April 23, 2008: Trucking company Arkansas Best Corp. said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings soared 78 percent, as reigned-in costs and improved efficiency offset poor pricing and accelerating fuel costs. Click here to read more at yahoo.com.

April 21, 2008: Roadway and Yellow both submitted changes of operations that mark the beginning of the new “utility driver” model. Hundreds of road and city jobs would be eliminated and converted to the utility employee classification. The hearings will be held in mid-May, where the union can approve, deny, or approve with modifications. Many Teamsters have reacted with anger, since the International union sold the contract proposal by arguing this kind of change could...

April 21, 2008: UPS Teamsters in New York have overwhelmingly voted for changes that will put more pension and contract information in the hands of the members. At a meeting on April 20, New York Local 804 members approved two changes to their local union bylaws by more than 90 percent. By a 208 to 12 margin, members voted to require the Executive Board to give a report on the pension and health and welfare...

April 18, 2008: Eleven truck drivers filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia April 9 against the Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. and New Bern Transport Inc. for compensation for time they spend doing paperwork and inspecting their trucks (Carter v. New Bern Transport Inc., E.D. Va., No. 4:08-cv-00042, complaint filed 4/9/08). The plaintiffs, who now work or have worked within the past three years at the Pepsi Bottling Group's...

April 17, 2008: Teamsters for a Democratic Union is a movement of Teamsters who want to make our union stronger and more accountable to working and retired Teamsters. We believe our pension funds belong to the members and are a key element of Teamster power and Teamster pride. We work to support and strengthen our Teamster pension funds. We work to defeat employers’ moves to break out of pension funds, and other corporate attacks on...

April 9, 2008: After two months of demanding more information about the pension cuts in Local 355, members are finally getting some answers. On March 1, the Local 355 plan cut the accrual rate for working members to zero. That means that members’ pensions are frozen and working Teamsters are earning zero retirement benefits for any of their hours worked since March. Last weekend, Local 355 President Denis Taylor told the membership meeting that he...

April 9, 2008: Members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters have ratified by an 89 percent majority a 64-month national UPS Freight agreement to cover an estimated 9,900 truck drivers and dockworkers at 136 terminals nationwide, the union announced April 7. Voting took place March 29 through April 6 at about 80 union halls across the country, IBT said. Most of the voting took place April 5-6, with the final tabulations completed April 7, according Ken...

April 8, 2008: The Black Caucus of Teamsters for a Democratic Union has launched a webpage to share and highlight the work of African American Teamsters to build a strong union. TDU’s Black Caucus is a network of Black Teamsters from across our union who work together and share strategies for building a union that fights for all of our members. “It’s time for a union leadership that looks like our union’s membership,” said Willie...

April 8, 2008: The membership of our union is changing more every year, but the top Teamster leadership has not kept pace. African Americans and Latinos make up a bigger portion of Teamster membership than ever before. And women Teamsters now account for a quarter of our total membership. But our union’s top leadership doesn’t look like our membership. The General Executive Board, our union’s elected leadership body, includes only one African American who is...

April 7, 2008: The Teamsters union said on Monday that 9,900 workers at United Parcel Service Inc trucking unit UPS Freight have ratified a five-year contract with UPS that also makes them members of the union. Click here to read more at Reuters.com.