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2021 IBT Election

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  • 2021 IBT Election

    Teamster Election Dates

    The ballots to elect the new International Teamster President and all International officers will be mailed to all members on October 4. They should be received by members in mid-October, and will be due back by November 15, 2021.

    The count will be conducted by the Election Supervisor, with many observers present, during the week of November 15.

    https://www.tdu.org/teamster_election_dates



    https://www.ibtvote.org/files/List%2...206.20.21a.pdf

  • #2
    Re: 2021 IBT Election

    Here’s some information that I would like to share about Brent Taylor… who will be running on the TDU’’s O'Brien-Zuckerman ticket…

    First… He was the BA at ABF Freight in Dallas with Local 745. He… along with Turncoat Tyson Johnson was pushing for the 15% begback in 2010.

    Second… He also pushed for that POS 2013 ABF contract along with the president of Local 745 Ken Bryant who was also on that so called “Dream Team” negotiating committee…

    And all he did was talk shit about TDU being the scum of the earth… low down… lying bastards the whole time from the onset of the 2010 begback’s discussions… which he denied were ever taking place for months after they started… to after the 2013 vote count. And now… Junior’s and Turncoat Tyson’s lackey has jumped ship and joined his mortal enemy. That sure doesn’t sound like a man that would act in the Rank and File’s best interest to me… his own… but definitely not yours.

    But just don’t take my word for it… look what TDU thought about Brent even as late as 2017…

    Hoffa has appointed Kris Taylor from Dallas Local 745 to negotiate the UPS Freight contract. UPS Freight Teamsters need to be ready to fight for a good contract, because their lead negotiator will not be. Hoffa passed over Central Region Vice President Tony Jones to opt for a Business Agent from Dallas Local 745. Jones is an outspoken opponent of concessions.

    Taylor, the brother of Local 745 principal officer Brent Taylor, is a reliable Hoffa hack who has never seen a contract giveback he doesn’t like.
    The Taylor brothers have endorsed concessions in every Teamster national contract in the trucking industry, including UPS Freight, UPS, ABF, YRC, and carhaul.


    https://www.tdu.org/hoffa_names_ups_freight_negotiator
    And look at the way TDU is promoting the O'Brien-Zuckerman ticket…

    The O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United Slate is officially on the ballot, and the campaign for a new leadership and a new direction in the Teamsters is on. They didn’t spring from the Hoffa administration, but from the reform movement and the challenging O’Brien Zuckerman Teamsters United slate. Change is coming from the bottom up, not the top down. The key to victory this November is to organize in every local to turn out votes for a new direction.

    https://www.tdu.org/we_re_on_the_bal..._s_time_to_win
    I’m just putting this out there because I think everyone has the right to know about the likes of Brent Taylor and what Brent and the TDU thought of each other in the past and what they think of each other now… because IMO… he’s definitely not a friend of the Rank and File… only the leadership at the time’s lackey who I wouldn’t trust one damn bit.

    By the way... Brents definition of the TDU at all those union meeting of the past... Too Dumb to Understand. Well... it looks like he understands them now.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 2021 IBT Election

      Teamsters election may hold cards for upcoming UPS contract talks

      An O’Brien victory in November could mean much aggravation for the company when talks begin later next year.

      The five-year contract between the Teamsters and UPS Inc., the Teamsters’ largest employer with 268,000 members, doesn’t expire until July 31, 2023. Talks aren’t likely to start until late 2022. In reality, however, the contract cycle starts around Thanksgiving 2021. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Teamsters will by then have elected a new slate of officers, including a general president and general secretary-treasurer, to run the 1.4 million- member union for the next five years. At stake is the election of a new president to succeed James P. Hoffa, who at 80 is stepping down after 23 years at the helm. Ballots are expected to be counted during the first half of November, with a winner expected to be announced soon after. There had been three presidential candidates. Steve Vairma, secretary-treasurer of Local 455 in Denver, Kevin P. Moore, president of Local 299 in Detroit, and Sean M. O’Brien, president of Local 25 in Boston. Vairma is favored by Hoffa and other top executives at the international level because he is perceived to represent continuity and stability in a post-Hoffa world. Moore, a close Hoffa ally, did not get Hoffa’s first nod as his successor and dropped out of the race in June.

      Then there’s O’Brien, who Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE:UPS) hopes and prays doesn’t win. At 46 the youngest of the two candidates, O’Brien has a reputation as a firebrand. Some of that flame has, over the years, been directed at UPS. “He is feared inside UPS for being a no-compromise hardliner,” said one industry executive familiar with the situation. “In any situation involving his local, [UPS] felt it had no good way to control him.” In September 2017, Hoffa abruptly fired O’Brien as head of the Teamsters’ small-package division around the time the union was gearing up for contract talks with UPS. The union said it acted in the best interests of the members at UPS. However, Hoffa critics said that O’Brien was forced out because he took an ultra-aggressive negotiating posture toward UPS. This ran counter to Hoffa’s more collegial approach that some endorsed as rational but others saw as being too conciliatory at the expense of member interests.

      Hoffa was further angered by O’Brien’s public demand that Fred Zuckerman, head of Local 89 in Louisville, Kentucky, home of UPS’ Worldport global air hub, serve on the UPS national contract negotiating committee. Zuckerman, who nearly beat Hoffa in the 2016 general election in part because he got the majority of votes from UPS Teamsters, happens to be O’Brien’s running mate this year. Both are cut from the same militant cloth, which, should their slate prevail, is likely to give UPS negotiators heartburn as bargaining time draws near.

      O’Brien was instrumental in the union earlier this year amending its constitution to eliminate what is known as the “two-thirds rule,”’ which effectively ratified a contract even if it had been rejected by the majority who voted. The 2023 UPS contract will be decided under a “majority-rule” formula, a far cry from 2018 when Teamsters leadership imposed the contract even though it was rejected by 54% of the Teamsters who voted. The move angered many in the union who saw it as overriding the will of the members and unwarranted interference in their affairs. It also gave O’Brien fodder to push his core campaign message of returning the union to its members. A hard-nosed attitude combined with members’ desire for greater involvement and less accommodation with management gives the O’Brien slate the edge, said Patricia Campos-Medina, director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “The strength of the union was that it always respected the membership’s voice,” Campos-Medina said. The explosive growth of e-commerce during the pandemic has put severe strains on delivery and warehouse workers at UPS and other companies. Many workers feel overworked, underpaid and put at undue health risk from the virus, Campos-Medina said. “Union members are angry,” she declared. O’Brien and Vairma did not respond to requests for comment. The Teamsters declined comment, citing a law requiring strict neutrality in the election process. UPS also declined comment. However, CEO Carol B. Tomé and CFO Brian Newman told a group of retirees last week that UPS is committed to maintaining peace on the labor front, according to a person who heard the exchange.

      Irresistible force meets immovable object

      In Tomé, the Teamsters will face a CEO who has faced down UPS’ largest customers that have historically used high volumes as a weapon to negotiate lower rates. She has transformed one of America’s most deeply rooted corporate cultures and has made clear there will be few, if any, sacred cows on her march toward margin expansion through cost cuts and a more profitable mix of business. Ironically, the current contract is a bargain of sorts for UPS in that it shields the company from the impact of surging labor cost-inflation. Branden Burt, director of operations at consultancy Transportation Impact LLC, estimates that UPS budgeted 2.3% labor cost increases over the life of the contract. By contrast, arch-rival FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX), which runs a nonunion shop save for its pilots, is facing the full brunt of escalating labor costs, Burt said. Still, UPS is well aware that its labor tab, which according to data from SJ Consulting accounts for 56% of its total operating expense, may not be sustainable over the long-term in a world where the promise of “free” shipping has forced businesses to cut their labor costs in order to remain profitable and competitive. “It’s a race to the bottom” to lower delivery expenses for UPS and FedEx, said Dean Maciuba, managing partner, North America, for consultancy Last Mile Experts. The flashpoint in the upcoming talks could be Tomé’s interest in creating a same-day delivery service using a network of micro-fulfillment centers that would support on-demand deliveries. During UPS’ investor day in June, Tomè said the company was piloting a same-day model that could operate outside its current network. “As soon as she said that, you could hear howls of anger coming from the Teamsters,” said the industry executive.

      The micro-fulfillment center model, which calls for the forward stocking of inventories in smaller fulfillment centers in residential areas, is being seen as a way to reduce transportation costs while bringing e-commerce deliveries closer to the end customer. However, it would be nearly impossible to run such an operation within the existing UPS infrastructure. The Teamsters would not look kindly on that business not touching union hands, especially as it becomes a larger slice of the delivery pie.

      UPS’ labor costs are now “so disproportionate compared to everyone else” that it can’t afford to emerge from the next contract talks without substantial cost savings, Maciuba said. It made some headway in the 2018 contract when the Teamsters agreed to a new class of junior drivers who would work nontraditional hours and get paid less than their counterparts with seniority. UPS also realized labor cost savings with the sale earlier this year of UPS Freight, its unionized LTL unit carrier, to Canadian carrier TFI International (NYSE:TFII). However, Maciuba said UPS will need to extract even more savings this time around, especially with FedEx systematically integrating its Express and Ground units, a program that could make the company more efficient and competitive with UPS, and with Amazon. com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and its fast-growing, nonunion operations possibly forging a low-cost rival for UPS’ traffic.

      Whoever takes the Teamsters reins in November could take a hard line against any cost-saving proposals by citing UPS’ spiking revenue and 12% or so operating margins as justification for the company paying more or, at least, cutting less. However, such stellar results may be difficult to replicate should delivery growth level off and the competition becomes more intense. Campos-Medina of Cornell said that O’Brien, if he wins, would need to be realistic about the current and, perhaps more important from a contractual standpoint, future business environment for the company and its workers. “O’Brien would have to agree to some concessions,” she said. Maciuba said UPS could counter the Teamsters’ argument by arguing that the company’s current performance represents a peak and that the future won’t be as extraordinarily profitable. “They could argue that 12% operating margins are as good as it gets, and they would probably be right,” he said.

      https://www.freightwaves.com/news/te...contract-talks

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 2021 IBT Election

        Full General President Candidates’ Debate Video...

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: 2021 IBT Election

          Looks like 2021 will be no different... the voter turnout will just keep on dropping...

          Out of 1.3 million ballots sent out...



          Comment


          • #6
            Re: 2021 IBT Election

            Originally posted by Docker View Post
            Looks like 2021 will be no different... the voter turnout will just keep on dropping...

            Out of 1.3 million ballots sent out...



            Yeah i have been following posts on Facebook about the low turnout.. And sadly the same ones who do not return their ballots are generally the first ones to bitch about the outcome..

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: 2021 IBT Election

              Originally posted by crazy View Post
              Yeah i have been following posts on Facebook about the low turnout.. And sadly the same ones who do not return their ballots are generally the first ones to bitch about the outcome..
              I don't know about you Crazy but I think I would have voted for Vairma Teamster Power slate...

              IMO... both slates are an unknown with the O’Brien slate being more of one. It probably will be 'business as usual' with the Vairma Teamster Power slate and I personally don't see the O’Brien slate being much different but I could be wrong. I would of voted for Vairma... not because I thought he was best suited for the job but because I didn't like seeing some of Junior's lackey's jumping ship like Brent Taylor... who despised Zuckerman... O'brien and the TDU... who also pushed for and made threats when trying to force the 2010 ABF Begback... 2013 and 2018 ABF contracts down our throat. That's not the kind of change I would of been looking for.

              I also think that if the Rank and File doesn't grow a pair and stop being so compliant and self-absorbed... it will only get worse for the members no matter who wins which is why I factored my belief that we need the TDU to still be the 'watchdog'... especially in this day and age of IBT corruption and putting what's in their best interest first when making my choice because if O’Brien wins... there goes our watchdog and being well informed of the IBT's questionable affairs and antics.

              I just hope that the best slate for the union's future wins because IMO... it sure as hell isn't foreseeable... no matter who that will be. And like you said... whether one ends up making the right choice or not... that gives them the right to bitch... no matter who wins... lol

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: 2021 IBT Election

                One thing that I will say is that no matter who wins... I think the next five years will be full of drama from what I just read in this article...

                Election Will Determine Strike Power of US’s Largest Private-Sector Union

                The mid-November election will determine whether the 1.3 million-member union will chart a new direction away from the business-unionist polices of the younger Hoffa’s administration. It will also determine whether the union will leave behind its legacy of internal corruption: The election marks the first since the phasing out of a 1989 consent decree that put the union under federal government oversight to stamp out the influence of organized crime.

                An insurgent slate of candidates has brought a coalition of reformers affiliated with grassroots advocacy group Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) together with many old guard Hoffa loyalists. The slate, Teamsters United, promises a break from the union’s typical business-unionist approach, a bold approach to unionizing Amazon, and to use the strike more aggressively.'I want Amazon to know that the Teamsters are coming for them. We’re coming for them hard,' says Sean O’Brien, who is leading the Teamsters United slate with running mate Fred Zuckerman. O’Brien pointed to his Boston local’s approach in getting city governments to pass anti-Amazon resolutions and engaging area politicians, while also urging the need to end independent contractor models through state-level legislation and passing the PRO Act at the national level. 'We have to leverage our political power on a national level to look at how we take a deep dive into Amazon and get the politicians involved, look at the anti-trust laws, look at the pressure points are at Amazon that’s going to help us organize,' he says.

                Meanwhile, the Hoffa-endorsed Teamster Power slate, led by Steve Vairma and running mate Ron Herrera, is running on a continuation the Hoffa legacy and features a more diverse cast of longtime Hoffa loyalists. The Teamster Power slate has also promised a strong approach to unionizing Amazon, but has been less forthcoming about its overall strategy, saying in a recent debate that the team wanted to keep its plan closer to the vest in order to avoid revealing it to Amazon. The Teamster Power slate team did not respond to Truthout’s request for an interview.

                In 2016, the Teamsters United slate was headed by Zuckerman, who only narrowly lost the presidency to Hoffa 45.6 percent to 48.4 percent, even as the slate won seats on the union’s General Executive Board for its central and southern districts. The election, TDU national organizer David Levin tells Truthout, was a 'wake-up call on just how big of a divide there was between the membership and the top leadership of the union.' It also revealed how TDU, formed 1976 with a mission to democratize the union and fight corruption, stood poised to steer the union away from its traditionally business-friendly approach. Since then, TDU has strengthened its hand by building a broader coalition among traditional Hoffa loyalists and campaigning on members’ widespread anger after the union leadership used a loophole in the constitution known as the 'two-thirds rule' in 2018 to impose a UPS contract that was voted down, as well as failure to take action on the union’s dwindling pension fund, which was bailed out by the Labor Department as part of the American Rescue Plan Act passed in March.

                Some veteran TDU activists who left the organization after its endorsement of O’Brien say the group’s characterization of the Boston Local 25 and Joint Council 10 leader and his new coalition isn’t so rosy. Rather than a true reformer who defected from the Hoffa camp after he was fired in 2017 from his position as lead UPS contract negotiator, they see him as simply as an ambitious opportunist piggybacking off TDU’s successful appeals to disgruntled rank-and-file Teamsters. They are joining with the Vairma-Herrera campaign in pointing to O’Brien and Local 25’s checkered past as just another continuation of Jimmy Hoffa-style corruption at a crucial moment for the labor movement to turn over a new leaf and organize today’s young, diverse, non-union workers with integrity. 'Even guys at my local that are staff have been saying that O’Brien has promised them that as soon as he wins, he’s dumping TDU, and believe me, I believe that,' says Edgar Esquivel, a 23-year UPS Teamster from Local 952 in Orange County, California, who left TDU over its endorsement of O’Brien. 'He’s using TDU and their network to win. He’s a very, very smart guy.'

