March Toward Justice - Teamsters Local 350

TeamsterSPRING 2018

March Toward Justice

ORGANIZING BLITZ IN CHICAGO

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James P. HoffaGeneral President25 Louisiana Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20001

Ken HallGeneral Secretary-Treasurer25 Louisiana Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20001

VICE PRESIDENTSAT-LARGE

Gregory Floyd216 W. 14th St.New York, NY 10011

George Miranda55 Broad St, 11th FloorNew York, N.Y. 10004

John Murphy348 D St.Boston, MA 02127

Fredrick Potter3400 Highway 35Executive Plaza, Suite 7Hazlet, N.J 07730

Fred Simpson41475 GardenbrookRoadNovi, Michigan48375

George Tedeschi25 Louisiana Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C.20001

Steve Vairma10 Lakeside Lane, Suite 3-ADenver, CO 80212

TEAMSTERS CANADA

Stan Hennessy1 Grosvenor SquareDelta, B.C.Canada V3M 5S1

François Laporte#804 – 2540, Daniel-JohnsonLaval, QC H7T 2S3

Craig McInnes275 Matheson Blvd. E.Mississauga, OntarioCanada L4Z 1X8

CENTRAL REGION

Bill Frisky6511 Eastland Rd.,Suite 120Brook Park, OH 44142

Tony Jones555 E Rich St.Columbus, OH 43215

Robert Kopystynsky25 Louisiana Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20001

Avral Thompson 3813 Taylor Blvd. Louisville, KY 40215

EASTERN REGION

William Hamilton12275 Townsend Rd.Philadelphia, PA 19154

Dan Kane Sr.1308 Pierce St.Rahway, N.J. 07065

Sean M. O’Brien544 Main St.Boston, MA 02129

SOUTHERN REGION

John Palmer25 Louisiana Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20001

Kim Schultz11705 Boyette Rd,Suite 409Riverview, FL 33569

WESTERN REGION

Ron Herrera880 Oak Park Rd., Suite 200Covina, CA 91724

Rick Middleton460 Carson Plaza Dr.Carson, CA 90746

TRUSTEES

Jim Kabell1850 E. DivisionSpringfield, MO 65803

Kevin Moore2741 Trumbull Ave.Detroit, MI 48216

Denis Taylor1030 S. Dukeland St.Baltimore, MD 21223

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

International Brotherhood of Teamsters 25 Louisiana Avenue, NWWashington DC 20001-2198202-624-6800

The Teamster (ISSN 1083-2394) is the official publicationof the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 25Louisiana Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20001-2198. It is published quarterly (January, April, July, October). Periodical postage paid at Washington, DC and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to The Teamster, Affiliates Records Department,25 Louisiana Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-2198.

FEBRUARY 2018 / VOLUME 115, NO 1©2018 International Brotherhood of Teamsters. All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without writtenpermission is prohibited. Subscription rates: $12 per year.Single copies, $2. (All orders payable in advance.) Mem-bers should send address changes to their local union.

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IN THIS ISSUE

8 March Toward Justice Organizing Blitz in Chicago

12 No Rest for the Benevolent Teamsters Continue Disaster Relief Mission

20 Organized from the Inside Local Unions Focus on Internal Organizing to Build Teamster Power

22 UPS and UPS Freight National Negotiations National Talks Kick Off

24 Election Results are a Win for Workers Teamsters Get Out the Vote Nationwide

26 Wrangling a Victory At Bus Roadeo, D.C. Teamsters Steer Away from the Competition

28 Victories in Iowa Public Sector Teamsters Stand Up to Anti-Union Efforts

2 Teamster News• Teamsters Support Pension Legislation• Indiana Red Cross Workers Ratify Contract• Improving Inland Empire’s Economy• Teamsters, Ohioans Join in Opioid Vigil• Teamsters Remember Members Killed in Las Vegas

• Relief for Port Truck Drivers• Right to Work Defeated in Delaware County

• Swissport Rampers Join Local 120• Teamsters, ABF Kick Off Negotiations

18 Organizing• Safeway.com Drivers Join Local 174• Teamsters Welcome Red Cross Units• Beecher’s Cheese Workers Join Local 553• Local 1038 Welcomes GCA Workers• MCMEA Affiliates with Teamsters• STA Workers Join Local 633

30 IDO Report

8 22 26

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Pensions supply a secure retirement for millions ofAmericans across the

country. But increasingly, someplans have faced financial chal-lenges that threaten the nesteggs of many who toiled fordecades with the understandingthey would be taken care of in their golden years.

About 200 multi-employerpensions across the country, including the Teamsters’ Cen-tral States Pension Fund thatoversees the retirements ofhundreds of thousands of Team-sters, stand on the brink of fail-ure. The Teamsters have beenworking diligently for years withkey members of Congress tryingto come up with a solution tothis pension crisis. And with the release of new legislation, theunion believes it has found it.

The bill would boost finan-cially troubled multi-employerpensions so they don’t fail. Itwould create a new agencyunder the U.S. Treasury De-partment that would sellbonds in the open market tolarge investors such as finan-cial firms. The dollars raised, inturn, would go to these retire-ment plans to stave off cuts orcomplete failure.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)is a lead sponsor of the meas-ure, called the “Butch Lewis Actof 2017,” named after the for-mer Local 100 President whodied in 2015 while fighting to

prevent cuts to Central StatesPension Fund. He said workersdeserve to receive the pensionsthey worked so hard for to get.

“This bill is comprehensive.It includes the miners, the Team-sters and others,” Sen. Brownsaid. “It makes no cuts. Westarted with the ideas of no cutsand there will be no cuts. This isa plan that will work.”

A new agency, the PensionRehabilitation Administration(PRA), would lend money fromthe sale of the bonds to the financially troubled pensionplans. Plans that are deemed“critical” and “declining,” aswell as recently insolvent butnon-terminated plans and thosethat have suspended benefitswould be eligible to apply forthe program. For those plansneeding additional help, thePension Benefit Guaranty Cor-poration would be available tomake up the difference.

Pension plans borrowingfrom PRA would be required toset aside money in separate safeinvestments such as annuities or

bonds that match the pensionpayments for retirees. Those ap-plying for loans to the PRAwould also have to submit de-tailed financial projections. ThePRA would be charged with ap-proving all loans before theycould be issued. Pension plansthat have borrowed moneywould have to submit reportsevery three years to the PRA toshow that the loans are working.

If failing pension plans areallowed to go belly up, the re-tirement benefits of some 1.5million Americans could be atrisk. That, in turn, would affectthe nation’s coffers. In 2015, forinstance, multi-employer pen-sioners paid more than $35 bil-lion in federal taxes.

It’s time lawmakers stick upfor working Americans whohave played by the rules. Pass-ing this bill would be a goodstart.

GENERAL PRESIDENT JAMES P. HOFFA

IT’S TIME TO PROTECTPENSIONS


2 Teamster | Spring 2018 | www.teamster.org

TEAMSTER NEWS

Teamsters General PresidentJim Hoffa reiterated theunion’s support for critical

legislation that would establish a new agency within the U.S.Treasury Department authorizedto issue bonds in order to financeloans to pension plans in finan-cial distress.

The “Butch Lewis Act of 2017,”which was introduced by Sen.Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep.Richard Neal (D-MA) on Nov. 16,would provide a path to fixing thecountry’s growing pension crisisby providing the financial supportthe plans need to avoid insolvency.

Recently, Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) signed on as a co-sponsor. “Iam proud to support the ButchLewis Act and I commend JimHoffa for his leadership,” Rep.King said. “Protecting retirees whoworked hard for their pensionsshould not be a partisan issue. Re-publicans and Democrats shouldwork together to allow workers to

live their retirement years in dig-nity. It's time to get started.”

“This is the only legislative so-lution that would keep intact thepensions that our actives and re-tirees have earned—there wouldbe no cuts,” said Teamsters Gen-eral President Jim Hoffa. “That iswhy our active and retired mem-bers have been meeting withmembers of Congress over the

past year to fight for their retire-ment security and they will con-tinue to do so until this legislationbecomes law.”

The proposed agency, namedthe Pension Rehabilitation Ad-ministration (PRA), would pro-vide these loans to “critical anddeclining” multi-employer pen-sion funds. The loan terms willrequire plans to make interestpayments for 29 years with finalinterest and principal repaymentdue in year 30.

“These retirees sacrificed payraises and benefits so that whenthey retired, they could do so withdignity,” Sen. Brown said. “Theyearned every dollar of their retire-ment, and out of no fault of theirown, the money they earned is atrisk. They held up their end of thebargain and it’s time Congressheld up ours and ensure they cankeep what they’ve earned.”

For more information, visitwww.teamster.org.

TEAMSTERS SUPPORT PENSION LEGISLATION

The Butch Lewis Act Will Provide a Path to Recovery for Pensions Facing Insolvency


www.teamster.org | Spring 2018 | Teamster 3

American Red Crossmobile-unit and fixed-site staff throughout

Indiana and Western Ohiorecently voted to ratify theirfirst agreement as mem-bers of Local 414 in FortWayne, Ind. The contractwas unanimously ratifiedand covers approximately150 workers. They join

nearly 1,500 other Red Cross workers represented by the Team-sters from coast to coast.

“There were challenges when attempting to organize, but westayed strong as a unit and now have a contract that we can beproud of. Moving forward, we are looking forward to a new part-nership with management based on mutual respect,” said SarahHook, a Red Cross mobile collections staff member.

The Teamsters contract secures improvements to scheduling,seniority and working conditions. The agreement also includes in-creases to the minimum starting wage for all classifications, aswell as instant raises for every existing member of the unit. Thewage increases, which for some workers reached as high as 20 to30 percent, with an average increase of 11 percent, were a directresult of organizing with the Teamsters.

“We won a contract that recognizes the valuable work theseRed Cross employees provide. They are routinely one of the high-est performing regions in the country, and they were vastly under-paid for a long time,” said George Gerdes, Secretary-Treasurer ofLocal 414.

Local 414’s new members are also now a part of the Coalitionof American Red Cross Unions, a group of nine unions—includingthe Teamsters—that fall under a national agreement which coversseveral big-ticket items, such as union-backed health insuranceand yearly wage adjustments, while also partnering with execu-tive-level Red Cross management to address issues such as safetyprocedures, scheduling initiatives and several labor-managementpartnerships designed to address local issues that may arise.

