March 12, 2008: The proposed DHL agreement is now available, and unfortunately it contains the same disastrous givebacks previously exposed by TDU—including unlimited low-wage part-timers.
The only new news is bad news. Many Teamsters hoped that regional supplements would provide protections that would stop DHL from converting into a low-wage part-time operation. But the two regional supplements that have been revealed so far—the Central Region and New England supplements—provide no such protections.
So far, the International Union has not provided TDU with the other supplements or posted them on the Teamster website.
Rock-Bottom Part-Time Wages
The tentative agreements include rock bottom wages of $10 for part-timers (if they receive any health or pension benefits) or $12 (if they receive no benefits). The part-time starting rate would be frozen at $10 for the life of the contract. Under this proposed deal, a part-timer could be hired in 2013 for $10 per hour! That’s one hell of an incentive to push the “red-circle” drivers out the door.
A part-time hire would go up a progression, increasing a whole 20¢ after a year, and 22.5¢ more after two years. (How many will stay that long? This could be less than the minimum wage in many states in a few years.)
The same low rate wages apply to part-timers in the clerical units and call centers. Part-timers who make afternoon pick-ups would get $2 an hour more.
Full time red circle wages increases are as expected: 35¢ on April 1; 35¢ on October 1; 40¢ in April 2009; 45¢ in April 2010; 40¢ in April 2011, 45¢ in October 2011; 45¢ in April 2012 and 50¢ in October 2012.
A UPS-Style Operation—Without UPS Wages
If these agreements are ratified, DHL Teamsters would fall farther behind UPS wages, and trail UPS drivers by $7 per hour at the end of the contract.
The proposed National Master and Operational Supplements include all the devastating concessions that would allow DHL to convert to a UPS-style operation without UPS wages.
- The agreements allows DHL to hire an unlimited number of part-timers in the P&D operations. The only limit is that existing full-timers will be red-circled by name. Ninety percent of red-circles will be guaranteed 40-hours. The bottom 10 percent of red-circled full-timers can sit home while $10 per hour part-timers load the trucks.
- Part-timer labor could be used for PM pick-ups, up to 15 percent of the total number of full-timers. Low wage part-timers can be worked up to 32 hours per week.
- DHL management could opt-in to a management-dominated grievance procedure where the company gets half the votes. The right to strike over deadlocked grievances (“the hammer”), currently in the NMFA, would be given away entirely.
Negotiations have not been completed on all of the supplemental agreements. DHL management and the top union officials who are promoting these givebacks want to wrap up bargaining and move to a vote quickly—and we believe they will.
It’s crunch time.
We urge all DHL Teamsters to carefully review the proposed tentative contracts. Talk with your fellow Teamsters.
Click here to send us your thoughts and suggestions for what Teamsters can do to beat these givebacks and win the strongest possible contract.
Download the Tentative Master Agreement and Supplements
Click here to download the National Master DHL Agreement
Click here to download the Pick-Up and Delivery Operational Supplement
Click here to download the Office Clerical Operational Supplement
Click here to download the Central Region Pick-Up and Delivery Supplement.
Click here to download the New England Pick-Up and Delivery Regional Supplement
Click here to download the Call Center Operational Supplement
Click here to download the Hub Operational Supplement