Teamsters Launch National Campaign to Fight Bailed-Out Auto Giants' Destruction of Carhaul Industry

Teamsters Launch National Campaign to Fight Bailed-Out Auto Giants'
Destruction of Carhaul Industry

Teamsters Leaflet at GM, Chrysler Dealerships Across Country to Protest Cuts

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union is
launching a national campaign to fight against the destruction of the carhaul
industry by bailed-out auto giants General Motors and Chrysler. The automakers
received bailouts from taxpayers earlier this year, but are now demanding
dramatic and unsustainable cost cuts from Teamster-represented carhaul
companies, threatening hundreds of good-paying, skilled, middle-class jobs.

Teamsters across the country will be at GM and Chrysler dealerships this
weekend, distributing leaflets protesting the union-busting moves and alerting
consumers that the cars they purchase could be delivered by inexperienced
drivers with substandard equipment that greatly risk damaging the new
vehicles. Car buyers will still be charged mandatory "destination fees" of
more than $900 that have no relation to the actual cost of transporting a
vehicle.

"Taxpayers have already financed GM and Chrysler to the tune of more than $60
billion in bailout money and billions more in the Cash for Clunkers program,"
said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. The Teamsters want to remind these
automakers that their taxpayer bailouts were intended to help save American
jobs. Instead, they are out to destroy an industry that pays good wages and
benefits at a time when we should be protecting and creating more of these
kinds of jobs in this country."

As part of the campaign, the Teamsters Union also has launched a web site,
www.carbuyersbeware.com, to educate consumers how the bailed-out auto giants
are ripping off American car buyers.

"Even if the automakers succeed in making these outrageous cuts, the cost
savings will be very small," said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Tom
Keegel. "Auto transport represents just $120 per vehicle. And any cost savings
will not be passed on to dealers or consumers."

The restructuring of the auto industry required shared sacrifice not just of
the companies, but also the workers and suppliers. Experienced Teamster
carhaul drivers have already taken steep wage cuts to ensure the long-term
viability of the auto industry and the union carrier companies. The dramatic
and unsustainable cuts the automakers are demanding now will bankrupt the
union carriers and eliminate good middle-class jobs.

"These are the toughest and most dangerous jobs in the trucking industry,"
said Fred Zuckerman, Teamster Carhaul Division Director. "The jobs require
great skill and expertise to safely load and unload vehicles with care and
efficiency that car buyers expect. It's shameful that Chrysler and GM want to
throw these professional drivers onto the unemployment rolls and replace them
with what I believe are inexperienced, less-reliable drivers at substandard
pay."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4
million hardworking men and women, including more than 5,000 carhaulers, in
the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Contact: (202) 624-6911
Leigh Strope or David White

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Leigh Strope, lstrope@teamster.org; cell: +1-202-497-7766, or David White,
dwhite@teamster.org; cell: +1-202-439-1904, both of International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, +1-202-624-6911