Drivers in Croydon, PA Vote to Join Local 107 in Philadelphia

 (PHILADELPHIA) – A group of 47 drivers at FedEx Freight’s East Philadelphia terminal in Croydon, Penn. made history today when they overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 107 in Philadelphia. The vote was 26-18 in favor of joining Local 107.  

Click Here to read about last months Victory at FexEx Freight in Canada.

“We are tired of getting treated with disrespect and dealing with constantly changing unfair and unwritten work rules,” driver Gary Loftus said. “We also want job security and to be valued for the work we do making FedEx Freight successful.”

“I am so proud of these guys at the East Philadelphia terminal, who stayed strong and united despite the company spending truckloads of money to hire union-busters,” said Bill Hamilton, Teamsters Union International Vice President and President of Local 107. “I am proud of the workers and how they remained focused. Their energy and commitment will propel this campaign in the coming weeks and months.”

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

“The drivers are fed up with FedEx Freight,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “These workers are tired of management talking down to them at every chance, and they want decent benefits, including more affordable health insurance. They also want consistent and fair working conditions and a more hopeful future. This is why thousands of freight workers at FedEx Freight and Con-way are turning to the Teamsters Union.”

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

“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.”

In a historic first, dock associates at FedEx Freight in Surrey, British Columbia have joined Teamsters Local 31. Read Teamsters Canada press release, here.

It’s a North American first for these workers at FedEx. Before this victory, the only unionized FedEx employees were the company’s U.S.-based pilots.

“We are tremendously excited to welcome the FedEx Freight workers into the Teamsters, and we hope this is the first of many victories at this company,” said Stan Hennessy, President of Delta, British Columbia-based Local 31, who is also an International Union Vice President. “We will now work hard to negotiate a strong first contract.”

FedEx Freight workers in Delanco, New Jersey will be voting on October 10 in their Teamsters election, and numerous Teamster local unions in the United States have filed for elections at FedEx Freight.

“We are seeing workers at FedEx Freight across North America saying they want their wages, benefits and working conditions negotiated in a legally binding union contract,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “They are turning to the Teamsters for help and we will be there for them.”

The workers in British Columbia are seeking improved benefits, fair wages and a pension.

“Most of these new members only work 20 hours a week. How are they supposed to improve their quality of life?” said Stan Hennessy. “They have had enough of living without the slightest safety net!”

Local 31 collected cards from a majority of the 14 workers in the bargaining unit, then submitted an application on June 4, 2014 to represent the workers with the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

Local 31 was certified as the bargaining representative on September 15, 2014.

“The company sent representatives from other cities to the warehouse to meet with workers in group settings and one-on-one to dissuade them from supporting the union, but the workers remained united in their support to become Teamsters,” said Ben Hennessey, Local 31 organizer.

Ben Hennessy said the victory was a group effort. He thanked Local 31 President Stan Hennessy, Teamsters Canada Organizer Grant Coleman and Local 31 Business Agent Mike Hennessy, as well as the local’s staff members, for helping with the victory.

Local 31 will look into organizing other workers at the warehouse, which opened in 2012.

On a recent related note, on September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas also voted to join the Teamsters.

“This is a great victory for the workers at Con-Way and we hope this campaign spreads,” said Frank Perkins, President of San Antonio-based Local 657. “These workers are seeking fair wages, respect on the job and job security. They also want to have a pension and improved health care coverage.”

There are 113 workers in the bargaining unit.

“We chose Laredo because it is the busiest inland port in the United States,” Perkins said. “Seven thousand trucks cross the border with Mexico every day.”

On September 9, Teamsters Joint Council 42 in Southern California filed for election at three Con-Way terminals.

You can view or join the Conway conversation Here

In a vote announced today by the National Mediation Board (NMB), more than 15,000 passenger service professionals at the newly-merged American-US Airways have voted to join the CWA-IBT Customer Service Employee Association. The joint effort to organize passenger service agents was led by Communication Workers of American (CWA) which will represent about 7,500 new members; 1,300 new members will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Agents at both airlines voted over the phone and online in a month-long election administered by the NMB. The results were tallied and it was announced today that the workers had voted for the CWA-IBT Association by a 6-to-1 margin.

“We are honored to represent a total of more than 3,000 passenger service agents at the New American Airlines,” said Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne. “The Teamsters are committed to providing American Airlines employees and our existing members at US Airways with strong representation as both airlines continue to integrate in this merger.”

Prior to its merger with American Airlines, US Airways’ passenger service agents were represented by CWA in the east with approximately 4,700 members and by the Teamsters in the west with about 1,800 members. The shared representation was the result of US Airways’ merger in 2005 with America West Airlines whose customer service agents were Teamsters. US Airways’ latest merger with American Airlines, whose agents were nonunion, led to an election to determine representation for all agents at the newly-merged carrier.

