As U.S. Allied Teamsters may soon be voting on drastic concessions, Allied Teamsters in Ontario and Quebec are standing united, with pensions and wages being key issues.

The next bargaining round is set for early March, but with the report that PTS is buying Allied-Canada, a question mark hangs over the negotiations.

Allied employs about 700 Teamsters in Eastern Canada, more than the other companies—PTS, Cassens, and Gen Auto—combined. PTS has already settled with the Teamsters, for a cheap raise of just one cent per running mile for each of the three years in the contract.

In January the Allied stewards walked out on their union leaders from Toronto Local 938 over the issue of winning the right to elect their pension trustees for the Eastern Canadian car carriers’ pension plan. The stewards on the bargaining committee want that guaranteed in the contract, to protect their pension from a takeover.

The wage issue has not yet come to the table.  With Yucaipa’s deep pockets now in the picture, Allied Teamsters are not going to be in the mood to give anything away.

One Allied driver told us “Time is on our side now.  We’re not going to settle short, especially with the stewards united.”

Teamsters in the U.S. and Canada are in important struggles to maintain our contracts—it’s time for solidarity of all Teamsters at Allied-PTS. United against concessions on both sides of the border, we all win.