November 4, 2004: A non-union operator seems to be taking over the ABF cartage operation in Charlotte, N.C. Millenium Express, a non-union cartage company, now actually rents part of the ABF dock. They use ABF’s pallet jacks and forklifts, load ABF freight onto six non-union trucks, and make deliveries and pick-ups. This has been going on for eight months and is expanding! The excuse is “overflow freight.” Eight months of sudden overflow? ABF is apparently...

November 4, 2004: Gate Gourmet, whose 10,500 employees provide food services to airlines and railroads, is trying to break our union. The current contract expired June 1. Management is demanding big wage and benefit cuts that they know workers will not accept. Under the company proposal, wages would be cut by as much as $5.02 an hour. Members’ pension and 401(k) would be eliminated. The company contribution to members’ health insurance would be capped at...

November 4, 2004: Hundreds of Teamsters attended the 29th annual TDU Convention in Cleveland last month to chart the course of the reform movement for the coming year. Speakers blasted James Hoffa for the decline of Teamster power on his watch. TDU members have their eye on the 2006 IBT election, but our convention voted to put the focus for the coming year on strengthening our movement at the grassroots—to build at the bottom so...

November 4, 2004: On Nov. 9 federal judge Kathleen O’Malley issued a temporary restraining order against James Hoffa’s trusteeship of Cleveland Local 293. Hoffa’s trustee was sent packing and the 1,700 members of Local 293 got their local back, with the elected officers back in office. Hoffa placed the local into trusteeship on Sept. 20, alleging serious problems including that Local 293 had undermined a strike by Local 348 against a beer distributor. Members, including...

November 4, 2004: The Independent Review Board (IRB) on Oct. 14 charged Joseph Bernstein with associating with Billy Hogan, who was banned from the Teamsters in May 2002. Bernstein, the president of Chicago Local 781 and vice president of Joint Council 25, faces a hearing and likely removal from our union as well as the loss of his $218,441 salary. Bernstein admitted under oath to having at least three meetings with Hogan, one of which...

November 15, 2004: In the 1960's and 1970's, the Teamsters' huge Central States pension fund was a wellspring of union corruption. Tens of millions of dollars were loaned to racketeers who used the money to gain control of Las Vegas casinos. Administrative jobs were awarded to favored insiders who paid themselves big fees. A former Teamster president and pension trustee was convicted of trying to bribe a United States senator. Yet for nearly half a...

November 4, 2004: For the second time in a year the Members United Slate has been elected the officers of Washington, D.C., Local 639. Their election victory on October 27 put an end to one of Hoffa’s more desperate attempts to undermine a local union election. Members United won their first election last fall, beating out IBT Trustee John Steger and his Concerned Members slate. While Local 639 members got on with the job of...

November 4, 2004: When the votes were counted on October 16 in 12,000-member Chicago Local 743, TDUer Richard Berg of the New Leadership Slate had upset incumbent President Robert Walston by seven votes. There were 188 unresolved challenged ballots, but many of them came from workers at Silver Capital, a shop that was solidly behind New Leadership, so the outcome looked clear. On October 18, the day before the challenges were to be resolved, local...

November 4, 2004: I am a long-time Menlo/Emery Teamster, and on first hearing of the UPS purchase of our company I thought about the potential positive aspects. The prospect of UPS management possibly being able to make the company grow is reason for celebration. But on reflection, what will the relationship be? On one hand, some of the hard times experienced by Menlo Teamsters could actually be an opportunity for the IBT. Many locations, including...

November 4, 2004: At the recent TDU Convention, UPS Teamsters met to discuss contract enforcement and survival strategies. In the coming months we will report on some ideas that came out of the meeting. With the PAS/Smart Label system being put in place, UPS package car drivers are contending with several changes. Routes are being changed and stop counts are up. At the same time, the risk of injury is on the rise. Now more...