Today's Teamster News 04.20.15

Teamsters
First Transit Workers At Auburn University Choose Teamsters Local 612  Teamster.org   ...Drivers and mechanics with First Transit in Auburn, Ala., have voted by an overwhelming 3-1 margin in favor of Teamsters representation. The 116 workers, who provide transportation services for students at Auburn University, chose to join Teamsters Local 612 in Birmingham, Ala., seeking respect, fair pay and improved working conditions...
New Contract For MBS International Airport Unionized Workers OK’d  Midland Daily News   ...The MBS Airport Commission recently approved a collective bargaining agreement that covers 20 unionized employees. Ratified by Teamsters Local 214, the two-year contract calls for a 1 percent pay increase for each year and a $600 lump sum payment.
Teamsters: Railroad Unions Advancing Two-Person Crew Legislation To Protect Safety  Teamster.org   ...Continuing a cooperative effort to promote safety in the railroad industry, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers International Association (SMART) have jointly announced that legislation requiring at least two crew members on all freight trains in the U.S. has been introduced in the 114th Congress...
1,800 CN Locomotive Engineers Represented By Teamsters Ratify 3-Year Contract  Montreal Gazette   ...Canadian National Railway says the 1,800 locomotive engineers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have ratified a new collective agreement with the company. The railway says the three-year agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, provides both wage increases and benefit improvements...

Global Labor & Trade
Key Democrat says he’ll try to kill Obama-backed trade bill   Market Watch   ...A key House Democrat said Friday he’ll try to kill a bill that would give President Barack Obama “fast track” trade treaty authority, a measure strongly supported by the White House. “I’m out to defeat the Hatch-Wyden bill,” Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters...
Stopping Short of Rejection, Clinton Sets Conditions for a Trade Deal  New York Times  ...“Hillary Clinton believes that any new trade measure has to pass two tests,” her spokesman, Nick Merrill, said in a statement. “First, it should put us in a position to protect American workers, raise wages and create more good jobs at home. Second, it must also strengthen our national security. We should be willing to walk away from any outcome that falls short of these tests...
'Stop TTIP': Global Day of Action Draws Tens of Thousands   Common Dreams  ...Demonstrators marched around the globe Saturday to protest the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a 'free trade' agreement currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the United States. Opponents fear that TTIP will erode food, labor and environmental standards particularly with regard to the EU's strict regulations on food additives, genetically modified crops and the use of pesticides...
The Trans Pacific Partnership won’t fix our China problem  (opinion) The Hill   ...The TPP will not effectively deal with the core reason China enjoyed a $342.6 billion goods trade surplus with the U.S. last year, or an accumulated goods trade surplus with our country of $3.1 trillion since it joined the WTO: China operates based on a state-capitalist, mercantilist model, under which international trade law doesn’t mean much...
Trade Talks in Tokyo Get Push From 'Fast-Track' Deal in US  New York Times   ...Top Japan and U.S. trade officials plan to meet this weekend, seeking to close gaps over autos and farm trade before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Washington later this month. The U.S. and Japan must agree on market-opening measures before the 12 countries involved can reach a long-delayed final accord on the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific Rim trade pact...
Bernie Sanders urges Hillary to fight trade deal  The Hill   ...Sanders said Clinton and every other 2016 presidential candidate should oppose the 12-nation Asia-Pacific pact that the Obama administration is negotiating. "My strong hope is that Secretary Clinton and all candidates — Republicans and Democrats — will make it clear that the Trans-Pacific Partnership should be rejected and that we must develop trade policies that benefit working families, not just Wall Street and multi-national corporations," Sanders said in a statement...
Durham teachers' strike seen as start of wave of labour unrest  Toronto Star   ...Durham public high school teachers hit the picket lines on Monday in a protest widely seen as the start of a wave of teacher unrest across the province, with six more boards targeted in the coming weeks and other unions growing increasingly frustrated at the bargaining table...

State & Living Wage Battles
Alabama Auto Parts Plant Slapped With Federal Restraining Order  NBC News   ...A federal judge in Alabama issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against auto parts manufacturer Lear Corp. after the Labor Department accused the company of illegally harassing its workers and obstructing a federal safety investigation...
Walker's Dark Money Allies Orchestrate Coup of the Courts  PR Watch   ...Two court cases next week--one being heard in open court, another being considered in silence behind closed doors--will decide the future of Wisconsin campaign finance law, the independence of the Wisconsin judiciary and will impact the future of presidential candidate Scott Walker...
The 'Inexcusable' Assault On Workers In Wisconsin (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The right-to-work scam is not what we should aspire to in Wisconsin, or anywhere else. The labor movement has played a key role in helping working families enter the middle class and stay in the middle class. That's why the President encouraged Walker to offer workers "the tools they need to get ahead" rather than strip them of their hard-won rights...
Colorado Minimum-Wage Bill Dies Amid Protests Across Denver, Nation  Denver Business Journal   ...Minimum wage got a maximum amount of attention Wednesday in Denver, both inside and outside the Capitol. As protesters gathered on the Auraria Campus calling for a national hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a state Senate committee killed a bill that would have allowed cities and counties to raise the floor wage level within their boundaries above the state’s minimum of $8.23 per hour...
L.A. restaurants push for tips to count toward minimum wage  LA Times   ...Labor activists warn that counting tips toward the citywide minimum wage would violate California law and leave those waiting tables, scrubbing cars or turning down hotel beds more vulnerable to being illegally underpaid. Most tipped workers have low incomes, they say, both inside and outside the restaurant world...
Getting Better Organized: San Francisco's Fight for $15 and a Union   Truthout.org   ...The demand for $15 an hour minimum wage is a good example of this progress. It is simple, clear, specific, easily understood and, very important, achievable. Though quite bold and in stark contrast to the cowardly timid proposals coming out of Washington politicians from both major parties, the slogan is still quite reasonable...


