Teamsters authorize strike by Herald delivery drivers

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 14, 2001

By Bryan Corliss

Herald Writer

Members of Teamsters Local 763 at The Herald have authorized a strike against the paper, saying they are frustrated with a lack of progress in talks toward a new contract.

The union represents about 25 Herald drivers, who carry the paper from the printing plant in downtown Everett to distribution points around Snohomish and Island counties.

The issues revolve around money, union officials said in a prepared statement. "We need a secure future for our families and a decent retirement," said Doug Ely, a driver who is on the bargaining committee.

Herald Publisher Alan Funk said Tuesday that he was not aware that the strike authorization vote had been taken. Management has prepared a wage-and-benefit counteroffer, which it plans to present to the union either today or Thursday, he said.

"We’re intending to negotiate in good faith," Funk said.

The contract expired on May 31. The two sides have been talking about a new contract since April.

So far, the only pay-and-benefit proposal on the table is one presented by the union, Funk said. He described it as being "a significant increase over what we already believe to be reasonably high costs."

A slowdown in advertising revenue growth has the Herald keeping close tabs on spending this year.

The Herald’s workforce was trimmed by about 6 percent in April as a cost-cutting measure. Most of the jobs were cut through attrition and voluntary departures, and only a handful of workers were laid off involuntarily, Funk said.

Distribution was not an area where Herald managers looked to cut spending, Funk said.

However, while studying ways to cut costs, managers found it would be cheaper for The Herald to hire an outside trucking company to do the drivers’ jobs than it would be to keep the work in-house.

Management is not now considering outsourcing the work, Funk said. However, it has told Teamster negotiators what it has learned, he added.

A union spokesman did not return a telephone call Tuesday. But the potential for outsourcing is an issue for the Teamsters.

"We have worked for The Herald for many years, and we have always been able to work things out, but The Herald wants to pay us back by outsourcing our work," said Ed Leafsteadt, the shop steward, in the union’s prepared statement. "What we need is a contract that contains fair wages, good medical benefits and sick leave to care for our children and ourselves."

Local 763 represents about 4,500 public and private sector workers around Puget Sound, including about 600 production and distribution workers at The Seattle Times.

The union did not support the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild’s strike last winter against the Times and Post-Intelligencer.

However, during that strike, Teamster members voted out long-time leader Jon Rabine — considered to be friendly to Times and P-I management — and replaced him with Dave Reynolds, an employee at the King County Assessor’s Office who supported the Guild strike.

You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454

or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.