Unions contribute to affordable housing in NYC

The shortage is workforce housing is a real problem in cities and towns across the country. But five New York City union pension systems are doing what they can to help problem, investing some $150 million in projects to erect 20,000 units of affordable housing in the Big Apple, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced.

The money is being sent to the HIT to leverage some $1 billion in total investment in the housing in all five boroughs, the trust added in a mid-October statement. Union labor will build the housing in an economically targeted investment program. Economically targeted investments are designed to address market inefficiencies by providing capital or liquidity to under-served communities and populations across the city, added Comptroller Scott Stringer, New York City’s chief financial officer.

Stringer also advised the union pension systems on the projects. Working with the HIT on investing in housing “is a fiscally smart marriage of resources and housing policy,” he added. The investments provide market returns to the pension funds, HIT noted.

The HIT invests in affordable housing, and sometimes other projects, nationwide. As its key condition, union labor totally builds all the projects. But the new New York investment marks the first phase of a new HIT strategy for investing in the city over the next seven years, Housing Trust Chief Executive Stephen Coyle said.

The strategy, developed by HIT, union leaders, developers, community groups and Stringer’s staff, “aims to preserve the affordability of 12,500 to 15,000 housing units, construct 5,000 to 7,500 new housing units” and to “work with city and state agencies to finance and improve affordable public housing,” the Housing Investment Trust stated.

HIT estimated the seven-year plan would produce 7,300 union construction jobs, double that number in total jobs and $1 billion in wages and benefits to workers.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Report details power of collective bargaining

As awareness grows nationwide about the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots, so do the opportunities to combat it. A new AFL-CIO report notes that more than 2.4 million workers are set to bargain on new contract through the end of 2016, creating an opportunity for sizable wage growth for many everyday Americans.

According to the report, working people who bargained for new contracts in the first half of 2015 saw their wages increase by an average of 4.3 percent, an increase of $1,147 a year for an average wage earner in the U.S. These increases are up from 2.9 percent in the first half of 2014, with substantial wage wins occurring in sectors from nursing and oil to airline pilots and teachers.

The Teamsters have registered their share of contract victories this year, whether its was a deal recently struck covering Silicon Valley shuttle bus drivers serving Apple, Yahoo and eBay or an agreement covering nearly 500 Tuscon, Ariz. transit workers who came to an agreement after a 42-day strike. These contracts show the value of union membership.

As the collective bargaining document notes:

We are in the midst of an exceptional moment for raising wages through collective bargaining. Millions of American workers will have bargained contracts by the end of 2016, and considering that most of the largest organized workforces are going to the bargaining table, 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. 

Collective bargaining is our best tool for raising wages in America. It should be front and center as Congress considers policy and as presidential candidates announce agendas. Moreover, the results will illuminate the larger issue underpinning chronic wage stagnation: that vibrant worker organizations are key to restoring the balance of economic power in our country.

That's why the Teamsters and other worker advocates fight so hard against the forces who try to do away with them, like the recent victory in Missouri. Workers lose when so-called right-to-work legislation wins, with big business raking in additional profits.

Unions play a pivotal role in the future of this country. If workers want better salaries, the best way is to join one like the Teamsters. That way workers have a bigger voice at the bargaining table.

Today's Teamster News 05.29.15

Teamsters
Red Cross workers vote to join Teamsters local in Wichita  Wichita Eagle  ...The Teamsters union said a group of American Red Cross workers who collect blood for the organization in Kansas have voted to join Teamsters Local 795 in Wichita. According to a Teamsters news release, the Wichita bargaining unit will represent 91 workers. The workers voted 64-13 to join the Teamsters, the release said...
Port Truckers Revive Drive for Employee Status  Wall Street Journal  ...Backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, port truckers have been filing formal complaints against their employers for years, arguing that they’ve been classified illegally as independent contractors. Alex Paz, a drayage driver in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area who participated in protests earlier this year, said vehicle payments and maintenance often are deducted from drivers’ paychecks, which he believes is unfair...

