Boston Goon Squad Update: Members, Contracts Under Attack in Boston
July 21, 2009: Hoffa’s Trade Show Director John Perry heads to court on charges of assaulting a Teamster member for filing a grievance. In the meantime, Perry’s assault on Local 82 members’ seniority rights continues. Working Teamsters in Boston Local 82 are standing up to violent intimidation and attacks on their seniority rights in the Trade Show industry. As Convoy Dispatch goes to press, IBT Trade Show Director John Perry is heading to court on...
Enter the Contest: Give Convoy Dispatch A New Name
After 30 years, Convoy Dispatch is getting a new name. Help decide what it will be. Thousands of Teamster members know Convoy is the most reliable source of information about our union. That same information will continue—under a new name to be nominated by Convoy readers and chosen by TDU members. TDU started out largely as an organization of truck drivers. Today we’ve expanded to cover every field in the union. TDU’s newspaper needs a...
Where to Buy a Used Car in Texas
July 21, 2009: What does Tyson Johnson, the International Union freight director, based out of Dallas, have to say about concessions he just bargained for YRC Teamsters? See below, and decide if you would buy a used car from this man. Tyson Johnson on Concessions: Tyson Johnson, Teamster Freight Director“We told management, this is their one chance to get relief. We will not reopen the contract again.” — Tyson Johnson, December 2008 (first round of...
Running to Rebuild Local 804 Power
July 21, 2009: The Local 804 Members United Slate is running to restore the pride and power in New York Teamsters Local 804 the home of Ron Carey and one of the largest and most powerful UPS locals in the country. Tim Sylvester, 804 Members United Slate presidential candidate, talks with Local 804 Teamsters at UPSIn the last two years, Local 804 members have been hit with pension cuts, healthcare hikes and a concessionary contract—all...
TDU Protects Your Right to Information
July 21, 2009: Teamsters have a right to discuss union issues and exchange union-related literature at work. TDU is at work defending and expanding that right. Teamsters have the right to distribute Convoy Dispatch [now Teamster Voice] and other union-related materials at the workplace, during nonwork times and in nonwork areas. Most Teamsters take these rights for granted. But some employers need to be reminded of this fact, via legal action to protect the rights...
Freight Teamsters Speak Out
Working Teamsters are speaking out about the latest round of concessions at YRC and what it will take to save our union in freight. Here’s what some of them had to say. Is Management Working with Us To Protect Jobs? Leroy Olsen, YRC, Local 79, Tampa, Fla.“Years ago when I was on the bottom of the board, I appreciated the days my senior brothers took off to make sure more junior men could get work....
What Will It Take to Dump Hoffa?
The election to Dump Hoffa begins sooner than you think. What will it take to win—and how can we get started now? Hoffa’s support has never been lower among working Teamsters: He negotiated the worst concessions to UPS in decades, even though the company was making more than $4 billion in annual profits. Under his watch, our union has been reduced to a shadow of its former self in freight, carhaul, and other industries. Employers...
IBT Strikes Out at UPS Panel
If the Teamster National Grievance Committee was a UPS employee it would be fired for poor job performance. Our union won just four out of 59 cases at the last national grievance panel. The decisions are in from the June meeting of the National Grievance Committee in Philadelphia and the results aren’t pretty. In four days of hearings, the highest UPS grievance body under the contract ruled in favor of the union just four times....
International Union Fails to Enforce Contract, Protect Full-Time Jobs
July 21, 2009: Last month’s National Grievance Committee meeting was the International Union’s opportunity to make UPS create all 20,000 full-time combo jobs that are required by Article 22.3 of the contract. Instead, Hoffa and Parcel Division Director Ken Hall continued to let management have its way with eliminating the full-time jobs we won in the 1997 strike. The number of full-time positions lost in violation of Article 22.3 has reached the thousands. UPS Teamsters...
Close the FedEx Loophole
July 21, 2009: Congress may soon vote on a bill to close the FedEx loophole that makes it harder for FedEx workers to unionize. For years the corporation has used its lobbying muscle to be classified as an airline. This puts FedEx under the Railway Labor Act, which makes it much harder for workers to organize a union. Every other freight and parcel carrier—including UPS—is covered by the National Labor Relations Act. Both UPS and...