Trade
“Arrogant” UK public didn’t “buy in” enough secret expertise to understand TTIP? (opinion) beliefnet ...Given the concerns about the privatisation of the NHS that have been raised by activists, I, like many other members of the public, believe the deal is far too important to be based on closed-doors decisions...
War on Workers
Child poverty in the U.S. is among the worst in the developed world Washington Post ...Nearly one third of U.S. children live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income in 2008 - about $31,000 annually...
'Being homeless is better than working for Amazon' Guardian ... ISS is the temp agency that provides warehouse labor for Amazon and they are at the center of the SCOTUS case Integrity Staffing Solutions vs. Busk. ISS could simply deactivate a worker’s badge and they would suddenly be out of work. They treated us like beggars because we needed their jobs...
Working for Walmart Is Even Worse Than You Think Alternet ...A lot of people were doing the work of three to four people...
Walmart Workers Rally For Higher Wages At Stores Across The Country ThinkProgress ...As Americans rushed to take advantage of jaw dropping deals this Black Friday, thousands of Walmart employees and labor union members protested at 1,000 stores across the country for higher wages and consistent full-time work. At least 11 Walmart workers and supporters were arrested for blocking traffic outside a Walmart in Chicago...
Uber faces a class action lawsuit over use of credit reports during background checks Pando Daily ...Uber’s legal problems are piling up. The company is fighting for regulatory clearance to operate in numerous jurisdictions, including, most recently, Nevada. At the same time, it’s being sued by the National Federation of the Blind for discrimination against blind people and service dogs. Another lawsuit accuses the company of charging bogus surcharges and tolls to passengers traveling to and from Boston’s Logan Airport...
Miscellaneous
Just Plane Ugly (opinion) New York Times ...Immediately following news coverage of a flight that had to be diverted when two passengers scuffled over a Knee Defender’s use, sales of the device reportedly increased...
Inside OPEC room, Naimi declares price war on U.S. shale oil Reuters ...Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members they must combat the U.S. shale oil boom, arguing against cutting crude output in order to depress prices and undermine the profitability of North American producers...
Black Friday Online Sales Up 8.5% Over Last Year, 20% Of Sales Came From iOS techcrunch ...Amazon was up 25.9% year-over-year, outpacing e-commerce as a whole, but eBay grew just 3.0% over Thanksgiving Day 2013...
Despair: More People Shopped on Black Friday than Voted in Midterms Mediaite ...The number of Black Friday participants comes from the National Retail Federation, which predicted 140.1 million would go shopping this weekend — a slight dip from the 140.3 million who went out last year. According to data collected by the United States Election Project, only 76.9 million people turned out to vote in the 2014 midterm elections — the lowest turnout since World War II, when the population of America was less than 150 million people...
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.29.14
Teamsters
Walmart Black Friday Protests Hit Major Cities With Calls For '$15 And Full Time' Huffington Post ...Dirk Rasmussen ... rose early and drove to downtown Washington, eager to join a post-Thanksgiving protest against Walmart. "Our local [union] president encouraged us to take part," said Rasmussen, 58, who works in a lumber and building-supply warehouse. "I raised eight children on a Teamsters benefit package and Teamsters wage. I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining, and I'm very concerned about the security of this next generation..."
Trade
Cameron supports the TTIP. Here's why we should be angry. Impact Nottingham ...A primary concern of anti-TTIPers is that EU trading standards will be altered to match those of the U.S. The problem here is that the States have pretty lax policies when it comes to food and hygiene standards. They don’t care if their beef is pumped full of cancer-inducing growth hormones or if their tomatoes weigh 3kg each because they are inflated with pesticides...
U.S. in suspense over fate of ‘Abenomics’ Japan Times ... officials from the 12 TPP countries reportedly plan to resume talks in early December in Washington, with Japanese bureaucrats expected to be among them...
State Battles
Schimel names business lobbyist as top aide Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ... A lobbyist for Walmart, the state's biggest business group and more than a dozen other businesses and organizations will serve as the top aide to incoming Attorney General Brad Schimel..
War on Workers
Black Friday protesters picket Walmart for higher wages, consistent work USA Today ...Some Walmart shoppers looking for door-buster deals on Back Friday were met by protesters speaking out against the retailer's treatment of workers. In what is being touted as the biggest organized protest of Walmart in the company's history, more than 1,600 demonstrations were organized by the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)...
These CEOs make more than their companies pay in corporate taxes Quartz ...seven of the country’s 30 largest companies by revenue paid out more to their chief executives than they did in corporate taxes in 2013, despite the fact that pre-tax incomes for those companies totaled more than $74 billion. Six of the 7 companies received tax refunds:..
Construction Worker Dies After Ceiling Collapse at Staten Island Car Dealership New York Times ...The worker, who was identified by the police as Delfino Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, became trapped under debris around 8:15 a.m. when a large section of the mezzanine level fell inside the Dana Ford Lincoln dealership at 266 West Service Road...
Waste disposal worker killed by equipment Lawrence Eagle Tribune ...Joshua Black, 26, of Wilmington, was declared dead at the scene after he was run over by a front-end loader at Allied Waste Services at 300 Forest St., according to Police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto...
We should all be thankful for labor unions’ successes (opinion) Des Moines Register ...Unions make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a voice at work and in our democracy...
Miscellaneous
Barrel price of crude at lowest level since 2009 news-journal.com ...the price of a barrel of crude oil fell to its lowest level in more than four years following news that 12 major oil producing countries won’t cut back on their planned output. For U.S. shale producers, the development probably will mean more spending cuts in 2015 than they already have signaled, and a push for more efficiency in the oil patch...
Walmart Black Friday Protests Hit Major Cities With Calls For '$15 And Full Time' Huffington Post ...Dirk Rasmussen ... rose early and drove to downtown Washington, eager to join a post-Thanksgiving protest against Walmart. "Our local [union] president encouraged us to take part," said Rasmussen, 58, who works in a lumber and building-supply warehouse. "I raised eight children on a Teamsters benefit package and Teamsters wage. I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining, and I'm very concerned about the security of this next generation..."
Trade
Cameron supports the TTIP. Here's why we should be angry. Impact Nottingham ...A primary concern of anti-TTIPers is that EU trading standards will be altered to match those of the U.S. The problem here is that the States have pretty lax policies when it comes to food and hygiene standards. They don’t care if their beef is pumped full of cancer-inducing growth hormones or if their tomatoes weigh 3kg each because they are inflated with pesticides...
U.S. in suspense over fate of ‘Abenomics’ Japan Times ... officials from the 12 TPP countries reportedly plan to resume talks in early December in Washington, with Japanese bureaucrats expected to be among them...
State Battles
Schimel names business lobbyist as top aide Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ... A lobbyist for Walmart, the state's biggest business group and more than a dozen other businesses and organizations will serve as the top aide to incoming Attorney General Brad Schimel..
War on Workers
Black Friday protesters picket Walmart for higher wages, consistent work USA Today ...Some Walmart shoppers looking for door-buster deals on Back Friday were met by protesters speaking out against the retailer's treatment of workers. In what is being touted as the biggest organized protest of Walmart in the company's history, more than 1,600 demonstrations were organized by the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)...
These CEOs make more than their companies pay in corporate taxes Quartz ...seven of the country’s 30 largest companies by revenue paid out more to their chief executives than they did in corporate taxes in 2013, despite the fact that pre-tax incomes for those companies totaled more than $74 billion. Six of the 7 companies received tax refunds:..
Construction Worker Dies After Ceiling Collapse at Staten Island Car Dealership New York Times ...The worker, who was identified by the police as Delfino Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, became trapped under debris around 8:15 a.m. when a large section of the mezzanine level fell inside the Dana Ford Lincoln dealership at 266 West Service Road...
Waste disposal worker killed by equipment Lawrence Eagle Tribune ...Joshua Black, 26, of Wilmington, was declared dead at the scene after he was run over by a front-end loader at Allied Waste Services at 300 Forest St., according to Police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto...
We should all be thankful for labor unions’ successes (opinion) Des Moines Register ...Unions make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a voice at work and in our democracy...
Miscellaneous
Barrel price of crude at lowest level since 2009 news-journal.com ...the price of a barrel of crude oil fell to its lowest level in more than four years following news that 12 major oil producing countries won’t cut back on their planned output. For U.S. shale producers, the development probably will mean more spending cuts in 2015 than they already have signaled, and a push for more efficiency in the oil patch...
Friday, November 28, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.28.14
Teamsters
Exclusive: Bronx heating oil company's drivers to be fired days before Christmas, as new owner Sprague Energy takes over New York Daily News ...Nearly 50 deliverymen and mechanics at Bronx heating oil supplier Castle Oil Corp. will be out in the cold as a publicly traded giant takes over the company’s East River terminal...
Teamster 385 Business Agent Bob Walker: Volusia County 'being stingy' with under-paid deputies Headline Surfer ...Asked how Volusia County's 430-plus deputies and sergeants can live on meager wage increases like the 2 percent given in 2013 with this year's election cycle in mind, Teamsters 385 Business Agent Bob Walker was frank in answering the question: "They can't."...
Trade
Corporate Sovereignty's Chilling Effects tech dirt ...corporate sovereignty -- known more formally as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) -- has emerged as the most contentious element of the transatlantic trade deal TAFTA/TTIP, currently being negotiated...
State Battles
Political Opposites Unite In Call For Redistricting Reform As Legislative Priority Plunderbund ...“With voter turnout at record low levels, it is clear the dark art of drawing Ohio’s legislative maps in partisan self-interest is turning off voters, and we urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful redistricting reform by June 2015”...
War on Workers
On Black Friday, Americans Confront the Walmart 1 Percent: Pay Employees a Living Wage Huffington Post ...at more than 1,600 of Walmart's 4,000 stores, shoppers will be greeted by Walmart employees handing out leaflets and holding picket signs -- "Walmart: Stop Bullying, Stop Firing, Start Paying" and "We're Drawing a Line at the Poverty Line: $25,000/year" -- protesting the company's abusive labor practices, including poverty-level wages, stingy benefits, and irregular work schedules that make it impossible for their families to make ends meet...
Miscellaneous
The five worst places to drive in the US The Hill ...Los Angeles has the second-worst gridlock of any major city in the U.S., behind only Honolulu, according to the INRIX traffic scorecard that was released in July...
