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...

January 10, 2008: The IBT Carhaul Division will soon start bargaining with the employers for a new national contract. The current contract expires May 31. But the negotiations will be held under a cloud of concessions. As of mid-January, the future of the 1,500 Teamsters employed at PTS is up in the air. In December the International Union conducted a vote of Allied Teamsters to cut the wages of PTS Teamsters in the event that...

January 10, 2008: The International Union is selling the concessionary freight contract by lecturing members about the threat of nonunion competition. But at the same time, the Hoffa administration is giving our biggest nonunion competition, UPS Freight, a substandard deal in Indianapolis—and promoting that concessionary package as the “template” for all UPS Freight terminals that we organize going forward. This isn’t a plan for rebuilding union power in freight. It’s a one-two punch for dragging...

January 10, 2008: The changes in the cost of retiree health care associated with the tentative contract for freight Teamsters in the Central States Health & Welfare Fund are different from those at UPS, even though the benefit money is identical for both groups. UPS retirees will pay $200 per month ($400 for a couple) if they retire at 55 or older. The freight schedule proposed is as follows: Under age 60: Continue with present...

January 10, 2008: The proposed tentative National Master Freight Agreement is headed for a vote. This is a dangerous proposal that Teamsters should study carefully. The power is in the hands of the Teamsters who move the freight. Unlimited “utility employees” in every terminal who will combine road, city, dock, and yard work, without regard to local union jurisdiction. Four-hour dock casuals paid $14, a rate frozen until 2013. The new-hire tiered wage is stretched...