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Bowling For Kids Sake totals are in!

On Sunday March 2, 2008, Teamster Local 773 members, friends and families participated in Big Brother Big Sister Bowl for Kids Sake at Jordan Lanes in Whitehall Pa. Teamster Local 773 fielded a team of 42 bowlers and raised over $3800 for this worthy cause. The Bowl for Kids Sake raised over $125,000 for Big Brother Big Sisters. All of the bowlers had a great time at this event and we are looking forward to next year.

Click here to view pictures from this event

10 Secretarial/Clerical employees of Lower Macungie Township join the teamster local 773

On Tuesday, March 18th, 10 Secretarial/Clerical employees of Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania voted unanimously for representation by Teamsters Local 773, joining their 14 co-workers in the Township's Department of Public Works. These Public Works employees have been represented by the local since 1998.

Teamsters Local 773 filed the petition for representation of these white collar employees in November 2007. However, because the Township disagreed with the number of employees described on the petition for representation, the election was delayed until the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board conducted a hearing and determined the employees eligible to vote. Finally, after months of delays, the 10 eligible employees prevailed in sending a clear message by way of a unanimous vote in favor of the Teamsters.

Tentative UPS Freight Agreement Unanimously Endorsed at National Two-Person Meeting

March 25

(Washington, D.C.) – The tentative UPS Freight Agreement was unanimously recommended at the national two-person meeting today by representatives from locals that have submitted cards from UPS Freight workers to join the Teamsters.The agreement will be voted on between now and April 6th in union halls nationwide by UPS Freight members.

Teamsters Package Division Director Ken Hall went over the contract in detail during the meeting. Afterward, several union leaders praised Hall and other IBT officials for crafting a plan that facilitated the process of signing up 9,600 UPS Freight workers in 90 days.

There are 12,600 UPS Freight workers eligible to become Teamsters.During his address to the crowd, General President Jim Hoffa remarked on the large number of UPS Freight workers who had signed cards since Jan. 16th.“90 days, 9,600 new members. That is an historic and defining moment for the Teamsters,” Hoffa said. “This is the Teamster way of providing job protection and good benefits for workers.”

“I came out of freight, and I have spent a lifetime representing freight workers,” said General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel. “This is a real break-through in this industry. This victory demonstrates to other non-union workers the value of a contract in the freight industry.”

Hall said the number of members currently signed has far exceeded his expectations. “This is the best example I have seen of this entire union working together,” Hall said. “Our local unions have absolutely done an incredible job of going out and signing up these people.” The contract covers workers in dozens of local unions, and will go into effect once the UPS workers ratify it. The agreement will be in effect until July 31, 2013. Gary Witlen, Director of the IBT’s Legal Department, explained to the local union leaders how the vote must be conducted

UPS Freight Workers in Nevada, Arkansas and Pennsylvania Seek Teamster Membership

In Latest Victories, About 170 Workers Will Join Locals 631, 773 and 878

March 3, 2008
Contact: Galen Munroe (202) 624-6904 (Washington, D.C.)

An overwhelming majority of about 170 workers at the UPS Freight (formerly Overnite Transportation) terminals in Las Vegas, Nevada; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Little Rock, Arkansas have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, bringing the total number of drivers and dockworkers seeking to join the union to nearly 6,300 since January 16, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced today.

The workers are seeking to join Local 631 in Las Vegas, Local 773 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Local 878 in Little Rock.

“We’re excited to be welcoming the UPS Freight workers to Local 631,” said Tommy Blitsch, President of Local 631. “Our organizer, Tom Corey, worked diligently on this campaign. We would like to thank our UPS and freight members who talked to the UPS Freight workers about the benefits of being Teamsters.”

“We have been meeting with the workers since June of last year and they have been chomping at the bit to become Teamsters,” said Dennis Hower, Vice President and business agent for Local 773. “It’s fantastic that they now have the chance to join the union. We want to thank Ken Hall (Director of the Teamsters Package Division) for his hard work putting the program together.”

