TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Local 727 Files Unfair Labor Practices Against Coca-Cola Refreshments Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 filed numerous unfair labor practice charges today against Coca-Cola Refreshments, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola, that include bargaining in bad faith, intimidation of workers with baseball bats and unilaterally changing contract terms and working conditions. Local 727 represents more than 300 warehouse and production workers and transport drivers at Coca-Cola Refreshments facilities in Niles and Alsip, Ill...
An Uber union? Seattle could clear way for ride-app drivers Seattle Times ...Ajema contacted Uber staffers in Seattle suggesting the company meet with a committee of drivers to review changes, he said. For months, the effort went nowhere. “So I just Googled labor unions in Seattle,” Ajema said. The only response came from Teamsters Local 117, which had already helped set up a trade association for taxi drivers...
Strike at Distributor Slows Beer, Wine Deliveries KEZI ...A strike at a Portland-area beer and wine distributor has slowed deliveries just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Oregonian reports that about 80 workers represented by Teamsters Local 162 went on strike last week at General Distributors Inc. in Oregon City. Teamsters officials say the walkout began Tuesday. They say the company is demanding annual cuts that would average $19,000 per employee...
Transdev Drivers Are Standing Together to Form Their Union Local 117 ...About 275 drivers, employed at Transdev, are fighting to win their union and become members of Teamsters Local 117. These drivers perform essential services to our community by transporting elderly and disabled residents of King County to locations throughout our region. Many will be working over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend...
Teamsters to represent Site C camp attendants Alaska Highways ...The Teamsters union has won the right to represent attendants at the Site C work camp, against the wishes of the company hired to build it. On Nov. 2, the Labour Relations Board dismissed an objection by ATCO Two Rivers Camp Services calling the union’s application for certification “premature.” Close to two dozen workers servicing the temporary work camp at the dam site had been seeking representation...
Teamsters Local 362 Celebrates New Opportunities For Veterans In Alberta Teamsters 362 ...Just days before Remembrance Day, an announcement was made by the Alberta government that will have a positive impact for Canadian Armed Forces. Alberta transportation Minister Brian Mason announced that Alberta will now recognize the DND 404 military driver’s permit. Teamsters Canada has been a supporter of the initiative and were very happy with the announcement...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
How the TPP could impact regulation of everything from cars to medical devices Vox ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a mammoth deal the Obama administration finished negotiating last month, doesn't just deal with trade in physical goods. It also establishes a number of new rules governing how countries from Canada to Vietnam regulate the digital economy. Like most parts of the TPP, the new rules on electronic commerce largely reflect the priorities of US industry...
Five groups that could determine the fate of TPP The Hill ...Congressional passage of a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement hinges on several key endorsements that will make or break the pact on Capitol Hill. Republican leaders, a tight coalition of Democrats and a diverse range of business groups — all of whom worked hard to pass trade promotion authority (TPA) this summer — are needed to push through the massive 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal...
Thailand says 'highly likely' it will seek TPP membership Reuters ...Thailand is "highly likely" to seek membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) but would first need to weigh up the impact of the free-trade accord on its export-led economy, a deputy prime minister said on Friday. The pact currently has 12 members and would slash tariffs in a bloc comprising countries from Canada, Australia and Japan to Mexico, Vietnam and Chile in a trade area of 800 million people worth about 40 percent of the global economy...
Once an Obama ally on trade deal, Utah’s Hatch may fight latest proposal SLTribune ...The Trade Promotion Authority passed Congress, but now with Hatch's help may actually doom the president's push for a transpacific-trade deal. The TPA allows Congress only an up or down vote on a trade deal without amendments, but it also mandates that the legislative body gets to review and suggest changes to the administration...
TTIP talks: EU alleged to have given ExxonMobil access to confidential strategies The Guardian ...The EU appears to have given the US oil company ExxonMobil access to confidential negotiating strategies considered too sensitive to be released to the European public during its negotiations with the US on the trade agreement TTIP, documents reveal. Officials also asked one oil refinery association for “concrete input” on the text of an energy chapter for the negotiations...
Thai traffickers exposed by campaign group investigating fishing industry Reuters ...A three-year investigation into slavery on Thailand's fishing boats has uncovered a well-oiled system of trafficking, abuse and exploitation in the southern port of Kantang, leading to eight arrests this month, a campaign group said on Monday. The owner of a fishing company, three enforcers and four boat captains were arrested on Nov. 7 after the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) handed police evidence against them...
Hundreds walk in Montreal austerity protest Global News ...They walked by the hundreds: students, teachers, healthcare workers, even politicians. “What they are saying to the government is stop lying about balancing the budget, there are other means of balancing the budget,” said Québec Solidaire deputy Amir Khadir. Saturday afternoon, protesters gathered in Jarry Park to make their message heard: no to austerity, yes to social justice...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Republicans look to shift federal road funds; opponents say it's attack on prevailing wage Star Tribune ...Republican legislators have created a bill that would shift federal road-building dollars from local work to state projects, a move that would exempt local projects from federal prevailing wage requirements. Sen. Duey Stroebel and Rep. Rob Brooks' bill would move $47 million in federal funding away from local projects and pour it into state projects such as freeway rehabilitation...
Kraus announces voter ID as a top priority Missouri Times ...Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, plans to file a joint resolution and a bill regarding voter identification Tuesday when pre-filing begins for the upcoming legislative session. Kraus said passing the joint resolution and putting the issue to a vote of the people is a key step in preventing voter fraud in the state...
Walmart Workers Strike, Protest Company Heiress On Black Friday Think Progress ...Walmart workers and their supporters are protesting at a dozen stores around the United States on Black Friday as part of an ongoing campaign for union recognition and a $15 hourly wage. The protests are scaled down from previous years’ Black Friday activism, when striking workers and solidarity protesters staged larger rallies and a longer list of locations...
How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce Bloomberg ...OUR Walmart, a group of employees backed and funded by a union, was asking for more full-time jobs with higher wages and predictable schedules. Walmart considered the group enough of a threat that it hired an intelligence-gathering service from Lockheed Martin, contacted the FBI, staffed up its labor hotline, ranked stores by labor activity, and kept eyes on employees (and activists) prominent in the group...
U.S. LABOR
CUNY Faculty Authorizes a Strike Vote The Nation ... The Professional Staff Congress—the labor union that represents more than 25,000 faculty and staff across the City University of New York’s 24 campuses—has had a busy November. In the course of three weeks, the union has organized a coordinated act of civil disobedience, taken the first step towards calling for a strike, and helped deliver more than 40,000 postcards to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office...
How Higher Wages For U.S. Autoworkers Could Help You Get a Raise, Too Bloomberg ...Cars are flying off U.S. dealer lots at the fastest pace since 2005, and after a decade of flat wages, the workers who make them are getting a raise, too. If such gains precede broader pay bumps in the labor market, Federal Reserve policy makers could have more evidence that the wage pressure they so desperately want to see is starting to build...
Ford Says UAW Contract Lifts U.S. Labor Costs Less Than 1.5% Bloomberg ...Ford Motor Co. said its new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers will increase its U.S. labor costs by less than 1.5 percent annually by letting the company hire more low-cost workers and move production to factories in other countries. The contract will raise Ford’s hourly labor rate, including wages and benefits, to $60 from $57...
Hillary Clinton Nabs Another Big Endorsement Huffington Post ...Hillary Clinton just locked down another endorsement from a major labor union as she seeks the Democratic nomination for president, solidifying her hold on organized labor's backing in the primary. The Laborers' International Union of North America, or LIUNA, announced Tuesday that it would be throwing its weight behind the front-runner...
Tampa assisted living facility pays $287K in back wages Business Journal ...A federal probe has found that workers at La Bella Vida Assisted Living Facility Inc. in Tampa weren't living a beautiful life, at least not when it came to their paychecks. The facility is paying $287,087 in back wages and damages to 20 workers, after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found that La Bella Vida violated overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping provisions...
Making Employees Work On Thanksgiving Doesn’t Pay Off For Retailers Think Progress ...Eleven brands opened their doors on Thanksgiving Day this year, requiring millions of employees to report to work on the national holiday. Many businesses believe that opening on Thanksgiving will boost overall holiday sales by getting shoppers in ahead of the official start to Black Friday. But this year’s sales data show it was mostly a dud...
