Today's Teamster News 05.05.15

Teamsters
LA Mayor Announces Eco-Flow, A New Port Drayage Trucking Company  Teamster.org  ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, port truck drivers, business leaders, labor leaders, and environmental groups today announced the formation of Eco Flow Transportation, a new, innovative company that will transform the drayage trucking industry by hiring all drivers as employees thereby creating a stable workforce...
Teamsters has allies on board for battle over school buses  The Times  ...National Express has come under renewed pressure from one of America’s most powerful unions to reform working practices at a subsidiary that carries more than a million children a day to and from school. The Teamsters union, which represents more than 1.4 million blue-collar workers in North America, has tabled a proposal for a vote at the transport group’s annual meeting tomorrow...
Teamsters: Workers reinstated after public pressure   Capital New York   ...Two workers who said they were fired from a New York City private trash hauling firm after testifying to the City Council about poor working conditions were reinstated, according to an announcement from the Teamsters who intervened on the workers' behalf. “New Yorkers have learned two things this week: Five Star Carting does not respect its workers or their free speech rights, but also that when workers, community members, and elected officials stand together, we win"...
Teamsters launch effort to stem growth of nonunion commercial movers   Crain's New York  ...Teamsters Local 814, along with their employers in the commercial-moving industry and other local labor organizations, began an advertising blitz Monday and released a letter from elected officials to discourage businesses from hiring nonunion or pseudo-union commercial movers...
These Food Distributors Are Trying To Convince A Judge To Let Them Form A Monopoly  Think Progress  ...After years of acquiring smaller competitors, US Foods and Sysco, Inc. are the last two large companies in the food distribution industry. The government, AAI, Food and Water Watch, and the Teamsters union all argue that the companies already control the market, and would represent a monopoly if merged...
St. Vincent technicians organize as Teamsters  Telegram  ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital voted 130-40 last week to be represented by Teamsters Local 170, the union reported. The local will represent more than 200 technicians who work in radiology, operating rooms and other departments...

Global Labor & Trade
Harry Reid Plans To Block Trade Deal Until The Senate Deals With Surveillance Reform, Highway Funding  Huff Post  ...Reid said he has spoken with his leadership team and is confident Democratic senators will stick together to demand the two bills be dealt with before moving to approval for trade promotion authority or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "I'm not willing to lay over and play dead on trade until we have some commitment from them on surface transportation," he said...
Economists Say White House Argument on Outsourcing Falls Flat  Wall Street Journal  ...Economists on both sides of the trade debate say the White House seems to be barking up the wrong tree, muddling arguments about two distinct things–foreign investment and outsourcing–on a hot-button issue that is dividing the public and Congress. Labor unions and skeptical economists are warning the Pacific pact could lead to the kind of outsourcing many workers blame on the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Chuck Schumer Warns Obama His Trade Agenda Is Dead Without A China Currency-Manipulation Crackdown  Huff Post  ...With Obama pushing Congress to give him so-called fast-track authority to pass massive new trade agreements with Pacific nations and Europe, Schumer and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are using the opportunity to try and force the White House to get tough on China's monetary policy...
GOP scrambling to limit defections on trade  The Hill  ...House Republican opposition to sweeping trade legislation isn’t breaking down along traditional Tea Party-GOP establishment fault lines. But the pockets of GOP defections will give President Obama and Republican leaders little wiggle room to muscle a bill through the lower chamber...
Robert Reich: The Trans Pacific Partnership is a corporate hijacking  (opinion) Salon  ...What we should have learned by now about trickle-down economics is that nothing trickles down. If the Trans Pacific Partnership is enacted, big corporations, Wall Street, and their top executives and shareholders will make out like bandits. Who will the bandits be stealing from? The rest of us...
Humanitarians split on Obama’s trade agenda: Trans Pacific Partnership  Humanosphere  ...Leading humanitarian organizations like the ONE Campaign and Oxfam appear to strongly disagree on whether to support the Obama Administration’s push to ‘fast-track’ an international trade agreement – and if its impact on the global fight against poverty and inequity will do more harm than good...