“We know that the American Red Cross does important workand we continue to show other Red Cross workers across thecountry the benefits that come from organizing with the Team-sters,” said Michael Filler, Director of the Teamsters Public Serv-ices Division.

INDIANA RED CROSS WORKERS RATIFY CONTRACTWin Higher Wages, Better Working Conditions

With Local 414 Agreement

Local 1932, representing morethan 11,000 San BernardinoCounty public employees,

flexed its muscle in late Octoberby gathering more than 50 areaelected officials and academicsto address the region’s eco-nomic landscape and ways toimprove it.

Times have changed for in-land Southern California, knownas the Inland Empire. In 1977,the region was home to manygood union jobs where familiescould count on wages that wereenough to raise a family. The re-gion’s economy, however,needed to transition with theend of the Cold War, and subse-quently, an end to the concentra-tion of defense-industry-ledprosperity in the Inland Empire.

Randy Korgan, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 1932, saidthere is a solution to the prob-lem, as long as communitiesunite to make it happen.

“The jobs that have prolifer-ated here do not have to below-wage jobs, and cities don’thave to give up the farm forthem,” he said. “By utilizingcommunity benefit agreementsor project labor agreements,and allowing for a coordinatedeffort by community membersto have a voice, we can developthe Inland Empire together.”

Improving Inland Empire’s EconomySouthern California Local1932 Leads Discussion on Attracting Better Jobs



TEAMSTER NEWS

Scores of Teamsters and other community membersshowed up in November for a pre-dawn candlelight vigilacross from one of the nation’s largest drug distributors

in Dublin, Ohio to remember the victims of the opioid crisiswhich has taken tens of thousands of lives in recent yearsacross the U.S.

The event, held outside Cardinal Health’s headquartersright before its scheduled annual shareholders meeting, drewpeople who shared their stories on how they lost loved ones inpart due to the proliferation of painkillers that have flooded themarketplace during this decade. The Teamsters have been ac-tive in raising awareness on the issue and calling for corporateaccountability from companies like Cardinal Health.

“We're seeing more people die as a result of opioid abusethan we saw lose their lives in the Vietnam War,” said GeneralSecretary-Treasurer Ken Hall. “We're at over 91 people per daythat are dying as a result of the improper use of opioids, andwe’ve got to do something about it. We have an obligation notonly to this country but to our working members, many ofwhose families are suffering because of these pharmaceuticals.”

Hall and other Teamster representatives addressed CardinalHealth shareholders during its annual meeting later in themorning, asking them to establish an independent committeethat investigates the company's business practices. They alsoasked Cardinal Health to take greater accountability for thecompanies’ role in what the Ohio Attorney General says is fu-eling the opioid crisis in Ohio.

The Teamsters, which holds investments in Cardinal,planned the protest to highlight a shareholder proposal askingthe company to separate the positions of chairman and CEO,and to make the chairman post an independent director.

While Cardinal officially opposed the proposal, in a surpriseannouncement, it took precisely those steps. Current Chair-man and CEO George Barrett will give up the CEO title and willstep down as chairman following next year’s shareholdersmeeting. The next chairman will be an independent director.

The Teamsters are mourning thedeaths of two members and oneretired member who were killed

in the senseless Las Vegas shootingthat claimed the lives of 58 peopleand injured 546 in October. In addi-tion, there are reports that severalTeamsters were injured during the incident as well.

Dana Gardner of Local 1932 andRachael Parker of Local 911, bothfrom California, died during the mas-sacre. Gardner, 52, was a 26-year em-ployee of the San Bernardino CountyAssessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s of-fice, while Parker, 33, was a 10-yearveteran of the Manhattan Beach Po-lice Department (MBPD), where sheworked as a police records techni-cian. Brett Schwanbeck, a retired ABFdriver from Arizona and formermember of Local 104, also perished.

Gardner’s colleagues, in media re-ports, described her as a “go-to” per-son and a “dedicated public servant.”They added, “She had a lot of knowl-edge. She was a great employee.”

Meanwhile, the MBPD said Parkerhad a passion for working with olderadults, and she completed her under-graduate practicum with ManhattanBeach’s Older Adults Program. Parkerloved dogs, baking, country musicand L.A. Kings Hockey. “Rachael’ssmile could light up a room, even onthe most difficult of days,” the state-ment said.

In MemoriamTeamsters Remember Members Killed in Las Vegas Shooting

Teamsters,Ohioans Join in

Opioid Vigil

Shareholder Action at Cardinal Health Gets Results



Port truck drivers from coast to coast have foryears endured a lack of respect on the job fromemployers and a lack of understanding from

elected officials about how they are exploited. Now,however, lawmakers are taking a step toward chang-ing the landscape for these hardworking Americans.

Teamster leaders and six port drivers came to-gether on Capitol Hill recently to laud the introductionof legislation by Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) andJerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) that would crack down on theshady practice of truck leasing by port trucking firms,as well as empower ports to improve the environ-mental conditions at such facilities across the nation.

“Ports are supposed to be an economic engine,”said Fred Potter, International Vice President and Di-rector of the Teamsters Port Division. “And it is for somany. But it’s not for the drivers.”

In the U.S., the port trucking industry consists ofmore than 100,000 short-run truckers who haul con-tainers on and off the nation’s ports each day. Thesecontainers are filled with all of the items that makemodern society function but are no longer producedin this country—clothes, electronics, food, house-wares and more.

For years, the Teamsters have been shining a light

on the issue of misclassification for port drivers. Thateffort has been intensive at the twin ports of Los An-geles and Long Beach, the main gateway for productsmade in Asia. While companies and CEOs profit sub-stantially from the sale of those goods, those whohelp bring them to market are suffering in silence.

Misclassified Daniel “Seko” Uaina, a driver for Intermodal BridgeTransport, said workers across sectors need to speakout against companies who are taking advantage ofthem. “Not only do we spend long hours at the portnot getting paid, but we take on the overhead for thesecompanies,” Uaina said. “When is it going to stop?”

The Teamsters are optimistic that Napolitano’s“Port Drivers’ Bill of Rights” and Nadler’s “CleanPorts Act” legislation could make a difference.

The former bill would create a taskforce to reviewthe broken system and crack down on bad actors,while the latter would modernize federal truckingrules to empower local ports to address truck pollu-tion and congestion at such facilities.

“These truckers are forced to lease trucks they can-not afford,” Napolitano said. “It is unthinkable thattruck companies can get away with this scheme.”

Relief for PortTruck Drivers

MORE THAN 100,000 DRIVERS AFFECTED



TEAMSTER NEWS

Delaware Teamsters joined hundreds of theirunion brothers and sisters in January in pushingback against a county effort to institute a right-

to-work (RTW) provision that would curtail workers’collective bargaining rights and tamp down on wagesfor thousands in Sussex County.

A vote on the RTW measure was postponed after itbecame clear the vast majority of those in attendancewere against it. The overflow crowd spread outside ofthe council chambers, where Teamsters and otherunion members rallied in the frigid cold against theanti-worker ordinance.

When the Sussex County Council actually held thevote on the measure, it failed.

“We see that they at least heard our voices thatthis is a more complicated issue than they thought,”said Paul Thornburg, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 326in New Castle, Del. “This is people’s livelihoods. Theysaw that.”

Local 355 members and other Teamsters joinedwith Local 326 to voice their disgust with the RTW ef-fort, which the Sussex County Council’s own attorneycalled illegal. Because Delaware is a free-bargainingstate, a locality cannot act on its own to implementsuch a policy. The county attorney warned that pas-sage of such an anti-worker ordinance would lead tolegal action against the jurisdiction and cost taxpayersat least $250,000.

Thornburg said in recent years there have been ef-forts pushed by state GOP lawmakers to approve RTW,but Democrats have succeeded in blocking them. Sowhen County Councilman Ron Arlett announced in

October that he was introducing such an ordinance inthe southernmost and most conservative county inDelaware, it was unexpected.

“I was shocked. It was a mad scramble,” Thorn-burg said. “We were really shocked because we talkedon the state level and it’s been thrown out. When itcame to local law, we didn’t think it was legal.”

These attempts need to be called out for what theyare—a corporate-fueled attack on everyday peoplewho are just trying to earn a living to support theirfamilies. It’s part of a national effort being pushed bythe same big companies and business executiveswho for years have boosted their profits by sendingAmerican jobs overseas. These special interests aretrying to lower wages and cut benefits for workers sothey can increase their profits even more.

RTW in all its forms is still wrong for workers.

RIGHT TO WORK DEFEATED IN DELAWARE COUNTYTeamsters Push Back Against Anti-Worker Legislation

Check out the Teamsters Union’s podcast at teamster.org/podcastFor more information, to listen or subscribe, visit teamster.org/podcast

TEAMSTER NATION PODCAST

News for Working Families



After only a four-month campaign, ramp agents work-ing for Swissport voted to become members of Local120 on Oct. 25, 2017. The 114 ramp agents, who are

responsible for handling baggage, join Swissport aircraft fu-elers that are already represented by the union at the Min-neapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“Congratulations to everyone who worked hard to fightfor union representation at Swissport,” said Tom Erickson,President of Local 120. “We’re looking forward to negotiat-ing a fair and equitable contract.”

Wages, health care, turnover and safety were the mainissues workers cited as their reasons for joining Local 120—issues they hope to see improved by negotiating a strongcollective bargaining agreement. Despite the desire to jointhe union, the organizing committee faced an uphill battle.Management hung up an anti-Teamster poster in the breakroom and held anti-union meetings. Furthermore, the re-stricted nature of the airport tarmac made it difficult for or-ganizers to access the workplace.

The committee adapted. Aircraft fuelers, who worked thesame hours and had the same access, played a key role inpersuading their co-workers to join.

Committee members used a program that allowed themto use their smartphones to get their co-workers to signunion cards digitally. Eventually, Local 120 obtained a per-mit to access the airport, and a number of volunteer organ-izers from US Foods reached out to the ramp agents to tellthem what to expect from management after they had filedfor an election.

“Our members from US Foods experienced a campaignwhere they faced many of the same challenges in terms ofan anti-union campaign, and they ended up with a positiveoutcome,” said Lovinsky Ricard, a Local 120 organizer.

SWISSPORT RAMP AGENTSJOIN LOCAL 120

Despite Company’s Anti-Union Effort, WorkersOverwhelmingly Choose Teamsters

The Teamsters National Freight In-dustry Negotiating Committee(TNFINC) kicked off national nego-

tiations in early January for a newABF National Master Freight Agree-ment (NMFA).

The initial meetings focused pri-marily on language issues but ABFraised claims that its employee costsand operating costs are too high. TN-FINC, however, made it clear thatmembers were not interested in aconcessionary contract.

“Rather than get bogged downright off the bat in what could haveeasily resulted in a collision, we spentthe initial meetings trying to resolvesome of the less controversial issuesand made progress in those areas,”said Ernie Soehl, Director of the Team-sters National Freight Division and Co-Chairman of TNFINC.

The current ABF National MasterFreight Agreement runs throughMarch 31, 2018 and covers more than8,000 members. Multiple weeks werebeen set aside for bargaining.

ABF Teamsters can get more information by visiting the ABF Teamsters Facebook page. Go to “ABF Teamsters” on Facebook.

Or visit www.teamster.org and clickon the Freight Division page, thenclick the “ABF Contract Updates” button. Text “ABF” to 86466 to receive text message alerts

(message and data rates may apply).

Teamsters, ABF Kick Off Contract Negotiations



March Toward JusticeORGANIZING BLITZ IN CHICAGO



The terminal manager at theXPO facility in Aurora, Ill. wasmost likely expecting Thurs-

day, November 30 to be just an-other day. He wasn’t expecting thathe’d have to face down a march onthe boss.

XPO had refused to negotiatewith the union in Aurora eventhough the company was court-or-dered to do so multiple times.Now, the terminal manager wasfacing an angry mob of more than40 Teamsters crammed in hissmall office. All of them were de-manding that he call Bradley Ja-cobs, the company’s CEO, to set adate for collective bargaining.

“No date, no peace!” thecrowd chanted. Tony Seminary, anorganizer for Local 179, steppedforward from the group.

“You’re the shop manager, geton the phone, call Bradley Jacobs,tell him we want a date for negoti-ations!” Seminary said. “Yourcompany is violating the law.What are you going to do aboutthis? Do you care about these em-ployees?”

The terminal manager sighed.Today was not going to be his day.

When Teamsters Fight,Teamsters WinChicago has always been a logis-tics hub and, in the modern era,the city has a higher concentrationof freight-logistics jobs than anymajor metro area in the country.So when the Teamsters Unionchose a target for an organizingblitz geared toward increasingmembership in the logistics indus-try, they knew exactly which city tohold it in. Local 777 and JointCouncil 25 worked in partnershipwith the Teamsters Union, direct-ing the efforts on the ground.

“We’ve had about 60 organizersusing our office as a base,” saidJim Glimco, President of Local 777.“Some of the best organizers fromthe International Union are outhere doing house calls, job actionsand marches on the boss. It’s reallygreat. The whole idea is to em-power the workers to stand up forthemselves, and that’s what we’retrying to do—give them a voice.”

The goal of the blitz was to assistlocal unions with winning theircampaigns at XPO, intermodalcompanies, and private school buscontractors throughout Chicagoland.



eXPOsing the Worst Actor in LogisticsThe Teamsters Union is workingwith freight, warehouse and portemployees at XPO Logistics world-wide to expose the truth about thecompany’s global greed, illegalwage theft, unsafe conditions, andabhorrent and vicious anti-worker,anti-union tactics. The blitz was ahuge part of this campaign.

XPO’s greed includes mistreat-ing former Con-way freight work-ers in the United States who arebeing kept in the dark about termi-nal closures and layoffs, and thecompany’s illegal refusal to bar-gain contracts and denying work-ers’ federally protected right toorganize. It also includes port, rail

and last-mile drivers around thecountry and in Southern Californiafighting wage theft in excess of$200 million because they are mis-classified as independent contrac-tors and denied the right to formtheir union. This greed has causednumerous lawsuits and strikes.Greed also means an unsafe work-place and mistreating their ware-house employees.

The Teamsters Freight, Portand Warehouse divisions areworking closely with Joint Coun-cils and local unions to help or-ganize workers. Already, workersat six XPO freight terminals haveformed their union, as well aswarehouse workers at a locationin Connecticut. Over the course of

the blitz, Teamster organizers vis-ited every XPO warehouse andfreight barn in Chicagoland multi-ple times. They also did house vis-its to unorganized workers,spending hours on the road driv-ing from city to city talking toworkers.

Jose Ramirez participated in themarch on the boss at the Aurorafacility. He’s been a driver at theAurora facility for more than eightyears.

“What we have here is horri-ble,” Ramirez said. “The insuranceis garbage, there’s no respect,there’s discrimination and fa-voritism. We want everybody to befair, and the only way to do that isto get the Teamsters in here.”

Unsurprisingly, he was disap-pointed to see his employer dragtheir feet when it came to negoti-ating.

“The labor board had to takethem to the circuit court to makethem follow the law,” Ramirezsaid. “It’s pretty sad, being thatthey’re such a huge company. It’sfrustrating, but I’m telling you as adriver in Aurora that we’re stillstrong. We’re not going anywhere,and we’re going to keep fightinguntil we get a contract.”

James Plimmer has been work-



ing at the XPO Elgin facility forover four years. He said that theconditions at his terminal make re-tention difficult for the company.

“We’ve had eight guys leavethis past year because they retiredor quit. Why haven’t they replacedthem? I don’t know, I can’t answerfor stupid,” Plimmer said. “WhenXPO took over, one of the biggestchanges I noticed was work vol-ume, the more-with-less attitude.It’s not an option to go home,you’re stuck there until it’s done orthey terminate you. If you don’twant to work 14 hours a day, youmight as well quit, because they’llfire you if you don’t.”

Plimmer was a Teamster be-fore, and he said he joined the or-ganizing campaign at his facilitybecause he knows the differencethat a union contract could bring tohis job. He didn’t mince wordswhen asked about Jacobs.

“You ever see that movie WallStreet? He reminds me of GordonGekko,” Plimmer said. “It’s allabout money. As long as he eats,he doesn’t care if anyone elsedoes. Our equipment doesn’t getrepaired, we’re short on equip-ment, our forklifts are falling apart,yet the tonnage keeps going up.He gives me the impression that

he’s just squeezing the companyfor everything he can get out of it,and later on he’ll dump XPO andwalk away.”

Building Power withChicago IntermodalIntermodal is integral to logistics,and by organizing these workers,the Teamsters are securing a keyleverage point in the broader effortto organize core industries. Team-sters already represented workersat all but four of the intermodalyards in Chicagoland at the begin-ning of the blitz. By the end of it,there were only three left.

Paul Garza was a crane opera-tor at ITS ConGlobal in Harvey, Ill.Management found out that hehad been a Teamster activist at an-other yard where he worked andhe was later terminated.

“When you have a strong union

man in there that’s knowledgeableabout his rights, it scares them,”Garza said. “When I got fired,though, it really upset the guys. Itbackfired pretty badly.”

Garza continued to stay in-volved in the organizing cam-paign after he was fired, though,and he was there when the NLRBcounted the votes for the electionat his yard. The vote was 100 to23. Garza now works for theTeamsters, and pretty soon he’llbe sitting across from his formeremployer at the bargaining table.

“It’ll be interesting when theysee me,” Garza said. “My biggestthing on unions is education—youhave to educate yourself. Look atwhat rights you have. We’re veryuneducated on our labor rightsthese days, and that’s why peopleare afraid to go out there and or-ganize. Once people know theycan go out there and organize,they will.”

The long hours and difficultconversations that were a hallmarkof the Chicago blitz demonstratedthat the fight to organize workersin core industries will be an uphillbattle. Organizing is a steep moun-tain to climb when employersdon’t fight back, and over thecourse of a week in Chicago,Teamsters were embarking on or-ganizing drives at some of themost anti-union locations in Amer-ica. The good news is that Chicagois and always has been a uniontown, and with Teamster power,it’s a journey that can and will endin victory.


NO REST FOR THE

BenevolentT E A M S T E R S C O N T I N U E D I S A S T E R R E L I E F M I S S I O N



David Renshaw was exhausted. It had been twoweeks since Hurricane Irma crashed into hishome state of Florida, leaving a massive trail

of debris in its wake. As a business agent for Local769 in Miami, he had been busy working around theclock to get supplies for Florida Keys residents thatwere temporarily without access to food, electricity,toiletries or clean water. Hundreds of people weredepending on him, his local and the team of volun-teers he was working with.

Renshaw lived through Hurricane Andrew backin 1992, so this wasn’t his first rodeo. Still, the im-pact of Irma was remarkable to everyone in SouthFlorida, and it was important that the Teamsterswere on the front lines of the relief efforts.

“The Keys will rebuild and rebound, but we needto provide a stepping stone for them to be headedin the right direction,” Renshaw said. “We’ve al-ways had great relationships with the employersand the community, but when you’re coming downhere with multiple trucks containing tonnage of do-nated goods, it really expresses the humanitarianintent behind the International Brotherhood ofTeamsters.”

People Helping People in the Florida KeysIn August, Hurricane Harvey turned out to be justthe beginning of a very terrible hurricane season onthe East Coast, and it was followed by ravagingwildfires in West. Millions of people have been lefthomeless and the cost of the devastation is in thehundreds of billions of dollars. The loss of life,homes and property has been horrific, but theTeamsters have been helping people rebuild theirlives every step of the way.

Renshaw and his team set up shop at a park inthe Bahama Village neighborhood of Key West. The



fact that it’s 90 degrees and humid isn’t discouragingTeamster members and their community partnersfrom unloading a packed freight truck. Time is of theessence and nobody can wait for the sun to go down.

Denise McCloud is the pastor at Trinity Presbyte-rian Church in Key West. McCloud started workingwith the Teamsters after Renshaw contacted her look-ing for a partnership distributing relief supplies, andsince then they have been working together on set-ting up community giveaways for residents of theFlorida Keys.

“This has been a great experience,” McCloud said.“The sign here says ‘people helping people.’ That’swhat the Teamsters have been all about. We’re all outhere letting Key West know that we have heard yourconcerns, we are here for you and we are trying to fillyour needs.”

