TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Despite Deal, Resistance to TPP Grows in All Corners Huffington Post ...We know a bad deal when we see one and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) just announced in Atlanta sure looks like one. Hundreds of Teamsters were joined in the streets of Atlanta this past week by other fair trade advocates sticking up for everyday Americans who could be damaged by the TPP. Unfortunately, negotiators from the U.S. and the other involved nations did not listen...
Shuttle Drivers with Dollar Thrifty Choose Teamsters Local 299 Teamster.org ...Detroit shuttle drivers with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, have voted to join the Teamsters. The 15 shuttle drivers transport passengers to and from Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the rental car facility. They united seeking respect and the protections of a union contract...
Tentative Agreement Reached for Teamster Flight Attendants at NetJets Teamster.org ...In a message to Teamster flight attendants at NetJets Aviation (NJA) this week, Teamsters Local 284 President Paul Suffoletto announced that a tentative agreement covering NJA’s 278 flight attendants had been reached. As with any tentative agreement, there’s still work to be done to finalize the definitions, develop implementation timelines and transition agreements, create explanatory materials, and proof and clean up the language before it is submitted to the flight attendants for a ratification...
Illinois Training Center Goes Extra Mile Teamster.org ...Talking with Mike Borjas, the director of the Illinois Teamsters Joint Council No. 25 Employers Apprenticeship and Training Fund in Joliet, Illinois, you’d think that he was drawing up a lesson plan for training military personnel. But, his goal is providing the best training for Teamsters working in the construction trades as he can. Fortunately for the union, he is accomplishing this every day...
Bid to unionize Uber, Lyft advances Seattle Times ...Seattle City Council members voted 7-0 in a committee Friday to move ahead with a bill that would help independent-contractor drivers for companies like Uber to unionize. The bill, championed by Councilmember Mike O’Brien in partnership with the Teamsters Local 117, is a new approach by labor organizers to unionize workers who lack certain rights because they’re not classified as employees...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific Rim trade pact gets skeptical greeting in U.S. Congress Reuters ...A 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact hammered out over the weekend in Atlanta got a rocky response in Washington on Monday from U.S. lawmakers, indicating it has a long, difficult road ahead as Congress considers whether or not to approve it. Even influential Republicans, who had championed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), initially criticized the result but didn't pinpoint specific concerns...
Republicans Sour on Obama's Trade Pact The Atlantic ...Having secured a landmark trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations, President Obama is now relying on trade-loving Republicans to ratify it in Congress. But as details of the pact emerge, the chances of widespread GOP support are dicier than they once were. Senior Republicans have long been the loudest cheerleaders for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yet on Monday those same Republicans criticized the very deal that they gave Obama the power to strike...
Sanders Condemns 'Disastrous' TPP as Ministers Seal Deal for Corporate Elite Common Dreams ...Amid a last minute scramble, leaders from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries announced Monday that they had reached agreement on a sweeping trade deal, one that critics, including US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, say will slash standards and protections for both consumers and workers—with impacts to be felt across the globe...
Will Hillary Clinton flip on trade? Politico ...As much as she might want it, Hillary Clinton won’t get a free pass on free trade. Clinton has presented herself as a skeptic of the biggest trade deal in recent history, saying this summer that “we should be prepared to walk away” from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership unless it boosts Americans’ wages and national security. But with a deal announced Monday after months of backstage wrangling, she will be under intense pressure to take a stance...
Trade Officials Announce Conclusion of TPP—Now the Real Fight Begins (opinion) EFF ...Trade officials have announced today that they have reached a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Their announcement came after a drawn out round of negotiation in Atlanta, Georgia, which was mainly held up around disagreements over medicine patent rules and tariffs over autos and dairy. We have no reason to believe that the TPP has improved much at all from the last leaked version released in August...
Air France Workers Rip Shirts From Top Managers in Jobs Protest Bloomberg ...Air France executives were forced to flee with their clothes in tatters after workers stormed a meeting at Charles de Gaulle airport in protest at 2,900 planned job cuts. Violence erupted Monday as Air France told its works council that 300 pilots, 900 flight attendants and 1,700 ground staff might have to go after failed productivity talks with flight crew...
Outrage Stirred as Police Deploy Snipers to 'Observe' Anti-Austerity March in UK Common Dreams ...As the national Conservative Party in the U.K. held its annual meeting in Manchester over the weekend, an anti-austerity demonstration against the ruling party's economic policies attracted not only tens of thousands of people to march peacefully... but a few police snipers to keep "watch" over those who oppose the government's gutting of the public sector...
South Africa: 30,000 Miners Strike Over Pay Demand Morning Star ...Some 30,000 South African coalminers downed tools on Sunday night after cross-sector pay talks broke down. Conciliation came to an abrupt end last week when parties could not reach an agreement over demands by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) demand for a 1,000 rand (£48) rise for the lowest paid workers and 14 per cent for artisans, miners and officials...
Indigenous Communities Seek Autonomous Development Projects in Guatemala Truthout ...As Guatemala faces its greatest political crisis since the 1980s, behind the scenes, plans for the United States' Alliance for Prosperity continue to move along. The expansion of hydroelectric construction projects and the further integration of electric grids are central to the plan, yet these projects threaten indigenous communities' land rights...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Maine Governor Revives Old Rule To Punish Poor People For Saving Money Think Progress ...Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) has already knocked tens of thousands of people of his state’s food stamps rolls through a variety of stringent new rules for the program, but he’s not done. At a hearing Tuesday, state officials will lay out a new barrier to entry for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants that most other states have abandoned in recent years...
Opponents ask court to relax Wisconsin voter ID requirements Journal Sentinel ...Opponents of Wisconsin's voter identification law argued in federal court Monday that the legislation is improperly restrictive and should be expanded to allow people to use more forms of ID. The case represents the latest push from the American Civil Liberties Union against a law that has been the focus of a string of legal battles since it was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker four years ago...
Hearing set on Voter ID legal challenge Winston-Salem Journal ...The voter ID law will be back in federal court later this month. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder plans to hold a hearing Oct. 23 to get an update on efforts to settle the legal claims against the photo ID requirement. The N.C. NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s Voter Information Verification Act...
These Lawmakers Want D.C. To Be The First City To Guarantee Paid Family Leave Think Progress ...On Tuesday, seven city councilmembers in the District of Columbia will introduce a paid family leave bill that would create the most progressive system in the country and serve as a model for other cities that might be interested in paid leave. If it eventually gets passed and signed into law, it would be the first city-level program in the country...
Alabama ‘clarifies’ voter ID confusion (opinion) Boston Globe ...If anyone still doubts that the Republican push for voter identification is really about limiting the franchise of Democratic voters — and in particular African-American voters — the state of Alabama has helpfully cleared up the confusion. In 2014, Alabama passed a law that required all of its citizens have a photo ID in order to vote...
U.S. LABOR
Adjuncts Win Union Contract at Maryland Institute College of Art In These Times ...The national movement to unionize part-time faculty at U.S. colleges and universities has secured an initial beachhead in the Baltimore area with ratification of a first contract between Service Employees International Union Local 500 and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Voting on the ratification concluded in mid-September and a formal signing ceremony for the pact is set for October 8, labor representatives report...
We must despise our kids: Our ugly war on teachers must end now Salon ...With September’s data in, we can see how many teachers went back to school this year. And Gould finds that the tremendous gap that opened up when local budgets crashed during the recession has not come close to being filled. At the peak, we had 8.1 million public K-12 education teachers and staff in July 2008. Seven years later, we have far less, 7.8 million, despite a larger population of students that need to be served...
Contra Costa County Nurses Begin Two-Day Strike Tues. Oct 6 IndyBay ...Nurses who work at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and clinics across the County will officially begin a two-day strike Tuesday, October 6, after what nurses say is the County’s continued failure to address serious patient care concerns. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, which represents almost 1,000 County registered nurses, nurse practitioners and public health nurses, called on the County to immediately improve working conditions...
Supreme Court ‘right-to-work’ case could speed decline of unions Al Jazeera ...The Supreme Court will soon take up a case that could impose a de facto “right-to-work” rule across the public sector, eliminating public employee unions’ ability to require fees from nonmembers and, labor leaders say, threatening the unions’ survival. Labor officials often complain that right-to-work rules create a “free rider” problem...
UAW pledges new approach to members for FCA deal Detroit News ...United Auto Workers leaders are promising to handle a second round of contract talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV differently than the first discussions that culminated with membership overwhelmingly voting down a tentative four-year deal. In separate messages published online Monday, UAW President Dennis Williams and Vice President Norwood Jewell said they will not only address members’ issues with the contract itself, but communicate better...
Deere deal: Did UAW workers come out ahead? Des Moines Register ...United Auto Workers voted Sunday to ratify a six-year contract with Deere & Co., deciding that a modest pay bump and increased job security outweighed increases in their medical costs. The Moline, Ill.-based maker of iconic farm and construction equipment said the United Auto Workers union notified the company...
