ABF Strike Vote: Hoffa Slaps Freight Teamsters Again [1]
October 4, 2013: The new letter from the IBT Freight Division is the latest slap in the face to ABF Teamsters. The "blame the victim" letter attacks Central Region Cartage Teamsters for voting no, and threatens that if they vote to authorize a strike they will cause "the closure of the company and the loss of employment for all 7,000 plus Teamsters."
Those words are in bold type and underlined in the October 1 letter posted at time clocks and union boards around the Central Region.
There's not one word of the two-page letter about any problems brought on by management, about their decision to buy Panther, or about any legitimate membership concerns.
The strike vote is a sham. Since the union has not put forward any issues, what would a strike be over? Nothing!
The ballots will go out soon, and be counted by the end of October. The union extended the contract until October 29, so that must be their target date for implementation of the national contract, including the wage cut.
Hoffa's Freight Division long ago stopped representing Teamsters, listening to freight workers, or working to organize Teamster power in trucking. Freight Teamsters voted against Hoffa in 2011 and will surely do so in bigger numbers in 2016. And for Hoffa, politics trumps the future of union.
That, more than another reason, is why the whole Hoffa-Hall administration needs to be retired.