January 28, 2013: ABF ships nonunion FedEx to Teamster Members "ABF Teamsters win company points for safe driving, etc. They can redeem these points for ABF logo shirts, jackets, toy trucks, etc. Sad to say, ABF management uses nonunion FedEx instead of Teamsters at UPS to deliver. They could also use their own ABF inter-terminal mail-bag system they regularly use to send company documents and small parcels to terminals. It would be a way of...

January 28, 2013: Hundreds of Teamsters packed their union meeting on Sunday to back bylaws reforms and new rights for members in Providence Local 251. General membership meetings in Providence don't usually look like this. But Teamsters in Local 251 are tired of business as usual. Hundreds of members packed the monthly membership meeting to deliver petitions signed by more than 1,200 Teamsters. At the meeting, members officially proposed changes to the Local 251 bylaws...

January 25, 2013: YRC has withdrawn the proposed change of operations which would have essentially thrown 120 Teamster office clerical workers out of a job. It’s good news for office Teamsters at 12 terminals nationwide. The proposed change would have consolidated the billing and collection work to an office near Springfield, Mo. While the clerks would have the right to follow their jobs, very few planned to do so. Teamster clerks and some locals objected to...

January 23, 2013: The UPS contract covers nearly 250,000 Teamsters and sets the bar for every contract. The IBT is in contract negotiations with UPS, the biggest union employer in North America, and the outcome will affect every Teamster. The stakes are high, but you wouldn't know it from the IBT's information Brownout. Contract negotiations come only once every five years. They're the only chance we get to negotiate not just our wages and pensions,...

By Willie Hardy This month we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, who did so much to further the cause of equality in our country. Today, it has become popular for politicians and the media to praise him, while some of them ignore what he stood for. I, for one, am getting tired of the hypocrisy. To honor the man, we need to tell the truth about what he stood for. Dr. King...

TDU on the Move See You On the Picket Lines "We just held our first TDU meeting of the year in New York to make local organizing plans. Our first project is a Teamster Education Conference that's set for Saturday, March 9. "We'll be holding workshops on everything from effective grievance handling to organizing 'street heat actions' to back organizing drives, strikes and contract campaigns. "See you in these workshops and on the picket lines."...

January 23, 2013: When it comes to defending members, write-ups for absenteeism is one of the most common problems stewards have to deal with. TDU asked experienced stewards and union representatives for tips on protecting members from unfair discipline. Here's what they had to say: Q. What's the first thing you do when someone's written up for absenteeism? A. You have to do a thorough investigation. You can't rely on management's story. I look into...

January 28, 2013: You know it's time for negotiating the next contract when ABF starts bombarding members with the message that times are tough. So tough that the company claims a loss of $230 million since 2009. The company has mailed a DVD explaining the state of their finances and upper management has visited a few terminals to plead their case. "It makes you wonder how much ABF spent on this," commented Doug Wylie, a...

January 23, 2013: Members pledge to vote NO unless contract has major improvements. Teamsters at UPS Freight are organizing to win a good contract. Stewards and active members have met for months to discuss necessary improvements with the 2013 contract. A solid set of union proposals was taken to negotiations. Members understand that it will take the active involvement of Teamster members to succeed. In January they launched a petition campaign to reach more members...

January 23, 2013: The members have spoken and re-elected 804 Members United, the reform leadership in one of the largest UPS locals in the country. Local 804 represents more than 6,000 UPS Teamsters in metropolitan New York. Voter turnout was high in a hotly-contested three way race that pitted 804 Members United against two slates led by former Local 804 officers. "Local 804 members are passionate and opinionated. They get involved. That's what a democratic...