Teamsters
Thousands Of Teamsters March In New York Labor Day Parade Teamster.org ...Thousands of Teamsters in New York participated in the annual Labor Day parade on Saturday. Members from local unions representing a variety of industries including construction, motion picture, theatrical trades, warehouse, public services, sanitation, parking, brewery, soft drink, freight, funeral, moving and printing participated. In each of the local union contingents members held the new "Let's Get America Working - Union Strong, America Stronger" signs...
Atlanta Teamsters Ratify Sysco Contract, First Ever in Georgia Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 528 members, whose fight to win union representation has lasted more than 18 months, ratified a first contract that provides strong union protections for more than 400 workers at Sysco’s Atlanta facility on Saturday. “This has been an uphill struggle, but these workers stood together through it all to negotiate a strong first contract that will protect them for years to come,” said Maurice Cobb, Teamsters Local 528 President...
Port truck drivers enter 10th week of wage-theft protests Press Telegram ...Truck drivers for a transportation company serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports entered their 10th week protesting what they say are more than $6 million in wages and expenses stolen by their employer, a Teamsters official said Monday. The drivers picketing at Pacific 9 Transportation’s Carson truck yard say they should be on the pay roll as employees but are instead misclassified as independent contractors...
Teamsters Vehemently Voice Opposition to Harmful Soda Tax Local 727 ...Teamster representatives and beverage industry members showed their strength and solidarity in vehement opposition of 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas’ proposed penny-an-ounce soda tax. Dozens of Local 727 members dressed proudly in work shirts displaying Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and other soft drink logos packed Chicago’s City Council chambers for a Health Committee hearing on Sept. 9 as opponents of the harmful tax outnumbered supporters by an estimated 40 to 1...
Local 727 Continues to Raise Hotel Industry’s Working Standards Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727’s campaign to raise wages and working standards at Chicago-area hotels recorded another victory last week when DoubleTree Arlington Heights shuttle bus drivers ratified their first union contract. The five-year agreement includes annual wage increases, paid sick/personal days and crucial job protections such as a grievance and arbitration procedure, seniority and non-discrimination clauses, and roll-off for discipline...
Teamsters Raise $37,500 for Camp Papillon Teamsters Canada ...On Thursday, the Teamsters Union sent the profits from the Teamsters Quebec Omnium to the Director General of the Quebec Society for Disabled Children and Camp Papillon, Ronald Davidson. A total of $37 500 was donated to the camp that that, each year, welcomes close to 700 children with disabilities by giving them a chance to experience outdoor living in a secure environment...
Global Labor & Trade
Labor Will Keep Up Trade Pressure on Democrats National Journal ...Two months after the passage of controversial trade legislation that stirred tensions within the Democratic Party, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said organized labor has no plans to back down when it comes time for Congress to ratify passage of a sweeping Pacific trade deal. Asked if his group would apply pressure to Democrats on the issue—even if it came up close to the election—Trumka replied, “Yes”...
Auto parts differences between Japan, U.S. and others seen clouding prospects for next TPP ministerial talks Japan Times ...The 12 countries taking part in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations are likely to face difficulties in arranging a ministerial meeting as Japan, the United States and others were unable to narrow the gap over the automotive sector in recent working-level talks. The participating nations are aiming to hold a ministerial session later this month or in early October, after they failed to reach a broad TPP accord at their previous ministerial discussions...
Thailand looks to join US-led TPP Today Online ...Thailand is interested in joining the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact being touted by the United States, but needs to study the terms and conditions of the new trade bloc first, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has said. “We are very interested, but we must weigh the advantages and disadvantages carefully,” Mr Somkid told the Bangkok Post...
Uruguay Pulls Out Of ‘Secret’ Talks On Trade In Services Eurasia Review ...Just a week before the deadline for submitting national offers on liberalisation of services sectors under the on-going “secret” talks for a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez decided on September 7 to abandon the plurilateral negotiations. The Uruguayan president’s action follows a decision taken on September 5 by a large majority of the Frente Amplio, the governing leftist political coalition, against Uruguay continuing to be part of the TiSA negotiations...
Germany Closes Its Border With Austria, Hoping to Stop the Refugee Flow Mother Jones ...The German government has announced that the country is closing its border with Austria and also suspending train traffic to and from its southern neighbor, the route by which tens of thousands of refugees have entered Germany in recent days. Those borders have been open for nearly 20 years under the Schengen Agreement, which turned most of the European Union into one large free-travel zone with no internal border checks...
Brazil unveils a massive $17 billion austerity package that won't make people happy Business Insider ...Brazil announced a massive $17 billion austerity package Monday in a bid to boost its ailing economy amid a deepening crisis that has already caused a shock downgrade of its credit rating. The package -- announced at a news conference by Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa -- includes freezing public sector salary raises and hiring, entirely eliminating 10 of 39 ministries, cutting 1,000 jobs and slashing housing and health-related social spending...
Forced Labor Rampant in Uzbekistan Fall Cotton Harvest Solidarity Center ...Health care workers in Uzbekistan are toiling in cotton fields and third- and fourth-year university students are now on their way as well, forced by the government to labor in the country’s fall harvest, according to stories compiled by the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights. The nonprofit organization also is highlighting news that minors again may be forced into picking cotton...
State & Living Wage Battles
Missouri GOP governor candidates urge right-to-work override Kansas City Star ...Five likely Republican candidates for Missouri governor have sent a letter to state lawmakers urging them to overturn Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of so-called right to work legislation. The candidates are Eric Greitens, Catherine Hanaway, Peter Kinder, Randy Asbury, and John Brunner. The veto session starts Wednesday. The bill under consideration would prohibit the collection of mandatory union dues. The vote is likely to be close...
Vote postponed on minimum wage bill WIAT ...A vote on legislation to keep municipalities in Alabama from independently raising the minimum wage has been postponed in the state House of Representatives. The bill was introduced last week by Rep. David Faulkner (R – Mountain Brook), not long after the Birmingham City Council voted to raise minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, the federal rate, to $10.10 an hour, to be phased in over two years...
Anti-union group offers petition to end prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...A group looking to end Michigan's prevailing-wage law turned in enough signatures Monday to put the issue before the Legislature. The 390,959 signatures in 44 boxes still have to go through a review with the Michigan Secretary of State to determine whether there are at least 252,523 valid signatures...
NJ's paid sick leave bill stalls North Jersey ...A bill that would require employers to give workers paid sick time off remains stalled over whether the statewide law should be the final word on what employers must do, or whether it should allow towns to pass their own laws in the future. The bill, which has the backing of committees in the Senate and the Assembly, has gotten bogged down over whether the law should supersede nine municipal paid sick leave laws...
10 Cities Where It’s Most Terrifying To Scrape By On Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Recently, New York became the first state to approve a $15 minimum wage for the state’s 200,000 fast-food cooks and cashiers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo used the occasion to announce a campaign to make New York the first state in the nation to adopt the same standard for all of its workers. In fact, workers making minimum wage in New York counties have had it relatively easy, at least compared with the following 10 counties...
U.S. Labor
No deal yet: UAW, Fiat Chrysler pulled an all-nighter Detroit Free Press ...No deal yet as the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles continued to negotiate through the night after extending the existing collective agreement on an hour-by-hour basis in anticipation of signing a tentative agreement soon. The pace of the talks slowed a bit in the predawn hours but a core group continued to soldier on. Full resumption of bargaining is expected to resume by midday...
The Verizon Standoff and the Future of Labor, Communication and Privacy Counterpunch ...On August 1, 2015, the IBEW and CWA contract with Verizon expired. However, unlike previous years, they decided to not strike, a move meant to undermine the company’s hiring and housing of scabs. This is a labor struggle that will have a major impact on the entire labor movement. “I think the days of the short strike is over. Verizon wants to break the union and is willing to overwork lower levels of management in the process,” said Dan Murphy, a retired member of the union...
ATI declines USW offer to return to bargaining table Times Online ...he United Steelworkers tried to get Allegheny Technologies back to the bargaining table ahead of a scheduled mediation Friday, but the company declined to bargain. USW spokesman Wayne Ranick said the company still stands firm to its “last, best and final” offer made more than a month ago before the company locked out thousands of union members...
This Is How Bad the Sharing Economy Is for Workers The Nation ... The “sharing” or “gig” economy—think Airbnb, Uber, and Taskrabbit—has made massive fortunes reducing labor to disassembled microtasks; unfortunately, it’s shrunk workers’ rights too. But as our jobs are redefined by labor-brokering platforms, some advocates are trying to redefine labor rights for a digital economy. Currently, the gig economy trades labor fluidly across online platforms...
How Cities Can Join the Fight Against Wage Theft Truthout ...Unpaid labor, which is sometimes referred to as wage theft, is a national problem that affects working families and deprives large amounts of money from being circulated in our communities. Estimates on the issue range as high as $30 billion in unpaid wages. The US Department of Labor alone collects hundreds of millions of dollars in wages that were originally not paid, touching only the tip of the iceberg...
Scott Walker wants to destroy what’s left of America’s unions Slate ...On Monday, the Wisconsin governor released his plan to strangle unions, titled “My Plan to Give Power to the People, Not the Union Bosses.” He would end collective bargaining for federal employees, as per his move in 2011; he would require complete disclosure for union expenditures and total compensation of union officers; he would sign a national “right to work law;” he would repeal wage controls for federal infrastructure projects; and he would eliminate the National Labor Relations Board...
