February 26, 2010: For years, Local 854 members in New York City have had substandard wages and working conditions compared to other school bus unions in the city. Now Teamster drivers and escorts are coming together to enforce their rights and demand better contracts and union representation.

Teamsters Local 854 represents some 2,500 school bus drivers and escorts (bus assistants in charge of student safety). For years, the local was controlled by the Gambino crime family.

An internal Teamster report commissioned by the Hoffa administration documented how corrupt Local 854 officials negotiated substandard contracts to help their employer friends “effect considerable cost savings by paying lower wages and fewer benefits” compared to the contracts negotiated by ATU Local 1181—a union run controlled by the Genovese crime family.

The mobsters who ran Local 854 have been barred from the union. But Local 854 members continue to work under substandard contracts which are routinely violated by employers.

Some Local 854 members have had enough. They are taking on pay and overtime violations and preparing for upcoming contract negotiations.

“We want our Teamsters contract to be as good as the Local 1181 contract. We do the same work in the same industry and we deserve equal pay and equal rights,” said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a TDU member at Consolidated Bus Transit (CBT).

Local 1181 members make higher wages. They make overtime after ten hours work. Depending on the contract, Local 854 members can work over a ten to twelve hour spread before they get overtime pay.

Enforcing Our Rights

Local 854 members are joining TDU and holding workshops on how to enforce their contracts and demand stronger union representation. Now they’re taking action.

CBT Drivers filed a group grievance demanding that the company pay members all of the hours and overtime pay they are entitled to. The contract requires CBT to start paying drivers at their report time. Some drivers are instructed to report to work as early as 6 a.m. but the company does not start paying them until 6:30 a.m.

At Empire Bus Transit, members are also standing up against nonpayment of wages and overtime. The company has refused to pay some drivers a contractually-mandated wage increase since September. At first, the drivers’ shop steward told them they weren’t entitled to the money. But the drivers stuck together and demanded their rights. Now the issue is in arbitration.

Empire drivers have also filed a grievance to enforce all members’ rights to overtime pay. The contract requires overtime pay whenever drivers and escorts work more than eight hours during an 11-hour spread. But the company has not been paying overtime even when employees work more than the 11 hour limit.

“There is a lot of fear and intimidation in this industry and a lot of members don’t know where to turn,” said Pierre Jerome, a driver at Empire. “TDU gives us the information and the support we need to enforce our rights.”

Equal Pay for Equal Work

“We want our Teamsters contract to be as good as the Local 1181 contract. We do the same work in the same industry and we deserve equal pay and equal rights.”

Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Consolidated Bus Transit, Local 854, New York

February 26, 2010: Teamsters at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Los Angeles are demanding a basic union principle: the right to vote for their chief steward.

They shouldn’t have to be petitioning for it, because this right is guaranteed in the Local 896 bylaws under Section 12.

But Rene Medrano and other Local 896 officials ignored the bylaws, removed the elected chief steward for the bottling and packaging department, then appointed another member and canceled a scheduled election.

“All we are asking for is the right to vote, and we expect to get it,” said Teamster Ray Szymanski. “It’s not a matter of whom you support. It’s a matter of doing what’s right.”

Brother Mag Zavala ran for Secretary-Treasurer in November 2009 and lost to the incumbent, Medrano. Since then there has been on-going retaliation. Zavala ran in January 2010 for chief steward and was duly elected by a majority of members in the bottling department, yet was not allowed to take office until the election was re-run.

The re-run was based on a frivolous charge of not posting a notice in a timely manner, which in fact was done within 48 hours of notification from the local. However, Local 896 leadership then denied Brother Zavala the right to run in the re-run election and, in fact, appointed another member who had lost the election.

This is not the first time the Local 896 officials denied members the right to elect stewards. Previously a steward was removed in the lab in the brewery, and at Coca Cola in L.A. and in Downey. These arbitrary steward removals are politically motivated.

