Teamsters
Michigan Sysco Workers to Cast Ballots Amid Employer's Vicious Anti-Union Campaign Teamster.org ...Grand Rapids, Mich., Sysco workers will vote on Teamsters Local 406 representation Thursday after a months-long anti-union campaign waged by their employer, accused of multiple federal law violations during union organizing campaigns around the U.S...
Hoffa Statement On Reid Delaying Fast Track Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid announcing he will not allow the chamber to quickly push fast track trade legislation through when it has a time-sensitive transportation funding bill on its plate: “Sen. Reid knows what America’s priorities should be. This Congress needs to figure out how to properly fund the nation’s transportation network"...
Teamsters’ Proposal At Funeral Services Company SCI Recommended By Leading Proxy Voting Advisor, ISS Teamster.org ...The country’s leading proxy voting advisor, ISS, recommends shareholders of Service Corporation of America vote for an equity retention proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the company’s annual meeting on May 13...
Teamsters Join Community Leaders, Shareholders in Calling for Independent Monitoring Program at National Express AGM Teamster.org ...Today, the Teamsters Union and other institutional shareholders, along with community, faith and global labor representatives spoke at the National Express Group Annual General Meeting in London. They spoke in support of an independent monitoring program at the company’s U.S. school bus subsidiary, Durham School Services...
NAACP Leader, Member of Parliament Meet to Discuss Human Rights Concerns at National Express Group Teamster.org ...Doreen Lawrence, Baroness of Clarendon and a member of Britain’s House of Lords, met today with Dot Scott, president of the Charleston, S.C., chapter of the NAACP, on issues concerning civil rights, human rights and workplace conditions at Durham School Services in the United States. Durham is the school bus subsidiary of United Kingdom-based National Express Group PLC and the second-largest school bus transportation company in the U.S...
Victory for Dispatchers and Mechanics of Keolis Transit Teamsters Local 769 ...Today, May 6, 2015, the Dispatchers and Mechanics of Keolis Transit America Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida unanimous voted “YES” to join our Brothers and Sisters at Teamsters Local 769. The election was conducted by the National Labor relation Board. There are 76 Bus Drivers in the bargaining unit...
Global Labor & Trade
Dem candidates slam Obama trade agenda The Hill ...Democratic Senate hopefuls are running hard against President Obama’s trade agenda. Swing-state Democrats are sounding the alarm that Obama’s free trade proposals, backed by their GOP opponents, would ship U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas and lead to greater unemployment at home...
Obama and Nike: Is company a model on trade - or a cautionary tale? Oregon Live ..."Nike is built on manufacturing shoes in countries with cheap labor costs," said Jason Stanford, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Fast Track, an anti-free trade group backed by labor unions and many other groups. "They're a big reason the shoe industry all looks like Nike now," with almost all of its products made overseas, he added...
Wall Street Titans Who Crashed Global Economy in 2008 Go Big for TPP Common Dreams ...Even as millions and millions of Americans continue to stand firmly in opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, those backing the TPP, including President Obama and a large majority of the Republican caucus, still have two dedicated demographic groups pledging their allegiance to the cause and arguing the so-called "free trade agreement (FTA)" would be good for average workers and the economy overall: billionaires and Wall Street titans...
Is free trade more important than ending forced labor? The Hill ...The proposed amendments are no-brainers. Why would the United States allow or improve commerce with a country that allows forced labor to be part of its economy? Why would the United States want to reward countries that fail so significantly to value human dignity? And why would the United States want to allow the importing of goods produced by children or those in bondage?...
German rail strike begins to slow Europe’s powerhouse Financial Times ...The strike has paralysed commuter services and disrupted commercial deliveries, raising fears about the power of small but influential unions to slam the brakes on industry in Europe’s biggest economy. The action by the train drivers’ union is due to last until Sunday morning...
China’s Manufacturing Hub Faces Labor Shortage and Higher Wages Bloomberg ...Salaries are rising, driven by improving productivity levels as manufacturers become more sophisticated and producers move up the value chain, the survey found. China’s policy makers are seeking to engineer a transition away from reliance on investment and cheap exports toward higher-end production, innovation, services and increased household consumption...
State & Living Wage Battles
New Jersey’s High Court Hears Christie’s Last Ditch Effort To Avoid Pension Payouts He Promised Think Progress ...When Christie failed to make the billions of dollars in payments he promised to 800,000 of the state’s working and retired public sector employees, more than a dozen of the state’s public worker unions filed suit. A lower court sided with the unions, ordering the state to pay an additional $1.6 billion into the pension funds this year. So the governor appealed the order to the state’s Supreme Court, which heard arguments this week...
These Are the American Workers Earning Less Than $15 per Hour In These Times ...According to the report, 42 percent of U.S. workers earn less than $15 an hour. More than half of African-Americans and 60 percent of Latinos make less than this figure. And 46.6 percent of those earning less than $15 are older than 35...
Labor Committee rejects Maine right-to-work bill Main Sun Journal ...he latest effort to make Maine a right-to-work state stumbled Wednesday, when lawmakers on the Legislature’s Labor Committee narrowly rejected a bill that would have allowed employees who benefit from collective bargaining to opt out of paying unions for those services...
Effort to repeal prevailing wage law likely to fail in committee today Journal Sentinel ...In March, Republican lawmakers passed right-to-work legislation to ban requirements that workers pay union fees, winning approval from Gov. Scott Walker even though he had said for years that it wasn't a priority for him. Now conservatives are targeting the prevailing wage, which sets pay for laborers on public works jobs such as bridges and highways...
New York governor proposes Wage Board to raise minimum wage Yahoo News ...New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday he would create a so-called Wage Board, a move apparently designed to allow him to raise the minimum wage without the approval of state lawmakers...
California city plans $16 minimum wage by 2019, highest in the U.S. Reuters ...Emmeryville, a small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, has given initial approval to the nation's highest minimum wage by setting baseline pay at $16 an hour in 2019, with gradual increases leading up to that level...
U.S. Labor
Chicago Therapists and Clients Protest Unexpected Closure of Major Mental Health Clinic In These Times ...Yesterday, around 100 people—including C4 staff and patients, activists with the Mental Health Movement, Arise Chicago and SEIU Local 73 members—rallied outside C4’s headquarters on Clark Street in the Uptown neighborhood. They called for a way to keep the clinics open—or at the very least, transparency in the crafting of a transition plan for over 300 staff who will lose their jobs...
Could Yale Graduate Students Be the Next to Unionize? The Nation ...Yale graduate students ramped up their organizing campaign on Tuesday as hundreds marched to deliver their union’s demands to the provost, calling for recognition and respect as part of the campus workforce. The action marks the latest push by the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO-UNITE HERE) for official recognition...
AT&T workers in Dayton on grievance strike Dayton Daily News ...Around 300 AT&T workers in Dayton market walked out Wednesday from their jobs in a grievance strike, union officials with the Communications Workers of America Local 4322 said. The union, which represents call center, installation and repair technicians, has been in contract negotiations for several months with AT&T...
Miscellaneous
Transportation Emerges as Crucial to Escaping Poverty New York Times ...In a large, continuing study of upward mobility based at Harvard, commuting time has emerged as the single strongest factor in the odds of escaping poverty. The longer an average commute in a given county, the worse the chances of low-income families there moving up the ladder...
NSA phone data collection 'illegal', US court rules BBC ...A lower court judge erred in dismissing a lawsuit challenging the program's constitutionality, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said.
The ruling overturns a 2013 decision which said the programme was constitutional...
Showing posts with label NEX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEX. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.06.15
Teamsters
Teamsters, Former NLRB Chair and Community Leaders Lead Symposium on National Express Teamster.org ...At a symposium held Tuesday night, the former chair of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, academics, community and faith leaders discussed the benefits of introducing independent monitoring programs at multinationals, including National Express Group. The resolution was submitted by the Teamsters General Fund, members of the Local Authorities Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) and 100 individual National Express shareholders...
App-Based Drivers Expand Association, Demand Fairness and Respect Teamsters Local 117 ...Limousine and app-based drivers packed the Teamsters Union hall on Sunday to demand fairness and a level playing field in Seattle’s personal transportation industry. The event comes just under a year after the founding of the App-Based Drivers’ Association last May...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama Laces Up To Tout Asian Trade Deal At Nike NPR ...Obama has chosen a curious setting to make his pitch for the trade agreement this week. He'll be speaking Friday at the Beaverton, Ore., headquarters of the Nike Corporation. "All of their footwear, all of their clothing is produced in contract factories in places like Vietnam and Indonesia and China," said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a watchdog group that monitors overseas factories...
Elizabeth Warren: Trade bill could “tear down” Wall Street oversight Politico ...The Massachusetts Democrat said late Tuesday that giving the president greater leeway to negotiate trade deals for years to come is a dangerous proposition because of the chance that a Republican who wants to roll back Dodd-Frank, like Sen. Ted Cruz, could win the White House in 2016...
Who Is Really Trying to Rewrite the Rules for Trade? Wall Street Journal ...President Barack Obama regularly warns that if Congress doesn’t approve fast-track legislation to grease the way for his ambitious Asian trade agenda, then China would wind up writing trade rules in the region to the disadvantage of U.S. workers and businesses. Trouble is, there’s little evidence that China has any interest—or ability—to write such rules and have any other countries adopt them. For the most part, China follows the U.S. lead on trade policy...
Third Year of Korea FTA Data Released, Show Failure of Obama’s Last ‘More Exports, More Jobs’ Trade Pact Promises, Further Burdening Fast Track Prospects Public Citizen ...Today’s release of U.S. government trade data covering the full first three years of the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement (FTA) reveals that the U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea has more than doubled. In addition, today’s U.S. Census Bureau data show Korea FTA outcomes that are the opposite of the Obama administration’s “more exports, more jobs” promise for that pact...
Reid: Don't forget about highway funding, surveillance reform The Hill ...Although Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn’t repeat the threat he made Monday to block contentious trade promotion authority, or fast-track, legislation until the Senate passes the other two measures, he made clear that the bills must get done...
Sen. Sherrod Brown: Trade pacts cost millions of jobs (opinion) USA Today ...It's true that export opportunities through trade deals have created jobs. But trade pacts have also cost millions of jobs. Lauding gains from exports while ignoring a flood of imports — and skyrocketing trade deficits — amounts to reporting half of the score of a baseball game. The Cleveland Indians scoring six runs doesn't help if the Yankees scored eight...
The Barrier to Trade Ignored by the Pacific Proposal (opinion) Wall Street Journal ...The U.S. recovery remains constrained by a shortfall of demand, and no fiscal stimulus is likely in the coming years. So ending currency management and reducing the U.S. trade deficit is by far the most economically plausible path to full recovery...
State & Living Wage Battles
In Congress, Income Inequality Fact of Life for Food Servers Associated Press ...Many of the Capitol's food servers, who make the meals, bus the tables and run the cash registers in the restaurants and carryouts that serve lawmakers, earn less than $11 an hour. Some make nothing at all when Congress is in recess...
IL Governor Rauner's Pal Made $625,000 Per Hour Last Year and Then Gave $10 Million to Rauner Campaign to Attack Unions and Cut Worker Pay Huff Post ...The New York Times reported yesterday that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's chief political backer, Ken Griffin, made $1.3 billion last year as manager of the hedge fund Citadel Capital. And he contributed $10 million that Rauner plans to use to run opponents against members of the legislature who dare to oppose his policies that are aimed at destroying unions and cutting worker wages and pensions...
Wisconsin lawmakers try to persuade committee to repeal prevailing wage law Star Tribune ...Lawmakers, construction companies and local government leaders sparred Tuesday over a Republican bill that would repeal Wisconsin's prevailing wage law, with supporters saying the measure would save money and opponents arguing the law guarantees quality construction and wage equality...
Maine Democrats block bill to require voters to show photo ID Portlant Press Herald ...The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted Tuesday to block a bill that would require Maine voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot. Republicans have argued that a voter ID law will protect against voter fraud. Democrats countered that there has been little to no evidence of election fraud in Maine and that voter ID laws are political tools designed to suppress certain voters from participating in elections...
Senators consider proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage Fox 43 ...Low-wage workers and some business owners urged state lawmakers Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage. Those workers told legislators their ability to live or raise a family is next to impossible on the current wage. “To rent an apartment is at least 600 to 800 dollars a month, so anyone on minimum wage making 40 hours can barely afford an apartment,” Andre Butler, a low-wage worker from Philadelphia, said...
What the Debate on Inequality Is Missing (opinion) New York Times ...Over the last four decades the debate in Washington about poverty and inequality has been bogged down in a somewhat pointless, often surreal debate about the size of government and the amount spent on behalf of the poor. Over that same period, the earnings of workers in the bottom half of the income pile have progressed little...
U.S. Labor
Senate blocks NLRB veto override vote The Hill ...Senators on Tuesday blocked any future attempts to override President Obama's veto of a union election law. Obama vetoed the union election legislation in March, after Congress passed a resolution of disapproval on a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that would have sped up union elections...
Even Conservative Millennials Support Unions New Republic ...First, young people of both parties are more amenable to labor unions than their older peers. Fifty-five percent of people between 18 and 29 view unions favorably, while only 29 percent view them unfavorably. Younger self-identified Republicans are evenly split on labor...
Century Aluminum braces for Kentucky lockout as USW reject deal Reuters ...Unionized workers at Century Aluminum's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter rejected the company's proposed labor agreement late on Monday, taking one of the biggest U.S. aluminum plants a step closer to industrial action, the first for the sector in years. Following the news, Century issued a legal notice on Tuesday confirming plans to lock out union-represented staff on May 11...
Local CWA group pickets AT&T Lee's Summit Journal ...Since April 13, more than 17,500 AT&T employees nationwide have been working without a contract, with more than 420 of those employees living in the Kansas City area. Members of CWA Local 6450 hosted an information picket May 1 near AT&T’s call center...
After Freddie Gray Protests, Baltimore Unions Demand End to “Trickle-down” Neighborhood Development In These Times ...The Laborers union has joined with some of the most prominent labor organizations in the city to back the One Baltimore coalition. Formed late last year, the group includes local and regional AFL-CIO bodies, 1199SEIU heath care workers union, UNITE HERE Local 7, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300 and the City Union of Baltimore...
Miscellaneous
'Too Big to Exist': Sanders Introduces Bill to Break Up Big Banks Common Dreams ...Under the proposal, called the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, regulators on the Financial Stability Oversight Council would compile a list of institutions which say they are so large that their collapse could trigger an economic crisis—otherwise known as "too big to fail." The Treasury Secretary would then have a year from the bill's passing to break them up...
Teamsters, Former NLRB Chair and Community Leaders Lead Symposium on National Express Teamster.org ...At a symposium held Tuesday night, the former chair of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, academics, community and faith leaders discussed the benefits of introducing independent monitoring programs at multinationals, including National Express Group. The resolution was submitted by the Teamsters General Fund, members of the Local Authorities Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) and 100 individual National Express shareholders...
App-Based Drivers Expand Association, Demand Fairness and Respect Teamsters Local 117 ...Limousine and app-based drivers packed the Teamsters Union hall on Sunday to demand fairness and a level playing field in Seattle’s personal transportation industry. The event comes just under a year after the founding of the App-Based Drivers’ Association last May...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama Laces Up To Tout Asian Trade Deal At Nike NPR ...Obama has chosen a curious setting to make his pitch for the trade agreement this week. He'll be speaking Friday at the Beaverton, Ore., headquarters of the Nike Corporation. "All of their footwear, all of their clothing is produced in contract factories in places like Vietnam and Indonesia and China," said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a watchdog group that monitors overseas factories...
Elizabeth Warren: Trade bill could “tear down” Wall Street oversight Politico ...The Massachusetts Democrat said late Tuesday that giving the president greater leeway to negotiate trade deals for years to come is a dangerous proposition because of the chance that a Republican who wants to roll back Dodd-Frank, like Sen. Ted Cruz, could win the White House in 2016...
Who Is Really Trying to Rewrite the Rules for Trade? Wall Street Journal ...President Barack Obama regularly warns that if Congress doesn’t approve fast-track legislation to grease the way for his ambitious Asian trade agenda, then China would wind up writing trade rules in the region to the disadvantage of U.S. workers and businesses. Trouble is, there’s little evidence that China has any interest—or ability—to write such rules and have any other countries adopt them. For the most part, China follows the U.S. lead on trade policy...
Third Year of Korea FTA Data Released, Show Failure of Obama’s Last ‘More Exports, More Jobs’ Trade Pact Promises, Further Burdening Fast Track Prospects Public Citizen ...Today’s release of U.S. government trade data covering the full first three years of the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement (FTA) reveals that the U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea has more than doubled. In addition, today’s U.S. Census Bureau data show Korea FTA outcomes that are the opposite of the Obama administration’s “more exports, more jobs” promise for that pact...
Reid: Don't forget about highway funding, surveillance reform The Hill ...Although Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn’t repeat the threat he made Monday to block contentious trade promotion authority, or fast-track, legislation until the Senate passes the other two measures, he made clear that the bills must get done...
Sen. Sherrod Brown: Trade pacts cost millions of jobs (opinion) USA Today ...It's true that export opportunities through trade deals have created jobs. But trade pacts have also cost millions of jobs. Lauding gains from exports while ignoring a flood of imports — and skyrocketing trade deficits — amounts to reporting half of the score of a baseball game. The Cleveland Indians scoring six runs doesn't help if the Yankees scored eight...
The Barrier to Trade Ignored by the Pacific Proposal (opinion) Wall Street Journal ...The U.S. recovery remains constrained by a shortfall of demand, and no fiscal stimulus is likely in the coming years. So ending currency management and reducing the U.S. trade deficit is by far the most economically plausible path to full recovery...
