WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers throughout the DHL system are building their union with the Teamsters Union. The union is fighting to ensure that sort workers at ABX Air and DHL have the opportunity to join the most powerful union in the DHL system.

"Industry density matters when seeking a strong contract that protects workers' jobs and ensures solid wages and benefits," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. "As more and more workers throughout the DHL system become Teamster members they build that industry density and strength. The Teamsters are THE union in the DHL system."

More than 12,000 workers in the DHL system are already Teamster members, including workers at DHL sort centers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and elsewhere, ABX Air pilots, drivers at DHL and its ICCs (independent cartage carriers), and workers at the DHL gateways. In the package-sort-and- delivery industry, more than 200,000 workers at UPS are Teamster members and, thanks to organizing agreements the union negotiated, thousands of workers at UPS Freight and UPS Cartage -- formerly Overnite and Menlo, respectively -- are poised to become Teamster members.

"We are committed to expanding workers' power and Teamster power in the global supply chain," said Jeff Farmer, Teamsters Director of Organizing. "As more workers in the DHL system become Teamsters, their power becomes greater."

"I tell every worker I meet at ABX Air: 'I went through the organizing process, and you can build your union, and you have the full support of the Teamsters behind you,'" said Don Schmidt, a sort worker at the DHL gateway at JFK Airport in New York City.

In addition to DHL and ABX sort workers, the union is fighting to ensure that all workers in the DHL system have the opportunity to become Teamster members.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.