This Teamster will be riding in the Rolling Thunder Run this weekend

No one was surprised one little bit when a Minnesota Teamster who's also a military veteran dropped by IBT headquarters today. He was in town for the XXVI annual Rolling Thunder Run, held in Washington every Memorial Day.

The annual motorcycle rally is a natural fit for Teamsters, who love their motorcycles and are proud to honor the men and women who serve their country. Nearly half a million cyclists attend the rally every year.

Riders gather in the massive Pentagon parking lots and then run through the streets of Washington, D.C. Afterward,they meet old and new friends and participate in the Memorial Day events. Friday evening they'll hold a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There'll be a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at Arlington National Cemetery and a national moment of silence for those who've given their lives for their country.

We're guessing that Bob Leslie isn't the only Teamster to bring his bike to Washington this weekend, but he was the first to visit Teamster headquarters. He's a veteran of Desert Storm and a member of Teamsters Local 120 for more than 20 years.

Leslie is a concrete driver in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ride safe, brother!

This is what we union THUGGS do for smart young people

We give them millions of dollars in college scholarships.

The James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund is celebrating its namesake's 100th birthday this year. Hoffa believed Teamster sons and daughters deserve the best education possible. The Fund was established in his honor in 2001. Since then, more than 1,500 students received $4.7 million in scholarships.

Applications have been submitted for this year's round of $10,000 scholarships, and the announcement of the winners will be made soon.

Last year, 31 students from across the U.S. and Canada received $10,000 scholarships. Another 50 were awarded $1,000 scholarships for the essays they wrote about the importance of unions.

Applications for this year's essay contest have yet to be mailed.

To participate, students must be the son, daughter or grandchild of an eligible Teamster member. For information about the Fund rules, click here.

This year for the first time a booklet has been publishing listing all the names of all the scholarship award winners. You can download the booklet here.

Remember, "THUGGS" stands for Those Helpful Union Guys and Gals.

Stephen Colbert dissects the IRA scandal (VIDEO)

As usual, Colbert is hilarious. Here he takes up the Tea Party groups complaining they were singled out by the IRS. It turns out they voluntarily submitted requests for exemption, which is what the IRS was looking at.

Or as Dylan Matthews points out, the flap isn't about paying taxes. It's about revealing the people who gave money to the groups.

Who knew? Ga. film industry a bright spot for Teamsters

Actually, we knew the entertainment industry in Georgia is flourishing and creating good union jobs. Our members are working on the sets!

Lately they've been working more than ever. Between July 2011 and June 2012, Fortune reports 333 -- yup, 333 -- feature films, television movies, commercials and music videos were shot in Georgia. The state is now one of the top five in film production.

It's been a boon for Teamsters in Local 728 in Atlanta, where film director Tyler Perry has his own 200,000-square-foot studio. Atlanta Teamsters have worked on a number of productions lately, including the last X-Men, Identity Thief and the Vampire Diaries.

The entertainment industry has employed Georgia Teamsters for at least two generations. Stephen Roland, a Local 728 member since 1993, said his mother raised him on a set going back to the original Dukes of Hazzard. Now he works on theatrical productions operating anything that runs on gas or diesel with a steering wheel.

The reason for the recent entertainment boom in Georgia is the state tax incentive passed in 2008, Fortune reports.

Jeff Bennett, the deputy general counsel and associate executive editor of SAG-AFTRA says that the number of Georgia residents who have found union-covered work has increased 90% since its theatrical collective bargaining agreement in 2009. 

The growth of the entertainment industry in Georgia has translated into increased union jobs for construction set builders, glaziers, hairdressers, and Teamster truck drivers who help move equipment and trailers to film sites, according to Lee Thomas, the director of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Division. 

The tax incentives lured Flight  to Atlanta in 2011. Local 728 Teamtsers worked on the movie, which stars Denzel Washington as an alcoholic airline pilot. Wikipedia explains,

The film's relatively small budget of $31 million, which (director Robert) Zemeckis later calculated was his smallest budget in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1980, was due to tax rebates from Georgia and from Zemeckis and Washington having waived their customary fees.