State & Living Wage Battles
As McDonald's Announces Corporate Shake-Up, Workers Vow to Rise Up  Common Dreams ...On the same day that McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook announced sweeping changes aimed at "returning excitement" to the behemoth—and struggling—fast-food chain, thousands of McDonald's cooks and cashiers vowed to descend on the the company's annual shareholder meeting in Illinois later this month to demand higher wages, fairer treatment, and the right to organize...
Dems bet on $12 minimum wage  The Hill  ..Democrats are doubling down on their push for a national minimum wage hike ahead of the 2016 presidential election, as they look to make a campaign issue of an effort that met a stinging legislative defeat last year. Party leaders are rallying behind new legislation that would raise the wage to $12 an hour, well beyond the $10.10 effort that failed to pass when Democrats controlled the Senate...

Right to work bills launch hours of debate in Maine Legislature   Central Maine  ...abor union members faced off against the LePage administration and Republican lawmakers on Monday over the latest push to make Maine a so-called “right to work” state. The hours of debate and rhetoric over several bills largely echoed previous “right to work” attempts in Maine with supporters claiming the measures are needed to improve the state’s business competitiveness and opponents dismissing them as blatant efforts to undermine organized labor...
State Assembly passes bill allowing higher state minimum wage  Daily News  ...The state Assembly passed a bill Monday allowing a higher state minimum wage in New York City and nearby counties. The legislation, which faces opposition in the Senate, seeks to phase in a minimum wage that would reach $15 an hour by the end of 2018 in the city and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties...
Kanawha County will continue paying prevailing wage   WV Gazette  ...Members of the Kanawha County Commission are expected to vote Tuesday to keep paying prevailing wage rates for all county construction projects. In March, the WV Legislature passed a bill eliminating prevailing wage rates for public construction projects of less than $500,000. But Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said that doesn’t mean the county has to go along with the change...

U.S. Labor
Tufts Students Stage ‘Indefinite’ Hunger Strike Against Janitor Layoffs  In These Times  ...Tufts University students launched a hunger strike and took over a quad next to the Medford/Somerville campus’s main administrative building Sunday to protest planned layoffs of 35 janitors. Five undergraduates joined the “indefinite” hunger strike as a show of solidarity with the janitors, 17 percent of whom are slated to lose their jobs...
Clark County, SEIU heading to binding arbitration  Review Journal  ...Clark County and its largest union, which represents about 5,000 county employees, agreed Monday to go to binding arbitration to reach a contract agreement. The county and the Service Employees International Local 1107 started negotiations in June 2013. They’ve also spent months trying to get the matter to a third-party arbitrator, or fact-finder, for a final decision on the terms of a contract...
Union plans to fight MUA dissolution, job cuts  Press of Atlantic City  ...At a union meeting Monday, about two dozen local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members were urged to fight the potential dissolution of the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority, along with cuts to city staffing. “It’s about survival and supporting each other,” said Rafael Valentin, a staff representative for AFSCME District Council 71...
The conservative answer on Baltimore: Blame the teachers  Daily Kos  ...What's responsible for Baltimore's problems? Republicans need answers other than "massive economic inequality, racism, and police violence," and when Republicans need answers but can't admit what the real problems are, they turn to a familiar set of scapegoats. "...you still have a failing education system dominated by public sector unions, teachers unions"...

Miscellaneous
Relatives of 43 Missing Students: U.S.-Backed Drug War Fights Organized People, Not Organized Crime  Democracy Now  ...he relatives have criticized U.S. support for the drug war, saying Mexico is using the aid to kill innocent people. "If they were really fighting organized crime, as the United States government says, then the crime rates would have gone down," Bautista Salbador says. "Apparently they are not fighting organized crime; they are fighting organized people"...
America's Growing Inequality Worsens In One's Senior Years  Alternet  ...As traditional pension coverage has declined, those who still have adequate retirement packages are likely to be professionals, business executives, and the wealthy. To the extent that middle-class and poorer Americans have access to retirement plans at all, they are typically 401(k) or similar plans that depend on optional contributions from workers and employers...

