Teamster News
Security Guard Killed On Set Of TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ Deadline ...A Teamsters security guard was killed Monday night on the set of TNT’s sci-fi drama Falling Skies when he was struck by an unattended truck that rolled down a hill and pinned him against a tree. ..
American Airlines, US Airways Passenger Service Agents Vote To Join Teamsters-CWA Association teamster.org ...The joint effort to organize passenger service agents was led by Communication Workers of America (CWA) which will represent about 7,500 new members; 1,300 new members will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
American Airlines, US Airways Workers Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Union Huffington Post ...In a combined union election, airline employees voted on whether to join CWA-IBT, a joint union of the Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters. An overwhelming 86 percent voted in favor of unionizing...
Bus drivers to school board: “We cannot promise labor peace” Santa Rosa Press Gazette ...Members of Teamsters Local 991 held a practice protest Thursday morning at the Santa Rosa County School District’s Professional Development Center...
Mobile Mini Workers in Kansas City Vote Unanimously to Join Teamsters Local 541 teamster.org ...Local 541 is welcoming its new members at Mobile Mini in Kansas City, MO who voted unanimously for Teamster representation on September 10. There are four workers, plus temporary labor, included in the bargaining unit. “This is the first Mobile Mini unit that has been organized in the whole country that we know of,” said Local 541 Vice President and Business Representative Danny Gercone...
Con-way Freight Workers Vote To Organize In Laredo DC Velocity ...Con-way Freight workers in Laredo, Texas, agreed on Friday to unionize under the Teamsters union, the first time in the company's 31 years of operation that it will have to work with a bargaining unit...
Trade
Hoffa: TPA Might Move in Lame Duck Politico ...“The danger is, once the elections are over then they go into a smoke-filled room and pass an agreement which gives the president fast track,” Hoffa said at a press conference late Monday marking the start of a trade summit being held today in conjunction with Public Service International, a union representing public sector workers...
Public services unions open new trade agreements to public debate PSI ...Public services unions worldwide are determined to open to public scrutiy a new wave of global trade agreements, which are now being discussed behind closed doors...
Teamsters, Global Public Sector Trade Unions Warn Of Consequences Of Trade Policies teamster.org ...Meeting with global leaders of public sector unions, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and officials from Public Services International (PSI) discussed the growing concerns about the effects of public service trade policies as part of a public trade policy summit held today at Teamsters headquarters...
Teamsters, PSI Sound Alarm For Public Workers About Trade Deals teamster.org ...Three proposed trade deals could lead to millions of public sector workers losing their jobs worldwide if large corporations are allowed to impose their agenda, officials with the Teamsters and Public Services International (PSI) said today...
European Commission Denies EU Public Right To Express Views On TAFTA/TTIP And CETA TechDirt ...Since the European Commission refuses to take into account the public's views directly, people have turned to another mechanism to make their voices heard: a special kind of EU-wide petition called a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). If sufficient signatures are obtained from around the EU, the European Commission is obliged to respond, but the bar to make that happen is set quite high...
State Battles
Walker Shrugs and Declares, "There are Plenty of Jobs Out There" Uppity Wisconsin ...The problem, though-- according to Walker-- isn't that enough jobs have been created, but that there aren't enough workers out there that can pass a drug test...
Electoral Chaos In Wisconsin (opinion) New York Times ...voter ID laws don’t stop fraud. They stop otherwise-eligible voters from coming to the polls. Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge who sits on the same court as the judges on the ruling panel, made just this point when he said last fall that he was mistaken to have approved a voter ID law in Indiana seven years ago...
State reports increase in 2013 workplace deaths Associated Press ...The Indiana Department of Labor reports the number of workplace deaths in Indiana was up in 2013, but it was still the third-lowest number of fatalities recorded in the past 22 years...
Keystone XL Operator Seeks South Dakota Approval Bismarck Tribune ...The operator of the long-delayed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline on Monday formally asked South Dakota's utility regulators to recertify the portion of the project that runs through the state...
