Terminated PA truck drivers offered jobs back amid union dispute
Pratt Corrugated Logistics — accused of terminating 13 truck drivers from its plant in Lower Macungie Township, PA, to prevent them from forming a union — has offered the drivers their jobs back, according to a union official and letters sent by Pratt to the workers.
A National Labor Relations Board hearing is scheduled in January to investigate driver complaints that the company violated federal law in April when it terminated them, according to a report in the Morning Call. Several of the workers were having discussions about organizing a union at the time they were dismissed in violation of federal that prohibits terminating employees in response to union activities.
Pratt offered the truck drivers their jobs back unconditionally, meaning no agreement has been reached regarding back pay and the company has not admitted to any wrongdoing, according to the letters and Darrin Fry, a business agent with Teamsters Local 773 in Allentown.
Depending on the outcome of the January hearing, the Labor Board can order Pratt to reinstate the workers and give them back pay plus interest from the time they were dismissed.
About half of the terminated workers said they will return to their jobs, Fry said. The remainder have either found new jobs or fear returning to Pratt, he said.
“What I’m hearing from the drivers is that they’re happy to get their jobs back,” Fry said. “Some of them are disappointed that the wheels of justice turned so slowly … . It’s bittersweet. We’re happy with the results, we just wish it would have been sooner.”
