Yucaipa May Purchase Allied
Carhaul Contract Under Fire July 2006 - Allied Automotive Group’s 3,800 US Teamsters got a raise on July 1 when the 10 percent cut imposed by the bankruptcy court expired without being extended. Just as important to carhaulers was the news that Yucaipa Companies, a Los Angeles firm controlled by billionaire investor Ron Burkle, is taking an interest in acquiring Allied. Allied withdrew its motion in court to extend the 10 percent pay cut for...
Organizing Ready Mix and Construction
“The work can't be moved, and contractors face a deadline.” Darryl Connell President, Local 200 Milwaukee July 2006. When we came into local union office two-and-a-half years ago, ready mix and construction were being neglected. Since construction work can’t be moved, and contractors face deadlines, construction can and should be a Teamster stronghold. So we put together a strategic plan to organize in construction, and have stuck with it. To be effective, we knew we’d...
BLET Teamsters Win the Right to Vote
Similar Effort in BMWED Suffers Setback In a resounding vote, Teamsters in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen have changed their bylaws to give members the Right to Vote for their national officers. Members voting in the mail ballot referendum cast their votes in favor of the change by nearly a two-to-one margin. A determined group of engineers from Atlanta Division 316 put forward the idea of direct elections in October of last year....
UPS Requires Drivers to Head Out on Their Own Time
July 2006. Recently UPS management has quietly expanded a rural route scheme that they launched under the 2002 contract. Members from North Carolina to California report that UPS is moving the starting locations for certain rural routes from the UPS building to vacant lots 50 or 60 miles away. Drivers are then forced to drive the extra miles on their own dime to get to work—or relocate, or just bid off the routes and...
Pilots to Vote on Contract
July 25, 2005: In late June the Independent Pilots Association issued UPS an ultimatum: come up with a final contract offer or face a strike. Management has dragged its feet on reaching an agreement, now into their fourth year of bargaining. Management did come across with an agreement, which will now be put to a vote of the 2,500 pilots. Not all terms of the contract have been released. Pay for UPS pilots has lagged...
Leedham’s Antidote to the Losses of the Hoffa Years
Hoffa’s Weak Contracts Can’t Hide Behind His Father’s Famous Name July 2006. The 2006 IBT election will be a rematch between Hoffa and Tom Leedham, who squared off in 2001. While the names at the top of the ballot are the same as in 2001, the similarities end there. In 2001, Hoffa was an incumbent without a record. In three years in office, he had never negotiated a UPS or freight contract. In the few...
Hoffa to Unleash ‘Best PR Ever’
Weaknesses in UPS Contract Force Hoffa to Ask Management for Another Bite at the Apple July 2006. It’s official: Hoffa’s “Best Contract Ever” has failed; the union will now sit down to try to negotiate early with UPS management. Management seems happy to bargain early, hoping to button up a deal long before any threat of a work stoppage, and before the big 100 year anniversary events. Management is telling the media that they are...
Can Hoffa Deliver on His Campaign Year Hype?
Critical UPS Freight Battle Looms “This agreement between the Teamsters and UPS Freight is a letter for card check and neutrality at Overnite.” James P. Hoffa, June 27, 2006 IBT Convention, Las Vegas With those words, Hoffa promised Teamsters that he won an agreement to let our union organize Overnite (now UPS Freight) without the union-busting tactics we’ve seen from management in the past. Will Hoffa’s agreement really deliver this promise? We hope so....
Western Conference Fund: Pension Cuts Aren't Justified
October 18, 2006. At the Aug. 25 debate between Tom Leedham and Hoffa’s stand-in, Tom Keegel, a Teamster member questioned Keegel about the 60 percent pension accrual cuts in the big Western Conference Pension Plan. The member said the plan is 100 percent funded, with zero unfunded liability, and yet top Teamster officials go along with management on continuing the pension cuts. The member pointed out that Hoffa’s running mates sit on the fund board:...
Yellow Roadway Warns: UPS-Freight Deal Will 'Set Precedent'
October 18, 2006. Yellow-Roadway CEO William Zollars told Traffic World magazine that any deal between the Teamsters and UPS Freight, covering one terminal of 120 workers in Indianapolis, will ‘set precedent’ for the National Master Freight Agreement. Because Hoffa’s card check and neutrality agreement covered only one terminal and is now void, Zollars expects any contract that UPS Freight would accept will fall far short of the NMFA, and will not allow the employees into...