Teamsters

How Rank-And-File Democracy Transformed The Teamsters And UAW

March 3, 2025 Michael J. Goldberg, Power At Work. Strategize! Democracy, History, Labor Movement, Rank and File, Teamsters, UAW, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

It’s well known in labor circles that the 2020’s opened with a tremendous resurgence of rank-and-file activism in the workplace. Beginning with 2021’s “Striketober” and sparked initially by the hardships of the pandemic and emboldened by the labor shortages that followed, that upsurge targeted union and nonunion workplaces alike. Among the collective bargaining breakthroughs in already unionized workplaces, two of the most important involved the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the United Auto Workers (UAW). In 2023, the IBT won a historic contract with its largest employer, UPS, without having to follow through on its threat to strike.

How The Teamsters Tested Amazon

February 7, 2025 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movement, New York City (NYC), Strikes, Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

New York City — At 6 a.m., a few days before Christmas, in the postindustrial neighborhood of Maspeth, 47 workers kick off a nationwide Teamsters strike against Amazon. Maspeth, a corner of Queens that two centuries ago boasted lumberyards, linoleum manufacturers and rope factories, is still a bastion of union pride. “The people are working-class and they respect the unions and belong to them, especially the uniform ones, like the firemen, cops and sanitation workers,” said a retired construction worker at a local pub in 2020’s The Queens Nobody Knows. But today, the uniforms increasingly seen around Maspeth sport Amazon’s signature “smiley swoosh” icon.

Amazon Extracts Profit From The Suffering Of Its Workers

January 9, 2025 People's Dispatch. Resist! Amazon, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Pickets, Strikes, Teamsters, Unions, United States, Worker Rights and Jobs

The week before Christmas, Amazon workers at facilities across the US, organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, took on the world’s most profitable third party logistics corporation by walking off the job by the hundreds. Although this pre-holiday strike represented a minority of the Amazon workforce, it represented the largest strike against Amazon in US history. Amazon’s profits keep breaking records, even within the context of a logistics industry that as a whole is experiencing a difficult freight market due to an oversupply of truck capacity.

Amazon Strike Takeaways: Walk-Outs Slowed Packages, Boosted Union Power

December 25, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. Resist! Amazon, Strikes, Teamsters, Unions

Amazon workers picketed their employer over the weekend through blisteringly frigid weather and, in New York, a flooded sidewalk as part of an escalating series of strikes by a minority of workers across the logistics behemoth’s supply chain. These strikes, waged from coast to coast at nine warehouses across Amazon’s supply chain, are part of a nationwide movement to consolidate organizing at the logistics giant in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). In 2022, the Teamsters launched a division to support organizing at Amazon. The union now represents 5,500 workers at the hulking JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island

Marathon Oil Teamsters Strike

September 22, 2024 Keith Brower Brown and Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. Resist! Detroit, Michigan, Oil and Gas, Strikes, Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

For the first time in 30 years, Teamsters at the Marathon oil refinery in Detroit are on strike. Close to 300 workers walked out September 4. Welders, firefighters, and heavy equipment operators in the union are demanding a raise that keeps up with cost of living, along with better hours. Above all, refinery Teamsters are trying to win a guarantee against outsourcing and to strengthen their union for the future. Although Michigan repealed its "right-to-work" law in 2022, Marathon managers are refusing a clause that requires every worker covered by the contract to pay their share, and they have aggressively expanded subcontracting with non-union labor.

New York Amazon Delivery Drivers Join The Teamsters In Surge Of Momentum

September 17, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Resist! Amazon, New York (NY), Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Hundreds of Amazon drivers at a delivery station in Queens, New York, marched on their bosses today to announce they are joining the Teamsters. They are demanding the logistics giant recognize their union and negotiate a contract. “To march today and walk in there with everyone behind us, all of us standing together as a union, it was so amazing,” said Latrice Shadae Johnson, who earns $20 an hour delivering packages for Amazon, where she has worked as a driver since last November. What about Amazon’s managers? “They weren’t expecting it at all,” she said. “So when we walked in, they ran scared into a little hole, like a little corner that they could go around and they couldn’t be seen in. But we ran into the hole too!

Amazon Workers Affiliate With The Teamsters, Next Up Electing Officers

June 20, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movement, Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Amazon Labor Union members voted June 17 to affiliate with the Teamsters. Workers cast 878 ballots at JFK8 Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island, N.Y. The tally broke down to 829 votes in favor of the affiliation and 14 against it; 10 ballots were spoiled. Total turnout was 11 percent out of 8,000 workers. However, workers estimate the workforce has dipped to between 5,000 and 6,000 workers during the off-peak season. A Teamsters statement said the union will now “represent the roughly 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers.” Turnout works out to 16 percent based on that number. “On behalf of the Amazon Labor Union, I’m proud of our members choosing a path to victory. We're now stronger than ever before," said ALU President Chris Smalls in a statement.

Teamsters And Amazon Labor Union Announce Affiliation

June 6, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movement, Teamsters, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Amazon Labor Union and the Teamsters have signed an affiliation agreement. “Today is an historical day for labor in America as we now combine forces with one of the most powerful unions to take on Amazon together,” wrote ALU President Chris Smalls on Twitter, now called X. “We’re putting Amazon on notice that we are coming!” Smalls and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien signed the agreement on June 3, according to a copy obtained by Labor Notes. The affiliation agreement charters a new local known as Amazon Labor Union No. 1, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (ALU-IBT Local 1) for the five boroughs of New York City.

