Today's Teamster News 05.04.15

Teamsters
US Foods Drivers in Michigan Vote to Join Teamsters   Teamster.org  ...Domicile drivers at US Foods in Kalamazoo, Mich., voted yesterday to join Teamsters Local 337 in Detroit. The drivers voted more than 70 percent in favor of Teamster representation, joining more than 200 US Foods drivers and warehouse workers in Novi, Mich., who are already members of Local 337...
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers At 3 Major Drayage Firms Return To Work  Teamster.org   ...Striking drivers from Intermodal Bridge Transport, Pacer Cartage, and Harbor Rail Transport returned to work this morning after a four day strike that drastically impacted company operations and left containers bound for the companies’ customers – including Walmart, Costco, Toyota, General Electric, Target, Procter and Gamble, and JC Penney – languishing on the docks at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as nearly all marine terminals turned away trucks from struck companies...
BLET urges FRA to require additional buffer cars on crude oil trains  BLE-T.org   ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is urging the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the nation’s Class 1 rail carriers to take action to address a serious shortcoming in current railroad operating regulations that endangers the lives of train crew members who work on crude oil trains...
Convention Center files emergency motion in Carpenters, Teamsters case  Philadelphia Business Journal  ...The Carpenters and Teamsters, the two unions who filed the unfair labor charges against the Convention Center, were barred from working at the site after failing to sign a new customer satisfaction agreement by a May 5 deadline last year. The unions maintain that they had until May 10, the date of a contract extension...

Global Labor & Trade
Extreme secrecy eroding support for Obama's trade pact  Politico  ...If you want to hear the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Obama administration is hoping to pass, you’ve got to be a member of Congress, and you’ve got to go to classified briefings and leave your staff and cellphone at the door. If you’re a member who wants to read the text, you’ve got to go to a room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center and be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read, and forced to hand over any notes you make before leaving...
Obama vows to help pro-trade Democrats fight off the left wing   Washington Post  ...President Obama is pledging to campaign for skittish House Democrats against challenges from the left if they support his massive Pacific free-trade pact, putting his political capital on the line as the administration enters a crucial stretch to win passage...
American workers deserve a trade deal negotiated in public  (opinion) Cleveland.com   ...the fact that "fast track" would give the president of the United States unilateral authority to negotiate global trade deals under a cloak of secrecy where Congress can only vote up or down on the final deal is indicative of an agreement that could only pass with no scrutiny...
May Day: Workers Stand Strong in Face of Threats  Solidarity Center  ...Workers in Bahrain, Burundi, Morocco, Swaziland and Turkey are standing strong in the face of economic and political threats this May Day. Working women and men are undaunted by intimidation and, in some cases, risking their lives to exercise their freedom to gather in the public space and stand up for their rights. This year more than ever, May Day stands as a beacon for internationally recognized human and labor rights...

Germany Braces for Longest Rail Strike as Drivers Walk Out  Bloomberg  ...The government-owned train operator is wrestling with the union over pay, working hours and which employees the union may represent. This week’s strike alone may cost the German economy about 500 million euros ($557 million) as depleted stocks and stuttering supply chains may result in production being hampered or even halted at some companies...
Bus strikes: Hundreds of thousands of workers stranded in massive walkout over privatisation of routes  Irish Mirror  ...The first day of a 48-hour bus strike left hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded and disrupted Bank Holiday travel yesterday. Pickets were held at Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus depots as drivers walked out over a row on the planned privatisation of 10% of routes...

State & Living Wage Battles
Wisconsin Republicans Don’t Want Food Stamp Recipients Buying Beans, Potatoes, Pasta Sauce  Think Progress  ...Low-income Wisconsin families won’t be able to buy shellfish with food stamps, and will have a much harder time getting basics like dried beans, pasta sauce, and cooking spices into their kitchens, under the latest state-level Republican proposal to tighten the government’s grip on the poor...
Jasper County GOP boosts right-to-work legislation  The Joplin Globe  ...Members of the Jasper County Republican Central Committee passed a resolution in support of right-to-work legislation currently before the Missouri General Assembly, then heard opposing viewpoints on whether the bill could survive a gubernatorial veto. The vote came Thursday in a quarterly meeting of the group...
Here’s How The Nation’s Two Largest States Plan To Crack Down On Predatory Lending  Think Progress   ...If the Texas laws pass, the two largest states in the country would likely be building payday loan databases at the same time. California regulators are introducing a new slate of rules for policing high-cost lending, including a database provision that would help the state to better enforce the rules that are already on the books...
G.O.P. Expands Labor Battle to Laws Setting State Construction Wages   New York Times ...Indiana’s Republican-held legislature narrowly voted in April to repeal the state’s so-called common construction wage, a provision that had been around in various forms for 80 years and that sets pay standards for workers on publicly financed projects. The debate over the change, which Mr. Pence has said he supports, was muted compared with two decades ago, when tens of thousands of union workers turned up at the State Capitol and held off repeal...
San Francisco Minimum Wage Rises to $12.25, Other Bay Area Cities Considering Hikes  NBC Bay Area  ...San Francisco will join the city of Oakland in having the highest minimum wage in the nation as it increases its minimum wage from $11.05 to $12.25. Affecting more than 142,000 workers, the pay hike is the first in a set of increases that will see the minimum wage rise to $15 per hour by 2018, according to officials from the Service Employees International Union 1021...

U.S. Labor
NLRB rules against Pennsylvania-American Water  Business Management  ...The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that Pennsylvania-American Water Co. violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it disciplined two Pittsburgh-area workers for refusing to cross a picket line. The board also censured the company for removing a union letter from a bulletin board...
Strike avoided, UAW and administration come to agreement  The Daily UW  ...UW union UAW Local 4121 announced Thursday night it had reached a bargaining agreement with the Cauce administration, avoiding a strike. The union represents research assistants and teaching assistants. The tentative agreement with the UW will be sent to union members for review. If ratified, the contract would become binding...
National Nurses Union reached a deal with UCMC, avoids strike   The Chicago Maroon  ...As union-affiliated nurses employed by the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) and the hospital braced for a planned one-day nurses’ strike on April 30, an announcement early this week signaled the aversion of the strike and a sudden and complete resolution of more than eight months of contentious contract negotiations between the two parties...

Miscellaneous
Candidate Sanders Calls for 'Political Revolution' Against Billionaire Class   Common Dreams ...Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is calling for revolution. The independent senator from Vermont who just this week announced his bid for Democratic nominee, minced no words when speaking on ABC's This Week on Sunday. "I think I'm the only candidate who's prepared to take on the billionaire class which now controls our economy, and increasingly controls the political life of this country"...
Robert Reich: America’s economy is a nightmare of our own making  Salon  ...The ensuing debate over the merits of the “free market” versus an activist government has diverted attention from how the market has come to be organized differently from the way it was a half-century ago, why its current organization is failing to deliver the widely shared prosperity it delivered then, and what the basic rules of the market should be...
'We Have Each Other's Backs': May Day Rallies Highlight Black Lives Matter Movement   Common Dreams  ...With May Day rallies taking place worldwide on Friday, activists in the U.S. are expanding their message—historically focused on workers' rights—to take a stand for racial justice, as the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality continues to spread...

Teamsters celebrate May Day 2015, offer Tom Morello labor music giveaway

Today is May Day, International Workers' Day, a day for workers around the world to celebrate the struggles and successes of the global labor movement.

Although May Day is celebrated worldwide, it's less observed in the U.S. - an irony considering that May Day began in the U.S. to commemorate the anarchist martyrs of the 1886 Haymarket riot and the fight for the eight-hour workday.

That's no accident. In 1894 President Grover Cleveland, alarmed by the radical unionists promoting May Day activities, proclaimed the first Monday of September as a national holiday in an effort to detract from May Day, hoisting up Labor Day as a holiday heralded by moderate union members.

In recent years, May Day has made a comeback in the U.S., thanks in large part to the immigrant rights movement which is led by workers bringing this international holiday from abroad back to its roots. Other sections of the U.S. labor movement have sought to revive May Day in the U.S. as well.

The need for a global day of labor action is more important today than ever as the globalization of corporate power signals the urgency for the globalization of workers' power. From the garment workers' struggles in Bangledesh and Central America to the living wage battles at mega retailers in the U.S. selling garment workers' products, worker abuse is connected like never before.

That's why May Day is about the labor movement as an internationalist movement.

And continuing our yearly May Day tradition since 2013, the Teamsters have partnered with our good friend and guitar legend Tom Morello, a passionate trade unionist formerly from the political rock group Rage Against the Machine.

Tom now plays his strings for working-class power as "The Nightwatchman." We've teamed up with Tom to giveaway his Union Town labor ballads today only in celebration of this special day for workers everywhere.

As Tom said to Teamsters in an interview in 2013, the Union Town giveaway is about giving a soundtrack to May Day and our year-round labor actions:

There’s never been a successful social justice struggle without a great soundtrack. From the Civil Rights Movement to the anti-war movement to the labor movement, songs have been a great unifier of the working class. Often people of disparate cultural backgrounds can unite around a love of music, and when it contains a potent class-conscious message, those songs have been an important part of steeling the backbone of those involved in labor struggles throughout American history.

Part of the reason of doing this record and giving it away on May Day is to re-educate people in this country about the importance of May Day as a day that celebrates our struggles and celebrates our victories. It celebrates the long history of people in this country boldly standing up and sometimes sacrificing their lives for things that we take for granted. Things like the weekend, the fact that children are not working in coal mines, and the protections we have on the job. Those are things they fought tooth and nail against and we only have them because of the historic struggles of the labor movement. 

The leadup to this year's May Day was full of action for Teamsters. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, Teamster-backed port truck drivers celebrated May Day on the picket line as they ended four days of striking against wage theft and misclassification. They haul goods made by other workers halfway around the world supplying American industries and businesses.

May Day reminds us that Teamsters and workers worldwide are in the same labor struggle for justice and dignity.

Happy May Day!

Today's Teamster News 05.01.15

Teamsters
Technicians at Saint Vincent Hospital Vote Overwhelmingly to Join Teamsters Local 170  Teamster.org   ...Technicians at Saint Vincent Hospital have become members of Teamsters Local 170 following an election yesterday in which more than 75 percent of voting workers cast ballots in favor of union representation. The vote count was 130-40 and there are more than 200 technicians in the bargaining unit...
Hoffa Statement on Minimum Wage Legislation  Teamster.org  ...Hoffa in response to the introduction today of the “Raise the Wage Act” by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), which would increase the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020: “This legislation will offer a hand up to millions of U.S. families who are struggling to make ends meet"...
Osco Drug Pharmacists Join Teamsters  Teamster.org  ...Pharmacists at Osco Drug have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine. The newly organized group consists of 20 pharmacists who work for Osco pharmacies located within 16 Shaw’s supermarkets throughout Maine...
Michigan truck drivers, warehouse workers rally for union at Sysco  Fight Back News   ...Around 50 workers and drivers joined a Teamsters Union Local 406 rally outside the food distribution giant Sysco Corporation on April 29. A huge black and gold Teamster truck was parked just outside the Sysco warehouse, bordering the Gerald R. Ford airport in Grand Rapids. Over 160 drivers and warehouse workers are demanding Sysco recognize their union affiliation with Teamsters 406...
Allegiant, Teamsters fighting over executive pay  Vegas Inc  ...The Teamsters union, already grappling with Allegiant Air in court over a possible pilots strike, is fighting with the carrier in the boardroom, too. The union, which owns a miniscule portion of Allegiant’s stock, is pushing back against the Las Vegas-based discount airline’s $8.5 million payout to former president and chief operating officer Andrew Levy...
Members of Congress Call on the Administration to Address Unfair Middle East Airline Subsidies  Teamster.org  ...Today 262 Members of Congress sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx urging them to request consultations with the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because those governments have been providing massive, market-distorting subsidies to their state-owned airlines...

