Increasing Teamster Power!

Joint Council 7's Doug Bloch was one of the attendees.

Scores of Teamsters came together yesterday and today to listen to speakers and share ideas about how to pursue a political agenda that will benefit members both at the ballot box and in the legislative halls of power.

Representatives from locals and joint councils from around the country heard from both Teamsters' officials and experts from outside the union on a host of policy issues, as well as on how to best reach and communicate with membership. It was all part of a effort to improve the union's push of an agenda that will benefit all workers.

Doug Bloch, political director of Joint Council 7 for Northern California and Northern Nevada, said membership outreach is essential to political success:

We know when we talk to our members, it works. The numbers don't lie.

Attendees heard about how the Teamsters are moving full force to defeat fast track trade authority in Congress as well as push back on efforts in state capitals around the country to get right-to-work approved. They were also briefed on the continuing Sysco/US Foods and School Bus campaigns.

It's all part of the effort to grow Teamster Power!

West Coast innovations in improving workers' lives

Two recent developments that promise to improve workers' lives caught our attention, and both have to do with the West Coast high-tech industry, including Microsoft, Apple, Genentech and Facebook.

In Seattle, Microsoft announced Thursday that it would require many of its 2,000 contractors and vendors to give  15 paid days off for sick days and vacation time for their employees who work for Microsoft. The New York Times notes,

As the economy has become more dependent on contract workers, workers’ rights advocates have voiced concern about their working conditions, especially for low-skilled jobs. 

The situation is particularly acute in the tech industry, where average full-time employees earn more than $115,000 a year, along with generous benefits like child care, gourmet cafeterias and luxury shuttle rides to work. Many of the contracted service workers — who take care of the children, cook the food or drive the shuttles — earn near poverty-level wages and often do not receive basic benefits like sick leave.

Of course, there's another way for contract employees to win paid time off: Organize. And that's what San Francisco shuttle drivers are doing with the Teamsters. 

The city's Board of Supervisor on Tuesday may have made it easier. It passed a resolution urging the city’s transit agency to consider labor harmony when approving commuter shuttles to high-tech firms. 

Recently, Facebook shuttle drivers who work for Loop Transportation were organized under the leadership of Rome Aloise, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 853. In February they worked out a contract that raised the drivers into the middle class. According to the local, 

Under the contract, drivers now making $15-20/hr. will see their wages increase to $21-29/hr. They will enjoy fully paid family health insurance, paid vacation, holidays, sick days, retirement, and more.

Local 853 went on to organize drivers for Compass Transportation, which makes up some of the fleets for Ebay, Genentech, Apple, Yahoo, and Zynga. They have yet to reach an agreement. 

Said Brother Doug Bloch, Political Director for Teamsters Joint Council 7, 

There are a couple organizing campaigns happening as we speak, and the workers are afraid of retaliation. But that’s what the board addresses with this resolution.

Teamsters Local 665 is organizing shuttle drivers at Bauer Transportation, but not without difficulty. NBC Bay Area reported on Tuesday,

The Teamsters filed an unfair labor relations complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Bauer, citing Bauer’s surveillance of employees and efforts to prevent employee union elections. That complaint is currently under review. Bauer is one of the eight major shuttle contractors for large, and typically high-tech, Bay Area companies. 

When Teamsters began talking to Bauer’s shuttle drivers, the union felt that company management turned hostile. During outreach in the last month, Mark Gleason, principal officer for Teamsters 665, said that management at Bauer followed and confronted the Teamsters who were meeting with drivers in San Francisco. He wouldn't disclose the details of this supposed confrontation.

Let's hope San Francisco's transit agency heeds the Board of Supervisors.

