Teamsters Local 355

Local & National Union News

Union rejects proposed operations changes at Yellow Corp.
Mar. 23, 2023 | The Teamsters forcefully rejected change of operations proposed by Yellow Corp. during a meeting today with the company at union headquarters. Yellow’s proposal seeks to jam through operational changes without a vote of the Teamsters’ freight membership, a clear violation of Article XII of the union’s constitution as the company’s request would change the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement. At the direction of General President Sean M. O’Brien and General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, the Teamsters canceled a Change of Operations Committee meeting with Yellow planned for April 5-7. Learn more here

Update: Atlantic Area Supplement negotiations continue March 27
Mar. 20, 2023 | Supplemental bargaining continued nationwide last week as Teamster negotiating committees for 14 of the 30 open supplements and riders met with the company. While committees have reported some progress over the last week, UPS continues to stonewall on substantive Teamster proposals. Bargaining is scheduled to resume March 27-29. To get updates on the Atlantic Area Supplement negotiations – and the national negotiations set to start April 17 – download the UPS Teamsters app.

Attention UPS stewards!
Mar. 17, 2023 | A National UPS Teamsters Call with Stewards will be held on Sunday, March 19, at 12 pm ET to discuss April rallies and other actions, provide information on contract action training for members, and share details about the upcoming kickoff of national negotiations. We urge all Stewards to register for this call and participate to hear important updates from General President Sean O’Brien, General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, and other leaders from the International. To register for the call, click here.

Update: ABF negotiations begin March 27
Mar. 17, 2023 | The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) is meeting today with local representatives in Arlington, Va., to review contract proposals for the new national agreement at ABF Freight. General President Sean M. O’Brien and National Freight Director John A. Murphy will chair negotiations, which begin March 27 in Arlington. The negotiating committee is made up of Teamster leaders from around the country as well as rank-and-filers who are committed to securing a new national agreement that raises standards. The national contract, which expires June 30, covers approximately 8,500 ABF Teamsters nationally; 85 are members of Local 355. Photos at Facebook/Teamsters

Meet the Teamsters unionizing the cannabis industry
Mar. 15, 2023 | As more states and districts around the country push for legalization, the cannabis industry has exploded in recent years, with researchers estimating that the industry could generate over $70 billion in sales by 2030. While investors and business owners have dollar signs in their eyes, though, it is the everyday employees, from growers and packers to bud tenders, who are making the industry run. But the vast vast majority of those workers are not reaping the benefits of these booming profits… Learn more here.

Older articles here.

Elsewhere in the News

Week Ending 3/24/2023

• Democracy is in the streets
• Teamsters to VA governor: Hands off history
• Michigan opens door to restoring union power
• Podcast: Labor History can help us learn to fight like hell
• Amazon faces NLRB charges of illegal union busting
• Teamster efforts protect jobs, passenger safety in Kentucky
• VA claims progress in union talks. The union begs to differ.
• Starbucks has seriously crossed the line with its union-busting
• Bone tired. Underpaid. Performing surgery. What could go wrong?
• Hollywood braces for strike as writers demand more from streamers

Starbucks Retribution for Unionizing Efforts: Cutting Hours

Mar. 24, 2023 | UNION BUSTING | Starbucks has reached yet another new low: cutting the hours of workers in what could be considered retribution for their efforts to unionize. On a recent cold morning, Starbucks workers stood outside stores across America handing out a flyer, “Why Is My Order TAKING SO LONG?” which points out that the company is cutting hours and thus, it takes longer for those fewer baristas to get your order ready. “Working at Starbucks, I have seen firsthand how the company has neglected the rights of its workers. I’ve experienced understaffing, a lack of store management, witnessed discrimination, and was exposed to an unhealthy and unsafe work environment,” said Katie McCoy, an ex-Starbucks worker in Marysville, Wash., fired for her union organizing efforts at her store. Labor Tribune PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers Are in the Longest Newspaper Strike in Decades

Mar. 23, 2023 | STRIKES | Late on the night of March 11 outside of a distribution center on the South Side of Pittsburgh, a scab truck driver assaulted two striking workers. The strikers are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and have been engaged in a work stoppage alongside four other unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since October of last year. The strike is a response to intransigence from the paper’s ultrawealthy owners, the Block family, on the matter of paying for workers’ rising health insurance premiums. The roughly thirty striking Teamsters work for the Post-Gazette as drivers and in the paper’s circulation department. They, alongside three other unions that walked out in October — the NewsGuild joined the strike a few days later — were moved to do so in response to the Post-Gazette’s refusal to cover those costs. Workers now have not had a contract for nearly six years. Jacobin

Today is National Rosie the Riveter Day

Mar. 21, 2023 | WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH | National Rosie The Riveter Day recognizes the part American women played in America’s victory in World War II. As the Great War raged on in the early 1940s, all the able-bodied men were drafted to fight for the Allies. From heavy machinery to steel mills and freight ports, every male-dominated industry came up short of personnel due to abrupt drafting. As the nation’s manufacturing came to a halt, women were called upon to join the industrial workforce as a patriotic duty. The symbolism of Rosie the Riveter stands for the millions of women who left their homes for factories to keep the country’s manufacturing processes going. After decades of sustained activism, the U.S. Congress heeded the calls and dedicated March 21 to this cultural icon. National Today

The Unconscionable Push to Bring Back Child Labor

Mar. 20, 2023 | COMMENTARY | Rather than offering wages attractive to adults, employers want lawmakers to push teens into some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. A GOP bill in Iowa would allow 14-year-olds to work in industrial freezers, meatpacking plants, and industrial laundry operations. The legislation would also put 15-year-olds to work on certain kinds of assembly lines, allow them to hoist up to 50 pounds, and allow employers to force kids into significantly longer work days. In some cases, it would even permit young teens to work mining and construction jobs and use power-driven meat slicers and food choppers. Make no mistake; this is dangerous work. Just three years ago, a 16-year-old in Tennessee fell more than 11 stories to his death while working construction on a hotel roof. Ohio Capital Journal Related: States look to ease child labor laws as federal scrutiny grows PHOTO/U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR