The proposed ABF tentative agreement has finally been revealed – and it’s not what Teamsters deserve or expect.  This deal should be sent back for renegotiation and improvement.

We urge all ABF Teamster to review it, discuss it with fellow Teamsters and attend your union meeting this weekend where it will be presented. The decision is up to you.

Click here to read the proposed tentative deal.

Lowlights…

• No Catch-Up on Wages: There is no catch-up raise to make up for the $1.70 per hour concession we took in 2013.  The wage increases are 30¢-35¢-40¢-45¢-50¢ in an agreement which is 63 months long – more than five years.  Thirty cents is just 1.2 percent. That’s well below the rate of inflation.
• Pension Freeze: The pension payments from ABF are frozen for 63 months.  At the meeting for officials today, local leaders from Philadelphia, Upstate New York and New England spoke out against this giveback because it threatens their pension funds.  We’re supposed to defending our pensions, not undermining them.
• Subcontracting of road work continues.  The 6% limit on Purchased Transportation is reduced to 5%, but this cap is no more enforceable than it was before. There is still a two-tier clause, where drivers hired after July 1, 2018, do not have their work protected. Our union should not be selling out the unborn.

This and That…

• The vacation week given away in 2013 is restored to the 2008 language.  This is a plus.
• The deal includes a $1000 bonus, to try to buy Yes Vote.  Even a raise of 5¢ is worth more than this over 63 months. Do they really think they can buy a Yes vote for less than a nickel?
• This pension freeze means that the raises are essentially taken from pension payments the company is saving.  Previously, contracts usually provide $1 per year to be divided between pension and health and welfare.  With zero to pensions, and 39c-40c-42c-50c-50c to H&W, that’s a huge savings for the company, and more than the wage increases.
• The union gave the company a separate ABF grievance panel, so all the management side people will be ABF personnel who can deadlock or defeat any grievance (See Article 7.)  The procedure is already weak: this looks to be worse. 

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