Yellow Wants to Close Columbus Breakbulk
June 18, 2007: Yellow has given the union a proposed change of operations that would lead to the closing of the Columbus Ohio breakbulk and road operation. Local 413 would lose 182 jobs (92 road plus 90 dock, shop and yard). The work would be aligned, most of it through Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis. Management wants the proposal to be heard and approved by the Change of Operations committee on July 17. For a copy...
Oregon Set to Ensure Freedom to Form Unions for Public Employees
Jun 12, 2007, By Mike Hall: Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) is poised to sign legislation that will give the state’s public employees the freedom to form a union when the majority of employees at a workplace put their signatures on union authorization cards. Yesterday, the Oregon Senate approved the majority sign-up legislation, which also allows workers to opt for an election if they so choose. It now goes back to the House, which approved...
Reuters: CP Rail Track Workers Got Wage Hike, Bonus in Deal
June 13, 2007: The deal that ended a strike by Canadian Pacific Railway track workers includes bonuses but kept to the railway's pre-strike wage demands, according to documents distributed on Monday. CP dropped demands for changes in seniority rules, but won changes in health insurance co-payments, according to copies of the tentative contract being sent to the 3,200 workers for a ratification vote. The three-year deal, which is retroactive to the end of 2006, includes...
NFMA Wage Scale: Time To End Tiered Wage
June 8, 2007: Thousands of Teamsters are working under the national freight agreement at wages that are at or below nonunion scale. Most are not “trainees” but Teamsters with years of experience. This problem can be corrected in the upcoming contract. The NMFA has a starting wage of 75 percent of scale, which is now about $16.50 per hour. Over a two-year period, a Teamster will lose about $25,000 in wages before reaching union scale....
UPS Moves To Break Up Central States Fund
June 8, 2007: UPS management has put a dangerous proposal on the table: to pull UPS Teamsters out of the Central States Pension Fund, the plan that covers 42,000 full-timers in 25 states. Under the law, UPS would have to pay $4 billion in withdrawal liability to the Central States to break out of the fund—a penalty management is happy to pay because they can make it up over time by reducing future benefit costs....
An Open Letter to Tyson Johnson: Stand Up for Our Pensions
June 8, 2007: Where is the Freight Division of our union? While Ken Hall and Hoffa “seriously consider” allowing UPS to split apart the Central States Pension Plan, the Freight Division should be sounding the alarm. Behind closed doors, maybe they are. But it’s time to come out of the closet and speak out to defend our pension plans and our Teamster unity. Teamster leaders are elected to be the members’ voice to Hoffa, not...
ABF Wants To Bust Teamster Pension Plans
“We believe there is an opportunity in this negotiating cycle to withdraw from some or all of these [Teamster pension plans] and provide benefits directly to our employees…” “We view the multiemployer [Teamster pension] withdrawal opportunity to be the most significant thing facing us.” Robert Davidson, CEO of ABF, May 8, 2007 There you have it. The CEO is telling you that ABF would love to bust our pension plans and take over employee pensions...
Freight Survey: No Mention of Retiree Healthcare
June 8, 2007: Freight Teamsters be warned: the Freight Division apparently isn’t considering fighting to restore retiree health coverage where it has been devastated. Nor is there a plan to win a timetable for pension improvements. On May 30 a three-page Freight Survey was mailed to all local union officers. It has three questions (out of 15) on pensions and health care. But none of them call for any choice other than “maintaining Teamster pension...
Workers on Disability Forced to Burn Vacation?
June 8, 2007: Thanks to a lawsuit by a Roadway Teamster, workers who are off drawing disability pay and using Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) time should no longer be forced to use up their vacation time. An employee should now have the option to take the vacation pay, or save the accrued vacation time. But Yellow Freight doesn’t recognize the decision by the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. They insist that they will...
Time for Contract Improvement on FMLA
June 8, 2007: There is a glaring weakness in Teamster national contracts—UPS, freight, and carhaul—which should be corrected in this bargaining round. The contract lets employers require a Teamster off on family or medical leave to burn up their vacation time.As it stands at present, if an employee uses leave time because of a childbirth or to care for a sick parent, they cannot take any vacation that year. The court case referenced above is...