Teamsters Local 355

Local and National Union News

Local 355, Hoffa scholarships help fund science, technology studies
Oct. 3, 2023 | This year’s recipients of the Teamsters Local 355 48th Annual Scholarship Awards are Jamie Jones, daughter of David Jones (UPS), and Trinity Mosley, daughter of Autumn Mosley (Kraft Heinz). They will each receive $4,000 paid out at the rate of $1,000 per academic year. Patrick Fangmann, son of John Fangmann (Sysco), and Charles Bradshaw, son of Michael Bradshaw (Piedmont Airlines), each received a $1,000 Bootstrap Award from the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund. We reached out to the students recently to find out about their academic aspirations. Read more at 355 News.

Retro pay checks coming this month
Oct. 2, 2023 | New pay increases secured in the UPS Teamsters historic contract went into effect August 27 and are retroactive to August 1, 2023. That means all UPS Teamsters have retro payment checks covering August 1-August 26 which are being processed now by UPS. These checks will be issued by mid-October. Retroactive contributions to health care and pension funds have been made throughout the month of September.

Shop stewards review basics, explore new strategies
Sept. 29, 2023 | Local 355’s biannual shop steward training seminar was held earlier this month in Williamsburg, Virginia. More than 100 stewards attended the three-day event where in-depth training was balanced with scheduled time for relaxation. Courses included grievance handling, bargaining contracts, and facts and information about the Family Medical Leave Act. Offered new this year – a review of the new UPS national master agreement with Johnny Sawyer, IBT Package Division Coordinator; CPR training conducted by a certified team from Teamsters Local 519; and Paul Trujillo (Teamsters Local 822) from the IBT’s Education & Training Dept. gave us a closer look at the opportunities and challenges social media and generational differences present in today’s workplace. Photo Gallery here.

Teamsters urge Senate to begin bankruptcy reform hearings on Yellow
Sept. 20, 2023 | The Teamsters Union is calling for the Senate to investigate the unfolding bankruptcy at Yellow Corp. following today’s special Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on corporate manipulation of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. An expedited liquidation would preclude a potential purchase of Yellow’s assets from any party that may want to re-establish operations, which would benefit the economy, thousands of workers and their communities, and American taxpayers. Learn more here.

Older articles here.

Elsewhere in the News

99% of Detroit Casino Workers Vote to Authorize Strike

Oct. 3, 2023 | STRIKES | As the powerful United Auto Workers union continues its historic strike against the auto industry, workers at Detroit’s three casinos on Friday overwhelmingly voted to approve a strike of their own. According to the Detroit Casino Council, workers from the city’s three casinos — MGM Grand Detroit, Hollywood at Greektown, and MotorCity — voted 99% to authorize a strike if deemed necessary by the worker negotiating committee. The workers have been negotiating since early September, demanding living wages, better retirement benefits, and protections for workers impacted by new technology. This is after Detroit casino workers sacrificed raises and took on more work amid the COVID-19 pandemic to help the industry recover, they say. By all accounts, the industry did. The Detroit Casino Council worker negotiating committee is made up members from UNITE HERE Local 24, UAW, Teamsters Local 1038, Operating Engineers Local 324, and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters. Michigan Advance

U.S. Labor Upsurge Grows as 75,000 Healthcare Workers Plan Strike

Oct. 2, 2023 | WORKERS’ POWER | Linda Bridges, president of Office and Professional Employees Local 2, has some of her Kaiser Permanente clinic union members “sleeping in their cars.” That’s because even with their jobs at Kaiser clinics in the D.C. suburb of Kensington, Md., plus second jobs after that, they can’t afford rent. “They drive to work. Then they drive to their second jobs. Then they sleep in their cars” and report to their Kaiser posts again, Bridges explains. As a result of such skimpy pay from the highly profitable hospital-and-clinic chain, most of whose facilities are in high-cost areas—D.C., all of California, Denver, Portland, Ore., Boston, Washington state, even Honolulu—workers in 12 Kaiser locals authorized a strike from Oct. 4-6. Peoples World

Week Ending 9/29/2023

• Autoworker strike, explained
• Rail Teamsters win paid sick leave from BNSF
• Teamsters are coming for Anheuser-Busch InBev
• UAW strikers want their pensions back
• SAG-AFTRA members vote to authorize video game strike
• Teamster warehouse workers rally in LA to demand respect
• UAW putting the 4-day workweek on map for hourly workers
• Teamsters: Autonomous vehicles threaten motor, pedestrian safety
• CEO pay has surged 1,209% since 1978. Worker pay has risen just 15%
• Vegas casino unions authorize strike, threatening first major walkout in 39 years

UAW Workers in CA Stand Up as Strike Expands

Sept. 29, 2023 | COLLECTIVE ACTION | The yellow-and-white big-rig truck approached slowly, maneuvering to turn into the Mopar Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center, owned by Stellantis. A half dozen striking members with UAW Local 230 formed a wall along the driveway, refusing to allow the truck entry. Trucks come to this Mopar site to engage in “cross-docking,” where they exchange parts that then go out to dealerships. Unionized Teamster drivers have refused to cross the picket lines; some have even joined UAW workers as they strike. So, the trucking companies have been hiring non-union replacements to try to get parts moving. “We call them scabs,” said Mike Lacey, the strike captain on this past Sunday morning. On two occasions during the first two days of the strike at this site, one of 38 parts facilities where workers walked out last Friday in an escalation of the UAW’s Stand Up Strike, a scene like this one became more dangerous when the truck driver pulled a gun on the strikers. The American Prospect

GM Deploying Scabs at Parts Distribution Centers Amid Strike

Sept. 27, 2023 | STRIKE BREAKERS | Auto workers at the Big 3 expanded their strike last Friday to a key vulnerability: parts distribution centers that supply dealerships with everything from water pumps to brake drums and spark plugs to replacement bumpers. On Tuesday morning, General Motors began bringing in temps hired for $14 an hour to attempt to keep some of the parts and accessories flowing. Parts distribution centers ship after-sales spare parts and accessories to car dealerships on a just-in-time basis. “If there is anything that could possibly break down that you need to get replaced, it probably came from a Customer Care and Aftersales (CCA) facility,” said strike captain Devon McKenzie on the picket line outside a GM parts facility in Burton, Michigan. Truthout