The middle-class economic squeeze is not about rising federal taxes EPI ...Policymakers and candidates for office have reacted to rising inequality and near-stagnant wages in recent decades by promising to either cut or hold the line on federal taxes for “middle-class” families. However, the rise in inequality and the near-stagnation of hourly wages for most American workers has not been driven by rising federal taxes. In fact, federal tax rates have steadily fallen...
Inside the Southern California factory that makes the Donald Trump hats LA Times ...Look around the factory floor where these hats are being made by the thousands, and you’ll find faces that don’t seem to fit into Trump’s America. Yolanda Melendrez is one of them. Melendrez, an immigrant from Mexico who was brought to the United States by her parents when she was a baby, has worked at the Carson-based Cali-Fame headwear company since 1991...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Taylor Farms recalls Costco salad linked to E. coli The Californian ...Federal officials say a vegetable mix has been recalled after it was believed to be the source of E.coli in Costco chicken salad that has been linked to an outbreak that has sickened 19 people in seven states. Taylor Farms Pacific Inc. of Tracy, has recalled a mix of diced celery and onion used in Costco chicken salad...
3 Dead; 9 Wounded at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Common Dreams ...Robert Lewis Dear, a 57-year-old from North Carolina, has been named as the gunman behind a massacre at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic in which three people died and nine were injured. In a statement Friday night, Planned Parenthood said: "We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment"...
Paris Protests Turn Violent as Hundreds of Thousands Rally for Climate Worldwide Slate ...Hundreds of thousands of people around the world got together for rallies and demonstrations on Sunday to demand action on climate change from global leaders who are gathering in Paris for a major summit on the issue. In Paris itself, things got off to a violent start as police fired tear gas at protesters and 208 people were detained after clashing with riot police...
Paris Climate Deal Must Not Ignore Billions of World's Poorest: Oxfam Common Dreams ..."World leaders need to step up," the head of Oxfam declared Wednesday, calling for an ambitious global fund to address a key paradox of climate change in which the poorest people on Earth suffer most from a crisis they did little to cause. The international aid agency is calling on rich countries to do their part by committing to deeper emissions cuts and higher climate finance...
Krugman: How to Stop the Affluent from Trampling on the Poor as They Move Back to Big Cities Alternet ..."Urban America reached an inflection point around 15 years ago," he writes. "After decades of decline, central cities began getting richer, more educated, and, yes, whiter. Today our urban cores are providing ever more amenities, but largely to a very affluent minority." There are a couple of drivers for this phenomenon, Krugman figures...
Showing posts with label Local 362. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local 362. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2015
Friday, July 31, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.31.15
Teamsters
Apple, Yahoo shuttle drivers set to vote on union USA Today ...Unions continue to make inroads into Silicon Valley. Shuttle drivers for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Zynga and several other Silicon Valley firms are set to vote Saturday on a package for improved wages and benefits. The 160 drivers, most of them employed by Compass Transportation of San Jose, shuttle employees to and from those tech firms, as well as Amtrak, Evernote and Genentech. The drivers sought representation from Teamsters Local 853...
Garda Canada Security Corporation and Teamsters Local 362 reach a new collective agreement Government of Canada ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Garda Canada Security Corporation and Teamsters Local 362 on the renewal of their collective agreement. The agreement was reached with assistance from the Labour Program’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). The FMCS provides dispute resolution and dispute prevention assistance to trade unions and employers under the jurisdiction of the Canada Labour Code...
Port Truckers Testify Before Tidelands and Harbor Committee Over Misclassification, Wage Theft Long Beach Post ...Stakeholders from the Port of Long Beach (POLB), trucking companies and drivers testified before the Tidelands and Harbor Committee last night to address the misclassification. The idea that the businesses can flourish while paying their drivers as employees was illustrated by Kevin Baddeley, president of Shippers Transport Express (STE) based out of Carson. He said that since converting to an employee model in January and negotiating a union contract with the Teamsters Union shortly after, STE has been stable and its customers happy...
Time running out for Sun Tran negotiations with union KVOA ...Sun Tran and the employees’ union, Teamsters Local 104, are still negotiating to avoid a bus strike in Tucson. Their contract expires Friday at midnight. Union members, who are mostly bus drivers, are expected to vote on a new deal Saturday. If the union rejects the contract, a strike may follow. Signs at bus stations warn riders about the negotiations...
Global Labor & Trade
Pacific trade negotiators chase elusive final deal in tough talks Reuters ...Pacific Rim trade ministers neared the final spurt of negotiations on an ambitious free trade pact on Thursday, but differences over farm exports and monopoly periods for next-generation drugs kept them short of an elusive final deal. Ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would cut trade barriers and set common standards for 40 percent of the world economy, are meeting in Hawaii to try to hammer out a deal...
Canada Under Pressure as Pacific Trade Talks Slow Over Dairy Bloomberg ...Negotiations on a landmark free-trade pact among 12 Pacific nations stumbled as pressure mounted on Canada to soften its stance on limiting dairy imports. After months of demands from nations including the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to open its dairy markets as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada outlined a proposal during talks in Hawaii that other nations rejected as inadequate, according to two people briefed on the negotiations...
Trade deal threatens affordable healthcare for millions, experts say Aljazeera ...Public health groups on Thursday warned that “absurd” patent and data protection clauses pushed by U.S. lawmakers during the final negotiations of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Maui, Hawaii could hike prices for life-saving drugs and stifle innovation. Doctors Without Border (MSF) and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association are most concerned with measures such as the extension of intellectual property rights on drug patents and increased damages for the infringement of patents...
Trade Negotiators Reach Environmental Accord New York Times ...Trade negotiators from the United States and 11 other Pacific nations reached agreement late Thursday on broad environmental protections for some of the most sensitive, diverse and threatened ecosystems on earth, closing one of the most contentious chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As negotiators struggled to complete the largest regional trade agreement, they pointed to the environmental accord as a clear achievement. It will be controversial. Some environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, insist that it lacks the binding enforcement measures...
Patent Protection for Drugs Puts Pressure on U.S. in Trade Talks New York Times ...With 12 nations pressing to conclude the largest regional trade accord ever, United States officials find themselves squeezed between activists pressing to secure access to low-cost pharmaceuticals and Republicans who say Congress will reject a deal without strong patent protections for the drug industry. Negotiators gathered this week in Maui hoping the long-sought accord might be finished by Friday. But dozens of issues remain unresolved on the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Group Seeks to Expose Cozy Ties Between US Trade Rep and Wall Street Common Dreams ...Citing his cozy ties to Wall Street banks, a group dedicated to exposing corruption and corporate influence in Washington, D.C. has submitted an official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all correspondence between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the 10 largest U.S. financial institutions. Rootstrikers, the grassroots organization behind the FOIA request, has said that because corporate giveaways like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pose a threat to robust financial regulation in general, "Americans deserve to know"...
Pacific Rim free trade deal comes with high price Aljazeera ...On the tropical shores of the island of Maui in Hawaii, 12 Pacific Rim countries are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement behind closed doors. The current meeting in Hawaii between the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Peru, and Vietnam is the latest and possibly final round of negotiations that have been grinding along and evolving for seven years. the deal has drawn critics from various spheres. Among the loudest are analysts concerned by how the deal will affect the availability and price of medicine...
WikiLeaks says US spied on Japanese government, companies Associated Press ...WikiLeaks says US spied on Japanese government, companies. The documents include what appear to be five U.S. National Security Agency reports, four of which are marked top-secret, that provide intelligence on Japanese positions on international trade and climate change. Three of the apparent NSA reports deal with climate change, and the other two with agricultural trade issues, including U.S. cherry exports to Japan...
Youth unemployment in Italy exceeds 44 percent, 38yr high RT ...Youth unemployment has increased to 44.2 percent in June, according to the Italian national statistics office. It’s the highest level since 1977 and about twice the eurozone average. The overall unemployment also increased in June, according to the data published Friday. The upsetting numbers come as the Italian Prime Minister is pursuing economic reforms that the government hopes will make the eurozone's third largest economy dominant in Europe and the world within 20-30 years...
Greek bailout talks shift into higher gear CBS ...Greece's talks with its international creditors on a third bailout worth 85 billion euros ($93 billion) shifted into a higher gear on Friday, with lead negotiators from the European Union and International Monetary Fund meeting key ministers in Athens. The talks with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis follow preparatory meetings in the Greek capital this week between lower-level officials on reforming the tax system and labor market regulations...
