Building closing?

[705red]

Call your local, 710 and ask. If rockford is closing a sort or even down UPS must notify the union within a certain time frame.

I dont see Rockford closing, its proably the cheapest air operation to run when it comes to what they paid for land, take off and landing fees. If UPS leaves Than that airport would probably shut down also.

 

[Buffaloaf]

No one has still heard an official word of what is going on. I DO know that about a dozen more people were walked out last night!

I've heard about 10 different rumors about what is going to happen and we are getting no communication letting us know what is right. I can't understand why we dont get an PCM or something.

Families are very worried in Rockford, it's alot of Jobs!!

Well, to be fair, full-time management (or at least FT-Sups) don't know what is going to happen. You can't really PCM something like that because there is no solid information out there.

Like 705 said, there are some intangibles that Rockford has that gives it some upside that other buildings don't have that can help keep it up.

 

[Buffaloaf]

What are service failures, and why did Louisville have 39,000 of them?

A service failure is anything that breaks our commitment to the customer. Could be cause from misloading, mistoggling, LIBs, holdover cans, plane delays to the point that volume hits preloads too late, etc. This number was coming from a district air manager.

 

[jedispork]

So what is really going on in Rockford?? I come in tonight and I hear that ft management is now telling people that Rockford is shutting down by summer..\

Then you know more than we do. All these rumors seem to be originating on twilight. What are you sources? Send me a pm if you don't want to post it here because I am curious as well.

Last year they rumored we would be closed by september and were still going. The only thing I have heard about summer is that we could be loosing the ont flight and that rumor was also put down as a uncertainty.

 

[Buffaloaf]

Then you know more than we do. All these rumors seem to be originating on twilight. What are you sources? Send me a pm if you don't want to post it here because I am curious as well.

Last year they rumored we would be closed by september and were still going. The only thing I have heard about summer is that we could be loosing the ont flight and that rumor was also put down as a uncertainty.

Also, there was the rumor (or at least there was REAL discussion by the district) to shutdown the RFD TWI sort last October. I've heard one person say something about losing ONT. I've heard someone who actually hears information say that BDL is unconfirmed, but likely gone. The same person speculated that the entire East coast is fair game to lose to LOUKY. The line of thought is, first EWR, then BDL, then JFK, then BWI, and so on. Hopefully by then it is June/July and the worst case scenario is we are doing 55k a night.

 

[kale931]

What is the likely end then? If we are doing 55k a night this summer that's nothing compared to what we were a year ago. And then they upgraded the building to handle even more then that. I thought the upgrade to the buliding made it so we can do like 300k or more on the night shift alone. What a waste of money. Do you think they will keep the Rockford night around until the economy comes back? Hopefully by then the volume will go up, not down.

Also the state tax announcement about increasing volume or saving jobs last month. Rockford UPS seems to have done exactly the opposite of this.

 

[kale931]

The State of Illinois is offering UPS a $24m investment package in a move that will save 3,000 jobs, reports ABC.


The article continues:
Without the investment 3,000 jobs in the UPS plants located in Hodgkins and Rockford, USA, could have been lost.
Governor Quinn said he sees Illinois as an inland port with goods leaving the state via the roads, railways, and the water ways. He said investing in UPS is a way to keep Illinois at the heart of the American economy.
The conveyer belts at the Hodgkins facility moves a steady stream of packages that will be shipped to destinations across the country in time for Christmas.
Christmas has come early for the workers at the UPS plant, who were told that their jobs were here to stay, thanks to a $24m investment from the state.
“There was some concern with UPS restructuring this would move jobs to Louisville, Kentucky or elsewhere. We don’t want that to happen,” said Quinn.
The $24m which will be administered by the Department of Commerce in the form of tax credits over a ten year period will enable UPS to modernise both the Hodgkins’ and Rockford’s plants and save 3,000 jobs that may have been lost if the company consolidated its operations.
That means a lot to Melanie Poston who worked her way up to a management position.
“I didn’t go to college, so it was kind of a challenge for me. But UPS provided me with the opportunity to go to school and learn skills, plus on the job skills was very helpful,” said Melanie Poston, UPS employee.
“It’s great UPS is given the opportunity to gain such a great customer and more volume and more packages. It means better job stability for myself and the other 24,000 plus people here in Illinois, including globally,” said Nick S, UPS employee.
UPS employs 24,000 people in 35 locations across the state and the company said it wants to maintain a strong relationship with Illinois.
“We’re a great company. We’re a great employer and we look forward to continuing the long standing relationship with you great employees,” said George Brooks, UPS employee.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

The $24m which will be administered by the Department of Commerce in the form of tax credits over a ten year period will enable UPS to modernise both the Hodgkins’ and Rockford’s plants and save 3,000 jobs that may have been lost if the company consolidated its operations.

