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Seattle’s Teamsters have fought outsourcing before, but the battle that 75 drivers and mechanics are currently waging with The Seattle Times Co. is getting ugly enough that the workers could strike when their contract expires Feb. 29.
That’s the day the Times has told the workers they’ll be laid off, with their jobs to be outsourced to Penske Logistics. The Times, which operates business and circulation functions for itself and the Post-Intelligencer under a joint operating agreement, informed Locals 174 and 763 of the layoffs in a Jan. 15 layoff notice that the Teamsters say is bogus — the state-mandated notices, the union says, are required 60 days in advance of layoffs.
The Teamsters are trying to negotiate with the Times and Penske to maintain the jobs at the same wages, but, on Jan. 24, the Times filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the Teamsters are acting in bad faith. The Teamsters have filed a countercharge and, if push comes to shove, says Patty Warren, senior business agent for Local 174’s 68 Times drivers, a walkout is possible come Feb. 29 when the union’s contract and its no-strike clause expire.
“One of our primary issues right now is that the proposal from Penske would mean a wage cut for most of our members,” Warren says. “We just took a year’s wage freeze after the [Seattle Times’] fight with the P-I. They used that time to figure out a way to get rid of us.”
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