State & Living Wage Battles
In Congress, Income Inequality Fact of Life for Food Servers Associated Press ...Many of the Capitol's food servers, who make the meals, bus the tables and run the cash registers in the restaurants and carryouts that serve lawmakers, earn less than $11 an hour. Some make nothing at all when Congress is in recess...
IL Governor Rauner's Pal Made $625,000 Per Hour Last Year and Then Gave $10 Million to Rauner Campaign to Attack Unions and Cut Worker Pay Huff Post ...The New York Times reported yesterday that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's chief political backer, Ken Griffin, made $1.3 billion last year as manager of the hedge fund Citadel Capital. And he contributed $10 million that Rauner plans to use to run opponents against members of the legislature who dare to oppose his policies that are aimed at destroying unions and cutting worker wages and pensions...
Wisconsin lawmakers try to persuade committee to repeal prevailing wage law Star Tribune ...Lawmakers, construction companies and local government leaders sparred Tuesday over a Republican bill that would repeal Wisconsin's prevailing wage law, with supporters saying the measure would save money and opponents arguing the law guarantees quality construction and wage equality...
Maine Democrats block bill to require voters to show photo ID Portlant Press Herald ...The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted Tuesday to block a bill that would require Maine voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot. Republicans have argued that a voter ID law will protect against voter fraud. Democrats countered that there has been little to no evidence of election fraud in Maine and that voter ID laws are political tools designed to suppress certain voters from participating in elections...
Senators consider proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage Fox 43 ...Low-wage workers and some business owners urged state lawmakers Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage. Those workers told legislators their ability to live or raise a family is next to impossible on the current wage. “To rent an apartment is at least 600 to 800 dollars a month, so anyone on minimum wage making 40 hours can barely afford an apartment,” Andre Butler, a low-wage worker from Philadelphia, said...
What the Debate on Inequality Is Missing (opinion) New York Times ...Over the last four decades the debate in Washington about poverty and inequality has been bogged down in a somewhat pointless, often surreal debate about the size of government and the amount spent on behalf of the poor. Over that same period, the earnings of workers in the bottom half of the income pile have progressed little...
U.S. Labor
Senate blocks NLRB veto override vote The Hill ...Senators on Tuesday blocked any future attempts to override President Obama's veto of a union election law. Obama vetoed the union election legislation in March, after Congress passed a resolution of disapproval on a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that would have sped up union elections...
Even Conservative Millennials Support Unions New Republic ...First, young people of both parties are more amenable to labor unions than their older peers. Fifty-five percent of people between 18 and 29 view unions favorably, while only 29 percent view them unfavorably. Younger self-identified Republicans are evenly split on labor...
Century Aluminum braces for Kentucky lockout as USW reject deal Reuters ...Unionized workers at Century Aluminum's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter rejected the company's proposed labor agreement late on Monday, taking one of the biggest U.S. aluminum plants a step closer to industrial action, the first for the sector in years. Following the news, Century issued a legal notice on Tuesday confirming plans to lock out union-represented staff on May 11...
Local CWA group pickets AT&T Lee's Summit Journal ...Since April 13, more than 17,500 AT&T employees nationwide have been working without a contract, with more than 420 of those employees living in the Kansas City area. Members of CWA Local 6450 hosted an information picket May 1 near AT&T’s call center...
After Freddie Gray Protests, Baltimore Unions Demand End to “Trickle-down” Neighborhood Development In These Times ...The Laborers union has joined with some of the most prominent labor organizations in the city to back the One Baltimore coalition. Formed late last year, the group includes local and regional AFL-CIO bodies, 1199SEIU heath care workers union, UNITE HERE Local 7, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300 and the City Union of Baltimore...
Miscellaneous
'Too Big to Exist': Sanders Introduces Bill to Break Up Big Banks Common Dreams ...Under the proposal, called the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, regulators on the Financial Stability Oversight Council would compile a list of institutions which say they are so large that their collapse could trigger an economic crisis—otherwise known as "too big to fail." The Treasury Secretary would then have a year from the bill's passing to break them up...
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
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...
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...
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...
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.30.15
Teamsters
Disney Teamsters Win Wrongful Termination Case Teamster.org ...A federal arbitrator has ruled in favor of three character performers who were fired from Disney's Animal Kingdom for refusing to wear unsanitary costumes, the Teamsters Union announced Monday. The ruling, issued April 26, orders Walt Disney World to reinstate full-time employees Drew Pearson, Matthew Warfield and Raymond “Doug” Biederman...
Group of Shaw’s staff pharmacists in Maine vote to join Teamsters union Bangor Daily News ...A group of 21 staff pharmacists at 16 Shaw’s Supermarket stores throughout Maine will join the Teamsters Union Local 340 after approving the move in a vote Tuesday. The union announced the vote in a news release Wednesday. Aligning with the national labor organization will give the staff pharmacists collective bargaining representation...
Unionized: Tiger Transit drivers vote to join International Teamsters Union The Plainsman ...The Tiger Transit drivers of Auburn University have voted to unionize in attempt to get more affordable health care, higher wages and respect in the workplace. The workers will be joining the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the 612 location in Birmingham...
Proxy Voting Advisors Recommend NEX Shareholder Resolution On Internal Review Of Labor Practices Teamster.org ...The proposal, which was submitted by the Teamsters General Fund, members of the Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPFF) and 100 individual NEX shareholders, is the first to be recommended by ISS in at least 10 years that specifically addresses labor issues at a publically-traded company in the U.K...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama trade bill in trouble Politico ...At this point, upward of 75 House Republicans could vote against trade promotion authority if it comes up for a vote in the coming weeks, according to aides and lawmakers involved in the process. Some of the lawmakers fear job losses in their districts from free trade; others distrust Obama and oppose giving him more power...
Obama Is Selling the TPP Trade Deal Just Like Al Gore Sold NAFTA New Republic ...Gore made a distinction between previous trade deals with Japan and China, and NAFTA, with its side agreements on labor and the environment. Critics of NAFTA “confuse the bad trade deals in the past with this one,” Gore said. This mirrors Obama’s claim about inferior prior deals—including NAFTA. “Not every trade deal has lived up to the hype,” Obama acknowledged...