                O’Brien was a member of Hoffa’s slate, elected in 2011 as international vice president for the Teamsters Eastern Region, prior to his firing by Hoffa in 2017 over reaching across the aisle to Teamsters United in an effort to take a stronger position against UPS. He was 'a die-hard Hoffa guy,' Esquivel says. 'In New England there was nobody that was more militant in supporting Hoffa than he was.' O’Brien’s record of union-filed charges and contract concessions under Hoffa, Esquivel says, makes TDU’s endorsement feel like a betrayal.

                Moreover, TDU organizer Levin tells Truthout such criticisms aren’t representative of where the majority of TDU activists are, since TDU members voted overwhelmingly to endorse O’Brien in 2019 after 18 months of discussion and debate, with only two votes in opposition. He also points out that Zuckerman likewise started out as an opponent of TDU before building a durable, lasting partnership with the reform organization. Still, other longtime reformers point out that the Teamsters United slate only has about five candidates who are strong TDU advocates, two of whom will be in non-voting positions. 'It is so difficult to make anything happen when you have three seats on a 25-person board,' said Tom Leedham, a three-time, TDU-backed presidential candidate, going so far as to say that there simply is 'no reform slate in this election.' The election is more so a contest between two factions of the old guard, rather than a real referendum on reform, he and others say. Additionally, despite major victories on strike pay and constitutional reforms during the Teamsters convention in June, other proposals that confronted the privileges of Teamster officials, including limits on the number of salaries and pension contributions officials could collect, were defeated.

                Regardless of who wins, these reformers say, the candidates will need to be held accountable. Those supporting the Vairma-Herrera Teamsters Power slate are doing because they say they are leery of O’Brien and Local 25’s past incidents and want to support a historically diverse slate backed by the Teamsters National Black Caucus that more closely matches the changing demographics of the union. They also cite the Teamster Power slate’s relationships with Washington, which some see as one of the driving reasons why the union’s pension issue was inserted into the COVID-relief package in March. Vairma for his part, is running on an ostensibly cleaner record that he characterizes as a safer bet.

                The Vairma slate is relying on allied local officers overseeing the majority of Teamsters under smaller, standalone contracts specific to local unions, called 'white paper agreements,' to turn out votes. He has downplayed the importance of bargaining at UPS, the union’s largest contract, calling members’ 2018 'Vote No' campaign at UPS 'a farce.' O’Brien, meanwhile, is focusing on the union members who fall under national contracts at UPS, TForce and Yellow Roadway Corporation Freight.

                O’Brien’s commitment to use the strike weapon, coupled with Teamsters recent changes to strike pay, could position the union as a more prominent leader amid a rising tide of labor militancy across North America: In Canada, Teamsters have filed for their first union election at an Amazon warehouse while workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island plan to file for union election Monday.

                As labor unrest intensifies across the U. S. this month with 10,000 John Deere workers on strike, 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses authorizing walkouts, and 60,000 Hollywood production workers reaching a deal last week, workers are flexing newfound leverage in the job market. This is the kind of pandemic-era struggle that O’Brien says his team is ready to meet, despite any criticisms about his past. 'A lot of these companies like John Deere and Amazon and the rest of them had record profits as a result of this pandemic, and it wasn’t because of anything they were doing,' O’Brien tells Truthout. 'It was because of the sweat and the curvature of the spine off a lot of [workers] that provided the delivery of goods and services. How fast they forget that we’re the people responsible for their success, we’re the people responsible for picking up their trash, for making certain their families are in their homes for COVID. It’s our time to be rewarded, and we need to be rewarded with the best contract.'
                Like the article says... 'Regardless of who wins, the candidates will need to be held accountable'... I just hope that the members in the freight division hold them accountable and doing more research into the company they work for and getting more active in the union affairs would be a good start. Then they won't be so easliy mislead... buffaloed and intimidated in the future.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: 2021 IBT Election

                  Originally posted by Docker View Post
                  One thing that I will say is that no matter who wins... I think the next five years will be full of drama from what I just read in this article...



                  Like the article says... 'Regardless of who wins, the candidates will need to be held accountable'... I just hope that the members in the freight division hold them accountable and doing more research into the company they work for and getting more active in the union affairs would be a good start. Then they won't be so easliy mislead... buffaloed and intimidated in the future.
                  Way too many "meesters" today.. But it will be an interesting five years.. Almost as good as following Washington politics..

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: 2021 IBT Election

                    I'm voting O'Brien/Zuckerman.
                    I listened to 2 debates. One for President. The other for the #2 spot.
                    The #2 spot for Vairma is from LA. Has friends in Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsome. Wants to organize undocumented rather than close their businesses down. And I'm not comfortable with CA holding such power.
                    Yes. Union issues are very important.
                    But the issues Mr Herrera capitalizes on are issues that wrecked every union industry in the private sector.
                    CA ports and Chinese trade are big money for CA Teamsters. And once you get big money work you don't want to lose it. I don't want them to lose it. But don't want that as focus from DC.
                    I don't want part of capitalizing on open borders and Chinese trade.
                    China infiltrates and controls where their business is involved....heavily in CA.
                    Diversity and destroying tradition are big tools of communism. And I heard a lot of that stuff...not just from Herrera.
                    Our role on using our numbers for politics affects our safety and direction as a nation.
                    Open Borders and giving our skills and manufacturing to China is unsafe imo.
                    When I hear Herrera say he has regular breakfasts and meetings with Newsome and VP Harris yet says he wants to organize undocumented...I see a guy who wants to make laws and break them simultaneously.
                    If you go to OSHA and the Labor Board you want laws made and obeyed.
                    So why did he not go to Immigration and Deport workers and businesses which have forced concessions and closures on union workers...when he knew where they were? And sat with top notch politicians regularly.
                    This wreaks of corruption. Hiding and protecting particular employers...which have kept us on the run.

                    I vote O'Brien/Zuckerman.
                    I don't have the date in front of me but I thought the Deadline was November 12 or 15. Mine goes out Monday. In box by then.
                    Last edited by slavenomore; 10-30-2021, 09:54 AM.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: 2021 IBT Election

                      Then there was this.
                      https://teamsterpowerslate.com/presi...e-candidacies/

                      With Harris being buddies with Herrera...and seeing how the Biden vote went....and how many contract votes went...youd almost figure the winner is picked.

                      Hopefully OZ voters act and fill the mail boxes soon.
                      It might take 3x the normal amount of winning votes votes to win. Sorry to say.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: 2021 IBT Election

                        When unions and politicians team to allow companies and the economy to use employers who hold us all down I see that as hurting unions and our country.
                        And I cannot see Mr Herrera standing against it. It's a port and border state with politicians who desire open borders and Chinese trade at the rest of the nation's expense.
                        Very unsafe when it comes to dealing with a nation with over 3 Billion people ruled by communists.
                        And they have been exposed influencing many of our politicians and government insiders.
                        I would hope that we do not see any of our officials in any National Pulse stories.
                        Our safety is at stake.
                        Manufacturing is necessary to keep us safe. I know that our Pentagon nor our politicians on the CCP payroll don't care.
                        But we should.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: 2021 IBT Election

                          Originally posted by slavenomore View Post

                          I don't have the date in front of me but I thought the Deadline was November 12 or 15. Mine goes out Monday. In box by then.
                          The deadline is Monday, November 15, 2021... 2 weeks to go...

                          Here's the latest update of the ballots received so far...



                          According to TDU… which is the number I used in the above chart because I couldn’t find the current membership regional breakdown … the total Teamster membership was 1,288,751 as of October, 2020 which compares to 1,260,420 five years ago, in 2016…

                          https://www.tdu.org/changes_to_numbe...ice_presidents

                          According to Unionfacts… There are now 1,324,501 members… 37,750 more members than in 2020…

                          https://www.unionfacts.com/union/Teamsters

                          Here is the list of each Local’s membership…

                          https://www.unionfacts.com/locals/Teamsters

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: 2021 IBT Election

                            I got mine out this weekend. Voted for O'Brien/Zuckerman slate.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: 2021 IBT Election

                              With a week to go... will we make it to the 200,000 mark ...

                              Comment

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