November 21, 2012: Hundreds of members from every Teamster industry attended the three-day 2012 TDU Convention in Chicago, October 26-28. New activists attended workshops on union rights and grievance handling to build union power. Stewards, officers and local reform committees led and participated in sessions on running for office, contract campaigns and defending healthcare and pensions. UPS and freight members met throughout the weekend to lay out plans for winning stronger contracts in 2013. Karen...

November 21, 2012: The biggest Teamster dairy in New York, Elmhurst Dairy, has been trying to cut costs by dumping higher-paid senior workers for years. This fall, the company offered Teamsters a buyout, but few members took the offer. So management turned to union-busting instead. Last month, the company laid off the 42 highest seniority Teamsters at the Dairy and replaced them with new hires who start at just $10 an hour. "Elmhurst thinks they...

November 21, 2012: Skimming union money. Sham contracts. Non-union contractors. Misusing credit cards. The whole ugly story is in a 139-page report issued on November 9 by the Independent Review Board (IRB). Click here to download it. The deals have been going on in the 11,000-member Local 120 for years, but the Hoffa administration either couldn't find it or didn't want to. The IRB report details a series of long-running schemes to divert union funds...

Teamster Money Should Build Teamster Power In a tough economy, many Teamsters are taking concessions. But top Teamster officials are riding high. In the worst recession of our lives, many Teamsters are being hit with concessions, pension cuts and layoffs.Our union has been hit hard, too. The Teamsters have lost 100,000 members in just three years according to union reports filed with the Department of Labor. But one group of Teamsters has not felt any...

November 21, 2012: The Teamster National Negotiating Committee has met with UPS four times, Sept. 27, Oct. 15-18, Oct. 22-25 and Nov. 12-15, to negotiate over language and operations issues. The Union has put forward key proposals on harassment, excessive overtime, and technology. The company has countered with concessionary proposals–including more ability to subcontract out jobs. Contract negotiations are moving slowly and are suspended until after the second week of January. Negotiations are expected to...

November 21, 2012: UPS has told the Negotiating Committee it wants to expand into same-day deliveries. The Postal Service is experimenting with same-day delivery of online orders in San Francisco, with a new service called Metro Post. Amazon, eBay and Wal-Mart are also testing same-day delivery. In order to deliver a package on the same day it's shipped, the Post Office will have to get the pick-up request from the company between 2:00 and 3:00...

Increase Substandard Pensions "We need an increase in the UPS-Teamster pension for those of us who came out of the Central States. It's covered under Article 34 of the contract, so if we don't get an increase, we would be stuck for another five years." Chris JanssenLocal 90, Des Moines, Iowa Protect Jobs. End Subcontracting. "There's subcontracting language in our contract but when is it enforced? Ken Hall came to visit our terminal and management...

November 21, 2012 Brownout Hits Local UnionsThe International Union's information brownout is even keeping local officers in the dark. The International has not given Local Unions a copy of the company's bargaining proposals or the Union's own proposals on production harassment and 9.5, which Ken Hall says are priority issues. It's tough for members to back our bargaining committee when we don't even know what's being negotiated. Last time, the Information Brownout ended with Hoffa...

November 21, 2012: Part-time wages are at an all-time low at UPS. How much do part-timers deserve a raise? Consider these facts: The starting rate of $8.50 is less than minimum wage in some states. Before 1982, part-timers made the same wages as full-timers. That year, the starting rate was cut to $8. It has gone up just 50¢ in 30 years. If part-time wages had just kept up with inflation, then the starting wage...

November 26, 2012: UPS Freight Teamsters are under the same information Brownout as UPS parcel teamsters. Several bargaining sessions were held in October and November, but our union has yet to issue any updates or post information that would help unify our workforce to stand together for a good contract. Teamster Voice has learned that management has made a proposal to mingle the road operations of UPS Freight, Parcel and Cartage. We know well they...