Saturday, December 09, 2023

DHL Express U.S. air hub workers strike during holiday rush

Thu, December 7, 2023 

Employees carry DHL delivery package inside the new DHL Express hub near Paris

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) - More than 1,100 newly organized DHL Express workers at the delivery company's main U.S. air hub went on strike on Thursday to protest unfair labor practices and stalled contract talks.

The strike threatens to delay packages during the critical peak holiday shipping season when package carriers like DHL, FedEx and United Parcel Service see volumes spike.

It also comes as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters intensify organizing activity in the wake of this summer's closely watched contract deal at UPS, the world's biggest delivery firm.

The workers, who load and unload DHL Express airplanes at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), voted to organize with the Teamsters in April. They have been negotiating their first contract with DHL since July.

"DHL Express was fully prepared for this anticipated tactic and has enacted contingency plans" to ensure that service is not disrupted, the company said in a statement. Those plans include using replacement staff at the hub and moving flights and volume away from CVG to other DHL locations throughout the Americas region.

The company, a division of Germany's Deutsche Post AG, said it expects the strike to garner "sympathy support" at various pickup and delivery locations across the U.S. and that it is prepared to deploy replacement staff.

The union said it has filed numerous unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board during and since the organizing campaign, including for retaliation against pro-union workers. It also said the NLRB is prosecuting the company civilly.

"This company's repeated acts of disrespect — from the tarmac where we work to the bargaining table — leave me and my co-workers with no choice but to withhold our labor," said Gina Kemp, a striking ramp and tug worker.

DHL Express said the Teamsters are using the strike to pressure the company to agree to "unreasonable" contract terms.

"While there is no agreed deadline for these contract negotiations, we are committed to working in good faith at the December negotiating sessions and have offered further negotiating dates in January to conclude this matter," DHL Express said.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Over 1,100 DHL Express workers start strike

Aislinn Murphy
FOX
Fri, December 8, 2023 

A group of unionized DHL Express workers on Thursday started a strike.

As part of the labor action, DHL Express saw over 1,100 of its ramp and tug workers at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport engage in the work stoppage at that site. That airport serves as a global hub for the parcel delivery company.

Those who went on strike are unionized under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which said in a press release that its DHL members total over 6,000 across the country.

The headquarters of Deutsche Post AG, the world's largest global delivery company, is pictured on March 14, 2006, in Bonn, Germany. Deutsche Post, launching its new initiative "First Choice," made a profit of 3.76 billion euros in 2005, an increase of 25.1 percent. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)

With the strike, the Teamsters said the DHL Express workers aimed to "protest unfair labor practices and demand the company negotiate a fair contract." Negotiations between the ramp and tug workers, who are seeking "improved pay and working conditions," and the company first kicked off during the summer, according to another Teamsters press release.

"The company forced this work stoppage, but DHL has the opportunity to right this wrong by respecting our members and coming to terms on a strong contract," Local 100 President Bill Davis said in a press release, calling for the company to "give workers their fair share."

FOX Business reached out to the Teamsters for additional comment on the strike.


Cargo planes are unloaded during the overnight sort at the DHL Worldwide Express hub of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky, on Friday, August 1, 2014. Three of the biggest delivery companies, including DHL Worldwide Express, have released environmental data that show their overall emissions of global warming gases are declining slightly. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMore

The unionized DHL workers have accused the company of "push[ing] insulting demands that disrespect workers and fail to address the unfair labor practices that include retaliating against pro-union workers." The National Labor Relations Board has received multiple complaints lodged by the Teamsters against DHL, according to the union.

Thursday’s strike came after the option to engage in one received approval from the unionized DHL workers earlier in the week

"DHL Express remains committed to working with the US Teamsters and agreeing to a contract for the portion of the CVG employees they represent," the company said in a statement to FOX Business. "While there is no agreed deadline for these contract negotiations, we are committed to working in good faith at the December negotiating sessions and have offered further negotiating dates in January to conclude this matter."

The company said the "vast majority" of its CVG-based workers worked on Thursday. It also said that the Teamsters, whom it accused of attempting to "influence" and "pressure" the company into "unreasonable contract terms" via the strike, have "expanded their picket lines to other DHL Express locations in the United States" on Friday, something it had anticipated as a possibility.

A DHL (European Air Transport) Airbus 300-600F landing at Frankfurt airport. (Photo by Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

DHL Express implemented "contingency plans" to "ensure that our customers receive the usual high level of service they are accustomed to from DHL Express at this critical time of the year for their businesses," according to its statement to FOX Business. The company does not expect any significant service disruptions.

The company has taken steps, including switching flights and volume to other DHL locations from CVG and "deploying replacement staff in other locations," according to DHL Express.

On top of the global hub in Cincinnati, DHL Express has other facilities around the U.S., including in smaller hubs in Atlanta and Miami.

Germany-based DHL Group, which DHL Express falls under, employs several hundred thousand people around the world.

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