March 25, 2011: Teamster members are building local campaign committees to spread the word and unite Teamsters to vote for new leadership and a new direction for our union. Sandy Pope has been on the road winning Teamsters over. “Some of the members who came to our event were coming in with an open mind,” said Bob Slezak, who helped pull together a meet-the-candidate event in Eastern Mass. “But they left Sandy supporters.”

March 25, 2011: Sandy Pope received a standing ovation from more than 200 Teamsters at a Candidates’ Forum hosted by Wisconsin Local 344 on March 20. Hoffa ducked the debate and asked to send running mate Ken Hall as his stand-in. At the last minute, Hall also backed out, saying he had urgent business in his local union.  “Hoffa’s record is so bad even his stand-ins need stand-ins,” said Sandy Pope. “Hoffa has never backed...

Since the founding of Teamsters for a Democratic Union in 1976, TDU fought to win the Right to Vote for delegates to Teamster Conventions. In 1991, we secured that right. Prior to that time, local officials were automatically the delegates. But for the first time in 1991, delegates were elected. And it made an immediate difference. At the 1991 Teamster Convention in Orlando, Florida, there were a number of reform delegates, and TDU had armed...

March 25, 2011: While members wait for action, the company is still driving load after load through the subcontracting loophole. Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale March 9-11, the Teamsters National UPS Freight Grievance Panel addressed 31 grievances. Three pertained to Article 44 subcontracting and were denied. All other Article 44 grievances remained on “committee hold.”Two grievances addressing sleeper bid issues were deadlocked. Over all, the grievant and union won six grievances, the company won ten, seven...

March 25, 2011: For three years 44,000 full-time UPS workers in the Central and Southern regions and the Carolinas have been in a pension plan which is so secretive that it didn’t even have a website. Now it does. UPSers formerly in the Central States plan can now go here and, by using their company ID #, access their own pension information on this company-run site. That’s an improvement. The plan is still highly secretive,...

While UPS was making record profits—Hoffa gave the company record concessions. Split wage increases. No more 22.3 jobs. A pension pullout that threatens to bankrupt Central States. That was all part of cutting a deal to bring UPS Freight into the Teamsters. But instead of doing it the right way, by uniting members to stand up to management, they cut a deal. A substandard contract—with no Teamster healthcare. No Teamster pension. No work rules. And...

Your fight in Wisconsin captured the imagination of our country—and showed the world what the labor movement can be. Not stuffy guys in suits holding press conferences and making empty promises. But working people uniting together and mobilizing to defend our rights.  I want to bring the fighting spirit into the Teamsters Union. And that is why I am running for Teamster General President.  In one month, you did more out in the street to restore...

I’m a Teamster who joined this union when Teamster Power meant something.  I’ve come up through the ranks. No one ever gave me a job because of my last name. I’ve worked for everything I’ve got—just like all of you have. I worked in a grocery warehouse before getting a job as a freight Teamster. I worked on the dock and then drove truck over-the-road.  Before cell phones, my CB handle was Troublemaker—and I earned it....

We have to take on the nonunion competition. Most Teamsters work at small companies that face cut-throat competition from nonunion competitors that pay lower wages—and low or no benefits. Healthcare? Maybe. A pension? Forget it. I’m President of Teamsters Local 805 in New York. We’re a miscellaneous local with warehouse workers and truck drivers. Every time we go to the bargaining table, we face demands for givebacks and company threats to relocate and go nonunion....

By Karl Gartung, Local 344 Members On March 20 more than 200 teamsters from throughout Wisconsin and Northern Illinois attended a forum for candidates for General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Hoffa was a no-show but members listened attentively to Sandy Pope, President of Local 805) and Fred Gegare (President, Joint Council 39 and Teamster Trustee Chair of the Central States Pension Fund). Ken Hall had accepted an invitation but cancelled a few...