I'm a Teamsters United guy.
So, some context here:
Last contract cycle at UPS, negotiations stalled out, and passed the date on which the old one expired. So what did Hoffa do? He said fuck it, lets run under the old one anyways. Fast forward nine months, and some of the local supplements to the contract are so shitty that they still haven't be ratified.
How did the situation get solved? With a giant fucking middle finger.
Which supplements still needed ratified? Well, Zuckerman's for one.. A local that is fucking YUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. And Zuckerman has them impressively organized.
Worldport’s continued expansion means that Zuckerman’s Local 89 will be the biggest Teamsters local union in the near future.
So, you could say there is some bad blood between Hoffa and Zuckerman.
Oh, yeah....
He has since been banished by Hoffa from any significant leadership body outside his local union despite his local’s importance in the UPS system and his expertise in carhaul.
I'm not sure how interesting this (which is rapidly devolving into a rant) will be for ya'll, but I'm gonna plow ahead here.
I'm really hoping that this turns out to be a repeat of '96.
In 1996 Hoffa led a virtually solid alliance of old-guard figures determined to halt Carey’s reforms. Carey defeated Hoffa in a brutal, close election, winning 52 percent to 48 of the total vote — Hoffa’s only election defeat.
You know what we briefly had after 96? A fucking spine.
Which is a sad statement because that shit is rare with us now days.
He also agreed to split the last two year's raises so that they come every six months. Which conveniently puts the second half of those raises to arrive AFTER the busy season with increased hours and ample overtime/doubletime.
My wife is a teamster.
You really need to shake the cage to get them to help stand up to the man.
They seem to only fight 2 out every 3 contracts. I suppose everyone lost during the downturn. Workers losing on one and clawing things back on the next two isn't a winning formula. Her company has merged twice and been spun off once the past few years. New management came in incredibly arrogantly, asking for everything an conceding nothing the first round. I think they pissed the teamster guy off. It was a decent round.