XPO Logistics To Acquire Con-way

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13282888/1/xpo-logistuics-xpo-stock-up-in-after-hours-trading-after-acquiring-con-way.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Conway Futurehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/29/ibt-xpo-driver-rally-idUSnPn29Cp15+88+PRN20150429

Teamsters: XPO spends $3.5 Billion in wages stolen from California truckers to buy French company

PR Newswire

Apr. 29

Today, XPO Logistics, whose port truck drivers at subsidiaries Pacer Cartage ("Pacer") and Harbor Rail Transport ("HRT") are currently on strike at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and at Pacer facilities adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico Border, announced the acquisition of French 3PL Norbert Dentressangle for $3.5 Billion in cash and debt.

Statement by Fred Potter, Director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Port Division:

"We are shocked to learn that just as XPO Logistics battles the company's immigrant port truck drivers in California Superior Court to avoid reimbursing them more than $2 Million in illegal deductions stolen by the company's subsidiary, Pacer Cartage, from their paychecks, the company has gone on what is being called an "acquisition spree." The timing of the announcement is particularly shocking in light of the fact that Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport drivers are currently on strike from Los Angeles down to the U.S./Mexico border to protest the company's illegal business and labor practices."

Statement by Humberto Canales, Port Truck Driver for Pacer Cartage:

"I can't help but wonder if the reason that XPO has enough cash on hand to buy another company for $3.5 Billion isn't because they are avoiding business expenses like payroll taxes and equipment maintenance by misclassifying us as independent contractors. I worked 48 hours a few weeks ago and they deducted so much from my check that I literally made zero dollars. This just isn't right." (Click here for a copy of Mr. Canalaes' paycheck for the period ending March 12, 2015, is attached.)

On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, starting at 2:30 PM (Pacific time), striking port truck drivers from XPO's subsidiary Pacer Cartage will be joined on the picket line at Union Pacific's Los Angeles Transportation Center (LATC) by hundreds of allies. 

What:  Picketing and Rally to Stop Wage Theft

When:  Wednesday, April 29, 2015; starting at 2:30 PM PST

Where: Union Pacific Railroad/LATC, 1041 Richmond St., Los Angeles, CA 90031

About Pacer/XPO Logistics 

XPO Logistics, operating through subsidiaries Pacer Cartage ("Pacer") and Harbor Rail Transport ("HRT"), is among the top five trucking companies servicing the Ports of LA and Long Beach as well as intermodal rail yards in the area. HRT is the company within the XPO Logistics group that specializes in moving goods to and from the ports, while Pacer Cartage specializes in moving goods to the rail yards. Pacer's key customers include Procter and Gamble, Walmart, Toyota, and Costco.

There are approximately 280 misclassified drivers working in both companies in their LA area locations and 90 additional drivers in Pacer Cartage's San Diego location. Because of this, XPO Logistics' subsidiaries are facing several legal actions related to misclassification that create great liability for the company:

• In March 2014, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) issued findings in the wage claims of seven individual drivers from Pacer San Diego, all of whom it found to be employees who had been illegally misclassified as independent contractors. The DLSE awarded these drivers a combined $2.2 million. Pacer appealed these seven awards to the California Superior Court, San Diego and the court has filed a tentative ruling upholding the DLSE's decision. 
• Pacer Cartage is also facing a class action lawsuit due to the company's alleged willful misclassification of employees. This lawsuit involves about 662 drivers; the estimated liability amounts to more than $5 million. 
• Additionally, three misclassification lawsuits that name 150 drivers as plaintiffs have been filed against XPO Logistics' companies. All of these cases remain pending.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Barb Maynard, (323) 351-9321; barb@mcsonline.org

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- April 29, 2015/

SOURCE Justice for Port Truck Drivers

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This is proof of the representation and on the job rights you get when deciding to join a union.

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Educate Yourselves And Look For The TRUTH

HERE IF PROOF THAT WHAT CONWAY TELLS US OR HAS TOLD US ABOUT HAVING A UNION IS A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT.AND ALL YOU DUMB ASSES WHO FALL FOR CONWAY'S BULLSHIT NEED TO TAKE A THE TIME TO EDUCATE YOURSELVES AND LOOK FOR THE TRUTH OF WHAT A UNION CAN DO FOR THE WORKERS OF ANY INDUSTRY.......... The 151 workers at Google Express in Palo Alto, employed through contractor Adecco, sought out the Teamsters for help with improving working conditions and treatment on the job. ........The next step for Teamsters-represented Google Express workers is to negotiate a contract to improve their working conditions, as tech industry workers throughout Silicon Valley have done in recent months. Facebook shuttle drivers, employed through Loop Transportation, became members of Local 853 in November. In February, they ratified their first, industry-leading agreement, which raised average pay to $27.50 an hour, including split differential, up from $18 an hour. Shuttle drivers for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Zynga, Genentech, Amtrak and Evernote, employed through Compass Transportation, voted overwhelmingly in February to join Local 853. On Aug. 1, the workers unanimously approved a union proposal for a first contract that encompasses the economic package from the Facebook agreement—including hourly pay increases over the three-year contract; shift differential pay; a six-hour minimum for drivers who do not work split shifts; and employer contributions to a defined pension plan, among other gains... .....AND THIS GOES OUT TO THE MECHANICS...WAKE THE HELL UP AND MAKE A STAND .STOP BEING A BUNCH OF KISS ASS BITCHES .LOOK AT WHAT THE DRIVER GOT WITH A CONTRACT.IT TOOK CONWAY 40years to give us shift differential. And that’s thanks to LAREDO TX.IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HOW MUCH YOU WORKED OR HOW MUCH ASS KISSING YOU DID.IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE UNION THREAT

