UPDATED January 22, 2014. 4:00 p.m. The International Union has just issued new Rules for contract voting by 26,000 YRCW Teamsters. The changes 1) are to allow Friday voting in a sealed envelope for drivers subject to dispatch who will not be back to their home local to vote on the weekend; and 2) clarify that anyone on layoff, but who has worked in the past three years, may vote, even if they are on...

January 18, 2014.  YRC Teamsters will be voting once again on a contract extension, this time in union halls on January 25-26.  The proposal, reportedly toned down from the initial “wish-list” proposal by YRC, was negotiated with the IBT. We will publish the full proposal and other information as soon as it is available. The “two man” meeting of local officers to see the proposal will be Tuesday, January 21. Ken Hall had a long...

January 16, 2014.  YRCW CEO James Welch now says that the company will “revise its proposal” for a contract extension, to work with the Teamsters and with their lenders to enable the company to re-finance its debt. In a statement issued today. Welch admitted that “re-voting the same proposal is not an option.” Teamsters at YRCW clearly gave Welch that information with the overwhelming rejection of the company’s first extension proposal. Welch now plans to...

January 15, 2014: YRCW Teamsters are asking: where are Hoffa and the IBT Freight Division?  YRCW terminal management personnel are working over Teamsters, asking them to call the IBT and request a re-vote, while hinting of a possible closure. The IBT Freight Division has stated there will be no re-vote of the same proposal. We can all agree on that. Hoffa and Freight Director Tyson Johnson are MIA, leaving YRC Teamsters to fend for themselves....

January 15, 2014.   Today is the 50th anniversary of the National Master Freight Agreement, first signed on this date in 1964.  It covered 400,000 Teamsters and was the culmination of decades of organizing, starting with the courageous Minneapolis strikers of 1934. It was also the high-water mark of Jimmy Hoffa, who came up from the streets of Detroit and fought his way to the top of the Teamsters Union, with the help of the mob....

January 9, 2014. 5 p.m. The counting of YRCW ballots has ended with the contract extension rejected by a vote of 12,028 to 7,623. You can see the results by local union here. The votes in most of the biggest locals counted are decisively No, and many smaller locals voted No also. What is the Plan B? Since rank and file opposition to the concession deal has been widespread and well-known, the International Union and...

January 9, 2014: The YRCW contract extension has gone down to defeat. What’s next? The company has hinted that it could be bankruptcy, and we sincerely hope for the sake of 26,000 Teamsters, their families and their communities that they will not take that route. The International Union should step up to the plate and bargain immediately with YRCW, while simultaneously dealing with the banks to save Teamster jobs without completely gutting the contract. There...

January 9, 2014: Updated 6 p.m. Below is the YRCW vote count. The count is based on reports from observers and maybe subject to change Local City Yes No 2 Butte, Mont. 7 1 5 Baton Rouge, La. 6 7 7 Kalamazoo, Mich 0 1 17 Denver 57 97 20 Toledo, Ohio 125 80 24 Akron, Ohio 182 362 25 Boston 57 74 26 Danville, Ohio 11 37 29 Waynesboro, Va. 28 9 41 Kansas...

January 8, 2014. 3:30 p.m. The ballots for the YRCW contract extension will be counted today and tomorrow. At the first postal pick up at 8 am, the post office count was 19,483 ballots. The final pick up at Noon brought about 150 more. The postal estimates may be subject to correction when the ballots are counted later. They are sorting the ballots into the various local union trays, and starting to open some ballots,...

UPDATED January 8, 2014: 69% voted NO on the first offer. We can do it again, and this time can win real improvements. Be at the meeting this weekend to cast your vote—your one chance in five years for a better contract. Click here to download the new leaflet and help spread the word. The new UPS Freight deal is very little changed from the first proposal, which members rejected by 69%. Basically they put...