Vol.64/No.2 January 17, 2000
Overnite strikers rally in Atlanta to demand union recognition
Supporters of the Militant are contributing weekly updates on the strike by drivers and dock workers at Overnite Transportation, the largest nonunion trucking company in the United States. The walkout began in Memphis, Tenn., October 24 and involves some 2,000 workers across the country. We encourage weekly updates from strikers and their supporters in as many areas as possible in order to present an up-to-date assessment of this fight to the broadest possible number of workers, farmers, and youth. Notes and articles can be sent to the Militant at 410 West St., New York, NY 10014; by fax to (212) 924-6040; or e-mail to TheMilitant@compuserve.com. Please include your union or school identification if possible.
BY DON PANE
ATLANTA - One hundred and fifty strikers and their supporters at Overnite Transportation rallied at the company's terminal here Dec. 21 to demand the company recognize the Teamsters as their union and to negotiate a contract. Drivers and dock workers here voted in their majority for the Teamsters five years ago, but the bosses have refused to negotiate with the workers and their union.
As has become a feature of the picket lines around the country, Teamster members from other trucking companies joined the rally and picket line. Sandra Collier is a member of Teamster Local 728 and works at Roadway as a relay driver in Atlanta. From 1990 until June of this year, Collier worked for a nonunion outfit driving trucks across the 48 states and Canada.
"I'm here to show my support to the union cause," Collier said. "I know what it means to drive nonunion. A union contract with higher wages makes it possible to take time off. When I drove nonunion it was paid by the mile. It was very unsafe. We got paid a pittance for loading and unloading. It was enforced servitude. The union contract allows us more time at home and enough wages for me to buy a house."
A delegation of several religious officials led by Tim McDonald, President of Concerned Black Clergy, walked onto company property. After asking to speak with the company representatives they met with the service center manager. McDonald spoke to the rally after the meeting and said the manager was sympathetic to the strikers' cause.
Karl Bryant, a worker at Overnite for 20 years, said after the rally that the strikers are "here for the long haul. I'm not going back in until we get a contract. Five years ago we voted in the union and the company put us on hold. I'll be here on the picket line until we get a contract."
BY CAPPY KIDD
BEDFORD PARK - "Overnite's freight is drying up," said Gordy, a striker at the Overnite depot here outside Chicago. "There is a lot of activity as far as trucks going in and out, but they are mostly empty. We followed one scab truck that left here the other day. It drove around for seven and a half hours without making any stops."
"Our ambulatory pickets are having an impact," he said. "We'll send a couple of guys to patrol an area. When they spot an Overnite truck in a loading dock, they go in and talk to the shipping clerk. They explain our rights to picket that truck while it's in their loading dock. Once we set up an ambulatory picket, no other union carriers will cross our picket line. They drive right by."
Gordy explained that some "companies have said right there, 'We don't want any problems.' They don't want to get backed up before Christmas. We don't tell the customer not to ship with Overnite. That would be illegal. We do let them know that it's their decision, but they could face a picket line."
"The hub in South Holland, Illinois, is not doing much work," he said. "It is a bulk freight interchange."
At the Bedford Park depot the company had maintained sixty-five local routes, but now two-thirds of the drivers are out on strike. "The younger and older drivers are bonding on the picket line and getting stronger," Gordy said. "Sears Merchandise is sending in trucks to pick up freight at the Overnite loading docks. They are the biggest offender crossing our picket lines."
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