October 17, 2007: The Freight Division is taking two very different strategies from others in the Hoffa administration. First, Freight Director Tyson Johnson has said that the union will not allow any carrier to split from any Teamster pension plan. This is the opposite of what Hoffa and Ken Hall are trying to do at UPS, where they gave in to the company’s demand to pull out of the Central States Pension Fund in return for a card check agreement.

Second, the Freight Division intends to bargain with TMI first, then hold ABF to mirror the same contract. This is the opposite of what Hoffa and Brad Slawson are doing at DHL. The 27 locals with DHL units under the NMFA have been pulled out of the Freight Division, and only an organized rank and file is holding back Slawson from giving the company whatever it wants, including part-timers.

Preserving national master contracts, and preserving our pension plans: both of these are key to maintaining Teamster power.

We should resist any move to break up master contracts or pension plans. We need to turn that around and bring more companies into master contracts, and more into our pension plans.