by automation, and Palmer stated that the union ought to have done a better job of drafting worker-protective contracts.
“There should be some kind of severance based on your years of service if you’re going to be displaced,” he added.
Automation does exist. We can only halt progress to a certain extent. The flip side, however, is when a company like UPS generates billions of dollars in profits each quarter, Palmer stated. (Last quarter, UPS recorded profits of $1.5 billion.)
According to Palmer, the Teamsters might have negotiated a contract that would have given long-term workers the chance to receive training for the upkeep and care required by sorting machines.
Palmer stated that the leadership ought to have had a plan since they anticipated this.
–Mike Rogoway writes on the business and technology in Oregon. You can reach him at 503-294-7699 or [email protected].
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