“With this latest set of victories, we have reached the pivotal half-way point in our goal to collect cards from the majority of 12,600 UPS Freight workers,” Hall said. “I appreciate all the local union leaders and UPS Freight workers who have been instrumental in our success so far.”

A majority of UPS Freight workers in West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Indiana, California, Florida, Arizona, New York, Kentucky and New England, including workers in the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, St. Louis, Orlando, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Oakland, Seattle, Memphis and Detroit, have submitted cards to become Teamsters.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Teamsters battle DOT over
cross-border trade

WASHINGTON: The Teamsters recently launched a campaign that aims to stop the Department of Transportation (DOT) from allowing Mexican trucks to cross the US border.

The campaign includes a blog, www.firemarypeters.com, which refers to the DOT secretary and is intended to encourage Teamsters to complain to Congress. The site also allows members to print out campaign-related signs and other materials to display on their trucks.

The group is conducting extensive media outreach to anti-NAFTA media personalities, such as CNN's Lou Dobbs, and is also paying for radio ads in the southwestern US.

In addition, a huge banner hanging in one of the Washington Metro stations reads: "Fire Mary Peters" in red letters across a photo of the DOT secretary. The Teamsters hopes the unwanted attention on Peters will get the secretary to change the DOT policy.

"Since Washington is a very incestuous town where everyone knows one another, we're trying to make this an inside-the-Beltway story, so that Mary Peters would be embarrassed," says Teamsters communications coordinator Leslie Miller. "We also want this to be a story outside the Beltway, with truckers."

The Teamsters also held a rally outside a San Francisco court of appeals on February 12, while arguments were being presented on the merits of a lawsuit against the program.

DOT director of public affairs, Brian Turmail, said tactics like those of the Teamsters help give PR an "undeserved bad name."

"This would almost be amusing if it weren't for the sad fact that they're trying to do everything possible to prevent US consumers from benefiting from cross-border trade," he said.

Congress voted last year to close the US border to Mexican trucks, but the Bush administration has continued to permit their travel into the US.

The Teamsters claims Mexican trucks pose a general hazard to US drivers, while the DOT says studies show that Mexican trucks are as safe, or even safer, than US trucks.

From the February 18, 2008 Issue of PRWeek

teamsters reach tentative agreement covering more than 230,000 workers at ups

Contract Improves Wages and Significantly Increases Pension and Health and Welfare Contributions to Benefit Funds

September 30, 2007

(Chicago) -- The Teamsters Union and UPS have reached a tentative agreement for a new five-year national contract for parcel workers that raises wages and will significantly increase the company's contributions to funds that provide pension and health and welfare benefits to Teamster members, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today.

The agreement was negotiated during the past year, and is reached in advance of an October 1 deadline set by the union to reach an early agreement. The current contract does not expire until July 31, 2008. Upon ratification, most provisions of the new agreement will take effect on August 1, 2008.

"We made it very clear to the company that we needed to reach a tentative agreement by October 1 so that our members could ratify a contract before new pension rules that could adversely affect our members take effect on January 1, 2008," said Hoffa, co-chairman of the Union's National UPS Negotiating Committee. "We met that deadline and have negotiated an agreement that will greatly benefit our members at UPS as well as Teamster members in other industries covered by pension and health and welfare funds that will receive the contribution increases."

The agreement allows UPS to withdraw from the Central States Pension Fund and creates a jointly-administered pension fund for affected members. UPS will make a pre-tax $6.1 billion payment to the Central States Plan and will also fully fund the new Plan.

"We launched early negotiations for the national contract a year ago after members made it clear that they wanted the union to protect their pensions and health care for retirees and active workers," said Ken Hall, Director of the Teamsters Parcel and Small Package Division who also was co-chairman of the committee and lead negotiator. "This tentative agreement provides more funding for pensions and protects our members' health care, among other improvements."

"This is a proud day for the Teamsters. While workers wages, benefits and working conditions continue to come under attack by other employers, we have taken steps to improve and protect our UPS members for years to come," Hoffa said.

