Philly-area DHL Express Teamsters are back to work after CVG Airport local gets tentative agreement
The 200 Sharon Hill and West Deptford workers had extended a picket line from the newly unionized Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport DHL Express workers.
Philly-area workers at international shipping giant DHL Express locations in Sharon Hill and West Deptford went back to work Tuesday, after holding a picket line for nearly a week while their colleagues at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) were on strike.
The CVG unit, which consists of more than 1,100 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 100, are also back to work and are likely to vote on whether to ratify their contract within the week. They had been on strike since Dec. 7.
About 200 DHL Express Teamsters in Local 107 and 500, the Philly-area unions, had stopped working in support of the CVG members.
Bill Hamilton, president of Local 107 and director of the Teamsters Express Division, was involved in the Local 100 negotiations. He said the tentative agreement includes wage increases that total $5.50 per hour over the course of a four-year contract, as well as full health care at no cost to employees and a $1,000 signing bonus.
The CVG employees were also able to negotiate on the right to strike, so they will be able to do so during the term of their contract. Holding another striking union’s picket line would be possible only under certain conditions, Hamilton said.
When the CVG bargaining committee reached the agreement Tuesday morning, all of the other locals were told they could go back to work, Hamilton said. The picket had extended to at least 15 cities where DHL Express employees are unionized with the Teamsters.
DHL Express spokesperson Robert Mintz acknowledged Tuesday that the union and company had reached tentative agreements on a number of issues, ending the strike, while they still have some details to finalize.
“During these last few days, DHL Express proactively deployed contingency plans to ensure that our customers received the high service levels they expect from us at this important time of the year for their businesses, and we minimized the potential disruptions that can typically occur within our industry during peak season (due to weather, volume surges etc.)” Mintz said. “These temporary agreements will now allow for our operations to resume with all of our employees on duty, and our customers should remain confident in our ability to provide the excellent service they expect and require.”
German-owned DHL Express is one of the largest shipping companies in the world, competing with FedEx and UPS. Its annual revenue in 2022 was about $29.8 billion.
The company increased its local workspace in 2021 by shutting down a Southwest Philadelphia location and replacing it with the Sharon Hill and West Deptford facilities. That year, the company was experiencing a 25% increase in Philadelphia shipments.