Wilmington DHL Workers Rally To Save 7000 Jobs

DHL Workers Wearing their Yellow Shirts Rally to Try to Protect Their Jobs

Over 100 DHL and ABX Air workers rallied in Wilmington Monday morning to fight for their jobs, which are scheduled to be cut over the next 18 months as DHL contracts more of its delivery business to rival UPS.

They gathered at the Wilmington Wal-Mart Super Center parking lot to gather up all of the 10,000 petitions they've collected over the past weeks demanding that DHL reconsider its decision to stop using ABX Air and the Wilmington Air Park.

As many as 7,000 DHL and ABX Air workers are expected to lose their jobs starting in the next few months as the German-owned DHL delivery service moves more of its United States business to UPS.

Later, workers are planning to carry their petitions directly to DHL offices at the Wilmington Air Park and hold a loud rally there.

Organizers of the rally said they are busy looking for ways to stop the DHL transition to UPS. They said there may be some legal avenues they can pursue to stop or freeze the Wilmington layoffs.

Later Monday afternoon, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has scheduled a town meeting on the mass layoffs at Wilmington College.

Ohio Congressman Mike Turner is also planning to meet with DHL workers. 

9News will have updates on the rally and the town hall meeting here at wcpo.com and on 9News.