DATE: Wednesday, September 17, 1997         TAG: 9709170513

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines

UPS LAYOFFS CONSIDERED LOCALLY, NOT NATIONALLY

Nationally, United Parcel Service will not institute sweeping layoffs because of business lost from the Teamsters strike last month. But locally, layoffs are still possible.

In a Tuesday announcement from its Atlanta headquarters, the world's largest package-delivery service said that 15,000 part-time employees across the country failed to return to work after the company's first national strike ended Aug. 19. Not only have layoffs been ruled out, but the company said it would hire more people.

That is not the case in Hampton Roads, however, where the company employed 1,000 people before the 15-day strike.

``Our volume level at this point in Tidewater is 3 percent below normal,'' said Randy Lint, UPS Tidewater Division manager. Decisions on layoffs ``will come as volume dictates,'' he said.

UPS announced that recent pickups, nationally, averaged between 11.8 million and 12 million a day. That's down from the 12.5 million to 12.7 million packages a day last September.

Lint said about 20 part-time employees at facilities in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News did not return to work after the strike. Most employees had to find other work during the strike, Lint said, and most who chose not to return were recent hires.

Lint would not predict when or how many UPS employees might be laid off in Hampton Roads. ``It will all be dictated by the amount of packages we pick up and deliver,'' he said.

And that, at least in part, will be determined by the success of drivers' efforts to recover business lost during the strike, and the company's ability to win back the confidence of those former customers.

``We're also beginning to head into our peak season,'' Lint said. ``Retailers are stocking up and business will grow accordingly, but the question is: Will it grow at the pace it has in years past?''

Lint expects his division will handle fewer packages.

``That won't have an effect on current employees,'' he said, ``but on future employees we won't need.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: The Virginian-Pilot/File color photo

The volume of packages is down at area UPS sties...

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE COLOR PHOTO

Since 15,000 part-times chose not to return after the strike...

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