Workers' fight for justice takes on many forms

Calif. Assemblyman David Chiu

PHOENIX -- Workers are facing substantial challenges on the job. Whether it's low pay or work schedules that vary in hours per week and can change at almost a moment's notice, many are not earning enough to support themselves or their families. But they are not alone in trying to fight these issues.

Unions, worker allies and even some lawmakers said during the Netroots Nation conference here they are stepping up their efforts to challenge corporations that are trying to maximize their profits at the expense of their employees. And many involved in the movement told attendees they are beginning to win, and others can too.

California Assemblyman David Chiu helped lead the movement to force large retail companies in San Francisco last year to issue worker schedules two weeks in advance, and penalize those employers that change it. He said the debate is now moving forward elsewhere:

This is a conversation not just happening in San Francisco, but around the country. And the more it is, the greater the chance it will prevail. ... I have no doubt over the next few years we will prevail.

Part of the battle is trying to discuss the issue in a way that the public will understand. While the constant discussion of income inequality in the media and elsewhere over the past few years has raised awareness of the need for increasing the minimum wage, for instance, the discussion over the need for scheduling certainty still lags behind. It is part of an ongoing awareness campaign.

Nelini Stamp, co-director of Rise Up Georgia, said she originally began working in retail as a way to save up money for college. But the low wages and unpredictable schedules, mixed with the ever-increasing cost of higher education, has stalled that dream for now:

We want jobs. People want to work. But employers are taking it out of our hands. ... We believe we can push corporations to offer better schedules for their workers.

Of course, there are ways for workers to challenge these matters themselves. By organizing and joining a union like the Teamsters, workers can take these issues head on and win. It isn't always easy, but it can and does succeed.

Maria Neyoy, a bakery department employee for the El Super grocery chain in Arizona, is working to bring change that will help workers there. Since she got involved, the company has raised her salary by $4 an hour in hopes to get her to stop unionization efforts, but she said through an interpreter she won't until her coworkers can also receive a better salary:

This company ... does have the money to give us the raises we deserve. They are treating us like slaves. We are going to be out there until we get the contract we deserve.

Today's Teamster News 11.01.13

Teamsters Welcome Capital Trucking Drivers  teamster.org   ...Local 696 welcomes 20 short haul dump truck drivers from Capital Trucking to the ranks after a 13-2 organizing victory on October 30. Since Labor Day, Local 696 Teamsters have worked to organize these new workers...
National Master ABF Negotiating Committee Accepts ABF’s Final Offer for Central Region Local Cartage Supplement  teamster.org   ...In a conference call Wednesday, the ABF Master Negotiating Committee voted that in light of the overwhelming vote against authorizing a strike, the company’s last proposal for the Central Region Local Cartage Agreement would be accepted. As a result, the ABF-NMFA is now fully ratified...
Teamsters Request Immediate Meeting With Mayor to Discuss Drivers’ Issues  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 922 President Ferline Buie sent D.C. Mayor Gray a letter requesting a meeting to discuss a moratorium on fines and taxicab impoundment, a subsidy or reimbursement for the unfair costs associated with the new regulations and the appointment of a driver to the Taxicab Commission. (Read the letter.)...
More Independent Contractors Are Organizing. Meet Teamster Taxi Cabs  Bloomberg   ... Some freelance writers and physicians are also moving in the direction of unionization...
Teamsters vote in favor of new contract with city of South Bend  ABC 57 News   ...The 250 members of the Teamsters Local 364 were all set to vote on their contract last week until they learned about a disparity between their pay raise and the pay raises the mayor wants to give some of his department heads. In the end, the union decided to take the deal on the table that includes a 2 percent raise for each of the next three years...
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Teamsters to Start Talks  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev and the Teamsters union are about to begin contract talks for the first time since the Belgian brewer InBev purchased the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers five years ago...
Teamsters Call on Darigold to Return to the Bargaining Table  teamsterslocal117.org   ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, met throughout the day Wednesday to discuss the company’s last contract proposal...
Teamsters endorse Senate farm bill on nutrition, dairy  Agri-Pulse   ...The Teamsters Union weighed in last week in favor of Senate provisions in the farm bill, urging conferees to “reject the severe cuts” to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the House bill and dropping previous opposition to the “supply management” part of the Senate's dairy reform language...
Four months without a contract, 930 Penn State-Hershey workers will vote on offer  The Patriot-News   ...About 930 Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center support workers will vote on a proposed three-year contract to replace one that expired in June. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 776...
Rich people think the economy is doing just fine. Here’s why that matters.  Washington Post   ...any sense of urgency around getting the economy on track has almost disappeared within Congress ... Members of Congress tend to be relatively wealthy themselves, and tend to associate with big donors and other prominent folks…
Show Your Invisible Hand: Why the SEC Should Make Corporations Disclose Political Contributions  Next New Deal   ...corporate executives frequently spend on politics for their own personal advantage rather than the company’s bottom line. These personal benefits include things like prestige, a future political career, star power, or assistance for political allies...
Families brace as billions in food stamp cuts set in  NBC News   ...Benefit cuts to food stamp recipients kick in Friday, a move by Congress that will siphon $5 billion off a program that helps one in seven Americans put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table...
Elderly Family’s Eviction Fuels Growing San Francisco Housing Rights Movement  People Power Media   ...The Lee family’s fight to save their home appears to have become a flashpoint for a resurgent tenants’ and housing rights movement that has helped put evictions and displacement on the front pages—and, potentially, on the front burner of city policymakers who are under increasing pressure to stem a tidal wave of evictions...
Ractopamine: The Meat Additive on Your Plate That's Banned Almost Everywhere But America AlterNet   ...The asthma drug-like growth additive has enjoyed stealth use in the US food supply for a decade despite being widely banned overseas...
Chinese Imports are Poisoning Our Pets  TradeReform   ...Recently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sounded the alarm with warnings not to purchase some jerky dog treats that are resulting in a mysterious outbreak of illnesses...

