July 6, 2007: What’s great about Sicko, the new movie by Michael Moore, is that it clearly shows how the pharmaceutical and insurance industries are running a scam on every one. And, while covering such a life-and-death topic, the movie manages to be a lot of fun. The first half of the movie follows the lives of a variety of everyday folks, all of whom have health insurance with major companies. It shows, up close...

Hoffa Sells Labor Peace on the CheapIt’s time we faced up to the number one problem in our union. The problem is a lack of leadership coming from Junior Hoffa and his associates. These parasites don’t want to have their sleeping arrangements disturbed. They sell labor peace on the cheap, rather than working for the dues-paying members’ concerns. Keep up the battle for a democratic Teamsters Union. We’re behind you. Delmar BequetteRoadway, Local 600New Douglas,...

July 10, 2007: Waste Management has locked out 500 Teamsters in Oakland, Calif. for refusing to give in to company demands that they pay a larger share of their healthcare benefits. The lockout is entering its second week. These locked out Teamsters deserve our full support. Teamsters Local 70 and Waste Management met with a mediator on Monday, July 9th but both sides reported no progress. The company has brought in 200 scabs but has...

July 9, 2007: By Randolph Heaster:The Teamsters union has begun contract talks with UPS that could affect the direction of future negotiations with YRC Worldwide Inc. and other unionized trucking companies. Although the current contract with the parcel giant does not expire until the end of July 2008, bargaining has already begun in hopes of obtaining a new agreement early. One issue that UPS has put on the table is pension benefits for the company’s...

July 3, 2007: The International Union and New York Local 237 claim to be investigating HMO "consultant" payments received by International VP Carroll Haynes. This action came in response to a report in the June Convoy Dispatch, following research by TDU. Haynes, who has routinely made over $300,000 from his multiple salaries and pensions, has been pulling down an extra $54,500 as a "consultant" to Health Insurance Plans (HIP) of New York. HIP provides benefits...

June 28, 2007: At a press conference today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced the Restoring Pension Promises to Workers Act of 2007, which contains a number of provisions “to help ensure Americans’ pensions will be there for them when they retire.” For one, the bill would create an Office of Participant Advocacy, which would be a resource for people who are affected by shortcomings in the laws. The bill also includes a provision that would...

June 28, 2007: Former Consolidated Freightways Teamsters are receiving checks this week in partial payment of moneys owed to them for the past five years. CF Teamsters who do not receive checks soon should contact their local union. The first check received covered most of the WARN Act settlement of $2150 for the abrupt closure, in the "Labor Day Massacre" of 2002, when over 10,000 Teamsters lost their jobs. The second check should cover a...

June 26, 2007: Logistics Management says there is good news for shippers in our union's current round of bargaining with UPS, and in the upcoming NMFA negotiations. "There is scant chance of a national strike as happened 10 years ago when Teamsters walked out against UPS and when they struck the LTL sector in 1994." The article notes that Ken Hall is "seriously considering" UPS management's proposal to split up the Central States Pension. "That’s...

June 20, 2007: Do Hoffa and Hall still believe in the principle that powered our 1997 strike victory? When we drew the line at UPS in 1997, we did more than win a strong contract. We won a stronger future at UPS. Now that legacy is in jeopardy. In 1997, Teamster unity forced the company to create 10,000 new full-time jobs—by combining 20,000 part-time jobs. Still smarting from the 1997 strike, UPS management agreed to...

June 18, 2007: By John Gallagher, for Traffic World - Pension benefits are in play as never before in the current round of negotiations between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the future of LTL giants YRC Worldwide and Arkansas Best - as well as UPS's own freight division - may hang in the balance. When the $48 billion parcel giant inked its last deal for 230,000 union drivers in 2002, it had...