March 25, 2010: Every local in the South is being forced to pay tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to bankroll big extra pensions for Teamster officials. It’s a case of misusing union members’ money to provide outsized perks to officials, instead of to build our Teamsters Union. The locals are paying about $1.7 million this year to the Southern Region of Teamsters Pension Fund, which covers only the full-time officers and staff of...

February 2, 2010: The IBT has added one new International Vice President and is preparing to lose another, Central Region VP Pat Flynn. Rick Middleton was sworn in as the new Western Region Vice President on Jan. 27. Middleton was appointed to replace Jim Santangelo, of Los Angeles, who retired in disgrace after TDU revealed that the union paid $500,000 to secretly settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving him. Middleton is the Secretary-Treasurer of Local...

December 7, 2009: In a speech at the TDU Convention, Butch Lewis talked about what it will take to get our union on the right track. We all know times are tough. The country faces the worst recession any of us has seen. Members are angry and frustrated. Over the past year we’ve seen our wages cut by 15 percent. YRC is no longer paying towards our pension. Members are anxious to know what’s next....