Putting Members First: Ron Carey’s Lessons For Labor Movement Reform

April 2, 2024 Steve Early and Rand Wilson, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Book Review, Labor Movement, Teamsters, UPS, Worker Rights

Books about union presidents are usually penned by professional writers -- either academic historians, labor journalists, or paid flacks. Past accounts of the life and work of labor organization chiefs like John L. Lewis, Walter Reuther, Jimmy Hoffa, or Cesar Chavez have run the gamut from hagiographic to constructively critical. Few have had a biographer whose view of their leadership role is rooted in first-hand experience as a blue-collar worker in the same industry and union. Ken Reiman’s personal connection to the subject matter of Ron Carey and the Teamsters (Monthly Review Press, 2024) resulted from his own career as a UPS driver and activist in the local union that Carey led before becoming president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the 1990s.

UPS To Close 200 Hubs, Cut Teamster Jobs

April 1, 2024 Bill Aiman, Fight Back News!. Educate! Atlanta, Georgia, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

Atlanta, GA – United Parcel Service (UPS) announced on March 26 that the company plans to close up to 200 UPS hubs and automate sorting at the remaining hubs within the next five years. The plan is part of a broader initiative by UPS called “Network of the Future” which looks to automate union jobs with a goal of saving the company $3 billion in labor costs by 2028. UPS made $6.7 billion in profit last year and UPS CEO Carol Tomé took home $23.4 million in total compensation. The plan was announced at the UPS investor and analyst conference held at Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky.

Food Service Drivers Took Their Strike Nationwide And Won

February 7, 2024 Scott Jenkins, Labor Notes. Strategize! Chicago, Food Industry, Strike, Teamsters, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

While most Chicagoans were bracing for a major snowstorm, 130 truck drivers who deliver food from warehouses to cafeterias and kitchens spent the first weekend in January preparing for another kind of storm: a strike. US Foods had stalled negotiations over wages, health care, and safety provisions. At 12:01 a.m. on Monday, January 8, Teamsters Local 705 picket lines went up at the Bensenville, Illinois, facility. Over the next three weeks, Teamsters extended the Bensenville line nationwide. Rolling pickets hit more than two dozen US Foods distribution centers and drop yards from Los Angeles to Indiana to New Jersey, paralyzing its operations in some of the nation’s highest-volume markets.

The UPS Teamsters Contract Has Been Ratified – What Now?

August 26, 2023 Teddy Ostrow and RuWalsh, The Real News Network. Strategize! Contract Negotiations, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

On Tuesday, August 22, the Teamsters union announced that its members voted to ratify the national UPS contract by 86.3% – and with record turnout. Workers won significant raises, the abolition of the two-tier driver system, air conditioning in package cars, thousands of new full-time jobs, and more. In our previous episode, we discussed the gains of the tentative agreement and the years of Teamsters organizing it took to make them possible, including the past year’s contract campaign which built a credible strike threat. In this episode, we dug deeper into the various layers of members’ reactions to the contract, as well as what’s required of the membership to enforce it and build on it moving forward.

AMCOR Teamsters Win Strike, Ratify Agreement

August 15, 2023 Teamster.org. Resist! AMCOR, Strikes, Teamsters, Victory, Worker Rights

Des Moines, Iowa - Amcor workers represented by Teamsters Local 238 voted to ratify a new four-year agreement by a strong margin, ending a two-week strike at the company’s plant in Des Moines, Iowa. “These workers fought back against concessions to win the best contract they’ve ever had,” said Jesse Case, Local 238 Secretary-Treasurer. “It goes to show that when Teamsters fight, Teamsters win.” The 103 Amcor Teamsters at the Des Moines plant make packaging for food products like Capri Sun fruit drinks, Slim Jims, and pudding cups. The members went on strike July 29 after voting down Amcor’s last, best, and final offer, and a subsequent offer.

UPS Teamsters Nationwide Are Voting On The Tentative Agreement

August 12, 2023 Teddy Ostrow and RuWalsh, In These Times. Educate! Contract, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights

UPS Teamsters nationwide are voting on the tentative agreement for the largest private-sector labor contract in the United States. The vote will end on August 22. A majority decision will determine if the contract is ratified. In this episode, we explore the highlights of the tentative agreement (TA) and what its gains, such as the abolition of the driver two-tier system and substantial wage increases, mean for workers’ lives. We also dig into how the TA is proof that years of Teamsters organizing, including the past year’s contract campaign, have reaped significant concessions from UPS — something workers and other unions are already taking note of.

UPS Teamsters To Vote On Contract; Ends Driver Tiers, Lifts Pay

July 28, 2023 Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes. Resist! Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

With just a week to go before the strike deadline, UPS and the Teamsters announced a tentative agreement July 25. There will be no strike on August 1. It’s clear their strike threat paid off in a big way—to the tune of $30 billion, the union’s calculation of how much more UPS is spending on this contract than the last one. “This contract is going to show the Amazons and the Walmarts and the Targets that the Teamsters are here, there’s a shift, and they should be careful and start driving up their wages,” said New York City Local 804 President Vinnie Perrone, an international trustee who served on the bargaining team.

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources