The
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 51 Pension Fund, a shareholder of FedEx Corp
since 2000, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District
of Tennessee against the package delivery company's board alleging the directors
exposed the company to damages by misclassifying employees as contractors.
A FedEx spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous. Reuters
explains.
In
a just filed brief, FedEx Home Delivery is requesting a review of a
National Labor Relations Board determination that drivers at two
Massachusetts terminals are
employees and not "contractors" as contended by FedEx. PR
Newswire has more.
FedEx
has disclosed
in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was
facing taxes and penalties of more than $319 million
for 2002 related to an IRS ruling regarding the classification of
independent contractors at its FedEx Ground unit. The NY
Times has the report and the IBT has released Jim
Hoffa's reaction to the announcement.
FedEx Home Delivery has agreed
to pay five former and present drivers a total $253,000 to settle a
series of unfair labor charges brought by the National Labor Relations
Board against the company. PR
Newswire has the
update.
FedEx sought to thwart a Teamsters organizing drive in Northborough,
Massachusetts by firing four workers who showed interest in the union,
the National Labor Relations Board said in a complaint. Bloomberg
and PR
Newswire carry this story.
Unions
should be required to make public more details of their internal finances,
according to the
Labor Department, as it proposed more detailed union disclosure forms and
penalizing small unions who get into trouble with the law by prohibiting them
from filing a simple form. This story is reprinted from the Associated
Press.
An article from the Las
Vegas Sun details a trend being
followed closely in strong union communities where businesses are moving to
improve relations with workers in anticipation of the Employee Free Choice Act.
It would for the first time in 60 years allow workers to organize without
putting the issue to a secret-ballot vote.
An
hour before the contract was due to expire, Local 294 approved a new three-year
agreement with Sysco and the contract was ratified by members by close to a
three-to-one margin during an expedited voting session. The Albany
Times Union has the announcement.
Teamsters
at Sysco moved a step closer toward a possible work stoppage as members voted to
give the Local
294 executive board authorization to call a strike if need be. The Albany
Times Union continues its coverage.
While
May 1 is the expiration date for the previous three-year agreement at Sysco, Teamsters
Local 294 has agreed to extend the contract through May 7 as talks continue,
with health care costs being one of the top issues in the negotiations. The
Albany
Times Union has more details.
Unionized
workers at Sysco Food Service have agreed to continue working at least through May
7 as they seek to negotiate a new contract with the company. The current one
expires 05/01/08. Sysco, meanwhile, has been
advertising to hire replacement workers should members of Teamsters Local 294
choose to strike. The Albany
Times Union provides coverage.
A
report from the Wall
Street Journal claims thatSen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year
after privately telling the union he supported ending
the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to
officials from the union and the Obama campaign. The Teamsters
vigorously denied this as noted by the New
York Times.
Hillary Clinton told a meeting of Teamsters officials last
year that she was "open" to "looking at" reviewing the
strict federal oversight of the union, but stopped short of saying it should be
removed. This, again, is from the Wall
Street Journal.
For
those trying to understand the reasoning of the Teamsters (and other unions) in supporting Barack
Obama's candidacy, the video below detailing Hillary Clinton's years on the
board of Walmart may enlighten.
Saying
his position on trade makes a difference, and that it's time for the Democratic
presidential nomination race to end, the Change
to Win federation has also endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. Workday
Minnesota has the story.
Senator
Barack Obama has won the endorsement of the Teamsters Union for his presidential
bid. "There was very, very strong support for him" among the
union's members, James P. Hoffa, president of the 1.4-million member union, said
in an interview with The
Associated Press.
Senate Democrats have spared FedEx, for the time being, from language being
placed in the labor-backed
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill being debated on the
Senate floor that would make it easier for unions to organize workers at FedEx,
giving a big boost to its rival, UPS. The
Hill has the story.
The New York Teamsters Conference Pension & Retirement Fund has
mailed a notice
to participants
informing them that the Fund is expected to be 76% funded in 2008 which places
it in the newly government-created category of "endangered". The
result of this is that the Fund is now required to adopt a "Funding
Improvement Plan".
Teamsters
Central States Pension Fund is in “critical
status” with a funding level in the so-called "red zone,” less than
four months after receiving a $6.1 billion payment from UPS, that raised assets
to $26.8 billion. Pension
and Investments Online has more.
The
Teamsters Central States Pension Fund has hired Mellon to manage a
$5.4 billion S&P 500 index fund as part of the plan’s allocation of the
$6.1 billion payment made by Atlanta-based United Parcel Service to withdraw
from the pension fund. The UPS payment raises the Central States fund to $26.8
billion in assets. Pension
and Investments Online has the details.
UPS
saw its first-quarter revenue and profit rise, but
it noted a sharp decline in the U.S. economy and has cut its guidance for the
second quarter. The company had net income of $906 million and
earnings of 87 cents a share on $12.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter.
This compares with net income of $843 million and earnings of 78 cents a share
on $11.9 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2007. Total daily
volume remained flat but domestic ground increased .3%. Business
Wire has the announcement and financials.
General President Hoffa has announced that Philadelphia
Local 107 President William Hamilton has been appointed to the General Executive
Board as an International Vice President for the Eastern Region replacing the
ousted Frank Gillen.
PR Newswire has this story.
As
you may have noticed, we have done a site upgrade in order to streamline some of
the features
and information as well as address concerns over slowness of page loading.
Hopefully these areas have been improved as some of the unnecessary "bells
and whistles" have been eliminated. We have also done away with the
Editorial Page but added a better menu system and a new Co294 Survey.
Please look over the "new" Co294 and if you have any comments or
notice any problems, drop us an email.
The
2007 LM-2 reports for the International and member locals have been posted on
the Department
of Labor web
site. We now have PDF versions of these reports for Local
294, JC-18,
and the IBT.
We have also updated the "At a glance" windows for the Local
and the International.
All financial documents on this site can be found on the Finances
page.
UPS
has cut its first-quarter earnings forecast because of higher fuel costs, a
weakening U.S.
economy and reduced domestic package volume. The company lowered
its first-quarter earnings expectations to 86 or 87 cents per share, compared
with a previously anticipated range of 94 to 98 cents a share. Analysts
polled by Thomson Financial, on average, were expecting earnings of 93 cents per
share. An article from the
Associated Press explains.