A Union Leader Who Always Knew Which Side He Was On The Nation ...Marty Beil knew which side he was on. He was a union man. Indeed, as Congressman Mark Pocan noted after Beil’s death last week at age 68, “Marty embodied the longstanding Wisconsin tradition of fighting for workers’ rights and protections.” Beil’s commitment to trade unionism was old-school and unequivocal. He was ready to bargain; but if the deal was no good, he took the fight to the streets...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
As Infrastructure Creaks, Congress Dithers Wall Street Journal ...Back in July, Congress failed, once again, to pass a long-term highway bill to make improvements in the nation’s transportation system. Instead of funding big infrastructure needs with a multiyear plan, as once was the norm in Washington, lawmakers passed a bill covering a grand total of three months—the 34th time since 2009 Congress has passed a temporary Band-Aid...
'Once-In-A-Millenium' Flooding Creates 'Otherworldly Scenes' in South Carolina Common Dreams ...South Carolina's once-in-a-millennium flooding this weekend left at least seven people dead and much of the state paralyzed—and as rains continued into Monday morning, officials warned that the deluge is likely to worsen. Climate scientists have linked South Carolina's catastrophic rains to climate change. "Joaquin has been traveling over a record-warm ocean surface and undoubtedly that has contributed to its rapid intensification," Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, told The Huffington Post...
War Crime in Afghanistan?: Outrage After U.S. Airstrike on Hospital Kills 22 Patients & Staff Democracy Now ...Doctors Without Borders is demanding an independent international inquiry into a U.S. airstrike Saturday on an Afghan hospital in the city of Kunduz that killed 22 people, including 12 staff members and 10 patients, three of them children. At least three dozen people were injured. The attack continued for 30 minutes after the U.S. and Afghan militaries were informed by telephone that the hospital was being bombed...
Showing posts with label Guatemala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guatemala. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Friday, October 2, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.02.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters And Coalition Of Unions Ratify Agreement At American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations and a month-long balloting process, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have ratified a new contract for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement will impact more than 1,300 Teamsters at 18 different local unions across the United States. The Teamsters are part of a coalition of unions that negotiated the contract...
National Mediation Board Determines Single Carrier Status for Flight Options, Flexjet Teamster.org ...The National Mediation Board (NMB) has determined single carrier status for Flight Options, LLC, and Flexjet, LLC, after the Teamsters Union asserted that the two fractional carriers constitute a single transportation system. In its Sept. 30 decision, the NMB determined that Flight Options and Flexjet, wholly owned subsidiaries of OneSky Flight, LLC, are operating as a single transportation system for representation purposes under the Railway Labor Act...
United Airlines Fails to Reach Agreement with Teamster Aviation Maintenance Technicians Teamster.org ...United Airlines’ labor woes continue as talks with International Brotherhood of Teamsters-represented aviation maintenance technicians and related workers stalled today. “Delta and American are setting the pace and United is dragging its feet,” said Clacy Griswold, lead negotiator for the Teamsters...
Threshold and Teamsters in Negotiations Press Banner ...According to Steven Lua, Member Specialist of Local 912, Threshold Enterprises, Ltd., headquartered in ScottsValley, has approximately 800 employees; 600 of whom are union members in their ScottsValley and Santa Cruz manufacturing, warehouse, packaging, and distribution centers. The union has been representing the employees, seventy percent of whom are women, for the last three years. This will be their second contract...
Still no contract agreement between EVSC, Teamsters Courier & Press ...As soon as a contract agreement with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board seems to be in sight, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said something happens to stop progress. Throughout the process, which started in April and has consisted of sporadic meetings to negotiate new contracts for five EVSC employee groups represented by the union, Whobrey said there has been a mixture of positive open dialogue and setbacks...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Negotiators signal that they’re close to final accord on Asia Pacific trade deal Washington Post ...U.S. negotiators on Thursday closed in on a final agreement on an expansive Asia-Pacific trade deal, but congressional leaders cautioned that the accord should not be rushed to completion over fears that a subpar deal could lose support among lawmakers. The Obama administration is hoping to cap a week of negotiations between the United States and 11 other nations with an announcement Friday...
Trade leaders demand White House ramp up talks on TPP The Hill ...Congressional trade leaders are demanding that the Obama administration immediately ramp up talks with lawmakers as negotiations on a massive Asia-Pacific agreement reach a critical stage. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), panel ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the panel's top Democrat, Ron Wyden (Ore.), said "we expect you to intensify these consultations"...
As Secret Trade Talks Reveal Cracks, Demonstrators Aim Death Blows at TPP Common Dreams ...As trade ministers from around the world continued meeting in Atlanta on Thursday for final-stretch negotiations on the corporate-friendly Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), civil society groups demonstrated on the streets in a final salvo against a deal they describe as "a wholesale auction of our rights, our freedoms, and our democracy to multinational corporations who put profits over people"...
House lawmakers express concern about TPP autos provision The Hill ...A bipartisan group of House lawmakers are worried that proposed rule of origin standards on autos in a Pacific trade deal will hurt the U.S. industry. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday led a bipartisan group 20 Democrats and one Republican — all who opposed fast-track authority for President Obama — calling on top U.S. trade officials to ensure that the United States doesn’t lower tariffs...
What’s still wrong with the TPP (opinion) Politico ...In theory, TPP could be a powerful lever to change this. The agreement includes enforceable worker rights and environmental standards that were first negotiated in an agreement on May 10th, 2007, by House Democrats. But the simple inclusion of this language, known as the May 10th Agreement, isn’t enough—the example of Mexico shows that countries must bring their laws and practices into compliance before Congress votes on TPP...
Latest TPP Biologics Proposal Is a Step in the Wrong Direction (opinion) AARP ...As negotiators meet on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Atlanta, AARP is again urging them to be mindful of the consumers who depend on prescription drugs to manage their health conditions. We continue to have serious concerns with the direction of the TPP negotiations on key issues that will have long-lasting effects on access to affordable prescriptions in the U.S. and around the world...
TTIP: France threatens to walk away from negotiations The Independent ...A French minister has said that France is considering walking away from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. Matthias Fekl, France’s junior trade minister, told France’s Sud-Ouest paper on Monday that he was considering withdrawing France from the negotiations altogether because they are conducted in favour of American interests...
Swazi Trade Union Federation Sounds Alarm over Job Losses Solidarity Center ...Representatives of Swaziland’s trade union federation, TUCOSWA—who are in Washington, D.C., to receive a human rights award from the AFL-CIO in recognition of the courage and persistence of Swaziland’s workers in demanding their rights—say an alarming number of people are losing their jobs because of the country’s unwillingness to improve its poor human rights record...
Guatemalan Union Activist Murdered in Front of His Home Solidarity Center ...Mynor Rolando Ramos Castillo, a municipal worker in Jalapa, a city in southeast Guatemala, was shot and killed in front of his home over the weekend. His family detained the killer and turned him into the police. The killer confessed to accepting the hit for 1,500 quetzales (roughly $195). Ramos Castillo was a union activist with the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Municipalidad de Jalapa (SITRAMJ)...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Alabama Makes Photo IDs Mandatory for Voting, Then Shutters DMV Offices in Black Counties Common Dreams ...Some observers say that Alabama's move to close dozens of drivers license offices is a discriminatory move that could trigger a civil rights probe. Here's why: in 2011 lawmakers approved a voter ID law requiring a government-issued ID to vote, and the 31 offices the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency set for closing will take a disproportionate hit on counties that are majority African-American...
Voter ID case put on hold until after March elections Daily Tar Heel ...N.C. Superior Judge Michael Morgan placed a hold on the case against the North Carolina voter ID law last week until after the March primary elections. The case before Morgan dealt with whether a June amendment allowing for exceptions to the 2013 law made existing complaints moot; he issued a hold because the amendment was not enough to dismiss the case. The General Assembly passed the voter ID law in August 2013...
Armstead says prevailing wage repeal “very likely” in next year’s session MetroNews ...House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead said Thursday it’s “very likely” prevailing wage will be repealed during next year’s legislative session. Armstead (R-Kanawha), speaking on MetroNews “Talkline”, said the new wage that came out from WorkForce West Virginia Wednesday was flawed. The Republican-controlled House and Senate passed a bill earlier this year spelling out a new way to determine the prevailing wage...
Montana’s minimum wage to stay at $8.05 Great Fall Tribune ...Montanans earning minimum wage will see the rate remain at $8.05. An estimated 5,500 workers, or approximately 1.2 percent of the workforce, receive minimum wage. In 2014, the industry with the largest number of workers earning minimum wage was the accommodations and food industry, followed by the retail trade industry...
UC system minimum wage increases to $13 per hour Contra Costa Times ...The University of California's plan to raise the minimum wage for all workers systemwide took effect Thursday, the first of three incremental raises expected to bring wages to at least $15 an hour by 2017. The minimum wage rose to $13 an hour for all university employees hired to work 20 hours or more a week. It will be increased to $14 an hour on Oct. 1, 2016, and to $15 an hour on the same day in 2017...
