Lydia Depillis The Washington Post May 01, 2014 View the original piece It’s a few minutes into a run carrying a load of scrap copper from the Port of New Jersey to a waste transfer station outside Philadelphia, and Miguel Tigre reaches over the dash of his maroon-and-yellow cab to grab a folder stuffed with the receipts squeezing him dry. He reels off calculations: He gets paid $400. It’s about 150 miles round-trip, and his...

Rip Watson Transport Topics May 01, 2014 View the original piece YRC Worldwide Inc. said May 1 its first-quarter loss nearly tripled due to factors such as winter weather and claims costs. The less-than-truckload carrier’s loss widened to $70.2 million, or $3.95 per share, from $24.5 million, or $2.93, a year ago. Click here to read more at Transport Topics.

Laura Stevens Wall Street Journal April 24, 2014 View the original piece United Parcel Service Inc. on Thursday said that it will record a $1.05 billion pre-tax charge in the second quarter as it moves the remaining 125,000 unionized package delivery employees off its own health-care plan and into multi-employer health-care plans. The move will fundamentally change the way UPS pays for its union members' health plans. Instead of being committed to providing benefits on...

Mark B. Solomon DC Velocity April 24, 2014 View the original piece The Teamsters Union has imposed the UPS Inc. small-package contract on all 235,000 unionized UPS employees despite repeated objections by several Teamster locals, including the largest in the UPS system. The move, disclosed in a memo dated yesterday, is considered unprecedented in the 111-year history of the Teamsters, according to Ken Paff, national organizer of the Teamsters For a Democratic Union (TDU), a...

Transport Topics April 24, 2014 View the original piece UPS Inc. reported lower first-quarter income from a year ago, citing severe weather and higher expenses. The parcel delivery company’s net income declined to $911 million, or 98 cents a share, from $1.04 billion, or $1.08, a year ago. Revenue rose 2.6% to $13.8 billion and operating expenses rose 3.5% to $12.3 billion. “Much of the U.S. economy was negatively affected by the severe weather conditions...

Laura Stevens and Melanie Trottman The Wall Street Journal April 24, 2014 View the original piece The national union representing United Parcel Service Inc. employees overrode three local bargaining units that had delayed approving parts of a five-year national contract with the delivery company. The unusual move, described Wednesday in an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, took local union leaders by surprise. The Teamsters union said the UPS national negotiating committee "voted overwhelmingly" to declare...

Kenneth Quinnell AFL-CIO April 23, 2014 View the original piece A new report from Americans for Tax Fairness shows that taxpayers in the United States subsidize Walmart and the Walton family, who owns the majority of Walmart stock and is the richest family in the country, by at least $7.8 billion annually. The report, Walmart on Tax Day: How Taxpayers Subsidize America's Biggest Employer and Richest Family, was released in conjunction with tax day, when millions of...

Ellen David Friedman Labor Notes April 22, 2014 View the original piece An 18-day bus drivers’ strike in Burlington, Vermont, ended in a win April 3 when drivers ratified a new contract 53-6. Strikes are rare these days, and fewer still result in victories—so why was this one different? What generated public support for the strike, despite management’s aggressive plan to blame drivers for the loss of bus service for nearly three weeks? This strike succeeded through...

Austin Alonzo Kansas City Business Journal April 22, 2014 View the original piece Leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are asking YRC shareholders to vote against a number of proposals concerning executive compensation at YRC Worldwide Inc. The Kansas City Business Journalobtained a letter dated April 4 addressed to YRC shareholders and signed by Ken Hall, general secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters. On behalf of the union, the letter asks shareholders to withhold support for Michael Kneeland, Matthew Doheny and James Hoffman serving on...

Michele Fuetsch Transport Topics April 21, 2014 View the original piece U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx visited several critical freight corridors during an eight-state bus tour last week, saying the future sustainability of America’s roadways depends on Congress addressing the infrastructure funding crisis. The tour, which began April 14 in Ohio and ended April 18 in Texas, highlighted short- and long-term funding needs, as well as generated pressure on federal lawmakers from local officials and...