Rust-belt Republicans face tough sell on global trade deals before 2016 Washington Post ...Midwest Republicans are keenly aware that their region has been hit hard by disappearing factory jobs, placing these GOP senators in a tough spot heading into the 2016 elections as they tout a message that might not resonate...
White House Trade Pitch Goes Into Overdrive National Journal ...The Obama administration is ramping up a massive sales pitch on trade policy, bringing key Democrats to the White House—and using one of its most effective lobbyists in the hallways of the Capitol. Biden seizing the chance to talk trade is just one part of a much wider White House PR and lobbying blitz for the TPP and, equally important, the "fast-track" bill that would strip Congress of its ability to amend sweeping trade deals...
House Dems attack trade deal on eve of Japan PM’s address The Hill ...Five Democrats pushed back against the Obama administration’s arguments that adding currency provisions to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would derail the deal and potentially interfere with U.S. monetary policy decisions...
Travel Chaos As Bus Strike To Go Ahead Tomorrow Dublin's 98FM ...Commuters face travel chaos tomorrow as strike action at Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus looks set to go ahead. Drivers are downing tools for two days over the privatisation of bus routes...
State & Living Wage Battles
Legislation Allowing Delaware 'Right-to-Work' Zones Stalls WBOC 16 ...Republican legislation allowing "right-to-work" zones in Delaware stalled in a Democratic-led Senate committee Wednesday amid complaints from organized labor that it is a union-busting measure. Under the legislation sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Greg Lavelle, a person would not be required to join a labor union or pay union dues as a condition of employment in a right-to-work zone...
Republicans push for photo ID voting requirements again The Columbus Dispatch ...Rep. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, backed by some of the more conservative members of the House, is introducing legislation that would require voters show a driver’s license, state photo ID card, passport or military ID...
How This State Plans To Close Its Gender Wage Gap Think Progress ...The changes New York lawmakers approved look very similar to changes that would be made nationally if Congress were to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. That bill would ban salary secrecy as well as strengthen the permissible reasons for having gender-based pay differentials...
Changes to prevailing wage likely but repeal won't happen, Robin Vos says Milwaulkee Journal Sentinel ...he 84-year-old law prescribes wages for workers on public works jobs such as bridges and highways according to a complex formula. Conservatives are targeting the law as their next big push after passing right-to-work legislation in March, which prohibits labor groups and employers from agreeing to require workers to pay fees to a union...
Los Angeles Latinas Fast to Raise Minimum Wage NBC News ...The 19-year-old daughter of Guatemalan immigrants is among a group of women who are close to completing a 15-day fast in Los Angeles. They hoped to persuade city council members there to raise the minimum wage of $9 an hour to $15 an hour. They planned to break the fast Thursday...
Palo Alto: Committee favors raising minimum wage Mercury News ...A City Council committee is backing a proposal to hike the minimum wage -- potentially as high as $15 per hour by 2018. On Tuesday, the four-member Policy and Services Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the full council adopt an ordinance that would see most workers earn $11 per hour starting on Jan. 1, 2016...
La Center school board backs right-to-work The Columbian ...The La Center School District made a contentious move Tuesday night, asking union reps to allow district employees to drop their representation. The issue surfaced in the form of a "right-to-choose" resolution that gained unanimous approval from the district's five-member school board...
U.S. Labor
University of Chicago Nurses Narrowly Avert Strike, Claim Victory Against Hospital In These Times ...Early Tuesday, National Nurses United (NNU) announced that its 1,500 members at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) would not go on strike as planned. The union called for a one-day strike set for April 30, following nearly eight months of negotiations and a strike authorization vote...
NLRB Issues Complaint Against El Super Chain EGP News ...The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against a Paramount-based supermarket chain for allegedly restraining employees from advocating for union representation, it was announced today. The complaint against the El Super chain alleges that the company has refused to bargain with unions for more than a year after failing to agree on a contract with the local United Food and Commercial Workers...
BP, union reach tentative deal to end Whiting refinery strike Reuters ...BP Plc and the United Steelworkers union (USW) chapter representing striking workers at the company's Whiting, Indiana, refinery reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday to end an 11-week work stoppage. The two sides have to negotiate an agreement on returning the striking workers to the Chicago-area plant, but a ratification vote is expected next week...
Capitol Vistory Center Workers Allege Retaliation After Strike Roll Call ...On April 24, the advocacy group Good Jobs Nation filed the complaint to the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Duckett and fellow CVC cafeteria worker Tracy Allen. The complaint is filed against Restaurant Associates, which employes the food service contract workers in the Capitol complex...
Here Are All the Ways People Are Dying at Work The Nation ...This week, Workers’ Memorial Day reminded us that the leading cause of death at work isn’t factory fires, mine collapses, or machinery accidents—though it is all those things. The main reason workers die is because those in power look the other way. Global Worker Watch’s labor death map presents a chilling snapshot of an everyday calamity...
Miscellaneous
Man Who Blew the Whistle on Big Bank's Practices Is Now About to Lose His Home to that Same Bank Alternet ...He went to the federal government as a whistleblower, hoping to bring an end to these practices. Yet in the process of doing so, the bank – today owned by Wells Fargo, which bought it in 2008 – fired him. Kraus is now on the verge of losing his home...
Disney Teamsters Win Wrongful Termination Case Teamster.org ...A federal arbitrator has ruled in favor of three character performers who were fired from Disney's Animal Kingdom for refusing to wear unsanitary costumes, the Teamsters Union announced Monday. The ruling, issued April 26, orders Walt Disney World to reinstate full-time employees Drew Pearson, Matthew Warfield and Raymond “Doug” Biederman...
Group of Shaw’s staff pharmacists in Maine vote to join Teamsters union Bangor Daily News ...A group of 21 staff pharmacists at 16 Shaw’s Supermarket stores throughout Maine will join the Teamsters Union Local 340 after approving the move in a vote Tuesday. The union announced the vote in a news release Wednesday. Aligning with the national labor organization will give the staff pharmacists collective bargaining representation...
Unionized: Tiger Transit drivers vote to join International Teamsters Union The Plainsman ...The Tiger Transit drivers of Auburn University have voted to unionize in attempt to get more affordable health care, higher wages and respect in the workplace. The workers will be joining the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the 612 location in Birmingham...
Proxy Voting Advisors Recommend NEX Shareholder Resolution On Internal Review Of Labor Practices Teamster.org ...The proposal, which was submitted by the Teamsters General Fund, members of the Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPFF) and 100 individual NEX shareholders, is the first to be recommended by ISS in at least 10 years that specifically addresses labor issues at a publically-traded company in the U.K...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama trade bill in trouble Politico ...At this point, upward of 75 House Republicans could vote against trade promotion authority if it comes up for a vote in the coming weeks, according to aides and lawmakers involved in the process. Some of the lawmakers fear job losses in their districts from free trade; others distrust Obama and oppose giving him more power...
Obama Is Selling the TPP Trade Deal Just Like Al Gore Sold NAFTA New Republic ...Gore made a distinction between previous trade deals with Japan and China, and NAFTA, with its side agreements on labor and the environment. Critics of NAFTA “confuse the bad trade deals in the past with this one,” Gore said. This mirrors Obama’s claim about inferior prior deals—including NAFTA. “Not every trade deal has lived up to the hype,” Obama acknowledged...
Rust-belt Republicans face tough sell on global trade deals before 2016 Washington Post ...Midwest Republicans are keenly aware that their region has been hit hard by disappearing factory jobs, placing these GOP senators in a tough spot heading into the 2016 elections as they tout a message that might not resonate...
White House Trade Pitch Goes Into Overdrive National Journal ...The Obama administration is ramping up a massive sales pitch on trade policy, bringing key Democrats to the White House—and using one of its most effective lobbyists in the hallways of the Capitol. Biden seizing the chance to talk trade is just one part of a much wider White House PR and lobbying blitz for the TPP and, equally important, the "fast-track" bill that would strip Congress of its ability to amend sweeping trade deals...
House Dems attack trade deal on eve of Japan PM’s address The Hill ...Five Democrats pushed back against the Obama administration’s arguments that adding currency provisions to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would derail the deal and potentially interfere with U.S. monetary policy decisions...
Travel Chaos As Bus Strike To Go Ahead Tomorrow Dublin's 98FM ...Commuters face travel chaos tomorrow as strike action at Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus looks set to go ahead. Drivers are downing tools for two days over the privatisation of bus routes...
Legislation Allowing Delaware 'Right-to-Work' Zones Stalls WBOC 16 ...Republican legislation allowing "right-to-work" zones in Delaware stalled in a Democratic-led Senate committee Wednesday amid complaints from organized labor that it is a union-busting measure. Under the legislation sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Greg Lavelle, a person would not be required to join a labor union or pay union dues as a condition of employment in a right-to-work zone...
Republicans push for photo ID voting requirements again The Columbus Dispatch ...Rep. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, backed by some of the more conservative members of the House, is introducing legislation that would require voters show a driver’s license, state photo ID card, passport or military ID...
How This State Plans To Close Its Gender Wage Gap Think Progress ...The changes New York lawmakers approved look very similar to changes that would be made nationally if Congress were to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. That bill would ban salary secrecy as well as strengthen the permissible reasons for having gender-based pay differentials...
Changes to prevailing wage likely but repeal won't happen, Robin Vos says Milwaulkee Journal Sentinel ...he 84-year-old law prescribes wages for workers on public works jobs such as bridges and highways according to a complex formula. Conservatives are targeting the law as their next big push after passing right-to-work legislation in March, which prohibits labor groups and employers from agreeing to require workers to pay fees to a union...
Los Angeles Latinas Fast to Raise Minimum Wage NBC News ...The 19-year-old daughter of Guatemalan immigrants is among a group of women who are close to completing a 15-day fast in Los Angeles. They hoped to persuade city council members there to raise the minimum wage of $9 an hour to $15 an hour. They planned to break the fast Thursday...
Palo Alto: Committee favors raising minimum wage Mercury News ...A City Council committee is backing a proposal to hike the minimum wage -- potentially as high as $15 per hour by 2018. On Tuesday, the four-member Policy and Services Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the full council adopt an ordinance that would see most workers earn $11 per hour starting on Jan. 1, 2016...
La Center school board backs right-to-work The Columbian ...The La Center School District made a contentious move Tuesday night, asking union reps to allow district employees to drop their representation. The issue surfaced in the form of a "right-to-choose" resolution that gained unanimous approval from the district's five-member school board...
U.S. Labor
University of Chicago Nurses Narrowly Avert Strike, Claim Victory Against Hospital In These Times ...Early Tuesday, National Nurses United (NNU) announced that its 1,500 members at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) would not go on strike as planned. The union called for a one-day strike set for April 30, following nearly eight months of negotiations and a strike authorization vote...
NLRB Issues Complaint Against El Super Chain EGP News ...The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against a Paramount-based supermarket chain for allegedly restraining employees from advocating for union representation, it was announced today. The complaint against the El Super chain alleges that the company has refused to bargain with unions for more than a year after failing to agree on a contract with the local United Food and Commercial Workers...
BP, union reach tentative deal to end Whiting refinery strike Reuters ...BP Plc and the United Steelworkers union (USW) chapter representing striking workers at the company's Whiting, Indiana, refinery reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday to end an 11-week work stoppage. The two sides have to negotiate an agreement on returning the striking workers to the Chicago-area plant, but a ratification vote is expected next week...
Capitol Vistory Center Workers Allege Retaliation After Strike Roll Call ...On April 24, the advocacy group Good Jobs Nation filed the complaint to the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Duckett and fellow CVC cafeteria worker Tracy Allen. The complaint is filed against Restaurant Associates, which employes the food service contract workers in the Capitol complex...
Here Are All the Ways People Are Dying at Work The Nation ...This week, Workers’ Memorial Day reminded us that the leading cause of death at work isn’t factory fires, mine collapses, or machinery accidents—though it is all those things. The main reason workers die is because those in power look the other way. Global Worker Watch’s labor death map presents a chilling snapshot of an everyday calamity...
