newsworthy
dissident Teamsters launch campaign
to oust Hoffa
An International Brotherhood of Teamsters dissident group has
launched a campaign to vote current president James P. Hoffa out of
office when Hoffa comes up for re-election in 2011.
The Teamsters for a Democratic Union said July 21 it had begun a
campaign called “ 10,000 Teamsters to Dump Hoffa” in an effort to
marshal opposition and convince members to “set a new course” for
the union. “The Hoffa road is at a dead end,” TDU said on its Web site.
On the site, TDU criticized Hoffa for agreeing to overly generous
wage and pension concessions to troubled trucker YRC Worldwide in
return for allowing YRC to conserve badly needed capital. On Aug. 7,
Teamster rank and file agreed to a new labor contract that calls for a 5-
percent reduction in wages—on top of the 10-percent cut agreed to in
January—in return for a 20-percent ownership stake in YRC. The
agreement also allows YRC to terminate pension fund contributions
from July 1, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2010. YRC expects the wage and
pension reductions to save it $1.2 billion over the life of the contract.
Prior to the agreement’s ratification, TDU had called the proposal the
“worst concessions in Teamster history.”
TDU added, however, that the problems with Hoffa’s leadership
extend beyond any one issue. “Hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are
fed up—including many local officers,” TDU said on its site. “The
Hoffa camp has never been more discouraged or divided.”
Hoffa, 68, is serving his third term as the union’s president. The TDU,
long an opponent of mainstream Teamster interests, has never backed
Hoffa, whom it considers a representative of the union’s old guard.
In an e-mail, Teamster spokesperson Leigh Strope dismissed TDU’s
action. “TDU is a very small, fringe anti-Hoffa faction. Responding to
their typical antics would give this small group credibility it doesn’t
deserve,” Strope said. ;
—M.S.
House bill would promote
technologies to reduce
truck idling
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S.
House of Representatives that would provide tax credits for the purchase of on-board
technologies to reduce truck idling.
The bill, introduced by Reps. Earl
Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Kay Granger (
R-Texas), proposes a 50-percent tax credit of
up to $3,000 for each truck for which an
idling-reduction device is purchased. The
equipment is designed to replace the main
engine’s support of essential truck functions
when the truck is parked. The credit would
be available to all trucking companies.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has estimated that on-board idling-reduction
technologies, which include auxiliary power
units, direct-fired heaters, and battery-powered
climate-control systems, reduce idle-related
fuel consumption by at least 80 percent.
In a statement, the American Trucking
Associations, which represents the nation’s
largest truckers, hailed the measure. “The
initial capital cost of idle-reducing technologies has been a major barrier to trucking
companies. This legislation will allow us to
move forward with industrywide efforts to
reduce air pollution and fuel consumption
related to idling,” said ATA President and
CEO Bill Graves. ;
—M.S.
ground breakers
; Frozen Food Express Industries Inc. has opened a new
temperature-controlled service center in Burlington, N.J. The
80,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution center
includes freezer, cooler, and dry storage space.
; Smith Drug Co. has opened a $15 million, 109,000-
square-foot distribution center in Valdosta, Ga. The new center, which will employ 35 to 40 full-time workers, will serve
customers in Georgia and Florida.
; Kansas City Southern and Wallenius Wilhelmsen
Logistics (WWL) have agreed to establish a finished-vehicle
distribution center for Nissan in Houston, Texas. The new
facility will allow WWL to provide new-vehicle distribution
service to Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma from a single site.
; ProLogis has signed two new lease agreements for distribution space at ProLogis Parc Zama I in Japan. The transactions, totaling 200,000 square feet, include leases with SEI
Logistics Network Co., a major Japanese third-party logistics
service provider, and Kawataki Co., a Japanese household
goods company.
; Nexus Distribution, a third-party logistics service provider,
has expanded its presence in Bedford Park., Ill., by opening its
third distribution center in that community. The new facility,
which occupies 306,552 square feet of space, features direct
access to the adjacent CSX intermodal yard. It is also directly
accessible to the recently constructed Chicago Land Bridge, a
half-mile-long private roadway that can be used to transport
heavy containers from the Nexus facilities to the CSX yard.
