April 2, 2007: It can be hard for small locals to survive these days—especially when we are going up against big multinational corporations. But when two small GCC locals with the same employer tried to merge, the GCC national leadership stood in the way and instead sent some of the members into an entirely different local—even though the membership of both locals and the GCC National Convention voted to approve their merger. It started in...

Click here to read an analysis of the Bush administration's pilot program by investment bankers Stephens Inc.

“We’ve got to get moving now on our next contract. In TDU, we’re the ones who are going to be asking the tough questions and pushing for stronger standards and better benefits.” Jimmy Rickert, Roadway Local 429, Lancaster, Penn. Contact our rank-and-file network in Freight. Click here to join an email list for news on the 2008 NMFA contract campaign. UPS Freight StickersGet it Straight at UPS Freight TDU members in Freight are launching a...

April 2, 2007: President James Hoffa has been briefed by the different Teamster benefit funds on what we need to win in the UPS and freight contracts to increase our benefits. This information needs to be shared with Teamster members. In 2002 and 2003, Teamsters were promised that our benefits would be secure for the life of the UPS, freight and carhaul contracts. Later, court documents revealed that the Central States Pension Fund repeatedly warned...

April 2, 2007: Before UPS Freight could change its corporate culture, it had to make sure its truck drivers could change their socks. Read the full story at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

April 2, 2007: Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters March 30 voted to reject a contract offer from Costco Wholesale Corp. to cover about 3,300 East Coast employees, according to an IBT official. Rome Aloise, chairman of the union's Costco contract negotiating committee, said about 89 percent of union members participating in the mail ballot voted against the Costco proposal. About 40 percent of those eligible to vote participated, he said. The current contract...

The Store will be ready soon. Please check back shortly.

April 2, 2007: After three years of working without a national contract, the BLET announced a deal with the National Carriers’ Conference on March 5. The new deal eliminates COLA and allows the carriers to pass along health care costs to Teamster engineers. The BLET has not released the full proposed agreement—only a two-page summary. Here’s what we know so far: Wages: Engineers will get a 3 percent wage increase when the deal goes into...

The new TDU website brings you more info—and we want to hear from you. Click here to register so you can post comments online.

April 2, 2007 The Members Come Before Politics I was a delegate to the 2006 Teamster Convention. It was made perfectly clear by Brother Dan Virtue, candidate for Eastern Region VP, of his independence from any candidate during the IBT convention this past June. After listening to this candidate speak, and learning what he stood for, it was simple for me to understand why his members elected him and why Brother Hoffa made him an...