Contract Talks to Reopen in Trucking Strike : Labor: Teamsters walkout will continue during renewed negotiations. Previous ‘final offer’ is set aside.
Striking Teamsters and trucking firms Thursday agreed to resume negotiations next week and try to resolve the 8-day-old walkout involving 70,000 workers.
The Teamsters strike against 20 trucking firms will continue during the talks--scheduled to begin Monday--and the union was planning a separate campaign aimed at some of the transportation companies’ financial backers and directors.
“We’re prepared to sit down at any time and talk about any of the problems,†said Ron Carey, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “Whether or not we can agree upon any of those issues is another question.â€
Talks between the Teamsters and Truck Management Inc., the bargaining arm for the struck companies, broke off March 31 over what management described as its final offer, which included proposals for using more part-time workers at truck terminals and making more use of rail freight. The companies also want to use binding arbitration to settle future grievances.
In a letter sent to the Teamsters on Wednesday, the trucking firms indicated that the March 31 proposals no longer constituted a final offer, Carey said, and that led both sides on Thursday afternoon to agree to resume talks.
“We are delighted that we will now sit down and discuss all the issues so critical to our industry, our company and our employees,†said Robert A. Young III, chairman of Trucking Management Inc.
Officials from the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Labor were also in contact with both sides, seeking to revive the negotiations. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena spoke to Carey after the resumption of talks was announced, but the content of their conversation was unknown, Teamsters officials said.
While the strike continues, Teamsters will also begin protests aimed at companies, customers and officials linked to the trucking firms, Carey said.
The union said its members across the country will distribute leaflets outside the tax preparation offices of H&R; Block today. The leaflets will point out that H&R; president Thomas M. Bloch sits on the board of Yellow Corp., which operates Yellow Freight, the largest of the strck companies.
