More than 1,100 workers at DHL Express’s global air cargo hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport went on strike Thursday after months of failed negotiations with the parcel delivery company.
A group of DHL workers at the hub who load and unload aircraft voted in April to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has been in contract negotiations with the company since July. Since then, the union has filed more than 20 unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the company of retaliation against organized labor. Teamsters Local 100, which represents unionized workers, voted Sunday to authorize a strike.
“The company forced this work stoppage, but DHL has the opportunity to right this wrong by respecting our members and agreeing to a strong contract,” Local 100 President Bill Davis said in a statement.
DHL Express is the U.S. unit of the world’s largest logistics company Deutsche Post, but accounts for just 2.3 percent of U.S. parcel volume, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. Since, as a German company, it is unable to ship between domestic airports within the US, it has to outsource these services and instead focuses on handling international shipments.
A DHL spokesman said the company is “fully prepared for this expected tactic and has implemented contingency plans” such as rerouting shipments to avoid Cincinnati and hiring replacement staff.
The company noted that around 4,000 employees were still working at the facility. It said it did not expect “significant disruptions to our service.”
“Unfortunately, the Teamsters decided to influence these negotiations and use an employment action to pressure the company into agreeing to unreasonable contract terms,” the company spokesman said in a statement.
The DHL strike comes at a time of increasing tensions in the industry between companies and unions.
On Thursday, the Teamsters threatened a strike at a United Parcel Service facility in Louisville, Kentucky, accusing the company of “using similar practices to disrespect and abuse our members in the same state” by firing administrative employees who had just voted to unionize. The union also threatened a strike at UPS if the company “doesn’t get its act together” by Monday.
UPS narrowly averted a strike over the summer after contentious negotiations with the Teamsters, which threatened to shut down operations at the nation’s largest package delivery service.
The facility where DHL workers are striking is right in front of the Amazon Air Hub, where union organizing is underway. Workers there accuse Amazon of illegally hindering organizing efforts.