Drivers & Dockworkers Seek Job Security, Fairness, Pension

(MIAMI) – A group of 74 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Miami Lakes, Fla., voted today to join Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami, Fla.

“The Con-way workers have taken a bold step today to improve their lives and have a more secure future as Teamsters,” said Mike Scott, President of Teamsters Local 769. “As we have seen across the country, the company spent lots of money to wage a vicious anti-worker campaign, but the workers remained strong and united and didn’t let management’s bullying get to them.”

The victory follows two earlier ones at Con-way: On September 12, 2014, a group of 113 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Laredo, Texas, voted to join Teamsters Local 657. On September 23, 2014, a group of 44 workers in Vernon, Calif., voted to join Teamsters Local 63.

“We work hard to make this company successful, and we want fair wages, better benefits and working conditions, and a pension,” said Emiliano Najera, a driver. “We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity for doing a good job every day.”

Numerous campaigns at Con-way and FedEx Freight are under way, and the Teamsters Union is committed to helping the drivers win a more secure future.

“The drivers and dockworkers at Con-way, like the workers at FedEx Freight, are fed up,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “These elections are proof that workers are willing to take a stand to improve their work lives and win the security they deserve for themselves and for their families.”

The workers’ campaigns to join the Teamsters have already paid off. After organizing got under way at Con-way, the company announced it would increase truck driver pay by $60 million in 2015, among other improvements. At FedEx Freight, the company announced an 80-cent-per-hour raise a few days after Teamsters Local 107 in Philadelphia filed for an election, and the company got rid of its overly punitive driver scorecard, which gives drivers infraction points for errors.

“It seems more than mere coincidence that these two companies have announced significant pay increases just as hundreds of workers across the U.S. are approaching our local unions seeking representation,” said Tyson Johnson, Director of the Teamsters National Freight Division. “The unfulfilled promises that have been made to drivers and dockworkers over the past decade are coming back to haunt management. Workers now realize the only way to achieve meaningful change in the workplace is to get it in writing in a binding contract.”