AugustThe Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a new regulation effective August 25 that allows for “observed collections of urine samples.” Direct observation is required for all prior positives currently requiring testing and includes all return to duty and follow-up drug testing. This does not affect normal random testing.

The new regulation also lists new refusals to test in addition to those already existing. They include “confrontational behavior during testing,” “failure to follow instructions on raising and lowering clothing and permission to observe,” “refusal to wash hands after being directed to do so,” “use of a prosthetic device or other device that could be used to interfere with the collection process,” or “the employee admits that he or she adulterated or substituted their specimen.” A refusal to test is considered and treated the same as a positive test.

August 1, 2008: Less than two months after members ratified a concessionary contract that IBT officials touted as saving jobs, DHL has implemented layoffs, which could be permanent cuts.

Those with sufficient seniority are being offered the option to bid on part time positions, which the new contract allows.

It seems clear DHL got what they wanted from those negotiations.

July 11, 2008: YRC Worldwide Inc. has frozen a pension plan for about 6,000 nonunion employees as it prepares to introduce a plan to cover all 17,000 members of its nonunion work force.

The freeze on benefit accruals for those workers began July 1, and a new plan is expected to be launched in January.

Click here to read more in the Kansas City Star.

July 10, 2008: Allowing states to raise commercial-truck weight limits by 21 percent would save fuel and reduce traffic and emissions, boosting profits for freight haulers, an executive of the largest U.S. trucking company told Congress.

"Reform of size and weight regulations can, if employed responsibly, improve highway safety, relieve congestion, lower freight rates, alleviate the driver shortage, reduce energy use and improve air quality," Mike Smid, president of YRC Worldwide Inc.'s North American Transportation, said Wednesday in Washington.

Click here to read more in the Akron Beacon Journal.

June 30, 2008: The combination of rising fuel costs and the recent strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holding Inc. have pushed a Kalamazoo-based trucking company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Alvan Motor Freight Inc., which employs 525 people in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, has ceased operations and arranged for another company to deliver its remaining freight, according to a press release from the company.

Click here to read more at mlive.com.

June 23, 2008: If you think that filling up your car is expensive, just be glad you don't have a 240-gallon tank and a vehicle that gets five miles to the gallon.

With diesel prices at record highs, Miami-based Ryder System is offering a new high-tech tool to help its customers save fuel.

The product, called RydeSmart, is one of several on the market that enables customers to instantly track the fuel consumption, idle time, speed and other vital statistics of every truck in their fleets.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald at TradingMarkets.com.

June 20, 2008: This is going to be a year of change for freight Teamsters: whether we end up stronger or weaker depends on how we deal with the changes that are coming.

These changes can be summed up in terms like these: utility employees, Glen Moore line haul, and $14 casuals. These aren’t changes we wanted, but how we deal with them as Teamsters will shape our union power and job security in the future.

As one union president said, “If the companies can’t make money with all we’ve given up, then they sure as hell need new management.”

Utility Employees

In the YRC changes of operations in May the International gave the company what they wanted. Locals that argued for some limits and job protections were shot down. Bidding is going on now and they will soon implement the new utility employee (UE) program.

ABF’s change will follow. It builds on what they did earlier with Premium Service. ABF plans to submit another proposed change of operations later this year to spread the UE program to the West.

Now it’s up to our locals and members to monitor how all this is working and to enforce the contract, so we don’t slip further backward. There are lots of issues that are going to emerge, in terms of protecting work and avoiding playing one local against another. We expect management to be testing us with the new operation to see how much they can get away with.

Glen Moore Pulls YRC Loads

YRC is starting to utilize its nonunion truckload division, Glen Moore, to divert line haul work. Under the new contract, they can divert four percent of all road work this year and in 2009 to a designated truckload carrier (Glen Moore), which they will let the Teamsters organize, but under a cheap contract, below the NMFA. That four percent will grow to nine percent subcontracting by 2012.

YRC has already started this operation, as Teamsters west of Kansas City can tell you from seeing the Glen Moore teams pulling NMFA freight.

The IBT is supposed to check the operation monthly, using detailed company reports to enforce the contract and the four percent limit. Those reports should be made available to every affected local to help with enforcement. Bid drivers are protected for each dispatch day, and extra board drivers during the dispatch week, at the point of origin of the subcontracted loads.

$14 casuals

YRC is advertising in many areas to hire $14 dock casuals; we don’t have many reports of them being used, due to the freight slowdown and layoffs at many terminals. But in the future, we can expect the company to try to extensively use labor that costs less than half of seniority Teamster labor.

All the more important that every local strictly enforce the contract language that requires hiring when supplemental casuals are used over 30 shifts in a 60-day period (or whatever language the specific supplement provides).

Yellow Roadway CEO Bill Zollars stated in mid-June that the freight recession has “stabilized” and he expects to see improvement before the end of year. As freight volume increases, the new flexibility the employers have in the contract will be put into much heavier use.

We need to insist that the International and our locals police the contract, and it’s up to us to start doing it in the terminals.

June 26, 2008: By a vote of 281-15, freight Teamsters in Chicago Local 705 passed a strike authorization vote that gave their negotiating team a strong message to take back to the bargaining table.

The vote came in the wake of a number of bargaining sessions in April and May that led to little progress. Prior to voting at the union hall, members received a thorough update on bargaining.

A number of Teamsters spoke from the floor stating their opposition to using the recently ratified National Master Freight contract (NMFA) as the model for the 705 pact.

The vote was a rebuke to a recent statement made in negotiations by TMI/YRC bargaining chair, Phil Stanoch, “705 will not get anything more than what we agreed to with the National contract.”

However, when bargaining came to a standstill in May, a company negotiator confirmed their proposals were not the “last, best and final offer.” The strike vote could encourage a shift in the employer bargaining positions.

Local 705 has historically bargained separate contracts and traditionally garnered some improvements over the NMFA.

Clearly, Chicago Teamsters expect more from this contract.

You can learn more about the contract situation and the union’s demands from the Local 705 website: www.teamsterslocal705.org

June 11, 2008: The restructuring of DHL's air network will reach down to the ground as well when ABF Freight System begins delivering a portion of the domestic freight affected by DHL's service cutbacks.

While UPS will be the recipient of DHL's outsourced air freight in a 10-year contract worth up to $1 billion per year, the U.S. Postal Service is slated to take over the remote linehaul routes on the ground that DHL is eliminating and that DHL estimates will affect 3.3 percent of deliveries and less than 1 percent of its pickups.

Click here to read more at trafficworld.com

June 4, 2008: Major change of operations at Yellow, Roadway and Holland will be implemented in July, after gaining union approval in decisions issued May 29; some were revised on June 3.

ABF has now submitted its own proposed change to implement the new utility employee language in the NMFA.

The decisions, as revised, in the YRC cases and the proposed ABF change are available here:

• Roadway velocity change decision
• Yellow velocity change decision
• Holland velocity change decision
• Roadway utility change decision
• Yellow utility change decision
• Proposed ABF Change of Operations (Part 1 | Part 2)