Good day all. The counting of the votes is complete. We have a contract. To view the results, links to both the IBT and TDU are provided here:

Vote Results: National Master Freight Agreement and Supplements or

NMFA Vote Count Results | Teamsters for a Democratic Union

Congratulations are in order for all of those who votes. It does matter how you voted and only time will tell on how badly the ramifications of your ill informed vote will cost all of us.

To those who contacted me and told me that this was going to be a "Historic Teamster Contract". I just want to advise you that currently there are over 4000 of your Teamster brothers laid off at Roadway alone, I don't have the numbers for Yellow or USF. I also want to advise you that on 22 February 08, 27 USF Service Centers in 6 Southern states will be closed, resulting in the loss of another 1100 jobs. I hope that you're "happy" with these results and can sleep well at night. From the letter that was sent out, these "displaced" employees can now seek employment at any YRC facility that is accepting applications, provided that they meet the hiring criteria as set forth by the company.

To the lay person, this means that these folks are out of a job and will be starting over, if hired. It means of loss of pay (if they are CDL Qualified, they will start at 90% of scale after April 01, 08. If they get hired before 01 April they will be forced to drop back to 75% of scale which is current contract language. I know I couldn't live on Unemployment benefits for a month and a half before resuming a job at a reduced rate.), loss of vacation time, sick days, seniority, etc, etc, etc.

I've also been informed that ARMED SECURITY is now on these 27 USF facilities, ah, just in case...

It may sound like a case of sour grapes or sore loser here, but after a careful review of the contract proposal that was received, I, in good conscience could not approve it as written. Only time will tell over the next 5 years and just how badly we got hurt with this one, because Joe "90% Paycheck" Teamster was afraid of losing his job, or was sold the tripe that we would go on strike, and tucked his tail between his legs and then commenced to urinate on himself/herself. I can hear those words ringing in my ears already, "Hey, you agreed to it, it's your contract, live with it". One hell of a way to run a business, gain loyalty, respect and cooperation from your employees, isn't it Bill?

The Roadwayspy newsletter is now back in it's old e mail format, and as always, open to both management and labor. Got something to say or just want to vent? Drop me a line at Roadwayspy@aol.com and let's chat. Until next month, Be Safe!