Canadian Track Workers Shut Down Construction on the CP
June 8, 2007: A strike on the Canadian Pacific Railway has entered its third week. On May 16, over 3,200 track maintenance and construction workers walked off the job. The track workers are members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The members say they want higher wages and stronger job security. CP wants to expand job duties. The railroad has replaced striking maintenance workers with over 1,200 managers. But the strike has put a stop...
What Official Takes Home an Extra $54,500 as a Health Care Consultant?
June 8, 2007: In 2006, International Vice President Carroll Haynes was paid $54,500 as a “consultant” by the Health Insurance Plans (HIP) of Greater New York. HIP provides health benefits to the members of Local 237, where Haynes was the principal officer in 2006. Should a Teamster officer and benefit fund trustee be taking $54,500 from an HMO that that makes millions through its contract with our union’s largest local? In the old days, vendors...
Letters from Our Members
An Open Letter to Ken Hall Ken,The recent UPS proposal is shortsighted. Any effort on UPS’s part to withdraw from Central States Pension Fund would devastate Teamster pension funds across the country. A withdrawal by UPS could be the end of the Teamsters Union as we know it. Pension funds are the glue that holds Teamster members together in solidarity. Don’t let UPS trick you. UPS thinks in the long term—there’s a “25 year plan”...
Wage & Hour: New Jersey Supreme Court Authorizes Statewide Class Action Against Wal-Mart
June 4, 2007: The New Jersey Supreme Court May 31 authorized two former employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc to proceed with a statewide class action on behalf of approximately 72,000 workers alleging that they were denied required rest and meal breaks and were forced to work "off the clock" (Iliadis v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., N.J., No. A-69, 5/31/07). Reversing the trial court's denial of the two plaintiffs' motion to certify a class action, the supreme...
Allied Carhaulers Take Cut, Others Get Raise
May 31, 2007: Teamster carhaulers at Allied Holdings now make 19¢ less per loaded mile than their brothers and sisters at other carriers. “It’s brutal,” a Detroit driver commented as he thought about what he will lose in the coming year. Carhaulers get a 2.5 percent raise on the June 1 contract anniversary —50¢ per hour and 2.5¢ per loaded mile (1.25¢ per running mile). Two days earlier, Allied Teamsters got slapped with a 15...
Ex-Teamsters boss gets 6 1/2 years in federal prison
May 29, 2007: By Cindy George from the Houston Chronicle--A federal judge today ordered that Chuck Crawley spend six and a half years in federal prison for his schemes to control Houston's largest Teamsters union and enrich himself. The former Local 988 president was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon. Crawley, 57, was convicted in December of arranging a $20,000 kickback from a vendor and rigging the local's 2002 election. A jury...
To Some, Ex-union Boss' Sentence is Just Deserts
May 29, 2007: By Cindy George for the Houston Chronicle--For all the damaging acts blamed on Chuck Crawley, the worst was taking a man's livelihood, says Francis Pradier, who is paying off $50,000 in debt he ran up living on credit cards for a year after losing his job. For Harry Bowers III and David McCormick, it's the more than $12,000 in legal bills they amassed defending themselves in court after telling the FBI about...
Rail Workers Blame Woes on Earlier Cuts
May 29, 2007: by Brent Jang from Transportaion Reporter: When Shayne Brighton started his job 28 years ago at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., he didn't have to worry about toiling nights and weekends - shifts he has often worked in the past three years. Mr. Brighton, 49, makes $24.24 an hour as a welder-fabricator at CPR. He went on strike with his 3,200 Teamsters union co-workers on May 16. "CP Rail isn't offering us much...
Freight Bulletin: Say NO to Pension Grabs by UPS, ABF
UPS has put an offer on the bargaining table to take 42,000 UPS Teamsters out of the Central States Fund. The CEO of ABF just announced he wants to pull out of all Teamster benefit plans. The Hoffa administration is also considering a deal to keep all UPS Freight Teamsters out of our traditional Teamster pension plans as part of a contract that would be substandard to the NMFA. Together, these proposals would put Freight...
Rail Teamsters Say “Vote No!”
May 25, 2007:Rail Teamsters have launched a campaign to vote down the proposed national BLET agreement. Ed Michael, BLET Div. 724"It’s a bad deal. The new contract says we’ll pay more for our healthcare, and it says we owe the carriers thousands of dollars each,” said Ed Michael, a member of BLET Div. 724 on the Union Pacific. “We can do better. That’s why I’m voting No.” Under the new agreement, engineers will pay 15...