February 13, 2009: The Cut-Over and Utility Changes of Operations at Yellow Roadway are now available for members to download and review. Over the past week, thousands of Yellow and Roadway Teamsters have been bidding in the dark—making big decisions about their future, and in many cases without much information. Click here to download the Cut-Over and Utility Changes of Operations.

February 13, 2009: Last month UPS dramatically raised the cost of retiree healthcare. Now UPS will have to explain their actions before a judge. Yesterday, a judge in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois set a hearing for March 9. UPS will have to explain to a judge how their midcontract hike in retiree healthcare contributions didn't violate the contract or the law. In January, UPS management suddenly raised the monthly health and welfare...

February 12, 2009: The largest U.S. trucking company, YRC Worldwide Inc (YRCW.O), said on Thursday that it has finalized an amendment with its lenders on its credit facilities. Click here to read more at Reuters.

February 12, 2009: The former president of Pittsburgh Local 249 has been found guilty by the International Union of rewarding friends and punishing enemies in hiring drivers in the movie industry. Wayne Shatkoff is suspended from Teamster membership for a year. That means he will not be eligible to run for office in the 2011 local election. The decision, which affirms the penalty imposed by the Local 249 executive board, is anti-climactic because Shatkoff lost...

February 12, 2009: Combining the Yellow and Roadway units, a process the company accelerated to hasten the expected $200 million in annual savings, also has cost YRC. But Zollars said the company’s acquisitions earlier this decade, which with all the fixed costs have meant rough waters and write-downs now, also meant banner years from 2003 to 2006. Click here to read more at the Kansas City Business Journal.

February 11, 2009: Forty-three former workers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune will get their full severance payments, with an outcry from union members playing a significant role in the outcome. Story by Rick SatherThe former workers, who left the newspaper during the last year, had earlier been notified by the Star Tribune that their severance payments would be cut off. The decision to pay the workers, who had been laid off or taken buy-outs, was...

February 10, 2009: Thousands of Yellow and Roadway Teamsters are being asked to make big decisions about their future, and in many cases without much information. Bidding in this change of operation means deciding where you may move your family, or where your seniority will let you earn enough to support your family. That’s one of the biggest decisions a person can make. But in many cases, Teamsters are being asked to make a decision...

February 10, 2009: The Chicago window and door workers who took over their factory and inspired workers across the United States are on tour to tell their story. Last December, workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago found out that their factory was closing. Bank of America refused to extend their company any credit, and workers weren’t going to get paid what they were owed. The workers, members of the United Electrical Workers Union,...

February 9, 2009: Interstate Bakeries Corp. Feb. 3 emerged from bankruptcy under Chapter 11 after having reached revised labor agreements with the 423 union locals representing the company's unionized workforce (In re Interstate Bakeries Corp., Bankr. W.D. Mo., No. 04-45814-JWV, confirmation effective 2/3/09). The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which together with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers represent 90 percent of IBC's union-represented workers, issued a statement Feb. 3 praising the unions' role...

February 9, 2009: A Lawrence Township, N.J., ordinance that was applied to prohibit a union from displaying a 10-foot tall balloon in the shape of a rat as part of a labor protest on a public sidewalk outside a construction site violates the First Amendment right to free speech and is overbroad, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously Feb. 5 ( State v. DeAngelo, N.J., No. A-73-07, 2/5/09). Overturning the conviction of Wayne DeAngelo,...