DaytonDailyNews.com

Ohio made a direct appeal on Monday, June 16, to Deutsche Post World Net, the German owner of cargo delivery company DHL, to reconsider the proposed hiring of United Parcel Service for U.S. cargo flying that could wipe out more than 6,000 jobs at DHL's cargo hub at Wilmington, Ohio.

Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher said he also encouraged Frank Appel, the chief executive officer and board chairman of Deutsche Post, to consider alternatives to spare the Wilmington jobs which depend on the U.S. cargo flying that carriers ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo now do for DHL from that city. Fisher said he and Appel spoke for about 30 minutes by telephone, but that Appel was noncommittal.

"The good news was that he did say that he would be willing to explore other options," Fisher said after speaking with Appel, who is based in Bonn, Germany. "But he also made it clear that they still have every intention of moving forward with the UPS transaction."

Retired Ohio businessman W.R. "Tim" Timken, the current U.S. ambassador to Germany, helped arrange the phone call and participated in it, Fisher said.

Ohio will continue working with ABX Air, ASTAR and a task force of Wilmington-area public officials to see whether they could come up with a plan to equal the cost savings that the UPS proposal would offer Deutsche Post and DHL, Fisher said. He declined to discuss what such a plan would require.

Fisher said he would be in contact with Appel again, although no deadline was set. UPS and DHL have said they expect to conclude a deal within three months and will begin making changes after that.

Meanwhile, 10 members of the Ohio congressional delegation sent a letter Monday to Deutsche Post urging it to closely examine proposals by ABX Air and ASTAR that would keep jobs in Ohio, before finalizing the deal with UPS.

The letter, released by Sen. Sherrod Brown's office, was signed by both U.S. senators and eight congressmen including Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, and Jim Jordan, R-Urbana. It asked Jurgen Weber, chairman of Deutsche Post's supervisory board, to consider alternate proposals. Ohio provided economic incentives to help DHL expand the Wilmington operation.

"Given the tremendous investment by the governments and people of Ohio, we believe the company has a moral obligation as a good corporate citizen to undertake a meaningful assessment of that proposal before taking an action that will affect the livelihoods on tens of thousands of our citizens," the letter read.

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