On November 8, both UPS and FedEx grounded their MD-11 cargo jets. The decision came four days after UPS Airlines Flight 2976, an MD-11F cargo plane, crashed during takeoff from UPS Worldport in Louisville, KY.

It’s unprecedented for UPS to temporarily ground 9% of its air fleet just weeks before Black Friday, the start of the holiday season. In a backhanded way, the company has confirmed what we workers already knew: the aging MD-11s are dangerous and should have been scrapped long ago.

Antiquated equipment 

One of Flight 2976’s three engines caught fire during takeoff, then fell onto the runway. From there, the plane careened into a nearby industrial park and exploded, leaving a half-mile debris field. Fourteen people were killed and more were injured.

My first thought upon hearing the news was “probably an MD-11.” Other Teamsters I work with said that they assumed the same thing. As air ramp workers, we have a front row seat to a plane’s condition. We’ve spent time in the fuselages of each of the six different aircraft models UPS owns. We all know the MD-11 is antiquated.

The planes are more than 30 years old. They’re a relic of the past, unique among many of the passenger and cargo jets flying today because they have a third engine near the rudder. UPS began phasing out MD-11s in 2022. The process was originally scheduled for completion around 2028. The glacial pace didn’t surprise UPS workers. We’re familiar with the company’s reluctance to spend money on safety or improving equipment and vehicles.

Act of God?

UPS should have shut down operations for a number of days after the crash, providing full pay for employees. This would have given time for extensive testing across the entire facility for any trace chemical agents or residual toxicity from the crash. Paid time off could also allow us time to mourn the loss of our fellow workers at Worldport.

Instead, most of us had to report to work the next morning, as the last flames were being extinguished, bodies continued to be found, and various government entities combed through the wreckage in an active investigation. We had no time to process the tragedy. The best UPS corporate could do was offer an 800 number for those affected by the disaster.

Management only canceled operations for the first overnight shift after the crash. Some workers in the hub got the next day off. But when a fellow Teamster asked about pay for those missed shifts, they were told that UPS is claiming the disaster was an “act of God.” This is a legal maneuver to circumvent the pay-guarantee provisions in our contract. In reality, UPS’s unending scramble for profits is responsible for the crash.

Make no mistake, UPS has the money—it made over $9 billion in profits last year. Pay for UPS executives has gone up 161% since 2012, and CEO Carol Tomé made over $24 million last year.

Desensitized to the hazards

My fellow UPSers and I are responsible for unloading and loading planes. We use dockloaders to pull unit load devices (ULDs)—big aluminum containers holding literal tons of packages—out of the planes, onto the dock, and into the hub for sorting. Afterwards, freight destined for other airports is sent to the dock and the process is reversed, loading the plane using either a dockloader or K-Loader.

It’s easy to become desensitized to the hazards, given the fast pace and relentless whirlwind of packages, containers, vehicles, equipment, and planes swirling around us at all times.

The scale of operations at UPS Worldport is gargantuan. It’s the base for UPS Airlines, which owns 292 planes and leases 210 more. It employs 3,200 pilots who fly to 815 destinations around the world. Anywhere from 300 to 380 flights take off and land at Worldport each day.

The massive processing center measures 5.2 million square feet and contains 155 miles of conveyors. Worldport workers receive, handle, and deliver two million packages a day—115 packages per second. The facility employs roughly 26,000 package-handlers, sorters, drivers, aircraft, automotive mechanics, marshallers, and administrators.

Maintaining this complex operation while maximizing profitability has long pitted UPS bosses against workers in a struggle for safety. Cargo pilots are often on long flights and, as the holidays approach, put on risky schedule rotations. Veteran pilots complain that the company pushes to minimize inspections, so they can put more wings in the air, move more freight—and make more profits.

Fight for workplace safety

UPS workers are under grinding pressure to perform at an unsustainable pace. But workers in the passenger and cargo airline industry have immense power to fight for better conditions. If we stop moving people and commodities, we can cut off the class enemy’s profits. If we strike and close down even a few airports, we could bring the entire American economy to a halt until the bosses meet our demands for higher wages, better conditions, and improved workplace safety.

But as long as the industry is owned and controlled by capitalists, preventable disasters like Flight 2976 will continue to happen. The only way to ensure more lives aren’t sacrificed on the altar of profits is to nationalize the air-freight industry—and all key levers of the economy—under democratic workers’ control. Only then can we ensure our own safety in the workplace, free from the breakneck need to make profits for the bosses.