Video: Teamsters picket Oak Harbor Freight Lines

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SEATTLE - Members of the Teamster's Union have taken to the picket line outside branches of Oak Harbor Freight Lines. They say they are upset with the trucking company over the latest contract its offered their drivers.

The Teamsters walked off the job around 8 p.m. Monday. They're walking the picket lines outside Oak Harbor's terminals in Auburn and down in Portland, Ore.

"I've enjoyed working here," said Vern Stoffel, striking driver. "I've thought they've been fair, but now it's completely turned around."

Stoffel has worked as a driver for Oak Harbor Freight Lines for 35 years. During all that time, he's never gone on strike, but he says now he has no choice but to walk the picket line.

Members of Teamsters 174 are upset over a contentious contract dispute in which a major sticking point is the medical benefits for retirees.

"Well I'm about ready to retire," said Stoffel. "And it would triple what I would have to pay monthly for. In fact, it would take over half of my retirement pay."

"We absolutely will not accept a deal that does not have retirees' medical in it," said Brian Davis, Teamsters 174.

Of the company's 1,300 employees, a little less than half of them belong to unions, although not all of them are Teamsters. What that means is that all ten of the company's Washington state terminals currently have picketers outside.

Oak Harbor Freight Lines delivers goods for businesses all over the West Coast; some of their bigger clients include The Gap and REI.

Now the company is scrambling to keep their fleet of 1,100 trucks in motion by using supervisors and temporary drivers to drive them. They say customers should not experience a significant disruption in service.

"Our expectation is this week we'll work on getting the stuff that's in the system cleaned out and get things delivered so there may be a little bit of delay on what's in the system right now, but like I said, our expectation is that by Monday, we should be back up to operating with the same service levels as we did before," said Mike Hobby, Oak Harbor Frieght Lines, Inc.

Striking workers say they hope the next contract that's offered is one they can accept.

"We went ten years without a raise. We gave a lot up for the company years ago and I think they've almost forgotten that we did that, that we helped the company survive," said Stoffel.

Company management says they did present a last, best and final offer yesterday that employees have not yet seen. An Oak Harbor Freight Lines spokesman released the following statement:

We deeply regret that the Teamsters have called a strike. We have work for all employees who chose to work. Just as we have committed to our customers and unrepresented employees, we will be servicing our customers and will use replacement workers if necessary. We will not discuss the details of our Last, Best and Final proposal in the media, that is not appropriate, we will be posting the entire proposal for our employee's review on our website, www.oakhanswers.com, as soon as we legally can.