What signing a Teamsters Card gets You

[AMFAinMIAMI]

Concessions as Union Strategy





August 5, 2008: Over the past year, the International Union has signed four national contracts in the trucking industry, covering nearly 350,000 Teamsters—setting the pattern for many more.
In each case, the Hoffa administration gave our largest Teamster employers record givebacks. The 2008 contracts are the most concessionary master agreements in the history of the Teamsters Union.
We need to understand why this happened, and what we can do to stop future concessions and build a stronger Teamsters Union. No one will deny that times are tough.

But the 2008 concessionary contracts were not caused by the weak economy or industry problems.

If failing companies were the reason our negotiators agreed to concessions, our union would not have given billions in givebacks to UPS when the company was making record after-tax profits of more than $4 billion a year.

Jim Hoffa, Ken Hall, and other top Teamster negotiators did not turn to concessions as a last resort.
They adopted concessions as a strategy—one that they implemented at UPS, freight, DHL and in carhaul.

In each case, our union agreed to trade away bedrock contract standards in exchange for the union getting new members—or just maintaining membership—under declining standards.

This info was copied from the IBT/TDU web page


It's time to send the door to door salesman away, sign an AMFA card and lets rid AA of the TWU.

AMFA at AA in 2013​

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

http://tdu.org/sites/default/files/120k%20club%20-%202012_3.pdf

Here is just another reason why you should not want the IBT here at AA.
The TWU has its high paid Intl. fools look at the high paid officers of the IBT...

Don't sign those Teamster Crads, until you have done your homework !!!!!!!!!!!​

AMFA at AA in 2013​

 

[scorpion 2]

Concessions at UPS

Our International Union negotiated the UPS contract—telling members that early talks were needed to protect members’ benefits. In reality, chief negotiators Jim Hoffa and Ken Hall had a different goal in mind: trading away the historic gains of the 1997 UPS strike in exchange for the right to organize UPS Freight.

Hoffa and Hall negotiated a deal that let the company take 44,000 Teamsters in 25 states out of the Central States Pension Fund. That concession saved the company billions by sticking those Teamsters with a pension that will be far below Teamster plans by the end of the contract.

Hoffa and Hall also gave away the contract language that requires the company to eliminate low-wage part-time jobs and create full-time jobs in their place.

In exchange for these and other givebacks, UPS agreed to allow unionization of UPS Freight. That’s a positive gain. But working Teamsters even got the short end of this deal. Our union agreed to put UPS Freight under a substandard contract that undermines our National Master Freight Agreement.

Through UPS Freight, UPS is now in position to take work from Teamster freight carriers.
The IBT Freight Division wasn’t happy with splitting the pension fund, or with giving UPS Freight a sub-par contract. Their concerns were brushed aside.

This INFO was copied from the IBT's TDU web page..

In other words hoffa traded dollars that would be going into the pension fund and not touchable by him to dollars that he could get his hands on without censorship?

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

More Info from the IBT's TDU web page



Members Denied Vote on Local 82 Merger





January 5, 2012: Hoffa has denied Boston Teamsters their Right to Vote and forcibly merged them into Local 25.
Boston Local 82, a proud union of Teamsters in the Trade Show and Commercial Moving & Storage industries, is no more. Hoffa has forcibly merged the union into Boston Local 25, the home local of new International Vice President Sean O’Brien. Local 82 members were given no vote and no say in the matter.

The Teamster Constitution guarantees members the right to vote on the merger of their local union. TDU fought for and won this right. But Hoffa inserted a loophole into the language that allows the International Union to deny members their Right to Vote if the local is “incapable of performing its representational functions due to its financial condition or where an emergency situation exists.”

Hoffa ignored the true “emergency situation” in Local 82 for many years. Corruption was rampant in the local under the leadership of John Perry, a Hoffa appointee as the IBT’s Trade Show Director.
Local 82 members braved goons, threats and even violent assault to blow the lid on embezzlement, sweetheart contracts, rigged contract votes, and elaborate schemes to steer jobs to friends and political allies of local officers and their enforcers.