Miscellaneous
Man Who Blew the Whistle on Big Bank's Practices Is Now About to Lose His Home to that Same Bank Alternet ...He went to the federal government as a whistleblower, hoping to bring an end to these practices. Yet in the process of doing so, the bank – today owned by Wells Fargo, which bought it in 2008 – fired him. Kraus is now on the verge of losing his home...
Friday, May 10, 2013
Today's Teamster News 05.10.13
Fast Food Strike Wave Spreads to Detroit The Nation ...Hundreds of Detroit fast food workers plan to walk off the job beginning at 6 AM today, making the motor city the fourth in five weeks to see such strikes. Organizers expect participants from at least 60 stores, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, Little Caesar’s, and Popeye’s locations...
Unions, lawmakers line up against Koch Brothers Los Angeles Times ...California legislative leaders and 10 public employee unions announced opposition Wednesday to any sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers to a pair of wealthy brothers who fund conservative causes throughout the country...
Fannie Mae to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayer and forestall debt battle The Guardian ...The government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae is to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayers, in a move that is likely to forestall a looming battle over the federal debt limit...
House approves bill to change overtime pay law Associated Press ...The Republican-led House on Wednesday approved a measure that would give private sector workers the option of trading overtime pay for extra time off weeks or months later...
Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse Death Toll Reaches 1,000 Bloomberg ...Latest from that horrific building collapse in Bangladesh in April: 1000 bodies have now been found...
Gender Wage Gap Causes Typical Woman To Miss Out On $443,360: Analysis Huffington Post ...
It's still a man's world. And to make a man's amount of money over her career, the typical working women would have to put in an extra decade of work. Because of the gender wage gap, the typical full-time working woman stands to miss out on $443,360 over 40 years...
Trans Pacific Partnership puts member countries' health at risk The Conversation ...International trade agreements bring new transnational food companies into countries, along with new food advertising and promotion. This has often led to an increase in unhealthy foods entering the domestic market...
Colleges Pushing Poor Students Into Debt To Give Aid To Rich Ones Fire Dog Lake ... A report by the New America Foundation details the systematic undermining of the financial aid system by colleges and universities who are using financial aid to attract wealthy students rather than open doors for poorer ones, forcing poorer students to either not attend or take on high debt burdens...
Social Security Agency Says Immigration Bill Aids Economy Bloomberg News ...A Social Security Administration analysis said the Senate’s bipartisan immigration proposal would boost U.S. tax revenue, create jobs and increase the gross domestic product over the next 10 years...
California sues JPMorgan Chase over debt collection Associated Press ...California's attorney general sued one of the nation's largest banks Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co. used illegal tactics in its efforts to collect debts from more than 100,000 credit card holders...
Barrow won't run for Senate in Georgia The Hill Blog ...Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) announced he won't run for the Senate in Georgia, dealing a major blow to Democrats' hopes of picking up the seat...
Illinois Senate passes union-backed pension reform deal Belleville News-Democrat ...
The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to send a union-supported pension reform bill to the House, leaving lawmakers with two competing proposals for dealing with the nation's worst state pension problem just weeks before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn...
N.D. does badly in worker death report Bismarck Tribune ...Workers died in North Dakota at four times the national average in 2011, according to a recent report…
Unions, lawmakers line up against Koch Brothers Los Angeles Times ...California legislative leaders and 10 public employee unions announced opposition Wednesday to any sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers to a pair of wealthy brothers who fund conservative causes throughout the country...
Fannie Mae to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayer and forestall debt battle The Guardian ...The government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae is to pay $59.4bn back to US taxpayers, in a move that is likely to forestall a looming battle over the federal debt limit...
House approves bill to change overtime pay law Associated Press ...The Republican-led House on Wednesday approved a measure that would give private sector workers the option of trading overtime pay for extra time off weeks or months later...
Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse Death Toll Reaches 1,000 Bloomberg ...Latest from that horrific building collapse in Bangladesh in April: 1000 bodies have now been found...
Eight dead in yet another Bangladesh garment fire Associated Press ...Not another! “A fire has raced through an 11-story building housing a garment factory and residential complex in Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least eight people.”...
Obama showcases booming Texas economy as he kicks off latest jobs tour Washington Post ...President Obama swooped into the booming Austin area on Thursday to showcase manufacturing growth and technology innovation as he began a series of visits across the country designed to pressure Congress to pass his economic agenda...
Local Fights Against Austerity Are Growing Across the US Truthout ...Between sequestration, with its damaging impact on workers and the economy, and the billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other necessary social programs that President Obama is pushing, it is evident that the economic policies of both major parties are not intended to promote a recovery for working people...
Gender Wage Gap Causes Typical Woman To Miss Out On $443,360: Analysis Huffington Post ...
It's still a man's world. And to make a man's amount of money over her career, the typical working women would have to put in an extra decade of work. Because of the gender wage gap, the typical full-time working woman stands to miss out on $443,360 over 40 years...
Trans Pacific Partnership puts member countries' health at risk The Conversation ...International trade agreements bring new transnational food companies into countries, along with new food advertising and promotion. This has often led to an increase in unhealthy foods entering the domestic market...
Colleges Pushing Poor Students Into Debt To Give Aid To Rich Ones Fire Dog Lake ... A report by the New America Foundation details the systematic undermining of the financial aid system by colleges and universities who are using financial aid to attract wealthy students rather than open doors for poorer ones, forcing poorer students to either not attend or take on high debt burdens...
Social Security Agency Says Immigration Bill Aids Economy Bloomberg News ...A Social Security Administration analysis said the Senate’s bipartisan immigration proposal would boost U.S. tax revenue, create jobs and increase the gross domestic product over the next 10 years...
California sues JPMorgan Chase over debt collection Associated Press ...California's attorney general sued one of the nation's largest banks Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co. used illegal tactics in its efforts to collect debts from more than 100,000 credit card holders...
Barrow won't run for Senate in Georgia The Hill Blog ...Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) announced he won't run for the Senate in Georgia, dealing a major blow to Democrats' hopes of picking up the seat...
Illinois Senate passes union-backed pension reform deal Belleville News-Democrat ...
