August 3, 2007: DHL has a goal: “structural changes in DHL’s labor contracts to more appropriately reflect the fact that DHL is a small package delivery company.”

Those words come from Labor Relations Vice President Patricia Burke, in a recent memo in response to TDU’s website.

You can read the management memo by clicking here.

Let’s translate that management-speak to Teamster-talk: they want to bust down conditions, and “restructure” the workforce with a flood of low-wage part-timers. They want a UPS-style contract. (But they don’t want to pay the $28.50 per hour that a UPS package car driver makes.)

Remember the Draft National Agreement, which rank-and-file power got shelved: it has language that all existing full-timers would be “red-circled by name” as our only protection against being forced down to part-time. That one line told us a lot about what they want, and what the International would agree to.

Burke goes on to tell management personnel to “stay close to the script” and tell Teamsters that DHL “never has, and would not now” be part of the NMFA bargaining.

It’s true that DHL has not been part of Trucking Management Inc (TMI) that bargains the NMFA with the Teamsters, but our union has also never let DHL get away from the NMFA contract language and standards.

Rank-and-file power shelved the Draft National Agreement. But DHL management isn’t going to give up on busting the NMFA and demanding concessions. Management has a plan.

We need a union plan.

• Stewards should be invited to the national meeting of locals to approve bargaining demands and strategy (as happened in the past). Stewards should be at the bargaining table.
• Slawson should be replaced as bargaining chair by an officer who represents DHL Teamsters, and has to answer to them.
• No less than the NMFA, and no white-paper contract.
• No increase in the number of part-timers. Protect good Teamster jobs.
• Use Teamster power to organize DHL’s non-union sectors.

Stay informed and help build unity. Click here to join the network of DHL Teamsters working to save the NMFA.

Read the Draft National Agreement and the Draft Pick Up and Delivery Supplement.

Got a question or a comment about DHL negotiations? Click here to contact TDU, or call (313) 842-2600.