Gate Gourmet workers from around the country have had their wages, benefits and job security decimated by a horrible arbitration decision. Some of them are fighting back. The decision cuts wages by 6.5 percent and reduces sick leave, holidays, vacations, and eliminates union health care and pension plans. Teamsters who previously had union benefits are forced into a company health plan that costs $363 per month for families. For many workers who don’t make much...

April 5, 2005: In March, the International Union unilaterally merged Local 556 into Local 839 in Pasco, Washington. The merger came after Tyson Foods won a disputed decertification election against Local 556. The NLRB is investigating numerous unfair labor practice charges including the company’s threat to close the plant if workers voted to remain Teamsters. Local 556 leaders opened merger talks to discuss what steps Local 839 would take to win the fight for union...

April 6, 2006: Corporate executive pay and perks have gotten more out of line than ever, as detailed in a lengthy report in the April 9 New York Times. "Off to the races again, leaving many behind" the feature shows that average CEO pay went from 33 times average workers' pay in 1980 to 104 times in 2004, with many CEOs of large corporations far higher than that. The AFL-CIO is asking unionists to do...

President Hoffa says we left the AFL-CIO to “change to win.” But I’m concerned about what the move is going to mean for union solidarity and the old principle that there’s strength in unity. We’re very active in labor solidarity here in Washington, DC, including street heat actions, rallies, disaster relief and solidarity with strikes and contract campaigns. And when Local 96 has asked for support from the AFL-CIO, they have always been there for...

January 28, 2005: “If we do not accept [the contract deal], the company is telling us they will shut down. I believe only the members can respond to this threat by voting on this latest offer.”  That’s how Larry McDonald, president of Toronto Local 938, recommended a new six-year contract to over 1,000 UPS Teamsters in Ontario. Teamster officials repeated this threat elsewhere to sell a deal that was actually worse than what the company...

March 16, 2006: The key senators to contact about the dangerous Red Zone Amendment are the ranking members of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY). A sample letter appears below. You can use the “Cut and Paste” function on your computer to send this letter via email to these Senators. Their websites, phone and fax numbers appear below. Dear Senator, Our family is counting on a...

January 28, 2005: The incumbents determine whether it will be a walk-in or mail-in. They set the dates. They make all the rules. They run the nominations meeting. They rule on who is eligible. They have access to all the shops. They control the printing, mailing, balloting and counting. They run the whole shebang. Then they lose, and claim the election was stolen!  Sounds weird, but IBT President James Hoffa buys it, whenever he feels...

January 28, 2005:The Graphic Communications International Union’s (GCIU) 60,000 U.S. members voted by a narrow margin to merge into the Teamsters.  Most Canadian locals, which voted separately, have rejected the proposal.  One local inToronto and all three locals in Quebec have decided to affiliate with the IBT. TDU welcomes our new brothers and sisters across North America into the Teamsters. GCIU will now be an autonomous printing trades conference within our union. Those in favor...

January 30,2005: As an employee of Allied Systems in Windsor, Ont., and a member of Teamsters Local 938, I would like to address the issue of the fast card program [for crossing the U.S./Canada border]. I, like many others, am in the process of obtaining a fast card to hold my job. At this point I do not have my fast card and therefore I am unable to work until I obtain one.  I have applied for...

“Herman Benson launched the union democracy movement almost single-handedly, nearly 50 years ago,” says Ken Paff, TDU national organizer. Now Benson has written a book about the history of the union reform movement he  took part in: Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers: How Insurgents Transformed the Labor Movement. Benson writes the account of union reformers in the United Mine Workers, the Laborers, the Longshore Workers, the Teamsters, and other unions—all “independent-minded unionists who are loyal to...