May 5, 2009: A federal jury May 1 in Chicago handed down guilty verdicts against the former president of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 743 and two former officers charged with labor fraud and theft in connection with a union election rigging scheme (United States v. Lopez, N.D. Ill., No. 07-580, jury verdict 5/1/09). The trial began April 6 and the jury deliberated for three days before convicting Richard Lopez and Thaddeus Bania on criminal...

May 1, 2009: A Chicago jury has found former Local 743 President Richard Lopez and two other ex-officials guilty of a scheme to steal Local 743 elections. Lopez was found guilty of conspiracy, mail fraud, and stealing union property. Lopez and former union reps Thaddeus Bania and David Rodriguez will face sentencing in August. They could go to jail for many years. “We are elated that the workers ended up on the victorious side of...

May 1, 2009: ABF Freight System is planning to close Teamsters' road board operations in six locales. It says it is doing this because of declining freight volumes and to consolidate operations. The proposal means a loss of 127 Teamsters jobs. Click here to read more at Gerson Lehrman Group.

April 30, 2009: The Central States Pension Fund has convened a “Pension Fund Review Committee” to analyze information and to advise funds regarding YRC’s proposal to put up real estate as collateral while deferring payment of pension moneys to the funds until 2010. The Review Committee will include representatives of Central States, the Western Conference Fund, the New England Fund, the Central Pennsylvania Fund, the Upstate New York Fund, and the Local 710 Fund. No...

April 30, 2009: UPS Teamsters are petitioning the International Union to protect full-time jobs at the national grievance panel in June. Petitions are due May 15. There is still plenty of time to circulate the petition and stand up for the full-time jobs we won in the 1997 UPS strike. Management is violating Article 22.3 of our contract which requires the company to maintain 20,000 full-time combo jobs. The company is thousands of jobs short...

April 28, 2009: ABF is planning to close road boards in Erie, Pa, Cape Girardeau, Mo, Springfield, Ill, Jackson, Tenn, Pecos, Texas and Fletcher, NC, and open two new ones in Knoxville and Nashville Tennessee, in a change of operations designed to consolidate operations due to reduced freight volume. The proposed change of operations, which you can see here, will come for the approval of a union panel on May 13 in Las Vegas. The...

April 27, 2009: The President has announced his intention to nominate two Members of the National Labor Relations Board. April 24, 2009 press release: here Both individuals are Democrats. Both are lawyers representing labor unions. The NLRB normally has five Members, but currently there are only two, one Democrat and one Republican. By law, no more than three can be from the same political party, so the next appointment will have to be a Republican....

April 27, 2009: Attorney Paul Taylor of the Truckers’ Justice Center says that it is time to replace the appointees to the Administrative Review Board (ARB), and that Labor Secretary Hilda Solís should act quickly. You can help make it happen. The ARB functions as an “appeals court” for whistleblowers, including truck drivers who are punished for refusing to drive in unsafe conditions or vehicles. Taylor says that “The Bush/Chao ARB has been hostile to...

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April 24, 2009: A part of the federal stimulus package that pays 65% of a laid-off worker’s health coverage cost can benefit thousands of laid-off Teamsters. The new provision went into effect on February 17, 2009, when President Obama signed the stimulus package. Teamsters on layoff, or who have involuntarily lost their jobs (other than through gross misconduct) are eligible to have 65% of their health and welfare payments waived. For those covered by Teamster...