Central States Financial Report: Relief Sought, More Members Needed
March 31, 2009: The 2008 Financial and Analytical Report on the Central States Pension Fund is finally out, and it’s not pretty. There are no big surprises in it, but it reveals that the Fund will ask the IRS for a waiver because it cannot meet its funding target for this year. The report, which was expected on February 1 but was not issued until late March, is available to members only through Teamsters for...
Chicago Teamster Will Do Time for Stolen Elections
March 25, 2009: Former Teamster official Robert Walston is headed to jail for conspiring with other Teamster officials to steal Local 743 elections and defraud the members of their right to vote. Walston also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, which was his side-job while he was president of Local 743. With help from Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), Local 743 working Teamsters exposed Walston’s plot. And in October 2007, Richard Berg and the New...
BNA Daily Labor Report: LaHood Wants New Mexican Truck Proposal
March 26, 2009: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants to have a proposal developed to replace a now defunct Bush administration cross-border trucking program with Mexico by the time President Obama visits Mexico in mid-April, an administration official told BNA on background March 24. LaHood has been meeting with members of Congress to design a program allowing Mexican trucks renewed U.S. access while addressing safety concerns, the official confirmed. Currently, Mexican trucks must offload their exports...
BNA Daily Labor Report: Teamsters, Safety Advocates Challenge Hours of Service Rule
March 25, 2009: Several safety advocacy groups, along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit against the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, urging review of a final rule increasing from 10 to 11 consecutive hours the length of time interstate truck drivers may spend behind the wheel (Public Citizen v. FMCSA, D.C. Cir.,docket number unavailable, filed 3/9/09). The...
BNA Daily Labor Report: Fed Ex Threatens to Cancel Jet Order Over Pro-Union Bill
March 25, 2009: FedEx Corp is threatening to cancel the purchase of billions of dollars worth of new Boeing Co cargo planes if Congress passes a law that would make it easier for unions to organize at the package-delivery company, the Wall Street Journal said. FedEx may cancel plans to buy as many as 30 new Boeing planes should Congress pass a bill that would remove truck drivers, couriers and other employees at FedEx's Express...
Kansas City Star: YRC Sues Former USF Holland President
March 24, 2009: YRC Worldwide Inc. has sued a former president of one of its carriers, seeking damages for allegedly using company secrets after joining a rival trucker. The federal suit in Kansas City, Kan., was filed late last month against Robert G. Zimmerman of R+L Carriers Inc. According to the suit, Zimmerman was president from June 2005 to April 2007 of USF Holland Inc., YRC’s biggest regional carrier. Click here to read more at...
Petition Drive Picks Up Steam
March 23, 2009: The national petition drive to make UPS create more full-time times is picking up steam. UPS is violating Article 22.3 of our contract which requires the company to maintain 20,000 combo jobs nationally. The company is thousands of jobs short of the 20,000 quota—and is eliminating more full-time combo jobs every day. Petitions are circulating in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Sacramento, San Diego—and...
USF Holland Closing Terminals
March 20, 2009: USF Holland is closing terminals and directing freight to YRC and New Penn. USF Holland announced it is closing terminals in Albany, Allentown, Baltimore, Bedford, Mass., Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Syracuse, Wilkes-Barre, Penn., Dubois, Penn., Richmond, and Wichita. These locations represent operations that USF Holland absorbed from the former USF Red Star and also the former home terminal for USF Dugan. The last day of work for most Teamsters at these terminals will be...
Hoffa Appointment Means No Women on GEB
March 18, 2009: President Hoffa has named Brad Slawson, Sr. to replace the only woman on our union’s top leadership. Cheryl Johnson, the lone woman on the Teamster General Executive Board, is retiring and has resigned as a Central Region Vice President. Hoffa has appointed Slawson, the principal officer of Minneapolis Local 120, to replace her. The General Executive Board is the highest leadership body in our union. It has 26 members: 25 white men...
Pay for UPS CEO More Than Doubled in 2008
March 17, 2009: United Parcel Service Inc. boosted Chairman and CEO Scott Davis’ total compensation by 115 percent in 2008. This is the same year that UPS Teamsters got a 35 cent raise. In all, Davis made a whopping $5.6 million last year, including $3.2 million in stock awards. Davis’s salary was hiked to $1 million, including a $40,000 bonus. Chief Operating Officer David Abnet also got a healthy pay hike in 2008. His total...