September 19, 2008: In an unprecedented move, in mid-September James Hoffa imposed International Union control over the bargaining of Local 705’s freight contract. As Convoy Dispatch goes to press, the International Union is trying to make a deal which satisfies Yellow Roadway Corporation and yet can get Chicago Teamsters to vote to approve it. Freight Teamsters in Local 705 are covered by their own contract which is separate from the National Master Freight Agreement. In...

September 19, 2008: Yellow and Roadway will integrate operations over the next 18 months, close 200 of 650 terminals, and end up with a single operating company called Yellow Roadway. The impact on nearly 40,000 Teamsters who work for Yellow and Roadway is likely to be large. YRC CEO Bill Zollars made the announcement to investors at a Sept. 8 meeting in New York, where he laid out the plan with a slide show. Outside...

September 19, 2008: UPS is cheating thousands of Teamsters out of full-time jobs. Our contract gives us the right—and the power—to make UPS create these jobs. It’s time for our International Union to enforce the contract with a national audit of Article 22.3 jobs. Last month, Convoy Dispatch reported that UPS is violating the contract when it comes to full-time job creation. Since then, UPSers across the country have filed grievances to demand that UPS...

September 19, 2008: Local 177 has tried for months to get UPS management to address dangerous safety violations in the hub in Edison, N.J. Now the local is going public with its concerns. The New Jersey Turnpike is now home to two prominent billboards letting UPS know it’s time to protect employee safety. Local 177 has filed hundreds of grievances on safety violations in the Edison hub dating back to March. Members report that packages...

September 19, 2008: The International Union has a new website design. But the same old information Brownout has continued for UPS Teamsters. The Package Division has not published a single piece of news about UPS on the website since Dec. 19, 2007—the day the UPS contract was officially ratified. The company is cheating members out of thousands of full-time Article 22.3 jobs and trying to worm out of restrictions on excessive overtime restrictions. UPS started...

September 30, 2008: Teamsters in several areas report that management is claiming that “high mileage” and “high density” routes are exempt from Article 37 language. Management is even saying that drivers on those routes cannot file 9.5 grievances. In some areas, the company has also argued that they will only pay excessive overtime grievances on 11 percent of their routes because statistically only 11 percent of its routes go over 9.5. While the company is...

September 19, 2008: It’s illegal to use union funds to promote a slate for union office. But it happens sometimes, and members have a right to file an election protest when it does. Knowing that 2008 was an election year in their local, Local 439 officials in Stockton, Calif. used union funds to print T-shirts with the slogan, “Stronger Together.” Business agents were given boxes of T-shirts to distribute for free by Local 439 Secretary-Treasurer Sam...

September 19, 2008: BLET members on the Norfolk Southern railway have ratified a new six-year contract that contains improvements after voting down a weaker tentative agreement last year. Members ratified the agreement by a vote of 1,894 to 1,091. The biggest improvement is in wages. The new agreement raises wages an average of over three percent a year, with the biggest raises coming early in the contract. For several years, NS engineers have gone without...

September 19, 2008: Teamster pressmen at the Minneapolis Star Tribune have voted down concessions for a second time this year, voiding concessions for two other Teamster locals at the newspaper. As Convoy goes to press on Sept. 18, the Star Tribune has laid off 19 pressmen and seven other employees, even though Minnesota’s largest newspaper remains highly profitable. When union members rejected the concessions, they knew that some layoffs were a distinct possibility. On Sept....

September 19, 2008: As we go to press in mid-September, over 200 Teamsters in Milwaukee are in their fourth week of a strike at Waste Management. A major issue is WM’s move to bust out of the Teamster Central States Pension Plan and replace it with a 401(k) plan which would be far inferior. The Teamsters have been solid on the picket line, and management’s scab labor force has not been able to handle all...