UPDATED December 19, 2013: Some 26,000 YRCW Teamsters are voting on a five-year contract extension with new concessions, and yet the leadership of their union never negotiated with the corporation. What’s wrong with this picture? At the meeting of local officials held on December 6, IBT Freight Director Tyson Johnson was asked this question directly. His answer was that since he had heard loud and clear that the members didn’t want more concessions, he refused...

251 United Action, a growing rank-and-file reform movement in Rhode Island, took back their 5,500-member local when they won union office this fall. The election posed a contest between the “old guard,” led by incumbent Joe Bairos, and a younger reform team led by UPS driver Matt Taibi and Rhode Island Hospital worker Paul Santos to lead Local 251. But the campaign for change in Local 251 didn’t start at the Nominations Meeting. Members organized...

December 16, 2013: UPS Teamsters who are slated to be moved into TeamCare will keep their current benefits until the UPS contract and all supplements and riders are resolved. An official notice confirms what TDU and Vote No Teamsters have been saying for months.  To scare UPS Teamsters into voting yes on the contract, many Teamster officials threatened members that they would lose their health coverage on January 1 or that they would be moved...

December 11, 2013: Five years ago today, Ron Carey, the first democratically-elected General President of the Teamsters, passed away. After winning the Right to Vote for top Teamster officers in 1989, Teamsters for a Democratic Union endorsed Ron Carey for General President. Carey's bid was considered an impossible longshot.   But TDU members and Teamsters across the country built a grassroots campaign network that toppled  the Teamster Old Guard. Once in office, Carey slashed his...

Local 177 Supplement (New Jersey) The first column contains the results from the first round of contract votes in June. The second column contains the result from the second round vote count conducted on December 10 and 11. Local June Supplement December Supplement   Yes No Yes No 177 1150 1875 2360 958 Mechanics 44 72 81 43  

Western Region Supplement The first column contains the results from the first round of contract votes in June. The second column contains the result from the second round vote count conducted on December 10 and 11. Local City June Supplement Vote Dec. Supplement Vote Dec. S.W. Rider Vote     Yes No Yes No Yes No 2 Butte, Mont. 139 25 216 19 N/A N/A 38 Everett, Wa. 34 23 51 7 N/A N/A 58...

December 11, 2013: The ballot count details for the second-round vote on the Western Region Supplement and South West Rider and on the New Jersey Local 177 Supplement are available here. Western Region Supplement Local 177 Supplement

UPDATED 10:30 a.m. December 11, 2013: The New Jersey Local 177 supplement has been ratified, following yesterday’s ratification of the Southwest Rider. Both passed by approximately a 2-1 margin. In the Southwest, the biggest union, Los Angeles Local 396, was split down the middle, but most other locals voted heavily yes, with Locals 186 and 986 voting No. The vote count will continue this morning on the remainder of the west. You can read the...

December 6, 2013: We mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela, a champion of equality and human dignity and South Africa’s first black president, in an election where black South African's were allowed to vote. Click here to read more on Mandela’s life and legacy.

December 5, 2013: Tomorrow Teamster local officials will meet in Dallas to hear directly from company representatives their proposal for a five-year contract extension.  Management has met with the Hoffa administration’s top freight people, Tyson Johnson and Gordon Sweeton, regarding the proposed contract. If the local officers approve a proposal to put the issue to the members, a vote could come soon. The IBT constitution requires a majority vote of approval by the 26,000 YRCW...