NLRB backs drivers in dispute with MFA Oil Deal could return workers to jobs.

Columbia labor got some good news with this decision. If you want to wade into the comments posted by readers go to: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jan/27/nlrb-backs-drivers-in-dispute-with-mfa-oil/.
One warning, the lack of understanding about unions and labor issues by some of the posters may be disturbing!

by JODIE JACKSON JR.
Columbia Tribune
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Thirty-five truck drivers put out of work by MFA Oil Co. in the summer could get their jobs back if the National Labor Relations Board has its way.

Columbia-based MFA Oil has avoided litigation by the NLRB over unfair labor practices by agreeing to negotiate a settlement with Teamsters Local 833, which represents drivers put out of work when MFA decided to eliminate its transport division.

Naomi Stuart, NLRB Region 17 deputy director, said this morning that MFA has committed to settle the issue rather than let an administrative law judge decide the matter.

Stuart said MFA and the Teamsters have until Feb. 5 to work out a settlement.

If the parties do not reach a settlement, Stuart said, an agreement proposed by the NLRB would be put in place.

“They said if they can’t work it out, they will go back to the initial proposed settlement,” Stuart said. She declined to divulge details of the proposed settlement but said restoring the drivers’ jobs “would certainly be something we would ask for.”

“What we were asking for is” that “the work would come back” to the transport division, Stuart said. The mechanism for restoring the positions and related benefits issues would be a matter of negotiation.

“The union and the employer can determine how to turn back the clock,” Stuart said.

MFA Oil officials did not return phone calls this morning to comment.

Darrell Martin, business agent for Teamsters Local 833 in Jefferson City, confirmed that the union is now negotiating with MFA Oil. Martin said he was unable to comment on the negotiations but added that the union is trying to restore lost jobs.

“We went to bat for them,” Martin said, referring to the displaced truck drivers.

A three-year contract for the transport division expired at the end of August, and MFA notified Local 833 in July that the company was considering eliminating the division, which hauled fuel from MFA terminals to its retail facilities.

Stuart said the Teamsters’ complaint with the NLRB cited an absence of good-faith bargaining by MFA.

NLRB investigators found merit to the complaint and opted to sue MFA through the administrative process.

MFA officials said last summer that using “common carriers” rather than continuing the Teamsters contract would be more profitable for the 40,000-member, farmer-owned cooperative. The company has 1,500 employees and provides fuel and other automobile products to customers in six states. The cooperative owns gasoline-convenience stores, Jiffy Lube outlets, Big O Tires stores and other operations throughout the region.

The company’s transport unit was the only unionized division of MFA Oil.

The labor board’s decision to sue the company spurred officials to come to the bargaining table, Martin said.

“MFA avoided that … by simply rescinding their order to shut down the transport division,” he said. The next step, Martin said, is to restore the jobs that were lost.

That was good news this morning to Greg Miller, a Columbia truck driver who lost his job when MFA axed the transport division. He’s been waiting to hear the outcome of the renewed negotiations.

“To my understanding, everybody’s supposed to get their jobs back, at least those that want them,” said Miller, 50, who had 10 years of service as a transport driver with MFA Oil.

“I’d go back,” he said. “I’ve talked to several others that would probably go back, too.”

Reach Jodie Jackson Jr. at 573-815-1713 or e-mail jjackson@columbiatribune.com.