The national contract covers more than 2,800 Teamsters – drivers, office workers and bridge employees. Workers have voted with their locals over the past two weeks. (WASHINGTON) – DHL Express workers have overwhelmingly voted to pass a new national framework agreement that provides historic protection for wages and living standards through significant annual wage increases, increases in benefit contributions and a robust cost-of-living adjustment clause. Part-time employees also receive significant increases. The driving and non-driving rates will result in an agreement with hourly increases of between 50 cents and $1 per year, another important goal of the DHL Teamsters and the union`s bargaining committee. The Teamsters have negotiated salary increases totalling $5 per hour over five years with full retroactive effect to April 1, 2017. These are record annual hourly increases for full-time DHL Teamsters. In addition, the agreement provides for premium increases totalling up to $6 per hour to maintain and protect existing health and retirement benefits. Workers have also ratified more than 28 drivers. At the Hanover site, DHL Express drivers are subject to a national collective agreement. However, office workers were traditionally not covered by any contracts and received poor quality health and pension benefits. Late last year, office workers voted to join Local Teamsters Union No. 355 to fight inequality.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hard-working men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. “This is a historic agreement, especially given the difficult issues we faced during the negotiations due to the changing delivery environment and the fact that we have over 28 drivers and many health, wellness and retirement funds,” said Bill Hamilton, Teamsters Express Division Manager. “This contract reflects the hard work and dedication of our DHL Teamsters, which are useless. This agreement reflects the fact that if the parties come to the table with the idea of protecting and improving the lives of workers across America, great steps can be taken. Thousands of dhl couriers and office workers are covered by the DHL National Framework Agreement. As a sign of solidarity, the 355 local couriers working from the Hanover site complied with the office workers` strike line by exercising their rights under the national framework agreement not to cross or work behind a sanctioned picket line. Early in the morning of Monday, September 16, Local 355 expanded the picket line for office workers at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania plant. DHL workers in Philadelphia, represented by Teamsters Locals 107 and 500, which are covered by the National Framework Agreement, also exercised their contractual rights and refused to cross the Local 355 picket line. Instead of recognizing the value these workers bring to the company and doing the right thing, DHL chooses to harass these workers and has even threatened them with permanent replacement. “We have made it clear to the company that the picket line is `sanctioned` by Local 355, which would allow hundreds of DHL couriers covered by the National Framework Agreement to honour a picket line established by Local 355 at one of DHL`s locations across the country.
However, we hope that DHL will reconsider its approach and be smarter than continuing to do so. It certainly doesn`t make business sense for the company to embark on this fight if it could easily address these inequalities,” Hamilton added. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the IBT Express division and its Director, Bill Hamilton, Vice President of the Eastern Region,” continued Mr. Hicks. “This win was really a team effort at the national level.” “We stand in solidarity with DHL employees in Baltimore and support their demands for equitable health services. Strong unions like the Teamsters are the basis for secure jobs and good working conditions,” said Cornelia Broos, Head of UNI Post and Logistics. “We encourage DHL workers around the world to build union structures and join unions in fighting together for their rights. UNI Global Union supports teamster colleagues and will continue to do so until they win. Negotiations on DHL`s national framework agreement and the office operational supplement are expected to begin next year, as both contracts expire in April 2022.
The Local 174 rider will also be renegotiated at that time. “It`s been a difficult process, but we`re very proud of our new members who have won this great deal through solidarity,” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks. “Although it is a small group and a new group, they have shown that they are not afraid to take over their employer and, as a result, they can now enjoy an extremely strong contract – one that will continue to improve in the future.” “I`m so happy with this contract, and more so, I`m happy to be a teamster,” said Barbara Conner, a 25-year-old DHL office worker who served on the bargaining committee. “We were at the forefront of the power of workers` solidarity. It was so exciting to realize that even though we are only 11 people, there were hundreds of DHL Teamsters who were willing to stay by our side until we got a contract to live with. And that`s exactly what we did. Without a doubt, this treaty will change our lives. “It`s really about treating ourselves fairly — we have less retirement security and a greater risk to health care than our peers,” said James Gekas, a five-year-old office worker. Here are more photos from local 174`s ratification vote: “We don`t understand why DHL is taking such an aggressive and mean approach to these three office workers when Teamsters locals represent many DHL office workers at many facilities in the county,” said Bill Hamilton, Chair of the DHL Teamsters National Bargaining Committee.
However, the company has taken a tough approach to negotiations, refusing to give office workers the same health and retirement programs as the couriers they work with on a daily basis. On the contrary, the company insists that office workers continue to participate in a company-controlled health plan that has extremely high costs and significantly worse coverage. Similarly, the company refuses to allow office workers to participate in the same pension plan as drivers represented by Teamsters Local 355. The new agreement represents a major victory for the group. They are not only covered by the strong and mature contractual wording of the DHL National Framework Agreement and the Operational Administrative Board, but also by the contractual increases contained in the new Local 174 Office Endorsement Agreement. In addition to salary increases, the group receives additional leave and weeks of vacation, among other things. In a historic victory that changed their lives, the teamster group was able to reach retirement and medical care. You`ll be part of the Teamsters Western Conference Pension Fund and receive family medical insurance under a Teamsters medical plan with no premium fees – benefits they`ve never received before as a DHL employee.
On Thursday, September 12, a group of three DHL Express office workers in Hanover, Maryland, went on strike against the U.S. subsidiary of German delivery giant DP DHL. The dispute concerns the different treatment of office workers by the company compared to their employees as delivery drivers. Strike averted as the group of 11 workers accepts a new deal that will change their lives. .