December 28, 2012: Administrative Law Judge Bruce Rosenstein has ruled that Ford contractor Voith Services conspired with the United Auto Workers (UAW) to deprive over 100 Louisville Teamsters of their jobs and their union contract. The decision orders Voith to put 85 of the Teamsters to work, pay them nearly a year's back-pay, reinstate the superior terms of the Teamster contract, and void the bogus deal the company signed with the UAW.

• 85 named Teamsters must be put to work. Other Teamsters must be given a chance to apply for jobs.

• Back pay must be awarded, on the basis of the Teamster contract.

• The pre-existing Teamster contract must be reinstated in full, until a new contract is negotiated with Local 89.

• The UAW contract is voided, because it was the product of illegal discrimination against Teamster workers and collusion between the corporation and the UAW.

• The decision's orders must be posted on bulletin boards, on the web, and read aloud at meetings of all workers.

August 24, 2012: For some time now, various locals have taken votes to give employers a break on hauling auction cars and cars from rental companies: Teamsters are paid 25% of revenue. Some have said yes, others no, and others haven't voted yet. Jack Cooper drivers in Flint Local 332 are set to vote soon.

The problem is, 25%-of-revenue rate means there is no set scale and you need to trust the company on what you're paid.  And the employer takes a cut off the top before calculating the percentage.

St. Louis Local 604 negotiated a rate schedule, which perhaps could be a model for other locals. But one driver there told us that since they negotiated a clear rate, they don't get the work. It goes to locals which went along with the blanket 25%.

A Flint driver told us "This is the hardest work we do. Long walks to find the cars, and sometimes they don't even start. And for the extra work, we get paid like nonunion drivers. We want to gain back work from nonunion, but not by going down to nonunion pay and standards."

Other drivers favor the move to capture some of this work. The solution seems to be for the Carhaul Division to establish a rate schedule and standards which would avoid the companies playing one local against another.

August 22, 2012: More than 100 Teamsters lost their jobs in a corrupt union-busting deal in Louisville. They're fighting back and may be headed to victory.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken unusual emergency action in the case. Instead of waiting endlessly for a complaint to move forward, the NLRB has filed for an injunction in federal court to stop union busting. 

If the NLRB's motion succeeds, the Teamsters will be returned to their yard jobs at Ford.  They've been out of work for months because of an illegal scheme to gut their Teamster contract.

In February, Ford took the yard work from Jack Cooper Transport, and awarded it to Voith Industrial Services. Then, in a pre-arranged sweetheart deal, Voith signed a cheap contract with a United Auto Workers local union. 

To make sure this deal wouldn't be rejected by the workers, Voith refused to hire the experienced Teamsters, except for a token few. Instead they brought in new hires, and told them they would have to join the UAW.

Teamsters Local 89 decided to fight back. They documented what was happening, to get the NLRB the necessary evidence to take action. The NLRB’s motion for an injunction is directed at both Voith and the UAW.

On July 22, Local 89 took out two full page ads in the Louisville Courier Journal, calling on UAW members to ask their union to stop its collusion in corporate union busting.

On July 24, Local 89 mailed a packet of information to every Teamster local union. The cover letter from Local 89 president Fred Zuckerman states that Local 89 has not received labor support in their battle, "including our own International union."

Why No Support from Hoffa?

James Hoffa is a friend of UAW president Bob King. Why hasn't Hoffa asked his friend to withdraw from the cheap contract deal, and settle with the NLRB?  When we ask carhaulers this question, we get three different answers.

One, the IBT is ready to write-off carhaulers. They don't vote for Hoffa and they can't be easily manipulated. 

Two, Hoffa won't help Local 89 because Zuckerman ran on the Fred Gegare Slate and Hoffa removed him as carhaul director after the election.

Three, Hoffa's current carhaul director, Local 299 BA Roy Gross, allowed Voith to pull the same deal last year at the Ford plant in Wayne Michigan. There the Jack Cooper yard workers lost jobs, and now UAW workers do the work under a cheaper contract. So it's embarrassing to have Local 89 win the issue, when Local 299 gave it away without a fight.

Whichever it is, it smells bad.

Fortunately, the Kentucky Teamsters may win even without help from the International union.

The NLRB motion for an injunction against Voith and the UAW is available here.

June 28, 2012: What does the Allied Automotive Group bankruptcy mean for carhaulers?  That important question remains unanswered at this point.

