TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Despite Deal, Resistance to TPP Grows in All Corners Huffington Post ...We know a bad deal when we see one and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) just announced in Atlanta sure looks like one. Hundreds of Teamsters were joined in the streets of Atlanta this past week by other fair trade advocates sticking up for everyday Americans who could be damaged by the TPP. Unfortunately, negotiators from the U.S. and the other involved nations did not listen...
Shuttle Drivers with Dollar Thrifty Choose Teamsters Local 299 Teamster.org ...Detroit shuttle drivers with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, have voted to join the Teamsters. The 15 shuttle drivers transport passengers to and from Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the rental car facility. They united seeking respect and the protections of a union contract...
Tentative Agreement Reached for Teamster Flight Attendants at NetJets Teamster.org ...In a message to Teamster flight attendants at NetJets Aviation (NJA) this week, Teamsters Local 284 President Paul Suffoletto announced that a tentative agreement covering NJA’s 278 flight attendants had been reached. As with any tentative agreement, there’s still work to be done to finalize the definitions, develop implementation timelines and transition agreements, create explanatory materials, and proof and clean up the language before it is submitted to the flight attendants for a ratification...
Illinois Training Center Goes Extra Mile Teamster.org ...Talking with Mike Borjas, the director of the Illinois Teamsters Joint Council No. 25 Employers Apprenticeship and Training Fund in Joliet, Illinois, you’d think that he was drawing up a lesson plan for training military personnel. But, his goal is providing the best training for Teamsters working in the construction trades as he can. Fortunately for the union, he is accomplishing this every day...
Bid to unionize Uber, Lyft advances Seattle Times ...Seattle City Council members voted 7-0 in a committee Friday to move ahead with a bill that would help independent-contractor drivers for companies like Uber to unionize. The bill, championed by Councilmember Mike O’Brien in partnership with the Teamsters Local 117, is a new approach by labor organizers to unionize workers who lack certain rights because they’re not classified as employees...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific Rim trade pact gets skeptical greeting in U.S. Congress Reuters ...A 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact hammered out over the weekend in Atlanta got a rocky response in Washington on Monday from U.S. lawmakers, indicating it has a long, difficult road ahead as Congress considers whether or not to approve it. Even influential Republicans, who had championed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), initially criticized the result but didn't pinpoint specific concerns...
Republicans Sour on Obama's Trade Pact The Atlantic ...Having secured a landmark trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations, President Obama is now relying on trade-loving Republicans to ratify it in Congress. But as details of the pact emerge, the chances of widespread GOP support are dicier than they once were. Senior Republicans have long been the loudest cheerleaders for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yet on Monday those same Republicans criticized the very deal that they gave Obama the power to strike...
Sanders Condemns 'Disastrous' TPP as Ministers Seal Deal for Corporate Elite Common Dreams ...Amid a last minute scramble, leaders from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries announced Monday that they had reached agreement on a sweeping trade deal, one that critics, including US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, say will slash standards and protections for both consumers and workers—with impacts to be felt across the globe...
Will Hillary Clinton flip on trade? Politico ...As much as she might want it, Hillary Clinton won’t get a free pass on free trade. Clinton has presented herself as a skeptic of the biggest trade deal in recent history, saying this summer that “we should be prepared to walk away” from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership unless it boosts Americans’ wages and national security. But with a deal announced Monday after months of backstage wrangling, she will be under intense pressure to take a stance...
Trade Officials Announce Conclusion of TPP—Now the Real Fight Begins (opinion) EFF ...Trade officials have announced today that they have reached a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Their announcement came after a drawn out round of negotiation in Atlanta, Georgia, which was mainly held up around disagreements over medicine patent rules and tariffs over autos and dairy. We have no reason to believe that the TPP has improved much at all from the last leaked version released in August...
Air France Workers Rip Shirts From Top Managers in Jobs Protest Bloomberg ...Air France executives were forced to flee with their clothes in tatters after workers stormed a meeting at Charles de Gaulle airport in protest at 2,900 planned job cuts. Violence erupted Monday as Air France told its works council that 300 pilots, 900 flight attendants and 1,700 ground staff might have to go after failed productivity talks with flight crew...
Outrage Stirred as Police Deploy Snipers to 'Observe' Anti-Austerity March in UK Common Dreams ...As the national Conservative Party in the U.K. held its annual meeting in Manchester over the weekend, an anti-austerity demonstration against the ruling party's economic policies attracted not only tens of thousands of people to march peacefully... but a few police snipers to keep "watch" over those who oppose the government's gutting of the public sector...
South Africa: 30,000 Miners Strike Over Pay Demand Morning Star ...Some 30,000 South African coalminers downed tools on Sunday night after cross-sector pay talks broke down. Conciliation came to an abrupt end last week when parties could not reach an agreement over demands by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) demand for a 1,000 rand (£48) rise for the lowest paid workers and 14 per cent for artisans, miners and officials...
Indigenous Communities Seek Autonomous Development Projects in Guatemala Truthout ...As Guatemala faces its greatest political crisis since the 1980s, behind the scenes, plans for the United States' Alliance for Prosperity continue to move along. The expansion of hydroelectric construction projects and the further integration of electric grids are central to the plan, yet these projects threaten indigenous communities' land rights...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Maine Governor Revives Old Rule To Punish Poor People For Saving Money Think Progress ...Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) has already knocked tens of thousands of people of his state’s food stamps rolls through a variety of stringent new rules for the program, but he’s not done. At a hearing Tuesday, state officials will lay out a new barrier to entry for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants that most other states have abandoned in recent years...
Opponents ask court to relax Wisconsin voter ID requirements Journal Sentinel ...Opponents of Wisconsin's voter identification law argued in federal court Monday that the legislation is improperly restrictive and should be expanded to allow people to use more forms of ID. The case represents the latest push from the American Civil Liberties Union against a law that has been the focus of a string of legal battles since it was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker four years ago...
Hearing set on Voter ID legal challenge Winston-Salem Journal ...The voter ID law will be back in federal court later this month. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder plans to hold a hearing Oct. 23 to get an update on efforts to settle the legal claims against the photo ID requirement. The N.C. NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s Voter Information Verification Act...
These Lawmakers Want D.C. To Be The First City To Guarantee Paid Family Leave Think Progress ...On Tuesday, seven city councilmembers in the District of Columbia will introduce a paid family leave bill that would create the most progressive system in the country and serve as a model for other cities that might be interested in paid leave. If it eventually gets passed and signed into law, it would be the first city-level program in the country...
Alabama ‘clarifies’ voter ID confusion (opinion) Boston Globe ...If anyone still doubts that the Republican push for voter identification is really about limiting the franchise of Democratic voters — and in particular African-American voters — the state of Alabama has helpfully cleared up the confusion. In 2014, Alabama passed a law that required all of its citizens have a photo ID in order to vote...
U.S. LABOR
Adjuncts Win Union Contract at Maryland Institute College of Art In These Times ...The national movement to unionize part-time faculty at U.S. colleges and universities has secured an initial beachhead in the Baltimore area with ratification of a first contract between Service Employees International Union Local 500 and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Voting on the ratification concluded in mid-September and a formal signing ceremony for the pact is set for October 8, labor representatives report...
We must despise our kids: Our ugly war on teachers must end now Salon ...With September’s data in, we can see how many teachers went back to school this year. And Gould finds that the tremendous gap that opened up when local budgets crashed during the recession has not come close to being filled. At the peak, we had 8.1 million public K-12 education teachers and staff in July 2008. Seven years later, we have far less, 7.8 million, despite a larger population of students that need to be served...
Contra Costa County Nurses Begin Two-Day Strike Tues. Oct 6 IndyBay ...Nurses who work at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and clinics across the County will officially begin a two-day strike Tuesday, October 6, after what nurses say is the County’s continued failure to address serious patient care concerns. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, which represents almost 1,000 County registered nurses, nurse practitioners and public health nurses, called on the County to immediately improve working conditions...
Supreme Court ‘right-to-work’ case could speed decline of unions Al Jazeera ...The Supreme Court will soon take up a case that could impose a de facto “right-to-work” rule across the public sector, eliminating public employee unions’ ability to require fees from nonmembers and, labor leaders say, threatening the unions’ survival. Labor officials often complain that right-to-work rules create a “free rider” problem...
UAW pledges new approach to members for FCA deal Detroit News ...United Auto Workers leaders are promising to handle a second round of contract talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV differently than the first discussions that culminated with membership overwhelmingly voting down a tentative four-year deal. In separate messages published online Monday, UAW President Dennis Williams and Vice President Norwood Jewell said they will not only address members’ issues with the contract itself, but communicate better...
Deere deal: Did UAW workers come out ahead? Des Moines Register ...United Auto Workers voted Sunday to ratify a six-year contract with Deere & Co., deciding that a modest pay bump and increased job security outweighed increases in their medical costs. The Moline, Ill.-based maker of iconic farm and construction equipment said the United Auto Workers union notified the company...
A Union Leader Who Always Knew Which Side He Was On The Nation ...Marty Beil knew which side he was on. He was a union man. Indeed, as Congressman Mark Pocan noted after Beil’s death last week at age 68, “Marty embodied the longstanding Wisconsin tradition of fighting for workers’ rights and protections.” Beil’s commitment to trade unionism was old-school and unequivocal. He was ready to bargain; but if the deal was no good, he took the fight to the streets...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
As Infrastructure Creaks, Congress Dithers Wall Street Journal ...Back in July, Congress failed, once again, to pass a long-term highway bill to make improvements in the nation’s transportation system. Instead of funding big infrastructure needs with a multiyear plan, as once was the norm in Washington, lawmakers passed a bill covering a grand total of three months—the 34th time since 2009 Congress has passed a temporary Band-Aid...
'Once-In-A-Millenium' Flooding Creates 'Otherworldly Scenes' in South Carolina Common Dreams ...South Carolina's once-in-a-millennium flooding this weekend left at least seven people dead and much of the state paralyzed—and as rains continued into Monday morning, officials warned that the deluge is likely to worsen. Climate scientists have linked South Carolina's catastrophic rains to climate change. "Joaquin has been traveling over a record-warm ocean surface and undoubtedly that has contributed to its rapid intensification," Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, told The Huffington Post...
War Crime in Afghanistan?: Outrage After U.S. Airstrike on Hospital Kills 22 Patients & Staff Democracy Now ...Doctors Without Borders is demanding an independent international inquiry into a U.S. airstrike Saturday on an Afghan hospital in the city of Kunduz that killed 22 people, including 12 staff members and 10 patients, three of them children. At least three dozen people were injured. The attack continued for 30 minutes after the U.S. and Afghan militaries were informed by telephone that the hospital was being bombed...
Showing posts with label NNU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NNU. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.22.15
Teamsters
Teamsters-Sun Tran contract details not made public Arizona Daily Star ...The public hasn’t been clued in to the details of an agreement that ended a 42-day transit strike in Tucson. Teamsters Local 104 and Sun Tran management firm Professional Transit Management signed a two-year contract, good until June 30, 2017. Because the city is not a party to the labor agreement, the Tucson City Council does not have to approve the contract, said City Attorney Mike Rankin...
Teamsters at Sysco Vote 150-0 to Authorize a Strike Local 117 ...“Record attendance,” said Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer John Scearcy, to resounding applause. “This is serious. The company is coming after us, but we will be ready.” The Union hall was packed with Teamsters on Saturday who work at the massive food service conglomerate, Sysco. The bargaining team called the group to the hall for Saturday’s meeting and, in an incredible display of solidarity, members voted 150-0 to authorize a strike...
Republic Airways Aims To Duck Teamsters' Pay Subsidy Spat Law360 ...Republic Airways Holdings Inc. asked an Indiana federal judge Monday to stay any additional discovery as the court mulls whether to dismiss a lawsuit lobbed by the local Teamsters alleging the airline subsidized premium and bonus pay to pilots to undercut the union's ability to bargain collectively...
Global Labor & Trade
America's Collapsing Trade Initiatives Huffington Post ...Chinese president Xi Jinping will be in Washington this week on an official state visit. President Obama had hoped to impress Xi with an all but sealed trade deal with major Pacific nations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to demonstrate that America is still a force to be reckoned with in China's backyard. But Obama's trade policy is in tatters...
TPP could have 'catastrophic effects' on Canada's economy: Unifor president CTVNews ...The president of Canada's largest private sector union says the Trans-Pacific Partnership could have "catastrophic effects" on the nation's economy. Unifor president Jerry Dias was responding to comments made by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper at the Globe and Mail debate on the economy Thursday. In the final segment of the debate, Harper said that Canada is entering the "final stages" of the 12-country trade negotiations...
