Chicago, IL – Voting instructions will arrive in the mail as soon as Sept. 10, for over 200,000 Teamsters affected by the proposed 5-year National Master UPS Agreement. The only two UPS locals not in the agreement are Local 705 and Local 710, which are currently still in negotiations.

September 5, 1882

The huge procession began with 400 members of Bricklayers Union No. 6, all dressed in white aprons. They were followed by a band and then the members of the Manufacturing Jewelers union. The jewelers marched four abreast, wearing derby hats and dark suits with buttonhole bouquets. They all carried canes resting on their shoulders (similar to the way infantry officers carry swords when on parade.)

LA teachers take strike authorization vote

Los Angeles, CA – The featured speaker at this year’s commemoration of the historic 1970 Chicano Moratorium against the War was United Teachers of LA (UTLA) chapter chair at Marvin Avenue Elementary School and longtime Centro CSO member Lupe Torres.

Los Ángeles, CA – Familias, sindicalistas, maestros, activistas y estudiantes llenaron la casa en el centro local de arte chicano, Self Help Graphics, el 29 de agosto, para conmemorar el 48 aniversario de la Moratoria chicana contra la guerra. El programa honró la histórica moratoria chicana del 29 de agosto de 1970, donde más de 30,000 chicanos marcharon en el este de Los Ángeles para protestar por la alta tasa de víctimas muertos de los chicanos en la guerra de Vietnam. El conocido periodista Rubén Salazar fue asesinado por un alguacil del LA durante las protestas.

Jacksonville, FL – It didn’t take long for the Florida gubernatorial campaign to get extremely racist.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 Hennepin County AFSCME workers packed the Hennepin County commissioners board meeting, August 14, to protest two issues currently being negotiated in their union contract. The county is proposing to eliminate step pay increases that benefit workers. As well, commissioners are being stubborn on the issue of pay equity.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME is a direct assault by the ruling class on the U.S. labor movement. It is an attack led by corporations and right-wing foundations, such as the National Right to Work Foundation and the Bradley Foundation, and fully supported by the Trump administration. While this particular assault, the Janus decision, is focused on public sector unions, make no mistake, the effects will be felt across the labor movement and by the entire working class.

Tampa, FL – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced it had come to a tentative agreement with UPS, June 21. The agreement has been criticized for givebacks such as the creation of two-tier driving and poor part time wages. One concession is in Article 6 Section 6, Technology and Discipline. The article currently states:

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people protested outside the Minnesota Republican Party headquarters in Minneapolis, Aug. 9, to condemn a massive immigration raid in southern Minnesota and Nebraska the day before, in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained around 140 immigrant workers.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression NYC.

Jacksonville, FL – On July 17, Dustin Ponder, the Florida Teamster union steward fired by UPS management for union activity, returned to work. After a month and a half-long campaign waged by Teamster militants and activists to get the steward reinstated, UPS caved to the pressure and offered Ponder his job back.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 30 statement form the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Louisville, KY – The Teamsters Local 89 E-Board has unanimously voted to recommend a “no” vote on the UPS National Master Agreement (NMA) and the UPS Central Region Supplement (CRS). Local 89 represents about 10,000 Teamsters at UPS.

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of thousands of UPS Teamsters received a robocall, July 28, from UPS management announcing a “Town Hall” conference call to sell the tentative five-year agreement by UPS and Teamsters national negotiating committee.

Fight back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), or May First Movement, one of the largest industrial labor federations in the Philippines.

New York, NY – The same right-wing organizations that funded the legal case of Janus v. AFSCME are now funding round two of the assault on public sector unions all across the United States.

“The combination driver will create animosity in the work place” —Teamster Central Region International VP Robert Kopystynsky

Chicago, IL – Teamster Chief Negotiator Dennis Taylor and UPS shook hands on a tentative agreement, June 22, which will include a new driving position called Full-Time Combination Drivers (Combo Driver). Full details were released July 10. UPS Teamsters across the country are calling the new position a two-tiered concession that spells doom for future package car drivers.

Jacksonville, FL – On July 3, UPS management in Jacksonville deadlocked a local hearing over Dustin Ponder, a shop steward for Teamsters Local 512 who was terminated last month for union activity. Presenting scant evidence against Ponder, the company refused to give the steward his job back despite protests by Teamsters locally and across the country.

Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota Workers United organized an emergency response protest, June 27, when the U.S. Supreme Court announced their anti-union ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. It started with a rally at the Teamsters Trucker Strike Memorial and was followed by a march of hundreds of workers through downtown, ending at the U.S. Federal Courthouse.

Jacksonville, FL – On June 21, the Teamsters announced reaching a tentative agreement ‘in principle’ with UPS. Headed by Teamsters Package Division director Denis Taylor, the union’s committee unveiled “highlights from the economics in the agreement” after months of closed-door bargaining.