Teamsters And Coalition Of Unions Ratify Agreement At American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations and a month-long balloting process, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have ratified a new contract for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement will impact more than 1,300 Teamsters at 18 different local unions across the United States. The Teamsters are part of a coalition of unions that negotiated the contract...
National Mediation Board Determines Single Carrier Status for Flight Options, Flexjet Teamster.org ...The National Mediation Board (NMB) has determined single carrier status for Flight Options, LLC, and Flexjet, LLC, after the Teamsters Union asserted that the two fractional carriers constitute a single transportation system. In its Sept. 30 decision, the NMB determined that Flight Options and Flexjet, wholly owned subsidiaries of OneSky Flight, LLC, are operating as a single transportation system for representation purposes under the Railway Labor Act...
United Airlines Fails to Reach Agreement with Teamster Aviation Maintenance Technicians Teamster.org ...United Airlines’ labor woes continue as talks with International Brotherhood of Teamsters-represented aviation maintenance technicians and related workers stalled today. “Delta and American are setting the pace and United is dragging its feet,” said Clacy Griswold, lead negotiator for the Teamsters...
Threshold and Teamsters in Negotiations Press Banner ...According to Steven Lua, Member Specialist of Local 912, Threshold Enterprises, Ltd., headquartered in ScottsValley, has approximately 800 employees; 600 of whom are union members in their ScottsValley and Santa Cruz manufacturing, warehouse, packaging, and distribution centers. The union has been representing the employees, seventy percent of whom are women, for the last three years. This will be their second contract...
Still no contract agreement between EVSC, Teamsters Courier & Press ...As soon as a contract agreement with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board seems to be in sight, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said something happens to stop progress. Throughout the process, which started in April and has consisted of sporadic meetings to negotiate new contracts for five EVSC employee groups represented by the union, Whobrey said there has been a mixture of positive open dialogue and setbacks...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Negotiators signal that they’re close to final accord on Asia Pacific trade deal Washington Post ...U.S. negotiators on Thursday closed in on a final agreement on an expansive Asia-Pacific trade deal, but congressional leaders cautioned that the accord should not be rushed to completion over fears that a subpar deal could lose support among lawmakers. The Obama administration is hoping to cap a week of negotiations between the United States and 11 other nations with an announcement Friday...
Trade leaders demand White House ramp up talks on TPP The Hill ...Congressional trade leaders are demanding that the Obama administration immediately ramp up talks with lawmakers as negotiations on a massive Asia-Pacific agreement reach a critical stage. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), panel ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the panel's top Democrat, Ron Wyden (Ore.), said "we expect you to intensify these consultations"...
As Secret Trade Talks Reveal Cracks, Demonstrators Aim Death Blows at TPP Common Dreams ...As trade ministers from around the world continued meeting in Atlanta on Thursday for final-stretch negotiations on the corporate-friendly Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), civil society groups demonstrated on the streets in a final salvo against a deal they describe as "a wholesale auction of our rights, our freedoms, and our democracy to multinational corporations who put profits over people"...
House lawmakers express concern about TPP autos provision The Hill ...A bipartisan group of House lawmakers are worried that proposed rule of origin standards on autos in a Pacific trade deal will hurt the U.S. industry. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday led a bipartisan group 20 Democrats and one Republican — all who opposed fast-track authority for President Obama — calling on top U.S. trade officials to ensure that the United States doesn’t lower tariffs...
What’s still wrong with the TPP (opinion) Politico ...In theory, TPP could be a powerful lever to change this. The agreement includes enforceable worker rights and environmental standards that were first negotiated in an agreement on May 10th, 2007, by House Democrats. But the simple inclusion of this language, known as the May 10th Agreement, isn’t enough—the example of Mexico shows that countries must bring their laws and practices into compliance before Congress votes on TPP...
Latest TPP Biologics Proposal Is a Step in the Wrong Direction (opinion) AARP ...As negotiators meet on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Atlanta, AARP is again urging them to be mindful of the consumers who depend on prescription drugs to manage their health conditions. We continue to have serious concerns with the direction of the TPP negotiations on key issues that will have long-lasting effects on access to affordable prescriptions in the U.S. and around the world...
TTIP: France threatens to walk away from negotiations The Independent ...A French minister has said that France is considering walking away from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. Matthias Fekl, France’s junior trade minister, told France’s Sud-Ouest paper on Monday that he was considering withdrawing France from the negotiations altogether because they are conducted in favour of American interests...
Swazi Trade Union Federation Sounds Alarm over Job Losses Solidarity Center ...Representatives of Swaziland’s trade union federation, TUCOSWA—who are in Washington, D.C., to receive a human rights award from the AFL-CIO in recognition of the courage and persistence of Swaziland’s workers in demanding their rights—say an alarming number of people are losing their jobs because of the country’s unwillingness to improve its poor human rights record...
Guatemalan Union Activist Murdered in Front of His Home Solidarity Center ...Mynor Rolando Ramos Castillo, a municipal worker in Jalapa, a city in southeast Guatemala, was shot and killed in front of his home over the weekend. His family detained the killer and turned him into the police. The killer confessed to accepting the hit for 1,500 quetzales (roughly $195). Ramos Castillo was a union activist with the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Municipalidad de Jalapa (SITRAMJ)...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Alabama Makes Photo IDs Mandatory for Voting, Then Shutters DMV Offices in Black Counties Common Dreams ...Some observers say that Alabama's move to close dozens of drivers license offices is a discriminatory move that could trigger a civil rights probe. Here's why: in 2011 lawmakers approved a voter ID law requiring a government-issued ID to vote, and the 31 offices the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency set for closing will take a disproportionate hit on counties that are majority African-American...
Voter ID case put on hold until after March elections Daily Tar Heel ...N.C. Superior Judge Michael Morgan placed a hold on the case against the North Carolina voter ID law last week until after the March primary elections. The case before Morgan dealt with whether a June amendment allowing for exceptions to the 2013 law made existing complaints moot; he issued a hold because the amendment was not enough to dismiss the case. The General Assembly passed the voter ID law in August 2013...
Armstead says prevailing wage repeal “very likely” in next year’s session MetroNews ...House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead said Thursday it’s “very likely” prevailing wage will be repealed during next year’s legislative session. Armstead (R-Kanawha), speaking on MetroNews “Talkline”, said the new wage that came out from WorkForce West Virginia Wednesday was flawed. The Republican-controlled House and Senate passed a bill earlier this year spelling out a new way to determine the prevailing wage...
Montana’s minimum wage to stay at $8.05 Great Fall Tribune ...Montanans earning minimum wage will see the rate remain at $8.05. An estimated 5,500 workers, or approximately 1.2 percent of the workforce, receive minimum wage. In 2014, the industry with the largest number of workers earning minimum wage was the accommodations and food industry, followed by the retail trade industry...
UC system minimum wage increases to $13 per hour Contra Costa Times ...The University of California's plan to raise the minimum wage for all workers systemwide took effect Thursday, the first of three incremental raises expected to bring wages to at least $15 an hour by 2017. The minimum wage rose to $13 an hour for all university employees hired to work 20 hours or more a week. It will be increased to $14 an hour on Oct. 1, 2016, and to $15 an hour on the same day in 2017...
The Political Power of Takin’ it to the States The Nation ... Progressives historically have not paid enough attention to the state-level governmentin’, and, as usual, Republicans control the majority of state assembly chambers—that’s more power at the state level, in fact, than they’ve enjoyed since the 1920s. Republicans hold both the governorship and a legislative majority in 23 states...
U.S. LABOR
UAW rejects Fiat Chrysler contract; strikes loom Reuters ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's (FCAU.N) (FCHA.MI) U.S. workers soundly rejected a four-year contract the automaker had agreed with the UAW, the union said on Thursday, setting the stage for at least localized strikes against the automaker. The tentative agreement was voted down by 65 percent of the 40,000 unionized workers who work at the 37 plants of Fiat Chrysler, the smallest of the three major Detroit automakers...
No decision as UAW grapples with next steps Detroit Free Press ...No decisions were made on the next steps in UAW negotiations with Detroit automakers after a marathon session of the union leadership that stretched into the night Thursday. Union leadership representing 40,000 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employees across the country spent about six hours painstakingly dissecting why a tentative agreement was rejected...
T-Mobile Workers Say the Company Has Repeatedly Engaged in Union-busting In These Times ...Last month, 20 Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to T-Mobile’s parent company in Germany expressing their concern over the treatment of T-Mobile workers in the United States. At the forefront of the struggle is the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which has been fighting to organize employees since Deutsche Telekom bought the company in 2001...
USW contract with Cliffs extended through October Duluth News Tribune ...The United Steelworkers of America have agreed to keep working under their old contract with Cliffs Natural Resources, at least for another month. The USW bargaining committee said it negotiated a 30-day extension of its current agreement with Cliffs beginning Oct. 1, along with a rolling 168-hour extension if they go past those 30 days...
Job growth falls short of expectations in September; jobless rate unchanged Washington Post ...The U.S. job market slowed sharply in September, according to government data released Friday morning, raising new questions about the sturdiness of the country's economic expansion amid weaker growth across the globe. The Labor Department reported that the nation added just 142,000 jobs in September, well below analysts' expectations...
Do We Value Low-Skilled Work? (opinion) New York Times ...The labels “low-skilled” or “unskilled” workers — the largest demographic being adult women and minorities — often inaccurately describe an individual’s abilities, but play a powerful role in determining their opportunity. The consequences are not only severe, but incredibly disempowering: poverty-level wages, erratic schedules, the absence of retirement planning, health benefits, paid sick or family leave and the constant threat of being replaced...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Immigration Act That Inadvertently Changed America The Atlantic ...The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, whose 50th anniversary comes on October 3, officially committed the United States, for the first time, to accepting immigrants of all nationalities on a roughly equal basis. The law eliminated the use of national-origin quotas, under which the overwhelming majority of immigrant visas were set aside for people coming from northern and western Europe...
Oregon college shootings: witnesses recall horror as Obama calls for action The Guardian ...Harrowing details have begun to emerge after at least nine people were killed at an Oregon community college by a gunman who witnesses said had demanded to know students’ religion before shooting them. A visibly frustrated Barack Obama reacted to the 45th school shooting to take place in the US this year by telling Americans that “somehow this has become routine”...
Paul Krugman: Never forget what the GOP’s really about it — “top-down class warfare” Salon ...New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman wrote on Friday that the current field of Republican candidates are presenting the nation with tax plans that present a wealth of alternatives, from “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit” to “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.” He acknowledges that Donald Trump’s plan would blow “an even bigger hole in the budget than Jeb’s,” but the reality is that they are all offering variations on the same voodooistic theme — an economically indefensible desire to cut taxing on the rich...
Vatican Says Pope's Meeting With Kim Davis Was Not an Endorsement Slate ...The Vatican says that Pope Francis' Washington, D.C. meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should not be considered a specific endorsement of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Francis' apparent support for Davis' behavior was a disappointment for those who appreciated the generally non-confrontational tone he has taken toward divisive culture-war issues...
U.S. LABOR
UAW rejects Fiat Chrysler contract; strikes loom Reuters ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's (FCAU.N) (FCHA.MI) U.S. workers soundly rejected a four-year contract the automaker had agreed with the UAW, the union said on Thursday, setting the stage for at least localized strikes against the automaker. The tentative agreement was voted down by 65 percent of the 40,000 unionized workers who work at the 37 plants of Fiat Chrysler, the smallest of the three major Detroit automakers...
No decision as UAW grapples with next steps Detroit Free Press ...No decisions were made on the next steps in UAW negotiations with Detroit automakers after a marathon session of the union leadership that stretched into the night Thursday. Union leadership representing 40,000 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employees across the country spent about six hours painstakingly dissecting why a tentative agreement was rejected...
T-Mobile Workers Say the Company Has Repeatedly Engaged in Union-busting In These Times ...Last month, 20 Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to T-Mobile’s parent company in Germany expressing their concern over the treatment of T-Mobile workers in the United States. At the forefront of the struggle is the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which has been fighting to organize employees since Deutsche Telekom bought the company in 2001...
USW contract with Cliffs extended through October Duluth News Tribune ...The United Steelworkers of America have agreed to keep working under their old contract with Cliffs Natural Resources, at least for another month. The USW bargaining committee said it negotiated a 30-day extension of its current agreement with Cliffs beginning Oct. 1, along with a rolling 168-hour extension if they go past those 30 days...
Job growth falls short of expectations in September; jobless rate unchanged Washington Post ...The U.S. job market slowed sharply in September, according to government data released Friday morning, raising new questions about the sturdiness of the country's economic expansion amid weaker growth across the globe. The Labor Department reported that the nation added just 142,000 jobs in September, well below analysts' expectations...
Do We Value Low-Skilled Work? (opinion) New York Times ...The labels “low-skilled” or “unskilled” workers — the largest demographic being adult women and minorities — often inaccurately describe an individual’s abilities, but play a powerful role in determining their opportunity. The consequences are not only severe, but incredibly disempowering: poverty-level wages, erratic schedules, the absence of retirement planning, health benefits, paid sick or family leave and the constant threat of being replaced...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Immigration Act That Inadvertently Changed America The Atlantic ...The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, whose 50th anniversary comes on October 3, officially committed the United States, for the first time, to accepting immigrants of all nationalities on a roughly equal basis. The law eliminated the use of national-origin quotas, under which the overwhelming majority of immigrant visas were set aside for people coming from northern and western Europe...
Oregon college shootings: witnesses recall horror as Obama calls for action The Guardian ...Harrowing details have begun to emerge after at least nine people were killed at an Oregon community college by a gunman who witnesses said had demanded to know students’ religion before shooting them. A visibly frustrated Barack Obama reacted to the 45th school shooting to take place in the US this year by telling Americans that “somehow this has become routine”...
Paul Krugman: Never forget what the GOP’s really about it — “top-down class warfare” Salon ...New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman wrote on Friday that the current field of Republican candidates are presenting the nation with tax plans that present a wealth of alternatives, from “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit” to “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.” He acknowledges that Donald Trump’s plan would blow “an even bigger hole in the budget than Jeb’s,” but the reality is that they are all offering variations on the same voodooistic theme — an economically indefensible desire to cut taxing on the rich...
Vatican Says Pope's Meeting With Kim Davis Was Not an Endorsement Slate ...The Vatican says that Pope Francis' Washington, D.C. meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should not be considered a specific endorsement of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Francis' apparent support for Davis' behavior was a disappointment for those who appreciated the generally non-confrontational tone he has taken toward divisive culture-war issues...
Friday, September 4, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.04.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Announce National Carhaul Contract Transport Topics ...The Teamsters announced a tentative contract agreement with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division covering about 6,000 workers, including two of the largest auto and light truck carriers. The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry negotiating committee didn’t disclose any details, including the length or terms of the deal that now will be reviewed by affected local union officials before it is put to a membership vote...
Teamsters call out UPS over ALEC politics Freight Week ...The U.S. Teamsters Union has joined a broad-based coalition of 84 investor, public interest and civil rights groups to persuade the United Parcel Service (UPS) to cut its ties with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). According to public interest non-profit SourceWatch, ALEC is a corporate "bill mill" dominated by Republican politicians that enables corporations to provide state legislators wishlists that benefit their bottom line...
'Scab' labor threatens to prolong Sun Tran strike, scramble Tucson election Tucson Sentinel ...It's not just the drivers and mechanics of Teamsters Local 104 who are upset — it's their parent organization, the Arizona AFL-CIO, sounding the alarm. "This is a pivotal point in labor's history in Tucson," said Rebekah Friend, state AFL-CIO executive director "Will it affect local politics? Of course it will"...
Global Labor & Trade
Auto-Parts Dispute Taps the Brakes on Pacific Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how cars are assembled is pitting North America’s auto industry against Japan’s in a dispute now holding up a major trade agreement spanning the Pacific. The spat over which cars should be eligible for duty-free trade surfaced during high-level talks in late July that failed to wrap up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. The auto impasse is the most recent complication to finishing the TPP talks, along with dairy...
Mustapa: Progress being made on TPP negotiations The Star ...Malaysia remains optimistic about resolving issues in the best interest of the nation before coming to any conclusion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said much progress had been made since Malaysia first entered into negotiations five years ago...
Mexico Throws a Wrench Into Trade Talks Bloomberg ...When exhausted officials from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership wrapped up a week of talks in Hawaii at the end of July without reaching a deal, Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, brushed off efforts to pin the delay on him. Guajardo is fighting to ensure that the TPP does not jeopardize gains his country has made under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Trade agency names chief transparency officer The Hill ...U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman on Thursday tapped Timothy Reif to be the USTR’s chief transparency officer, a job established by the trade promotion authority law signed this summer by President Obama. Many lawmakers have complained that the direction of trade negotiations, especially those on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), have been closed off to all but high-level negotiators and large corporations...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership an Environmental Pollution Pass for Corporations? Huffington Post ...Nearly a decade in the making, advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) promote it as a necessary step to free trade and a robust global economy. Critics are skeptical saying the agreement will be harmful to the environment and economically benefits large corporations...
Travellers face delays as train and airport workers strike across Spain The Local ...Train worker unions began a 24-hour strike on Friday while the first in a series of many baggage handler strikes also launched ahead of the weekend. Train workers are disgruntled after the unions and train operator Renfe failed to come to agreement on working conditions, including about outsourcing workloads and hiring new personnel...
'Victory for the People' as Guatemalan President Resigns in Disgrace Common Dreams ...School of the Americas-trained Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, who oversaw acts of torture and genocide during the country's decades-long civil war, stepped down just before midnight Wednesday disgraced by unprecedented corruption charges—and by a popular movement against impunity for the ruling elite...
How the Refugees Crisis Is Wreaking Havoc on the European Union Mother Jones ...Talk of a euro exit dissipated. But the conversation in Europe is now dominated by the astronomical rise in the number of migrants trying to enter the continent, both refugees from wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries, as well as job seekers from elsewhere in Europe. The influx is again pitting EU states against each other...
State & Living Wage Battles
'Our Votes Matter': Rights Marchers in North Carolina Call for End to Voter Suppression Common Dreams ...Over one month into their multi-state trek, civil rights leaders and activists on Thursday are descending on the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh to call attention to what they say is a flagrant "crime against democracy," the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act...
Walmart and Walker: Always Low Wages Truthout ...When Walmart announced with great fanfare that it was boosting pay for frontline workers, CMD questioned the spin. Bloomberg reported that Walmart is cutting hours for its workers. Scott Walker raised eyebrows when he signed a contract with a big pay boost for the state troopers who provide his security detail. Now the US Department of Labor has found that Team Walker violated the law by failing to pay overtime for state troopers...
Michigan prevailing wage supporters allege misleading sales pitches in petition drive MLive ...Michigan prevailing wage supporters are accusing paid circulators of misleading the public about petitions seeking to repeal the 1965 law, a claim that a handful of sympathetic observers are vouching for. Bruce Sage, an attorney from Metro Detroit, told MLive he was approached this June by a man in a Meijer parking lot who asked him to sign a petition for a proposal to "ensure transparency in government"...
Sharron Angle seeks voter ID ballot measure Elko Daily ...Conservative activist Sharron Angle wants Nevada voters to decide whether to abolish the state health insurance exchange and require photo identification at the polls. The Republican former assemblywoman and former U.S. Senate candidate filed two petitions this week with the Nevada Secretary of State...
Voters Increasingly Favor Minimum Wage Hike US News & World Report ...With many of the jobs created by the recovering U.S. economy concentrated in low-paying sectors, likely voters in next year's presidential contest are increasingly supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage. In 2014, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota as well as several U.S. cities opted to raise the minimum wage above the current federal mandate of $7.25 per hour, and another seven states and the District of Columbia will vote on increases in 2016...
Fight For 15 Has Helped Pass Minimum Wage Hikes, But Yet To Deliver Broad-Based Pay Gains International Business Times ...The protests aren’t without impact. Major cities and states have lifted their minimum pay floors, the Democratic Party has officially embraced the call for $15 an hour and polls show the demands resonate with the broader public. These trends all bode well for the future pay prospects of low-wage workers. But for now, at least, millions are still waiting on that raise...
U.S. Labor
Unemployment Drops To Lowest Rate Since April Of 2008 Think Progress ...The economy added 173,000 jobs in August while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected 220,000 jobs to be added. That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March of 2008. August jobs reports are frequently unreliable, however...
OSHA Is Still Working on Silica Bloomberg ...The struggle to control silica is part of a pattern of weakness that characterizes OSHA. “They aren’t able to address a long list of commonsense problems, because the process of addressing them is just too hard,” says Harris, now a private attorney and a distinguished scholar at Cornell. The agency has a small budget and an ever-lengthening list of bureaucratic boxes it needs to check each time it wants to toughen regulations...
Detroit Three show interest in UAW healthcare overhaul idea Reuters ...The Detroit Three automakers are showing increased interest in the United Auto Workers union's proposal that they pool their healthcare systems, a sign that contract talks between the union and manufacturers are down to the big money issues. The UAW and bargainers for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles face a Sept. 14 deadline to negotiate new labor agreements for 142,000 U.S. workers...
More Bad News for A&P Supermarket Workers as Judge OKs Assaults on Union Contracts In These Times ...Union members at the A&P supermarket chain took a financial beating in federal court this week, as the company’s senior managers renewed their legal assault on the labor contracts covering some 25,000 employees in six mid-Atlantic states. The worst is yet to come for the low- to moderate-income grocery workers, however, as the judge in charge of the case made only limited rulings while indicating he may move more forcefully against the union as mass firings go forward...
Tech Companies Ordered To Pay Employees $415 Million For Working Together To Lower Wages Think Progress ...Nearly 65,000 employees for Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit in 2011 after the government uncovered emails between Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and other executives that showed companies conspired to not poach one another’s employees in an effort to keep salaries low and reduce turnover...
Social Justice & Other News
18-year-olds driving 18-wheelers?: Our view (editorial) USA Today ...As you hit the road this holiday weekend, with AAA predicting the highest travel volume in seven years, think about what travel might look like on Labor Day 2016. If the powerful trucking industry gets its way on Capitol Hill this month, interstate highways could be clogged with longer trucks, sleepier drivers and 18-year-olds behind the wheel of big rigs...
Chicago Hunger Strikers Enter Day 19 Challenging Rahm Emanuel’s Push to Privatize Public Schools Democracy Now ...In Chicago, a group of public school parents, grandmothers and education activists are entering the 19th day of a hunger strike to save Dyett High School, the only remaining open-enrollment public high school left in the community of Bronzeville. Supporters say the city neglected the school for years before announcing plans to close it. Under Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s mayor and former Obama chief of staff, the city has closed about 50 schools in predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods...
No, Protests Against Police Brutality Are Not Increasing Crime The Nation ...Much has been made in recent months of a series of isolated crime increases in a handful of US cities. Breathless accounts of a new crime wavehave appeared in both liberal and conservative media. Right-wing pundits and some police leaders have claimed that there is a “Ferguson effect”—a significant crime increase due to the “Black Lives Matter” protests against police violence. This is both junk science and political opportunism...
Teamsters Announce National Carhaul Contract Transport Topics ...The Teamsters announced a tentative contract agreement with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division covering about 6,000 workers, including two of the largest auto and light truck carriers. The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry negotiating committee didn’t disclose any details, including the length or terms of the deal that now will be reviewed by affected local union officials before it is put to a membership vote...
Teamsters call out UPS over ALEC politics Freight Week ...The U.S. Teamsters Union has joined a broad-based coalition of 84 investor, public interest and civil rights groups to persuade the United Parcel Service (UPS) to cut its ties with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). According to public interest non-profit SourceWatch, ALEC is a corporate "bill mill" dominated by Republican politicians that enables corporations to provide state legislators wishlists that benefit their bottom line...
'Scab' labor threatens to prolong Sun Tran strike, scramble Tucson election Tucson Sentinel ...It's not just the drivers and mechanics of Teamsters Local 104 who are upset — it's their parent organization, the Arizona AFL-CIO, sounding the alarm. "This is a pivotal point in labor's history in Tucson," said Rebekah Friend, state AFL-CIO executive director "Will it affect local politics? Of course it will"...
Global Labor & Trade
Auto-Parts Dispute Taps the Brakes on Pacific Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how cars are assembled is pitting North America’s auto industry against Japan’s in a dispute now holding up a major trade agreement spanning the Pacific. The spat over which cars should be eligible for duty-free trade surfaced during high-level talks in late July that failed to wrap up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. The auto impasse is the most recent complication to finishing the TPP talks, along with dairy...
Mustapa: Progress being made on TPP negotiations The Star ...Malaysia remains optimistic about resolving issues in the best interest of the nation before coming to any conclusion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said much progress had been made since Malaysia first entered into negotiations five years ago...
Mexico Throws a Wrench Into Trade Talks Bloomberg ...When exhausted officials from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership wrapped up a week of talks in Hawaii at the end of July without reaching a deal, Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, brushed off efforts to pin the delay on him. Guajardo is fighting to ensure that the TPP does not jeopardize gains his country has made under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Trade agency names chief transparency officer The Hill ...U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman on Thursday tapped Timothy Reif to be the USTR’s chief transparency officer, a job established by the trade promotion authority law signed this summer by President Obama. Many lawmakers have complained that the direction of trade negotiations, especially those on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), have been closed off to all but high-level negotiators and large corporations...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership an Environmental Pollution Pass for Corporations? Huffington Post ...Nearly a decade in the making, advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) promote it as a necessary step to free trade and a robust global economy. Critics are skeptical saying the agreement will be harmful to the environment and economically benefits large corporations...
Travellers face delays as train and airport workers strike across Spain The Local ...Train worker unions began a 24-hour strike on Friday while the first in a series of many baggage handler strikes also launched ahead of the weekend. Train workers are disgruntled after the unions and train operator Renfe failed to come to agreement on working conditions, including about outsourcing workloads and hiring new personnel...
'Victory for the People' as Guatemalan President Resigns in Disgrace Common Dreams ...School of the Americas-trained Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, who oversaw acts of torture and genocide during the country's decades-long civil war, stepped down just before midnight Wednesday disgraced by unprecedented corruption charges—and by a popular movement against impunity for the ruling elite...
How the Refugees Crisis Is Wreaking Havoc on the European Union Mother Jones ...Talk of a euro exit dissipated. But the conversation in Europe is now dominated by the astronomical rise in the number of migrants trying to enter the continent, both refugees from wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries, as well as job seekers from elsewhere in Europe. The influx is again pitting EU states against each other...
State & Living Wage Battles
'Our Votes Matter': Rights Marchers in North Carolina Call for End to Voter Suppression Common Dreams ...Over one month into their multi-state trek, civil rights leaders and activists on Thursday are descending on the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh to call attention to what they say is a flagrant "crime against democracy," the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act...
Walmart and Walker: Always Low Wages Truthout ...When Walmart announced with great fanfare that it was boosting pay for frontline workers, CMD questioned the spin. Bloomberg reported that Walmart is cutting hours for its workers. Scott Walker raised eyebrows when he signed a contract with a big pay boost for the state troopers who provide his security detail. Now the US Department of Labor has found that Team Walker violated the law by failing to pay overtime for state troopers...
Michigan prevailing wage supporters allege misleading sales pitches in petition drive MLive ...Michigan prevailing wage supporters are accusing paid circulators of misleading the public about petitions seeking to repeal the 1965 law, a claim that a handful of sympathetic observers are vouching for. Bruce Sage, an attorney from Metro Detroit, told MLive he was approached this June by a man in a Meijer parking lot who asked him to sign a petition for a proposal to "ensure transparency in government"...
Sharron Angle seeks voter ID ballot measure Elko Daily ...Conservative activist Sharron Angle wants Nevada voters to decide whether to abolish the state health insurance exchange and require photo identification at the polls. The Republican former assemblywoman and former U.S. Senate candidate filed two petitions this week with the Nevada Secretary of State...
Voters Increasingly Favor Minimum Wage Hike US News & World Report ...With many of the jobs created by the recovering U.S. economy concentrated in low-paying sectors, likely voters in next year's presidential contest are increasingly supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage. In 2014, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota as well as several U.S. cities opted to raise the minimum wage above the current federal mandate of $7.25 per hour, and another seven states and the District of Columbia will vote on increases in 2016...
Fight For 15 Has Helped Pass Minimum Wage Hikes, But Yet To Deliver Broad-Based Pay Gains International Business Times ...The protests aren’t without impact. Major cities and states have lifted their minimum pay floors, the Democratic Party has officially embraced the call for $15 an hour and polls show the demands resonate with the broader public. These trends all bode well for the future pay prospects of low-wage workers. But for now, at least, millions are still waiting on that raise...
U.S. Labor
Unemployment Drops To Lowest Rate Since April Of 2008 Think Progress ...The economy added 173,000 jobs in August while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected 220,000 jobs to be added. That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March of 2008. August jobs reports are frequently unreliable, however...
OSHA Is Still Working on Silica Bloomberg ...The struggle to control silica is part of a pattern of weakness that characterizes OSHA. “They aren’t able to address a long list of commonsense problems, because the process of addressing them is just too hard,” says Harris, now a private attorney and a distinguished scholar at Cornell. The agency has a small budget and an ever-lengthening list of bureaucratic boxes it needs to check each time it wants to toughen regulations...
Detroit Three show interest in UAW healthcare overhaul idea Reuters ...The Detroit Three automakers are showing increased interest in the United Auto Workers union's proposal that they pool their healthcare systems, a sign that contract talks between the union and manufacturers are down to the big money issues. The UAW and bargainers for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles face a Sept. 14 deadline to negotiate new labor agreements for 142,000 U.S. workers...
More Bad News for A&P Supermarket Workers as Judge OKs Assaults on Union Contracts In These Times ...Union members at the A&P supermarket chain took a financial beating in federal court this week, as the company’s senior managers renewed their legal assault on the labor contracts covering some 25,000 employees in six mid-Atlantic states. The worst is yet to come for the low- to moderate-income grocery workers, however, as the judge in charge of the case made only limited rulings while indicating he may move more forcefully against the union as mass firings go forward...
Tech Companies Ordered To Pay Employees $415 Million For Working Together To Lower Wages Think Progress ...Nearly 65,000 employees for Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit in 2011 after the government uncovered emails between Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and other executives that showed companies conspired to not poach one another’s employees in an effort to keep salaries low and reduce turnover...
Social Justice & Other News
18-year-olds driving 18-wheelers?: Our view (editorial) USA Today ...As you hit the road this holiday weekend, with AAA predicting the highest travel volume in seven years, think about what travel might look like on Labor Day 2016. If the powerful trucking industry gets its way on Capitol Hill this month, interstate highways could be clogged with longer trucks, sleepier drivers and 18-year-olds behind the wheel of big rigs...
Chicago Hunger Strikers Enter Day 19 Challenging Rahm Emanuel’s Push to Privatize Public Schools Democracy Now ...In Chicago, a group of public school parents, grandmothers and education activists are entering the 19th day of a hunger strike to save Dyett High School, the only remaining open-enrollment public high school left in the community of Bronzeville. Supporters say the city neglected the school for years before announcing plans to close it. Under Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s mayor and former Obama chief of staff, the city has closed about 50 schools in predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods...
No, Protests Against Police Brutality Are Not Increasing Crime The Nation ...Much has been made in recent months of a series of isolated crime increases in a handful of US cities. Breathless accounts of a new crime wavehave appeared in both liberal and conservative media. Right-wing pundits and some police leaders have claimed that there is a “Ferguson effect”—a significant crime increase due to the “Black Lives Matter” protests against police violence. This is both junk science and political opportunism...
Friday, August 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.28.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Women's Conference Kicks off in Boston Teamster.org ...More than a thousand Teamsters gathered in Boston Thursday to kick off the 2015 Teamsters Women’s Conference. The annual event, now in its 15th year, welcomed Teamsters from throughout North America for an exciting three days of solidarity and strength. “This conference gets bigger and better every year. This is about coming together, seeing each other and sisterhood,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President...
Teamsters Applaud National Labor Relations Board on Joint Employer Ruling Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union today applauded the National Labor Relations Board on its “joint employer” ruling in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., as an additional step to protect and provide a voice to millions of American workers by holding employers that rely on temporary or contracted workers accountable...
How 2 Phoenix companies are at the center of NLRB decision on temp agencies, franchises Business Journal ...The NLRB decision is based on a case involving Phoenix-based Leadpoint Business Services, its staffing of 150 to 200 workers to Browning Ferris Industries recycling plant in Milpitas, California, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters efforts to unionize there.
Browning Ferris is owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services...
Teamsters Local 104's Sun Tran Workers Hold Strong On Picket Lines Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 104’s Unfair Labor Practice strike against Sun Tran has now begun its fourth week with no end in sight. Day twenty two begins the same as the previous twenty one days with the striking employees and their supporters continuing to walk the picket lines at the Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown Tucson, as well as the north and south facilities...
Still no solution between Sun Tran and Teamsters 104 Tucson News ...As the union worker strike against Sun Tran moves into its fourth week, both sides are still far apart in finding a solution. The union said this is an insult. "I'm offended they came back with a regressive offer which is bargaining in bad faith," said Teamsters Spokesman Andrew Marshall. "I mean how do you expect us to do anything but reject it"...
Tech shuttle Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation accused of forming "sham" union Business Journal ...Local tech shuttle company Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation is being accused by the National Labor Relations Board of creating a fake union in order to avoid a Teamster effort to organize its workforce, reports the San Francisco Examiner. Bauer’s is well known for its commuter shuttles used by marquee-name Bay Area tech companies like Cisco Systems...
Skyway Negotiations at Standstill; Toll Collectors Prepare for Strike Beginning Labor Day Weekend Local 727 ...Chicago Skyway toll collectors may be forced to strike because Skyway Concession Company has ground contract negotiations to a halt. The current three-year contract was set to expire July 3, but Teamsters Local 727 agreed on a two-month extension. The final negotiation meeting is scheduled for Aug. 31 — the day the contract extension expires. The members are scheduled to take a vote on Sept. 2...
Truckin’ on The Economist ...Mr McGregor reportedly earned $500,000 (not including bonuses or sponsorships) for a recent bout. But most UFC fighters make decidedly less. The median pay per fight is $24,500, and most pugilists get in the ring only a couple of times a year. Some fighters think the muscle of a union might help them get better pay and more say. Earlier this month, the Teamsters, along with a local culinary union, announced that they intended to help fighters organise...
Global Labor & Trade
TTIP deal: Business lobbyists dominate talks at expense of trade unions and NGOs Belfast Telegraph ...The world’s biggest companies in finance, technology, pharma, tobacco and telecoms are dominating discussions with the EU executive body’s trade department responsible for the proposed EU-US free trade treaty, which could become the biggest such deal ever made. Between January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations...
Will China’s currency devaluation complicate the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Lexology ...As trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries continue to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, China’s recent currency devaluation has sparked a debate over the inclusion of currency manipulation controls in global trade agreements. China is not currently part of the TPP, however, the agreement includes a mechanism for allowing other countries, including China, to join the agreement in the future...