Today's Teamster News 08.22.14

Teamster News
What the Hell Went on Between Boston’s Teamsters and the ‘Top Chef’ Crew?  Boston Globe   ...Teamsters Local 25 have released a statement about the Deadline Hollywood story and vehemently disagree with the details offered by the unnamed “Top Chef” crew members...
Teamsters Ratify Contracts At Stroehmann, Grocery Haulers Inc.  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 264 members at Stroehmann Bakeries and Grocery Haulers Inc. (GHI) in Olean, N.Y., have voted overwhelmingly to ratify contracts providing for significant workplace improvements...
Local 135 Strikes Against Trucking Company  Kokomo Tribune   ...Members of Teamsters Local Union 135 went on strike Wednesday morning against Diamond Trucking Inc. after new contract negotiations broke down Tuesday night...
Carpenters Locked Out Of Pa. Convention Center Since May Seek End To Dispute  CBS News   ...Carpenters who claim they’ve been locked out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center were back out on the street on Wednesday protesting management’s refusal to put them back to work...
Protest-Stalled Ship At Port Of Oakland Finally Unloaded, Sails Away  Contra Costa Times   ...During the protest, the Teamsters had issued a statement calling on longshore workers to "immediately unload the ship" and said their issue was not the Gaza conflict, but the impact the protests have on local jobs...
Sodexo Workers Overwhelmingly Ratify First Teamster Contract With Local 633  IBT   ...Seventy (70) Teamster members employed by Sodexo, Inc., who provide cafeteria services, have overwhelmingly ratified their first ever Teamster contract...
Trade
TPP: The “Trade” Deal that Could Inflate Your Healthcare Bill  Public Citizen   ...Leaked draft TPP texts… contain expansive rules that would constrain the ability of the U.S. government to reduce medicine prices...
Trade Data Pours Cold Water on "Rising Star" Outlook for American Manufacturing  manufacture this   ...The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures surged by $21.6 billion, or 19%, in the second quarter, compared with 2013, following an 8% increase in the first quarter. In the opposite direction, the Chinese surplus increased in the second quarter by $20.0 billion, or 9%...
State Battles
Scott Walker’s Offshoring Flip-Flop  In These Times   ...Mr. Right-to-Work is trying to divert attention from his administration’s abysmal record on jobs and labor in a state still mired in the effects of the Great Recession...
War On Workers
Prayers For Atlantic City As Closings, Layoffs Loom  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Gaming analysts and industry experts have said Atlantic City has too many casinos and not enough gambling demand to sustain them all. After the three casinos fold, the resort will be left with eight...
Microsoft Leaves ALEC: Horsetrading & The Price to Pay  firedoglake   ...President Obama may soon decide on executive action regarding “a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders, now barred from working in the U.S., to get jobs.” The H-1B high skill guestworker visa allows employers to hire non-citizens for skilled work often in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...
One Paragraph Cuts Through The Hype Of Robots Taking Your Job  Business Insider   ...people have tended to overestimate, historically, the effect of technology on labor. And while robots are good at performing some repetitive tasks, jobs that require judgment are not so easily replaced by robots (these include jobs at the low and high end)...
How the Largest Worker Owned Co-op in the US Lifts People Out of Poverty  YES! Magazine   ...New York City is going—in a big way—for worker-owned cooperatives. Inspired by the model of CHCA and prodded by a new network of co-op members and enthusiasts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council allocated $1.2 million to support worker cooperatives in 2015’s budget...
There Are Zero States Where The Percentage Of People Employed Has Gone Up Since The Recession  Washington Post   ...From 2007 to 2014, the employment rate among 25- to 54-year-olds has declined in the United States by 3.5 percent, and no state reported employment gains during that time, according to data released by the Pew Charitable Trust on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Health Care Data Breaches Have Hit 30M Patients And Counting  Washington Post   ...the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' database of major breach reports (those affecting 500 people or more) has tracked 944 incidents affecting personal information from about 30.1 million people...
Home and Jobs Data Suggests Momentum  Reuters   ...Sales of existing homes in the United States rose in July to a 10-month high, and the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, signaling strength in the economy early in the third quarter...

Victory! Teamsters win new pro-worker laws in California

California Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed three bills that will strengthen the state’s labor laws by protecting workers from employer retaliation.