Oil Tanks After OPEC Fails to Cut Production; US Shale Gas Targeted? naked capitalism ...After a testy meeting, OPEC agreed to maintain current production targets. The failure to support oil prices via reducing production led to a sharp fall in prices on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate crude dropping by over 6% and Brent plunging over 8% before rebounding to finish the day 6.7% lower, at $72.55 a barrel. Many analysts believe that oil could continue its slide to $60 a barrel....
Exclusive: Bronx heating oil company's drivers to be fired days before Christmas, as new owner Sprague Energy takes over New York Daily News ...Nearly 50 deliverymen and mechanics at Bronx heating oil supplier Castle Oil Corp. will be out in the cold as a publicly traded giant takes over the company’s East River terminal...
Teamster 385 Business Agent Bob Walker: Volusia County 'being stingy' with under-paid deputies Headline Surfer ...Asked how Volusia County's 430-plus deputies and sergeants can live on meager wage increases like the 2 percent given in 2013 with this year's election cycle in mind, Teamsters 385 Business Agent Bob Walker was frank in answering the question: "They can't."...
Trade
Corporate Sovereignty's Chilling Effects tech dirt ...corporate sovereignty -- known more formally as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) -- has emerged as the most contentious element of the transatlantic trade deal TAFTA/TTIP, currently being negotiated...
State Battles
Political Opposites Unite In Call For Redistricting Reform As Legislative Priority Plunderbund ...“With voter turnout at record low levels, it is clear the dark art of drawing Ohio’s legislative maps in partisan self-interest is turning off voters, and we urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful redistricting reform by June 2015”...
War on Workers
On Black Friday, Americans Confront the Walmart 1 Percent: Pay Employees a Living Wage Huffington Post ...at more than 1,600 of Walmart's 4,000 stores, shoppers will be greeted by Walmart employees handing out leaflets and holding picket signs -- "Walmart: Stop Bullying, Stop Firing, Start Paying" and "We're Drawing a Line at the Poverty Line: $25,000/year" -- protesting the company's abusive labor practices, including poverty-level wages, stingy benefits, and irregular work schedules that make it impossible for their families to make ends meet...
Miscellaneous
The five worst places to drive in the US The Hill ...Los Angeles has the second-worst gridlock of any major city in the U.S., behind only Honolulu, according to the INRIX traffic scorecard that was released in July...
Oil Tanks After OPEC Fails to Cut Production; US Shale Gas Targeted? naked capitalism ...After a testy meeting, OPEC agreed to maintain current production targets. The failure to support oil prices via reducing production led to a sharp fall in prices on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate crude dropping by over 6% and Brent plunging over 8% before rebounding to finish the day 6.7% lower, at $72.55 a barrel. Many analysts believe that oil could continue its slide to $60 a barrel....
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.27.14
Teamsters
Ho-Ho-Kus resident in third decade driving Thanksgiving parade floats NorthJersey.com ...While millions watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the comfort of their couch or in the crowds along Manhattan streets, Eddie Devereaux has had a unique perspective for the past 22 years. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident drives a float each year. He got the gig as a member of Teamsters Theatrical Union Local 817, which provides all of the drivers for the annual event...
Trade
NAFTA doesn’t benefit working people (LTE) The Windsor Star ...If NAFTA and all the other free-trade deals since have been so good for us, why is it that current unemployment is so stubbornly high, that child poverty is higher than ever in Canada and that food bank use is at an all-time high?...
State Battles
The Koch Brothers' Next Frontier National Journal ...Over the past two years, at least 40 bills aimed at weakening or repealing clean-energy mandates have been introduced in legislatures across the country, according to Colorado State University's Center for the New Energy Economy. But not a single state has done away with its renewable-energy standard. Ohio came the closest...
Downgraded: The Macro Outlook in Wisconsin Econbrowser ...The Department of Revenue’s Wisconsin Economic Outlook, released last week, details a noticeable deterioration in forecasted economic performance, in just the past eight months...
War on Workers
The Absurdity of How Walmart Treats Employees, in One Viral Thanksgiving Photo News.Mic ...An Oklahoma City Walmart is allegedly asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers make ends meet during the holiday season. A sign on the collection bin reads, "Let's succeed by donating to associates in need!!!"...
A Landmark Retail Workers 'Bill of Rights' Passes Unanimously In San Francisco Huffington Post ...the law, which passed the 11-member, all-Democratic board unanimously, requires the city's large chain retailers to post workers' schedules at least two weeks ahead of time. Workers will be owed supplemental pay if unexpected changes are made to their schedules, or if they're required to be "on call" and their shifts are suddenly canceled. The law, championed by Supervisor David Chiu, also requires that the employers offer any extra hours they have to their current workforces, rather than bringing on more part-time or temporary workers...
Hundreds of University of California students walk out over proposed tuition hike Reuters ...Hundreds of University of California students walked out of classes on Monday to protest a planned 25 percent tuition increase they say will make the cost of education across the 10-campus system too expensive...
Wall Street is taking over America's pension plans The Intercept ...Wall Street spent upwards of $300M to influence the election results. And a key part of its agenda has been a plan to move more and more of the $3 trillion dollars in unguarded government pension funds into privately managed, high-fee investments — a shift that may well constitute the biggest financial story of our generation that you’ve never heard of...
Senate Report: Scale of Wall Street Holdings Are “Unprecedented in U.S. History” Wall Street on Parade ...Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin, released an alarming 396-page report that details how Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks have quietly, and often stealthily through shell companies, gained ownership of a stunning amount of the nation’s critical industrial commodities like oil, aluminum, copper, natural gas, and even uranium. The report said the scale of these bank holdings “appears to be unprecedented in U.S. history...”
The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats (opinion) Politico ...The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution...
Troubling Questions on Role of Military in Ayotzinapa Case as National Crisis Builds; Political Class and Governing Institutions Discredited on a Scale Not Seen for Generations Popular Resistance ...When Iguala, Guerrero municipal police and masked men in unmarked black uniforms opened fire on unarmed students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college last September, killing six people and kidnapping 43 students, they lit the fuse of a national crisis...
Unions Are Among the Very Few Interest Groups that Represent the Middle Class Center for American Progress Action Fund ...the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Automobile Workers, and the National Education Association, or NEA—and a few other groups, such as AARP, the National Governors Association, or NGA, and the collective advocacy efforts of universities, are among the only groups that more often than not lobby for policies the middle class supports...
W-S Sanitation Worker Hit By Car Dies WFMY News ...A Winston-Salem sanitation worker that was hit by a car while on the job died early Tuesday morning...
Ho-Ho-Kus resident in third decade driving Thanksgiving parade floats NorthJersey.com ...While millions watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the comfort of their couch or in the crowds along Manhattan streets, Eddie Devereaux has had a unique perspective for the past 22 years. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident drives a float each year. He got the gig as a member of Teamsters Theatrical Union Local 817, which provides all of the drivers for the annual event...
Trade
NAFTA doesn’t benefit working people (LTE) The Windsor Star ...If NAFTA and all the other free-trade deals since have been so good for us, why is it that current unemployment is so stubbornly high, that child poverty is higher than ever in Canada and that food bank use is at an all-time high?...
State Battles
The Koch Brothers' Next Frontier National Journal ...Over the past two years, at least 40 bills aimed at weakening or repealing clean-energy mandates have been introduced in legislatures across the country, according to Colorado State University's Center for the New Energy Economy. But not a single state has done away with its renewable-energy standard. Ohio came the closest...
Downgraded: The Macro Outlook in Wisconsin Econbrowser ...The Department of Revenue’s Wisconsin Economic Outlook, released last week, details a noticeable deterioration in forecasted economic performance, in just the past eight months...
War on Workers
The Absurdity of How Walmart Treats Employees, in One Viral Thanksgiving Photo News.Mic ...An Oklahoma City Walmart is allegedly asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers make ends meet during the holiday season. A sign on the collection bin reads, "Let's succeed by donating to associates in need!!!"...
A Landmark Retail Workers 'Bill of Rights' Passes Unanimously In San Francisco Huffington Post ...the law, which passed the 11-member, all-Democratic board unanimously, requires the city's large chain retailers to post workers' schedules at least two weeks ahead of time. Workers will be owed supplemental pay if unexpected changes are made to their schedules, or if they're required to be "on call" and their shifts are suddenly canceled. The law, championed by Supervisor David Chiu, also requires that the employers offer any extra hours they have to their current workforces, rather than bringing on more part-time or temporary workers...
Hundreds of University of California students walk out over proposed tuition hike Reuters ...Hundreds of University of California students walked out of classes on Monday to protest a planned 25 percent tuition increase they say will make the cost of education across the 10-campus system too expensive...
Wall Street is taking over America's pension plans The Intercept ...Wall Street spent upwards of $300M to influence the election results. And a key part of its agenda has been a plan to move more and more of the $3 trillion dollars in unguarded government pension funds into privately managed, high-fee investments — a shift that may well constitute the biggest financial story of our generation that you’ve never heard of...
Senate Report: Scale of Wall Street Holdings Are “Unprecedented in U.S. History” Wall Street on Parade ...Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin, released an alarming 396-page report that details how Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks have quietly, and often stealthily through shell companies, gained ownership of a stunning amount of the nation’s critical industrial commodities like oil, aluminum, copper, natural gas, and even uranium. The report said the scale of these bank holdings “appears to be unprecedented in U.S. history...”
The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats (opinion) Politico ...The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution...
Troubling Questions on Role of Military in Ayotzinapa Case as National Crisis Builds; Political Class and Governing Institutions Discredited on a Scale Not Seen for Generations Popular Resistance ...When Iguala, Guerrero municipal police and masked men in unmarked black uniforms opened fire on unarmed students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college last September, killing six people and kidnapping 43 students, they lit the fuse of a national crisis...
Unions Are Among the Very Few Interest Groups that Represent the Middle Class Center for American Progress Action Fund ...the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Automobile Workers, and the National Education Association, or NEA—and a few other groups, such as AARP, the National Governors Association, or NGA, and the collective advocacy efforts of universities, are among the only groups that more often than not lobby for policies the middle class supports...
