Today's Teamster News 01.20.15

Trade
Suspicious Nonsense on Trade Agreements (opinion)  New York Times   ...what really gets me is the Chamber’s supposed agenda for growth. Topping the list — the number one priority — is completing those trade agreements. This is absurd, and disturbing...
War on Workers
Meet The 80 People Who Are As Rich As Half The World Five Thirty Eight   …since 2009, the wealth of those 80 richest has doubled in nominal terms — while the wealth of the poorest 50 percent of the world’s population has fallen...
Worker dies when Ohio overpass collapses  Associated Press   ...The Cincinnati police chief urged morning commuters to plan ahead Tuesday after an interstate overpass undergoing demolition collapsed, killing one person and injuring another...
How the 1% fly to Davos  CNN Money   …Billionaires and world leaders from across the globe are flying en masse to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland -- and they insist on traveling in style. Roughly 1,700 private flights are expected over the course of the week...
IMF downgrades global growth forecast  BBC News   …The downgrade to the forecasts comes despite one major boost for the global economy - the sharp fall in oil prices, which is positive for most countries. The IMF expects that to be more than offset by negative factors, notably weaker investment…
Miscellaneous
Martin Luther King, Jr.: All Labor Has Dignity  truthout   ...there is another great need, and that is to unite beyond class lines...
Crushing The U.S. Energy Export Dream (opinion)  naked capitalism   ...Exporting crude oil and natural gas from the United States is among the dumbest energy ideas of all time. Exporting gas is dumb. Exporting oil is dumber...

Today's Teamster News 01.18.14

Teamsters Announce Tentative Agreement With YRCW  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union announced today that it reached a tentative agreement with YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) that, if ratified by the membership, will provide a pathway for substantial debt reduction and refinancing initiatives that will permit the company to protect and preserve more than 30,000 good American jobs...
Teamsters and YRC hammer out new offer  The Kansas City Star   ...The new proposal will be presented Tuesday to leaders of the many Teamsters locals that represent YRC’s 26,000 union employees throughout the country...
YRC Agrees to Revised Labor Accord With Teamsters Leaders  Bloomberg News   ...YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW:US) and Teamsters union leaders reached a revised labor accord that would pave the way for refinancing the trucking company’s $1.4 billion debt and staving off default. The shares surged...
Teamsters Celebrate King’s Legacy  teamster.org   ...Teamsters across the country will honor the legacy of civil rights and labor leader Martin Luther King Jr. on January 20th...
How Walmart Organizers Turned the Internet Into a Shop Floor  In These Times   ...Walmart workers and organizers prove ‘clicktivism’ can evolve into offline activism...
Leaked Walmart Documents Reveal Propaganda Campaign to Fight Workers Attempting to Organize AlterNet   ...The mega-retailer misinforms and tells managers to tattle on employees who discuss organizing...
Missouri ALEC Co-Chair on Wages in RTW States: “Sure They Go Down” (VIDEO) We Party Patriots   ...In a video unveiled by Progress Missouri, State Senator/ALEC Co-chair Ed Emery admits that “Right-to-Work” laws would mean lower wages for Missourians. But don’t get your hopes up: this is a gotcha moment, not a rejection of anti-worker policy...
AB InBev, KKR in talks on $4.5 billion Oriental Brewery deal  Reuters   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev SA is in advanced discussions to buy South Korea's Oriental Brewery from private equity owners KKR & Co LP and Affinity Equity Partners for more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter...
U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of Freight Train Safety  New York Times   ...After meeting with federal regulators on Thursday, officials from the rail and petroleum industries agreed to examine quick ways to improve the safety of freight trains carrying crude oil following a spate of fiery accidents in recent months...
Safety violations found at another Freedom chemical facility  Salon   ...The company responsible for contaminating West Virginia’s tap water had been improperly storing chemicals at more than one location...
Freedom Industries files for bankruptcy  The Charlestown Gazette   ...Freedom owes $3.6 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors, according to bankruptcy documents. The company also owes more than $2.4 million in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, and the IRS has placed at least three liens on Freedom's property, demanding payment...
Fear Is Why Workers in Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest  Truthdig   ...Last week’s massive spill of the toxic chemical MCHM into West Virginia’s Elk River illustrates another benefit to the business class of high unemployment, economic insecurity, and a safety-net shot through with holes...
Millionaire Ga. GOPer Backs Wall Street Bailout -- Not Detroit's   Talking Points Memo   ...A multi-millionaire Georgia Republican Senate candidate wanted to be clear at a recent campaign event: He's against the autoworker bailout but is for the Wall Street bailout...
How Screwing Your Workers Gets You Rated as Top 100 Places to Work  AlterNet   ...Darden Restaurants, which owns chains like Red Lobster, bought its way into a sleazy rankings list...
Amazon hosting most of the net's malware, says security firm  The Guardian   ...Report says net's large cloud providers, including Google and GoDaddy, are unknowingly harbouring ‘on-demand’ malware...
A Sneaky Path Into Target Customers’ Wallets  New York Times   ...Entering through a digital gateway, the criminals discovered that Target’s systems were astonishingly open — lacking the virtual walls and motion detectors found in secure networks like many banks’...
America's Real Welfare Queens  Truthout   ...In 2012, the average American taxpayer making $50,000 per year paid just $36 towards the food stamps program, while an average American family making $50,000 a year pays a whopping $6,000 a year in subsidies to Republican-friendly corporations...
Restricting bankers’ pay has only made them richer  Quarz   ...thanks to Goldman Sachs’s soaring stock price, its employees are sitting on $600 million … in compensation…
Patrick Replaces Secretary of Labor after Problems Surface  Boston Globe   ...Governor Deval Patrick today announced that he is replacing his state secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Joanne F. Goldstein, who had been facing questions about the troubled launch of the state’s new online jobless benefits system...
Florida blames its troubled unemployment website entirely on vendor; feds heading here to help  Miami Herald   ...Months after its debut, Florida’s $63 million unemployment benefits website is showing signs of improvement but falls far short of adequately serving claimants who depend on it...
Pennsylvania Judge Strikes Down New Voter ID Law  ThinkProgress   ...In a major victory for proponents of voting rights, a Pennsylvania judge overturned the state’s new voter identification law on Friday...
Plain Talk: Sorry, compared to Minnesotans, we made the wrong choice  The Cap Times   ...While Minnesota's economy has seen robust growth, Wisconsin's has — generously — been called sluggish. Because of differences in how health care is viewed, Minnesotans pay far less in premiums than do Badgers. There are those who contend that the Gopher State is leaving Wisconsin in its dust...
Chicago Alderwoman Proposes City Stop Doing Business With JPMorgan Chase After It Admits to Illegal Actions  Truthout   ...“The bank has violated the city code by making admissions of dishonesty and deceit in the way they dealt with their investors in the mortgage securities and Bernie Madoff Ponzi scandals,” Hairston [said]. “We use this code against city contractors and all the small companies, why wouldn’t we use this against one of the largest banks in the world,” she said...

Today's Teamster News 01.23.13

U.N. Agency Warns of Rising Unemployment  New York Times  ...More than 197 million people worldwide are jobless, and an additional 39 million have simply given up looking for work, a United Nations agency said on Monday, warning that government budget-balancing was hurting employment and would probably lead to more job losses soon...
11 European Countries Adapted A Financial Transactions Tax, And the U.S. Should Too (opinion)  Think Progress  ... 11 members of the Eurozone today received the go-ahead to apply a financial transactions tax to trades of stocks and derivatives that occur within their countries…As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted, “Most of Europe will now tax financial transactions, generating billions for hard-pressed budgets. U.S. should do same.”...

Hyundai plant one of 100 factories shutting down in wake of Beijing pollution scare  autoblog   ...the area's children's hospitals are receiving up to 10,000 patients per day with respiratory ailments...
Greece charges statisticians over size of deficit  FT   ...Greece has brought criminal charges against the official responsible for measuring the country’s debt, thereby calling into question the validity of its €172bn second bailout by the EU and International Monetary Fund...
Goldman, Other Welfare Queens Tell Us Forget Social Security-Medicare Until 70  Agonist.org  ...A long standing Money Party front, the Business Roundtable, wants you to wait until you’re 70 years old before you get Social Security and Medicare benefits. This is just a reprise of the November 2012 dictate from the king of corporate cronyism, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein...

House Republicans unveil measure to suspend debt ceiling until May 19  The Hill …House Republicans on Monday unveiled legislation that will suspend the debt ceiling until mid-May, setting the stage for a floor vote as soon as Wednesday... 

Reid warns of ‘nuclear option’ on filibuster  Politico  ...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Democrats will take the unprecedented step of changing filibuster rules on a party-line vote if Republicans don’t agree to a bipartisan deal this week...

'Right to Work' in Michigan: Depleting Unions, Dashing Dreams  Jurist  ...RTW regimes set in motion a relentless downward spiral: RTW laws lead to weaker unions, and weaker unions lead to worsening economic conditions for those who can least afford it. Michigan, regardless of its pro-union traditions and culture, is now headed into that vortex...

Kansas Unions Bill Seeks To Undercut Labor's Political Power  Huffington Post  ...The battle over labor unions has reached a new state, with Kansas legislators due to start discussing a proposal that would curtail unions' political power on Wednesday. The Kansas legislation would specifically prohibit public-employee unions from establishing automatic deductions from employee paychecks to pay for political activities... 
Another Walker Aide Sentenced to Prison in Secret "John Doe" Investigation  PR Watch  ...Another top official to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling funds intended for families of veterans...
PPP: Maine Gov. LePage Extremely Unpopular  Talking Points Memo   ...Fifty-five percent of voters in the state said they disapprove of LePage's performance as governor, compared with 39 percent who approve...

Summerville School Bus Workers Vote To Authorize Strike At Durham  IBT  ...School bus drivers and monitors who transport students for Durham School Services in Summerville's Dorchester School District 2 have voted 77-0 to authorize a strike. The drivers and monitors, members of Teamsters Local 509, join Charleston County Durham drivers who also voted unanimously, 186-0, on Jan. 15 to authorize a strike...

Teamsters March In Atlanta To Demand Justice For Sanitation Workers  IBT  ...At the annual Martin Luther King Day march yesterday, more than 400 sanitation workers and Teamster allies joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste [NYSE: RSG] treat its workers equally and with respect. They were joined by sanitation workers in Dekalb County who are fighting to form a union...

Memphis strike vets march to support Teamster sanitation workers in honor of MLK

Alvin Turner and Baxter Leach marched with hundreds of Teamster solid waste workers yesterday in Atlanta, 45 years after they participated in the Memphis sanitation workers strike that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died supporting.

Teamsters Local 728 represents sanitation workers for Republic/Allied Services. The local is also organizing DeKalb County sanitation workers.

Here's the statement from the IBT:

At the annual Martin Luther King Day march yesterday, more than 400 sanitation workers and Teamster allies joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste [NYSE: RSG] treat its workers equally and with respect. They were joined by sanitation workers in Dekalb County who are fighting to form a union. 

The sanitation workers marched together to honor King’s legacy of defending workers’ livelihoods and to remind us that the dream of economic and social justice must be fought every day. Their banners and signs read “Justice for Sanitation Workers” and “Sanitation Workers United.” 

Republic Services/Allied Waste is attacking its workers all across America. In some cities, workers are cheated out of a day’s pay or more when they work overtime. In others, Republic is trying to destroy workers’ retirement security, and to force workers to give up their right to a trial under the Civil Rights Act if the company discriminates against them. 

Republic sanitation workers from Atlanta and McDonough, Ga., represented by Teamsters Local Union 728, as well as Republic workers from Brewton, Ala. and Pensacola, Fla., represented by Teamsters Local Union 991, marched together yesterday. They were joined by Republic workers from Memphis – represented by Teamsters Local Union 984 - who traveled by bus yesterday for the march. 

Two sanitation workers from the 1968 strike, Baxter Leach and Alvin Turner, also traveled from Memphis for the march. 

“This is the first time I have been to Atlanta since 1968 when I attended Rev. King’s funeral. I traveled here today to stand up for the rights of waste workers whose livelihoods are threatened,” Turner said. 

“The Rev. King came to our hometown 45 years ago to support us, and I am honoring his memory by fighting for today’s workers who are facing some of the same issues we faced,” Leach said. 

Frontline sanitation workers perform the fourth-most dangerous job in the country. Teamsters employed by the Republic/Allied Waste are standing up to demand that the company stop these abuses now. 

“I rode a bus all the way from Memphis because I wanted to honor the Rev. King and his message of fighting for justice and dignity for all workers,” said Ilya Hamilton, a residential driver at Republic Services in Memphis. “This hugely profitable company should treat its workers with respect, and pay us for all the work that we do. As Rev. King said 45 years ago, ‘What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger?’” 

