Teamsters Local

A story on the Teamsters union in Money At Work on Monday incorrectly reported the name of one winner in a recent election. Frank Imbragulio, not Theodore Prout, was one of three members elected business agent of Local 557. The Evening Sun regrets the error.Members of one of the state's largest Teamsters union locals have picked new leaders in a court-ordered vote after illegal campaign contributions and other irregularities were discovered in the last election.Today is the deadline for objections to be filed before the court certifies the new slate of officers for Teamsters Local 557, led by Philip Del Costello as president.

After striking deals with the deputy sheriffs and the sheriff's sergeants, Anne Arundel County has reached at least tentative contract agreements with all 10 of its unions, County Executive John R. Leopold announced yesterday. The deputy sheriffs union, Local Teamsters 355, and the sheriff's sergeants union, National Union of Law Enforcement Associations Local 777, reached separate agreements Monday night on three-year contracts, county officials said. Ratification votes are scheduled this week.

Giant Food Inc. hired more than 100 temporary warehouse workers yesterday in an attempt to get its shelves better stocked, particularly with Giant brand products.As the strike by truck drivers of Teamsters Local 639 dragged into its fourth week, the region's largest supermarket chain continued to resume operations at its warehouse, baking and dairy facilities.A line of 300 people stretched outside Giant's Landover headquarters in response to $10.75 per hour jobs advertised in Sunday newspapers.

The company responsible for busing passengers to their cars from Baltimore-Washington International Airport has reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing its approximately 200 bus drivers, the union said yesterday. The agreement between First Transit Inc. and Teamsters Local 355 is subject to ratification by the union's membership next week. Union officials said they will recommend that their members approve the eight-month contract. Venyke Payton, a spokeswoman for First Transit, had not heard of the tentative agreement late yesterday afternoon and declined to comment.

Contract negotiations between Giant Food Inc. and its dairy ** workers appear to be going more smoothly than the last round of union contract talks, which ended in a five-week walkout by truck drivers.Teamsters Local 246 President James R. Arndt said late yesterday that he expects a new contract to be ready for the 100 dairy workers to vote on tomorrow."We are right now making good progress," Arndt said.A contract with the 18 ice cream workers and 70 dairy workers expired Feb. 22, but the two sides agreed to extend negotiations until today.

WASHINGTON -- The 35-day strike by Giant Food Inc.'s truck drivers, which had caused spot shortages of food and other products throughout the popular chain's 174 stores in the Baltimore-Washington region, ended early this morning after an intensive negotiating session that began 12 hours earlier.The settlement was announced by Giant officials and Teamsters Local 639 at 1: 05 a.m. in a hallway in union offices in a nondescript two-story brick building in Northeast Washington."The Teamsters Local 639 and Giant have reached a tentative agreement which will be voted on this afternoon," John P. O'Connor, Maryland's commissioner of labor and industry, who mediated the negotiations, said last night.

As they approach a Nov. 8 contract expiration, Giant Food Inc. and a Teamsters local representing warehouse workers are expected to negotiate some of the same contentious issues that led to a five-week strike by Teamster drivers last winter.Giant said negotiations will resume with two scheduled sessions this week, but said the most intensive talks traditionally have taken place shortly before the contract expires. As always, the company will be stocking its stores in case of a strike, said Barry Scher, Giant's vice president of public affairs.

ANNAPOLIS -- Three labor unions that represent state government employees have thrown their support behind legislation that would save the state money and reduce its work force by offering veteran employees incentives to retire early.House Bill 984, sponsored by Majority Leader D. Bruce Poole, would give workers with at least 25 years' employment -- regardless of whether they've reached retirement age -- the opportunity to tack on credit for three additional years' service and retire with full benefits as long as they agree to leave this spring.

As many as 500 Teamsters picketed at Giant Food Inc. stores yesterday, as the company's truck drivers continued their weeklong strike over distribution rights."

The Teamsters union said that it is pulling out of scheduled contract negotiations with Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens because of a slight against the union in a reported remark by acting Police Chief Thomas P. Shanahan last week.Shanahan told county police officers at a meeting Thursday not to "behave like Teamsters or you will be treated like Teamsters."The union, which represents the county's 50 deputy sheriffs, said in a letter to Owens that the remark suggested its members were "less than professional and even child like."

In a move that would give the Teamsters union its first foothold among Maryland teachers, organizers are seeking to represent Anne Arundel County's 5,100 public school teachers, some of whom are unhappy with their current union leadership. Although the Teamsters represent some teachers in Pennsylvania, New York and Florida, most Maryland teachers are represented by more traditional education unions. "It's all about the teachers' rights," said Dan Taylor, a business agent for Teamsters Local 103, which in May was contacted by a group of teachers upset by what they called a lack of leadership by the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County.

Anne Arundel County police officers went to the polls yesterday to choose a bargaining agent for their contract negotiations, but the best they could do was eliminate one of the three candidates.A runoff between the Teamsters union and the Fraternal Order of Police, which has represented county police for 30 years, will probably be held after the first of the year, a county official said.The Teamsters garnered the most votes with 188, but were eight short of the majority needed to be declared victorious.

Thirty Anne Arundel County police officers are handing out leaflets and organizing meetings to persuade their fellow officers to abandon the Fraternal Order of Police and let the Teamsters represent them in contract negotiations with the county.The effort -- dubbed "Operation Second Chance" -- began this week with organizers placing leaflets singing the praises of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 103 in mailboxes late at night."One of the biggest benefits of the Teamsters is that when an issue surfaces within our bargaining unit, a professional from Local 103 addresses the issue with the Chief, County or press, not a fellow police officer who may be subjected to coercion from management," said the letter signed by the Anne Arundel County Police Officers Teamsters Organizing Committee.

The Teamsters union said that it is pulling out of scheduled contract negotiations with Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens because of a slight against the union in a reported remark by acting Police Chief Thomas P. Shanahan last week.Shanahan told county police officers at a meeting Thursday not to "behave like Teamsters or you will be treated like Teamsters."The union, which represents the county's 50 deputy sheriffs, said in a letter to Owens that the remark suggested its members were "less than professional and even child like."

As they approach a Nov. 8 contract expiration, Giant Food Inc. and a Teamsters local representing warehouse workers are expected to negotiate some of the same contentious issues that led to a five-week strike by Teamster drivers last winter.Giant said negotiations will resume with two scheduled sessions this week, but said the most intensive talks traditionally have taken place shortly before the contract expires. As always, the company will be stocking its stores in case of a strike, said Barry Scher, Giant's vice president of public affairs.

WHILE THE Teamsters' strike against United Parcel Service seems to have gained them some public sympathy, the labor union has had its troubles over the years. Past corruption was a major problem, and some locals haven't portrayed unionism in the best light.Take, for instance, Local 70, which filed a grievance against Mills College in Oakland, Calif. The college's alleged sin? Hiring a company that used a herd of goats to clear poison ivy and blackberry brambles from 40 acres of college property.

Just days after the County Council killed almost all of their contract requests for the coming year, members of Anne Arundel's largest police union wonder whether the battered bargaining unit is too weak to survive.What is emerging is a power struggle within the 500-member Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 70. The result could be the end of the union that has represented Anne Arundel's front-line police officers for 26 years.One faction, comprising roughly 65 members, wants to dissolve the police union and join the resurgent International Brotherhood of Teamsters -- historically a symbol of organized labor's influence and excesses.

After striking deals with the deputy sheriffs and the sheriff's sergeants, Anne Arundel County has reached at least tentative contract agreements with all 10 of its unions, County Executive John R. Leopold announced yesterday. The deputy sheriffs union, Local Teamsters 355, and the sheriff's sergeants union, National Union of Law Enforcement Associations Local 777, reached separate agreements Monday night on three-year contracts, county officials said. Ratification votes are scheduled this week.

Contract negotiations between Giant Food Inc. and its dairy ** workers appear to be going more smoothly than the last round of union contract talks, which ended in a five-week walkout by truck drivers.Teamsters Local 246 President James R. Arndt said late yesterday that he expects a new contract to be ready for the 100 dairy workers to vote on tomorrow."We are right now making good progress," Arndt said.A contract with the 18 ice cream workers and 70 dairy workers expired Feb. 22, but the two sides agreed to extend negotiations until today.

In 1990, Giant's truck drivers went on strike for wage increases. A few hours after the walkout began, founder Israel Cohen arrived at a store, saw the pickets, and immediately ordered the negotiators to give the drivers what they wanted -- to the penny.Giant Food Inc.'s image had always been that of a solid union company, negotiating more than 40 union contracts covering about 24,000 of its 28,000 employees. Its labor costs were among the highest in one of the most expensive regions in the country.