BNA Daily Labor Report: Tentative Deal Reached on Carhaul Contract

September 22, 2008: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and a group of major auto transport companies reached a tentative agreement Sept. 19 on a new three-year national master contract to replace one that expired June 1.

The agreement, which would cover about 9,500 truck drivers, mechanics, and office workers, addresses the concerns of members who last month rejected a contract that had been negotiated in June with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division (NATLD), the union said.

"Based on our member surveys and the feedback we recently received after the first tentative contract was rejected, we have reached a new agreement that addresses our members' concerns," Teamsters Carhaul Division Director Fred Zuckerman said in a statement. "The tentative agreement maintains a strong wage and benefit package despite the terrible economic conditions facing the auto and carhaul industries," he said.

Details of the agreement are being withheld until leaders of locals representing members in the carhaul division have reviewed the proposed contract, the union said. A spokeswoman for the union said no date has been set for review of the contract.

The union and NATLD June 19 reached a tentative agreement on the three-year contract (119 DLR A-8, 6/20/08 ), which leaders of locals representing the workers unanimously endorsed several weeks later (130 DLR A-10, 7/8/08). In a mail ballot ratification vote counted Aug. 11, however, members rejected the agreement by a vote of 2,939 to 2,076. They also rejected three supplements (157 DLR A-1, 8/14/08).

Shortly after the rejection of the proposed contract, the union solicited input from its members on why they voted to reject it. With this information in hand, the parties resumed talks Sept. 16 for the first time since the August rejection. Negotiations continued Sept. 17-19 until agreement was reached, the union said.

First Agreement Contained Massive Concessions

Teamsters' officials have declined to discuss the reasons for the contract rejection. The Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which worked to defeat the first proposed agreement, however, said it was rejected because it contained a "massive list of concessions, which would have gutted decades of hard-won contract protections."

In response to the announcement of the tentative agreement, TDU Organizer Ken Paff said the negotiators "had better have changed a lot of the concessions or they will get another rejection."

Paff said the members were willing to work under a wage freeze for the next two years, but the first tentative agreement had too many other concessions including lower wages for new hires; the elimination of language that called for equalization of loads, which spread work among drivers from different locations; a smaller cost-of-living adjustment; and a requirement that drivers would have to be on five "tours" before returning home.

A spokesman for the NATLD, which represents 14 companies in bargaining, could not be reached for comment.