Cincinnati, OH – Workers at DHL’s largest air hub in the United States made history on Monday, August 12. DHL, bowing to months of escalating pressure after a two-year organizing campaign, officially recognized the union formed by over 1300 sort workers at the company’s Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) hub. Now unionized, the sort workers at CVG have joined Teamsters Local 89.

James Lamb, a sort worker at CVG and a new member of Local 89, said in a press statement, “DHL has recognized the strength in our unity and the hard work we put in every day. We‘ve fought hard, and we’re proud to be officially recognized as Teamsters. Our victory is a powerful testament to what we can achieve when we stand together.”

This landmark victory is the culmination of many years of struggle by DHL workers at CVG to form a union. Located in Erlanger, Kentucky, DHL’s global CVG air hub has been the site of contentious battles between labor and management for about two decades.

CVG is an enormous facility that sorts, loads and unloads packages onto airplanes for delivery around the world – including small parcels shipped to U.S. troops stationed abroad. It is comparable in its significance to the giant UPS WorldPortair hub located in Louisville, Kentucky. CVG employs over 2500 workers - most of whom are now represented by the Teamsters.

The CVG hub has two primary operations: the airport and the sort. Workers in the airport, referred to as ramp and tug, number over 1100, while workers in sort total over 1300. Together they constitute the vast majority of the workforce at DHL’s largest air hub in the United States.

The decades-long battle for a union at DHL CVG

DHL is a worldwide logistics monopoly corporation headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It delivers parcels in most countries around the world and ranks among the largest of all international logistics companies. DHL Express reported operating profits of $4.5 billion in 2022 and $4.3 billion in 2023. In Germany, as well as many other countries, all of its workers are represented by a union and collectively bargain.

In the U.S., however, DHL has fought to keep its workers from forming a union and collectively bargaining. Ever conscious of its image, the company presents itself as a generous employer to the public. In actuality, it has made their profits in the U.S. through sub-standard wages, high health insurance premiums and deductibles, and rampant safety violations. At the CVG air hub in particular, workers for decades faced irregular and changing hours, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, threats of intimidation, and more.

Representing 340,000 workers at UPS, the Teamsters have fought to expand their presence in the logistics industry in North America. Industry giants like FedEx, Amazon and DHL have used their power to break attempts by their own workers to form unions and join the Teamsters for decades.

The union made some progress and successfully organized many DHL facilities across the country. Prior to the victories at CVG in 2023 and 2024, some 6000 DHL Express employees in the U.S. were represented by the Teamsters. But previous attempts to organize the crucial CVG air hub ended in defeat, leaving the company’s largest facility non-union.

Organizing DHL in two stages

The most recent union campaign began almost three years ago,when DHL workers from both sort and ramp and tug began organizing with the Teamsters. A decision by the National Labor Relations Board, however, split the bargaining unit into two separate operations. This forced the campaign to adopt a two-stage approach to securing a union for CVG workers – organizing ramp and tug and then organizing sort.

DHL fought against its own workers tooth and nail from the first day it learned about the campaign. The logistics monopoly giant hired union-busting consultants to wage a dirty war against workers on ramp and tug. It resorted to shameful union-busting tactics like harassment, intimidation, surveillance, threats of job loss, unjust discipline and illegal firings to scare workers into submission.

But as the company bared its teeth more, workers fought back. Through the Teamsters, CVG workers filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges and took collective workplace actions to protest their mistreatment. Ramp and tug workers held public actions, delivered demands from their rank-and-file organizing committee to management, and continued building support among their coworkers.

After reaching majority-support, the workers on ramp and tug marched on the boss and demanded union recognition from DHL. The company refused their demand and responded instead by calling for an NLRB-supervised election.

In the weeks leading up to the election, workers stood tall in the face of heightened repression and union-busting from DHL. When the election finally took place in spring 2023, ramp and tug voted overwhelmingly to form their union. They then joined Teamsters Local 100 based in Cincinnati, Ohio and began a new battle for a first contract.

Bargaining began in July 2023, but by December of the same year, DHL had stonewalled the Teamsters at the table. Worse, DHL continued waging war on the union through retaliation against workers for showing open support. At every turn, the newly formed union filed ULPs challenging the company’s illegal union-busting, gathering statements and collecting evidence to prove their cases.

The Teamsters, DHL and the strike weapon

In early December of 2023, ramp and tug Teamsters at CVG took a crucial strike authorization vote. Their will was clear: 98% of members voted to authorize a strike, empowering their negotiating committee to call a work stoppage if DHL failed to address illegal practices and agree to a decent contract.

This strike authorization vote took place in the context of a renewed, fighting orientation in the Teamsters union. Under the previous Hoffa Jr. administration, Teamster officials would sometimes call for a strike authorization vote during contract negotiations, but they would do so with a wink and a nod to employers, who seldom took the threat seriously.

