Looks like The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won't face a Teamsters strike after all. Teamsters Local 174, which represents 74 drivers who haul the newspapers to Puget Sound distribution centers, had threatened to walk out in October over a contract dispute that includes Seattle Times Co. plans to outsource the drivers' jobs to outside contractor Penske Logistics.
In a brief statement this morning, the Teamsters local said it had reached "a tentative agreement" with the Times Co. in an outsourcing fight that has been going on since last November. The union said it won't release details until it puts the deal to members for a vote Sunday, Sept. 28, but a person close to the bargaining said Teamsters drivers will agree to be outsourced to Penske with a union contract and no scaleback in pay. Unclear is how many of the 74 jobs will remain when the outsourcing is completed.
