UPS Cartage Services: Teamster Success Not Secure
July 12, 2007: The International Union has cited its agreement covering UPS Cartage Services Teamsters as a model for success at UPS Freight. But, despite this enthusiasm and IBT Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel’s misstatement to the 2006 IBT Convention that UPS Cartage Services Teamsters had “secured the same wages and benefits as their UPS brothers and sisters,” Teamster standards and security in this part of the Brown Behemoth remain imperiled. The August 2005 Addendum to the...
What Will It Take to Organize FedEx?
July 12, 2007: On June 29, the House Transportation Committee voted to make it easier for FedEx employees to organize by passing an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration bill that would allow FedEx Express drivers to organize under the National Labor Relations Act. Absurdly, FedEx, the nation’s second largest trucking company, is currently treated as an “airline” under federal labor law—thanks to a provision management snuck into legislation ten years ago. FedEx is covered...
TDU Defends Right to Inform UPS Teamsters
July 12, 2007: Management has cracked down on the distribution of Convoy Dispatch and Make UPS Deliver contract bulletins at UPS’s Lumberton, N.C. facility. Apparently, the company does not like members being informed about contract negotiations and other issues at UPS. For years, shop steward Nichele Fulmore has distributed Convoy and other union material at the driver counter before members punch in. But on May 17, UPS management issued Fulmore a warning letter saying her...
Don’t Let DHL Out of National Contract
July 12, 2007: Will the Hoffa administration let DHL undermine our standards under the guise of a new 'master' contract? The Hoffa administration and some local officials are floating a trial balloon to see if DHL Teamsters can be swayed into a company-plan to take them out of the National Master Freight Agreement. The sales pitch is that members will instead be in a DHL “master” contract.They don’t mention that the company has pushed for...
Save Our Pensions
July 12, 2007: In June ABF CEO Bob Davidson circulated a letter to all Teamster employees saying that members should dump their Teamster pensions for a company 401(k). The letter is supposed to be a sales job for the company’s effort to break out of our Teamster pension plans. Instead, it reveals that it would be a disaster for our union to let employers like ABF and UPS to take this course. An 18-year Teamster...
UTU Merger: What Would It Mean for Teamster Engineers?
July 12, 2007: by Jim Eubanks and Ed Michael: The United Transportation Union (UTU), the main union for conductors on the railways, is proposing a merger with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA). Why is the UTU so eager to merge with the SMWIA when they have a natural merger partner sitting across the engine cab from their members—the Teamster engineers in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen? A merger with the BLET...
IBT Election Supervisor Upholds Virtue’s Firing
July 12, 2007: IBT Election Supervisor Richard Mark has very likely made his final decision of the 2006 IBT Campaign, and done so in a confusing manner. Mark upheld the firing of Dan Virtue and Carlos Ramos by Hoffa, for the “crime” of Virtue running for Eastern International Vice President. Mark reasoned that since the action was taken after the election was over and certified, Hoffa could fire any political opponents and hire any cronies....
Ex-Houston Local President Gets 6 ½ Years
July 12, 2007: On May 26 former Houston Local 988 President Chuck Crawley was sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison for embezzling union funds and stealing a union election. Crawley was already banned from the Teamsters by the Independent Review Board (IRB), after James Hoffa dragged his feet and slowed down an internal investigation. Ed Stier, the former anti-corruption director for the IBT, investigated Crawley and found evidence of several money-skimming scams involving...
Ballot Fraud: Feds to Run Local 743 Election
July 12, 2007: The members of Chicago Local 743 will get a different kind of election this fall thanks to action taken by the 743 New Leadership Slate in proving ballot fraud in the last election. This time, the U.S. Department of Labor will conduct the nominations and election, instead of the incumbents. “We voted the corrupt ‘Old Guard’ out, but they stole the election. This time when we vote them out, they will really...
UofC Teamsters Push for Strong Contract
July 12, 2007: By Joe Sexauer, Local 743: After five months without a contract, over 1,000 janitors, clerks, and maintenance Teamsters at the University of Chicago are still fighting hard for better wages and benefits. We’re members of Teamsters Local 743. Our local leaders haven’t organized a contract campaign, so rank-and-file members decided to organize a campaign on our own. First, we started by organizing on-site lunch meetings, where union members can come together and...