Teamsters
Ryder Drivers At Three Locations In California Join Teamsters Union insurancenewsnet.com ... Drivers with Ryder Integrated Logistics at three California locations have voted to join the Teamsters Union, gaining representation for 105 workers in one week (see also International Brotherhood of Teamsters)...
SBPEA Losing 840 Members San Bernardino Sun ...“Many members, as well as all of us, are excited about the affiliation, and we will spend the next few weeks educating the members on all of the benefits of affiliating with the Teamsters Union,” Rodriguez said....
Middletown Supervisors Approve Contract With Teamsters Union Employees Bucks County Courier Tribune ...Middletown employees belonging to Teamsters Local 107 will get 3 percent pay increases in each of the next three years under a new contract unanimously approved by the township supervisors at Monday night’s meeting....
Eurest Workers Use Pressure Tactics At Halifax Airport NewsWire ...Eurest's 26 workers responsible for maintenance at Robert Stanfield Airport (YHZ) are resorting to pressure tactics 11 months after their collective agreement expired. The points at issue are both various and troubling: no benefits, low pay, unfair treatment by the employer, and others. "These workers clean toilets and don't even have group insurance. So if they get sick, they can't get reimbursed for any prescription drugs they may have to take," said Local Union 927 president Rob Beairsto....
Sysco Merger With US Foods A Step Too Far (opinion) Houston Chronicle ...Management's responsibility at a public company is to maximize shareholder value by grabbing as much market power and profit as possible....
Trade
Facing Dem anger, White House eases restrictions on classified trade files The Hill ...The loudest protests have come from liberal House Democrats who said the rules to view the text were too stringent. They have argued that the White House didn't want them to know the TPP details because they say any deal is likely to be bad for U.S. workers and their wages...
Pelosi Embraces Tough Questions About Obama's Trade Agenda Associated Press ...President Barack Obama's bid for a new trade deal didn't get easier Tuesday when the House's top Democrat said her caucus embraces a dozen demands that may be tough to meet...
Why the TPP will have a devastating impact on unions The Ed Show ...Closed door, classified meetings about the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership raises questions about transparency from the Obama Administration. Ed Schultz and Leo Gerard discuss...
Trumka Takes Opposition to a TPP Fast-Track to the Peterson Institute Campaign for America's Future ...One of the most troubling aspects of TPP is how few people have seen the entire treaty, Trumka said. So far only leaked portions have been released that clearly favor a race to the bottom, putting corporate interests over investment in human and environmental rights...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Panel Advances 1 Republican Labor Priority Southeast Missourian ...Right-to-work legislation, which would ban contracts that force all workers to pay union fees, was sent on Tuesday to the full Senate. But the Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee failed to move forward with what supporters call a "paycheck protection" measure that would require annual written authorization from public employee union members before paying union dues...
'Right To Work' Fight Over Public Employee Unions Heats Up In Oregon, May Go To 2016 Ballot The Oregonian ...Oregon may be one of the next big battlegrounds over "right to work" restrictions on unions that have now spread to 25 states. Washington County attorney Jill Gibson, who has been supported by some of the state's major conservative political donors, is moving toward putting a measure on the 2016 ballot that would allow public employees to opt out of financially supporting a union...
Kansas Panel Considers Limits On Public Workers' Collective Bargaining Topeka Capital Journal ...A legislative committee in Kansas is considering a proposal to restrict collective bargaining between public employees and state and local government agencies. Chairwoman Julia Lynn said the Senate Commerce Committee will debate the measure during its meeting Wednesday. Lynn is an Olathe Republican and has said she believes the GOP-dominated panel supports the bill...
Federal Judge Won’t Block Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...U.S. District Judge Richard Jones has refused to issue an injunction to halt Seattle’s nationally watched $15-an-hour minimum wage, slated to take effect in the Emerald City on April 1. “Great news! This ruling ensures that on April 1, the minimum wage will go up for all Seattle workers,” Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement...
War on Workers
Manufacturing Jobs Are Back, But Wages Are Not Engineering.com ...In 2007, the wage gap between the average manufacturing worker and all private-sector workers was barely noticeable ($19.40 and $19.57 respectively). However, by 2013 the average manufacturing wage had fallen by 85 cents, or 7.7 percent below the median average for all occupations. Today, approximately 1.5 million manufacturing workers – one in four – earn $11.91 or less per hour. Meanwhile, 600,000 workers make just $9.60 an hour...
Report: Energy companies, big banks reap big federal assistance McClatchy ...Big banks and Wall Street firms that took advantage of the bailout following the 2008 economic crash have reaped hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars in assistance, according to Good Jobs First, a nonprofit organization that tracks government subsidies to corporations...
Target to Increase Wages to Minimum $9/Hour for All Workers in April Wall Street Journal ...Target Corp. plans to boost pay of all its workers to at least $9 an hour starting next month, following similar moves by rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and TJX Cos. as competition for lower wage workers heats up...
Higher minimum wages are associated with greater financial well-being London School of Economics ... Even if some low-wage jobs disappear as minimum wages rise, the end result is greater economic security and prosperity overall for people who live and work in countries with higher minimums...
Senate Democrats Consider Raising Their Minimum Wage Proposal To $12 Huffington Post ...Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate's labor committee, has been reaching out to her Democratic colleagues to rally support for a more ambitious minimum wage proposal, according to a Senate source familiar with the conversations. Murray's idea: hike the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020, rather than the current $10.10 proposal languishing in Congress. The wage floor would then be tied to an inflation index so that it rose with the cost of living...
Worker dies after 11-foot fall in Arkansas Equipment World ...29-year-old Erik Rivera Pontilla fell from a beam he was bolting into place. The Little Rock Police Department told the site that Pontilla lost his footing and fell directly onto a slab below. No one was nearby when he fell and no mention is made of harnesses or nets in the report...
Miscellaneous
IRS may broaden rule to police political nonprofits Politico ...IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said the agency may expand a yet-to-be-released rule governing 501(c)(4), “social welfare” groups, to include political groups known as 527s, which focus on elections. It could require them both — as well as other types of tax-exempt groups — to operate under the same definition of “political activity.”...
U.S. Sets New Record For Denying, Censoring Government Files Huffington Post ...The Obama administration set a new record again for more often than ever censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press...
