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About 125 people attended a public meeting to try to figure out how best to confront Deutsch Post World Net’s decision to change DHL’s air cargo carriers in the United States, a move that would take away more than 6,500 jobs at the air park in Wilmington — a figure that does not include potential job losses at the adjacent DHL Commerce Park or reflect the impact on the local economy and tax base.



The event was facilitated by Mark Dimondstein, who is lead field organizer with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), AFL-CIO. Members of Teamsters Local 1224 and of the Air Line Pilots Association were present, too, along with concerned residents.



Dimondstein said time is of the essence and “quite honestly, we think it will be an uphill battle.” But he noted no contract has yet been signed by DHL and United Parcel Service (UPS), which is the planned new air freight carrier for DHL in the United States. Dimondstein also said that doing nothing “guarantees defeat.”



A petition campaign already has been launched, he said. One worker said a merger between DHL’s two current air freight vendors, ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo, could be key in attempting to save the jobs. Both ABX Air and ASTAR base their operations in Wilmington.



Other suggestions included contacting the Interstate Commerce Commission, preparing lawsuits argued by “some really good lawyers,” holding press conferences, and “inundating” legislators and other powers-that-be with letters, e-mails and phone calls.



An ASTAR pilot noted DHL and UPS are “two huge corporations” to resist. ASTAR Capt. Landon Harman mentioned the incentive package the state of Ohio and Clinton County offered to DHL to lure it here four years ago. Competing against the state of Kentucky, the Ohio Department of Development offered DHL $422 million in incentives, including tax breaks.



A resident advised that letters sent out on the issue should not be a form letter, but rather have the writer “speaking from the heart.”



State Rep. David Daniels, who represents Clinton County in the Statehouse, said Columbus officials are looking at “all the incentives,” as well as DHL’s obligations to the state and its taxpayers, plus any fallback commitments that could be invoked.



A Web site has been designed by worker-activists, largely to educate people on the topic. The address is www.baddecision.org.



Several people said it is very important for employees to do as good a job as ever because DHL probably can immediately cancel its hub services contract here based upon poor performance due to high absenteeism or the intentional sending of shipments to the wrong destination. One man said however much money DHL lost last year in its U.S. operations, the global DHL Express reported a profit.