The majority of bottling members have petitioned their executive board, and if they don’t get their bylaws enforced, they plan to pursue the issue through charges. Members are demanding their right to elect their stewards. The officials have been elected to lead, not to dictate.

February 26, 2010: On trial for assaulting a member. Caught using thugs to dole out jobs under a sham contract. Under grand jury investigation.

IBT Trade Show Director John Perry is out of control. But Hoffa tells members there’s nothing he can do.

John Perry and JoJo BurhoeThe International Union’s Trade Show Division Director is on trial for assaulting a member after he filed a grievance. So is his number one enforcer, a violent criminal named JoJo Burhoe who is on trial for beating a union member unconscious and sending him to the hospital.

Now, a grand jury is investigating them for intimidating witnesses to try to get the assault charges dismissed.

And an embarrassing affidavit has been leaked in which Perry, the Secretary-Treasurer of Boston Local 82, details how he put Burhoe and other thugs in charge of doling out trade show jobs under a sham contract.

Local 82 members have repeatedly contacted the International Union for help. Hoffa’s response? A signed letter saying the International Union can’t investigate members’ complaints or protect them from violent threats made by union officials.

In fact, Perry remains on Hoffa’s payroll to the tune of sixty grand a year.

Sham Contract

TDU has obtained a confidential NLRB affidavit signed by Perry that reveals a scheme that puts Burhoe and other Local 82 enforcers in charge of doling out trade show jobs from nonunion employers.

According to Perry’s own testimony, a nonunion trade show employer contacts Perry about doing work in the local’s jurisdiction. Perry instructs the company to contact Burhoe who lines up the workforce. Burhoe’s friends are then put to work paid by “Union Payroll” which advertises itself as providing weekly “payroll processing and timely payroll delivery” in keeping with union contracts.

Under the scheme, Local 82 members who work or shape for legitimate trade show employers have no chance of performing this work. Union Payroll is, in fact, signatory to a collective bargaining agreement with Local 82. But the hiring procedure outlined in Perry’s affidavit makes a mockery of that agreement.

Local 82 members cannot shape for Union Payroll. Their only chance at employment is being on the private list of JoJo Burhoe or another of Perry’s enforcer pals.

Thugs, Assaults & Threats

The Union Payroll scam is just the latest example of what members say is a devil’s pact that Perry has made with a Boston goon squad. They provide Perry with muscle to control Local 82, in exchange for their control over who gets to work lucrative trade show jobs.

Burhoe’s rap sheet includes a conviction for armed bank robbery. Court documents reveal he has served as an FBI informant since his release from prison. He is currently on trial for violently beating Local 82 member Eddie Flaherty, who criticized Perry.

Perry himself is also on trial on charges he assaulted a Local 82 member.

A grand jury convened on Feb. 23 is investigating allegations that Perry and Burhoe threatened and intimidated witnesses to try to get the assault charges against them dropped.

The intimidation of witnesses included threats from Burhoe that he would “put them in a trunk of a car” or otherwise cause them severe bodily harm.

In January, Perry used the same threats in a letter to Local 82 Teamster Dave Corbitt who wrote to Perry that he was facing intimidation and retaliation for testifying before the Independent Review Board.

“To help clear up your stated confusion,” Perry wrote, “what would actually constitute intimidation or retaliation would, for example, be, someone threatening to put someone in a trunk of a car, intimating severe bodily harm; being followed and battered and punched for engaging in protected activity; having your ribs broken and being hospitalized for freedom of speech.”

Hoffa Turns a Blind Eye

Coming in the context of the legal proceedings against Burhoe for his threats against witnesses and his brutal assault of a Local 82 member for criticizing Local 82 officials, Corbitt took Perry’s letter as a threat and contacted the International Union.

In response, Hoffa sent Corbitt a signed letter saying, “the International Union does not have agents in the Boston area to provide protection to you or your family” and “does not have the capacity to investigate all of your numerous complaints.”

