Teamsters from other freight haulers and other companies organized by the IBT in Tennessee and Georgia also attended. Overnite strikers from Tupelo, Mississippi—the only strike site in that state—came as well.

Some 2,000 drivers, dock workers, and maintenance workers across the United States began their strike against Overnite on October 24 and in the days that followed. Overnite is the sixth-largest U.S. trucking company and the largest one that is unorganized. Memphis is one of Overnite's four hubs and a center of the strike.

Teamsters from other freight haulers, including Yellow Freight, ABT, Holland, and Consolidated, are playing an important role in keeping the picket lines going, as many strikers have been forced to get other jobs. One of the themes of the rally was the importance of beefing up the picket lines, and especially increasing participation by Overnite strikers.

Most speakers at the rally, which started at the strikers' big yellow tent near the picket line, were rank-and-file Overnite strikers. "This struggle is for everyone," said Larry Campbell, 48, who has worked as an over-the-road driver at Overnite for 11 years. "If it's going to be Christmas next year, I'll still be out here," Patrick McCracken told the crowd, to loud applause. McCracken has worked at Overnite for 22 years.

Strikers in Memphis are also fighting to win back the jobs of five union activists fired last year on bogus charges.

One of them, Paul Holder, a dock worker who's been at Overnite 18 years, told the rally that "people thought the members didn't care because of the small picket line. And some people did get scared by the picket line and the ambulatory pickets." Ambulatory pickets follow some of the scab trucks to their destinations and set up picket lines at the companies that are using Overnite.

"But no one else has gone back in," since the early days of the strike, Holder said. "We're here today to encourage our other members. Together, we'll win."

The vote for the union at the 1996 representation election was close—219 for, 201 against—but only 10 workers have crossed the picket line to return to work, strikers report.

Ardella Blandford, a member of United Auto Workers Local 1155 at PEMCO Aerospace in Birmingham, Alabama, got a warm welcome, as she read a message of solidarity signed by several dozen co-workers.

After the brief speeches, the crowd marched down Brook Road past the Overnite picket sites, shouting, "Teamsters! Contract!" and "What do we want? Contract!" The younger strikers led the way on getting the chants going. There was a loud surge of chanting as the rally passed the gates.

After returning to the tent, IBT Local 667 secretary-treasurer Henry Perry told the crowd that each day Teamsters from a different company would help on the picket line, including teamsters from UPS. 
 

Tupelo strikers

Recently the company tried unsuccessfully to decertify the union in Tupelo. "The future of the young kids who are just getting hired is dependent on us," Malone said. "It's time for us to do some fighting, like others did before us. This strike is either the rebirth of the unions or the death of us all." Because the Tupelo terminal is so small, Memphis strikers regularly come down and help staff the picket line.

Paul Holder also spoke with the Militant after the rally. "We had our first union election in 1995," Holder said. "Overnite won by 74 votes. But when the vote was held again in 1996, the union won."

Forced overtime is a big issue for the strikers, he said. "They come to you at the last minute, with no notice, and say, 'You've got to work over.' We worked 10 weekends straight this summer. There's constant pressure to 'hurry, hurry, hurry,' " Holder said. It was after the 1996 vote in Memphis that the union-organizing drive took off around the country, he added.

The fight to organize the 8,200 drivers, dock workers, and maintenance workers at Overnite has gone on for more than 20 years. Since 1995, the union has been voted in at 37 worksites, representing 45 percent of the workforce, according to Teamsters officials.

Holder was fired on Sept. 1, 1999, for supposedly threatening someone during the one-week strike held by the Overnite workers in July. Four other union activists were fired between April and September, he added.

Susan LaMont is a member of United Steelworkers Local 2122 in Fairfield, Alabama. Cheryl Goertz and Patti Iiyama contributed to this article.  
 
 
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