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August 24, 1999 5:39 PM, EDT

Customers of Overnite Transportation Co. are the latest targets in the Teamsters union’s efforts to organize employees of the less-than-truckload carrier.

The union last week sent a letter signed by 350 religious and community leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, to 27,530 customers of the Richmond, Va., trucking company. The letter asked them to “tell Overnite to end their unlawful behavior and demand they bargain in good faith” to avoid a strike that would hurt both communities and shippers.

Also last week, the National Labor Relations Board certified the 1996 vote by workers at the Overnite terminal in Lexington, Ky., to join the union.

In other activities, Overnite employees in Syracuse, N.Y., filed an election petition for Teamsters representation, and a vote is scheduled for Sept. 2 on whether workers at the terminal in Laredo, Texas, will join the union.

Overnite spokesman Ira Rosenfeld called the letter campaign part of the union’s ongoing effort against the company.

“They have not won a lot of support from our employees,” he said. “Now they are going after our customers.”

The letter was issued Aug. 18, as Teamsters and company officials met in Chicago to continue talks aimed at reaching a national contract after a four-day strike in July. The union was expected to present its economic package, details of which were not available as Transport Topics went to press.

For the full story, see the August 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.