Unable to get Overnite to bargain seriously since they voted to join the union in 1996, workers at the Memphis terminal first struck for several days last July. This is one of Overnite's four hubs, a huge facility the length of three football fields, with 200 loading doors. Despite Overnite's claims that the strike isn't having an effect, anyone driving by the terminal is struck by the sight of row upon row of idle trailers. Of the trucks that are on the road, some are virtually empty, strikers report. Workers from other Overnite terminals that have been shut down by the company have been brought in to work in Memphis.
Strikers report that among drivers and workers in the maintenance shops, about half are out.
The strike is strongest among the dock workers 70 percent are on the picket line. Virtually everyone who walked out when the strike started October 24 is still out. Strikers are picketing two gates, and have set up a big yellow tent nearby where they can take a break, talk, and cook while staffing the picket lines 24 hours a day. Members of Teamsters Local 667 from other freight carriers in Memphis often join the picket line. They also help with the ambulatory pickets, where strikers follow scab trucks to their destinations in the city and set up pickets there.