Teamsters

Union Czars Betray Duty to Workers, Attack National Right to Work

Nick Cote — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:24:45 -0400

Recently Politico reported on a new Big Labor tactic to help pass the latest union boss power grab, the woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (more accurately called the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill). Politico acquired a revealing letter and accompanying survey sent by Teamsters Local 507 in Cleveland to Wall Street fund managers:

"Has your company made any public statements in support or opposition to EFCA?" asks one of nine pointed questions in a polite, detailed four-page questionnaire.

"If 'Yes,' please explain."

The cover letter, signed by the local's Secretary-Treasurer and President, makes the union's purpose even more clear:

New Foundation Press Release: Los Angeles Times Employees Illegally Threatened with Lawsuit for Refusing to Pay Union Dues

Will Collins — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:13:44 -0400

Here's the latest from the Foundation's press room:

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Los Angeles Times employee has filed unfair labor practice charges against newspaper and union officials for threatening him with an illegal lawsuit.

Over the past six months, union officials from the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (GCC/IBT) Local 140-N have repeatedly ordered Leon Carey, Jr. and similarly situated employees to join the union and pay full dues or face a lawsuit in California civil court, citing a clause in the union’s contract with the Los Angeles Times. Carey’s charges allege that these actions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which prohibits union officials from restraining or coercing workers who refrain from formal, full dues-paying union membership.

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Statement: Washington State Court Blocks Compulsory Unionism Power Grab at FedEx Ground

Patrick Semmens — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:41:37 -0400

The following is a statement from Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, regarding today's Washington Superior Court ruling in Anfinson v. FedEx Ground. The court ruled the plaintiffs are independent contractors and are not therefore "employees."

"This case is nothing more than a Trojan Horse -- a union organizing tactic brought by lawyers allied with UPS and organized labor. The real goal of this litigation is to force FedEx Ground independent contractors out of business and instead turn them into 'employees' for purposes of forced unionization.

"Union bosses are desperately grabbing for more forced union dues -- and meanwhile UPS is buckling under pressure from its non-union competition.

UPS-Teamsters Conspiracy to Coerce FedEx Employees into Union Ranks Recalls Ugly Union Violence

Nick Cote — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:28:40 -0400

The woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (better known as the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill) isn't the only proposed union boss power grab pending in Congress. Big Labor's high command is always looking for new ways to force more workers into dues-paying ranks -- pushing bills from Card Check Forced Unionism to Police and Fire Monopoly Bargaining.

Truck Drivers and Dockworkers Fight Back Against Teamster Union Intimidation

Anthony Riedel — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:05:57 -0500

Truck Drivers and Dockworkers Fight Back Against Teamster Union Intimidation

Employees seek to throw out union after union bosses’ ugly campaign of harassment and coercion

Seattle, Washington (March 5, 2009) — Employees from nine collective bargaining units of Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc. have filed decertification petitions seeking elections to oust the Teamster union as the workers’ monopoly bargaining agent.

UPS Drivers Sue Teamsters for Forcing Nonmembers to Subsidize Organizing Activities and Union Strike Fund

Nick Cote — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:02:14 -0400

Today, the Foundation issued a news release announcing parallel federal lawsuits concerning illegal forced dues:

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, three UPS employees in Kentucky and two UPS employees in Ohio filed federal lawsuits Friday and Monday, respectively, against national and local Teamsters officials for illegal extraction of forced union dues.

In the lawsuits, the nonmember employees claim that the national and local unions breached their duty of fair representation and violated the employees’ First and Fifth Amendment rights by charging and collecting fees used for organizing nonunion workers throughout the United States and financing a members-only “Strike and Defense Fund.”

Read the rest of the Foundation's news release here.

New Developments Regarding the (Still?) Mobbed Up Teamsters Union. . .

Will Collins — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:14:33 -0400

In May, a devastating piece from the Far Left New Republic highlighted the Teamsters' officials attempts to get rid of the Independent Review Board (IRB), a federal oversight body intended to police the union's well-documented connections to organized crime. Here's a particularly choice example of Teamster union "representation" from the article:

Right to Work Win Forbids Union Bosses from Using Another Enron-Like Accounting Trick to Jack Up Forced Dues

Patrick Semmens — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:44:07 -0400

The Daily Labor Report (subscription only) recently reported on an important win for National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in the 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court:

Upholding the National Labor Relations Board's January 2006 decision against Studio Transportation Drivers Local 399 of the Teamsters, the appeals court found that the union, which used the arbitration awards for nonrepresentational purposes such as political and charitable contributions, should exclude the money from its calculation of agency fees rather than use it to reduce its reported nonrepresentational expenses.

By spending the arbitration award money on nonrepresentational rather than representational expenditures, the union in effect increased the agency fees owed by the objecting nonmember for representational expenses, Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the appeals court.

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Jimmy Hoffa Ruffles CEO’s Feathers Over Employees' Decision to Resist Teamsters

John Powell — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:49:16 -0500

What do union bosses do when independent-minded employees refuse to succumb to union organizing pressure?

Well, it turns out Jimmy Hoffa’s solution is to write a letter to the president of the companies he is trying to organize in order to smear those companies.

Teamsters boss Hoffa did just that in writing to CEO Moir Lockhead once FirstGroup employees began showing admirable resistance to the union's thuggish organizing tactics.

Workers at a Hodgkins, Illinois busing facility – owned by the UK-based FirstGroup – are saying “no” to the Teamsters’ unionization hopes, but union bosses don't like hearing "no" from independent-minded employees.

Hoffa's letter underscores the problems with so-called “neutrality agreements,” since FirstGroup entered into such an agreement with the Teamsters union in order to get the union off its back. Neutrality agreements give unions sweeping access to employees’ personal information and ban secret-ballot elections, since the employer agrees to support a union’s attempt to organize its workforce.

Hoffa’s letter shows that anything short of unyielding assistance to lock employees up in forced unionism by employers is unacceptable to union officials.

In a similar Right to Work Foundation-aided case in Batavia, Illinois, another union with a neutrality pledge refused to go away from a FirstGroup facility – just like what is happening here.

Teamsters Picket Update: 10 Arrested for Threatening Conduct

John Powell — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:34:29 -0500

Following up with Justin’s post on an ugly Teamsters picket in Somerville, Massachusetts, today’s news stories report that 10 Teamsters thugs were arrested during the mess.

The Somerville News has the story:

10 Teamsters were arrested “for rude, offensive and threatening conduct,” according to police.

The owner of Russell Disposal, Charles Carneglia, explained that he feared for his safety after Teamsters militants harassed him when he entered the facility:

…when Carneglia walked to front gate the Teamsters would begin taunting and catcalling him. “Ya piece of s**t,” yelled one picketer Thursday afternoon. “You’re a criminal.”

After the incident last week, Local 25 chief Sean O’Brien was apparently “too busy” to address repeated press inquires. Unable to answer for the Teamsters union notorious and thuggish actions, it’s no wonder this union boss went into hiding.