Members documented and reported these violations to Hoffa but he refused to take any action. Finally, the Independent Review Board forced Hoffa’s hand and he put Local 82 into trusteeship.
Local 82 members cleaned up their local and earned the right to determine their own future, not to have their local union taken away from them.

If you have signed a Teamsters card because you want the TWU gone. My question is isn't this the same tactic that the TWU has done to us here at AA? Same ole industrial way of doing things, but just under a different Jimmy.....

AMFA at AA in 2013​

Find a AMFA organizer at your station and sign a card so we can bring change to AA​

 

[swamt]

In other words hoffa traded dollars that would be going into the pension fund and not touchable by him to dollars that he could get his hands on without censorship?

Without a doubt sir. 100% correct. The teamsters will never rid themselves of the crooked acts they always do.

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

Keeping Members in the Dark Doesn't Win Better Contracts




March 15, 2013: The International Union has kept a tight lid on the bargaining goals for the UPS, ABF and UPS Freight agreements.
Keeping members in the dark doesn't win better contracts.Union leaders have two choices when it comes to communicating with members at contract time.
The Hoffa administration's strategy has been to keep members in the dark. UPSers call it the Information Brownout. But it's not limited to UPS.
Teamsters at ABF and UPS Freight are also being shut out when it comes to meaningful information about the union’s bargaining goals.
It hasn't always been this way. The Teamsters won labor's biggest contract victory in decades in 1997 by running a year-long campaign that mobilized UPS Teamsters around a clear set of contract goals:

• improving Teamster pensions
• stopping a company takeover of our pensions
• winning more full-time jobs
• raising part-time wages, including a $1 wage bump to close the gap between part-time and full-time pay
  

UPS Teamsters knew what our union was fighting for and that built the unity we needed to win on each of these contract demands.
The Hoffa administration has turned the '97 formula inside out.
Members and even local union officers have been told next to nothing about the union's bargaining goals at UPS, ABF and UPS Freight.
The limited information that Hoffa and Ken Hall release focuses on the company’s concessionary demands. That makes it easier to declare victory when the givebacks come off the table.
Hoffa and Hall don't inform members to to build the union's bargaining leverage; they do it to sell contracts after the deal has already been cut.
This info comes from the TDU, if you ask the united guy's what is going on with their contract they will give you the same answers. No information as to what's going on during the negotiation process.
Do you want this at AA? Haven't we had enough of the back room deals by the TWU Intl. enough of the concessions? Enough of the lies?
It's time to put accountability into the union that represents us, sign an AMFA card today, we are close to our filing number but insure that the TWU and AA don't inflate the numbers we have a specific target. Help us reach that so when we bring the cards to the NMB we will this time bring a vote to AA to rid AA of the TWU.

AMFA at AA in 2013​

 

[Overspeed]

WSJ article about IBT pension fund http://online.wsj.co...0488523342.html

Hostess Brands stopped making payments altogether, and the bankrupt maker of Twinkies owes Central States a $583 million withdrawal liability, according to pension-fund documents. A Hostess representative wasn't immediately able to comment on any pending balance.​

If Central States can't afford to pay out benefits and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has to step in, some Teamster pensions would be slashed.​

Under that scenario, Dave Scheidt, a retired dock loader from Kansas City, Kan., estimates his pension check would go from about $3,000 to $1,100 a month, based on federal guarantee rules.​

"There are a lot of guys counting on these pensions," he says.​

 

[1AA]

WSJ article about IBT pension fund http://online.wsj.co...0488523342.html

Hostess Brands stopped making payments altogether, and the bankrupt maker of Twinkies owes Central States a $583 million withdrawal liability, according to pension-fund documents. A Hostess representative wasn't immediately able to comment on any pending balance.​

If Central States can't afford to pay out benefits and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has to step in, some Teamster pensions would be slashed.​

Under that scenario, Dave Scheidt, a retired dock loader from Kansas City, Kan., estimates his pension check would go from about $3,000 to $1,100 a month, based on federal guarantee rules.​

"There are a lot of guys counting on these pensions," he says.​

. Teamsters claim they have the money and power. So show us the money and power. I hope the koolaid drinkers are finally looking past their lies and false promises.

