Teamsters Local 355

TForce National Negotiating Committees, week of May 22, 2023. Far left at facing table is Recording Secretary Mark Garey, Teamsters Local 355.

Local & National Union News

Teamsters Rail Conference wins gains, protections for members
June 6, 2023 | The Teamsters Rail Conference recently notched victories in the ongoing fight to improve the lives of its members. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in May reached a tentative agreement with Norfolk Southern Corporation to provide seven paid sick days per year to BLET members. The tentative agreement came with no concessions by the union, which represents about 3,300 Norfolk Southern workers. Unlike some agreements reached by other unions at Norfolk Southern, BLET members taking sick leave will not be subjected to a punitive attendance policy. More at teamster.org

Successor contracts at Perishable Deliveries and RNDC ratified
June 5, 2023 | Local Union 355 bargaining for a new contract at Perishable Deliveries produced an agreement that increases wages 25 percent over its three-year term. In addition, members will receive an increase in the employer’s contribution to the pension and a reduction in the number of hours employees must work to receive overtime pay. In April, with 90 percent of eligible members voting, a new contract at Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) was overwhelmingly approved. Wages will increase by 15.5 percent over the term of the three-year agreement. Other significant improvements include... Continued

Sign up for June 7th webinar for latest updates on national negotiations
June 2, 2023 | All UPS Teamsters are strongly encouraged to join an important Zoom webinar scheduled for Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 8 pm ET. General President O’Brien, General Secretary-Treasurer Zukerman, and other members of the National Negotiating Committee will provide updates on the status of negotiations, the contract campaign, the current campaign timeline, a summary of the tentative agreements reached to date, and other important news. Registration is required! Click here to sign up.

O’Brien: SCOTUS attacks all U.S. workers
June 1, 2023 | “The political hacks at the Supreme Court have again voted in favor of corporations over working people,” said General President Sean M. O’Brien in a statement on today’s Court ruling in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174 which opens the door for corporations to sue their own workers. “These corruptible justices should be ashamed of themselves for throwing out a long-standing precedent and legislating from the bench. The ability to strike has been on the books for nearly 100 years, and it’s no coincidence that this ruling is coming at a time when workers across the country are fed up and exercising their rights more and more.” Full statement here. NBC News: Supreme Court rules company can pursue strike damage claim

Older articles here.

Elsewhere in the News

Know Any Airplane Mechanics?…

June 6, 2023 | JOBS | […] Replenishing a workforce diminished by a surge of retirements that began during the pandemic and has continued since is a growing problem in such fields as construction, manufacturing, nursing and some professional industries like accounting. In the airline industry, more than one-third of mechanics are between 55 and 64, according to government data. Fewer than one in 10 are under 30. “Everybody’s getting ready to retire, and not enough people are coming in to take the jobs,” said Mike Myers, a maintenance manager for Piedmont Airlines in Hagerstown, a regional feeder for American Airlines. The new graduates of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics have been awed by how much they’re in demand. One of them, Will Gower, said he weighed multiple job offers at nearly twice the $15-an-hour wage he had earned at the retail job he held while in school. “It was almost overwhelming how many companies were throwing jobs at you,” said Gower, 21. “Anywhere there’s an airport, you can go work.” Associated Press AP PHOTO/GENE J. PUSKAR

Week Ending 6/2/2023

• Honoring Juneteenth
• Teamsters organize Chicago cannabis industry
• Why the 2023 WGA strike matters
• ‘Labor is rising’: Solidarity with WGA at LA rally
• Workers of the music world are uniting - and winning
• UPS is failing women workers. Can a contract change that?
• The young miners dying of ‘an old man’s disease’
• Cannabis union wins signal more labor-management conflicts ahead
• Self-driving trucks need human operators under Calif. bill
• Teamsters condemn plan to raise federal limits on max. truck weights
• Train engineers union reaches first sick-time deal with NS railroad
• Historic NY doctors’ strike hints to growing labor movement
• Companies are taking a harder line on union organizers, workers say
• Teamsters to Chipotle shareholders: Support the right to organize

Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters Supreme Court Decision: ‘This Changes Nothing’

June 2, 2023 | LEGAL | The following is a press release jointly issued today by Teamsters Local 174, MLK Labor and the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO: “[…] At the end of the day, nothing in this decision will stop workers from exercising their federally protected rights to strike when necessary to achieve better wages, benefits, and working conditions. In this particular case, Glacier has found a way to prolong its meritless lawsuit by artfully pleading allegations the Court today found sufficient to get past a motion to dismiss.” … Driver Mark Hislop was among those whose 2017 strike triggered the initial lawsuit that led to this decision. Hislop had this to say about the ruling: “Six years ago, this company forced us out on strike by refusing to bargain in good faith, and they’ve been coming after us in court ever since. As far as I’m concerned, today’s decision changes nothing for us Teamsters, and it will not stop us from fighting as hard as we can for strong contracts.” The Stand

No Captives

May 31, 2023 | ESSAY | State legislators in Minnesota [recently] passed a package of pro-labor measures that instantly makes the state the envy of workers everywhere. The new laws include paid sick days for everyone, banning noncompete agreements, a crackdown on wage theft, and a wage board to set pay in the nursing home industry. All a big deal. But let’s talk briefly about one in particular: A ban on captive audience meetings. As you know if you have ever hung around union people who are in the process of getting extremely mad, “captive audience meetings” are when the boss calls a mandatory meeting for employees, and then proceeds to lie to them about how bad unions are. … If you think about it, it’s pretty wild that these meetings are legal in the first place. What does your employer pay you for? They pay you for your work. They pay you to perform a set of tasks collectively known as “your job.” That’s it. It is highly unlikely that a legitimate part of your job is “being harangued about your boss’s extreme right-wing beliefs.” That’s what anti-union propaganda is, when you get right down to it. How Things Work

From Hollywood Writers to Delivery Drivers, Workers Are Fed Up With the Gradual Devaluation of Their Professions

May 30, 2023 | COMMENTARY | […] You may not think a Hollywood writer and a UPS driver or package handler have much in common, but the struggles they are currently facing highlight how the fight for labor rights is one that we must all engage in – regardless of what we do. … These workers aren’t just fighting for better pay and benefits for themselves. They are also fighting to protect the future of their professions so that newer and younger workers get the same opportunities they got. Throughout the revived labor movement, there is tremendous solidarity within and across unions. A recognition that their lots are tied together. In short, workers are united in ways unseen for decades. Unfortunately, Washington is letting workers down when they need support the most. Fortune