OWSers, Teamsters Occupy Sotheby's

Outside Sotheby's on New York's Upper East Side, police are setting up barricades and traffic is stopped. Teamsters gathered this morning outside the auction house and are being joined by Occupy Wall Streeters.

Rally Girl tweets:

at #occupysothebys press here, rat has new signs taped on. 'What do we want?' 'contract' "when do we want it? 'now' #teamsters #ows #1u

#teamster julian tysh tells thom hartmann #sothebys wants to turn good union jobs into crap.

More to come....

Teamsters, OWS stand up to Sotheby's 1%



Assemblyman Micah Kellner and Local 210 prez George Miranda

Rally Girl reports from the Upper East Side, where Occupy Wall Streeters are joining Teamsters from Local 814 in a rally at Sotheby's:

Teamsters from LU 282, 210, 553, 812, 805, 111 and 522 are picketing outside Sotheby's.

The crowd is energized and chanting, "No contract, no work, no peace," "When I say union, you say power," and "One day longer, one day stronger."

Jason Ide, Local 814 president, said #ows adopted them because they're protesting the #sothebys economy. Sotheby's is the 1 percent who are ruining the economy.

Join Sotheby's Teamster art handlers, the community and allies at the rally. It's at 1334 York Avenue. NY, NY and it's happening right now.

Occupy Wall St to Occupy Sotheby's

LU 814 Occupying Wall St.

Things could get interesting on the Upper East Side of Manhattan today as Occupy Wall Streeters will join our Teamster brothers from Local 814 in a rally at Sotheby's. The auction house threw them out of work 11 weeks ago because they wouldn't accept a 10 percent wage cut and replacement by temporary workers.

Anyhoo, we received this advisory from the OWSers early this morning:

For Planning Purposes Only: Contact: Harrison Magee 917 803 3296

October 17, 2011

MEDIA ADVISORY

After being locked out from their jobs by auction house Sotheby’s on Aug. 1 over a contract dispute, Teamster art handlers will rally with activists from the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests and other union members to demand that the company return to the negotiating table and settle a fair contract.

Among its demands, Sotheby’s, whose CEO Bill Ruprecht is paid approximately $60,000 a day, wants the art handlers to give up their 401K plan and work a reduced 36-hour week, effectively a 10 percent wage cut. The company also wants to cap workers’ overtime, eliminate certain titles that pay more, and, in initial bargaining, wanted workers to give up their right to sue over charges of discrimination.

What: Sotheby’s art handlers – all members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 814 – and their supporters will rally to demand an immediate end to the lockout and fair contract for workers

When: 1:30PM, Tuesday Oct. 18, 2011

Where: Sotheby’s

1334 York Avenue

New York, NY

Who: Sotheby’s art handlers and their community and labor allies

30-30-30

Occupy Wall Street Occupies Danny Meyer (video)

Watch this awesome video of Wall Street Occupiers disrupting a fancy New York eatery owned by Sotheby's board member Danny Meyer.

Meyer is on the board of Sotheby's, which threw 43 Teamsters out of work because they wouldn't accept a 10 percent pay cut. You know the rest of the story -- record profit and a CEO who takes home millions every year.

The OWSers have been solid with the locked-out art workers from Teamsters Local 814. They've already disrupted two auctions -- which takes some spine. More direct actions are planned.

Please share this video far and wide -- it'll drive Sotheby's crazy.

Occupy Wall Street statement on Danny Meyer restaurant disruption

We received a press release from Occupy Wall Street activists explaining their action:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michael London, 917-572-8684
Thursday, October 13

PRESS RELEASE
#OCCUPYWALLSTREET Disrupts Dinner Rush at Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Café

OWS Pushes Sotheby’s Board Member To Take Action on Teamster Lockout

As part of their ongoing campaign against Sotheby’s auction house, Occupy Wall Street labor activists on Thursday evening took aim at New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. Meyer sits on Sotheby’s board of directors. The dinner rush disturbances were coordinated at two of Meyers’ posh downtown establishments. Protesters informed diners about violations at the restaurants themselves, and about Sotheby’s ongoing attacks on the professional art handlers of Teamster’s Local 814. The Sotheby’s workers were locked out of their jobs on 1 August for refusing to accept wage cuts, caps on overtime and replacement by temporary workers.