26,000 Canadian jobs at risk as TPP auto talks resume, Unifor says Canada Manufacturing ...As Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiators from Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Japan meet to discuss the automotive-related features of the massive trade agreement, Unifor is calling on the Canadian contingent to “stand firm” on regional content rules for auto products and other sector-related provisions...
TPP nations to tackle sticking points at month's end Asian Review ...Trade ministers from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries will meet from Sept. 30 to hammer out disagreements left unresolved after previous talks, aiming for a broad agreement before the political climate shifts. Two to three days of talks will be held in the U.S. city of Atlanta. Free trade rules for most of the 31 areas covered by the TPP were settled at the last round of talks in July...
Two Indigenous Solar Engineers Changed Their Village in Chile Truthout ...Liliana and Luisa Terán, two indigenous women from northern Chile who travelled to India for training in installing solar panels, have not only changed their own future but that of Caspana, their remote village nestled in a stunning valley in the Atacama desert. These soft-spoken indigenous women with skin weathered from the desert sun and a life of sacrifice are in charge of giving Caspana at least part of the energy autonomy that the village needs in order to survive...
Greece braces for more austerity as Tsipras sworn in as prime minister TribLive ...Weary Greece braced for more painful austerity Monday as Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as prime minister with a mandate to drive through unpopular reforms agreed with the nation's international creditors.
As a downpour swept Athens, The 41-year-old left-wing leader took his second oath of office in eight months...
Hyundai, Kia Workers Set to Stage Partial Strikes WardsAuto ...The Hyundai branch of the Korean Metal Workers Union will hold partial strikes this week after the automaker made a wage offer equal to roughly half of what the union had sought. Talks broke down ahead of the customary deadline for reaching a contract agreement before the country’s Chuseok Thanksgiving holiday...
Teamsters-Sun Tran contract details not made public Arizona Daily Star ...The public hasn’t been clued in to the details of an agreement that ended a 42-day transit strike in Tucson. Teamsters Local 104 and Sun Tran management firm Professional Transit Management signed a two-year contract, good until June 30, 2017. Because the city is not a party to the labor agreement, the Tucson City Council does not have to approve the contract, said City Attorney Mike Rankin...
Teamsters at Sysco Vote 150-0 to Authorize a Strike Local 117 ...“Record attendance,” said Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer John Scearcy, to resounding applause. “This is serious. The company is coming after us, but we will be ready.” The Union hall was packed with Teamsters on Saturday who work at the massive food service conglomerate, Sysco. The bargaining team called the group to the hall for Saturday’s meeting and, in an incredible display of solidarity, members voted 150-0 to authorize a strike...
Republic Airways Aims To Duck Teamsters' Pay Subsidy Spat Law360 ...Republic Airways Holdings Inc. asked an Indiana federal judge Monday to stay any additional discovery as the court mulls whether to dismiss a lawsuit lobbed by the local Teamsters alleging the airline subsidized premium and bonus pay to pilots to undercut the union's ability to bargain collectively...
Global Labor & Trade
America's Collapsing Trade Initiatives Huffington Post ...Chinese president Xi Jinping will be in Washington this week on an official state visit. President Obama had hoped to impress Xi with an all but sealed trade deal with major Pacific nations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to demonstrate that America is still a force to be reckoned with in China's backyard. But Obama's trade policy is in tatters...
TPP could have 'catastrophic effects' on Canada's economy: Unifor president CTVNews ...The president of Canada's largest private sector union says the Trans-Pacific Partnership could have "catastrophic effects" on the nation's economy. Unifor president Jerry Dias was responding to comments made by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper at the Globe and Mail debate on the economy Thursday. In the final segment of the debate, Harper said that Canada is entering the "final stages" of the 12-country trade negotiations...
26,000 Canadian jobs at risk as TPP auto talks resume, Unifor says Canada Manufacturing ...As Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiators from Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Japan meet to discuss the automotive-related features of the massive trade agreement, Unifor is calling on the Canadian contingent to “stand firm” on regional content rules for auto products and other sector-related provisions...
TPP nations to tackle sticking points at month's end Asian Review ...Trade ministers from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries will meet from Sept. 30 to hammer out disagreements left unresolved after previous talks, aiming for a broad agreement before the political climate shifts. Two to three days of talks will be held in the U.S. city of Atlanta. Free trade rules for most of the 31 areas covered by the TPP were settled at the last round of talks in July...
Two Indigenous Solar Engineers Changed Their Village in Chile Truthout ...Liliana and Luisa Terán, two indigenous women from northern Chile who travelled to India for training in installing solar panels, have not only changed their own future but that of Caspana, their remote village nestled in a stunning valley in the Atacama desert. These soft-spoken indigenous women with skin weathered from the desert sun and a life of sacrifice are in charge of giving Caspana at least part of the energy autonomy that the village needs in order to survive...
Greece braces for more austerity as Tsipras sworn in as prime minister TribLive ...Weary Greece braced for more painful austerity Monday as Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as prime minister with a mandate to drive through unpopular reforms agreed with the nation's international creditors.
As a downpour swept Athens, The 41-year-old left-wing leader took his second oath of office in eight months...
Hyundai, Kia Workers Set to Stage Partial Strikes WardsAuto ...The Hyundai branch of the Korean Metal Workers Union will hold partial strikes this week after the automaker made a wage offer equal to roughly half of what the union had sought. Talks broke down ahead of the customary deadline for reaching a contract agreement before the country’s Chuseok Thanksgiving holiday...
Strike delays hit Australian airports following border force worker strike China Post ...Travelers using Australia's international airports faced delays Monday and were warned of more to come as immigration and border force workers went on strike over pay and conditions. "These workers are angry, they're under pressure, they face major cuts to their take-home pay and workplace rights and government simply hasn't listened," said Nadine Flood, secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) representing workers...
State & Living Wage Battles
Capitol Workers to Strike Ahead of Papal Visit Roll Call ...A few hours before Pope Francis arrives in the District of Columbia for the first leg of his U.S. visit, Capitol food service and other government contract workers will walk off their jobs. The workers will strike Tuesday to renew their call for a $15-an-hour wage and the right to unionize. They plan to proceed to the Capitol and convene across from the East Front with religious leaders and presidential hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., to pray for lawmakers to heed the pope’s message about economic inequality...
Bernie Sanders Minimum Wage Strike: Pope Visit Encourages Federal Workers To Protest, Presidential Candidate To Join International Business Times ...Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to throw his weight behind a labor strike of federal minimum wage workers Tuesday ahead of Pope Francis' visit later that day in Washington. The group organizing the strike, Good Jobs Nation, will receive the support of a rising populist power in the Democratic field as they call on U.S. President Barack Obama to issue an executive order increasing the minimum wage of federal workers to $15 an hour...
20 Republicans may face retaliation for Missouri right-to-work vote STL Today ...their votes weren’t enough to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto during the Legislature’s annual veto session Wednesday. The bill died in the House with a vote of 96-63, 13 votes short of the 109 needed to override. Twenty Republicans voted against right to work. Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is running for governor in 2016, called them out on it after veto session...
Voter ID Law in Limbo as Thousands Register KTRH ...Tuesday is "National Voter Registration Day," but those signing up in Texas could see major changes to the state's voter ID law ahead of next year's presidential primary. “The legislature has added the concealed weapons identification card as a form of valid photo ID, and there are number of valid government issued IDs with a photograph on them,” says Tom Berg at the League of Women Voters of the Houston Area...
NY gov's call for $15 minimum wage faces major challenges The Chronicle ...New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pledge this week to push for a state minimum wage of $15 an hour for all workers already faces substantial opposition and skepticism. Cuomo made the pledge Sept. 10 at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden following Cuomo administration approval of a phased-in $15 minimum for workers at chain fast-food restaurants...
U.S. Labor
UAW leaders take Fiat Chrysler contract to membership The Detroit News ...United Auto Workers leadership is attempting to address questions and concerns of 40,000 union members with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV before they vote on a tentative four-year deal in the coming week. Leaders, including UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, started meeting with local chapters over the weekend to discuss the proposed contract, as local chapters schedule informational meetings...
Registered nurses ratify labor pact at HCA-affiliated Research Medical Center Kansas City Star ...Registered nurses at HCA-affiliated Research Medical Center in Kansas City have ratified a new labor agreement that includes pay raises and changes in working conditions. Voting was scheduled to run through 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, which is among 17 hospitals covered by the tentative agreement negotiated by the National Nurses Organizing Committee of National Nurses United...
USW union asking members how to proceed NWI Times ...United Steelworkers meetings have been taking place in Burns Harbor, Gary and all across the country as the union looks at what to do next in negotiations with U.S. Steel. "Members of our USW bargaining committee have been holding meetings with our brothers and sisters at U.S. Steel locations around the country, reviewing the company's and the union's most recent contract proposals, discussing the status of negotiations and getting feedback from members about what our next steps should be," the union said in a recent update to members...
State & Living Wage Battles
Capitol Workers to Strike Ahead of Papal Visit Roll Call ...A few hours before Pope Francis arrives in the District of Columbia for the first leg of his U.S. visit, Capitol food service and other government contract workers will walk off their jobs. The workers will strike Tuesday to renew their call for a $15-an-hour wage and the right to unionize. They plan to proceed to the Capitol and convene across from the East Front with religious leaders and presidential hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., to pray for lawmakers to heed the pope’s message about economic inequality...
Bernie Sanders Minimum Wage Strike: Pope Visit Encourages Federal Workers To Protest, Presidential Candidate To Join International Business Times ...Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to throw his weight behind a labor strike of federal minimum wage workers Tuesday ahead of Pope Francis' visit later that day in Washington. The group organizing the strike, Good Jobs Nation, will receive the support of a rising populist power in the Democratic field as they call on U.S. President Barack Obama to issue an executive order increasing the minimum wage of federal workers to $15 an hour...
20 Republicans may face retaliation for Missouri right-to-work vote STL Today ...their votes weren’t enough to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto during the Legislature’s annual veto session Wednesday. The bill died in the House with a vote of 96-63, 13 votes short of the 109 needed to override. Twenty Republicans voted against right to work. Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is running for governor in 2016, called them out on it after veto session...
Voter ID Law in Limbo as Thousands Register KTRH ...Tuesday is "National Voter Registration Day," but those signing up in Texas could see major changes to the state's voter ID law ahead of next year's presidential primary. “The legislature has added the concealed weapons identification card as a form of valid photo ID, and there are number of valid government issued IDs with a photograph on them,” says Tom Berg at the League of Women Voters of the Houston Area...
NY gov's call for $15 minimum wage faces major challenges The Chronicle ...New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pledge this week to push for a state minimum wage of $15 an hour for all workers already faces substantial opposition and skepticism. Cuomo made the pledge Sept. 10 at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden following Cuomo administration approval of a phased-in $15 minimum for workers at chain fast-food restaurants...
U.S. Labor
UAW leaders take Fiat Chrysler contract to membership The Detroit News ...United Auto Workers leadership is attempting to address questions and concerns of 40,000 union members with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV before they vote on a tentative four-year deal in the coming week. Leaders, including UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, started meeting with local chapters over the weekend to discuss the proposed contract, as local chapters schedule informational meetings...
Registered nurses ratify labor pact at HCA-affiliated Research Medical Center Kansas City Star ...Registered nurses at HCA-affiliated Research Medical Center in Kansas City have ratified a new labor agreement that includes pay raises and changes in working conditions. Voting was scheduled to run through 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, which is among 17 hospitals covered by the tentative agreement negotiated by the National Nurses Organizing Committee of National Nurses United...
USW union asking members how to proceed NWI Times ...United Steelworkers meetings have been taking place in Burns Harbor, Gary and all across the country as the union looks at what to do next in negotiations with U.S. Steel. "Members of our USW bargaining committee have been holding meetings with our brothers and sisters at U.S. Steel locations around the country, reviewing the company's and the union's most recent contract proposals, discussing the status of negotiations and getting feedback from members about what our next steps should be," the union said in a recent update to members...
The Historical Roots of American Domestic Worker Organizing Run Deep In These Times ...Domestic workers and their advocates have been making an increasing number of headlines since 2010, when New York became the first state to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Guaranteeing overtime and time off, such legislation has spread to four other states and is being fought for in many more. But organizing around domestic work has been ongoing since at least the 1930s, an often forgotten corner of the labor movement...
Social Justice & Other News
Scott Walker Drops Out Of 2016 Presidential Race Huffington Post ...Once considered a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced Monday that he is dropping out of the race, amid sinking poll numbers and fundraising concerns. "I suspend my campaign immediately," he said at a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Walker implored other candidates to consider exiting the race as well, in order to winnow the field...
Pope Francis’s Philadelphia prison visit highlights crisis in US justice system The Guardian ...Behind barbed wire and under guard towers on the edge of north-east Philadelphia, Pope Francis will meet more than 100 men and women from a dangerously overcrowded prison population drawn largely from the poor, civil rights advocates say. The facility presents an extreme microcosm of two of the most pressing national prison problems: pretrial detention and overcrowding...
