August 14, 2009: Union members who work for New Penn Motor Express rejected a modified labor agreement with YRC Worldwide Inc., New Penn's parent company, and will be asked to reconsider, according to multiple sources. If the Teamsters who work for New Penn don't change their minds, the South Lebanon Township trucking firm might be shut down or merged into another YRC entity, several sources said Thursday, requesting anonymity. Click here to read more at...

August 10, 2009: Take a peek inside the investigative reports on Teamsters Local 726 leaders -- who were stripped of their posts recently amid allegations of financial mismanagement -- and there's pretty stunning material. Some Local 726 officials sound plain clueless at times, which is disturbing given the fact they were responsible for thousands of livelihoods and millions of dollars belonging to members. Click here to read more at Chicago Union News.

August 7, 2009: The members have spoken. In the large voting unit, YRC and Holland Teamsters approved the concessions with a 58% yes vote: 12,923 Yes, 9,153 No. New Penn Teamsters, whose votes are counted separately because they are not part of the same bargaining unit, rejected the concessions. So did Chicago Local 705, Chicago Local 710, and Local 179 who are covered by their own separate contracts. The overall results show that a majority...

August 7, 2009: Over the past four years, members of Chicago Local 726 have organized a movement called “Fighting for the Future” to clean up their local and restore membership control. Now, the members’ allegations of financial wrongdoing and greed have been verified by serious charges leveled by the Independent Review Board (IRB). Members of Fighting for the Future did the hard work to investigate their local, and contacted the IRB to get action. Thomas...

August 6, 2009: The vote count is proceeding among the approximately 27,200 YRC Teamsters who mailed in a ballot on proposed deep contract concessions. Today was spent sorting the ballots by local union and opening ballot envelopes. Many ballots have been placed into “yes” and “no” piles by local union, but some have not been opened yet, and no actual counting has taken place. International Union officials stated they would not do counting today. The...

August 3, 2009: Employer demands for pay cuts and for employees to pay part of health premiums are pretty common these days, but we don’t expect them from the top officers of our union. But James Hoffa and IBT secretary treasurer Tom Keegel are demanding such concessions – and more – from the employees of the International Union. On July 31, Hoffa-Keegel used a new tactic: they sent dozens of letters informing employees that they...

August 3, 2009: The reins of Teamsters Local 726 -- which represents numerous blue-collar workers with Chicago city government -- were seized Monday by the group's parent union, which stripped leaders of their posts amid allegations of financial mismanagement. James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, implemented what's called an "emergency trusteeship" for Local 726, a Des Plaines-based group of roughly 4,500 active members. Click here to read more at Chicago...

July 30, 2009: Employer demands for pay cuts and for employees to pay part of health premiums are pretty common these days, but we don’t expect them from the top officers of our union. But James Hoffa and IBT secretary treasurer Tom Keegel are demanding such concessions—and more—from the employees of the International Union. They are also threatening that if the employees strike against concessions, they will cross the lines and defeat the strike. Click...

July 29, 2009: The proposed temporary withdrawal by YRC from all Teamster pension funds could have a serious impact on some Teamsters in the West. The Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Fund requires that some Teamsters must have 1,000 hours of contributions within the last 24 months prior to retirement, or they will lose eligibility for their PEER 80 early retirement benefits. Those Teamsters who have 25 credited years are protected, and don’t have to...

July 28, 2009: An International Brotherhood of Teamsters local violated federal labor law when a union steward told a United Parcel Service Inc. employee in the presence of other employees that the union dropped his grievances because he had run against an incumbent in a union election and because the company did not like him, the National Labor Relations Board held July 24 (Teamsters Local 886 (United Parcel Serv. Inc.), 354 N.L.R.B. No. 52, 7/24/09...