User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Feb 7, 2017

TEAMSTERS & TRUMP * USA: Lobbyng to eliminate Mexican trucks operatory

* DC - Teamsters press Trump to drop NAFTA’s Mexican trucker provision

--- The Teamsters Union is lobbying President Donald Trump to eliminate a NAFTA provision that allows long-haul Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S. ... Teamsters General President James Hoffa discussed a contentious North American Free Trade Agreement provision that allows cross-border trucking trips originating from Mexico when he met with Trump on Jan. 11. The union, which has for years raised concerns about allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, said Trump seemed open to the idea of rejecting the provision, if he moves forward with his campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA... President Trump has yet to make any public statements indicating plans to eliminate the provision as part of a potential re-opening of the NAFTA agreement... The Teamsters are also fighting the provision in the courts. The union, along with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Inc., Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition is suing the Department of Transportation in an attempt to reverse the agency’s decision to allow Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S. ... 
Washington, DC, USA - Bloomberg BNA, by Stephanie Beasley - FEB 1st., 2017

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:29 AM  0 comments

Jul 20, 2016

XPO Logistics' * USA: TEAMSTERS vs. COPS

* Georgia - Trying to unionize some truck drivers in the South. Then the cops showed up.

--- Three Teamsters stood outside the gates of a company called XPO Logistics on June 10, passing out flyers along the side of the road... The City of Port Wentworth disagreed... As the Teamsters later learned, someone from XPO called the police to report them. When two officers arrived, Ben Speight, one of three organizers, explained to them that he and his colleagues were merely passing out fliers... But the police said they were impeding the flow of traffic ― even though the public road dead ends at the company gates, and there was no traffic other than the occasional truck leaving the facility... A lawyer for the Teamsters sent a letter to the city attorney saying the union would sue Port Wentworth if the charges against the organizers are not thrown out... XPO did not respond to a voicemail message left at its headquarters on Friday... The organizers are due in court on July 20... 
(Photo: Ben Speight, one of three organizers, explained to two officers when arrived, that he and his colleagues were merely passing out fliers) -- Port Wentworth, GA, USA - The Huffington Post, by Dave Jamieson - 18 July 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:16 AM  0 comments

Jul 11, 2015

TEAMSTERS & OWNERS DRIVERS * USA: Debate

* California - Truckers at Los Angeles Port vote to unionize
-- Short-haul truckers employed by Eco Flow in the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complexes voted unanimously to unionize, but the Teamsters still face an uphill battle to organize the wider labor pool... A group of truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach voted late Wednesday to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, becoming the fourth company at the port to unionize at a time when many say port trucking is ripe for a shake-up... For decades, most drayage drivers—who number more than 10,000 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach—have been independent contractors who own their own trucks. But as ports have grown more congested amid a general trucker shortage, an opening emerged for companies that purchase trucks and hire full-time drivers... The 88 drivers who unionized this week work for Eco Flow Transportation LLC, which launched earlier this year with funding from a private equity firm. The unanimous unionization vote, which was expected, brings the total number of drayage Teamsters in the Los Angeles and Long Beach region to roughly 450... Still, many truckers say they’d rather remain independent...  Weston LaBar, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association, an industry group of about 100 port trucking companies, says while there may be a “shift in proportions” among companies that hire full-time drivers and those that contract with independent ones, he doesn’t see unionized drayage firms becoming the norm... Mr. LaBar said that some trucking companies have raised their rates and compensate their drivers for wait time as ports become more congested... 
(PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS - Truckers wait to unload their cargo at the Port of Los Angeles)  --  Los Angeles, CAL, USA - The WSJ, by ERICA E. PHILLIPS - July 9, 2015

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 10:53 AM  0 comments

May 18, 2015

TEAMSTERS REJECTED * USA: On FEDEX FREIGHT, Chicago

* Illinois - Chicago Hts. FedEx Freight drivers say ‘No’ to teamsters

-- FedEx Freight drivers in Chicago Heights, Ill., rejected the Teamsters Union in a vote last week... FedEx said a majority of city and road drivers at the Chicago Heights facility voted against union representation... The union set its sights on FedEx, the second largest fleet in the country, in 2014, but has only been able to win a handful of victories at FedEx Freight facilities... The union has also been campaigning to organize Con-way Freight workers in the last year, too, with limited success... 
(Photo: FEDEX freight)  --  Chicago, ILL, USA - Truckers News, by MATT COLE - May 11, 2015