TISA and Tech's Double Standards On Secret Government Internet Deals EFF.org ...The stash of previously-secret correspondence about the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) that EFF obtained and published this week speaks volumes about the extent to which technology companies such as IBM and Google, and trade lobby groups such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Internet Digital Economy Alliance (IDEA), have bought into the dangerous idea that trade agreements should be used to govern the Internet...
The TPP Must Not Undermine North America’s Dairy Sector (opinion) CitizensTrade.org ...As international trade negotiators continue attempting to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), farm, labor and consumer groups from throughout the Pacific Rim are demanding that they not interfere with nations’ sovereign right and responsibility to protect family farmers, processing workers and domestic food supplies – including North America’s dairy sector...
Guatemala President Faces Arrest as Business Interests and U.S. Scramble to Contain Uprising Democracy Now ...In Guatemala, a judge has ordered that former Vice President Roxana Baldetti must remain in prison while her corruption trial takes place. The ruling comes on the heels of the Guatemalan Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to lift the immunity from prosecution for President Otto Pérez Molina, clearing the way for his impeachment. The court passed the impeachment recommendation along to Congress. A general strike has been called in Guatemala for today...
200 Migrants Feared Dead as Europe’s Refugee Death Toll Creeps Towards 2,500 This Year Slate ...In the latest of what seems to be an accelerating series of now-hourly tragedies, hundreds are feared dead after two small boats carrying up to 500 migrants capsized en route to Italy from Libya. The migrant crisis on Europe's shores continues to spiral as the death toll approaches 2,500 this year...
Is austerity saving or sinking Brazil's troubled economy? BBC ...Brazil's Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has been on a drive to fix Brazil's troubled economy through austerity measures. That means spending less on unemployment benefits. Most workers now need to have been employed for a full year to receive government aid. President Rousseff might have thought she could cut spending without damaging the economy. But, as one Brazilian saying goes, the cure is now at risk of "killing the patient"...
State & Living Wage Battles
Governors Have Collected Millions In Presidential Campaign Contributions From State Contractors Think Progress ...New Jersey law currently prevents state contractors from giving more than $300 to statewide candidates’ campaigns. But that hasn’t stopped New Jersey contractors from donating more than $500,000 in total to the super PAC supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) presidential campaign...
Focus on 'right to work' gets more intense as legislators consider override attempt St. Louis Public Radio ...After a brief hiatus, both sides in the battle over “right to work” are back with a vengeance as they gear up for the Missouri General Assembly’s veto session in just over two weeks. The dueling campaigns may be aimed, in part, at influencing Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Cape Girardeau. A spokesman said the speaker has yet to decide whether to bring up the “right to work” bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this summer...
Prevailing wage still in Rauner’s crosshairs (opinion) Pekin Daily Times ...Before Gov. Bruce Rauner compromises on a state budget, he’s demanding lawmakers agree to his “Turnaround Agenda,” a misnamed list of changes ranging from limiting settlements judges and juries can award in lawsuits to restricting workers compensation protections. In the mix is his bid to abolish prevailing-wage laws...
Bill to raise California minimum wage stalls in Assembly SacBee ...A controversial measure to raise California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour over the next two years was held Thursday in a key financial committee, but the proposal may continue forward next session. Despite last-minute amendments put forth by author Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to delay the increase by another year, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, suggested he would look for other changes to advance Senate Bill 3 next year...
This State Just Became The First In The Nation To End Chronic Veteran Homelessness Think Progress ...On Thursday, the federal government announced that Connecticut is the first state in the country to end chronic homelessness among veterans. That means the state has found permanent housing for all veterans who have been homeless for at least one year or four times in the past three years, or has an immediate path to housing in place for them...
U.S. Labor
In landmark case, labor board will let more workers bargain with their employer’s employer Washington Post ...A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies. The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises...
The Labor Ruling McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality Huffington Post ...McDonald's, Burger King and every other company that relies on a franchise business model just suffered the legal setback they've been fearing for years. The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a "joint employer" alongside one of its subcontractors...
IKEA Says They’re “Socially Responsible.” So Why Are Workers Accusing Them of Union-Busting? In These Times ...With a potential strike deadline looming at one its largest U.S. warehouses, Sweden-based home furnishings retailer IKEA is facing renewed skepticism over its self-proclaimed commitment to fair labor policies, both in the United States and elsewhere. The deadline has immediate impact for about 450 unionized warehouse workers in Perryville, Maryland, many of whom find themselves puzzled at what they say is IKEA’s refusal to negotiate seriously over a new contract...
KapStone workers on strike TDN.com ...After 15 months of failed contract negotiations, KapStone millworkers officially went on strike early Thursday morning. The strike began at 3 a.m. Thursday after the union gave the company a three-hour notice at midnight. Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 officials said the length of the strike is open-ended...
USW plans another rally as contract deadline nears NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union is planning another big rally at AcelorMittal Burns Harbor on Sept. 1, when the current three-year contracts with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expire. If no new contracts are reached by Sept. 1, the USW could go on strike, work without a contract, or agree to extend the current contract and continue to work while a new contract is negotiated by the company...
SEIU home-care workers sign 'historic' contract Statesman Journal ...The Service Employees Union International Local 503, which represents 24,000 Oregon home-care workers, has signed a contract with the state they're calling historic. The contract paves the way for a $15 an hour wage for home-care workers by 2017, among other provisions. "Our workers, personal support and home care, really need to have a living wage," said Eileen Ordway, a home-care worker and member of the SEIU's bargaining team...
Behind the Business Attire, Many Bank Workers Earn Poverty Wages In These Times ...The collared shirts and pressed slacks may be hiding the reality: a significant portion of customer service workers in the retail banking industry make salaries low enough to make public assistance necessary. The Committee for Better Banks (CBB), a Communications Workers of America (CWA)-affiliated community and labor coalition, was created in 2013 to put an end to that...
Home Care Workers' Inclusion in Basic Labor Protections Is Just the Beginning Truthout ...Today, workers in the fastest growing workforce in the country - home care - have to live on poverty wages, struggling to pay for the gas that will get them to the seniors they assist each day. In many ways, the workers who provide those services have not changed; they are still largely women, with women of color and especially Black women providing a disproportionate amount of the care for all in the nation...
Social Justice & Other News
Detention Program Allegedly Barred Lawyers From Visiting Their Immigrant Clients Think Progress ...Advocates from an immigration detention visitation group say they have been barred from visiting potential clients in California and Alabama just a few weeks after they filed a complaint alleging abusive conditions at one detention facility. Shutting attorneys out of detention centers has been on the rise across the country...
After Hurricane Katrina, Poor Black Women Were Largely Ignored, Study Says Mother Jones ...Ten years after Hurricane Katrina displaced 40,000 people in New Orleans, opinions about the recovery can be traced along racial lines. A pair of new studies underscores that African American women, particularly those who lived in public housing, faced some of the biggest hurdles after the storm. Nearly four in five white residents in New Orleans say their state has "mostly recovered," while nearly three in five African American residents say it has not...
How Hedge Funds Are Exploiting Baltimore’s Poorest Residents Think Progress ...The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore and the ensuing protests brought the nation’s attention to the economic devastation that continues to grip the city. Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay...
Teamsters Women's Conference Kicks off in Boston Teamster.org ...More than a thousand Teamsters gathered in Boston Thursday to kick off the 2015 Teamsters Women’s Conference. The annual event, now in its 15th year, welcomed Teamsters from throughout North America for an exciting three days of solidarity and strength. “This conference gets bigger and better every year. This is about coming together, seeing each other and sisterhood,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President...
Teamsters Applaud National Labor Relations Board on Joint Employer Ruling Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union today applauded the National Labor Relations Board on its “joint employer” ruling in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., as an additional step to protect and provide a voice to millions of American workers by holding employers that rely on temporary or contracted workers accountable...
How 2 Phoenix companies are at the center of NLRB decision on temp agencies, franchises Business Journal ...The NLRB decision is based on a case involving Phoenix-based Leadpoint Business Services, its staffing of 150 to 200 workers to Browning Ferris Industries recycling plant in Milpitas, California, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters efforts to unionize there.
Browning Ferris is owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services...
Teamsters Local 104's Sun Tran Workers Hold Strong On Picket Lines Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 104’s Unfair Labor Practice strike against Sun Tran has now begun its fourth week with no end in sight. Day twenty two begins the same as the previous twenty one days with the striking employees and their supporters continuing to walk the picket lines at the Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown Tucson, as well as the north and south facilities...
Still no solution between Sun Tran and Teamsters 104 Tucson News ...As the union worker strike against Sun Tran moves into its fourth week, both sides are still far apart in finding a solution. The union said this is an insult. "I'm offended they came back with a regressive offer which is bargaining in bad faith," said Teamsters Spokesman Andrew Marshall. "I mean how do you expect us to do anything but reject it"...