W-S Sanitation Worker Hit By Car Dies WFMY News ...A Winston-Salem sanitation worker that was hit by a car while on the job died early Tuesday morning...
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.26.14
Teamster News
Roma Food Drivers In California Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Food distribution drivers at Roma of Southern California, a Performance Food company, have voted overwhelmingly, 68-15, in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. Of the 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, 83 participated in the Nov. 20 election...
Teamsters Lead Buffalo Snow Storm Relief Efforts teamster.org ...“Our members went above and beyond. They worked around the clock plowing roads; selecting and delivering bread, milk and other essential food products to local stores and supermarkets; delivering gas and diesel to service stations; and staffing the correctional facilities,” said Brian Dickman, President of Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y...
Walmart Needs To Show More Thanks For Its Workers Huffington Post ...Thanksgiving Day is a holiday where family and friends gather together and express gratitude for everything in their lives. But those who work at Walmart have little to be thankful for, at least when it comes to their employment...
Commissioners approve memorandum of understanding with union Presque Isle Advance ...The Onaway City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with the Teamsters union Nov. 17 that will keep the current Department of Public Works (DPW) foreman Clayton Dunn at his current level of pay...
Trade
What ‘Free Trade’ Has Done to Central America The Nation ... the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ... the pact has had a devastating effect on poverty, dislocation and environmental contamination in the region. And perhaps even worse, it’s diminished the ability of Central American countries to protect their citizens from corporate abuse......
U.S.-NAFTA Freight Jumps 8.2% From Year Earlier Truckinginfo ...The amount freight moved between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico totaled $102.2 billion in September, an 8.2% gain from a year ago, as all five major transportation carried more cargo, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures...
War on Workers
$1 Billion: That’s How Much Walmart Avoids Paying in Taxes Each Year Through Loopholes The Nation ...Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1 billion a year in taxes” through federal loopholes, and various political shenanigans drive this always-low tax rate: the big-box giant is absorbing government subsidies both directly and indirectly, through its retail operations as well as its ingenious accounting methods...
Walmart Still Avoiding Paying $7000 Fine For Worker Killed By Black Friday Shoppers In 2008 Consumerist ...In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up...
One Worker Killed, Another Injured When Jamaica Plain Porch Collapses boston.com ...One worker was killed and another critically injured when the decking they were installing on a third-story porch at 89 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain suddenly gave way just before 11 a.m. Tuesday...
The Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist Bloomberg ...The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage,more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. “It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor,” Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote...
Doggy Day Care Chain Makes Pet Sitters Sign Noncompetes To Protect 'Trade Secrets' Huffington Post ...According to a Camp Bow Wow “employee confidentiality and non-compete agreement” obtained by HuffPost, by signing the contract employees agree not to work for a competing business within 25 miles of their Camp Bow Wow location's "franchise territory" for a period of two years following the contract's termination...
Private Prisons Seek Broader Markets The Austin Chronicle ...A new report finds that prison corporations, stymied by prison reform, are seeking new markets for human product lines – if you can't jail ’em, find another way to make ’em pay...
Oil Trains Use 105-Year-Old Tunnel Below Seattle KOMO ...A train carrying up to three million gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil runs right under downtown Seattle through a century-old tunnel that does not meet modern safety standards, according to BNSF Railway and Seattle fire officials...
US Electricity Generated By Coal Would Likely Drop To 22% In 2020 Platts ...The percent of US electricity generated by coal in 2020 would likely drop to 22%, with a decline in coal prices to follow as a result, according to a study of the cumulative impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and its other environmental programs...
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers To Restore Workers' Health Care NorthJersey.com ...Trump Entertainment Resorts said Saturday it has offered to restore health insurance to its 3,000 workers for at least two years if the union will drop its appeal of a court order that canceled the health insurance and pension plan for casino workers. It made the offer in a letter to Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union...
Miscellaneous
Railroads Sound Alarm Ahead of Chicago Gridlock Redux: Freight Bloomberg ...With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic...
Roma Food Drivers In California Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Food distribution drivers at Roma of Southern California, a Performance Food company, have voted overwhelmingly, 68-15, in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. Of the 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, 83 participated in the Nov. 20 election...
Teamsters Lead Buffalo Snow Storm Relief Efforts teamster.org ...“Our members went above and beyond. They worked around the clock plowing roads; selecting and delivering bread, milk and other essential food products to local stores and supermarkets; delivering gas and diesel to service stations; and staffing the correctional facilities,” said Brian Dickman, President of Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y...
Walmart Needs To Show More Thanks For Its Workers Huffington Post ...Thanksgiving Day is a holiday where family and friends gather together and express gratitude for everything in their lives. But those who work at Walmart have little to be thankful for, at least when it comes to their employment...
Commissioners approve memorandum of understanding with union Presque Isle Advance ...The Onaway City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with the Teamsters union Nov. 17 that will keep the current Department of Public Works (DPW) foreman Clayton Dunn at his current level of pay...
Trade
What ‘Free Trade’ Has Done to Central America The Nation ... the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ... the pact has had a devastating effect on poverty, dislocation and environmental contamination in the region. And perhaps even worse, it’s diminished the ability of Central American countries to protect their citizens from corporate abuse......
U.S.-NAFTA Freight Jumps 8.2% From Year Earlier Truckinginfo ...The amount freight moved between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico totaled $102.2 billion in September, an 8.2% gain from a year ago, as all five major transportation carried more cargo, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures...
War on Workers
$1 Billion: That’s How Much Walmart Avoids Paying in Taxes Each Year Through Loopholes The Nation ...Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1 billion a year in taxes” through federal loopholes, and various political shenanigans drive this always-low tax rate: the big-box giant is absorbing government subsidies both directly and indirectly, through its retail operations as well as its ingenious accounting methods...
Walmart Still Avoiding Paying $7000 Fine For Worker Killed By Black Friday Shoppers In 2008 Consumerist ...In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up...
One Worker Killed, Another Injured When Jamaica Plain Porch Collapses boston.com ...One worker was killed and another critically injured when the decking they were installing on a third-story porch at 89 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain suddenly gave way just before 11 a.m. Tuesday...
The Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist Bloomberg ...The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage,more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. “It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor,” Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote...
Doggy Day Care Chain Makes Pet Sitters Sign Noncompetes To Protect 'Trade Secrets' Huffington Post ...According to a Camp Bow Wow “employee confidentiality and non-compete agreement” obtained by HuffPost, by signing the contract employees agree not to work for a competing business within 25 miles of their Camp Bow Wow location's "franchise territory" for a period of two years following the contract's termination...
Private Prisons Seek Broader Markets The Austin Chronicle ...A new report finds that prison corporations, stymied by prison reform, are seeking new markets for human product lines – if you can't jail ’em, find another way to make ’em pay...
Oil Trains Use 105-Year-Old Tunnel Below Seattle KOMO ...A train carrying up to three million gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil runs right under downtown Seattle through a century-old tunnel that does not meet modern safety standards, according to BNSF Railway and Seattle fire officials...
US Electricity Generated By Coal Would Likely Drop To 22% In 2020 Platts ...The percent of US electricity generated by coal in 2020 would likely drop to 22%, with a decline in coal prices to follow as a result, according to a study of the cumulative impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and its other environmental programs...
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers To Restore Workers' Health Care NorthJersey.com ...Trump Entertainment Resorts said Saturday it has offered to restore health insurance to its 3,000 workers for at least two years if the union will drop its appeal of a court order that canceled the health insurance and pension plan for casino workers. It made the offer in a letter to Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union...
Miscellaneous
Railroads Sound Alarm Ahead of Chicago Gridlock Redux: Freight Bloomberg ...With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic...
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
It's beginning to look like Walmart Black Friday protests will be the biggest ever
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| Walmart worker Diana Tigon goes hungry a lot. |
It's also a sign of the rising disgust for Walmart's owners. The Walton family owns more than 42 percent of Americans combined but can't pay their employees a living wage.
Diana Tigon, a Walmart employee in Arlington, Texas, sometimes can't afford to eat all day. Here's her story:
Diana has worked as a cashier at Walmart for more than two years. She is one of the lucky workers scheduled for a consistent 40 hours a week. She and her coworker stood up for full-time status and won it for themselves and about 15 workers in their store.
Even with more hours than many, at just $9.40 an hour Diana often finds herself strapped for cash. And despite her 40 hours, she doesn’t have full access to benefits because she was classified as a part-time employee.
She is very disciplined on her spending so that she doesn’t fall behind on bills. After she covers the rent for the one-bedroom apartment she shares with her niece, she has little left to cover the bills or save for the car she dreams of buying to get her to work. On rough weeks, she will go full days without eating meals. Friends in her neighborhood started to take notice and bring her food from time-to-time.
“On by weeks, you just have to make it until payday on Wednesday,” Diana said.
She and her coworkers try to look out for one another and buy one another food when they can. Recently, when her coworker asked her to pay for her drink, she ran her card and crossed her fingers. She only had $18 to her name the last time she checked and she was afraid to see what, if anything, was left.Walmart workers formed the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) to raise their wages and to form a union. They need the Teamsters help on Black Friday, and Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wants you to support them.
All they're asking is that you take 30 minutes to visit a store near you. If you do it sometime between 7 am and 10 am you will really send Walmart a strong message. To find a Black Friday action near you, go to www.BlackFridayProtests.org.
No matter how many of you there are, they’re asking you to take a picture of yourself and your group in front of the store and post it to social media, or email it to community@changewalmart.org. Make sure your sign specifies which city or town you're in and that you support #WalmartStrikers. That will show that thousands of people from across the country want Walmart to change.
OUR Walmart is also asking you to deliver your sign to the store manager. That's because every time that store manager gets a visit from a supporter, they must call Home Office in Arkansas and tell them. So it has just as much of an impact if it’s you and one other, or a dozen or 50 of you.
So just get out there, no matter how big your group! Every time a Walmart manager calls Bentonville, you are making a difference. They are hearing you tell that it’s time to end the financial crisis that the Waltons have created for American families.
This is what we union thuggs do for the holidays
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| Bass Tournament delegates present the check. |
A few weeks ago, the joint council raised more than $12,000 at their 1st. Annual Dan McKay Memorial Bass Tournament.
Joint Council 13 president Marvin Kropp presented the donation to Jill and Lauren, representatives of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Snowflake Village.
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| Marvin Kropp presents the check. |
Here's how the Teamsters got involved:
Last Christmas, retired Teamster and Missouri State Rep. Bob Burns reached out to Marvin Kropp about Teamster’s support for Snowflake Village. Brother Burns told them about the wonderful work Snowflake Village does for families of sick children spending Christmas in the hospital. Brother Kropp and Mike Goebel, vice-president of Joint Council 13, decided to help.
On Christmas Eve, they brought a donation to Children’s Hospital and helped wrap gifts for the children.
“It was a very moving experience to see the joy of the children when they received their gifts. So when picking a charity for the bass tournament, Snowflake Village was our first choice,” said Brother Kropp.
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| Joint Council 13 President Marvin Kropp, Local 600 Secretary-Treasurer Scott Gilchris, Local 600 member Dan McKay and Local 600 President Larry Tinker. |
Teamsters Joint Council 13 would like to thank everyone who made a contribution to this great cause and to all the hard work that everyone put into this event to make it such a huge success!
And remember, THUGGs stands for 'Those Helpful Union Guys and Gals'!
Today's Teamster News 11.25.14
Teamster News
Roger Newell Remembered On WPFW Today AFL-CIO ...Gloria Minott will host a special hour-long show on longtime labor and community activist Roger Newell today starting at 11a on WPFW 89.3 FM, featuring remembrances by Roger’s friends and colleagues...
Engineer And Conductor Contract Talks Stall Between CP, Teamsters Progressive Railroading ...Negotiations have stalled between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and Canadian Pacific concerning a new agreement covering 3,800 locomotive engineers and conductors, TCRC officials announced late last week. The existing contract expires Dec. 31...
Mothers Outraged At EPA’s Response On West Lake Landfill St. Louis American ...EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks stated that either temporary or permanent relocation are “inconsistent with agency authority,” in a Nov. 14 letter to Lois Gibbs, who leads the Center for Health, Environment and Justice – a Washington-based environmental group...
JCPS, Teamsters rep address Valley 'bus fight' video WHAS-11 ...Jackey says that these incidents are not common but John Stovall the President of Teamsters (Local 783), the bus driver's union disagrees. He says that they have picked up over the past two years. According to Stovall, incidents of violence on buses got so bad at the end of last school year that off duty police officers were having to ride along.
Trade
Teamsters support new Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters are supporting a bill to expand the safety net for workers who lose their jobs to foreign trade...
State Battles
More Corporations Distance Themselves from ALEC Common Cause ...Over the last few months major companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, International Paper, Occidental Petroleum, News Corp, Overstock.com, SAP America, and AOL have all announced they have left or were leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the secretive group that brings state politicians and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors to rewrite our laws. Common Cause is now able to confirm four other companies that have cut ties with ALEC...
Inslee Says State Will Act On Oil Trains The Olympian ...The number of oil trains running across Washington is unacceptable, and the Legislature will consider bills in the upcoming session that mandate advance notification of oil shipments by rail as well as more funding for railroad crossings and emergency response training, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday...
ND Lawmakers Propose Changes In Voter ID Law Inforum ...The proposed legislation comes after reports of people being turned away from the polls on Election Day due to identification problems. This year marked the first major election since North Dakota passed a law in 2013 that removed the option to sign an affidavit, allowing voters who didn’t have proper ID to swear under penalty of law that they are eligible to vote...
War on Workers
Food Donation Bin Chained To Walmart Billionaire's Park Avenue Condo Gothamist ...Walmart employs 1.4 million Americans, and pays roughly 800,000 of them less than $25,000/year... To call attention to this cruel reality, a labor group chained a giant food bin to the awning of Alice Walton's $25 million Park Avenue condo...
Wage Theft Too Often Going Unpunished (opinion) New York Daily News ...“(Wage theft) has become a crime wave here in New York State,” said Joann Lum, executive director of the National Mobilization Against SweatShops....
Low Wages Keep Restaurant Workers In Cycle Of Poverty Asheville Citizen-Times ...nearly 17 percent of the country’s 10 million restaurant workers live below the poverty line, with 40 percent living below twice the poverty line...
Farmworkers Call On Wendy's To Pay More For Tomatoes And Boost Their Wages Huffington Post ...about 200 people marched in front of two Wendy's restaurants in Manhattan this past Saturday, demanding the company pay 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes in order to boost farmworkers’ wages...
Coal-Waste Power Plants Could Close If New EPA Rules Adopted Allentown Morning Call ...Oelbracht and 35 workers at the plant are threatened by extreme carbon-emission regulations proposed by EPA. The new regulations could force the closure of Westwood and 13 other plants like it in Pennsylvania, as well as five more in other states...
Miscellaneous
Budweiser Gives Clydesdales the Heave-Ho for the Holidays NBC News ...Budweiser is putting its Clydesdales out to pasture for the holidays. The country's No. 3 beer brand said the horses will not play a role in its traditional advertising for the season, although the company added later Monday that they will be featured in spots promoting responsible drinking...
Roger Newell Remembered On WPFW Today AFL-CIO ...Gloria Minott will host a special hour-long show on longtime labor and community activist Roger Newell today starting at 11a on WPFW 89.3 FM, featuring remembrances by Roger’s friends and colleagues...
Engineer And Conductor Contract Talks Stall Between CP, Teamsters Progressive Railroading ...Negotiations have stalled between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and Canadian Pacific concerning a new agreement covering 3,800 locomotive engineers and conductors, TCRC officials announced late last week. The existing contract expires Dec. 31...
Mothers Outraged At EPA’s Response On West Lake Landfill St. Louis American ...EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks stated that either temporary or permanent relocation are “inconsistent with agency authority,” in a Nov. 14 letter to Lois Gibbs, who leads the Center for Health, Environment and Justice – a Washington-based environmental group...
JCPS, Teamsters rep address Valley 'bus fight' video WHAS-11 ...Jackey says that these incidents are not common but John Stovall the President of Teamsters (Local 783), the bus driver's union disagrees. He says that they have picked up over the past two years. According to Stovall, incidents of violence on buses got so bad at the end of last school year that off duty police officers were having to ride along.
Trade
Teamsters support new Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation TeamsterNation ...The Teamsters are supporting a bill to expand the safety net for workers who lose their jobs to foreign trade...
State Battles
More Corporations Distance Themselves from ALEC Common Cause ...Over the last few months major companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, International Paper, Occidental Petroleum, News Corp, Overstock.com, SAP America, and AOL have all announced they have left or were leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the secretive group that brings state politicians and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors to rewrite our laws. Common Cause is now able to confirm four other companies that have cut ties with ALEC...
Inslee Says State Will Act On Oil Trains The Olympian ...The number of oil trains running across Washington is unacceptable, and the Legislature will consider bills in the upcoming session that mandate advance notification of oil shipments by rail as well as more funding for railroad crossings and emergency response training, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday...
ND Lawmakers Propose Changes In Voter ID Law Inforum ...The proposed legislation comes after reports of people being turned away from the polls on Election Day due to identification problems. This year marked the first major election since North Dakota passed a law in 2013 that removed the option to sign an affidavit, allowing voters who didn’t have proper ID to swear under penalty of law that they are eligible to vote...
War on Workers
Food Donation Bin Chained To Walmart Billionaire's Park Avenue Condo Gothamist ...Walmart employs 1.4 million Americans, and pays roughly 800,000 of them less than $25,000/year... To call attention to this cruel reality, a labor group chained a giant food bin to the awning of Alice Walton's $25 million Park Avenue condo...
Wage Theft Too Often Going Unpunished (opinion) New York Daily News ...“(Wage theft) has become a crime wave here in New York State,” said Joann Lum, executive director of the National Mobilization Against SweatShops....
Low Wages Keep Restaurant Workers In Cycle Of Poverty Asheville Citizen-Times ...nearly 17 percent of the country’s 10 million restaurant workers live below the poverty line, with 40 percent living below twice the poverty line...
Farmworkers Call On Wendy's To Pay More For Tomatoes And Boost Their Wages Huffington Post ...about 200 people marched in front of two Wendy's restaurants in Manhattan this past Saturday, demanding the company pay 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes in order to boost farmworkers’ wages...
Coal-Waste Power Plants Could Close If New EPA Rules Adopted Allentown Morning Call ...Oelbracht and 35 workers at the plant are threatened by extreme carbon-emission regulations proposed by EPA. The new regulations could force the closure of Westwood and 13 other plants like it in Pennsylvania, as well as five more in other states...
Miscellaneous
Budweiser Gives Clydesdales the Heave-Ho for the Holidays NBC News ...Budweiser is putting its Clydesdales out to pasture for the holidays. The country's No. 3 beer brand said the horses will not play a role in its traditional advertising for the season, although the company added later Monday that they will be featured in spots promoting responsible drinking...
Monday, November 24, 2014
Teamsters support new Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation
The Teamsters are supporting a bill to expand the safety net for workers who lose their jobs to foreign trade.
Today U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced a bill to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program so it will help all workers who lose jobs to trade with a foreign country. Some workers haven't gotten the assistance because they lost their job to a country with which the United States does not have a trade deal. Some haven't gotten help because they're service, rather than manufacturing workers.
Brown's bill would change all that. It would include service workers and workers who lose jobs to countries we don't have a trade agreement with.
The Teamsters represent about 230,000 workers in commercial services industries.
Since 1975, about 2 million workers have relied on TAA to make ends meet after they lost their jobs through no fault of their own. They've also gotten the training they need to find a new job.
Brown released the map below, which shows Ohio companies affected by foreign trade whose workers were certified for TAA benefits to help train for new jobs. In the past five years, more than 22,400 Ohio workers got help from TAA.
It would be nice if U.S. workers didn't need TAA. But if Congress decides to pass the latest giant job-killers -- TPP, TISA and TTIP -- they will.
Here are some of benefits of TAA in Sen. Brown's bill:
Today U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced a bill to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program so it will help all workers who lose jobs to trade with a foreign country. Some workers haven't gotten the assistance because they lost their job to a country with which the United States does not have a trade deal. Some haven't gotten help because they're service, rather than manufacturing workers.
Brown's bill would change all that. It would include service workers and workers who lose jobs to countries we don't have a trade agreement with.
The Teamsters represent about 230,000 workers in commercial services industries.
Since 1975, about 2 million workers have relied on TAA to make ends meet after they lost their jobs through no fault of their own. They've also gotten the training they need to find a new job.
Brown released the map below, which shows Ohio companies affected by foreign trade whose workers were certified for TAA benefits to help train for new jobs. In the past five years, more than 22,400 Ohio workers got help from TAA.
Here are some of benefits of TAA in Sen. Brown's bill:
- Workers receive continued unemployment benefits while they are in training.
- In some states, workers may apply for job search and relocation allowances.
- Workers who are at least 50 can get supplemental wages of up to $12,000 if their new job pays less than their old job.
- Provides a health care tax credit for workers who lose their health care when they lose their jobs.
'My name is Jim Hoffa and I support Walmart workers'
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| Jim Hoffa supports Walmart workers. Do you? |
That's exactly what Walmart workers want you to do this Black Friday. They'd like you go to a Walmart, stand in front of it and hold up a sign saying you support them. They expect protests at 1,600 stores around the country to protest Walmart's retaliation when they speak out. It's a scary thing to do, and seeing pictures of their supporters will give them courage.
Walmart workers make so little money many of them can't feed their families, according to a report released last week. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the report's author, Michele Simon, said,
...49 million people suffer from hunger in this country, not because of unemployment, but because of low-wage work. She said as the nation's largest employer, Walmart bears much of the blame for putting business practices into place that have ultimately led to fewer working Americans being able to feed their families.Walmart's owners, the Walton heirs, have more wealth than 42 percent of the United States.Just recently in Oklahoma, a Walmart store actually put out a food bin to collect canned goods for its hungry employees. An Ohio Walmart did the same thing last year.
Today, Walmart strikers placed a giant food bin to Alice Walton's $25 million condo. They said they want a raise, not charity.
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| No thank you, Alice. |
It's simple to join the Black Friday Protests. Just go to BlackFridayProtests.org to find an action near you. Bring a sign and a cellphone, and take a selfie. Post it to your Facebook page or send it to the Facebook page of the Walmart workers organization, Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart).
Here's what ALEC has in store for workers in 2015
The corporate dating service for state lawmakers known as ALEC once again has working men and women in its sights. And not in a good way. Early in December, ALEC (or the American Legislative Exchange Council) will present its plans on empowering corporations, pauperizing workers and eradicating private education in Washington, D.C., according to our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy.
Newly elected state lawmakers will be flown at taxpayers' or ALEC's expense to the nation's capital. There they'll be treated to three days of expensive meals and access to corporate lobbyists with big bankrolls. If they want to continue to enjoy ALEC's largesse, they'll sign up, go home and try to pass bills written by the corporate lobbyists.
ALEC's whole mission is to sever the ties between elected representatives and the people who elected them -- and to replace the will of the people with the will of the corporation.
One of the ways ALEC will try to crush democracy is to make it harder for local governments to pass laws governing wages and sick time.
The National Restaurant Association, an ALEC member, wants state legislatures to pass "Minimum Wage Preemption Policies.” These would block municipal governments from passing laws to raise the minimum wage or require paid sick days. ALEC legislators have also been active in banning local paid sick day efforts. They've managed to pass 10 anti-sick day laws after Wisconsin's version was shared at an ALEC meeting in August 2011.
ALEC claims it's for free markets, but it isn't. What ALEC really wants is protection for big corporations from government, consumers and small businesses. Here's an example:
Of course there's nothing better for empowering corporations than a giant trade deal like Nafta, and you can bet ALEC is supporting all the new bad trade deals coming down the pike: TPP, TTIP and TISA.
ALEC's big insurance members want to tilt the playing field in their favor by limiting the ability of small businesses or consumers to dispute a property insurance claim they deny. ALEC's plan lets insurance companies get around state law by writing exceptions into the policy. It also lets them shorten deadlines for claim filing and statute of limitation deadlines. Finally, it makes it harder for businesses or consumers to hire lawyers or dispute denials by restricting awards of attorney fees or penalty interest.ALEC also wants to take away public control of education and turn it over to corporations. Expect ALEC to promote its "Public Charter School Act" in 2015. The bill lifts caps on the number of for-profit schools in a state, excuse them from following many state laws and releases them from any existing collective bargaining agreements.
Of course there's nothing better for empowering corporations than a giant trade deal like Nafta, and you can bet ALEC is supporting all the new bad trade deals coming down the pike: TPP, TTIP and TISA.
But wait -- there's some good news. Corporations are realizing their employees and their customers aren't pleased with their membership in an anti-worker, anti-consumer lobbying group. So they're leaving ALEC in drovers. The Center for Media and Democracy fills us in on the latest:
Emerson Electric is the latest corporation to confirm it has ended funding for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), joining a notable wave of recent corporate defectors that has included Microsoft, Google, Facebook, AOL and Yahoo.
The Teamsters will be fighting ALEC's anti-worker legislation in Statehouses around the country -- until the last corporation leaves and turns out ALEC's lights.
Today's Teamsters News 11.24.14
Teamsters
Billion-dollar California salad company exploits undocumented migrants, say workers and Teamsters Guardian ...Taylor Farms, the world’s largest supplier of ‘healthy, wholesome’ cut vegetables and salad, denies claims it threatened to call immigration officials to keep workers on ‘temporary’ status, exposing them to dangerous working conditions...
Local labor organization to host awards banquet TH Online ...Dr. Liang Chee Wee and John Rosenthal (from Teamsters Local 120) will be named the labor and management recipients of the "Bob Bennett Recognition for Good Faith in Collective Bargaining" at the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council's awards banquet Tuesday at the Grand River Center...
Trade
Scot Gov chiefs to analyse implications of TTIP Farmers Guardian ...As well as looking at agriculture, the environment and climate change, the discussions will also analyse the potential benefits for the Scottish economy of reducing trade barriers with the USA...
State Battles
Illinois Law to Fix $111 Billion Pension Deficit, Worst in U.S., Is Struck Down Bloomberg ...Illinois will have to find a new way to fix the worst pension shortfall in the U.S. after a judge struck down a 2013 law that included raising the retirement age...
Editorial: Indiana voting laws need quick, aggressive action Tribune Star ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points, according to Michael McDonald, the University of Florida political scientist overseeing the Elections Project...
War on Workers
Ex-Amazon Worker Plans Hunger Strike In Front Of Jeff Bezos’ Office To Protest Employee Treatment International Business Times ...A former Amazon product manager who says he was fired for voicing concerns about a software glitch is planning to starve himself in front of the CEO’s office to raise awareness about the treatment of Amazon employees...
Protesting GM Auto Workers Attacked by US Embassy Staff Real News ...US labor activists have filed a complaint with the Dept. of Justice and the SEC, charging the General Motors Company with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, says Frank Hammer, retired General Motors employee and former president and chairman of Local 909 in Warren, Michigan...
Why Germans Work Fewer Hours But Produce More: A Study In Culture KNOTE ...Since the working day is focused on delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. Because of the focused atmosphere and formal environment of German businesses, employees don’t necessarily hang out together after work. Germans generally value a separation between private life and working life...
More Mass Graves in Mexican Search for Missing Students telesur ...Civilians and nongovernmental organizations in Mexico found four more mass graves Sunday, as part of the search efforts to locate the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College that went missing after being detained by Iguala police on the night of September 26...
Indian tea workers kill owner during pay talks New York Daily News ...The owner of the Sonali tea estate in West Bengal was dragged out of the payment talks beaten up and stabbed by a crowd, reports the BBC. Police say the owner had not paid workers for up to three months...
Worker dies while changing truck tire at Whiteford truck stop Monroe News ...A 69-year-old Toledo man collapsed and died while changing a truck tire at a Whiteford Township truck stop Wednesday night....
Billion-dollar California salad company exploits undocumented migrants, say workers and Teamsters Guardian ...Taylor Farms, the world’s largest supplier of ‘healthy, wholesome’ cut vegetables and salad, denies claims it threatened to call immigration officials to keep workers on ‘temporary’ status, exposing them to dangerous working conditions...
Local labor organization to host awards banquet TH Online ...Dr. Liang Chee Wee and John Rosenthal (from Teamsters Local 120) will be named the labor and management recipients of the "Bob Bennett Recognition for Good Faith in Collective Bargaining" at the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council's awards banquet Tuesday at the Grand River Center...
Trade
Scot Gov chiefs to analyse implications of TTIP Farmers Guardian ...As well as looking at agriculture, the environment and climate change, the discussions will also analyse the potential benefits for the Scottish economy of reducing trade barriers with the USA...
State Battles
Illinois Law to Fix $111 Billion Pension Deficit, Worst in U.S., Is Struck Down Bloomberg ...Illinois will have to find a new way to fix the worst pension shortfall in the U.S. after a judge struck down a 2013 law that included raising the retirement age...
Editorial: Indiana voting laws need quick, aggressive action Tribune Star ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points, according to Michael McDonald, the University of Florida political scientist overseeing the Elections Project...
War on Workers
Ex-Amazon Worker Plans Hunger Strike In Front Of Jeff Bezos’ Office To Protest Employee Treatment International Business Times ...A former Amazon product manager who says he was fired for voicing concerns about a software glitch is planning to starve himself in front of the CEO’s office to raise awareness about the treatment of Amazon employees...
Protesting GM Auto Workers Attacked by US Embassy Staff Real News ...US labor activists have filed a complaint with the Dept. of Justice and the SEC, charging the General Motors Company with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, says Frank Hammer, retired General Motors employee and former president and chairman of Local 909 in Warren, Michigan...
Why Germans Work Fewer Hours But Produce More: A Study In Culture KNOTE ...Since the working day is focused on delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. Because of the focused atmosphere and formal environment of German businesses, employees don’t necessarily hang out together after work. Germans generally value a separation between private life and working life...
More Mass Graves in Mexican Search for Missing Students telesur ...Civilians and nongovernmental organizations in Mexico found four more mass graves Sunday, as part of the search efforts to locate the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College that went missing after being detained by Iguala police on the night of September 26...
Indian tea workers kill owner during pay talks New York Daily News ...The owner of the Sonali tea estate in West Bengal was dragged out of the payment talks beaten up and stabbed by a crowd, reports the BBC. Police say the owner had not paid workers for up to three months...
Worker dies while changing truck tire at Whiteford truck stop Monroe News ...A 69-year-old Toledo man collapsed and died while changing a truck tire at a Whiteford Township truck stop Wednesday night....
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.23.14
Teamsters
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers At Pacer Cartage, Harbor Rail Transport Return To Work teamster.org ...On Friday, port truck drivers from the Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport in Long Beach, Calif., who had struck to protest wage theft caused by their misclassificaton as "independent contractors", took down their picket lines and made an unconditional offer to return to work after both companies pledged to continue talks...
Trade
Trading Up? Politico ...A separate Pew Research poll found that similar shares of both Republicans and Democrats are more or less in agreement that trade destroys jobs (54 percent in the GOP say so, and 50 percent of Democrats) and lowers wages (44 percent in the GOP and 49 percent of Democrats). Moreover, one of the TPP’s main goals is to spur foreign investment. On that score, Republicans are more wary than Democrats: 75 percent in the GOP think foreign companies buying U.S. companies is bad for the country, compared with 66 percent of Democrats...
Mládek: TTIP could become US election football Prague Post ...The talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an extensive agreement between the European Union and the United States, should be completed by the end of next year, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek said. Then the complicated talks might fall victim to the campaign ahead of the presidential election in the United States...
State Battles
A Dozen Greedy, Inhumane and Cruel Policies That Top Corporate Lobbyists Will Push In 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC seeks to kill minimum wage increases, ban union organizing, deprive poor people of Medicaid-delivered health care, block shareholder advocacy, stop e-cigarette regulations, sabotage new rules for ride-share companies, lower medical training standards for dental assistants, and more, according to a legislative blueprint that will be discussed at an upcoming States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC....
War on Workers
Amazing Black Friday Deals, Brought to You by the American Taxpayer Economic Policy Institute ...Nearly one in three retail workers or their families (31.5 percent) receives support from at least one means-tested public assistance program—such as food stamps (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Medicaid4—compared with less than one in four (22.2 percent) workers or their families in all other industries. Public assistance to families of workers in retail can be conservatively estimated to top $13.4 billion each year...
...
Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday protests for higher pay Los Angeles Times ...Organizers say rallies and marches will occur at 1,600 Wal-Mart locations on the day after Thanksgiving in what they say will be the largest protests ever against the nation's biggest retailer...
Malled: The Hollowing Out of an American Institution. 'We Surrender' Bloomberg ...Steeplegate is one of about 300 U.S. malls facing a choice between re-invention and oblivion. Most are middle-market shopping centers being squeezed between big-box chains catering to low-income Americans and luxury malls lavishing white-glove service on One Percenters...
Yes, bankers lie more than the rest of us. Wall Street reforms aren’t likely to change that culture. Washington Post ... the group who were primed to think of themselves as bankers tended to lie significantly more — they misrepresented their results about 16 percent of the time and more than a quarter of the “bankers” group cheated...
Teeth and Bones: Mass Abduction Reveals a Decaying Mexican State der Spiegel ...More than 100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing drug war since 2006 with upwards of 25,000 more listed as missing. The bloodletting, the mass graves, the beheadings and the arrests of drug bosses have become so normal that they hardly manage to make it onto the front pages anymore...
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers At Pacer Cartage, Harbor Rail Transport Return To Work teamster.org ...On Friday, port truck drivers from the Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport in Long Beach, Calif., who had struck to protest wage theft caused by their misclassificaton as "independent contractors", took down their picket lines and made an unconditional offer to return to work after both companies pledged to continue talks...
Trade
Trading Up? Politico ...A separate Pew Research poll found that similar shares of both Republicans and Democrats are more or less in agreement that trade destroys jobs (54 percent in the GOP say so, and 50 percent of Democrats) and lowers wages (44 percent in the GOP and 49 percent of Democrats). Moreover, one of the TPP’s main goals is to spur foreign investment. On that score, Republicans are more wary than Democrats: 75 percent in the GOP think foreign companies buying U.S. companies is bad for the country, compared with 66 percent of Democrats...
Mládek: TTIP could become US election football Prague Post ...The talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an extensive agreement between the European Union and the United States, should be completed by the end of next year, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek said. Then the complicated talks might fall victim to the campaign ahead of the presidential election in the United States...
State Battles
A Dozen Greedy, Inhumane and Cruel Policies That Top Corporate Lobbyists Will Push In 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC seeks to kill minimum wage increases, ban union organizing, deprive poor people of Medicaid-delivered health care, block shareholder advocacy, stop e-cigarette regulations, sabotage new rules for ride-share companies, lower medical training standards for dental assistants, and more, according to a legislative blueprint that will be discussed at an upcoming States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC....
War on Workers
Amazing Black Friday Deals, Brought to You by the American Taxpayer Economic Policy Institute ...Nearly one in three retail workers or their families (31.5 percent) receives support from at least one means-tested public assistance program—such as food stamps (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Medicaid4—compared with less than one in four (22.2 percent) workers or their families in all other industries. Public assistance to families of workers in retail can be conservatively estimated to top $13.4 billion each year...
...
Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday protests for higher pay Los Angeles Times ...Organizers say rallies and marches will occur at 1,600 Wal-Mart locations on the day after Thanksgiving in what they say will be the largest protests ever against the nation's biggest retailer...
Malled: The Hollowing Out of an American Institution. 'We Surrender' Bloomberg ...Steeplegate is one of about 300 U.S. malls facing a choice between re-invention and oblivion. Most are middle-market shopping centers being squeezed between big-box chains catering to low-income Americans and luxury malls lavishing white-glove service on One Percenters...
Yes, bankers lie more than the rest of us. Wall Street reforms aren’t likely to change that culture. Washington Post ... the group who were primed to think of themselves as bankers tended to lie significantly more — they misrepresented their results about 16 percent of the time and more than a quarter of the “bankers” group cheated...
Teeth and Bones: Mass Abduction Reveals a Decaying Mexican State der Spiegel ...More than 100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing drug war since 2006 with upwards of 25,000 more listed as missing. The bloodletting, the mass graves, the beheadings and the arrests of drug bosses have become so normal that they hardly manage to make it onto the front pages anymore...
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.22.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Win Midwest Seniority Case For Flight Attendants teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 135 prevailed in the Midwest Seniority Integration Arbitration on November 18, when labor arbitrator Homer C. La Rue found the Teamsters’ proposal to be the most “fair and equitable” method to integrate Republic and former Midwest flight attendants...
North Las Vegas Mayor, City Workers Come Together In Support Of Teamsters Local 14 teamster.org ...Over 150 city workers gathered Thursday morning in front of City Hall to join Mayor John Lee in a show of support for Teamsters Local 14, recognizing the hard work and leadership the union played in averting the City of North Las Vegas from state takeover...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Statement On Immigration Action teamster.org ...“Teamsters know that our diversity gives us strength. When our brothers and sisters demand justice and respect, we stand with them...
Labor Remains Strong In The Bay Area (opinion) San Francisco Chronicle ...Drivers are fed up with the long days behind the wheel and time spent waiting between runs. By a 43-to- 28 margin, they voted to go with the Teamsters. A contract comes next, and possible organizing drives for other tech bus drivers among the dozen or more companies that offer shuttle service...
Three Trucking Companies Picketed By Drivers Agree To Negotiate In Dispute At Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports Daily Breeze ...Three of five trucking companies targeted this week by picketing drivers serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have agreed to discuss labor disagreements and to “resolve outstanding issues” with their drivers...
Bridgeton Landfill Odor Concerns Grow As Weather Turns Colder St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...A new report shows that odor filters installed by the landfill’s owner Republic Services over the summer were only partially effective at reducing the smells...
Sysco Set To Merge With Biggest Rival In Billion Dollar Deal New York Post ...Sysco, the country’s biggest food distributor, is closing in on a deal to win regulatory approval for its $3.5 billion acquisition/merger with closest rival US Foods, The Post has learned. The company is in advanced talks to sell some assets to Blackstone Group-owned Performance Food Group...
Trade
Activists Worldwide Rally Against the TPP Public Citizen ...The groups also launched an online campaign resulting in thousands of calls and hundreds of thousands of e-mails to Members of Congress urging them to vote “No” on Fast Track. Across the country, 20 rallies and town halls brought the anti-Fast Track message to lawmakers’ home districts...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Fades As A Top Priority For Some GOP Governors Wall Street Journal ...Both Wisconsin and Ohio have already had bruising fights over public sector unions. At the start of his first term, Mr. Walker pushed through a law ending most collective-bargaining rights for government employees in Wisconsin, eventually leading to his recall. Ohio lawmakers passed similar legislation, only to have it overturned in a statewide vote...
SF Taxi Drivers Promise A Repeat Of Airport Protest San Francisco Chronicle ...Taxi operators complain that the newcomers are barely regulated while the ride services argue that the cab industry was a monopoly in need of a shakeup...
Utah Considers Cutting Off Water To The NSA’s Monster Data Center Wired ...The legislation, proposed by Utah lawmaker Marc Roberts, is due to go to the floor of the Utah House of Representatives early next year, but it was debated in a Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee meeting on Wednesday. The bill, H.B. 161, directs municipalities like Bluffdale to “refuse support to any federal agency which collects electronic data within this state.”...
War on Workers
Walmart Dodges Taxes While Its Employees Starve Gawker ...Two new reports today about Walmart, the world's top provider of crap. One points out that Walmart is a tax dodger; the other points out that Walmart worsens our national hunger crisis. A banner day for Walmart!...
Five Ugly Decades of Middle-Class Wages in America Wolf Street ...We thus get a hypothetical number for average weekly wages of this middle-class cohort, currently at $700 — well below its $827 peak back in the early 1970s...
Uber Slammed For Tracking Riders Without Permission New York Post ...Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any worse for Uber, the taxi-hail app finds itself in the middle of a spying scandal. Reports that Uber employees have tracked riders’ whereabouts without their permission — and for seemingly no good reason — has users rethinking their relationship with the $17 billion startup...
Worker killed in forklift accident Brandon Sun ...A 34-year-old Oakbank man died in an industrial accident Friday morning in the RM of Springfield just outside Winnipeg...
Another NY Dairy Farm Worker Dies; Voluntary Safety Enforcement Isn't Working (opinion) Syracuse Post-Standard ...On Nov. 9, a dairy farm worker was pulled into the auger of a grain silo and lost his life...His death is the most recent in a string of fatalities on dairy farms in New York state in less than two years...
Calgary construction worker killed after wall collapses on him Journal of Commerce ... a 60-year man was working with a demolition crew dismantling a brick building on 28th Street in northeast Calgary Thursday afternoon when a portion of the wall collapsed on top of him...
Teamsters Win Midwest Seniority Case For Flight Attendants teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 135 prevailed in the Midwest Seniority Integration Arbitration on November 18, when labor arbitrator Homer C. La Rue found the Teamsters’ proposal to be the most “fair and equitable” method to integrate Republic and former Midwest flight attendants...
North Las Vegas Mayor, City Workers Come Together In Support Of Teamsters Local 14 teamster.org ...Over 150 city workers gathered Thursday morning in front of City Hall to join Mayor John Lee in a show of support for Teamsters Local 14, recognizing the hard work and leadership the union played in averting the City of North Las Vegas from state takeover...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Statement On Immigration Action teamster.org ...“Teamsters know that our diversity gives us strength. When our brothers and sisters demand justice and respect, we stand with them...
Labor Remains Strong In The Bay Area (opinion) San Francisco Chronicle ...Drivers are fed up with the long days behind the wheel and time spent waiting between runs. By a 43-to- 28 margin, they voted to go with the Teamsters. A contract comes next, and possible organizing drives for other tech bus drivers among the dozen or more companies that offer shuttle service...
Three Trucking Companies Picketed By Drivers Agree To Negotiate In Dispute At Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports Daily Breeze ...Three of five trucking companies targeted this week by picketing drivers serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have agreed to discuss labor disagreements and to “resolve outstanding issues” with their drivers...
Bridgeton Landfill Odor Concerns Grow As Weather Turns Colder St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...A new report shows that odor filters installed by the landfill’s owner Republic Services over the summer were only partially effective at reducing the smells...
Sysco Set To Merge With Biggest Rival In Billion Dollar Deal New York Post ...Sysco, the country’s biggest food distributor, is closing in on a deal to win regulatory approval for its $3.5 billion acquisition/merger with closest rival US Foods, The Post has learned. The company is in advanced talks to sell some assets to Blackstone Group-owned Performance Food Group...
Trade
Activists Worldwide Rally Against the TPP Public Citizen ...The groups also launched an online campaign resulting in thousands of calls and hundreds of thousands of e-mails to Members of Congress urging them to vote “No” on Fast Track. Across the country, 20 rallies and town halls brought the anti-Fast Track message to lawmakers’ home districts...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Fades As A Top Priority For Some GOP Governors Wall Street Journal ...Both Wisconsin and Ohio have already had bruising fights over public sector unions. At the start of his first term, Mr. Walker pushed through a law ending most collective-bargaining rights for government employees in Wisconsin, eventually leading to his recall. Ohio lawmakers passed similar legislation, only to have it overturned in a statewide vote...
SF Taxi Drivers Promise A Repeat Of Airport Protest San Francisco Chronicle ...Taxi operators complain that the newcomers are barely regulated while the ride services argue that the cab industry was a monopoly in need of a shakeup...
Utah Considers Cutting Off Water To The NSA’s Monster Data Center Wired ...The legislation, proposed by Utah lawmaker Marc Roberts, is due to go to the floor of the Utah House of Representatives early next year, but it was debated in a Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee meeting on Wednesday. The bill, H.B. 161, directs municipalities like Bluffdale to “refuse support to any federal agency which collects electronic data within this state.”...
War on Workers
Walmart Dodges Taxes While Its Employees Starve Gawker ...Two new reports today about Walmart, the world's top provider of crap. One points out that Walmart is a tax dodger; the other points out that Walmart worsens our national hunger crisis. A banner day for Walmart!...
Five Ugly Decades of Middle-Class Wages in America Wolf Street ...We thus get a hypothetical number for average weekly wages of this middle-class cohort, currently at $700 — well below its $827 peak back in the early 1970s...
Uber Slammed For Tracking Riders Without Permission New York Post ...Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any worse for Uber, the taxi-hail app finds itself in the middle of a spying scandal. Reports that Uber employees have tracked riders’ whereabouts without their permission — and for seemingly no good reason — has users rethinking their relationship with the $17 billion startup...
Worker killed in forklift accident Brandon Sun ...A 34-year-old Oakbank man died in an industrial accident Friday morning in the RM of Springfield just outside Winnipeg...
Another NY Dairy Farm Worker Dies; Voluntary Safety Enforcement Isn't Working (opinion) Syracuse Post-Standard ...On Nov. 9, a dairy farm worker was pulled into the auger of a grain silo and lost his life...His death is the most recent in a string of fatalities on dairy farms in New York state in less than two years...
Calgary construction worker killed after wall collapses on him Journal of Commerce ... a 60-year man was working with a demolition crew dismantling a brick building on 28th Street in northeast Calgary Thursday afternoon when a portion of the wall collapsed on top of him...
Friday, November 21, 2014
Port truck drivers vote to end strike at 3 companies after mayor intervenes
Port truck drivers and Teamsters took down picket lines at three companies after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called a truce. The port drivers are still striking two companies at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach. The Justice for LA/LB Port Drivers campaign tells us on Facebook:
Picket lines strong today at Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT) (NYSE: XPO) #wagetheft #portstrike #blackfridayAccording to Andrew Khouri at the Los Angeles Times,
The companies -- QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. -- agreed to “respect drivers' right to choice with regard to unionization," according to the joint statement.
Since Monday, some drivers from the firms had set up picket lines at marine terminals as company trucks entered, then took their lines down when the vehicles left the locations, organizers said.
The drivers from the three companies are the latest to go back to work, in a larger job action at the ports. Drivers from Total Transportation Services Inc. and Pacific 9 Transportation previously did so.
Drivers from two companies remain on strike, organizers said.
The drivers say they are improperly classified as independent contractors, leaving them with fewer workplace protections and lower pay than if they were company employees.We love this comment:
What these trucking companies are doing is illegal and corrupt. They lease the trucks back to the drivers and then they cannot solicit work from any other company. This is an end run around labor laws. These companies should be fined or put out of business.By the way, here's another company that misclassifies drivers: FedEx (you guessed it). CNN Money has a terrific story about a misclassified FedEx Ground driver who sued the company and won:
Reggie Gray thought working for FedEx was his ticket to a better life.
It turned out to be anything but: His years as a driver for FedEx Ground ended with him filing for bankruptcy and taking the company to court.
Gray is one of the thousands of FedEx (FDX) drivers who have sued the company for classifying them as contractors, rather than employees. Many, including Gray, have won.
"We all signed up for what we thought was the American dream," said Gray. "We received the exact opposite. It was a really bad deal."Read the whole thing here.
Today's Teamster News 11.21.14
Teamster News
Los Angeles, Long Beach Port Truck Drivers Urge Long Beach Harbor Leaders To Help Long Beach Press Telegram ...Truck drivers who move goods through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports urged Long Beach harbor leaders Wednesday to do what they can to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions...
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles TeamsterNation ...Continuous picket lines held in Los Angeles by striking port drivers and Teamsters got a shot of energy today from 50 Walmart workers, even as Walmart workers in Ohio struck stores in Dayton and Cincinnati...
Brockton Public Schools Workers Choose Teamsters Local 653 Representation teamster.org ...Custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers who work for Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Mass., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass...
Charles "Chuck" R. Schumacher, Janesville, WI (1940-2014) WCLO ...He was a longtime member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Teamsters Union #579, where he served on the Teamster’s Credit Union Board...
Statement In Opposition To Proposed New York City Bag Tax From Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd teamster.org ..."We stand in opposition to Intro 209, that would charge a fee on plastic and paper retail bags distributed to consumers in New York City stores. We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas...
Trade
Commission Launches Transparency Initiative For TTIP And Lobbying EurActiv ...From 1 December 2014, the European Commission plans to post all contacts of Commissioners, those of their cabinet employees and their directors-general with lobbyists and interest representatives on the institution’s register...
Leaked documents on TTIP and Banking regulations Pressenza ...We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests...
State Battles
Maine Minimum Wage Hike Supporters Keep Pressing, Eye Statewide Vote In 2016 Bangor Daily News ...Also in the works is a Portland City Council vote that will contemplate setting a new minimum wage for the state’s largest city. An advisory committee has recommended the city increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and to $10.68 by 2017...
Voter ID Laws Reduce Indiana’s Election Turnout (opinion) Lafayette Journal Courier ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points...
Atlantic City Casino Workers Protest Trump Taj Mahal Shutdown On Boardwalk NJ.com ...Hundreds of casino workers filled the frigid boardwalk Wednesday to protest the impending shutdown of Trump Taj Mahal following a painful summer season that saw four casinos close. Shouting “shame on you!” as they passed the shuttered Trump Plaza, which closed in September, the local union workers said they shouldn’t have to make concessions on health care benefits for the casino to stay solvent...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Strike Today As Report Says Wages So Low Many Can't Feed Families Cleveland Plain Dealer ...Many Walmart workers serve as poster children for food insecurity because their low pay doesn't allow them to adequately feed their families, according to a new report...
Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’ ThinkProgress ... Twelve retail chains will be open, requiring millions of people to leave home. Erratic and last-minute schedules are rampant in the industry, so others may also be in limbo waiting to find out whether they will miss out on time with friends and family...
AFL-CIO questions Wall Street's 'revolving door' compensation practices The Hill ...The AFL-CIO is questioning whether major financial institutions incentivize top executives to leave for government work with hefty bonuses...
New York Fed, Goldman in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information naked capitalism ...this sharing of confidential information can be a crime and the authorities are giving a serious look into that very question...
Americans of All Stripes Agree: The System Is Stacked Against Them Wall Street Journal ...The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them...
An Uber Battle The Progressive ...The business model of these so-called transportation network companies is based on exploiting the labor and capital investments of people who use their personal cars as unlicensed taxis..
Noblesville foundry worker killed on the job Indianapolis Star ...A 21-year-old worker at a Noblesville foundry was killed on the job today...
Workers who died at Dupont Texas plant lacked respirators: lawyer Reuters ... Four workers killed at a DuPont and Co’s chemical plant in Texas on Saturday did not have access to safety equipment like respirators when there was a deadly release of a hazardous chemical...
Worker Dies at Salt Facility New England Cable News ...Capt. Michael McCabe says emergency personnel were called to the Cargill Salt facility just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a person "seen in an awkward position on a conveyor belt."...
Worker dies in Alcoa plant accident near Port Lavaca Associated Press ... the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says the contract supervisor was hit by a door that was being installed on a tank by a crane...
Worker dies after fall through skylight in Decatur Associated Press ... Police in Decatur say a worker on the roof of the Aquadome Recreation Center was killed when he stepped through a skylight and fell about 25 feet onto basketball courts inside the facility...
Miscellaneous
FAA can regulate drones CNN Money ...The Federal Aviation Administration won a key ruling this week allowing it to regulate drone flights. The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board was a setback for those who had argued drones should be allowed to fly without all the regulations that apply to more typical manned aircraft...
Los Angeles, Long Beach Port Truck Drivers Urge Long Beach Harbor Leaders To Help Long Beach Press Telegram ...Truck drivers who move goods through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports urged Long Beach harbor leaders Wednesday to do what they can to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions...
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles TeamsterNation ...Continuous picket lines held in Los Angeles by striking port drivers and Teamsters got a shot of energy today from 50 Walmart workers, even as Walmart workers in Ohio struck stores in Dayton and Cincinnati...
Brockton Public Schools Workers Choose Teamsters Local 653 Representation teamster.org ...Custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers who work for Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Mass., have voted by an overwhelming 5-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass...
Charles "Chuck" R. Schumacher, Janesville, WI (1940-2014) WCLO ...He was a longtime member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Teamsters Union #579, where he served on the Teamster’s Credit Union Board...
Statement In Opposition To Proposed New York City Bag Tax From Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd teamster.org ..."We stand in opposition to Intro 209, that would charge a fee on plastic and paper retail bags distributed to consumers in New York City stores. We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas...
Trade
Commission Launches Transparency Initiative For TTIP And Lobbying EurActiv ...From 1 December 2014, the European Commission plans to post all contacts of Commissioners, those of their cabinet employees and their directors-general with lobbyists and interest representatives on the institution’s register...
Leaked documents on TTIP and Banking regulations Pressenza ...We have already heard a lot about the TTIP toxic effects for the economy, lowering of standards for regulations about the environment, health and safety as well as the looming privatisation of public services, in particular Health Services, with governments being unable to develop their own policies as they will be sued in specially established courts to defend private companies’ interests...
State Battles
Maine Minimum Wage Hike Supporters Keep Pressing, Eye Statewide Vote In 2016 Bangor Daily News ...Also in the works is a Portland City Council vote that will contemplate setting a new minimum wage for the state’s largest city. An advisory committee has recommended the city increase the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and to $10.68 by 2017...
Voter ID Laws Reduce Indiana’s Election Turnout (opinion) Lafayette Journal Courier ...Pretending to eradicate fraud, the ID laws in reality made it harder for two Democratic-leaning segments of the population, the poor and elderly, to vote. Voter ID laws, on average, decrease turnouts by 4 to 5 percentage points...
Atlantic City Casino Workers Protest Trump Taj Mahal Shutdown On Boardwalk NJ.com ...Hundreds of casino workers filled the frigid boardwalk Wednesday to protest the impending shutdown of Trump Taj Mahal following a painful summer season that saw four casinos close. Shouting “shame on you!” as they passed the shuttered Trump Plaza, which closed in September, the local union workers said they shouldn’t have to make concessions on health care benefits for the casino to stay solvent...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Strike Today As Report Says Wages So Low Many Can't Feed Families Cleveland Plain Dealer ...Many Walmart workers serve as poster children for food insecurity because their low pay doesn't allow them to adequately feed their families, according to a new report...
Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’ ThinkProgress ... Twelve retail chains will be open, requiring millions of people to leave home. Erratic and last-minute schedules are rampant in the industry, so others may also be in limbo waiting to find out whether they will miss out on time with friends and family...
AFL-CIO questions Wall Street's 'revolving door' compensation practices The Hill ...The AFL-CIO is questioning whether major financial institutions incentivize top executives to leave for government work with hefty bonuses...
New York Fed, Goldman in Criminal Investigation for Sharing Confidential Information naked capitalism ...this sharing of confidential information can be a crime and the authorities are giving a serious look into that very question...
Americans of All Stripes Agree: The System Is Stacked Against Them Wall Street Journal ...The last time disenchantment hit the same level was in July 1992, amid economic jitters and the heat of the Clinton vs. Bush campaign, but that was a brief spike. This time, alienation has built steadily since 2002, when just over a third of Americans felt the system was stacked against them...
An Uber Battle The Progressive ...The business model of these so-called transportation network companies is based on exploiting the labor and capital investments of people who use their personal cars as unlicensed taxis..
Noblesville foundry worker killed on the job Indianapolis Star ...A 21-year-old worker at a Noblesville foundry was killed on the job today...
Workers who died at Dupont Texas plant lacked respirators: lawyer Reuters ... Four workers killed at a DuPont and Co’s chemical plant in Texas on Saturday did not have access to safety equipment like respirators when there was a deadly release of a hazardous chemical...
Worker Dies at Salt Facility New England Cable News ...Capt. Michael McCabe says emergency personnel were called to the Cargill Salt facility just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a person "seen in an awkward position on a conveyor belt."...
Worker dies in Alcoa plant accident near Port Lavaca Associated Press ... the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration says the contract supervisor was hit by a door that was being installed on a tank by a crane...
Worker dies after fall through skylight in Decatur Associated Press ... Police in Decatur say a worker on the roof of the Aquadome Recreation Center was killed when he stepped through a skylight and fell about 25 feet onto basketball courts inside the facility...
Miscellaneous
FAA can regulate drones CNN Money ...The Federal Aviation Administration won a key ruling this week allowing it to regulate drone flights. The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board was a setback for those who had argued drones should be allowed to fly without all the regulations that apply to more typical manned aircraft...
Thursday, November 20, 2014
New York sanitation workers mourn the loss of another of their own
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| Memorial to NYC sanitation worker Steven Frosch on Nov. 19 |
Brother Meehan died just days before a memorial was unveiled for Steven Frosch, a New York City sanitation worker killed in June by a street sweeper that struck him at a garage in Queens.
Sanitation work is among the most dangerous in the United States. Sanitation workers die at twice the rate of police officers (who earn nearly twice as much) and nearly seven times the rate of firefighters, according to a study, Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City, Aol Jobs reported.
Sanitation workers are killed by traffic, by dangerous machinery, by heavy lifting and by the garbage itself. Compactor blades can burst open bagged trash, exposing workers to flying metal objects and clouds of poison.
But don't take our word for it. Read a letter to the editor of the Staten Island Advance from Brother Plinio Cruz, member of Teamsters Local 813:
As a fellow private sanitation worker, I was horrified to read of the death of Robert Meehan on Staten Island. The tragic truth is that this is not uncommon in our industry, every night when we step out there we know that it could be our last.
During the day, you see the men and white trucks of the Department of Sanitation working the streets. Their work is dangerous too, but they are also unionized and have strict safety protections.
We work at night, and it feels like another world entirely.
Private sanitation workers pick up from restaurants, offices, and any private company not serviced by DSNY.
The city government has turned its back on us, with virtually no oversight of the companies to protect workers, or the communities we work in. The owners of companies pressure their workers to break all kinds of laws in order to complete the impossible amount of work they assign them. Furthermore, the trucks and equipment in most of the companies are unsafe.
I've seen guys lose hands. I've seen workers splashed with acid, and bleach and paint thinner. And I've seen guys go out to work at night and not come back.
We need Mayor De Blasio and the City Council to take responsibility for our safety. Every time a sanitation worker dies, it is a tragedy. Please don't forget us. Please don't wait until another one of us goes before doing something.Stay safe out there, brothers and sisters.
50 Walmart workers join striking port truck drivers on picket line in Los Angeles
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| Walmart workers join striking port drivers on the picket line today in Los Angeles |
The solidarity among Walmart workers and port drivers shows the movement is growing to raise wages and empower workers. The fall 2014 strike season may bring the most sustained, intense strike activity by low-wage workers to date.
A year ago, an Ohio Walmart held a canned food drive for its own workers. Today, workers held their own food drive and went on strike to protest the firing or disciplining of their coworkers. Walmart has retaliated against workers who spoke out about hours so short and wages so low they can't feed their families. A report issued today supports their claims.
Port drivers endure similar injustice. Two port drivers were fired in retaliation for protesting their misclassification as independent contractors. (The good news: They were ordered by a court to return to work as employees.) The port drivers' employers don't pay them for hours waiting in line at the port and deduct fuel, maintenance and fees from their paychecks. Like Walmart workers, port truck drivers are left with little money to survive at the end of the month.
One port driver actually had to decide one night whether to get a tire for his truck or take his sick son to the hospital.
One Walmart worker says she takes a sandwich to work and that about it for the day. She drinks a lot of tea to feel full, eggs are a luxury and once in a blue moon she'll go to Save-A-Lot and buy meat.
Last night, port drivers asked leaders of the Port of LA/Long Beach to support their fight for fair wages and safer working conditions, Karen Robes Meeks at the Long Beach Press Telegram reported.
Drivers and their supporters appeared before the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners to ask them to do whatever they can to help them fight against area trucking companies that misclassify them as independent contractors instead of employees....
“We are fighting for better working conditions,” said trucker Fidel Gonzalez, adding that the truckers will continue to fight “for as long as it takes.”Progressive Railroading took note of the picket lines at intermodal rail yards:
The drivers are demanding a more fair wage that incorporates time spent waiting for dispatch to issue a load, waiting in line at the ports and sitting in traffic on nearby roads. They also want to eliminate what they characterize as illegal barriers to unionization, obstacles to workplace protections and effects from being classified as independent contractors.
Members of the Teamsters and other unions in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area have supported the strikes at the terminals and intermodal yards.
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