Las Vegas taxi drivers represented by the Industrial, Technical and Professional Employees Union (ITPEU)/OPEIU Local 4873 won a new contract as a result of their 60-day strike at Yellow Checker Star Transportation. Drivers will receive a share of the metered fares, reinstatement of eligibility for a four-day/12-hours-a-day workweek, increases in annual bonuses and other benefits. The new contract was signed Thursday morning.

More than 100 striking taxi drivers from Las Vegas traveled to the state Capitol in Carson City, Nev., this week to rally in support of legislation to crack down on the practice of "long-hauling" and to give drivers a voice on the Nevada Taxicab Authority Board. As previously reported, the drivers, who are members of ITPEU/OPEIU Local 4873, have been on strike since May 3 from Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation.

Last Sunday, taxi drivers employed at Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation in Las Vegas authorized a strike, triggered by what they say are the company’s unfair labor practices by refusing to provide the union with information relative to collective bargaining. There are 1,703 drivers in the bargaining unit.

Industrial, Technical and Professional Employees (ITPEU) represents the taxi drivers and is an affiliate of the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). Unfair labor practice charges were filed by ITPEU/OPEIU Local 4873 on Friday, March 1.

This Thanksgiving, Leslie Martes, program and outreach director at The Voter Participation Center, is thankful her father, John, had access to union retiree health care benefits. Without that health care plan, it's likely John wouldn't have lived to celebrate the holiday with his family.  

The Coalition of Arizona Appraisers (CoAA) has voted to affiliate with the American Guild of Appraisers (AGA), a guild of the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU).

Two groups of Wisconsin public employees showed Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his anti-worker allies they are not intimidated by Walker’s law that eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public workers.

Steven Rush was elected president of the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association International (PHPA), at the union’s annual meeting in Dallas Feb. 12. He is a founding member of the PHPA which, was established in 2002 and represents approximately 3,000 helicopter pilots throughout the United States and Canada.

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) helicopter pilots, members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 109 and employed by Air Methods Corporation based in Denver, have ratified a new agreement.  The 1,000 pilots operate in 45 states and transport nearly 100,000 patients a year. AMC is the nation’s largest provider of air medical emergency transport services and systems.

Play ball! So says the Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU), whose 200 members voted earlier this week to accept a contract negotiated with Minor League Baseball. AMLU is affiliated as Guild 322 of the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). The pact marks the first contract negotiated by the league and the union since the one that settled the nearly yearlong strike during the 2006 season.

Insurance giant Allstate is terminating profitable long-standing agents who aren’t meeting arbitrary performance goals according to a lawsuit filed in a New Jersey court by the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents (NAPAA).