University of Chicago Teamsters Organize for a Stronger Contract
June 8, 2007: University of Chicago Teamsters are organizing a grassroots contract campaign to win better wages and benefits. The Local 743 contract with the University expired on Feb. 28, 2007, but the local has extended the contract covering over 1,000 Teamsters. Our local officials are sitting on the sidelines—they haven’t done anything to win us a stronger contract. Taking Matters into Our Own Hands Bypassing the union bureaucracy, Teamsters at the UofC have taken...
Local 743 Officials Are Missing in Action
June 8, 2007: Provident Hospital is laying off members of Local 743 in Chicago, but Secretary-Treasurer Richard Lopez is missing in action. “I paid union dues and get nothing for it,” said Diane Davis, one of the Teamsters laid off by Provident. Lopez, the business agent for Provident, has refused to return calls of laid-off workers. “Where are my union dues going?” wondered Yvette Gardner, a laid-off unit clerk. The 743 New Leadership Slate helped...
Waste Management Will Pay for First Meal Break, But Not Second
June 8, 2007: Local 396 Teamsters at Waste Management in Chino and Corona California were told that their new contract would pay them for all of their meal breaks, including the second meal period that is required by California law after 10 hours. During negotiations for the new contract, Waste Management officials told the union negotiators that the new contract would give Teamster members paid meal periods. A Mistake? But after the contract was ratified,...
COLA: A Pay-Day Loan from the Railroad?
June 8, 2007: What if your employer told you that your raises for the last two years were just a loan? That’s just what happened to rail Teamsters in the BLET. The proposed national agreement between the BLET and the freight carriers says that cost-of-living adjustments for 2005 and 2006 were just loans from the carriers to the engineers—and the carriers want the money back. That’s like turning the carriers into a pay-day loan store....
Canadian Track Workers Shut Down Construction on the CP
June 8, 2007: A strike on the Canadian Pacific Railway has entered its third week. On May 16, over 3,200 track maintenance and construction workers walked off the job. The track workers are members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The members say they want higher wages and stronger job security. CP wants to expand job duties. The railroad has replaced striking maintenance workers with over 1,200 managers. But the strike has put a stop...
What Official Takes Home an Extra $54,500 as a Health Care Consultant?
June 8, 2007: In 2006, International Vice President Carroll Haynes was paid $54,500 as a “consultant” by the Health Insurance Plans (HIP) of Greater New York. HIP provides health benefits to the members of Local 237, where Haynes was the principal officer in 2006. Should a Teamster officer and benefit fund trustee be taking $54,500 from an HMO that that makes millions through its contract with our union’s largest local? In the old days, vendors...
Letters from Our Members
An Open Letter to Ken Hall Ken,The recent UPS proposal is shortsighted. Any effort on UPS’s part to withdraw from Central States Pension Fund would devastate Teamster pension funds across the country. A withdrawal by UPS could be the end of the Teamsters Union as we know it. Pension funds are the glue that holds Teamster members together in solidarity. Don’t let UPS trick you. UPS thinks in the long term—there’s a “25 year plan”...
Wage & Hour: New Jersey Supreme Court Authorizes Statewide Class Action Against Wal-Mart
June 4, 2007: The New Jersey Supreme Court May 31 authorized two former employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc to proceed with a statewide class action on behalf of approximately 72,000 workers alleging that they were denied required rest and meal breaks and were forced to work "off the clock" (Iliadis v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., N.J., No. A-69, 5/31/07). Reversing the trial court's denial of the two plaintiffs' motion to certify a class action, the supreme...
Allied Carhaulers Take Cut, Others Get Raise
May 31, 2007: Teamster carhaulers at Allied Holdings now make 19¢ less per loaded mile than their brothers and sisters at other carriers. “It’s brutal,” a Detroit driver commented as he thought about what he will lose in the coming year. Carhaulers get a 2.5 percent raise on the June 1 contract anniversary —50¢ per hour and 2.5¢ per loaded mile (1.25¢ per running mile). Two days earlier, Allied Teamsters got slapped with a 15...
Ex-Teamsters boss gets 6 1/2 years in federal prison
May 29, 2007: By Cindy George from the Houston Chronicle--A federal judge today ordered that Chuck Crawley spend six and a half years in federal prison for his schemes to control Houston's largest Teamsters union and enrich himself. The former Local 988 president was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon. Crawley, 57, was convicted in December of arranging a $20,000 kickback from a vendor and rigging the local's 2002 election. A jury...