Teamsters
Teamsters Statement on Presidential Endorsement Process Teamster.org ...On Tuesday, Sept. 29 the Teamsters Union General Executive Board decided to not endorse a presidential candidate at this time. The Teamsters look forward to meeting with Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation, who is committed to improving the lives of America’s working families...
Teamsters Call on UPS CEO to Get Company Out of ALEC During Protest in Detroit Teamster.org ...Detroit Teamsters were joined by representatives from labor, environmental, community, and religious groups at a protest today outside a Detroit Economic Club luncheon where UPS CEO David Abney was the keynote speaker. The group staged the protest to call on UPS to cease all affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Seabury Connector drivers & attendants join Teamsters 639 UnionCity ...Bus drivers and attendants at Seabury Connector have organized with Teamsters Local 639. "These drivers work hard every day transporting seniors around the nation’s capital and now have the opportunity to get the justice they deserve with a Teamster contract," reports Local 639. The organizing win is the seventh consecutive victory for Local 639, which notes that "Expanding our membership brings greater power to all our members"...
Brockton custodians ratify Teamsters contract with city The Enterprise ...More than 120 custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers employed by the Brockton Public Schools have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in Easton. That includes members of the Brockton Public School Custodians Association, which agreed last fall during a controversial series of collective bargaining discussions to accept lower pay rates for school crossing-guard duty...
Homeless tech bus driver finds new home SF Chronicle ...Roughly 180 bus drivers organized by the Teamsters continue to fight for higher wages and a more comprehensive benefits package. Compass has not yet agreed to what the drivers have asked for. Among the points of disagreement: the number of paid holidays for drivers and the amount Compass should pay for drivers’ health care and 401(k) plans, union members said...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S. agree to aim for conclusion of TPP talks this week Japan Times ...Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden agreed Tuesday that the two countries will cooperate in an effort to conclude talks on a Pacific free trade initiative this week, according to statements by both governments. Biden and Abe agreed that their negotiating teams for the Trans-Pacific Partnership would work closely together “with the goal of resolving the limited number of outstanding issues at the upcoming ministers meeting in Atlanta”...
House Dems want investigation of Malaysia's raised trafficking status The Hill ...Six House Democrats have asked the State Department’s watchdog to investigate the process that led to an upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Alan Grayson (Fla.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.) are questioning whether the administration promoted Malaysia to preserve fast-track authority for a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal...
Thousands of Ontario jobs at stake in Pacific Rim trade talks The Star ...The livelihoods of thousands of Ontario autoworkers and farmers are on the negotiating table as Canada heads into a round of high-stakes trade bargaining this week with the United States and 10 other Pacific Rim countries. Concluding the talks, which would create a massive free-trade zone touching four continents, hinges on the participants’ ability to overcome deep divisions...
Ottawa area farmers hold tractor protest against the Trans Pacific Partnership Canadians.org ...Ottawa area farmers brought a long convoy of tractors into downtown Ottawa this morning for a protest against the concessions the Harper government is poised to make at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Atlanta this week. CBC has reported, "Canada is preparing to open the border to more American milk, without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the United States"...
EU ambassador: TTIP conclusion next year ‘feasible’ Politico ...EU Ambassador the the U.S. David O’Sullivan said Tuesday that he believes Brussels and Washington could complete their bilateral trade pact by next year, but emphasized that the talks aren’t happening in a vacuum. “We are negotiating very seriously, and we have a common objective to try to conclude this agreement with this administration”...
NWC workers strike over health insurance coverage Jamaica Observer ...Over 1200 National Water Commission (NWC) workers stopped working islandwide this morning, further threatening the poor water supply caused by months of drought. They are protesting against a decision by the NWC’s management to transfer their health insurance coverage from Medecus to Sagicor. The workers are represented by four trade unions...
Kerala’s plantation workers’ strike: Poor pay and strong union Indian Express ...Kerala’s plantation sector has come to a standstill following the agitation of three lakh estate workers demanding that the daily wage be increased from Rs 232 to Rs 500. The demand has suddenly arisen as a fall-out of the historic agitation of women workers at the Munnar Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Limited (KDHPL), earlier this month...
State & Living Wage Battles
7 Disastrous Effects Of The Illinois Budget Crisis Think Progress ...First term Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has been in office for eight months and the state has not had a budget for nearly half that time. The governor is trying to tie passage of the new budget to changes in labor laws — including creating “right-to-work zones” — that would hurt state workers and to changes in the tax code, but the legislature refuses to sign the package...
Immigration bill heads to Gov. Pat McCrory News & Observer ...The [NC] state House voted 70-43 Tuesday night to restrict forms of ID for non-citizens and ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. The bill will be sent to the governor. Supporters of the measure say local governments shouldn’t get to opt out of federal laws...
Right-to-work vote opens rift in Missouri’s GOP Kansas City Star ...Kidd was one of 20 GOP lawmakers who voted against overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a so-called “right-to-work” bill. The bill would have made it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment. And Republican opposition killed it. That vote earned Kidd and his colleagues some powerful enemies...
W.Va. officials to reveal new prevailing wage Wednesday Associated Press ...West Virginia workforce officials say they are releasing the state’s new prevailing wage, which relied on a survey that received high participation marks from contractors. WorkForce West Virginia will release new minimum wages for public construction projects Wednesday. Agency spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby says 74 percent of contractors surveyed responded, with surveys sent to more than 5,000 businesses...
Minimum Wage Fight For $15: Oregon Ballot Measure Planned If Lawmakers Don't Pass Increase, Activists Say IB Times ...Oregon voters may get to raise the state’s minimum wage next fall if a group of labor unions and social activists gets its way. Unless state lawmakers pass a bill to increase the wages early next year, the Raise the Wage coalition will gather enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot in 2016, the group's leaders announced this week...
Group launches ballot initiative to mandate paid sick leave in Michigan MLive ...A group of activists on Tuesday announced a statewide ballot initiative aimed at enacting a law that would require Michigan employers to offer all workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The law would allow workers to take paid time off for personal or family health needs...
Protesters call for $15 minimum wage at Oak Park rally Chicago Tribune ...Dozens of fast food workers and supporters gathered inside Oak Park Village Hall Sept. 28 to call for the village to raise its minimum wage. Oak Park voters backed a "living wage" for village employees and contractors hired by the village in a 2009 referendum. The Oak Park Village Board has discussed the issue in the years since, but stalled on voting on any measure...
U.S. Labor
At the ‘Big 3’ grocers, bargaining begins with UFCW NW Labor Press ...Bargaining has begun over new union contracts for 10,000 workers at Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons stores in Portland and Bend, Oregon. And for the first time, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 will be bargaining with all grocery, meat, central checkout, and non-food contracts at a single table...
Ford UAW workers threaten strike; FCA-UAW contract hangs in balance MLive ..Workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Kansas City, Mo. truck plant are on a five-day strike notice over disagreements with the Dearborn company. The Kansas City plant employs about 7,500 workers, who build the Ford F-150. The announcement Tuesday from Settles comes as Fiat Chrysler workers continue to vote on a tentative contract between the UAW and FCA...
UAW-FCA deal appears headed for defeat Detroit News ...The tentative four-year contract between the United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears headed for defeat, after a majority of members at both the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Toledo Assembly Complex voted it down, The Detroit News has learned. A UAW spokesman Wednesday said he the UAW was not commenting while voting is ongoing, and a FCA spokeswoman declined comment...
Labor talks ongoing for USW, U.S. Steel Business Times ...The United Steelworkers and United States Steel Corp. continue to meet in Pittsburgh over efforts to reach a new contract, but a final deal has yet to be reached, according to an update posted to the union's website Monday. "Our bargaining team met among themselves and with company representatives for several hours on Monday, discussing a wide range of issues"...
Rank-and-File Teachers Object As Nation's Biggest Union Weighs Early Clinton Endorsement Common Dreams ...A rumored presidential endorsement by the nation's largest union is exposing a rift between rank-and-file members who are "feeling the Bern" and leadership who appear more willing to err on the Clinton side of caution. Various news reports have indicated that an announcement by the 3-million strong National Education Association is expected sometime this week...
Income Inequality Would Be Much Worse If Women Hadn’t Entered The Workforce Think Progress ...A new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP), which houses ThinkProgress, finds that between 1963 and 2013, income inequality among the bottom 95 percent of married couples increased by nearly 25 percent. Yet without a concurrent increase in women’s earnings, which rose fivefold over the same period, inequality would have grown more than 50 percent faster, rising instead by 38 percent...
Social Justice & Other News
The Data Are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding The Atlantic ...In America, schools with a lot of minority students are chronically underfunded. Is that the case because these students are poor, and poor communities have fewer resources for funding their schools? Or, is it because of the color of these students’ skin?Unsettlingly, recent research from data scientist David Mosenkis finds that poverty alone does not explain the underfunding...
Robert Reich: Donald Trump & Jeb Bush Plans Would Slash Taxes for the 1 Percent Democracy Now ...On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are proposing massive new tax cuts for the rich despite growing economic inequality across the country. On Monday, Donald Trump unveiled a plan to lower the income tax rate to the lowest level since 1931, cut corporate taxes and abolish the estate tax. Meanwhile, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has proposed broad tax cuts for individuals and corporations as part of his economic plan...
