Today's Teamster News 09.18.15

Teamsters
Hoffa Statement of Support of Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Excise Tax on High-Quality Health Plans  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the announcement of the introduction of a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate to HR 2050 which would repeal an excise tax set to be charged on those enrolled in high-quality health care plans: “The Teamsters support this bipartisan effort to repeal the destructive excise tax that is set to take effect in 2018"...
No deal after latest talks between Baumann & Sons Buses, Acme Buses and Teamsters Local 1205  Newsday  ...Talks continued early Friday morning between a Long Island school bus contractor and its workers to end a labor dispute and head off a strike that could leave 15,000 students scrambling for other forms of transportation. As of 2:30 a.m. Friday, negotiators for Teamsters Local 1205 and Ronkonkoma-based Baumann & Sons Buses Inc. still remained locked in discussions at the union's Farmingdale headquarters...
Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees  In These Times  ...About 300 angry Teamsters descended on Washington, D.C., September 10, demanding federal action to protect the pensions of union members threatened with benefit cuts. The retired Teamsters are among a group of as many as 1.5 million retirees from a long list of different labor unions nationwide that could see their pensions slashed under a new law quietly approved late last year...
Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund takes on Wall Street bank traders  Cleveland Business  ...The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund is among plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that banks that deal in government securities rigged trading to boost their own profits. “The same analytical technique that uncovered cheating in currency markets and the Libor rates benchmark — resulting in about $20 billion of fines — suggests the dealers who control the U.S. Treasury market rigged bond auctions for years,” Bloomberg reports in describing a lawsuit...
EVSC Board and Teamsters disagree over form, will meet Friday  Courier & Press  ...After about a three-week hiatus, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiation teams will meet again Friday to continue working toward a collective bargaining agreement, as well as a new wage authorization form. Earlier this month, the EVSC ceased deducting union dues and representation fees for Local 215 employees...

Global Labor & Trade
Finland Anti-Austerity Strike Shuts Down Public Transport, Flights As Recession Pits Labor Unions Against Government  International Business Times  ...One of the biggest strikes in Finland's history closed down ports, canceled or delayed flights and disrupted other transportation Friday, amid protests against the government's latest proposed austerity measures. With the Nordic country in a recession for the past three years and on track for a fourth, the leading center-right coalition there has tried to implement cutbacks that include limiting overtime and benefits...
Canada must be part of Pacific pact, automakers might suffer: PM  Reuters  ...Canada must sign up to a proposed 12-nation Pacific trade pact, even though the country's auto makers might not be happy with some of the conditions, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. Trade ministers failed to clinch the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a meeting in late July amid disagreements over sectors such as autos and dairy...
Harper Says Trans-Pacific Trade Deal Will End ‘Successfully’  Bloomberg  ...Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he’s confident a Pacific trade deal that would stretch from Chile to Japan will be reached. Clinching a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership will form the “basis of the global trade network in the Asia Pacific for the generation to come,” Harper said Thursday in a leadership debate for the Oct. 19 Canadian federal election...
Japan has little room left to compromise on TPP deal: Amari   Fiscal Times  ...Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are expected to hold another meeting soon to clinch a deal, after failing to do so in Hawaii last month. The TPP would cover 40 percent of the global economy. "This is our last chance," Amari told a regular news conference. "If we don't have an agreement, a deal may be delayed for years given various uncertainties...
Obama sure of deal as ministers plan end-Sept talks on TPP  Today  ...Twelve Pacific Rim countries will hold a ministerial meeting later this month in Atlanta in the United States as they look to conclude years of negotiations on creating one of the world’s biggest free trade zones, negotiation sources said yesterday. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday raised hopes that the 12 countries could conclude the sweeping free trade agreement “in the next several weeks”...
Will TTIP be an ‘economic NATO’?  Politico  ...Back in 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a proposed transatlantic free trade pact as a job-creating, growth-boosting “economic NATO” that would forge new ties between old allies. Three years later, hopeful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears less enthusiastic. “Can you make it go away?” was the only-half-joking response of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, to a recent question on the trade deal now being negotiated between the United States and European Union....
Europe starts putting up walls   The Economist  ...Hungary declared an emergency, sealed its border with Serbia with barbed-wire fences and began arresting those trying to cross. Police fired tear gas at them; 20 officers and many refugees were hurt. Growing numbers of refugees are now trapped on the Serbian side and have started evading the barrier by marching into Romania and Croatia. Hungary responded by saying it will extend the fence to its Romanian border. The cascade of events is likely to continue...
Migrant Domestic Workers Network a First in Jordan  Solidarity Center   ...Domestic workers in Jordan are set to celebrate the official formation of a worker rights network that includes migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The September 19 launch is a first in Jordan and a rare move in the Arab region, where more than 2.4 million migrant domestic workers often toil 12–20 hour days, six or seven days a week cleaning homes, preparing meals and caring for children and the elderly...

