
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210223
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Journal of Commerce
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

TRUCKING TALKS START TO LOOK LIKE A DEAL

Talks between striking Teamsters and trucking industry executives Wednesday got down to what one union source called ``the nitty-gritty, unglamorous phase,'' when the ``political posturing ends'' and everyone looks for acceptable ways to help the other side declare victory.

The process may have yielded results: One proposal discussed but not yet agreed to would convert union casual workers into a classification that looks much more like the part timers the carriers say they need. The negotiators said they were beginning to meet around the clock in informal subcommittees to thrash out the thorniest issues - part-time workers, arbitration over grievances and an increased use of rail transportation for long hauls.

Redefining the use of casual workers is one possible way to end the impasse over part timers, according to sources on both sides. ``One idea discussed at length would allow carriers to call in casual workers and just pay them for four hours, not eight,'' a union source said. ``The discussions so far would allow fewer paid hours like the carriers want, but give them the $14-an-hour pay that is in the contract for casuals, not the $9 an hour they wanted to pay part timers.''

A trucking company executive said the scenario ``is plausible. It's partly semantics; casuals versus part-time. If you reduce the window on the number of hours we have to pay for at peak periods, you reduce the cost. Why pay for eight hours, when there is only four hours worth of work?"

The contract that expired March 31 allowed casual workers who are not used by a company on a regular basis but are called in during busy times. At most of the carriers now being struck by the union, they must receive eight hours pay once called in. Even if the casuals work just one day a week, the company must contribute to their pension and health and welfare funds.

Those employees can only be called in for a total of 30 days work each year, however. After that they must be either given a full-time job or placed on a seniority list that is used to determine who gets hired when the carriers need to add more employees.

Preston Trucking Co., a member of Trucking Management Inc., already has union permission to hire four-hour casuals at $14.55 an hour.

While such a compromise is possible, it would be tricky to get it past the membership, another union source said. ``We can't just rename it and have it be acceptable. There have to be other concessions as well.''

by CNB