
DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090316

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  101 lines

ALLEN CALLS ON CLINTON TO HELP END UPS STRIKE

Virginia Gov. George Allen has sent a letter to President Clinton asking him to intervene to end the six-day United Parcel Service strike, saying it is threatening the jobs of employees at mail-order companies in the state that are unable to ship products to customers.

``Without a rapid resolution to this strike, thousands of Virginians will have to be laid off because they are unable to process their orders from customers,'' Allen wrote. ``Federal action in the UPS strike is necessary.''

The economic effects of the strike ``are equal to those in the American Airlines dispute in which you intervened earlier this year,'' Allen wrote.

There are 1,000 UPS employees in Hampton Roads, 700 of whom are Teamsters.

Clinton has maintained that the inconveniences generated by the strike do not imperil the nation's safety or health - the standard for government intervention under the Taft-Hartley Act.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday also sent Clinton a letter asking him to intervene.

White House press secretary Michael McCurry acknowledged Friday that the White House is feeling the pressure of lobbying over the UPS strike. But he insisted that Clinton is hearing from both sides, not merely from businesses and political leaders who favor intervention.

``We have had a heavy to moderate volume of mail on this, really on both sides of the dispute,'' McCurry said. ``We certainly have heard from the small businesses that have been concerned about or affected directly by the strike. We've also heard from supporters of the Teamsters union who uphold their right to strike under our nation's labor laws.''

While Clinton's aides are monitoring the economic effects of the strike, administration officials said they have not seen anything so far that has prompted the president to reassess his initial decision to avoid intervention. Clinton has said he has no legal authority to order an end to the strike, absent evidence of greater economic upheaval than has occurred so far.

On other occasions, Clinton has been willing to use his influence to try to settle strikes. The clearest example was his failed attempt to avert a strike by major league baseball players two years ago.

McCurry said Friday that the baseball strike was different, because both parties had invited the White House to try to mediate the issues.

Meanwhile, contract talks began about 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Washington offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service after its director, John Wells, gave Labor Secretary Alexis Herman a status report on negotiations, which resumed Thursday for the first time since the strike began.

United Parcel Service of America Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters appear entrenched in their positions, with each side saying the renewed talks so far have yielded little progress toward an agreement. About 183,000 Teamsters struck UPS on Monday after failing to reach a contract to replace one that expired July 30.

UPS, the nation's largest package-delivery company, has offered the Teamsters a five-year contract that includes allowing part-time employees to move into 10,000 full-time jobs as they become available through attrition and retirement. The contract would also create 1,000 new full-time jobs and replace the current pension plan with one the company says will pay retirees an average of 50 percent more than they would receive under the existing plan.

The union opposes UPS's proposal, saying it would create 3,000 fewer full-time positions than were generated under the expired contract. It has said will not negotiate on a plan to have UPS employees withdraw from the union's multi-employer pension plan. UPS is the largest of 30 companies that contribute to the Teamsters pension plan.

The strike against Atlanta-based UPS has severely disrupted package delivery nationwide. UPS, which has 80 percent of the market nationwide, said it has been able to deliver only about 10 percent of its usual volume daily.

The National Manufacturers Association on Friday became the latest industry group to publicly urge the White House to reconsider its refusal to intervene in the labor dispute. Businesses have turned up the pressure on the Clinton administration as the stress on the operations of UPS competitors such as the U.S. Postal Service, Airborne Express and RPS Inc. mounts, causing significant delays in deliveries.

The Postal Service said Friday that it plans to add Sunday delivery in an effort to handle a 75 percent jump in business for its Express Mail and Priority Mail services. Package volume was up 25 percent this week, officials said. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Washington Post and

The Associated Press. ILLUSTRATION: Gov. George Allen says the strike is threatening the

jobs of thousands of Virginians.

GARY C. KNAPP

United Parcel Service employees gather at the Norfolk UPS station on

Croft Street. Lawn chairs, coolers and grills have made picket life

easier. George Maxwell turns the dogs as fellow driver Larry

Hilmandollar watches.

UPS Strike [Watch]

Day Five

By the fifth day of the Teamsters strike against UPS, the company

said about 7,000 of the 189,000 striking union members had crossed

picket lines nationwide to return to their jobs. But Teamsters