Americans Are Paying Way Too Much On Rent, And It’s Only Going To Get Worse Think Progress ...More than a quarter of renters in the United States have to put half of their income toward paying rent. But that’s not the bad news. The bad news is that things are almost certainly going to get worse. About half of all renters are paying more than the recommended 30 percent of income toward rent. Those rates are roughly double what they were in 1960...
US immigration back to pre–Great Recession levels, with Asians leading Aljazeera ...Immigration rates to the U.S. have rebounded to their pre-recession levels and the country’s percentage of foreign-born now is at its highest in more than a century, when boatloads of eastern and southern Europeans arrived at Ellis Island. But the face of immigration is dramatically different than it was just a decade ago, when the bulk of the influx came from Mexico and Central America. Asians now far outnumber the number of immigrants from Latin America...
Rights Campaigners Form Human Blockade to Stop Deportations Common Dreams ...Highlighting what they say is a "global human rights issue," dozens of rights campaigners on Monday morning locked themselves together and formed a human chain to block buses at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Takoma, Washington from carrying out deportations of suspected undocumented people...
Martin Shkreli on his “altruistic” motives: “I’m a capitalist — I want to create a big drug company” Salon ...On “CBS This Morning,” embattled Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli continued to defend his company’s decision to hike the price of Daraprim by 5,455 percent, claiming that “there are a lot of altruistic properties” to raising the cost. He denied that the increased cost was “drastic.” This new “reasonable profit” is being made at the expense of immunocompromised patients, such as pregnant women and babies, as well as those with AIDS or who are undergoing radiation therapy...
Social Justice & Other News
Scott Walker Drops Out Of 2016 Presidential Race Huffington Post ...Once considered a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced Monday that he is dropping out of the race, amid sinking poll numbers and fundraising concerns. "I suspend my campaign immediately," he said at a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Walker implored other candidates to consider exiting the race as well, in order to winnow the field...
Pope Francis’s Philadelphia prison visit highlights crisis in US justice system The Guardian ...Behind barbed wire and under guard towers on the edge of north-east Philadelphia, Pope Francis will meet more than 100 men and women from a dangerously overcrowded prison population drawn largely from the poor, civil rights advocates say. The facility presents an extreme microcosm of two of the most pressing national prison problems: pretrial detention and overcrowding...
Americans Are Paying Way Too Much On Rent, And It’s Only Going To Get Worse Think Progress ...More than a quarter of renters in the United States have to put half of their income toward paying rent. But that’s not the bad news. The bad news is that things are almost certainly going to get worse. About half of all renters are paying more than the recommended 30 percent of income toward rent. Those rates are roughly double what they were in 1960...
US immigration back to pre–Great Recession levels, with Asians leading Aljazeera ...Immigration rates to the U.S. have rebounded to their pre-recession levels and the country’s percentage of foreign-born now is at its highest in more than a century, when boatloads of eastern and southern Europeans arrived at Ellis Island. But the face of immigration is dramatically different than it was just a decade ago, when the bulk of the influx came from Mexico and Central America. Asians now far outnumber the number of immigrants from Latin America...
Rights Campaigners Form Human Blockade to Stop Deportations Common Dreams ...Highlighting what they say is a "global human rights issue," dozens of rights campaigners on Monday morning locked themselves together and formed a human chain to block buses at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Takoma, Washington from carrying out deportations of suspected undocumented people...
Martin Shkreli on his “altruistic” motives: “I’m a capitalist — I want to create a big drug company” Salon ...On “CBS This Morning,” embattled Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli continued to defend his company’s decision to hike the price of Daraprim by 5,455 percent, claiming that “there are a lot of altruistic properties” to raising the cost. He denied that the increased cost was “drastic.” This new “reasonable profit” is being made at the expense of immunocompromised patients, such as pregnant women and babies, as well as those with AIDS or who are undergoing radiation therapy...
Monday, September 21, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.21.15
Teamsters
Teamsters to FedEx: ‘Stop Paying Executives' Personal Taxes' Teamster.org ...Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the nation’s leading proxy voting advisor, recommends FedEx shareholders vote for a Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal aimed at reforming the company’s executive compensation. The proposal urges the company to stop paying the personal taxes on behalf of the senior executive officers...
Local 727 Tackles Unjust Treatment of Beverage Industry Members Local 727 ...Since Teamsters Local 727 began representing more than 1,500 beverage industry members earlier this year, the union has won dozens of grievances relating to discipline and terminations, holiday pay, attendance, overtime, seniority and other issues. In total, Local 727 representatives have filed nearly 150 grievances for members at Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Hinckley Springs and Home Juice over the past five months...
Sun Tran, Teamsters release agreement details Tucson News Now ...Both sides originally did not want to talk about it, but now Tucson News Now has learned new details about the agreement between Sun Tran and the Teamsters Local 104 Union. City of Tucson officials said they used savings from the 42-day strike to come up with $1.5 million to settle it, so taxpayers are not out any extra money. Under the terms of the new agreement, each Teamsters striker will get a one-time lump sum payment of $3,303.37...
Will aggrieved workers get their day in court? OC Register ...In response to the successful complaints, trucking companies that employ hundreds of drivers are now insisting the drivers sign arbitration contracts waiving their right to file complaints, according to Julie Gutman Dickinson, a Teamsters union attorney who has been representing them. “Many drivers are monolingual Spanish speakers,” she said. “They are not given copies of the arbitration agreements they are forced to sign in any language other than English"...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S., Canada, Mexico to restart auto TPP talks Monday Japan News ...Japan, the United States, Canada and Mexico will hold working-level talks on Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday, focusing on automobile trade, according to the Japanese government. The upcoming talks are aimed at narrowing their gap over rules of origin, prior to a ministerial meeting that 12 countries joining TPP negotiations plan to hold in Atlanta in late September...
Stephen Harper Says Concessions Likely for Auto Industry in Pacific Trade Pact Wall Street Journal ...Canadian leader Stephen Harper signaled in an election debate late Thursday that he will make a concession on protections for the auto industry to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a suggestion that is triggering protest from the Canadian units of the big Detroit-based auto makers...
Harper’s TPP remarks draw ire of Ontario, union leader Globe and Mail ...Stephen Harper is being accused of sacrificing Canada’s 80,000-job auto-parts industry in his eagerness to sign on to a massive Pacific Rim trade deal – one his government is negotiating in the middle of the federal election campaign. The Conservative Leader made waves Thursday when he signaled that he’s determined to be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement even over the objections of the auto sector, whose members fear it will lead to a flood of foreign parts, produced by cheaper labour, killing their industry...
International agreement could hurt Saskatchewan dairy producers Global News ...Many Saskatchewan dairy producers are concerned their domestic market may shrink due to a possible trade agreement, according to their provincial advocacy group. SaskMilk’s policy manager Joy Smith says producers will have their eyes on upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement talks planned in Atlanta. The trade pact includes 12 North American and Asian countries, including Canada, the U.S. and Japan...
No deal at next TPP talks to extend negotiations for years: minister Mainichi ...The Japanese minister in charge of negotiations for a Pacific Rim free trade initiative said Friday that talks on the free trade deal will not be concluded anytime soon if the 12 member countries fail to strike an accord at an upcoming meeting starting late September. "There is a risk that an agreement will be put off for years" if no deal is reached at the next session, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari said at a press conference...
More Austerity Awaits Greeks in Election Aftermath Greek Reporter ...Greeks are bracing to face a series of austerity measures and harsh reforms in the aftermath of the election that brought to power the previous coalition of SYRIZA and ANEL. About fifty measures and reforms have to be implemented by December as required by the bailout program Athens signed in July. Also a series of pension cuts will be implemented depending on how high each pension is...
Sierra Leone workers strike at Shandong's iron ore mine Reuters ...Hundreds of Sierra Leonean workers at Shandong Steel's iron ore mine declared an unlimited strike on Saturday, alleging unfair treatment, a union leader said. The Chinese firm, formerly a minority partner of African Minerals in the African Minerals-run project, acquired full ownership earlier this year and resumed operations in May...
Workers Strike at Chinese Shipyard, Demand Three Months' Back-Pay RFA ...More than 1,000 workers at a shipbuilding yard in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu are on strike over unpaid wages, workers told RFA on Friday, as the industrial action entered its third day. Around one-fifth of the 5,000-strong workforce at the Sinopacific-owned shipyard in Jiangsu's Dayang city walked out on Wednesday...
State & Living Wages Battles
Scott Walker's Partisans Poised to Raze Nonpartisan Government Accountability Board Huffington Post ...Stung by the campaign finance probe into potentially illegal coordination between Governor Scott Walker and independent campaign finance groups, the Wisconsin GOP is on the warpath. Governor Walker called for "dismantling" of the Government Accountability Board (GAB), the nonpartisan, independent agency that oversees Wisconsin elections, campaign finance and ethics laws that gave the go-ahead to the investigation...
Scott Walker Was Coward During 2011 Wisconsin Protests Alternet ...According to a stunning, detailed new statement by a former top Republican legislative aide, it turns out that Walker isolated himself and hid in tightly controlled, heavily-guarded environments during the conflict covering six intense weeks in early 2011—which directly contradicts his tall tale of courageously facing his adversaries...
NJ minimum wage to remain at $8.38 an hour in 2016 North Jersey ...New Jersey's minimum wage will remain $8.38 an hour in 2016, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Monday. The wage has been tied to the inflation rate since January 2014. In November 2013, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour...
Osceola mulls $11.66-an-hour living wage proposal Orlando Sentinel ...Osceola County's newly Democratic-controlled commission has wasted little time taking on controversial issues since January, passing anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender residents while raising the local gas tax to pay for roads and other infrastructure projects. Now the board is preparing to vote on an ordinance Monday that would set one of the highest minimum wages for county contracts in the state, at $11.66 an hour for the first year...
U.S. Labor
United Farm Workers claims victory in labor battle Californian ...Organized labor claimed a victory in a decades-long fight with one of the nation's largest fruit growers when a judge ruled that the company interfered with its employees' vote on whether to reject union representation. A decision issued Thursday sets aside an election held nearly two years ago by workers at Gerawan Farming Inc., which hires thousands of people annually to harvest nectarines, peaches and grapes in the Central Valley...
Shifting work to Mexico now up for UAW vote Detroit Free Press ...Building more cars in Mexico. It's a flash point for about 40,000 UAW workers preparing to vote on a tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, knowing the new four-year pact includes pay increases, profit sharing and bonuses but also shifts car production to plants south of the border...
Tile, marble union workers preparing to strike statewide Khon ...Members of the Hawaii Masons Union, specifically ceramic tile and marble setters are planning a statewide strike Monday. “Nobody wants a strike, nobody wins but this is like a last resort,” said Todd Saito, a business representative for Local #1 of Hawaii. He says contract negotiations with the Tile Contractors Association of Hawaii have been going on for over a year. “We just want a package that represents industry standards,” said Saito...
HCA, nurses reach collective bargaining agreement in 5 states Tennessean ...HCA reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with National Nurses United that would cover almost 8,000 nurses in five states if ratified. Nurses at the 17 hospitals will vote Monday whether to accept the agreements that cover a range of work conditions, including staffing, scheduling and workplace safety...
IBEW Local 125 authorizes strike at Pacific Power NW Labor Press ...Workers across Northern Oregon and Southeastern Washington voted overwhelmingly Sept. 1 to reject a contract offer and authorize the union bargaining committee to call a strike at Pacific Power. BEW Local 125 represents 320 linemen, meter readers, substation wiremen and other workers at the electric utility, in a service area that extends from Astoria to Bend to Walla Walla...
Judge’s Ruling Awards $600,000 to Exploited Workers New York Times ...More than six years after their rescue from virtual servitude, in which they worked for little pay in a turkey processing plant while living in a decrepit Iowa schoolhouse, more than two dozen men with intellectual disabilities will share nearly $600,000 owed to them, after a federal court order issued Thursday in Dallas...
American Slavery, Reinvented The Atlantic ...Given the scope and scale of prison labor in the modern era, one could reasonably expect some degree of compliance with modern labor standards. However, despite the hard-won protections secured by the labor movement over the past 100 years, incarcerated workers do not enjoy most of these protections...
Social Justice & Other News
New Report Shows How Women of Color Bear the Costs of Mass Incarceration Truthout ...As the report emphasizes, it is overwhelming women - particularly low-income women of color, given the race and class bias of our criminal justice system - who shoulder these burdens. A recent study found that 44 percent of Black women and 12 percent of white women have a family member imprisoned...
Are Student Debt Forgiveness Scams The Next Mortgage Meltdown? Think Progress ...With student loan defaults on the rise, regulatory agencies are increasingly concerned about borrowers being preyed upon by student debt relief scammers. These scammers, which promise students they can cut their student loan payments by 50 percent or more, take advantage of students’ lack of knowledge about repayment options...
Pope Francis in Cuba: "The World Needs Reconciliation in This Atmosphere of a Third World War" Democracy Now ...Ahead of his first U.S. visit, Pope Francis celebrated mass in Cuba Sunday before hundreds of thousands of worshipers in Havana’s Revolution Square. Born in Argentina, Francis is the first Latin American pope. The pope’s homily in Havana included no direct political message besides urging the successful conclusion of Colombia peace talks that have been taking place in Cuba for nearly three years...
The Media Can No Longer Pretend That Trump’s Racist Birtherism Is Old News The Nation ... Until last night, Trump has successfully built a great big wall to keep his ugly birther narrative from crossing into his current presidential run. His candidacy now turns on his racist immigrant-bashing. It’s not that the press has completely forgotten the birther storm, which peaked in 2011...
Hedge Fund Manager Buys Rights To Critical Drug, Hikes Price By 5000% Alternet ...The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars...
Teamsters to FedEx: ‘Stop Paying Executives' Personal Taxes' Teamster.org ...Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the nation’s leading proxy voting advisor, recommends FedEx shareholders vote for a Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal aimed at reforming the company’s executive compensation. The proposal urges the company to stop paying the personal taxes on behalf of the senior executive officers...
Local 727 Tackles Unjust Treatment of Beverage Industry Members Local 727 ...Since Teamsters Local 727 began representing more than 1,500 beverage industry members earlier this year, the union has won dozens of grievances relating to discipline and terminations, holiday pay, attendance, overtime, seniority and other issues. In total, Local 727 representatives have filed nearly 150 grievances for members at Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Hinckley Springs and Home Juice over the past five months...
Sun Tran, Teamsters release agreement details Tucson News Now ...Both sides originally did not want to talk about it, but now Tucson News Now has learned new details about the agreement between Sun Tran and the Teamsters Local 104 Union. City of Tucson officials said they used savings from the 42-day strike to come up with $1.5 million to settle it, so taxpayers are not out any extra money. Under the terms of the new agreement, each Teamsters striker will get a one-time lump sum payment of $3,303.37...
Will aggrieved workers get their day in court? OC Register ...In response to the successful complaints, trucking companies that employ hundreds of drivers are now insisting the drivers sign arbitration contracts waiving their right to file complaints, according to Julie Gutman Dickinson, a Teamsters union attorney who has been representing them. “Many drivers are monolingual Spanish speakers,” she said. “They are not given copies of the arbitration agreements they are forced to sign in any language other than English"...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S., Canada, Mexico to restart auto TPP talks Monday Japan News ...Japan, the United States, Canada and Mexico will hold working-level talks on Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday, focusing on automobile trade, according to the Japanese government. The upcoming talks are aimed at narrowing their gap over rules of origin, prior to a ministerial meeting that 12 countries joining TPP negotiations plan to hold in Atlanta in late September...
Stephen Harper Says Concessions Likely for Auto Industry in Pacific Trade Pact Wall Street Journal ...Canadian leader Stephen Harper signaled in an election debate late Thursday that he will make a concession on protections for the auto industry to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a suggestion that is triggering protest from the Canadian units of the big Detroit-based auto makers...
Harper’s TPP remarks draw ire of Ontario, union leader Globe and Mail ...Stephen Harper is being accused of sacrificing Canada’s 80,000-job auto-parts industry in his eagerness to sign on to a massive Pacific Rim trade deal – one his government is negotiating in the middle of the federal election campaign. The Conservative Leader made waves Thursday when he signaled that he’s determined to be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement even over the objections of the auto sector, whose members fear it will lead to a flood of foreign parts, produced by cheaper labour, killing their industry...
International agreement could hurt Saskatchewan dairy producers Global News ...Many Saskatchewan dairy producers are concerned their domestic market may shrink due to a possible trade agreement, according to their provincial advocacy group. SaskMilk’s policy manager Joy Smith says producers will have their eyes on upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement talks planned in Atlanta. The trade pact includes 12 North American and Asian countries, including Canada, the U.S. and Japan...
No deal at next TPP talks to extend negotiations for years: minister Mainichi ...The Japanese minister in charge of negotiations for a Pacific Rim free trade initiative said Friday that talks on the free trade deal will not be concluded anytime soon if the 12 member countries fail to strike an accord at an upcoming meeting starting late September. "There is a risk that an agreement will be put off for years" if no deal is reached at the next session, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari said at a press conference...
More Austerity Awaits Greeks in Election Aftermath Greek Reporter ...Greeks are bracing to face a series of austerity measures and harsh reforms in the aftermath of the election that brought to power the previous coalition of SYRIZA and ANEL. About fifty measures and reforms have to be implemented by December as required by the bailout program Athens signed in July. Also a series of pension cuts will be implemented depending on how high each pension is...
Sierra Leone workers strike at Shandong's iron ore mine Reuters ...Hundreds of Sierra Leonean workers at Shandong Steel's iron ore mine declared an unlimited strike on Saturday, alleging unfair treatment, a union leader said. The Chinese firm, formerly a minority partner of African Minerals in the African Minerals-run project, acquired full ownership earlier this year and resumed operations in May...
Workers Strike at Chinese Shipyard, Demand Three Months' Back-Pay RFA ...More than 1,000 workers at a shipbuilding yard in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu are on strike over unpaid wages, workers told RFA on Friday, as the industrial action entered its third day. Around one-fifth of the 5,000-strong workforce at the Sinopacific-owned shipyard in Jiangsu's Dayang city walked out on Wednesday...
State & Living Wages Battles
Scott Walker's Partisans Poised to Raze Nonpartisan Government Accountability Board Huffington Post ...Stung by the campaign finance probe into potentially illegal coordination between Governor Scott Walker and independent campaign finance groups, the Wisconsin GOP is on the warpath. Governor Walker called for "dismantling" of the Government Accountability Board (GAB), the nonpartisan, independent agency that oversees Wisconsin elections, campaign finance and ethics laws that gave the go-ahead to the investigation...
Scott Walker Was Coward During 2011 Wisconsin Protests Alternet ...According to a stunning, detailed new statement by a former top Republican legislative aide, it turns out that Walker isolated himself and hid in tightly controlled, heavily-guarded environments during the conflict covering six intense weeks in early 2011—which directly contradicts his tall tale of courageously facing his adversaries...
NJ minimum wage to remain at $8.38 an hour in 2016 North Jersey ...New Jersey's minimum wage will remain $8.38 an hour in 2016, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Monday. The wage has been tied to the inflation rate since January 2014. In November 2013, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour...
Osceola mulls $11.66-an-hour living wage proposal Orlando Sentinel ...Osceola County's newly Democratic-controlled commission has wasted little time taking on controversial issues since January, passing anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender residents while raising the local gas tax to pay for roads and other infrastructure projects. Now the board is preparing to vote on an ordinance Monday that would set one of the highest minimum wages for county contracts in the state, at $11.66 an hour for the first year...
U.S. Labor
United Farm Workers claims victory in labor battle Californian ...Organized labor claimed a victory in a decades-long fight with one of the nation's largest fruit growers when a judge ruled that the company interfered with its employees' vote on whether to reject union representation. A decision issued Thursday sets aside an election held nearly two years ago by workers at Gerawan Farming Inc., which hires thousands of people annually to harvest nectarines, peaches and grapes in the Central Valley...
Shifting work to Mexico now up for UAW vote Detroit Free Press ...Building more cars in Mexico. It's a flash point for about 40,000 UAW workers preparing to vote on a tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, knowing the new four-year pact includes pay increases, profit sharing and bonuses but also shifts car production to plants south of the border...
Tile, marble union workers preparing to strike statewide Khon ...Members of the Hawaii Masons Union, specifically ceramic tile and marble setters are planning a statewide strike Monday. “Nobody wants a strike, nobody wins but this is like a last resort,” said Todd Saito, a business representative for Local #1 of Hawaii. He says contract negotiations with the Tile Contractors Association of Hawaii have been going on for over a year. “We just want a package that represents industry standards,” said Saito...
HCA, nurses reach collective bargaining agreement in 5 states Tennessean ...HCA reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with National Nurses United that would cover almost 8,000 nurses in five states if ratified. Nurses at the 17 hospitals will vote Monday whether to accept the agreements that cover a range of work conditions, including staffing, scheduling and workplace safety...
IBEW Local 125 authorizes strike at Pacific Power NW Labor Press ...Workers across Northern Oregon and Southeastern Washington voted overwhelmingly Sept. 1 to reject a contract offer and authorize the union bargaining committee to call a strike at Pacific Power. BEW Local 125 represents 320 linemen, meter readers, substation wiremen and other workers at the electric utility, in a service area that extends from Astoria to Bend to Walla Walla...
Judge’s Ruling Awards $600,000 to Exploited Workers New York Times ...More than six years after their rescue from virtual servitude, in which they worked for little pay in a turkey processing plant while living in a decrepit Iowa schoolhouse, more than two dozen men with intellectual disabilities will share nearly $600,000 owed to them, after a federal court order issued Thursday in Dallas...
American Slavery, Reinvented The Atlantic ...Given the scope and scale of prison labor in the modern era, one could reasonably expect some degree of compliance with modern labor standards. However, despite the hard-won protections secured by the labor movement over the past 100 years, incarcerated workers do not enjoy most of these protections...
Social Justice & Other News
New Report Shows How Women of Color Bear the Costs of Mass Incarceration Truthout ...As the report emphasizes, it is overwhelming women - particularly low-income women of color, given the race and class bias of our criminal justice system - who shoulder these burdens. A recent study found that 44 percent of Black women and 12 percent of white women have a family member imprisoned...
Are Student Debt Forgiveness Scams The Next Mortgage Meltdown? Think Progress ...With student loan defaults on the rise, regulatory agencies are increasingly concerned about borrowers being preyed upon by student debt relief scammers. These scammers, which promise students they can cut their student loan payments by 50 percent or more, take advantage of students’ lack of knowledge about repayment options...
Pope Francis in Cuba: "The World Needs Reconciliation in This Atmosphere of a Third World War" Democracy Now ...Ahead of his first U.S. visit, Pope Francis celebrated mass in Cuba Sunday before hundreds of thousands of worshipers in Havana’s Revolution Square. Born in Argentina, Francis is the first Latin American pope. The pope’s homily in Havana included no direct political message besides urging the successful conclusion of Colombia peace talks that have been taking place in Cuba for nearly three years...
The Media Can No Longer Pretend That Trump’s Racist Birtherism Is Old News The Nation ... Until last night, Trump has successfully built a great big wall to keep his ugly birther narrative from crossing into his current presidential run. His candidacy now turns on his racist immigrant-bashing. It’s not that the press has completely forgotten the birther storm, which peaked in 2011...
Hedge Fund Manager Buys Rights To Critical Drug, Hikes Price By 5000% Alternet ...The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars...
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.08.15
Teamsters
Teamsters warn Frontier Airlines over stalled contract talks The Denver Post ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division has asked the National Mediation Board to arbitrate its ongoing contract dispute with Denver-based Frontier Airlines. And, if that doesn't work, Frontier's union-represented aircraft technicians, ground service technicians and tool-room attendants could exercise their right to strike — a move that essentially could cripple Frontier's operations...
Labor union brings back food drive to feed the hungry in Maine Bangor Daily News ...For several years before 2014, the Teamsters Local 340 labor union used the annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival as a vehicle to feed the hungry throughout Aroostook County. But the organization lost major donors in the last couple of years and wasn’t able to sponsor the drive last year. The organization is back this year with the food drive and a float in the Maine Potato Blossom parade...
Biddeford City Council meeting ends abruptly WMTV ...Disputes over contracts between Biddeford officials and three employee unions shut down the City Council meeting after just a few minutes Tuesday night. Tensions were already high when union members poured into council chambers. Members of Biddeford’s police, public works and firefighters’ unions said councilors were trying to avoid talking about the contracts. City officials said they plan to meet with the Teamsters Local 340 in mediation...
1934 Teamsters’ strike turned Minneapolis from ‘scab’ town to union supporter MinnPost ...“No trucks shall be moved! By nobody!” was the rallying cry of Minneapolis Teamsters Local 574 as they struck in the summer of 1934. Their demands were clear: a fair wage, union recognition, and the trucking firms’ recognition of inside workers as part of the union. Despite the violent reaction of the authorities, the 574 won on all these points...
