A new labor deal negotiated with less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier USF Reddaway coupled with the addition of workers at two DHL contract firms to its ranks mark success in the latest campaigning by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) to organize workers in the trucking industry.
IBT recently won a tentative five-year agreement covering 425 newly organized USF Reddaway workers. That deal includes eliminating a co-pay for health coverage, improving vacation time, providing a safety bonus incentive plan and providing card-check recognition as spelled out in the union’s National Master Freight Agreement with other LTL carriers.
Jim Hoffa, IBT general president, said that while the union represents 1,600 workers overall at USF Reddaway, which operates in 15 states and two Canadian provinces, the goal now is to gain representation for the carrier’s other 2,000 drivers and dockworkers who are currently not unionized. "This is a strong first contract that will create an incentive for other USF Reddaway workers to join the Teamsters," stated Hoffa.
Hoffa also noted that workers at two independent cartage carriers (ICCs) for DHL – E.D. Express and Supreme Delivery Service – successfully voted for IBT representation last week, joining the more than 12,000 contract workers in DHL’s system already represented by the Teamsters.
“These new members join the thousands of other employees of ICCs delivering for DHL that we represent,” said Hoffa. “The Teamsters are the union in the DHL system. We’re going after better wages and structured hours – these things are a must.”
