Back on the Road

Considering the muscular reputation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union's first nationwide strike might have been a bruising bout. What the economy, still recovering from recession, least needed was a protracted idling of the big rigs. The worst was not to be. Within two days after the strike began, many of the Teamsters' 440,000 truckers and warehousemen were free to go back to work. That was because their employers had broken ranks with Trucking Employers Inc., the biggest of the truck owners' associations, and signed separate or interim contracts with the Teamsters, giving the union members wage and benefit increases of nearly 30% over three years. Those quick agreements left T.E.I, struggling to come to terms with union leaders at the Arlington Park Hilton outside Chicago, under the umpiring of Labor Secretary W. J. Usery. On the strike's third day last week, T.E.I, did, bringing the parkout effectively to an end. Said a pleased, exhausted Usery: "The collective bargaining process has worked."

The walkout began early April 1, after the Teamsters' old contract expired. Union President Frank Fitzsimmons, who dearly wants to be re-elected in June, had been pushed by the rank-and-file to hold out for stiff terms. Under the last contract, the Teamsters received a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that was "capped" at a maximum of 11-c- per hour in any year. That limitation, the union reckoned, cost its members a total of 53-c- in their hourly wages, which averaged $7.18 to $7.33 when the contract ran out. Hence among the union's final demands in last week's bargaining was an uncapped COLA clause under which pay would keep rising along with the Consumer Price Index. Fitzsimmons also asked for $1.75 more per hour in straight pay, with 75-c- of it in the first year, and pension and other benefit increases coming to $17 a week. The employers' offer at the time the strike began consisted of a $1 hourly raise, an $11 weekly benefits package and a COLA with an annual 25-c--an-hour cap.

Red Stickers. On the eve of the strike, Fitzsimmons invited individual employers to sign with Teamster locals interim agreements along the lines of the union's final demands. Such agreements would serve until the national master contract was signed and would prevent employers from being struck. Hundreds of trucking firms--especially small ones fearful that they could not weather a strike--signed up, and their drivers took to the roads with red stickers affixed to their windshields to prevent being mistaken for scabs. Within two days, by Fitzsimmons' estimate, one-third of the Teamsters were covered by interim agreements. "It's the old theory of divide and conquer," Teamster Secretary-Treasurer Ray Schoessling told TIME.

The solidarity of the trucking companies eroded further when two major owners' groups taking part in the Arlington Park negotiations agreed to settle; that put another 25% of the Teamsters back to work. T.E.I., then under enormous pressure, finally accepted substantially the same terms. The fine print of the new master agreement would not be divulged until union members were sent ratification ballots, a procedure that takes several days. But the Teamsters reportedly got nearly everything they asked for: $1.65 an hour over three years, a $17 weekly boost in benefits payments, and a COLA computed slightly less generously than the union had wanted--but without any cap.

Union members should finish ratifying the contract before May 1, but not all of them approved the terms. "The proposed settlement is completely inadequate," said Steve Kindred, a leader of the Cleveland-based Teamsters for a Decent Contract. "It doesn't provide full cost-of-living protection."

Though freight rates were expected to rise as a result of the settlement, the wage increases were not expected to drive up the inflation rate. That was good news in view of upcoming contract bargaining in other industries; other unions have been watching the Teamsters closely. The reported agreement "doesn't seem like an outrageous settlement," said Murray Weidenbaum, a member of TIME'S Board of Economists. "And it averted a major stoppage of the economy." Indeed it did. Had the strike lasted even one week, the Department of Transportation estimated, it would have idled 1 million workers and cost $300 million in lost production.

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