Safety First at Local 25 - Teamsters Local 25

FedEx MeetingGathers BusinessAgents, StewardsOn June 12, over 120 stewards and their businessagents from all over New England came together atthe Local 25 headquarters in Charlestown under thedirection of Local 25 President Sean M. O’Brien todiscuss organizing efforts at FedEx, and to discusscontract issues at the company.O’Brien also serves as the President of JointCouncil 10 of New England and is Co-Chair of theNew England Area Panel Grievance Committee.Christy Bailey from the International Union’sFieldActionDepartmentgaveanoverviewaboutthe legislative plan to remove FedEx from theRailway Labor Act, which would make it much easierto organize FedEx Express. The attendees alsoheard from Attorney Rene Bushey from Feinberg,Campbell and Zak, who discussed the recent FedExdecision by three judges from the 9th Circuit Courtof Appeals in Washington, D.C. to dismiss the Local25 NLRB election results. The NLRB had ruled thatFedEx Home Delivery drivers were employees andnot independent contractors, but the higher courtdismissed that ruling.“This seminar for business agents and stewardswas the first of its kind in New England,” O’Briensaid. “We covered a great deal of very useful informationin a short period of time. I think it went well!”Local 25 Business Agent George Slicis led a panelwith Local 653 Business Agent Brian McElhinneytitled: “How to Deal With Difficult Routes.”“The day-long event was very informative. Itwas great to hear what the other UPS stewardsacross New England are facing in their workplaces,”said Adam Strout, steward at UPS in Watertown.8 | The SPOKESMAN | SUMMER 2009 | www.teamsterslocal25.com