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Season 2, Episode 163

Teamsters secure contracts with XPO Logistics in Trenton and Miami

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Guest Name:

Greg Chockley

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teamster.org

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Organizing has been tough at XPO Logistics, a diverse freight hauling company that does logistics for the likes of Pepsi, Quaker and IKEA. The company has been notoriously anti-union. After holding successful votes for unionization, many locations have struggled to get a first contract.

After a long fight, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified separate contracts for its members in Trenton, N.J. and Miami. The contracts were signed a week apart.

Greg Chockley, National Campaign Coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the Teamster’s efforts to ratify the contracts, anti-union strategies used by XPO during negotiations and more.

Years of struggle and negotiations resulted in contracts

XPO Logistics is a company known for its union busting tactics, Chockley said. They did everything they could to prevent these contracts from being ratified, which is why the process took years to complete, well after votes to unionize occurred.

Workers in Trenton voted to unionize in 2017, and it took four years to get a contract. In Miami, workers unionized in 2015, but needed an additional six years to get a contract — more time than it took America to win World War II, Chockley pointed out.

The company swore the Teamsters would never have a contract. With two contracts now signed, XPO is practically pulling its hair out, he said.

The new contracts secure agreements in Just Cause protections — mandating companies to meet certain requirements before disciplining employees, including a set process for independent arbitration.

The contracts also include Successorship language to protect workers if XPO is ever sold to another company, Chockley said. Retirement with 401K matches is also locked in, he added.

It was a difficult fight, but change was possible thanks to the power of the Teamsters Union, Chockley stated.

He said similar progress is being made on a potential contract for workers in Bakersfield, Calf.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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