Teamster carhaulers, as well as the Ford Motor Company, need Allied to survive, because the remaining union carriers simply do not have the capacity to pick up Allied's work.  Since Ford has made Allied their preferred carrier, they likely will survive.

Will Allied pick up more Ford work? That's their goal, but reportedly Ford is reluctant to award them more traffic while the bankruptcy is pending.

Allied Automotive Group filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, June 10, in Delaware. CEO Mark Gendregske, in a conference call the following day, claimed that there will be "no reduction in workforce, pay, or benefits" and that the bankruptcy will be a short process compared to Allied's 2005 bankruptcy.

Gendregske contrasted the bankruptcy to 2005, when Allied demanded Teamster concessions. Typically in a bankruptcy creditors are asked to accept equity in the company in exchange for forgiving loans.

The bankruptcy involves 18(!) subsidiaries, including Axis, but not Allied's Mexican and Bermudan subsidiaries. Allied has retained three top-dollar law firms to represent them in court.

June 11, 2012: Allied Automotive Group filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last night in Delaware. CEO Mark Gendregske held a conference call this morning, where he claimed that there will be “no reduction in workforce, pay, or benefits” and that the bankruptcy will be a short process compared to Allied’s 2005 bankruptcy.

Gendregske contrasted the bankruptcy to 2005, when Allied demanded Teamster concessions. He further stated there will be no changes in operations or deliveries, or delays in paychecks or payments to pension funds. He stated that employees’ 401(k) savings are unaffected.

The bankruptcy involves 18 (!) subsidiaries, including Axis, but not Allied’s Mexican and Bermudan subsidiaries. Allied has retained three law firms to represent them in court.

A month ago two Allied creditors, both hedge funds, went to court to try to force Allied into bankruptcy.  Allied claims yesterday’s action will prevent those creditors from “taking control of our fate,” and will allow the company to reduce debt.

Allied attributes their problems to the 2008 economic collapse and the slow down in auto sales, and claims that the company is well positioned now that the auto industry is recovering.

What problem Allied will have getting parts and services from companies whose payments due will now be held up, remains to be seen. Anything Allied owed vendors, as well as lenders, prior to June 10 will be held up by this process.

Hedge funds owed nearly $53 million have moved to push Allied Systems Holdings Inc. into an involuntary bankruptcy case, a remedy for what they said are improper moves by owner Yucaipa Cos.

Affiliates of Black Diamond Capital Management, LLC and Spectrum Investment Partners LP asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to move promptly to appoint a trustee to run the company on the alleged grounds it is being "grossly mismanaged."

Atlanta's Allied Systems Holdings specializes in the delivery of new vehicles from car manufacturers to dealerships. John Blount, chief administrative officer and general counsel of the company, Friday said "rogue lenders" were behind the involuntary bankruptcy petition, which had its roots in a running legal battle between the hedge funds and Yucaipa. Most lenders are supportive of the company, and it has adequate liquidity to continue business as usual, Blount said.

Click here to view the rest of this report.

May 22, 2012: Teamster carhaulers have heard the rumors that Chrysler will start an in-house operation to haul its cars. The fact is that Chrysler has already started at its Windsor, Ontario van plant, and it may well spread to the U.S.

Chrysler has a number of driveaway workers at the Windsor plant, and a small number of Chrysler-owned car carriers, with more rigs coming soon, to move cars over the Ambassador Bridge to Michigan yards. The workers are in the Canadian Auto Workers, not the Teamsters.

It is unlikely that Chrysler will try to take over deliveries to dealerships. But reportedly Chrysler has orders in for some 33 carhaul rigs, and could start using them in the U.S. to move cars from plants to marshalling yards and railheads, as they are doing at the Windsor plant.

We haven't heard one word from the IBT Carhaul Division on this important development, or any plan to ensure protection of Teamster jobs and the Teamster national contract. We need leadership that is pro-active, not merely reactive.

Has Hoffa Abandoned Carhaul?

Most carhaul work in Eastern Canada has been lost by the Teamsters to the CAW, which represents the workers at Allied, Gen Auto, and AWC in Ontario and Quebec. The Chrysler work out of the Brampton, Ontario plant is handled by Teamsters employed by Cassens and CCT.

July 15, 2011: Carhaulers are voting on a new contract. The future of union carhaul is on the line.

In July carhaulers are voting by mail on a proposed new 51-month contract, which would expire on July 31, 2015. It is in large part a continuation of the current contract.