This is a huge win for Teamsters Joint Council 7, which led the legislative battle to get the laws passed. It’s also a big victory for workers like Marquez Brothers employees who have faced harsh retaliation since they voted to become Teamsters last year.

Doug Bloch, political director of Teamsters Joint Council 7, says the trio of laws are the strongest labor protections for immigrant workers in the country:

Under these laws, immigrant workers who speak up now have new legal protections... That's because these laws put civil and criminal penalties in place for employers who threaten workers with immigration enforcement.

The three laws -- AB 263, AB 524 and SB 666 -- prohibit immigration-related retaliation and clarify that threatening to expose workers’ immigration status is extortion.

Marquez Brothers is a perfect example of why these laws are necessary. The cheese company has been ruthlessly intimidating workers at its Hanford, Calif., plant since they joined Teamsters Local 517, refusing to bargain and launching a campaign to get the union decertified.

Brother Bloch explains:

Marquez Brothers is one of the largest distributors of dairy products serving the Latino community in North America. After their workers organized a union, the company responded by bringing in Littler Mendelson, a law firm that touts its ability to advise clients on "union avoidance" and "maintaining a union-free workplace." One strategy Littler excels in involves a classic union-busting strategy: delay and decertify.

Marquez Brothers used the [decertification] petition as a legal justification to withdraw union recognition from the workers. In the year since they first organized, Marquez workers have faced a constant campaign of harassment and intimidation. In March, workers traveled to Sacramento to testify at a legislative hearing on employer intimidation, only to be followed by company management and Littler attorneys. One of the workers was fired shortly after the hearing. She was one of twenty union supporters fired since they organized. Others have quit in the face of a constant barrage of harassment.

The state’s new laws put abusive companies like Marquez Brothers on notice, calling their behavior exactly what it is: criminal.

Teamsters at Marquez Brothers have organized a recertification campaign to beat back the company’s anti-union drive. They filed to recertify the union last month, but that election is on hold pending the reopening of the NLRB after the government shutdown.

Bloch says the legislative victory once again puts California on the cutting-edge of pro-labor reforms. And it also shows that when Teamsters mobilize, we win!

The lobby days and work that many Locals did with their legislators on the ground made a huge difference, along with the high visibility of the Teamsters in the Prop 32 fight last year and the DRIVE contributions we make. This is a real testament to all of our JC7 Locals and members who have stepped up in politics.

This victory wouldn’t have happened without the brave sacrifices made by Marquez Brothers workers who lost their jobs during the campaign. With their trips to the state capitol and talking to the press, they won strong support from state legislators and showed why these anti-retaliation laws needed to be passed.

When companies are able to bully workers on immigration issues in order to suppress their wages and working conditions, it drives down standards for all workers. So this is a big win for all California workers.

And in a time when we find ourselves fighting off anti-worker legislation in so many states, it’s refreshing to score a victory for worker-friendly laws.

Way to go, California Teamsters!

Teamsters supporting Occupy Oakland in tomorrow's action

OK, first of all it isn't really a general strike in the technical sense of the word (but we really like the poster). Here's how Occupy Oakland characterizes it:

...we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

Teamsters from all area locals will be at a 4:30 pm rally. At 5 pm, Teamsters are supplying food for a giant barbecue. Thousands are expected to attend. Afterward, there will be a march to the docks, which the Teamsters aren't sanctioning. Joint Council 7's truck will be there.

The mayor has told all city workers except the police to take the day off.

The Oakland Police, criticized for the way they handled a raid on the Occupy camp last week, responded with a letter today:

We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.

Doug Bloch, political director for Joint Council 7, serves on the executive committee of the Alameda Labor Council. Today he proposed a motion that the Labor Council reach out to the employee associations representing law enforcement to show its support. The motion passed.

