Today's Teamster News 11.22.13

Teamsters Joint Council 42 and Local 911 Endorse Lee Rogers for Congress  Inland Empire   ...Dr. Lee Rogers, candidate for Congress in California’s 25th District, announced today that he has picked up the endorsements of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 911 and their umbrella organization, Joint Council 42. Rogers, a podiatrist, is a member of the Teamsters Union...
Use Teamster-Made Ingredients for Thanksgiving  teamster.org   ...For your Thanksgiving recipes, use Teamster-made ingredients and support your brothers and sisters at these companies...
Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify First Teamster Contract  teamster.org   ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California, who voted to join Teamsters Local 683 in San Diego, have ratified their first contract...
New contract gives wage increases for dining workers  The Daily Pennsylvanian   ...Penn dining workers have finished negotiations with Bon Appetit, which will increase their wages and provide a healthcare package. Negotiations began in September, after the workers joined Teamsters Local 929...
Massena, highway department union reach four-year deal  North Country Now   ...The Town Council in Messena, New York, unanimously agreed to a four-year contract with the Teamsters Local 687 to cover the town Highway Department’s eight employees on Wednesday night...
Hoffa to Corporate America: 'Have You No Sense of Decency?'  Huffington Post   ...the average American family pays $6,000 a year to cover government tax breaks for big business....
Senator Sounds The Alarm On Social Security   teamster.org   ...The median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age is only $12,000....
Walmart Workers Strike At Seven Stores In Dallas  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart workers called out or walked off the job at seven stores in Dallas, according to OUR Walmart activists, the group that has been organizing strikes and protests against the company...
Wal-Mart labor group promises 1,500 Black Friday protests next week  Salon   ...Amid scrutiny of Wal-Mart taking up employee-to-employee charity, strike wave continues against retail giant...
The Middle Class Is Disappearing Despite The Economic Recovery  ThinkProgress   ...There were nearly 700,000 fewer middle-income households since the began than during the economic crisis, according to new Census Bureau data...
The U.S. ranks 26th for life expectancy, right behind Slovenia  Washington Post   ...Back in the 1970s, Americans typically lived longer than residents of other countries. Not anymore, according to a new report...
‘I Watched My Patients Die of Treatable Diseases Because They Were Poor’  AlterNet   ...A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the non-existent Texas safety net...
Tea party groups can't shield donors, FEC rules  Politico   ...The panel voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed the Tea Party Leadership Fund to shield the names and information of their donors from public scrutiny...
What will happen to truck drivers when self-driving vehicles take over?  Washington Post   ...Google's test vehicles for its self-driving technology are a Lexus and a Prius. That suggests that Google sees self-driving as a technology for passenger cars. But self-driving technology will almost certainly affect industry and commerce first...
5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money  AlterNet   ...You can get a $5,000 hamburger for lunch. The Fleur de Lys restaurant in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay offers the "Fleurburger 5000" for $5,000...
Cash America fined over claims of robo-signing, gouging military families  Washington Post   ...The $19 million settlement is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first with a payday lender...
UPS increasing rates by 4.9% in 2014  Associated Press   ...The shipping company said that the number is an average of its UPS Ground, Air and International, and Air Freight rate increases for the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico...
Spanish court sentences 'Robin Hood' mayor  Associated Press   ...A Spanish court has sentenced a town mayor and four others to seven months in prison for occupying unused military land they wanted to be loaned to farmers hard hit by the economic crisis...
NY Signs DOL Deal to Tackle Misclassification; Payroll Fraud Protection Act of 2013 Introduced  The We Party   ...The state of New York has signed into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in an attempt to stop the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. New York is the 15th state to sign such an agreement...
Targets seek stay of investigation into Scott Walker's recall campaign and other groups  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Three unnamed petitioners are asking that a judge be ordered to temporarily halt a secret investigation into campaign activity by Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative political groups...
Wisconsin Employment: October 2013  Econbrowser   ...Two numbers to remember: 84 thousand and 107 thousand. The first number is the amount by which actual October employment lags Governor Walker's promised path; the second is the amount by which the Administration's own forecast for January 2015 lags Walker's promised 250,000 net new jobs figure...

Today's Teamster News 08.17.13

Waste Workers in California Vote to Become Teamsters  IBT   ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California have voted overwhelmingly to join Local 683 in San Diego. There are approximately 80 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters End Representational Campaign at American Airlines  IBT   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters yesterday announced an end to the year-long campaign to represent aircraft mechanics and related personnel at American Airlines...
AMR-US Airways Merger Limbo Puts CEOs to Workers on Hold  Bloomberg News   ...About 1,000 white-collar employees with jobs on the block at US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) and American Airlines (AAMRQ) got a temporary reprieve when the U.S. government sued to block the carriers’ planned $14 billion merger...
Allied Selects Black Diamond/Spectrum As Winning Bidder; Teamsters, Others Object  IBT   ...On Thursday, August 15, Allied Systems completed two days of an auction for its assets at a law office in Wilmington, Delaware. The company (Allied) declared the winning bid to an acquisition company formed by Black Diamond/Spectrum, over a bid by Jack Cooper Transport, whose employees are represented by the Teamsters...
Striking Teamsters at Lake Transit vote to return to the job  Lake County News   ...A day after they failed to get intercession from the Lake Transit Authority Board in a labor dispute, striking transit workers voted to immediately return to work. The striking members of Teamsters Local 665 voted to return to work unconditionally in order to restore full service yesterday...
BLET to Conduct Advanced Local Chairman Workshop, October 20-26  BLET   ...The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the BLET Arbitration Department, is proud to host an Advanced Local Chairman Workshop scheduled for October 20 through October 26, 2013...
McDonald's, Walmart Feel The Pinch As Low-Income Shoppers Struggle In The Slow Recovery Reuters   ...From Wal-Mart Stores and Gap to Macy's and McDonald's, chains that cater to middle- and lower-income Americans, say they are feeling the pinch of an uneven economic recovery...
Mexico-L.A. drug ring hid meth, heroin in pipes on big rigs, feds say   Los Angeles Times   ...Federal prosecutors unveiled indictments Thursday against 57 members of an alleged drug trafficking ring that authorities said smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico to Los Angeles, using hidden compartments and PVC piping that were further concealed in tractor trailer axles. Firearms have also been transported...
That awkward moment when an American-made beer company gives away a Made in China hat at a baseball game in the nation's capital  manufacture this   ...One has to wonder why a company that takes care to brand itself as Made-in-the-USA would sponsor Made-in-China souvenirs...
Unions sue to block SunRail contractor  Orlando Sentinel   ...Two unions filed a lawsuit Thursday objecting to the state's attempt to side-step an agreement from 2009 to use federally certified union workers in construction of the signal system that will guide trains on the $1.6 billion SunRail commuter line...
Mass. legislature tackles minimum wage issue Telegram & Gazette   ...As many as half a million of the lowest paid workers in Massachusetts could be getting a raise next year if a proposal to increase the minimum wage as high as $10.50 an hour is approved by the Legislature — or by a 2014 statewide voter referendum being urged by unions, community organizations and individuals, and supported by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren...
North Carolina law takes war on voting rights to a new low   Washington Post   ...In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, that gutted of the Voting Rights Act, it’s difficult to say which of the many recently passed voter-suppression bills constitutes the greatest threat to that most sacred of American freedoms: the right to vote...
Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Barred From Enforcement In November Election By Judge   Huffington Post   ...A state judge issued an order Friday that is expected to block enforcement of Pennsylvania's strict voter-identification law in the Nov. 5 general election...
NorCal mayor demands bank drop foreclosure lawsuit  Associated Press   ... Richmond plans to "seize" underwater loans from banks, reimburse them at market value, and then resell the cheaper loans to the original homeowner at current mortgage rates...
California attorney general announces $750M refund from Canadian utility Powerex  Sacramento Bee   ... the Canadian utility was buying California electricity, shipping it to Canada and then exporting it back to the state at huge markups...
Judge: Special prosecutor will review Perry veto  Associated Press   ...A Texas judge said Thursday he plans to have a special prosecutor review allegations that Gov. Rick Perry abused the powers of his office and broke the law over a veto that cut funding for state public corruption investigators...

Teamster organizing victory in California

Please give a warm welcome to our 80 new brothers and sisters, drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, Calif.! They voted overwhelmingly to join Local 683 in San Diego.

Todd Mendez, Local 683 secretary-treasurer, said the workers are seeking strong Teamster representation.

The company treats their people bad. The supervisors bully their workers. We will work hard to negotiate a strong first contract that will help put a stop to the mistreatment that is taking place.

Local 683 will also work to win the workers a strong pension plan, Mendez said.

On July 13, Waste Management workers in El Cajon who belong to Local 683 overwhelming ratified their first contract, which provides solid pay increases and excellent benefits. The contract covers 190 workers who joined the Teamsters in March.

The local is starting a campaign to organize about 100 workers at Waste Management in Oceanside. When Local 683 is done, they will represent 400 Waste Management workers at three locations in San Diego County.

Bob Morales, director of the Teamsters Solid Waste, Recycling and Related Industries Division, said: 

We will continue to work hard to organize waste and recycling workers across the country so that they receive the fair pay, decent benefits and improved working conditions they deserve for the extremely difficult job they do.

To our new brothers and sisters we say, Welcome to our great union!

Today's Teamster News 07.20.13

Teamster Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify Solid First Contract  IBT   ...On July 13, workers at Waste Management in El Cajon, California, overwhelmingly ratified their first contract, which provides solid pay increases and excellent benefits. The contract will cover 190 workers who joined Local 683 in San Diego in March...
Court Denies SCI’s Attempt to Stop Teamsters Strike  IBT   ...Dignity Memorial’s attempt to silence the free speech of local picketers has been denied by the Circuit Court of Cook County...
Fremont City Council OKs pact with the Teamsters Union  San Jose Mercury News   ...Fremont City Council unanimously voted to approve an amended memorandum of understanding with Local 856 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
BLET Denounces One-Person Train Operations; Rail Companies Put Cost-Cutting Ahead of Public Safety   IBT   ...The following is the official statement from Dennis R. Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen regarding the danger to public safety that one-train operations represent...
$12 Minimum Wage For Walmart Workers Would Cost The Average Shopper Just 46 Cents Per Trip  Huffington Post   ...Walmart last week decided not to build three stores in Washington D.C. after the passage of a D.C. Council bill, which demands big-box retailers pay their workers a "living wage" of $12.50. Such a wage, Walmart claimed, would drive up its famously-low prices...
DC councilmember to introduce minimum wage hike  Associated Press ...D.C. councilmember Tommy Wells says he'll introduce a bill that would raise the minimum wage for all District of Columbia workers — not just those who work at Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers...
Middle class still left behind in U.S. economic recovery, data show  Washington Post   ...The economic recovery of summer 2013 is playing out in an all-too-familiar way for poor and middle-class Americans: Gas prices are up, growth is slowing, and there still aren’t nearly enough new jobs to employ the almost 12 million people seeking work...
Elizabeth Warren’s new fight: Why even the Tea Party backs it!  Salon   ...Banks that try to take private losses and pin them on taxpayers may have a new problem...
With Filibuster Deal, NLRB Could Soon Return To Full Force  NPR News   ...If the deal holds together and the new nominees are confirmed in the coming days, the NLRB will be fully staffed with five Senate-approved members for the first time in a decade...
Greece approves austerity measures to fire 25,000 public workers and secure bailout   The Independent ...Greece plans to lay off 25,000 public sector workers, in a move which has sparked a new surge of anti-austerity protests outside parliament...
Michigan AG challenges judge's ruling that Detroit bankruptcy is unconstitutional  Detroit Free Press   ...An Ingham County judge says Thursday's historic Detroit bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution and state law and must be withdrawn...
WEDC offers taxpayer support for Walker campaign contributors (opinion)  The Paper   ...Fast-forward to Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin, where the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), staffed by the governor's cronies, has misplaced millions in tax dollars, blew off auditing compliance rules, and went on a spending spree for iTunes gift cards, football tickets and booze. And the consequences are nil...
Low-Wage Workers in D.C. Turn Pledge of Allegiance Into Protest Chant  In These Times   ...Courtney Shackleford, a 20-year-old college student working at a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop in the District of Columbia’s Union Station, walked off the job Thursday morning, along with roughly 70 other concession workers at the grand old railroad station...
World Trade Center owners’ bid to sue airlines for 9/11 attacks blocked   New York Daily News   ...The owners of the World Trade Center were blocked Thursday from filing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the two airlines whose hijacked planes brought down the twin towers...
Detroit union leaders call bankruptcy filing premature, say they were trying to negotiate   Detroit Free Press   ...Leaders of Detroit’s unions blasted emergency manager Kevyn Orr for the city’s bankruptcy filing, saying it was a premature move when they’d been trying to negotiate in good faith to help pull Detroit out of its staggering financial hole...
Bill would let Californians vote on Saturday  Sacramento Bee   ...For California voters, finding time to cast ballots on a Tuesday could become a thing of the past. A bill by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would give them a chance to vote on a Saturday in the month before an election...
New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data  New York Times   ...Staking out new ground in the noisy debate about technology and privacy in law enforcement, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the police will now have to get a search warrant before obtaining tracking information from cellphone providers...

Today's Teamster News 03.02.13

Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says Washington Post   ...Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move also would not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added...
Factory Expansion Spurs Growth as Budget Cuts Loom  Bloomberg   ...American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years, spurred by a jump in orders that is helping propel an economy about to be tested by federal government cutbacks...
Personal Income Hammered - Drops -3.6% for January 2013  Economic Populist   ...Disposable income is worse.   DPI dropped -4.0%, even when adjusted for inflation....
Since 2011, 105 Wage Supression Bills Have Been Introduced In State Legislatures  ThinkProgress   ... lawmakers in 31 states have introduced 105 bills aimed at suppressing workers’ wages, with a little help from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative group that provides model legislation on everything from union-busting to voter disenfranchisement:...
Looming federal spending cuts will hit hospitals where it hurts  McClatchy   ...More than 4,200 hospitals that are among the largest employers in their communities would lose nearly $3 billion under the Medicare cuts this year. That could trigger the loss of 73,000 hospital jobs nationwide...
Ahead of Singapore Round of TPP Negotiations, U.S. Public Opposition to Deal Grows  Public Citizen   ...With Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations slated to begin on March 4, opposition to the deal in the United States continues to mount. More than 300 groups signed on to a letter to Congress calling the lack of transparency in negotiations “inconsistent with democratic principles”...
Michigan governor clears way for state takeover of Detroit  Reuters   ...Friday's declaration by the Republican governor virtually assures that the state of Michigan will assume control of Detroit's books, and eventually decide whether the city should file the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...
Taylor schools, union sued over contract that skirts right to work  Detroit News   ...The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three Taylor teachers who object to a union security clause adopted by the school board and the Taylor Federation of Teachers...
At lager heads: Pa. beer distributors stoutly oppose Corbett privatization   newsworks.com   ...Any reservations beer distributors have about Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett's liquor privatization plan have brewed into outright opposition...
Nutter seeks high court's OK to impose his terms on city workers  philly.com   ...If Nutter succeeds, the case could change labor negotiations across Pennsylvania by significantly shifting power to mayors and governors...
Missouri House Votes To Exempt Schools From Prevailing Wage  KCUR.com   ...Democrats argued that waiving the prevailing wage requirement could lead to cut-rate contractors from other states taking jobs away from skilled workers in Missouri...
GOP lawmaker targets public employee unions with bills  Cronkite News   ...Two ... bills would restrict the ability of public employee union members to strike and to be paid for time spent on union activities. The other would require public employees represented by unions to sign off each year on having dues deducted from paychecks...
Alaska lawmakers raise labor cost concerns  Associated Press   ...Alaska legislative leaders are urging Gov. Sean Parnell to negotiate no raises in union labor contracts amid concerns about state budget costs...
Waste Management Workers In California Vote To Join Local 683 In San Diego  IBT   ...sanitation drivers, helpers, mechanics and yard crew from El Cajon‘s Waste Management facility overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters, Local 683. The vote was 144 to 37 in favor of forming their union. There are 191 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Organizes Sleepy Hollow Employees  Tarrytown-SleepyHollow Patch   ...The new Teamsters span a broad array of workplaces and duties, from village hall clerks and other office staff to rec workers, crossing guard and the village’s parking-law enforcer...
Fairbanks school bus drivers vote to authorize strike  Daily News-Miner   ...Local school bus drivers overwhelmingly approved a strike vote on Thursday against First Student, but union officials say no work stoppage is imminent. Members of Teamsters Local 959 voted to strike after unsuccessful negotiations...
Cleveland city lawyers want to join Teamsters, citing years of low pay and job insecurity  The Plain Dealer  ...Civil attorneys in the city of Cleveland's law department have petitioned to join the Teamsters and become the first municipal law department in Ohio to unionize...
Negotiations for county workers hit seniority snag  Tampa Bay Times   ...Representing about 400 county employees, Teamsters Local 79 pushed hard Thursday to get the county administration to agree to use seniority as the main factor in filling county jobs...
Hoffa Calls On Congress To Act On Sequester  IBT  ...Hoffa on the failure of Congress to replace the sequester by today's deadline: "Austerity is destroying the economies of Europe and worsening the European debt crisis. Austerity will destroy America's economy and increase our deficit. Cutting government spending is exactly what Congress should not be doing during an economic slump...

Teamster rally recaps from CA, NE

Rally Girl is a Cornhusker, so her report on Local 554's rally in Omaha on Friday is especially insightful:

Even in Nebraska—home to some of the country’s most anti-union cities—supporters of Wisconsin workers turned up in great numbers over the weekend to protest a proposed budget bill that would end collective bargaining for government employees.

Braving below-freezing temperatures, hundreds, including Teamsters from Local 554, gathered at 72nd and Dodge—Omaha’s main intersection—holding signs and singing songs. Their demonstration was one of hundreds going on across the country to show solidarity for workers in Wisconsin.

Brother Scott Utech, an organizer with 554, said

The rally was very successful—a lot of brothers and sisters in organized labor and those who just wanted to support us participated. The public response to our rally was really positive and upbeat. I think these rallies are going to continue to grow.

What makes Omaha’s demonstration so inspiring is the fact that Nebraska is a traditionally conservative, right-to-work (for less) state, where unions are looked down upon and individual pride is placed above all else. Here, child labor laws are overlooked when it comes to the backbreaking work of detasseling. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of undocumented workers slave away in wretched meatpacking plants.

Yet, the voices of Nebraska unionists, concerned citizens and local politicians give me hope that even here, in the middle of the Midwest, tides are turning. Like others across this great nation, Nebraskans are waking up, taking a stand and letting their voices be heard. It is with solidarity and gusto that I proclaim, GO BIG RED!

Teamsters from Local 36, 481, 683, 542 and 911 participated in Saturday's "Support Wisconsin Rally," organized by the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council. More than a thousand people joined the action. Local 542 Business Agent Alvin Mitchell drove the San Diego Teamsters tractor trailer in the event. Let's hear it for our southern California brothers and sisters

The arrival of the truck got the twitterers going. @jasminepw tweeted

San Diego Teamsters making their presence known (honking) in support of Unions and Wisconsin! #WeAreWI