January 10, 2009: Minnesota waste workers are using a new city law to help join our union. Workers at Minnesota Refuse Inc. have been nonunion for years. Now they’ll get a chance to join the Teamsters without the threats and intimidation most workers face from their boss when they try to organize. MRI is a consortium of private waste companies that haul the trash for 52,000 Minneapolis households. In 2007, Minneapolis passed a “labor peace”...

January 10, 2009: Teamster pressmen are raising the alarm about a plan to outsource good union jobs at the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2006, the Chronicle signed a 15-year, $1 billion deal to out source printing of their newspaper to Transcontinental, a large Canadian printer. On July 1, the Chronicle will stop production at its San Francisco and Union City printing facilities. More than 200 Teamsters, members of GCC Local 4-N, will lose their jobs....

January 10, 2009: Teamsters at the Star Tribune are joining forces with other union members to oppose cuts as the paper’s owner threatens bankruptcy. Unions at the Minneapolis Star Tribune have been given the royal brush-off by the company. The company is refusing to negotiate seriously with the unions, setting the stage for Avista, the newspaper owner, to file for bankruptcy. Demands Avista made were so draconian, it was a virtual certainty the union bargaining...

Are you concerned about the direction our union is headed in 2009? You’re not alone. Teamsters across our union are concerned and angry about pension cuts, givebacks, and Teamster leaders who are missing in action. Let’s make 2009 our year to set our union on a positive course. You can help. Here’s how: Join Teamsters for a Democratic Union. We’re a grassroots group made up of members like you. Click here to join and become...

January: Time to Act on Bylaws I want to remind members that January is the month to make proposals on amending local bylaws. We’ve done this at various times over the years in our local. It’s a great way to raise issues important to the membership. It can be anything from proposing a change of the time and day of the monthly meeting so more members can attend to changing the language to get elected—rather than...

Laying the Foundation For Change The upcoming international election is only two years away. It’s none too soon to lay the initial foundation for the campaign. We need to educate every member with cold, hard facts that the International cannot deny. Getting vital information to the membership—particularly newer, younger members—is very important. We can put Hoffa and his cronies out to pasture. It will take hard work, long hours, serious fundraising, and other challenges along...

We are making the count in each local union and each separate contract available because Teamsters deserve to know this information. You will find the NMFA votes, the New Penn Votes, the Chicago Local 705 votes, the Suburban Chicago Agreement votes and the many local union white paper contracts covering mechanics or office Teamsters. Thanks to the rank and file observers who took the time and money to do this important job. The national NMFA...

January 9, 2009: The Yellow Roadway concession package has passed and the 10% wage cut will now go into effect for the great majority of Yellow Roadway Teamsters. TDU is providing a detailed local union count record for the national contract and the various white paper contracts. Click here for the results, compiled by observers at the count. For freight Teamsters, the question is: where do we go from here. Click here if you are...

January 8, 2008: The presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest labor unions called Wednesday for reuniting the American labor movement, which split apart three and a half years ago when seven unions left the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and formed a rival federation. The union presidents issued their joint call after the transition team for President-elect Barack Obama signaled that it would prefer dealing with a united movement, rather than a fractured one that often had two...

January 7, 2009: The Trans-Texas Corridor, a massive highway, rail and pipeline project, is road kill. The controversial plan to create a 1,200-foot-wide multimodal highway that would funnel freight from Mexico deep into the U.S. heartland has been scrapped by the Texas Department of Transportation. In its place the Texas DOT favors a much more modest series of transportation improvements with more input from local communities. Click here to read more at Traffic World.