(Teamsters Local 1224 distributed the following news release on July 16.)
WILMINGTON, Del. — Teamsters Local 1224 flight crewmembers, with the support of fellow Teamsters throughout Ohio, will conduct informational picketing in and around their Wilmington hub on Thursday, July 17 to demonstrate their escalating dissatisfaction with the pace of contract negotiations with employer ABX Air, Inc., a subsidiary of Airborne Express (NYSE:ABF
“On Thursday, our Teamster brothers and sisters, will be joining us as we conduct informational picketing at our Wilmington hub, but unless we secure a contract very quickly those pickets may soon become a strike line,” Local 1224 Vice president Jim Finfinger said. “I firmly believe Teamster unity will help us achieve the contract we deserve through whatever means necessary.”
The picket has been scheduled as the union’s negotiating team wraps up the final week of National Mediation Board (NMB)-facilitated negotiations. No progress has been made, despite the looming deadline and the union’s effort to jumpstart the process with a streamlined proposal, focusing on job protection and compensation.
The Local 1224-Airborne Negotiations began in June 2001. An NMB mediator has assisted in contract talks since November of that same year. The union previously warned they would seek a release from negotiations, a significant step toward a job action, if the company did not cooperate in negotiating a new agreement by July 18.