Menlo forwarding unit negotiates deal with workers

Menlo forwarding unit negotiates deal with workers    Teamster members at Menlo Worldwide Forwarding are scheduled to vote on a new contract Saturday that would resolve a dispute about job reductions at the company.
   In March, Menlo Worldwide Forwarding closed its San Jose, Calif., warehouse and outsourced about 50 jobs to non-union companies. The union claimed the layoffs violated the existing contract, which runs through March 2005, and threatened in November to picket Menlo facilities in Los Angeles and, eventually, other cities.
   Management and labor reached a tentative agreement Dec. 12 under which many of the fired workers would be rehired and those who chose to leave would split a $1.7 million severance package, according to a Teamsters statement. The preliminary deal would also extend the current contract 18 months to October 2006.
   Menlo spokesman David Benton declined to discuss any components of the deal until it is ratified.