TEAMSTERS
Senate Takes Another Step Towards Keeping Double 33-Foot Trailers Off the Road Teamster.org ...Lawmakers took another stand for highway safety yesterday when the Senate removed language from a spending bill that would force states to allow an increase in the length of tractor trailers. “The Teamsters are encouraged by this latest bipartisan action to prioritize highway safety over greater corporate profits,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said...
Members At Albany's Time-Union Ratify Contract Teamster.org ...Members of Teamsters Local 126 working at the Albany Times-Union newspaper have ratified, by a majority vote, a new three-year contract. The 63 members all work in the mailing department of the newspaper and fought back against the company’s desire to cut costs and threats of wage reductions. “They played hardball with us,” said Stefan Krueger, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 126 and an employee in the mailing department unit for the past 27 years...
Drivers Rally at City Call, Call on Council to Pass O'Brien Legislation Local 117 ...Drivers in Seattle's for-hire industry joined with dozens of community supporters to call on the City Council to pass Mike O'Brien's a Voice for Drivers legislation, which would give drivers the right to collectively bargain over their pay and working conditions. One driver said she had been recently deactivated by Lyft after helping to organize the day's event. "Last week they sent me an email saying that I was a platinum driver," she said. "Monday I attended a meeting at the Teamsters, and Tuesday I got an email saying I was deactivated"...
Seattle Lyft Driver Wants to Know Why She Was Deactivated After Attending a Teamsters Organizing Meeting The Stranger ..."I was at the Teamsters office," Kim says. "That's the only reason that [Lyft] deactivated me. I'm not stupid." Kim attended an organizing meeting for drivers at the Teamsters Local 117 office on Monday. By Tuesday at 1:43 p.m., Kim had been deactivated. Kim isn't the only app-based driver to claim that an account had been deactivated because of organizing activity. Last year, Will Anderson, a former Uber driver in Seattle, reported that he had been deactivated the morning after attending a meeting with the Teamsters Local 117...
Picketing at U focuses on parental leave Workday Minnesota ...Lack of parental leave was one focus of informational picketing Tuesday by workers at the University of Minnesota. Members of AFSCME and the Teamsters have been in negotiations with the University since June. The unions are seeking: Six weeks of parental leave, comparable to that given to P&A staff and faculty...
Cummins Teamsters Ratify new 3 Year Contract Local 769 ...On Tuesday November 17, 2015 Teamsters Local 769 members at Cummins in Miami unanimously ratified a new 3 year agreement. The bargaining unit, which consists of diesel mechanics, the parts department and warehouse workers, have long been members of Teamsters Local 769 The diesel mechanics service engines for Miami-Dade Transit and public school buses and their marine division provides yacht service throughout the Caribbean...
Coca-Cola Stubbornly Sticks to Unreasonable Proposals, Stalls With One Day Left to Negotiate Local 727 ...For the seventh consecutive bargaining session, Coca-Cola has wasted the time of the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee by refusing to budge from its unreasonable contract proposals. During another marathon 13-hour meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 18, Local 727 watched as management sat on its hands and resubmitted contract offers that members have explicitly made clear are unpalatable...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
India's central bank employees strike over pensions BBC ...Most of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 17,000 employees went on strike on Thursday in what the central bank described as "mass casual leave". The walk out resulted in "some interruptions" to clearing and settlement operations at the central bank, but it said that its systems were largely operational. Four unions had called for the strike to demand better pension benefits...
Tazreen Fire Survivors: ‘Our Suffering Has Just Started’ Solidarity Center ...Survivors of the November 24, 2012, Tazreen fire who recently talked with Solidarity Center staff in Bangladesh say they endure daily physical and emotional pain and in many cases, have little or no means of financial support because they cannot work. Some, like Anju, who is unable to work, have never received compensation for their injuries...
Demerara Timbers workers strike for wage increase Stabroek News ...Under the umbrella of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), seventy workers from Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) went on strike on November 19 at the company’s Mabura Hill operations. According to a GAWU press release, the strike resulted from a failure of the company to arrive at a consensus with the union since June 22, 2015...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Obama Offers Helping Hand, Companies Give Cash To Support Democrats Backing Trade Pact IBTimes ...House Democrats have enjoyed the warm, friendly embrace of the chief executive and a steady flow of cold, hard cash from the companies that are backing a massive agreement with Asia-Pacific nations. Obama, in a display of political acumen that often has eluded him in dealing with Congress, never stopped wooing members who supported him as he eyeballed the prize -- ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Obama defends TPP secrecy, says now is chance for debate Reuters ...U.S. President Barack Obama launched a defense on Friday of a signature Pacific trade pact kept largely under wraps and said the public would get its say before legislators in each country debate the full details. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a "mega-regional accord" covering four-tenths of global GDP...
Mexican Immigration Declining; More Are Returning Than Arriving NPR ...A new study of immigration to the United States shows that more Mexicans have returned home than have arrived here since 2009. The report from the Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center also finds that the overall flow of Mexicans between the two countries is the smallest since the 1990s. The conclusions are based on government data here and in Mexico...
Police tear-gas farmers at anti-cuts rally in Greek capital RT ...Clashes erupted between riot police and protesting farmers in front of the Hellenic Parliament in Athens, on Wednesday after some 4,000 agricultural workers rallied from across the country to condemn planned tax reforms and austerity measures. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters as they moved closer to the parliament building and threw oranges and other objects at officers...
Québec Fights Back Against Austerity Counterpunch ...We are supposed to accept austerity as being as natural as ocean tides. Or be demoralized by the power of the forces that continually press down on working people around the world. But there is an ongoing, organized fightback going on — in Québec. A series of rolling strikes by public-sector employees and students throughout 2015 appear to be headed toward a provincial general strike in December...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Why Missouri might be the next big battleground in the right-to-work debate Washington Post ...Missouri Republican gubernatorial candidates are using their anti-union stance to set up a fight with likely Democratic nominee Attorney General Chris Koster, who is funded in large part by labor groups and has vowed to block the policy, insisting it hurts wages. An August primary will decide who faces off in the race. Two days after Republicans failed to override the governor’s most recent veto on right to work, Koster’s campaign received a $20,00 campaign donation from a group representing carpenters...
Labor secretary: Wisconsin needs to raise its minimum wage Journal Sentinel ...The U.S. secretary of labor is calling on Wisconsin to raise its minimum wage. Thomas Perez, head of the Department of Labor, visited Milwaukee on Thursday to meet with workers and advocates for raising the minimum wage. The event, organized by Wisconsin Jobs Now, was focused on the "Fight for 15" movement, which aims to boost the pay for low-wage workers to $15 an hour...
Absentee ballots are expected to increase with new voter ID requirements Shelby Star ...In anticipation of next year’s requirement that voters have a photo ID, election workers across North Carolina asked voters this year if they had proper identification. Out of the more than 9,200 people who voted in Cleveland County's November municipal elections, fewer than 10 did not have an ID...
Lexington to boost minimum wage to $10.10 CNN ...Minimum wage workers in Lexington, Kentucky are about to get a raise. The Lexington Urban County Council voted Thursday to boost the city's minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour over the next three years. The county will see a preliminary increase to $8.20 per hour on July 1, 2016...
Los Angeles Allegedly Forces The Mentally Ill Through Bureaucratic Nightmare For Welfare Think Progress ...A new lawsuit accuses Los Angeles County of making it too difficult for people with mental health issues to apply for a program called General Relief (GR), which is supposed to provide a $221 monthly stipend to all eligible Californians. In practice, the suit says, even that meager subsistence benefit is far out of reach for tens of thousands of people who need it most...
U.S. LABOR
U.S. airport workers stage one-day strike USA Today ...Baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, ramp workers, wheelchair attendants, janitors and other workers struck airports in Boston, Chicago O’Hare, New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia, New Jersey’s Newark, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. American, Delta, United and JetBlue airlines told Reuters the strike didn't disrupt flights. But workers and labor experts said the protests drew attention in the industry and among travelers a week before Thanksgiving...
United Auto Workers' new contract with Ford at risk of rejection USA Today ...Union workers at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant are the latest to soundly vote against a national contract with the automaker, casting further doubt about the United Auto Workers' ability to convince a majority of workers nationwide to ratify the agreement. About 53% of the more than 31,000 workers who have voted so far have voted against the contract...
Nursing home must bargain with union that lost election - NLRB judge Reuters ...A New York nursing home that called the police on labor organizers, fired a vocal union supporter and offered workers free jeans if they wore anti-union shirts on the job must bargain with a unit of the Service Employees International Union that lost an election, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled...
Solano County, SEIU reach tentative pact in labor dispute Daily Republic ...A late-night tentative agreement with the Service Employees International Union was reached Thursday after a 10-hour session with a state mediator, Solano County officials said – and a union spokeswoman said its bargaining team will recommend members approve the agreement...
Germany's largest trade union opens shop in Tennessee Politico ...The largest trade union in Germany is opening shop in the Nashville suburbs to help out the UAW in its bid to organize the South. IG Metall will announce this afternoon that it’s launching a joint office with UAW in Spring Hill, Tenn. as part of a “Transnational Partnership Initiative.” "IG Metall believes some German manufacturers are exploiting low-wage environments in the U.S. South...
Not all employers hate unions. These ones are trying to save them. Washington Post ...Unions are supposed to be a pain for employers. Especially strong, well-funded ones that are able to thwart their plans for change. not according to a host of government entities that have come to the defense of public sector unions at a moment when they could be wounded by a Supreme Court ruling on whether they're allowed to collect dues from nonmembers...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
France Cancels Major Climate March, But Groups Say They Won't Be Silenced Common Dreams ...The Prefecture of Police of Paris has reportedly cancelled a march planned for November 29 that organizers expected to draw at least 200,000 people, citing security concerns. Activists noted that other actions planned worldwide will still move forward. Nicolas Haeringer, French campaigner for climate advocacy group 350.org, said in response, "The government can prohibit these demonstrations, but our voices will not be silenced"...
Kochs' Freedom Partners Spent $129M in 2014, Invested Massively in Voter Data Lists PR Watch ...The Koch network's secret bank, "Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce," spent big during the 2014 midterm elections, including doubling its investment in voter data collection efforts and secretly backing U.S. Senate candidates associated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Freedom Partners is also vastly expanding surveillance and intelligence gathering on the Kochs' perceived opponents, Politico reports today...
Anti-Transparency Bill Implies Pennsylvania Police Have 'Something to Hide' Common Dreams ...The Pennsylvania State House on Tuesday passed a controversial bill that would hide the identities of police officers who use force or fire their guns while on duty, at least until an investigation is completed—a move the state ACLU chapter said would only serve to harm community relations...
Trump: ‘Absolutely’ Register All Muslims In A Database Think Progress ...On Thursday night, the billionaire Republican presidential candidate told an NBC reporter that all American Muslims “have to be” required to registered in a database in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. The attacks were carried out by ISIS, a group that proclaims itself to be Islamic — though many Muslims and religious scholars disagree that the group can be credibly considered part of the religion...
America Needs George W. Bush to Speak to His Party Slate ...What Bush did, successfully, was keep anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric out of national politics. He made clear that the United States was fighting a war against terrorists—not Muslims—and reminded Americans that “the majority of the victims of the terrorists have been innocent Muslims”...
Glenn Greenwald on "Submissive" Media's Drumbeat for War and "Despicable" Anti-Muslim Scapegoating Democracy Now ...In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, media coverage has seen familiar patterns: uncritically repeat government claims, defend expansive state power, and blame the Muslim community for the acts of a few. "Every time there’s a terrorist attack, Western leaders exploit that attack to do more wars," Greenwald says. "Which in turn means they transfer huge amounts of taxpayer money to these corporations that sell arms"...