More details of the tentative agreement will be available at Teamste.org in the coming days. Representatives of each UPS local union will meet on October 11 in San Diego to review the agreement. Following that meeting, members will vote by mail on the contract with results expected in early December.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.

Teamsters, UPS Reach Tentative Agreement at UPS Freight in Indianapolis

Contract Will Serve as National Model to Organize Workers Nationwide

September 30, 2007

(Chicago) -- The Teamsters Union and UPS Freight (formerly Overnite Transportation) reached a tentative agreement for their first contract ever, an agreement that will improve wages and benefits and will serve as a national model to organize thousands of other company employees nationwide, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced today.

The contract, which covers 125 drivers and dockworkers in Indianapolis, will also provide employees the protections of a grievance procedure to fight unfair management decisions, something workers have fought hard to achieve.

"For more than five decades, the workers at UPS Freight and its predecessor, Overnite Transportation, have fought for Teamster representation," Hoffa said. "Today is historic because an agreement has been reached for a contract that will finally give workers a strong say on the job and the protections our other freight members have. A half-century battle is coming to an end, and we have gained strong momentum to organize throughout the freight industry, and FedEx Freight is next."

The workers, who are members of Local 135 in Indianapolis, expressed relief about the tentative contract.

"I hope our coworkers at UPS Freight across the country will join us by forming a union with the Teamsters," said Jesse Nicholson, a road driver and 20-year employee. "Being a Teamster means protections, support and being part of an organization that fights for you."

"Now our protections and rights will be spelled out and guaranteed in a Teamster contract," said Neal Hylton, a hostler and 21-year employee.

"Having an agreement is a big relief," said Dave Osborn, a city driver and 24-year employee. "We've wanted it for so long and worked so hard to achieve it."

Teamster Local 773 Hosts
Stewards Seminar

Teamster Local 773 held a Stewards Seminar for more than 30 stewards and members on September 15, 2007 at the Best Western Hotel and conference Centern in Bethelehem, Pa. The program was facilitated by William Munger from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Training and Development Department.

The members in attendance learned about the history of the Teamsters, their role as Stewards, how to handle grievances and even particpated in mock grievance meetings. The seminar proved to be both educational and fun, with the members learning form each other as well as the instructor.

With the success of the Seminar, Teamster Local 773 is looking forward to the next training seminar, possibly in early 2008. We would like to hear from our members as to the type of training they would be interested in, so please let us know your suggestions. To see some of the programs offered by the IBT, please visit www.teamster.org/resources/members/members.asp

Pictures of the Stewards Seminar can be found here.

Labor Law Could Learn a Lot from the NFL

Bill Belichick knows the cost of breaking the rules.

The coach of the New England Patriots was forced to cough up $500,000--about 12% of his annual salary--for spying on his opponents during the NFL's season opener. The league's punishment didn't stop there - the Patriots also had to pay a quarter-million dollar fine and give up at least one draft pick.

Discipline was swift and severe. All in all, the punishment was the NFL's biggest ever, and it surely sent a message to every team in the league.

The incident stands in stark contrast to another reported last week by the Las Vegas Sun involving Wal-Mart, the world's biggest employer.

The Bentonville behemoth was once again found guilty of unionbusting by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), this time in three Southern Nevada stores.

But whereas it took the NFL less than a week to punish the Patriots, it took the NLRB more than seven years to hand down its guilty verdict. To add insult to injury, Wal-Mart's punishment is pathetic: for breaking up its employees' organizing effort, the company had to pay just a few thousand dollars in lost wages to a former employee.

The laughable fine is a drop in the bucket for Wal-Mart, which posted profits of $11 billion in 2006.

Wal-Mart's hostility to unions is legendary - thanks to reports, movies, and even cartoons. But what's less known is what happens to folks who try to hold the retail giant accountable for its illegal actions.

In this most recent case, three Wal-Mart employees passed out fliers and talked to their coworkers about forming a union.

