(WASHINGTON) The International Brotherhood of Teamsters today asked shareholders of The Coca-Cola Company [NYSE: KO] to support the union’s proposal for an independent board chairman at Coca-Cola’s upcoming annual meeting on April 21 in Duluth, Ga.

In a letter to shareholders, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer C. Thomas Keegel said that an independent chairman at Coca-Cola is critical to ensuring rigorous oversight of management—particularly as the company moves forward with plans to acquire its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.’s [NYSE: CCE], North American operations.

In the proposed transaction, Coca-Cola will absorb the bulk of CCE’s business and its 59,000-strong workforce in North America. The proposed transaction leaves little room for error. With 50 percent of Coca-Cola’s revenue to come from North America, up from 30 percent currently, pressures on management will increase dramatically because the mature North American market has more limited growth opportunities than other parts of the world.

In addition, the proposed transaction will greatly increase the company’s focus on bottling operations which historically have narrower margins than Coca-Cola’s current business. Adding to the pressure, the company’s main competitor PepsiCo, which acquired its two largest North American bottlers in February this year, has now a significant head start in integrating its business operations.

“Coca-Cola’s revolving door of overpaid, underperforming chairmen/CEO’s over the years has led many large investors to join our call for independent board leadership,” Keegel said. “With such significant management challenges ahead, independent board leadership is needed now more than ever.”

The Teamsters’ letter to investors also raised concerns regarding Coca-Cola’s board composition, which includes long-tenured and potentially conflicted directors with leadership roles on the board’s key committees, further exacerbating the need for independent board leadership.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico including more than 15,000 who produce, package and distribute Coca-Cola products.

(Washington, D.C.)—Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa has named Dennis Raymond, the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 677 in Waterbury, Conn., to lead the Bakery and Laundry Conference.

Hoffa made the appointment on April 1. Raymond replaces Richard Volpe, who has retired, as the conference’s director.

“Dennis Raymond has done an outstanding job as the Northeast Regional Bakery and Laundry Director, and as the chairman of the Bakery and Laundry Conference for the U.S. and Canada,” Hoffa said. “His expertise with the conference, and his experience working in the bakery industry, will serve the Teamsters well.”

Raymond said one of his biggest priorities would be organizing new members.

“This is an important time to grow our conference and we are already at work organizing,” Raymond said. “Another priority is to get a national agreement with Hostess Brands.”

Raymond has been a Teamster for 38 years, and began his career as a bakery route salesman, and also worked as a breadman. Raymond has served in various capacities for Local 677 as a steward, recording secretary, president, business agent, and in his current role as secretary-treasurer. Raymond also serves as the union chairman for the Tri-State Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund and as a Trustee for Joint Council 10 in New England.

“The Nation” writes about big changes happening at the Labor Department under Secretary Hilda Solis that may not attract big headlines, but affect us all. The article is a good reminder about why the Obama administration is good for workers.

Nearly 900 walnut processing workers in Stockton, California made history for a second time when they ratified a new contract on March 24, 2010.

The five-year agreement covers 500 year-round employees and between 300 and 400 seasonal employees. It improves seniority protections, working conditions, wages and benefits with an average wage increase of 2.5 percent for employees.

What makes the contract so special is the fact that it is the second for a group of workers who defied the odds. Workers at Diamond Foods, Inc. took on the company in 1991 when contract negotiations broke down, starting what would become the world’s longest labor strike.

Workers stayed on picket lines for 14 years. The strike ended in 2005 with ratification of the workers’ first five-year contract.

Now that the second contract has been ratified, workers are looking ahead to a bright and promising future.

“The first contract is the foundation. The second contract is the structure that together we will build upon for a powerful future,” said Lucio Reyes, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 601 in Stockton. “This is proof that good-faith bargaining does work.”

Reyes said the second contract was the result of hard work, dedication and solidarity from Diamond Foods workers.

The Teamsters Training and Development Department will conduct a TLA for new local union business agents on April 19-23, 2010 at the International Union Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This five-day training will provide tactics and strategies for organizing, negotiating, managing work, and effective representation, including building strong bargaining units.

Joint Council 43 in Detroit will be host a Teamsters Leadership Academy (TLA) on arbitration for local union officers and business agents on May 19-21. Participants are invited to the Labor’s International Hall of Fame Induction Dinner/Ceremony in which IBT Vice President John Cleveland will be inducted.

(Seattle, WA) -  Teamsters Local 174 received what Waste Management (WMI) called a last, best, and final offer last night for contracts covering 450 sanitation workers who service 1 million customers in King and Snohomish counties. The union said the proposal contained significant changes that had not yet been discussed in bargaining and new language that they were seeing for the very first time.

“The idea that the company can introduce new language and throw all kinds of changes at us and expect our members to vote on a short deadline is offensive,” said Rick Hicks, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 174 and lead negotiator for the union. “The union has a responsibility to our membership to analyze the whole contract proposal and not just vote our members on a one-page press release from the company.”

“From a union’s perspective, this appears to be a tactic to divide the membership and force them to vote on a substandard deal,” said Tracey A. Thompson, Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer. “This approach to bargaining calls into question whether the company is bargaining in good faith.”

Representatives of WMI distributed a one-page appended summary of the offer to sanitation workers as they reported to their facilities for work this morning. Workers’ reactions to the offer ranged from indifference to anger.  “By attaching an artificial deadline, it looks like they’re trying to ram a bad contract down the sanitation workers’ throats,” said Brent Barrett, a yard waste driver at WMI Seattle.

Teamsters Local 174 spokesperson Michael Gonzales said the union has carefully considered the company’s last, best and final offer, and has given a new proposal to the company which contains significant movement.

“We have requested that the employer return to the bargaining table, and at the time of this press release we have not received a response,” Gonzales said.