The House has passed a bill that bans the Mexican Truck pilot program by Sept. 6. It also prohibits the transportation secretary from granting authority to any Mexican trucks beyond the commercial zone, unless specifically authorized by Congress. The bill passed unanimously by a voice vote.  PR Newswire has the story.
      However, acting on the first day of Congress' summer recess, the Bush administration has announced that it is extending the pilot program, infuriating Democrats.  This from the Washington Times.
     These and other stories concerning the Bush administration's relationship with labor can be found on the Bush Watch page.

      UPS has reached a tentative agreement with  Teamsters Local 705 on a new contract covering roughly 11,000 drivers, package handlers and other part-time and full-time workers just hours ahead of a strike deadline, the parties said.  The Chicago Sun Times breaks the news.

      UPS members of Teamsters Local 705, the second-largest local union in the country with about 11,000 members, authorized July 20 a strike effective Aug. 1.   Steve Pocztowski, secretary treasurer for the Local 705, said his group gave UPS a proposal June 9, and UPS has done nothing to make a deal. The strike vote was nearly 93 percent in favor.  Gatehouse News Service has the story and Labor Beat provides video of the event.

       Not everyone is happy about the proposed UPS-DHL agreement which is still being negotiated.   The union representing pilots at ASTAR Air Cargo has filed suit against DHL over the express carrier's plans to turn its U.S. air transport business over to UPS.  Air Cargo World has the story.
      The Dayton Daily News reports that Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and a team of statewide political leaders said they're keeping the pressure on in trying to stop DHL from turning over its domestic air cargo operation in Wilmington to UPS. 
     A former UPS employee is burning up the blogs, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after participating in a picket line of DHL pilots at the company's corporate headquarters, then quitting his job last week.
     The video below shows the ASTAR/DHL pilots  picketing  in Atlanta along with other protest information.

    DHL, the struggling U.S.-based express shipping unit of German postal service Deutsche Post, is working on a deal with UPS to carry some of its air packages.  The agreement is expected to last up to 10 years and covers express, deferred and international packages, but not freight. UPS also will transport DHL air packages between the United States, Canada and Mexico.  The Associated Press provides details.

     Nine days after their four-year contract expired, about 100 concrete truck drivers, members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 294, have struck for the first time since 2000, hinging on wage and pension contribution issues.  The Schenectady Gazette has more.

     Charles Bentley, a former Secretary-Treasurer of Local 294 in the 1980's, has passed away.  His obituary has been posted via the Times Union.

       The IRB has urged the takeover of  Chicago Teamsters Local 714, claiming its leaders allowed sham contracts and steered lucrative movie industry jobs in Chicago to relatives.  This story comes from TDU.  TDU also reports that Local 714 Secretary-Treasurer Bobby Hogan has been charged individually as well by the IRB.

      In four months, more than 11,000 UPS Freight drivers and dockworkers in 40 states have signed cards to become Teamsters, the largest organizing victory in the freight industry in 25 years.    PR Newswire has the update.

    The Teamsters union has announced that 9,900 workers at UPS Freight have ratified a five-year contract with UPS that also makes them members of the union.  This report is via Charleston Gazette.

   A majority of nearly 130 workers at the UPS Freight  terminals in Syracuse, Albany (under Local 294) and Binghamton, in New York, and a terminal in Stockton, California have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, bringing the total number of drivers and dockworkers seeking to join the union to about 5,830 since January 16.  PR Newswire continues its coverage.

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