London’s National Gallery Labor Strike Escalates Artforum ...The entire group of union workers currently employed at the National Gallery in London are set to renew their strike this August, according to Sarah Cascone at Artnet. This comes after several other recent periods of labor dispute at the venerable British institution, all over the management’s plans to privatize visitor services at the museum. The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents the workers who will be participating, has told the museum of its intentions to strike...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Employers Steal Tens Of Millions Of Dollars From Their Workers In Any Given Week Think Progress ...Pennsylvania’s low-wage workers lose between $19 million and $32 million to wage theft in any given week, potentially costing the state’s economy as much as a billion dollars in lost potential consumer spending each year, according to a new analysis by law students from Temple University. The economic analysis is premised on a 2009 study of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles workers’ experiences of wage theft in various industries...
Michigan Supreme Court Upholds Right-to-Work Law, Takes Workers Back to the Gilded Age Truthout ...Republican lawmakers passed the measure in December 2012, making it illegal to require workers to pay union dues or service fees as a condition of employment. Shortly thereafter, public sector employees filed a lawsuit saying they were exempt from the law because their workplaces came under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, not private sector employment law. On Wednesday, July 29, the high court, in a 4-3 ruling, rejected the workers' plea. With that, the court completed the transformation of this longtime labor stronghold into an anti-labor regime, reminiscent of the Gilded Age US...
Kansas City Minimum Wage Hike? $15 Hourly Pay Proposed By Missouri Activists International Business Times ...Kansas City, Missouri, may see an initiative to increase the city's minimum wage on its November ballot. A group of civil rights organizations has demanded that their petition go to a vote to raise base hourly pay in the city to $15. In turn, business organizations have condemned the move as "job killing" and want to see wages stay at the state-mandated $7.65 per hour...
N.C. attorneys rest their case in federal voting rights trial Journal Now ...Attorneys representing North Carolina and Gov. Pat McCrory rested their case this morning after calling six witnesses in a federal trial over the state’s controversial election law. Several groups, including the N.C. NAACP and the U.S. Department of Justice, are suing the state and McCrory over House Bill 589, which became law in 2013. House Bill 589 eliminated same-day voter registration, reduced the days of early voting from 17 to 10, got rid of out-of-precinct provisional voting and abolished preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds...
California's Drought and the Politics of Inequality (opinion) Truthout ...California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in April, mandating urban centers to reduce water usage by 25 percent. Walking around working-class neighborhoods, one can't help but notice brown lawns and dying plants, which shows how seriously people are taking the task of water conservation. What's striking is who's willing to conserve - and who isn't. Forty-eight percent of wealthier homeowners with incomes above $100,000 a year say it would be "difficult" to conserve water...
Pittsburgh's paid sick leave bill headed to council for vote Monday Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O’Connor, with broad support from his colleagues, is looking to push through legislation Monday that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees before the council breaks for its August recess. If it clears that final vote, the bill, put forward July 6, will have gone from introduction to passage in less than a month...
U.S. Labor
Court backs labor board on election rule The Hill ...A federal court has upheld federal regulations designed to speed up union elections, dealing a blow to business groups who oppose the rule. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should be allowed to expedite the process by which employees unionize, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C...
NLRB to Rule on Northwestern Football Players’ Bid to Unionize Wall Street Journal ...The National Labor Relations Board is expected to decide in coming weeks whether to give labor unions a foothold in college sports, a decision that could have a widespread impact on college athletics. The five-member board of the federal labor agency is weighing whether Northwestern University’s scholarship football players are school employees, as an agency regional director ruled last year, and can therefore unionize...
Verizon strike on pension, health care possible APP.com ...Time is ticking down as negotiations between Verizon and its employees’ unions continue. The contract between Verizon and its union workforce, members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, expires at midnight Saturday. Both sides are “very apart on the issues,” said Candice Johnson, a CWA spokeswoman...
UAW, Ford kick off contract talks as auto business booms NWI.com ...The United Auto Workers union has kicked off contract talks with Ford, which is one of the Calumet Region's largest employers, with about 5,000 local workers. The UAW, which made deep concessions during the darkest days of the Great Recession, hopes to end a two-tier pay system in which younger workers are paid less than more veteran employees doing the same job...
Hundreds of United Steelworkers members rally downtown WPXI ...Hundred of United Steelworkers members and their allies rallied Thursday at the headquarters of Allegheny Technologies Inc. in downtown Pittsburgh. According to a release from the USW, the union is trying to reach agreement on a new contract for more than 2,200 members who work for ATI, a specialty metals and components supplier for the aerospace and defense, medical and industrial industries. Their old contract expired June 30...
Frontier Communications and Communications Workers of America Reach Agreement in Texas and Missouri MarketWatch ...Frontier Communications Corporation FTR, and the Communications Workers of America District 6 (CWA) are pleased to announce the signing of an agreement that will benefit CWA-represented employees in Texas and Missouri and Frontier’s future customers in Texas. The agreement is an important step forward in the process to complete Frontier’s planned acquisition of Verizon’s wireline business and assets in Texas, California and Florida...
Companies have found something to give their workers instead of raises Washington Post ...Once a staple of the American workplace, the annual raise is turning into a relic of the pre-crisis economy as companies turn to creative — and cheaper — ways to compensate their employees. More businesses are upping their spending on benefits such as one-time bonuses, health care and paid time off, according to recent survey data. Many are rolling out perks such as free gym membership, commuting subsidies, even pet health insurance...
‘She’s Not A Felon, She’s A Human Being': Obama Under Pressure To Ban The Box Before Leaving Office (opinion) Think Progress ...If you’ve ever applied for a job, you’ve probably seen the box. Hiring forms commonly require applicants to indicate if they’ve ever been convicted of a crime. That little check-box produces some grand societal failures: An estimated 60 to 75 percent of Americans released from prison cannot find work throughout their first year back home...
Bernie Sanders Lobbies for A.F.L.-C.I.O. Endorsement New York Times ...Citing his long legislative record and improving performance in opinion polls, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont told leaders of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. gathered here on Wednesday that he was best equipped to advance the rights and benefits of organized labor. Although he did not mention his rivals by name, Mr. Sanders, who was one of several candidates to address the organization’s executive council, said he told the group that no one had as clear a regard for the labor movement as he did...
Courting Unions, Hillary Clinton Says She Didn't Work on Trans-Pacific Partnership Bloomberg ...Hillary Clinton appeared to take another step away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Thursday, telling reporters that she didn’t work on the controversial trade deal while serving as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. The Democratic presidential front-runner, who advocated for a multi-lateral Asia trade agreement as a member of Obama's administration but has pointedly refused to endorse the results as a candidate to succeed her old boss, walked a careful semantic line following a private meeting with the AFL-CIO executive council...
U.S. employment costs post smallest gain on record in second-quarter Reuters ...U.S. labor costs in the second quarter recorded their smallest increase in 33 years amid tepid gains in the private sector, but it likely was a temporary setback against the backdrop of diminishing labor market slack. The unexpectedly smaller rise reported by the Labor Department on Friday will probably not dampen speculation that the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates later this year...
Apple, Yahoo shuttle drivers set to vote on union USA Today ...Unions continue to make inroads into Silicon Valley. Shuttle drivers for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Zynga and several other Silicon Valley firms are set to vote Saturday on a package for improved wages and benefits. The 160 drivers, most of them employed by Compass Transportation of San Jose, shuttle employees to and from those tech firms, as well as Amtrak, Evernote and Genentech. The drivers sought representation from Teamsters Local 853...
Garda Canada Security Corporation and Teamsters Local 362 reach a new collective agreement Government of Canada ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Garda Canada Security Corporation and Teamsters Local 362 on the renewal of their collective agreement. The agreement was reached with assistance from the Labour Program’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). The FMCS provides dispute resolution and dispute prevention assistance to trade unions and employers under the jurisdiction of the Canada Labour Code...
Port Truckers Testify Before Tidelands and Harbor Committee Over Misclassification, Wage Theft Long Beach Post ...Stakeholders from the Port of Long Beach (POLB), trucking companies and drivers testified before the Tidelands and Harbor Committee last night to address the misclassification. The idea that the businesses can flourish while paying their drivers as employees was illustrated by Kevin Baddeley, president of Shippers Transport Express (STE) based out of Carson. He said that since converting to an employee model in January and negotiating a union contract with the Teamsters Union shortly after, STE has been stable and its customers happy...
Time running out for Sun Tran negotiations with union KVOA ...Sun Tran and the employees’ union, Teamsters Local 104, are still negotiating to avoid a bus strike in Tucson. Their contract expires Friday at midnight. Union members, who are mostly bus drivers, are expected to vote on a new deal Saturday. If the union rejects the contract, a strike may follow. Signs at bus stations warn riders about the negotiations...