Global Labor & Trade
Obama Accused Democrats Of Lying About Trade Deal, And They Aren't Having It  Huffington Post   ...Democrats are not happy about President Barack Obama's accusation that they are being "dishonest" about his trade agenda. Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) responded by pointing out that the pact remains classified, making it a crime for lawmakers to share its details with the public...
New Democrats expect growing support for fast-track  Politico  ...A small group of House Democrats who back President Barack Obama’s effort to win “fast-track” trade legislation said Thursday they expect more party members to step forward in favor of the bill, but indicated Republicans would still have to provide the bulk of the votes to win its approval...
Obama to push case for trade deal at Nike headquarters in Oregon  Reuters  ...President Barack Obama will travel to Nike Inc headquarters in Oregon next Friday to argue that a 12-nation Pacific trade deal and the fast-track legislation needed to finalize the pact are good for workers. Obama faces tough opposition from his fellow Democrats in Congress over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which they fear could hurt American jobs and the environment...
Battle rages over key Obama trade policy  Washington Post  ...For many liberal critics, the problem with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal isn’t simply the worry that it could lead to more job loss by exposing American manufacturing to more import competition. Rather, they assert that the TPP is in many ways not even a trade agreement: Its real offense is in the areas of intellectual property and global dispute settlement, where the deal, they say, could further tilt the playing field towards major corporations...
Chile upbeat on Pacific trade deal, urges Canada to give ground  Reuters  ...The 12 countries working toward a historic Pacific trade pact could reach a deal at the end of May, though Canada must still show greater willingness to open up its markets, a senior Chilean official said on Thursday. Chile is among the nations in talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact that would cover 40 percent of the world economy and includes the United States and Japan...
Fast Track and TPP Bad for Development  (opinion) Oxfam America  ...“Trade can indeed spur economic growth and poverty reduction, but only if the rules actually benefit those at the lower end of the development ladder,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. “Although it is being negotiated in secret, what we currently know about the TPP lines up the trade deal to do exactly the opposite”...
Nepal Quake Galvanizes Local Unions; Felt in Bangladesh  Solidarity Center  ...The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), which represents mostly blue-collar workers, the Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), which includes teachers and other white-collar workers and the Joint Trade Union Coordination Center (JTUCC), the umbrella organization of GEFONT and the NTUC, say their employees are safe and now working to provide disaster relief...
Portugal: TAP pilots to begin 10-day strike as talks fail  Euronews  ...Portugal’s flagship air carrier TAP looks set to be grounded for ten days from now because of a strike by pilots. Last-minute talks between the pilots and management yesterday afternoon failed to produce results...
 
State & Living Wage Battles
Democrats make minimum wage pitch: $12 by ’20  Washington Post  ...Top Democrats laid down their minimum-wage marker on Capitol Hill on Thursday, setting up their party's middle-class-focused economic message heading into the 2016 elections campaigns. Their pitch: "$12 by '20" — a $12 per hour federal minimum wage by 2020, which they say will give a pay raise to nearly 38 million Americans...
Senate committee to hold hearing on ending prevailing wage  Channel3000  ...The state Senate's labor committee has scheduled a hearing on a GOP bill that would repeal Wisconsin's prevailing wage law. The committee set the hearing for Tuesday and plans to vote on the bill the following Thursday. The committee's chairman, Sen. Stephen Nass, is one of the bill's sponsors...
State Sen. Daylin Leach proposes raising state minimum wage to $15 per hour   The Mercury News   ...A legislative proposal to raise the Pennsylvania minimum wage to $15 per hour has been circulated to the 49 state senators by state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17th Dist., who is seeking co-sponsors. The proposal, if it eventually becomes law, would also index the $15 minimum wage amount to inflation in future years and eliminate the current, $2.83-per-hour minimum wage for service workers who work for tips...
San Francisco set to introduce nation’s highest minimum wage  Daily Journal  ...San Francisco is getting ready to raise its minimum wage to $12.25 an hour, a rate that will have the city joining Oakland as the locales with the nation’s highest legally mandated pay for non-salaried workers. San Francisco’s new minimum is set to go into effect on Friday. It was approved by voters as part of an initiative that will increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2018...

