Ambulatory something

The Teamsters are taking it to the streets and passing out leaflets in front of the offices of the attorneys representing an employer in a dispute involving them.

Woman to challenge Hoffa

Longtime Teamster and President of New York Teamster Local 805, Sandy Pope, says she intends to challenge James P. Hoffa for the presidency of the International union next year. Pope, active in Teamsters for a Democratic Union, has been a Teamster for 30 years. About 30% of the 1.3 million member union is female.

Teamsters in Chicago

In These Times has an interesting post about the plight of reform candidates that won a federally supervised internal union election. Seems that they have been run out of office by Hoffa.

Teamsters win big unit election

8000 Fleet Service workers at Continental Airlines have voted to be represented by the Teamsters' union. The Teamster press release is reported here.

Union discipline

Bill Hogan, once a powerful union leader, had a falling out with Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa and was expelled from the union. Details here, here, here and here. Under union rules Teamsters are barred from speaking with the expelled member. Seems the union got an injunction enforcing the private discipline and now Hogan faces contempt of court for speaking with Teamsters including his son and best friend. Union discipline is a private contractural matter. The union's constitution and by-laws establish the rules. When a member violates the rules, the organization may discipline the violator in private proceedings which do not provide due process or right to legal assistance. Members can be expelled or fined for offenses like conduct detrimental to the union. The union then can go to court to enforce the discipline.

Union reform?

Here's an interesting piece on union reform, and its limitations.

Teamsters diversify

First it was truckers, then librarians, then zookeepers and now film and TV composers - - all Teamsters.

Impasse on tap

Tonight's labor law class will discuss the concept of impasse as it relates to the duty to bargain under the National Labor Relations Act. What better example of the hazards of unilateral action than the case of the Michigan beer distributers who one after another bargained with a Teamsters Union local, each one declared an impasse was reached and unilaterally imposed a new contract with what the NLRB described as "substantially lower income and reduced benefits for employees, particularly the drivers." Ultimately the distributors were found to have bargained in bad faith and were tagged with a $41 million dollar back pay award.

Resigned?

The Teamsters claim a recently resigned International Vice President, who earned $288,000 a year from his work with the union, was not "forced out." There were, however, allegations he sexually harassed a union secretary.

NRTWLDF aids workers

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has provided free legal assistance to 3 Michigan Teamsters in their attempt to opt out of paying full union dues. This is a problem we do not see in states with Right to Work laws, because union membership cannot be a requirement for employment. In non-Right to Work states an employer and a union can agree that employees must be union members. In that situation, employees who do not want to be full union members, must become financial core members and pay a portion of the unions dues attributable to the cost of representation. The Supreme Court in Communication Workers v. Beck, "guarantees the right of workers to opt-out of forced dues intended for purposes other than workplace bargaining, including lobbying, political activism, and members-only activities." It also requires unions to provide an independent assessment of how dues money is being spent.

School bus strike redux

First Student, the Ohio based company that provides school bus drivers to Hinds County Mississippi, blogged here, also has striking bus drivers in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Note the click through provides little information and a lot of opinion favorable to the union. Reason: The article is based on the Teamsters' Union press release, not independent reporting. Note the same problem here, here, and here. For an example of good coverage of a labor dispute look at this previous post about a 40 month strike.

From the weekend

If you missed it, the Teamsters Union won an election to represent zookeepers at the Audubon Zoo. The Senate HELP committee will vote Wednesday on President Obama's nominees to the three vacant positions on the NLRB.

Teamsters win at Audubon Zoo

Teamsters Local 270 won a close representation election (17 yes, 14 no) among zookeepers at the Audubon Zoo. The Times Picayune reports Audubon employs about 600, 450 of whom are full-time. The Teamsters represent other zoo workers in San Diego and Chicago. Local 270 President David Negretto that other groups of Audubon employees have expressed interest in joining the Teamsters.

Unions snatching bodies anywhere

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting piece about the Teamsters moving beyond its traditional truck driving membership and the Steelworkers organizing healthcare facilities. Referenced in the article is the Oak Brook library we discussed here.

"Nobody here likes those kind of people."

Under pressure from budget cuts, the village librarians sought out the Teamsters. Sometimes the union is not the worst person in the story.