Outsourcing Food Inspection Is Too Hard to Swallow   Huffington Post   ...For generations, Americans have relied on public service workers to inspect the food we eat. Now, the Department of Agriculture has proposed removing USDA inspectors from poultry lines and letting companies police themselves. That's right. The fox is literally guarding the hen house...
Newt’s revenge: Child labor makes a comeback   The Salon   ...In just two years, right-wing legislators weakened four states' child labor laws -- and a raft of other protections...
Social Security benefits to go up by 1.5 percent in 2014  Associated Press   ...Social Security benefits will rise 1.5 percent in January, giving millions of retired and disabled workers an average raise of $19 a month to keep up with the cost of living—an increase that is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975...
Arizona election law will be put to statewide vote   Washington Post   ...Arizona will vote next year on a controversial bill that made sweeping changes to the state’s election laws after Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) certified Tuesday that opponents of the bill had collected enough signatures to force the measure onto the ballot...
Port of Oakland truckers promise to keep working through negotiations   Oakland North   ...After forcing a one-day closure of the Port of Oakland over regulatory and wait-time complaints last week, independent truckers say they are pursuing negotiations with the California Air Resources Board, and have promised no further work stoppages through at least Monday, Nov. 4...

Teamsters demand action at Swift

The Teamsters warned investors today that Swift Transportation’s board of directors has allowed its CEO Jerry Moyes to pledge nearly 25 percent of all outstanding shares as collateral for personal loans—putting shareholders at risk. Citing “material risks” and potential conflicts of interest associated with the pledged stock, the country’s largest proxy voting advisor, ISS, is recommending shareholders withhold votes from the five directors who serve on the Board’s Audit Committee including the Independent Chairman of the Board.

“Allowing the company’s CEO and controlling shareholder Jerry Moyes to gamble nearly 25 percent of Swift’s total outstanding shares as collateral for his personal loans is indefensible,” said Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, who called on the board to take immediate action. “It is vital that this board exercise its independence and authority to protect the interests of public shareholders.”

Swift Transportation will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on May 8 in Phoenix, Ariz. The Teamsters Union will be there to demand that the board put a stop to Moyes' risky behavior.

In 2003, a Teamster proposal calling for an independent chairman of the board at Swift received majority support by outside investors after the Teamsters highlighted the massive web of interlocking financial dealings between Swift and other Moyes-owned businesses. At the time, founder Jerry Moyes served as Swift’s Chairman of the Board, President and CEO.

In 2005, Moyes paid $1.5 million to settle an SEC insider-trading investigation at Swift and resigned from all of his leadership positions. He took the company private in 2007 and then public again in 2010—this time with a dual-class stock structure, providing himself 54.5 percent of the voting power for his 40.4 percent holdings of common stock.

