Union busting by proxy hits Brewer

In America, as in all advanced democracies, workers have the legal right to elect representatives to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions with management. Essentially, a union is bringing basic democratic rights and protections into the workplace. As a general rule, this leads to better jobs with basic protections against arbitrary power, as well as a more prosperous and stable society.

Unfortunately, many companies fight unions for basically the same reasons that dictators fight democracy – because they want to keep all power and money to themselves.

Today, in Brewer, we are seeing the sort of blatant, illegal attacks on the rights of workers that happen in Mexico or El Salvador, but that haven’t been seen in Maine for generations.

Here’s what has been happening right in the middle of our community, at the largest parcel post delivery company in the world, the German-based DHL. (The corporate giant DHL has sales of $56 billion and profits of $4.36 billion):

The company manager “grabbed my lapel and flipped it over. He said he was looking for a union pin. Then he asked me if I had voted for the union.” Upper management reportedly requested a “naughty and nice list” of union and nonunion. Then 28 workers got fired and only five got “rehired,” the rest – many with 10 to 12 years on the job – were put out on the street with no severance pay, no insurance, nothing.

“We wanted fairness and a voice,” said fired Rydbom-DHL employee Karen McNerney. “There were no rules or regulations and they could fire you for any reason,” McNerney stated. “We wanted a union so we could have a voice on the job.” These DHL workers braved the threats to their livelihood, because they envisioned a better life. The workers also noted they didn’t have a pension, health insurance and made half the money that UPS drivers made, or about $10 an hour.

After a long organizing campaign where the workers stood with solidarity and courage, despite the obvious threats, they had their election where they won their union. The workers’ union, Teamsters Local 340, was certified by the federal government Jan. 17. Just two days later, DHL severed the contract with the local contractor, Black Bear Courier.

DHL claims this has nothing to do with the union. DHL then chose a new contractor, Rydbom Express, out of Pennsylvania. It was the Rydbom manager who allegedly grabbed the worker’s lapel, interrogated employees about their vote on the union, and who failed to rehire 25 employees. Such blatantly anti-union actions are illegal, and apparently local management is willing to risk such illegal activity and to forgo a ready work force of experienced drivers – all to get rid of a union.

This despite the fact that “We hadn’t even asked for anything yet,” said DHL driver Steve Husson. “We hadn’t asked for wage increases, health insurance – we just got our union and bam! We’re fired.”

DHL is claiming it has no say or control over the “independent contractors,” like Rydbom, who also works for DHL in Pennsylvania. However, when you ship DHL, the yellow and red DHL van arrives and a worker in a yellow and red DHL uniform picks up the package. You sign the check out to “DHL Express.” If you want to track your package, you log onto DHL’s Web site and monitor the package through DHL’s software program, Orion. If you need more information, you call 1-800-225-5345 (DHL’s number) and a DHL employee answers the phone.

Though DHL is trying to muddy the water with the “independent” contractor, this is simply union busting by proxy.

Union busting of this type has been common in the free trade zones in Mexico and Central America or in Asia where contractors make goods for large U.S. retailers. However, such blatant anti-union actions haven’t been seen in decades in our state. What goes around is apparently coming around.

Fortunately for all of us who care about fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law, we have unions – like Teamsters Local 340 that have the will and resources to support workers who stand up for such fundamental rights in the face of hostile companies as DHL-Rydbom. The Teamsters union has filed charges with the federal government demanding that the fired workers are rehired immediately with back pay and that DHL-Rydbom begins negotiations in good faith.

The Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council, along with Food AND Medicine, co-founded the Farmer- Labor – Small Business (FLSB) Alliance. To date 28 local companies and farms have stood and signed onto the FLSB letter calling on DHL- Rydbom to do the right thing – rehire the workers and begin negotiates in good faith. More than 20 of these companies are former Maine customers of DHL. These farms and businesses are voluntarily standing up for justice and in so doing show themselves to be the type of corporate citizen that our community can take pride in.

We invite our community to join the FLSB Alliance and stand together to tell DHL-Rydbom that we will give our business back to DHL when they become a corporate citizen that is in keeping with both our communities’ standards and our laws.

The fired workers demonstrate Monday through Saturday in front of DHL-Rydbom at 96 Parkway South in Brewer. When you pass by, honk your horn; show support, because these workers are fighting against arbitrary and abusive power and. as we say in the labor movement, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Put another way, when they win justice, our whole community wins justice.

Jack McKay is president of the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.