May 24, 2013: For the first time in 49 years, there is no national master freight agreement. There is an agreement with YRCW, and tentative agreements going to members at ABF and UPS Freight. Separate agreements for some 40,000 freight Teamsters, and none could possibly be considered a model contract. Hoffa came into office on the slogan "The Hoffa name means power." His father's big accomplishment was the NMFA. Now he's been busy at his...

May 24, 2013: Ballots will be mailed to members in early June. The union's brochure makes the case that concessions are needed for the health of the company. ABF management circulated an internal memo "for proactive, verbal use with Teamsters employees...if you vote no, the likelihood that YRC will consummate a deal grows higher." So threats are being used too. Key changes in the proposed Tentative Agreement include: Immediate 7 percent wage reduction.  2 percent...

May 24, 2013: YRCW board member Harry Wilson is getting paid $250,000 per month, since February 2013, and may get a lot more. Wilson was appointed to the YRCW Board by the Teamsters Union leadership. We've all heard the expression "follow the money." This information is tucked away in a February YRCW filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing states that, "On Feb. 20, 2013, we entered into an Advisory Agreement with MAEVA...

By Tim Pagel, Local 988, Houston, YRC City Driver When the YRC, Zollars and Hoffa bank heist is finally completed in 2015, I will be out an estimated $57K in wages alone. Then there's the stolen breaks, cheated pension deal, and the lost vacations weeks. I'm looking at a lot more lost than just the 15 percent wage cut made by me and thousands of other Teamsters. I gladly pay my dues and support my...

May 24, 2013: In April Hoffa's Carhaul Director, Roy Gross, blocked from going to arbitration a work preservation grievance which challenged Jack Cooper's new substandard division. Instead the International and the employers routed the grievance—which was researched and filed by Local 89—to the national panel, where they can quietly bury it. Why would our International union want to help Jack Cooper set up an owner-operator division that operates without terminals, assigns drivers in the Midwest...

May 24, 2013: Ken Hall vowed UPSers would not pay for our healthcare. But under the tentative agreement, 140,000 UPSers would be moved into an inferior plan that will force them to pay a lot more for healthcare. Just a few months ago, Teamsters turned out across the country in huge numbers to attend rallies and chant, "No way, we won't pay!" Now healthcare concessions has gone from uniting Teamsters against UPS to uniting many...

May 24, 2013: New contract language would strip local unions of autonomy to enforce contract. Lost in the hubbub about healthcare and harassment, the new contract includes changes that take autonomy away from local unions and consolidate power in the hands of the International Union Package Division. For example: the contract would strip local unions of the right to pull out of company-dominated safety committees without the International's permission (Article 18). Local unions from New...

May 24, 2013: When it comes to technology harassment and dishonesty, the new contract offers more of the same. The company's ability to fire an employee for "dishonesty" solely based on information from technology is largely unchanged in the new contract. The IBT claims UPS must now "confirm information from GPS by direct observation or other corroborating evidence." But the contract makes a clear exception if UPS accuses a Teamster of "dishonesty." The IBT also...

By Steve Kelly, Local 252, Olympia, Wash. Throughout negotiations, we heard big talk about harassment. I was honestly shocked at the skimpy results. As a shop steward, the new language does nothing for me. We've been able to make the company pay 9.5 grievances. The biggest problem with the 9.5 language is getting loads adjusted. We were looking for new language that would make UPS adjust our loads and address understaffing. What we got is...

May 24, 2013: UPS doesn't like TDU's End Part-Time Poverty at UPS T-shirts. But management is happy to have a five-year extension on part-time poverty in the contract. More than 100,000 part-timers will be hit with healthcare cuts and higher out-of-pocket expenses. Starting pay goes up by $1.50 to $10. But check the fine print. The new contract eliminates the $1 increase at 90 days. After 90 days, a part-timer will make just $10 ($11...