Global Labor & Trade
TPP ministers to gather in Hawaii July 28-29 Japan Times ...Pacific Rim countries pursuing a free trade initiative are set to hold ministerial talks on July 28 and 29 in Hawaii to wind up their marathon negotiations, a source said Monday. The United States, Japan and 10 other countries came up with the plan as hopes for an early signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Pacific Trade Deal Negotiators See a Wrap in Late July New York Times ...With a final accord in sight, the 12 nations negotiating a trans-Pacific trade agreement linking 40 percent of the global economy have set a last round of talks for late July on the remaining issues on the most ambitious trade deal in a generation...
TPP Still Has A Long Way To Go Forbes ...Congress’s having given President Obama fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership doesn’t assure that the agreement will enjoy smooth sailing the rest of the way. There are still any number of rocks in the water that could sink it. There are enough unresolved issues in the text to keep the negotiators at the table for a long time...
Obama working to make Vietnam an ally in dealing with China’s rise Washington Post ...Administration officials said Hanoi has been signaling interest in forging deeper economic and military ties with the United States, and Obama has extended a hand to Vietnam, which is among the 12 nations involved in an expansive Pacific Rim trade pact...
U.S. reports progress on human rights after Obama meeting with Vietnamese leader NOLA ...The United States and Vietnam Tuesday (July 7) committed in a joint statement to "support for the promotion and protection of human rights." On Monday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., organized a letter from seven Republican senators [which] said that human rights should be a priority as the United States moves forward with negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement with Vietnam and other Pacific nations...
Canada Pledges Support for ‘Powerhouse’ Pacific Trade Pact Bloomberg ...The Canadian government is reiterating its support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, with Finance Minister Joe Oliver saying increased trade and investment will benefit the economy. Canada is under pressure to open up its dairy and poultry sectors, where production is controlled through quotas and imports are restricted with high tariffs. Dismantling that system, known as supply management, may become an issue in rural districts...
9 Ways the TPP Is Bad for Developing Countries Foreign Policy ...If enacted, the TPP could block these countries from successfully industrializing and joining the developed world. What would this mean in practice? Blocking industrialization would mean locking these countries into low-end agricultural and extractive industries, preventing tens of millions from accessing higher-paying jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors...
Britain slashes spending in new austerity drive Business Insider ...Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled fresh austerity measures Wednesday to slash the country's debt, evoking the plight of crisis-hit Greece in presenting the first purely Conservative budget for nearly 20 years. Osborne slashed welfare spending to honour campaign promises...
Greece Submits New Loan Request, as Tsipras Takes Defiant Stance New York Times ... Greece, running out of money and under a tight deadline from European leaders, on Wednesday requested a three-year loan from the eurozone’s bailout fund. But other than alluding to plans to begin overhauling its tax and pension systems next week, Greece did not detail what economic changes it would make in exchange for the loan...
State & Living Wage Battles
Prevailing Wage Repeal, Reform Stripped from WI Budget; Extraordinary Session Called to Address We Party Patriots ...Wisconsin Republicans have reached an agreement which will allow them to pass a budget for 2015-2017 after a week of contentious infighting over prevailing wage reforms and funding for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena. As part of the deal, Republicans agreed to eliminate these issues from the budget itself and instead take up an extraordinary session to tackle the outstanding questions...
Wisconsin's budget bill a Pandora's Box of attacks against workers Daily Kos ...Wisconsin's GOP lawmakers have packed a lot of punch into a provision in the state's budget bill, with most of it undercutting labor unions and workers along with reducing oversight of law enforcement. The measure, known as Motion 999, gained notoriety when one initiative that would have quashed the state's open record laws came to light. It was so deeply unpopular that lawmakers led by Gov. Scott Walker shelved it...
Wisconsin Is Trying to Take Away the Right to a Weekend Gawker ...In Wisconsin, Republicans led by Scott Walker has done an amazing job of destroying public unions and handing all power over the workplace back to business interests. Now, with little fanfare, they want to take away the right for workers to have a single day off. Wisconsin state legislators are preparing to vote on a budget. One additional measure is worth gaping at, perhaps above all others: section 56, which would take away workers’ right to a weekend—even a one day weekend...
Scott Walker's Office Was Part of a Sneaky Effort to Keep His Records Private Mother Jones ...Gov. Scott Walker's office has confirmed in a statement that it was involved with the measure to change Wisconsin's open-records law to block access to many currently available government documents. The statement was released after Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) acknowledged that Walker's office took part in discussions to slip the changes into a last-minute budget bill...
Wisconsin Senate passes budget, votes to scale back prevailing wage law Chicago Sun-Times ...The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate passed the $73 billion state budget just before midnight Tuesday, sending it to the Assembly after voting to repeal a prevailing wage law for local government projects, a move Democrats called an affront to the middle class...
Sherrod Brown pushes for charter school accountability and transparency Daily Kos ...A lack of accountability and transparency are a key problem of charter schools in many states across the country, allowing them to made into centers of corporate profit above their mission as centers of education. That lack, and that profit drive, is what leads to abuses like charter schools that pay above-market rents to real estate companies connected to school executives. Sen. Sherrod Brown has a bill that would change that and other abuses...
Missouri voter ID measure from GOP candidate OK to circulate Springfield News-Leader ...A Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state now can gather signatures for an initiative petition to allow lawmakers to require voter identification. Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander on Tuesday announced the proposed constitutional amendment can begin circulating...
Martin O’Malley Has the Right Solution for Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis The Nation ...Puerto Rico is not Greece. But the United States commonwealth is confronted with a debt crisis. It faces the threat of a brutal round of austerity cuts, which could make a bad circumstance dramatically worse. If ever there was a moment that called for enlightened leadership that recognizes both the economic and social challenges facing the Puerto Rico, this is it...
U.S. Labor
Hospital, nurses union reach tentative contract deal News OK ...Negotiators for Eastern Maine Medical Center and a union representing nurses at the hospital have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. The deal announced early Wednesday could avert a threatened two-day strike by the nurses next week. It must be ratified by the union membership and the hospital's board...
US: a look back at the UAW-Detroit three talks of 2011 InAutoNews ...The United Automotive Workers union is set to renegotiate the labor agreements for the represented workers at the three largest US automakers – General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The summer negotiations for the contracts for the upcoming four years are going to kick off next week...
Nurse ratio bill advances to D.C. Council's health committee Washington Business Journal ...A bill that would require minimum staffing for nurses in D.C. hospitals was approved by the D.C. Council's business committee Tuesday and will now advance to the health committee for consideration. National Nurses United, the nursing union representing many of the local nurses pushing for ratios, called the vote an "important step"...
Union Is the New Black: Labor Organizing in Orange Is the New Black, And What It Means For You Union Plus ...In its third season with Netflix, Orange Is the New Black has had a significant effect on America's consciousness regarding: race, women and incarceration, and transgender issues. This season highlighted many character backstories, but personally, the most interesting plot-line was that of the security guards and their efforts to organize a potential union...
Company Raises Its Minimum Wage To $15 So Employees Won’t ‘Worry About Making Ends Meet’ Think Progress ...Internet Truckstop Group, an Idaho-based company that owns a number of internet trucking logistic websites, is raising base pay for its employees to $15 an hour. The company has 250 full- and part-time employees, about 110 of whom will get a raise because of the increase. Most average $11 to $12 hours currently. CEO Scott Moscrip said the company, whose revenues have grown between 10 and 30 percent a year, was due for a pay increase...
Miscellaneous
After 6-Year Tenure Not Prosecuting Banks, Eric Holder Returns 'Home' to Defend Them Common Dreams ...Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's return this week to a high-level position at Covington & Burling, a corporate law firm that represents big banks, has some calling it a dramatic and troubling example of the Washington-to-Wall-Street revolving door. That's because Holder's six years of service under the administration of President Barack Obama were defined by his refusal to criminally prosecute any of the financial institutions...
Donald Trump’s Empire Was (Probably) Built On Immigrant Labor Think Progress ...As a real estate tycoon, Donald Trump built up and has given his name to clothing lines, hotels, resorts, golf courses, a winery, and apartment buildings. And for a man who has unapologetically characterized Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, and has said that infectious diseases are spilling across the border, Trump has decided to work in industries where it’s impossible to avoid the Latino immigrants he is maligning...
The End of Encryption? NSA & FBI Seek New Backdoors Against Advice from Leading Security Experts Democracy Now ...Encryption refers to the scrambling of communications so they cannot be read without the correct key or password. The FBI and GCHQ have said they need access to encrypted communications to track criminals and terrorists. Fourteen of the world’s pre-eminent cryptographers, computer scientists and security specialists have issued a paper arguing there is no way to allow the government such access without endangering all confidential data...
Waiting to Die in Prison—for Selling a Couple of Bags of Pot Mother Jones ...How many prisoners are serving life sentences for pot? At least 69, based on data collected by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations. But that figure probably is low, particularly if you count older inmates serving lengthy sentences who will likely die in prison. Federal judges have sentenced 54 people to life without parole for marijuana crimes since 1996...
Popular Protests Are Spreading Across Central America, and Washington Is Getting Nervous The Nation ...In both Guatemala and Honduras, credible accusations of corruption are spurring mass mobilization truly popular in their class composition. In response, Washington is reacting in its usual manner to such threats: more militarization...
Teamsters warn Frontier Airlines over stalled contract talks The Denver Post ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division has asked the National Mediation Board to arbitrate its ongoing contract dispute with Denver-based Frontier Airlines. And, if that doesn't work, Frontier's union-represented aircraft technicians, ground service technicians and tool-room attendants could exercise their right to strike — a move that essentially could cripple Frontier's operations...
Labor union brings back food drive to feed the hungry in Maine Bangor Daily News ...For several years before 2014, the Teamsters Local 340 labor union used the annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival as a vehicle to feed the hungry throughout Aroostook County. But the organization lost major donors in the last couple of years and wasn’t able to sponsor the drive last year. The organization is back this year with the food drive and a float in the Maine Potato Blossom parade...
Biddeford City Council meeting ends abruptly WMTV ...Disputes over contracts between Biddeford officials and three employee unions shut down the City Council meeting after just a few minutes Tuesday night. Tensions were already high when union members poured into council chambers. Members of Biddeford’s police, public works and firefighters’ unions said councilors were trying to avoid talking about the contracts. City officials said they plan to meet with the Teamsters Local 340 in mediation...
1934 Teamsters’ strike turned Minneapolis from ‘scab’ town to union supporter MinnPost ...“No trucks shall be moved! By nobody!” was the rallying cry of Minneapolis Teamsters Local 574 as they struck in the summer of 1934. Their demands were clear: a fair wage, union recognition, and the trucking firms’ recognition of inside workers as part of the union. Despite the violent reaction of the authorities, the 574 won on all these points...
Global Labor & Trade
TPP ministers to gather in Hawaii July 28-29 Japan Times ...Pacific Rim countries pursuing a free trade initiative are set to hold ministerial talks on July 28 and 29 in Hawaii to wind up their marathon negotiations, a source said Monday. The United States, Japan and 10 other countries came up with the plan as hopes for an early signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Pacific Trade Deal Negotiators See a Wrap in Late July New York Times ...With a final accord in sight, the 12 nations negotiating a trans-Pacific trade agreement linking 40 percent of the global economy have set a last round of talks for late July on the remaining issues on the most ambitious trade deal in a generation...
TPP Still Has A Long Way To Go Forbes ...Congress’s having given President Obama fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership doesn’t assure that the agreement will enjoy smooth sailing the rest of the way. There are still any number of rocks in the water that could sink it. There are enough unresolved issues in the text to keep the negotiators at the table for a long time...
Obama working to make Vietnam an ally in dealing with China’s rise Washington Post ...Administration officials said Hanoi has been signaling interest in forging deeper economic and military ties with the United States, and Obama has extended a hand to Vietnam, which is among the 12 nations involved in an expansive Pacific Rim trade pact...
U.S. reports progress on human rights after Obama meeting with Vietnamese leader NOLA ...The United States and Vietnam Tuesday (July 7) committed in a joint statement to "support for the promotion and protection of human rights." On Monday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., organized a letter from seven Republican senators [which] said that human rights should be a priority as the United States moves forward with negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement with Vietnam and other Pacific nations...
Canada Pledges Support for ‘Powerhouse’ Pacific Trade Pact Bloomberg ...The Canadian government is reiterating its support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, with Finance Minister Joe Oliver saying increased trade and investment will benefit the economy. Canada is under pressure to open up its dairy and poultry sectors, where production is controlled through quotas and imports are restricted with high tariffs. Dismantling that system, known as supply management, may become an issue in rural districts...
9 Ways the TPP Is Bad for Developing Countries Foreign Policy ...If enacted, the TPP could block these countries from successfully industrializing and joining the developed world. What would this mean in practice? Blocking industrialization would mean locking these countries into low-end agricultural and extractive industries, preventing tens of millions from accessing higher-paying jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors...