The Independent Review Board (IRB), the independent panel set up to investigate corruption in the Teamsters, is interviewing Local 82 members.

Local 82 Teamsters have shown they will take action to straighten out their local and build a strong union. They need protection to make it happen. They’ve asked Hoffa for help and been turned down flat.

Local 82 members will clean up their union.

February 11, 2010: Can you imagine Teamster officials willing to dissolve their local union rather than settle a case with a member that they blacklisted from working? That’s LaSalle Illinois Local 722—but the members have said No to that plan.

At the January 10 union meeting, when the officials tried to get the members to vote to approve the destruction of their local, the membership said No. The members’ consensus was to settle the issue; but Steve Mongan and other officers of Local 722 have ignored them and continue to spend union funds on appeals.

Mark Serafinn, the victimized member, proved in court back in 2006 that the local union leaders wrongly suspended his membership, fined him $10,000, and prevented him from working in the craft. The federal jury awarded him $105,000 and partial fees to his attorneys.

The local officials could have settled the case right then. That would have been the smart and fair thing to do for the good of the union, the members, and justice for brother Serafinn. They chose instead to waste hundreds of thousands in endless appeals and counterclaims.

The Hoffa administration has not lifted a finger to try to fix this disastrous situation. In fact, International Rep Bill Moore actually helped draft the bogus charges against Serafinn back in 2002.

Mark Serafinn was a long-time union activist and road steward at Consolidated Freightways, who was an elected delegate for Ron Carey in 1991. Then in 1992 he won the presidency of Local 722. He was reelected in 1995 and 1998, and joined the Tom Leedham slate in 2001, running for International VP on the reform slate.

Serafinn narrowly lost his bid for reelection, and then sought to return to work in the construction craft. The first day that Steve Mongan took office as the head of Local 722, he met with Joint Council 65 president Keith Gleason. Their cooperation led to the blacklisting of Serafinn in 2002.

In 2006, a federal jury made its decisive ruling in Serafinn’s favor. Instead of belatedly doing the right thing, the officers countersued, appealed, stalled and even attempted to put the local union into bankruptcy, a move which was successfully stopped by Serafinn’s attorneys. This month, local officials again filed for bankruptcy, in another legal move destructive to the union.

On February 8, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard all federal appeals. Serafinn believes the jury verdict will be resoundingly upheld.

Due to the tenacity of Mark Serafinn and attorneys Robin Potter and John De Rose, the fight for justice goes on.

The use of union resources to further a personal political agenda has no place in our Teamsters Union. Local 722 officers have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars which could have been spent on organizing, education and representation. And the Hoffa administration has done nothing to fix the situation.

Hopefully the members of Local 722 who turned out in force in January to oppose Mongan’s plan to dissolve the local will continue to speak out, organize, and take back their union.

January 18, 2010: Teamsters in Chicago Local 743 have been battling to free their 11,000-member local from mob and old guard control for many years.

Now the top Chicago officials are escalating the fight. But members are uniting to say “We Won’t Go Back.”

Local 743 members are saying “We Won’t Go Back” to the old guard ways, after elected president Richard Berg and secretary-treasurer Gina Alvarez were ordered out of office by the leadership of Joint Council 25 on Jan. 11.

On Jan. 13, Berg and Alvarez won a stay of effectiveness issued by General President Hoffa, and will remain in their elected offices. But the bogus charges continue to hang over their heads; the International Union will consider the appeal and rule at a later date.

For decades, Local 743 took care of its officers while members paid the price. That changed in 2007, when the members of Local 743 voted Berg, Alvarez and their New Leadership slate into office.

Joint Council 25 officials want to suspend Berg and Alvarez from membership and remove them from their elected positions in the local on charges that they violated union procedures.

In 2004, Local 743 officials stole the election when it was clear that Berg was going to win. Joint Council 25 ruled the election was clean and upheld the results.

The Department of Labor investigated that election and found it was rigged. Former president Richard Lopez and other officers were convicted and are headed to jail for stealing it.

Some Officers Resist Reform

When he took office, Richard Berg cut his salary by $70,000 and reduced bloated salaries and staff.

Berg hired professional negotiators, put an end to back-room deals, and put more resources into education and representation.

Some officers, like VP Larry Davis, went along with the New Leadership platform when they thought it was just a campaign promise. But once they were in office, they demanded higher salaries and defended union reps who didn’t do their jobs.

While Berg and Alvarez are moving the local forward, they want to go backward to the old ways.

“For years officials treated Local 743 like a piggy bank,” said Melanie Cloghessy, a member of Local 743 at the University of Chicago. “We won’t go back to those dark days of corruption. The New Leadership team will keep fighting for a union that fights for us.

“The officials who are making this power grab are going to learn that we’ll fight back against their double-dealing just like we stood up to the criminal activities of the past.”

Members Won’t Let Joint Council Kill Democracy

The leadership of Joint Council 25 had no problem when mobsters, drug dealers and criminals ran Local 743. They never found fault with two local presidents who then were removed by the IRB for their dealings with the mob. They didn’t have any problem with Bob Walston, headed to jail for running a drug operation out of the union hall and for election fraud. Then they were fine with Richard Lopez, also headed to jail.

Now they want to remove Berg and Alvarez from office on a trumped up charge of making a $20,000 settlement with a fired employee to avoid litigation.

Each time the old guard has moved against reformers, they thought they killed reform. Each time, the reform movement has grown stronger. Local 743 members are determined to keep making history.

January 29, 2010: Some rail officials are trying to take away the Right to Vote for BLET officers before members ever get a chance to use it.

Now members are coming together to save the Right to Vote.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), now part of the Teamsters, is one of the oldest unions in the U.S. But they’ve never had a rank-and-file election for their top officers—until now.

The first ever one-member, one-vote election for BLET top officers is scheduled for this fall.

But that election won’t happen if some BLET officials get their way.

In December, BLET divisions 13, 98, 155, and 236 circulated a petition to overturn the new voting system. And they’re hoping to get it passed before the first election can happen.

Their goal is to let the delegates to the BLET convention choose the union’s top officers—the union’s old system for choosing officers.

Why? They say that elections cost too much, that members don’t vote, and that delegates are more informed than average members and will make better decisions.

Was the old system better? Three of the last top officers chosen by the delegates at the last convention are now gone in disgrace—including two presidents. Police arrested the last president, Ed Rodzwicz, at his home for taking a $20,000 bribe from a union attorney.

Three Hurdles to Pass

To pass, the initiative will have to clear three hurdles.

First, divisions representing 25 percent of the BLET membership have to take action at a meeting to support the initiative.

If it doesn’t get that support in six months, the initiative dies.

If it clears that hurdle, a ballot will be sent to every member to vote on the initiative.

Finally, if a majority of voters agree to give up their Right to Vote, Hoffa will get a say. The Teamster General President must approve the initiative for it to take effect.

Hoffa has the power to stop the takeaway and save members’ Right to Vote right now by promising not to approve the initiative.

Members Say ‘No!’

Rank-and-file members and local officers are getting organized to save the Right to Vote.

They’ve formed BLET Members for Democracy, and they’re organizing conference calls, distributing flyers and a four-page Q&A, and getting members to sign a petition to save the Right to Vote.

Their efforts are already meeting with success. Reports are rolling in from divisions that have voted down the initiative: El Paso Division 192, Delaware Division 484, and Little Rock Division 182, for example. Illinois Division 724 and New York Division 11 voted down the initiative unanimously.

Most divisions have not considered the measure yet. You can help save the Right to Vote. Download flyers, the Q&A, and the petition at www.tdu.org/blet-vote

February 1, 2010: The Hoffa administration has revoked the charters of Chicago Locals 714 and 726, and created a new Local 700 for Chicagoland public sector Teamsters.

Members were not given a vote; they simply got a letter announcing the switch.

Rumors had circulated that a change was imminent. But members thought they would have the right to vote on any merger or change to their locals.

The Teamster Constitution requires a membership vote when one local is merged into another. By revoking the charters, Hoffa was able to subvert this membership right. The “new” local will continue under the trusteeship of Joint Council 25 President John Coli. Both locals were already under trusteeship.

Creating Local 700 with the continued trusteeship gives Hoffa and Coli another 18 months to get their people in place. If they expect to win the support of the members, the assigned trustees and union staff need to be a lot more available and accountable when it comes to enforcing our contract. Up to this point, that hasn’t been the case.

January 22, 2010: Teamster bus drivers are taking a new route to a better contract in 2010.

They’re organizing a rank-and-file contract campaign to win higher pay, more affordable health benefits, and more rights on the job.

Vermont Local 597 represents 70 drivers and mechanics who work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Their contracts don’t expire until June 30. But members are getting an early start this time around.

Concerned drivers started meeting last year to talk about the problems with their contract and what could be done about them. Those meetings at a local diner turned into the “Sunday Breakfast Club”—a committee dedicated to winning a strong contract by informing and uniting the members.

“In unity, there’s strength,” said driver Scott Ranney.

“The more the members get involved and the more prepared we are, the better our contract will be,” said driver Chuck Norris-Brown.

As a first step, the Breakfast Club passed out a contract survey to members to rate their top issues and concerns.

“We went around to every driver and mechanic. Eighty percent of the members filled out the surveys,” Norris-Brown said.

Protecting members from unfair discipline, winning better wages and more affordable health benefits, and relief from split shifts and six-day work weeks are some of the issues that topped the list.

“Now we’re going through the contract article by article to identify language changes to address members’ issues,” said shop steward Mike Walker, who will serve on the bargaining committee.

Local 597 will hold official proposal meetings sometime in February or March.

“Our contract doesn’t expire until June 30. This is the most prepared we’ve ever been this early in the process. Working together—drivers, mechanics, our local union and community supporters—we can win a better contract and a better future at CCTA,” said driver Sherry Siebenaler.

Getting Members Involved

“We went around to every driver and mechanic. Eighty percent of the members filled out the surveys.

“The more the members get involved and the more prepared we are, the better our contract will be.”

Chuck Norris-Brown, Local 597 CCTA Bus Driver, Burlington

January 14, 2010: On January 13, the elected president and secretary treasurer of Chicago Local 743 won a stay of effectiveness issued by General President Hoffa and will remain in office, after top Chicago officials ruled that they should be removed on trumped up charges.

Teamster activists in Chicago Local 743 have been battling to free their 11,000-member local from mob and old guard control for many years. Now the top Chicago officials have escalated the fight with their Jan. 11 decision on charges filed by some officers of Local 743.

Local 743 members are saying “We Won’t Go Back” to the old guard ways, in response to the Joint Council 25 ruling against their elected reform leaders. The decision means that the charges continue to hang over their heads; the International Union will consider the appeal and rule at a later date.

For decades, Local 743 took care of its officers while members paid the price. That changed in 2007, when the members of Local 743 voted Berg, Alvarez and their New Leadership slate into office.

Joint Council 25 officials want to suspend Berg and Alvarez from membership and remove them from their elected positions in the local on charges that they violated union procedures.

In 2004, Local 743 officials stole the election when it was clear that Berg was going to win. Joint Council 25 ruled the election was clean and upheld the results.

The Department of Labor investigated that election and found it was rigged. Former president Richard Lopez and other officers have been convicted and are headed to jail for stealing it.

When he took office, Richard Berg cut his salary by $70,000 and reduced bloated salaries and staff.

Berg hired professional negotiators, put an end to back-room deals, and put more resources into education and representation.

Some officers, like VP Larry Davis, went along with the New Leadership platform when they thought it was just a campaign promise. But once they were in office, they demanded higher salaries and defended union reps who didn’t do their jobs. While Berg and Alvarez are moving the local forward, they want to go backward to the old ways.

