April 2, 2010: Sometimes shining a light on injustice wins a quick victory.

Just three days after TDU.org exposed a deal between YRC and the IBT to weaken the freight contract clause requiring the call-back of laid-off Teamsters, the deal was canceled.

In a management memo dated March 18 and headed “25% O/T methodology – not good news” Holland VP for Labor Relations Steve Blubaugh informed managers that they must return to the “old” (proper) way to calculate recall of laid-off Teamsters when overtime exceeds an average of 10 hours per week per active Teamster.

On March 15, TDU.org revealed a memo from YRC labor man Bob Jones which directed managers to implement a “recent agreement between the IBT and the company” that will “give the company greater latitude in O/T utilization without triggering recalls of laid-off Teamsters.”

YRC started to implement the new deal at some Ohio terminals and it would have gone national.

Article 5, Section 6 of the freight contract is enforced by many stewards and locals, and results in numerous laid-off Teamsters being recalled to get work and protect their family health benefits. If your steward and local are not monitoring this provision, you should start doing it.

The so-called “agreement between the IBT and the company” would have allowed employers to use excess overtime up to 90 hours a week over the aggregate limit, instead of the 50 specified in Article 5 of the contract, before triggering recalls.

It’s good news when we can stop a corrupt deal that would have kept more Teamsters on layoff.