Britain slashes spending in new austerity drive Business Insider ...Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled fresh austerity measures Wednesday to slash the country's debt, evoking the plight of crisis-hit Greece in presenting the first purely Conservative budget for nearly 20 years. Osborne slashed welfare spending to honour campaign promises...
Greece Submits New Loan Request, as Tsipras Takes Defiant Stance New York Times ... Greece, running out of money and under a tight deadline from European leaders, on Wednesday requested a three-year loan from the eurozone’s bailout fund. But other than alluding to plans to begin overhauling its tax and pension systems next week, Greece did not detail what economic changes it would make in exchange for the loan...
State & Living Wage Battles
Prevailing Wage Repeal, Reform Stripped from WI Budget; Extraordinary Session Called to Address We Party Patriots ...Wisconsin Republicans have reached an agreement which will allow them to pass a budget for 2015-2017 after a week of contentious infighting over prevailing wage reforms and funding for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena. As part of the deal, Republicans agreed to eliminate these issues from the budget itself and instead take up an extraordinary session to tackle the outstanding questions...
Wisconsin's budget bill a Pandora's Box of attacks against workers Daily Kos ...Wisconsin's GOP lawmakers have packed a lot of punch into a provision in the state's budget bill, with most of it undercutting labor unions and workers along with reducing oversight of law enforcement. The measure, known as Motion 999, gained notoriety when one initiative that would have quashed the state's open record laws came to light. It was so deeply unpopular that lawmakers led by Gov. Scott Walker shelved it...
Wisconsin Is Trying to Take Away the Right to a Weekend Gawker ...In Wisconsin, Republicans led by Scott Walker has done an amazing job of destroying public unions and handing all power over the workplace back to business interests. Now, with little fanfare, they want to take away the right for workers to have a single day off. Wisconsin state legislators are preparing to vote on a budget. One additional measure is worth gaping at, perhaps above all others: section 56, which would take away workers’ right to a weekend—even a one day weekend...
Scott Walker's Office Was Part of a Sneaky Effort to Keep His Records Private Mother Jones ...Gov. Scott Walker's office has confirmed in a statement that it was involved with the measure to change Wisconsin's open-records law to block access to many currently available government documents. The statement was released after Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) acknowledged that Walker's office took part in discussions to slip the changes into a last-minute budget bill...
Wisconsin Senate passes budget, votes to scale back prevailing wage law Chicago Sun-Times ...The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate passed the $73 billion state budget just before midnight Tuesday, sending it to the Assembly after voting to repeal a prevailing wage law for local government projects, a move Democrats called an affront to the middle class...
Sherrod Brown pushes for charter school accountability and transparency Daily Kos ...A lack of accountability and transparency are a key problem of charter schools in many states across the country, allowing them to made into centers of corporate profit above their mission as centers of education. That lack, and that profit drive, is what leads to abuses like charter schools that pay above-market rents to real estate companies connected to school executives. Sen. Sherrod Brown has a bill that would change that and other abuses...
Missouri voter ID measure from GOP candidate OK to circulate Springfield News-Leader ...A Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state now can gather signatures for an initiative petition to allow lawmakers to require voter identification. Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander on Tuesday announced the proposed constitutional amendment can begin circulating...
Martin O’Malley Has the Right Solution for Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis The Nation ...Puerto Rico is not Greece. But the United States commonwealth is confronted with a debt crisis. It faces the threat of a brutal round of austerity cuts, which could make a bad circumstance dramatically worse. If ever there was a moment that called for enlightened leadership that recognizes both the economic and social challenges facing the Puerto Rico, this is it...
U.S. Labor
Hospital, nurses union reach tentative contract deal News OK ...Negotiators for Eastern Maine Medical Center and a union representing nurses at the hospital have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. The deal announced early Wednesday could avert a threatened two-day strike by the nurses next week. It must be ratified by the union membership and the hospital's board...
US: a look back at the UAW-Detroit three talks of 2011 InAutoNews ...The United Automotive Workers union is set to renegotiate the labor agreements for the represented workers at the three largest US automakers – General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The summer negotiations for the contracts for the upcoming four years are going to kick off next week...
Nurse ratio bill advances to D.C. Council's health committee Washington Business Journal ...A bill that would require minimum staffing for nurses in D.C. hospitals was approved by the D.C. Council's business committee Tuesday and will now advance to the health committee for consideration. National Nurses United, the nursing union representing many of the local nurses pushing for ratios, called the vote an "important step"...
Union Is the New Black: Labor Organizing in Orange Is the New Black, And What It Means For You Union Plus ...In its third season with Netflix, Orange Is the New Black has had a significant effect on America's consciousness regarding: race, women and incarceration, and transgender issues. This season highlighted many character backstories, but personally, the most interesting plot-line was that of the security guards and their efforts to organize a potential union...
Company Raises Its Minimum Wage To $15 So Employees Won’t ‘Worry About Making Ends Meet’ Think Progress ...Internet Truckstop Group, an Idaho-based company that owns a number of internet trucking logistic websites, is raising base pay for its employees to $15 an hour. The company has 250 full- and part-time employees, about 110 of whom will get a raise because of the increase. Most average $11 to $12 hours currently. CEO Scott Moscrip said the company, whose revenues have grown between 10 and 30 percent a year, was due for a pay increase...
Miscellaneous
After 6-Year Tenure Not Prosecuting Banks, Eric Holder Returns 'Home' to Defend Them Common Dreams ...Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's return this week to a high-level position at Covington & Burling, a corporate law firm that represents big banks, has some calling it a dramatic and troubling example of the Washington-to-Wall-Street revolving door. That's because Holder's six years of service under the administration of President Barack Obama were defined by his refusal to criminally prosecute any of the financial institutions...
Donald Trump’s Empire Was (Probably) Built On Immigrant Labor Think Progress ...As a real estate tycoon, Donald Trump built up and has given his name to clothing lines, hotels, resorts, golf courses, a winery, and apartment buildings. And for a man who has unapologetically characterized Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, and has said that infectious diseases are spilling across the border, Trump has decided to work in industries where it’s impossible to avoid the Latino immigrants he is maligning...
The End of Encryption? NSA & FBI Seek New Backdoors Against Advice from Leading Security Experts Democracy Now ...Encryption refers to the scrambling of communications so they cannot be read without the correct key or password. The FBI and GCHQ have said they need access to encrypted communications to track criminals and terrorists. Fourteen of the world’s pre-eminent cryptographers, computer scientists and security specialists have issued a paper arguing there is no way to allow the government such access without endangering all confidential data...
Waiting to Die in Prison—for Selling a Couple of Bags of Pot Mother Jones ...How many prisoners are serving life sentences for pot? At least 69, based on data collected by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations. But that figure probably is low, particularly if you count older inmates serving lengthy sentences who will likely die in prison. Federal judges have sentenced 54 people to life without parole for marijuana crimes since 1996...
Popular Protests Are Spreading Across Central America, and Washington Is Getting Nervous The Nation ...In both Guatemala and Honduras, credible accusations of corruption are spurring mass mobilization truly popular in their class composition. In response, Washington is reacting in its usual manner to such threats: more militarization...
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.18.15
Teamsters
Drivers and Monitors with North River Collaborative Join Teamsters Local 653 Teamster.org ...Drivers and monitors with Massachusetts’s North River Collaborative have joined Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The 74 workers transport students with special needs and are based in Abington and Rockland, Mass. The workers’ election at North River Collaborative was conducted through card-check...
Walmart still has a ways to go to help workers Teamster Nation ...The world's largest retailer still has a long way to go to bring its workforce practices up to an acceptable level. Walmart workers and those in its food supply chain are forced to put up with a number labor issues. Teamsters are familiar with several of these situations. For instance, the union has and continues to fight the practices of salad producer Taylor Farms and organic food supplier United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)...
Global Labor & Trade
Trade pact proponents claim new momentum Politico ...the Democratic president and the two Republican leaders embarked on their most intense bipartisan negotiating spree in recent memory. The back channeling, combined with some complex procedural machinations, might allow the House and Senate to clear both Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance before the Fourth of July recess...
Obama, GOP set to jam House Dems on trade CNN ... President Barack Obama and top Republican congressional leaders joined together Wednesday to make an all-out push to convince pro-trade Democrats in the House and Senate to resurrect his trade agenda. Legislation to help pave the way for a major trade deal with roughly a dozen countries was left in limbo after a massive block of House Democrats ignored a personal appeal from the President and voted down the trade package last Friday...
Fast-track trade bill to get another vote in Congress on Thursday LA Times ...Trying to salvage President Obama's trade agenda, Republican leaders in Congress plan to vote again Thursday on legislation giving the president fast-track negotiating authority, sidestepping House Democrats’ opposition and leaving the future of a worker-assistance program uncertain...
House to vote for a second time on fast-track for Obama The Hill ...The House will vote Thursday on a stand-alone measure to grant President Obama fast-track trade authority. The decision follows a flurry of activity at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, as the White House and congressional Republicans rally around a strategy for moving forward with the trade package...
Karen Bass And Keith Ellison Just Threw A Wrench Into The Republican Trade Strategy Huffington Post ...Key Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), sent a letter on Wednesday to Senate leaders saying they do not support a new House Republican plan designed to ease the passage of President Barack Obama's trade agenda. Wednesday's letter, from Reps. Bass, G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), makes that goal harder to achieve...
TPP Versus NAFTA (opinion) New York Times ...Many people — myself included — thought that TPP would, in the end, follow the model of NAFTA: a Democratic president would push the agreement through Congress, but the bulk of the votes would be Republican. But it doesn’t seem to be going that way. Why?...
Greek government supporters rally in Athens against austerity Reuters ...A few thousand demonstrators rallied in front of the parliament in Athens on Wednesday to protest against austerity and back the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in its standoff with Greece's international creditors. The demonstration, which appeared to be made up mainly of supporters of the ruling Syriza party, came as pressure piled on Tsipras' government to accept creditors' demands...
An anti-austerity rebellion ramps up in the UK Aljazeera America ...On Saturday tens of thousands of people will march through London and Glasgow to demand an end to austerity and increases in spending and investment. The protest in London has been organized by the People’s Assembly, a left-wing campaign group that eschews formal political party ties...
Dominicans of Haitian Descent About to Be Deported Solidarity Center ...Hundreds of thousands of workers in the Dominican Republic without official identification papers have until today to register with the government or face deportation. The move—condemned widely as a violation of human rights—could leave as many as 120,000 Dominican-born and -raised women and men stateless, their future and their ability to earn a living jeopardized...
State & Living Wage Battles
Conservative lobbying group ALEC sets sights on local lawmakers Aljazeera-America ...State-level pre-emption laws like HB 40 that limit the authority of city and county governments in their dealings with private industry, while not new, have become more common in recent years. Seventeen states prohibit city and county governments from raising the minimum wage. Eleven states have barred local governments from mandating paid sick leave. Critics of these pre-emption laws say their rise can be traced to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Young adults in Michigan would have a lower minimum wage under bill MLive ...Youth under 20 years old could make less than Michigan's minimum wage under a bill that's headed to the full Senate for consideration. Under current law, employers can pay people under 18 either 85 percent of Michigan's minimum wage, or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater. The bill would change that to include all employees under 20...
Brown inks bill to protect immigrants San Diego Union-Tribune ...Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation further cracking down on people offering fraudulent immigration services. The bill, AB 60, carried by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, won unanimous support in the Assembly and Senate. The new law closes an loophole in a 2013 law she authored, which created protections for immigrants who were seeking immigration reform-related services...
Gov. signs bill increasing minimum wage WPRI ..Gov. Gina Raimondo has signed legislation to raise Rhode Island’s minimum wage. The Democratic governor says she’s proud to raise the state’s minimum hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 on Jan. 1. She plans to mark the change in a signing ceremony soon. Both legislative chambers approved the raise...
New York State Legislators Have Just One More Day to Pass a Bill Protecting Nail Salon Workers In These Times ...New York State lawmakers have just one day left in this year's legislative session to answer that question as two bills introduced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo remain on the table. After the exploitation of nail salon workers in New York came to public attention with a New York Times investigation of 150 nail salons over 13 months, Gov. Cuomo announced on May 18 legislation, emergency regulations and a public outreach program to protect these workers...
“Right-to-work” goes down the drain in Maine People's World ...Following effective worker lobbying, meetings, phone calls and 10,000 post cards, so-called right-to-work legislation went down the drain in Maine, by a 90-52 margin in the state House. Other anti-worker bills also hit the legislative garbage can. But the fight isn't over yet...
What Fast-Food Workers Are Fighting For The Nation ...Not long ago, $15 an hour for a “burger-flipping” gig would have sounded impossible too. But now, pressed by a nationwide grassroots labor movement, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Wage Board is potentially poised to nearly double the base wage for a fast-food labor force of nearly 165,000 people statewide. Following a groundbreaking $15 minimum-wage law that just passed in Los Angeles, a pay raise couldn’t come soon enough for New York’s fast-food workers, who earn on average under $16,000 a year...
