DOT Reissues 11-Hour Driving Rule
December 11, 2007: The FMCSA today issued an "Interim Final Rule" on drivers’ hours of service regs which retains the 11-hour drive time and the 34-hour reset.
Both of these regulations were struck down in September by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. as inconsistent with the law passed by Congress in 1995. The Court gave the FMCSA 90 days to comply. Rather than return to the 10-hour drive time and eliminate the 34-hour restart, the agency re-issued the same regulations in a new wrapper.
This will undoubtedly lead to a third trip to court. The same court has unanimously ruled against these regulations twice already. The industry, led by the American Trucking Associations, pressed the government to again wiggle around the court’s ruling.
The regs do not enhance safety, but do benefit the carriers, especially non-union carriers that can use the 34-hour reset to force drivers to work up to 80 hours a week. The FMCSA and the ATA claim that the court struck down the regulations strictly on procedural grounds. But the court noted in the 2007 decision that in the 2003 decision, "we expressed very real concerns about the increase in daily driving limit from 10 to 11 hours."
For now, truck drivers will work under the same regulations that have been in place since 2003. Public Citizen, the non-profit public interest attorneys who have led this case, will be making plans to try to win this issue once and for all.
Click here for a statement from Public Citizen.
Click here to read more at TheTrucker.com.
Freight Talks on Fast Track
December 5, 2007: As freight talks resume on Dec. 5, the information blackout continues and rumors are flying high. Members are left wondering what our goals are.
Freight negotiations between the International Union and Yellow Roadway resume in early December, with attention shifting from the supplements to the master contract. The information blackout continues, leaving rumors flying high and members wondering what the bargaining goals are.
Negotiations with ABF are on a slow track, waiting for YRC to set the pattern. The Hoffa administration has taken negotiations with DHL out of the Freight Division, and given them to Brad Slawson, who is determined to give DHL concessions, including part-timers.
The supplemental negotiations reportedly have yielded mixed results. Some areas report progress. Others are more deadlocked.
UPS Freight Sets Low Bar
The UPS Freight contract signed by the International Union at one terminal in Indianapolis hangs like a cloud over the bargaining table, negotiators report.
It allows unlimited casuals, part-timers, a much cheaper pension commitment by the company, and requires Teamsters to pay $150 per month to get family health coverage.
YRC is looking to get “operational flexibility” such as the UPS Freight contract allows. One danger is that the “utility driver” rules given in the last contract for Premium Service will spread to cover the whole contract.
Negotiations for the national master officially opened in mid-November. Teamsters have plenty of improvements in mind to win in this round, including ending the low starting wage, winning a catch-up wage increase, and safeguarding all jobs in the event of a merger down the road of Yellow and Roadway.
It appears that YRC will accept the benefit pattern set by the UPS contract of a $1 per hour increase each year, 35¢ to H&W, and 65¢ to pension.
In the first year, Central States Health and Welfare gets an extra 20¢ of that dollar, and will partially restore retiree health benefits. In the UPS contract, retirees over 55 can get coverage for $200 per month or $400 per month for a retiree and spouse. This is far worse than the $50 charge we had in 2003, but some improvement. We expect this is what freight Teamsters will get as well.
Freight Teamsters have every right—and a Teamster duty—to hold our leaders accountable to win a strong contract, with overdue improvements.
The UPS Freight contract should not be an excuse for any concessions whatsoever—why should the tail wag the dog? If we win a good NMFA, we can use that pattern to apply at other UPS Freight terminals that get organized into our union.
DHL Demands Expanded Use of Part-Timers
December 5, 2007: Thousands of DHL Teamsters are facing a threat to their future jobs and our union’s strength, as their chief negotiator has stated his view that “part-timers will be in the contract” because “DHL is demanding them.”
The good news is that most DHL Teamsters are ready to say No to that concession, and No to concessions in general.
Expanding the use of part-timers—to destroy good full-time Teamster jobs and take away members’ overtime—should be a line no Teamster will cross.
Brad Slawson, Hoffa’s chief negotiator with DHL, made the bold admission that when the company demands, he goes along, on a Nov. 11 rank-and-file conference call.