That alone was enough to set off Wal-Mart's anti-union squads in hot pursuit of the trail of the union. As the Sun reports:

"Management stepped in. The three employees were told to stop. They were questioned, threatened and insulted, according to later findings by the government. Wal-Mart stripped one worker of his union fliers and denied another a promotion."

In this case, like most others at the NLRB, the workers get caught up in a process that is beyond bureaucratic. If workers try to pursue charges with the agency, they become victim to an endless number of appeals that their employer - former or current - can use to their advantage. The result is that a verdict comes down long after it could ever make a difference in the lives of workers.

Despite mountains of evidence that Wal-Mart routinely breaks the law, there are no meaningful punishments to discourage companies from doing all that they can to prevent workers from forming unions. According to Professor Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon, our labor law system is "almost entirely toothless." He adds, "For workers there is no sense of justice. For employers, it's a rational business decision to break the law."

You can be sure that no NFL team will dare try spying on opponents for a long, long time - the league made certain of that.

Until our labor law system is reformed through critical policy prescriptions like the Employee Free Choice Act, anti-union companies can feel free to break the law and get away with it. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's 1.3 million employees can only expect more of the same.

Senate Votes to Block Cross-border Trucking Program

Courtesy of truckinginfo.com

The U.S. Senate voted late Tuesday to block funding for a test program to allow Mexican long-haul trucks to operate in the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a later development, the Senate this morning passed the Transportation Funding bill that contained the Byron Dorgan amendment to stop funding for the Mexican truck program passed last night. The vote this morning was 88-7.

Expressing his disappointment in Tuesday evening's vote, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator John H. Hill said, "Tonight's decision by the Senate is a sad victory for the politics of fear and protectionism and a disappointing defeat for U.S. consumers and U.S. truck drivers. "This decision robs consumers of significant new savings, deprives drivers of new opportunities to compete in Mexico and squanders millions in taxpayer dollars Congress has spent to put in place a sophisticated safety network for border crossings."

Meanwhile, reaction from opponents of the program was swift. Both the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the Teamsters union were jubilant in their praise of the 74-24 vote by the Senate.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA thanked the Senate for passing the amendment to cut off the funding for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Cross-Border Trucking Pilot Program.

"Congress has said enough is enough," Spencer said in a press release. "They're tired of the administration's efforts to force the pilot program on the American people. Our nation's safety and security should never be put at risk."

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa also praised the Senate for its vote, saying, "The American people have spoken, and Congress has spoken," Hoffa said. "Now it's time for the Bush administration to listen. We don't want to share our highways with dangerous trucks from Mexico." Late Tuesday, Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D-N.D.) and Sen. Arlen Specter, (R-Pa.) offered the amendment to the Senate's FY 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill. It would cut off funds for implementing the cross-border pilot program. The Dorgan-Specter amendment stipulates, "None of the funds made available under this act may be used to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico."

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a similar amendment as part of deliberations on its version of the 2008 transportation appropriations legislation that also would remove funding for the cross-border pilot program.

The amendment passed by the Senate Tuesday night is contained in a funding bill for transportation projects in fiscal year 2008, which begins in October. The Senate is expected to give final approval to this measure before wrapping up its business for the week. If this bill receives final passage, it will have to be reconciled with an earlier, slightly different House bill. The resulting legislation will then face an up and down vote before heading to President Bush. The president has already promised a veto of the Senate measure because it exceeds his transportation funding request by more than $4 billion dollars

Teamsters sue to stop long-haul
Mexican truck traffic

From Wire Reports

WASHINGTON – The Teamsters Union, environmentalists and traffic safety advocates went to federal court Wednesday seeking to stop the Bush administration from opening U.S. highways to Mexican trucks as early as this weekend.

The Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law Foundation filed a request for an emergency stay with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to block the program.

The Teamsters said the union had been told by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the agency intends to begin a pilot program Saturday that will allow thousands of long-haul trucks from Mexico to roll beyond a designated zone in Texas and other border states to cities throughout the country.

"What a slap in the face to American workers – opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year," said Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters.