Social Justice & Other News
Why Non-Voters Matter The Atlantic ...In 2014, just 41.9 percent of the voting-age citizen population of the United States voted. But the people who voted are not only in the minority, they form an unrepresentative minority. In many salient ways, voters are not like nonvoters: voters are richer, whiter, and older than other Americans. "Why Voting Matters," shows how their votes produce a government that caters to their interests—and how boosting turnout would lead to a more representative democracy...
Colleges Flush With Cash Saddle Poorest Students With Debt Common Dreams ...NYU is not the only university with a billion-dollar endowment to leave its poorest students with heavy debt loads. More than a quarter of the nation’s 60 wealthiest universities leave their low-income students owing an average of more than $20,000 in federal loans. At the University of Southern California, which has a $4.6 billion endowment, low-income students graduate with slightly more debt than NYU’s graduates: $23,375...
Ferguson "People's Report" Unveils Bold Plan To Achieve Racial Equity Common Dreams ...A panel of activists, researchers, community members, and other volunteers on Monday unveiled a new report with 189 "calls to action" to address the scourge of racial inequity in and around St. Louis, Missouri, illuminated by a year of protests following the police shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown last August. Brown's death at the hands of a white police officer galvanized new questions and demands over institutional racism in the U.S...
The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration The Atlantic ...Influenced by the civil-rights movement, Moynihan focused on the black family. He believed that an undue optimism about the pending passage of civil-rights legislation was obscuring a pressing problem: a deficit of employed black men of strong character. “The Negro Family” argued that the federal government was underestimating the damage done to black families by “three centuries of sometimes unimaginable mistreatment” as well as a “racist virus in the American blood stream”...
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.08.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Pledges Solidarity With UAW In Big Three Negotiations Teamster.org ...In remarks at the Detroit Labor Day Parade today, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa pledged solidarity with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in their contract negotiations with the Big Three: Ford, Chrysler and GM. “I know you haven’t picked a target yet, but it’s one of those three,” Hoffa said. “If the UAW goes on strike, I make a pledge on behalf of the 1.4 million Teamster members – we will honor your picket lines"...
Workers at Center of NLRB's 'Joint Employer' Ruling Vote to Join Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...The California waste workers at the center of a recent major National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ‘joint employer’ ruling have voted overwhelmingly in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 350 in Daly City, Calif. Workers with Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), which is now owned by Republic Services, cast their ballots in a union representation election in April 2014...
Teamsters win election in labor case at center of recent NLRB ruling LA Times ...Workers at the Silicon Valley recycling plant that was central to a recent landmark National Labor Relations Board ruling have voted in support of being represented by the Teamsters union. The vote involved Browning-Ferris Industries, a Houston waste management company that used a subcontractor, Leadpoint Business Services, to staff its recycling center in Milpitas, Calif...
Glimmer of hope in ending the Tucson bus strike Tucson News Now ...The Teamsters Local 104 union and Sun Tran will meet for an all-day session on Tuesday to see if the two sides can come to an agreement to end the 33-day-old walkout. Regardless of the outcome on Tuesday, the two sides have also scheduled another all-day meeting for Thursday...
Silicon Valley’s Labor Uprising In These Times ...The Teamsters have seen four union victories in 2015: the warehouse workers at Google Express, waste disposal workers at Genentech, and workers at two transportation companies that collectively serve Apple, Genentech, Yahoo, eBay, Zynga, Evernote and Amtrak. These are the drivers of the infamous symbols of Silicon Valley’s burgeoning class war: the elite private buses from San Francisco and environs to Silicon Valley...
Richard Greenwald: Power in a union (opinion) Daily News ...As workers in old-line industries wake up, workers in emerging ones are coming to realize that unions are not anathema to their experience. Here, the hero of the day is Rome Aloise, international vice president and secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853 on the West Coast. The Teamsters have been building on their history of aggressive organizing efforts...
This Labor Day, Let’s Look to the Future Teamster.org ..."The first Monday in September is set aside to remember the workers who made this country great. For more than 100 years, the hard work and dedication of Teamster members have been a symbol of pride, strength and unity throughout America. Typically, we look back to honor the countless union members, labor leaders and other historically significant figures who paved the way. This Labor Day, however, I want us to look to the future"...
Global Labor &Trade
Japan, U.S. to resume TPP auto talks Wednesday in Washington Japan Times ...Japan and the United States will resume bilateral talks Wednesday in Washington on auto trade issues under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative, the Foreign Ministry said. The negotiations, to continue through Friday, will follow a ministerial meeting of all 12 TPP countries in late July in Hawaii, where they failed to secure a much-anticipated broad agreement...
US, Japan keen to strike a quick agreement on TPP Today ...In what may be an injection of political capital into the stalled talks on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have agreed this week that the two countries should work on concluding the agreement at an early date. Mr Aso told reporters that he discussed with Mr Lew the need to quickly strike a deal on the US-led TPP pact...
China free trade agreement should be renegotiated or blocked, say unions The Guardian ...Unions are urging parliament to block the China-Australia free trade agreement (Chafta) if Canberra does not reopen negotiations with Beijing, taking a stronger line than the federal opposition which has suggested safeguards for Australian jobs could be enshrined in domestic law without jeopardising the deal. Representatives of the ACTU – the peak union body – told the treaties committee on Monday that the problems “lie with the text of the agreement itself”...
HHI workers strike, more strikes to follow IHS Maritime ....Workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) went on strike on 4 September and are planning more industrial action this month. From 0800-1200hrs local time on 4 September, HHI workers refused to work, causing the world's biggest shipbuilder to suspend production at its Ulsan yard. That followed a previous strike on 26 August. A joint strike with workers from South Korea's two other major shipbuilders, Samsung HI and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, is also planned for 9 September...
Thousands Reach Austria as Refugee Crisis Issues 'Wake-up Call' Common Dreams ...Thousands of refugees were welcomed into Austria on Saturday after epic journeys from Hungary that many were forced to begin to take on foot. As USA Today reports, Hungary, which had spent days stopping migrants from leaving by train, provided buses to take them into Austria. The government relented under international pressure and after desperate refugees who had camped out at the Budapest train station simply began walking toward the border...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right-to-work veto clash looms in Missouri Kansas City Star ...After nearly a year of debate, procedural hijinks and political maneuvering, the question of whether to make Missouri the country’s 26th right-to-work state will come to a head this month. Neither side seems particularly confident in the outcome. A bill passed by the General Assembly this spring would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment...
Right-to-work debate dominates St. Louis Labor Day Parade St. Louis Today ...It was a common message in the banners on the floats, which read “Right to Work is Wrong For Missouri” and “Right to Work Leads Missouri Right to the Bottom.” And it was a common refrain from parade-watchers, many of them decked out in brightly colored T-shirts touting their opposition to the “right to work” legislation the Legislature passed this year...
Workers march through Trenton to call for minimum wage hike NJ.com ...As the nation recognized Labor Day, workers from across New Jersey marched on Monday through Trenton to show support for raising the minimum wage and other labor issues. With elected officials by their sides, workers from New Jersey's Service Employees International Union marched from Trenton City Hall to the Statehouse, according to an NJTV News report...
Voter ID law still faces pushback after legislative changes Daily Tar heel ...North Carolina will join more than 30 states requiring some form of ID at the polls when the law goes into effect in 2016. Seven of those states mandate photo ID, while the rest grant exceptions for acceptable excuses or nonphoto ID. North Carolina lawmakers have defined reasonable impediments as including issues with transportation to the polls, a lack of documentation and family responsibilities...
Unions’ ranks grow in right-to-work Arizona AZ Central ...Arizona labor unions have something to celebrate this Labor Day, with union membership in the state rising last year for the first time since the start of the recession. Unionized workers rose from 5 percent of the state’s labor force in 2013 to 5.3 percent in 2014, an increase of 16,000 workers over the year to a total of 138,000 union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Walmart Says Its Reforming Its Brutal Scheduling System, but Workers Tell a Different Story The Nation ...Walmart is the American economy’s Invisible Hand, and it giveth and taketh away. So just months after announcing grand plans to give workers raises and better schedules, the mega-retailer appears to be rolling back its generosity, hour by hour. Bloomberg News reports that at various stores workers have seen systematic cutbacks to their schedules...
U.S. Labor
Unions look to bolster numbers, power at Detroit's annual Labor Day parade Michigan Radio ...Thousands of union members marched into downtown Detroit Monday as part of the city’s annual Labor Day parade. The UAW is in the midst of bargaining new contracts with Detroit automakers. The current “two-tier” wage system dividing older and newer assembly line workers members is expected to be a central issue, as are health care and profit-sharing...
UAW in no rush to pick contract target from Detroit 3 Detroit Free Press ...UAW President Dennis Williams said Monday the union is making progress with all three Detroit automakers and is not ready yet to pick a target in its contract negotiations, even though there are only seven days left before contracts expire for about 141,000 autoworkers. Williams, who spoke at the Ford National Program Center near Hart Plaza in Detroit, said he is in no rush to name a lead company...
What The Uber Economy Means For The Future Of Work Think Progress ...Rideshare service Uber is facing the possible rupture of its entire business model in a key case that could have even further reaching implications for the U.S. economy. Uber is facing accusations that it illegally misclassifies its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, therefore ducking responsibility for a variety of schedule and wage protections afforded to employees...
10 times GOP candidates gave labor a giant middle finger Salon ...With a crowded field of 17 candidates, the GOP’s 2016 presidential slate features at least two leading Republican candidates who have risen to right-wing notoriety by pushing laws stripping collective bargaining rights from most public employees and another favorite who insists that Americans should just “work longer hours.” And that’s just a start...
