Solidarity + Coordination = Power
The fight by Local 174 Teamsters shows that coordination and solidarity can beat back employer demands for healthcare concessions. The attack on Teamster health benefits is national, strategic and coordinated. The fight back has to be the same. As we go to press, Waste Management Teamsters are on strike in New York City fighting for affordable healthcare. Members in Washington, D.C. were recently forced to end their strike and accept healthcare concessions at Waste Management....
Letters From Our Members - May/April 2006
Hoffa Jr. Lacks the Teamster Experience Why are there so few examples of Teamsters secure in their jobs? I don’t mean that the national union has not been there fighting for fairness and contracts in companies like UPS or DHL, I mean language and improvements in the small companies that make up the heart and bone of our union. UPS and the rest are important, the muscle of our brotherhood. But not all of...
UPS Grants Divine Authority to Supervisor
April 22, 2006: Feeder driver Henry Gallet could not believe that he was being forced to return to work with less than four hours off-duty by Lenexa feeder manager Steve Mitchell. It seems that Mitchell has the divine authority to interpret Department of Transportation regulations as he sees fit. This authority also grants the right to falsify the DOT required Drivers Daily Log, as he compelled Gallet to log off-duty (from Lenexa, Kans. to Clinton,...
Members Demand Philly Local Protect Jobs
April 22, 2006: Members of Local 384 in Philadelphia are telling their local officers in no uncertain terms that a plan by UPS to replace four established full-time shifter jobs with combo positions is out of the question. It is also a violation of Article 22.3 of the contract, which states that new full-time jobs will be created out of “existing part-time” positions. At least one other local in Philly has signed off on the...
UPS: Best First Quarter Ever
April 22, 2006: UPS reports first-quarter after-tax profits of $975million, up 10.5 percent over last year, and revenue of $11.5 billion, up 16.5 percent. U.S. package volume grew 6.8 percent to 848,000 packages per day. Corporate cash-flow was very strong; free cash was used to buy back more than 11 million outstanding shares of stock.
YRC Takes Hit on Stock Price
After a string of recent profitable quarters, merger mania appears to have caught up with YRC Worldwide. YRC lowered its first quarter profits by 35 percent and saw its stock price drop. Cost overruns were cited at the Yellow Transportation subsidiary. They report that Roadway Express was on track and not the problem. There was no mention of the USF subsidiaries of YRC. The company said it would offer its profit projections for 2006 when...
Allied Systems Goes to Court to Cut Wages
Allied Systems, the largest carhauling corporation, is going to court on April 26 to void the contract covering 4,000 U.S. Teamsters and impose a 10 percent wage cut. Management claims that the company will suffer irreparable harm as soon as May if they don’t get the cuts immediately. They are also demanding that the June 1 contractual raise be eliminated. In mid-April, the company advised all U.S. Teamsters that they anticipate court approval and that...
The High Cost of Hoffa’s PR Men
The 2005 financial reports for Teamster affiliates, including the International, are finally public. These LM-2 reports reveal for the first time the astonishing high cost of Hoffa’s PR. Three consultants alone were paid nearly two million in members’ dues money—not bad money for non-Teamsters who didn’t bargain a single contract, settle a single grievance, or organize a single member into our union. Two of the richest PR fatcats are Greg Tarpinian and Richard Leebove. Tarpinian...
Multiple Salaries Fund Hoffa Campaign
As of Jan. 31, the Hoffa campaign reported raising nearly $1 million. Incredibly, some 96 percent of the money is from Teamster officials, and 30 percent is directly from Hoffa staffers and appointees, with much more from their own appointees and associates. Of $987,000 raised, $784,000 (80 percent) came from donations of over $500, and 61 percent came from donations of over $1,000. Only four percent came from donations under $100, where rank and file...
Members Look to 2006 to Shake Up Teamster Union
January 28, 2005: “If you’re concerned about our union, you can do something about it,” says Seattle Local 174 President and UPS feeder driver Dianne Bolton.Bolton is also a member of the TDU Steering Committee. “In TDU, we’re about positive change. We’ve set our sights on the 2006 Teamster Convention and IBT election. The convention is where we can make positive changes in the IBT constitution and nominate a good slate that can challenge and...