Teamsters

Teamsters are sticking it to both major parties in Northeast Philadelphia's 3rd Congressional district. The Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters announced yesterday that it was endorsing John Hughes, a little-known independent candidate in the race. They won't endorse the incumbent, Democrat Bob Borski, because he sponsored legislation banning triple-trailer trucks in Pennsylvania. Borski said he opposed the trailers because they were dangerous. John Morris, the conference president, said banning triple trailers costs the Teamsters 16,000 jobs.

Nearly 1,100 mailers - workers who help assemble The Inquirer and prepare it for distribution - have voted to change their status as an independent union and affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, according to the mailers' president. Edward T. Savryk, president of the former Newspaper and Magazine Employees Union, yesterday said that his union would be designated Teamsters Local 1414. Savryk said the mailers' union had been independent since it was formed about 1970.

The tale of the tape has swept three more Teamsters into the beating of two anti-Clinton protesters outside City Hall on Oct. 2, 1998. Yesterday, after Municipal Judge Eric L. Lilian watched videotapes of Don Adams and his sister, Teri, being knocked to the ground and "pummeled" by a mob, he ordered the three to stand trial on charges that included riot, assault and conspiracy. Charles Davis, 27, and Mark Hopkins, 21, both of Clementine Street near Amber, and Norma Bottomer, 47, of Sepviva Street near Norris, were arrested about 11 months after the incident.

By better than 4-1, Philadelphia's public school administrators have voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Almost 80 percent of the district's 750 middle-level managers voted for affiliation with the Teamsters, officials of the American Arbitration Association said yesterday. The final count in the mail-ballot referendum, which was handled by the independent group, was 472-117. Two ballots were returned unmarked. The margin was more than the two-thirds needed under the by-laws of the Philadelphia Association of School Administrators (PASA)

Newspaper delivery drivers, clerks, dispatchers, security guards, and building services personnel represented by Teamsters Local 628 voted Sunday to authorize a strike against Interstate General Media, the company that owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Approximately 300 union members are working under the terms of their contract that expired Oct. 8. Talks are expected to continue this week, said the union president, John Laigaie.   - Jane M. Von Bergen  

When federal prosecutors sued in 1988 to force change in the Teamsters, saying the union was dominated by organized crime, John P. Morris insisted that members ran the union and needed no changes to protect their rights. Now, seeking his first national office under a process set up to settle that racketeering suit, Philadelphia's most powerful Teamster calls the old system "autocratic" and has won the support of many reformers. Such paradoxes have kept observers scratching their heads over just how Morris, 65, the principal officer of Philadelphia's Local 115 and Joint Council 53, fits into the new era of the Teamsters.

About 50 Teamsters protested in front of the Daily News and Inquirer building this morning, complaining that company managers imperiled "journalistic integrity" - and therefore their jobs - by meddling last week with news stories about the sale of Philadelphia Media Network. "They're scrubbing stuff out of the paper," said John Laigaie, president of the Teamsters Local 628, which represents about 400 drivers, security guards and custodians who work for PMN. "They're scrubbing off the website.

By the time brothers Robert and Joe Ryder meet for Thanksgiving, it'll be a moot question whether the unions should have caved into management demands from Hostess Brands Inc., makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread. In bankruptcy twice in a decade, the company said Friday it would shut down, putting 18,500 people out of work, including more than 400 in the Philadelphia area. Despite its financial issues, the company blamed the bakers' union, saying it refused to return from a strike and make the necessary concessions to allow the company to survive.

Unionized liquor-truck drivers and warehouse workers in Delaware are circling their wagons against a California consulting firm that has broken or severely weakened beverage-industry unions in seven states. Officials for Teamsters Local 326, which represents workers for three major Delaware liquor distributors, say that in its work for the distributors, West Coast Industrial Relations Association of Los Gatos, Calif., has already hired replacement workers and has made the Teamsters a three-year contract proposal that will almost surely cause a strike.

Lawmen braced for trouble today in a battle over control of Teamsters Local 115. But ousted Local 115 secretary-treasurer John Morris said if it came, it wouldn't come from him. The Teamsters International was to begin three days of hearings today at a Teamsters union hall in Collingswood, N.J., on whether to bar Morris, 73, from resuming leadership of the local he founded in 1955. Union President James P. Hoffa ordered Morris bounced Nov. 15 and replaced with an emergency trustee.

In the Region Coal-fired plant closing early NRG Energy Inc. , of Princeton, agreed to shut down its coal-fired Portland Generating Station in Mount Bethel, Pa., six months earlier than scheduled to settle a federal lawsuit over its emissions. NRG, which acquired the plant in December as part of its merger with GenOn Energy Inc. , will close the plant by June 1, 2014, rather than January 2015. The closure ends a lawsuit brought by the States of New Jersey and Connecticut for alleged noncompliance with the federal Clean Air Act. The 570 megawatt plant is located 26 miles northeast of Bethlehem on the Delaware River.

The Teamsters local at The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News overwhelmingly approved a new two-year labor contract with Interstate General Media that allows for continued publication of the two newspapers, the head of the union, John Laigaie, said Sunday night. Without giving an exact count, Laigaie estimated 98 percent of the members who voted Sunday approved the contract. Local 628, based in Montgomery County, represents about 300 truck drivers, security officers, building service employees, and others.

By the time brothers Robert and Joe Ryder meet for Thanksgiving, it'll be a moot question whether the unions should have caved into management demands from Hostess Brands Inc., makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread. In bankruptcy twice in a decade, the company said Friday it would shut down, putting 18,500 people out of work, including more than 400 in the Philadelphia area. Despite its financial issues, the company blamed the bakers' union, saying it refused to return from a strike and make the necessary concessions to allow the company to survive.

Newspaper delivery drivers, clerks, dispatchers, security guards, and building services personnel represented by Teamsters Local 628 voted Sunday to authorize a strike against Interstate General Media, the company that owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Approximately 300 union members are working under the terms of their contract that expired Oct. 8. Talks are expected to continue this week, said the union president, John Laigaie.   - Jane M. Von Bergen  

Nick A. Pico, 70, of Richboro, a longtime member and business agent of Teamsters Local 107 and a tireless pursuer of self-improvement, died of lung cancer on Thursday, Sept. 20, at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne. The Philadelphia native joined the 5,000-member Teamsters local in 1964 at the age of 22 and began his career as a truck driver at Transcon. In the 1980s, he was elected chief shop steward at Transcon in Philadelphia, said Jackie Hopkins, Mr. Pico's secretary when he was serving as the Teamsters business agent.

Members of Teamsters Local 628 rallied outside the offices of The Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com Tuesday protesting the layoffs of 20 building-services employees and 12 security guards as of July 1. In a statement sent to all employees, Interstate General Media L.L.C., publisher and chief executive Robert J. Hall said the layoffs are connected to the company's relocation later this month from 400 N. Broad St., which it sold last year,...

ABOUT 50 TEAMSTERS protested in front of the Daily News and Inquirer building yesterday, complaining that company managers imperiled "journalistic integrity" - and therefore Teamster jobs - by meddling last week with news stories about the sale of Philadelphia Media Network. "They're scrubbing stuff out of the paper," said John Laigaie, president of the Teamsters Local 628, which represents about 400 drivers, security guards and custodians who work for PMN. "They're scrubbing off the website.

More than 50 Teamsters rallied outside The Inquirer office building Tuesday, protesting the conduct of management of the newspaper's parent company as its ownership group mulls a possible sale. Local 628 said it undertook the action to voice members' concerns that Philadelphia Media Network Inc. (PMN) and its hedge-fund owners have "demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice the journalistic integrity" of The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News "in their pursuit of profits. " For about an hour at midday, union members stood outside the main entrance on North Broad Street holding handwritten white poster board signs with slogans that referred to "hedge fund greed" and "journalistic integrity.

About 50 Teamsters protested in front of the Daily News and Inquirer building this morning, complaining that company managers imperiled "journalistic integrity" - and therefore their jobs - by meddling last week with news stories about the sale of Philadelphia Media Network. "They're scrubbing stuff out of the paper," said John Laigaie, president of the Teamsters Local 628, which represents about 400 drivers, security guards and custodians who work for PMN. "They're scrubbing off the website.