November 21, 2008: Local 705 members rallied at the Federal Building in Chicago to demand fairness for laid-off DHL Teamsters.
ABC News was there to cover the rally of Teamster members, Chicago Aldermen and other community supporters to pressure DHL to stop its discriminatory treatment of union workers.
Following the rally, the crowd marched to the National Labor Relations Board where a Teamster delegation filed charges against the company. The charges accuse DHL of diverting Teamster work to a nonunion alter-ego corporation DHL Sky Courier.
Last week, DHL announced that it has decided to pull out of the domestic overnight and ground business. They will continue to focus on International only.
DHL has given all nonunion employees either a severance or retention package and has offered nothing to union members.
Nationwide, DHL is reducing the number of stations from 412 to 103. This will eliminate 9,500 U.S. jobs at DHL on top of the approximately 6,500 that have already been lost.
“The time is now for DHL to come to the table and bargain in good faith some type of severance or exit package for the workers who built this brand name of DHL”, Local 705 Principal Officer Steve Pocztowski said in a press statement.