"Before providing unconditional access throughout the country to tens of thousands of big rigs we know little to nothing about, we must ensure they meet safety and environmental standards," said Carl Pope, executive director of Sierra Club.

No start date

The federal agency that regulates commercial carrier safety would not say when the program would begin, but it issued a statement saying it was complying with a congressional mandate not to start the program before action by the Transportation Department's top inspectors.

Later, it issued a separate statement, saying, "We believe this lawsuit is without merit and that our program will benefit consumers by reducing the costly practice of requiring all cross-border shipments to be hauled by three separate trucks operated by three different drivers, and provide U.S. trucking companies the opportunity to expand their business into our nation's third largest trading partner."

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Use of Mexican trucks again draws questions

By Gerry Smith of Cox News Service

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers raised safety concerns Thursday over a Bush administration plan to give Mexican truck companies long-awaited access to American roadways. The one-year pilot project, announced by the Department of Transportation last month, would allow trucks from 100 screened Mexican carriers to access American roads throughout the country.

After the demonstration phase, the U.S. and Mexican governments would give all carriers from both countries access to each other's highways.

But Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, wondered how the department could properly evaluate a program based on its own handpicked pool of carriers.

"I'm a little worried that only the best Mexican carriers are going to be in this pilot project," Murray said at a committee hearing on the program. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., questioned how the department would properly test all Mexican drivers for drugs, monitor their driving hours and inspect the safety of their vehicles.

"Our highways are not the place to conduct experiments with potentially unsafe trucks," Lautenberg said. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the project, which begins in May, would make safety its first priority and eliminate the "very costly, very cumbersome, very outdated system" of moving freight across the border with Mexico.

Currently, trucks from Mexico are confined to a 25-mile border zone, where they transfer goods to short-haul vehicles that cross into the United States and make another transfer to American trucks — a process that costs American consumers about $400 million a year, according to the Department of Transportation.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1994, truckers from the U.S., Mexico and Canada were supposed to have full access to highways in all three countries by 2000. But Mexican trucks were denied access to U.S. highways in 1995 because of safety concerns from the Clinton administration, and Congress rebuffed President Bush's efforts to open the border in 2001.

Under the program, Mexican trucks operating in the United States would still be subject to American trucking regulations, as stated in the treaty. But several special-interest groups, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, insisted that the regulations are not stringent enough. "We're considering litigation," James Hoffa, International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president, said.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

G.O.P. Shift Is Seen on Trade

By Steven R. Weisman of The New York Times

WASHINGTON, March 5 — When the Democrats swept to victory last fall, after a campaign fueled partly by attacks on President Bush’s trade policies, trade deals promoted by the administration seemed doomed in the new Congress. But that was then.

In the last week, the administration and its Republican allies on Capitol Hill have signaled a new willingness to work with Democrats to try to secure their support for three pending trade deals — with Panama, Peru and Colombia. The focus of their talks has been guarantees for the rights of workers in countries with which the United States has negotiated trade accords, including a ban on child labor and forced labor.

“There’s no question that there’s been a change on the Republican side,” Representative Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Monday. “They refused to talk about these things before, and now they’re talking.”

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Dobbs:
We're on a 'fast track' to bad trade policy

By Lou Dobbs CNN

Editor's note: Lou Dobbs' commentary appears weekly on CNN.com NEW YORK (CNN) -- The powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charlie Rangel, and I sat down together last night to talk about, among other things, his new book, "And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since." For 36 years, Rangel has served the constituents of Harlem -- what the new Ways and Means chairman calls "the capital of black America." The chairman's new book is a terrific read and tells the fascinating story of his rise from the impoverished streets of New York to the corridors of power on Capitol Hill.

You'll love the book and the story of Rangel's life. And I suspect you'll have the same thought I did when you finally set the book down: How many more Charlie Rangels will be denied their shot at the American dream because Capitol Hill's corridors are now filled with corporate America's lobbyists, who are working to assure that our middle class and those who aspire to it have as little representation as possible?

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