Teamsters were also the first union to support Occupy Oakland -- and San Francisco, and Fresno, and San Jose. We hear there wasn't even any discussion about passing the resolutions supporting each Occupation. Said Joint Council 7 Rome Aloise:

We're on the offensive. It's all about fighting back against the war on workers. The Occupy movement has helped focus the issue on something our members have known all along. The problem isn't the unions, it's the corporations that hate us and would love to get rid of us.

Stay tuned. We'll keep you posted about what happens in Oakland tomorrow.

Teamsters march with farm workers (slide show)

California Teamsters want for farm workers what all Teamsters want for America: Good jobs. Which is why Teamsters from California's Central Valley joined farm workers in Stockton on their 167-mile march to the state capitol. They want Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers bill.

The Examiner reports,

Thousands of California farm workers and their supporters today rallied at the State Capitol in Sacramento, after a 13-day, 167-mile march through California’s Central Valley, to demand better protections and more union rights. The march, organized by the United Farm Workers union (“UFW”), began nearly two months after California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 104, the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, which would have made it easier for California’s farm workers to join unions such as the UFW.

 .... The protest also occurs against a backdrop of at least two allegedly heat-related California farm worker deaths in the past several months.

The farm workers’ march to Sacramento seems to have had an effect: according to various reports, Governor Brown has offered a compromise which would give added protections to California farm workers and their unions under current law.

Teamsters International Vice President Rome Alois spoke to the crowd in Sacramento. Plenty of Teamsters were there, along with the brand new Teamsters Joint Council 7 truck.

Teamsters had also fed the marchers in Stockton, reports the North Valley Labor Federation,

Teamsters 439, UFCW 8, Teamsters 601 provided lunches and dinners for the walkers. Lots of food to get them on their way.

Sam Rosas and Local 439 brought their big rig to travel with the walkers and bring NEWS (channel 3) interest to the march.

Si se puede!!

Teamsters march with Farm Workers in CA

In 1966, Cesar Chavez led striking farm workers on a 340-mile pilgrimage to Sacramento. They'd had enough of poverty wages, long hours, a lack of fresh drinking water, pesticides, heat. More important, they wanted to show that their strike was about justice and dignity. They did.

The march started in Delano, where grape farmers struck for five years, ultimately winning a first contract for more than 10,000 workers.  The march ended at the Statehouse steps in the hopes that Gov. Pat Brown would sponsor a bill to grant union rights to farm workers.

Writes Dick Meister in the San Francisco Chronicle,

(Brown) refused, despite the urgings of more than 8,000 UFW members and supporters who gathered outside the Capitol at the end of the 25-day march.

Farm workers did not get those rights until his son won passage of the bill – the Agricultural Labor Relations Act or ALRA – that granted the rights nine years later after a week long march from San Francisco to the Modesto headquarters of the huge Gallo winery, which had rebuffed vineyard workers' demands for a union representation election.

More than 15,000 people marched into Modesto, convincing Jerry Brown and state legislators that the UFW retained a sizable and influential constituency and great organizational ability. That had very much to do with passage of the ALRA and the consequent success of the UFW in winning union contracts. The law, however, was barely enforced by Democrat Brown's successors as governor, Republicans George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson and Democrat Gray Davis.

Farm workers are again marching to Sacramento, this time from Madera, 200 miles away. They're marching because they're still dying in the fields. They want to persuade Gov. Jerry Brown to support the Fair Treatment for Farmworkers Act, which would make it easier for them to join a union, and another bill that would grant them overtime. Ironically, Brown vetoed the bill in June. 

Teamsters from Local 601 in Stockton helped put up the marchers and joined them Wednesday in the march to Sacramento. Doug Bloch, Teamsters Joint Council 7 political director, explains why:

We work in canneries side by side with United Farm Workers members and nonunion people who would benefit from the bill. Local 601 has a heavily Latino membership. They go to the same schools and the same churches as the farm workers. Our members are canning fruits and vegetables that nonunion folks are picking. The farm workers pick it, we process it.