The activists created a commotion while others hand flyers to shocked diners. The flyer described health violations at Meyer’s restaurants and stated, “What’s Gross at Gramercy Tavern (or Union Café) and other Danny Meyer restaurants? Diners for good jobs and clean kitchens.”

The disruption was the latest in a series of solidarity efforts by Occupy Wall Street activists. On Tuesday, they disrupted an auction at the auctioneer’s Upper East Side establishment for the second time in three weeks. Sotheby’s enjoyed record profit in the last quarter and offers no explanation for why it is attacking its workers.

“Danny Meyer’s restaurants are all part of the Sotheby’s economy, where wealthy millionaires cut corners to make a few more bucks,” said activist Harrison Magee, a labor activist affiliated with OWS. “Not because they need to, but because others are doing it and they think they can get away with it.”

“This is about the 1 percent trying to squeeze even more out of the 99 percent,” said Steve Kindred, an OWS labor activist. “This isn’t about left and right, it’s about top and bottom.

#OCCUPYWALLSTREET has released the following statement about the situation at Sotheby’s:

#OCCUPYWALLSTREET supporters are appalled at the persistent attack on workers rights. We support the right of the workers to collectively bargain. Sotheby’s wants all new hires to have no collective bargaining rights, no health benefits and no job security. After locking out their unionized work force, Sotheby’s continues to operate using scabs and a non-union subcontractor. Sotheby’s art auctions epitomize the disconnect of the extremely wealthy from the rest of us.

The 43 locked-out workers, all members of Teamsters Local 814, were locked out of their jobs by the company’s management on August 1, in the midst of contract negotiations. Among its demands, Sotheby’s, which just had its most profitable year ever in its 267 years of business and whose CEO, Bill Ruprecht is paid approximately $60,000 a day.

###

Thanks, OWS!

Sotheby's Teamsters handbill B'way stars

Mayor Dinkins

When it comes to celebrity handbilling, Teamsters Local 814 kicks butt.

Our Sotheby's Teamster brothers were on Broadway last night. So were the stars. They came for the opening of "The Mountaintop," a play about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Almost every celebrity accepted a handbill about Sotheby's lock-out of Teamster art handlers.

Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen took flyers. So did former Mayor David Dinkins and his wife Joyce. Spike Lee. S. Epatha Merkerson. Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie. Julius "Dr. J" Irving and his wife Dorys. Tisha Campbell. Gayle King. Ben Vereen. Ahmad Rashad.

Gabourey Sidibe promised to read it. Spike Lee read the whole thing in front of the Teamsters.

Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad

"Come on, bounce pass," said one of our brothers before handing Magic Johnson the flyer.

We missed a few -- Alicia Keys and Al Roker. But we got most of them. 

The play is about Dr. King's last night in Memphis. Those of us in the labor movement know that he was in Memphis supporting the sanitation workers' strike for collective bargaining rights.

Michael Sovern not only sits on the board of the Schubert Theatre, he's chairman of the board of Sotheby's -- which of course is trying to take away workers' collective bargaining rights.

The handbill said,

The Schubert Theatres and its board member Michael Sovern are celebrating the opening of “The Mountaintop” tonight. It’s ironic that Sovern is also the Chairman of the Board of Sotheby’s Auction House. Despite record-breaking profits, Sotheby’s has locked out all of its professional and skilled art handlers, most of whom are black or Latino.

Sotheby’s nearly doubled its CEO’s pay, yet it seeks to destroy good New York jobs by permanently replacing these mostly minority professional art handlers with inexperienced, outsourced workers.

Read more about Sotheby's here.

Another Sotheby's director dinged

Update: Corrects Michael Sovern's title to chairman of the board sted CEO.

It was supposed to be a grand evening, the opening at the Schubert Theater of a Broadway play called "The Mountaintop," about Martin Luther King Jr.