Global Labor & Trade
Pacific trade negotiators chase elusive final deal in tough talks Reuters ...Pacific Rim trade ministers neared the final spurt of negotiations on an ambitious free trade pact on Thursday, but differences over farm exports and monopoly periods for next-generation drugs kept them short of an elusive final deal. Ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would cut trade barriers and set common standards for 40 percent of the world economy, are meeting in Hawaii to try to hammer out a deal...
Canada Under Pressure as Pacific Trade Talks Slow Over Dairy Bloomberg ...Negotiations on a landmark free-trade pact among 12 Pacific nations stumbled as pressure mounted on Canada to soften its stance on limiting dairy imports. After months of demands from nations including the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to open its dairy markets as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada outlined a proposal during talks in Hawaii that other nations rejected as inadequate, according to two people briefed on the negotiations...
Trade deal threatens affordable healthcare for millions, experts say Aljazeera ...Public health groups on Thursday warned that “absurd” patent and data protection clauses pushed by U.S. lawmakers during the final negotiations of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Maui, Hawaii could hike prices for life-saving drugs and stifle innovation. Doctors Without Border (MSF) and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association are most concerned with measures such as the extension of intellectual property rights on drug patents and increased damages for the infringement of patents...
Trade Negotiators Reach Environmental Accord New York Times ...Trade negotiators from the United States and 11 other Pacific nations reached agreement late Thursday on broad environmental protections for some of the most sensitive, diverse and threatened ecosystems on earth, closing one of the most contentious chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As negotiators struggled to complete the largest regional trade agreement, they pointed to the environmental accord as a clear achievement. It will be controversial. Some environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, insist that it lacks the binding enforcement measures...
Patent Protection for Drugs Puts Pressure on U.S. in Trade Talks New York Times ...With 12 nations pressing to conclude the largest regional trade accord ever, United States officials find themselves squeezed between activists pressing to secure access to low-cost pharmaceuticals and Republicans who say Congress will reject a deal without strong patent protections for the drug industry. Negotiators gathered this week in Maui hoping the long-sought accord might be finished by Friday. But dozens of issues remain unresolved on the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Group Seeks to Expose Cozy Ties Between US Trade Rep and Wall Street Common Dreams ...Citing his cozy ties to Wall Street banks, a group dedicated to exposing corruption and corporate influence in Washington, D.C. has submitted an official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all correspondence between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the 10 largest U.S. financial institutions. Rootstrikers, the grassroots organization behind the FOIA request, has said that because corporate giveaways like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pose a threat to robust financial regulation in general, "Americans deserve to know"...
Pacific Rim free trade deal comes with high price Aljazeera ...On the tropical shores of the island of Maui in Hawaii, 12 Pacific Rim countries are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement behind closed doors. The current meeting in Hawaii between the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Peru, and Vietnam is the latest and possibly final round of negotiations that have been grinding along and evolving for seven years. the deal has drawn critics from various spheres. Among the loudest are analysts concerned by how the deal will affect the availability and price of medicine...
WikiLeaks says US spied on Japanese government, companies Associated Press ...WikiLeaks says US spied on Japanese government, companies. The documents include what appear to be five U.S. National Security Agency reports, four of which are marked top-secret, that provide intelligence on Japanese positions on international trade and climate change. Three of the apparent NSA reports deal with climate change, and the other two with agricultural trade issues, including U.S. cherry exports to Japan...
Youth unemployment in Italy exceeds 44 percent, 38yr high RT ...Youth unemployment has increased to 44.2 percent in June, according to the Italian national statistics office. It’s the highest level since 1977 and about twice the eurozone average. The overall unemployment also increased in June, according to the data published Friday. The upsetting numbers come as the Italian Prime Minister is pursuing economic reforms that the government hopes will make the eurozone's third largest economy dominant in Europe and the world within 20-30 years...
Greek bailout talks shift into higher gear CBS ...Greece's talks with its international creditors on a third bailout worth 85 billion euros ($93 billion) shifted into a higher gear on Friday, with lead negotiators from the European Union and International Monetary Fund meeting key ministers in Athens. The talks with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis follow preparatory meetings in the Greek capital this week between lower-level officials on reforming the tax system and labor market regulations...
London’s National Gallery Labor Strike Escalates Artforum ...The entire group of union workers currently employed at the National Gallery in London are set to renew their strike this August, according to Sarah Cascone at Artnet. This comes after several other recent periods of labor dispute at the venerable British institution, all over the management’s plans to privatize visitor services at the museum. The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents the workers who will be participating, has told the museum of its intentions to strike...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Employers Steal Tens Of Millions Of Dollars From Their Workers In Any Given Week Think Progress ...Pennsylvania’s low-wage workers lose between $19 million and $32 million to wage theft in any given week, potentially costing the state’s economy as much as a billion dollars in lost potential consumer spending each year, according to a new analysis by law students from Temple University. The economic analysis is premised on a 2009 study of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles workers’ experiences of wage theft in various industries...
Michigan Supreme Court Upholds Right-to-Work Law, Takes Workers Back to the Gilded Age Truthout ...Republican lawmakers passed the measure in December 2012, making it illegal to require workers to pay union dues or service fees as a condition of employment. Shortly thereafter, public sector employees filed a lawsuit saying they were exempt from the law because their workplaces came under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, not private sector employment law. On Wednesday, July 29, the high court, in a 4-3 ruling, rejected the workers' plea. With that, the court completed the transformation of this longtime labor stronghold into an anti-labor regime, reminiscent of the Gilded Age US...
Kansas City Minimum Wage Hike? $15 Hourly Pay Proposed By Missouri Activists International Business Times ...Kansas City, Missouri, may see an initiative to increase the city's minimum wage on its November ballot. A group of civil rights organizations has demanded that their petition go to a vote to raise base hourly pay in the city to $15. In turn, business organizations have condemned the move as "job killing" and want to see wages stay at the state-mandated $7.65 per hour...
N.C. attorneys rest their case in federal voting rights trial Journal Now ...Attorneys representing North Carolina and Gov. Pat McCrory rested their case this morning after calling six witnesses in a federal trial over the state’s controversial election law. Several groups, including the N.C. NAACP and the U.S. Department of Justice, are suing the state and McCrory over House Bill 589, which became law in 2013. House Bill 589 eliminated same-day voter registration, reduced the days of early voting from 17 to 10, got rid of out-of-precinct provisional voting and abolished preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds...
California's Drought and the Politics of Inequality (opinion) Truthout ...California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in April, mandating urban centers to reduce water usage by 25 percent. Walking around working-class neighborhoods, one can't help but notice brown lawns and dying plants, which shows how seriously people are taking the task of water conservation. What's striking is who's willing to conserve - and who isn't. Forty-eight percent of wealthier homeowners with incomes above $100,000 a year say it would be "difficult" to conserve water...
Pittsburgh's paid sick leave bill headed to council for vote Monday Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O’Connor, with broad support from his colleagues, is looking to push through legislation Monday that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees before the council breaks for its August recess. If it clears that final vote, the bill, put forward July 6, will have gone from introduction to passage in less than a month...
U.S. Labor
Court backs labor board on election rule The Hill ...A federal court has upheld federal regulations designed to speed up union elections, dealing a blow to business groups who oppose the rule. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should be allowed to expedite the process by which employees unionize, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C...
NLRB to Rule on Northwestern Football Players’ Bid to Unionize Wall Street Journal ...The National Labor Relations Board is expected to decide in coming weeks whether to give labor unions a foothold in college sports, a decision that could have a widespread impact on college athletics. The five-member board of the federal labor agency is weighing whether Northwestern University’s scholarship football players are school employees, as an agency regional director ruled last year, and can therefore unionize...
Verizon strike on pension, health care possible APP.com ...Time is ticking down as negotiations between Verizon and its employees’ unions continue. The contract between Verizon and its union workforce, members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, expires at midnight Saturday. Both sides are “very apart on the issues,” said Candice Johnson, a CWA spokeswoman...
UAW, Ford kick off contract talks as auto business booms NWI.com ...The United Auto Workers union has kicked off contract talks with Ford, which is one of the Calumet Region's largest employers, with about 5,000 local workers. The UAW, which made deep concessions during the darkest days of the Great Recession, hopes to end a two-tier pay system in which younger workers are paid less than more veteran employees doing the same job...