U.S. Labor
Alleging Labor Abuses, U.S. and Mexican Workers Call for Boycott of Driscoll’s Berries  In These Times   ...Driscoll’s may be the U.S.’s most recognizable brand name on strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry cartons. To keep its berries stocked far and wide, the company uses a vast supplier network stretching from Canada to Argentina. But some of those suppliers are coming under fire for allegedly abusing workers, in the U.S. and Mexico. One of Driscoll’s grower has spent weeks embroiled in a major farmworker protest, while a nearly two-year boycott against another grower recently intensified...
AFSCME union president urges members to stay strong  The Day   ...The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing arguments soon in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, "a case that will determine, essentially, whether we continue to exist," Saunders said. The suit, brought on behalf of a group of 10 California teachers, claims a law that requires public employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment violates their employee rights. Should the teachers win, the country's public sector could become a "right to work" sector, undermining the power of the labor unions...
Two Years After West, Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion, Are Workers Any Safer? New Report Says No  In These Times   ...In a report released this week, the Center for Effective Government, a non-partisan government watchdog, examined emergency response planning and reporting on chemicals required of plants like West Fertilizer under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA)—enacted in response to the 1984 release of deadly methylisocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that killed thousands and injured many more—and the Clean Air Act...

Miscellaneous
California drought spurs protest over 'unconscionable' bottled water business  The Guardian   ...Californians facing the prospect of endless drought, mandated cuts in water use and the browning of their summer lawns are mounting a revolt against the bottled water industry, following revelations that Nestlé and other big companies are taking advantage of poor government oversight to deplete mountain streams and watersheds at vast profit...
Fed Shies Away From June Rate Hike  Wall Street Journal   ...A patch of soft economic data has created uncertainty inside the Federal Reserve about when to start raising short-term interest rates, dimming the chances of a move as early as June...
Meaningful Financial Reform (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The objective can’t be questioned. The need for institutional reform is evident. Let’s break the pattern of resisting the need for administrative reform, consider the risks of repeating avoidable crises and demonstrate that this great democracy still has the capacity to act in the common interest...
Millions Spent Lobbying By Private Prison Corporations To Keep A Quota Of Arrested Immigrants, Report Says  Think Progress   ...Private prison corporations spent $11 million over six years to lobby Congress to keep immigrants in detention centers, a new report released Wednesday found. The Grassroots Leadership report, Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota, found that lobbying efforts of the two largest private prison corporations have made them the main beneficiaries of aggressive immigration detention policies...

Today's Teamster News 03.17.15

Teamsters
Arbitration Looming In Oxford County Sheriff's Deputy Pay Dispute  NPR   ...The labor dispute between Oxford County and the Teamsters Union over deputy pay rates will likely go to interest arbitration, say union officials, after the county failed to agree to a pay increase...
FTC Gives Ground On Merger Challenges  Wall Street Journal   ...Amid growing pressure from congressional Republicans, the Federal Trade Commission is revising procedures for challenging mergers it believes are anticompetitive, a move that could factor into its pending case against the deal that would combine Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc...
Trade
What Would A Worker-Friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership Look Like? (opinion)  The Week   ...The biggest potential problem with TPP is that past international trade deals have eroded middle-class jobs, particularly in manufacturing, while increasing incomes at the top, thus creating even more of an hourglass economy...
State Battles
Editorial: From 'right-to-work' to the 'servant economy'  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...The decline of America’s middle class in the past four decades is attributable to many factors, one of them being the decline in union membership; right-to-work depresses union membership further. It will decrease dues payments that unions tend to spend on candidates who support unions, most of whom are not Republicans...
Wisconsin 'dead last' in the Midwest in creating jobs?  PolitiFact Wisconsin   ...Among the 10 Midwestern states we’ve checked on previous "dead last" claims, Wisconsin is at the bottom, if not "dead last"...
A Tale Of Two States  Huffington Post   ...Those two governors took these two states -- Minnesota and Wisconsin -- down two very different paths. Today, Minnesota's unemployment rate is 3.6 percent -- far below the nationwide rate of 5.7 percent - while Wisconsin's job growth has been among the worst in the region and its income growth has been among the worst in the nation...
Nevada Bill Aims To Scrap Minimum Wage That Voters Passed By Ballot Initiative  ThinkProgress   ...In 2006, the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that sets a standard minimum wage, but Hardy’s resolution would repeal it and give the legislature the ability to control the wage...
Illinois Unions Ramp Up To Thwart 'Right To Work'  Chicago Tribune   ...Illinois is surrounded by states that have adopted right-to-work laws that allow some workers to refrain from paying union dues, including Indiana, Iowa and Michigan. And the anti-union momentum shows no signs of slowing down, though it's a bigger challenge in Illinois, which has a Democrat-controlled legislature less likely to approve such a change...
You Try Living On The Minimum Wage (opinion)  New York Times   ...Over half a million workers in New York State subsist on the minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. That’s about $18,000 a year for those working 40 hours a week. Anyone who thinks that is generous should try spending just $350 a week on food, housing, gas and heat...
Bills Coming Monday Would Raise Minimum Wage By City Or Statewide Vote  Denver Post   ...On Monday, state Rep. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, will announce two new pieces of legislation that could give a pay raise to Colorado's minimum-wage earners. One bill would let voters in 2016 set the minimum wage as well as a formula to grant increases, with a goal of reaching $12.50 an hour by 2020. If that fails, another bill would let cities with a high cost of living — resort towns such as Aspen, and Telluride, and possibly Denver and Boulder — to set their own local minimum wages...
War on Workers
Worker Killed At Port Of Anchorage  Alaska Public Media   ...A worker was killed at the Port of Anchorage earlier today while handling military equipment. Lindsey Whitt is the head of the External Affairs for the Port, and says this morning’s incident involved cargo shipping to the 1st Stryker Brigade in Fairbanks...
McDonald’s Workers Complain Of Widespread Burns And Injuries  BuzzFeed News   ...Nearly 30 McDonald’s employees in stores across 19 cities have filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that allege the fast food giant creates a hazardous working environment that has led to widespread burns and other injuries to employees...
Faith V. Greed: The Battle Between Faith-Based Organizations And The Payday Loan Industry  Consumerist   ...“The Bible condemns gaining wealth through usury; and the writers of Scripture warn about gaining wealth through exploiting the poor… [but] The State of Alabama allows Payday lenders to charge an annual interest rate of 456%.” So reads a 2014 Alabama Baptist State Convention resolution condemning predatory payday loans and recommending a 36% cap on interest rates. This resolution is just one of many efforts by faith-based organizations all around the country to combat the payday loan industry and other questionable financial products they believe are hurting low-income Americans and eroding communities...
To fix inequality, Democrats are pushing unions  The Washington Post   ...At a time when GOP is gaining ground in very public attacks on labor, the left is coming to the defense of collective bargaining...
Miscellaneous
Oil Pipeline Boom Goes On Despite Keystone XL Setback  USA Today   ...While the Keystone project awaits a final decision, scenes like these are unfolding almost every week in lesser-known developments that have quietly added more than 11,600 miles of pipeline to the nation's domestic oil network. Overall, the network has increased by almost a quarter in the last decade. And the work dwarfs Keystone. About 3.3 million barrels per day of capacity have been added since 2012 alone — five times more oil than the Canada-to-Texas Keystone line could carry if it's ever built...
A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It’s Secret  New York Times   ...A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology...

Today's Teamster News 09.25.13

Teamsters, Horizon Air Reach Tentative Agreement  Wall Street Journal   ...Horizon Air and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today jointly announced a tentative agreement on a proposed five-year contract extension covering the airline's 280 aircraft technicians, fleet service agents and other fleet support positions...
CN Rail contract talks with Teamsters snagged on health, safety  Reuters   ...Contract negotiations between Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Union appear to have stalled as CN demands changes that union officials say could jeopardize the health and safety of workers...
U.S. Income Inequality Higher Than Roman Empire's Levels: Study  Huffington Post   ...the top one percent of earners in Ancient Rome controlled 16 percent of the society's wealth. By comparison, the top one percent of American earners control 40 percent of the country's wealth...
Banks find appalling new way to cheat homeowners  Salon   ...servicers like Nationstar often failed to inform homeowners about the change in servicing rights when they are transferred, meaning that the homeowner kept paying the wrong servicer. This is a clever way to facilitate late fees; just don’t tell the customer where to send their money...
Workers Set Factories Ablaze in Call for Decent Wage for Producing Globe's 'Cheap' Clothing  Common Dreams   ...Bangladesh swept by a third day of protests that leaves nearly 150 injured...
Bangladesh Garment Protests Enter Fourth Day  Bloomberg   ...Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan met last night with factory owners and labor leaders in an effort to end demonstrations that forced about 400 of the country’s 5,000 garment factories to close yesterday...
Greeks public sector workers strike as lenders check reform progress  Reuters   ...Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week on Tuesday, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked if the country was meeting its bailout targets...
U.S. Trade Body Urges India to Play Fair   Time   ...An American manufacturing representative body is protesting against perceived discriminatory trade practices initiated by New Delhi ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the U.S on Friday...
Unifor Talking Right To Work  Blackburn News   ...The president of Unifor Local 444 in Ontario, Canada says his union is ready to fight Right To Work legislation. Dino Chiodo calls it “work for less” legislation, because that’s what he believes it will leave his members doing if it’s ever imposed on a provincial or federal level...
Walmart Cut Employee Hours So Drastically They Can't Keep Shelves Stocked, Losing Customers Think Progress   ...Amid plunging sales and massive strikes, even Walmart has conceded it can’t run a business on a skeleton crew...
Government Shutdown Deadline In One Week  Associated Press   ...With a week left to hammer out a deal to avoid a government shutdown, some lawmakers seem resigned – if not rushing – to that end...
Robert Reich: We Can Save the Economy If We Get Serious About Taxing the Rich  AlterNet   ...New documentary "Inequality for All," starring Reich explains how to fix America's income inequality...
Nowhere to Hide: The Government's Massive Intrusion Into Our Lives  Tom Dispatch   ...The NSA isn’t the only government agency exploiting technology to make privacy obsolete...
Smithfield shareholders approve Shuanghui deal  Associated Press   ...Shareholders of Smithfield Foods Inc. on Tuesday approved a plan to sell the world’s largest pork producer and processor to a Chinese company...
Bank Of America To Pay $2.18 Million In Racial Discrimination Case  Reuters   ...Bank of America Corp was ordered to pay $2.18 million to 1,147 black job applicants over racial discrimination in hiring that kept qualified candidates from getting jobs, said the U.S. Department of Labor...
How America’s 401(k) Revolution Rewarded the Rich and Turned the Rest of Us Into Big Losers AlterNet   ...It was a bad idea from the get-go, but new research shows that America’s 401(k) revolution has left us even worse off than we thought. Here’s a look at how we got into this mess, and where it will take us if we don’t wise up...
N.J. bank fined $8.2 million over federal money-laundering violations  Star-Ledger   ...Saddle River Valley Bank, a former community bank in Bergen County that once was controlled by private equity magnate J. Christopher Flowers, has agreed to pay $8.2 million to settle federal claims that it broke U.S. anti-money laundering laws...
Union Push for I.P.O. Forces Filing at Chrysler  New York Times   ...Chrysler filed for a public stock offering on Monday, acting only under pressure from its second-largest shareholder, a trust set up to provide medical coverage for 115,000 retired autoworkers and their relatives...

Today's Teamster News 05.10.13

Fast Food Strike Wave Spreads to Detroit  The Nation   ...Hundreds of Detroit fast food workers plan to walk off the job beginning at 6 AM today, making the motor city the fourth in five weeks to see such strikes. Organizers expect participants from at least 60 stores, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, Little Caesar’s, and Popeye’s locations...
Unions, lawmakers line up against Koch Brothers  Los Angeles Times   ...California legislative leaders and 10 public employee unions announced opposition Wednesday to any sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers to a pair of wealthy brothers who fund conservative causes throughout the country...
Fannie Mae to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayer and forestall debt battle  The Guardian   ...The government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae is to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayers, in a move that is likely to forestall a looming battle over the federal debt limit...
House approves bill to change overtime pay law  Associated Press   ...The Republican-led House on Wednesday approved a measure that would give private sector workers the option of trading overtime pay for extra time off weeks or months later...
Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse Death Toll Reaches 1,000  Bloomberg  ...Latest from that horrific building collapse in Bangladesh in April: 1000 bodies have now been found...

Eight dead in yet another Bangladesh garment fire  Associated Press   ...Not another! “A fire has raced through an 11-story building housing a garment factory and residential complex in Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least eight people.”...

Obama showcases booming Texas economy as he kicks off latest jobs tour  Washington Post   ...President Obama swooped into the booming Austin area on Thursday to showcase manufacturing growth and technology innovation as he began a series of visits across the country designed to pressure Congress to pass his economic agenda...

Local Fights Against Austerity Are Growing Across the US  Truthout   ...Between sequestration, with its damaging impact on workers and the economy, and the billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other necessary social programs that President Obama is pushing, it is evident that the economic policies of both major parties are not intended to promote a recovery for working people...
Gender Wage Gap Causes Typical Woman To Miss Out On $443,360: Analysis  Huffington Post   ...
It's still a man's world. And to make a man's amount of money over her career, the typical working women would have to put in an extra decade of work. Because of the gender wage gap, the typical full-time working woman stands to miss out on $443,360 over 40 years...
Trans Pacific Partnership puts member countries' health at risk  The Conversation   ...International trade agreements bring new transnational food companies into countries, along with new food advertising and promotion. This has often led to an increase in unhealthy foods entering the domestic market...
Colleges Pushing Poor Students Into Debt To Give Aid To Rich Ones  Fire Dog Lake   ... A report by the New America Foundation details the systematic undermining of the financial aid system by colleges and universities who are using financial aid to attract wealthy students rather than open doors for poorer ones, forcing poorer students to either not attend or take on high debt burdens...
Social Security Agency Says Immigration Bill Aids Economy  Bloomberg News   ...A Social Security Administration analysis said the Senate’s bipartisan immigration proposal would boost U.S. tax revenue, create jobs and increase the gross domestic product over the next 10 years...
California sues JPMorgan Chase over debt collection  Associated Press   ...California's attorney general sued one of the nation's largest banks Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co. used illegal tactics in its efforts to collect debts from more than 100,000 credit card holders...
Barrow won't run for Senate in Georgia  The Hill Blog   ...Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) announced he won't run for the Senate in Georgia, dealing a major blow to Democrats' hopes of picking up the seat...
Illinois Senate passes union-backed pension reform deal  Belleville News-Democrat   ...
The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to send a union-supported pension reform bill to the House, leaving lawmakers with two competing proposals for dealing with the nation's worst state pension problem just weeks before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn...
N.D. does badly in worker death report  Bismarck Tribune   ...Workers died in North Dakota at four times the national average in 2011, according to a recent report…

Wisconsin Legislature: Panel bars cities from banning large, sugary drinks  Associated Press   ...No Wisconsin city could prohibit the sale of large, sugary drinks as was recently done in New York City under a provision added to the state budget Thursday...
South Dakota gets first Democratic candidate for Senate  The Hill Blog   ...South Dakota has its first Democratic contender for the state's open Senate seat in Rick Weiland, whose decision to run could set up a primary rematch between him and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin...
Colorado strikes a blow for voting reform  Washington Post   ...It hasn’t gotten the national attention it deserves, but a sweeping measure to overhaul elections in Colorado is swiftly moving towards passage — one that could function as a model for other voting reformers in other states, and perhaps even nationally...
Poll Shows Strong Lead for Democrat in Massachusetts Senate Race  New York Times   ...In the special Senate election in Massachusetts, Representative Edward J. Markey, the Democratic nominee, is starting with a strong lead over Gabriel Gomez, the Republican, according to a new poll…
Nevada foreclosure rate led nation in April  Associated Press   ...After briefly falling from its long-held place as the nation's foreclosure king, Nevada chalked up the highest foreclosure rate in the country for the second straight month in April, a tracking firm said Thursday...
City Council Approves Bill Mandating Sick-Day Pay  New York Times   ...The New York City Council, after years of impassioned debate, approved a bill on Wednesday that will require many businesses to offer paid time off to sick employees...
Senate measure to raise Delaware minimum wage tabled by House committee  Associated Press   ...A Senate proposal to raise Delaware’s minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years has been tabled by a House committee...
Non-Citizens In New York City May Be Allowed To Vote In Local Elections  Think Progress   ...In a hearing on Thursday, the New York City Council will consider allowing legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in municipal elections...
Honor Our Heroes During National Correctional Officers Week  IBT   ...Many Americans this week are reflecting on the silent heroes who ensure our communities are safe by closely supervising society’s criminals in jails and prisons across this country...
Scott Touts Correctional Officers Pay Bump; Teamsters Say They Deserve More  WFSU Radio   ...This week is National Corrections Week, and Governor Rick Scott took some time away from his “Teacher Pay Raise Victory Tour” to praise Florida’s correctional officers. He’s also reminding them about his efforts to get them higher pay. But some, including the Teamsters, say the state could do more for Florida’s prison officers...
Keep Dairy “off the table” in Trans-Pacific Partnership  Teamsters Canada   ...Teamster locals in Canada represent thousands of dairy workers. They are calling on the Canadian government negotiators to the TPP to keep dairy off the table in negotiations...
Teamsters Fight For North American School Bus Workers' Rights At National Express Annual Meeting  IBT   ...Teamster school bus drivers and representatives from the United States and Canada called on National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN), a large multinational corporation, to honor and respect the rights of its North American workers at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held yesterday in London...
Back To School In The U.S. For National Express  The Independent   ...Forget the bus, bosses at National Express need to get on a plane. Today's AGM promises some fireworks with demonstrations planned from the main union (the Teamsters) representing drivers of those iconic yellow school buses used in the US...

Today's Teamster News 02.06.13

Obama seeks $5T European trade deal  The Hill  ...The Obama administration is poised to launch trade talks with the European Union that would form a $5 trillion trans-Atlantic free-trade zone...
No Evidence of U.S. Manufacturing Revival  Wall Street Journal   ...For the past 13 years, the rate of factory closings in the U.S. has been declining. The bad news is that over that time the rate of ribbon cuttings on new operations have consistently fallen even more...
Homes Sell in Two Weeks With Low Supply for Spring Buyers  Bloomberg   ...A plunge in U.S. home listings to a 12-year low is driving up prices and preventing transactions from returning to historically normal levels. Many potential sellers are holding off until values rise more, while investors are snatching up distressed properties before they reach the market. Builders, reporting their best orders in years, can’t increase production fast enough...
Banks No Match for Trucks Where Rigs Pay Twice as Much  Bloomberg   ...(There is) a wave of job growth at trucking companies as they post payroll increases at more than double the pace of the nation’s workforce since the end of 2010. Demand is being driven by the economic expansion, new regulations that cap driver hours and rising turnover caused by long days and time away from home...
Study Says States Lose Billions in Offshore Tax Avoidance  Bloomberg   ...State governments in the U.S. lost $39.8 billion in 2011 because of offshore tax avoidance...
E-mails show plotting by lawmakers, GOP on Florida redistricting  Tampa Bay Times   ...The emails show that a month after voters in 2010 approved an amendment banning coordination between the party and lawmakers, GOP consultant and Gaetz adviser Rich Heffley called a redistricting "brainstorming" meeting at the chairman's conference room at party headquarters in Tallahassee...
Virginia GOP no longer even trying to hide true purpose of voter ID laws  Salon   ...Concealed carry permits, but not utility bills, now accepted at Virginia polling places...
Unions protest ahead of governor's budget  Herald-Standard   ...John Rzodkiewicz, business representative for the UFWU, said the governor’s plan to privatize state-owned liquor stores will destroy 5,000 jobs...
Colorado Senate gives first OK to bill making it easier for firefighters to unionize  Denver Post   ...The Colorado Senate gave initial approval Monday to a Democratic bill expanding unionization rights for firefighters – legislation virtually the same as a bill vetoed four years earlier under a Democratic governor...
Negotiations Between Teamsters, Durham Falter  Summerville Patch  ...Negotiations between a school bus contractor and its union employees have deteriorated, putting school transportation for three Lowcountry school districts into question...The contractor's representatives allegedly walked out of a meeting with its employees during negotiations Tuesday morning...
Teamsters Local 332 president is named health care adviser for union's Michigan council  Michigan Live  ...The president of Teamsters Local 332 in Flint has been named health care adviser for Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43...

Today's Teamster News 01.24.13

Austerity Fails: European Nations See Debt Grow Despite Deep Spending Cuts  ThinkProgres  ...Since the onset of the financial crisis, European countries have attempted to deal with their economic malaise by implementing austerity packages, slashing government spending and laying off public workers. However, such measures have proved self-defeating, as the austerity measures blunted economic growth and caused Europe’s debt to actually grow...

British PM proposes vote on EU membership  AP ...Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states...
Two Democrats try for long-shot financial transaction tax   Reuters ...Two congressional Democrats said on Tuesday they will revive a bill to tax financial transactions after 11 euro zone countries won approval for such a tax...

Austerity bites for unions  Washington Post ...The Labor Department is out this morning with its annual report on union membership in America, and once again, it shows a year-over-year drop in how many workers belong to labor unions. The big culprit for last year’s drop doesn’t appear to be outsourcing (though union factory employment has fallen since the recession, while non-union employment has risen). The issue was austerity...

Senate Democrats proclaim victory, will move quickly to pass House debt-ceiling bill  The Hill ...The Senate will immediately pass a House bill to extend the federal debt limit to May 19 on condition that both chambers pass budget resolutions by mid-April, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)...

Senate to examine FAA approval of Dreamliner battery  Reuters ...A key Senate committee will hold a hearing in coming weeks to examine U.S. aviation safety oversight and the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to allow Boeing Co to use highly flammable lithium-ion batteries on board its new 787 Dreamliner...

Wal-Mart Factory Rules Won’t Make Them Safer, Activists Say  Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s new zero-tolerance policy for suppliers that source garments from unauthorized factories won’t make workers safer, a labor-rights activist said...
Colorado right to work bill gets quick axing  Denver Business Journal ...it took just 21 minutes for a Senate committee to dismiss a freshman senator’s effort to turn Colorado into the 25th right-to-work state, dismissing it with nary a word...
Maine lawmakers join effort to amend Constitution to allow campaign funding limits  Bangor Daily News   ...Republican state Sen. Edward Youngblood of Brewer and Democratic state Sen. Geoff Gratwick of Bangor joined forces Tuesday to endorse a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that equates campaign donations to free speech protected by the First Amendment...
Unions pan NH proposal as management power grab  NECN.com   ...New Hampshire's labor unions are criticizing legislation that would give public employers more control in the collective bargaining process as a power grab...
Supreme Court to hear whether JobsOhio lawsuit can proceed  Plain Dealer   ...No court has ever heard ProgressOhio's main contention: That it violates the Ohio Constitution for Kasich to funnel state liquor profits to support JobsOhio, a private economic development entity that he set up...
Voter ID trial set for July  WITF   ...Today Judge Robert Simpson issued an order scheduling the voter ID trial for July 15, 2013, at the Pennsylvania Judicial Center in Harrisburg...
Virginia State Senate Moves Ahead on Electoral College-Rigging Bill  Slate   ...Virginia's Republican-ruled legislature has taken the first steps toward ending the state's winner-takes-all system of apportioning its 13 presidential electoral votes...
Board Approves Pay Raise  The Sentinel  ...the approval of collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters Local 776 Juniata County Commissioners residual unit and appointed employees unit...meant close to a 10 percent pay increase for employees during the next four years... 

Teamsters rock the vote all over the USA

Teamsters heading out to hear President Obama in Denver on Oct. 24 

Teamster boots are walking all over the country for pro-worker candidates. It's never been more important to elect people who will make sure that the benefits of our economy go to working and middle-income families.

Our Colorado brothers and sisters saw President Obama in Denver earlier this week. The Denver Post reported,

President Barack Obama asked huddling supporters in a chilly City Park on Wednesday to stick with him for another four years, calling his GOP opponent out of touch on America's problems and arguing that the presidential election is about trust. 

Obama stood with sleeves rolled up beneath overcast skies and boasted about his frenetic schedule with nine swing state stops in a no-sleep 38-hour stretch, 13 days before the election. 

Polls say Romney and Obama are in a statistical tie in Colorado.

Teamsters from Local 30 in Pennsylvania were phone banking for President Obama in Greensburg -- with none other than former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. In the photo above are Roger Foley, Carl "Hands" Paullet from Teamsters Joint Council 40, Gov. Dean and Jan Foley.

Nevada is another battleground state where polls show the two presidential candidates very close.

To the left is a picture of Local 993 President Mike Magnani speaking with his members at the general membership meeting on Wednesday. Mike asked his members to vote for President Obama to protect their jobs. He reminded his members that they have until Nov 2 to vote early.

Nevada is the home of billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who is trying to buy the election for Mitt Romney. Adelson, who owns casinos overseas, wants to break the unions responsible for Las Vegas' middle class and reduce gaming and hotel wages so they match those in India and Macao. He told the Times of India,

• In India, the manpower is abundant and very cheap, and that makes investment very enticing. 
• Manpower here (in Macao) is cheap.
• Tax rates in Macau are much higher than in Vegas, but we intend to balance that with the much cheaper manpower here.

Our brothers and sisters in Ohio are working hard for President Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the staunches opponents of job-killing trade deals you'll meet. Below is a photo of Sen. Brown  talking at Teamsters Local 413 and 284 in Columbus earlier this week.

And finally, we bring you this photo of Carl A. "Hands" Paulette, retiree; Jim McClalland and Mark Hilderbrand from Local 249. They's standing in front of the Teamster Temple in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. We love to see that Teamster power!

Voting will be denied to 5 million voters

Voter suppression laws could impact five million traditionally Democratic voters in 2012, according to a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. These restrictive voting laws will primarily impact young, minority and low-income and disabled voters.

"This year there's been a significant wave of new laws in states across the country that have the effect of cracking down on voting rights. It is the most significant rollback in voting rights in decades," said Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center. "More voters may be affected than the margin of victory in two out of the past three presidential elections."

The report sums up the scary statistics on voter suppression:

Already 19 new laws and two new executive actions are in place. At least 42 bills are still pending, and at least 68 more were introduced but failed.

These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.

The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.

Koch-funded ALEC is behind "voter ID" laws already being pushed by corporate-puppet governors like John Kasich, Rick Snyder and Scott Walker. Now Governors Gone Wild have the help of Secretary of States Gone Wild, in places like Maine and Colorado.

Maine Secretary of State Charles Summers sent a letter last week to hundreds of college students who were legally registered to vote in Maine, scaring them by implying they may have violated election laws and encouraging them to re-register elsewhere.

This week, a Denver court is expected to decide whether Secretary of State Scott Gessler can keep eligible, registered voters in Denver from voting. Gessler’s efforts could have an impact on Initiative 300, an all-mail-in ballot referendum to allow Denver workers to earn paid sick days.

If Gessler wins, this could begin a cycle of registered voters being deemed “inactive,” and no longer receiving mail ballots. If Gessler gets his way, the disenfranchised would include about 55,000 voters, including Latino and African American voters, as well as young voters, the disabled and war veterans.

Charming.

Colorado faces voter suppression battle

Colo. Sec. of State Gone Wild

While state lawmakers are busy passing “voter ID” laws to disenfranchise voters, Colorado’s Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler has taken his voter suppression efforts to court.

Gessler has asked a Denver judge to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the Denver Clerk and Recorder from mailing ballots to certain “inactive” voters.

Two Democratic Congressmen have already asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether Gessler violated federal law with his request.

Gessler’s efforts could have a particular impact on Initiative 300, a ballot referendum to allow Denver workers to earn up to nine paid sick days a year. The referendum will be decided by all-mail-in balloting.

Those who face being disenfranchised are “inactive” voters, eligible voters who have missed one general coordinated election. Gessler is challenging the Denver Clerk’s authority to mail ballots to these voters, which could amount to 55,000 eligible voters who will not get to vote this fall. Voter suppression disenfranchises seniors, the poor, students and minorities. And voters who participate in the 2011 election are also more likely to participate in 2012.

The Denver Post reports:

The letter from Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania and Charles Gonzalez of Texas says Gessler's actions may violate the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting procedures.

"Given the diversity of the state of Colorado, and particularly that of Denver County, there is a high likelihood that the barrier to voting Secretary Gessler seeks to impose . . . will have such a discriminatory result," the letter states.

It says that not mailing ballots to eligible voters listed as "inactive" because they didn't vote last year "might make participation particularly hard" for disabled voters who may not have been able to get to the polls and Americans who may have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in 2010 but who want to vote Nov. 1.

The Denver Clerk, Debra Johnson said, “The City and County of Denver has consistently provided all eligible voters with ease of access to the voting franchise and we plan to continue to do so.”

So, there.

No arrests at Kochapalooza

Here are the 50 patriotic Americans who protested Koch brothers corruption outside of the latest Kochtopus confab in Vail, Colo.

@ProgressNowCO tweets:

Could there be a more beautiful place to protest Koch Bros corruption? CO represents. 

And:

Colorado Progressives to Koch Brothers: End Your War on the Middle Class

@APkristenwyat tweets:

Common Cause Colo. reports Koch protest over, about 50 people attended, no arrests or problems.

Progress Now Colorado gives us this report on the last-minute protest at Beaver Creek:

Progressives from around Colorado gathered today near a top strategy meeting of conservative funders, officials, and opinion makers near Vail, Colorado organized by the billionaire Koch brothers, to demand an end to recent attacks on Medicare and Social Security, and other institutions vital to the middle class in America.

"The billionaire Koch brothers are leading funders of the Tea Party, and the countless unnamed groups who appear on TV every election spreading misinformation," said Kjersten Forseth, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado. "Their agenda is simple: they want to dismantle Medicare and Social Security, cut education and every other source of public funding beneficial to America's middle class, while giving the wealthy and big corporations even more tax breaks."

"This secret conference is where they plot the next steps," said Forseth.

Kochapalooza protest planned for Sun.

Good news! We've found out where the Kochs are holding their next strategy session to destroy the middle class. It will be Sunday through Tuesday in Beaver Creek, Colo. Colorado Common Cause is organizing a family-friendly protest, so if you can be there, go!!

Here are the deets:

Meet at 11 a.m. at Nottingham Lake Park located at 1 Lake Street, Avon, Colo.,  right below the Ritz Carlton at Bachelor Gulch. The protest will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, writes,

Please bring signs, but not ones mounted on sticks or anything that could be construed as a weapon. Some sign suggestions would be "UnVail the Kochs", "Corporations are not people", "Koch + Thomas = Supreme Conflict", "Reverse Citizens United", "Money does not equal speech" and "Stop the War on the Middle Class." ...

I realize this comes on short notice, and that just what the Kochs want. They've managed to keep this event under wraps until now precisely to keep folks like you and me from showing up. Let's not let them get away with it.

The only reason we know as much as we do about the latest Kochapalooza (they have them twice a year) is that Cradle of Treason Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell let slip his plan to be there. As the Vail Daily reported, 

When Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's office announced his upcoming travel plans Wednesday, word got out that the annual Koch brothers' summer seminar was being held in Vail this weekend...

A recent study by The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based watchdog, found that Koch Industries, the brothers' Kansas-based energy company that is the second largest private company in the United States, has increased its spending on lobbying from $856,000 in 2004 to $20 million in the last two years. The report also shows the company had $100 billion in revenues in 2009. 

Click here for the link to the Facebook event page.

Teamsters echo King's rallying cry in CO, OH, NY, WI, NV



Ohio Teamsters march in the annual MLK parade in Cleveland.

 Thousands of Teamsters joined the great wave of demonstrations for workers' rights throughout America yesterday, in the streets, the parks, the churches and the statehouses.

In Cleveland, Brother Fred Crow reports:

Attended two events in Cleveland today in some awful weather, for our first event which was put together by AFGE, we had our Ohio Conference Truck in attendence so we could use the stage for our "outdoor" rally. Well to make a long story short, due to the wind, rain, lightning, etc. we moved the rally inside, where we had a great rally, that filled the AFGE union hall, and guest speaker Betty Sutton!

Rally 2 Cleveland, Ohio The weather still awful, We still marched and had a great rally in the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church!

Teamsters came out to a rally at City Park in Denver, Colo. KDVR-TV has the story.

Several hundred Colorado teachers, firefighters and pipe-fitters gathered in City Park Monday night to channel inspiration from the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King toward their own battle for worker's rights...Less than a month after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker eliminated collective bargaining for union workers there, Colorado's teamsters believe that unions everywhere are under attack.

We saw Pennsylvania Teamsters at an energetic rally in Pittsburgh, captured here on youtube, and Local 776 got to showcase its new semi in Harrisburg.

Brother Tom Bennett, president of Local  200 in Milwaukee, shared this photo of the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the "Memphis to Madison" rally in Wisconsin. Bennett writes:

Local 200 at the Memphis to Madison Rally on 4.4.11 as Rev. Jackson energizes the crowd of thousands and then a moment to honor MLK at the moment in time when his death came upon him.

In Newburgh, N.Y., Local 445 held a rallyat the intersection of Rte. 300 and Rte. 17K. We have this picture:

And in Nevada, Teamsters joined what the Las Vegas Sun called a "motley" group

...of about 500 activists from unions across the valley that gathered under the late afternoon sun Monday to protest budget cuts proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

From steelworkers and boilermakers to firefighters and elevator construction workers, they assembled in a parking lot at the College of Southern Nevada’s Charleston campus, waving signs and chanting slogans.

Despite their different backgrounds, the union activists who gathered for the national “We are One, Respect our Rights” rally held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a cohesive message: stop education cuts and save collective bargaining.

Teamsters joined the Las Vegas rally.

Still more to come!

9 states in WOW would violate international law

Fast approaching is a national day of action for unions and their supporters: April 4, the anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination during the Memphis sanitation workers' strike. It's a good time to remind your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers that workers' rights are human rights. Amnesty International is helping spread that word.


Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog, is urging nine U.S. states to abandon legislation that would harm workers' lives. Here’s a firm statement from Shane Enright, Amnesty's trade union adviser:

State governors must withdraw support for these measures which, if adopted, would violate international law…We are seeing communities insisting on social justice, economic rights and personal liberties against powerful vested interests. Fundamental human rights are at stake, and we stand in solidarity with the US labour movement in this struggle.

On its website, Amnesty mentions several states where corporate-backed politicians are attacking worker rights: Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and of course, Wisconsin.

Under international law, all workers have a human right to organize and bargain collectively. This is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and in conventions adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).