The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to send a union-supported pension reform bill to the House, leaving lawmakers with two competing proposals for dealing with the nation's worst state pension problem just weeks before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn...
N.D. does badly in worker death report Bismarck Tribune ...Workers died in North Dakota at four times the national average in 2011, according to a recent report…
Wisconsin Legislature: Panel bars cities from banning large, sugary drinks Associated Press ...No Wisconsin city could prohibit the sale of large, sugary drinks as was recently done in New York City under a provision added to the state budget Thursday...
South Dakota gets first Democratic candidate for Senate The Hill Blog ...South Dakota has its first Democratic contender for the state's open Senate seat in Rick Weiland, whose decision to run could set up a primary rematch between him and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin...
Colorado strikes a blow for voting reform Washington Post ...It hasn’t gotten the national attention it deserves, but a sweeping measure to overhaul elections in Colorado is swiftly moving towards passage — one that could function as a model for other voting reformers in other states, and perhaps even nationally...
Poll Shows Strong Lead for Democrat in Massachusetts Senate Race New York Times ...In the special Senate election in Massachusetts, Representative Edward J. Markey, the Democratic nominee, is starting with a strong lead over Gabriel Gomez, the Republican, according to a new poll…
Nevada foreclosure rate led nation in April Associated Press ...After briefly falling from its long-held place as the nation's foreclosure king, Nevada chalked up the highest foreclosure rate in the country for the second straight month in April, a tracking firm said Thursday...
City Council Approves Bill Mandating Sick-Day Pay New York Times ...The New York City Council, after years of impassioned debate, approved a bill on Wednesday that will require many businesses to offer paid time off to sick employees...
Senate measure to raise Delaware minimum wage tabled by House committee Associated Press ...A Senate proposal to raise Delaware’s minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years has been tabled by a House committee...
Non-Citizens In New York City May Be Allowed To Vote In Local Elections Think Progress ...In a hearing on Thursday, the New York City Council will consider allowing legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in municipal elections...
Honor Our Heroes During National Correctional Officers Week IBT ...Many Americans this week are reflecting on the silent heroes who ensure our communities are safe by closely supervising society’s criminals in jails and prisons across this country...
Scott Touts Correctional Officers Pay Bump; Teamsters Say They Deserve More WFSU Radio ...This week is National Corrections Week, and Governor Rick Scott took some time away from his “Teacher Pay Raise Victory Tour” to praise Florida’s correctional officers. He’s also reminding them about his efforts to get them higher pay. But some, including the Teamsters, say the state could do more for Florida’s prison officers...
Keep Dairy “off the table” in Trans-Pacific Partnership Teamsters Canada ...Teamster locals in Canada represent thousands of dairy workers. They are calling on the Canadian government negotiators to the TPP to keep dairy off the table in negotiations...
Teamsters Fight For North American School Bus Workers' Rights At National Express Annual Meeting IBT ...Teamster school bus drivers and representatives from the United States and Canada called on National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN), a large multinational corporation, to honor and respect the rights of its North American workers at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held yesterday in London...
Back To School In The U.S. For National Express The Independent ...Forget the bus, bosses at National Express need to get on a plane. Today's AGM promises some fireworks with demonstrations planned from the main union (the Teamsters) representing drivers of those iconic yellow school buses used in the US...
South Dakota gets first Democratic candidate for Senate The Hill Blog ...South Dakota has its first Democratic contender for the state's open Senate seat in Rick Weiland, whose decision to run could set up a primary rematch between him and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin...
Colorado strikes a blow for voting reform Washington Post ...It hasn’t gotten the national attention it deserves, but a sweeping measure to overhaul elections in Colorado is swiftly moving towards passage — one that could function as a model for other voting reformers in other states, and perhaps even nationally...
Poll Shows Strong Lead for Democrat in Massachusetts Senate Race New York Times ...In the special Senate election in Massachusetts, Representative Edward J. Markey, the Democratic nominee, is starting with a strong lead over Gabriel Gomez, the Republican, according to a new poll…
Nevada foreclosure rate led nation in April Associated Press ...After briefly falling from its long-held place as the nation's foreclosure king, Nevada chalked up the highest foreclosure rate in the country for the second straight month in April, a tracking firm said Thursday...
City Council Approves Bill Mandating Sick-Day Pay New York Times ...The New York City Council, after years of impassioned debate, approved a bill on Wednesday that will require many businesses to offer paid time off to sick employees...
Senate measure to raise Delaware minimum wage tabled by House committee Associated Press ...A Senate proposal to raise Delaware’s minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years has been tabled by a House committee...
Non-Citizens In New York City May Be Allowed To Vote In Local Elections Think Progress ...In a hearing on Thursday, the New York City Council will consider allowing legal immigrants who are not citizens to vote in municipal elections...
Honor Our Heroes During National Correctional Officers Week IBT ...Many Americans this week are reflecting on the silent heroes who ensure our communities are safe by closely supervising society’s criminals in jails and prisons across this country...
Scott Touts Correctional Officers Pay Bump; Teamsters Say They Deserve More WFSU Radio ...This week is National Corrections Week, and Governor Rick Scott took some time away from his “Teacher Pay Raise Victory Tour” to praise Florida’s correctional officers. He’s also reminding them about his efforts to get them higher pay. But some, including the Teamsters, say the state could do more for Florida’s prison officers...
Keep Dairy “off the table” in Trans-Pacific Partnership Teamsters Canada ...Teamster locals in Canada represent thousands of dairy workers. They are calling on the Canadian government negotiators to the TPP to keep dairy off the table in negotiations...
Teamsters Fight For North American School Bus Workers' Rights At National Express Annual Meeting IBT ...Teamster school bus drivers and representatives from the United States and Canada called on National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN), a large multinational corporation, to honor and respect the rights of its North American workers at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held yesterday in London...
Back To School In The U.S. For National Express The Independent ...Forget the bus, bosses at National Express need to get on a plane. Today's AGM promises some fireworks with demonstrations planned from the main union (the Teamsters) representing drivers of those iconic yellow school buses used in the US...
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