Hundreds of United Steelworkers members rally downtown WPXI ...Hundred of United Steelworkers members and their allies rallied Thursday at the headquarters of Allegheny Technologies Inc. in downtown Pittsburgh. According to a release from the USW, the union is trying to reach agreement on a new contract for more than 2,200 members who work for ATI, a specialty metals and components supplier for the aerospace and defense, medical and industrial industries. Their old contract expired June 30...
Frontier Communications and Communications Workers of America Reach Agreement in Texas and Missouri MarketWatch ...Frontier Communications Corporation FTR, and the Communications Workers of America District 6 (CWA) are pleased to announce the signing of an agreement that will benefit CWA-represented employees in Texas and Missouri and Frontier’s future customers in Texas. The agreement is an important step forward in the process to complete Frontier’s planned acquisition of Verizon’s wireline business and assets in Texas, California and Florida...
Companies have found something to give their workers instead of raises Washington Post ...Once a staple of the American workplace, the annual raise is turning into a relic of the pre-crisis economy as companies turn to creative — and cheaper — ways to compensate their employees. More businesses are upping their spending on benefits such as one-time bonuses, health care and paid time off, according to recent survey data. Many are rolling out perks such as free gym membership, commuting subsidies, even pet health insurance...
‘She’s Not A Felon, She’s A Human Being': Obama Under Pressure To Ban The Box Before Leaving Office (opinion) Think Progress ...If you’ve ever applied for a job, you’ve probably seen the box. Hiring forms commonly require applicants to indicate if they’ve ever been convicted of a crime. That little check-box produces some grand societal failures: An estimated 60 to 75 percent of Americans released from prison cannot find work throughout their first year back home...
Bernie Sanders Lobbies for A.F.L.-C.I.O. Endorsement New York Times ...Citing his long legislative record and improving performance in opinion polls, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont told leaders of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. gathered here on Wednesday that he was best equipped to advance the rights and benefits of organized labor. Although he did not mention his rivals by name, Mr. Sanders, who was one of several candidates to address the organization’s executive council, said he told the group that no one had as clear a regard for the labor movement as he did...
Courting Unions, Hillary Clinton Says She Didn't Work on Trans-Pacific Partnership Bloomberg ...Hillary Clinton appeared to take another step away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Thursday, telling reporters that she didn’t work on the controversial trade deal while serving as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. The Democratic presidential front-runner, who advocated for a multi-lateral Asia trade agreement as a member of Obama's administration but has pointedly refused to endorse the results as a candidate to succeed her old boss, walked a careful semantic line following a private meeting with the AFL-CIO executive council...
U.S. employment costs post smallest gain on record in second-quarter Reuters ...U.S. labor costs in the second quarter recorded their smallest increase in 33 years amid tepid gains in the private sector, but it likely was a temporary setback against the backdrop of diminishing labor market slack. The unexpectedly smaller rise reported by the Labor Department on Friday will probably not dampen speculation that the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates later this year...
To get a fair share, sharing-economy workers must unionize (opinion) Aljazeera ...Uber’s disruption of the cab industry has been welcomed by nearly everyone except those who rely on the cab industry for their livelihoods. It’s arguably made on-demand car rides easier, cleaner, safer, more accessible and, in some cases, even cheaper. The high prices of regulated taxi medallions have kept a small number of bosses in control, while drivers pay high gate fees in order to access their cars and wages. Uber is right that the traditional system is not well suited to drivers’ or customers’ needs. But the new boss is not so different from the old boss...
Social Justice & Other News
U.S. austerity was even worse than we thought, data suggest Washington Post ...The economy of the years between 2011 and 2014 was even more mediocre than previously recognized, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. State and local governments spent less than the bureau realized throughout the interval, as did the federal government last year. When government spends less, its public employees, contractors and suppliers are all stretched. They have less to live on, and less money to spend in the rest of the economy...
Court Rules Police Need a Warrant to Access Location Data From Your Cellphone Slate ...In an order released Thursday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Lucy Koh found that Fourth Amendment protections extend to location data generated by cellphones. Ruling against the federal government, Koh affirmed that law enforcement agencies must seek a warrant before acquiring historical location data produced by a cellphone...
Will Prosecutors Charge Officers Who Lied to Protect Ray Tensing After He Fatally Shot Sam Dubose? Democracy Now ...Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing has been released on a $1 million bail after pleading not guilty to the murder of Sam Dubose. Tensing, who is white, fatally shot the 43-year-old African-American man on July 19 after stopping him for not having a front license plate. Two additional officers, Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt, have been placed on administrative leave...
Protesters Forcibly Removed by Police As Arctic Drilling Ship Escapes Blockade Common Dreams ...Ending a nearly two-day standoff, Greenpeace activists who had successfully blocked passage of a Shell Oil drilling vessel were dramatically removed from their positions on the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon on Thurdsay evening as a special team of law enforcement officers cut them away to allow passage of the ship...
House takes off for August vacation before looking at highway, transit bill NY Daily News ...Congress is hitting the road without fixing our highways. House members took off for their extended August vacation before taking a look at the Senate’s newly passed long-term transportation bill, adding one more touchy issue for lawmakers to grapple with in a busy fall session. The long-overdue bill passed the Senate on Thursday with heavy bipartisan support, getting 65 votes for the $350 billion package, which would make changes to highway, transit, railroad and auto safety programs for six years...
Trump's immigration plan would cost hundreds of billions of dollars CNN ...According to a 2009 Government Accountability Office report, the average cost of fencing per mile is around $2.8 million to $3.9 million for the easiest-to-install and least expensive urban fencing. "You don't necessarily get a lot of bang for your buck," said Tom Wong, an assistant professor of Political Science at University of California, San Diego. Rosenblum and Wong explained that a wall would primarily just slow the process of crossing the border, especially in more rural areas...
UN Report Card Gives US 'Failing Grade' on Human Rights Common Dreams ...A United Nations committee of independent monitors this week released a damning assessment of human rights in the United States, showing an overall dismal performance on issues from Guantanamo Bay detentions to mass surveillance to accountability for past atrocities—earning what the U.S. Human Rights Network called a "failing grade." The findings prompted immediate condemnation from human rights and social justice organizations based in the U.S., including the Dream Defenders, who joined a civil society delegation to Geneva last year to urge the repeal of "Stand Your Ground" laws...
Social Justice & Other News
U.S. austerity was even worse than we thought, data suggest Washington Post ...The economy of the years between 2011 and 2014 was even more mediocre than previously recognized, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. State and local governments spent less than the bureau realized throughout the interval, as did the federal government last year. When government spends less, its public employees, contractors and suppliers are all stretched. They have less to live on, and less money to spend in the rest of the economy...
Court Rules Police Need a Warrant to Access Location Data From Your Cellphone Slate ...In an order released Thursday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Lucy Koh found that Fourth Amendment protections extend to location data generated by cellphones. Ruling against the federal government, Koh affirmed that law enforcement agencies must seek a warrant before acquiring historical location data produced by a cellphone...
Will Prosecutors Charge Officers Who Lied to Protect Ray Tensing After He Fatally Shot Sam Dubose? Democracy Now ...Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing has been released on a $1 million bail after pleading not guilty to the murder of Sam Dubose. Tensing, who is white, fatally shot the 43-year-old African-American man on July 19 after stopping him for not having a front license plate. Two additional officers, Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt, have been placed on administrative leave...
Protesters Forcibly Removed by Police As Arctic Drilling Ship Escapes Blockade Common Dreams ...Ending a nearly two-day standoff, Greenpeace activists who had successfully blocked passage of a Shell Oil drilling vessel were dramatically removed from their positions on the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon on Thurdsay evening as a special team of law enforcement officers cut them away to allow passage of the ship...
House takes off for August vacation before looking at highway, transit bill NY Daily News ...Congress is hitting the road without fixing our highways. House members took off for their extended August vacation before taking a look at the Senate’s newly passed long-term transportation bill, adding one more touchy issue for lawmakers to grapple with in a busy fall session. The long-overdue bill passed the Senate on Thursday with heavy bipartisan support, getting 65 votes for the $350 billion package, which would make changes to highway, transit, railroad and auto safety programs for six years...
Trump's immigration plan would cost hundreds of billions of dollars CNN ...According to a 2009 Government Accountability Office report, the average cost of fencing per mile is around $2.8 million to $3.9 million for the easiest-to-install and least expensive urban fencing. "You don't necessarily get a lot of bang for your buck," said Tom Wong, an assistant professor of Political Science at University of California, San Diego. Rosenblum and Wong explained that a wall would primarily just slow the process of crossing the border, especially in more rural areas...