Local 728 has also worked on Zombieland, Joyful Noise, Fast and Furious 5, Hunger Games 2, Drop Dead Diva, 42, Identity Thief, Walking Dead and Anchorman 2.

How ALEC and AT&T are trying to screw you

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is teaming up with the country's largest telecommunications company to try to raise prices and limit phone and internet service for consumers and businesses. And the regulatory agency that oversees U.S. communications policy is listening and taking preliminary steps to implement the plan.

ALEC, which is mostly an escort service for corporations and state lawmakers, is going national on this matter. Its member company AT&T filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year calling for a nationwide upgrade of communications networks. That would involve replacing more of the existing copper infrastructure with fiber-optic cable over several years. AT&T wants such changes be tested in different pilot programs across the U.S. Earlier in the month, a FCC task force charged with looking into the issue agreed, proposing the agency conduct select trials.

No one is doubting that fiber networks are better. They provider faster broadband service, clearer voice service and video programming. But there is small print with big repercussions for the public on this issue. Under existing law, AT&T, Verizon and other phone companies formerly part of the nation's Bell system need to allow competitors access to the copper network so they too can provide service. That obligation would go away with a fiber network.

As Bruce Kushnick, executive director of the New Networks Institute, details in his recent Huffington Post column:

AT&T and the telcos keep talking about free markets and competition, when, in fact, one of the goals of this transition is to close down the rights of all competitors currently using the networks. In fact, AT&T's plan has been to get the government to protect their business by writing laws to block competitors.

In August, 2012, AT&T wrote that the FCC should eliminate any requirements or obligations on AT&T and the local phone companies and remove the rights of competitors to rent the networks at wholesale rates.

Other consumer protections would disappear. Requirements that AT&T and other landline phone companies serve all customers in their territories would be removed. So would many customer service regulations. And state regulatory commissions that have had oversight of these telephone companies for decades would lose much of their role. The result? Higher prices and less consumer protections.

The petition also discounts all the gains that have been made to improve copper networks. Many competitive telecom companies have been able to ramp up Internet speeds over the existing infrastructure through technological innovations. Copper networks are also more reliable during bad weather and natural disasters because they can provide phone service even if a home or business loses power.

There is still time for concerned citizens to contact the FCC and tell them not to allow ALEC and telecom big-wigs to dictate policy that will hurt the public. Let the agency know that consumers count!

Urgent need NOW for Teamster forklift drivers for Okla. relief effort

This was a Teamster house before the tornado struck. 

The Red Cross needs forklift drivers in Oklahoma City immediately to help move the relief supplies starting to roll in, Brother Roy Gillespie just now told us. Gillespie is coordinating recovery efforts for the Oklahoma City tornado victims with the American Red Cross.

All Teamsters are automatically qualified to work in the Oklahoma City warehouse, Gillespie said.

They don't have to have a CDL. As long as they're Teamsters and have a Teamsters card. Or, if they can show they work for YRC, Yellow, Holland, ABF, UPS and any other Teamster contract carrier. They will be listed as a spontaneous volunteer.  

We need them immediately.

Tractor-trailers bringing supplies such as food, water, blankets and flashlights are  arriving at the Oklahoma City warehouse, Gillespie said. They are being unloaded and re-loaded onto box trucks that will deliver the supplies to the stricken area.

Area Teamsters should go to 200 36th St., NE in Oklahoma City. Or they can call Brother Gillespie at 304-302-5981.

If you can't volunteer, consider a tax-deductible contribution to the Teamsters Disaster Relief Fund here.

