Local Teamsters Say Safety And Seniority Are Important During Coronavirus Pandemic
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The coronavirus pandemic has really hurt the rental car business.
The number of people flying is down sharply and as is the number of those renting cars. With Hertz flirting with bankruptcy, it is a grim outlook for what local employees remain, most are represented by Teamsters Local 769.
"Our car rental folks, approximately 90 percent, have been laid off between West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami," said Josh Zivalich, president of Teamsters Local 769.
Local 769 represents ten thousand employees in a wide variety of positions; medical personal, pilots, airline technicians, and truck drivers. While the rental car employees are one of their biggest concerns, it's another sector of the teamsters' representation that presents a far different challenge - an abundance of work for those that deliver.
"There has been a boom in residential online ordering," said Zivalich.
Local 769 represents drivers for UPS and DHL. Many of their drivers are working overtime to deliver online orders to the customer's door.
"We have folks working very, very long hours over there, so our concern is with employees, like that they have the right PPE, things being sanitized and rules have been followed," said Zivalich.
In addition to keeping an eye on the union members who are working, and those who are not, and there will be another challenge when the pandemic subsides.
"The two things we are struggling with is, are our workers in a safe working place and then making sure that our workers who have been affected by the COVID-19, when the business comes back, that our folks are called back in seniority order which is germane to most union contracts," said Zivalich.
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