Dekalb County sanitation workers who are organizing to become Teamsters joined Turner and Leach and the Republic workers at a news conference prior to the march. 

Republic’s attacks on its workers have increased in the last year. In May, 2012, the company locked out 80 members of Teamsters Local 215 in Evansville, Ind. for six weeks when the workers refused to accept the destruction of their pension. Out-of-town replacement drivers damaged people’s homes, vehicles and even power lines during the lockout. 

Last March, the company walked away from a ratified contract with Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala. Local 991 members were forced to strike to protest the company’s illegal behavior and finally secure a contract. Workers in four other cities across the country honored their picket lines before the company came to its senses a little over a week later. During the lockout in Evansville, workers in five cities honored picket lines before the lockout was ended.

Also yesterday in Seattle, Republic Services workers also took part in the annual Martin Luther King Day march. Republic workers called on Bill Gates to stop discriminating against waste workers. As the primary shareholder of Republic stock, Gates owns approximately $2.4 billion worth of stock, or 25 percent of the total worth of the company. 

Republic/Allied Waste’s total revenues were more than $8.2 billion in 2011, with profits of more than $589 million. In May 2012, the same month it locked out its workers in Evansville, Ind., the company approved a death and disability benefit for its CEO valued at more than $23 million. 

Teamsters honor MLK, dignity of labor

Teamsters supported the Poor People's Campaign. Here, James R. Hoffa hands a check for $25,000 to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Teamsters all over the country are celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King today. International Vice President Al Mixon, for example, will be Grand Marshall at this year’s King Week Holiday March and Rally in Atlanta.

Dr. King, a strong supporter of the labor movement, believed the path to economic freedom and social justice were the same. Said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa,

The history of the labor movement is uniquely and intimately tied with the history of the civil rights movement. The two go hand-in-hand.

angry bear posts an account of the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination and the aftermath. Called Garbage and Labor, he writes,

February 1968, 1,300 Sanitation Workers of Memphis went on strike for better working conditions and benefits, doing so with little support from the International AFSCME. Forced to carry poorly contained garbage in 60 gallon leaking and maggot infested containers from the backs of yards, the workers struck for safer working conditions, healthcare, etc. Angered by the deaths of two of their fellow workers and the sending home of 22 black sewer workers while white workers continued working the union led by T. O Jones walked out. Crushed to death when the garbage truck’s faulty controls activated the hydraulic ram, the two workers were seeking shelter from a rain storm inside the back end of the truck as there was nowhere else they were allowed to go. The city paid each of the dead worker's families $500 plus 1 month’s pay. The average wage of the sanitation worker was $.33/hour...

For the dignity of the men who would haul garbage, for the dignity of African Americans, for the dignity of all of those living in poverty, and for those who would labor; Martin Luther King gave his life.

Teamsters fight for Dr. King's dream

Teamsters: The New Civil Rights Movement (video)

On 4.4.11, hundreds of thousands of American workers will mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death. Union members will participate in teach-ins, protests, rallies and vigils. It's all part of the effort to reach out and educate our family, friends and neighbors about the attack on collective bargaining rights -- and on the American middle class. What better way to reach out and educate than to remind people that Dr. King died for collective bargaining rights?

Different unions will choose different ways to commemorate the day. The Teamsters will focus on getting educated and getting involved. Teamster members will be asked to take a pledge to do one of four things, including showing this video to four people. 

Stay tuned, and keep an eye on the http://www.stopthewaronworkers.org/ page for more information.

A straight line from Memphis to Madison

In just six days, Teamsters across America will honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, who died fighting for collective bargaining rights. On 4.4.11, Teamsters will participate in rallies across the country, as they have for weeks now. But they will also take concrete steps to get educated and get involved in the fight for workers rights.

Here's a good way to get started: Read the Rev. Jesse Jackson's article in the Huffington Post, Injustices, From Memphis to Madison. Jackson writes,

I was in Memphis at Dr. King's side -- and on Monday I will be in Madison, for there is a straight line from Memphis to Madison.

Dr. King came to Memphis to rally in support of striking public employees. Months earlier, two black sanitation workers had been crushed to death when a compactor mechanism in a truck malfunctioned. On the same day, 22 black workers were sent home without pay, while their white supervisors were retained with pay. Two weeks later, 1,100 black sanitation workers began to strike for job safety, better wages and benefits and union recognition.