Just in Time for Labor Day, NLRB Rules in Favor of Hooters Workers In These Times ...Just in time for Labor Day, the leading workers’ rights agency within the U.S. government has a tip for the waitresses serving up beer and chicken wings at Hooters. The tip from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is not an extravagant one, nor is it exclusive to the wait staff at Hooters restaurants. Instead, it is a re-affirmation of the labor board’s basic policy that employers cannot use mandatory arbitration agreements to limit the labor rights of employees...
Obama Marks Labor Day With New Order Expanding Paid Sick Leave Common Dreams ...President Barack Obama on Monday will issue an executive order expanding paid sick leave for federal contract employees and call on Congress to pass similar legislation, marking Labor Day with a speech at a morning rally in Boston, Massachusetts, where voters recently approved a more worker-friendly policy. The order will require federal contractors to offer one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked...
The media vs. the American worker: How the 1 percent hijacked the business of news Salon ...Working people, meanwhile, find themselves lavished with much less attention. And forget about unions, which, even in their diminished state, still represent millions and millions of people. The number of outlets with reporters dedicated to covering labor issues has steadily shrunk in recent years, even as the technological revolution makes an examination of modern-day labor practices more important than ever...
Can Millennials Save Unions? The Atlantic ...With irreverent, Internet-fluent headlines, Gawker is seen as a prototypical Millennial media company. For that reason, many saw Gawker’s move as a sign of more to come. “If the unionization effort succeeds, it will be a big PR boost for the ailing labor movement,” wrote Steven Greenhouse, the former labor reporter for The New York Times, on the eve of the vote. “It will show that unions, which have focused in recent years on organizing low-wage workers, can also attract hip, highly educated workers, many of them Ivy League graduates”...
Social Justice & Other News
Immigration reformers seize on Pope Francis’s visit The Hill ...Immigration reformers on and off of Capitol Hill are hoping Pope Francis's visit to Washington this month will serve as a catalyst for ending immigrant detentions. The Obama administration has stirred a whirlwind of criticism for expanding its detention of illegal immigrant families in response to last summer's migrant surge — a policy many Democrats and human rights advocates have condemned as harmful to the health of the women and children being held...
Is Southern California the New Deep South? Slate ...While the Deep South has moved away from capital punishment, Riverside County, California, has become the buckle of a new Death Belt. An hour’s drive from Los Angeles, with a population of 2.3 million (6 percent of California’s population), Riverside has produced more death sentences since 2010 than any other county in America except one—Los Angeles County, which is four times its size...
Baltimore to pay Freddie Gray's family $6.4m in wrongful death settlement The Guardian ...The city of Baltimore says it has reached a $6.4m wrongful death settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a critical spine injury while in police custody. Gray’s death in April sparked protests, rioting and unrest that shook Baltimore for days. Six Baltimore police officers face criminal charges...
Hoffa Pledges Solidarity With UAW In Big Three Negotiations Teamster.org ...In remarks at the Detroit Labor Day Parade today, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa pledged solidarity with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in their contract negotiations with the Big Three: Ford, Chrysler and GM. “I know you haven’t picked a target yet, but it’s one of those three,” Hoffa said. “If the UAW goes on strike, I make a pledge on behalf of the 1.4 million Teamster members – we will honor your picket lines"...
Workers at Center of NLRB's 'Joint Employer' Ruling Vote to Join Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...The California waste workers at the center of a recent major National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ‘joint employer’ ruling have voted overwhelmingly in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 350 in Daly City, Calif. Workers with Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), which is now owned by Republic Services, cast their ballots in a union representation election in April 2014...
Teamsters win election in labor case at center of recent NLRB ruling LA Times ...Workers at the Silicon Valley recycling plant that was central to a recent landmark National Labor Relations Board ruling have voted in support of being represented by the Teamsters union. The vote involved Browning-Ferris Industries, a Houston waste management company that used a subcontractor, Leadpoint Business Services, to staff its recycling center in Milpitas, Calif...
Glimmer of hope in ending the Tucson bus strike Tucson News Now ...The Teamsters Local 104 union and Sun Tran will meet for an all-day session on Tuesday to see if the two sides can come to an agreement to end the 33-day-old walkout. Regardless of the outcome on Tuesday, the two sides have also scheduled another all-day meeting for Thursday...
Silicon Valley’s Labor Uprising In These Times ...The Teamsters have seen four union victories in 2015: the warehouse workers at Google Express, waste disposal workers at Genentech, and workers at two transportation companies that collectively serve Apple, Genentech, Yahoo, eBay, Zynga, Evernote and Amtrak. These are the drivers of the infamous symbols of Silicon Valley’s burgeoning class war: the elite private buses from San Francisco and environs to Silicon Valley...
Richard Greenwald: Power in a union (opinion) Daily News ...As workers in old-line industries wake up, workers in emerging ones are coming to realize that unions are not anathema to their experience. Here, the hero of the day is Rome Aloise, international vice president and secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853 on the West Coast. The Teamsters have been building on their history of aggressive organizing efforts...
This Labor Day, Let’s Look to the Future Teamster.org ..."The first Monday in September is set aside to remember the workers who made this country great. For more than 100 years, the hard work and dedication of Teamster members have been a symbol of pride, strength and unity throughout America. Typically, we look back to honor the countless union members, labor leaders and other historically significant figures who paved the way. This Labor Day, however, I want us to look to the future"...
Global Labor &Trade
Japan, U.S. to resume TPP auto talks Wednesday in Washington Japan Times ...Japan and the United States will resume bilateral talks Wednesday in Washington on auto trade issues under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative, the Foreign Ministry said. The negotiations, to continue through Friday, will follow a ministerial meeting of all 12 TPP countries in late July in Hawaii, where they failed to secure a much-anticipated broad agreement...
US, Japan keen to strike a quick agreement on TPP Today ...In what may be an injection of political capital into the stalled talks on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have agreed this week that the two countries should work on concluding the agreement at an early date. Mr Aso told reporters that he discussed with Mr Lew the need to quickly strike a deal on the US-led TPP pact...
China free trade agreement should be renegotiated or blocked, say unions The Guardian ...Unions are urging parliament to block the China-Australia free trade agreement (Chafta) if Canberra does not reopen negotiations with Beijing, taking a stronger line than the federal opposition which has suggested safeguards for Australian jobs could be enshrined in domestic law without jeopardising the deal. Representatives of the ACTU – the peak union body – told the treaties committee on Monday that the problems “lie with the text of the agreement itself”...
HHI workers strike, more strikes to follow IHS Maritime ....Workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) went on strike on 4 September and are planning more industrial action this month. From 0800-1200hrs local time on 4 September, HHI workers refused to work, causing the world's biggest shipbuilder to suspend production at its Ulsan yard. That followed a previous strike on 26 August. A joint strike with workers from South Korea's two other major shipbuilders, Samsung HI and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, is also planned for 9 September...
Thousands Reach Austria as Refugee Crisis Issues 'Wake-up Call' Common Dreams ...Thousands of refugees were welcomed into Austria on Saturday after epic journeys from Hungary that many were forced to begin to take on foot. As USA Today reports, Hungary, which had spent days stopping migrants from leaving by train, provided buses to take them into Austria. The government relented under international pressure and after desperate refugees who had camped out at the Budapest train station simply began walking toward the border...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right-to-work veto clash looms in Missouri Kansas City Star ...After nearly a year of debate, procedural hijinks and political maneuvering, the question of whether to make Missouri the country’s 26th right-to-work state will come to a head this month. Neither side seems particularly confident in the outcome. A bill passed by the General Assembly this spring would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment...
Right-to-work debate dominates St. Louis Labor Day Parade St. Louis Today ...It was a common message in the banners on the floats, which read “Right to Work is Wrong For Missouri” and “Right to Work Leads Missouri Right to the Bottom.” And it was a common refrain from parade-watchers, many of them decked out in brightly colored T-shirts touting their opposition to the “right to work” legislation the Legislature passed this year...
Workers march through Trenton to call for minimum wage hike NJ.com ...As the nation recognized Labor Day, workers from across New Jersey marched on Monday through Trenton to show support for raising the minimum wage and other labor issues. With elected officials by their sides, workers from New Jersey's Service Employees International Union marched from Trenton City Hall to the Statehouse, according to an NJTV News report...
Voter ID law still faces pushback after legislative changes Daily Tar heel ...North Carolina will join more than 30 states requiring some form of ID at the polls when the law goes into effect in 2016. Seven of those states mandate photo ID, while the rest grant exceptions for acceptable excuses or nonphoto ID. North Carolina lawmakers have defined reasonable impediments as including issues with transportation to the polls, a lack of documentation and family responsibilities...
Unions’ ranks grow in right-to-work Arizona AZ Central ...Arizona labor unions have something to celebrate this Labor Day, with union membership in the state rising last year for the first time since the start of the recession. Unionized workers rose from 5 percent of the state’s labor force in 2013 to 5.3 percent in 2014, an increase of 16,000 workers over the year to a total of 138,000 union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Walmart Says Its Reforming Its Brutal Scheduling System, but Workers Tell a Different Story The Nation ...Walmart is the American economy’s Invisible Hand, and it giveth and taketh away. So just months after announcing grand plans to give workers raises and better schedules, the mega-retailer appears to be rolling back its generosity, hour by hour. Bloomberg News reports that at various stores workers have seen systematic cutbacks to their schedules...
U.S. Labor
Unions look to bolster numbers, power at Detroit's annual Labor Day parade Michigan Radio ...Thousands of union members marched into downtown Detroit Monday as part of the city’s annual Labor Day parade. The UAW is in the midst of bargaining new contracts with Detroit automakers. The current “two-tier” wage system dividing older and newer assembly line workers members is expected to be a central issue, as are health care and profit-sharing...
