Over 400 United Airlines employees will face layoffs and buyouts in the coming months as the company outsources some of its cargo operations at to a third party vendor.
A local news report pegged the number of affected workers at 472, citing a letter from United to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
A United spokesman told NYCAviation the airline notified employees in the relevant departments of the changes, and while he would not confirm how many employees might be impacted, he said the company hopes that the number of outright layoffs will be much lower than those initially reported. Some employees will be offered buyout packages, he said, and others may take new positions at United or with the new contractor.
United says the cuts would specifically affect cargo handling departments that deal with customers, in this case commercial shipping companies and expediters. Workers that actually load cargo onto planes will not be outsourced, nor will passenger-facing jobs.
Newark will mark the second United hub to see such workforce changes on the cargo side. In July 2012, United announced that it would outsource the same types of jobs at its Houston hub, citing financial advantages.
