Teamsters Oppose Settlement

Overnite Transportation said it wants to put its labor problems behind it.

But Teamsters union officials say a proposed settlement between the less-than-truckload carrier and federal labor regulators is not an adequate remedy for the company’s alleged unfair labor practices.

Overnite, based in Richmond, Va., offered to pay approximately $1.6 million to workers at 21 terminals who were denied pay increases in 1997 because of their union status. The company also agreed to hold new elections at five terminals where results of representation elections have been disputed by the union. The terminals are in Tampa, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; Los Angeles and two in the Chicago area (Bedford Park and Palatine, Ill.)

Teamsters officials presented Richard Siegel, associate general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, with a 15-page report detailing alleged labor law violations and demanded that the board take tougher action against the carrier for its efforts to block organizing activities and its refusal to bargain in good faith.

Union spokesman David Cameron said the proposed settlement carries no enforcement power and would return only a portion of back pay owed to workers who have voted for union representation. The deal also has a “non-admission clause that Overnite is already using to claim that it did no wrong,” he said.

The Teamsters launched a major organizing drive at Overnite in the fall of 1994 and have since filed hundreds of charges of unfair practices against the company.

The company settled many charges related to the initial organizing drive in September 1995.

For the full story, see the Feb. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.