June 14, 2010: Backed by Teamsters Local 117, workers at several loading companies in the Puget Sound region were scheduled to stage job actions Friday at distribution centers operated by Safeway, Fred Meyer and Unified Grocers, among others. The workers — called “lumpers” — are hired by third-party carriers to unload cargo at warehouse distribution centers. According to a teamsters press release, they are paid by the unit, or "piecework," rather than on an hourly...

June 11, 2010: Clearly, unions avoid strikes because they fear they can’t win them. How do we break this mold? Read the interview with Peter Olney at LaborNotes.org.

June 10, 2010: Imagine being aloft at 30,000 feet without a pilot in the cockpit. Scary? It could be the airplane of the future. Click here to read more at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

June 8, 2010: Teamsters from several locations have reported seeing ads in local newspapers indicating that Holland Motor Freight, the largest YRC regional trucking subsidiary, is looking to hire. Others report that all laid off Teamsters have returned to work at their terminals. This is good news. But thousands of brothers and sisters at YRC remain on layoff status. They should be first in line for any openings at Holland. Article 3.2 of the National...

June 8, 2010: Millions of newly laid-off workers and very low-income people may lose health coverage because key federal safety net assistance was not extended in the recent jobs bill, according to a report released today by the consumer health organization Families USA. The report analyzed the impacts of decisions by the House of Representatives when it adopted the new jobs bill. The House jettisoned expected COBRA health coverage subsidies for workers who are laid...

June 4, 2010: In 2006, BLET members voted two-to-one for the Right to Vote for top officers. But now some officials are trying to take it away—and they’re one step closer to their goal. Last December, a few BLET officials put forward an initiative to reverse the membership vote and take away the Right to Vote. To get past the first hurdle with their anti-democracy initiative, these officials had to get divisions representing 25 percent...

June 3, 2010: BLET National President Paul T. Sorrow submitted a letter to National Secretary-Treasurer William C. Walpert today, advising that he is resigning the Presidency effective July 1, 2010, in order to retire. President Sorrow’s letter also stated the following: "I have always known that my time would come, and trusted that I would have the wisdom to recognize this before anyone else. The pace of the past couple of months has taken a...

June 2, 2010: Goldman Sachs has resigned from its fiduciary position of managing several billion dollars of investments for the Central States Pension Fund. The fund now plans to use just one money manager, Northern Trust Global Advisors, and also plans to shift more investments to passive management, or index accounts. This information is contained in the fund’s quarterly Financial and Analytical Report (which is available only on TDU.org) and the Report of the Special...

June 2, 2010: Teamsters vice president Fred Gegare will challenge James P. Hoffa next year for the top job at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Gegare, a vice president at large since 1998, is running for Teamsters general president without a slate of fellow officers or as a candidate supported by a group within the union. Click here to read more at The Journal of Commerce.

June 1, 2010: The Teamsters union’s Central States pension fund faces insolvency within 10 to 15 years unless Congress acts to stabilize the fund, its executive director said this week. Responsibility for benefits paid to employees of failed companies should be transferred to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Thomas C. Nyhan told a Senate committee. Click here to read more at The Journal of Commerce.