A Message From Tom Leedham: Thank You for Working to Rebuild Teamster Power
Decmeber 5, 2006: One year ago, we launched this campaign to rebuild Teamster Power. I want to thank Teamster members for the tremendous support you’ve shown and for the sacrifices you’ve made to strengthen our union. From the beginning, I said “I am the candidate, but this is your campaign.” And you rose to the occasion every step of the way. You collected 55,000 petition signatures in just over a month to officially accredit our...
Kroger Teamsters Fight to Protect Jobs, Contract
December 2, 2006: Kroger Teamsters in Louisville are fighting for their jobs and their future in the wake of the grocery giant’s decision to turn over ownership and operations of its Kentucky Distribution Center to third party logistics companies. December 6, 2006: Just one year into a six-year contract with Local 89, Kroger announced it would sell the warehouse to Zenith Logistics and the transportation operations to Transervice Logistics. Zenith immediately threatened Teamsters with drastic...
Replacement Workers - Anti-Scab Legislation
Editor at HRinfodesk.com - Canadian Payroll and Employment Law News By Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B., November 4, 2006. A federal private members' Bill that will ban organizations from bringing in replacement workers (scabs) during a labour dispute (Bill C-257) was introduced on May 4, 2006 in the House of Commons, and received second reading on October 25, 2006. The Bill was sent to the Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee...
Right to Vote: Priceless
November 4, 2006. With a week to go in the voting for Teamster president, it is not too early to say history is being made in the Teamsters Union. If the Teamster rank-and-file can win this election for the Tom Leedham Slate, we will not only pull off the labor upset of the decade, we will open a new day for the Teamsters Union, and for the whole labor movement. That’s the power of the...
Big Issues Not on the Table Yet
UPS Bargaining Opens November 4, 2006. Will the present International Union leadership fight for a good contract at UPS? One bad sign is that they are already keeping contract information secret from the members. At the October contract proposal meeting they wouldn’t even let local officers leave with copies of the union’s proposals, which they promptly handed to management. Fortunately, TDU has obtained copies of the both the union and employer non-monetary bargaining proposals. You...
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...