Only MLK would have been out on the sidewalk with the Teamsters protesters, passing out handbills asking the Schubert and its board to end the lockout at Sotheby’s Auction House.

Schubert Organization board member Michael Sovern is Sotheby's chairman of the board.

The protesters distributed handbills that read “Michael Sovern: Stop the Discrimination” and “America cannot become a better nation when a company like Sotheby’s sends workers into poverty and unemployment lines.”

The play celebrates Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech supporting the right of African-American workers in Memphis to improve their jobs and their lives. Meanwhile, the theater’s board condones the destruction of good New York jobs. You gotta wonder.

New York City is getting to be a tough town for Sotheby's socialites. Tonight, Occupy Wall Street labor activists disrupted at least one -- possibly two -- restaurants owned by another Sotheby director, Danny Meyer.

That's because they spread suffering (sorry) among Teamsters Local 814 art handlers who've been out of work for months.

BREAKING: OWS disrupts Sotheby director's fancy restaurant

Occupy Wall Street labor activists tonight told a packed dining room at the Union Square Cafe that the owner is a union buster. Danny Meyer, who owns the Union Square and other fancy restaurants, sits on the board of Sotheby's.

The OWSers have really stuck their necks out to show solidarity with our Local 814 Teamsters brothers who've been locked out by Sotheby's.

We understand there were about a half-dozen activists at the restaurant. Our sources tell us what happened:

The dining room was jam packed. One of the activists sitting at the bar began clinking his glass. The dining room fell quiet. He stood up and announced that Danny Meyer is a union buster. He said "We'll be back and we won't let it rest."

Then we handed out handbills that said, "Live Mice, Live Roaches," and pointed out that Danny Meyer restaurants have racked up numerous health violations in the last 16 months.

We made a tactical retreat, but people followed us out. They wanted to talk to us.

According to toprestaurants.com,

Union Square Cafe is one of New York's best-loved restaurants. The food is inventive and delicious, the service never misses a beat, and the wine list is exceptional.

We hear there's a video. Can't wait to see it.

Awww. Sotheby's London auction overshadowed by protest



$5 million for a painting, $0 for social justice.

Such a shame. Poor widdle Sotheby's had its fancy art auction messed up by a bunch of union thugs. They had the nerve to stand in solidarity with Teamsters from Local 814 who don't want Sotheby's management to impoverish them.

Bloomberg has the story:

Lucian Freud and Alberto Burri paintings sold for $5 million each in London last night at a Sotheby’s auction overshadowed by concern about market weakness and a protest by U.S. art handlers over a labor dispute.

Bidders had to pass a group of 20 chanting and whistling demonstrators, including three who had flown from New York and promised more action. While the contemporary and 20th-century Italian sale set six artist records and raised 40 million pounds ($63 million), the top presale estimate at hammer prices was 48.3 million pounds. Some paintings went unsold, such as Peter Doig’s “Bellevarde,” valued at as much as 2 million pounds.

We wouldn't care so much that the paintings went unsold, except they're further evidence the Sotheby's Economy is wrecking the world.

You can see a photo gallery of the protests here. And here's the press release describing what happened:

More than 100 Teamster members and representatives from several global labor unions, including Unite the Union, the Trades Union Congress, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, the Public and Commercial Services Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, protested outside Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auctionthis evening.
The protestors stood in solidarity with 43 art handlers in New York City who were locked out of their jobs without paychecks three months ago. The art handlers are represented by Teamsters Local Union 814.

"Thugs," by the way, stands for "Those Helpful Union Guys."

Sotheby's feeling the heat from the UK

Yowza! Sotheby's is getting heat from overseas. Members of Parliament introduced an early day motion to censure the art auctioneers for trying to destroy the lives of its own workers.

