Hitching the Teamsters

When Dave Beck and his A.F.L. Teamsters Union set out last February to renew contracts with truckers in eleven Western states, they were after many new benefits. Specifically, they demanded a three-year contract providing a pay increase of 10-c- an hour this year, 8-c- more in 1956, 8-c- more in 1957, plus a pension plan that truckers would finance at 10-c- an hour. Unexpressed was the union's plan to negotiate a master agreement to cover all trucking in the West. After three months of fruitless negotiations, the teamsters struck three big truckers (Pacific Intermountain Express, Consolidated Freightways, Pacific Motor Trucking).

As usual, the union hoped to play one company off against another, but Beck's plan backfired. The California Trucking Association called on its 800 members (90% of all truckers in the West) to shut down. Most did, and 100,000 teamsters found themselves out of work.

Some truckers defected, notably those who specialize in hauling new automobiles from Southern California assembly plants to dealers. Under considerable pressure from the auto manufacturers, who had ample problems of their own (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), the auto carriers caved in quickly, met the wage demands in full, agreed to pay 5-c- an hour to a pension fund.

But most truckers held firm, while Beck's tough lieutenant Frank Brewster and a truckers' delegation hammered out 63 contracts, one by one. Last week they were all signed. The settlement: long-line drivers, who now earn an average $2.14, won 8-c- an hour more this year, 8-c- more next year, and 7-c- in 1957; to an average $2 scale, local drivers added 10-c- an hour this year,10-c- next year, 9-c- in 1957. For pensions the truckers agreed to contribute $8.65 monthly.

The truckers' united front served its purpose; those who closed their gates got off better than those who caved in. Dave Beck failed to. get the sweeping general contract he wanted. But even so, the teamsters got most of the benefits that they asked for.

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