Local 769 represents many of the largest employ-ers in the Florida Keys, and reaching out to the mem-bers after Irma was the biggest priority for thedisaster relief team.

Jean Zeman is a shop steward that works at theKey West Police Department. Zeman was volunteer-ing to clean up the yards of her co-workers who hadproperty damage from Hurricane Irma, and shestayed in Key West during the storm instead of evacu-ating so she could keep her co-workers updated aboutthe status of their homes and what was going on inthe Keys.

“The community has grown closer together, and I

think we’re tighter knit now than we were before,”Zeman said. “Hopefully this will continue to go for-ward and we continue to have the same little towncommunity that we’ve always had.”

Jonathan Flatt is a UPS driver who lives in theFlorida Keys. He experienced a great deal of propertydamage as a result of Hurricane Irma, and eventhough he needs to find time to replace the thingsthat he lost, he’s back at work because many residentsof Monroe County are depending on UPS Teamstersto deliver their medicine.

“Most importantly, I hope everyone can keep calmand know that we will get their packages delivered,”Flatt said. “Given the circumstances, though, mostpeople are very thankful for us. It’s new to everybody,but everyone down here knows that we’re all in thistogether. We’re doing our best and taking care of oneanother with everything we have.”

Renshaw and a team of volunteers head out to ahousing complex a few blocks from the park. Theycanvass the apartments, delivering hot meals, waterand toiletries to the elderly residents. John Bellerahas been a Key West resident for over 30 years andhe was thrilled that the Teamsters were lending hima hand.

“I was a union member before I retired and theytook care of me,” Bellera said. “They paid for my kidsto go to the doctor, they paid for us to go to the den-tist and they paid for us when we got sick. It’s the bestthing that ever happened to this country.”



The Island of EnchantmentThe same day that Hurricane Irma dissipated, thelargest tropical cyclone of the year and the 10th-mostintense Atlantic hurricane in recorded history formedjust east of the Lesser Antilles islands. HurricaneMaria proved to be the most devastating storm to hitthe island of Puerto Rico in as long as anyone couldremember, and the demand for assistance was over-whelming. Over 400 Puerto Ricans were killed. Thepower grid was wiped out, leaving the entire islandwithout electricity, and the cost to rebuild is expectedto exceed $100 billion. There are still hundreds ofthousands of people in Puerto Rico without access toelectricity, food or drinking water today.

“I’m glad we were able to help, even if it was in asmall way,” said Roy Gillespie, Joint Council 13Human Rights Coordinator. “There’s going to be a lotmore needed for the long term. They won’t be able toget back on their feet until everyone has clean drink-ing water, electricity and all the stuff we take forgranted. You go to stores, and the shelves are bare orthere are still lines around the block.”

Teamsters started recruiting volunteers to providedisaster relief assistance as soon as they could. OnWednesday, October 4, only two weeks after Hurri-cane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, over 80Teamsters were dispatched to the island as part of achartered flight with the AFL-CIO. The volunteersworked primarily in handling the logistics and distri-bution of supplies on the island, but they also assistedwith clearing debris and repairing homes.

Local 813 Business Agent Mark A. Cruz has familyin Puerto Rico. Their house had its roof completely tornoff by Hurricane Maria, and his aunt’s house was de-stroyed. After the storm, phone service on the islandwas completely gone, and it took him 10 days to get intouch with his family to make sure they were OK.

“This is very personal, but I feel very fortunate tobe part of the clean-up, to be part of the relief to thehomeland where my mother and father were born,”Cruz said. “What I’d like to see is an injection of hope,of optimism. Right now, things don’t look so great,but if we band together the future can be beautiful forPuerto Rico.”

Local 813 member Lance Gibbs is a sanitationworker for Mid-Bronx Haulage. He said he was moti-vated to volunteer after hearing stories from his friends,family and neighbors about Maria’s devastation.




“I had the opportunity to do something good,”Gibbs said. “It was a great adventure. We went downthere and we handled whatever it was that theyneeded us to handle. This is a strong brotherhoodand we came together when they need us. That’s thebottom line.”

Teamsters from Joint Council 16 made up a signifi-cant portion of the membership that volunteered forthe Puerto Rico mission. New York and New JerseyTeamsters are well prepared for disaster relief, havinglived through 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.

“I was notified instantly from my business agent,and I said, ‘I have to go,’” said Paul Delaney, a Local863 tractor-trailer driver in Elizabeth, N.J. “I did disas-ter relief with the Red Cross on 9/11, and it was trau-matic, but I helped out and I feel good about it.Coming to Puerto Rico is a good thing we’re doing formankind.”

“We rally and we go from one crisis to the next,”said George Miranda, International Vice President andPresident of Joint Council 16. “We are at our best inadversity. That’s what the union is all about: bandingtogether for the greater good.”

One of the most inspiring stories that came out ofthe Puerto Rico mission was that of Local 631 mem-ber Marcos Cruz, who not only volunteered, but madesacrifices to pay for the trip.

“My employer, LV Paving, told me that my jobwould be waiting for me when I get back,” Cruz said.

“Still, I’m going to be off of work for some time, so Isold my Harley-Davidson. My son was OK with it, butmy daughter? Not so happy. But I was born in PuertoRico. My family is in Puerto Rico. My brother runs asmall business in Puerto Rico.”

Cruz worked 16-hour days to get Puerto Rico backon its feet, filling a multitude of roles.

“If they need me to shuttle electricians to the hos-pital at 11:30 at night, I’ll jump in a van and bringwhoever they need to the hospital,” Cruz said. “If theyneed me to go to the airport, I do that. It’s been non-stop. My days went so fast, it’s like I blinked and itwas already midnight. But every hour that went by, itgot better.”

Cruz says he will be making several trips back andforth to Puerto Rico over the course of the next year.

“My heart is broken for my island; it’s going totake years for it to get back to where it needs to be,”Cruz said. “Six months, a year from now, I wantPuerto Rico to be what it has always been called: theisland of enchantment.”

Very Fake NewsDeclaring that disaster relief efforts can be a bit chaoticis like saying you’ll do a lot of push-ups in boot camp:it’s the understatement of the century. Relaying accu-rate information is difficult. Circumstances change atthe drop of a hat. Overworked and under-resourcedvolunteers are tasked with providing food, water, basic

Wildfires in Northern California cost at least 100Teamster families their homes, destroyed morethan 8,400 structures, and killed 42 people

started just after midnight on October 8. Within days,22 separate fires were raging across Napa, Sonoma,Mendocino, Solano and other Northern Californiacounties. The toll for Teamster families in the area wasimmense, and the fire moved so swiftly that mostevacuated with just the clothes on their backs.

As the days progressed and fires kept burning,Local 665 President Mike Yates got a call from the man-ager of the local Les Schwab Tire Center.

“They were getting donations for the fire victimsand had nowhere to put them. So we moved into ac-tion,” Yates says. “At first, we borrowed two UPS trail-ers. That quickly turned into four and then into eight.

CALIFORNIA FIRESTeamsters Help Those

Suffering from the Inferno



necessities to thousands of desperate people all at thesame time. So, when a false story about the TeamstersDisaster Relief mission in Puerto Rico started to gaintraction in the stranger corners of the internet, it wasnot something that any of the volunteers on theground had any interest in dealing with.

On September 30, a blog called Conservative Tree-house that regularly spreads fake news posted a storystating that relief shipments were not being distrib-uted throughout the island because the Teamsterswere on strike. In fact, the reason there were no avail-able drivers, according to United States Air ForceColonel Michael Valle, was “they can’t get to work, theinfrastructure is destroyed, they can’t get fuel them-selves, and they can’t call us for help be-cause there’s no communication.”

Despite reality, the fake story took offlike wildfire. It was picked up by other out-lets, including Gateway Pundit, and it waseven re-posted by prominent conspiracytheorist Alex Jones. Social media accountswere baselessly attacking the Teamstersfor a strike that never happened. Eventu-ally, the story was debunked by Snopes,PolitiFact, and Fox News’ Shepard Smith.General President James P. Hoffa publiclydenounced the false stories at the time.

“These viral stories spreading acrossthe internet are nothing but lies perpe-

trated by anti-union entities to further their destruc-tive agenda,” Hoffa said. “The fact that they are at-tempting to capitalize on the suffering of millions ofcitizens in Puerto Rico that are in dire need of ourhelp by pushing these false stories, just exposestheir true nature.”

In less than three months, millions of Americanshave lost everything they have because of the unfor-giving torrential storms and wildfires. As peoplethroughout the country try to piece their lives back to-gether, the Teamsters will be there to help them everystep of the way. After all, the Teamsters Union is at itsbest when circumstances are at their worst.

For more information or to donate, visit ibt.io/tdrfund.

Then, the Joint Council 7 truck came up, filled withmore donations.”

Union members and volunteers from communityorganizations came to the parking lot to sort the dona-tions and move them into the trailers designated forwater and food, bedding and towels, clothing andgeneral household supplies.

“The local made radio announcements for morevolunteers and the community really turned out,”Yates says with pride.

After a few days of preparations, the distributionoperation opened to the public on October 14—lessthan a week after the first fires started.

“At one point, we had 400 people on the property,including 60-70 volunteers and lots of displaced fami-lies who didn’t know if they still had homes,” Yatessaid. “The whole Joint Council has been awesome.

There was just an outpouring of help. Everyone calledto say ‘what do you need?’ and then they sent it.”

“We also set up a fund through All Charities Team-sters to accept financial donations and members, em-ployers, and the general public has been more thangenerous. We were immediately able to make $500gift cards available to each Teamster family that losthomes so that they could purchase basic necessities,”Yates said.

Yates says that this tragedy enabled the commu-nity to see the union in a different light. “We wereable to talk about what the Teamsters do for ourmembers and educate people about what it means tobe in a union. But more than that, we just focused onhow we could help each other and rebuild our com-munity,” Yates says. “We kept politics out of it andjust did the work that needed to be done.”



Almost 70 delivery drivers at Safeway.com votedrecently to join Local 174 in Tukwila, Wash., a his-toric victory with potentially wide-ranging effects

as these are the first Safeway.com delivery drivers inthe nation to vote to join a union.

The organizing drive took place over several monthsand was spearheaded by Safeway.com delivery driverDan Oliver and Local 174 Organizer Meaza Ogbe.

“This is huge for us. Everyone at this company wasa union member except for us,” said Oliver, lead or-ganizing committee member. “It was clear from ourcompensation, benefits and the way we were treatedat work that not being union was hurting us. All of thatis going to change now.”

“I am so proud of these guys for standing up fortheir rights,” Ogbe said. “It takes courage to stand upto your employer and demand respect, and these guyshad courage to spare.”

The organizing victory comes at a critical momentin the home grocery delivery industry, as Seattle-basedproduct delivery juggernaut Amazon has recently pur-chased the upscale grocery chain Whole Foods.

“This is not just a big win for these Safeway.comdrivers, but this is a foot in the door for other organiz-ing opportunities in this same industry in the future,”said Joint Council 28 President and Local 174 Secre-tary-Treasurer Rick Hicks. “Home grocery delivery is agrowing industry, and from this day forward, it is going

to be an industry that includes the Teamsters Union.”Local 174 already represents Safeway distribution

center drivers who operate out of facilities in Auburnand Bellevue delivering groceries to stores across thestate, along with dispatch clerks and employees at theRecycle Center in Auburn. These members are glad towelcome their new brothers and sisters into the Team-sters Union.

“Safeway drivers and warehousemen in our Localjust ratified the richest contract in their history, whilethese Safeway.com drivers are struggling just to getenough hours to qualify to buy company health insur-ance,” said Local 174 Senior Business Agent CarlGasca, who is the business agent for the Safeway distri-bution center drivers and will be the business agent forthe newly organized group as well. “Now that we areall standing together, I know that we can get a betterdeal and a better life for these home delivery drivers.”

“I am so excited for what the future holds for us,”said new Safeway.com Teamster Candice Herrera.“There’s nowhere for us to go but up.”

“This is just the beginning,” Hicks said. “Otherhome delivery drivers are watching, and they are goingto see how much benefit these Safeway.com driverswill get from being members of Local 174. We hopethat they will also find the courage to stand up and say‘I demand respect’ at their workplaces. And if they do,we will be ready to help them.”

ORGANIZING UPDATE

GROUP OF DRIVERS IS FIRST IN THE NATION TO ORGANIZE WITH A UNION

Safeway.com Delivery Drivers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 174



LOCALS 170, 523

Red Cross

Two units of Red Crossemployees joined theTeamsters recently. Local170 in Worcester, Mass. or-ganized blood techniciansand a phone recruiter inRynham, and Local 523 inTulsa, Okla. organized mo-bile blood drivers.

“We are pleased towelcome this new groupof Red Cross workers,”said Shannon George,Secretary-Treasurer ofLocal 170.

“I voted for the Team-sters after hearing frommy union-representedpeers in Worcester andSpringfield, and compar-ing wages and benefits,”said Chanel O’Brien, a RedCross blood technician.

“I’d like to congratu-late the group on seekingTeamster representationand following it throughto a successful election,”said Gary Ketchum, Presi-dent of Local 523. TheLocal 523 victory makesthese the first Teamster-represented workers inOklahoma.

LOCAL 553

Beecher’s Handmade Cheese

Workers at Beecher’sHandmade Cheese, in theFlatiron District of NewYork City, voted recentlyto join Local 553. The 24cheesemakers, leadcheesemakers and main-

tenance employees willnow negotiate a unioncontract with their em-ployer, and hope to raisewages and improvehealth coverage.

“We love the work wedo, but need this to be agood job too,” said RileyPeters, a cheesemaker atBeecher’s. “When yougain experience and takeon new responsibilities,your wage should reflectthat. That is one of thethings we want to addressin our union contract. Weare proud that Beecher’scheese will be unioncheese going forward.”

Beecher’s workersbegan their campaign fora union in September, inpartnership with theTeamsters. After distribut-ing fliers and organizingwith their co-workers,they signed union author-ization cards and peti-tioned for a governmentsupervised election. Thevote was 14-6.

LOCAL 1038

GCA Services

By a unanimous vote, thecustodians working forGCA Services at AlbionCollege in Albion, Mich.,voted to be representedby Local 1038. There are24 custodians in the unitand they join the 70 cleri-cal and facility operationsworkers at the collegethat are already repre-sented by the local union.

“We are pleased to

welcome GCA Servicescustodians at Albion Col-lege to our local union,”said Greg Nowak, Presi-dent of Joint Council 43and Local 1038. “Ourbusiness agent KarlGrimm worked manyhours with the organizersin the unit to bring aboutthis victory.”

“Benefits were themain reason the custodi-ans wanted to be repre-sented by the Teamsters.Now our next step is tosit down with the com-pany and work on a con-tract,” said Karl Grimm,Secretary-Treasurer andbusiness agent with Local1038.

LOCAL 856

MCMEA

MCMEA, an association ofpublic employees in MarinCounty, Calif., has voted toaffiliate with Local 856.The 300-person associa-tion includes county pro-fessionals in public works,health and human serv-ices, the county sheriff’soffice, information tech-nology services and more.

The affiliation agree-ment joins MCMEAmembers with Local 856,which currently repre-sents Marin County Pro-bation Officers, MarinCounty District Attorneysand over 12,000 workersthroughout Northern Cali-fornia, including 7,000public employees.

“We are proud to rep-

resent MCMEA mem-bers,” said Teamsters856 Secretary-TreasurerPeter Finn. “They arejoining a union with anestablished record ofwinning strong contractsfor public employees.”

LOCAL 633

STA

Workers with StudentTransportation of Amer-ica (STA) have over-whelmingly decided tojoin Teamsters Local 633in a vote conducted bythe National Labor Rela-tions Board.

“We are extremelypleased to welcomethese professional busdrivers to the Teamsterfamily,” said JefferyPadellaro, Secretary-Trea-surer of Teamsters Local633 in New Hampshire.

Teamsters Field Rep-resentative Roger Traversof Local 633 organizedthe group of 44 driversunder Padellaro’s direc-tion. Travers spent manydays speaking with andaddressing the needsand concerns of thesenewest members, whichwill ensure their voice isheard though collectivebargaining.

Local 633 is uniquelypositioned to representbus drivers, with a staffconsisting of businessagents and field repre-sentatives who havebeen representing busdrivers for decades.


Teamster local unions are fighting back againstright-to-work laws by signing up more members,while other locals are combatting the latest threats

against organized labor, the Janus case, by gettingpublic-sector workers to recommit to their union.

At Local 509 in West Columbia, S.C., stewards andmembers helped sign up nearly 350 workers betweenJanuary 1 and December 1 of 2017.

“That’s our members signing up members,” saidJames Todd, Local 509 President.

Local union representatives also visit work sites totalk to nonmembers to educate them about the im-portance of the union and the benefits workers re-ceive. The local has membership cards filled out andall that the worker needs to do is sign it and insert hisor her Social Security number.

“After hearing about the union benefits and get-ting their questions answered, almost every workersigns the card,” Todd said. “A lot of these new folksaren’t aware of the benefits of being a Teamster. Wehave signed up 150 new members this way.”

Between the two programs, Local 509 has gainedabout 500 new members over an 11-month period,with many of the workers from UPS. “I’m optimisticwe’ll pick up a couple hundred new members duringthe first half of 2018,” Todd said.

Like Local 509, Local 728 in Atlanta has focused oninternal organizing, which has contributed to the localincreasing its membership from about 5,700 mem-bers in 2005 to about 9,000 today.

“We’re bucking the national trends and the trendshere in Georgia by growing our local and our internalorganizing efforts, especially at UPS, have helped ustremendously,” said Randy Brown, President of Local728. “We continually reach out to our members, edu-cating them and engaging them. By increasingworker density, we win stronger contracts and work-ers gain a stronger voice on the job.”

Race to 100In another big victory against right to work, 100 per-cent of the ABF Freight System bargaining unit mem-bers at the Memphis, Tenn. terminal have signed upas members of Local 667.


LOCAL UNIONS FOCUS ON INTERNAL ORGANIZING TO BUILD TEAMSTER POWER

ORGANIZED FROM THE INSIDE



“The last worker had been holding out but thanksto the efforts of his co-workers, he is now a member,making the unit of about 90 drivers, dockworkers andoffice staff 100-percent Teamsters,” said James JonesIII, President of Local 667. “I am proud of all our ABFTeamsters. This is a great feat in our union’s fightagainst right to work.”

“By being 100-percent Teamsters, this gives allour ABF workers a stronger voice on the job,” Jonessaid. “With all the anti-worker, anti-union forces weare up against, we need to organize and build Team-ster power.”

In the wake of the victory at ABF, Local 667 islaunching a campaign to fully organize other work lo-cations. The effort is called “The Race to 100.” Thelocal has also signed up 100 percent of the package-car drivers at the UPS Oak Haven center in Memphis,and several other work sites are close to 100 percent.

“To many workers, the benefits of being membersmay not immediately be obvious, but we plan to edu-cate our members about the importance of joining theunion and building worker power,” Jones said. “Thisis all about fighting for a more secure future for ourmembers and their families.”

“I am proud of my co-workers for all being unitedand strong here at ABF,” said Bob Watkins, chiefsteward. “Together, we can work as one group andhave a stronger voice to address the issues that mat-ter to all of us.”

Court BattlesLocal 320 in Minnesota’s Twin Cities represents pub-lic-sector workers and has successfully signed upnearly 90 percent of the workers to recommit theirmembership. The campaign, begun in 2015, hasbrought stability to the members and to the local.

“Our volunteer member organizers and stewardshave made contact with as many members as possi-ble,” said Brian Aldes, Local 320 Secretary-Treasurer.“We have educated members through our website,social media and our ‘action alert’ system and put outinformation about the Janus case and its impact onworkers and the local union.”

The case, Janus v. American Federation of State,

County and Municipal Employees, deals with an Illi-nois state government employee who doesn’t want topay fair-share fees covering contract bargaining andrepresentation activities allowed as part of the 1947Taft-Hartley Act.

The case is expected to touch on many of thesame issues raised in another case, Friedrichs v. Cali-fornia Teachers Association, where the SupremeCourt was largely expected to side with plaintiffs lastyear. However, the court ultimately deadlocked on thecase after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia left thecourt with only eight members.

Local 320 is also continuing to reach out to its fair-share members, is conducting monthly new-memberorientation programs at the local and is hosting right-to-work trainings across the state.

“We have all kinds of programs that we’re puttinginto place to make sure we’re organized from the in-side,” said Aldes, who noted that the local is also fo-cusing on 2018 because it’s such an importantelection year in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, the Public Services Division’s nationalPower-Building Plan is assisting locals in contactingand communicating with all fair-share payers acrossthe country.

Local 117 in Seattle is also preparing for the Janusdecision.

“We’ve got a 9,000-member internal organizingcampaign that we’re running,” said John Scearcy,Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer. “We set up a websitefor the campaign that has an online pledge form,member stories, information about Janus and who isbacking the case, and resources. We’re out in thefield talking with members, training member leaders,distributing commitment cards and other activities.”

Sara Parcells, a building and grounds worker atthe University of Minnesota, is one of the memberswho recommitted her membership to Local 320. Shehas worked at the university for 16 years.

“Being a Teamster is very important for my fam-ily,” said Parcells, a single mother with two children,12 and 7. “It’s my livelihood. It’s what helps me get agood paycheck and benefits. Health care is very im-portant for my family.”



Bargaining for the UPS andUPS Freight national agree-ments has begun.

“As we move forward with ne-gotiations, a major focus is keep-ing our members informed everystep of the way,” said Denis Taylor,Director of the Teamsters PackageDivision. “We will also be reachingout to our members for their input

and help as we all work together tonegotiate the strongest contracts.”

As the union’s largest single-employer contract, a number ofunion departments are assistingnegotiators, including Economicsand Contracts, Communications,Legal and the Package Division.

The union had previously col-lected member recommendations

from contract proposal meetingsat local unions. For UPS, this in-volved proposals for the NationalMaster Agreement (NMA) as wellas the regional supplementalagreements to the NMA.

Once the proposals were re-ceived, division staff sorted themby article and section. The initialproposals were then reviewed bythe UPS and UPS Freight NationalNegotiating Screening Committeeson Sept. 25, 2017. The results ofthe screening were then presentedat the Two-Person Committee, acontract proposal review meetingwith two representatives fromeach UPS and UPS Freight localunion, on Oct. 17, 2017 in Wash-ington, D.C.

Both the UPS and UPS Freightcommittees voted unanimously infavor of presenting proposals tothe employers.

The proposals address a widerange of issues, including: the con-tinuing harassment of employees;chronic under-staffing and forced

UPS and UPS Freight National Negotiations

National Talks Kick Off

46675_Mag_Teamster_SPRING_2018_X.qxp_Layout 1 1/23/18 3:18 PM


overtime; subcontracting; safetyand health; and the increasing vol-ume of overweight and oversizedpackages. Economic issues thatwill be addressed are starting:wages for part-time employees’pension; and health and welfare.

All of the UPS Supplemental

Committees have met with UPS onmultiple dates.

Negotiations for the UPS andUPS Freight contracts began on Jan.22, 2018 and seven weeks of talkshave been scheduled through April.Additional meetings will be sched-uled as the negotiations proceed.

Grievance Panels The 2017 National UPS GrievancePanel meetings were held in Min-neapolis in June and in Seattle inOctober. Local unions continue totake on subcontracting and under-staffing through the grievance pro-cedure and the division has 24cases heading to arbitration.

The National UPS Freight Griev-ance Committee also met in Juneand October. From the cases thathave deadlocked at the nationalpanel, there have been several ar-bitrations scheduled, starting withLocal 776 on subcontracting is-sues. The arbitration was sched-

uled to have four different casesheard as one. However, the divi-sion was able to resolve the arbi-tration and create four full-timejobs out of the Harrisburg, Pa. loca-tion. The division has also arbi-trated a vacation pay case at theMemphis location.

The next scheduled arbitrationtook place November 28 and itdealt with the language in Article44 (subcontracting) as to whetherfull-time road drivers are to work intheir classification prior to the com-pany subcontracting bargainingunit work on any given day.

CSIUPS Cartage Services held itssemi-annual economic review onSeptember 28. The union gainedseven new full-time jobs through a restructuring of the network inthe South and expansion of union-covered territory.

Issues Facing Local UnionsUPS has announced and is imple-menting a new classificationknown as Seasonal Personal Vehi-cle Driver (SPVD). While seasonaldrivers have been hired for years,these drivers will be using theirpersonal vehicles to deliver. Usedmostly in rural areas, the driverswill work under the contract andbe paid mileage for the use of theirvehicle. The division has sent let-ters to UPS both nationally and regionally, protesting this programas a violation of the contract and a unilateral change. An extensiveinformation request was made inconjunction with the protest.

Moving ForwardAs national negotiations begin, theunion’s negotiating team will becalling upon you, the membersworking at UPS and UPS Freight,to help win a strong contract.

Get Involved – Stay InformedDownload the UPS Rising app by searching “UPS Rising” in the App Storeor Google Play. You can also follow the campaign at www.upsrising.org, onFacebook @TeamUPSrising or on Twitter @UPSrising. Text “UPS” to 86466to receive text message alerts. (Message and data rates may apply.)

Package Division Director Denis Taylor talks with a member.

46675_Mag_Teamster_SPRING_2018_X.qxp_Layout 1 1/23/18 3:18 PM

The amount of elections held last November inthe U.S. may have been small in number, butthey supplied some big wins to pro-worker can-

didates backed by the Teamsters.From New Jersey and Virginia in the East to

Washington out West, voters on Nov. 7 took a standagainst those pushing policies that put big businessahead of the people. Instead, they sided with candi-dates who stood up to corporate greed and wanted agovernment that rewards those who toil hard eachday by making sure fair wages and access to healthcare are ensured.

The Teamsters played a role in getting these newlawmakers elected.

New JerseyIn New Jersey, forexample, four lost-time Teamstersperformed work-site visits in sup-port of victoriousgubernatorial can-didate Phil Murphy.The TeamstersField Action andLegislative Department alsoworked closely with locals in the state to organize arally before a labor audience the weekend before theelection for Murphy that Teamster General PresidentJim Hoffa attended.

Fred Potter, International Vice President and Presi-dent of Local 469, said after eight years of anti-unionGov. Chris Christie (R), the state’s membership wasready for a change. “They looked at Phil Murphy asan outsider who will deliver as promised to help theeconomy,” Potter said. “He understands that work-ing people need a union and have rights. And he re-

spects those rights.” Al Rispoli, President of Joint Council 73 and Secre-

tary-Treasurer of Local 863, said the Teamsters cameout in support of Murphy in late 2016 because of hisstrong stance against right to work and the misclas-sification of drivers. “We need to get jobs back in Jer-sey and increase employment here,” Rispoli said. “Heunderstood that.”

Thanks to Teamster efforts, both Potter andRispoli were part of the new governor’s transitionteam. Potter served on the transportation commit-tee, while Rispoli was a member of the labor andworkforce development committee.

The impressive turnout by Teamsters at the pre-election rally gave a real indication of Murphy’s popu-larity among the union’s membership in New Jersey.In all, lost timers made 150 worksite visits to recruitfor the rally, persuade potential undecided voters andget out the vote. Teamsters also sent three waves ofmore than 30,000 mail pieces and did three robocallssupporting Murphy.

VirginiaIn Virginia, four local unions with a significant numberof members in the state supplied lost-time workersbeginning in early October. They performed 87 work-site visits in the Norfolk, Richmond and Northern Virginia areas, where they were able to register mem-

Election Results are a



bers to vote, persuade undecided members and getout the vote for both statewide and down-ticket races.

Mike Krenik, political coordinator for Joint Council83 and a Vice President of Local 101, said the key tothe Teamsters’ success was getting out and beingseen. “It was a good ground game,” he said. “Wespent a lot of time getting the word out with ourmembers and with fliers. People said they were get-ting sick of seeing us. It’s a good ground game thatwins elections.”

The Teamsters sent three waves of more than6,300 mail pieces to support victorious gubernatorialcandidate Ralph Northam, lieutenant governor candi-date Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Her-ring. The union also did three robocalls supporting thetop of the ticket as well as a round of paid get-out-the-vote calls in the days leading up to Election Day.

Washington StateAnd in Washington state, not only did the Teamstershelp elect Manka Dhingra in a crucial state Senaterace to flip the chamber from Republican to Democ-rat, but nine rank-and-file Teamsters were alsoelected to local office across the state.

In an effort to combat anti-working-family policyinitiatives coming from hostile legislators and right-wing groups like Washington’s Freedom Foundation,Teamster locals in the state banded together to de-velop training programs and campaign infrastructureto help their members win.

During the 2017 election cycle, Teamster leaders,staff and members contributed their time, financialresources and made hundreds of calls and visits toother union households at the doors to help getTeamster candidates over the finish line.

Newly elected Teamster candidates included:

• Anne Backstrom, Silver Lake Water and Sewer District;

• Kelly Frazier, Mason Fire Protection District 11 Commissioner;

• Michelle Gehring, Orting City Council;

• Leonard Kelley, Mayor of Stanwood;

• Dana Ralph, Mayor of Kent;

• John Resha, Lake Forest Park City Council;

• Pedro Olguin, Burien City Council;

• Stephanie Shook, Edgewood City Council; and

• Shanna Styron Sherrell, Mayor of Milton.

Making change happen means getting involved inthe process and supporting candidates who back poli-cies that help working families. November’s resultsshow what can happen when workers shows up at thepolls. That’s a model they need to follow every year.

Win for Workers


Abus yard in Landover, Md., on the outskirts ofWashington, D.C., isn’t typically a place you thinkof when it comes to fun for the whole family. On a

recent autumn day, however, excitement was in the air. Local 922 bus drivers for the Washington Metro-

politan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) were com-peting in the annual bus Roadeo, a competitionwhere bus drivers test their speed and agility bydriving through an obstacle course in front of a liveaudience.Teamsters have a decades-long winningstreak in the competition.

“Anybody can compete, as long as you’re part ofWMATA,” said Local 922 President Isiah Bryant Jr.“We’re here to win.”

Local 922 only represents one bus yard in theWMATA system—the Landover yard where the con-test was held. Still, in a competition where driversfrom some of the other yards are careening into theorange barrels at the end of the course like a bowl-

ing ball knocking over pins, it’sclear to everyone that the Team-sters represent the best bus driv-ers in the area.

“It’s not even a competition!”said Stephen Zuniga, a fleet ser-vicer and Local 922 member. “Lan-dover already won. Cancel the restof the event!”

WMATA TeamstersOne of the best drivers on thecourse is Kenny Lee, a 26-year vet-eran that was given the nickname“the General” by his co-workers.

“They call me that because theylike the way I dispatch the buses

and interact with my co-workers andthe maintenance crew,” Lee said. “We

all have good relationships, so one day they just de-cided I was the General. I’m looking forward to be-coming the commander.”

Lee has been competing since 2003, and he wonfirst place last year. He first became a bus driver at 23,but he’s known that he wanted to drive buses forWMATA for quite some time.

“When I was about four, five years old, mymother used to see me holding a basket, and I wouldturn it around like a steering wheel,” Lee said. “Sheused to always say, ‘You’re going to be a bus driverwhen you get older!’ and I always kept that in theback in my mind. I look at my career, and I feel veryhappy with what I’ve accomplished over the courseof 26 years.”

Kevin Harrington is a bus operator, utility clerk andline instructor with seven years of service. It was hisfirst time competing in the Roadeo.

A T B U S R O A D E O , D . C . T E A M S T E R S S T E E R A W A Y T H E C O M P E T I T I O N



“How do I think I did? Well, I definitely showedthem how to pick up all those orange cones,” Harring-ton said jokingly. “It’s a lot more difficult than it looks,but it’s a lot of fun. That’s the main thing.”

Difficult JobBeing a bus driver in any city is a stressful job, andWashington, D.C. is no exception. Bus drivers are con-stantly under pressure to be on time, and they dealwith unpredictable challenges on the road related totraffic, weather and pedestrians. Sometimes they areeven confronted with hostile passengers.

“It’s challenging and different every day, younever know what to expect. It’s not for everyone,”Harrington said. “Safety of the operators is a bigconcern. There’s a big issue with whether or notWMATA is providing us sufficient enough protection.Times are changing, people are changing. Unfortu-nately, not everyone appreciates WMATA drivers asmuch as the Teamsters do. There are some thingsthat we feel need to be done. With us, it’s not allabout salary or benefits when it comes to labor ne-gotiations. We want safe buses, and we want to beable to contribute to policies and procedures regard-ing safety that affect us.”

Harrington noted that his safety concerns madehim happy he was a Local 922 member.

“That’s why I love being a Teamster and I supportmy union,” Harrington said. “It’s important to haverepresentation, and more industries need to have rep-resentation. You always know that somebody hasyour back, that’s important.”

Local 922 FamilySafety concerns weren’t the only issues faced byWMATA Teamsters. Bryant mentioned that he wasconstantly pushing back on WMATA management on awhole host of other issues: proper staffing, maintainingdefined benefit pension plans, and saying no to con-cessions at the bargaining table are all things that Local922 is working hard to do for its membership.

“A lot of companies these days, they have thismentality that they can just bring someone in, usethem up, get rid of them, hire someone else at alower wage and do it all over again,” Bryant said.“That’s what we’re trying to prevent. We’re trying tomake sure all the members here are treated fairly andmaking a good living.”

By the end of the afternoon, it was clear that theworkers of the Landover yard embody the Teamsterspirit of taking pride in the work that you do. A Team-ster driver took first place: Robert Miles, a Local 922driver that’s been with WMATA for 39 years, will beheaded to the national Roadeo this May in Tampa,Fla. Miles is a legend in Landover: he had previouslytaken first place 25 times in a row. Kenny “the Gen-eral” Lee took second place, and another Local 922-member, Michael Lee, took third.

Whether the drivers had competed for the first timeor more than a dozen times, it was clear that the Lan-dover yard’s solidarity was on display in a big way.

“Landover brought it home this year!” said AnitaGardner, a Local 922 WMATA Driver. “I’m excited tobe a part of Local 922, this is like home for me.Everyone treats each other with courtesy andrespect. It’s like family.”



Iowa’s Republican-led government made it a priorityearlier this year to limit the ability of unionized pub-lic sector workers in the state to collectively bargain.

But state lawmakers quickly learned that hardworkingpublic servants weren’t going to back down from thisfight.

After a new law was enacted in February, workersin October were forced to revote on whether to re-main in their union. The odds were stacked up againstorganized labor. A majority of workers in each unitneeded to vote “yes” – non-voters would be countedas a “no” vote due to the ridiculously undemocraticsupermajority rules in place. But when it came time tocast their ballots, Teamsters made it clear that theyare proud to be members of the union family!

Local 238 ran 69 state-sponsored recertificationelections for 2,200 bargaining unit members in Octo-ber. Of the 1,888 members who voted, 1,828 voted toremain with the Teamsters. You read that right – 97percent of them voted yes! As a result, only 44 dues-paying members were included in units that didn’tachieve the required supermajority.

“We looked at it as an opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with our members on how the po-litical process effects them and their communities,”said Jesse Case, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 238. “Itwas an opportunity to educate our membership anddiscuss not only what the legislature was doing to col-lective bargaining, but to their families at home.

Most Remain UnionOther unions were also successful in their efforts. TheIowa Public Employment Relations Board reported

that 436 out of 468 public-sector bargaining unitsstatewide voted to remain union affiliated. Some 88percent of members participated in the votes. In theend, this entire effort approved by Iowa’s GOP leader-ship was nothing more than a colossal waste of tax-payer dollars spent to tally up these election resultsand will continue to be so.

Given the roadblocks constructed by anti-unionelected officials in the state, the results were over-whelmingly positive. Teamster members and staffwho worked for months to build solidarity and mo-mentum across the board should be proud of their ef-forts.

So how did such a successful campaign happen?One word – organizing. From the workplace to theunion’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Team-sters got involved to let Iowa public sector membersknow about the effects of this lousy law.

Education ProcessSara Burroughs, a correctional officer with the Musca-tine County Sheriff’s Department, said once her 30 co-workers learned about what the legislature was tryingto do, they knew what had to be done. She joinedwith shop steward Nick Doy to lead the initial educa-tion process there.

“We wanted people to understand that is was soimportant for them, that if they wanted to vote yesthey needed to cast that yes vote,” she said. “Mostpeople got on Nick’s computer immediately and casta vote, so we had a good grasp of what people werevoting and not voting. If people were confused, wehelped them.”

PUBLIC SECTOR TEAMSTERS STAND UP TO ANTI-UNION EFFORTS

VICTORIES IN IOWA



The law that led to these recertification votes wasan attack on working families, and hardworkingIowans knew it. Imagine if these annual recertificationrules applied to elected officials? No one would reachthe threshold and get elected!

Iowa Teamsters, whose members include manyworking in law enforcement, were active in the effortto defeat this legislation. Despite the inclusion of lan-guage that would have exempted public safety em-ployees from certain provisions of the legislation, theunion refused to back down in its opposition to ameasure that would affect more than 180,000 publicservice workers.

The Teamsters stood up against these anti-unionactions because they understood what was at stake.

Teamster PowerVoting yes was the first step in fighting back against alarger attack on working families in Iowa. Teamstermembers realized the attack on bargaining rightswas part of an overall agenda that includes cuts incommunity colleges and universities, nursinghome inspections, workers’ compensationbenefits, veterans’ home ownership as-sistance and funding for child abuseinvestigations.

Hardworking Iowans knewthe jobs they did were es-sential to keep their citiesand towns running, andvoted yes to keep theirunions strong. They under-stood that supporting their

union would ensure workers would have a voice onthe job, protect their rights and allow them to bargainfor their benefits. Voting yes would allow workers andtheir families to maintain their dignity.

Workers in Iowa are tuning in more than ever tothe reality that big corporate interests have a legisla-tive agenda that hurts working families. But Teamstermembers are ready to fight back, organizing theirworkplaces and are ready for any future battles.

That’s what Teamster Power is all about.




IDO REPORT 5

REPORT TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

FROM: The Independent Disciplinary OfficersHon. Barbara S. JonesHon. Joseph E. diGenova

DATED: December 1, 2017

I. INTRODUCTIONThe following is Magazine Report 5 of the Independent

Disciplinary Officers (“IDO”) for 2017 regarding activities from Sep-tember 1, 2017 through December 1, 2017 conducted pursuant tothe Final Agreement and Order of February 17, 2015. This Reportprovides updates on three existing charges and one new charge.

II. PROGRESS OF EXISTING MATTERSA. ROME ALOISE, PRINCIPAL OFFICER OF LOCAL 853, SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA, INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT OF JOINT COUNCIL 7

On February 10, 2016, the Independent Review Board(“IRB”) issued a Report to the IBT General Executive Board recom-mending that charges be filed against Rome Aloise (“Aloise”), an International Vice President, President of Joint Council 7, andprincipal officer of Local 853. The first charge that the IRB recom-mended be filed against Aloise was for requesting and receivingthings of value from IBT employers in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 186(b)and Article XIX, Section 7(b)(2), (11) and (13) of the IBT Constitution.It also recommended that Aloise be charged with violating ArticleXIX, Section 7(b)(1) and (2) and Article XIV, Section 3 of the IBT Constitution, violating Article IV, Section 6 of the Local 853 Bylaws,and bringing reproach upon the IBT, in violation of Article II, Section2(a) of the IBT Constitution, for allowing an ineligible person to obtain membership and entering into sham collective bargainingagreements with The GrandFund. It was also recommended thatAloise be charged with bringing reproach upon the IBT through apattern of misconduct designed to prevent a fair officer election inLocal 601, including using union resources to support a candidateand subvert her opponents in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 481(g); attempting to deny members’ LMRDA rights to free speech, to sueand to fair hearings; and breaching his fiduciary duties under 29U.S.C. § 501(a).

On February 23, 2016, General President Hoffa adoptedand filed the charges. On June 3, 2016, the Independent ReviewOfficer (“IRO”) received a letter on behalf of the IBT stating that itwas suspending the scheduled hearing on charges against Aloise

indefinitely. The IRO found inadequate in the circumstances theUnion’s actions. The IRO directed the Union to complete a hearingand submit written findings to the IRO no later than September15, 2016.

In an August 5, 2016 letter, the Union stated it would notconvene a hearing on the Aloise charges. On August 9, 2016, theIRO sent a notice scheduling a de novo hearing for October 11,2016. On September 15, 2016, counsel for Aloise represented to the IRO that for health reasons he was not available for the October 11, 2016 hearing. On September 27, 2016, the IRO grantedan adjournment of the hearing until November 30 because of counsel’s health issue. On October 11, 2017, the IRO, Benjamin R.Civiletti, submitted his resignation, for medical reasons, to USDCJudge Loretta A. Preska. On December 16, 2016, the HonorableBarbara S. Jones (Ret.) was appointed the new IRO.

On January 11, 2017, the IRO scheduled a de novo hear-ing. The hearing was held in San Francisco, California on March 14and 16, 2017. The IIO filed his post-hearing brief on May 8, 2017.Aloise filed his post-hearing brief on June 16, 2017, and the IIOreplied on June 30, 2017.

On October 24, 2017, the IRO issued a 60-page opinionfinding that the evidence supported the charges against Aloise,and that Aloise brought reproach upon the union. She directed theIIO and Aloise, respectively, to submit memoranda regarding theappropriate discipline for Aloise.

On November 13, 2017, the IIO submitted his memoran-dum. Aloise’s memorandum regarding the appropriate sanction iscurrently due Friday, December 1, 2017, the date of this Report.Following briefing, the IRO will issue a decision. Pursuant to theFinal Order, Paragraph 35, the IRO’s decision will be “final and bind-ing and shall not be subject to further review under the IBT Consti-tution or to judicial review by [the] Court” other than as availableunder the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of1959 (“LMRDA”).

B. WILLIAM C. SMITH, III, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE IBT GENERAL PRESIDENT

On November 17, 2016, the IIO recommended to the General President that a charge be filed against IBT member and employee, William C. Smith, III (“Smith”), Executive Assistant to theGeneral President, principal officer of Local 891 and Secretary-Trea-surer of Joint Council 87, for accepting a thing of value from an em-ployer of IBT members in violation of federal law, 29 U.S.C. § 186 (b),the permanent injunction in United States v. International Brother-hood of Teamsters, and the IBT Constitution, Article XIX, Sections7(b)(2), (11) and (13). The report alleged that in January 2013, dur-ing contract negotiations between a local and an IBT employer inwhich International Vice President Aloise was participating, Aloisesolicited the IBT employer to obtain admissions for Smith and his



companions to an exclusive non-public Super Bowl party in NewOrleans. These party admissions were things of value worthat least $1,000 each. Smith allegedly knew that Aloise re-quested the IBT employer to obtain the admissions for him.Smith received and used the admissions that the IBT employerobtained for him. The charge report alleged that Smith violated 29U.S.C. § 186(b), which prohibits an IBT employee from solicitingand receiving a thing of value from an IBT employer, and commit-ted an act of racketeering in violation of the permanent injunc-tion in the Consent Order.

On November 30, 2016, the IBT General Presidentadopted and filed the Charge. On January 10, 2017, the IBT Gen-eral Counsel requested a 90-day extension. On January 17, 2017,the IRO granted an extension to May 19, 2017. On March 21, 2017,the IBT held a hearing of the Charge.

On May 16, 2017, the IBT Hearing Panel found that thepreponderance of the reliable evidence did not support the Chargeagainst Smith and recommended it be dismissed, based on thePanel’s conclusion that Smith did not believe the party admissionshad value because he believed they were “promotional items.”

On May 17, 2017, the General President adopted thePanel’s findings and conclusions and reissued its recommendationas a decision (“Decision”) of the General President.

On June 23, 2017, the IRO notified the General Presidentthat she found his decision to be inadequate for three reasons: (i) the Decision failed to adequately consider the proper legal stan-dard (reasonable doubt versus preponderance of the evidence); (ii) the Decision failed to adequately consider that Smith knew the admissions were obtained through an IBT employer; and (iii) the Decision failed to adequately consider that “promotional items”may be “things of value” under Section 186 and the IBT Constitution.

On June 27, 2017, in light of the IRO’s finding, the GeneralPresident remanded the matter to the Hearing Panel. On July 25, the General President adopted as his own the Panel’s conclusion onreconsideration that “it has not been shown by a preponderance ofreliable evidence that Brother Smith acted ‘knowingly and willfully’as opposed to because of ‘mistake, accident or inadvertence’” whenhe attended the Super Bowl Party in 2013. Accordingly, the GeneralPresident stood by the conclusion that the charge should be dismissed.

On August 22, 2017, the IRO notified the General Presi-dent that in light of the deficiencies she identified in her June 22letter, the July 25 Hearing Panel recommendation he adoptedfailed to remedy those deficiencies.

The IRO conducted a de novo hearing on the Charge onNovember 8, 2017, in Arlington, Virginia. The IRO ordered the IIOand counsel for Smith to submit post-hearing briefs (regarding bothliability and any recommended sanction, should she find a viola-tion) by no later than December 15 and December 25, respectively,with the IIO’s reply brief due on January 5.

C. FORMER JOINT COUNCIL 25 PRESIDENT AND LOCAL 727 SECRETARY TREASURER JOHN T. COLI, SR.

On August 10, 2017, pursuant to Paragraphs 30 and 31 of the Final Agreement and Order, the IIO recommended to theGeneral President that a charge be filed against former Joint Coun-cil 25 President and Local 727 Secretary Treasurer John T. Coli, Sr.(“Coli”) for violating the IBT Constitution, Article XIX, Sections 7(b)(1), (2) and (14)(a), for unreasonably failing to cooperate with the IIOby refusing to appear for his sworn examination on July 28, 2017.Among the matters about which the IIO intended to question Coliwere his interactions with employees of vendors to the union andunion funds and allegations of his having received things of valuefrom an IBT employer as reflected in a federal indictment for violat-ing 18 U.S.C. § 1951 and 29 U.S.C. § 186. Coli also would havebeen questioned about other union matters, including the awardingof contracts to fund service providers and the funds’ and theunion’s employment of his relatives.

The IIO recommended to the General President that Colibe charged with bringing reproach upon the IBT and violating Arti-cle II, Section 2(a) and Article XIX, Sections 7(b) (1), (2), and 14(a) ofthe IBT Constitution by obstructing, interfering and unreasonablyfailing to cooperate with the duties of the IIO as set forth in theFinal Agreement and Order.

The General President filed internal union chargesagainst Coli on August 17, 2017. On October 24, 2017, the IROgranted the IBT’s request for additional time to render a deci-sion. A hearing on the charges is scheduled for December 11,2017 in Rosemont, IL.

III. NEW MATTERSA. FORMER LOCAL 831 MEMBER ANTHONY CASTELLE

On September 8, 2017, pursuant to Paragraphs 30 and 31 of the Final Agreement and Order, the IIO recommended to theGeneral President that charges be filed against former Local 831member Anthony Castelle for violating the IBT Constitution, ArticleII and Article XIX, Sections 7(b)(1), (2), (9) and (14)(a) by being amember of Organized Crime, and by unreasonably failing to cooper-ate with the IIO.

The IIO’s investigative report included a Declaration froma Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) Special Agent whichstated that in the FBI’s expert opinion Castelle is a member of theLuchese Organized Crime Family. The IIO’s investigative report fur-ther detailed that he had properly noticed a sworn examination ofCastelle pursuant to IIO Rules, Paragraph B (2) (b), for June 18,2017. At that examination, Castelle would have been questionedabout his associations with and membership in an Organized Crimefamily. Castelle failed to appear as scheduled. Castelle’s attorneylater faxed a letter to the IIO’s office stating that Castelle had been

IDO REPORT 5



too ill to appear for his sworn examination that day. A secondsworn examination was scheduled for August 2, 2017. On August2, 2017, Castelle appeared for the examination, but after approxi-mately five minutes, Castelle refused to answer further questions.On August 31, 2017, Castelle resigned from the IBT.

On September 13, the General President adopted andfiled the charges. Following past practice under the Consent De-cree, under which the IBT referred charges alleging associationwith Organized Crime back to the IRB for adjudication without firstconducting its own internal hearing, the General President referredthe charges against Castelle to the IDO for adjudication. A hearingis pending before the IRO at a date to be determined.

IV. TOLL-FREE HOTLINEThe IDO hotline has received approximately 42 calls since

September 1, 2017, reporting alleged improprieties. Activitieswhich should be reported for investigation include, but are not lim-ited to, association with organized crime, corruption, racketeering,embezzlement, extortion, assault, or failure to investigate any ofthese.

To ensure that all calls are treated confidentially,the system which records hotline calls is located in a secure area on a dedicated line in the Independent Investigations Office and accessed only by an Investigator. Please continue to use the toll-free hotline to report improprieties which fall within IIO jurisdictionby calling 1-800-CALL-472 (800-225-5472). If you are calling fromwithin New York, NY, dial 212-600-1606.

IV. CONCLUSION The task of the IDO is to ensure that the goals of the

Final Agreement and Order are fulfilled. In doing so, it is our desireto keep the IBT membership fully informed about our activiti-esthrough these reports. If you have any information concerning allegations of wrongdoing or corruption, you may call the toll-freehotline number, or write to the Independent Investigations OfficerHon. Joseph E. diGenova for all investigations at the following IIOoffice address:

Hon. Joseph E. diGenovaOffice of the Independent Investigations Officer17 Battery Place, Suite #331New York, NY 10004

IDO REPORT 5


Visit the TEAMSTERS UNION ONLINE

Teamster.org is the union’s main website, but you can also visit your union on theTeamster Nation Blog and on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Visit the Teamsters Union online to:

• Sign Petitions• Support Strikers• See Other Teamster News and Photos

Visit the Blog: Stay informed about your union at teamster.org/blog.

Listen to the Podcast: Available at Teamster.org/podcast.

Follow the Teamsters on Twitter and Instagram, and Like the Teamsters on Facebook

Get up-to-the-minute updates about the Teamsters Union on Social Media.


James R. HoffaMemorial Scholarship Fund

For the sons, daughters and financial dependents of Teamstermembers. Academic scholarships range from $1,000 to $10,000for high school seniors planning to attend a four-year collegeor university and training/vocational program awards of up to$2,000 for use at community colleges and trade schools.

A new and improved online application process can be foundon the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund’s website:www.jrhmsf.org

Academic and Vocational/TrainingScholarships for 2018

The Power of Education

Application deadlineis March 31, 2018.Apply today!

www.jrhmsf.org


March Toward Justice - Teamsters Local 350

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