UAW in no rush to pick contract target from Detroit 3 Detroit Free Press ...UAW President Dennis Williams said Monday the union is making progress with all three Detroit automakers and is not ready yet to pick a target in its contract negotiations, even though there are only seven days left before contracts expire for about 141,000 autoworkers. Williams, who spoke at the Ford National Program Center near Hart Plaza in Detroit, said he is in no rush to name a lead company...
What The Uber Economy Means For The Future Of Work Think Progress ...Rideshare service Uber is facing the possible rupture of its entire business model in a key case that could have even further reaching implications for the U.S. economy. Uber is facing accusations that it illegally misclassifies its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, therefore ducking responsibility for a variety of schedule and wage protections afforded to employees...
10 times GOP candidates gave labor a giant middle finger Salon ...With a crowded field of 17 candidates, the GOP’s 2016 presidential slate features at least two leading Republican candidates who have risen to right-wing notoriety by pushing laws stripping collective bargaining rights from most public employees and another favorite who insists that Americans should just “work longer hours.” And that’s just a start...
Just in Time for Labor Day, NLRB Rules in Favor of Hooters Workers In These Times ...Just in time for Labor Day, the leading workers’ rights agency within the U.S. government has a tip for the waitresses serving up beer and chicken wings at Hooters. The tip from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is not an extravagant one, nor is it exclusive to the wait staff at Hooters restaurants. Instead, it is a re-affirmation of the labor board’s basic policy that employers cannot use mandatory arbitration agreements to limit the labor rights of employees...
Obama Marks Labor Day With New Order Expanding Paid Sick Leave Common Dreams ...President Barack Obama on Monday will issue an executive order expanding paid sick leave for federal contract employees and call on Congress to pass similar legislation, marking Labor Day with a speech at a morning rally in Boston, Massachusetts, where voters recently approved a more worker-friendly policy. The order will require federal contractors to offer one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked...
The media vs. the American worker: How the 1 percent hijacked the business of news Salon ...Working people, meanwhile, find themselves lavished with much less attention. And forget about unions, which, even in their diminished state, still represent millions and millions of people. The number of outlets with reporters dedicated to covering labor issues has steadily shrunk in recent years, even as the technological revolution makes an examination of modern-day labor practices more important than ever...
Can Millennials Save Unions? The Atlantic ...With irreverent, Internet-fluent headlines, Gawker is seen as a prototypical Millennial media company. For that reason, many saw Gawker’s move as a sign of more to come. “If the unionization effort succeeds, it will be a big PR boost for the ailing labor movement,” wrote Steven Greenhouse, the former labor reporter for The New York Times, on the eve of the vote. “It will show that unions, which have focused in recent years on organizing low-wage workers, can also attract hip, highly educated workers, many of them Ivy League graduates”...
Social Justice & Other News
Immigration reformers seize on Pope Francis’s visit The Hill ...Immigration reformers on and off of Capitol Hill are hoping Pope Francis's visit to Washington this month will serve as a catalyst for ending immigrant detentions. The Obama administration has stirred a whirlwind of criticism for expanding its detention of illegal immigrant families in response to last summer's migrant surge — a policy many Democrats and human rights advocates have condemned as harmful to the health of the women and children being held...
Is Southern California the New Deep South? Slate ...While the Deep South has moved away from capital punishment, Riverside County, California, has become the buckle of a new Death Belt. An hour’s drive from Los Angeles, with a population of 2.3 million (6 percent of California’s population), Riverside has produced more death sentences since 2010 than any other county in America except one—Los Angeles County, which is four times its size...
Baltimore to pay Freddie Gray's family $6.4m in wrongful death settlement The Guardian ...The city of Baltimore says it has reached a $6.4m wrongful death settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a critical spine injury while in police custody. Gray’s death in April sparked protests, rioting and unrest that shook Baltimore for days. Six Baltimore police officers face criminal charges...
Monday, September 8, 2014
An awesome Labor Day for NYC, Milwaukee Teamsters!
Our Teamster brothers and sisters in New York and Milwaukee marched in Labor Day parades on Saturday, Sept. 6, and what parades they were. We received a terrific photo from Sister Deborah Schaefer, Teamsters Local 200 member, with none other than President Obama.
Jeff Bandur, business agent with Local 200, sent us the photo with a note saying Debbie works at the Nestle USA Burlington, Wisc., plant. She said,
"The Horse will always be the heart of the union." International Brotherhood of @Teamsters, 1916. #LaborDayParade pic.twitter.com/kRJdK6NBiT
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| President Obama and Deborah Schaefer. |
Labor Day 2014 is going to be one of the most memorable days in my life. It started out early in the morning getting my Harley all shined up and ready for the annual Labor Day Parade where I meet up with my Teamster Brothers and Sisters of Local 200. We assemble at 4th and Michigan in Milwaukee Wisconsin, where I received my Laborfest T-Shirt and tickets from my Union.
This year we were honored by a visit from President Obama, he gave an INCREDIBLE speech to a crowd of Union Members, his message was inspiring and full of emotion, after his speech I was fortunate enough to shake his hand, in fact gave him a hug, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I would like to thank Local 200 Secretary Treasurer Tom Millonzi and President Tom Bennett for their leadership and involvement in Labor Day 2014.That same day, horse carriage drivers from Teamsters Local 553 marched in New York City's Labor Day Parade.
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| New York City, Labor Day Parade |
"We don't just love New York... We ARE New York," tweeted Sister Christina Hansen (@CarriageCavalry).
And here's another great photo, and another great Tweet from Christina:
"The Horse will always be the heart of the union." International Brotherhood of @Teamsters, 1916. #LaborDayParade pic.twitter.com/kRJdK6NBiT
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.03.14
Teamster News
Republic Services Struggles To Gain Trust As It Deals With Landfill Headache St. Louis Post Dispatch ...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 9,000 of Republic’s workers and has had a contentious relationship with the company over the years, joined the chorus calling for buyouts and removal of the waste...
Printing And Production Workers At Seattle Times Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Printing and production workers at the Seattle Times newspaper as well as some specialty printers in the Seattle area have voted to merge with Teamsters Local 117...
UAW President Dennis Williams, U.S. VP Joe Biden And Teamsters President James Hoffa Kick Off Labor Day Parade In Detroit UAW ...Thousands of union members and supporters gathered in Detroit for the historic Labor Day Parade down Michigan Avenue today, pledging to activate voters with the November election approaching with the theme "Together We WILL WIN!"...
Hawaii Teamsters union endorses Hannemann for governor khon2 ...Hawaii Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann received a big boost Tuesday when he was endorsed by the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Union, Local 996...
Trade
Time To Get Children Out Of Factories And Into Schools (opinion) CNN ...In a small village in central Afghanistan, 13-year-old Basma is about to start her first day of school –- ever.... Only weeks before, Basma was found working on a carpet loom. Her weaving fingers already showed signs of arthritis from holding tools since the age of nine, tying knots for 14 hours a day...
"Fast Track" Foes Sound Off in Oregon Politico ...Foes of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will visit the Oregon offices of Sen. Ron Wyden (D) today to deliver petitions signed by nearly 5,000 people, urging him to ensure his new “smart track” version of trade promotion authority is “not outdated ‘fast track’ legislation in disguise...
Free trade promises, but it’s failed to deliver (opinion) The Bellingham Herald ... We’ve heard these promises before: Trade agreements will level the playing field, create jobs and even promote world peace. So far, their track record has been the opposite...
State Battles
Federal Court Upholds Right to Work, Local Labor Leaders Focused on State Cases tristatehomepage.com ...In a split decision, a federal appeals court has ruled Indiana's Right to Work law does not violate federal labor laws or the United States Constitution. The appellate court's ruling comes as the Indiana Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the same topic later this week. While the federal decision didn't come as a surprise, the focus now shifts to the state Supreme Court's decision, said Chuck Whobrey, the president of Teamsters Local 215...
Local Teamsters president speaks out on right-to-work ruling WFIE ...A federal appeals court has upheld Indiana's right-to-work law banning mandatory union fees in a split decision. The local Teamsters represent thousands of union workers. President Chuck Whobrey says this ruling will certainly effect the way the union operates...
GOP Tries Yet Again to Disenfranchise Ohio Voters with Photo ID Bill Moving Ohio Forward ...Today, a group of Republican legislators again pushed for passage of legislation requiring photo IDs to be shown at polling places in order to vote, despite evidence that demonstrates over 1.2 million Ohio voters would be directly disenfranchised from exercising their voting rights...
Texas Voter ID Law Heads To Trial In U.S. Court Huffington Post ...A U.S. court in Texas will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it a veiled attempt at suppressing minority turnout...
Garcetti Calls For $13.25 Minimum Wage By 2017 Los Angeles Times ...Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday launched an ambitious campaign to impose a $13.25-an-hour minimum wage requirement for all workers in Los Angeles by 2017, calling it the "largest anti-poverty program in the city's history."...
North Carolina Union Files SEC Pay-to-Play Complaint Against Erskine Bowles International Business Times ...A union representing 55,000 North Carolina current and retired state workers Tuesday filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and his wife, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) director, may have violated federal pay-to-play rules in a major North Carolina pension contract...
War On Workers
The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours Gallup ...half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours...
Fast food workers plan nationwide strike on Thursday MSNBC ...Thousands of fast food workers across the United States will once again go on strike this Thursday, representatives of the Fight for 15 movement announced Monday night...
America’s Exploding Oil Train Problem Moyers and Company ...If you reside in the US, there’s around an eight percent chance that you live in an oil train’s blast zone. And there’s a fight going on at the state and federal levels, between monied interests and regulatory agencies, over efforts to ensure that these trains — which have shown a tendency to burst into flames — will be relatively safe...
Police: Arrest made in case of Popeye's worker killed in Anne Arundel Baltimore Sun ...Anne Arundel police said they have made an arrest in the case of a Popeye's employee who was found dead at the restaurant early Sunday morning...
CPUC Fines PG&E $1.4 Billion in Connection with San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Associated Press ...California regulatory judges have issued a $1.4 billion penalty against the state's largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about aging pipelines...
Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators The Center for Public Integrity ...Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate…. former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Senator John Breaux, D-La., are listed as the main lobbyists...
Car sharing service Uber banned in Germany Guardian ... The online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court...
Miscellaneous
We Need A Serious, Federal Digital Privacy Law (opinion) Huffington Post ...If anything good is to come from this weekend's celebrity phone hack, let's hope it's federal action that finally takes seriously the problem of non-consensual online sexual exploitation -- along with all other forms of digital privacy invasion...
Ruling On Keystone XL Pipeline Could Come Down To Two Key Points Omaha World-Herald ...The Nebraska Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Friday morning on a constitutional challenge involving one of the most bitterly fought environmental battles in a generation. President Barack Obama is awaiting a ruling from Nebraska before moving closer to deciding the fate of the massive oil pipeline...
Home Depot Investigating Possible Payment Card Data Breach Wall Street Journal ...Home Depot Inc. is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate a potential breach of customer credit- or debit-card data.The home-improvement retailer said on Tuesday it is looking into what it called unusual activity and said that if it confirms a breach occurred, it will immediately notify customers...
Republic Services Struggles To Gain Trust As It Deals With Landfill Headache St. Louis Post Dispatch ...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 9,000 of Republic’s workers and has had a contentious relationship with the company over the years, joined the chorus calling for buyouts and removal of the waste...
Printing And Production Workers At Seattle Times Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Printing and production workers at the Seattle Times newspaper as well as some specialty printers in the Seattle area have voted to merge with Teamsters Local 117...
UAW President Dennis Williams, U.S. VP Joe Biden And Teamsters President James Hoffa Kick Off Labor Day Parade In Detroit UAW ...Thousands of union members and supporters gathered in Detroit for the historic Labor Day Parade down Michigan Avenue today, pledging to activate voters with the November election approaching with the theme "Together We WILL WIN!"...
Hawaii Teamsters union endorses Hannemann for governor khon2 ...Hawaii Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann received a big boost Tuesday when he was endorsed by the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Union, Local 996...
Trade
Time To Get Children Out Of Factories And Into Schools (opinion) CNN ...In a small village in central Afghanistan, 13-year-old Basma is about to start her first day of school –- ever.... Only weeks before, Basma was found working on a carpet loom. Her weaving fingers already showed signs of arthritis from holding tools since the age of nine, tying knots for 14 hours a day...
"Fast Track" Foes Sound Off in Oregon Politico ...Foes of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will visit the Oregon offices of Sen. Ron Wyden (D) today to deliver petitions signed by nearly 5,000 people, urging him to ensure his new “smart track” version of trade promotion authority is “not outdated ‘fast track’ legislation in disguise...
Free trade promises, but it’s failed to deliver (opinion) The Bellingham Herald ... We’ve heard these promises before: Trade agreements will level the playing field, create jobs and even promote world peace. So far, their track record has been the opposite...
State Battles
Federal Court Upholds Right to Work, Local Labor Leaders Focused on State Cases tristatehomepage.com ...In a split decision, a federal appeals court has ruled Indiana's Right to Work law does not violate federal labor laws or the United States Constitution. The appellate court's ruling comes as the Indiana Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the same topic later this week. While the federal decision didn't come as a surprise, the focus now shifts to the state Supreme Court's decision, said Chuck Whobrey, the president of Teamsters Local 215...
Local Teamsters president speaks out on right-to-work ruling WFIE ...A federal appeals court has upheld Indiana's right-to-work law banning mandatory union fees in a split decision. The local Teamsters represent thousands of union workers. President Chuck Whobrey says this ruling will certainly effect the way the union operates...
GOP Tries Yet Again to Disenfranchise Ohio Voters with Photo ID Bill Moving Ohio Forward ...Today, a group of Republican legislators again pushed for passage of legislation requiring photo IDs to be shown at polling places in order to vote, despite evidence that demonstrates over 1.2 million Ohio voters would be directly disenfranchised from exercising their voting rights...
Texas Voter ID Law Heads To Trial In U.S. Court Huffington Post ...A U.S. court in Texas will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it a veiled attempt at suppressing minority turnout...
Garcetti Calls For $13.25 Minimum Wage By 2017 Los Angeles Times ...Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday launched an ambitious campaign to impose a $13.25-an-hour minimum wage requirement for all workers in Los Angeles by 2017, calling it the "largest anti-poverty program in the city's history."...
North Carolina Union Files SEC Pay-to-Play Complaint Against Erskine Bowles International Business Times ...A union representing 55,000 North Carolina current and retired state workers Tuesday filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and his wife, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) director, may have violated federal pay-to-play rules in a major North Carolina pension contract...
War On Workers
The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours Gallup ...half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours...
Fast food workers plan nationwide strike on Thursday MSNBC ...Thousands of fast food workers across the United States will once again go on strike this Thursday, representatives of the Fight for 15 movement announced Monday night...
America’s Exploding Oil Train Problem Moyers and Company ...If you reside in the US, there’s around an eight percent chance that you live in an oil train’s blast zone. And there’s a fight going on at the state and federal levels, between monied interests and regulatory agencies, over efforts to ensure that these trains — which have shown a tendency to burst into flames — will be relatively safe...
Police: Arrest made in case of Popeye's worker killed in Anne Arundel Baltimore Sun ...Anne Arundel police said they have made an arrest in the case of a Popeye's employee who was found dead at the restaurant early Sunday morning...
CPUC Fines PG&E $1.4 Billion in Connection with San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Associated Press ...California regulatory judges have issued a $1.4 billion penalty against the state's largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about aging pipelines...
Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators The Center for Public Integrity ...Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate…. former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Senator John Breaux, D-La., are listed as the main lobbyists...
Car sharing service Uber banned in Germany Guardian ... The online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court...
Miscellaneous
We Need A Serious, Federal Digital Privacy Law (opinion) Huffington Post ...If anything good is to come from this weekend's celebrity phone hack, let's hope it's federal action that finally takes seriously the problem of non-consensual online sexual exploitation -- along with all other forms of digital privacy invasion...
Ruling On Keystone XL Pipeline Could Come Down To Two Key Points Omaha World-Herald ...The Nebraska Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Friday morning on a constitutional challenge involving one of the most bitterly fought environmental battles in a generation. President Barack Obama is awaiting a ruling from Nebraska before moving closer to deciding the fate of the massive oil pipeline...
Home Depot Investigating Possible Payment Card Data Breach Wall Street Journal ...Home Depot Inc. is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate a potential breach of customer credit- or debit-card data.The home-improvement retailer said on Tuesday it is looking into what it called unusual activity and said that if it confirms a breach occurred, it will immediately notify customers...
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Teamsters join LA Labor Day march for workers
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| Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (center) met with Teamsters during picnic. |
About 250 Southern California Teamsters joined more than 2,000 of their union brothers and sisters Monday in Los Angeles to march for workers’ rights. The Labor Day parade and rally took place near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where port truck drivers have been fighting for fair treatment and the right to organize.
Led by three 18-wheelers in front and about 100 motorcycles
and classic cars in back, Teamsters from several different locals across the
region chanted, cheered and revved their engines while traversing the mile-long
parade route. They also delighted the hundreds of spectators taking in the
event with their call-and-response cheers:
Rolling, rolling, rolling with the Teamsters! Who are we? Teamsters!Anthony Balbastro, a Teamsters Local 63 member and a shop steward at United Stationers, said the Labor Day event filled him with pride:
Only in America can you stand next to other brothers and sisters and march.
It is an example of collective direct action where we can show the community who we are. It is important to reaffirm solidarity among working people.
And a group of retired Teamsters said they are concerned
about the next generation of workers.
Dan Salazar, a retired member of Teamsters Local 63, said:
We are here out of respect for the lifestyle we enjoy for our families. We want other people to enjoy what we had. The laws have changed, peoples’ culture has changed. They are starting to get left behind.
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| Teamsters marched for a better life for the middle class. |
Salazar said he was encouraged by recent
actions by low-wage workers. Last week, L.A.
port truck drivers returned to work after a historic 24-hour strike ended
against trucking company Green Fleet Systems. The drivers struck to protest
unfair labor practices by Green Fleet’s management, including unlawful
anti-union retaliation, harassment and intimidation.
The short, sudden port truck driver strike was followed by
more job actions by low-wage workers around the country. Fast-food workers in
more than 50 U.S. cities walked off the job on Thursday. Walmart workers are planning to strike in 15 cities tomorrow, their largest mobilization since Black Friday.
After the parade, people thronged a local park for a barbecue and entertainment. Joining
them were federal, state and local elected officials who pledged to
work on behalf of workers for fairer wages.
Newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said now is
the time to stand up for workers:We will fight for a living wage. And better schools. And a greater Los Angeles.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.03.13
Five reasons for optimism about unions this Labor Day (opinion) The Hill ...most Americans hold favorable views of unions. According to a June 2013 poll by the Pew Research Center, 51 percent of Americans hold favorable views of labor unions, a 10 percent increase from the number in the same poll conducted two years earlier...
9 Ways We're Better Off Now Than We Were On The First Labor Day (And 5 Ways We're Not) Huffington Post ...The federal minimum wage, which currently stands at 7.25 an hour, is not enough to keep American families out of poverty, according to the Center For Economic And Policy Research...
Union Busting Ended My Love Affair with a Beer Huffington Post ...Yuengling had illegally busted their union...
Labor Day message: We can fix this (opinion) NWI ...We must embrace the new worker activism we see popping up at places like fast-food chains and retail establishments whose workers merely hope to raise their families on a livable wage...
"What's Outrageous? Poverty Wages!" The Role of Religious Leaders in Worker Justice Huffington Post ...The faith leaders now rallying to support fast food workers' demands for a living wage are reviving one of America's oldest and most powerful arguments for social justice, one deeply rooted in religious ideals...
GDP drag from State and Local Governments Calculated Risk ...However state and local government spending has made a negative contribution for 13 of the last 14 quarters...
Wall Street Eager to See Larry Summers Nominated Fed Chair Real News ...if you had to trace the collapse of the 2007-2009 financial crisis on one person--and, of course, you can't really trace it to one person--but if you did, I think you could make a fair argument that Larry Summers is more to blame for the financial crisis that we experienced than any other person...
9 Ways We're Better Off Now Than We Were On The First Labor Day (And 5 Ways We're Not) Huffington Post ...The federal minimum wage, which currently stands at 7.25 an hour, is not enough to keep American families out of poverty, according to the Center For Economic And Policy Research...
Union Busting Ended My Love Affair with a Beer Huffington Post ...Yuengling had illegally busted their union...
Labor Day message: We can fix this (opinion) NWI ...We must embrace the new worker activism we see popping up at places like fast-food chains and retail establishments whose workers merely hope to raise their families on a livable wage...
"What's Outrageous? Poverty Wages!" The Role of Religious Leaders in Worker Justice Huffington Post ...The faith leaders now rallying to support fast food workers' demands for a living wage are reviving one of America's oldest and most powerful arguments for social justice, one deeply rooted in religious ideals...
GDP drag from State and Local Governments Calculated Risk ...However state and local government spending has made a negative contribution for 13 of the last 14 quarters...
Wall Street Eager to See Larry Summers Nominated Fed Chair Real News ...if you had to trace the collapse of the 2007-2009 financial crisis on one person--and, of course, you can't really trace it to one person--but if you did, I think you could make a fair argument that Larry Summers is more to blame for the financial crisis that we experienced than any other person...
Making ‘Too Big To Fail’ Banks Help Poor Borrowers (opinion) The National Memo ...Predatory lenders are folding fast in New York State, thanks to a savvy banking regulator who takes his duty to protect the public as seriously as his duties to the financial industry — and knows how to use the law to get quick action...
DIA Director: Selling Art Tantamount To Closing Museum CBS Detroit ...Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has stated that the some of the art could be sold as part of the city’s bankruptcy deal Beal says the art being considered as “assets” are those that were bought by Detroit between 1922 and 1931– that’s about 3,300 pieces...
Ohio GOP grassroots lead to billionaire Plunderbund ...Americans for Prosperity. … That’s the right-wing outfit whose work is fashioned by billionaire David Koch...
Ohio GOP grassroots lead to billionaire Plunderbund ...Americans for Prosperity. … That’s the right-wing outfit whose work is fashioned by billionaire David Koch...
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.01.13
This Labor Day, Much of America Will Be . . . Laboring Time ...39 percent of employers will keep operations open and require some workers to come into work, while a seperate survey of Beyond.com users says that 45% of those folks will spend Labor Day working or looking for work...
The Burrito Chain That Pays Entry-Level Workers $10 An Hour And Wants To Pay More ThinkProgress ...Boloco, a Boston-based burrito chain, pays its entry-level workers anywhere from $9 to $11 an hour, most of them making $10, with many who advance into higher roles making $17 an hour or more, CEO John Pepper told Fox Business News...
Wis. GOP to Ban Public for Miles from Mine The Progressive ...A new bill to allow the Gogebic Taconite iron mining company to bar the public from using public access land on an eight-square-mile parcel near their proposed mine site. This is an area that attracts people from all over the country to enjoy the excellent trout fishing and hunting...
Income Gap Grows Wider (and Faster) New York Times ...when average wages grow faster than the median, as happened from 2009 through 2011, it means that lower earners are falling further behind those at the top...
Freedom From Jobs Counterpunch ... though some gains have certainly been made over the past half-century toward a more inclusive, egalitarian society, in many respects – particularly in economic matters – there has been little or no progress whatsoever...
Longshore union pulls out of national AFL-CIO, citing attacks at Northwest grain terminals The Oregonian ...The West Coast longshore union is pulling out of the national AFL-CIO, citing "attacks" in which the umbrella organization's members blatantly cross picket lines at Northwest grain terminals...
Why Wall Street Wants Larry Summers (and Why the Rest of Us Should Not) Yahoo Finance! ...Our recent near-death experience under Alan Greenspan’s anti-regulation Fed chairmanship, aided and abetted by the deregulation pushed by Summers, should cause the President to think hard about banking regulation...
NSA intimidation expanding surveillance state: Column USA Today ...If you run a business, and the FBI or NSA want to turn it into a mass surveillance tool, they believe they can do so, solely on their own initiative. They can force you to modify your system. They can do it all in secret and then force your business to keep that secret. Once they do that, you no longer control that part of your business...
Slavery! zero hedge ...There are more slaves today working in the world than ever before...
The Burrito Chain That Pays Entry-Level Workers $10 An Hour And Wants To Pay More ThinkProgress ...Boloco, a Boston-based burrito chain, pays its entry-level workers anywhere from $9 to $11 an hour, most of them making $10, with many who advance into higher roles making $17 an hour or more, CEO John Pepper told Fox Business News...
Wis. GOP to Ban Public for Miles from Mine The Progressive ...A new bill to allow the Gogebic Taconite iron mining company to bar the public from using public access land on an eight-square-mile parcel near their proposed mine site. This is an area that attracts people from all over the country to enjoy the excellent trout fishing and hunting...
Income Gap Grows Wider (and Faster) New York Times ...when average wages grow faster than the median, as happened from 2009 through 2011, it means that lower earners are falling further behind those at the top...
Freedom From Jobs Counterpunch ... though some gains have certainly been made over the past half-century toward a more inclusive, egalitarian society, in many respects – particularly in economic matters – there has been little or no progress whatsoever...
Longshore union pulls out of national AFL-CIO, citing attacks at Northwest grain terminals The Oregonian ...The West Coast longshore union is pulling out of the national AFL-CIO, citing "attacks" in which the umbrella organization's members blatantly cross picket lines at Northwest grain terminals...
Why Wall Street Wants Larry Summers (and Why the Rest of Us Should Not) Yahoo Finance! ...Our recent near-death experience under Alan Greenspan’s anti-regulation Fed chairmanship, aided and abetted by the deregulation pushed by Summers, should cause the President to think hard about banking regulation...
NSA intimidation expanding surveillance state: Column USA Today ...If you run a business, and the FBI or NSA want to turn it into a mass surveillance tool, they believe they can do so, solely on their own initiative. They can force you to modify your system. They can do it all in secret and then force your business to keep that secret. Once they do that, you no longer control that part of your business...
Slavery! zero hedge ...There are more slaves today working in the world than ever before...
Friday, August 30, 2013
How to talk about low-wage strikers
When the subject of low-wage worker strikes comes up, here are things you can say in response to the predictable anti-worker arguments you'll hear:
- "Those jobs are for high school kids and dropouts working part time. They don't deserve more money." Actually most people working in low-wage service sectors like retail and fast-food are middle-age and working full time to support their families. The average age of workers filling low-wage job positions is 35 and more than a third of them are 40 or older. On average, they earn half of their family's income and 28 percent of them have kids.
- "Well then they should get different jobs if they want more money. It's their fault for choosing to work crappy jobs that are supposed to be for teenagers." No, it isn't their fault because most of them didn't choose those jobs. They were forced into them by an economy being dominated by low-wage industries. By a three-to-one margin, high-skilled, good-paying jobs that have been lost due to recession and bad trade deals have been replaced by low-wage jobs in the service industry. Sixty percent of jobs lost in the recession were in middle-class occupations while 21 percent were in low-wage occupations. Since the recession, 58 percent of job growth has been in low-wage occupations while just 22 percent has been in middle-income level jobs. Do the math!
- "Still, flipping burgers has always been a minimum wage job and that's the way it should be." Okay, but if we're paying workers based on inflation and productivity, then the minimum wage needs to be increased, too. Right now it stands at just $7.25 an hour and hasn't been increased since 2009. If the minimum wage kept up with inflation over the past 40 years, it would be $10.74. And if it kept up with the rise in productivity it would be $18.67. The annual income for a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage is $15,080 - well below the poverty line for a family of three or four.
- "Paying low-wage workers more by increasing the minimum wage or giving them raises will hurt businesses and raise prices." Says who? While the CEOs of Walmart and fast-food corporations would love to pass the cost of higher wages on to consumers, they can well afford to pay their workers more. The top eight fast-food chains made $7.35 billion in profits last year. Walmart's CEO makes more in one hour than the average Walmart employee makes in a year. If the CEO of McDonald's -- who got a $4.1 million raise last year -- can take home $13.8 million a year, he can afford to pay workers more than poverty wages.
- "Well, I'm not a fast-food worker so what they get paid doesn't impact me." Actually it does. The rising number of workers making low wages means more and more people have to turn to public assistance like food stamps and other welfare programs. They can't make ends mean when the only jobs available pay so little. Low wages at a single Walmart store can cost taxpayers up to $900,000 a year. So winning a living wage for workers in retail, fast-food, warehouse and other low-wage industries will save taxpayers tons of money. And let's not forget that higher pay usually means lower employee turnover and higher productivity for business. Plus, higher wages will boost consumer spending and strength local economies.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Today's Teamster News 09.04.12
$2.6 Trillion for 2 Million Jobs (opinion) Economic Populist ...Anyone find these economic stimulus packages put out by the government and the Federal Reserve ridiculous at this point? The reality is a direct jobs program would be much cheaper and much more effective to get the economy moving...
Why Do Americans Hate the Media? Just Watch the Conventions. (opinion) The Atlantic ...the "watchdogs" are essentially saying to their flock: "Look at how well connected we are with the wolves we are here to protect you against!" Does that make you feel better protected? Me neither...
Fears Rising, Spaniards Pull Out Their Cash and Get Out of Spain New York Times ...Mr. Vildosola is among many who worry that Spain’s economic tailspin could eventually force the country’s withdrawal from the euro and a return to its former currency, the peseta. That dire outcome is still considered a long shot, even if Spain might eventually require a Greek-style bailout...
90,000 Citizens reports for property-insurance discounts rejected Palm Beach Post ...Gov. Rick Scott has pushed state-run Citizens to raise premiums, reduce coverage, shrink its risk exposure and help drive customers to private competitors. A lawsuit against Citizens by customers in Palm Beach and Broward counties claims the reinspection program is a “subterfuge” to raise premiums, alleging coordinators withheld payment to inspectors until they changed reports to deny credits...
Unions march in solidarity in Massena parade Watertown Daily Times ...Teamsters Local 687 was celebrating its 75th anniversary and ordered special shirts and hats for the occasion. The parade “brings people out. It brings awareness to those who are not unionized,” President Brian K. Hammond said. “It shows we’re unified and care about the work force...”
Labor Day marked with parades, political speeches Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 687 was celebrating its 75th anniversary and ordered special shirts and hats for the occasion. The parade “brings people out. It brings awareness to those who are not unionized,” President Brian K. Hammond said. “It shows we’re unified and care about the work force...”
Why Do Americans Hate the Media? Just Watch the Conventions. (opinion) The Atlantic ...the "watchdogs" are essentially saying to their flock: "Look at how well connected we are with the wolves we are here to protect you against!" Does that make you feel better protected? Me neither...
Fears Rising, Spaniards Pull Out Their Cash and Get Out of Spain New York Times ...Mr. Vildosola is among many who worry that Spain’s economic tailspin could eventually force the country’s withdrawal from the euro and a return to its former currency, the peseta. That dire outcome is still considered a long shot, even if Spain might eventually require a Greek-style bailout...
90,000 Citizens reports for property-insurance discounts rejected Palm Beach Post ...Gov. Rick Scott has pushed state-run Citizens to raise premiums, reduce coverage, shrink its risk exposure and help drive customers to private competitors. A lawsuit against Citizens by customers in Palm Beach and Broward counties claims the reinspection program is a “subterfuge” to raise premiums, alleging coordinators withheld payment to inspectors until they changed reports to deny credits...
Unions march in solidarity in Massena parade Watertown Daily Times ...Teamsters Local 687 was celebrating its 75th anniversary and ordered special shirts and hats for the occasion. The parade “brings people out. It brings awareness to those who are not unionized,” President Brian K. Hammond said. “It shows we’re unified and care about the work force...”
Labor Day marked with parades, political speeches Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 687 was celebrating its 75th anniversary and ordered special shirts and hats for the occasion. The parade “brings people out. It brings awareness to those who are not unionized,” President Brian K. Hammond said. “It shows we’re unified and care about the work force...”
Monday, September 3, 2012
Catholic bishops support unions this Labor Day
At their best, unions demonstrate solidarity by bringing workers together to speak and act collectively to protect their rights and pursue the common good. Unions are a sign of subsidiarity by forming associations of workers to have a voice, articulate their needs, and bargain and negotiate with the large economic institutions and structures of government.The bishops are especially concerned about poverty. Unlike anti-worker politicians and their corporate sugar daddies, the bishops believe poor people aren't to blame for their plight:
Over ten million families are “working poor”–they work hard, but their jobs do not pay enough to meet their basic needs. The sad fact is that over 46 million people live in poverty and, most disturbingly, over 16 million children grow up poor in our nation. The link between joblessness and poverty is undeniable, as Pope Benedict points out:They allude gently to political candidates who ignore the 46 million poor people in America:In many cases, poverty results from a violation of the dignity of human work, either because work opportunities are limited (through unemployment or underemployment), or “because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family” (Caritas in Veritate, no. 63).
We need to hear from those who seek to lead this country about what specific steps they would take to lift people out of poverty.And we can't disagree with this:
The exploitation of working people, whether subtle or obvious, injures their humanity and denies their inherent dignity. Exploited and mistreated workers require our care and solidarity. An economy that allows this exploitation and abuse demands our attention and action.
This long weekend was brought to you by the blood, sweat and tears of the labor movement
Dave Lott posted this on the Teamsters Facebook page:
This Labor Day is brought to you by your Labor Unions who have fought for workers rights since the birth of our nation. Better wages, safer work environment, the 40 hour work week, health benefits, time built into your schedule for breaks and lunches, pensions and a holiday off once in a while. These didn't always exist but are benefits that were long fought for by union leaders. There are now those that seek to set us back, to take away our rights to unite and bargain for our benefits. In this election year, play close attention to the politicians running for public office - where do they stand on the rights of workers to unite and bargain? Vote accordingly.And we received this on a list serve from our union brother Matt Murray in New Hampshire:
For me, Labor Day is a time to commemorate the sacrifices and contributions of America’s workers. Our country’s history has been shaped by the men and women who work for a living. We are what makes America great, and Monday is our day.
This could not be more true after the roller coaster year we have had. In New Hampshire we successfully fought back against Right to Work for Less and the attacks on our collective bargaining rights. The Legislature tried to silence our voice and in turn made us stronger in our solidarity.
On Labor Day, we celebrate the great strides we have made over the last century. Today, every American has the right to a quality education, the right to organize or a join a union, and the chance to retire with security for a healthy future. For generations, these basic rights brought millions of families out of poverty into the middle class. These rights helped to fight back against segregation and nepotism – because it does not matter who does the work, all workers are entitled to the same wages.Happy Labor Day, brothers and sisters!
Today's Teamster News 09.03.12
N.Y. attorney general opens probe into private equity firms, including Bain Associated Press ...Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is examining whether the firms used a tax strategy to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. The practice involved converting some fees collected for managing accounts into fund investments, resulting in a tax rate of 15 percent instead of 35 percent...
Labor tries to soften image with 'hug a union thug' booth in Charlotte The Hill ...In Charlotte, people will be asked to “hug a union thug” at a CarolinaFest booth sponsored by the North Carolina State AFL-CIO the day before the Democratic National Convention officially begins. Also in honor of Monday, videos are being posted online thanking workers while actors and athletes will use Twitter to express support for union rights...
New labor law pinches unions Post-Tribune ...It’s only been about six months since Indiana legislators passed the so-called right-to-work bill and already its adverse effects are being felt at the union hall and negotiating table, according to union leaders and labor experts...
Union angst at Supervalu Star-Tribune ...As the big grocery company puts itself up for sale, its 80,000 union workers wonder what the future holds...
U.S. Steel, USW union reach tentative labor deal MarketWatch ...The United Steelworkers said late Sunday that the union has reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with United States Steel Corp. X +0.67% covering more than 16,000 workers at its U.S. facilities...
Teamsters leader shaped by Lincoln County Charleston Gazette-Mail ... Every day is Labor Day for the working-class Lincoln County boy who rose to the second highest post in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a success story that amazes even the man who lived it...
Teamsters local beefs up presence in parade and new headquarters Akron Beacon Journal ...Teamsters Local 24 President Travis Bornstein talks about their new office location at Rolling Acres Mall in Akron...
Labor tries to soften image with 'hug a union thug' booth in Charlotte The Hill ...In Charlotte, people will be asked to “hug a union thug” at a CarolinaFest booth sponsored by the North Carolina State AFL-CIO the day before the Democratic National Convention officially begins. Also in honor of Monday, videos are being posted online thanking workers while actors and athletes will use Twitter to express support for union rights...
New labor law pinches unions Post-Tribune ...It’s only been about six months since Indiana legislators passed the so-called right-to-work bill and already its adverse effects are being felt at the union hall and negotiating table, according to union leaders and labor experts...
Union angst at Supervalu Star-Tribune ...As the big grocery company puts itself up for sale, its 80,000 union workers wonder what the future holds...
U.S. Steel, USW union reach tentative labor deal MarketWatch ...The United Steelworkers said late Sunday that the union has reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with United States Steel Corp. X +0.67% covering more than 16,000 workers at its U.S. facilities...
Teamsters leader shaped by Lincoln County Charleston Gazette-Mail ... Every day is Labor Day for the working-class Lincoln County boy who rose to the second highest post in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a success story that amazes even the man who lived it...
Teamsters local beefs up presence in parade and new headquarters Akron Beacon Journal ...Teamsters Local 24 President Travis Bornstein talks about their new office location at Rolling Acres Mall in Akron...
Sunday, September 2, 2012
God Bless You All on this Labor Day Weekend
Daniel Ahrendt 863 is working hard hard today and tomorrow to make sure people have their groceries.
Chuck Jackson Representing local 120, bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan!
Sean Anderson Teamsters Local 83; bringing your meats and microbrews straight to your local pub & grill. Enjoy the day guys we deserve it and the many before us earned it.
Joe Orawczyk 166 is working hard to support our troops. http://www.teamsterslocal166.org/featuredmember.htm
Troy Teal Local 245 getting those buns in the stores.
Christopher Prado Local 896 gettin that soda & beer out there 4 all 2 enjoy with there bbq
Dave Osborne Local 631 setting up conventions in Las Vegas! All Teamsters enjoy your day off!Randy Smith offers this greeting:
The BEST to all of you workers who help to make this country function. And a remembrance for those who long ago struggled to give workers rights and dignity. Now their sacrifices and achievements are under terrible assault by those who want to return to an era long since past. An era most thought was gone forever. Workers, union and non union, must strive to keep the hands of the clock from being turned back by those with an agenda of sheer greed, domination and nastiness.Joe Leone, a retired Teamster from Local 249 in Pittsburgh, said it best:
...reading all these posts with a happy tear in my eye. Remembering the past and the present. God Bless You All on this Labor Day Weekend. VOTE UNION in November.
Today's Teamster News 09.02.12
The slowdown is spreading around the world The Economist ...The most perturbing aspect of the current slowdown is that the weakness is so widespread, affecting emerging economies as well as rich countries...
Still No Justice for Mortgage Abuses (opinion) New York Times ...The economy will not recover and justice will not be done unless and until the mortgage mess is resolved...
The era of cheap food may be over The Guardian ...Farmers have been getting more efficient, increasing the yields of land under production, but this has been offset by two negative factors: policies in the US and the EU that divert large amounts of corn for biofuels and poor harvests caused by the weather...
OOPS: Mitt Romney Calls United States A ‘Company’ ThinkProgress ...Paul Ryan and I understand how the economy works, we understand how Washington works, we will reach across the aisle and find good people who like us, want to make sure this company deals with its challenges...
Isaac Victim Loses Home; Says Mitt Told Her to Go Home and Call 211 Crooks and Liars ..."He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211." That's a public service number offered in many states...
Hostess hits Workers with Ultimatum The Indypendent ...Management at bankrupt Hostess products - maker of Twinkies, cupcakes, Wonder Bread and other baked goods - hit its unions, notably the Teamsters and the Bakery Workers (BCTGM), with a "last, best and final" offer ultimatum on August 16...
Coast Gears: Teamsters Labor Day weekend car show First Coast News ...Teamsters Local 512 held a Labor Day weekend car show and cookout at its Lane Avenue location on the Westside Saturday...
Still No Justice for Mortgage Abuses (opinion) New York Times ...The economy will not recover and justice will not be done unless and until the mortgage mess is resolved...
The era of cheap food may be over The Guardian ...Farmers have been getting more efficient, increasing the yields of land under production, but this has been offset by two negative factors: policies in the US and the EU that divert large amounts of corn for biofuels and poor harvests caused by the weather...
OOPS: Mitt Romney Calls United States A ‘Company’ ThinkProgress ...Paul Ryan and I understand how the economy works, we understand how Washington works, we will reach across the aisle and find good people who like us, want to make sure this company deals with its challenges...
Isaac Victim Loses Home; Says Mitt Told Her to Go Home and Call 211 Crooks and Liars ..."He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211." That's a public service number offered in many states...
Hostess hits Workers with Ultimatum The Indypendent ...Management at bankrupt Hostess products - maker of Twinkies, cupcakes, Wonder Bread and other baked goods - hit its unions, notably the Teamsters and the Bakery Workers (BCTGM), with a "last, best and final" offer ultimatum on August 16...
Coast Gears: Teamsters Labor Day weekend car show First Coast News ...Teamsters Local 512 held a Labor Day weekend car show and cookout at its Lane Avenue location on the Westside Saturday...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Hoffa Labor Day comments (video)
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa at the Detroit Labor Day parade.
Today's Teamster News 09.06.11
Aretha, Hoffa energize lively pro-union crowd Detroit News ...one of labor's most well-known figures ignited a storm of controversy over his remarks. Teamsters President James Hoffa said there's been a war on workers...
Labor Day celebration clouded by unemployment realities KY3 ...Jim Kabell of the Teamsters Local 245 (said) "This has not been such a good year for labor in this country. Labor has been under attack, working people have been under attack," Kabell said...
Protests permeate Labor Day Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...There were the familiar chants of, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Scott Walker has got to go" from steel workers, teachers, government employees, machinists and steamfitters...
Thousands show support for SB5 repeal Toledo Blade ...Toledo’s annual Northwest Ohio Labor Day Parade Monday could have easily been renamed the “Anti-Issue 2 Parade,” given the participants’ overwhelming condemnation of a law limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees...
Orlando Labor Day rally's festive mood tempered by high unemployment Orlando Sentinel ..."Everybody knows somebody who is not working," said Orlando resident Connell Daniel, 44...
GOP presidential candidates strut for Tea Party New York Times ...The leading Republican presidential candidates spent Labor Day declaring their fealty to limited government as they sought to demonstrate credibility with a Tea Party movement that has seized the political energy of their party...
Labor Day celebration clouded by unemployment realities KY3 ...Jim Kabell of the Teamsters Local 245 (said) "This has not been such a good year for labor in this country. Labor has been under attack, working people have been under attack," Kabell said...
Protests permeate Labor Day Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...There were the familiar chants of, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Scott Walker has got to go" from steel workers, teachers, government employees, machinists and steamfitters...
Thousands show support for SB5 repeal Toledo Blade ...Toledo’s annual Northwest Ohio Labor Day Parade Monday could have easily been renamed the “Anti-Issue 2 Parade,” given the participants’ overwhelming condemnation of a law limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees...
Orlando Labor Day rally's festive mood tempered by high unemployment Orlando Sentinel ..."Everybody knows somebody who is not working," said Orlando resident Connell Daniel, 44...
GOP presidential candidates strut for Tea Party New York Times ...The leading Republican presidential candidates spent Labor Day declaring their fealty to limited government as they sought to demonstrate credibility with a Tea Party movement that has seized the political energy of their party...
Monday, September 5, 2011
Where are the anti-worker politicians today?
Anti-worker extremists Wisconsin state Sen. Pam Galloway and U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy will be marching in the Wausau Labor Day parade after all. Protesters will be turning their backs on them as they pass by.
All the Republican presidential candidates who think workers make too much money will be taking refuge in South Carolina, one of the most anti-union states in the country. We wonder if Michele Bachmann will repeat her proposal to eliminate corporate taxes altogether.
It seems most of the Governors Gone Wild are hiding out, but we can't be sure. We can find hide nor hair of
Florida Gov. Pink Slip Rick Scott will be showing his face at the Orlando Labor Day picnic. We suspect protesters will hand him some of their trademark pink slips.
(Teamster President Hoffa, along with President Obama, will be marching in the Detroit Labor Day parade.)
Here's a great suggestion from WNYC's blog:
Labor Day has transformed into (a day that's) ... Not about the history of labor, respect for union or an opportunity to affirm our commitment to fundamental worker rights, just a chance for some family-friendly fun.
That family-friendly fun, by the way, is made possible by child labor laws, weekends and minimum wage - all progress that was championed by labor unions. But you won't hear about that on Monday, politicians will be too busy discussing how to get government out of the way of Big Business and regular Americans will be too preoccupied worrying about their economic future.
But if you can give a few minutes of your vacation day to remember the history of the occasion - a battle to improve the lives of the American worker that continues to today - there's a question you can and should ask every official and candidate: "If you want to march with us, why won't you stand with us?"
Today's Teamster News 09.05.11
CEOs are winning and labor is losing, these are dark days for working people New York Daily News ...While benefits for working Americans are being cut back, the average CEO is making 343 times more than the average worker...
Security at Labor Day Parade to be beefed up Wausau Daily Herald ...The Wausau Police Department will have extra officers than normal at Wausau’s Labor Day Parade on Monday, “just in the event there is any trouble,” said Lt. Mark Pankow...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says a new tuition reciprocity deal with Minnesota makes college more affordable for Wisconsin residents Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Walker’s statement grades out as Pants on Fire...
Hoffa to Celebrate Labor Day in Detroit, Urging National Focus on Good Jobs IBT ...Joined by workers, other labor leaders and President Obama, Hoffa will talk about jobs, the economy and the coordinated attack being waged against workers across the country...
Hundreds march in support of farmworkers rights bill News10 ...Hundreds of people waving red flags and sporting red shirts with the letters U.F.W., for United Farm Workers, ended their long march at the state capitol this labor day holiday weekend...
For A Better Model on Jobs, Look to Argentina, Not Europe firedoglake ...There’s a country which reacted to a severe economic downturn by growing government, and has thrived as a result. Look to Argentina...
Security at Labor Day Parade to be beefed up Wausau Daily Herald ...The Wausau Police Department will have extra officers than normal at Wausau’s Labor Day Parade on Monday, “just in the event there is any trouble,” said Lt. Mark Pankow...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says a new tuition reciprocity deal with Minnesota makes college more affordable for Wisconsin residents Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Walker’s statement grades out as Pants on Fire...
Hoffa to Celebrate Labor Day in Detroit, Urging National Focus on Good Jobs IBT ...Joined by workers, other labor leaders and President Obama, Hoffa will talk about jobs, the economy and the coordinated attack being waged against workers across the country...
Hundreds march in support of farmworkers rights bill News10 ...Hundreds of people waving red flags and sporting red shirts with the letters U.F.W., for United Farm Workers, ended their long march at the state capitol this labor day holiday weekend...
For A Better Model on Jobs, Look to Argentina, Not Europe firedoglake ...There’s a country which reacted to a severe economic downturn by growing government, and has thrived as a result. Look to Argentina...
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