November 21, 2007: Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified by a 65 percent approval rate a new national five-year contract with United Parcel Service that provides wage increases of $4 per hour over term while securing existing benefits, the union announced Nov. 20. However, the rejection of five regional or local supplements to the contract will require renegotiation and re-voting before a settlement can be finalized to cover 240,000 IBT-represented UPS employees nationwide,...

November 21, 2007: Last Thursday, a band of roughly 1,000 demonstrators assembled by the AFL-CIO paraded past the White House, in a driving rain, to the headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board. They asked the board, which was established 72 years ago to protect workers' right to bargain, to cease and desist. No more rulings. And no more new members (the terms of three of the board's five members are due to expire shortly)...

November 20, 2007: Working Teamsters at UPS can’t depend on top union officials to have our backs, and we can’t wait until there’s a crisis to get organized. That’s the lesson of the UPS contract. In spite of its massive concessions, the contract is headed toward passage with 65 percent of the vote nationally. It is not ratified yet, because Teamsters have voted down three supplemental agreements in Pennsylvania and New York. If we want...

November 20, 2007: The Chicago Tribune reports on sham contracts and nepotism in a new article detailing the corruption in Chicago Local 714. Teamster Probe Finds “Sham” Pacts, AbusesBy Stephen Franklin The books show that workers at Granja & Sons, a small printing company in Chicago, joined Teamsters Union Local 714, one of the union's most influential locals, in January 1998. But the reality is a bit more complex. The company's four union members, as...

UPS Teamsters rejected three supplemental agreements in the East, putting the ratification of the UPS national contract on hold. Click here to read the full story at MakeUPSDeliver.org. Click here for local-by-local results.

The 2008 vote count figures below are preliminary. Some numbers will be adjusted in the final, official tally. Southern Supplement Results Local National Agreement Supplement   Yes No Yes No 79 987 348 974 358 217 74 50 72 51 270 274 281 274 283 373 182 96 183 94 385 664 99 653 107 402 77 41 78 40 480 398 187 367 219 512 429 107 423 114 516 188 149 183 152...

November 21, 2007: Georgia Teamsters on November 17 reelected Randy Brown and the Members First Slate in a race hotly contested by an old guard slate. The 7,000 members of Local 728 have a strong reform history. The local, which represents UPS and freight Teamsters, as well as Allied Waste and a number of other shops, supported Tom Leedham last year by a 2-1 margin. Local 728, working with International organizers, has added 1,000 new...

The UPS contract ratification vote is underway. Click here for more information from Make UPS Deliver.

The UPS contract vote count begins on Friday, November 16. Click here to read more at MakeUPSDeliver.org.

November 14, 2007: Drivers are left to decide for themselves whether to stop work for studios in support of striking writers. Rick Valencia stared through his windshield at the Hollywood writers pacing in front of the Paramount Studios gate, a blur of red T-shirts and picket signs blocking his passage. He'd been driving trucks for more than three decades, but earned less in a year than some of these writers made in a week. Scribes...