February 23, 2015: Starting wages for Walmart workers will soon match starting pay for part-timers at UPS. What’s wrong with this picture? Walmart announced it is raising its minimum wage to $9 an hour and that starting pay will be hiked to $10 an hour in February 2016. That means wages at Walmart, the nation’s biggest exploiter of low-wage labor, will match starting pay at UPS under our union’s biggest contract. That’s just embarrassing. Even...

February 5, 2015: Teamsters in Southern California held a packed meeting to build a campaign to elect new International Union leaders. Next up: Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio on Feb. 21-22. Teamsters in the Midwest have been hammered with contract concessions and the threat of pension cuts. Now members are coming together to organize for new leadership and a new direction for our union. Members are holding meetings to gear up for the International Union election...

February 4, 2015: Could your benefits be cut under the new Pension Cut legislation? Find out here. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has compiled a list of 100 plans that may be permitted to cut benefits as a result of the new pension law enacted in December 2014. The Central States Pension Fund is not the only Teamster pension plan where retirees may be threatened with benefit cuts because of the new pension...

February 4, 2015: Teamster members are making their voices heard about the threats to our pensions.  John Raffiani is sick about what may happen to his Central States Pension but that’s not holding him back from doing something about it. He contacted a reporter at the Albany Times Union and made sure the pension cuts story made headlines in his city. Check out the coverage in the Albany Times Union. The pension cuts story needs...

February 3, 2015: A review of the 3rd quarter 2014 financial report of the Central States Pension Fund shows that the fund has $18 billion as of September 30, 2014. The information is detailed in the quarterly Financial and Analytical Report and the Independent Special Counsel Report.  Compared to the previous year, the fund saw a net investment income decline of $1.2 billion but it was offset slightly by a $94 million net increase in operating...

January 30, 2015: TDU's Pension Justice Campaign is on the move. Our voices are getting into the media and Teamster members and retirees are organizing to fight cuts and protect our pensions. The Atlanta Journal Constitution featured leaders of the Local 728 Retirees Club who are fighting the pension cuts.  “We worked all our lives to earn a decent pension,” said Waymon Stroud, 61, who retired four years ago from Yellow Freight and is now president...

January 30, 2015: With TDU’s support, the 5,500 members of Teamsters Local 251 took back their union and elected reform leaders. Now, Local 251 members at Rhode Island Hospital are standing up against corporate greed by building labor-community solidarity. Will you stand with them? Click here to sign a petition supporting the Campaign for a Fair Contract, Good Jobs & Quality Care at Rhode Island Hospital. Yesterday, they held a massive informational picket line in front...

January 29, 2015: Southern California Teamsters packed the house last Sunday to back a campaign for new leadership in the Teamsters Union. California Teamsters are getting into the campaign to replace the Hoffa-Hall bunch with leaders committed to building rank and file Teamster power and they are not waiting until the ballots go out in 2016. On January 25, 125 Teamsters came together near Los Angeles to hear Tim Sylvester of New York Local 804...

January 22, 2015: Since last year’s Congressional elections, lawmakers in at least nine states have signaled that they intend to introduce “right-to-work” legislation.   Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri will be battlegrounds over the misnamed legislation, with bills being introduced in early 2015. Efforts to pass RTW laws are also expected in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania.  “Right to Work” laws mandate unions to represent workers who don’t pay any dues or fees...

"I hauled cars out of Selkirk, New York for 31 years. I worked for a number of different companies – Automobile Transport, Nu-Car Carriers, Anchor Motor Freight, M&G Convoy, Leaseway, Ryder and finally, Allied. I retired in 2002. I worked extremely hard in 35 below zero weather and 110 degrees in the shade. I went through lay offs, mergers, loss of seniority, company closings and now they want to cut my pension. That just isn’t...