October 17, 2013: Hoffa and Hall have lied to members about our contracts and healthcare. But in the fight to protect our benefits, we shouldn't turn against union health plans. Given all of Hoffa-Hall's lies about Teamster contracts, it's no wonder that many members don't trust the union to run our health plan. But in the fight to protect our benefits, we shouldn't turn on union health plans. The fact is union health plans work....

October 17, 2013: Hoffa drew headlines when he declared that Obamacare would make union plans "unsustainable." It's another way that bungling by the Hoffa-Hall administration has hurt Teamster healthcare. When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was in Congress, the IBT didn't make sure union plans were fully protected. Healthcare providers and other industries looked after their interests. The IBT and other unions failed to do the same. Now the labor movement is putting pressure on...

October 17, 2013: UPS management has a new toy to harass preloaders and write them up for misloads. In some buildings, preload supervisors have started wearing scanners, entering package cars, and scanning every package in the load. The scanner flags packages that are not in the truck's EDD. The management tries to blame the loader for the misload. Part-time supervisors are being told to have a 1,000 scans by the end of each shift. This...

October 17, 2013: Is management handing out excessive discipline for misloads or missorts? Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow 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. In this article, we'll review how members can defend themselves in the office and through the grievance...

October 17, 2013: With the UPS contract long expired and peak on the way, contracts and contract supplements or riders covering over 75,000 UPSers still remain to be negotiated. The contracts, supplements and riders covering Teamster members in the Western Region, Louisville, Ohio, Indiana, Philadelphia, Western Pennsylvania, and New Jersey Local 177 all need to be voted a second or third time. Two additional contracts covering all UPS Teamsters in Illinois and parts of Indiana...

October 16, 2013: Former Teamster Alex Adams is one of the hundreds of thousands of retirees whose benefits could be slashed if Congress passes legislation to restructure the laws governing multi-employer pension plans. Alex Adams, 71, worked in the trucking industry for 36 years before retiring in 2003. Five years later, Adams was diagnosed with cancer in his larynx and tonsils. As a result, he now takes food through a feeding tube and has to...

Teamster Perks or Teamster Power? Hoffa and Ken Hall have spent much of this year telling Teamsters to take concessions. How do you think they're doing? A lot of Teamsters have had to tighten their belts over the past few years. Hundreds of thousands have just been told by James Hoffa and Ken Hall that concessions in healthcare or pensions or wages are necessary. But one group of Teamsters has not felt any belt-tightening at...

New York Local 707 UPS Freight Teamsters October 17, 2013: UPS Freight Teamsters wonder what happened to their union. They've heard next to nothing since they rejected the proposed contract in June with a 69 percent No vote. Four months of silence. It's clear that Hoffa and Hall have no plan for winning significant contract improvements. So where does that leave Teamsters working at UPS Freight? We can still win a good contract if we...

October 17, 2013: ABF Teamsters in the Central Region are voting on authorizing a strike, but it's a phony proposition. The International union has not put forth any issues or demands to strike for! Instead, Hoffa and the Freight Division have simply denounced the Central Region members for voting No twice, and tried to divide other freight Teamsters against them. The votes will be counted on October 29. The International union and ABF management plan...

Not if We Stop It! UPDATED October 23, 2013: A Congressional hearing will be held to address pension issues Tuesday, October 29. We expect a bill to hit Congress very soon which would allow "deeply troubled" pension funds—such as the Central States Fund—to slash the pension benefits of retirees and those soon to retire. We're out to stop this train wreck for Teamsters and other workers who worked long and hard to earn their pensions....