Teamster Leaders Will Identify Workers’ Concerns

August 12, 2008

Teamster carhaul members have voted to reject the proposed 2008-2011 National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement and all of its supplements.

Throughout the 2008-2011 contract negotiations, the union sought first and foremost to preserve and protect the members’ job security and job opportunities in an auto industry that is suffering from economic upheaval.

“The proposed agreement eliminated various restrictions so that our contracted employers could haul more cars, thereby providing additional job opportunities to our members and protecting their job security,” said Fred Zuckerman, Teamsters Carhaul Division Director. “However, our members have made it clear that they do not accept the proposal.”

“Now that the ballots have been counted and the contract has been rejected, we plan to speak to our members and our carhaul local union leaders to discuss the issues behind this defeat,” Zuckerman said. “We will get our members’ input on the issues that concern them. We understand that our members are worried and angry about the difficult economic conditions facing the auto and carhaul industries. We hope to resolve this contract without going on strike.”

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Review the preliminary vote returns

The Carhaul ballots are to be picked up and counted on Aug. 12th. Two of us from our Local will be observers at the ballot count. There are reports of ballots having been received by those who should not be voting, such as retired, resigned, discharged, or even dead. We need the names and locals of each of these types that members have solid first hand information about. Any ideas or suggestions to insure that the members get a fair and honest ballot count would be greatly appreciated.

Most members I have spoke with are fully aware of what is at stake, and are voting “NO”.  Times may be difficult for several reasons, but giving in or giving up all the proposals contained in the package our “Leaders” have tried to sell to us, won’t make times any better for rank and file members!  How many solid proposals submitted by the members to our “Leaders” have been advanced into proposed language changes?

Effective Leaders find a way, others find excuses. That is all we have heard since the first membership survey went out, and in every Carhaul Update since……excuses….. excuses!  While our Leaders are selling us a poor bag of goods, the employers are already planning their next move, should this can of worms is voted down. We need to be sure the members “NO” is heard loud and clear. Any changes made to our NMATA contract must be substantive and of “mutual” benefit. Many needed changes are LONG overdue such as, legal trip routing for every load. Corrective adjustments made when company is notified that a given route is shorted due to truck or weight restrictions. Simplify much of the ambiguous or confusing language. An agreed dictionary for the terminology and terms. Require that ALL panel and arbitration cases and decisions contain clear details as to why and how the matter was presented, argued and decided, then posting the results on line with a content “search” feature.  Since this won’t be done by our leaders, it must get done by the members…..get involved, get informed and get organized and focused and get busy!  I can honestly say that no organization can help do this better than TDU!  Your voice, your vote, your future!   PS…. vote “NO”!

TEAMSTERS

It has come to our attention that the list used in the current Carhaul Agreement ratification vote
was incomplete and that, as a result, a number of members employed by several companies did not
receive ballots. Ballots are now being mailed to them. Accordingly, so that those affected members
are afforded the opportunity to exercise their vote, the ratification period for all members has been
extended to Tuesday, August 12, 2008. This extension applies to all Carhaul members, including
those who have already received ballots and were not affected by the above-described issue. All
ballots, including those that have already been mailed in to the post office, will remain secure at the
post office and will not be collected until the close of the balloting period. Ballots must be received
at the Lanham, Maryland Post Office no later than 10 a.m. Eastern Time, August 12, 2008. The
ballot count will commence that day.
We are also extending duplicate-ballot requests through noon Eastern Time, Friday, August 1, 2008.
For contract information, visit www.teamster.org and click on “Carhaul Contract Update” button.

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I just saw the posting on the union website “Carhaul Members Voice Strong Support for Tentative Agreement”, and Loius Miller who is our BA and the local Vice President at Local 120 saying, “About 75 carhaulers attended meetings July 8 and 9 at Local 120 in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

“The members had lots of questions and concerns, but I think that after hearing the answers, they were very positive,”

I don’t know what meeting Louis was at but I can tell that things at these meetings were not very positive, in fact it was a total joke the way he is trying to sell this contract using the excuse that times are hard and this is the best we can do. He even tried to sell to us that this is the biggest raise that has been negotiated in a long time, around $2.70 over the three year term…..the catch……you won’t see it in your pocket, it all goes to the health and welfare fund. Let me just say the health and welfare fund doesn’t pay my bills or put gas in my car or food on the table, so if this is a raise then I’m Santa Claus.

The union committe at my terminal is 100% against this contract, they are encouraging everyone to vote no and send the union back to the bargaining table. In no way shape or form were things positive after the meetings as the union wants you to beleive.

If the negotiating committee seems to think this is the best they can get us and they need to apologise for their lack of understanding of our needs then maybe they should all step aside and let someone else negotiate a new contract instead of bending over backward to try and kiss the carriers rear ends.

All the changes that have been proposed completely gut our contract and take away rights that prior brothers and sisters fought hard to get. The negotiating committee wants us to agree to a two tier pay system, they obviously don’t remember 1985 when this was a main factor in the strike back then. They also want to redo Article 22, why??? So the carriers can take our hard earned freight, throw it on rail for a year, and then get it back at cut rate which will reduce our wages. And Article 48???? The way Loius described this to us is that basically the company can now force you to go out and be gone all the time…..AWAY FROM YOUR FAMILY AND LOVED ONES. The description was that we could show up for work on Monday and run a turnable load, and do the same on Tuesday, then say Wednesday you go to Kansas City, well for the 5 tours that they are trying to sell Wednesday would be considered your first tour, so your fifth tour, when you need to be back home, you are either in a hotel waiting for a reset without pay, or you just do whatever the company says…..but he says he’ll fight for us if they abuse it….YEAH RIGHT, I’ve heard that before and taken it up the tail pipe because they don’t want to fight the good fight. There is other language that is disturbing, and yes it WILL ultimately cost us jobs if this goes through.

We here in the Twin Cities of Minnesota can see right through all this junk and the overwhelming majority are against this. We need to send a message and get the committee back to the bargaining table. I don’t know about you but I’m sick and tired of giving back, lately it’s been give, give, give and we get nothing in return, and now they want us to give more. I just can’t do it, for the sake of my family and all my union brothers and sisters I WILL VOTE NO!!!!!!

POSTED bY TDU Teamsters for a Democratic Union

Q. How do you know when a proposed contract is rotten?

A. When they use corporate sales tricks to try to get you to buy it.

Carhaulers are getting sales calls, and there will be more to come. Many are getting “polled” and asked directly how they intend to vote on the contract.

The callers are not Teamsters. They work for Contact America, Meyer Teleservice, or another nonunion tele-marketer.

By tomorrow you may be getting “robo-calls” from computers.

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LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND CAST YOUR VOTE

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Disclaimer: The Carhauler has no way to validate the authenticity of this Poll

TDU - Teamsters for a Democratic Union

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July 2, 2008

Leaders of carhaul local unions from across the country unanimously endorsed the tentative National Master
Automobile Transporters Agreement on July 2 in Detroit, paving the way for members to vote on the contract later this month.

Updates on the Central-Southern, Eastern and Western supplements are now available for download.

View the Tentative National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement and Supplements