But in 2021, the Teamsters elected Sean O’Brien as general president of the international union, along with a slate of new leaders who pledged to fight employers at work and at the bargaining table. Since that time, the Teamsters have made greater use of the strike weapon and presented employers with credible strike threats (i.e. preparing the rank-and-file members to actually shut down production). This culminated in victory during the 2023 contract negotiations with logistics giant UPS, in which a credible strike threat brought the employer to its knees and secured major contract gains.

With 98% support for striking, the ramp and tug Teamsters at CVG struck the air hub last December. After taking this courageous step, they quickly learned they were not alone in their struggle. They expanded their picket lines to 15 locations nationwide, including Boston, Indianapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, San Francisco,and Portland – all cities where DHL workers are already Teamsters. Their Teamster sisters and brothers honored their picket line, refusing to come into work and often joining members from CVG outside their own workplaces. This strike impacted 60% of DHL's domestic network, including both coasts and several Midwest cities, shutting down production during peak season for one of the world’s largest logistics companies.

The strike lasted for 12 days before DHL returned to the bargaining table with the Teamsters. Within a few weeks, the union and the company reached a tentative agreement, which included an immediate $2 per hour raise with a total of $5 per hour raises over the next three years. The agreement also included just cause protections, doubled company contributions towards retirement, established strong workplace safety standards and, crucially, required DHL to pay health insurance premiums for workers. The agreement was approved by DHL Teamsters on ramp and tug by an overwhelming 98% yes vote, resulting in a first contract.

Strikes open the union door to more workers

The heroic DHL strike secured not only a first contract for ramp and tug workers at CVG, but also another significant victory, in the form of a DHL agreement to basic rules for allowing the Teamsters to organize the more than 1300 workers on CVG sort. This deal included union neutrality and site access for Teamster organizers, who could now meet and talk with sort workers in designated common areas at work.

Inspired by the historic win on the ramp, sort workers formed their own organizing committee and began building support for a union among their coworkers. Over the next several months, they used the rights won by the ramp and tug strike to build towards majority support.

Although DHL agreed to remain neutral during this organizing campaign, the company continued illegal union-busting tactics. Through their supervisors and managers, they surveilled, intimidated, demoted, harassed and even terminated workers on sort for showing open support for the union. The Teamsters responded in kind, filing ULPs to defend workers’ rights and calling actions to protest these violations of the union neutrality agreement.

DHL’s union-busting also took another form in this stage of the campaign: attempting to neutralize support and enthusiasm for the union by paying lip-service to their workers’ long-felt demands for better treatment and higher wages. They raised wages on sort by the same $2 per hour that ramp and tug had won and vowed to make health care effectively free.

But sort workers saw through these empty gestures and two-faced promises. Workplace leaders and activists reinforced to coworkers that these gains didn’t come from DHL but from the struggle waged by the ramp and tug Teamsters. Furthermore, these wins were guaranteed for ramp and tug through a legally binding contract. Anything given by DHL to sort could just as easily be taken away in the absence of a contract.

Support for the union among sort workers steadily grew over the next year before reaching a majority of the workplace. Workers signed authorization cards declaring their support for forming a union to the NLRB, and most signed membership applications to become Teamsters.

Illegal DHL layoff seals its fate

In July 2024, DHL announced a sweeping change to their sort operation that negatively impacted thousands of workers. Management moved to eliminate first shift for one of sort’s two largest buildings, as well as a hybrid shift between first and third. This was a mass layoff, which may have violated provisions of the WARN Act that guard against unannounced factory and operation closures.

Giving workers 24 hours’ notice, they presented these workers – many who had worked for the company for several decades – with an ultimatum: They could go from full-time (five-day, 40-hour weeks) to part-time (two-day, 20-hour weeks), or they could sign resignation letters. This was a particularly ugly choice for parents, who would be forced to find alternate child-care arrangements and reorient their whole lives in a single day. Adding insult to injury, DHL provided those who chose to resign with the unemployment office numbers for Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Of course, management knew full well that any worker who did resign would make themself ineligible for unemployment assistance.

The news sparked outrage across the CVG sort. For those workers affected by the layoffs, support for the union skyrocketed among those who chose to stay and fight. Even on second and third shifts, many workers recognized the need for a union as protection from these kinds of cruel, arbitrary changes in working conditions. At other Teamster logistics companies like UPS, for instance, employers have to bargain with the union before making significant changes to their operations.

In the days that followed, CVG sort workers made a dramatic stand in defense of their sisters and brothers on first and hybrid shift. Having reached majority support in the workplace, the organizing committee called for a march on the boss. July 12 saw 100 workers from sort and their fellow Teamsters on ramp and tug come together outside the CVG facility in protest.