“There needs to be meaningful board oversight and management accountability at Swift,” Hall said. “Someone needs to tell Jerry Moyes to stop using Swift’s corporate coffers as his own personal piggy bank.”

 

Arizona's anti-union Koch-linked 'stink tank' exposed

Not happy with the Institute.

A new report exposes the shady financial dealings of the Goldwater Institute, Arizona's pro-billionaire lobbying group masquerading as a think tank.

You can call it a stink tank. And yes, it's linked to the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers.

Tony Ortega, writing in the Phoenix New Times, aptly described Goldwater more than 20 years ago:

Working on behalf of big-business contributors, the institute's members are really lobbyists churning out right-wing agitprop.

Ortega reported that the man for whom the Institute was named, the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, was unhappy that the organization had turned into a special-interest, big business lobbying group. Goldwater had a debilitating stroke before he could make the changes he wanted.

Today's report delves deeper into the nonprofit (!) organization's questionable activities. It was released by Arizona Working Families and the Center for Media and Democracy. The report revealed:

• Self-dealing by a board member. Norman McClelland's company, Shamrock Farm Co. Investing, was loaned up to $1.9 million from the Goldwater Institute. 
• Acceptance of tax dollars despite opposition to government spending: In 2011, the Goldwater Institute received $1 million from taxpayers for attorney fees from a lawsuit challenging Arizona clean election law.
• Apparent failure to comply with laws on lobbying disclosure: Emails reveal a Goldwater staffer who is not registered as a lobbyist directly communicating with lawmakers in favor of legislation. Goldwater staff sent a steady stream of communication to Arizona legislators, but told the IRS it only spent $184 on grassroots lobbying and $17,445 on direct lobbying, for a total of $17,669 in lobbying expenses in 2011.
• Funding by out-of-state billionaires: A review of IRS filings and other documents from foundations shows Goldwater's largest donors are foundations supported by anti-worker billionaires, including the Koch brothers and the Wal-Mart heirs. 

The Arizona Republic reported:

The Goldwater Institute waves the banner of freedom but uses its financial and philosophical influence to advance an agenda that promotes corporations over people.

Nor will you be surprised to learn Goldwater is in bed, so to speak, with ALEC, the escort service for corporations and lawmakers. According to the report, Goldwater staff writes for ALEC’s publications, like “Inside ALEC,” and urges ALEC lawmakers at ALEC meetings to embrace its agenda, including specific bills.

ALEC, of course, was behind No Rights At Work laws in Michigan and Indiana. More than 100 ALEC-linked bills to suppress wages were filed in 32 state legislatures since 2011.

Read the whole report here.

Today's Teamster News 03.11.13

How H-1B Visas Are Screwing Tech Workers  Mother Jones   ..."The H-1B worker learns the job and then rotates back to the home country and takes the work with him,"...
Hill Poll: Voters see economy getting worse after sequester cuts  The Hill   ...A strong plurality of voters believe economic conditions in the United States are getting worse, not better, according to a new poll for The Hill — and believe the $85 billion package of cuts known as the sequester will only make things worse...
Lessons of the Sequester  Baseline Scenario   ... The sequester was supposed to be so painful to both sides that they would compromise, but it’s actually not so painful to politicians who only need to listen to their base...
Greek Prime Minister says no more austerity  Raw Story   ...Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday promised his recession-weary nation that there would be “no more austerity measures” as international creditors prolonged an audit of crisis reforms...
Foreclosure crew clears wrong Texas building  Associated Press   ...Workers tasked with emptying a Central Texas home set for foreclosure instead dragged away a 16-foot boat, a backhoe, wedding dress and love letters from a neighbor's barn...
Wealthy investors keep buying metro Phoenix homes to rent  Arizona Republic   ...At the end of 2012, almost 25 percent of all the region’s homes were owned by investors, according to an Arizona Republic analysis...
GOP union bill expected to pass in Senate this week  MissouriNet   ...The bill requires government employees to give permission for public employee unions to withhold fees from their paychecks...
Local union protests possible Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit  WXYZ.com   ...Members of AFSCME Council 25 are spending their Sunday marching in protest against the possibility of an Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit...

