Teamsters
Hoffa, Gov. Nixon Rally With Hundreds to Defeat Right-to-Work in Missouri Teamster.org ... Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa joined Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Missouri AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and House Minority Leader Jake Hummel at a rally in Kansas City, Mo. today to support a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers working to uphold the governor’s veto of right-to-work legislation...
Hoffa: Mo. Legislature Must Remember Workers While Mulling RTW Veto Override Huffington Post ...Corporations, not satisfied enough with their sky-high profits, are trying yet again to rally Missouri lawmakers in an attempt to override the veto of Gov. Jay Nixon and pass so-called right-to-work (RTW) legislation that would drive down salaries and hamper workplace rights of everyday workers. A bipartisan collection of legislators stand in the way of an override. And the Teamsters and other allies are mobilizing in advance...
Teamsters Union Remembers Sept. 11 Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union remembers the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks today, and the Teamster members who were critical to rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts. The Teamster response to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was enormous and encompassed dozens of Teamster local unions across multiple states...
Mediation resumes Monday between school bus company, workers Newsday ...Federal mediation will resume Monday between a Long Island school bus company and its workers in a dispute that could affect an estimated 15,000 students in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Ronkonkoma-based Baumann & Sons Buses Inc. and its affiliate, Acme Buses, and employees in Teamsters Local 1205 had resumed talks at 4 p.m. Thursday...
Kansas City Unions Rally As Crucial 'Right To Work' Vote Nears In Missouri KCUR ...More than 500 union members and politicians rallied in Kansas City on Saturday to show their support for Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of a so-called "right-to-work" bill. International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa spoke passionately to the crowd of people packed into the Teamsters Local 41 hall...
Global Labor & Trade
TPP talks motor on Politico ...Trade negotiators from Japan, Canada and Mexico are back in their capitals to mull the progress they made during three days of talks in Washington last week on auto issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "There are issues we still have to resolve," Japan's lead auto negotiator, Takeo Mori, told reporters late Friday. Negotiators were “very productive” but will have to consult with their governments...
Auto parts differences between Japan, U.S. and others seen clouding prospects for next TPP ministerial talks The Japan Times ...The 12 countries taking part in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations are likely to face difficulties in arranging a ministerial meeting as Japan, the United States and others were unable to narrow the gap over the automotive sector in recent working-level talks. The participating nations are aiming to hold a ministerial session later this month or in early October...
Japan's Amari says Japan-U.S. auto trade talks 'very severe' Reuters ...Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Friday officials from Japan and the United States are having "very severe" auto trade talks but aim to narrow the gap between the two sides. Amari also said the schedule for the next round of talks among ministers from a 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact cannot be fixed unless there is the prospect for an agreement...
Kenya: Cotu Suspends Nationwide Workers Strike AllAfrica ...The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) has suspended a nationwide workers strike slated for Monday. COTU Secretary-General Francis Atwoli said that they took the action pending a Tuesday's court ruling on case by Teachers Service Commission in which it is challenging the legality of the two week old teachers strike...
First-Ever Domestic Workers Union Launched in Mexico Solidarity Center ...Dozens of union members and their allies from across Mexico gathered today to celebrate the official launch of the country’s first domestic workers’ union, SINACTTRAHO. The union’s formation culminated a 15-year struggle for rights on the job by those whose work often goes unrecognized, and today’s events marked the union filing for official government recognition...
Across Europe, Tens of Thousands Rally to Welcome Refugees Common Dreams ...Tens of thousands of Europeans took to streets in London and elsewhere across the continent Saturday in a massive demonstration of support and solidarity for those seeking refuge from the war and violence in the Middle East. The day of action was called to welcome the refugees, and send a signal to leaders worldwide who have either turned their back or or reluctantly agreed to house a small portion of the migrants...
In Upset, Socialist Jeremy Corbyn Elected as U.K. Labour Leader on Antiwar, Pro-Refugee Platform Democracy Now ...Longtime British socialist MP Jeremy Corbyn has just been elected leader of the opposition Labour Party after running on an antiwar, anti-austerity platform. When Corbyn first announced his candidacy three months ago, oddsmakers put his odds of winning at 200 to one. But on Saturday, Corbyn won in a landslide...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker wants every state to be a right-to-work state Washington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is best known for severely weakening the public unions in his state in 2011, sparking angry protests and a recall election that he survived. Now, as Walker tries to revive his bid for the presidency, he is reminding primary voters of that fight -- and plans to call for sweeping national labor reforms during a speech in Las Vegas on Monday afternoon...
Unions rally against 'right-to-work' override in Missouri St. Louis Public Radio ...Union members are making sure Missouri Republican lawmakers who voted against ‘right-to-work’ earlier this year know that they will have union support during the next election. Missouri's chapter of the AFL-CIO held a rally and knocked on doors Saturday in Jefferson County ahead of the General Assembly’s veto session next Wednesday. That's when a vote to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of a "right-to-work" bill could be brought to the floor...
Senator says Unemployment Bill Could Wind up in Court OzarksFirst ...State Senate Republicans think they can override the veto of an unemployment bill during the Legislature’s veto session. The chamber’s Democratic leader disagrees. The bill would reduce the length of time a person could receive unemployment benefits to as few as 13 weeks depending on the state’s unemployment rate. The current length is 20 weeks...
Business, labor groups battle over prevailing wage, corporate income tax initiatives MiBiz ...Two statewide petition drives could change the business landscape in Michigan if they’re enacted by the Legislature or eventually passed by voters in 2016. Organized labor groups have started collecting signatures for a plan that would increase the corporate income tax rate from 6 percent to 11 percent to raise $900 million a year for road funding. Meanwhile, labor groups are also opposed to a separate petition drive seeking to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law...
Gov. Cuomo: Raising State Minimum Wage Could Spur Economy CBS ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo continued his push for a higher state minimum wage on Saturday. As WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported, after the governor marched in the Labor Day Parade down Fifth Avenue he said the minimum wage was designed to allow people to work full-time and have a decent living. But Cuomo said on $8.75 an hour, it’s just not enough in New York...
Puerto Rican workers, unions, protest new austerity plan Reuters ...Thousands of public sector workers demonstrated on Friday against an austerity plan to help pull Puerto Rico out of a massive debt crisis, saying the private sector should take more of the pain. The island's government is calling for shared sacrifice, and concessions from citizens and investors alike, as it tries to lift itself out of a $72 billion debt hole...
Right Wing's False Narrative on Scott Walker Probe Fueling Attack on Election Watchdog Truthout ...Newly-released emails from the now-halted campaign finance investigation into Scott Walker and his allies are being touted by right-wing media as proof of the probe's partisan motivations. In truth, the emails demonstrate that prosecutors had a stated goal of not influencing the gubernatorial election, and show a career federal prosecutor leaning over backwards to avoid doing so...
U.S. Labor
Seattle teacher strike: parents show support despite scheduling upheaval The Guardian ...With parents rushing to find last-minute childcare, Seawell and four other families from Hawthorne Elementary collaborated to create an ad hoc childcare collective – a creative solution for a situation that took many by surprise. Despite the inconvenience, Seawell fully supports the teachers entering the third day of a strike that kept kids home on their first days back at school...
Fiat Chrysler in Weaker State Is Surprise UAW Talks Target Bloomberg ...The United Auto Workers chose Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, the weakest of the Detroit Three carmakers, as the surprise target for negotiating a new labor agreement, indicating a high priority on having fundamentally similar contracts with all three companies. The choice bucks the union’s tradition of choosing the strongest company among Fiat Chrysler, General Motors Co. or Ford Motor Co. to extract the best terms for its 140,000 members...
Negotiations break down between USW, ArcelorMittal Duluth News Tribune ...Te United Steelworkers union reported over the weekend that contract talks with ArcelorMittal have broken down and representatives have returned to plants. The contract negotiations directly affect 30,000 USW workers across the U.S. ArcelorMittal owns and operates the Minorca mine in Virginia with about 300 employees where, so far, layoffs have been avoided...
Evidence Keeps Piling Up: Unions Are Very, Very, Very Good for Workers Common Dreams ...With most of the largest organized workforces in the U.S. going to the bargaining table before the end of next year, "it is likely that more workers will be seeking raises through the collective bargaining process in 2015–2016 than at any other point in recent American labor history." So says the AFL-CIO, whose report, released Friday, offers a comprehensive look at the current state of collective bargaining in a period when an estimated 5 million American workers will bargain for new contracts...
Inflation-Adjusted Wages Have Declined Since Great Recession, and Worse for Low-Wage Occupations Alternet ...While the overall economy and the job situation has improved markedly since those early months of 2009 when 700-800,000 Americans were being laid off every month, the percentage of people not working or who are working part-time and want full-time jobs or have given up looking for a job but would accept one if offered is still 10.3 percent, well above the pre-recession rate...
Woman Fired For Being Transgender Scores A Victory Think Progress ...On Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented her in her lawsuit against Summerford, announced that the nursing home has agreed to pay her a financial settlement, as well as to implement a workplace nondiscrimination policy for sexual orientation and gender and to provide LGBT training for human resource employees...
Scott Walker to Propose Restrictions on Unions Nationwide Wall Street Journal ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who rose to national prominence by battling his state’s public-sector labor unions, is set to unveil Monday a plan to strip power from unions nationwide. The Republican presidential candidate’s proposal, which he plans to announce at an afternoon speech in Las Vegas, would eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, prohibit federal employee unions, institute right-to-work laws nationwide and repeal the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931...
How Child Care Is Becoming A Crisis In America Think Progress ...Child care is both an economic necessity and barrier to employment for most families: 65 percent of children under six have either both parents or a single parent in the workforce. At the same time, most working parents encounter significant barriers to finding affordable, high-quality child care. The cost of child care is increasing squeezing middle class families...
Social Justice & Other News
What Is Really At Stake With The Debate Over Whether To Eliminate Perkins Loans Think Progress ...As the Perkins loan program comes back for reauthorization, 95 members of Congress, along with groups representing universities and colleges, are ready to defend it from Republican lawmakers who would like to eliminate it. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, advocates for streamlining student loans by eliminating Perkins and combining the student loan programs into one student loan program...
Meet the busboy who's taking on Donald Trump over immigration LA Times ...Aca was angry about Trump's pronouncements that Mexico was sending rapists and criminals to the U.S. An aspiring photographer, he had recently started taking pictures of fellow immigrants holding signs that said, "I am not a rapist" and "I am not a criminal." He said yes to the friend who asked to film him, and they got to work on a short video with a provocative title: "Meet the Undocumented Immigrant Who Works in a Trump Hotel"...
Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts
Monday, September 14, 2015
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.11.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Friday, May 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.16.14
Teamster News
Teamsters say Scott Brown lied to their face Manchester Union Leader ...The local Teamsters chapter is accusing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown of lying to their face over his support of the Keystone XL pipeline...
Teamsters 'out & looking militant' support supersized global fast food strike TeamsterNation ...Teamsters took to the streets along with striking fast food workers today, escalating the global movement for fair wages for all workers and the right to join a union...
Teamster presence felt at 9/11 Memorial Museum TeamsterNation ...Teamster Local 282 member Manny Rodriguez donated his Teamsters jacket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the hard hat he wore at Ground Zero and a sculpture of the twin towers burned from World Trade Center steel...
Newburgh PBA, Teamsters, Slam Police Administration Mid Hudson News ...The City of Newburgh's PBA claims there is a turf war among crime factions in the city, with bullets flying day and night and the city administration, including Police Chief Michael Ferrera, is doing nothing about it...
Teamsters Reveal What's Really Happening at National Express teamster.org ...Evelina Moultrie, a Durham driver in Charleston, S.C., and a member of Teamsters Local 509 in West Columbia, S.C., told the Board about issues with overcrowding, as well as insects and mold on the buses...
Airgas Drivers Join Teamsters Local 25 teamster.org ...Local 25 in Boston recently organized a group of 17 tankhaul workers who deliver air cylinders to commercial entities in the area...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren Reveals Inside Details of Trade Talks The Nation ... “I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me ‘They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.’”...
Second Anniversary of Colombia Pact Spotlights Administration's Failed Promise of Labor Rights Improvements, Now Recycled to Defend TPP Negotiations with Vietnam amid Worker Riots Public Citizen ...Undeterred by the ongoing repression of Colombian workers, U.S. trade negotiators are in Vietnam at this very moment in attempt to negotiate via the TPP an expansion of the FTA model to Vietnam, despite the country’s widespread labor abuses...
State Battles
Report indicates Wisconsin added 28,000 jobs last year Wisconsin Radio Network ...Figures submitted by the state to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Wisconsin added just over 28,000 private sector jobs in 2013. It’s the lowest rate of growth for the state since Walker took office, bringing the total number of job created during the governor’s first three years in office to just under 92,000. That’s less than half of the 250,000 private sector jobs Walker promised to help create...
North Carolina Voters Want To End Partisan Gerrymandering Think Progress ...By a wide margin, North Carolina voters say they want to replace their state's current system of political gerrymandering with a non-partisan redistricting option, according to a new poll...
I Attended An ALEC Convention And Found An Alternate Universe Bill Moyers ...Last week I traveled to Missouri to attend my second American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference. As a state legislator from Wisconsin, I joined ALEC last year...
America's Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts Washington Post ...This election year, we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage...
War On Workers
Biggest fast food strike ever attracts global support MSNBC ...A year and a half ago, it was 200 striking workers in a single city. As of this week, it’s a global movement. On Thursday, thousands of fast food workers across the United States initiated the latest in a series of day-long strikes against their employers...
Boeing conducted unfair practices against U.S. engineers: labor board Reuters ...The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Thursday that Boeing Co (BA.N) committed unfair labor practices against its unionized engineers near Seattle and in Portland, Oregon, when it photographed and videotaped workplace marches in 2012...
Median Net Worth Of Grads Under 40 With Student Debt Is Only $8,700 Los Angeles Times ...The financial travails of people under 40 with student loan debt extend far beyond the college loans themselves, according to a new study...
Miscellaneous
FCC Votes For Plan To Kill Net Neutrality Huffington Post ...On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted in favor of a proposal that would rewrite the rules that govern how traffic flows on the internet, issuing a blow to the principle of net neutrality...
Teamsters say Scott Brown lied to their face Manchester Union Leader ...The local Teamsters chapter is accusing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown of lying to their face over his support of the Keystone XL pipeline...
Teamsters 'out & looking militant' support supersized global fast food strike TeamsterNation ...Teamsters took to the streets along with striking fast food workers today, escalating the global movement for fair wages for all workers and the right to join a union...
Teamster presence felt at 9/11 Memorial Museum TeamsterNation ...Teamster Local 282 member Manny Rodriguez donated his Teamsters jacket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the hard hat he wore at Ground Zero and a sculpture of the twin towers burned from World Trade Center steel...
Newburgh PBA, Teamsters, Slam Police Administration Mid Hudson News ...The City of Newburgh's PBA claims there is a turf war among crime factions in the city, with bullets flying day and night and the city administration, including Police Chief Michael Ferrera, is doing nothing about it...
Teamsters Reveal What's Really Happening at National Express teamster.org ...Evelina Moultrie, a Durham driver in Charleston, S.C., and a member of Teamsters Local 509 in West Columbia, S.C., told the Board about issues with overcrowding, as well as insects and mold on the buses...
Airgas Drivers Join Teamsters Local 25 teamster.org ...Local 25 in Boston recently organized a group of 17 tankhaul workers who deliver air cylinders to commercial entities in the area...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren Reveals Inside Details of Trade Talks The Nation ... “I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me ‘They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.’”...
Second Anniversary of Colombia Pact Spotlights Administration's Failed Promise of Labor Rights Improvements, Now Recycled to Defend TPP Negotiations with Vietnam amid Worker Riots Public Citizen ...Undeterred by the ongoing repression of Colombian workers, U.S. trade negotiators are in Vietnam at this very moment in attempt to negotiate via the TPP an expansion of the FTA model to Vietnam, despite the country’s widespread labor abuses...
State Battles
Report indicates Wisconsin added 28,000 jobs last year Wisconsin Radio Network ...Figures submitted by the state to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Wisconsin added just over 28,000 private sector jobs in 2013. It’s the lowest rate of growth for the state since Walker took office, bringing the total number of job created during the governor’s first three years in office to just under 92,000. That’s less than half of the 250,000 private sector jobs Walker promised to help create...
North Carolina Voters Want To End Partisan Gerrymandering Think Progress ...By a wide margin, North Carolina voters say they want to replace their state's current system of political gerrymandering with a non-partisan redistricting option, according to a new poll...
I Attended An ALEC Convention And Found An Alternate Universe Bill Moyers ...Last week I traveled to Missouri to attend my second American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference. As a state legislator from Wisconsin, I joined ALEC last year...
America's Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts Washington Post ...This election year, we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage...
War On Workers
Biggest fast food strike ever attracts global support MSNBC ...A year and a half ago, it was 200 striking workers in a single city. As of this week, it’s a global movement. On Thursday, thousands of fast food workers across the United States initiated the latest in a series of day-long strikes against their employers...
Boeing conducted unfair practices against U.S. engineers: labor board Reuters ...The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Thursday that Boeing Co (BA.N) committed unfair labor practices against its unionized engineers near Seattle and in Portland, Oregon, when it photographed and videotaped workplace marches in 2012...
Median Net Worth Of Grads Under 40 With Student Debt Is Only $8,700 Los Angeles Times ...The financial travails of people under 40 with student loan debt extend far beyond the college loans themselves, according to a new study...
Miscellaneous
FCC Votes For Plan To Kill Net Neutrality Huffington Post ...On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted in favor of a proposal that would rewrite the rules that govern how traffic flows on the internet, issuing a blow to the principle of net neutrality...
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Teamster presence felt at 9/11 Memorial Museum
Teamster Local 282 member Manny Rodriguez donated his Teamsters jacket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the hard hat he wore at Ground Zero and a sculpture of the twin towers burned from World Trade Center steel. According to the museum, his donations were the first to document the important presence and contributions of Teamsters at the World Trade Center site.
Today the 9/11 museum was dedicated, and the Teamsters presence was still felt. The CBS News report this morning showed the Teamster logo stuck to the last column removed from the site in May 2002, along with tributes to the departed.
We also know, through Twitter, that a Teamster was present at the dedication ceremony when President Obama spoke.
Brother Ronald Parsell (@ronparsell), a retired Teamster official, tweeted:
@Teamsters>At 9/11 event they introed rescue & recovery wrkers & only ONE mentioned his Union.He gave his name fromTeamsters local 282..Nice(We're working on finding out the Teamster brother who spoke.)
More than 1,200 Teamsters worked daily on the site to build One World Trade Center. Many Teamsters also worked on excavating the debris from the site.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum posted a nice tribute to Manny Rodriguez:
Soon after 9/11, U.S. Army veteran Manuel “Manny” Rodriguez resigned from his long-distance truck driver’s job to contribute his skills to the recovery operations at Ground Zero. Determined to return to his home city, where he strongly felt he needed to be during that trying time, Rodriguez hitchhiked from Denver, arriving at the devastated World Trade Center site in late October.
As part of the recovery effort, he operated a “Euclid” earth-moving truck used for removing debris after it had been searched for any traces of victims. His work stayed in lockstep with the progressing recovery, starting at street level before moving down into the diminishing pile of wreckage known as the “pit.”
After grapplers filled Rodriguez’s Euclid with rebar, steel and other structural WTC remnants, he drove the load to street level, where uniformed personnel sorted the contents. At times, the debris pile would be sent for more refined analysis by forensic archeologists at Fresh Kills Landfill, a temporary sorting ground on Staten Island. Rodriguez worked at the World Trade Center until its cleanup operations were completed in May 2002. During that time he frequented the respite center staffed by volunteers at St. Paul’s Chapel, often eating and sleeping there.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Teamster-built tower now tallest in NYC
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| The construction site. Note Teamsters logo beneath IBEW on upper right. |
One World Trade Center is now the tallest building in New York City. Constructed to replace the Twin Towers, it surpassed the Empire State Building yesterday afternoon. When it's finished next year, it will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
You can see a cool video of the building here.
The reconstruction of the World Trade Center was done almost entirely with union labor. More than 3,200 workers were involved in the reconstruction effort, and as American Rights At Work notes, labor unions have been connected to the site since 9/11:
It’s fitting: union members were among the first responders; union members served in the immediate cleanup; and now union members are part of the rebuilding.When One World Trade Center is completed, it will stand exactly 1,776 feet tall to mark America’s independence. Its roof, at 1,368 feet tall, will match the height of the original World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Remembering 09.11.01
Here's AFSCME's poignant video about that day. The New York Times posts a slide show of the workers (including Teamsters) now rebuilding the World Trade Center site. (Hat tip to American Rights at Work.)
Teamsters who worked on the pile marched in New York's Labor Day parade this weekend. Reports the Associated Press,
Before entering St. Patrick's, the seat of the city's Catholic archdiocese, truck driver and Teamsters union member Mark Vigilante recalled hauling debris from the trade center site after the terror attack.
"I saw an arrow pointed down that said 'body' — it was a firefighter found," said Vigilante, of West Babylon, Long Island, who spent a dozen hours a day trucking trade center debris to New Jersey in the weeks after the attack.
He was at ground zero when the remains of his friend were found — firefighter Thomas Kennedy, one of seven members of Ladder Co. 101 in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.
He was among 343 firefighters killed in the 9/11 attacks.
About 800 members of Teamsters Local 282 — 44-year-old Vigilante is a member — drove trucks that hauled debris from the site.
"Destruction was in our hearts and minds," said Vigilante. "But now, life has to go on, we've got to move on."And here's a perceptive essay from the British Independent about what we've lost in the past decade:
In these 10 years America has lost much, in terms of lives, treasure and reputation. Most of all, perhaps, it has lost its illusions. One, that its home territory was invulnerable, beyond the reach of hostile foreigners, vanished on that terrible Tuesday morning. But a decade on, another no less cherished illusion has disappeared as well: the certainty that whatever happened in the world beyond, America was a place of infinite opportunity and ever-growing prosperity.Read the whole thing here.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Senate rejects bill to aid 9/11 workers
Republicans in the Senate this afternoon blocked a bill to provide health care for 9/11 workers who got sick from working at Ground Zero. The vote was 57-42, with all Republicans voting against the bill, which needed 60 votes to move forward.
The New York Times reports
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| Teamsters working on Ground Zero. |
The New York Times reports
The Senate action created huge uncertainty over the future of the bill. Its proponents were working on Thursday to have the legislation inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass before Congress ends it current session later this month.The bill was named after James Zadroga, an NYPD officer who responded on 9/11 and later died of a respiratory disease caused by exposure at Ground Zero. The Teamsters, who have members who worked on the pile, strongly support the bill.
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