DHL sites close in Brewer, P.I.

BREWER – A delivery company’s branches in Brewer and Presque Isle recently closed due to “unacceptable losses” and the need to “restructure,” according to a letter from the company posted on its building.

DHL, a global delivery service, used Rydbom Express Inc., based in Harrisburg, Pa., to deliver packages from the Brewer location.

Doug Rydbom, president of Rydbom Express Inc., said Thursday that the company had no say in the decision to close the Maine facilities.

“We were mandated” to close the doors [by DHL], he said.

The Brewer location was closed June 28 and the Presque Isle shop closed June 27, Rydbom said, adding that another subcontractor operated the delivery business in The County.

Two letters greet customers when they approach the front doors of the former Parkway South locale in Brewer.

“We regret to inform you that this facility is closed and no longer accepting shipments,” one letter states.

The second letter, titled “Network changes for DHL Express,” indicates that revenues are the reason the branch closed.

“Current operation losses in the U.S. are unacceptable and require a restructuring of our operations to reduce costs,” it states.

DHL, which has more than 170,000 employees worldwide, was founded in San Francisco in 1969 but now is owned by Deutsche Post World Net, the former national postal service in Germany.

The delivery company made local headlines in 2004 when workers, attempting to form a union, were laid off when a contract with the subcontractor was not renewed.

Rydbom in March 2005 replaced Black Bear Couriers Inc. of Orono, which held the DHL delivery contract for 10 years, when Black Bear failed to renew its contract just days after employees were accepted into a union.

Union leaders said the contract switching was a union-busting technique and successfully petitioned, using the National Labor Relations Act, to get the workers’ jobs back. And Brewer employees, all accepted into the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland during 2005, eventually ratified a contract with Rydbom.

Rydbom gave his 25 Brewer employees a 30-day notice of the closure, but did not issue severance pay.

“We paid them a retention bonus for their great service,” he said, adding, “It was a flat amount.”

A call to Jim Carson, president of Teamsters Local 340, was not immediately returned.

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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