Today's Teamster News 02.27.13

IT'S OFFICIAL: Cutting Government Spending Is Hurting Our Economy  Business Insider   ...When we cut government spending, we reduce economic growth and we put more people out of work...
Take the Sequester Seriously... if Not Literally  Huffington Post   ...some federal expenditure ... won't be on the chopping block -- things the taxpayers will continue to pay for. Perhaps most outrageously, $10 billion in subsidies to the oil industry -- a substantial part of which flow directly to the Treasuries of foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Nigeria -- will continue...
Wall St bonuses rise 9% amid job cuts  Financial Times   ...The average cash bonus paid to Wall Street employees has jumped 9 per cent, thanks to rebounding financial industry profits and dramatic job cuts that spread the rewards across a smaller pool...
Teenager spotted walking 10 MILES in the snow to interview for $7-an-hour job is given work on the spot by restaurant owner - who doubled his pay  Daily Mail   ...A teen's luck appears to have changed after a chance encounter with an Indiana restaurant owner during a 10-mile trek through ice and snow for a minimum wage job interview...
Kerry pushes for trans-Atlantic free trade agreement during stop in Germany  Associated Press   ...U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pushed Tuesday for a free-trade agreement between the United States and Europe...
Arizona Senate chief Andy Biggs says union bills are priority  Associated Press   ...President Andy Biggs, who backs anti-union legislation that would impact police and firefighters, told The Associated Press that he remains optimistic about the effort despite signs that some state Senate Republicans aren't too keen about going to war with the unions that often help bankroll their campaigns...
House votes to shrink political power of teachers  NWI Times   ... Schools would be barred from automatically deducting from paychecks the portion of teacher union dues used for political purposes under legislation approved Monday by the Indiana House...
Taylor teachers' contract clause appears to buck state's right-to-work law  Detroit Free Press   ...A recently ratified teacher contract in the Taylor School District has caught the eye of state legislators because it includes a 10-year union security clause that will guarantee union dues be paid -- just weeks before the state's right-to-work law goes into effect March 27...
Michigan lawmakers revive divisive proposals  The Detroit News   ...Among those is one that would outlaw prevailing wage requirements on public works projects...
Mo. Senate stalls on 'paycheck protection' bill  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Debate has stalled in the Missouri Senate on legislation that Democrats say is part of the state's "war on labor...
Gov. Kasich should put Ohio Turnpike promises to paper, Democrats say"  Plain Dealer   ...Ohio House Democrats are questioning the credibility of promises Gov. John Kasich made with his plan to use Ohio Turnpike tolls to pay for transportation projects...
Pa. lawmakers want to end prevailing wage for transportation projects  Pottstown Mercury   ...Pennsylvania’s prevailing-wage law sets standard wages and benefits for all government-funded construction projects that cost more than $25,000...
Federal panel opens GOP computers in Wisconsin redistricting case  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...A federal court gave groups suing the state broad access Monday to three computers used by the Legislature to develop Republican-friendly voting maps...

Detriot newspaper workers agree to new 3-year contract  Detroit Free Press   ...new three-year contracts provide annual across-the-board 1% wage increases and different health insurance coverage with lower premiums...The four unions covered by the contracts are the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, plus Teamsters Local 372...

Good news from AZ: ALEC anti-union bill fails

Here's one victory for working people and a loss for ALEC: A bill to weaken unions by making it illegal to automatically deduct dues failed last night in an Arizona Senate committee.

The Associated Press reports:

Republicans pushing a ban on automatic deductions of union dues from public employees' paychecks are having a rough time getting legislation through the Senate. 

The Senate Committee of the Whole took several votes that saw the anti-union bill fail on Thursday. Two votes saw 17 Republicans and Democrats unite against the measure that would impact police and firefighters unions.

ALEC is the billionaire-backed dating service for corporations and state lawmakers. The dues deduction bill  is straight out of ALEC's playbook. According to ALEC Exposed, ALEC's "Prohibition on Compensation Deductions Act":

...will limit funding for public employee unions by prohibiting public employers from deducting union dues from worker paychecks. Unions will have to collect dues directly from workers, reducing total dues that unions will collect and distracting from other workplace or union member issues by requiring unions to focus energy on the task of collecting dues.

The Arizona Republic reports the bill is dead for this year.

It will be back, though. The greedy billionaires behind ALEC never die, they just fade away until the next legislative session.

Ariz. tea party leader compares Hitler to unions

A tea party stooge planned to deliver a Hitler Valentine to Arizona Republicans who support workers. At the last minute he backed off.

