Brown urges McCain to use clout to save Wilmington jobs
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged Republican presidential candidate John McCain to press DHL and its German owner, Deutsche Post, to preserve jobs that could be lost if DHL hires United Parcel Service for its U.S. cargo airlift work.
McCain, the Arizona senator, scheduled a campaign stop in Wilmington today (Aug. 7), to meet privately with community activists trying to save at least 8,000 jobs at DHL’s Wilmington air freight hub. McCain was also to visit Lima.
The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported on Wednesday that Washington lobbyist Rick Davis, now McCain’s top campaign adviser, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees lobbying Congress to allow the 2003 deal in which Deutsche Post bought Airborne Express to form DHL’s U.S. business. The Washington Post had a similar report in June.
Brown, noting the Cleveland news report, publicly urged McCain on Wednesday to send Davis to Germany so that Davis could use his contacts to lobby for preserving the Wilmington jobs.
The McCain campaign responded: “John McCain is visiting Wilmington to hear firsthand the challenges facing working families in the community.”
In 2003, some in Congress had expressed concern about foreign ownership of a U.S. cargo transport company, before the DHL purchase of Airborne Express was allowed.
Joseph Teuchert, a Wilmington-based pilot for ASTAR Air Cargo that is a contract delivery carrier for DHL in the United States, said he expects to be in the meeting Thursday with McCain.
Wilmington Mayor David Raizk said he and others trying to preserve the Wilmington jobs met privately with Obama just before the Illinois senator’s public appearance July 11 at Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton.
DHL has said it is negotiating a contract to hire UPS, in hopes of reducing DHL’s $1 billion-a-year losses in the U.S. express delivery market. UPS plans to handle the DHL cargo sorting and flying from the UPS hub in Louisville, Ky.,
That will wipe out at least 8,000 jobs in Wilmington from where the cargo airlines ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo now fly all of DHL’s U.S. express delivery packages, Ohio officials have said.
McCain campaigned Wednesday in Jackson, Ohio. He and Democratic opponent Barack Obama have been campaigning across Ohio and Michigan in recent weeks.