Today's Teamster News 05.23.13

The IRS controversy isn’t about taxes. It’s about disclosure.  Washington Post   ...Some of the last week’s headlines might have led you to believe that there’s some controversy over whether tea party groups should have to pay taxes. There isn’t. No one thinks they should. The dispute is over whether they should have to disclose their donors, as a legal matter and as a moral one...
The DC Circuit Court Versus Workers' Rights  Truthout   ...Republicans and anti-union groups have gone all-out to stymie the work of the labor board, and they have found a powerful ally in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals...
Chile’s Recent Lead Negotiator on Trans-Pacific Partnership Warns It Could Be a “Threat to Our Countries”  naked capitalism   ...Some of Asian participants in the negotiations (particularly Japan) are also believed to have serious reservations about the provisions of the TPP that would weaken national sovereignity by allowing corporations to challenge laws and regulations as violations of the TPP...
NOAA still planning to furlough storm forecasters  Politico   ...Congress isn’t rushing to stave off looming furloughs for federal weather forecasters, even after they issued tornado warnings credited with saving countless lives in Oklahoma...
Anheuser-Busch Delivers More Than 51,000 Cans Of Water To Assist Tornado Relief Efforts In Oklahoma City, Also Donates $25,000 to Red Cross  Tulsa Business & Legal News   ...America's leading brewer, Anheuser-Busch, is providing 2,156 cases of emergency drinking water — or 51,744 cans — for use by relief workers and residents affected by the tornado in Oklahoma City and its surrounding suburbs...
No Arrests on Wall Street, But Over 7,700 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Big Banks  The Contributor   ...the nation’s biggest banks have essentially gained “too big for trial” status, and the federal government has failed to prosecute any executive at a Big Bank for financial fraud...
Nearly 20,000 Nevada homeowners get average of $97,000 in mortgage relief  Las Vegas Review-Journal   ...Nearly 20,000 Nevada homeowners have received an average of about $97,000 as part of the $25 billion national settlement over questionable foreclosure and lending practices by some of the nation’s largest financial institutions...
Monitor Checking Into Violations of Mortgage Settlement  Wall Street Journal   ...The announcement that Smith is looking into potential violations comes a week after New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he would sue BofA and Wells over complaints they did not provide fair and timely service to homeowners seeking relief...
Crowd size and arrest totals increase at latest Moral Monday protest  IndyWeek   ...Roughly 600 people gathered outside the Legislative Building in Raleigh on Monday as part of a growing wave of protests called Moral Mondays, which have now led to 153 arrests over four weeks…. Policies that are being considered or have already become law include cutting Medicaid and unemployment benefits, instituting voter ID, promoting school vouchers, raising taxes on the poor, rolling back environmental standards and limiting felons' voting rights...
In Indiana, ongoing concerns about subsidized auto parts from China and Japan  manufacture this ...more than 400,000 jobs in the U.S. auto supply chain have been lost since 2000.  One major problem is China's persistent violations of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and another 1.6 million U.S. jobs are at risk unless China's illegal trading practices are curtailed...
Pennsylvania Governor can't find any Latinos to work for him  United Press   ...Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said there are no Latinos in his administration because he can't find any...
RI Senate OKs minimum wage hike  Associated Press   ...Rhode Island’s minimum wage would go up 25 cents to $8 per hour next year under legislation approved in the state Senate...
Illinois Chemical Workers Ratify Four-Year Teamster Contract  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...More than 200 members of Teamsters Local 179 overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year agreement with Stepan Company this month...
Local 115 member and Marine vet wins mayoral primary in Brookhaven (Penn.)  Daily Times   ...Teamster and Marine veteran Daniel McCray won Tuesday’s primary election and will face Democrat Incumbent Mayor Michael Hess in the November election...
Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS among most valuable brands  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...Three metro Atlanta-based companies have something in common when it comes to their brands’ ability to add value to their business...
SOUL letter calls University to stand behind Pierce dining employees  Chicago Maroon   ...Concerned about the future of employees at Pierce Dining Commons, members of Students Organizing United with Labor delivered letters yesterday afternoon to Director of Campus Dining Richard Mason and President Zimmer’s office, calling on the University to pressure Aramark to negotiate with Teamsters Union representatives...
Bay City negotiators, mid-management union will return to negotiating table after deal rejected  Michigan Live   ...It’s back to the negotiating table for Bay City Hall and members of the Teamsters State, County & Municipal Workers, Local No. 214, officials say...