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Oak Harbor Freight Lines truckers protest at Pasco terminal
(Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 25--John Curtis drives trucks for Oak Harbor Freight Lines, but on Wednesday he wasn't behind the wheel.
The 16-year employee of the Auburn-based company was picketing with six other employees at the company's freight terminal in Pasco to protest what he called the anti-labor practices of Oak Harbor.
Pasco terminal workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 839, stopped work Monday night after the union and the company failed to reach agreement on medical benefits during contract negotiation talks. More than 500 union workers -- out of a companywide work force of 1,300 -- walked off the job in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
This is the first strike in the privately owned company, which was started in 1916, and also has freight terminals in California and Nevada.
Oak Harbor wants workers to enroll in a company-sponsored medical plan and make them pay for it. Workers want to stick with the Teamsters medical plan. The company's proposal also will make it difficult for retired workers to get health benefits, workers say.
The company also wants to end its sick-day leave program for workers, said Kennewick's Dale Fish, who's worked for the company for 20 years.
The failure to draw a contract for union workers is part of the larger issue, said Curtis of Finley. Charges have been filed against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, he said. The workers' old contract expired last October.
The major disagreement between Teamsters and Oak Harbor is about the switch to the company's medical plan, said company spokesman Mike Hobby. About 55 percent of the company's employees already are covered by the plan.
The company offered to increase wages to offset the increased costs for workers, he said. But the company's eighth and final offer was rejected by the union. No further talks are planned, Hobby said.
The strike has affected operations, Hobby said. "There's congestion at Washington and Oregon terminals."
But that is being taken care of with the help of non-union employees, replacement workers and workers who choose to return to work instead of picketing, Hobby said. "We'll be delivering on our regular schedule, beginning Monday."
Of 21 union employees in Pasco, two reportedly have crossed the picket lines. But others continue to hold placards, share their stories with anyone who's interested and picket businesses where non-union drivers make deliveries.
This way they can tell the company's clients that workers are on strike, said union member John Whiteley of Kennewick.
And workers are prepared to strike for "as long as it takes" to resolve the issue, Curtis said. Union members get paid for picketing at least six hours a day.
But it's not easy to make do with $200 a week instead of $200 a day, said Robert Fromm, another Oak Harbor truck driver from Kennewick. "It's nothing but stressful."
To see more of the Tri-City Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tri-cityherald.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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