“With our partners in CWA, the Teamsters are leading the way in protecting airline professionals involved in the biggest airline merger in history,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “Our union is dedicated to fighting on behalf of workers in this volatile industry. Our new members at the combined American-US Airways now have two of the strongest airline unions in their corner.”

American Airlines agents who have won representation for the first time are concerned about outsourcing, job security, fair work rules and having a strong contract. The agents know from experience how vulnerable they are without representation. American’s 2011 bankruptcy led to layoffs, outsourced job titles, and sharp cuts in pay and benefits for those who kept their jobs. 

“I can’t tell you how great this victory is for us,” said Debra Ewing, a 15-year US Airways agent in Phoenix, Ariz. “American Airlines customer service agents have tried for over 20 years to gain representation and the merger with US Airways allowed the Teamsters to step in and bring home a win. This means an end to so much outsourcing for American agents who will regain profit-sharing, shift differentials, a three-tiered medical plan, paid vacation and more. That’s what union representation is – and now we all have it.”

Agents at US Airways have enjoyed strong representation for years and are looking forward to having an even stronger voice in the merger process with 9,000 new agents at American strengthening their association.

To read a related Article from the Huffington Post, Click Here

Thousands of service agents at American Airlines unionized with their new colleagues at U.S. Airways on Tuesday, making the most of last year's airline mega-merger.

Article Written by dave.jamieson@huffingtonpost.com

In a combined union election, airline employees voted on whether to join CWA-IBT, a joint union of the Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters. An overwhelming 86 percent voted in favor of unionizing.

The election covered 14,500 employees who work at airport customer-service desks, airline call centers and, in some cases, their own homes. Nine thousand of those workers were previously non-union employees at American Airlines, while the remainder were U.S. Airways agents already represented by the union. The two brands merged last year to create the largest airline in the world.

Had the group voted down the union, the already-unionized U.S. Airways workers would have lost their contract.

"I'm elated. It's been a long road," said Steve Langhi, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based customer service representative for American Airlines who has long wanted to join a union. "I've spent 35 years in this business … I feel better about my future today than I have at any other time."

The National Mediation Board, the federal agency that oversaw the election, said the workers voted in favor of the union by a count of 9,640 to 1,547, indicating widespread support among employees of both airlines. The election appears to be the largest private-sector unionization this year.

Paul Flaningan, an American Airlines spokesman, said in a statement that the issue of union representation for American's main workforces was now "settled" and the company would move ahead to bargaining. "We have enjoyed a productive relationship with the CWA-IBT as well as our other unions and look forward to continuing our work together,” he said.

Despite opposition from the government and consumer groups, American argued that a merger with U.S. Airways was the company's best shot at emerging from bankruptcy proceedings. The Justice Department originally sued to block the merger on the grounds that it would hurt travelers by raising costs, but the government ultimately settled the case when the companies agreed to give up slots at certain airports.

Service agents at American have tried and failed to unionize before, losing a 2013 election by a mere 150 votes. The company opposed that campaign but remained neutral this time around, according to CWA-IBT. The union publicly supported the airline merger when it was being considered by regulators.

Langhi said many of his colleagues have come around to supporting unionization due to the outsourcing that occurred during American's bankruptcy proceedings.

"We suffered as a result of not being organized under bankruptcy," Langhi said. "When you have representation, sacrifices are negotiated. They're not done randomly; they're done with a plan. A union helps employees go through it in an organized way."

Tom Paskutis, a U.S. Airways customer service supervisor in Charlotte, North Carolina, said growing the union's ranks will help workers at both airlines maintain their wages.

"We're glad to have American on board. We needed them for strength," said Paskutis. "This gives us more negotiating power to keep what we have."

Teamsters Local 492 would like to thank everyone who attended the 2nd annual Membership Appreciation Cookout held on September 20th, 2014. Click Here to see all of the photos. An estimated 400 Members and their families came to the event from a wide variety of crafts and companies which included (in alphabetical order) ABF, AmeriPride Linen, Creamland, Movies, Sysco, TeamOne, UPS, UPS Freight, and YRC. There were many Teamster Retirees that also attended as well as New Mexico Attorney General Gary King. The Executive Board and Business Agents and office staff were there and enjoyed meeting and talking to the Members in this social atmosphere which also gave the Members a chance to have quality time to ask questions and get to know the 492 E-Board & BA’s better. 

Teamster Members and their families were treated to Hamburgers & Hotdogs, Teamster T-shirts that commemorated the event, along with other Teamster Local 492 items. Attendees were also able to get an up-close look at the Teamster Joint Council #3 Tractor/Trailer which was brought down from Colorado by Retired Vice President of Local 455, Jim Adams.

