January 30, 2008: A new study from Labor Notes magazine shows the power transportation workers have in the new economy. Truck drivers at HUDD Distribution walked off the job December 17 at the company’s facilities in South Gate and Mira Loma, California. The Cargo ChainThe drivers, primarily Latino immigrants known as troqueros, shuttle goods between the massive port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and the company’s inland warehouses. Drivers were protesting a company move to unilaterally...

January 29, 2008: In a brief order issued Jan. 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a request that the court enforce its orders overturning parts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's rule limiting the maximum hours that truck drivers may drive and work (Owner-Operator Ind. Drivers Ass'n v. FMCSA, D.C. Cir., No. 06-1035, order 1/23/08). In a one-sentence per curiam order, the court denied requests that it...

January 23, 2008: Bargaining at DHL is set to restart in February and the International Union is softening up members in advance for concessions. The Hoffa administration’s latest DHL update plays up Wall Street concerns about DHL’s financial losses in its U.S. operations and warns that “there is immense pressure on them to turn around operations.” Here are few things Hoffa’s PR Department forgot to mention: DHL’s parent company, Deutsche Post, is the world’s largest...

January 22, 2008: by Randolph Heaster for the Kansas City Star: Mail ballots on a proposed new contract have reached the hands of nearly 50,000 YRC Worldwide Inc. employees, and supporters and opponents of the pact are making their cases as voting proceeds.The Teamsters’ national freight negotiating committee last month reached the tentative five-year agreement, and more than 300 Teamsters local officers reviewing the contract overwhelmingly approved it at a Jan. 8 meeting.In a letter...

January 29, 2008: A majority of workers at terminals employing more than 3,200 UPS Freight employees have signed Teamster cards. UPS Freight workers in Georgia, New York, Kentucky, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Detroit, Memphis, New England, Southern California, Oakland and Seattle have all submitted union cards. These new Teamsters join the 125 UPS Freight employees who now have a union contract in Indianapolis. Ken Hall, the Parcel and Small Package Division Director for the Teamsters, will head...

January 22, 2008: As of January 1, Teamsters in pension plans have new, expanded rights to obtain information from their pension fund. The Pension Protection Act requires that participants have the right to obtain any periodic actuary report, any quarterly, semi-annual or annual financial report, and other documents. Teamsters for a Democratic Union and the Pension Rights Center led the lobbying effort that won members these rights. These rights apply to both active and retired...

January 18, 2008: As ballots arrive on a concessionary contract, Freight2008.org is answering misleading IBT PR by providing Freight Teamsters with the facts. The Hoffa administration has put its PR machine in overdrive—selling the concessionary freight contract with outright lies. One Freight Update put out by the International Union claims that ABF management wants members to reject the contract. The bulletin was a cynical ploy to get ABF Teamsters to “stand up to ABF” by...

January 18, 2008: Freight Teamsters across the country are mobilizing to oppose the proposed concessionary freight contract. TDU and the Freight 2008 network are at the heart of the fight. TDU’s goal is to build a national network of concerned freight Teamsters in every terminal who can defend our Teamster standards and hold our negotiators accountable to working Teamsters. Click here to join TDU today. Membership is $40 a year and includes a subscription to...

January 17, 2008: by Jennifer Mann, for the Kansas City Star: Interstate Bakeries Corp. said it didn’t receive any offers for the company by Tuesday’s deadline, but that doesn’t bar other parties from proposing plans to rescue the bankrupt baking company.Interstate had solicited alternative offers to its own proposed plan of reorganization and set a Jan. 15 deadline for those to be filed. But the company acknowledged Tuesday that because its “exclusive right” to file...

January 17, 2008: By Bret Caldwell: A majority of workers at seven UPS Freight terminals throughout New England have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, providing strong momentum in the nationwide campaign to give thousands of company employees a strong voice on the job, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced.The cards will now be sent to a neutral arbitrator, paving the way for the company to officially recognize the 315 workers, which is expected to...