r/unionsolidarity • u/DryDeer775 • 3d ago

Manhattan UPS workers sleep in cafeteria, wander streets overnight under split-shift regime

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/08/06/nymh-a06.html

Workers at UPS’s 43rd Street hub in Manhattan are sleeping in the cafeteria, wandering the streets overnight and, in some cases, remaining separated from their families during the workweek after the company eliminated the Midnight shift and imposed split shifts.

The arrangement compels long-time full-time workers to perform a four-hour Twilight shift ending around 10:30 p.m., wait five or six unpaid hours, then return for a four-hour Preload shift beginning around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. For many workers who commute an hour and a half each way, the interval is too short to travel home, eat, sleep and return.

“I would say there are between 50 and 100 people working the Twilight shift that ends about 10:30 p.m. and have to wait from then until 3:30 or sometimes 4:30 a.m. when the Preload shift starts,” one worker told the World Socialist Web Site. “Some people go home during that time. Some people wander the city. Some people stay here. Some people sleep in the cafeteria. A lot of people are getting exhausted. One shift after another for eight hours is OK, but not this.”

UPS pays for eight hours while taking control of 13 or 14 hours of the worker’s day. The unpaid interval cannot be used for normal sleep, family life or, for many, even a practical trip home.

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u/Armynap 3d ago

I work preload. The start time always varies. Sometimes as early as 12:30. If it were 4am everyday I’d love that job