What will the 2026 Teamster Convention actually do?

[JWebb]

I see a lot about the Convention comming up in about forty days. For those that have followed these conventions over the years, what are you expecting will happen this time? Will there be opportunities for discussion of the big issues facing the union, things like AI and automation and the effects on members? What about Amazon organizing, will future plans be agreed to?

Are there any amendments to the constitution or Resolutions being discussed?

[Jen743]

I see a lot about the Convention comming up in about forty days. For those that have followed these conventions over the years, what are you expecting will happen this time? Will there be opportunities for discussion of the big issues facing the union, things like AI and automation and the effects on members? What about Amazon organizing, will future plans be agreed to?

Are there any amendments to the constitution or Resolutions being discussed?

you're in for a big disappointment....

[jerseymike78]

I’m sure it will be HISTORIC!

[Graveyard]

One thing for sure, there won’t be any of this, as TDU is now in charge of what they used to fight against, the Smoke & Mirrors!

[Gus]

TDU is the Old Guard.

[Doctorpepper782]

The same way O’Brien is doing Trumps work TDU is doing O’Brien’s work! I saw where Paff responded to a members Facebook post claiming all the great work Oz has done and members should stop calling him names ! Is this the same Paff who used to call out Hoffa and Hall?
Actually if you remember he coined the phrase “ Hoffa , Hall , OBRIEN”

[DanaCos]

Same Paff that called O'Brien corrupt and no good for the union.

[Watcher745]

That was before he got a seat at the table.

[Nights]

I see a lot about the Convention comming up in about forty days. For those that have followed these conventions over the years, what are you expecting will happen this time? Will there be opportunities for discussion of the big issues facing the union, things like AI and automation and the effects on members? What about Amazon organizing, will future plans be agreed to?

Are there any amendments to the constitution or Resolutions being discussed?

Most if not all resolutions and amendments have already been submitted to the Constitution Committee, where good ideas go to die, if anything is not acceptable to SOB it will get round filed. Amendments and resolutions can be submitted from the floor but with out IBT/TDU support they will go nowhere. If you're looking for general discussion and "future plan" presentations, sorry but your dreaming. Thats the state of Democracy in this union.

[AlJackson1962!]

Nights: As you wrote: "Most if not all resolutions and amendments have already been submitted to the Constitution Committee, where good ideas go to die..."

In 2011 I had been working an Akron, Ohio, Local 20 job since 2005 as a driver for CPC Logistics. The job was in Franklin, Mass. We four drivers delivered Hospira medical products throughout the New England states. The warehouse we worked out of, Kehune Nagel, a public warehouse, in the Franklin, Forge Parkway industrial park, the workers that picked and staged our orders were members of Boston, Local 25.
We never met, let alone saw, our Local 20 business agent, Martin Jay. Our contract meetings, that included a handful of other drivers located in Ohio and Washington state, were held by conference calls with Martin Jay. Even contract ratification votes were conducted openly during such conference calls, in clear violation of the IBT Constitution. We could never attend nor participate in the affairs of our Local 20, many hundreds of miles from Massachusetts. I was elected steward (the former steward had passed away and we collectively held our own vote and advised Martin Jay of the outcome). We wrote a certified return receipt letter to Hoffa, Jr. demanding that we be transferred into Local 25, as we were being denied the rights of membership. Hoffa never responded.

A few months later, I ran into then Local 25 Secretary-Treasurer Mark Harrington at the Stop and Shop Freetown, Mass. warehouse, while me and other members were leafleting the gate for Sandy Pope's IBT campaign for GP - Harrington was leafleting for Hoffa, Jr. I advised Harrington of the circumstances we were experiencing at our Local 20 job. Harrington said he'd bring it up with O'Brien, who later called and invited our unit to meet with him before the start of a Local 25 monthly membership meeting. I brought all four of us to his Local 25 office on a Sunday morning and we discussed the matter with him. He asked if we'd written Hoffa. I said we had by certified mail and signed by all four of us. O'Brien asked me to send him a copy of the letter and he would discuss having us transferred in a few days. I promptly sent him that letter. We never heard back from O'Brien.

I submitted a timely Constitutional amendment addressing the inequity of geographically distant and isolated bargaining units such as ours, wherein we were denied participation in our Local Union and denied the right to secret ballot ratification votes on contracts (In the 2009 CBA, CPC Logistics withdrew from the Central States Pension Fund - I was the only dissenting vote.) I mailed the IBT Constitutional amendment to members of the Constitution Committee, but never received a response.

In 2013 I was "suspended indefinitely" from CPC Logistics for failing to return from a layoff. My work week had been reduced because of contracting out of our work by CPC to a non-union carrier. I filed a grievance because the contract allowed seven days to report for a recall from layoff, and I never exceeded more than one day. On layoff days I started sparing as a casual for New Penn in Cranston, RI to make up the lost day(s). The grievance I filed was, I learned by US Mail, scheduled to be heard at a grievance panel in Ohio. I told Martin Jay, I would settle; got a few weeks severance and H&W and Pension contributions for the severance weeks. I eventually made the seniority list at New Penn, wrote a leaflet supporting the then insurgent Local 251 United Action Slate (led by Taibi and Santos). Their Slate won, I got an unsolicited phone call from Taibi asking me for my resume and if I had contract bargaining experience. And, soon thereafter Taibi (again unsolicited) hired me as Local 251 Contract Coordinator to lead contract bargaining for the 251 United Action Slate. The first week on the job at 251, Taibi sent me and newly hired Local 251 freight BA, Bob Sayer, to fly to DC for the UPS Freight Two-Person Meeting to consider the TA reached by UPS Freight and the IBT. Me, Bob Sayer, and Leonard Stoehr were the only NO votes. Immediately after the vote, Sean O'Brien walked by me and Bob Sayer. I stopped O'Brien and said: "Sean I never heard back from you after our 2011 meeting about our CPC Logistics unit transferring into Local 25." O'Brien growled: "I don't work for you!" Oh, I said, I thought you're an IBT Eastern Region VP. He stalked away.

So, that's my personal experience with: "Most if not all resolutions and amendments have already been submitted to the Constitution Committee, where good ideas go to die..."

-Dave Robbins, Local 251, retired

[Yard Dog]

Lots of Ball Washing &Back Stabbing.

[DanaCos]

That's why I can't stand the union anymore.

[NYNick]

Hey! Maybe O’Brien will drive into the convention in a new air conditioned ups package car!!