Dan La Botz Dollars and Sense October 29, 2014 View the original piece The truck driver was once the king of the road, riding high from the 1950s through the 1970s. Sitting up in the tractor, pulling an eighteen-wheler, looking out over America's city streets and country roads and highways, he--back then, the driver was almost always a he--earned a good money, often had health benefits, and may well have had a pension plan. Click...

Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse The New York Times October 27, 2014 View the original piece On a recent afternoon, Hampus Elofsson ended his 40-hour workweek at a Burger King and prepared for a movie and beer with friends. He had paid his rent and all his bills, stashed away some savings, yet still had money for nights out. That is because he earns the equivalent of $20 an hour — the base wage for...

Barry B. Burr Pensions & Investments October 22, 2014 View the original piece She is more than 105 years old and still collecting pension benefits from the Teamsters Central States, Southeast & Southwest Conferences Pension Fund. The Rosemont, Ill.-based Central States fund, which had $18.7 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, has been paying a pension to her for 41 years. Click here to read more.  

Tom Huddleston, Jr. Fortune October 21, 2014 View the original piece Shipping packages with United Parcel Service will cost a little bit more starting at the end of this year after the package delivery company just announced its latest rate hike. UPS said Monday that it plans to increase rates by an average of 4.9% for services within and between the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The new rates go into effect December 29 and will be...

Michele Fuetsch Transport Topics October 17, 2014 View the original piece A new poll commissioned by a coalition of highway safety groups found that 80% of Americans believe Congress should not raise the number of hours a truck driver can be on the road to 82 hours from 70. American Trucking Associations called the results “misleading,” while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called them a “game changer” that shows the public understands “too many hours on...

Robert M. Schwartz Labor Notes October 17, 2014 View the original piece Employer unfair labor practices (ULPs) are violations of worker and union rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and similar public sector collective bargaining laws. For many unions, they are a familiar experience.   Some, however, have discovered that a ULP can be a gift in disguise, providing a defense against the most dangerous employer weapons. A union that plays its cards right can use ULPs to help win contract campaigns, strikes, and other...

John D. Schulz Logistics Management October 15, 2014 View the original piece FedEx Freight and Con-way Freight, two of the largest non-union LTL carriers in the nation, are battling organizing efforts by the Teamsters union in a closely watched unionization effort.  Workers at FedEx Freight’s Philadelphia facility recently voted 28-16 in favor of representation by the Teamsters union. That follows a rejection of union organization weeks earlier by FedEx Freight workers in Cinnaminson, N.J., a suburb...

Transport Topics October 15, 2014 View the original piece FedEx Freight drivers at a Philadelphia terminal voted in favor of Teamsters representation, becoming the first workers at the less-than-truckload carrier to become union members. The vote by a reported 26-18 margin came four days after drivers at the Cinnaminson, New Jersey, terminal voted against becoming Teamsters. The New Jersey vote was the first-ever unionization balloting at the nation’s largest less-than-truckload company. No vote count was...

CBS New York October 14, 2014 View the original piece Veteran New York City school bus drivers and matrons took to the steps of City Hall demanding the mayor do something to help save their jobs. Hundreds rallied Friday morning, angry that the private bus companies that employed them laid them off and replaced them with less experienced workers with lower wages. Click here to read more at CBS New York.

Kansas City infoZine October 13, 2014 View the original piece Shipping giant repeatedly failed to provide needed accommodations to deaf and hard-of-hearing package handlers and applicants, federal agency charges. Baltimore, MD - infoZine - Shipping giant FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., (FedEx Ground) violated federal law nationwide by discriminating against a large class of deaf and hard-of-hearing package handlers and job applicants for years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit...