Teamsters to Protest Chrysler's Trucking Plan

The Teamsters union has launched a six-week campaign at dealerships throughout the country to protest Chrysler Group LLC's decision to use more nonunion carhaulers, which the union fears General Motors Co. also will do.

The Teamsters represents about 5,000 carhaulers and warns that greater use of nonunion truckers could eliminate as many as 1,700 of those jobs throughout the United States.

The Auburn Hills automaker's contracts with Allied Systems Holdings and Cassens Transport Co. expired Sept. 30. After seeking competitive bids, the company transferred about 25% of the $111-million transport business it does with the two firms annually to other companies, according to a letter from Mike Keegan, Chrysler senior vice president for supply chain management, to U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Keegan said Chrysler will continue to use Allied and Cassens, but spreading the business among more competitors is expected to save about $31 million over three years.

Chrysler also expects the use of more trucking firms will reduce the delivery time from assembly plant to showroom by 23%, Keegan told Peters. The company acknowledges the move will eliminate about 77 Teamsters jobs in Michigan, or about 45% of Allied's and Cassens car haulers on the Chrysler account in the state.

The Teamsters targeted about a dozen Chrysler and GM dealers in southeastern Michigan. Rather than picketing, the union will hand out leaflets outlining its case, said spokeswoman Leigh Strope.

"They haven't shown up at our place," said Bill Golling, owner of a Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealership in Bloomfield Hills. "If they want to create a positive impression on carbuyers, this wouldn't be the best way to do it."

James P. Hoffa, Teamsters president, said his members simply "want to remind these automakers that their taxpayer bailouts were intended to help save American jobs."

Some Teamsters contracts with GM are about to expire. A GM spokesman did not return a phone call Friday.