The same morning, a giant banner appeared, which was hung from the top of the Amazon parking garage right across the street. Apparently unrelated to the march, the text of the banner nevertheless captured the outrage felt by many sort workers at the news of the mass layoff ultimatum: “WTF DHL. We gave you years. You gave us 24 hours. Stop unfair firings. Teamsters yes!”

With a letter demanding union recognition in hand, the assembled workers marched together in formation to the office of DHL CVG’s Vice President and General Manager Darryl Wettlaufer. Together they notified DHL that a majority of sort workers at CVG had authorized the formation of a union and demanded that the company recognize the union through a process known as card-check. It also called for the company to cease and desist in the implementation of the announced layoffs and come to the bargaining table instead.

Card-check vs. NLRB elections

There are several ways that workers in the U.S. can form unions, but they hinge on union recognition by the employer. This largely gives employers the upper hand – something that is a feature of U.S. labor law in general.

According to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 30% of workers in a bargaining unit – usually a single workplace – or more can demand recognition and ask to collectively bargain over wages, conditions and more. For legal purposes, this type of support for a union is demonstrated through workers signing either a petition or individual cards that authorize a union to collectively represent them.

Employers rarely choose to recognize a union voluntarily. Under new rules established by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), employers who receive a demand for union recognition have 14 days to file for an NLRB-supervised election. This process usually takes several months, including a period of campaigning followed by a vote overseen by Labor Board officials. If a majority of workers vote yes to form a union, the employer is made to recognize the union.

Since the NLRA was made law, however, employers have taken advantage of the lax rules and low penalties for union-busting in the workplace. They use the period of time before an election to intimidate, threaten, harass and terminate workers who support the union. They sometimes face ULPs and other charges for this, but hearing these charges takes time and the penalties are minimal (i.e. small fines). Workers also have to vote at work in most cases, meaning their boss can see who votes and intimidate them with threats of retaliation. With few real consequences, employers use their dictatorship over the workplace to break their own workers before any vote takes place.

Under new leadership, however, the Teamsters have fought back against these rules that stack the deck in favor of employers. They have led strikes for union recognition in response to ULP charges, and they have also pressured employers into another method of recognition, namely card-check. If an employer agrees to a card-check, the union submits its authorization cards to a third-party arbitrator, who then checks them against a list of current employees. If supporters of the union indeed constitute a majority, the arbitrator reports their findings, and the employer recognizes the union.

The advantages of card-check over an NLRB-supervised election are clear for workers. It weakens the control that employers can exercise over workers trying to organize. Furthermore, it reflects the reality that unions are formed through protracted campaigns rather than single moments in time. When an organizing campaign starts, it’s usually a militant minority of the workers who want to form the union and fight the boss. Over the course of a struggle-oriented campaign, however, that militant minority wins over the majority to forming a union. This gradually growing support can find expression through accumulating authorization cards. In that way, card-check is actually more democratic for workers than the employer-advantaged NLRB election process.

Victory through fighting unionism

The Teamsters and DHL eventually reached an agreement on card-check for sort, though this was not out of the goodness of the employer’s heart. Pressure from the workers on sort and the looming threat of another strike convinced DHL management that they had more to lose by continuing to fight the growing union support.

Thus, on August 12, the Teamsters announced that DHL had recognized the union after having majority support certified through an arbitrator. Sort workers at CVG, like their sisters and brothers on ramp and tug, are now Teamsters. Together, the almost 2500 workers represented by the Teamsters at the CVG air hub join over 6000 DHL Express workers across the United States who are already Teamsters.

Important lessons abound for Teamsters and union workers everywhere. The courage of the ramp and tug workers was met with the solidarity of DHL Teamsters across the country, who honored the picket line of workers most of them would never personally meet. The victory on ramp and tug then opened the door for CVG sort workers to win their own historic union victory less than a year later.

The struggle continues

Having won their union, sort workers are not letting up the pressure on DHL as the focus turns towards collective bargaining.

“We’re ready to take the next step and secure the protection of a strong Teamsters contract,” said Lamb.

Furthermore, the union victory at the CVG air hub shows a way forward for the workers at Amazon’s KCVG air hub, which is right across the street. There, logistics workers doing jobs similar to those at DHL are still fighting for the right to organize. Amazon KCVG has an active organizing campaign underway, which has already included a ULP strike in July of this year. DHL agreeing to card-check stands in contrast to the continued aggressive union-busting tactics employed by fellow monopoly giant Amazon.

Despite Amazon’s relentless efforts to suppress unionization, the Teamsters are building momentum, and the victory at DHL is providing a morale boost for Amazon workers.

As the Teamsters continue to push for better conditions and representation for workers in the logistics industry, the triumph at DHL signifies a significant win for worker power in the United States. It demonstrates that through solidarity, strategic organizing, and use of the strike weapon, workers can successfully challenge even the most powerful corporations and secure the rights and dignity they deserve.

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