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Hoffa Urges Teamster Leaders To ‘Fire Up Our Base’

October 6, 2010

General President Jim Hoffa urged Teamster leaders today to “fire up our base” heading to the November 2 elections to help elect candidates who support working families.

“We’ve got to fire up our base and make sure our members are registered and they vote,” Hoffa told more than 400 leaders attending “Tackling Tough Times: The Teamsters Fall Divisional Summit.” The summit brought together leaders from the Warehouse, Public Services, Solid Waste and Recycling, Industrial Trades and Newspaper, Magazine and Electronic Media divisions.

“Go back to your barns, your states and your locals and talk to your members about the important issues in this election,” Hoffa said. “Let’s go out and reclaim America .”

Hoffa urged leaders to fight back against apathy among members as the November 2 elections approach. The effort to get members interested and involved is not like passively watching a sporting event on TV.

“This is a contact sport,” Hoffa said. “We’ve got to be engaged in this contact sport every day.”

Hoffa discussed the importance of getting more members signed up for DRIVE, Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education, the Teamsters political action committee.

“We need to increase membership in DRIVE so that we will have the resources to fight for our members’ interests,” he said.

Teamsters and YRCW Reach Tentative Agreement

September 24, 2010

The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) announced today that it reached a tentative agreement with YRCW that sets the foundation for a comprehensive financial restructuring and a viable, sustainable company.

Details of the tentative agreement will be made available to the membership after being reviewed with local union and pension fund leaders next Wednesday, September 29.

“The recession continues to wreak havoc on the trucking industry and threatens our members’ jobs,” said Tyson Johnson, Teamsters Freight Division Director and co-chairman of the TNFINC. “Unfortunately, as workers all across the country know too well, the economy has not improved as quickly as we had hoped. The sluggish economy and smaller customer base leaves us in a position today where we face very, very difficult decisions.”

Additional information will be posted at www.teamster.org as it becomes available.

What is the Employee Free Choice Act?

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) respects that the right to join a union is a fundamental freedom, just like freedom of speech or religion, and that employees should be able to do so without interference from management.

• Majority Rules, Not the Boss: Currently, a majority of workers can sign up for a union, but the company can veto that decision and demand an election. This allows the company to fire or harass workers, and threaten that it will close the workplace, in order to coerce workers into voting against a union. Under EFCA, if a majority of employees sign cards indicating they want a union, the company has to recognize the union, as long as it is certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

• Fair Resolution of First Contract Disputes: Now, even when workers have won the right to be represented by a union, and even though both sides are required to bargain in good faith, companies can drag out the first contract negotiation process for years. EFCA creates a fair process for resolving first contract disputes.

• Strong Remedies to Protect Workers’ Rights: Currently, companies face only minimal penalties if they violate employees’ rights to form a union or negotiate a first contract. EFCA would level the playing field by requiring the NLRB to take immediate legal action to reinstate workers fired for union activity and assess triple damages against companies that punish or fire employees for engaging in protected organizing activities.

Keep out unsafe Mexican trucks

There is no question that Mexico is a much more dangerous place than the United States . So the idea of allowing unsafe trucks from Mexico unfettered access to our highways, risking the lives of U.S. drivers and endangering our national security, is outrageous.

Congress recently shut the border to these dangerous trucks, and Mexico has retaliated by raising some tariffs. Supporters cry protectionism. But the United States shouldn't be bullied by Mexico .

When the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed in 1994, the United States had a $1 billion trade surplus with Mexico . Last year, the trade deficit had ballooned to $64 billion. That's hardly protectionism.

What this debate is really about is safety and security. Mexico hasn't met our safety standards.

In fact, a Feb. 20 State Department alert warns U.S. citizens about driving in Mexico, urging travel during daylight hours on main roads if driving can't be avoided.

An escalating drug war there also puts our national security at risk by destabilizing Mexico along the U.S. border. More than 7,000 people in the past year have been killed.

Recent media reports document that Hezbollah uses the same southern narcotics routes as Mexican drug lords to smuggle drugs and people into the United States .

"They work together," Michael Braun, retired assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, told The Washington Times. "They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected."

The U.S. Justice Department recently filed lawsuits against Union Pacific Railroad Co., seeking $37 million in damages for allegedly failing to prevent its rail cars from being used to smuggle drugs into the country.

Do we really want to open our border to trucks from Mexico , letting them travel freely throughout the United States without the ability to track them? I don't think so. Most Americans agree, which is why Congress shut down the program.

Mexican trucks and drivers aren't required to meet the same safety standards as U.S. trucks and drivers. Mexican trucks are older, dirtier and more dangerous.

Limits on the hours a driver can spend behind the wheel are ignored in Mexico . U.S. truck drivers are taken off the road if they commit a serious traffic violation in their personal vehicle. Not so in Mexico .

The Bush administration opened the border to dangerous trucks from Mexico in 2007, with a few of the safest trucks handpicked to participate in a pilot program. But alarmingly, U.S. officials were unable to determine when a participating Mexican truck entered the country or where it went. The Department of Transportation's inspector general reported that no conclusions could be made about the trucks' safety record.

A NAFTA tribunal ruled in 2001 that the United States has the right to enforce safety standards. So when Mexico keeps its end of the bargain, we can keep ours.

James P. Hoffa is president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.