February 24, 2010: The first National Grievance Panel of 2010 runs March 1-5 in Ft Lauderdale. Click here to read the docket of cases that will be heard. The UPS National Grievance Committee settles national disputes and other grievances that have been deadlocked at both the local and regional levels.

February 24, 2010: Dean Henderson’s career with FedEx ended abruptly when a reckless driver plowed into his company truck and mangled his leg. His doctor will decide this week if it needs to be amputated. No longer able to drive, stripped of value in our commodity culture, he was tossed aside by the company. He became human refuse. He spends most of his days, because of the swelling and the pain, with his leg raised...

February 22, 2010: Reeling from the recession and general hard times in the media world, the Teamsters unit representing newspaper delivery truck drivers and pressmen in the Chicago area has been thrust into a trusteeship by James P. Hoffa. He's head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and he's been responsible for four such takeovers -- which involve booting the elected leaders, installing a new administrator and trying to rectify whatever problems are said to...

February 19, 2010: "It will be quite a battle," said Sandy Pope, the president of Teamsters Local 805, referring to an attempt by employees of online grocer Fresh Direct to join the union. The Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342 launched a public campaign this week to focus attention on the workers' struggle to organize. Click here to read more at NY Daily News.

February 18, 2010: TDU members are coming together across the country to get educated and work together for union power. In January and February, TDU members are holding meetings and workshops in Baltimore, Springfield, Providence, Burlington Vermont, Chicago, Memphis, Nashville, Los Angeles, and more. More than 125 Teamsters attended a TDU Educational Conference in New York. The conference featured workshops on UPS production harassment and handling disciplinary grievances. “TDU gives us the knowledge to be...

February 18, 2010: The U.S. Department of Transportation has published a proposed rule that would toughen its workplace drug-testing program for truck drivers and other transportation workers, including testing for the drugs “ecstasy” and heroin. The new proposed rule also would lower cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines and authorize employers to use test facilities certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct initial drug testing, according to a statement by...

February 18, 2010: YRC Worldwide Inc. on Wednesday said its shareholders approved a series of measures required as part of a recent debt-for-equity exchange and a recent agreement by investors to provide YRC with $70 million in new liquidity. The Overland Park-based trucking and logistics company (Nasdaq: YRCW) said in a release that, at a special shareholders meeting, a majority voted in favor of increasing the total number of shares the company could issue and...

February 17, 2010: As part of its drastic cost cuts in 2009, YRC Worldwide reached an agreement that allowed it to suspend monthly payments into its union pension plans. The next step is an effort to get Congress to address YRC’s problems with ballooning pension costs. Click here to read more at The Kansas City Star.

February 15, 2010: Officials from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Trainmen and Engineers in the IBT (BLET) are getting closer to their goal: to take away members’ Right to Vote for top BLET officers. To clear the first hurdle, the officials are trying to get divisions representing 25 percent of BLET membership to approve their initiative. Unofficial reports say that they’re about halfway there. Members Slowing Them Down Officials announced their initiative back in December, and...

February 15, 2010: Can your boss hack the job you do? If you saw the clever new CBS TV show “Undercover Boss,” you know Waste Management chief Larry O’Donnell doesn’t have what it takes to do Teamster work. He actually got fired. Read the review of the new show from Labor Notes magazine. Reality TV Gives Corporate America a Big Wet Kiss by Mark Brenner Waste Management President Larry O'DonnellWant to know what chutzpah means?...