DHL National Negotiations News

Tentative Agreement Reached on National Non-Economic Language; Regional Bargaining Begins in November


After nearly a month of negotiations, the Teamsters national negotiating committee secured tentative agreements with DHL representatives on October 28. The agreements address various non-economic provisions for the DHL National Master Agreement and operational supplements.

“Hammering out non-economic language is the first step of negotiating a contract,” said Brad Slawson, chair of the Teamsters national negotiating committee. “We believe that we’ve got language that enhances job security. While we made progress there is still a long way to go.”

During the often-contentious negotiations, the committee reached tentative agreement with DHL on the non-economic national portion of the agreement as well as the non-economic language for each of the four major national operating supplements: pick-up and delivery, clerical, gateway, and hub operations.

The tentative national language for the pick-up-and-delivery and clerical agreements largely reflect the relevant Articles (1-39) of the National Master Freight Agreement. The existing contracts covering gateways and hubs were used as the template for those operational supplements.

Economic Negotiations to Follow Agreements on Regional Supplements

The next step in negotiations concerns regional supplements and riders, which govern much of the day-to-day operations. Local union leaders and DHL will begin negotiating these supplements in November.

If negotiations are concluded by the end of November, the national committee anticipates that it and DHL representatives will convene again in December to discuss economic portions—wages, health insurance and pensions—of the DHL National Master Agreement.

The new DHL National Master Agreement will cover all local unions covered under the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) and a number of locals that previously negotiated stand-alone “white paper” agreements.