UN Report Card Gives US 'Failing Grade' on Human Rights Common Dreams ...A United Nations committee of independent monitors this week released a damning assessment of human rights in the United States, showing an overall dismal performance on issues from Guantanamo Bay detentions to mass surveillance to accountability for past atrocities—earning what the U.S. Human Rights Network called a "failing grade." The findings prompted immediate condemnation from human rights and social justice organizations based in the U.S., including the Dream Defenders, who joined a civil society delegation to Geneva last year to urge the repeal of "Stand Your Ground" laws...
Friday, July 10, 2015
VIDEO: Inside the world of Teamsters' business agents
As Local 362 said on its own blog:
Working their way up from employee to shop steward to finally, a business agent, is a rewarding journey – described by several of Local 362’s business agents as "the ultimate."
They are strong advocates for members’ rights, have an important relationship with the shop steward and are someone you know you can call if you have any issues.The Teamsters applauds the important work of business agents all across North America. They are the engine behind Teamster Power!
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.10.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Rally at Republic Airways Shareholders Meeting Teamster.org ...Today, Republic Airways pilots and their families rallied outside the company's annual shareholders meeting in Indianapolis. The pilots, members of Teamsters Local 357, are calling on shareholders to pressure Republic CEO Bryan Bedford to quickly reach an agreement that includes fair pay and benefits and reflects changes that have occurred in the airline industry since the last contract was signed in 2003...
Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill Fails Public Sector Workers, Raids Medicare Teamster.org ...In a letter sent to House representatives today, the Teamsters joined eight other labor unions in expressing their opposition to a bill that would renew Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) without protecting millions of public sector workers while raiding Medicare for funding. Public sector workers, who were included under the 2009 TAA renewal, will be left vulnerable if any future trade agreements lead to the offshoring of their jobs...
Hoffa: Overworking truckers is dangerous Detroit News ...Highways across Michigan and the U.S. have become increasingly dangerous for motorists. And that will only get worse if Congress approves a transportation spending bill that effectively keeps the suspension of rules in place that allow truck drivers to work longer hours, that permits larger double-trailers and that prevents the U.S. Department of Transportation from raising minimum insurance standards that have been frozen in place for the last three decades...
The Plan to Cut Truck Traffic By Changing How Trash Haulers Do Business StreetsBlog ...In the past five years, at least six New Yorkers have been killed, and many others injured, by truck drivers working for private trash haulers. Labor and environmental advocates have a plan they say will reduce these deaths by cutting down on inefficiencies in private trucking routes. “No driver out there wants to break the law,” said Plinio Cruz, who has worked as a trash hauler for 10 years and is an organizer with Teamsters Joint Council 16...
Teamsters And GardaWorld Cash Services Tentative Agreement Ratified Teamsters Local 362 ...On June 4 a new collective agreement was ratified for GardaWorld Cash Services workers affiliated with the Teamsters Union. Ballots indicated that 93.5 percent of workers voted in favour of the new proposal. Over 450 workers are represented at GardaWorld Cash Services across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba...
Union Protects Andrew Distribution Members' Benefits, Working Conditions Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 secured a two-year contract extension for Andrew Distribution drivers and clerical workers. The agreement includes annual bonuses and employer-paid benefit increases for Local 727 Health & Welfare and Legal & Educational Assistance Benefits while protecting all other current working conditions and job security clauses. Members ratified the agreement, which expires May 1, 2017...
Republic Airways teamsters rally for new contracts WISHTV ...Republic Airways pilots and their families rallied outside the company’s shareholders meeting in Indianapolis on Tuesday. The slow progress of contract negotiations between employees and one airline has caused several to voice their frustrations. Members of the Teamsters local 357 and employees of Republic Airways attended the rally...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP aiming for Friday trade vote, but snag remains Politico ...House leaders, confident but not yet certain they have the support to pass sweeping trade legislation, are aiming to bring the package to a floor vote by the end of this week — even as they rush to resolve a last-minute hangup over how to pay for aid to displaced workers. The vote to grant President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a massive Pacific Rim trade deal will be extremely tight...
Survey: Obama's Trade Proposal a Tough Sell for Most Americans NBC ...Despite a heavy push by President Barack Obama for a sweeping multinational trade deal, a majority of Americans echo the concerns of labor unions and a number of Democratic members of Congress that the trade accord will negatively impact U.S. workers and companies. Two-thirds of Americans say protecting American industries and jobs by limiting imports is more important than allowing free trade...
Unions, Seniors Groups Urge Congress Not To Cut Medicare To Fund Trade Assistance Huff Post ...An already difficult road for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the House of Representatives got bumpier on Monday, as controversial Medicare cuts were brought into the mix. Labor unions and senior citizens' groups are launching efforts to lobby House members against a bill that includes $700 million in proposed cuts to Medicare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals. The cuts would be used to fund a $2.5 billion extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance funding...
U.S. Shifts Stance on Drug Pricing in Pacific Trade Pact Talks, Document Reveals New York Times ...Facing resistance from its Pacific trading partners, the Obama administration is no longer demanding protection for pharmaceutical prices under the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a newly leaked “transparency” annex of the proposed trade accord. But American negotiators are still pressing participating governments to open up the process that sets reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices...
House Expected to Vote Wednesday to Repeal Country-of-Origin Meat Labels Due to a Trade Agreement Provision That Is Replicated in the TPP Public Citizen ...The threat to consumer laws posed by the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal will be on full display Wednesday when the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation to repeal the U.S. policy requiring country-of-origin labels on meat sold here. This law is just the latest in a string of U.S. policies that have been repealed or weakened to comply with provisions in previous trade agreements that also are included in the current draft of the TPP deal...
Meet RCEP, a Trade Agreement in Asia That's Even Worse Than TPP or ACTA EFF ...If we described TISA as a treaty you've never heard of, RCEP has been even more obscure. RCEP can be compared with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), except that rather than being driven by the United States, it is being driven by the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the addition of their trading partners from the broader Asia-Pacific region including most notably India and China, who are absent from the TPP pact...
New EIA Report Details Trade Deal Failure to Support the Environment Huff Post ...On June 4, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) published a new briefing paper that demonstrates how free trade agreements fail to lift up environmental standards. Their report, focused on the failure to enforce environmental obligations in the U.S.-Peru trade pact, is particularly timely given that proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal have claimed that its still-secret environment chapter will lift up environmental safeguards...
Supporting NAFTA Was the Kiss of Death for Democrats --Why Dems Should Think Twice About Voting for TPP Alternet ...t’s serious flashback time for those involved in the 1993 debate over the North America Free Trade Agreement. With the “fast track” trade vote expected as early as this Thursday, a Democratic president is once again twisting arms and dangling rewards in a desperate effort to muster votes for a corporate-driven trade deal...
Argentina strike: Transport hit by second major walkout BBC News ...A major transport strike in Argentina has brought parts of the country to a standstill as unions protest against high taxes and inflation. The 24-hour walkout - the second in three months - affects bus, train, plane and underground services. Swathes of the capital Buenos Aires ground to a halt after people were unable to reach their jobs...
Cambodia’s Draft Union Law ‘A Major Step Backward’ Solidarity Center ...Cambodia’s draft trade union law would violate the right to organize and be a major step backward for workers, Human Rights Watch said yesterday in a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The Cambodian government has told the media that the trade union law will be enacted in 2015, but has not made a draft public nor provided opportunities for feedback from workers, unions or the public...
State & Living Wage Battles
State Officials Deciding How Voter ID Law Will Work At Polls WFMY ...The State Board of Elections held a public hearing in Winston-Salem Tuesday night to get feedback from voters about how the voter ID law should work at the polls. The board of elections has a proposed list of rules that voters got to comment on during the two-hour hearing. "Voting is fundamental, it's extremely important. We take it very seriously, it's what we do every day. It doesn't surprise us that folks have feelings that run deep on these issues"...
The real story behind Scott Walker’s war on higher education Salon ...On its face, today’s Wisconsin story appears to be about budgets and entitlement. Citing the need to save money, the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature at the end of May voted 12-4 to cut $250 million from the university’s budget and eliminate tenure from state law, enabling the governor-appointed Board of Regents to fire professors whenever they declared it time to “redirect” a program...
