Prospective U.S. Senate Candidate Joins Teamsters on Picket Line
March 21, 2005
BREWER, Maine - Jean Hay Bright, prospective candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006, joined labor activists and Democratic Party officials at the DHL picket lines in Brewer Monday morning (March 21, 2005) in support of 23 new Teamsters Local 340 members who were fired last week by a DHL "independent contractor" after a successful organizing drive. The action took place on Parkway South in Brewer, at the DHL facility across from Brewer High School.

Labor activists included Teamsters Local 340 James Carson (President), Ken Eaton and Jimmy Cook; AFL-CIO President Ed Gorham, and others. Several dozen Teamster members, along with union members from Firefighters Local 772, PACE 261, GBA-CLC and others, joined the fired DHL crew on the picket lines in a strong show of support.

Pat Colwell, Democratic Party chair, announced to the crowd that he has directed his office to stop using DHL for any of its shipping until this dispute is resolved, at which point, he said, the directive will be lifted. Besides Hay Bright and Colwell, other Democratic Party officials standing in solidarity included Penobscot County Democratic Committee Chair Jane Cronk, PCDC Secretary Roxanne Munksgaard, Diane Smith from Congressman Mike Michaud's office, and Dixmont Town Chair David Bright. Bright, Hay Bright and Munksgaard are also board members of the Maine Progressive Caucus.
Update from PR Newswire Association:

After 14 Weeks on the Picket Line, DHL Teamsters Back at Work
Teamsters Force Rydbom to Rehire Employees
June 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - Teamsters working at DHL-Rydbom in Brewer, Maine, reported back to work today after 14 weeks of picketing. A victory for workers' rights in the state of Maine, all of the former employees returned to work with reinstatement of their benefits and back pay for the weeks they were out of work.

"Rydbom was forced to do the right thing," said Jim Carson, President of Teamsters Local 340 in Portland. "These workers voted for Teamster representation in January 2005, and today they are back on the job as Teamsters."