Teamsters, Shippers Reach Tentative Pact : Labor: Despite bitter split, two key union factions predict contract approval. Some workers could return to jobs today.

The Teamsters union and major trucking firms reached a tentative agreement late Thursday on a labor contract expected to end a 23-day-old strike that has idled roughly 70,000 freight workers nationally. Some drivers and dockworkers could return to their jobs as soon as today.

Officials of the Teamsters bitterly split over whether the proposed settlement marked a victory for management or the union. But the two key union factions predicted that members will approve the pact, in part because of economic pressure on the unionized trucking industry.

The strike has been the nation’s biggest since the Communications Workers of America walked out on AT&T; in 1986 and the first by the Teamsters since the trucking industry was deregulated in the 1980s. Yet the walkout, while hurting some businesses, has served as a reminder of how much the union’s influence has waned since 1979, when a Teamsters strike strangled commerce.

Teamsters President Ron Carey claimed a big win on what he called the chief issue in the contract dispute: a bid by the trucking companies involved in the negotiations to add lower-paid, three-hour-a-day workers who would receive no health or pension benefits.

Under the tentative agreement, union officials said, no such employees could be hired.

Still, critics of Carey, called the agreement “concessionary.” They noted that while the pact thwarted management’s proposal for the three-hour-a-day part-timers, it will permit greater use of “casual” laborers who work intermittently and receive less than the standard Teamsters pay.

In addition, critics faulted Carey’s negotiators for giving up the right to strike over grievances and for allowing more freight to be shipped by rail.

R.V. Durham, a North Carolina Teamsters leader whom Carey defeated in the union’s presidential 1991 election, said Carey “should have stayed at the bargaining table and fought for a contract that protects the members’ job security. Now many members face layoffs as the carriers battle to win freight back from the competition.”

Details of the four-year agreement will be unveiled today to representatives of 230 Teamsters freight locals. Although it will take about a month for the members to vote, strikers will return to work, and the industry could be in full swing as soon as Saturday.

Officials of Trucking Management Inc., the group representing most of the 22 companies subject to the Teamsters contract, released a brief statement lauding the settlement, saying it will make the companies more competitive while improving employees’ wages, benefits and job security.

Union sources said the pact would boost the average Teamster’s base pay by about 8% over the four years of the contract, lifting it to about $18.35 an hour. Officials close to Carey said the union also won “the largest employer contributions ever” for freight workers’ pensions and health care coverage.

Both sides were under stiff pressure to reach a settlement. For the union, the walkout was a severe drain on its strike fund, which was already suffering in the wake of the membership’s recent rejection of a dues increase.

The trucking firms have been badly hurt since the early 1980s by the emergence of non-union companies that operate at lower costs and by other competition.

In fact, one of the 23 companies originally involved in the talks went out of business after the strike began. Two more carriers signed “me-too” agreements allowing them to bring their union employees back to work but requiring them to honor whatever contract settlement is reached.