
Tentative Agreement Reached on National Non-Economic
Language; Regional Bargaining Begins in November
November 1, 2007
After nearly a month of negotiations, the Teamsters national
negotiating committee secured tentative agreements with DHL representatives on
October 28. The agreements address various non-economic provisions for the DHL
National Master Agreement and operational supplements.
“Hammering out non-economic language is the first step of
negotiating a contract,” said Brad Slawson, chair of the Teamsters national
negotiating committee. “We believe that we’ve got language that enhances job
security. While we made progress there is still a long way to go.”
During the often-contentious negotiations, the committee
reached tentative agreement with DHL on the non-economic national portion of the
agreement as well as the non-economic language for each of the four major
national operating supplements: pick-up and delivery, clerical, gateway, and hub
operations.
The tentative national language for the pick-up-and-delivery
and clerical agreements largely reflect the relevant Articles (1-39) of the
National Master Freight Agreement. The existing contracts covering gateways and
hubs were used as the template for those operational supplements.
Economic Negotiations to Follow Agreements on Regional
Supplements
The next step in negotiations concerns regional supplements
and riders, which govern much of the day-to-day operations. Local union leaders
and DHL will begin negotiating these supplements in November.
If negotiations are concluded by the end of November, the
national committee anticipates that it and DHL representatives will convene
again in December to discuss economic portions—wages, health insurance and
pensions—of the DHL National Master Agreement.
The new DHL National Master Agreement will cover all local
unions covered under the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) and a number
of locals that previously negotiated stand-alone “white paper” agreements.
The Teamster bargaining committee will update members as
they work through this historic process. Please continue to look for bargaining
updates at www.teamster.org. |