I thought that the $24M was a one time incentive but to see that it is a $2.4M tax credit annually for 10 years and actually involves 2 facilities (Rockford and CACH) would lead me to believe that this would have little influence as to whether to keep Rockford open or not. If the volume is simply not there to justify keeping Rockford open and/or put money in to modernize the facility, and the same work can be performed more efficiently (and cheaper) at another facility (Worldport?), then it would make sense to close Rockford. However, as was evident during the recent snowstorms, during which Worldport had 39K service failures, it may be premature to process all of the air through Worldport. I would hold off on buying a home for the time being if I were working at Rockford.

 

[kale931]

It still doesnt add up. Why claim they are going to spend 91 million in upgrades a month ago only to close it down. Were not losing volume they are simply moving it to louisville. THey could move volume from any building at any time just by changing things around. Obviously something is up but no one knows what.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

This is the first mention of the $91M.

 

[kale931]

I know I read that on here somewhere, but I did a search and found it. There are multiple articles between Chicago news and Rockford news stating the same thing.

A decade of jobs and growth is a guarantee for one of Rockford's largest employers. State tax breaks are bringing millions of dollars to the UPS hub in Northern Illinois.
The UPS air hub in Rockford is the company's second largest sorting facility in the U.S. They employ hundreds of full-time workers from the stateline and they all gained a bit more job security today.

"Here at Hodgkins and also in Rockford, we want to keep UPS going strong," said Governor Quinn at a press conference in the Hodgkins UPS facility.
A new business deal between Illinois and UPS has guaranteed 3,000 or more full-time jobs will remain in place at the Rockford and Hodgkins facilities for the next 10 years. It's part of an ambitious plan by Governor Quinn to make Illinois the heart of american imports.
He said, "It's important to have a distribution network if we're going to be the inland port of the United States of America."
In addition to guaranteeing jobs, UPS and their North Central Region President, George Brooks, has agreed to invest 91 million dollars to improve and moderinize the Rockford and Hodgkins hubs.
"Cause we believe as business grow, jobs are created and employment opportunities show themselves. So we'll continue to grow our business here in illinois," said Brooks.
The 35 UPS locations in Illinois came under threat when the company began to consider restructuring and other cost saving measures. A significant number of jobs would have been lost if this deal wasn't brokered.
"There are 24,000 people employed by UPS throughout the state of Illinois, one of our major employers. So clearly, we want to do all we can to help the company grow and thrive," said Warren Ribley, Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
According to Governor Quinn, one-third of the country's gross domestic product is within 24 hours of Illinois, and he hopes to use those statistics to help expand the state's distribution operations.
The deal between the state and UPS only includes full-time jobs at the Rockford and Hodgkins locations. The thousands of part-time employees will not have any such guarantee.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

OK--go ahead and buy your house.

 

[kale931]

That's the thing, after that our volume has gone from 150k down to 70k....everyone is like whaaaa? At least 125-150 people have been let go so far. Now you see why were all perplexed?

 

[cachsux]

I`m really wondering why CACH is being dragged into these announcements as far as the state funding and jobs saved totals. If UPS was or is considering phasing out the Rockford air hub the jobs in question are different as far as type of packages handled. If it were a discussion of elimination of ground service jobs I would expect to see the names of the older out of date hubs in Illinois mentioned long before the CACH would be. I think we were brought into this as the Governor visited the CACH which is the more modern,and conceived flagship,of the ground hubs in Illinois. If UPS claimed it needed incentives to keep jobs at the CACH I would question the honesty of that act.

 

[jedispork]

Down sizing and closing are 2 different things. If the economy picks back up can other centers handle all of the volume? They still need a preload. So if Louisville can handle the volume can they also handle that much air traffic?

I'm still waiting to hear anything solid that has been heard from someone a lot higher up than a friend/t supervisor.

 

[RFDUpsSup]

From what I've gathered, RFD is losing EWR by the end of February. There has been rumors of ONT getting the axe too, but that's about 10K pieces a night and there are lower volume destinations that would see the cut first (BDL, DTW, ATL). (Edit: This is not official information, this is the collection of about a dozen PT Sup conversations)

I've heard smart-ass remarks from a couple of smart-ass FT Sups but nothing in the way of "OMG WE'RE CLOSING!".

They are, however, looking for anything they can get their hands on to cut Sups.

But what do I know, I'm just a lowly PT-Sup.

 

[rampman]

Is there any updates to the situation at RFD?? Would combo employees be able to "follow their work" as stated in the contract and transfer over to SDF or another center?

 

[kale931]

None that I have heard. Everybody still waiting to hear anything at ALL! I would love to hear some good news about now, like we are going to be gaining some packages this spring!

 

[rampman]

bunch of full timers laid off today in RFD.........

 

[jedispork]

they were demoted to part time, or something in between. I'm not sure of all the details but I think they are still working 2 part time jobs of their choice and they take a pay cut. This was for twilight. Their might be people on other shifts with less friend/t seniority so who knows what will happen if they decide to fight it.