Teamsters

  • How to Bargain Concessions (If You Must)
    Richard de Vries
    May 15 2012 - 4:10pm

    Can concessions save jobs? Almost always they cannot, and certainly not in the big picture. Concessions can’t fix a collapsed market or stop offshoring, nor the 1%’s relentless assault on the working class. But concessions may save jobs in the short term if the union bargains hard in areas not traditional to our thinking and gets specific, concrete guarantees.

  • The Teamsters—Will Reality TV Be Stranger than Fiction?

    From "Jersey Shore" to the short-lived "All-American Muslim" to the glitzier "Shahs of Sunset," there seems to be no ethnic community left untouched by the national carny show known as reality TV. Always dissed or ignored by the mass media, the multi-ethnic enclave of organized labor might have been the last holdout against letting it all hang out in this shamelessly exhibitionist genre.

  • In Red Cross Strike, Management Squeezes the Last Drop of Blood

    Red Cross workers in northeast Ohio remain on strike, with no negotiations in sight. The 200 blood collection technicians and other workers are frustrated because management refuses to come to the table. Working without a contract since May 2011, the Teamsters Local 507 members went on strike February 14 over donor and worker safety, working conditions, pay, and health insurance.

  • Contracts Are Worth Defending, Even with No-Strike Clauses
    Guillermo Perez
    Jan 19 2012 - 1:51pm
    ** Print only

    After seeing hundreds of thousands of people demonstrate in Wisconsin and Ohio to defend collective bargaining, it seems odd to read in Labor Notes that union contracts are “a trap” that “hold unions back.”

    Stanley Aronowitz’s January 2012 Viewpoint said, “Labor is confined by contract unionism, whose core is the no-strike clause.”

  • After Winning Election, Hoffa Targets Teamsters’ Right to Vote
    Ken Paff
    Dec 28 2011 - 9:56am

    In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international officers.

  • Winning the P.R. War in a Contract Campaign
    Randy Robinson
    Dec 14 2011 - 3:47pm

    How does a union win a public relations war in the mainstream media? An Ontario union trained members, emphasized internal mobilizing, and communicated directly with the public to spread a campaign that communities need good jobs.

  • Rolling Sympathy Strikes Harass Food-Service Giant
    Jane Slaughter
    Nov 25 2011 - 10:38am

    Taking advantage of contracts that allow members to honor picket lines, Teamsters spread short, rolling sympathy strikes to nine states at the nation’s second-largest food service company.

  • Teamster Election: Why Five More Years for Hoffa?

    Why is James P. Hoffa headed for re-election in the Teamsters this week, despite presiding over a decade of contract concessions and pension cuts?

  • Occupy Wall Street Regroups, as Union Allies Mobilize
    Mischa Gaus
    Nov 15 2011 - 6:32pm

    After an early-morning, military-style police eviction, Occupy Wall Street regrouped Tuesday. Protesters vowed the occupation would continue, as furious union allies said Thursday mobilizations would only grow in response to the raid.

  • At Sotheby’s and Beyond, ‘Occupy’ Movement Boosts Unions
    Mark Brenner, Jenny Brown
    Nov 10 2011 - 2:03pm

    A visceral example of the disconnect between the 99% and the 1% has been the Sotheby's lock-out in New York, where Teamsters and occupiers are rallying together. It's a powerful one-two punch.