The Arizona Capitol Times reported yesterday,

This morning, Stephen Viramontes, the state director of FreedomWorks in Arizona in 2012, wrote on his Twitter page that he would “be down at the Capitol shortly to give a few legislators some (Valentine’s Day) cards.” The post included a photo of a card that featured a drawing of Hitler along with the words “Be Mein.” 

He later posted that Hitler was one of six different dictators featured on a set of cards he planned to distribute to “all those (lawmakers) needing some help in supporting and passing #PaycheckProtection.”

(Paycheck deception laws are aimed at weakening workers' rights by making it hard for unions to collect dues.)

Umm, let's get this straight. Stephen Viramontes belongs to a front group that gets secret funding from billionaires. It's an offshoot of a Benedict Arnold Koch brothers front group. The group is part of a vast, shadowy billionaire-and-CEO conspiracy that bullies state lawmakers. Their goal is to  pass bills that empower corporations, destroy workers' rights, privatize government services, subvert democracy and raise taxes on everyone but the wealthy.

And Viramontes has greeting cards designed that compare democratically elected unions to a dictator? A dictator who abolished trade unions in May 1933? 

Nazi SA entering a trade union building in
Berlin on May 2, 1933 to seize Union assets:

Let's get the record straight, because billionaires' lackeys like Viramontes will try to confuse it: Hitler needed to appease and confuse the masses. He eliminated trade unions, jailed their leaders and seized their assets. He then formed the German Labor Front and called it a union. It wasn't a union. It lowered wages, eliminated collective bargaining and abolished the right to strike. That's not what unions do.

Today, billionaires and CEOs try to do pretty much the same thing. They claim they're trying to empower workers when they're actually crippling workplace democracy. Right now they're hell-bent on passing so-called "right-to-work" laws in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maine, Ohio and Kentucky.  (They failed two days ago in New Hampshire.) The laws they want confer no rights on workers, but take them away. And like the German Labor Front, they lower wages and all-but-eliminate collective bargaining and the right to strike.

Check out what else those charming folks at FreedomWorks are up to: Mother Jones just reported they produced a video showing a fake panda performing a sex act on a woman wearing a Hillary Clinton mask.

Fortunately it isn't bad taste that's timeless.

David Koch brings his gospel of selfishness and billionaire empowerment to Arizona

We stole that line from Thom Hartmann, who warns the billionaires

 ...don’t want the 21st Century to be “America’s Century.” They want it to be the “Billionaire’s Century.” And if they succeed, then the middle class in America - and through most of the developed world - will go extinct.

David Koch is the Benedict Arnold Koch brother who funds the phony tea party group Americans for Prosperity. AFP is busy this time of year trying to influence state legislatures, which are now in session. Koch's lobbyists are working hard to impoverish workers, eradicate public education, raise taxes on the poor, destroy unions, cut essential public services, get rid of public parks and pools, kill the clean energy industry (the Kochs are into oil and gas), let corporations harm consumers and loot the middle class and redistribute more money and power to the already rich and powerful. 

Don't believe us? We got our hands on AFP's agenda for Arizona, which we suspect is very similar to their agenda in the other 49 states. Here's what they want to accomplish:

1)     Make sure low-income people don't get health care (Stop Arizona from Expanding Medicaid/AHCCCS under ObamaCare
2)     Cut essential government services (Restrain Arizona State Government Spending)
3)     Tax breaks for big business, higher taxes for the poor (Enact Pro-Growth Tax Reforms, Including 100% Investment Expensing, Killing the Inflation Tax, Conforming the State & Local Sales Tax Bases)
4)     Destroy unions, lower wages (Pass Paycheck Protection)
5)     Destroy unions, lower wages (Reform Abuses in Taxpayer-Funded Union Release Time)
6)     Cut essential government services (Refer "Truth-in-Spending" Budget Transparency Bill to the 2014 Ballot)
7)   Eradicate public education (Expand AZ’s Private School K-12 Tax Credits, Strengthen ESAs)
8)   Eliminate retirement security, allow Wall Street to loot the middle class (Pension Reform, Convert EORP to a Defined Contribution Pension Plan)
9)     Strangle the clean energy industry in its cradle to protect the Kochs' oil and gas business (Prevent Enactment of New Corporate Welfare-Tax Credits / Loan Guarantees)
10)   Destroy unions, lower wages (Mandate Transparency in Collective Bargaining ("Meet and Confer")
11)   Give corporations free rein to harm people without any consequences (Enact Regulatory Reform (AZ/Local/ACC), Licensing Reform & Tort Reform)
12)   Eliminate public lands and facilities such as parks and pools (Restrain the Creation of Special Local Government Taxing/Bonding Districts)
13)   Increase Price Transparency in the Health Care Industry (This one we don't have a problem with!) 

Today's Teamster News 02.08.12

Florida prison privatization stalls in legislature  Reuters   ...A proposal to privatize at least 26 prisons in south Florida is facing stiff opposition in the Florida Senate and may not have the votes to pass, the chamber's president and chief backer said on Tuesday...
Labor says 'right-to-work' impact too soon to gauge  NWI Times   ...The Indiana Department of Labor will promulgate rules within the next six months pertaining to right-to-work, said agency spokesman Robert Dittmer. However, he said if a situation required rules to be developed on an emergency basis, the Department of Labor has the ability to do so...
Arizona’s vicious war on workers  Alternet   ...Gov. Jan Brewer is pushing a radical anti-union bill that makes Wisconsin's law look lax...
Occupy D.C. to protest CPAC  Politico   ...The Occupy Wall Street movement in Washington announced on Tuesday, just days before the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference is set to kick off on Thursday, that it is planning to send a clear message to the “gathering of bigots, media mouthpieces, corrupt politicians and their one percent elite puppet masters...”
Bernanke Says 8.3% Unemployment Understates Weakness in U.S. Labor Market  Bloomberg   ...“There are also a lot of people who are either out of the labor force because they don’t think they can find work” or in part- time jobs...
What would happen if the value of the dollar were lowered?  Manufacture This   ...Baker predicts that a lower dollar could lead to an increase in output by the U.S. manufacturing sector of more than 40 percent, resulting in the creation of millions of new manufacturing jobs...

Today's Teamster News 02.04.12

Dockery to Senate bosses: Just the prison privatization facts, please  Orlando Sentinel   ...I have seen no convincing evidence that the state’s current private prisons are saving tax dollars...
How to fight Indiana’s “Right to Work” law  Salon   ...To survive after losing the fight in the statehouse, Indiana labor needs to win the fight in a thousand break rooms and living rooms – not just over whether it’s worth paying dues, but whether it’s worth joining the struggle...
Jan Brewer Recall Possible As Arizona Collective Bargaining Has Democrats, Unions Planning Protests  Huffington Post   ...State Democrats and union leaders said that plans are in place to launch Wisconsin-style measures in an effort to block the collective bargaining ban measures currently headed to a vote in the Republican-dominated Senate...
How Scott Walker and ALEC Plotted the Attack on Arizona's Unions  The Nation   ...Two days after Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected Governor John Kasich’s anti-labor agenda by a sixty-one to thirty-nine margin in a statewide referendum, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker jetted to Arizona to launch the next front in the national campaign to attack union rights...
Koch Brothers, Allies Pledge $100 Million At Private Meeting To Beat Obama  Huffington Post   ...Charles Koch pledged $40 million and David pledged $20 million...
Teamsters reach agreement with Fieldbrook Foods  Observer   ...Some 350 production and maintenance workers at Fieldbrook Foods in Dunkirk will be working under a new contract ... (that) ...provides significant increases to wages and benefits...

Today's Teamster News 02.03.12

Indiana union president promises no Super Bowl disruptions following right-to-work battle loss  Associated Press   ...Nancy Guyott said Thursday that organized labor will take its fight to the ballot box in November rather than Super Bowl celebrations in downtown Indianapolis this week...
Opponents to prison privatization should hold firm (opinion)  Tampa Bay Times   ...Any idea too controversial to withstand the scrutiny of the full legislative process — particularly one that transfers public responsibility to for-profit businesses for questionable savings — is not one worth passing...
Leaders wage war on working people (opinion)  Arizona Republic   ...in addition to regular working people, Arizona lawmakers are waging war on children, on sick people, on poor people, on teachers and on unions...
Wisconsin Recall: Shooting the Moon  blue cheddar   ...Walker raised more than $1 million per week from mid-December to mid-January. According to Mike McCabe, director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, “The governor has raised more than any candidate for any state office in Wisconsin history...”
New poll demonstrates public support for manufacturing, investment in infrastructure  manufacturethis.org   ...70% of voters would be “somewhat more inclined” or “much more inclined” to vote for a presidential candidate who "has a very strong position on strengthening manufacturing industries and creating more manufacturing jobs...”
Teamsters Prepare to Strike Northern Ohio Red Cross  Local 507   ...More than 200 Teamsters who work as blood collection workers and mobile unit assistants for the American Red Cross in Northern Ohio announced today that they intend to strike on Feb. 14 over concerns about donor safety...

