UPS Lays Off Workers; Strike Deadline Nears

United Parcel Service of America Inc. said it was laying off employees nationwide and losing package orders as a Thursday strike deadline loomed. A spokesman for America’s leading package distribution company confirmed that employees were being laid off because of a drop in package volume, but he could not say how many workers were affected. “It’s nothing of a large-scale nature, by any means. It’s nothing that we are tracking specifically,” company spokesman Mark Dickens said. “It is likely to increase if volume continues to be diverted to other carriers.” The company said it intends to reach an accord with the Teamsters union with no disruption in service, but it cannot promise that it will be able to continue to complete deliveries after Thursday. Dickens said companywide package deliveries were off by about 2% during June, or almost 250,000 packages a day out of normal daily volume of almost 12 million. There has been further decline during July, he said. Thursday is the final day of the current four-year contract. Privately held UPS said union negotiators have rejected a request for a contract extension as well as a request for five days prior notification of any work stoppage to notify customers. Atlanta-based UPS said it intended to maintain full service until a new contract is reached. The Teamsters represent about two-thirds of the company’s domestic payroll.