Welcome to Teamsters Local 89

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT, FRED ZUCKERMAN

Welcome to the Teamsters Local 89 web page. We are excited to utilize this electronic communication to bring you information about our organization. Take some time and click through the pages to see what it means to be part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

VOTE
Kentucky Primary - May 20th

With the primary elections approaching us we would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone the importance of getting out to vote; not only in the General election but in the Primary elections also. Having friends elected into office that have proven that they will fight for working families is very important. Please follow the link below and take some time to look through the Candidates that have been endorsed by the Teamsters.
Teamsters Endorsements

CSI: UPS Cartage Service unanimously ratifies 1^st Teamster contract.

After several months of negotiations a tentative agreement was reached for our new members at CSI.

On April 12^th the agreement, which was negotiated by Kevin Evans, Chris Carter and CSI driver Shawn Gocke was voted in unanimously as every worker attended the ratification vote.

“The contract provides the wages, benefits, working conditions, retirement package and protections that my coworkers were looking for” said Gocke. “We voted for Teamsters representation last October and we are very glad we did, Kevin and Chris spent many hours making sure all of our issues and concerns were addressed in negotiations”.

Local 89 Organizer Evans received a great deal of help from the I.B.T. Package Division.

“After winning the election President Zuckerman and I met with IBT Vice President at Large Ken Hall.” said Evans. “With the I.B.T.’s assistance through out the negotiations we were able to negotiate a contract that moves our members forward and gives them many of the same benefits negotiated in the UPS NMA and other addendums”.

The contract will expire in 2013 along with the UPS contract and our first UPS Freight contract.

UPS FREIGHT WORKERS RATIFY MASTER AGREEMENT

The Members of UPS Freight in Louisville & Bowling Green overwhelmingly ratified a Master Agreement on Sunday April 6, 2008. In Louisville the agreement was passed with a vote of 65-11 & in Bowling Green the count was 16-1. UPS Freight Members from different locations all across the country voted over the weekend on this Master Agreement; once ratified this agreement was to take effect at Midnight on Sunday April 7^th and UPS Freight Members will finally become Teamsters. This has been a long hard battle for the Members which have worked under many different companies since the fight to organize them began originally with Overnite Freight. Local 89 would like to welcome all of our new Members and thank them for their continued support throughout this battle.

ONE COMPANY, ONE UNION
UPS Freight Workers in Ohio and Kentucky Sign Cards to Become Teamsters
An overwhelming majority of about 150 workers at the UPS Freight terminals in Cleveland and Toledo, in Ohio, and in Bowling Green, Kentucky have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, bringing the total number of drivers and dockworkers seeking to join the union to about 5,600 since January 16.

UPS Freight Bowling Green

On Feb 14th the Bowling Green UPS Freight workers said yes to Teamsters Local 89 representation by an overwhelming majority. 80% of the workers signed authorization cards and have joined over 5700 former Overnite workers who have already signed up for Teamsters representation.

Herman Veltman worked closely with several of the workers over the last few weeks and the cards have been sent to the IBT for card check recognition. Now we have organized all of the ups freight workers in our jurisdiction and will continue to assist other local unions in our joint council and surrounding areas.

Kevin Evans, organizer

Teamsters Local 89

NATIONAL MASTER FREIGHT NEGOTIATIONS
Members Overwhelmingly Ratify National Master Freight Agreement
By a 2-1 margin, Teamster freight members ratified the 2008-2013 National Master Freight Agreement which protects existing Teamster jobs, maintains strong wages and benefits and job security.

NATIONAL MASTER FREIGHT
Vote Counts
Click above to be directed to the International's Website for updated vote totals on the National Master Freight Agreement & Supplements

NATIONAL MASTER FREIGHT NEGOTIATIONS
ABF Agrees to Be Bound by 2008-2013 National Freight Standards Agreement
ABF Freight System, Inc. has agreed to the Teamster Union’s demand that the company should agree to be bound by the proposed 2008-2013 Teamsters National Freight Industry Standards, which will protect union members’ futures.

Local UPS Freight workers vote to join Teamsters

By Bill Wolfe (as seen in Saturdays Courier Journal)

A majority of UPS Freight workers in Louisville and Lexington have signed authorization cards to join the Teamsters, part of a nationwide effort to sign up the former Overnite Transportation workers.

If the cards are certified by an independent arbitrator, the 217 Lexington workers will be part of Lexington-based Local 651, while 110 Louisville workers will be part of Local 89, “which we’re pretty excited about,” said Fred Zuckerman, president of the Louisville local.

Overnite was strongly anti-union, but after its 2005 purchase, UPS, which has longstanding relations with the Teamsters, agreed to remain neutral toward efforts to unionize the trucking company’s 12,600 drivers and dockworkers. The company agreed to recognize the Teamsters in any local in which a majority of the workers signed authorization cards. The number signing in Louisville was in “the high 70s,” Zuckerman said.

Majorities of UPS Freight workers in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Southern California, Oakland, Seattle, New England, Memphis and Detroit have submitted cards to become Teamsters. In Indianapolis, 125 UPS Freight workers joined the Teamsters last September.

Cards were distributed in Louisville last Friday and the signups continued through the weekend, Zuckerman said. It’s too soon to know when the Teamsters and UPS will begin negotiations toward a contract, he said, or to comment on what provisions might be sought.

“UPS freight and UPS have always respected the wishes of the employees and we will continue to do so,” said Ira Rosenfeld, spokesman for UPS freight. If the arbitrator certifies that the workers “have, in fact, decided to join the union, we will respect those wishes and we will begin negotiations,” he said.

ONE COMPANY, ONE UNION
UPS Freight Workers in Kentucky Sign Cards to Become Teamsters
An overwhelming majority of about 300 workers at the UPS Freight terminals in Louisville and Lexington, in Kentucky, have signed authorization cards to become Teamsters, bringing the total number of drivers and dockworkers seeking to join the union to about 2,500 since last week.

Majority of UPS Freight employees in Louisville support Teamsters Local 89

The 2007 negotiations between the Teamsters Union and UPS included a card check neutrality agreement for the drivers, dockworkers, etc. at UPS Freight, formerly Overnite. This agreement should lead to over 12,000 members from coast to coast.

There were guidelines agreed to by both sides that would give all of the employees a fair opportunity to meet with Teamster organizers and, if they choose, sign an authorization card with out retaliation from the employer.

Local 89 Organizers Kevin Evans & Herman Veltman, along with B.A. Rick Curtis held meetings in Hotels and at the Hall from Friday Jan. 18^th through Sunday Jan. 20th and with the help of several long time Overnite employees were successful in getting over 73% of the employees to sign cards asking for Teamsters Local 89 representation.

Local 89 looks forward to getting the 107 employees in Louisville a contract they can be proud of and thanks to all of our freight members for their support in our efforts.

I owe a great deal of gratitude to all of those who worked on and supported the Overnite campaign in the past and it was their hard work that allowed Local 89 to be successful in our organizing efforts in a short period of time.

Kevin Evans

Organizer Local 89

Click above to read the highlights

Teamsters and Yucaipa Announce Proposal for
Interstate Bakeries Reorganization
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and The Yucaipa Companies, LLC announced today that they have submitted a preliminary proposal for the reorganization of Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC).
Click above to read the story

Steve Beshear unseats Fletcher in a landslide

Democrat Steve Beshear, in a smashing return to Kentucky politics after more than a decade on the sidelines, won a landslide victory last night over Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Beshear won nearly 60 percent of the vote in defeating Fletcher, a Republican seeking to become the first member of his party to serve two terms as governor, by a margin of 18 percentage points.
Click to be directed to the Courier Journal website to read the story

UPS NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
A Winning Contract for UPS Teamsters
A flier for local unions that outlines the major gains and a vote reminder is available for download.
View the National Master Agreement, Supplements and Riders

Members Strongly Support Tentative Contract

Download Latest Update and Agreement Summary

Download Contract Changes

Louisville Air District News

A new Local Air Rider was tentatively agreed to on Monday October 23, 2007 at about 7:00 p.m. The terms will be sent to each employee’s home along with the Central Region Supplement and National Master Contract.

The Louisville Air District Committee as well as the Agents and the Local 89 Executive Board have fully endorsed the new proposed agreement and recommend its passage. This new agreement once ratified by the membership contains positive changes to several sections of the contract.

Establishes normal weekday hours

6 hour jobs cannot be hired from the outside

Allows for better transfer rights

Allows for more overtime opportunities

Allows for some opting out of de-ice jobs

Restricts company’s ability to alter job bids

Allows for better bump rights

Allows for better choices in using vacation days

Creates more seniority rights for 6 hour employees

Lowers discipline time for miss-sorts

Guarantees double time pay for work performed on holidays

Improves part-time employees both 3 hour and 6 hour health insurance; the best improvement a prescription card

Creates at least 175 new Full-Time job opportunities; these and other improvements have all been geared to improve issues for 3 hour employees, 6 hour employees and full-time employees

Click below to read and watch a dvd of the updates

UPS & UPS Freight Negotiators Reach Tentative Agreement
Click above to read highlights from the agreement

1^st Teamster contract for the drivers and yard workers of SDS Logistics, a division of Burco Utility Railroad Services, ratified unanimously!

On 10-18-07 the employees at SDS Logistics voted 14 – 0 in favor of their 1^st Teamster Local 89 contract. In March of 2007 the employees voted 11-4 for Teamster representation and after 7 months of negotiations the improvements and protections of this contract convinced all of our new members that they wanted and needed the benefits of a Teamster contract.

Local 89 organizer Kevin Evans was assisted in the negotiations by SDS driver Ron Hall and Local 89’s Rick Curtis. The contract improves wages, working conditions, and seniority will now be recognized. The contract also protects the current benefits our new members previously enjoyed.

The job duties of our new members revolve around the needs of Safetran Systems whose clients include Norfolk Southern and CSX. Our members deliver equipment and accessories to those in the Rail industry all across the United States and Canada.

Local 89 welcomes our new members and we hope this is just the beginning of the unorganized in the rail transport industry.

Organizer Kevin Evans