More than 1,100 DHL Express ramp workers on Thursday walked off the job at the company’s big air hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) to protest stalled contract talks. The company says it has taken steps to maintain service levels.
“DHL bosses are pocketing billions as many of these workers live paycheck to paycheck,” said Bill Hamilton, director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Express Division, in the union’s announcement. “Meanwhile, this anti-worker company has the audacity to disrespect rank-and-file workers who are simply trying to stand up for themselves at the bargaining table. Enough is enough.”
The DHL employees involved in the strike every night load and unload aircraft and drive shuttle trucks with containers full of packages between the cargo jets and the CVG sort facility, one of three global hubs in the DHL Express network. Packages from international destinations are sorted there and put on planes for distribution to various cities throughout North America, with the process also operating in reverse.
Contract negotiations began in July. The Teamsters union is fighting for better wages and safety conditions, as well as an end to what it alleges are illegal anti-union activities, such as harassment and intimidation of union workers. The National Labor Relations Board is asking an administrative law judge to take enforcement action against DHL.
The Teamsters said last week it has more than $300 million in a strike fund to support workers.
The withholding of labor comes during the peak time of year for the shipping business at DHL and other logistics companies. The CVG hub processes 130 daily flights and is the base for 60 aircraft. Eighty percent of all shipments from the Americas transit via the CVG hub.
DHL Express said it brought in extra staffing and diverted cargo aircraft to other airports where it has terminals in anticipation of a strike. Members of Teamsters Local 100 on Sunday authorized negotiators to call a strike if the collective bargaining process wasn’t progressing favorably. DHL employs more than 4,000 people at the CVG hub.
“We have consistently sought to bargain in good faith and to find constructive solutions at the negotiating table. … Our customers should remain confident in our ability to provide the excellent service they expect and require,” DHL said in a statement earlier this week.
Still, the influx of extra volume at regional sort facilities and the need to truck a portion of shipments back to the Midwest could result in delivery delays for some customers.
DHL says it is prepared to resume bargaining in January.
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