Trucking Strike Goes to Federal Mediators : Labor: Teamsters and freight companies acquiesce to the Clinton Administration, which fears the 2 1/2-week strike will damage the economy.

After failing to resolve a 2 1/2-week trucking strike on their own, the Teamsters union and freight-hauling companies Friday agreed to submit to federal mediation, as government officials expressed concern about the walkout’s potential economic damage.

Bowing to requests by the Clinton Administration, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Trucking Management Inc., which represents the 20 firms still closed by the walkout, are scheduled to meet today with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

About 70,000 Teamsters will remain on the picket lines until a tentative agreement is reached in the dispute over management proposals to hire more part-time workers at truck terminals, haul more shipments by rail and use binding arbitration to handle contract disputes.

Both sides had resumed negotiations Monday, and the carriers said they had withdrawn their proposal on part-time workers, but the talks proved fruitless.

The “lack of significant progress is troubling to us,” Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said in a letter sent Friday to Teamsters President Ron Carey and Arthur H. Bunte Jr., president of Trucking Management Inc. “Our purpose is to encourage the parties to find that common ground which will lead to an immediate settlement of this dispute.”

Pena and Reich said the strike had begun to “affect thousands of shippers and the normal flow of goods by truck and sea” and that “spot reports indicate nascent problems in parts availability for automobile assembly.”

John Calhoun Wells, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said in a statement that the strike “places a strain on our recovery and the welfare of our citizens.”

However, though shipments have been delayed and non-union trucking companies have been overwhelmed with orders, the strike has so far caused no significant shortages or disruptions to commerce. The firms involved in the strike ship mainly consumer products and manufacturing parts.

Atlanta-based Home Depot, for example, with 275 stores nationwide, was initially concerned about the prospect of shortages in power tools and some plumbing accessories. But the company has adjusted by arranging for trucking companies that normally deliver only to Home Depot’s regional distribution centers to deliver products to some of the stores as well.

“Some stores are short of an item or two,” said Peter Cleaveland, Home Depot’s vice president of distribution. “But we’re in better shape than we expected.”

However, the strike has proven costly to the struck trucking companies and the Teamsters. Two of the largest firms, Yellow Freight and Roadway Express, said the walkout is costing them $10 million a day each. Palo Alto-based CF MotorFreight has cut the wages of non-union employees by up to 25% and placed some workers on leave as the walkout continues.

Meanwhile, the union is spending about $14 million a week on strike benefits for its members.

About 200 members from Teamsters Local 63 on Friday morning occupied the lobby of a Bank of America branch in downtown San Bernardino for about two hours, police said. The union said it was protesting the bank’s role as a lender to CF MotorFreight’s parent.

Staff writer George White contributed to this report.