Union Seeks Emergency Restraining Order as UPS Attempts Second Illegal Buyout
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Teamsters Union filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against United Parcel Service today, demanding the company shut down its plan to roll out a second illegal buyout scam targeting UPS Teamsters drivers. The package giant has told the union it aims to announce the Driver Choice Program (DCP) this week.
In court filings with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the Teamsters detailed at least six violations of its National Master Agreement by UPS in the rollout of the buyout program, including direct dealing of new contracts with workers, elimination of union jobs when UPS contractually agreed to establish more positions, and erosion of the rights and privileges of union shop stewards, among other charges.
Since late January, the Teamsters issued more than 57 requests for information and documents to UPS related to its plans for a revised driver buyout. UPS CEO Carol Tomé and other corporate executives ignored the union’s requests and appear to have developed the DCP behind closed doors in direct violation of the UPS Teamsters agreement. The national contract was overwhelmingly ratified in 2023 to protect hundreds of thousands of full- and part-time workers.
“For the second time in six months, UPS has proven it doesn’t care about the law, has no respect for its contract with the Teamsters, and is determined to try to screw our members out of their hard-earned money,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “If Carol Tomé has buyer’s remorse for the historic, legally binding contract she signed with rank-and-file Teamsters, that’s her problem. Our union will not allow UPS to inflate its earnings reports on the backs of Teamsters families. We’ve given too much to grow and sustain this company, and we will not be sold short. UPS must dismantle its illegal buyout program and resolve its contract violations in the courts, or the Teamsters will see this greedy corporation in the streets.”
If implemented, UPS’s DCP would give drivers a one-time lump sum payment in exchange for Teamsters legally committing to never work for UPS again, to waive their rights to union representation, and to sacrifice a career’s worth of strong union wages, employer-paid health care, and guaranteed retirement benefits.
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 earlier program, which UPS called the Driver Voluntary Separation Program (DVSP), was widely rejected by Teamsters drivers nationwide, many of whom took to social media to shred and set fire to the insulting financial package offered by UPS to leave the company.
Multiple Teamsters local unions have filed grievances against UPS over the contract violations inherent in its DVSP program. Those grievances are expected to enter binding arbitration next month following a National Grievance Committee hearing between the union and the company.
The DCP, as noted in the union’s lawsuit, would be offered to all drivers at UPS regardless of length of service and would do irreparable damage to the Teamsters and its right to representation. The letter of separation that workers would be forced to sign by management to complete enrollment in the program would be irrevocable, further damaging the union or any individual worker’s ability to grieve or arbitrate the terms of separation.
In its motions before the court on Monday, the Teamsters requested an injunction to prevent the rollout of UPS’s DCP and a stay on further action by the company to offer such incentive programs until an arbitrator’s ruling on the pending DVSP violations. As the Teamsters noted in its filing in Massachusetts, the DVSP and DCP programs are unmistakably similar.
“UPS’s latest DCP scam is more than a contract violation — it’s an assault on the rule of law and on every member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,” said General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “If UPS is allowed to move forward with this illegal program, it would cause irrevocable harm to our union and a majority of our hardworking members. The Teamsters Union ensured our members rejected UPS’s insulting payoff last year. Unfortunately, UPS continues to reach new levels of greed and corruption that require our fight to continue.”
On Jan. 27, UPS announced it collected more than $8.5 billion in cash during the previous quarter, returned more than $6.4 billion to shareholders, and spent $1 billion on stock buybacks.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610
kdeniz@teamster.org
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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