There was a raffle held for the 84 members that signed up; Frank Lesku of ABF won the 32 inch TV, Yellow retiree Tony Tellez won a Blue tooth speaker set and Armando Hernandez of Creamland also won a Blue tooth speaker set.

John Wegrzynek  of UPS won 1^st place in the car show with his Silver & Red Mustang, Tony Tellez a Yellow Retiree won 2^nd with his Green Truck, and David Snow of Creamland won 3^rd place with his White Mustang.  

We would like to thank Brother David Snow who is a Union Steward at Creamland for donating his time and jumper for the kids to play in on Saturday. As you can see from some of the photos, the kids had a great time.

Finally, Teamsters Local 492 would like to thank the volunteers that helped make the 2nd annual  492 Membership Appreciation event possible and so successful, which include Brother Joseph Carrillo of ABF and special thanks goes out to Brother Kevin Pohl and Brother Moises Ortega for organizing the event.   

Thank you to all who participated and attended this event, we truly enjoyed seeing all of you and meeting your families and we hope to be able to do this again next year. On behalf the Teamsters Local 492 staff, Business Agents and Executive Board, we truly appreciate the Members of this Local Union and everything you do to make this Union great, and all the hard working Union Stewards that do such a great job helping their fellow Members, Thank you Teamster Brothers & Sisters.

9-13 -14 Today, dozens of Teamster Union Stewards from all over New Mexico came together to better understand their duties and rights as Stewards and first heard from Teamsters Local 492 Secretary-Treasurer Walter R. Maestas about the importance of a good steward and thanked the stewards in attendance for everything they do to help their fellow members.

Teamster Sister Iliana Flores of the IBT training department taught the stewards about Teamster History, building a stronger Union through unity, proper investigation & grievance procedures, understanding “just cause”, knowing the contract, work rules and policies, issue resolution, enforcing contracts, arbitration, understanding the rights through government programs like FMLA, and much more. (Click Here to view more photos)

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King spoke about his current work to curb the misclassification of workers, wage theft and other worker issues he deals with. He then answered questions from the stewards.  

After a great Mexican food lunch, Teamsters Local 492 President Moises Ortega spoke about local politics and the “Right to Work” issue; he then introduced Teamster Brother Kevin Currie from the IBT Political Department who spoke about the importance of voting for political candidates that support the rights of workers. He also explained why “Right to Work” is a completely deceptive name for a law that hurts not only Unions and there members, but slowly erodes workers rights for everyone over time. Brother Brian Thais of TeamOne (Sara Lee) gave an example of this with his recent experience going through contract negotiations where the Teamsters in the New Mexico division fared much better than their counterparts in Arizona which is a “right-to-work” state.   

The stewards that attended the seminar received a specially designed Teamsters shirt for New Mexico Stewards, Teamsters Local 492 license front plate, 492 steward lapel pin, 492 writing pen, a 97 page Stewards workbook & handouts, and a Teamsters Local 492 portfolio folder with note pad, calculator & the beautiful NM Teamster Logo on the front.

It was great to see all the Teamster knowledge, experience and pride in one room. We want to thank all of these dedicated Teamster Stewards for giving up their Saturday to improve their skills at helping their fellow Teamsters. Thanks to the entire Teamsters Local 492 Executive Board and Business Agents, all of whom donated their time to be there, and a special thanks to Kevin Pohl for organizing the seminar, it was a great experience.     

YRC Freight recently held an employee safety ceremony to celebrate a safety streak that began in January 2013 which set an all time YRC company record, 15 million consecutive accident and injury-free miles accomplished by all 85 Albuquerque Line drivers.

As seen in the picture (click here to view more pictures), The Company presented a specially designed trailer saluting the drivers' achievement at the safety celebration which proudly includes the names of all 85 drivers and the logos of the New Mexico Teamsters and the IBT.  Each driver received a die-cast replica of the equipment and tee-shirts commemorating the amazing accomplishment.  You may have noticed the trailer shows 10 million miles and the tee-shirts say 14 million but they celebrated 15 million. That is because when they hit 10 million they started working on the trailer, they had passed 14 million when the shirts were printed, and by the time the celebration actually took place they had hit 15 million. They have now reportedly surpassed the 16 million mark, wow!

35% of these YRC Teamster drivers have driven one million miles or more, two have driven over 4 million miles, two over 3 million miles & 27 drivers have worked more than 25 years injury free.