The People Who Clean Our Homes And Care For Our Children Just Won Big Think Progress ...Last week, domestic workers — those who care for children and clean inside people’s homes — won two surprise victories securing more rights in Connecticut and Oregon. Oregon has considered a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights for many years, but then last week it gained traction. Connecticut’s bill is a good deal narrower...
County Board passes resolution opposing 'right to work' Web Times ...The La Salle County Board overwhelmingly expressed its opposition to "right to work" laws by passing a resolution with a 23 to 2 vote. Before the meeting, a crowd gathered outside of the Ottawa Knights of Columbus in support of the resolution...
Walmart Raised Wages In April. It’s Already Seeing The Benefits. Think Progress ...After it raised wages for employees in April, Walmart said on Friday that it’s already seen lower turnover and an increase in job applicants. “Our job applications are going up and we are seeing some relief in turnover,” CEO Doug McMillon said at a media briefing after its annual shareholders meeting. The company’s performance has been suffering recently thanks to understaffed stores, among other things...
LA City Council Expected To Give Final Vote On Minimum Wage Ordinance CBS ...Members of the Los Angeles City Council are expected to make a final vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. If the ordinance receives unanimous approval, wage increases will take place on the first of July each year...
U.S. Labor
Applebee’s Is Trying To Limit Workers’ Ability to Sue the Company When Their Wages Are Stolen In These Times ...Workers in the restaurant industry are routinely the victims of wage theft. For workers without a union, suing the company is one of the few ways to recover those wages. But a legal fight led by the restaurant chain Applebee’s against the National Labor Relations Board is aiming to further limit workers’ ability to sue the company over disputes on the job...
Chipotle is Giving Their Hourly Employees Paid Sick Leave, Vacation Time, and a College Reimbursement Alternet ...In addition to sick leave and vacation, workers will also be eligible for tuition reimbursements. A spokeswoman for the company announced that Chipotle will reimburse 90% of tuition and fees up to the IRS's $5,250 per calendar year limit. These benefits will be offered to all hourly employees after one year of work and to managers and salaried employees without any wait...
Striking Texas refinery workers say reach tentative pact with Marathon KFGO ...Negotiators for Marathon Petroleum Corp and union workers at the company’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery reached a tentative agreement on Monday for a four-year contract, pointing to the end of a walkout that has lasted four months, said local union officials. Before strikers can leave their picket lines outside the 451,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas City, Texas, United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 13-1 and Marathon will have to complete a return-to-work agreement and union members will have to vote on the contract...
SEIU Local 668 ratifies one-year contract benefiting thousands of workers in Northeastern Pennsylvania Times Leader ...Pennsylvania’s second-largest Service Employees International Union on Monday ratified a one-year contract covering nearly 2,000 workers in five local counties. Approved by a “significant margin,” the contract agreed to by SEIU Local 668 guarantees a freeze on health care benefits, a 2.25 percent step increase, and preservation of future bargaining rights, according to union president Tom Herman...
AFSCME members rally as contract with state nears expiration State Journal-Register ...In advance of the deadline, the union has planned more than 100 public events across the state this week to raise awareness about services provided by state employees and to urge support for a new contract. According to an AFSCME bargaining bulletin obtained by The State Journal-Register in May, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is seeking "deep cuts to health insurance benefits" that the union said could drive up employee costs by more than 500 percent...
Miscellaneous
Mortgage Lender CEO Will Pay $1 Million Out Of His Own Pocket To Resolve Charges He Bilked Clients Think Progress ...Despite saying he did nothing wrong, a mortgage lending executive has agreed to make a personal $1 million fine payment as part of a $20 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over allegations that he paid his employees to bilk their clients. RPM Mortgage CEO Robert Hirt will pay a million-dollar penalty out of his own pocket, and another $1 million fine will come from the corporate treasury...
By the numbers: US police kill more in days than other countries do in years The Guardian ...Looking at our data for the US against admittedly less reliable information on police killings elsewhere paints a dramatic portrait, and one that resonates with protests that have gone global since a killing last year in Ferguson, Missouri: the US is not just some outlier in terms of police violence when compared with countries of similar economic and political standing...
Teamsters Rally at Republic Airways Shareholders Meeting Teamster.org ...Today, Republic Airways pilots and their families rallied outside the company's annual shareholders meeting in Indianapolis. The pilots, members of Teamsters Local 357, are calling on shareholders to pressure Republic CEO Bryan Bedford to quickly reach an agreement that includes fair pay and benefits and reflects changes that have occurred in the airline industry since the last contract was signed in 2003...
Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill Fails Public Sector Workers, Raids Medicare Teamster.org ...In a letter sent to House representatives today, the Teamsters joined eight other labor unions in expressing their opposition to a bill that would renew Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) without protecting millions of public sector workers while raiding Medicare for funding. Public sector workers, who were included under the 2009 TAA renewal, will be left vulnerable if any future trade agreements lead to the offshoring of their jobs...
Hoffa: Overworking truckers is dangerous Detroit News ...Highways across Michigan and the U.S. have become increasingly dangerous for motorists. And that will only get worse if Congress approves a transportation spending bill that effectively keeps the suspension of rules in place that allow truck drivers to work longer hours, that permits larger double-trailers and that prevents the U.S. Department of Transportation from raising minimum insurance standards that have been frozen in place for the last three decades...
The Plan to Cut Truck Traffic By Changing How Trash Haulers Do Business StreetsBlog ...In the past five years, at least six New Yorkers have been killed, and many others injured, by truck drivers working for private trash haulers. Labor and environmental advocates have a plan they say will reduce these deaths by cutting down on inefficiencies in private trucking routes. “No driver out there wants to break the law,” said Plinio Cruz, who has worked as a trash hauler for 10 years and is an organizer with Teamsters Joint Council 16...
Teamsters And GardaWorld Cash Services Tentative Agreement Ratified Teamsters Local 362 ...On June 4 a new collective agreement was ratified for GardaWorld Cash Services workers affiliated with the Teamsters Union. Ballots indicated that 93.5 percent of workers voted in favour of the new proposal. Over 450 workers are represented at GardaWorld Cash Services across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba...
Union Protects Andrew Distribution Members' Benefits, Working Conditions Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 secured a two-year contract extension for Andrew Distribution drivers and clerical workers. The agreement includes annual bonuses and employer-paid benefit increases for Local 727 Health & Welfare and Legal & Educational Assistance Benefits while protecting all other current working conditions and job security clauses. Members ratified the agreement, which expires May 1, 2017...
Republic Airways teamsters rally for new contracts WISHTV ...Republic Airways pilots and their families rallied outside the company’s shareholders meeting in Indianapolis on Tuesday. The slow progress of contract negotiations between employees and one airline has caused several to voice their frustrations. Members of the Teamsters local 357 and employees of Republic Airways attended the rally...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP aiming for Friday trade vote, but snag remains Politico ...House leaders, confident but not yet certain they have the support to pass sweeping trade legislation, are aiming to bring the package to a floor vote by the end of this week — even as they rush to resolve a last-minute hangup over how to pay for aid to displaced workers. The vote to grant President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a massive Pacific Rim trade deal will be extremely tight...
Survey: Obama's Trade Proposal a Tough Sell for Most Americans NBC ...Despite a heavy push by President Barack Obama for a sweeping multinational trade deal, a majority of Americans echo the concerns of labor unions and a number of Democratic members of Congress that the trade accord will negatively impact U.S. workers and companies. Two-thirds of Americans say protecting American industries and jobs by limiting imports is more important than allowing free trade...
Unions, Seniors Groups Urge Congress Not To Cut Medicare To Fund Trade Assistance Huff Post ...An already difficult road for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the House of Representatives got bumpier on Monday, as controversial Medicare cuts were brought into the mix. Labor unions and senior citizens' groups are launching efforts to lobby House members against a bill that includes $700 million in proposed cuts to Medicare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals. The cuts would be used to fund a $2.5 billion extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance funding...
U.S. Shifts Stance on Drug Pricing in Pacific Trade Pact Talks, Document Reveals New York Times ...Facing resistance from its Pacific trading partners, the Obama administration is no longer demanding protection for pharmaceutical prices under the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a newly leaked “transparency” annex of the proposed trade accord. But American negotiators are still pressing participating governments to open up the process that sets reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices...