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 7:06 AM  0 comments

Nov 14, 2014

TEAMSTERS * Australia

* New South Wales - Union, Ron Finemore Transport hail trucking agreement
Wagga,NSW,Australia -Bordermail, by ALEX MCCONACHIE -Nov. 13, 2014: -- A landmark agreement between Ron Finemore Transport and its truck drivers has been hailed as a safer and fairer deal for regional truckies by the Transport Workers Union (TWU)... TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon, which covers more than 500 drivers in Australia’s eastern states, include a wage increase of 14 per cent over four years, superannuation boosts that will see it reach 13 per cent by the end of the agreement and loyalty bonuses for drivers who give more than two years of service... Mr Sheldon said it would bring about a happier and safer work environment for the drivers... Ron Finemore, the chairman of the transport company said, safety and reliability were the main key points driving negotiations for the agreement...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:17 AM  0 comments

TEAMSTERS NEWS * USA:

* New Jersey - FedEx Freight workers reject Teamsters 

Newark,NJ,USA -JOC, by William B. Cassidy -Nov 13, 2014: -- Road and city drivers at a FedEx Freight terminal in Newark, New Jersey, rejected the Teamsters union in a representation election Nov. 12, the latest in a series of union elections at the largest U.S.A. less-than-truckload carrier. FedEx Freight now has won two elections, but so have the Teamsters, organizing drivers at two terminals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania... The Teamsters are pressing hard for more elections. Union locals have submitted petitions for representation votes at several FedEx Freight terminals with the National Labor Relations Board, including facilities in Northern New Jersey, Virginia and Kentucky... Many unionized carriers collapsed from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Consolidated Freightways, once one of the largest union carriers, shut down in 2002...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:58 AM  0 comments

Nov 7, 2014

UNION BATTLES vs. TRUCKING Cos. * USA: Teamsters vs. FedEx & Total T.S. - * Denmark: Johansen's

* New Jersey - Teamsters win another FedEx victory, court orders benefits payback in misclass case 

(Photo)
New Brunswick,N.J.,USA -Overdrive, by Kevin Jones and Jill Dunn -November 04, 2014: -- The Teamsters have scored another victory at FedEx — the labor union’s second overall win at the parcel giant and second within the last month... Drivers at FedEx Freight’s in New Bunswick, N.J. terminal, voted last week to join the Teamsters Local 701, following drivers from the Croydon, Pa. terminal, who voted to join the union Oct. 14... The Teamsters say the votes have already paid off, too, as FedEx Freight raised per-hour pay by 80 cents after the Croydon terminal filed for election. The carrier also ended its driver scorecard practice, the union says, in response to its efforts... After labor organization efforts began the mega carrier said it plans to increase driver pay by $60 million in 2015, among other improvements...

* California -  Truck driver $9,000 in unemployment benefits 

Sacramento,CAL,USA -Overdrive, by Kevin Jones and Jill Dunn -November 04, 2014: -- The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement has awarded a Total Transportation Services truck drivers, after a court ruled the driver was misclassified as an independent contractor... The settlement stems from the roughly half-dozen driver strikes that have taken place at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in the last year... A Teamsters affiliated group, Justice for Port Truck Drivers, backed the strikes over what the truckers said were labor law violations... JPTD said shortly before the July strike, carrier TTSI announced it would terminate leasing arrangements with drivers and they would have to provide their own trucks. It would fire truckers who did not sign new independent contractor agreements and withdraw wage theft claims with the DLSE... The terminations were to be effective Aug. 1, but delayed to Sept. 1. On Aug. 29, drivers attempted to meet with the company to sign new leases, but were told to come back Sept. 2... When they returned, TTSI said they would not be required to withdraw their claims. Some signed new lease agreements and were dispatched. While other drivers were waiting to sign, TTSI demanded they withdraw claims, then terminated more than 35 truckers who refused...


* Denmark - Union battle pushing trucking giant to outsource
(Photo from Kim Johansen, who has a penchant for hiring Romanian drivers who then drive the company's Danish-based trucks ) 
Copenhagen,Denmark -The Copenhagen Post, by CW -November 5, 2014: -- One of Denmark's biggest trucking companies, Kim Johansen International Transport, has decided to move large parts of his business abroad after battling the union 3F for a decade... 3F has been pestering Johansen for years because his company hires Romanian drivers via his Lithuanian subsidiary company to drive the company's Danish-based trucks... ”The consequences are that my trucks no longer generate profits for the Danish company,” Johansen told Børsen business newspaper... ”So in the future, revenue will be recorded in the foreign subsidiary companies, and it is also the start of the process in which more and more of the company will be moved abroad.” ... 3F, on the other hand, contends that Johansen's move abroad won't be a major loss for Denmark... Jan Villadsen, a spokesperson for the union's transport department, 3F Transport, argues that unions in whatever nation he moves to will quickly set their sights on Johansen's company in terms of wage-agreements... ”He uses Romanian and Bulgarian wages for work that will be done in northern and western Europe,” Villadsen told Børsen...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:03 AM  0 comments

