TDU wishes you and your family a warm, happy and healthy holiday season. In 2011, TDU mobilized Teamster members to stand up to employers and to build a stronger, more progressive Teamsters Union. In the coming year, Teamsters and workers everywhere will face new challenges. TDU will be there. We’re proud to stand with you—and wish you and your families the very best in this holiday season.

October 24, 2011: Ken Hall has announced another delay in the arbitration hearing on the Local 745 Dallas subcontracting grievance. Members have now been waiting for an answer on this issue for over two years. The company and the union met with the arbitrator in May, and then again on October 18. The union has presented their witnesses and documentation and the company has begun to present their case but has not concluded. The date...

October 20, 2011: 122,810 ballots have been returned in the election for Teamster President. And more are coming in every day. You can download the new leaflet from the Sandy Pope campaign that thanks members for voting—and reminds members who haven’t voted to send in their ballots. Sandy Pope is still on the campaign trail, meeting with Teamsters in southern New Jersey this morning. And across the country, members are still getting out the vote....

October 19, 2011: Locked-out Teamster art-handlers get support from Jesse Jackson, actress Susan Sarandon, and a bus-load of Occupy Wall Street protestors. Sarandon learned about the lock-out when she went to purchase art and refused to cross the picket line. She has encouraged other celebrities not to cross the line and to support the Teamster art handlers. Yesterday, she joined a bus-load of Occupy Wall St. protestors and Local 814 Teamsters at a rally at...

October 19, 2011: 104,584. That’s the number of ballots received as of October 18 by the Election Supervisor. That is 7.8% of all eligible Teamsters. And that’s typical. In the 2006 election for Teamster President, two out of three votes were returned after the first week. Sure, some ballots are in the mail and on their way. But hundreds of thousands of ballots are still sitting on kitchen tables. (A detailed chart listing returns by...

October 13, 2011: The decisions from the UPS National Grievance Panel are now available. So is the new schedule of golf resort meetings set by Hoffa and Hall. The decisions from the September UPS National Grievance Panel are now available from TDU. Incredibly, these are the first grievance decisions to be issued by the panel in a year. You read that right. Despite runaway contract violations by UPS nationwide, the national grievance panel issued no...

October 12, 2011: If you did not get your ballot yet, call the Election Supervisor to request a replacement ballot at 877-317-2011. Ballots were mailed on Oct. 6. The Election Supervisor is now accepting calls from Teamsters who want a replacement ballot. If you made a mistake marking your ballot or want to change your vote, call today and request a replacement ballot. The replacement ballot hotline is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m....

October 7, 2011: Teamsters are turning out the vote for Sandy, and for real change in our union. They're at the terminal and plant gates, making phone calls, sending texts, wearing their Sandy Pope gear, and talking Teamster to Teamster. In St. Louis, Hoffa showed his true colors when he appeared—appropriately—in a chicken suit, as Teamsters leafleted with sample ballots for Sandy Pope. A few tried to choke him, but most were simply eager to...

October 6, 2011: Ballots mail out today to elect the next Teamster General President. Sandy Pope is the only candidate who can beat Hoffa and lead our union in a new direction. How to Vote for Sandy Pope Here’s how to cast your ballot for Sandy Pope: Mark your ballot for the Independent Candidate, Sandy Pope. If you mark any slate oval you will cancel out your vote for Sandy Pope. If you do not...

October 6, 2011: An overwhelming 97 percent majority of BLET members have voted to authorize a strike when a mandatory 30-day cooling off period under the Railway Labor Act comes to an end later this week. Locomotive engineers would walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 7, 2011, unless President Obama intervenes and appoints a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). A PEB would halt any strike or lockout by the parties,...