Teamsters Local 355

Local and National Union News

Drivers at Rider Logistics ratify first Teamster 355 contract
Apr. 24, 2023 | Organized with Local 355 last August, sixteen drivers at Rider Logistics (formerly Hills Pet Nutrition) unanimously approved their first Teamster contract on April 12. The new three-year agreement provides substantial wage increases annually, protects existing healthcare coverage benefits, and gives the workers a grievance procedure and job security, among other benefits of a strong Teamster contract. “We didn’t have a voice on the job, which is why we started the ball rolling to get organized,” said Tony Lewis, a veteran Rider driver and new Teamster shop steward. “Management wouldn’t listen to us. We got tired of all the disruptive unilateral changes.” Lewis said he feels a lot better having gone through the [unionizing] process from start to finish. “We are grateful to be under the protection of a Teamster contract.”

Important change to administration of Local 355’s Health and Welfare Plan
Apr. 22, 2023 | Effective April 1, 2024, we changed plan administration from Zenith American Solutions to BeneSys, Inc. The change will enhance the efficiency and quality of services provided to you and provide positive improvements to the administration of your health benefits. Please click here to learn more about what has changed and what has not changed.

Latest bankruptcy update regarding member WARN Act claims
Apr. 19, 2023 | The Union filed claims on behalf of members citing Yellow Corp.’s failure to comply with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (“WARN Act”) and its State law analogues. Not every member affected by the Yellow bankruptcy will be eligible to receive potential WARN Act damages, but the Union will work to ensure all eligible members receive the WARN Act damages to which they are entitled. Click here for more information.

Teamsters stop UNFI from outsourcing jobs in Florida
Apr. 17, 2023 | After a vigorous argument from the Teamsters, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled in favor of 80 drivers at United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) in Sarasota, Fla., refusing to accept the company’s plans to outsource jobs to notorious nonunion employer J.B. Hunt. The decision by the NLRB protects jobs and safeguards the rights of UNFI workers seeking union representation with Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa, Fla. Teamsters

Teamsters extend largest strike against Amazon in the U.S.
Apr. 15, 2023 | Today, Amazon delivery drivers represented by Teamsters Local 396 in Southern California escalated their unfair labor practice (ULP) strike against the company by picketing at Amazon’s DAX5 warehouse in the City of Industry, CA. This marks the latest picket extension by Amazon Teamsters in their unprecedented strike, now the largest and longest strike against the company in the U.S. The extension arrives weeks before the one-year anniversary of the Palmdale-based workers’ vote to organize with Local 396, becoming the first union of Amazon delivery drivers in the country. The drivers demand that Amazon address low wages and dangerous working conditions. Learn more here.

Reminder: Applications available for the 2024 Local 355 Scholarship Awards
Apr. 11, 2023 | Applications are now available for the children and stepchildren of Local 355 members who seek to fulfill their dreams through higher education. There are no tests and no lengthy application process. The deadline for application submission is May 3. The scholarships will be awarded during the May 2024 regular monthly membership meeting. Additional information and application here.

Older articles here.

Elsewhere in the News

Starbucks Appears Likely to Win Supreme Court Dispute With NLRB

Apr. 23, 2024 | LABOR LAW | The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to side with Starbucks Tuesday in a case that could make it harder for the federal government to seek injunctions when it suspects a company of interfering in unionization campaigns. Justices noted during oral arguments that Congress requires the National Labor Relations Board to seek such injunctions in federal court and said that gives the courts the duty to consider several factors, including whether the board would ultimately be successful in its administrative case against a company. But the NLRB says that since 1947, the National Labor Relations Act — the law that governs the agency — has allowed courts to grant temporary injunctions… Associated Press (AP) Related: How the Starbucks case at the Supreme Court could affect unions everywhere

Tennessee VW Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Join UAW

Apr. 22, 2024 | ORGANIZING | Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories. The union wound up getting 2,628 votes, or 73% of the ballots cast, compared with only 985 who voted no in an election run by the National Labor Relations Board. Both sides have five business days to file objections to the election, the NLRB said. If there are none, the election will be certified and VW and the union must “begin bargaining in good faith.” Twice in recent years, workers at the Chattanooga plant have rejected union membership in plantwide votes. Next up for a union vote are workers at Mercedes factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who will vote on UAW representation in May. Associated Press AP PHOTO/GEORGE WALKER IV

Week Ending 04/19/2024

• No justice, no jeans
• A new remedy for bad-faith bargaining?s
• The paradox of the American Labor Movement
• FBI opens criminal probe into Key Bridge collapse
• AFGE ranks 1st as fastest growing large union in U.S.
• Daimler Truck workers are strike-ready in the anti-union south
• UPS administrative and specialist workers in VA join Teamsters
• Baltimore suing cargo ship’s owner, operator in Key Bridge collapse
• Baltimore set to get new professional basketball team in 2025

VW Workers in Tennessee Vote; Test Union Ambitions

Apr. 17, 2024 | ORGANIZING | Last fall the United Automobile Workers union won big pay increases from the Detroit automakers, and the impact rippled quickly through the nonunion auto plants scattered across the South. Afterward, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Tesla raised wages for their own hourly workers in the U.S., none of whom are unionized. On production lines in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere, those pay increases have been referred to as the “U.A.W. bump.” Now 4,300 workers at VW’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., will test whether the union can achieve an even greater bump. They began voting today on whether to join the UAW, and the prospects of a union victory appear high. About 70 percent of the workers pledged to vote yes before the union asked for a vote, according to the UAW. New York Times