Today's Teamster News 10.16.11

Protesters arrested nationwide as Occupy Wall Street rallies rage on  CNN   ...Police hauled away protesters in various cities early Sunday as Occupy Wall Street rallies raged on for the 30th day...
Occupy Wall Street Live  The Guardian  ...More than 950 demonstrations against the global financial system and corporate greed are being held in more than 80 countries around the world today...
Alaska pension hearing planned  Fairbanks Daily News-Miner   ...Senate Bill 121 would give state employees the choice of opting into a defined-benefit program that has guaranteed payouts and benefits upon retirement. The Alaska Legislature did away with the defined-benefit program in 2006 by replacing it with a defined-contribution program, similar to a 401(k), that shifts risk from the state to the employee. The 2006 decision has been met with stiff opposition from employees...
Unions win round over Arizona law  Phoenix Business Journal   ...The National Labor Relations Board, labor unions and the Obama administration don’t like a measure passed by Arizona voters in 2010 that reaffirms rules saying union organizing can only be done via secret ballot...
CA has new law to stop intimidation of farmworkers  Associated Press   ...California has a new law that will allow state regulators to automatically certify union elections by farmworkers if they determine growers used threats or intimidation toward workers in the election process...
Corbett School Reform Plan Calls For Vouchers, Charter School Fixes  The Morning Call   ...Gov. Tom Corbett introduced his long-awaited school reform plan today, calling for vouchers for students in the state’s worst-performing schools, tougher evaluation standards for public school teachers and changes in the way the Pennsylvania regulates charter schools...

ALEC on the attack in AZ

ALEC strikes again. The American Legislative Exchange Council has reached its tentacles deep into the pockets of Arizona’s taxpayers. State politicians are taking part in this insidious power grab. A commission set up by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is recommending ways over the long term to stuff corporate pockets and screw workers deliver government services at a lower cost.

The panel has recommended making changes to state employee pensions, making it easier to fire public employees, changing how the state funds schools, privatizing the lottery and privatizing prisons.

State Gaming Director Mark Brnovich was chosen by Brewer to head the panel, which consists of state agency directors, elected officials and business interests. Mark Brnovich comes from the ALEC-connected Goldwater Institute. He is also a former senior director of state customer relations for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a prison company that is seeking to benefit from privatization legislation across the country, including the state of Florida, where in May, Skelator Gov. Rick Scott and the state legislature signed off on privatizing prisons in 18 counties.

ALEC member, CCA, is also behind drafting Arizona’s illegal immigration bill, a potential windfall for private prison companies.

The Arizona commission also includes as its member Leonard Gilroy, an activist for the Koch brothers-funded Reason Foundation.

It doesn’t get more incestuous than this. Or more anti-middle class.

Arizona’s East Valley Tribune reports one of the commission’s recommendations is to eliminate protections for about 80 percent of the 33,000 state workers, which includes hiring, probationary periods, discipline and firing. "Pension reform" would scrap the defined benefit system in lieu of a defined contribution plan.

This week, four anti-worker bills became law in Arizona, as The Arizona Republic reports:

• House Bill 2644 and Senate Bill 1403, which stop union contracts if the federal government requires them on construction or public-works projects.
• Senate Bill 1363, which includes new regulations on picketing and protesting private property and makes it illegal to make false allegations against an employer.
• Senate Bill 1365, which prohibits deductions from employee paychecks for political purposes unless employees provide annual authorization.

In the past few years, commissions on “efficient government” have been introduced in Virginia, Maryland, Arizona, Kansas Oregon, Illinois and South Carolina.

Brace yourselves, boys and girls. We're going to see a lot more of this.

Today's Teamster News 05.25.11

New York Election Results: Kathy Hochul Projected Winner  Associated Press   ...Democrats picked off a heavily Republican upstate New York congressional seat Tuesday night in a special election that became a referendum on Medicare...
Note to Boeing's Jim McNerney: All We Are Saying Is Give the Truth -- and Your Union -- a Chance  Huffington Post   ...he is defending Boeing's decision to retaliate against its union workforce in Everett, Washington, by moving thousands of jobs to a non-union location in South Carolina, with statements that are among the most misleading and disingenuous by a major American CEO ever...
New dollars would go to malpractice fund, delay union concessions  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...The state would use a huge influx of new tax money expected over the next two years to help pay a looming debt to a medical malpractice fund but drop some $30 million in concessions from state workers, under draft legislation circulated Tuesday by Republican lawmakers...
Walker’s wasteland budget threatens families  Madison.com   ...In the last four months, Gov. Scott Walker has launched an unprecedented attack on Wisconsin’s families, freedom, environment and future...
Speaker may be shy 5-10 votes   Nashua Telegraph   ...A bare-knuckles showdown between House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, and Gov. John Lynch over a right-to-work bill set for today could be put off, officials said...
Vermont Health Plan Advances  Wall Street Journal   ...Vermont is moving one step closer to a goal of its Democratic governor: a state-run health plan that would insure most of its 625,000 residents...
Unions want judge to void 2 new Arizona laws  East Valley Tribune   ...Calling the measures illegal, public and private unions want a federal judge to void two new laws they say interfere with the rights of their members...
Lawmakers scheduled to have final vote on Neb. bill to overhaul collective bargaining process  Daily Journal   ...A bill that would alter Nebraska's collective bargaining process is set for a final legislative vote...

Today's Teamster News 04.30.11

Plan to Protect 25,000 YRCW Freight Jobs Clears Important Financial Hurdle
IBT   ...The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC), along with lenders and the Teamster multi-employer pension funds, has entered into definitive agreements to move forward with the planned restructuring of YRCW...
Walker plan brings warning from USDA  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to privatize work determining who is eligible for food assistance in the state would violate federal law and could expose the state to a loss of more than $20 million in federal money, federal officials say...
Republican Budget Booed, Jeered by Angry Voters   ShortNews.com   ...Republican Congressman Paul Ryan was jeered and booed by angry voters as he tried to explain the GOP budget of which he is the architect...
Petitions out to repeal SB 5  Record Herald   ...The grassroots coalition, "We Are Ohio," is in the midst of gathering thousands of signatures across the state, including here locally, in an attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5...
boeing
Defending Boeing, Pam Bondi Stands Up for Right to Work  Sunshine State News   ...State Attorney General Pam Bondi joined eight Republican attorneys general from other states Thursday to oppose a National Labor Relations Board complaint launched last week against the Boeing Co...
Union dues bill rears its head as amendment  Miami Herald   ...A bill to ban public employee unions from using payroll deduction to collect their dues was considered all but dead on Wednesday when Senate leaders couldn’t get the votes to pass it...
Benton Harbor is the new Selma  Michigan Messenger   ...Hundreds of people gathered in Benton Harbor yesterday to protest the Emergency Manager law that has stripped power from the local government...
Michigan House passes business tax cut, levy on pensions  Detroit News   ...A massive tax reform package granting nearly $1.8 billion in business tax breaks ... passed Thursday in the state House, but ...it faces tough scrutiny in the upper chamber...
Brewer vetoes privatization bill for city services  Arizona Capital Times   ...Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have forced Arizona’s two largest cities to bid out expensive municipal services...
Brewer vetoes bill to cap state spending  Arizona Capital Times   ...By vetoing a bill that would have placed strict limits on how quickly government spending could increase, Gov. Jan Brewer has drawn the ire of conservative tax policy advocates...
Is Massachusetts the next Wisconsin  Washington Post   ...Unions are outraged; conservatives are cheering, but they agree: like Wisconsin, this blue state has launched an assault on unionized public employees. Democrats in the state say they’re both wrong...

Links 08/09/10

House returns from summer break to pass state-funding bill CNN ...The House of Representatives will be back in session this week to take up a $26 billion bill designed, in part, to help avoid teacher layoffs.

Arizona legislature takes aim at union organizing Arizona Daily Star ...State lawmakers return to the Capitol today in hopes of quickly approving a ballot measure aimed at the ability of unions to organize.

The latest jobs report shows even temp workers are at risk Daily Finance ...After adding temp jobs every month since September, the number of temporary workers fell to a loss of 5,600 jobs last month.

As the Economy Slows New York Times ...a slowdown is well under way. The odds of renewed recession remain uncomfortably high. ..