DHL contractor, Teamster settle dispute over drivers

BREWER – As part of a labor settlement, DHL contractor Rydbom Express has agreed to pay a total of $76,000 in back wages to 12 unionized drivers, who accused the company of violating federal labor laws, according to a union official.

The drivers joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in January when they worked for Black Bear Courier of Orono, an independent contractor that delivered packages for DHL in eastern Maine for more than a decade.

DHL hired Rydbom Express in March after Black Bear Courier failed to renew its contract with the global shipping giant. The 12 Teamsters drivers initially were not rehired by Rydbom but in June were allowed to return to their old DHL delivery routes after federal officials found credence to Teamsters’ complaints that Rydbom had violated the National Labor Relations Act when it interviewed prospective employees.

James Carson, president of Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, said Wednesday that with the settlement, Rydbom has acknowledged it will have to negotiate a contract with the Teamsters. The union will sit down with Rydbom officials sometime after Aug. 31 to start hammering out a contract, he said.

“We won a big victory here,” Carson said. “We got the employees their jobs back and got them the back pay.”

Carson said he is concerned that financial terms between DHL and Rydbom will make it difficult for Rydbom to sign an employment package contract with the Teamsters. How it turns out could have a ripple effect for other DHL contractors across the country, he said.

“They’re going to have to get that money from DHL,” Carson said. “I don’t think it will be an easy thing to do.”

Teamsters officials have said that DHL ultimately is responsible for the labor turmoil the drivers have faced. DHL officials consistently have denied this is the case, however, and have said the dispute is strictly between Rydbom and the Teamsters.

Attempts this week to contact Doug Rydbom, owner of Rydbom Express, have been unsuccessful.

A hearing on a complaint filed against Rydbom by the federal National Labor Relations Board was expected to take place Aug. 2 but has been canceled because of the settlement, according to Kathleen McCarthy of NLRB’s Boston office.

Rydbom Express was accused of violating the National Labor Relations Act after a supervisor with the Harrisburg, Pa.-based company allegedly “interrogated prospective employees regarding their union activity, threatened prospective employees, made statements that unionization is futile and created an impression of surveillance,” according to NLRB documents.

Twelve Teamsters drivers picketed DHL’s office on Parkway South for 13 weeks before they were allowed to return to their old jobs. The 12 were among 23 former Black Bear Courier employees in Brewer who were laid off when the Orono company did not get its DHL contract renewed.

Black Bear Courier also had employed five drivers in Presque Isle, where Granite State Express of Portsmouth, N.H., was awarded a contract in March to deliver packages for DHL in northern Maine.

No labor complaint was pursued against Granite State Express because all but one of the former Black Bear Courier drivers there either were rehired or found jobs elsewhere, Teamsters officials have said.

DHL was founded in San Francisco in 1969 but now is owned by Deutsche Post World Net, the former state-owned postal service in Germany.

DHL has more than 170,000 employees worldwide and in 2004 earned more than $32 billion in revenue, according to information provided by the company.