Workers left to rot by U.S. Food Service
August 9, 2010: When Thomas P. Samatas, co-founder of Labor One Inc., was building his business, he turned to a part of the work force that is often shunned. Samatas hired young black men -- some saddled with felonies -- from CHA's Cabrini-Green housing development to unload trucks at U.S. Food Service's Bensenville facility. Click here to read more at Sun-Times Media.
Half Wages? Bring Out the Rat, Say NY Movers
August 6, 2010:The inflatable rat is back, as New York City Teamsters strike to say it’s not fair to pay some movers $16-$22 an hour and others—mostly Black and Latino—just $8. It started when workers at ATM Enterprises, who unload furniture from out of state and put it on the trucks belonging to Trucking Office Products System (TOPS), started raising a stink about their low wages. The TOPS workers make up to $22 an hour...
Teamster Familes Remember Those Lost
August 6, 2010: Bryan Cirigliano was a union steward with the Teamsters, a father, a husband and brother. He was also the first person killed during the workplace shooting rampage at Connectucut's Hartford Distributors. "I can't believe it. I really can't believe it," said his brother Mike Cirigliano. "Yesterday I saw the look on all my friends. For 35 years I worked with them. We'd always joked around. We had always had our good times....
YRC Worldwide stays mum about two looming issues
August 3, 2010: YRC Worldwide Inc. still isn’t ready to announce decisions about two of the biggest issues facing the trucking company — a new pension agreement with its union employees and a reverse stock split. During a conference call to discuss second-quarter results Tuesday, YRC executives said that both issues were being discussed but that the company wasn’t ready to provide an update. Click here to read more at the Kansas City Business Journal....
BLET Members Voting on the Right to Vote
August 2, 2010: The ballots are out and BLET members are voting on whether or not they should keep the Right to Vote for their top officers. The ballots will be counted on Aug. 30. Read the letter that Hugh Sawyer, President of BLET Division 316, sent to every member about this vote. Dear Sisters and Brothers: In 2006, the members of our union voted almost two-to-one for the Right to Vote. Our first ever...
Top local Teamster splits with Hoffa
August 2, 2010: Veteran Twin Cities labor leader Tom Keegel has been at James P. Hoffa's side in the Teamsters union for 12 years. The Hoffa-Keegel ticket -- with Hoffa as president and Keegel as the No. 2 man -- has won three elections and was gearing up for the 2011 campaign for leadership of the giant union. But earlier this month, Keegel abruptly announced his impending retirement and his departure from the 2011 Hoffa...
Waste Management Announces Second Quarter 2010 Earnings
July 30, 2010: Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Revenue for the second quarter of 2010 was $3.16 billion compared with $2.95 billion for the same 2009 period, an increase of $206 million, or 7.0%. Net income(a) for the quarter was $246 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, compared with $247 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2009. The...
Randy Furst: A First Amendment hero remembered
July 30, 2010: In 1976, my life and Daniel Schorr's intersected. When he died last week at age 93, I lost a friend, the public lost a trusted news analyst at National Public Radio, and the First Amendment lost one of its bravest defenders. I was a young reporter in 1976 at the Minneapolis Star; Schorr was a famous journalist who worked for CBS TV. He'd scored a number of scoops during the Watergate era,...
FreshDirect supervisors threaten pro-union employees with out-of-state move
July 29, 2010: The grocery delivery company FreshDirect is being accused of playing a high-stakes game of chicken with employees trying to organize a union. Supervisors at the Long Island City, Queens, warehouse are threatening that the company will leave the city if workers vote to unionize. Click here to read more at NY Daily News.
UPS Conference Call Set for Thursday
July 28, 2010: The Package Division is holding a telephone Conference Call on Thursday night, July 29 to update UPS Teamsters. The rescheduled conference call will update stewards and assistant stewards about UPS issues as well as the status of legislation that would make it easier for our union to organize FedEx. The original conference call on these topics was scheduled for two weeks ago. But the conference call had technical problems and the call...