Wickham and other strikers were joined on the picket line by Teamster members from other trucking companies early in the morning January 3. The strikers organized a bigger line to counter company claims to their customers that the strike would be over by that date.

Teamster members across the country followed the lead of union members in Memphis, Tennessee, and walked off the job October 24 against unfair labor practices by Overnite. Nationally, workers have been organizing for up to 20 years to bring in the Teamsters union for 8,200 dock workers, drivers, and maintenance workers.

On the line in Bensalem, a key issue in the organizing campaign is equal treatment for all employees. "Here they practice 'selective kindness,'" stated Bob Sheppard, a driver at Overnite for 14 years. Discrimination is practiced in assignment of equipment, routes, and load assignments, as well as in overtime and work rule enforcement. "One day they tried to send me home because I had the wrong hat on," Sheppard explained. "It was because I'm a union supporter."

At the Bensalem terminal efforts to organize into the Teamsters union began in late 1994. By the end of October union supporters had signed up 75 percent of the 120 eligible workers and a union election was set for February 14, 1995, explained Sheppard. "After the cards were signed, four or five of us began to wear union shirts and buttons. Pretty soon half of the workers were wearing them. That was when the company started to break the law," he said.

Management told workers that if the union was voted in the terminal would close, laid off Teamsters would come take their jobs, and truck routes would be sent to other cities. Four days before the election, the company gave all those voting an unscheduled 55 cents per hour pay raise.

After losing the election by a vote of 59 to 46, union supporters brought a complaint against the company to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers presented testimony about company intimidation and board members awarded the election to the union. They ordered the company to bargain with the Teamsters for a contract. This order is still under appeal by Overnite. Unionists at 12 other Overnite terminals are in the same situation.

Teamsters in the Philadelphia area have donated money and food to the strikers, helped them find work with union trucking firms, and staff the picket line. Jim Milligan, retired from 32 years as a driver for Consolidated Freightways, is a volunteer organizer for the Teamsters and organizes the Overnite picket line. "This strike is very important to other Teamsters," Milligan explained. "If we lose this, it will affect other terminals. It will have a big impact."  
 
 
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