Md. May Collect from Giant Truckers

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) - The state may ask Giant Food truck drivers who took part in a strike three years ago to repay the state about $1.4 million in unemployment insurance benefits, Maryland labor officials said.

The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation paid that amount to 1,300 truck drivers who went on strike between December 1996 and January 1997.

The state's highest court ruled last week that the five-week strike was a "stoppage of work" and the strikers were not entitled to unemployment benefits.

The state may ask employees to pay back the state "a little at a time" or request that the Landover-based supermarket chain deduct amounts from workers' paychecks, said Karen Napolitano, an agency spokeswoman.

Other options include deferring payments until workers have another period of unemployment, or entirely waiving the payments.

"It's still really early to be able to make a determination," Napolitano said.

Giant says it is owed about $1 million of its payments into the state's unemployment-insurance pool. The company estimates the strike cost Giant about $4 million in profits.

If the state decides to reimburse Giant, it could do so by reducing the retailer's unemployment-insurance tax rate, Napolitano said.

Phil Feaster, president of the Teamsters Local 639, said the union would not be able to help employees make payments to the state. The union's bylaws forbid such payments, he said.