Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien is accusing DHL of running an illegal anti-union campaign out of its air hub in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), months after the union was able to secure a new contract for hundreds of employees.
While O’Brien said the Teamsters have typically had a “positive and longstanding relationship” with the logistics company and its international express shipping business DHL Express, that rapport has “deteriorated significantly,” he bemoaned.
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“Bluntly, it is in tatters,” O’Brien said in a statement posted on X. “Much of this appears to have been caused by DHL’s deep antipathy—as publicly expressed by senior DHL executives in the U.S.—to the Teamsters’ organizing campaigns at the DHL’s global hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.”
On Dec. 7, more than 1,100 DHL Express Teamsters at CVG went on strike for 12 days in protest of what the union called unfair labor practices, before coming to terms on a new contract.
These DHL ramp-and-tug employees, who unionized to join the Local 100 Teamsters branch last May, load and unload airplanes at the company’s largest logistics hub in North America. According to DHL, 80 percent of all shipments from the Americas flow through the CVG hub, which handles 90 percent of the company’s U.S. volume. The hub facilitates 130 daily DHL flights and is home to a fleet of 60 DHL aircraft.
Sourcing Journal reached out to DHL.
The new union contract, which was ratified in January, increased hourly wages by $2 per hour—a 9 percent jump over the previous average hourly base rate of $22.21. Starting in October, employees will see five separate wage increases through October 2026, amounting to a total $5 per hour wage increase over the next three years.
Minimum pay among the local union employees has been raised to $23 per hour, with approximately 270 workers getting up to an extra $1 per hour to reach the new rate. New hires will start at $22 per hour.
Additionally, the new deal doubles DHL’s 401(k) retirement contribution, establishes a worker safety committee at CVG, and requires the company to pay for the costs of health care premiums.
But even after the new deal was put in place, the outspoken O’Brien still has a bone to pick with the logistics giant.
“Attempts to mend the relationship with DHL representatives have proven fruitless,” O’Brien said. “This has been made evident by the mandatory company-sponsored town hall meetings with Teamsters bargaining units across the country, where senior DHL executives have denigrated the Teamsters institutionally and defamed its leadership. These actions clearly indicate a corporate-sponsored anti-union campaign designed to stifle organizing efforts at CVG and undermine the Teamsters and its leadership.”
O’Brien wasn’t specific in his clams, but plenty of Teamsters branches nationwide have peppered DHL with various anti-union allegations.
Since the beginning of December, separate workers within the DHL Express and Supply Chain segments have filed 28 complaints to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the company. Charges included retaliation against pro-union workers, surveilling workers discussing the union off-site and intimidating workers on the picket lines.
“In recent months, we have been forced to file numerous grievances and unfair labor practice charges against DHL,” O’Brien said. “Let me be clear: the detrimental effects of DHL’s anti-union and anti-Teamsters campaign on our relationship cannot be overstated. These actions not only threaten the longstanding relationship between our organizations but also put the well-being of DHL’s employees and our DHL-employed current and future members at risk.”
Fifteen of the complaints remain open.
In that time frame, DHL Express filed four separate complaints against three Teamsters local branches out of Los Angeles; Romulus, Mich.; and Erlanger, Ky. Of the complaints made by DHL Express, the only one that remains open is the one in Erlanger, against Local 100, which includes accusations of coercion to join the union.
The Teamsters, which represent 1.3 million employees across the U.S., have been at the center of multiple labor negotiations over the past year. The union secured a massive five-year deal for more than 340,000 employees at UPS after threatening strike action last summer.
And the union was embroiled in a contentious relationship with the now-defunct trucking company Yellow, having represented 22,000 of its employees who lost their jobs when the firm closed down. In the final months of Yellow’s existence, the company sued the union for $137.3 million on allegations that it had sabotaged its attempted restructuring plan.
