Happy New Year

Thanks to all of you that check out my blog. With the comming new year, I will continue to work harder to make this a better blog. Thanks again, and have a safe and happy new year! 1Teamster.

Trucking faces some challenges in 2006

Driver shortages, high fuel prices, changes in diesel fuel formulation, an impending switch to more expensive exhaust emission control technology top the list as the biggest challenges to the trucking industry, transportation experts say. "We need to get out there and find drivers,” said Barry Pottle, CEO of Maine-based Pottle Transportation and the new chairman of the Truckload Carriers Assn. “We were 20,000 short this year [2005] alone. So focusing on driver lifestyle changes is going to be critical to our recruiting and retention efforts in the future. We can’t get drivers if they can’t make a decent living.” Full story here........http://fleetowner.com/news/topstory/truck_industry_2006_forecast_driver_shortage_fuel_diesel_engine_epa_emission_ulsd_122705/

Executives Gone Wild: It's Not a Pretty Sight

There is a scene in the old gangster movie "Murder, Inc." in which a prominent member of that entity, a certain Abe "Kid Twist" Reles—ably portrayed by Peter Falk—is asked why he always wants more when he already has so much. "Don't ask questions," he shouts in response. "What've you got hands for, huh? Take!"
Then there was a scene I recall from my childhood during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. After Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin said some nasty thing about a young attorney working for Joseph N. Welch, the canny Boston lawyer representing the Army, Mr. Welch asked Mr. McCarthy: "Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" Full story here............http://www.hoffa2006.com/mediacenter/article.php?id=127

Santa's helpers feeling boxed in

FedEx, workers battle over vote to organize first drivers' union

In December, when Santa contracts out some of his package-delivery work, drivers at FedEx fly down the highways, typically starting before sunrise and finishing long after dark.
But this year, some of the reindeer are so unhappy that they have voted to unionize.
About two dozen South Jersey drivers are poised to become the first to form a collective-bargaining unit at the ground-delivery division of FedEx Corp., the package-delivery company based in Memphis that had revenue last year of $29.4 billion.
Their efforts continue even with FedEx in its busiest season, moving as many as 8.5 million packages daily.
The drivers' hours are long, their pay is low, they say, and some who work or have worked at the FedEx Ground depot in Barrington, Camden County, complain that their managers routinely threaten to take away their routes. Full story here........http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13431145.htm

Teamsters take aim at FedEx

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is turning up the heat on non-unionized express carrier FedEx with the launch of a new website and a series of weeklong actions at FedEx Express facilities.
“FedEx has built much of its empire on low-cost business models and other unsavory practices,” said Jim Hoffa, the Teamsters’ general president.
“In addition, many FedEx Express workers do not qualify for company health care or retirement benefits,” he added. “In contrast to their counterparts at FedEx, UPS workers are represented by the Teamsters and benefit from a collective bargaining agreement that provides medical care, pensions and a 401(k).”
To support its actions, the Teamsters created FedExWatch.com to highlight legal actions against the Memphis, TN-based express giant. This includes details of Satchell v. FedEx, a case that established class-action status for African-American and Latino workers in Sept. 2005 for their lawsuit against FedEx alleging discrimination in pay, promotions and disciplinary action.
The Teamsters also plan to conduct a leafleting campaign at FedEx Express facilities in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona.

DHL says a strike won't stop deliveries

A spokesman for a DHL shipping contractor said Thursday the company does not plan to let holiday package deliveries be disrupted, even if a Teamsters local follows through with a threat to strike.
"We will do everything we can do to make sure packages are delivered normally," said Sean Howard, president of American Commercial Finance Freight Services.
Plymouth-based American Commercial delivers packages for shipping giant DHL - including those in the Lansing area. Teamsters Local 580, which represents about 60 workers at a Dimondale facility who deliver packages locally, is threatening to strike American Commercial, though no date has been set.
The disagreement stems from the status of a contract union members ratified in October. It includes a pay raise of nearly $5 an hour to about $15 an hour. The union said the contract hasn't been implemented. Howard said he never agreed to the contract.
"They took a contract that was not signed for a vote," he said.
The union says the contract is valid. Mike Parker, business agent for the union, said contracts aren't formally signed until after a ratification vote and a strike was in the planning stages. The union also has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
"These members bar-- -gained fairly with their employer and properly ratified a contract," Parker said. "Our members are extremely upset with the fact that their legal rights can be so blatantly walked on."
The union is urging people to use another shipping company to send and receive holiday gifts.
A spokesman at DHL, which is owned by Germany's Deutsche Post AG and has a U.S. base in Florida, said it has no dealings with the union.

Unions get stricter oversight

The government says it's about improving accountability. The labor movement says it may be revenge for backing Bush's opponents.
Joseph Dougherty, president of Ironworkers Local 401, finds himself suddenly awash in paperwork.
The federal government has stepped up enforcement of 46-year-old union-finance-reporting laws, and Dougherty, who heads a 1,050-member union in Northeast Philadelphia, is swamped with receipts and time sheets.
"It's a nightmare," he said.
The U.S. Labor Department says its heightened efforts are about increasing union financial accountability and transparency, but Dougherty and others in the labor movement have other ideas about the administration's motivations. Full story here..............http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13377899.htm