How We Saved Our Right to Vote
September 28, 2010: In August, BLET members voted 6,305 to 2,452 to save their Right to Vote. The vote was so lopsided because dozens of BLET members got organized and took a stand. Here’s how they made it happen. Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) have overwhelmingly voted down an initiative that would take away their Right to Vote before they ever got a chance to use it. Now their first...
UPS Freight National Grievance Panel: Subcontracting Out Our Work Remains Issue
September 28, 2010: The next meeting of the UPS Freight national grievance panel will be in San Diego on Oct. 13-15. Article 44 subcontracting grievances remain a big issue. Nineteen cases were either carried over or remain on “committee hold.” These grievances are getting old and are from terminals across the U.S.—Columbus, Seattle, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Dallas, Boise, and many points in between. There are two new Article 44 cases on the docket from Orlando...
Central States Pension Fund Update
September 28, 2010: The Central States Pension Fund had $18 billion in assets as of June 30, 2010, according to their quarterly Financial and Analytical Report, which Teamsters for a Democratic Union obtained in late August. This is down from $19.5 billion at the beginning of the year. The loss is due to two factors: the poor stock market performance in the second quarter, and the temporary withdrawal of YRCW, the fund’s largest participating employer....
Will Hoffa Fight for His Job Harder than He Fought for Your Pension?
October 15, 2010: Hoffa is up for re-election next year. And he’s got to know he’s got a tough battle ahead. Rusty Monahon, Holland, Local 100, CincinnatiDuring his last campaign, Hoffa filled my mailbox with fancy mailers. He organized rallies, traveled all over the country visiting Teamster worksites, and hired telemarketers to call us at home. It was an all-out push, and he spent over $3 million to get re-elected. When was the last time...
Help Build a Teamster Army for Change
Teamsters are coming from across the country on Nov. 5-7 to Chicago to help build the campaign army to elect new leadership for our union. I’ll Be There “The 2011 Teamster election will change the course of our union. “Teamsters across the country will meet in Chicago at the TDU Convention to make plans to vote Hoffa out and rebuild our union’s power. “I’ll be there and you should too—to build a Teamster army for...
New YRCW Concession Proposal
September 24, 2010: On September 29, local union officials from freight locals will meet in Dallas where the International will outline the tentative agreement which the International Union has reached with YRCW. Then the decision will be in the hands of YRCW Teamsters. The Hoffa administration has offered new concessions, on the condition that CEO William Zollars be cut loose. His employment contract ends December 31. The largest concession presently in place—the withdrawal of YRCW...
Central States Pension Fund: Update
September 17, 2010: The Central States Pension Fund had $18 billion in assets as of June 30, 2010, according to their quarterly Financial and Analytical Report. This is down from $19.5 billion at the beginning of the year. The loss is due to two factors: the poor stock market performance in the second quarter, and the temporary withdrawal of YRCW, the fund’s largest employer. The fund lost 6.8 percent on its investments in the second...
More Turkeys at UPS
September 14, 2010: UPS Teamsters in Local 2727 will get a turkey this Christmas season, and they will get their annual safety and length-of-service awards, thanks to a grievance their local just won. But will all the rest of us get the same benefits? That question can only be answered by our International Union officials, including Ken Hall and James Hoffa. Why is it that one local can win what they apparently can’t with the...
International Proposes a 3rd Round of YRC Concessions
Updated September 10, 2010: The Hoffa administration will again ask YRCW Teamsters to vote to approve concessions, provided that YRCW management agrees to certain terms. The concessions are valued at $350 million per year, and would run until March 2015, nearly five years, according to sources at the International union. This is two years beyond the expiration of the NMFA in March 2013. Since the present pension concession, due to expire at the end of...
BLET Members Save the Right to Vote
August 30, 2010: By an overwhelming vote of 6,305 to 2,452, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in the Teamsters have saved the Right to Vote for their top officers. BLET members won the Right to Vote in 2006, by a smaller margin and lower turnout. That was before three of the union’s top officers left in disgrace for misusing tens of thousands of dollars of union funds, double-dipping on expenses,...