How Walmart Spun an 'Extensive and Secretive Web' of Overseas Tax Havens Common Dreams ...Walmart has built a vast, undisclosed network of overseas tax havens—accounting for more than $76 billion of assets—that allows the multinational corporation to shirk public disclosure laws as well as its fair share of both foreign and U.S. taxes, according to a groundbreaking report published Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness. All told, the retail behemoth has established at least 78 subsidiaries in 15 offshore tax havens...
U.S Labor
FedEx Ground to pay $228 million to settle driver classification claims in California DC Velocity ...The ground delivery unit of FedEx Corp. has tentatively agreed to pay $228 million to settle claims by about 2,300 drivers in California that the company improperly classified them as independent contractors and not company employees while they drove for the unit from 2000 to 2007. The settlement, disclosed Friday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, must still be approved by a federal district court in California...
In California, Uber driver is employee, not contractor Reuters ...A driver for Uber is an employee, not a contractor, according to a California ruling that eventually could push up costs for the smartphone-based ride hailing service and hurt the closely watched start-up's valuation. The California Labor Commission's decision could ripple through the burgeoning industry of providing services via smartphones...
Striking airport workers rally outside the State House WWLP ...orkers who move baggage, help passengers and clean planes at Logan Airport went on a 24-hour strike Wednesday, alleging that airport contractors don’t pay enough and trample on their rights. Over 100 workers at G2 Secure Staff and Ready Jet went on strike, according to Roxana Rivera, an organizer with SEIU 32BJ, which has been stymied in attempting to organize the companies where she said a couple hundred people work...
House Republicans look to block union election rules, slash NLRB budget Reuters ...Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday renewed attempts to block new rules governing union elections and proposed cutting the budgets of the U.S. Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board. The House Appropriations Committee unveiled a budget bill for fiscal year 2016 that would also prohibit the NLRB from issuing a new standard on joint employment...
California Court Ruling Could Make It Nearly Impossible for Farmworkers to Win Union Contracts In These Times ...On May 18 in Fresno, California, the state's Court of Appeals for the 5th District ruled that a key provision of the state's unique labor law for field workers is unconstitutional. Should it be upheld by the state's supreme court, this decision will profoundly affect the ability of California farm workers to gain union contracts. At issue is the “mandatory mediation” provision of the state's Agricultural Labor Relations Act...
Tempers flare as D.C. nurse ratio bill returns — rebranded Washington Business Journal ...Councilman Vincent Orange finally appeared to pin D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt down on what would might make an acceptable minimum number of nurses per patient for local hospitals. “She finally had to acknowledge there are numbers that make sense,” said Ken Zinn, the D.C.-based political director for nurses union National Nurses United...
Miscellaneous
Applications for US jobless aid fall to nearly 15-year low News & Observer ...he number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, evidence that layoffs remain at unusually low levels and the job market is moving closer to full health. Weekly applications for jobless aid dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday...
Fed Holds Off on Interest Rate Hike, Downgrades Economic Forecast TruthOut ...Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday kept the central bank's benchmark short-term interest rate near zero, opting against the first increase since 2006 after determining the economy still isn't strong enough to handle it. Fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. They projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year...
How big banks and racist policies helped shape segregation, police brutality Salon ...Housing equity is Americans’ most important source of wealth. Average black family income is now about 60 percent of white family income, but black household wealth is only about 5 percent of white household wealth. This disparity is almost entirely attributable to federal policy that prohibited black families from accumulating equity during the suburban boom and thus from bequeathing that wealth to children, as whites have done...
Drivers and Monitors with North River Collaborative Join Teamsters Local 653 Teamster.org ...Drivers and monitors with Massachusetts’s North River Collaborative have joined Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The 74 workers transport students with special needs and are based in Abington and Rockland, Mass. The workers’ election at North River Collaborative was conducted through card-check...
Walmart still has a ways to go to help workers Teamster Nation ...The world's largest retailer still has a long way to go to bring its workforce practices up to an acceptable level. Walmart workers and those in its food supply chain are forced to put up with a number labor issues. Teamsters are familiar with several of these situations. For instance, the union has and continues to fight the practices of salad producer Taylor Farms and organic food supplier United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)...
Global Labor & Trade
Trade pact proponents claim new momentum Politico ...the Democratic president and the two Republican leaders embarked on their most intense bipartisan negotiating spree in recent memory. The back channeling, combined with some complex procedural machinations, might allow the House and Senate to clear both Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance before the Fourth of July recess...
Obama, GOP set to jam House Dems on trade CNN ... President Barack Obama and top Republican congressional leaders joined together Wednesday to make an all-out push to convince pro-trade Democrats in the House and Senate to resurrect his trade agenda. Legislation to help pave the way for a major trade deal with roughly a dozen countries was left in limbo after a massive block of House Democrats ignored a personal appeal from the President and voted down the trade package last Friday...
Fast-track trade bill to get another vote in Congress on Thursday LA Times ...Trying to salvage President Obama's trade agenda, Republican leaders in Congress plan to vote again Thursday on legislation giving the president fast-track negotiating authority, sidestepping House Democrats’ opposition and leaving the future of a worker-assistance program uncertain...
House to vote for a second time on fast-track for Obama The Hill ...The House will vote Thursday on a stand-alone measure to grant President Obama fast-track trade authority. The decision follows a flurry of activity at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, as the White House and congressional Republicans rally around a strategy for moving forward with the trade package...
Karen Bass And Keith Ellison Just Threw A Wrench Into The Republican Trade Strategy Huffington Post ...Key Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), sent a letter on Wednesday to Senate leaders saying they do not support a new House Republican plan designed to ease the passage of President Barack Obama's trade agenda. Wednesday's letter, from Reps. Bass, G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), makes that goal harder to achieve...
TPP Versus NAFTA (opinion) New York Times ...Many people — myself included — thought that TPP would, in the end, follow the model of NAFTA: a Democratic president would push the agreement through Congress, but the bulk of the votes would be Republican. But it doesn’t seem to be going that way. Why?...
Greek government supporters rally in Athens against austerity Reuters ...A few thousand demonstrators rallied in front of the parliament in Athens on Wednesday to protest against austerity and back the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in its standoff with Greece's international creditors. The demonstration, which appeared to be made up mainly of supporters of the ruling Syriza party, came as pressure piled on Tsipras' government to accept creditors' demands...
An anti-austerity rebellion ramps up in the UK Aljazeera America ...On Saturday tens of thousands of people will march through London and Glasgow to demand an end to austerity and increases in spending and investment. The protest in London has been organized by the People’s Assembly, a left-wing campaign group that eschews formal political party ties...
Dominicans of Haitian Descent About to Be Deported Solidarity Center ...Hundreds of thousands of workers in the Dominican Republic without official identification papers have until today to register with the government or face deportation. The move—condemned widely as a violation of human rights—could leave as many as 120,000 Dominican-born and -raised women and men stateless, their future and their ability to earn a living jeopardized...
State & Living Wage Battles
Conservative lobbying group ALEC sets sights on local lawmakers Aljazeera-America ...State-level pre-emption laws like HB 40 that limit the authority of city and county governments in their dealings with private industry, while not new, have become more common in recent years. Seventeen states prohibit city and county governments from raising the minimum wage. Eleven states have barred local governments from mandating paid sick leave. Critics of these pre-emption laws say their rise can be traced to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Young adults in Michigan would have a lower minimum wage under bill MLive ...Youth under 20 years old could make less than Michigan's minimum wage under a bill that's headed to the full Senate for consideration. Under current law, employers can pay people under 18 either 85 percent of Michigan's minimum wage, or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater. The bill would change that to include all employees under 20...
Brown inks bill to protect immigrants San Diego Union-Tribune ...Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation further cracking down on people offering fraudulent immigration services. The bill, AB 60, carried by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, won unanimous support in the Assembly and Senate. The new law closes an loophole in a 2013 law she authored, which created protections for immigrants who were seeking immigration reform-related services...
Gov. signs bill increasing minimum wage WPRI ..Gov. Gina Raimondo has signed legislation to raise Rhode Island’s minimum wage. The Democratic governor says she’s proud to raise the state’s minimum hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 on Jan. 1. She plans to mark the change in a signing ceremony soon. Both legislative chambers approved the raise...
New York State Legislators Have Just One More Day to Pass a Bill Protecting Nail Salon Workers In These Times ...New York State lawmakers have just one day left in this year's legislative session to answer that question as two bills introduced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo remain on the table. After the exploitation of nail salon workers in New York came to public attention with a New York Times investigation of 150 nail salons over 13 months, Gov. Cuomo announced on May 18 legislation, emergency regulations and a public outreach program to protect these workers...
“Right-to-work” goes down the drain in Maine People's World ...Following effective worker lobbying, meetings, phone calls and 10,000 post cards, so-called right-to-work legislation went down the drain in Maine, by a 90-52 margin in the state House. Other anti-worker bills also hit the legislative garbage can. But the fight isn't over yet...
What Fast-Food Workers Are Fighting For The Nation ...Not long ago, $15 an hour for a “burger-flipping” gig would have sounded impossible too. But now, pressed by a nationwide grassroots labor movement, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Wage Board is potentially poised to nearly double the base wage for a fast-food labor force of nearly 165,000 people statewide. Following a groundbreaking $15 minimum-wage law that just passed in Los Angeles, a pay raise couldn’t come soon enough for New York’s fast-food workers, who earn on average under $16,000 a year...
How Walmart Spun an 'Extensive and Secretive Web' of Overseas Tax Havens Common Dreams ...Walmart has built a vast, undisclosed network of overseas tax havens—accounting for more than $76 billion of assets—that allows the multinational corporation to shirk public disclosure laws as well as its fair share of both foreign and U.S. taxes, according to a groundbreaking report published Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness. All told, the retail behemoth has established at least 78 subsidiaries in 15 offshore tax havens...
U.S Labor
FedEx Ground to pay $228 million to settle driver classification claims in California DC Velocity ...The ground delivery unit of FedEx Corp. has tentatively agreed to pay $228 million to settle claims by about 2,300 drivers in California that the company improperly classified them as independent contractors and not company employees while they drove for the unit from 2000 to 2007. The settlement, disclosed Friday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, must still be approved by a federal district court in California...
In California, Uber driver is employee, not contractor Reuters ...A driver for Uber is an employee, not a contractor, according to a California ruling that eventually could push up costs for the smartphone-based ride hailing service and hurt the closely watched start-up's valuation. The California Labor Commission's decision could ripple through the burgeoning industry of providing services via smartphones...
Striking airport workers rally outside the State House WWLP ...orkers who move baggage, help passengers and clean planes at Logan Airport went on a 24-hour strike Wednesday, alleging that airport contractors don’t pay enough and trample on their rights. Over 100 workers at G2 Secure Staff and Ready Jet went on strike, according to Roxana Rivera, an organizer with SEIU 32BJ, which has been stymied in attempting to organize the companies where she said a couple hundred people work...
House Republicans look to block union election rules, slash NLRB budget Reuters ...Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday renewed attempts to block new rules governing union elections and proposed cutting the budgets of the U.S. Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board. The House Appropriations Committee unveiled a budget bill for fiscal year 2016 that would also prohibit the NLRB from issuing a new standard on joint employment...
California Court Ruling Could Make It Nearly Impossible for Farmworkers to Win Union Contracts In These Times ...On May 18 in Fresno, California, the state's Court of Appeals for the 5th District ruled that a key provision of the state's unique labor law for field workers is unconstitutional. Should it be upheld by the state's supreme court, this decision will profoundly affect the ability of California farm workers to gain union contracts. At issue is the “mandatory mediation” provision of the state's Agricultural Labor Relations Act...
Tempers flare as D.C. nurse ratio bill returns — rebranded Washington Business Journal ...Councilman Vincent Orange finally appeared to pin D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt down on what would might make an acceptable minimum number of nurses per patient for local hospitals. “She finally had to acknowledge there are numbers that make sense,” said Ken Zinn, the D.C.-based political director for nurses union National Nurses United...
Miscellaneous
Applications for US jobless aid fall to nearly 15-year low News & Observer ...he number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, evidence that layoffs remain at unusually low levels and the job market is moving closer to full health. Weekly applications for jobless aid dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday...
Fed Holds Off on Interest Rate Hike, Downgrades Economic Forecast TruthOut ...Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday kept the central bank's benchmark short-term interest rate near zero, opting against the first increase since 2006 after determining the economy still isn't strong enough to handle it. Fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. They projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year...
How big banks and racist policies helped shape segregation, police brutality Salon ...Housing equity is Americans’ most important source of wealth. Average black family income is now about 60 percent of white family income, but black household wealth is only about 5 percent of white household wealth. This disparity is almost entirely attributable to federal policy that prohibited black families from accumulating equity during the suburban boom and thus from bequeathing that wealth to children, as whites have done...
