Logistics Management: Teamsters and UPS Move Forward on Central States Withdrawal Plan
August 17, 2007: Industry journal Logistics Management reports that the IBT has made "substantial progress on the union’s talks with UPS, its largest employer." But according the to the journal: "There has been little if any progress with the unionized freight carriers such as YRC Worldwide and Arkansas Best." Click here to read the full story at Logistics Management.
ABF Makes Bid to Bolt NMFA
August 16, 2007: Teamster master contracts and benefit funds are under attack—at UPS, freight, DHL and Carhaul— and now ABF is moving to break out of the National Master Freight Agreement. It’s now official: ABF has pulled out of Trucking Management Inc (TMI), the employer association which bargains the National Master Freight Agreement. Freight members need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to maintain one freight standard and one freight contract. ABF management has let it be known...
’97 UPS Strike Anniversary: Victory Fueled by Member Involvement
August 16, 2007: Labor expert Michael Schiavone credits rank-and-file mobilization and the influence of Teamsters for a Democratic Union with winning the 1997 contract victory at UPS. “With this being the tenth-year anniversary of the Teamsters’ historic strike with United Parcel Service (UPS) it is a good time to revisit the strike and determine how it was won,” says labor writer Michael Schiavone, the author of Unions in Crisis? The Future of Organized Labor in...
FedEx Truck Drivers are Employees, Not Independent Contractors, Court Rules
August 15, 2007: BNA Labor Report: Delivery drivers are employees entitled under state law to reimbursement for work-related expenses, despite their description as independent contractors in an operating agreement they signed with FedEx Ground Package System Inc., a California appellate court ruled Aug. 13 (Estrada v. Fedex Ground Package Sys. Inc., Cal. Ct. App., No. B189031, 8/13/07). Writing for a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal, Justice Miriam A. Vogel observed that "the...
Central States Pension Assets Up $700 Million
August 13, 2007: The assets of the Central States Pension Fund have jumped $700 million in the first six months of this year, reaching $21.4 billion, and could reach $22 billion by the end of 2007. This is according to the fund’s latest Financial and Analytical Report, obtained by Teamsters for a Democratic Union. Now is the time to restore affordable retiree health and welfare and get a timetable for improved pension benefits, in the...
Judge Conboy Challenges Hoffa’s Firing of Virtue
August 12, 2007: Election Appeals Master Kenneth Conboy has issued a decision that could result in a victory for Teamster democracy. The decision is a blow against retaliation aimed at Teamsters who run for IBT office. The decision questions the legality of Hoffa’s firing of Dan Virtue and Carlos Ramos last January. The firings came days after the 2006 IBT Election was certified, an election won by Hoffa’s slate against the reform slate headed by...
DHL Teamsters United
August 10, 2007: In one of James R. Hoffa's last interviews before he disappeared in 1975, he was asked what the priority should be for the Teamsters Union. His reply: "I'd reinstate some additional organizers for the purpose of having master contracts. There's no way unions can survive without master contracts." His words still ring true. Our master contracts, and even the unity of our pension plans, are under attack from global corporations. Some in...
Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn. Teamster Leader is Ousted
August 10, 2007: By Jane M. Von Bergen, Inquirer Staff Writer: The leader of one of Pennsylvania's most powerful unions has been ousted after allegations that he lied to a federal investigatory board. Francis "Frank" J. Gillen, a longtime officer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, cannot hold any union office for five years and cannot belong to the union as a truck driver for three years. To read the full story, click here.
Parcel Association Loses at UPS Freight by 3-1
August 8, 2007: The Association of Parcel Workers of America (APWA) lost an organizing election at the big Kansas City terminal of UPS Freight by a margin of 3-1. The vote was 66 for the APWA, 202 for No Union. Despite considerable pro-union sentiment, UPS Freight drivers and dock workers are not ready to vote for an association that has no track record and is staffed by a management law firm. In the Kansas City...
DHL Wants “Structural Changes”
August 3, 2007: DHL has a goal: “structural changes in DHL’s labor contracts to more appropriately reflect the fact that DHL is a small package delivery company.” Those words come from Labor Relations Vice President Patricia Burke, in a recent memo in response to TDU’s website. You can read the management memo by clicking here. Let’s translate that management-speak to Teamster-talk: they want to bust down conditions, and “restructure” the workforce with a flood of...