Hoffa: New year brings big responsibility for voters
Jan. 3, 2020  | Today, America begins a very important year in its existence. Over the next 11 months, voters will decide who they want to lead this country and what they want its future to look like. The process will be tumultuous. But it is a critical decision that will have long-lasting implications for all who call this great nation home. The Teamsters are taking their role in helping to shape this country’s path forward seriously… Detroit News 

Two Teamster UPS drivers die in PA turnpike crash
Jan. 6, 2020  | The Teamsters Union mourns the loss of two Teamsters Local 776 members and UPS drivers, Dennis Kehler and Daniel Kepner, who were killed Sunday in an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The pile-up involved several tractor-trailers that reportedly crashed after a tour bus was unable to negotiate a turn and hit an embankment. Five people were killed and 60 injured. Keller was a 28-year Teamster with UPS and Kepner was a five-year Teamster at the company… 992 News

Local 992 UPS driver created wildly popular ‘UPS Dogs’ social media pages
Jan. 7, 2020  | When Sean McCarren, 44, started having little four-legged “fans” follow him around on his UPS route, he decided to start taking their photos. After collecting more than 60 pictures of dogs on his phone, he posted one on his personal Facebook page in 2013 just for fun. “Everybody got all excited about it, so I just went ahead and made a little Facebook page to share them all,” said McCarren, who lives in Martinsburg, W.Va., and works out of the Hagerstown UPS center. After he established the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, other UPS drivers started posting dogs that they see on their travels delivering packages. There were steady posts for several years, then in 2017, the pages took off. “It just went viral,” McCarren said… Herald Media [McCarren has been a member of Teamsters Local 992 in Hagerstown since 2002.]

Attention CDL drivers: FMCSA doubles random drug testing rate to 50%
Jan. 9, 2020  | The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has raised the random drug testing rate for controlled substances for commercial drivers to 50% from the current 25% of driver positions. The change went into effect Jan. 1… Truck News

New Penn requests additional headcount
Jan. 30, 2020  | New Penn Motor Express, the Northeast regional U.S. unit of less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Worldwide Inc., has notified the Teamsters union that it plans to add utility employee positions for “improved service and growth.” The proposed “change of operations” would add 86 utility employees traveling within a 175-mile proximity of “three newly established regional velocity centers” in Newburgh, New York, and Scranton and Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, New Penn stated in the notice on Friday… Freight Waves (Local 992 represents 111 members employed at YRC.)

Teamsters at ABF Freight to receive a 1% pay bonus for 2019
Jan. 31, 2020  | Teamsters employed at ABF Freight System will receive a 1 percent profit-sharing bonus—negotiated by the union—after the company reported fourth-quarter results today. Under the Teamsters 2018-2023 ABF National Master Freight Agreement, if ABF Freight achieves an annual operating ratio of 96.0 or below for any full calendar year, each Teamster-represented employee will receive a bonus based on their earnings. ABF Freight reported a 95.2 percent operating ratio in 2019, which resulted in a 1 percent bonus. For example, if a member earned $75,000 in 2019, he will receive a bonus of $750… Teamsters