ABF Teamsters to Vote on 15% Cut
April 20, 2010: As expected, the International Union is recommending that ABF Teamsters ratify a 15 percent wage cut. No changes in Teamster benefits are part of the proposal.
The International Union has requested that locals hold meetings to recommend the deal on the weekend of April 24-25, and is holding a conference call for ABF Teamsters on April 27. Ballots will go soon after that.
All ABF Teamsters—working and laid off—are entitled to vote, including those presently on withdrawal from the union.
At a national meeting for local officials held on April 19, the deal was easily approved. But some officers said it would be hard to get members to agree to it, and a couple of large locals indicated that they could not recommend it.
The package would be worth about $75 million to ABF over the next year, and would continue until the end of the contract on March 31, 2013, when the Memorandum would end.
There are provisions for softening the wage cut as ABF returns to profitability. If ABF has an operating ratio of 97 percent or better, then the wage reduction would be reduced by five percent on the following April 1. Also, if ABF achieves a profit in a quarter, a bonus would be paid out according to a formula; for example, if the operating ratio is 98 percent, then one percent of wages would be returned to Teamsters.
The deal includes an “equality of sacrifice” provision for non-Teamster ABF employees and management personnel. In making the calculation, ABF is allowed to take into account all changes in benefits, co-pays, surcharges, 401(k), conditions and salary freezes since January 1, 2008, so it is not clear how much will actually be realized by this provision.
The 15 page proposed Memorandum is available here.
We encourage all Teamsters to get informed and cast a vote.
The International union issued four detailed “fact sheets” to local unions, which were prepared by management and cover these topics: ABF executive pay, ABF’s private aircraft, NASCAR sponsorship, U-Pack and Moving Solutions.
You can read those fact sheets here.
What do you think? Click here to send your comments to Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
( categories: Freight )
GREED,GREED,GREED!
It seems to finally happened ,abf has made the leap to the ranks of the corporate greedy.During the past twenty five years while I have been working to help abf earn that 200 million dollars they never shared any of it with the people who not only put them on the map but earned all of that cash for them.In 1988 abf issued a memo to all employees to not pickup any freight to be delivered to private residences as that was not part of our business,however when it became profitable for abf to handle this business there was never a memo to the contrary just a company wide sales effort to solicit this business.So while we abfers were struggling to deliver all types of home goods,from furniture to flooring to exercise equipment abf was reaping the financial gain through added accessorial charges,residential,ground,inside,stair,turnkey,and assembly charges they never once offered to share the wealth,now that they have lost a few dollars they are acting as if they are facing bankruptcy. Abf is not in danger of filing for bankruptcy, they are just like every other individual who has suffered from this depressed economy, losing money from thier 401k or thier stocks.If abf is concerned with the future they should look at the obvious signs of recovery,rising freight levels,pricing increases by most carriers, as well as thier own rising stock value.This 15% is too much and too late as is the 3years
ITS TIME TO PUT LIMITS ON UTLITY DRIVERS BETTER WORK RULES TOO!!!
MAY A STOCK PURCHASE PROGRAM I GIVE YOU 15% YOU GIVE ME STOCK WE GIVE CONSICIONS WHAT DO WE GET IN RETURN????? GET SOME OF ZOLLARS DOLLARS operating ratio of 97% means it takes 97 cents to make a dollar so 98% would be worse than 97 % so 96%would be 1% better then you would get some money back
I totally agree with the limits on the utility driver. they came up with that name so they could have you do anything and everything that they wanted without recourse. With the new age of internet buying, within the past five years or so I have seen more and more and more inside, turnkey deliveries as a city driver. Sure the lift gate helps you get this to the ground, but what happens after that, you still have to get this 300 or 400 pound unit inside the house by yourself. Or you have 2000 pound skids that you have to get off the gate and try to pull these things up hill into a business. with the addition of the lift gate deliveries this has a formula for very serious injuries
I have 2 grievances that are 2 years old because I am waiting for the IBT to establish a committee to oversee Article 3 sec. 7 violations.These grievances concern use of Utility Drivers on a daily basis instead of being bid in seniority order for a week. Recently I filed 3 more grievances when another terminal not in our local jurisdiction grabbed a guy out of his city peddle and sent him to our terminal (exchange point) with overflow from a Utility run. I was told I had no grounds for a grievance and that any terminal can send anyone anywhere at any time as long as the company said it was an "emergency" and "temporary". Apparently this came directly from the IBT. Anyone else see where this is going ? Aside from the obvious road driver runaround, violation of terminal seniority in bidding work , and abuse of jurisdiction and Article 3 sec.7 language , it seems to me that the IBT is saying to go ahead and do whatever you deem is an "emergency" and the contract be damned.Let's all work like CCX drivers.We'll be competitive then. Our lives and families and marriages will suffer but, hell lookit the money you'll make!