Teamsters/DHL National Negotiations News

Regional Supplements Being Completed, Economic Negotiations To Begin in February


The Teamsters national negotiating committee and DHL have resumed negotiations this month for the DHL National Master Agreement. Discussions have focused on wrapping up the various regional supplements and riders as well as the open national issues. These discussions will continue until negotiations for the major economic issues—wages, health insurance and pensions for each of the four major national operating supplements—begin in mid-February.

“Since framing the national agreement in October, our focus has been for local unions to negotiate their riders so we can begin the economics at a national level,” said Brad Slawson Sr., chair of the Teamsters national committee. “Combining these many types of different agreements and operations into a single master agreement isn’t easy but we’re making steady progress. We anticipate all of the regional and local union riders will be completed by the time we begin negotiations over economics in mid-February.”

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

The January negotiations took place amid speculation created by two large brokerage houses, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns, recommending that Deutsche Post World Net—DHL’s parent company—scale back its U.S.-based operations due to large financial losses. When pressed on the future of the U.S. operations by the Teamsters national negotiating committee, DHL management commented that there is no plan to withdraw from the U.S. but there is immense pressure on them to turn around operations in this country.

“It’s difficult enough putting together a national agreement of this size. When you add the operational issues facing DHL since it purchased Airborne it adds an entire new dimension,” Slawson said. “But make no mistake: we are absolutely committed to making sure members’ interests are represented.”

Agreements on Non-Economic Provisions

Last year, the Teamsters national negotiating committee and DHL agreed to non-economic provisions of the DHL National Master Agreement and the 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 reflects 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.

The Teamster bargaining committee will update members as they work through this historic process. Please continue to look for bargaining updates and information about voting on this new, historic agreement at www.teamster.org.