Union leaders have successfully challenged Allied Systems’ bonuses it paid to supervisors in a big victory for Teamster car haulers, resulting in a $300 payment to each Allied member. The union’s victory was announced on March 2, 2009 and as a result, the company has ended its bonuses to supervisors.

The director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division claims a big victory for their 3,300 members at Allied. When the company violated the agreement they filed a grievance and, with the support of their members, they held the company accountable. On September 4, 2008, the Teamsters filed a grievance against Allied for violations relating to the equal sacrifice commitment. The Teamsters claimed that Allied had breached the agreement by paying performance bonuses to some of its supervisory employees.

Allied admitted that it paid such performance bonuses but characterized the payments as a component of a “variable wage” program that had been in effect since 2005. The Teamsters did not agree with Allied’s justification and pursued the grievance through the contractual grievance/arbitration provisions. Allied is required to pay more than two times the amount that it paid in “variable wage” performance bonuses.