ROOD TRUCKING Union: Pension contributions are behind

One worker says he's concerned that he won't receive his missing pension contributions.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mineral Ridge company that hauls mail owes its drivers more than $250,000 in pension contributions, a union says.
Joe Radovich, an organizer with the American Postal Workers Union, said at a press conference at the Youngstown post office Friday that Rood Trucking is more than a year behind on pension contributions.
A person who answered the phone at Rood said no one would comment on the matter.
Richard Morgan, an administrative law judge working for the U.S. Department of Labor, ruled in July that the company had not made pension contributions quarterly last year as required. The ruling came after an earlier hearing over workers' complaints about the contributions and pay for drivers' break time.
George Rood, company president, testified that he thought contributions could be made at the end of the year, Morgan's ruling says. Morgan ordered the contributions to be made quarterly.
Complaint filed
David Dunlap, a Rood driver who lives in Allison Park, Pa., filed a complaint last month with the Department of Labor that says the company hasn't brought accounts up to date.
Dunlap said Friday that his account is owed about $3,600 and he is worried that he won't get that money if the company were to go out of business or is forced into bankruptcy.
Radovich said drivers who are about to retire could be left with smaller pensions.
Radovich said regular contributions to pension accounts stopped in 2000 after a majority of Rood's 120 drivers voted to join the union. Bargaining is continuing but has not yet produced a contract.
Radovich said the pension contributions are set by the federal government because Rood is a contractor for the postal service. The government sets pay for Rood's drivers and for the payment of fringe benefits.
Rood hauls mail between cities in Northeast Ohio, western New York and western Pennsylvania. Its drivers are spread throughout that territory.