Car Haulers Return to Work, but Pact Rejection Is Forecast

Teamsters Union car haulers climbed back into their trucks today after a three-week strike, but at least one union leader predicted that a new agreement between the 20,000 drivers and management will be rejected.

“We’ll be running overtime to get all the cars to the dealers,” said Rob Thompson, vice president for industrial relations at Commercial Carriers in Southfield.

The car haulers went on strike after talks broke down July 25. The walkout halted delivery of new cars to dealers, clogged import piers on both coasts and caused vehicles to pile up at U.S. plants.

Thompson, whose company has 18 terminals across the country, said the strike created a backlog of about 120,000 autos nationwide.

Pete Karagozian, president of the car haulers’ Local 299 in Detroit, the largest in the country with 2,000 members, said the joy over the tentative agreement may be short-lived.

“This agreement may not pass. That’s the word coming back to us on the grapevine,” Karagozian said today. “I think another rejection is likely.”

Car haulers heard details of the proposed three-year pact at membership meetings nationwide Sunday.

“There were mixed reactions,” said Nellie McKim, a member of the union’s national bargaining team and secretary-treasurer of Local 580 in Lansing. “Some wanted to stay out until the vote count. Others were happy to return to work.”

Voting on the pact will be conducted by mail, with ballots scheduled to go out Aug. 22 and be returned by Sept. 12, McKim said.

Union representatives have said the contract is an improvement over the pact turned down by members last month by a 5-1 margin. The previous offer called for a 60-cents-per-hour pay increase during each of the three years for the car haulers, who average about $13 an hour.