Teamsters
EVSC Board and Teamsters working toward agreement, schedule more meetings Courier & Press ...Despite still lacking official agreements, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey believes the union and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. School Board are making progress in negotiating contracts for the five EVSC employee groups represented by Local 215. Whobrey said the employee groups — bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, special education assistants and bus aides — have issues in common and issues specific to their units...
Bipartisan Panel Including DOT Secretary Foxx, Teamsters President Hoffa and Mississippi Governor Barbour to Tackle Infrastructure Issues, Announce New Funding Campaign PR Newswire ...Infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and funds to fix it are disappearing. It's time to address the immediate need to fund infrastructure building, maintenance and repair. That's the message to be presented by Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Teamsters President Jim Hoffa and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at a National Press Club newsmaker press conference on September 9...
This Labor Ruling Could Give a Big Boost to the Fight For 15 The Nation ...The Teamsters had sought to organize a union election for Leadpoint workers—comprised of “part-time, and on-call sorters, screen cleaners, and housekeepers” on a short-term contract at a BFI recycling plant. The effort was thwarted by a regional labor-relations board and then appealed. The Teamsters argued that the narrow definition of joint employer allowed a company to act like a regular boss without upholding traditional employers’ responsibilities...
Teamsters Local 357 Prepares Counter-Proposal to Republic Airways (RJET) Recent Offer Street Insider ...Teamsters Local 357 prepared a counter-proposal to Republic Airways latest offer. The announcement follows news that Local 357 would not put Republic Airways' recent so-called 'LBFO' offer to a vote, which sent shares of the carrier sharply lower. "As you know, on Tuesday the Local 357 EBoard announced their position that the Company's August 20th, 2015 offer should not be sent out for a vote. There are many reasons in support of their decision"...
Global Labor & Trade
As TPP Grinds To A Halt, Asian Countries Start Focusing On Rival Trade Agreement RCEP TechDirt ...that final breakthrough and completion never happened. Instead, we had the "Maui meltdown", when a whole bunch of old and new problems raised their heads, with the result that TPP may have missed a key deadline that means it won't be happening soon, if ever...
Poster woman for the war against the U.S.-led TPP Japan Times ...For Yoko Inoue, art is like a bomb: Throw it into a crowded street and the truth just might explode out of it. The Japanese-born, New York-based multimedia and performance artist takes aim at society’s assumptions about commerce and culture using works rooted in intensive research. This time, her target is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
The promised ‘transparency’ around TTIP has been a sham (opinion) The Guardian ...Beyond the lack of transparency, the real trouble with TTIP and the EU’s multitude of bilateral trade deals is not in the method, but in substance. Europe should put its weight behind a multilateral trading system based on open markets, fairness, sustainability and democracy. An equitable reform of the World Trade Organisation rules is clearly better for business...
Germany bullied France into policy of austerity, says Stiglitz BDLive ...France has been intimidated by Germany into pursuing an economic policy that is not working, Nobel prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz said on Monday. "There is a kind of intimidation," Mr Stiglitz, an outspoken opponent of austerity policy, said of the influence of Germany over the policies pursued by President Francois Hollande...
Indian unions to hold one-day national strike WSWS.org ...Tens of millions of Indian workers will join a one-day national strike this Wednesday, September 2, in protest against the pro-investor policies of the 15-month-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. Ten labor federations are sponsoring Wednesday’s strike. Prominent among them are the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)...
Airline Agrees To Stop Firing Flight Attendants For Getting Married, But Only After UN Investigation Think Progress ...Flight attendants who work for Qatar Airways will no longer risk losing their jobs if they decide to get married or pregnant. The International Labour Organisation, the labor agency at the United Nations, concluded a yearlong investigation in June, finding that the airline’s policies required workers to notify the company when they became pregnant and were often fired once they did...
State & Living Wage Battles
Religious leaders in Puerto Rico condemn austerity, ask Fed for help Reuters ...Religious leaders in Puerto Rico called on Monday for the island's government and its lenders to avoid austerity measures and for the Federal Reserve to step in with assistance. The religious leaders on the mostly Catholic island, working with Jubilee USA Network, a religious development organization in Washington, D.C., want a solution to Puerto Rico's debt crisis that invests in the island's economy, does not hurt the poor and brings about more budget transparency...
Scott to head to Kentucky to lure businesses next month Orlando Sentinel ...Gov. Rick Scott has a message for business owners in the Bluegrass State: the sun shines brighter in Florida than on your old Kentucky home. “Florida’s business climate is better than Kentucky’s in almost every way. Kentucky leaders continue blocking Kentucky counties from becoming right-to-work areas," Scott stated. Scott has targeted businesses in other states with Democratic governors in the past...
Minimum-wage debate heats up in Pennsylvania Times Online ...Nineteen U.S. cities and counties experienced mandated wage increases this year; 29 states and Washington, D.C., already require employers to pay workers more than $7.25. Pennsylvania isn’t part of this group – yet. There are five bills pending in the state Legislature proposing to raise the minimum wage...
Sen. Bill Nelson calls for independent redistricting commission for Florida Bradenton Herald ...The repeated failures of the Florida Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts is a sure sign that Florida needs to create an independent commission to do the work, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said during a stop in Tallahassee on Monday. “Seems to me we need an independent commission for future reapportionment so that you stop this self-serving process of drawing districts for your own self interest,” said Nelson, a Democrat...
U.S. Labor
Workers at Trump Taj Mahal Begin Preparations for Strike In These Times ...While Donald Trump's push for the Republican nomination for president is showing no signs of slowing, worker unrest at a hotel and casino that bear his name appears near the boiling point. Strike preparations have begun for over 1,100 non-gaming casino employees at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 54, gathered near their local headquarters last Tuesday...
USW to keep negotiating to avoid work stoppage NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union wants more time to negotiate rather than go on strike at Northwest Indiana's largest steel mills. The union reached a "continue to work agreement" with ArcelorMittal, meaning steelworkers won't hit the picket line when the contract expires Tuesday with no new bargain in place. The USW also told U.S. Steel it would extend talks to avoid a work stoppage...
The People Who Rebuilt New Orleans Are Still Waiting to Get Paid Alternet ...During a decade of fast-paced and rough-and-tumble post-Katrina reconstruction, contractors have stolen an estimated aggregate fortune worth millions of dollars from migrant workers like Vasquez. Accounts by him, other migrant workers, employment lawyers, workers’ advocates, and others paint a picture of systematic and multifaceted exploitation...
UAW-GM workers approve strike authorization Detroit News ...General Motors Co. union members have passed a strike authorization by 97 percent, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a letter Monday. Local unions representing GM’s about 50,800 hourly workers held strike authorization votes within the past few weeks. The votes are procedural and give the union the ability to call for a strike if necessary. It does not mean there will be a strike...
Social Justice & Other News
Overruling 'God's Authority,' Supreme Court Affirms Gay Marriage Ruling Common Dreams ...Backing up this year's landmark equality ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Kentucky county clerk's request to deny issuing same-sex marriage certificates on the grounds of religious preference. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis could not 'opt out' of her duties as a public official because of her personal objections...
How Katrina Sparked Reform in a Troubled Police Department The Atlantic ...The New Orleans Police Department had a reputation for corruption long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the summer of 2005. For decades, the department was infected by a culture of discrimination, abuse, and lawlessness. That culture spilled out into the open in the week after the storm. During that brief period, police officers shot and killed three unarmed civilians...
People Are Quicker to Shoot a Black Target Than a White Target Mother Jones ...According to a new report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, racial bias can affect the likelihood of people pulling the trigger of a gun—even if shooters don't realize they were biased to begin with. Researchers found that, in studies conducted over the past decade, participants were more likely to shoot targets depicting black people than those depicting white people...
Fear Canada? Slate ...Continuing to grope his way toward a semi-coherent immigration policy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggested Sunday that the idea of building a fence along America’s 5,525-mile border with Canada is a “legitimate issue.” Walker has stuck with his ridiculous position, saying he’s responding to concerns he’s heard from law enforcement. The border fence idea may be Trump-inspired lunacy, but Walker is hardly the first U.S. politician to draw attention to the threat emanating from America’s neighbor to the north...
