Our No. 1 Letterman moment! (video)

Long-time CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman called it quits earlier this week, ending a more than three-decade run as arguably America's greatest late night TV talker who kept many laughing with his snark and humor.

But perhaps his greatest achievement (and admittedly, we may be a bit biased here) came less two years ago, when he invited members of Local 817 to appear on the Aug. 27, 2013 episode to contribute to that night's "Top Ten" list: Top 10 Things Never Said Before By A Teamster.

Here's the clip from that very funny episode. And thanks, Dave, for the many years of chuckles. Enjoy your well-earned retirement!

Today's Teamster News 04.27.15

Teamsters
New York Mayor’s Office, Teamsters Team Up For Community Grants  Variety   ...The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Theatrical Teamsters Local 817 have partnered to award three “Made in NY” grants to support community-based organizations with media, film or arts programs in high-need communities...
Teamsters Swift Transportaion Shareholder Proposal Recommended By Leading Proxy Voting Advisors  Teamster.org   ...The country’s two leading proxy voting advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommend that shareholders of Swift Transportation vote for a shareholder proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that calls on the company to pursue a plan to recapitalize the company and replace the current dual class stock structure with one that ensures equal voting rights for all shareholders...

Global Labor & Trade
Liberals furious with Obama’s trade comments  MSNBC   ...The already bitter fight between the White House and the progressive base over trade policy has turned ugly after President Obama said his critics on the left “don’t know what they’re talking about” and compared their arguments to conspiracy theories about “death panels.” Progressives trade critics are up in arms over the comments, made Thursday night to a gathering of Organizing for Action...
Obama Hits the Warpath Over TPP  The Nation   ...Many of Obama’s claims, however, don’t match up to what we know about the deal so far. Others are impossible to fact-check, as the final language of the deal remains a secret to the public and even many congressional staffers. The members of Congress who have seen the deal can’t disclose what’s in it, but their public statements reveal a deep unease about the text...

Obama escalates push-back against Elizabeth Warren and other trade deal critics   Washington Post   ...The push-back, directed largely at fellow Democrats, shows just how sharply the trade deal is dividing the party — a schism that could only intensify in the days ahead. On the call, Obama ran through a number of Democratic and liberal objections to the deal...
U.S. mulling trade rules change dubbed 'poison pill' for pact   Reuters  ...The amendment, approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, would disqualify trade deals with countries deemed soft on human trafficking from special procedures designed to speed their passage through Congress. The problem arises because the 2014 list of human-trafficking offenders includes Malaysia, a partner in the TPP...
TTIP Negotiators Get An Earful From American Critics  EurActiv   ...In the margins of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Thursday (23 April), US opponents to the deal vocally criticised the emerging agreement, saying it was a bad deal for consumers and the environment...
Congressional Panels Approve Fast Track For Trade Deal, With Conditions  New York Times   ...House and Senate committees this week easily agreed to give President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade accord with Pacific nations, but the package of bills intended to speed completion of the deal also imposes difficult burdens on its negotiators...
Obama, Hillary Clinton don't get trade   (opinion) CNN   ...Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is trying to walk a fine line somewhere in the middle. Clinton has recently courted Warren's support while forcefully repeating the rhetoric of populism. But according to a report by The New York Times, Clinton's staff is at pains to suggest that Clinton has always been a populist as opposed to merely trying to now co-opt a current trend...
Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza  Common Dreams   ...Marking two years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, protesters are converging on the country's capital and feminist actions are sweeping the globe on Friday, to honor the lives of the 1,138 people—most of them women—who perished in the tragedy and to demand justice for those they left behind...
Labour reforms trigger strike in S. Korea  AFP   ...Thousands of South Korean workers and civil servants rallied in Seoul on Friday in response to a nationwide general strike call against government labour reforms. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said more than 260,000 people across the country participated in the one-day strike, including health workers, teachers and factory employees...

State & Living Wage Battles
Suburbs Not Exactly Embracing Rauner's Turnaround Plan  Chicago Daily Herald   ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial effort to convince local governments to back his reform agenda is getting only a so-so response in the suburbs as union supporters flood meeting rooms to oppose the plan they say will limit workers' rights...
Four Years Later, Texas Is Still Defending Its Voter ID Law  Huffington Post   ...The issue at hand -- Texas' contentious photo ID law -- is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court. Voting rights advocates will argue that a federal judge's ruling from October -- which called the law an unconstitutional "poll tax," intentionally discriminatory and an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote -- should be upheld...
Right to work amendment unlikely to advance far  Springfield News Sun  ...A legislative panel will consider adding "right to work" to the Ohio constitution, although it seems unlikely the proposal will be approved. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission is reviewing the state constitution to make recommendations to the Ohio Legislature on subjects ranging from term limits to school funding...
Debate Over Raising Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Continues In State Capitol  CBS Philly   ...Supporters of an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour held an event at the state Capitol at which time they released a study on the impact it would have on Pennsylvania by The Keystone Research Center...
Debate swirls around whether increase in minimum wage would hurt business   News Tribune   ...This year, Missouri legislators filed five bills proposing raises to the state’s minimum wage, with rates ranging from $9.50 to $10.25 per hour. Similar bills have been filed in the past several years, but most never make it past the committee stage...
Meet The People Going Without Food For 15 Days To Demand A $15 Wage   Think Progress  ...Fast food workers like Farfan have staged nationwide strikes and protests to demand a $15 wage and the right to form a union. That pay floor has caught on in some places like Seattle and San Francisco, which both raised their wages to that level. Los Angeles lawmakers are considering joining them by raising the city’s wage to $15.25 by 2019...

U.S. Labor
SEIU, county talks frozen as Legislature considers bargaining reform  Las Vegas Review-Journal   ...Clark County government and its largest union remain locked in a standoff, unable to bargain a contract. The county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 cannot even agree enough to take their dispute to an arbitrator for a final decision. Both sides started negotiating in June 2013. By February 2014, the SEIU had declared an impasse that continues to this day...
Assembly bill could give farmworkers a greater voice during mediation  Fresno Bee   ...As a protracted legal fight over who will represent about 3,000 Gerawan Company workers simmers, state Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, is stepping in the fray with a bill that could prevent future conflicts between labor unions, farmworkers and their employer...
Battling A Damaging Workplace Trend (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...One of the most pervasive and damaging trends we are seeing in the 21st-century workplace is the deliberate misclassification of workers by employers looking to shift responsibility and cut costs. Two judgments announced this week in Utah and Arizona demonstrate our commitment to cracking down on this practice, whereby companies claim that their workers are not employees but independent contractors...

Miscellaneous
In Battle Between Strong Dollar And Cheap Gas, The Strong Dollar Is Winning  New York Times   ...Oil prices plummeted last year, leading to cheaper gasoline — good news for American consumers and companies like airlines and shipping firms that are heavy fuel users. Meanwhile, the dollar soared on global currency markets, making life more difficult for exporters who faced higher costs relative to global competitors. The giant question for the economy in 2015 was which of these forces would prove more powerful. The bad news is that so far, the strong dollar is winning...
The Dirty Secret Of College Athletics Is That Students Pay Exorbitant Fees To Subsidize It  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...But here's the dirty little secret about athletics at places like CSU and hundreds of others of colleges and universities: All these costly athletic programs are funded, in large part, by fees assessed on students -- fees that, in many cases, students don't ever realize they're paying...
A Drone Program That Has Killed Hundreds Of Civilians Finally Killed Some That The White House Regrets  Huffington Post   ...Watching the coverage of these tragic deaths, a viewer would be left with the impression of a drone program that has had a stellar record of accuracy up until it unfortunately killed two innocent people. But, in fact, killing innocent people has been a central part of the drone program from the very beginning, and is in many ways an inescapable consequence...

New York City Council hearing slams terms of art permit

Teamsters and other union members gave testimony on Thursday, May 2, at a hearing called by the chair of the New York City Council Parks Committee. Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-East Harlem), chair of the committee, convened the hearing to shed light on the use of public park space at Randall’s Island for private interests and its consequences for New York City residents and its workers.

Joint Council 16 Teamsters, including members from Locals 807 and 817, testified alongside workers from the New York City Central Labor Council, NY District Council of Carpenters, Operating Engineers and IATSE Local 829.

One of the main issues was the upcoming London-based Frieze Art Fair, which made its debut in New York City last year using workers who were paid below the local union rate and many of whom were from outside New York state. The New York City Parks Department testified that Frieze NY was paying $200,000 for use of Randall’s Island over eight weeks. At over 250,000 square feet, that is less than $1 per square foot noted Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley.

"New Yorkers should not be on the hook for corporate art welfare." said George Miranda, President of Teamsters Joint Council 16, “Our employers pay much higher fees for the use of the Armory and this clearly is a way to undercut them.”

Labor leaders are calling for transparency in the permitting process and for the city to create minimum work standards for productions similar to Frieze NY.

“Residents from my district cannot afford to attend this event, families are displaced from the park, workers are clearly being paid substandard wages, and I question whether or not the safest working conditions are being adhered to,” Councilmember Mark-Viverito said. “There is a lack of transparency that we are going to investigate.”

VIDEO: Danny DeVito wows the Teamsters

Who knew? Danny DeVito brought the Teamsters out of their seats last week at the 28th Convention. The director of the 1992 film "Hoffa" gave a passionate speech about sticking together in the union, and the crowd ate it up.

Of course when you stand in front of 6,000 Teamsters and call Scott Walker a "jamoke" and a "bum," you're bound to get some enthusiastic applause.

Or when you say things like,

They should know better than to tangle with the Teamsters!

And,

How about outsourcing the CEOs and bringing the jobs back to the USA?

DeVito was just one of several terrific speakers at the Convention. Vice President Joe Biden, Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette and Cory Booker -- to name just a few -- gave great speeches. Tom Morello and Christopher Duffley gave tremendous singing performances. You can see it all -- the resolutions, the newsletters, the transcripts of actual remarks, videos, photos. Just click on www.teamster.org/convention.