Early voting schedule expanded by Secretary of State Jon Husted while court decision under appeal cleveland.com ...Secretary of State Jon Husted has set new early, in-person voting hours for all 88 Ohio counties to comply with a federal court judge's order that he continues to appeal...
Google Refuses to Respond to Letter Questioning ALEC Ties The Progressive ...The Center for Media and Democracy/Progressive Inc. (CMD) has joined more than 50 watchdog, advocacy, and labor groups in sending a letter to Google asking it to cut its ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Google has not responded, telling the trade publication Ars Technica, "we aren't going to be commenting on this letter" and refusing to respond to repeated requests for comment made by the International Business Times...
ALEC Exodus Continues As Four More Companies Leave Lobby Common Cause ...Raytheon, Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison, and Illinois Tool Works all recently told Walden Asset Management that they no longer fund or have any involvement with ALEC...
War On Workers
500 truck drivers set to sue Walmart UNI Global Union News ...A federal district ruled on 10 September that over 500 current and former Walmart truck drivers in California can proceed with a class action lawsuit against the company it claims has violated state wage and hour laws...
Walmart's New Uniforms Made In Jordan, Despite 'Buy American' Campaign And Jordan Labor Controversy International Business Times ...The garment’s place of origin raised plenty of eyebrows due to the giant retailer’s recent pledge to buy more U.S.-made goods, as well as the slate of workers’ rights violations at Walmart suppliers in Jordan...
Lawmaker Assails Foreign Donations to Think Tanks New York Times ...Prominent Washington think tanks that routinely provide Congress with policy advice should refrain from taking foreign government donations, particularly from nations like Qatar that have been associated with financing extremist groups, a senior House lawmaker wrote this week in a letter to the president of the Brookings Institution...
Taxi unions to take on Uber app itfglobal.org ...Taxi worker unions meeting in Belgium today pledged to take action to prevent potentially unsafe competition by non-regulated freelance companies using app technologies...
New Jersey Loses 4th Casino As Trump Plaza Closes ABC News ...Theresa Volpe, a cocktail server at the Plaza for 26 years, is looking for a new job — along with about 8,000 others suddenly cut loose by Atlantic City's casinos since January. An unemployment assistance session will be held Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall...
Paycheck Fairness Act Blocked Again By Senate GOP Huffington Post ...The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with each other, impose harsher penalties for pay discrimination and require employers to be able to show that wage gaps between men and women are based on factors other than gender...
Narco Cash Flowed Through Citi, Deutsche Bank, BofA, Court Papers Say 100 Reporters ...A Colombian cocaine cartel allegedly laundered millions of dollars in drug money through the international banking giants Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, federal court papers reveal...
Chevron Draining Natural Gas After Worker Death Washington Times ...Authorities said that a Chevron Corp. subsidiary was still releasing natural gas Sunday from a pipeline off the Louisiana coast where a Saturday incident killed a maintenance worker...
Franchise Owners Flock To DC In Defense Of McDonald’s The Hill ...Fast food restaurateurs, hotel operators and other franchise owners from around the country are descending upon Washington on Tuesday to register their opposition to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finding they say threatens to undermine their business model...
A Hedge Fund Wants to Cut Jobs at Olive Garden, but Everyone Is More Worried About Losing Breadsticks Slog The Stranger ...The document is full of proposals to cut labor costs, including a call to modify "the front-of-the-house service to rely more on tipped servers, less on higher-salaried or higher-wage bussers and food runners," effectively moving payroll costs onto the customers, in addition to the company's attempts to train the customers to do the server's job themselves via tabletop tablet...
Miscellaneous
Why Tesla's Legal Breakthrough in Massachusetts Could Be a Big Deal Bloomberg ...Tesla (TSLA) appears to have finally blown by the last roadblock in its straight-to-consumers sales model in Massachusetts. The state’s supreme court on Monday rejected a legal challenge by the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association that sought to shutter Tesla’s showroom just west of Boston...