DHL says it wants part-timers, just like UPS. Members on the call pointed out that comparisons with the UPS contract are off the mark—UPS Teamsters make $6 more per hour, and that gap is growing. Slawson had no comment in response.
Slawson is bargaining “operational supplements” on a national basis, where the good language of the National Master Freight Agreement can be watered down. This process makes the local and regional supplements almost irrelevant. Some supplemental negotiations have not even started—and how can they, with Slawson negotiating his own “supplements” and keeping members and local officers in the dark.
The answer is for DHL Teamsters to be prepared—and send that signal now—to reject any agreement containing concessions.
Home Deliveries
There are plenty of other issues on the table as well. One that needs to be dealt with is our loss of work due to the home delivery deal with the post office. This deal originally was made as a start-up, with the promise that as business grew, the delivery work would return to DHL. A committee was set up to monitor it, and a formula was agreed to for the recapture of our work. It never happened.
It’s time to end that deal and bring the work back to DHL Teamsters.
Slawson Tells DHLers: “Part Timers Will Be in the Contract”
November 12, 2007: Brad Slawson, Hoffa’s assistant and the chief negotiator with DHL, has stated that “part timers will be in the contract” because “DHL is demanding them.”
It’s time to sound the alarm, and time to ask every DHL Teamster to unite to stop this massive contract concession.
Slawson came on a rank-and-file conference call on Nov. 11 and made this admission. When members said it would destroy opportunities for overtime, he said DHL wants its overtime in line with the percentage of overtime UPS has. When it was pointed out that UPS drivers make over $6 more per hour, he had no comment. When asked what he proposed to get in exchange for this massive concession, he said he would work on that.
This dirty deed will be the new pick up and delivery (driver and dock) supplement that he is negotiating with DHL management.
This can be stopped and must be stopped if we want to save jobs worth having and a contract anywhere close to the NMFA. It can be stopped if members unite to make it clear they will Vote No on any contract that expands the use of part timers.
Fortunately, DHL Teamsters at most terminals are ready to Just Say No. It’s up to all of us to spread the word. We cannot be fooled by a promise of red circling current workers for protection. That’s a death sentence for our jobs and future.
International Union Ready to Sell-Out
Why the sell-out to DHL and Deutsche Post? Slawson claims they are losing money, so we have to give them big concessions. But many of us have read the reports and know that Deutsche Post feels DHL’s progress is on track.
When UPS expanded to Europe, they lost money there for 20 years, but they needed to grow in that market. Deutsche Post is doing the same thing.
But there is something that Slawson and Hoffa want from DHL: a “card check” agreement where DHL lets the union organize the air hubs, in exchange for Slawson’s sweetheart deal. We do need to organize DHL wall-to-wall, but should do it from strength, not by giving away decades of Teamster sweat and struggle in one contract.
Home Deliveries
There are plenty of other issues on the table as well. One that needs to be dealt with is our loss of work due to the home delivery deal with the post office. This deal originally was made as a start-up, with the promise that as business grew, the delivery work would return to DHL. A committee was set-up to monitor it, and a formula was agreed to for the recapture of our work. It never happened.
It’s time to end that deal and bring the work back to DHL Teamsters.
Click here to download a DHL Contract Update.
Click here to get the latest DHL updates from TDU.
UPS Freight Agreement--Indy
Check Out Freight2008.org
Freight Teamsters and TDU have launched a new website to inform and and update members about freight bargaining: Freight2008.org.
Teamster Freight Proposals
If you want to see a copy of the union's initial national proposals and for the supplements, click here. These proposals were prepared by the Freight Division and have been given to Trucking Management Inc (TMI), which represents Yellow Roadway and its subsidiary companies.
Freight Director Tyson Johnson told local union officers on September 13 he would submit a lean packet of union proposals, and said he expects TMI to also have few major proposals.
Freight Division: Different Strategy from UPS
The Freight Division is taking two very different strategies from others in the Hoffa administration. First, Johnson stated 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 doing in the UPS negotiations.
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 what they want.
Preserving national master contracts, and preserving our pension plans: Both of these are key to maintaining Teamster power.
New Penn, a Yellow Roadway subsidiary that is not part of TMI, has already signed a "me too" agreement: they will sign whatever comes out of the NMFA negotiations.
