“Labor rights are under attack! What do you do?”
“Stand up, fight back,” chanted the crowd of DHL workers.
On a brisk Wednesday morning, dozens of DHL ramp and tug workers gathered at the corner of Ted Bushelman Blvd. in Florence. The picketers waved signs boasting the message: “DHL: Deliver Fair Contract NOW!”
DHL is the sixth largest employer in Northern Kentucky boasting approximately 3,000 workers. The German shipping and logistics giant’s North American Superhub is located at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Additionally, the company announced in July that it will invest $192 million into their CVG facility for a years long expansion project.
In April, approximately 1,100 of the 3,000 DHL-CVG ramp and tug workers voted to join the Teamsters Local 100 labor union. The month prior, DHL workers held multiple public demonstrations outside the company’s Northern Kentucky headquarters where they called on upper management to stop interfering with their organizing efforts.
What are the picketer’s demands? A union contract and improved workplace safety conditions.
“We have heard, and while obviously, everybody wants a good strong contract with economics and benefits, overwhelmingly what we’re hearing from you guys is that safety is of paramount importance and something that DHL is ignoring,” said Teamsters Local 100 President Bill Davis.
Currently, local Teamsters leadership is engaged in contract negotiations with DHL management. Davis said that DHL agreed to meet with their labor negotiating unit “about three days every month.”
Garrett Schwing, a domestic ramp lead at DHL’s a.m. day shift operations, told LINK nky that he believes negotiations are progressing, albeit slowly.
“I believe that both parties are doing the best they can right now to create a fair and solid contract,” Schwing said. “But it’s not fast enough. I believe it’s being slow walked. We can meet a lot more days.”
Six picketers gave testimonials, including a few who detailing injuries they suffered at the workplace. One of them, Ryan Doyen, said he suffered a broken nose when a cable fell off a Boeing 757 and hit him in the face during a windy night in 2021. After sustaining an injury, Doyen said he was sent to the campus nurse.
“That cable fell out of the plane, hit me directly in the face, and broke my nose — sent to the nurse. What’d they do? Scrub my nose and say, ‘oh, it’s broken but we’re not going to do anything about it. Go back to work,” according to Doyen.
While Doyen admitted that he, along with the other picketers, have great jobs at DHL, the company ultimately needs to improve on-site safety. Many of the picketers said they had been asked to work in hazardous weather conditions like wind, snow, and rain.
“We all know we have great jobs out here, but we could have a safer job,” Doyen said. “We could have a lot better of a job.”
Their demonstration comes nearly two months after unionized UPS Worldport workers at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport reached a five-year agreement with UPS management. The agreement included gradual wage raises over time.
