Members Spying on Members on the Rails?
June 20, 2008: All Teamsters want to work safely, without injury. But company programs that put the blame on union members—rather than unsafe working conditions—won’t make our jobs safer. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members and divisions are saying no to company spy programs that don’t improve our safety. On the Union Pacific, management and some union leaders are working on a “Total Safety Culture” program. The program sends out special Implementation-Teams (“I-Teams”),...
Hoffa Targets Local 624 for Trusteeship
June 20, 2008: The Hoffa administration has targeted Santa Rosa, Calif. Local 624 for a potential trusteeship. A trusteeship hearing was held on June 3 on charges of financial misconduct. But some Teamsters are asking if the real goal of a trusteeship is a forced merger of Local 624. Former Secretary-Treasurer Bob Carr resigned after it came to light that his daughter, a clerical employee at the local, embezzled more than $8,000 in union funds...
African American Teamsters Push for Leadership Opportunities
June 30, 2008: Hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are African American, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the Teamsters General Executive Board. Out of 26 voting members, only one is Black. “We need a union leadership that looks like our membership,” says Willie Hardy, a retiree and long-time Teamster and community leader in Memphis Local 667. “Our top leadership is less diverse than the boards of many of the companies we fight against.”...
Employers Deny Job Rights to PTS Teamsters
June 17, 2008: In the wake of PTS's closure, carhaul employers are trying to violate the national contract and deny the right of PTS Teamsters to follow their work. This attack on our contract, our solidarity, and on Teamsters who struck when they were called out by the International Union cannot be tolerated. All these Teamsters ask is that Article 5 of the contract be honored by Jack Cooper, Allied, Cassens and Active Transportation. At...
BNA Daily Labor Report: IBT Puts Local 714 under Trusteeship
June 17, 2008: International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa has placed Chicago-based Local 714 under the control of a trustee, alleging that local leaders maintain contact with barred individuals and operate nepotistic work assignment systems, IBT officials said June 16. Hoffa's action comes nearly 10 months after the Independent Review Board, the court-supervised panel charged with drumming corruption out of the Teamsters, suggested similar action with respect to Local 714 (211 DLR...
Baltimore Members Meet to Get Pension Facts
June 14, 2008: Local 355 Teamsters came from UPS, U.S. Foods, Sysco, Giant, and DHL on Sunday, June 8 to discuss the pension freeze in the Local 355 fund. In March, the Local 355 fund cut the annual accrual rate to zero. That means members’ pensions are frozen and they are not earning any new benefits for hours worked since March 1. A Plan for Improvements? At the meeting, pension attorney Ann Curry Thompson explained...
No Cost of Living Raise for UPS Teamsters
June 13, 2008: All UPS Teamsters will be missing something this summer: a cost of living raise of 15¢ per hour. Gasoline and food prices are skyrocketing. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W), went up 4.5 percent from May 2007 to May 2008. This is the period used in Article 33 of our contract. When that index goes over three percent, we are supposed to get a cost of living adjustment (COLA)....
Chicago Tribune: Local 714 in Trusteeship for Sweetheart Deals
June 13, 2008: For the second time, Teamsters union officials have taken Local 714 out of the hands of a member of the Hogan family. Saying the heads of the influential 10,000-member organization had rebuffed efforts of an official sent to work with them in September, Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa this week imposed an emergency trusteeship over the local. Click here to read more at chicagotribune.com.
Striking Drivers Clog the Roads in Spain
June 12, 2008: Truck drivers in Spain are on strike for the fourth day in a row over rising fuel costs. Strikers picketed, clogged Spain’s highways with their trucks, and shut down a border crossing with France. The strikers are mainly owner-operators who want a guaranteed minimum rate for their jobs. The strike has led to fuel shortages throughout Spain and Portugal, and idled production at six Spanish auto factories. Click here to read more...
Chicago Local 714 in Trusteeship
June 12, 2008: On June 9 the International Union finally followed the recommendation of the Independent Review Board (IRB) and placed Chicago Local 714 into trusteeship. The letter from James Hoffa lists a number of reasons, including job favoritism for the Hogan family, refusal to transfer assets that belong to trade show members to their new local, continued contact with banned members Billy and Robert Hogan, and refusing to cooperate in the monitoring of the...