Hoffa to Unleash ‘Best PR Ever’
Weaknesses in UPS Contract Force Hoffa to Ask Management for Another Bite at the Apple July 2006. It’s official: Hoffa’s “Best Contract Ever” has failed; the union will now sit down to try to negotiate early with UPS management. Management seems happy to bargain early, hoping to button up a deal long before any threat of a work stoppage, and before the big 100 year anniversary events. Management is telling the media that they are...
Can Hoffa Deliver on His Campaign Year Hype?
Critical UPS Freight Battle Looms “This agreement between the Teamsters and UPS Freight is a letter for card check and neutrality at Overnite.” James P. Hoffa, June 27, 2006 IBT Convention, Las Vegas With those words, Hoffa promised Teamsters that he won an agreement to let our union organize Overnite (now UPS Freight) without the union-busting tactics we’ve seen from management in the past. Will Hoffa’s agreement really deliver this promise? We hope so....
Western Conference Fund: Pension Cuts Aren't Justified
October 18, 2006. At the Aug. 25 debate between Tom Leedham and Hoffa’s stand-in, Tom Keegel, a Teamster member questioned Keegel about the 60 percent pension accrual cuts in the big Western Conference Pension Plan. The member said the plan is 100 percent funded, with zero unfunded liability, and yet top Teamster officials go along with management on continuing the pension cuts. The member pointed out that Hoffa’s running mates sit on the fund board:...
Yellow Roadway Warns: UPS-Freight Deal Will 'Set Precedent'
October 18, 2006. Yellow-Roadway CEO William Zollars told Traffic World magazine that any deal between the Teamsters and UPS Freight, covering one terminal of 120 workers in Indianapolis, will ‘set precedent’ for the National Master Freight Agreement. Because Hoffa’s card check and neutrality agreement covered only one terminal and is now void, Zollars expects any contract that UPS Freight would accept will fall far short of the NMFA, and will not allow the employees into...
UPS Pilots Sign Contract
October 18, 2006. On Aug. 31, UPS’s 2,775 pilots narrowly ratified an eight-year contract which will give them immediate raises of 18 to 26 percent. The contract was ratified with 56 percent voting yes. UPS pilots belong to the Independent Pilots Association. They were in the Teamsters but left in the 1980s to form the IPA. UPS pilots got a 29 percent raise over the life of their last seven-year contract. For the new contract,...
UPS Freight Deal Is Over
October 18, 2006. The neutrality agreement with UPS Freight, announced by James Hoffa in dramatic fashion in Las Vegas this June is now officially over. UPS Freight spokesman Ira Rosenfeld emphasized to Traffic World that the Teamsters would be bargaining for “one location only” and that the neutrality deal is now void. A “neutrality and card check” agreement with a company allows our union to organize without company opposition, and when a majority of workers...
Is Early Bargaining the Answer for UPS Contract?
UPSers Clear on Improvements Needed October 18, 2006. UPS Teamsters are clear on the improvements we need to win in the next contract on issues like benefits, overtime, fairness for combo workers, part-time wages, and restrictions on subcontracting and supervisors working. What’s less clear is how early bargaining will give us the leverage we need to win these improvements. Since the announcement, UPS has basked in glowing reports in the business press. Early bargaining, after...
Canadian Rail Teamsters Win Right to Vote for Their National Officers
Victory Is Part of Trend towards Democracy in Rail October 18, 2006. For the second time in three months, railroad engineers and conductors have scored a victory for the right to vote. On Aug. 21, ballots were counted and the members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) voted to change their bylaws to require direct election of the top three national officers. The result was overwhelming, with 88 percent supporting the change. Two months...
S.F. Newspaper Teamsters Fight to Hold The Line Against Hearst
October 18, 2006. The Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle has set its sights on its union workforce, but members of Teamsters GCC Local 4-N are fighting to preserve the good wages and benefits in their contract. These press and prepress workers have been hampered in their struggle by Teamster International officials who have signed substandard agreements and obstructed 4-N’s efforts to prepare for a strike, if necessary. In late 2003, Rome Aloise, secretary-treasurer of Local 853...
Teamster Spending By the Numbers
Ø Amount collected in new money from the July 2002 dues hike in four years: $638 million Ø Amount of that money spent on organizing by the International Union per year: $14 million Ø Percentage increase in the International Union's income because of the dues hike (most of the dues hike went to the International): 75% increase Ø Percentage increase in amount paid by International for multiple salaries to officials: 764% increase in pay...