Here's what the motion says:

That this House notes that 43 workers at Sotheby's Auction House in New York were locked out of their place of work by their employer in July this year for refusing a new contract that would cut their hours, pay and pensions, as well as replace several experienced unionised handlers with temporary unskilled employees;

We especially like this:

...commends these workers, who are mainly low-waged ethnic minority workers, for the honourable manner in which they have fought to get their jobs back and defend their membership of their union, the Teamsters, despite the intense hardshipthey and their families have been forced to endure;

It further notes,

...representatives of these workers have come to London to make their case to their employer on the day of the art auction at Sotheby's London, and that this art auction will see at least half a billion pounds pass through Sotheby's hands; condemns the contrast between the elite culture of Sotheby's and the poverty imposed on hard-working employees in order to boost Sotheby's profits; and calls on the Sotheby's board, which includes James Murdoch, to abandon its strategy of breaking unions in order to drive down the terms and conditions of low-waged workers who are trying to support their families.

ArtInfo News reported on the Teamsters' visit to London:

...several New York Teamsters and their British supporters also plan to protest outside the auctioneer's Bond Street location. A number of London unions, including the International Transport Workers' Federation, Unite, and maritime union RMT, will participate. Ide is joined in London by Dorian Malloy, a locked-out art handler who has worked for Sotheby's for seven years. The union paid to send them both to England to raise awareness for the art handlers' cause, Ide said. Their timing is canny: it is a busy week for London's art world, with Frieze Art Fair bringing swarms of collectors, gallerists, and artists to the city.

Stay tuned!

VIDEO: Wall Street occupiers disrupt auction in solidarity with Local 814

This is awesome! Video of the Occupy Wall Street protesters disrupting a Sotheby's auction to show their support for the locked-out art handlers from Teamsters Local 814.

Just listen to the amount of the bids for the items being auctioned off.

Matt Renner at Truthout has the story:

Activists from the ongoing occupation in lower Manhattan called "Occupy Wall Street" infiltrated an art auction at the famous Sotheby's auction house and gallery, giving voice to the demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement and to stand in solidarity with Sotheby's workers who have been locked out in an ongoing labor dispute.

Forty-three members of the Teamsters Local 814, the art handlers at Sotheby's, were locked out on August 1, in the midst of contract negotiations. A press release issued by the Occupy Wall Street activists describes the hardball negotiating tactics of the Sotheby's management as a bid to destroy their workers' retirement protections and to replace the skilled handlers with temporary workers without benefits:

"[Sotheby's] wants the art handlers to give up their 401K plan and work a reduced 36-hour week, effectively a 10 percent wage cut. The company also wants to cap workers' overtime, eliminate certain titles that pay more, and, in initial bargaining, wanted workers to give up their right to sue over charges of discrimination."

This despite the fact that Sotheby’s just had its most profitable year ever in its 267 years of business and pays the CEO, Bill Ruprecht, approximately $60,000 a day, according to the union.

As Ari Paul so eloquently noted,

...they demand lower wages and fewer benefits for their workers not because these costs are too burdensome, but simply because they are ideologically motivated to widen the wealth gap at all costs, and know that there are plenty of jobless Americans who are willing to work for peanuts.

This is what we union thugs do when we're locked out of our jobs

We hang pictures for an exhibition to raise money for arts education in New York.

Teamsters from Local 814 who handle art for Sotheby's have been locked out for almost a month and a half. That hasn't stopped them from donating their time for a good cause.

ArtInfo reported yesterday,

...the art handlers will pick up their hammers again tomorrow to hang a benefit show at Kleio Projects Gallery on New York’s Lower East Side to raise money for arts education in New York City schools. A few art handlers met the gallery’s director, Christine O’ Heron, when they were handing out flyers last week in Chelsea. She told them about her benefit, and they volunteered to hang the show. “We’re just anxious to get back to work,” said (Local 814 President Jason) Ide. “We love our jobs.”

(BTW we think it's tremendously appropriate that the Teamsters are hanging an exhibition called "Self Portrait as Monster Truck.")

ArtInfo was impressed with Local 814's creativity:

In addition to staging loud, whistle-filled rallies outside Sotheby’s, they took to the Hamptons Squash Tournament last month to hand out pamphlets entitled “Sotheby’s Squashes Teamsters.”