Stop Outsourcing Our Jobs

Conway claims that it only calls in contractors for shag work. The pictures here show different. These drivers have been doing route work. To make matters worse, it appears they are outsourcing our work to Mexican drivers. Another example of why we need to unionize. That's the only way to put an end to Conways lies and deceiving ways.

Labor board: Employer cannot say union could hurt business

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/labor-board-employer-cannot-say-union-could-hurt-business/article/2569661

By SEAN HIGGINS • 8/6/15 

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that an employer who warned workers before a labor election that getting a union could hurt business was making an illegal "veiled threat."

The case illustrates the pro-union direction under President Obama of the board, the federal agency that enforces labor laws and that has made several moves in recent years to strictly limit what employers can say regarding unionizing.

In a 2-1 decision, a three-member panel of the board said Tim Krise — the vice president of Student Transportation of America Inc., a Bristol, Penn., school bus company — violated the rights of his employees when he reportedly told them during a voluntary meeting that the company "could walk away" from its contract with the Bristol Township if operations "became too costly." A month after the November 2013 meeting the company's workers voted 24-23 in a favor of joining the Teamsters. Two ballots, however, remain contested and have not been counted, leaving the election in limbo.

Labor board members Kent Hirozawa and Lauren McFerran sided with the union. "We find that employees could reasonably infer from Krise's statements that, if the petitioner (i.e., the union) won the election, the employer's costs necessarily would rise and cause the employer to walk away from its contract with the township, leaving the drivers out of work. Although Krise did not directly threaten employees with job loss, a threat need not be direct in order to be coercive," they wrote.

The board ordered the remaining contested ballots to be opened and counted. If they showed that the union won, it would be recognized. If the union did not win, then a new vote must be held.

Steve Bernstein, a labor lawyer with the management-side firm Fisher and Phillips, said the board has long taken a "dim view" of employers of making negative predictions regarding workers forming unions.

"I will say, though, that board seems to be sliding that spectrum further away from free speech and expanding the scope of comments that are unlawful," he said, noting that employers previously often got the benefit of the doubt in ambiguous cases.

The board's decision reversed an earlier one by an administrative law judge who, applying long-held board precedent, had earlier ruled that Krise's remarks were non-objectionable comments on the economic realities of running a business. The judge further noted that at the same meeting he said the company "wanted to be in for the long haul," indicating that management was not thinking about closing down.

A key part of the case, the majority said, was Krise's apparent claim that it was written into the contract with the township that the company could walk away if its costs climbed too high. However, the contract actually allowed the township, not the company, to walk away in that situation. The contract also required the township to offset half of any additional higher labor costs the company would face should its workers unionize.

"Given that Krise's statement about the contract was inaccurate and that the contract in fact provided for additional support from the township in the event of unionization, there was no objective basis for his veiled threat that the employer could abandon its contract with the township due to rising costs that he implicitly associated with union victory in the election," Hirozawa and McFerran said. Since there was no basis, the comments were not protected speech.

Board member Harry Johnson dissented, arguing that the facts were too vague to draw such conclusions and likely pointed in a different direction. He said Krise "either misstated a provision of the employer's contract with the township or was misunderstood by the [sole] witness" who testified that he said that.

"Furthermore, as the majority concedes, Krise never mentioned laying off employees or closing the facility. In fact, to the extent Krise mentioned any future action, he told employees that he was in it 'for the long haul' and that he wanted the facility to succeed," Johnson noted.

Under President Obama, the labor board has often narrowly interpreted comments from employers as threats. In 2011, it filed an unprecedented complaint against Boeing for opening a new plant in South Carolina. The board argued the move amounted to retaliation against the union that represented Boeing's machinists in Washington state, although the new factory was an expansion and no workers lost their jobs. The complaint was based primarily on a company official's statement that "strikes happening every three or fours years in Puget Sound" had influenced the decision to locate the new plant in South Carolina. The case was later withdrawn when Boeing settled with the union.

In March, the board's general counsel issued new directives strictly limiting what companies can and cannot say in their employee handbooks. The new rules argue that even seemingly innocuous company rules such as prohibitions on "false or misleading representations about your credentials or your work" would now be considered labor violations.

Conway Teamsters get NLRB Certification in Laredo

Don't Drink The Con-Aid