“For years officials treated Local 743 like a piggy-bank,” said Melanie Cloghessy, a member of Local 743 at the University of Chicago. “We won’t go back to those dark days of corruption. The New Leadership team will keep fighting for a union that fights for us.

“The officials who are making this power grab are going to learn that we’ll fight back against their double-dealing just like we stood up to the criminal activities of the past.”

The leadership of Joint Council 25 had no problem when mobsters, drug dealers and criminals ran Local 743. They never found fault with two local presidents, who then were removed by the IRB for their dealings with the mob. They didn’t have any problem with Bob Walston, headed to jail for running a drug operation out of the union hall and for election fraud. Then they were fine with Richard Lopez, also headed to jail.

Now they want to remove Berg and Alvarez from office, on a trumped up charge of making a $20,000 settlement with a fired employee, to avoid litigation.

Each time the old guard has moved against reformers, they thought they killed reform. Each time, the reform movement has grown stronger. Local 743 members are determined to keep making history.

January 12, 2010: Teamster activists in Chicago Local 743 have been battling to free their 11,000 member local from mob and old guard control for many years. Now the top Chicago officials have escalated the fight, by removing the elected president and secretary treasurer from office on trumped up charges.

Local 743 members are saying “We Won’t Go Back,” after elected president Richard Berg and secretary treasurer Gina Alvarez were removed from office yesterday by the leadership of Joint Council 25. They intend to move the struggle forward, as they have over the past years.

For decades, Local 743 took care of its officers while members paid the price. That changed in 2007, when the 11,000 members of Local 743 voted Berg, Alvarez and their New Leadership slate into office.

On Jan. 11, Joint Council 25 officials suspended Berg and Alvarez from membership and removed them from their elected positions in the local on charges that they violated union procedures.

Some Officers Resist Reform

When he took office, Richard Berg cut his salary by $70,000 and reduced bloated salaries and staff.

Berg hired professional negotiators, put an end to back-room deals, and put more resources into education and representation.

Other officers, like VP Larry Davis, went along with the New Leadership platform when they thought it was just a campaign promise. But once they were in office, they demanded higher salaries and defended union reps who didn’t do their jobs.

“For years officials treated Local 743 like a piggy-bank,” said Melanie Cloghessy, a member of Local 743 at the University of Chicago. “We won’t go back to those dark days of corruption. The New Leadership team will keep fighting for a union that fights for us.”

Members Say “We Won’t Go Back!”

In 2004, Local 743 officials stole the election when it was clear that Berg was going to win. Joint Council 25 said the election was clean and upheld the results.

The Department of Labor investigated that election and found that it was rigged. Former president Richard Lopez is headed to jail for stealing it.

The leadership of Joint Council 25 had no problem when mobsters, drug dealers and criminals ran Local 743. They never found fault with two local presidents, who then were removed by the IRB for their dealings with the mob. They didn’t have any problem with Bob Walston, headed to jail for running a drug operation out of the union hall, and for election fraud against the New Leadership reformers. They were fine with Richard Lopez, also headed to jail.

Now they want to remove Berg and Alvarez from office, on a trumped up charge of making a $20,000 settlement with a fired employee, to avoid litigation.

Each time the old guard has moved against reformers, they thought they killed reform. Each time, the reform movement has grown stronger. Local 743 members are determined to keep making history.

“The officials who are making this power grab are going to learn that we’ll fight back against their double-dealing just like we stood up to the criminal activities of the past,” said Cloghessy.

Click here to read the flyer from the 743 Leadership Team.

Click here to read the press release from the 743 New Leadership Team.

Click here to read a news report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Local 743 used to keep members in the dark, cut backroom deals, and sell members short. Richard Berg and his team stopped the backroom deals.

“We’re not going to let the new group of officials bargain contracts behind our backs.”

Jean Moore UofC Medical Center