U.S. Labor
On May Day, Longshore Workers Stop Work to Protest Racist Police Brutality  In These Times  ...This May 1 will see some serious protests against racism and police violence -- be they in Baltimore or Oakland. In fact, because ILWU Local 10 has announced it will stop work, the union may have created the space for thousands of protesters from around the Bay Area to join the marches. Using a provision in its contract, ILWU locals can “stop work” to discuss important matters on and off the waterfront...
Teachers at Four NY Archdiocese Schools on Strike  NY1.com  ...About 90 teachers are set to take part in today's strike at St. Jean Baptiste High School in Manhattan, Notre Dame Academy High School and Our Lady Queen of Peace School on Staten Island, and St. Thomas Aquinas School in the Bronx. The Federation of Catholic Teachers says it has filed unfair labor practice charges against the Archdiocese's Association of Catholic Schools...
SEIU, Franchisees Form Alliance In Support Of Industry Reforms  Progress Illinois  ...SEIU and franchisees are joining forces in a push to reform the nation's franchise industry as part of a new alliance announced Thursday being called "We Are Main Street." Those with the campaign "will support efforts to strengthen franchisee rights, share franchisee voices and provide research to fuel efforts for reform," according to the We Are Main Street website launched today by SEIU...
Microsoft’s Unionized Contract Workers Get Aggressive  Bloomberg  ...For more than two decades, the industry has outsourced an expanding range of jobs to contractors, including coders, chip designers, customer service reps, custodial staff, security guards, and cafeteria workers. “A lot of temps are really used as a permanent tier of second-class workers,” says Erin Hatton, author of The Temp Economy, a history of U.S. contingent labor. In September, 38 bug testers who review Microsoft apps voted to create a union, the Temporary Workers of America...
Wall Street owns our cities: The secret pension travesty threatening American workers   Salon   ...Currently, about 9 percent — or $270 billion — of America’s $3 trillion public pension fund assets are invested in private equity firms. Public officials are overseeing this massive payout to Wall Street at the very moment many of those same officials are demanding big cuts to retirees’ promised pension benefits...

Miscellaneous
Baltimore’s Economic Devastation Goes Back To Racist Housing Policy  Think Progress   ...There are many causes of a city’s economic decline, and much of Baltimore’s job loss is tied to the falling fortunes of the manufacturing sector. But the fate of the city’s black population has much to do with deliberate policy choices related to housing...
The Rise of the Machines: It's Happening  (opinion) Truthout  ...I argued that computers would take over many of the cognitive tasks that we find difficult, but that human beings would continue to be wanted for jobs that require common sense, including many forms of manual labor. Or as one friend described it at the time, my thesis was that we'll always need maids and gardeners. And it's happening...

Today's Teamster News 05.02.13

Tom Morello Offers Free 'Union Town' Tracks for May Day  Rolling Stone   ...Tom Morello has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to give away tracks from Union Town, the 2011 album from the guitarist's Nightwatchman project. Fans can simply head to the Teamsters website and submit their email addresses for the tracks...
Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400  BBC News   ...The number of people killed in the collapse of a building in Bangladesh which housed garment factories last week has passed 400, officials say...
Tell Walmart and Other Retailers: Ensure basic safety and human rights for workers in Bangladesh  CREDO Action Alert   ...Urge these companies to take immediate steps to deploy safety improvements in their supplier factories and pay the compensation owed to injured workers and the families of workers killed while sewing their clothing in Bangladesh…
CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report  Huffington Post   ...We’ve made progress on a lot of things since the 1950s and so have CEOs -- in their quest for more money that is. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, according to data from Bloomberg...
Bill Moyers documentary examines 'United States of ALEC'  Sacramento Bee   ...Ever wonder how it is that the same bill pops up simultaneously in statehouses across the country? One way is through the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that promotes business-friendly model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their respective Capitols.
Michigan bill would make stores online charge 6% sales tax  Detroit Free Press   ...Dan Marshall knows he can comfortably compete with the Internet on the prices of instruments he sells at seven Marshall Music stores across the state. But where the president of the Lansing-based, family-owned business can’t compete is the 6% sales tax he has to charge customers who make purchases in his store.
Poll: Plurality Wants One Party To Control White House, Congress  Talking Points Memo   ...A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday suggested that Americans have had their fill of divided government...
GOP puts 'right-to-work' on agenda  Cincinnati.com  ...Republicans waded back into choppy political waters Tuesday when two lawmakers – including one from Lebanon – vowed to make Ohio a “right-to-work” state...
Secret “Free Trade” Negotiations Will Gut Regulations, Further Enrich Multinationals and Big Financial Firms  Naked Capitalism   ...It’s a sign of the times that a reputable economist, Dean Baker, can use the word “corruption” in the headline of an article describing two major trade deals under negotiation and no one bats an eye...
American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration  MSNBC   ...For working America, the trend over the last few decades has been toward lower wages, fewer workplace rights, and diminished voice in the public sphere...
How to ease economic anxiety (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend...
Koch Brothers Plan More Political Involvement for Their Conservative Network  New York Times   ...As the country’s leading conservative donors finished off plates of roast lamb and spaetzle in a Palm Springs, Calif., hotel ballroom on Monday, Charles G. Koch delivered a pep talk...
Corbett's liquor privatization plan on life support  The Morning Call   ...First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett...
Florida State pension reform issue dies in the Senate  The Miami Herald   ...After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate...
Blistering audit faults Wis. job creation agency  The Republic   ...A blistering audit released Wednesday said Republican Gov. Scott Walker's premier job creation agency repeatedly broke state law in its first year of operation, failed to adequately track money it awarded for economic development projects and sometimes gave money to ineligible recipients...

