Jul. 22, 2008 at 11:08am
A handful of retirees and union officials picketed outside Oak Harbor Freight Lines' headquarters in Auburn yesterday. At issue is contract negotiations that remain stalled after almost a year of talks. The sticking point is reportedly the regional trucking company's stance of eliminating health care coverage for all of its retirees.
"If Oak Harbor gets their way, our retirees – the ones who built this company -- will be orphaned with no health insurance," said Al Hobart, Teamster vice president and Joint Council 28 president. "We cannot allow that to happen."
The privately held company turned 90 years old this year and is one of the largest in the Northwest. Its annual revenue tops $150 million and boasts about 8 percent revenue growth in recent years.
The contract would affect about 70 people, of which the difference between shifting to the company plan as it proposes and the continued use of the union plan is only about $60 a month, corporate communications manager Mike Hobby said. The picketing came during a scheduled negotiation time using a federal mediator, when the company presented its seventh proposal and union officials failed to present a counter plan. They opted to picket.
"They were here as long as the television cameras were here," Corporate Communications Manager Mike Hobby said, noting that the story was wrapped by local television stations into a story about GM's contract negotiations with its auto workers.
The Teamsters represents about half of Oak Harbor's 1,300 employees who are spread out between the West Coast states.
Posted in BE Daily, Law and Legislation, Manufacturing/Trade/Transportation, South King County, Workforce by Steve Dunkelberger | Email Steve
Comments (1)
I would like to see the six other proposals they say they've already presented. They also neglected to mention it's been 9 months since the last contract expired.
1 | Left by Anonymous | Jul. 22, 2008 at 5:38pm
