Teamsters win some, lose some

By staff -- Logistics Management, 1/1/2001

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters won a contract with airline pilots and flight engineers but lost out in its bid to punish Union Pacific Corp. subsidiary Overnite Transportation Co. for alleged "anti-worker" actions at its Miami service center. That loss before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia was closely followed by union decertification moves by Overnite workers in Milwaukee and Indianapolis.

Teamsters pilots and flight engineers at Air Transport International in Indianapolis ratified a contract with the company, a subsidiary of Pittston Co., after two years of negotiations. The agreement will end in May 2004 and includes a final wage increase that takes effect in October 2005, according to Vicki Frankovich, a representative at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In the Overnite case, the Court of Appeals overturned an earlier decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that the less-than-truckload motor carrier's subcontracting of work at its Miami service center constituted a mandatory subject of bargaining. The appeals court ruled that the subcontracting had no negative impact on Miami employees and was not a factor in labor costs.

Since that ruling, employees at Overnite's Milwaukee and Indianapolis service centers have petitioned the NLRB to decertify the Teamsters union as their bargaining agent. Currently, the Teamsters represent Overnite workers at 22 of the company's 166 service centers, for a total of 1,800 out of the company's 13,000 workers. By the end of last year, employees at 14 of the service centers had filed for decertification.

The Teamsters action has been ongoing since October 1999, but Overnite claims most of its employees are reporting to work.