Interview: Tom Morello Talks to Teamsters, May Day 2013

Every year on May 1, workers around the world celebrate the trials and triumphs of working people. This year, May Day comes with a bold soundtrack thanks to Tom Morello, the Nightwatchman.

While May Day is not a national holiday like Labor Day, it celebrates workers across the globe. It began in the United States in 1886 to commemorate the martyrs of the Haymarket riot and the fight for the eight-hour workday. But what good is a working-class holiday without good working-class music?

This year, Morello, the pioneering guitarist behind the politically charged rock group Rage Against the Machine, has partnered with the Teamsters to promote songs from his union-inspired album, “Union Town.” He is giving away his music on the Teamster.org website in honor of May Day 2013. Morello has worked with the Teamsters in the past, performing at the 2011 Teamster rally in Los Angeles and the Teamster Convention that year. Accompanying the May Day 2013 “Union Town” giveaway, the following Teamster Nation interview with Morello gives us a look at his inspiration and insights on music and the labor movement.

Question: Through your music you've been involved in many different movements and social justice causes. But you've been especially involved in labor and union activism. Why?

Morello: I come from a coal mining family in central Illinois and unions were always a big part of the life and fabric of the town. It was always ingrained in me from the time I was a little kid that it's the solidarity of workers that is a crucial counterbalance to corporate greed. And if we don't stand up together, we will certainly be taken advantage of individually. I've been a member of Los Angeles [American Federation of Musicians] Local 47 since 1989 and a member of Industrial Workers of the World as well. I think in a time when the working class and unions are being assailed in the United States, I do my best to fight back with my music.

Given your labor upbringing, had you always aspired to dedicate an entire album to labor and union songs or was that more inspired by recent events?

It was more inspired by recent events. Some of the songs, specifically “Union Town,” were written in response to the labor uprising in Madison, Wisconsin. “Union Town” is a combination of original compositions of mine and classic labor songs that are set with a Rage Against the Machine attitude – including “Solidarity Forever,” Woody Guthrie's “This Land is Your Land,” and “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night.” Since that music is an important part of the history of labor struggle in this country, I wanted to compile my own vision of labor songs with some of the union classics into one cohesive record – and then give it away!

Workers have been facing a tremendous corporate and political assault in states around the country. Do you see any bright spots for labor right now?

I definitely see a lot of bright spots because despite this relentless one-sided class war that the business elite have been carrying out against labor, we're still here. Whether I'm playing at the anti-Wal-Mart rallies, at your Teamster Convention a couple of years ago, or standing in the streets of Madison in the freezing cold, you see there's still a labor movement that is very much alive and well. It's certainly under assault and they're doing everything they can to undermine our power. Corporate America wants to run roughshod over us and enact their agenda without the rights of working people getting in the way. They want to make the whole world into a Wal-Mart sweatshop and one thing that stands in the way of that are unions like the Teamsters.

What do you think it's going to take to turn the tide against the war on workers?

I think as workers we need to stand together in these tough times. I've been a part of the Coalition of Immokolee Workers to the janitors here in Los Angeles. My music has been a part of some historic labor victories in this country. I don't want to paint too rosy a picture because we are under a dire attack. But in times like these, the key thing is solidarity. We have to remember that we're all in this together.

