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... 

Teamsters mourn dead, help the living after MO tornado

A Missouri Teamster helps out in Joplin.

Teamsters are mourning the death of their sister Heather Baum Terry, who died in the 250-mph tornado that devastated Joplin, Mo., five days ago. Terry, 35, was an employee of LeBarge Inc. and a member of Local 823.

The death toll from the mile-wide tornado reached 132 victims today. Many Teamsters lost their homes and a Teamster plant was destroyed. Four thousand jobs were lost and 156 people are still missing from the horrific storm.

Local 823 members and Joplin residents have been helped by Roy Gillespie, Teamsters human rights commissioner and member of Joint Council 13, along with other HRC representatives. Gillespie and Rod Taylor, president of Local 823, searched for missing members by walking through shelters and coordinating with FEMA and the Red Cross. They helped find 40 missing Teamsters.

A grilling station was set up in Joplin for disaster victims and rescue workers. Annie Deken, AFL-CIO community services liaison with the Springfield Labor Council, reached out to Teamsters Local 245. They offered food and utensils. Tim McPhail, assistant business agent at Local 245, brought the supplies to the station. Local 45 also helped feed people after the disaster.

Roy Gillespie helped find warehouse space for donations on Tuesday. The next day, Teamster volunteers from St. Louis and Joplin started loading and unloading trucks right away. Said Deken:

The work that was accomplished in such a short time was amazing. It was a great feeling to see the unions come through and play such a vital role in the process.

Tractor trailers and drivers from Joint Councils 13 and 56 are also helping in recovery efforts. Clean-up efforts began on Thursday. Rod Taylor, president of Local 823, helped get a group of Teamster volunteers from all over Missouri to put in a full day of work on Saturday.

“The best thing to do is donate to the Disaster Relief Fund,” Gillespie said. “These people have lost everything. If you give them food and clothing and furniture, they have no place to put it.”

Still another reason to close the border to Mexican trucks: 'They're barely held together'

Many people who want to open our southern border wouldn't know a Mexican truck if it bit them in the ass. Truck driver Dustin Walensky of Aurora would -- he sees them all the time.


Walensky, along with the Teamsters' own Jim Kabell, was interviewed in an excellent report by KY3 News in Missouri,  Ozarks truckers oppose allowing long-haul Mexican trucks.
Walensky told KY3,

Their trucks are barely held together. They're older; a lot of the old cab-overs they take over and they fix up, but they're not fixed up; they're dangerous.

Kabell told KY3 it's a "terrible proposal."  He pointed out that as many as half of Teamsters freight workers were out of work during the recession, and many still are. Said Kabell,

Frankly, I think there will be corporate support for this, because they look for cheaper ways to do things, but I think at a time when we've got unemployment now, and we want to allow Mexican trucks to come in across this country at a time when we've got warehouse workers and truck drivers that are out of work, I think it's a terrible proposal.

Kabell is secretary/treasurer of Teamsters Local No. 245 and president of the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters.