Teamster retirees from across the Midwest and South at the US Senate this morning to support the Keep Our Pension Promises Act.

The movement to stop the pension cuts in the Central States Plan – and for positive alternatives – is growing and spreading out. Last weekend, hundreds of Teamsters turned out for meetings in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina. Watch the news report from the NBC affiliate. The interviewee is Karen Friedman, Policy Director of the Pension Rights Center.

Teamster and employer negotiators met today to exchange initial proposals, with bargaining set to begin on June 10. The union’s proposals are available here. The contract expires on August 31. The union’s initial proposals cover a number of important working conditions and competitive rates issues (Article 22), but not proposals on wages, pension, health benefits and other monetary issues. Those will be addressed later in bargaining. Bargaining has barely started but Hoffa is already putting politics...

Candidates for International Union office will be officially nominated at the Teamster Convention next year. Now you can find out how many Convention Delegates will be elected in your Local Union. Every Local Union will hold an election for delegates to the Teamster Convention where International Union candidates will be officially nominated. The Election Supervisor has just announced how many delegates each local union will elect. You can now find out how many delegates your local...

What do you do when you give a corporation the deal they want, but the pension fund vetoes it as illegal? That’s the IBT’s question regarding their deal with Kroger Co.

May 20, 2015: Tens of thousands of workers and supporters in 120 cities rallied, protested, and went on strike on April 15, including Wal-Mart employees, fast-food workers, homecare workers, and others.  Teamster members are joining the growing movement to raise the minimum wage and win union rights for all workers.   Kansas City “In recent years, we’ve organized a coalition of unions, Jobs With Justice, community and faith groups, that’s fighting for economic justice and taking on corporate tax-cheaters,” said Michael Savwoir,...

Is management handing out excessive discipline for misloads or missorts? Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself and other Teamsters. UPS has the right to expect employees, in this case preloaders and loaders, to work accurately. This is just common sense. But management frequently goes overboard from common sense to nonsense. Beating Unfair Discipline When challenging discipline for misloads or missorts, stewards should consider several factors including: Was the preloader or loader...

May 20, 2015: What to Do When UPS Management Puts a Target on Your Back. Harassment isn’t an accident at UPS. It’s a strategy, called management-by-stress.   Under management-by-stress, the company uses harassment to try to intimidate us into working faster. Sometimes, they’re trying to provoke you into losing your temper. In extreme cases, they’ll try to harass workers into quitting.   TDU asked experienced package car stewards for suggestions on how Teamsters can protect themselves from harassment at UPS. Here were their Top 10 tips.  ...

May 20, 2015: The campaign to elect the next General President of the Teamsters Union is on. The first big test of the Teamsters United campaign is a summer petition drive to collect the required signatures to become officially accredited candidates.   To get accreditation, 2.5 percent of the 1.3 million Teamsters across North America must sign the petition.   Teamsters United has set a goal of 50,000 petition signatures by the end of August. Members are volunteering to get the job done.   Accredited candidates get a computer...