Reuter's: Florida Farmworkers Win Raise from McDonalds
April 9, 2007: McDonald's Corp. on Monday said it has agreed to pay an additional penny per pound for Florida tomatoes, ending a two-year campaign for the increase by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Read the full story at Reuter's. Click here to read more at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers website.
AP: Allied's Chapter 11 Statement Approved
April 6, 2007: Associated Press: Allied Holdings scored two victories this week, winning bankruptcy court approval of its Chapter 11 plan-disclosure statement and its request to enter into a $15 million financing arrangement. Read the full story at Forbes.com.
ILA: Jersey Dockworkers Tell Corrupt Union Bosses to Take Long Walk On Short Pier
The longshoremen of Local 1588 in Bayonne, NJ knew their place—they worked and kept their mouths shut. When your past union president, an exboxer named John DiGilio, is found floating in the Hackensack River with two bullet holes in his head, you don’t ask too many questions. When the man who usurped the local from him threatens to settle disputes with a blowtorch to the crotch, you don’t go to the union office to voice...
The Time Is Right to Win Pension Improvements
April 2, 2007: Since 2003, our Teamster benefits have been under attack. But the coming year gives our union the opportunity to take the offensive. Our pension funds’ assets are already way up due to recent strong investment returns. This opens the door to benefit gains if our union can win sufficient increases in benefit contributions in the 2008 UPS and freight contracts. These contracts are sure to set records for benefit contributions, in part...
Local 604 Demands Retraction
April 4, 2007: When Teamster members at Allied got their ballots to vote on proposed concessions, they were told "There is Only ONE Plan to Save Allied." But another investment, Sopris, has released a proposed term sheet to buy Allied. Local 604 Secretary Treasurer John Thyer has written a letter to Hoffa demanding that he send a written retraction to every member. Click here to read Local 604's letter.
UPS Teamsters in Action Can Win a Strong Contract
April 2, 2007: Our Teamster negotiators have exchanged proposals on language and economics with UPS. Now it’s time for them to exchange information with the members. Pontiac, Mich.: A UPS Teamster signs up to get email updates from Make UPS Deliver.Our negotiators and UPS suspended further national bargaining until May after swapping proposals on wages, pensions and benefits. Bargaining over local supplements and riders will be held throughout the month of April. UPS has dug...
Three Demands That Can Help Defeat the Cuts
April 2, 2007: UPS’s $4 billion profits and new pension fund rules mean the company will pay record contributions toward our benefits in the 2008 contract. But our union has other bargaining demands that are just as critical if we’re going to beat the pension cuts and win better benefits. Include All UPS Part-Timers in Teamster Pension Funds Part-timers are already included in Teamster plans, including two of our strongest funds, the West and Upstate...
Central States Fund Expands to $21 Billion
April 2, 2007: The Central States Pension Fund ended 2006 with a $1.4 billion gain in assets, reaching $20.7 billion—up from just $15 billion a few years ago. The fund projects that by the end of 2007, assets will be up to $21.2 billion, with expected investment returns. With better returns, the Fund projects that they will surpass $22 billion. These figures are in the fund’s Financial and Analytical Reports obtained by TDU in February...
Money There to Restore Our Pensions in the West
April 2, 2007: Assets at the Western Conference of Teamsters (WCT) Pension Trust now top $29 billion and the trust is 100 percent fully funded. But hundreds of thousands of Teamsters covered by the plan are still facing a nearly 40 percent cut in their pension multiplier. Why? And when will our pensions be fully restored? The already-flush WCT Pension Trust is headed for another major influx of cash. In the next UPS contract, the...
Local 814 Movers Smacked with Healthcare Cuts
April 2, 2007: Commercial movers from Teamster Local 814 in New York City have been hit with healthcare cuts—following a concessionary contract that diverted millions of dollars in contributions from their health and welfare fund into their pension plan. Under the terms of the 2005 contract, the $3.96 per hour contribution that was supposed to go into members’ health and welfare fund went into the Pension Fund instead. Poison Pill“We said at the time that...