Oct 13, 2010

TEAMSTERS UNION * USA - New York Teamster Leader to Run Against Hoffa

Local 805 president Pope criticizes contract, pension agreements

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Oct 12, 2010: -- A dissident Teamster who started her career as a warehouse worker and truck driver is challenging James P. Hoffa for the top job in the Teamsters union... Sandy Pope, president of Teamsters Local 805 in New York City, last week said she will run for general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters... The dissident group Teamsters for a Democratic Union quickly endorsed Pope, who ran for secretary-treasurer on the TDU slate in 2006... Pope is the second Teamster official to openly challenge Hoffa, who has led the Teamsters union since 1998 and was re-elected in 2001 and 2006... Wisconsin Teamster leader Fred Gegare, a former Hoffa supporter and Teamsters vice president at large since 1998, announced his candidacy in May... The challenges from Pope and Gegare a year before the election highlight dissatisfaction with Hoffa's handling of union pensions and company contracts... In an interview with Labor Notes, a union activist magazine and Web site, Pope criticized a 2006 agreement that let UPS pull out of the IBT pension plans... Gegare voiced similar concerns in May, also criticizing what he called the "top-down" attitude toward local union autonomy at the international union... Ballots will be mailed to the union's 1.3 million members in October 2011 and counted that November...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:21 AM  0 comments

Dec 9, 2009

Chicago Teamsters * USA - Reject YRC Concessions

Local drivers, dockworkers say 'no' a third time to wage, benefit cuts

Chicago,ILL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Dec 9, 2009: -- YRC Worldwide Teamsters in Chicago again rejected wage and benefit cuts approved by the most of the unionized employees at the troubled less-than-truckload company... It was the third time the YRC drivers and dockworkers were asked to vote on a 15 percent wage cut and 18-month suspension of pension contributions already approved by the majority of union employees at YRC Worldwide’s national and regional companies... City drivers in Teamsters Local 705 rejected the concessions, while dockworkers in Local 710 voted them down. Only maintenance workers in Local 710 accepted the cuts... (Photo from joc.com: YRCtruck)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:47 PM  0 comments

STRIKES * USA - France Steps In to Truck Labor Negotiations

Government bids to head off nationwide strike with compromise proposal

Paris,France -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bruce Barnard -Dec 9, 2009: -- The French government intervened in contract negotiations between truck drivers and their employers Dec. 9, in a bid to head off a nationwide trucking strike next week that threatens to paralyze the nation's transport system... Labor unions have called for an all out stoppage by 610,000 drivers for an indefinite period starting Sunday, Dec. 13, unless trucking companies increase wages and expense allowances... A strike would have a major impact on the French economy as trucks account for a large and rising share of the national transport market, including the movement of containers to and from ports... The five trucking unions warn they will block access routes to major companies and industrial zones... Unions claim truckers' wages have been frozen for two years while costs have risen. The trucking companies say they can't afford to increase wages because cargo volumes have fallen during the recession... The government has proposed raising the lowest salaries by four percent and medium wages by three percent... This falls short of the unions' demands for a four percent hike for all drivers and a three percent increase in expenses as well as an industry wide agreement on health insurance... (Photo from thegully: french truck protest)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:08 PM  0 comments

Dec 4, 2009

Cheap Haulers * USA - GM, Chrysler, Use Them

Lamsing,Mich,USA -Teamsters for Democratic Union, by Nora Macaluso -December 3, 2009: -- General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC are cutting costs by using cheap, nonunion trucking companies to haul vehicles from factories to dealer lots, putting people out of work and endangering consumers and motorists in the process, according to a report issued Dec. 2 by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and consumer groups... The report, which includes photographs of allegedly damaged vehicles and unsafe procedures, was sent to the companies and to every member of Congress, said Fred Zuckerman, director of the Teamsters' automobile transporters industry division... The low-cost haulers, the report says, use inexperienced drivers and improper equipment, resulting in damage to vehicles and increasing the likelihood of accidents on the road... GM, asked to respond to the report, said there were “no significant changes” to recently negotiated contracts with two union-represented car hauling companies...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 11:52 AM  0 comments