House Expected to Vote Wednesday to Repeal Country-of-Origin Meat Labels Due to a Trade Agreement Provision That Is Replicated in the TPP Public Citizen ...The threat to consumer laws posed by the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal will be on full display Wednesday when the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation to repeal the U.S. policy requiring country-of-origin labels on meat sold here. This law is just the latest in a string of U.S. policies that have been repealed or weakened to comply with provisions in previous trade agreements that also are included in the current draft of the TPP deal...
Meet RCEP, a Trade Agreement in Asia That's Even Worse Than TPP or ACTA EFF ...If we described TISA as a treaty you've never heard of, RCEP has been even more obscure. RCEP can be compared with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), except that rather than being driven by the United States, it is being driven by the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the addition of their trading partners from the broader Asia-Pacific region including most notably India and China, who are absent from the TPP pact...
New EIA Report Details Trade Deal Failure to Support the Environment Huff Post ...On June 4, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) published a new briefing paper that demonstrates how free trade agreements fail to lift up environmental standards. Their report, focused on the failure to enforce environmental obligations in the U.S.-Peru trade pact, is particularly timely given that proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal have claimed that its still-secret environment chapter will lift up environmental safeguards...
Supporting NAFTA Was the Kiss of Death for Democrats --Why Dems Should Think Twice About Voting for TPP Alternet ...t’s serious flashback time for those involved in the 1993 debate over the North America Free Trade Agreement. With the “fast track” trade vote expected as early as this Thursday, a Democratic president is once again twisting arms and dangling rewards in a desperate effort to muster votes for a corporate-driven trade deal...
Argentina strike: Transport hit by second major walkout BBC News ...A major transport strike in Argentina has brought parts of the country to a standstill as unions protest against high taxes and inflation. The 24-hour walkout - the second in three months - affects bus, train, plane and underground services. Swathes of the capital Buenos Aires ground to a halt after people were unable to reach their jobs...
Cambodia’s Draft Union Law ‘A Major Step Backward’ Solidarity Center ...Cambodia’s draft trade union law would violate the right to organize and be a major step backward for workers, Human Rights Watch said yesterday in a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The Cambodian government has told the media that the trade union law will be enacted in 2015, but has not made a draft public nor provided opportunities for feedback from workers, unions or the public...
State & Living Wage Battles
State Officials Deciding How Voter ID Law Will Work At Polls WFMY ...The State Board of Elections held a public hearing in Winston-Salem Tuesday night to get feedback from voters about how the voter ID law should work at the polls. The board of elections has a proposed list of rules that voters got to comment on during the two-hour hearing. "Voting is fundamental, it's extremely important. We take it very seriously, it's what we do every day. It doesn't surprise us that folks have feelings that run deep on these issues"...
The real story behind Scott Walker’s war on higher education Salon ...On its face, today’s Wisconsin story appears to be about budgets and entitlement. Citing the need to save money, the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature at the end of May voted 12-4 to cut $250 million from the university’s budget and eliminate tenure from state law, enabling the governor-appointed Board of Regents to fire professors whenever they declared it time to “redirect” a program...
The People Who Clean Our Homes And Care For Our Children Just Won Big Think Progress ...Last week, domestic workers — those who care for children and clean inside people’s homes — won two surprise victories securing more rights in Connecticut and Oregon. Oregon has considered a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights for many years, but then last week it gained traction. Connecticut’s bill is a good deal narrower...
County Board passes resolution opposing 'right to work' Web Times ...The La Salle County Board overwhelmingly expressed its opposition to "right to work" laws by passing a resolution with a 23 to 2 vote. Before the meeting, a crowd gathered outside of the Ottawa Knights of Columbus in support of the resolution...
Walmart Raised Wages In April. It’s Already Seeing The Benefits. Think Progress ...After it raised wages for employees in April, Walmart said on Friday that it’s already seen lower turnover and an increase in job applicants. “Our job applications are going up and we are seeing some relief in turnover,” CEO Doug McMillon said at a media briefing after its annual shareholders meeting. The company’s performance has been suffering recently thanks to understaffed stores, among other things...
LA City Council Expected To Give Final Vote On Minimum Wage Ordinance CBS ...Members of the Los Angeles City Council are expected to make a final vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. If the ordinance receives unanimous approval, wage increases will take place on the first of July each year...
U.S. Labor
Applebee’s Is Trying To Limit Workers’ Ability to Sue the Company When Their Wages Are Stolen In These Times ...Workers in the restaurant industry are routinely the victims of wage theft. For workers without a union, suing the company is one of the few ways to recover those wages. But a legal fight led by the restaurant chain Applebee’s against the National Labor Relations Board is aiming to further limit workers’ ability to sue the company over disputes on the job...
Chipotle is Giving Their Hourly Employees Paid Sick Leave, Vacation Time, and a College Reimbursement Alternet ...In addition to sick leave and vacation, workers will also be eligible for tuition reimbursements. A spokeswoman for the company announced that Chipotle will reimburse 90% of tuition and fees up to the IRS's $5,250 per calendar year limit. These benefits will be offered to all hourly employees after one year of work and to managers and salaried employees without any wait...
Striking Texas refinery workers say reach tentative pact with Marathon KFGO ...Negotiators for Marathon Petroleum Corp and union workers at the company’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery reached a tentative agreement on Monday for a four-year contract, pointing to the end of a walkout that has lasted four months, said local union officials. Before strikers can leave their picket lines outside the 451,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas City, Texas, United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 13-1 and Marathon will have to complete a return-to-work agreement and union members will have to vote on the contract...
SEIU Local 668 ratifies one-year contract benefiting thousands of workers in Northeastern Pennsylvania Times Leader ...Pennsylvania’s second-largest Service Employees International Union on Monday ratified a one-year contract covering nearly 2,000 workers in five local counties. Approved by a “significant margin,” the contract agreed to by SEIU Local 668 guarantees a freeze on health care benefits, a 2.25 percent step increase, and preservation of future bargaining rights, according to union president Tom Herman...
AFSCME members rally as contract with state nears expiration State Journal-Register ...In advance of the deadline, the union has planned more than 100 public events across the state this week to raise awareness about services provided by state employees and to urge support for a new contract. According to an AFSCME bargaining bulletin obtained by The State Journal-Register in May, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is seeking "deep cuts to health insurance benefits" that the union said could drive up employee costs by more than 500 percent...
Miscellaneous
Mortgage Lender CEO Will Pay $1 Million Out Of His Own Pocket To Resolve Charges He Bilked Clients Think Progress ...Despite saying he did nothing wrong, a mortgage lending executive has agreed to make a personal $1 million fine payment as part of a $20 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over allegations that he paid his employees to bilk their clients. RPM Mortgage CEO Robert Hirt will pay a million-dollar penalty out of his own pocket, and another $1 million fine will come from the corporate treasury...
By the numbers: US police kill more in days than other countries do in years The Guardian ...Looking at our data for the US against admittedly less reliable information on police killings elsewhere paints a dramatic portrait, and one that resonates with protests that have gone global since a killing last year in Ferguson, Missouri: the US is not just some outlier in terms of police violence when compared with countries of similar economic and political standing...
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Teamsters: 'You have to be united to be strong' (video)
We love this video from our brothers and sisters at Teamsters Local 362 in Alberta, Canada. It really explains what belonging to a union really means.
Teamsters Local 362 has 7,400 members covered by 100 collective bargaining agreements. Historically Local 362 covered transportation and construction companies, but is now quite diverse. It represents members who work for UPS, Grimshaw Trucking, Brinks Canada, construction and pipeline companies -- to name a few.
Here's what Teamsters Local 362 says about itself on its blog:
Teamsters Local 362 stands firm on the value that you have to be united to be strong. At 362 it’s not just about being part of a union – it’s about being part of a family. It’s a collective voice that demands to be listened to and it’s often the only voice that can be heard on the job. It’s also a voice that’s over 125,000 members strong across Canada! Through good times and bad the Teamsters fight for a fair wage, safe working conditions and secure employment. And like all strong families – we are extended. There are scholarships and pensions that ensure a bright future for all of our members.
Life happens and situations change but the Teamsters are a constant – fighting for your rights as a worker, but also helping the communities that you live in. After the floods hit Calgary in June of 2013, the Teamsters Local 362 gave ten thousand dollars to the Building Trades of Alberta who collectively gave two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Red Cross.-Longer lasting benefit with help of Joint Council 90 to Calgary Foundation.
The Teamsters also promote opportunity. Membership can include training, upgrading for certificates, safety courses, job boards and a youth committee that offers growth and investment within the union.See more at: the Teamsters Local 362 blog here.
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