Benefits Package Off the Table

Overnite Transportation Co. last week rejected attempts by the Teamsters union to reopen negotiations on a benefits package both sides accepted in 1998.

The union, which later rescinded its approval of the package, wants Overnite to allow workers to vote on an alternative plan of pay raises and improved benefits, but the company said it considers the matter a “closed subject.”

Overnite and the union held discussions April 14 and 15 in Chicago aimed at producing the first master contract between the company and the Teamsters. They were the first formal meetings for the union since Jim Hoffa assumed the president’s office last month and the first with Overnite since last summer.

“These two days represented a ‘getting organized’ session coming after an eight-and-a-half-month hiatus while the union leadership was restructured,” said Overnite spokesman Ira Rosenfeld.

Although the talks yielded no agreements, Teamsters spokesman David Cameron said staff members from both sides will continue to discuss details of a potential agreement pending the resumption of formal talks next month.

Although the two sides met informally in the fall, formal talks were halted in July. At the time, Union Pacific Corp., Overnite’s parent company, was considering a public stock offering. However, the offering never took place.

The issue of the benefits package heated up earlier in April when Hoffa challenged Overnite Chairman Leo H. Suggs to a debate on the merits of the union’s proposal.

For the full story, see the April 19 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.