Time for Change in Local 726
July 12, 2007: By John Dominikovich Local 726, Chicago: It’s time for change in Chicago Local 726, to make this union strong and proud. I see that change happening this fall in the union election. I’ve worked for the Cook County Highway Department for 25 years and I’ve been a Local 726 member for 20 years. I’ve seen our driver jobs reduced by 50 percent. Jobs have been farmed out with little fight from our...
Waste Management Locks Out 500 Teamsters in Oakland
July 12, 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 by Waste Management is a calculated attack on our union’s efforts to build Teamster power in the wastehaul industry. It requires an equally strong response by our International Union and the solidarity of every Teamster. The company locked out 500 Local 70...
Sicko Is Greato
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...
Letters From Our Members
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,...
Support Locked Out Waste Management Teamsters
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...
YRC Watching Teamsters' Negotiations with UPS
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...
TDU Exposes Payoff: Union Investigates Haynes
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...
Pension Rights Center: Pension Bill Introduced in Senate
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...
Former CF Teamsters Finally Get Paid
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...
Pensions Dominate Teamsters’ Talks with UPS, Freight Carriers
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...