September 23, 2008: Some 600 Teamsters in the Northwest went on strike today against an attempt by Oak Harbor Freight to gut the Teamster contract.

The drivers, dock and office Teamsters have been without a contract for 11 months.

Management wants to take members out of Teamster health coverage, eliminate sick days, subcontract office work, and more. Retirees would no longer get health coverage.

Teamsters are on the picket lines throughout most of Washington and Oregon and parts of Idaho.

Oak Harbor is a Seattle-based regional carrier; it operates nonunion terminals in California and Nevada. USF Reddaway and Peninsula Truck Lines are Teamster carriers that compete with it.

Management essentially forced the strike, and is hiring scabs to replace its hard-working Teamster employees. Strikers are determined to defend the union and not abandon the retirees.

Read more in the Seattle Times.