UPS National Grievance Decisions
March 19, 2010: The decisions from the first meeting of the National Grievance panel of 2010 are now available from TDU. The most common grievance at the panel dealt with Article 22.3 and the company’s elimination of full-time combo jobs we won in the 1997 strike. Members across the country have filed grievances to save thousands of full-time combo positions that the company is eliminating in violation of the contract. The national panel did not...
Victory on YRC Excess Overtime
March 19, 2010: Just three days after TDU.org exposed a deal between YRCW and the IBT to weaken the freight contract clause requiring the call-back of laid-off Teamsters, the deal appears to be canceled. A management memo dated March 18 and headed “25% O/T methodology – not good news” Holland VP for Labor Relations Steve Blubaugh informs managers that they must return to the “old” (proper) way to calculate recall of laid off Teamsters when...
Teamsters in Puerto Rico Demand Democracy
March 19, 2010: Teamster members in Puerto Rico demonstrated outside their union demanding new elections in Local 901. Members rallied at the union hall and tried to present a petition to the Executive Board. Local 901 officials locked the doors and hired armed security guards to keep members out of their union. The press called the move a “coup d’etat in the union.” If that sounds extreme, consider the extreme circumstances in Local 901. Germán...
Still No “Justice” in Philadelphia
March 19, 2010: A nepotism scandal has exposed an IBT Vice President. But movie work is still being doled out to Local 107 officials and their relatives including on the TV pilot “Justice.” Local 107 members went to the union hall today to meet with the man Hoffa put in charge of restoring seniority rights and fairness in hiring for movie work in Philadelphia. The members wanted to meet with Ron Schwab, Hoffa’s newly appointed...
ABF Concessions: What Protections for Teamsters?
March 19, 2010: The International Union held a conference call on March 18 to inform ABF members that a vote on concessions is likely coming down the pike. Freight Director Tyson Johnson said he has held some 25 conversations with ABF in the past year about their situation, and that concessions are needed to help the company stay healthy. Surveys of members are out to ABF Teamsters, and by March 22 the International will start...
YRC, Teamsters Work on Concession Holdouts
March 18, 2010: As the Teamsters mull concession talks with ABF Freight System, YRC Worldwide is still trying to get some members to accept concessions approved last year. About 10 percent of YRC Worldwide’s 34,000 Teamsters still reject the concessions, the company said in its annual 10-K report, released March 16. Click here to read more at The Journal of Commerce.
How Goldman Sachs Hurt Black, Latino, Female Households
March 18, 2010: William Diaz of the 462nd Transportation Battalion feels like he's fighting a war on two fronts. In April, the 39-year-old U.S. Army Reserve corporal is being deployed to Kuwait for a year-long tour. But for the past few months, Diaz has been fighting another very painful battle in his own backyard: American Servicing Corp., a division of Wells Fargo, is seeking a court order to foreclose on his two-family home in Elizabeth,...
Arkansas Best to Elect 3 Directors, Vote on Pay Plan
March 16, 2010: Shareholders of Arkansas Best Corp. of Fort Smith will elect three directors at the company's annual meeting April 22 and vote on a proposal to raise maximum executive pay from $1 million to $3 million annually. Directors up for re-election to one-year terms are John W. Alden, retired vice chairman of United Parcel Service of America Inc. of Atlanta; Frank Edelstein, a consultant with Kelso & Co. Inc. of New York, a...
Teamsters yell 'cut' on plum movie-set jobs
March 15, 2010: It's a chance to rub elbows with Hollywood stars. And make good money while doing it. For years, a select group of Teamsters Local 107 members have apparently been on a short list for high-paying jobs on movie shoots in the Philadelphia area. Click here to read more at Philly.
ABF Concession Vote Coming?
March 15, 2010: The International Union issued a bulletin dated March 12 informing ABF Teamsters that the union is considering entering concession bargaining to give the company relief. The IBT reports that ABF had an operating loss of $100 million in 2009. IBT Freight Director Tyson Johnson has informed local officers that the company has asked to suspend pension payments, a two-week cap on vacations, and a pay cut. Johnson says the union will not...