Dec 3, 2009

Teamsters Campaign * Canada - Targeting Challenger truckers, owner-ops

Cambridge,Ont,CAN -Today's Trucking -27 Nov 2009: ... Teamsters Canada has launched a campaign to organize group drivers and owner-operators at Challenger Motor Freight, Elgin Motor Freight, and Lodwick Transport... Non-monetary and work organization clauses are said to be at the heart of the dispute, such as "forced dispatch, seniority (issues), and switch (shifts)"... Drivers of the three carriers also allege they have not received a pay increase since 2003... The union drive apparently originated weeks ago at a Quebec terminal. It has since grown into a national campaign, affecting about 1,500 Challenger workers across Canada... In Vancouver, independent drayage haulers were organized by the Teamsters and, as a way to end a six-week work stoppage at the Port of Vancouver in 2005, their carrier companies were ordered by the government to pay them union-style rates and collective surcharges... More recently, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) echoed the CIRB when it applied the same logic for the first time under the Ontario ruling for the purposes of the Labour Relations Act... Criteria that is used to determine who is the "true employer" of a independent worker or agency driver is sometimes quite arbitrary. Issuing uniforms or company mailboxes to contactors; or allowing them to share facilities with company workers and inviting them to company-related functions have all been cited to justify treating lease operators or temporary drivers as employees... (Photo: Precedent points to an uphill battle in keeping Challenger drivers and owner-ops out of Canadian union hands)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 9:26 AM  0 comments

Jun 6, 2009

Teamsters Oppose * U.S.A.'s Trucking Regulator Nominee Anne Ferro

Washington,DC,USA -Bloomberg, by Angela Greiling Keane -June 5, 2009: -- The Teamsters union told President Barack Obama it opposes his nominee to be the top U.S. trucking regulator because of her support for a rule that allows truckers to drive for up to 11 consecutive hours... Anne Ferro is the wrong person to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration because of her “trucking-industry party line,” Teamsters President Jim Hoffa, told Obama in a letter today... Teamsters members include truck drivers for United Parcel Service Inc., the world’s largest package delivery company, and YRC Worldwide Inc., the largest U.S. trucking company by sales... The agency that Ferro was nominated yesterday to lead will help decide how the U.S. will reopen its border to Mexican trucks and is conducting a safety review of the motor-coach bus industry...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 4:03 PM  0 comments

Jun 20, 2008

Union New Contract * USA - West Coast Ports, Longshore Reportedly Close on

West Coast port operators are optimistic they can get a labor deal in place by the end of this month and avoid any strike or shutdown at the facilities

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Wall Street Journal/Transport Topics -20 June 2008: -- The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents cargo carriers and terminal operators in three states, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union hope to get a deal done soon... ILWU represents about 26,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, from San Diego up to Bellingham, Wash... The two sides issued a joint release this week saying they had released a tentative agreement on health benefits... In 2002, ports locked out workers for 10 days amid strained contract talks, which produced a snarl in the nation’s supply chain, as much of the imported goods from Asia come to the United States through West Coast ports... (Photo by Larry Smith/Trans Pixs)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 2:39 PM  0 comments

Jun 7, 2008

NEW CONTRACT * USA - Truck-drivers union close to

Union negotiators who represent the truck drivers who deliver new vehicles to dealerships say they're close to a new contract with most of the country's largest trucking companies

Riverside,CA,USA -The Press-Enterprise, by JACK KATZANEK -June 6, 2008: -- ... But the negotiations have been difficult in an industry that has been hampered by high fuel prices and a public that is buying fewer American-made vehicles... Two of the companies that make up a consortium that negotiates as a group have filed for bankruptcy in the last two years... Several hundred workers are employed at companies that have depots in San Bernardino and Riverside counties...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:42 PM  0 comments

Jan 18, 2008

Teamsters * USA - Say UPS Freight Workers Sign Cards in New England

New England,USA -Transport Topics -17 Jan 2008: -- The Teamsters union said workers at seven UPS Freight terminals in New England signed cards to join the union, although the cards must now be sent to a neutral arbitrator... A majority of workers at the sites signed authorization cards to become union members, the union said late Wednesday... UPS Freight, a unit of UPS Inc., is the successor to Overnite Transportation, which waged a substantial, bitter fight with the union from 1999-2002... UPS Inc. is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:50 AM  0 comments

Jul 8, 2007

National Contract * USA - YRC watching Teamsters union negotiations with UPS

One issue that UPS has put on the table is pension benefits for the company’s 238,000 union workers

Kansas,MO,USA -The Kansas City Star, by RANDOLPH HEASTER -July 06, 2007: -- The Teamsters union has begun contract talks with UPS that could affect the direction of future negotiations with YRC Worldwide Inc. and other unionized trucking companies... Although the current contract with the parcel giant does not expire until the end of July 2008, bargaining has already begun in hopes of obtaining a new agreement early... According to recent trade industry reports, UPS is seeking to exit the plan with a lump-sum payment of nearly $4 billion. The company proposes to then form a joint Teamsters-UPS pension plan for future workers... UPS is the biggest contributor to the Teamsters’ multi-employer Central States pension plan, and YRC is the second-largest... (Photo: Some 50,000 members of the Teamsters union work for Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. Their labor agreement expires next year)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:50 AM  0 comments