December 18, 2009: Just two months after the head of the BLET was arrested for taking a $20,000 bribe, some rail officials are trying to take away the Right to Vote for BLET officials. Now BLET members are teaming up to protect their Right to Vote. They’ve launched a committee called BLET Members for Democracy. They’re educating members about how the Right to Vote lets them hold top officials accountable. Click here to download a...

December 18, 2009: YRC Worldwide Inc. has less than two weeks to persuade bondholders to accept a debt exchange and prevent a bankruptcy filing that its employees’ union says may force the biggest U.S. trucking company to liquidate. YRC, which has pushed back the deadline for the swap three times this month, must complete the tender by Dec. 31 to avoid a $19 million payment of interest and fees that would leave the trucker in...

December 17, 2009: International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is creating derivatives trades that would profit from the bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide Inc., the trucking company trying to avert failure with a debt exchange. The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in...

YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) proposed revising the terms of its debt-for-equity and extended it again as it struggles to ward off bankruptcy. The trucking company is seeking to cut the minimum tender amount to 70% for notes due next year and 85% for two other series of notes. The current acceptance level is 95% and the company said Wednesday that the figure was at 75%. YRC said Thursday it needs lenders' holding commitments of at...

December 16, 2009: U.S. trucking giant YRC Worldwide (YRCW.O) still has not been able to secure a critical debt-for-equity exchange with bondholders, but is extending the deadline for bondholder approval of the exchange as it works with lenders to keep the company liquid. Investors responded to news of the extension by pushing shares up more than 20 percent on Wednesday, heartened in part by the extent of the company's restructuring efforts and the apparent willingness...

December 16, 2009: Less-than-truckload transportation services provider YRC Worldwide (YRCW) said today it has extended its debt-for-equity exchange offer from December 15 to December 17. As LM has previously reported, this follows a November announcement when YRCW initially laid out its plans for the offer, which, it said, if successful, would place the company on a more solid financial base and, in concert with other steps taken over the recent months to improve its operations...

December 11, 2009: UPS management is cranking down the thermostat, taking a page from one of the worst bosses ever: Ebenezer Scrooge. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge would only let his employees burn one lump of a coal at a time. As freezing temperatures hit most of the country, UPS is cranking down the heat in many buildings as part of a national directive to cut costs. Management has turned the thermostat down...

December 9, 2009. Chicago freight Teamster have once again rejected YRCW management’s second round of concessions. In voting held yesterday at four Chicago area YRC and Holland terminals, the 1,500 Teamsters (Local 705 city drivers and Local 710 dockworkers) rejected the proposal. Local 705 drivers voted heavily No, 234 to 132, and Local 710 dockworkers narrowly rejected the deal, 337 to 319. It was the third time Local 710 rejected the same proposal over the...

December 7, 2009: Fed up with concessions and declining union power, many Teamsters are looking for a new direction. Join with Teamsters who are fighting concessions and for positive change in our union. There’s no doubt about it, these have been tough times for working Teamsters. Hoffa sent Corporate America the message that the concessions stand was open in our union by bargaining givebacks at UPS when the company was making record profits. When the...

For over three decades, hundreds of thousands of Teamsters have turned to Convoy Dispatch as the most reliable source of news about what’s really happening in our union. Now that same reliable information you count on has a new name: Teamster Voice. This November, members at the TDU Convention voted to approve the name change. Why? “Our newspaper has been the voice for working Teamsters for over three decades,” said Michael Savwoir, a member of...