Mike Hughlett Star Tribune January 17, 2013 View the original piece The Teamsters union has filed charges against the two former top leaders of a large Minnesota local, accusing them of embezzlement and other financial misconduct, including racketeering in the form of bank fraud. A Teamsters hearing on the charges against Bradley Slawson Sr. and Bradley Slawson Jr. of Local 120 has been set for late February, and the Slawsons at maximum could be forced...

OSHA News Release U.S. Department of Labor January 15, 2013 View the original piece The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has signed an accord with BNSF Railway Co., headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, announcing BNSF's voluntary revision of several personnel policies that OSHA alleged violated the whistleblower provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act and dissuaded workers from reporting on-the-job injuries. FRSA's Section 20109 protects railroad workers from retaliation for, among...

Mary Jane Credeur and Aaron Kirchfeld Bloomberg News January 16, 2013 View the original piece United Parcel Service Inc. will pursue smaller European acquisitions and growth in its own business after its $6.9 billion purchase of TNT Express NV fell apart, people familiar with the matter said.   The world's biggest package-delivery company learned in a meeting Friday with the European Commission that the deal would be rejected, said the people, who asked not to...

Verena Dobnik Associated Press January 14, 2013 View the original piece A strike by New York City school bus drivers that had been threatened for weeks will start Wednesday morning, affecting 152,000 students, the president of the union representing the drivers announced Monday. Michael Cordiello of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union said more than 8,000 bus drivers and matrons will participate in the strike, brought about by a dispute over job protections in...

Alex Webb & Robert Wall Bloomberg January 14, 2013 View the original piece United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the world’s biggest package-delivery company, scrapped a 5.16 billion-euro ($6.9 billion) bid for TNT Express NV (TNTE) after European regulators moved to block the deal. Antitrust officials told the companies last week that the latest remedies were insufficient, according to TNT, which fell as much as 51 percent in Amsterdam. TNT will get a 200 million- euro...

John D. Schulz Logistics Management January 14, 2013 View the original piece A few days before Christmas, ABF Freight System and the Teamsters union began talks on a new contract to replace the one that expires March 31. The acrimonious talks could not have gotten off to a rougher start had Ebenezer Scrooge been at the negotiating table. After breaking away from chief rival YRC Worldwide in an attempt to negotiate separately with the Teamsters...

UNFI Driven by Greed January 12, 2013 View the original piece In federal mediation on January 8, Teamsters Local 117, the Union that represents 168 warehouse workers and drivers on strike at United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), encouraged the company to put its best foot forward and present workers with a reasonable contract proposal that would put an end to the month-long strike. UNFI committed to present a proposal the following day. Three days later,...

Staff DC Velocity January 11, 2013 View the original piece UPS Inc. wants to create an integrated over-the-road network where longer-haul driving would be performed by workers at its package, less-than-truckload (LTL), and local cartage divisions. This move could streamline the transport and logistics giant's operating network but some in the Teamsters union fear it could lead to more subcontracting of unionized driver jobs. The proposal was presented by Atlanta-based UPS to the Teamsters in...

Austin Alonzo Kansas City Business Journal January 11, 2013 View the original piece ABF Freight System Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are meeting in Kansas City this week to continue discussions on a labor agreement between the two parties. ABF, a subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corp. (Nasdaq: ABFS), is asking employees to accept concessions in wages and pension coverage to cut labor costs to a level comparable with ABF’s chief unionized rival, Overland...

Jim Efstathiou Jr. Bloomberg News January 10, 2013 View the original piece U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the first Hispanic woman to serve in a Cabinet, joined the exodus from President Barack Obama's administration as he prepares for a second term. "I have decided to begin a new future, and return to the people and places I love and that have inspired and shaped my life," Solis, 55, said yesterday in a letter to the...