January 6, 2006: Greenville's Roadway Express facility is losing a significant number of jobs as the company realigns its business to better reflect traffic patterns and reduce transit times, said Michael J. Smid, the company's president and chief executive officer. Although Smid declined to say how many positions would be affected, a local union official put the number at more than 200 jobs. Skip Barnett, a Teamsters Local Union No. 28 business agent who works...

Teamsters and their families demonstrated August 29 outside the federal building in Nashville to protest Yellow’s deployment of fatigued drivers. Inside, attorney Paul Taylor was arguing the case of TDU member Ron Melton, who alleged the company disciplined him when he refused to drive because of fatigue. Yellow had kept Melton waiting by the phone for more than seven hours after his scheduled bid start time. At right, Local 480 Teamster Terry Warren.

Roadway Express has proposed a massive change of operations, which would cause 955 Teamsters to relocate. They are seeking a union hearing on February 9 and implementation by March 12. The breakbulk terminals in Greenville, SC and Hagerstown, Maryland would close, as would the road driver relay in North Lima, Ohio. Roadway management is selling the change as necessary to maintain and improve service; they are slower than other carriers on some lanes. They also...

Seven million dollars is on the table as the proposed WARN Act settlement to pay off Teamsters put out of work when USF Red Star closed its doors last year. This figure was reached in negotiations with Yellow Roadway, USF’s new owner. The settlement means roughly a minimum payment of $3,200 for each Teamster who worked in a terminal of 50 or more employees and about $1,000 for each Teamster who worked in a smaller...

I would like to thank TDU and Convoy Dispatch for the opportunity to get a very important message out to my Teamster brothers and sisters. I am not currently a member of TDU but I do certainly sympathize and support anyone who aspires to make the Teamsters a more democratic union. I am one of the lead plaintiffs in the WARN Act lawsuit that the rank and file was forced to bring against USF. I...

ABF road drivers in Kernersville, N.C. and Orlando, Fla. are contending with a host of problems that stem from poor terminal management. Runarounds are rampant. Drivers either sit and wait for work or end up running hard to make up for lost earning potential. “The terminal manager, Ron Meadows” an Orlando driver told Convoy, “seems to think that this is the way to run the operation, along with our Business Agent, Mr. Gary Brown. In...

In mid January the Eastern Region freight grievance panel awarded over $230,000 to Pittsburgh DHL drivers, but the company continues to defy the decision. Incredibly, it appears that the Hoffa administration is in cahoots with the corporation in refusing to comply with a binding decision and in undermining the union’s own grievance procedure. Thousands of DHL Teamsters are being used as pawns in a union power struggle, with control over the highest levels of the...

On February 1, Teamsters Union freight representatives agreed to approve Roadway’s major change of operations, which will close some breakbulks and relay points and move approximately one thousand road, dock, yard and office jobs. In return, certain job protections were written into the change agreement. Click here to read the Change of Operations

March 16, 2006: Local 249 has submitted a request for strike authorization from the IBT in response to DHL’s unwillingness to comply with a September 2005 grievance decision. Five months have passed since the National Review Committee for the NMFA (Tyson Johnson for the IBT and Jim Roberts for TMI) ordered DHL to pay $90,000 worth of back pay to Teamsters in Pittsburgh for subcontracting violations. In January 2006 the Eastern Conference panel heard a...

On February 21 the National Freight Grievance Committee issued a clarification in a case from Local 776, which protects the right of a freight Teamster to appeal to a third doctor regarding a DOT physical. If the company doctor disqualifies an employee, and the Teamster’s personal doctor gives a conflicting diagnosis, the Teamster can appeal to a third doctor. This document corrects what appeared to be a very wrong-headed decision issued on February 3. Click...