Chicago Election Rigged, Jury Told
April 8, 2009: Two former union officers and an organizer for Teamsters Local 743 rigged a union election in 2004 by diverting secret ballots to family members and friends who weren't authorized to vote, a federal prosecutor told a jury today as their trial began. Click here to read more at Chicago Breaking News Center.
BNA Daily Labor Report: IBT Airlines Division Takes Over Cape Air Pilots' Local
April 2, 2009: The Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters says it has removed one of its locals from bargaining with a small Massachusetts-based carrier because of “unacceptably substandard representation.” In an unusual move, the international issued a press release March 27 in which Airline Director David Bourne said that he is replacing Teamsters Local 747 as the bargaining agent for pilots employed by Cape Air, Inc., who are now in mediation. The...
USF Holland Teamsters Get Preferential Hiring
April 2, 2009: USF Holland Teamsters displaced by the closing of 11 terminals will be given first-hire rights at nearby New Penn or YRC terminals. The decision of the change of operations hearing of March 25 includes these provisions: 1) Holland Teamsters at closed terminals will be first-hired at designated New Penn and YRC terminals that pick up the work, with the first day worked being their new seniority date, 2) they will retain full...
Read the International Union Financial Report
April 1, 2009: The LM-2 financial report for the International Union is now available. This report was filed with the U.S. Department of Labor on March 31, and covers the year 2008. A quick review of the report indicates that The union had a net loss of 22,000 members in 2008. Hoffa and other IBT officers received a substantial raise in salary. The IBT lost $47 million in assets during 2008. Spending exceeded income, there...
Central States Financial Report: Relief Sought, More Members Needed
March 31, 2009: The 2008 Financial and Analytical Report on the Central States Pension Fund is finally out, and it’s not pretty. There are no big surprises in it, but it reveals that the Fund will ask the IRS for a waiver because it cannot meet its funding target for this year. The report, which was expected on February 1 but was not issued until late March, is available to members only through Teamsters for...
Chicago Teamster Will Do Time for Stolen Elections
March 25, 2009: Former Teamster official Robert Walston is headed to jail for conspiring with other Teamster officials to steal Local 743 elections and defraud the members of their right to vote. Walston also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, which was his side-job while he was president of Local 743. With help from Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), Local 743 working Teamsters exposed Walston’s plot. And in October 2007, Richard Berg and the New...
BNA Daily Labor Report: LaHood Wants New Mexican Truck Proposal
March 26, 2009: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants to have a proposal developed to replace a now defunct Bush administration cross-border trucking program with Mexico by the time President Obama visits Mexico in mid-April, an administration official told BNA on background March 24. LaHood has been meeting with members of Congress to design a program allowing Mexican trucks renewed U.S. access while addressing safety concerns, the official confirmed. Currently, Mexican trucks must offload their exports...
BNA Daily Labor Report: Teamsters, Safety Advocates Challenge Hours of Service Rule
March 25, 2009: Several safety advocacy groups, along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit against the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, urging review of a final rule increasing from 10 to 11 consecutive hours the length of time interstate truck drivers may spend behind the wheel (Public Citizen v. FMCSA, D.C. Cir.,docket number unavailable, filed 3/9/09). The...
BNA Daily Labor Report: Fed Ex Threatens to Cancel Jet Order Over Pro-Union Bill
March 25, 2009: FedEx Corp is threatening to cancel the purchase of billions of dollars worth of new Boeing Co cargo planes if Congress passes a law that would make it easier for unions to organize at the package-delivery company, the Wall Street Journal said. FedEx may cancel plans to buy as many as 30 new Boeing planes should Congress pass a bill that would remove truck drivers, couriers and other employees at FedEx's Express...
Kansas City Star: YRC Sues Former USF Holland President
March 24, 2009: YRC Worldwide Inc. has sued a former president of one of its carriers, seeking damages for allegedly using company secrets after joining a rival trucker. The federal suit in Kansas City, Kan., was filed late last month against Robert G. Zimmerman of R+L Carriers Inc. According to the suit, Zimmerman was president from June 2005 to April 2007 of USF Holland Inc., YRC’s biggest regional carrier. Click here to read more at...