We also need stand by our principles. One thing I see a lot is, in the name of getting the right Democratic congressman in office, we'll sometimes compromise our core values. Just look at the example of Wisconsin. The last thing in the world either political party wanted was a working-class uprising in Wisconsin and they did everything they could to head it off. One thing I want is a working-class uprising on a national scale – on a global scale. That's what my songs are about. So I don't think we should sell ourselves short. We should aim high and shoot for the moon.

We've seen a lot of inspiring flashpoints of labor struggle in recent years, including the Republic Windows and Doors factory occupation, the protests in Wisconsin, the Verizon strike and the recent Chicago teachers strike. But these are also defensive battles. Now workers at Wal-Mart and fast food chains are going on the offensive by organizing and striking. What do you think of the potential these new struggles have for organized labor?

I think it's crucial that, rather than just trying to barely hold as our rights are slowly eroded, we recognize the correct strategy is to go on the offensive. And it's really key to have each other's backs. Again, Madison is a good example. There was an opportunity there to shut down much of lower Wisconsin, demanding the governor's resignation and a 10-point workers' bill of rights. Everybody from junior high school students to firefighters were in the capital. We need to realize that we really are in this together. If one ship starts sinking, the rest of us have to buoy it up. And if one of our ships starts to turn the cannons on the enemy, we all have to turn our cannons at the enemy.

One of the things that struck a lot of people about the protests in Madison was the amount of young people involved. While you do tend to see more young people involved in campaigns against sweatshops and the like, unions have really struggled to bring more youth into the labor movement as active rank-and-file union members. How do you think that can be changed?

That is something which I think we have to look at very hard. One thing to remember about Madison is that it came on the heels of the Egyptian uprising in Cairo, which was also a social media event. People across every age and ethnic group halfway around the globe were standing up against a tyrannical power. Madison was also the first big occupation, claiming the capital building – and it predated the Occupy movement by some six months. That's important because I think young people are drawn to bold action, not to politics as usual – not to backroom deals in smoke-filled rooms with compromise politicians.

What Tahrir Square and Madison had in common was old direct action against clear injustice and it galvanized entire regions. And then it got diluted by politics as usual. The air got let out of that balloon and it wasn't because the other side pushed back too hard. It was because our side was afraid of how big that balloon might get. That's why I think the next time the historical circumstances line up, we need to really take matters into our own hands and have a real grassroots leadership.

You've picked May Day as a day to give away some of your music on the Teamster website this year. You sing about May Day in your song “A Wall Against the Wind.” It's an international working-class holiday that began in the U.S. and has been all but forgotten. What's the significance of this day?

Well, it wasn't forgotten. It was intentionally moved off of May 1 to disassociate United States workers from workers around the globe. Part of the reason of doing this record and giving it away on May Day is to re-educate people in this country about the importance of May Day as a day that celebrates our struggles and celebrates our victories. It celebrates the long history of people in this country boldly standing up and sometimes sacrificing their lives for things that we take for granted. Things like the weekend, the fact that children are not working in coal mines, and the protections we have on the job. Those are things they fought tooth and nail against and we only have them because of the historic struggles of the labor movement. Hopefully future generations will be able to look back at us and those coming after us as people who stood proudly for rights that are unimaginable in these times – rights many don't even dream of yet.

There's also been a resurgence of May Day actions in recent years specifically because of immigrant rights protests. How do the struggles of undocumented workers relate to the spirit of May Day?

A good deal of the labor force now and throughout American history is comprised of immigrants. This country is wholly made up of immigrants and their descendants, except for the Native Americans. We should be paying a great deal of respect to the people who immigrate here. Reform is long overdue, but not just reform. The basic respect and dignity that all people deserve need to be afforded to people who immigrate here. And our May Day parade here in Los Angeles is now tens of thousands strong thanks to the labor movement and the immigrant rights movement recognizing that they are one and the same.

You’ve chosen music as your medium to further social justice and labor issues, whether it’s through Rage Against the Machine or as the Nightwatchmen. What’s the connection between music and these struggles?

There’s never been a successful social justice struggle without a great soundtrack. From the Civil Rights Movement to the anti-war movement to the labor movement, songs have been a great unifier of the working class. Often people of disparate cultural backgrounds can unite around a love of music, and when it contains a potent class-conscious message, those songs have been an important part of steeling the backbone of those involved in labor struggles throughout American history. I am one more link in that chain – a proud link in that chain that goes from Joe Hill to Woody Guthrie to Pete Seeger to Lead Belly, Public Enemy, the Clash and Rage Against the Machine. Music of various genres can put the extra wind in the sails of people who are standing up for their rights.

What’s your message to Teamsters and workers everywhere on May Day 2013?

My message to Teamsters and workers around the globe on May Day is a message of solidarity and pride in the countless accomplishments, victories, and struggles of workers around the globe, especially here in the United States. I will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters on the frontlines of workers’ struggles, social justice struggles, and do it all with a rocking soundtrack.

Today's Teamster News 05.02.11

Remembering the Struggles of Labor on May Day  Buzzflash   ...The first May Day demonstrations, in 1886, won the most important of the rights ever won by working people ­ the right demanded above all others by the labor activists of a century ago...
Unions reel as budget crisis, ebbing clout collide  Boston Globe   ...Though still considered among the strongest in the country, union clout in Massachusetts has been waning for years, sapped by declining membership, a well-financed group of business-backed think tanks, weaker government finances, and Beacon Hill Democrats trying to cast themselves as reformers by showing they are not beholden to traditional interests...
Snyder recall bid clears a hurdle, but next one 'tough'  The Detroit News   ..."It's going to be pretty tough," Michigan Citizens United spokesman Tim Kramer (a Teamster) said of his group's bid to collect 1.1 million signatures of registered voters to have about 807,000 that withstand scrutiny...
Hundreds Protest Snyder's Visit to Ann Arbor  Dexter Patch   ...Chants of “Recall Rick!” and “It’s not fair!” filled the air Saturday as a broad coalition of students, parents, families and unions gathered at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor...
Scott’s corporate tax cut dead, state Senate leader declares  Miami Herald   ...
Cutting spending is the state’s first priority, not cutting the corporate tax rate, the Senate’s Republican president said as the Legislature grapples with closing a $4 billion budget gap...
Dems rally public workers to push Brown's agenda  San Francisco Chronicle   ...While Democrats dominate California's political landscape and hold all its major offices, both political leaders and the labor unions that put them in power are sounding the alarm about anti-union initiatives that are creeping into the state and efforts to "demonize" union workers as the source of the California's knee-buckling economic problems...

Today's Teamster News 05.01.11

Pink slips are United Nation's gift to staffers  New York Daily News   ...Sunday is International Workers' Day - also known as May Day - and people around the world are rallying to protest attacks on workers' and immigrants' rights...
Panel OKs a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder  Detroit Free Press   ...clearing the way for the group Michigan Citizens United to begin collecting signatures. The group must get signatures from 807,000 registered voters within a 90-day period to force a recall election...
Walker, Ryan and 'shock and awe' politics  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Scott Walker and Paul Ryan have upended state and national politics this year, offering deeply controversial ideas that drew little discussion in the last campaign but threaten to reshape the next one...
New contract ends Dichello, Teamsters labor dispute  WTNH.com   ...The agreement between Dichello Distributors, Inc. of Orange and Teamsters Local 443 ends a strike/lockout that began in March...
Doomed workers kept in the dark  Kennebec Journal   ...About 70 workers, mostly members of the Teamsters Union Local 340, listened as they were told the latest information about the company's status and instructed how to apply for unemployment benefits...
SB5 foes look for big turnout  Chillicothe Gazette   ...Organizers hope Ross County's second protest against Senate Bill 5 on Sunday will be bigger than their last one...
No ordinary year in the Statehouse  South Bend Tribune   ...legislation will bar state workers from collective bargaining, allow the governor to authorize new toll roads, lower the corporate income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent over four years, and balance the state's unemployment insurance fund by raising premiums and cutting benefits...
LePage vetting process under scrutiny  Kennebec Journal   ...The resignations of three officials in two weeks is raising questions about LePage's management abilities... 
Rick Scott to leadership: Get my tax cuts done  Florida Times-Union   ...Scott wants nearly $2 billion in tax and fee cuts this year. Legislative leaders have said that will be a tough pull considering the state is dealing with a $3.8 billion budget gap...