State & Living Wage Battles
Poll: Wide support among N.Y. voters for $15 minimum wage  CBS  ...A new poll finds that New York voters support raising the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour. The poll released Friday by Quinnipiac University found 62 percent of voters supporting a phased-in increase. Thirty-five percent of the respondents opposed the idea. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the state Legislature to approve a $15 minimum wage...
9th Circuit rejects state's appeal, says anti-union law passed in 2011 was invalid  Spokesman-Review  ...The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today upheld a federal district court ruling that an anti-union law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2011 was invalid, as it was pre-empted by the federal National Labor Relations Act. The law, which was immediately enjoined and never took effect, banned “job targeting” or “market recovery” programs, in which unions use funds they collect from workers to subsidize bids by union contractors on jobs...
Archbishop Takes Aim At ‘Right-To-Work’ Laws  CBS  ...Without mentioning Gov. Bruce Rauner by name, Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archbishop is raising concerns about moves to restrict labor unions. Blase Cupich made his remarks Thursday at the plumbers union hall on the West Side, before a union-heavy audience. He declared a society with a healthy labor movement is a better place than one where powerful economic interests have their way and the voices of workers are diminished...
California Activists Call for Fracking Ban  Truthout  ...The California Legislature approved an amended version of Senate Bill 350, a measure that legislative leaders and Governor Jerry Brown touted as "landmark climate legislation." In response, anti-fracking activists pointed out the contradiction between Brown's strong support of extreme oil extraction methods and his constant grandstanding about "clean energy" - and called on Brown to use his executive power to ban the environmentally destructive practice of fracking in California...
OUR Walmart Relaunches Its Campaign To Beat the World Retail Giant  In These Times  ...After four years as a growing, thriving voice of workers at Walmart, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) re-launched itself on Thursday. Originally a legally independent, non-union worker organization that the United Food and Commercial Workers founded and funded, OUR Walmart will now have a different, still to-be-defined tie to the UFCW...
Paid Sick Leave, More Overtime Proposed For Mpls. Workers  CBS  ...Workers in Minneapolis could soon have more flexible schedules and more paid leave. One of the councilmembers behind a proposed ordinance says if it goes through, big changes could start early next year. The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day...

U.S. Labor
UFCW sees 'difficulty' with Key Food over A&P stores  Supermarket News  ...New York locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union were scheduled to meet today with officials of Key Food Stores for “the first time in a while” to talk about the A&P units the retailer intends to buy, a union spokesman told SN. He said the union has had “a bunch of difficulty” with Key Food in the past because of the retailer’s desire to cut back the number of full-time jobs in favor of more part-timers at the 17 stores it said it intends to buy...
UAW-FCA agreement reportedly includes $5.3 billion U.S. production investment  MLive  ...As part of a tentative agreement with the UAW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is shifting some of its production from Mexico to the U.S. - and vice versa. That's according to multiple reports, such as one in the Detroit Free Press that says FCA plans to commit $5.3 billion to U.S. auto plants over the next four years. That will also reportedly help retain thousands of American jobs...
Target pharmacy workers form union, first in company's history  Reuters  ...A group of pharmacy workers within Target Corp's store in Brooklyn, New York, have won a vote to form a microunion, making it the first unionized store at the retailer since its inception in 1902. Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters was first to report that a group of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians won an initial ballot, 7-2, to form the union, according to a filing on the National Labor Relations Board website and union officials...
Another Shot Fired in the Great Immigration vs. Wages War  Mother Jones  ...Does illegal immigration suppress the wages of native-born workers? The evidence suggests that it doesn't—or not much, anyway. One of the data points supporting this is a study done by David Card of the effect of the 1980 Mariel boatlift on workers in Miami. Even though Miami experienced a huge spike in immigrants during the boatlift, Card found no significant impact on wages...
The Fed Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero  The Atlantic  ...The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided not to raise interest rates at its September Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The committee’s two-day meeting concluded with Fed officials voting to keep interest rates near zero. The U.S. job market has been putting in solid numbers in recent months, data that Fed watchers believed might convince the Fed to hike rates...

Social Justice & Other News
Trump: 'We're Gonna Be Looking Into' How We Can Get Rid of All the Muslims  Common Dreams  ...In a week that has already seen collective outrage in response to the treatment of a Muslim teenager in Texas who was handcuffed and arrested simply for bringing a homemade clock to school, the pervasiveness of Islamaphobic sentiment was on display once again overnight after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump fielded a question in New Hampshire about what he planned to do "about getting rid of" all the nation's Muslims...
The Beginning of Trump’s End?  Slate  ...This debate might mark the beginning of the end for Trump, who struggled to tackle substantive questions on foreign policy, his advisers, and what he’d actually do as president of the United States. More importantly, he faced a confident Carly Fiorina, who slammed and tweaked Trump on his obvious ignorance of key issues. “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said about his remarks on her appearance...
Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Plan To End Private Prisons  Think Progress  ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is officially taking on the country’s private prison industry. By introducing a bill that would ban government contracts with private prisons, the presidential contender is quickly becoming the loudest advocate for criminal justice reform among his competitors. The Justice is Not For Sale Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), would prohibit the federal government from entering contracts with private prison corporations within two years of the bill’s enactment...
America's Need for a Third Reconstruction  The Atlantic  ...Ta-Nehisi Coates mournfully excavates how the carceral state is deeply entangled in the racial DNA of the United States, and convincingly demonstrates that, for all the talk of a Kumbaya moment in penal reform between the left and the right, the carceral state remains largely intact with barely a nick. Four decades ago, the U.S. had many similar structural problems found today, but it did not have such an expansive penal system...
Climate Expert James Hansen: The Planet May Become Ungovernable  Alternet  ...The repercussions of climate disruption are still not being acknowledged fully, warned climatologist Dr. James Hansen. Hansen — formerly NASA’s head climate scientist, now adjunct professor at Columbia University — is probably best known for bringing definitive evidence of global warming to Congress in testimony in 1988...
The recession hasn’t changed a damn thing: Wall Street is still making off like bandits  Salon.com  ...Just a few years after the financial crisis, a new report tells an important story: Federal prosecution of white-collar crime has hit a 20-year low. The analysis by Syracuse University shows a more than 36 percent decline in such prosecutions since the middle of the Clinton administration, when the decline began...

Today's Teamster News 01.04.12

JPMorgan Chase Sued For $95 Million Over Allegedly Misrepresenting Mortgage Loans  Reuters   ...It is one of many lawsuits seeking to hold banks responsible for investor losses over mortgages that may have been toxic, defective or improperly underwritten...
Hungary’s New Constitution Sparks Protest by Opposition  Bloomberg   ...Hungarian opposition groups rallied against the country’s new constitution ... (which) the European Union and U.S. criticized for curbing democracy. It was the first time disparate groups, including two opposition parties, protested together...
New California Law Penalizes Employers for Willful Misclassification of Independent Contractors in 2012  Employment Screening Resources   ...Effective January 1, 2012, a new California law – Senate Bill 459 (SB 459) – imposes stiff penalties that range between $5,000 to $25,000 for the “willful misclassification” of independent contractors by employers “avoiding employee status for an individual by voluntarily and knowingly misclassifying that individual as an independent contractor...”
The Peltzman Effect: Why Economic Growth Has Slowed in the US Over Time  Angry Bear   ...The land of opportunity, we will find in the long run, is the one with a safety net...
When will media demand that Mitt Romney back up his claims about jobs?  Washington Post   ...only two lonely fact checking operations — one at the Post, the other at FactCheck.org — have scrutinized (Romney's claim that he created 100,000 jobs). They have found that the assertion is at best unsubstantiated and that there may have been more layoffs than jobs created by Bain; there’s no way to tell for sure...
Access to Indiana Statehouse will be restricted  WNDU   ...“It’s ridiculous, it’s unfair, there’s no sound reason for doing it,” said Robert Warnock III, President of Teamsters local 364...
Federal judge overturns both of last session’s new anti-union laws  The Spokesman-Review   ...A federal judge has invalidated both the new anti-union laws pushed through by Idaho GOP lawmakers last session, saying they violate federal law. The two measures, SB 1007 and 1006, both expansions of Idaho's Right-to-Work law, sought to ban “job targeting programs” and “project labor agreements”...
Citizens' referendum to repeal Emergency Manager law has enough signatures  Eclectablog   ...At a Detroit rally yesterday to protest the imposition of an Emergency Manager on the city, Brandon Jessup of Michigan Forward announced that Michigan Forward has gathered over 170,000 petition signatures for their effort to put the repeal of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law, on the November 2012 ballot. Only 161,305 are needed...

It's our turn: Ballot referenda in ID, ME, OH



Ohio Teamsters in the early stages of the fight against SB5.

Usually it's the corporate-backed Tea Party types who sponsor ballot initiatives to roll back progress. But now it's labor's turn. There are three big ballot referenda coming up in the fall, and we're hoping they mark a turning point in the referendum wars.

You probably knew about SB5 in Ohio. But did you know that Idaho voters will cast ballots on three anti-teacher initiatives in November 2012? The Huffington Post reports,

SB 1108 restricts teachers' collective bargaining rights and ends tenure for new teachers, SB 1184 funds the purchase of technology and laptops for students from the pot of money used to pay teachers' salaries and SB 1110 implements a merit pay system for teachers.

This spring, educators and students in Idaho turned out at the statehouse to protest the measures, which were introduced by Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna.

Penni Cyr, president of the state teachers' union, the Idaho Education Association, told The Huffington Post that the laws were an overreach by some conservatives in the legislature and were even opposed by some Republican members..."One out of four teachers in Idaho could ultimately lose their jobs because of the money that is being moved to pay for technology."

...Cyr pointed to the fact that organizers were able to get far more signatures than were necessary to qualify for referendums on the ballot.

In Maine, reports HuffPo,

...a coalition is working to reinstate same-day voter registration after Gov. Paul LePage (R) signed a bill overturning the 38-year-old law in June.
The registration deadline was pushed back to two business days before election day.
Maine citizens have the ability to essentially veto a law by ballot initiative. The Protect Maine Votes coalition -- 18 groups that include unions, civil libertarians, consumer advocates and homeless groups -- has turned in more than enough signatures to meet the 57,277-signature threshold to get the measure on the ballot in November, but it is waiting for the state to certify that they are valid.

And as of now, thinks are looking good for repeal of corporate stooge Ohio Gov. John Kasich's heinous SB5 law.
The Teamsters' friends at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center will support these efforts. They're important not just in and of themselves, but because they'll help build a progressive movement for strengthening democracy through the ballot box.

And just for good measure, did we mention that Arizona is likely to recall their Senate president, Russell Pearce? He's an ALEC puppet who promoted anti-immigration laws on behalf of the private prison industry (they need more "customers," you know).

Recall fever hits ID

Who knew? Angry Idahoans are jumping into the recall fray. They're joining the ranks of citizens who want to recall state senators in Wisconsin (and Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker in 194 days), repeal SB 5 in Ohio, recall corporate stooge Gov. Rick Snyder in Michigan and state senators and repeal the state's emergency financial manager law.

Idaho citizens launched a campaign to collect enough signatures to recall Tom Luna, Idaho superintendent of schools, because he pushed through education "reforms" that will harm ordinary people. Short version:

Luna is a protector of the corporate special interests at the expense of the Idaho families who will suffer under his leadership. (We've heard that before, too.)

His "reform" plan also takes away teachers' collective bargaining rights.

This is how angry Idahoans are at Luna, according to the Associated Press:

At the height of the firestorm over the reforms, vandals went to Luna’s home, spray-painted his truck and slashed the tires. The anger of hundreds of teachers, parents and students filled the halls of Idaho’s Capitol during hearings this spring.

According to LocalNews8.com,

The referendum against Tom Luna's Students Come First plan has made it on the ballot.

But for many opponents of Idaho's education reform are still working on what they call priority No 1....

The petitions on the new laws required 40,000 signatures, but the bar to recall the superintendent is much higher.

The recall campaign needs 158,000 signatures to put a recall option on the ballot.

Today's Teamster News 04.29.11

Benton Harbor protest against emergency manager  WZZM-13   ...Hundreds of people gathered in Benton Harbor Wednesday to protest Michigan's emergency financial manager law...
Black caucus plans federal case against Emergency Manager law  Michigan Messenger   ...The Michigan Legislative Black Caucus is working with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), and others on a lawsuit to challenge Michigan’s Emergency Manager law...
MU says video distorted labor professors’ meaning  Kansas City Star   ...Videos released on the Internet showing two University of Missouri instructors advocating union violence totally distorted their comments, a university official said this afternoon...
Afraid To Face Angry Voters, Rep. Paul Ryan Sneaks Out a Back Door  Crooks and Liars   ...Paul Ryan is flipping out that town hall attendees aren't going to follow his command to "play nice" in front of the media....
Shadow Right Wing Policy Group Holds Summit in Cincinnati  Progress Ohio   ...They meet in secret. They write our laws. And they want us silent...
Teachers union sues Otter, Luna over reform law  Idaho Statesman   ...Members of Idaho's statewide teachers union have filed a lawsuit against the state, the governor and Idaho's public schools chief over a new law that phases out teacher tenure and wipes out collective bargaining over salaries and benefits...
Oregon Unions Put Their Fists in the Air  Willamette Week   ...Raising their fists and chanting, “Good jobs for all, ” about 2,500 Oregon union members and their supporters packed Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square today to protest stagnant job growth and government budget cuts...
Philly schools may cut nearly 1,300 teachers jobs  Associated Press   ...The Philadelphia public schools will have to cut 3,800 jobs—including almost 1,300 teachers—if the governor's planned budget cuts are approved, the district's budget chief said Wednesday...

Today's Teamster News 03.18.11

GOP lawmakers to take up budget without Indiana Dems  IndyStar.com   ...Republicans ...  today increased the fines on the missing legislators and said the Senate will now start dealing with bills that are in limbo in the House...
WI Dems: Walker's Frank Luntz Visit Broke the Law  Mother Jones   ...The party plans to file a complaint today... alleging that the advice Walker got from Luntz, the right's political messaging guru, amounted to something of value ... and thus violated state ethics and political contributions laws...
Gov. Snyder signs controversial emergency financial managers measures  Associated Press   ...Many Democrats and labor unions criticized the legislation as a state power grab that could set up virtual dictatorships and strip power from local elected officials...
Michigan’s Constitution Allows Governor Snyder To Be Recalled In July  ThinkProgress   ...Michigan voters can bypass the legislature altogether and call for a constitutional amendment by petition and referendum...
Otter signs two controversial school-reform bills into law, SB 1108 and SB 1110  The Spokesman Review   ... Gov. Butch Otter quietly signed ... SB 1108, removing most collective bargaining rights from Idaho teachers, and SB 1110, imposing a teacher merit pay program beginning in 2013...
FreedomWorks Launches Campaign Against Abuses of Union Power  FreedomWorks  ...corporate-backed group to run smear campaign against unions...
Strike called off at Walkertown company  Winston-Salem Journal   ...Allied Systems Holdings, the parent company of Allied Systems Ltd., agreed to withdraw its plans to cut the wages of more than 2,500 Teamster carhaul drivers in the United States and Canada...
Update For Teamster YRCW Members Following Company’s Annual Report
IBT   ...this missed deadline has been greatly overstated and is not particularly significant to the overall restructuring process...