Global Labor & Trade
New Polls Spotlight Damage of Past Trade Deals, Reveal Opposition to TPP Content  Public Citizen  ...You may have seen the headlines about today’s Reuters/Ipsos poll and yesterday’s Pew poll, touted as showing public support for trade deals. A close look at the polls  reveals that they did not even ask about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Fast Track, the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), or any other element of the controversial current trade policy agenda. The U.S. public likes the general notion of trade but opposes the documented results of past trade deals...
Top Dem: Trade deal could restrict access to cheaper medicines  The Hill  ...Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, says a new trade deal could be a “major step backwards” on access to affordable medicines. In an op-ed Thursday, Levin raised concerns that the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which the U.S. is negotiating, will curtail access to generic drugs...
Just in time for House trade debate, opponents find new ammunition  McClatchy  ...The global trade body (World Trade Organization) in Geneva set off a scramble on Capitol Hill last week when it sided with Canada and Mexico in a dispute over the U.S. country-of-origin meat-labeling law, saying it put foreign competitors at a disadvantage.
Obama Trade Bill Seen Gaining Enough Support for Final Passage  Bloomberg  ...Passage of the measure in the Senate last week -- after a brief rebellion by Democrats -- has proven to uncommitted House members that the legislation will come up for a vote. Lawmakers will have to choose between the business lobby, which backs the bill, and labor, environmental and other groups that bitterly oppose it...
AFL-CIO leader warns labor could sit out 2016 fight over trade  The Hill  ...AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned Hillary Clinton that his powerful labor union coalition might not endorse her presidential campaign if she comes out in support of the controversial trade deal making its way through Congress. Trumka first said in an interview with USA Today that it would cost Clinton the enthusiasm of organized labor if she backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Is US Trade Rep a Wall Street Crony? Groups Demand Transparency.  Common Dreams  ...Noting deep ties between the country's top trade negotiator and Wall Street banks, ten groups representing millions of Americans are calling on the White House to make public all communications between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the massive financial institutions that stand to benefit from proposed trade deals...
Nigeria Petrol Strike Hits Country  BBC  ...Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is hit with a strike by petroleum companies. Shops are forced to close their doors as delivering goods becomes impossible, and factories across the country shut down production...

State & Living Wage Battles
Michigan May Add Another Hurdle To Getting Welfare  Think Progress  ...Experts say tying welfare benefits to school attendance isn’t the best way to encourage kids to stay in school. Researchers agree that the problem is more of an economic one than a matter of insufficient financial rewards or punishments for parents whose children are frequently absent...
Right-to-work loses in Illinois house, heads for Missouri veto  People's World  ...In a huge rebuke to right-wing GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner's anti-worker agenda, the Democratic-run Illinois House voted his so-called right-to-work bill down, 72-0. While 37 state House Republicans, following Rauner's orders, voted present, another four didn't vote at all. One, Raymond Poe, joined the Democrats in opposing RTW...
Walker says he would be 'pleased' if prevailing wage repeal part of state budget  Star Tribune  ...Gov. Scott Walker says he would be "pleased" if a repeal of Wisconsin's prevailing wage law were a part of the state budget, but he'd also be satisfied with significant changes to the requirement setting construction wages for public works jobs. Walker reiterated his support Thursday for a full repeal, saying he believes that makes sense and is what he prefers...
Irvine bucks the trend as council votes to repeal living wage law  LA Times  ...As cities across the country are warming to the idea of increasing the minimum wage, Irvine is headed in the opposite direction. City Council members voted Tuesday to repeal the 2007 ordinance. A second council vote is needed to finalize repeal of the living wage law. The council meets again next month...
House Leaders: Bill Expanding Worker's Compensation Needs Further Study  Hartford Courant   ...A bill that would significantly expand the workers compensation system for police and firefighters is unlikely to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives this year. House Speaker Brendan Sharkey and Minority leader Themis Klarides both said Wednesday that further study is needed before the legislation is ready for a vote...

U.S. Labor
AFSCME pushing bill to prevent state workers from going on strike, being locked out  State Journal-Register  ...The state's largest public employee union is pushing a bill that would prevent state workers from striking or being locked out in the event talks on a new labor contract stall. Instead, the labor dispute would be handed over to an arbitrator to resolve through binding arbitration...
How We're Voting on the Union, and Why  Gawker  ...Yesterday, Gawker Media announced that we will be holding an election next week to vote on whether our editorial staffers want to form a union. The vote next week is to decide whether we want to agree to collectively bargain as a group, and join the Writers Guild of America, East...
No agreement reached between BP and USW at Oregon refinery  NBC  ...According to a spokesman for BP, the United Steelworkers Union and BP have not reached an agreement. Scott Dean, BP spokesman, says a new collective bargaining agreement has not been reached for employees working at the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery. Even though local issues are not resolved, the union wants to call off the strike and return its members to work...
Union Demands That The Streetcar Open And Fired Workers Be Rehired  DCist  ...The ATU has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, but it could be weeks or months before it gets resolved. In the meantime, a handful of union members and supporters took to the corner of H and 14th streets NE last Friday to show support for the fired workers and pressure the city to finally open the project. "[The streetcar] needs to become the job creator they said it would be"...

Miscellaneous
Detroit Shuts Off Water For 1,000 Poor Residents Despite City Council’s Call To Stop  Think Progress  ...The Detroit Water and Sewage Department began shutting off water to about 1,000 delinquent accounts on Tuesday, against the wishes of the city council. The department would not make the exact number of households affected available. It distributed about 3,000 door hangers earlier in the month warning residents...
US economy shrinks 0.7% in first quarter as strong dollar eats into growth  The Guardian  ...A harsh winter, a strong dollar and falling oil prices took their toll on the US economy in the first quarter, the Commerce Department revealed on Friday. The quarterly economic decline is the first since the economy shrank by an even sharper 2.1% annual rate in the first quarter of 2014. A bleak winter also contributed to that decline as consumers stayed home and some businesses closed...
Extreme Wealth And Absolute Squalor: Homelessness In Silicon Valley  Think Progress  ...In Silicon Valley, abundant wealth commonly lives alongside absolute squalor. The same county that houses Yahoo!, Google, and scores of other digital money mines is mired in a costly ongoing failure to address rampant homelessness. “The dichotomy here is just astonishing,” Destination: Home executive director Jennifer Loving told ThinkProgress...

Today's Teamster News 03.25.15

Teamsters
Ownership Fight At Heidelberg Distributing Could Affect Teamster Contracts  WCPO   ...Union workers are threatening a statewide strike at one of the largest beer and wine distributorships in the Midwest, citing stalled contract negotiations over better wages and health care...
State Education Association Replaces Leader Amid Turmoil  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...During the March 12 meeting, the Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board discussed holding a runoff election between ESEA and Teamsters Local 14 to decide who will represent district support staff at the bargaining table. That election could prove to be the downfall of ESEA, which has represented school district support staff for more than 40 years...
Labor Federation Re-Elects Top Officers To 3-Year Terms  Buffalo News   ...Richard Lipsitz Jr. of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will continue to serve as president of the Western New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. His new term runs until March 2018; Lipsitz and the three other officers ran unopposed. The federation is an umbrella group that covers unions with about 125,000 dues-paying members, stretching as far east as Batavia and as far south as Jamestown...
ONTC And Union Reach Five-Year Deal  North Bay Nugget   ...This year the ONTC will be negotiating with the remaining four unions (Unifor, Teamsters-Rail, Teamsters-Motor Coach, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers System). Eight collective agreements remain to be negotiated...
Union Drops Objection To Sunday Growler Sales  KARE   ...Ed Reynoso of the Teamsters Joint Council 32 told a Senate committee on Monday that "at this point" the union won't oppose a bill legalizing those growler sales on Sunday. It's a shift from last year when Teamsters' concerns about those sales affecting labor contracts helped derail the proposal...
City Council Candidates Stockpile Endorsements  Philadelphia Tribune   ...Teamsters Joint Council 53 recently endorsed at–large candidate Isaiah Thomas. “I am proud to have the support from Teamsters Joint Council 53,” Thomas said. “I have received endorsements from many members of the labor community and am excited that the Teamsters Union joins this extensive list. As the candidate who will work for Philadelphia, I understand the importance of strong labor support...
Teamsters Local 25 Will Honor David O. Russell  Boston Globe   ...Teamsters Local 25 will honor writer-director David O. Russell at its annual Light Up the Night Gala for Autism on Saturday. Russell has worked closely with Local 25 while filming the Massachusetts movies “The Fighter,” “American Hustle,” and “Joy,” which is now in production. He’ll be recognized for his work as an advocate for mental health issues...
Trade
Rep. Sander Levin, 83, may pose greatest obstacle to sweeping Asia trade pact  Los Angeles Times   ...If the president wants to push the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, through Congress this year, first he must win over Levin and other leading liberals, convincing them to ease their demands and give U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman a freer hand...
U.S. fast-track trade deal unlikely until next month: Senator Hatch  Reuters   ..."I will do my very best to come up with something between now and when we get back, but if he doesn't do it, that would be very unfortunate, but we are going to have to go ahead," Hatch said...
State Battles
ALEC, NFIB Push Prevailing Wage Repeal  Center for Media and Democracy   ...As unions and working people battle "right-to-work" legislation in several states, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and allies have opened another flank in their war on good jobs. Targeted this time are state prevailing wage laws, which require public construction projects to support local wage standards instead of undercutting them...
Changes to collective bargaining in Nevada?  MyNews4   ...A hot topic is set to go before a committee of lawmakers on Wednesday. It’s a bill that would change collective bargaining involving public employee unions...
Unions Win Round Over Rauner In Fee Lawsuit  Chicago Tribune   ...Unions sued this month to halt an executive order Rauner issued that stopped the "fair share" fees from being sent to them, asking a St. Clair County judge to free up the money while the legal process plays out. Rauner attempted to have the matter moved to a federal court, but U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle ruled that the suit deals with questions regarding Illinois law and should be debated in state court...
Colorado Lawmakers Begin Debate For A $12.50 Minimum Wage By 2020  Denver Post   ...A Colorado House committee passed two bills Monday to potentially raise the minimum wage. The first would allow urban and resort communities to raise the local minimum wages, and the other would let voters in 2016 decide on a plan that could hike the state minimum wage to $12.50 an hour by 2020. Both passed on a 6-5 party-line vote with Democrats in support...
Supreme Court Lets Wisconsin’s Voter-ID Law Stand  Washington Post   ...The justices’ decision not to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the law was a victory for Gov. Scott Walker (R), who supported and signed the law, and perhaps for other states that have tightened voting procedures to require additional identification. More challenges to specific state laws are in the pipeline...
War on Workers
AP Investigation: Slavery taints global supply of seafood  Associated Press   ...Here, in the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries in the seafood industry. This intricate web of connections separates the fish we eat from the men who catch it, and obscures a brutal truth: Your seafood may come from slaves...
Scientists to Smithsonian: Cut ties with Koch brothers  Washington Post   ...Three dozen scientists sent an open letter to museums of natural history calling on them to cut ties with the Koch brothers and anyone else with connections to the fossil fuel industry...
Power from the People  International Monetary Fund   ...The decline in unionization in recent decades has fed the rise in incomes at the top...
Miscellaneous
RadioShack's Bankruptcy Could Give Your Customer Data to the Highest Bidder  Bloomberg   ...The phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and shopping habits of more than 100 million customers are part of RadioShack's bankruptcy auction...

Meet the Koch sisters

The AFL-CIO is launching a new ad campaign featuring two women whose last name is Koch, but are nothing like the Koch brothers who are trying to turn the United States into a feudal serfdom. They are middle-class workers who object to the Koch brothers' attempt to purchase the U.S. government.

The Huffington Post reports,

The "Koch Sisters" campaign features Joyce Koch and Karen Koch, two women who are not actually sisters, but who share the same last name. Karen Koch, 51, teaches in the business department of Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan. Joyce Koch, 71, is a retired social worker in Lumberton, New Jersey. 

The campaign profiles the two women in ads set to air in battleground states and on cable news. There's also a website that draws a sharp contrast between the billionaires and the two middle-aged women. 

Trading off lines, the two Kochs open one of the videos saying, "We're not sisters, but we're sisters in spirit. We're not related to the Koch brothers, those right-wing billionaires. We're just two average women who have raised families and have worked hard all our lives." 

“For years, the Koch Brothers have epitomized how corporations and the super-rich have tried to systematically destroy our democracy,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “Today, they’re finally meeting their match.”

Take a look.

Today's Teamster News 09.01.13

This Labor Day, Much of America Will Be . . . Laboring  Time   ...39 percent of employers will keep operations open and require some workers to come into work, while a seperate survey of Beyond.com users says that 45% of those folks will spend Labor Day working or looking for work...
The Burrito Chain That Pays Entry-Level Workers $10 An Hour And Wants To Pay More  ThinkProgress   ...Boloco, a Boston-based burrito chain, pays its entry-level workers anywhere from $9 to $11 an hour, most of them making $10, with many who advance into higher roles making $17 an hour or more, CEO John Pepper told Fox Business News...
Wis. GOP to Ban Public for Miles from Mine  The Progressive   ...A new bill to allow the Gogebic Taconite iron mining company to bar the public from using public access land on an eight-square-mile parcel near their proposed mine site. This is an area that attracts people from all over the country to enjoy the excellent trout fishing and hunting...
Income Gap Grows Wider (and Faster)  New York Times   ...when average wages grow faster than the median, as happened from 2009 through 2011, it means that lower earners are falling further behind those at the top...
Freedom From Jobs  Counterpunch   ... though some gains have certainly been made over the past half-century toward a more inclusive, egalitarian society, in many respects – particularly in economic matters – there has been little or no progress whatsoever...
Longshore union pulls out of national AFL-CIO, citing attacks at Northwest grain terminals  The Oregonian   ...The West Coast longshore union is pulling out of the national AFL-CIO, citing "attacks" in which the umbrella organization's members blatantly cross picket lines at Northwest grain terminals...
Why Wall Street Wants Larry Summers (and Why the Rest of Us Should Not)  Yahoo Finance!   ...Our recent near-death experience under Alan Greenspan’s anti-regulation Fed chairmanship, aided and abetted by the deregulation pushed by Summers, should cause the President to think hard about banking regulation...
NSA intimidation expanding surveillance state: Column  USA Today   ...If you run a business, and the FBI or NSA want to turn it into a mass surveillance tool, they believe they can do so, solely on their own initiative. They can force you to modify your system. They can do it all in secret and then force your business to keep that secret. Once they do that, you no longer control that part of your business...
Slavery!  zero hedge   ...There are more slaves today working in the world than ever before...

Inequality in Renaissance Italy was nothing compared to today in America

The Medici family home. Today's CEOs are doing even better. 

Inequality in 15th century Italy was nothing like it is today.

Today, it's worse.

Visit the Renaissance palaces of Florence, Italy, and you'll be struck by the fairy tale extravagance of the leading family, the Medicis. You may ponder the unfairness of a system that allowed a lucky few to live in splendor while everyone else struggled to survive.

But consider this: At the turn of the 15th century, Giovanni di Bicci de Medici, the founder of the Medici family fortune, had an annual income of 1,900 florins. The average worker then earned less than 100 florins a year. So the richest guy in town earned 19 times what the average worker earned.

Standard and Poor's 500 CEOs today "earn" an average of 204 times as much as their workers.

A new report unveiled by Bloomberg states the now-former CEO at J.C. Penney Co. made 1,795 times more than the average worker at his stores (43,000 of whom were laid off last year). Meanwhile the CEO at Abercrombie and Fitch Co. made 1,640 times more than rank-and-file employees there.

It's getting worse: A survey of Standard and Poor’s 500 Index companies placed the average multiple of CEO compensation to that of their workers at 20 percent higher between 2011-12 and 2009.

The Bloomberg piece is the latest to show a growing gulf between those in corporate leadership and the employees who work for them. The AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch also details the soaring divide between executives and their workers.

While Bloomberg’s study on the topic is insightful, however, it is not a definitive measurement of the CEO-to-worker pay gap. The revamped financial service rules require reporting of CEO-to-worker pay gap numbers. That hasn't happened yet.

Almost three years after Congress ordered public companies to reveal actual CEO-to-worker pay ratios under the Dodd-Frank law, the numbers remain unknown. As the Occupy Wall Street movement and 2012 election made income inequality a social flashpoint, mandatory disclosure of the ratios remained bottled up at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which hasn't yet drawn up the rules to implement it. Some of America's biggest companies are lobbying against the requirement.

"It's a simple piece of information shareholders ought to have," said Phil Angelides, who led the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which investigated the economic collapse of 2008. "The fact that corporate executives wouldn't want to display the number speaks volumes." The lobbying is part of "a street-by-street, block-by-block fight waged by large corporations and their Wall Street colleagues" to obstruct the Dodd-Frank law, he said.

The leading opponent of mandatory pay-ratio disclosure is a Washington-based non-profit called the HR Policy Association, which represents top human resources executives at about 335 large corporations.

Of course, we owe much to the corporate fat cats: the 40-hour work week, vacation, sick time, the middle class.

Oh wait, no we don't... 

Today's Teamster News 01.28.11

St. Louis County Strike Averted. Here's What Really Happened.  Local 320  ...A lot has been said in the press about the alleged walk out of workers in Virginia.  It is unfortunate that County Administration jumped to this conclusion and spread this falsehood without checking the facts...
Goldman Sachs Got Billions From AIG For Its Own Account, Crisis Panel Finds  Huffington Post   ...The fact that a significant slice of the proceeds secured by Goldman through the AIG bailout landed in its own account--as opposed to those of its clients or business partners-- has not been previously disclosed...
YRC to cut 80 jobs in Akron  Journal of Commerce  ...The jobs affected are at the former Roadway headquarters on Gorge Boulevard. The work will be shifted to Buffalo, N.Y., and YRC's headquarters in Overland Park, Kan...
Weather Shield Contract (Local 662)  WJFW  ...The agreement keeps existing benefits with no across the board wage increase until the summer of 2012...
5 percent pay raise suggested for Polk officials Des Moines Register  ...labor agreements ... are expected to result in roughly 1.5 percent pay increases for employees...
Some Sullivan workers to get layoff notices next week  (Local 445)  Times Herald-Record   ...Legislators huddled for five hours Thursday to decide what positions to cut after labor unions refused to defer raises and longevity payments...
Study finds L.A.'s trash disposal system is wasteful and polluting  Los Angeles Times   ...A labor-backed advocacy group issued a study Wednesday that ... called for the adoption of a franchise process that could bolster recycling rates, provide green jobs and increase city revenue...
Teamsters Toledo Local votes to rejoin AFL-CIO  (Local 20)  Toledo Blade   ...the first time the local union has been under the AFL-CIO’s broader labor umbrella since 1957...
Santa Barbara MTD, Teamsters Union to Enter Into Mediation Over Retirement Benefits  (Local 186)  Noozhawk   ...The agency proposes, as a cost-saving measure, increasing the retirement age for employees to be eligible for full health benefits...
Crowell bill would make Missouri right-to-work state  Southeast Missourian   ...This legislative session, and for the past several years, Crowell has filed legislation that would prohibit union-only workplaces...
How The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce’s Egyptian Affiliate Went To Bat For The Egyptian Dictatorship  ThinkProgress   ...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce maintains a network of foreign affiliates known as Amchams, “which are foreign chambers of the Chamber composed of American and foreign companies...”
Brooksley Born of the FCIC: “We may well still be in a financial crisis”  firedoglake   "...We don’t know how solvent a number of institutions are...”