And it didn't even notice how the Teamsters protested Sotheby's as its fall season began with an auction of Chinese art: With signs and banners that said, “Sotheby’s: Bad for Art” and “Abuse," “Mistreat” and “Disgrace” in Chinese.

Irene can't keep Teamster women away from NYC conference

Teamster women are a special breed, and no hurricane was going to keep them away from the annual women's conference in New York City.

Our sister Melody Campbell from Local 377 in Youngstown, Ohio, captured the spirit of the event in a Teamster Women Facebook posting:

Look Out New York, Teamster Women are arriving and will sweep the city! Can not wait to get there and meet all of the On-Line Sisters!

Right now, Teamster women are joining New York Local 814 for a rally at Sotheby's, which locked out its employees during contract negotiations. Said Julian Tysch, a locked-out Sotheby's art handler:

We are responsible for shipping, receiving, unpacking, assembling, and installing exhibitions of artwork and antiques valued in the millions of dollars. With profits over $100 million in the last quarter alone, I don’t understand why Sotheby’s would make such a bad decision to outsource this sensitive work and kick us to the curb for no reason.

Earlier, Sue Mauren, secretary-treasurer of Local 320  in Minneapolis, spoke to the 800-plus Teamsters at the conference.

Winning the war on workers is about fighing back. We need to fight back by demanding a bailout for American workers, a real jobs program, pension protection and a moratorium on home foreclosures. Sisters and brothers, we need to work harder than ever before and we need solidarity more than ever before. We need to support our union more than ever before. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Wisconsin in what can only be called an uprising of workers. Teamster brothers and sisters coming together to unite and fight the war on workers -- this is what democracy looks like.

Teamsters battling across the USA

The war on workers isn't limited to state capitals. (But you knew that.) Teamsters are fighting back against employers who keep wanting more, more, more for themselves and less, less, less for their employees.

Here's a quick recap of some headline-grabbing Teamster actions:

• Teamsters sue to block Frontier Airline concessions. The Denver Post reports the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sued Frontier in U.S. District Court on Aug. 3. The IBT argues that a concession deal worked out between Frontier and its former union was illegal.
• Teamsters escalate protests against BMW across the country. Jobmouse.com reports the Teamsters set up protests outside 50 BMW dealerships in 11 states – California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Virginia. The German company, which received a $4 billion bailout from U.S. taxpayers, now wants to lay off nearly 100 longtime Teamsters in Ontario, Calif., -- just because it can.  
• Sotheby's locks out unionized art handlers, sparks picket line. Reuters reports New York Teamsters set up a picket line outside of Sotheby's, the high-end auction house, after they were locked out during a contract dispute.
• Teamsters Local 79 sued the State of Florida for requiring state employees to contribute to their pension plans in violation of their contract.
• Minnesota Public Radio reports Teamsters won't deliver to American Crystal Sugar because the company locked out workers who are members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union.

Today's Teamster News 07.13.11

6 fake Democrats fall, setting stage for GOP recalls  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The primaries set up major faceoffs in the six districts, with national attention on the races, and massive amounts of money and national advertising flowing into the state...
Prosser rejects calls for him to take leave  WKOW   ...State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser rejected calls from representatives of women's groups and others for Prosser to take leave as an accusation of workplace violence against Prosser is investigated...
Another side to ‘Right to Work’  Escanaba Daily Press   ...Representatives from Teamsters Local 486 have voiced their concerns about the possibility of Right to Work legislation in Michigan...
Will the Teamsters strike Sotheby's?  (Local 814) Art Info   ...At some point during yesterday's contract negotiations between Sotheby's art handlers and auction house management, it became clear the two sides would not come to an agreement by the end of the day...
Senate fails to override Christie's budget vetoes  Courier-Post   ...Senate Democrats failed to muster the three Republican votes needed to override even one of Gov. Chris Christie's budget vetoes to restore funding for child abuse services, women's health clinics, legal aid and mental health services...
Poll finds Lynch still popular in NH  Boston Globe   ...New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch enjoys continued popularity among both Republicans and Democrats...