Car-Haul Agreement Gets Voted Down. Is a Teamsters Strike Next?

Implications: A proposed three-year agreement between the Teamsters union and the major unionized car-haulers has been voted down. No new talks have been scheduled. The Teamsters director of car-haul negotiations, Fred Zuckerman, said he hopes "to resolve this contract without going on strike." But Zuckerman himself is under fire from the Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the dissident wing of the Teamsters, which wants him replaced as lead negotiator.

Analysis:   The Teamsters have lost influence within the trucking industry -- 95 percent of the industry is non-union -- but that doesn't mean it is without any influence.
  Just as the major unionized car-haul companies. These companies, which include Allied Holding Inc., the largest of the group, as well as Active Truck Transport, Cassens Transport and Jack Cooper Transport, have seen their proposed agreement rejected by Teamsters in a mail-in ratification. The vote was 2,939 to 2,079 with a simple majority needed to pass.
  The defeat was led by the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the dissident anti-Hoffa wing of the union. TDU chief organizer Ken Paff says the biggest objection to the proposed contract was elimination of language that called for "equalization" of loads, which spread work among drivers from different locations. With the elimination of this provision, Teamsters feared that locals would be played against each other looking for work.
  According to TDU, the proposed agreement would have required that when work is slow -- car-hauling is notoriously cyclical -- drivers could be relocated to any other terminal with no other option than to take a layoff. If a driver said no, he would be out of work but not laid off.
 Another provision would have allowed locals to negotiate lower mileage rates than provided in the master contract. Again, the union members feared this would lead to playing one local off against another.
  The contract expired May 31, and the Teamsters have been working without a contract since. Fred Zuckerman, the Teamsters carhaul director, says he is hoping to get this resolved without a strike. He is calling for meetings with locals to "discuss the issues behind this defeat."
  But Zuckerman himself may be an issue.
  Some Teamsters car-haulers are circulating a petition to oust Zuckerman. Specifically, St. Louis Local 604 is requesting that Teamsters president Jim Hoffa remove Zuckerman as lead negotiator.
  One Teamsters noted on the web site, www.thecarhauler.com: "There will be no Gold, Silver or Bronze to each of those who tried to sell the sorry concessionary proposals to members."