Plane Buzzes CEO with Message from UPS Teamsters
December 7, 2009: The Hoffa administration may be silent while the company walks all over the contract. But some locals are making themselves heard. Anticipating a visit by CEO Scott Davis, New Jersey Local 177 booked a plane to circle the Edison hub with a banner: “UPS Stop Mistreating Your Employees.” Outside the hub, Local 177 officers distributed leaflets in the parking lot with the same message. Local 177 members are fed up with UPS’s...
It’s Official. Hoffa Won’t Take Action To Protect Full-Time Jobs.
December 7, 2009: Seventeen locals brought cases to the last national grievance panel charging UPS with violating Article 22.3 of the contract which requires UPS to maintain a minimum of 20,000 full-time combo jobs. These are the full-time jobs we won by striking the company in 1997. Not a single one of these grievances was heard at the national grievance panel. It’s well documented that UPS has eliminated thousands of these positions by laying off...
International Strikes Out on Excessive Overtime Grievances
December 7, 2009: Sixty-five 9.5 violation cases were brought to the last national grievance panel. Outside of Oakland Local 70, the panel ruled in favor of working Teamsters on a 9.5 issue in just one case. In 16 cases coming out of Local 70—the company was ordered to comply with 9.5 language. These cases involved instances where UPS was settling 9.5 violations but never fixing the underlying problem of the affected drivers’ load.
New York Movers Choose A New Direction for Local 814
December 7, 2009: After years of sell-out contracts and benefit cuts, members of New York Local 814 have voted for a new direction and a reform slate in their local union election. Members voted 72 percent to elect the 814 New Leadership Slate, headed by Jason Ide (center) and Richie Johnson (third from right).Members elected Jason Ide and the New Directions Slate by a whopping 72 percent in big turnout among the local’s 1,000 members....
“It’s Up to Us to Turn Our Union Around”
December 7, 2009: In a speech at the TDU Convention, Butch Lewis talked about what it will take to get our union on the right track. We all know times are tough. The country faces the worst recession any of us has seen. Members are angry and frustrated. Over the past year we’ve seen our wages cut by 15 percent. YRC is no longer paying towards our pension. Members are anxious to know what’s next....
A New Direction for Our Union: The 2009 TDU Convention
Teamsters came from across our union to the 34th Annual TDU Convention. They attended over 20 workshops and meetings, heard from members who are making a difference, and set the course for our movement for 2010. We Can Rebuild Our Power “The problems at YRC and in our benefit funds didn’t come out of nowhere. The crisis we’re facing today is the result of ten years of misleadership at the top of our union. “The...
IBT Campaign Against GM and Chrysler Continues
December 7, 2009: The Teamsters campaign to pressure GM and Chrysler to stop eliminating good Teamster jobs continues. GM and Fiat Chrysler have been targeted because they are aggressively trying to replace Teamster carhaul jobs with low-paid nonunion labor. Both corporations received billions in taxpayer bailouts. That money was to help preserve the industry and good jobs. The IBT has called on Teamster carhaulers and others to help handbill targeted dealers. Find out more at...
IBT Carhaul Concession-Stand Is Open 24/7
December 7, 2009: The IBT Carhaul Division seems to be operating a concession-stand where anything goes. It’s open season for mileage cuts, percentage pay deals, hourly cuts, border agreement waivers, you name it. Most Cassens drivers are working for 11 percent under scale. Several locals have agreed to wage-cuts for certain traffic. The Canada-USA border agreement has been scrapped in Michigan and Buffalo. The worst thing is that it is all being done without a...
Shocking Sexual Harassment Cases Shake Up Joint Council 42
December 7, 2009: Two Teamster officials are under fire for allegedly sexual harassing their staff and other Teamster members. One has already resigned. These shocking cases are a wake-up call that our union officials can’t tolerate sexual harassment. In September, TDU.org broke the news that Jim Santangelo, the head of Joint Council 42, used members’ dues to settle a $500,000 sexual harassment suit filed by an employee at the Joint Council. Last year Santangelo made...
YRC Reddaway Teamsters Reject Contract Offer
December 7, 2009:On Dec. 1, Reddaway Teamsters in Washington and Oregon narrowly rejected a proposed contract which the IBT and YRC agreed to. By a 214-208 vote the Teamsters at YRC’s regional carrier said No, and will retain their contract wages and benefits until a contract is ratified. The union bargaining committee, which includes a number of stewards, has been willing to consider concessions but not everything the company wants. Three months ago Hoffa appointed...