It was a frantic time for Dr. King...But he chose to join the strikers in Memphis for he knew their cause was just, their need great and their time had come.

Now in Madison, teachers and nurses and sanitation workers are standing up against an attempt to strip them of their right to bargain collectively. Students have come to their aid, while protesting deep cuts in university and school budgets and efforts to strip them of their right to vote on campus. Workers are standing up in solidarity with those under attack.

Read the whole thing here.

04.04.11: Save the Date

Saturday's monster rally in Los Angeles is only one of a series of actions that will take place on or around April 4, 2011. The day marks the 43rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death during the Memphis sanitation workers' strike.

Teamsters will celebrate the day by pledging to reach out, educate and advocate for workers' rights. (More later on this.) Around the country, unions and their allies will march, rally, lay wreaths and eat barbecue. Major rallies are planned for Memphis,  Boston, New York, Atlanta, Olympia, Wash., Chicago and Seattle. Among the events:

• The Unitarian-Uuniversalist Congregation of Somerset Hills, N.J., will be hosting a Defend the Dream teach-in.
• The Labor Action Center in Portland, Me., will show the film "At the River I Stand" about the sanitation workers' strike.
• Community Allies will rally at the Kennedy King Park in Indianapolis, where Robert Kennedy spoke the night of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's assassination.
• Unions will hold a 15-minute moment of silence in Raleigh, N.C., at Bicentennial Mall.
• The San Diego Labor Council will hold a candlelight vigil.

To find an event near you, click here.

'What's happening now is what happened in Memphis'

April 4, 2011, will mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, death in 1968 and the birth of a new civil rights movement. Unions will be joined in a day of action by student, faith, civil rights and human rights groups. In anticipation of the event, we talked about the current War on Workers with a leader in the Memphis sanitation workers' strike of 1968: Alvin Turner.

Alvin Turner started working for the City of Memphis at age 16 and often held two jobs just to get by. In 1968, Turner was 34 years old and married with four children. Now 76, a scar he still bears on his head reminds him of being clubbed by a Memphis police officer during the strike.
Turner said if it weren’t for his age and frail health, he would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with public workers in Wisconsin.

Seeing what’s happening in Wisconsin and around the country—it takes me right back to the same fight. What’s happening now is what happened in Memphis. They want to take back what we fought so hard for. It really hurts me to see this.

They stopped negotiating with us. They told us they’ll talk when we go back to work. That’s when we decided to call in Dr. King. When Dr. King came down, it brought the strike to everyone’s attention. There were poor people all over the U.S. and King wanted to see a chicken in everyone’s pot. We wouldn’t have won the strike if it wasn’t for Dr. King. He said ‘I’m not moving’ and we followed what he said.

Our strike started out as a labor strike, but two weeks in it became more than just a strike. It became a civil rights movement.

Like many fighting today, Turner knew he had to stand up for not only for himself, but for his family.

I had a wife and three little girls. I knew I had to make life better for them. I didn’t want my little girls working in nobody’s kitchen. I didn’t want my little girls working in some back alley. The only way I could do that was to make sure they had good education. I had to fight. I had to stand up and be a man. I made sure I would be the last uneducated person in my family.

Today, all of Turner’s children are successful in their careers. His eldest daughter is retired from the Navy. His second daughter works in Atlanta, Ga. His third daughter has a doctorate’s degree and his son is a teacher at a high school in Memphis. Turner’s son Russell shared this story about his youth:

I remember when I was in college and there was a job opening at a sanitation department. They were offering $12 an hour, which, for a college student, is a lot of money. I applied for the job and when I didn’t get it, I called my dad to tell him. Dad said, ‘I was a garbage man so you wouldn’t have to be.’

Russell Turner is now a high-school teacher in Memphis, Tenn. Today, Tennessee’s Legislature is considering a bill to strip public school teachers of their collective bargaining rights. Thousands of teachers and their supporters have protested the bill at the state Capitol in Nashville.

Turner offers words of solidarity and hope to those fighting for collective bargaining rights today.

It takes more than just paying union dues to be in a union. You have to attend meetings and get involved. I want to tell people to day don’t give up. Hang in there. I just wish I could be with you.