DATE: Tuesday, August 19, 1997              TAG: 9708190297

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

PICKETS EXPRESS OPTIMISM FOR SETTLEMENT IN UPS STRIKE

Hours before the Teamsters strike against United Parcel Service headed toward settlement late Monday, the mood on the picket line at the UPS facility on Air Rail Avenue in Virginia Beach suggested the end of the dispute was near.

As delivery trucks, most driven by managers, prepared to leave, part-time driver Kelly Rabe offered an optimistic view. ``Remind them we're going to see them by the end of the week,'' she said to the other Teamsters. ``It's almost over.''

Negotiators for the Teamsters and UPS had held marathon meetings over the weekend to resolve the dispute. After breaking at midnight Sunday, they resumed talks at noon Monday, day 15 of the strike.

It was another day at work for David Vinson, president of Teamsters Local 822. He came to the Air Rail Avenue picket line to make sure union members knew the strike was still on at that time.

Monday was the first day union members could pick up $55 in weekly strike pay. Vinson said at least 350 Teamsters had received checks by late afternoon.

The major issues were whether part-time jobs should be converted to full time and whether UPS should pull out of the Teamsters multi-employer pension plan to create a plan of its own.

While negotiations continued in Washington, one union member crossed the Air Rail Avenue picket line and two more crossed at the UPS facility on Croft Street in Norfolk.

UPS employs 1,000 people in Hampton Roads, including 700 Teamsters. Randy Lint, UPS Tidewater division manager, said 75 UPS employees in the area hadcrossed since the strike began. Vinson said the union's count is closer to 50.

``But he might have more people working than we know about,'' Vinson said.

Despite two Teamsters crossing the picket line Monday, the Croft Street UPS facility has been relatively calm, said full-time driver Elvis Hill.

Hill and other union members picketing there hoped the strike would end soon, but they say even when it is over, tension will still be high.

``When the dust settles, all those guys who crossed, they're getting the same thing that everyone out here gets,'' Hill said.

That prospect rankled full-time driver Troy Jenkins.

``I ain't talking to no scabs,'' he said. ``They're going to benefit from what we're doing.''

Jenkins also explained the downside for employees who cross the picket lines. ``Two months from now, management won't treat them any different than they treat me,'' he said. ``If they mess up, they're not going to say, `Well, he crossed the picket line.' They're going to fire him and he won't have the union to support him.''

The same regard for co-workers who cross the picket line can be found among union members picketing the Air Rail Avenue UPS facility. As 21 trucks left Monday morning, management drivers saw smiles and heard cordial greetings from the picket line. But union members who drove trucks across the picket lines heard jeers and taunts of ``scab.''

``It's human nature that there will be some bad feelings,'' Randy Lint said. ``But only time can heal them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Larry Kearney, facing camera, showed his support for the striking

UPS workers on Croft Street in Norfolk by bringing them a large can

of peanut butter. Kearney, who isn't a union member, works for a

Norfolk paper company.

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