Also honored (see pictures) at the ceremony were:

Al Weddle, 57 years and over 4 million miles injury and accident free

CB Montoya, 42 years and over 4 Million miles injury and accident free

Joe Wright, 37 years accident free

Wes Johnson, 36 years injury and accident free

In attendance, Johnny R. Johnson, Managing Director of the New Mexico Trucking Association and American Trucking Association Chairman Phil Byrd, who spoke at the event. Also in attendance, Teamsters Local 492 Secretary-Treasurer Walter R. Maestas and Business Agent Kevin Pohl, representatives from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and New Mexico Transportation Police, who will be distributing the 85 donated new child car safety seats to families in need, in the name of each member of the YRC Freight Albuquerque driving team who has contributed to the safety milestone.

YRC Freight President Darren Hawkins said, "Having 85 drivers work together to achieve 15 million consecutive accident and injury-free miles is a testament to the professionalism of the Albuquerque team. It is a real honor to be in Albuquerque with the drivers today so that we can personally pay tribute to their achievement. The YRC Freight Albuquerque driving team's safety record is evidence of what a team can do when collectively focused not only on their own safety, but also on the safety of others."

Also speaking at the event was Albuquerque YRC Freight Linehaul Manager Hoss Salehian who said, “These Albuquerque drivers set an all time record of 15 million miles driving without lost time and preventable accidents. To put that in perspective, 15 million miles is equivalent of 60 trips between here and the moon and over 600 trips around the earth. I am pleased to recognize these 85 men for their achievement in transportation safety; this is a significant accomplishment that attests to their dedication to safety. These drivers embody the values and professionalism that is YRC Freight. I am very proud of these men and thankful for their dedication and remarkable achievement.”

Teamsters Local 492 is also very proud of our brothers at YRC and wish to congratulate them on this amazing record. As the sign says above the door at the AQE facility, (see picture here) “Through This Door, Pass The Finest Union Drivers In North America,” and they have certainly lived up to that!  

In preparation for the Upcoming Membership Appreciation Day being held at the hall on September 20th, Trustee & ABF Driver Kelvin Holly, BA Kevin Pohl, & BA Kenny Duran put their gloves on and got to work. They pulled all of the old junipers that bordered Jefferson, trimmed trees and bushes, pulled weeds and much more. By doing this “in house”, these 3 guys have saved the Members of Teamsters Local 492 a lot of money!

On behalf of all of the Members of Teamsters Local 492, a very big Thank You goes out to these 3 hard working Teamsters. Click here to view some of the pics we took of their hard work.  

By Teamsters President James P. Hoffa
Published in the Detroit News, August 20, 2014

Speak with any elected official, and inevitably he or she will stress the need to create more U.S. jobs. But given the opportunity to do so just before Congress went on its annual August recess, Senate Republicans decided they would rather do nothing instead.

Legislation sponsored by Michigan’s own Sen. Debbie Stabenow that would have provided tax credits for American companies to bring home jobs from overseas while ending tax credits for those who ship employment abroad was sandbagged by the GOP.

In a preliminary vote taken on the Bring Jobs Home Act, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill, voting 93-7 in favor of the measure. One week later, however, it all changed. The legislation, needing 60 votes to allow a final vote, fell six short. Only one Republican senator voted to allow it to move forward.

So why the change of heart? In a word, politics. GOP lawmakers heard from their big business buddies in the interim, who urged them not to approve the bill. Given the choice to side with corporate America or their constituents back home, they chose the money men who fill their campaign coffers.

This, despite the fact that, as Sen. Stabenow noted, there are more than 737,000 jobs in Michigan and 21.5 million nationwide that are at risk to being moved abroad. She was rightfully indignant about the vote, saying, “It’s outrageous that, right now, American workers are paying through the tax code to ship their own jobs overseas.”

The bill’s defeat was disheartening, to say the least, for the millions of workers who are unemployed or underemployed and struggling to pay their bills. Increasingly, hard-working Americans are being besieged by efforts to offshore more and more good-paying jobs that would allow them to provide for their families.

At the heart of the struggle are bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The 12-nation Pacific Rim agreement currently being secretly negotiated pits corporate gain against worker pain. And as things stand now, it looks like it’s going to be an unpleasant experience for employees. That is, unless we demand more from elected lawmakers.

It begins by getting them to support the “Buy American” program, which gives U.S. companies an advantage when it comes to bidding on federal contracts. As I talked about last month, the program has been in place since 1933, but other TPP nations want to end it as part of the trade pact.

Beyond that, however, there is plenty more to be concerned about when it comes to the TPP. Americans won’t be able to compete with workers in Vietnam, for instance, who get paid as little as $79 a month. Then there are the poor working conditions the trade deal would allow. And the unsafe food and products it would allow into Michigan and the U.S. You get the picture.

Workers need all the advocates they can muster. Gov. Rick Snyder, who favors the TPP, is not doing his constituents any favors. Neither is any other lawmaker who takes a similar stand.

We’ve seen elected officials change tax law to help corporations. Why not do the same to help workers? After all, they are supposed to be the ones being served.