May 9, 2007: International Vice President Frank Gillen was charged on April 26 by the Independent Review Board (IRB) with giving false testimony under oath. He faces a hearing and could be expelled from the Teamsters Union, if the charge is sustained. Gillen is charged with lying to cover up his association with Thomas Ryan, who was banned from the Teamsters for embezzling union funds. Gillen heads Local 500, Philadelphia Joint Council 53, the Pennsylvania...

by Bruce Blake, Local 848, Retired May 9, 2007: Operating on the principle that a strong union is built on rank-and-file involvement, the majority of Local 848 drivers at the Vons grocery warehouse in Los Angeles signed a petition asking for a shop steward election. Local 848 Secretary-Treasurer Jim Santangelo agreed to the petition—but denied members an honest vote. “The election was a total fraud,” says Howard Palmer, a Vons driver. The members wanted an...

May 9, 2007: Going back to the table gives the two unions a chance to fix problems in the proposed agreements. On Feb. 28 the Rail Labor Bargaining Committee, a coalition of seven rail craft unions including the BLET and the BMWED, announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee. Rail members were supposed to vote on the contracts in April, and the agreements were to take effect in...

May 9, 2007: Teamster engineers on the CSX lines have ratified an agreement that swaps wage increases for performance bonuses. Under this agreement, BLET members on the CSX won’t be covered by the national wage agreement with the carriers—and by the end of the agreement, their base wage rate will fall well behind the national rate. Engineers will get a base pay increase of three percent and a $2,500 bonus at signing. They will receive...

May 9, 2007 Master Freight: The Time is Now My freight brothers and sisters, a call to action. It’s time to dig out those National Master Freight contract books that expire March 31, 2008…the names of the union negotiating committee members are in there, thirty-three of them plus Hoffa. Many will be back at the table this time around. If one of these guys is in your local, it’s time to get to them in...

May 9, 2007: by Elliot Zwiebach for Supermarket News — LOS ANGELES - Unified Western Grocers here said Monday it has signed a letter of understanding with Associated Grocers, Seattle, to purchase certain assets and assume certain liabilities of the Seattle-based cooperative. The transaction is subject to completion of due diligence, execution of a definitive purchase agreement and approval by the boards of both companies, AG shareholders and federal and state regulatory agencies, but the...

May 9, 2007: Allied Holdings Inc. said Friday that its board of directors has voted to terminate Chief Executive Hugh Sawyer, as required by the company's proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan. Click here to read the full story in the Associated Press.

May 9, 2007: Local 743 Secretary Treasurer Richard Lopez has seemingly disappeared while Provident Hospital lays off Local 743 members. Lopez who workers tell us is responsible for Provident has refused to return calls of laid off workers. Other unions have worked with officials from Cook County, which owns Provident Hospital, to find new jobs for workers set for lay off. Some unions are working with other employers to find jobs for those laid off....

May 3, 2006: In November, longtime Philadelphia Teamsters leader Francis "Frank" J. Gillen reached a pinnacle in his union career: election as international vice president for the eastern region of the United States. Now Gillen, who leads state and regional Teamsters organizations as well as Local 500 in Philadelphia, faces allegations by a federal investigatory board that may cause him to lose all his leadership jobs and his union membership. Read the full article in...

May 2, 2007: It’s been a bad week for top associates of James Hoffa: Billy Hogan, Hoffa’s one-time running mate, has been charged with criminal contempt. And Frank Gillen, recently elected IBT Vice President on the Hoffa ticket, was charged by the Independent Review Board (IRB) with lying under oath about his associations with a banned Teamster official. Frank Gillen and James Hoffa, Jr.Hogan has been charged with criminal contempt for violating his permanent ban...