Tech shuttle Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation accused of forming "sham" union Business Journal ...Local tech shuttle company Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation is being accused by the National Labor Relations Board of creating a fake union in order to avoid a Teamster effort to organize its workforce, reports the San Francisco Examiner. Bauer’s is well known for its commuter shuttles used by marquee-name Bay Area tech companies like Cisco Systems...
Skyway Negotiations at Standstill; Toll Collectors Prepare for Strike Beginning Labor Day Weekend Local 727 ...Chicago Skyway toll collectors may be forced to strike because Skyway Concession Company has ground contract negotiations to a halt. The current three-year contract was set to expire July 3, but Teamsters Local 727 agreed on a two-month extension. The final negotiation meeting is scheduled for Aug. 31 — the day the contract extension expires. The members are scheduled to take a vote on Sept. 2...
Truckin’ on The Economist ...Mr McGregor reportedly earned $500,000 (not including bonuses or sponsorships) for a recent bout. But most UFC fighters make decidedly less. The median pay per fight is $24,500, and most pugilists get in the ring only a couple of times a year. Some fighters think the muscle of a union might help them get better pay and more say. Earlier this month, the Teamsters, along with a local culinary union, announced that they intended to help fighters organise...
Global Labor & Trade
TTIP deal: Business lobbyists dominate talks at expense of trade unions and NGOs Belfast Telegraph ...The world’s biggest companies in finance, technology, pharma, tobacco and telecoms are dominating discussions with the EU executive body’s trade department responsible for the proposed EU-US free trade treaty, which could become the biggest such deal ever made. Between January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations...
Will China’s currency devaluation complicate the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Lexology ...As trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries continue to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, China’s recent currency devaluation has sparked a debate over the inclusion of currency manipulation controls in global trade agreements. China is not currently part of the TPP, however, the agreement includes a mechanism for allowing other countries, including China, to join the agreement in the future...
TISA and Tech's Double Standards On Secret Government Internet Deals EFF.org ...The stash of previously-secret correspondence about the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) that EFF obtained and published this week speaks volumes about the extent to which technology companies such as IBM and Google, and trade lobby groups such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Internet Digital Economy Alliance (IDEA), have bought into the dangerous idea that trade agreements should be used to govern the Internet...
The TPP Must Not Undermine North America’s Dairy Sector (opinion) CitizensTrade.org ...As international trade negotiators continue attempting to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), farm, labor and consumer groups from throughout the Pacific Rim are demanding that they not interfere with nations’ sovereign right and responsibility to protect family farmers, processing workers and domestic food supplies – including North America’s dairy sector...
Guatemala President Faces Arrest as Business Interests and U.S. Scramble to Contain Uprising Democracy Now ...In Guatemala, a judge has ordered that former Vice President Roxana Baldetti must remain in prison while her corruption trial takes place. The ruling comes on the heels of the Guatemalan Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to lift the immunity from prosecution for President Otto Pérez Molina, clearing the way for his impeachment. The court passed the impeachment recommendation along to Congress. A general strike has been called in Guatemala for today...
200 Migrants Feared Dead as Europe’s Refugee Death Toll Creeps Towards 2,500 This Year Slate ...In the latest of what seems to be an accelerating series of now-hourly tragedies, hundreds are feared dead after two small boats carrying up to 500 migrants capsized en route to Italy from Libya. The migrant crisis on Europe's shores continues to spiral as the death toll approaches 2,500 this year...
Is austerity saving or sinking Brazil's troubled economy? BBC ...Brazil's Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has been on a drive to fix Brazil's troubled economy through austerity measures. That means spending less on unemployment benefits. Most workers now need to have been employed for a full year to receive government aid. President Rousseff might have thought she could cut spending without damaging the economy. But, as one Brazilian saying goes, the cure is now at risk of "killing the patient"...
State & Living Wage Battles
Governors Have Collected Millions In Presidential Campaign Contributions From State Contractors Think Progress ...New Jersey law currently prevents state contractors from giving more than $300 to statewide candidates’ campaigns. But that hasn’t stopped New Jersey contractors from donating more than $500,000 in total to the super PAC supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) presidential campaign...
Focus on 'right to work' gets more intense as legislators consider override attempt St. Louis Public Radio ...After a brief hiatus, both sides in the battle over “right to work” are back with a vengeance as they gear up for the Missouri General Assembly’s veto session in just over two weeks. The dueling campaigns may be aimed, in part, at influencing Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Cape Girardeau. A spokesman said the speaker has yet to decide whether to bring up the “right to work” bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this summer...
Prevailing wage still in Rauner’s crosshairs (opinion) Pekin Daily Times ...Before Gov. Bruce Rauner compromises on a state budget, he’s demanding lawmakers agree to his “Turnaround Agenda,” a misnamed list of changes ranging from limiting settlements judges and juries can award in lawsuits to restricting workers compensation protections. In the mix is his bid to abolish prevailing-wage laws...
Bill to raise California minimum wage stalls in Assembly SacBee ...A controversial measure to raise California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour over the next two years was held Thursday in a key financial committee, but the proposal may continue forward next session. Despite last-minute amendments put forth by author Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to delay the increase by another year, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, suggested he would look for other changes to advance Senate Bill 3 next year...
This State Just Became The First In The Nation To End Chronic Veteran Homelessness Think Progress ...On Thursday, the federal government announced that Connecticut is the first state in the country to end chronic homelessness among veterans. That means the state has found permanent housing for all veterans who have been homeless for at least one year or four times in the past three years, or has an immediate path to housing in place for them...
U.S. Labor
In landmark case, labor board will let more workers bargain with their employer’s employer Washington Post ...A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies. The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises...
The Labor Ruling McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality Huffington Post ...McDonald's, Burger King and every other company that relies on a franchise business model just suffered the legal setback they've been fearing for years. The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a "joint employer" alongside one of its subcontractors...
IKEA Says They’re “Socially Responsible.” So Why Are Workers Accusing Them of Union-Busting? In These Times ...With a potential strike deadline looming at one its largest U.S. warehouses, Sweden-based home furnishings retailer IKEA is facing renewed skepticism over its self-proclaimed commitment to fair labor policies, both in the United States and elsewhere. The deadline has immediate impact for about 450 unionized warehouse workers in Perryville, Maryland, many of whom find themselves puzzled at what they say is IKEA’s refusal to negotiate seriously over a new contract...
KapStone workers on strike TDN.com ...After 15 months of failed contract negotiations, KapStone millworkers officially went on strike early Thursday morning. The strike began at 3 a.m. Thursday after the union gave the company a three-hour notice at midnight. Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 officials said the length of the strike is open-ended...
USW plans another rally as contract deadline nears NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union is planning another big rally at AcelorMittal Burns Harbor on Sept. 1, when the current three-year contracts with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expire. If no new contracts are reached by Sept. 1, the USW could go on strike, work without a contract, or agree to extend the current contract and continue to work while a new contract is negotiated by the company...
SEIU home-care workers sign 'historic' contract Statesman Journal ...The Service Employees Union International Local 503, which represents 24,000 Oregon home-care workers, has signed a contract with the state they're calling historic. The contract paves the way for a $15 an hour wage for home-care workers by 2017, among other provisions. "Our workers, personal support and home care, really need to have a living wage," said Eileen Ordway, a home-care worker and member of the SEIU's bargaining team...
Behind the Business Attire, Many Bank Workers Earn Poverty Wages In These Times ...The collared shirts and pressed slacks may be hiding the reality: a significant portion of customer service workers in the retail banking industry make salaries low enough to make public assistance necessary. The Committee for Better Banks (CBB), a Communications Workers of America (CWA)-affiliated community and labor coalition, was created in 2013 to put an end to that...
Home Care Workers' Inclusion in Basic Labor Protections Is Just the Beginning Truthout ...Today, workers in the fastest growing workforce in the country - home care - have to live on poverty wages, struggling to pay for the gas that will get them to the seniors they assist each day. In many ways, the workers who provide those services have not changed; they are still largely women, with women of color and especially Black women providing a disproportionate amount of the care for all in the nation...
Social Justice & Other News
Detention Program Allegedly Barred Lawyers From Visiting Their Immigrant Clients Think Progress ...Advocates from an immigration detention visitation group say they have been barred from visiting potential clients in California and Alabama just a few weeks after they filed a complaint alleging abusive conditions at one detention facility. Shutting attorneys out of detention centers has been on the rise across the country...
After Hurricane Katrina, Poor Black Women Were Largely Ignored, Study Says Mother Jones ...Ten years after Hurricane Katrina displaced 40,000 people in New Orleans, opinions about the recovery can be traced along racial lines. A pair of new studies underscores that African American women, particularly those who lived in public housing, faced some of the biggest hurdles after the storm. Nearly four in five white residents in New Orleans say their state has "mostly recovered," while nearly three in five African American residents say it has not...
How Hedge Funds Are Exploiting Baltimore’s Poorest Residents Think Progress ...The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore and the ensuing protests brought the nation’s attention to the economic devastation that continues to grip the city. Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay...
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