 

[Bob Owens]

If you have signed a Teamsters card because you want the TWU gone. My question is isn't this the same tactic that the TWU has done to us here at AA? Same ole industrial way of doing things, but just under a different Jimmy.....

Pretty much, except we would have to pay $300 a year more (after taxes) for such treatment.

BTW, its not an "Industrial union" thing, some of the craft Unions out there are even less democratic and more corrupt than the IBT.

 

[1AA]

Since little and Hoffa had a fall out now the twu has recruited the iam to create more interferance. We all know about the AFL-CIO no raid clause but some of us will believe anything that sounds better than the twu. There is only one union that can replace the twu. AMFA is the one.

 

[TWU informer]

Let's quit bitching and let's vote!

 

[1AA]

Here is your Teamsters Power and Money.

Read.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100678728?__source=xfinity|mod&par=xfinity

"Original Twinkies are coming back—but under new management—and with a vow to use nonunion workers."

"The Hostess closing left more than 18,000 people out of work across the country—with the vast majority belonging to the Teamsters and the Bakery Union."

"The Teamsters said it had no comment"

Cmon Teamsters use your 1.4 million member strong political clout.

 

[Bob Owens]

Here is your Teamsters Power and Money.

Read.
http://www.cnbc.com/...mod&par=xfinity

"Original Twinkies are coming back—but under new management—and with a vow to use nonunion workers."

"The Hostess closing left more than 18,000 people out of work across the country—with the vast majority belonging to the Teamsters and the Bakery Union."

"The Teamsters said it had no comment"

Cmon Teamsters use your 1.4 million member strong political clout.

While the temptation to throw mud at the IBT may be strong you should refrain from using articles that base their stories on references from "Union Avoidance" law firms such as Walter and Haverfield who are passed off as unbiased "experts".

The fact is the IBT was willing to roll over, they were collateral damage, it was the bakery workers who were stuck in prison like facilities on the production line that struck, not the guys out in the sun who got to ride around all day making deliveries.

While Hostess will be spun and sold as a blow to the Labor Movement its quite the opposite, it strikes fear in the hearts of management. The fact that all those workers would rather see the company shut down than accept what they were trying to force them to accept ups the stakes for management which has grown very used to workers simply rolling over and accepting concessiions. For lawmakers, the servants of corporate America its equally troubling, mass revolts of workers who can no longer be threatened, who are willing to take on the worst management can throw at them means trouble for them as well. If their masters-corporate America, decide to take on the workers and lay everyone off to "teach them a lesson" it would likely eventuate into lawlessness, violence and damage to commerce and property. In a nation with so many weapons in private hands its not hard to imagine that people would resort to using them. The word here is "destabilization" and thats what Wall Street does not like. The Hostess strike will be sold as a loss for labor, and while it will be, much like the Alamo was, it may be a very costly win for corporate America. If Hostess is a blow to the Labor movement its a blow that was inflicted by the Labor Movement. We can either use it to show our employer how far we are wiling to go or we can let them use it as a means to continue to beat us down.

As for non-union Twinkies, well the Union made ones werent very good for you, all the more reason not to eat the non-union ones. Eat Union harvested produce instead.

One of the problems I have with many of our Union Leaders is that their sympathies are more closely alligned with our adversaries, I certainly dont want to use their arguements against unions as ours.

If anything the IBT should be criticized for not supporting the striking bakery workers.