Proposals on the Table: More Needed
The union's initial proposals are indeed lean. In some areas, the union intends to add more substance, especially in Article 29 and 32, covering subcontracting, substitute service and job protection.
The big-ticket items that involve monetary issues are not contained in the initial proposals. The UPS negotiations will likely set the table on the issue of pension and health and welfare money; the UPS tentative agreement calls for $1 per year for benefits (pension and health and welfare) with the possibility of further diversion of wage increases.
There is one proposal that should be changed: it is proposed that a new-hire with two years of NMFA-type work experience not be subject to the new-hire wage progression. This could lead to discrimination in hiring, as management would save tens of thousands of dollars by hiring someone from J B Hunt instead of a Teamster. The answer is to demand elimination of the new hire clause.
Teamsters should get informed, get involved and get ready to make your voice heard for a good contract.
Click here to read the initial freight proposals.
UPS Freight Indianapolis Contract
In a conference call with local unions on Oct. 2, Ken Hall and James Hoffa reported that there is a "card check" deal with UPS Freight, which will make it easier to organize the various terminals. If the majority of workers at a terminal sign Teamster cards that are independently verified, the company will recognize and bargain with the Teamsters Union at that barn.
The union agreed to management's demand to make that card check agreement conditional on ratification of the UPS national contract, including the break-out of 44,000 Teamsters from the Central States Fund. That was management's central demand in national bargaining. As reported on the call, signing of cards cannot start until after the whole UPS contract process is done.
Contract Terms
The UPS Freight contract will not be under the National Master Freight Agreement, or a supplement to it, but a white paper contract. Wages go up 65¢ immediately, and then 70-75-80-85-90¢ over the next five years (the wage increases are split in half each year, in January and July). It has company pension, apparently with no improvement, and company health benefits. A Teamster must pay $150 per month to get family health coverage. No change in sick days, personal days or vacations.
The company previously provided matching money for a 401(k), and that was given up in the contract. That and the co-pay for health insurance are two of the issues that a number of UPS Freight drivers have forcefully objected to on the internet forum truckingboards.com.
But they now get union protection: a grievance procedure (not the freight panels, a company-based procedure) and seniority rights.
Some in the Freight Division have expressed concern that relief given to UPS, the most profitable transport corporation in the world, will weaken our bargaining power with freight carriers which compete with UPS Freight. On the conference call, Hall appealed to them to hold their fire and "trust us."
Organizing Drive
Organizing by locals at UPS Freight terminals could start by the end of the year, if the UPS national contract and the pension fund break-out are approved. The "card check" deal has a three-year duration, so our union has that period to sign up the majority at as many terminals as possible. Many locals are eager to take a crack at bringing some of the 15,000 UPS Freight workers into the Teamster fold.
Attempted Decertification in Reno
A potential sour note in the organizing effort was struck a week earlier at the Reno Nevada UPS Freight terminal. This is one of a few UPS Freight terminals under Teamster contract; it was formerly Motor Cargo, a company bought by Overnite, which later became UPS Freight.
On Sept. 25 a vote was held to decertify the Teamsters and go nonunion. Fortunately the union won 32-31, but there are three challenged ballots to be resolved. Hopefully Local 533 will hold onto that Teamster unit.
DHL Pushes for Concessions, Members Push Back
October 17, 2007: National negotiations between the International Union and DHL opened in October in Arizona.
Apparently management reacted badly when the union presented demands based on the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), which is what members across the country demanded.
At the same time, DHL management sent a letter to their Teamster employees repeating their intent to get a UPS-style contract. What they mean by that is increasing the use of part-timers, a company-dominated grievance procedure, and complete control of the working environment. They definitely do not mean giving drivers a $6 per hour raise, to match UPS driver wages.
The union is allowing DHL to have national “supplements,” including a pick up and delivery supplement, which will include most DHL Teamsters. It is here that we have to be most on guard for concessions.
DHL Teamsters have networked nationally and continue to press to protect the NMFA language in their contract. They already stopped an early sell-out contract that was being bargained by DHL and Hoffa assistant Brad Slawson, after TDU blew the whistle on that deal.
Slawson still heads the union bargaining committee, but DHL Teamsters are getting involved and taking matters into their own hands.