Teamsters Joint Council 7 membership in the agricultural industry is huge, ranging from the Pacific Ocean to Yuma, Ariz. The Central Valley is the heart of California agriculture, and the Teamsters are the largest union in the area with 40,000 members. Teamsters process fruits and vegetables, bag lettuce and deliver produce, dairy, meat and poultry.

Rome Aloise, Joint Council 7 president, will join the last leg of the march on Sunday from South Side Park to the Capitol. More Teamsters and Teamster trucks -- including a brand-new one from Joint Council 7 -- will be at the rally at the capitol on Sunday.

You can help the farm workers by signing the petition here.

Si se puede!

Today's Teamster News 02.16.11

NH House passes right-to-work law  Nashua Telegraph   ...The 221-131 vote sends the controversial bill (HB 474) to the state Senate without the two-thirds super majority that would be needed to overcome a potential veto from Gov. John Lynch, who strongly opposes it...
Hearing on Wis. union plan finally ends  Associated Press   ...Republican House member Robin Vos finally ended the hearing at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. Democrats said they would continue to listen to workers who still wanted to speak...
Mo. Senate Panel Advances 'Right To Work' Bill  Associated Press   ...A Missouri Senate panel has advanced legislation that would prevent people from having to pay union fees as a condition of employment...
Crowd Overflows At Ohio Statehouse In Opposition To Senate Bill 5  nbc4i.com   ...State employees, public college and university workers could lose their right to collectively bargain under SB 5...
Union protests at Ind. Statehouse on GOP proposals  Associated Press   ...The future of the bill drawing the strongest ire of the union members remained uncertain as a Republican committee chairman said a decision had not been made on whether so-called right-to-work legislation would be considered this session...
Dayton proposes raising taxes on top 5% of Minnesotans to help fix budget  Pioneer Press   ...Gov. Mark Dayton wants to solve nearly half of Minnesota's budget problem by taxing the rich, a strategy that he said keeps a campaign promise but Republican legislative leaders called a job killer...
Job Went Overseas? Tough Luck, Says Congress  ABC News  ...Congress Fails to Extend Aid for Workers Displaced by Foreign Competition Over Sleeping Bag Deal...
Workers to State Legislators: Stop ‘Sweetheart’ Enterprise Zone Deals (Joint Council 7)  BeyondChron.com   ...members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, visited every state legislator with a small box of chocolates that said “Stop the Sweetheart Enterprise Zones...”
Teamsters Endorse Perdue for West Virginia Governor  IBT   ...Local 175 Teamsters have voted unanimously to endorse State Treasurer John Perdue for West Virginia governor, the first major endorsement in the upcoming special election...
Southwest Airlines And Teamster-Represented Stock Clerks Announce New Tentative Agreement  IBT   ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airlines Division, representing the carrier's stock clerks, announced today that the two parties have reached a tentative agreement for a new, five-year contract...

Today's Teamster News 1.2.11

YRC Worldwide Reports Key Stakeholder Support of Comprehensive Plan  YRC  ...Teamsters extend timeline for tecapitalization of YRCW balance sheet...
Visalia caught in union fight over jobs in Bay Area  Fresno Bee   ...the Teamsters want to save union jobs at a warehouse in the Bay Area...
Overweight, Out of Work At Rail Yard Chicago News Cooperative   ...Those not rehired say BNSF officials gave them various reasons they were not qualified for the jobs they had been doing for years — including that they are too fat...
Public Workers Facing Outrage as Budget Crises Grow  New York Times   ...Local governments shed 212,000 jobs last year...
California Republican touts legislation banning public pension bailouts  The Hill   ...Rep. Devin Nunes ... is promoting legislation designed to gauge the extent of the problem, while also establishing a ban on federal bailouts of public pension programs...
New health-care rules to take effect  Washington Post  ...The new rules are designed to help those caught in Medicare's "doughnut hole," offer seniors more preventative care, and limit how much of their customers' money health-insurance companies can keep for overhead and profit...