We may be coming up on a pivotal moment as well. The IAM asked to be released. If they get released and go on strike we must support them to the fullest extent possible, and if they set up lines at AA we must not cross them. Sadly, I believe that the TWU Leadership, who has been silent about this, would rather see the IAM fail miserably because of a possible union election runoff, even though a failure would set back the labor movement as a whole. I believe the TWU leadership is more concerned about the dues revenue we provide than our wages and benefits or even the cause of labor in general. I know from the time I spent with Bobby Gless that he has no core union beliefs, sure he memorized a few slogans, but he knew nothing of Union history, he could not tell you who Eugene Debs or Mother Jones were but he could tell you the price of Pokeymon stock at the opening of the market or who was having a sale on suits. Videtich is even worse, forcing prayer on the M&R committee, the fact is the Labor Movement is non-deniominational, praying for victory in war, and American Airlines in the name of Jesus Christ is not where Unions need to be, the fact is Unions accept Jews, Muslims, Buddists or any other denomination or none at all. The fact is the team running our Union really doesnt really believe in the Labor movement, they call people who want to fight against concessions "the enemies of labor". To them the Labor Movement is simply a six figure meal ticket for people with GEDs and phony degrees..

Even more so than the IBT at Hostess the IAMs fight with management is our fight, we can not stand by on the sidelines or help the company bust them. The better our new brothers and sisters with the IAM do, the better we will do. Their fight IS OUR FIGHT, a fight our union leadership would not let us fight.

 

[1AA]

Sorry Bob but the Teamsters are always pounding their chest on how powerful they are. They say they have political and financial influence to get the job done. They claim 1.4 million strong and have more money than AMFA. Yet here is one example that they should be using their political clout to help their members. They talk big but when it comes to action they fold up like a lawn chair. They want your money but will not spend it where it will benefit the membership.

 

[Bob Owens]

Sorry Bob but the Teamsters are always pounding their chest on how powerful they are. They say they have political and financial influence to get the job done. They claim 1.4 million strong and have more money than AMFA. Yet here is one example that they should be using their political clout to help their members. They talk big but when it comes to action they fold up like a lawn chair. They want your money but will not spend it where it will benefit the membership.

They are salesmen, trying to get us to buy into a deal where we pay even more to have appointed people telling us what we are worth, than we are paying now. They will promise you the world but will they deliver? Yes they did a great job with UPS, but they did not do as well with CAL and UAL. In fact they discourage their passenger airline guys from even comparing themselves to UPS (by the way in 2003 we made around the same, they kept pace with inflation, we did not). Sure they could blame that on us at AA and US, strangely they dont, and there would be some truth to that, but if someone attempts to start a relationship based on lies one has to think long and hard what that relationship will be like in the future should we consummate it.

At the end of the day, by their very actions the IBT has shown that they dont believe Passenger Airline Mechanics are worth what the UPS guys, (who have their own Local by the way), get. They avoid even talking about them. Its almost as if Local 2727 is something of a pariah. (http://www.local2727.org/) "How dare them extract a fair wage from UPS!!"

Their Passenger airline mechanics from UAL and CAL are not put into 2727 nor were they offered their own Locals despite being a much much larger group. Local 2727 has 1100 guys and they have their own Local, the new UAL will have around 10,000 and they are split up into Locals from all over the place. Why arent mechanics at UAL put into one local like the much smaller UPS membership or even added to 2727? My guess is that 2727 doesnt want guys who they probably feel sold out the profession and they didnt contribute to organizing the mechanics at UAL, So, those Locals that did are thus entitled to the spoils. Thats what we would be as well, the spoils in an arena where our interests are of no consequence. Thats why they lie, because once they get what they want they wont have to deal with us anymore anyway, they will move on to the next drive. Is it really in the best interests for the UAL mechanics in SFO to be split between two Locals, one in LAX?

When I asked the leader of the WN mechanics why the mechanics decertified the IBT after the IBT got them an Industry Leading contract he said "The IBT didnt get us anything, we were getting that no matter who was there". He went on to say that the IBT was basically an absentee union, their dues were taken and they really didnt get anything from them. They refused to arbitrate anything, even most termination cases and were completely unresponsive to the membership. They only showed up when they realized there was a card drive for AMFA, and by then it was way too late. Their thug-like approach only added fuel to the fire.