The proposed contract deal was reached on May 31. Wage increases are small: 30¢-30¢-35¢-40¢, so real wages will almost certainly fall behind the rate of inflation. But thankfully there are no monetary concessions.

The benefit language is left open-ended: the agreement provides that the employers must pay enough to maintain current benefits. The Central States Fund has a new rule that does not require any increases in contributions for the carhaul contract. Some increases to the health and welfare funds will be needed to maintain current benefits.

At the Detroit Local 299 meeting on the contract, some members questioned why there is no change in Article 22 (“new business”), which allows for reducing the contract mileage rate on some traffic.

Local 299 Jack Cooper driver Paul Kubal told us that “Article 22 should have been eliminated or reworked. It’s there to give the companies a chance to win back traffic from the nonunion carriers by offering half-rate on those loads. They’ve ended up abusing the language to play games with what they call ‘new business’ and that’s affected Teamster paychecks. That’s why I’m voting no and asking others to do the same.”

Whatever happens with the contract, there are big questions about where the industry is headed. Allied, which has been the largest carrier, is greatly reduced and it is not clear if it will make it for the long term.

Jack Cooper, the carrier which took over most of the GM work when Allied stopped hauling it in March, is struggling to get enough trucks to handle the work. Allied refuses to sell any of its parked equipment to Cooper.

Jack Cooper has also explored buying United Road, a major nonunion operator, but that deal appears to be off the table, at least for now. There is new language in the proposed contract that would allow the union’s national committee to approve the contract terms covering newly acquired operations such as this.

The future of union carhaul is on the line. Carhaulers are looking to the International Union for a strategy to use this opportunity to expand the union sector and protect jobs. Members have not gotten the leadership or even the communication that they deserve.

March 25, 2011: As we go to press in late March, the shake-up in the unionized carhaul industry continues.

Union carriers Jack Cooper and Cassens have been awarded a lot of Allied’s traffic. Jack Cooper is picking up the GM work, and Cassens the Chrysler work. Both are scrambling to get enough trucks in place to haul the traffic, and using drive-away for some local work.

Allied, previously the largest North American vehicle carrier, initiated the shake up when they informed GM and Chrysler in mid-March that they would not haul any more of their cars, in a move to force higher rates from the manufacturers. Allied got a new five-year contract with Ford, and hopes to get more Ford work.

The International Union has been almost invisible during this crisis. As of this writing, there is no action plan to protect union jobs, or even any communication with members.

The joint committee met on March 21 and made a number of seniority rulings regarding Allied drivers who will be going to work for Cassens or Jack Cooper at a number of locations.

In Canada, hundreds of Allied drivers have been paid for a week so far to not work, as cars pile up at two GM plants and the Windsor Chrysler plant.

A best-case scenario may be that Allied survives as a mostly-Ford carrier, Jack Cooper hauling mostly GM, and Cassens mostly Chrysler, with all having a slice of the import traffic.

However already at some smaller terminals nonunion outfits have been awarded some of the former Allied work. The danger is that this shake up could expand the nonunion sector.

March 23, 2011: The shake-up in the unionized carhaul industry continues, with no clear end in sight.

Union carriers Jack Cooper and Cassens have been awarded a lot of Allied’s traffic. Jack Cooper is picking up the GM work, and Cassens the Chrysler work. Both are scrambling to get enough trucks in place to haul the traffic, and using drive-away for some local work.

Allied, the largest North American vehicle carrier up till this time, initiated the shake up when they informed GM and Chrysler in mid-March that they would not haul any more of their cars, in a move to force higher rates from the manufacturers. Allied got a new five-year contract with Ford, and hopes to get more Ford work.

The joint committee met on March 21 and made a number of seniority rulings regarding Allied drivers who will be going to work for Cassens or Jack Cooper at a number of locations, including Ft. Wayne Indiana, Bowling Green Kentucky, Wentzville Missouri, Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, various Detroit-area locations, and more.

In Canada, hundreds of Allied drivers have been paid for a week so far to not work, as cars pile up two GM plants and the Windsor Chrysler plant.

A best-case scenario may be that Allied survives as a mostly-Ford carrier, Jack Cooper hauling mostly GM, and Cassens mostly Chrysler, with all having a slice of the import traffic.

However already at some smaller terminals nonunion outfits have been awarded some of the former Allied work. The danger is that this shake up could expand the nonunion sector.

The International union has been almost invisible during this crisis. No plan of action to save jobs, and no real communication with members.

Both GM and Chrysler have sued Allied over holding cars “hostage”. A news report on those suits is here.