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.16.15
Teamsters
Michigan School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...School bus workers with First Student in Carleton, Mich., have voted overwhelmingly, 25-2, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The group of 35 drivers and monitors reached out to the Teamsters Union seeking a strong voice to address their workplace concerns...
Former De Blasio Staffer Wins Labor Backing in Queens Council Race Observer ...A former de Blasio administration staffer running for an open Queens City Council seat has won the first labor endorsement of the race. Rebecca Lynch, a member of Mr. de Blasio’s Community Affairs Unit until this month and a former Democratic district leader, won the backing of Teamsters Joint Council 16 today...
House needs to continue stand against fast track Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters would like to thank all lawmakers who stood with the people in that important vote. Pro-fast track lawmakers, however, are likely to pull out every procedural trick in the book to overturn it. That could mean taking another vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) as early as tomorrow...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama, Boehner abandon plans for Tuesday trade vote Washington Post ...President Obama and his momentary Republican allies in Congress mulled several difficult choices Monday for rescuing trade legislation into which the president has invested a massive amount of political capital in the hope of completing a 12-nation trade deal across the Pacific Rim. Their first call was to abandon plans for a second vote Tuesday on a piece of legislation that must also pass for the entire package to advance to Obama’s desk...
Obama’s environmental allies not buying his trade pitch on climate Washington Post ...President Obama has made environmental safeguards one of the selling points of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But environmental groups aren’t buying. The influential environmental groups — a key part of the effort to rally the Democratic base against the fast-track bill for trade talks — believe that a new trade pact could set back important gains achieved over the past two decades...
US fast-track vote leaves Pacific trade pact talks in limbo Associated Press ...How slow can you go? The effort to get U.S. trade legislation through Congress, clearing the way for progress on an Asia-Pacific trade accord, is in limbo once again. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday shot down a proposal to give President Barack Obama authority to negotiate global trade deals for congressional approval or rejection, without amendments...
U.S. trade deal’s setback causes mixed reaction in Asia Washington Post ...The failure of a package of trade-related measures Friday in the House was a blow to President Obama, but it was also a blow to his ally, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, half a world away. Abe has made reviving Japan’s stubbornly anemic economy one of his top priorities, and forging a wide-ranging trade pact with the United States, through the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Nancy Pelosi: Trade promotion authority on its last legs (opinion) USA Today ...In order to succeed in the global economy, it is necessary to move beyond stale arguments of protectionism vs. free trade. To do so, we must recognize that workers' rights, consumer and intellectual protections, and environmental safeguards must be just as enforceable as the protection of the economic interests of investors...
Honduran Workers Win Unions at 3 Plants, Get Pact at 4th Solidarity Center ...Apparel workers in Honduras formed unions at three factories in recent days with the Central General de Trabajadores Honduras (CGT) and its apparel federation FESITRATEMASH, in a huge victory for workers seeking to improve their basic livelihoods. Some 9,000 workers at the Canadian-owned Gildan apparel factories in Choloma, San Pedro Sula and Villanueva make T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants...
In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm In These Times ...We know about extreme incidents such as the Rana Plaza collapse that capture the world’s attention, however briefly, or when workers get so fed up with the conditions that they strike long enough and loud enough to get the Western world’s attention. But the day-to-day disasters that maim or kill a single worker or the accumulation of lead in workers’ bodies—those go almost completely unreported...
Threats of Default and 'Grexit' Loom as Greece Refuses to Surrender Common Dreams ...As threats of a debt default, potential 'Greek exit,' and stock market crash loom, both sides appear to be digging in their heels after negotiations between Greece and European lenders collapsed on Sunday. Greece's leftist leader, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, slammed his creditors for their "insistence" on austerity, which he described as a "pillaging" of Greece's imperiled economy...
State & Living Wage Battles
After Cutting Taxes On The Rich, Kansas Will Raise Taxes On The Poor To Pay For It Think Progress ...Kansas lawmakers concluded the longest legislative session in state history Friday night by approving a slate of regressive tax hikes that will balance the state’s budget by targeting low-income workers and their families. More than half of the $384 million in new revenue expected from the tax hike will come from cigarette taxes and sales taxes, two policies described as “regressive” because they fall more heavily on lower-income taxpayers than on the wealthy...
Poll: Voters want to keep prevailing wage law Detroit News ...A group seeking to repeal Michigan's 50-year-old prevailing wage law might find its biggest support among Republican state lawmakers: A new poll suggests likely voters want to keep union-level wages for government construction projects. More than 59 percent of likely voters support maintaining Michigan's prevailing wage...
Senate support for Scott Walker's budget is razor thin Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker's budget hangs by a gossamer thread in the GOP-controlled state Senate, where "no" votes from just three lawmakers within his own party would be enough to derail his spending plan. Already, two conservative Republican senators have made clear they will be extremely difficult — perhaps impossible — for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) to win over without knocking moderate senators from their party out of the yes column...
Scott Walker's Wisconsin: A Laboratory for Oligarchs Truthout ...Scott Walker's attacks on unions and family paying jobs in Wisconsin helped elevate his national profile and ingratiated him with deep-pocketed political donors like the Kochs. Can he take this agenda nationwide? This weekend's New York Times Magazine has a cover story by Wisconsin native Dan Kaufman called "Scott Walker and the Fate of the Union" that digs deep into Walker's anti-worker crusade...
What’s the Matter With Indiana? Counterpunch ...Amid all that’s clearly wrong with Indiana’s current direction under right wing Republican rule, Quigley finds cause for optimism. “Despite a state political climate that proved inhospitable to labor in the right-to-work debate, private sector workers are launching union organizing campaigns across the state’s capital,” and in smaller towns as well. If We Can Win Here includes detailed case studies of membership recruitment...
Board Hears Support for Raising Food Workers’ Minimum Wage New York Times ...The mayor who faced a multitude of excited New York City workers in Manhattan on Monday morning was not Bill de Blasio. Instead, it was the mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, who listened patiently as a contingent of fast-food restaurant employees pleaded for an increase in their minimum wage to $15 an hour, cheered on by an auditorium filled with their colleagues and sympathizers...
U.S. Labor
Amid dispute with SEIU union, county makes contract offer Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County managers have made a contract offer to their largest employee union amid a dispute over interpretation of a new state law that revamps collective bargaining for government workers. The offer would end concerns over the county’s moves to end paid union leave for employees and stop all increases to wages and benefits...
Saint Louis University Hospital nurses vote against de-authorization of union St. Louis Public Radio ...Members of a nurse’s union at St. Louis University Hospital voted against de-authorizing their union late Monday, a measure that would have effectively created a “right-to-work” policy within the hospital. The National Nurses United affiliate has about 650 members at SLU Hospital; only 140 voted in favor of de-authorization...
Ford wants to lead UAW talks to address wage disparity Detroit Free Press ...Detroit Three-UAW bargaining will begin in earnest the week of July 13 and Ford wants to be first to ink an agreement that creates a more even playing field when it comes to wages in the auto industry. In the normally secretive world of UAW talks, key dates and details were released Monday about the next stages of bargaining...
Woman Alleges Waffle House Manager Asked, ‘You’re Pregnant Again?’ Then Fired Her For Pregnancy Think Progress ...Tabitha Handy says she assured her employer at Waffle House that she could continue doing her job after she found out she was pregnant in September, but then she was allegedly fired over concerns about whether she could keep doing it. Now, she’s suing them.
When she first told her direct manager, according to the lawsuit, he replied that he didn’t know of any other pregnant workers at Waffle House and told her to tell upper management about it...
Milwaukee County Transit union workers holding strike vote Fox 6 Now ..Milwaukee County Transit union workers will vote Tuesday, June 16th on whether to go on strike. They’ve been working without a contract for more than two months. The local union is in the midst of contract negotiations with Milwaukee County. But if they don’t come to a deal, they could strike. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 has more than one thousand members...
Surviving the Drought in California: Farm Workers Struggle to Put Food on the Table Truthout ...Undocumented farm workers are the backbone of America’s farm industry. Already living on the margins, the California drought is hitting them the hardest. People Power Media went to the heart of California’s Central Valley, in towns like Mendota, to find how the drought is impacting workers and their families...
Miscellaneous
Border Agent Allegedly Claimed That 3-Year-Old Child Crossed Border To ‘Look For Work’ Think Progress ...Since last summer, the Obama administration has adopted an aggressive deterrence strategy to lock up women and their children in detention under a “no release” policy as a way to deter future migrants from making the trek. Some people were released, but many were denied bond. Though many women and children currently in detention have favorable “credible fear” findings, many are still locked up in the three family detention centers...
U.S. industrial output hurt by weakness in manufacturing, mining Reuters ...U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell in May as manufacturing and mining activity remained weak, a sign that a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector continued to constrain economic growth. The softness in the production side of the economy contrasts starkly with recent upbeat data on retail sales, employment, consumer and small business confidence...
Michigan School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...School bus workers with First Student in Carleton, Mich., have voted overwhelmingly, 25-2, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The group of 35 drivers and monitors reached out to the Teamsters Union seeking a strong voice to address their workplace concerns...
Former De Blasio Staffer Wins Labor Backing in Queens Council Race Observer ...A former de Blasio administration staffer running for an open Queens City Council seat has won the first labor endorsement of the race. Rebecca Lynch, a member of Mr. de Blasio’s Community Affairs Unit until this month and a former Democratic district leader, won the backing of Teamsters Joint Council 16 today...
House needs to continue stand against fast track Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters would like to thank all lawmakers who stood with the people in that important vote. Pro-fast track lawmakers, however, are likely to pull out every procedural trick in the book to overturn it. That could mean taking another vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) as early as tomorrow...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama, Boehner abandon plans for Tuesday trade vote Washington Post ...President Obama and his momentary Republican allies in Congress mulled several difficult choices Monday for rescuing trade legislation into which the president has invested a massive amount of political capital in the hope of completing a 12-nation trade deal across the Pacific Rim. Their first call was to abandon plans for a second vote Tuesday on a piece of legislation that must also pass for the entire package to advance to Obama’s desk...
Obama’s environmental allies not buying his trade pitch on climate Washington Post ...President Obama has made environmental safeguards one of the selling points of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But environmental groups aren’t buying. The influential environmental groups — a key part of the effort to rally the Democratic base against the fast-track bill for trade talks — believe that a new trade pact could set back important gains achieved over the past two decades...
US fast-track vote leaves Pacific trade pact talks in limbo Associated Press ...How slow can you go? The effort to get U.S. trade legislation through Congress, clearing the way for progress on an Asia-Pacific trade accord, is in limbo once again. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday shot down a proposal to give President Barack Obama authority to negotiate global trade deals for congressional approval or rejection, without amendments...
U.S. trade deal’s setback causes mixed reaction in Asia Washington Post ...The failure of a package of trade-related measures Friday in the House was a blow to President Obama, but it was also a blow to his ally, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, half a world away. Abe has made reviving Japan’s stubbornly anemic economy one of his top priorities, and forging a wide-ranging trade pact with the United States, through the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Nancy Pelosi: Trade promotion authority on its last legs (opinion) USA Today ...In order to succeed in the global economy, it is necessary to move beyond stale arguments of protectionism vs. free trade. To do so, we must recognize that workers' rights, consumer and intellectual protections, and environmental safeguards must be just as enforceable as the protection of the economic interests of investors...
Honduran Workers Win Unions at 3 Plants, Get Pact at 4th Solidarity Center ...Apparel workers in Honduras formed unions at three factories in recent days with the Central General de Trabajadores Honduras (CGT) and its apparel federation FESITRATEMASH, in a huge victory for workers seeking to improve their basic livelihoods. Some 9,000 workers at the Canadian-owned Gildan apparel factories in Choloma, San Pedro Sula and Villanueva make T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants...
In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm In These Times ...We know about extreme incidents such as the Rana Plaza collapse that capture the world’s attention, however briefly, or when workers get so fed up with the conditions that they strike long enough and loud enough to get the Western world’s attention. But the day-to-day disasters that maim or kill a single worker or the accumulation of lead in workers’ bodies—those go almost completely unreported...
Threats of Default and 'Grexit' Loom as Greece Refuses to Surrender Common Dreams ...As threats of a debt default, potential 'Greek exit,' and stock market crash loom, both sides appear to be digging in their heels after negotiations between Greece and European lenders collapsed on Sunday. Greece's leftist leader, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, slammed his creditors for their "insistence" on austerity, which he described as a "pillaging" of Greece's imperiled economy...
State & Living Wage Battles
After Cutting Taxes On The Rich, Kansas Will Raise Taxes On The Poor To Pay For It Think Progress ...Kansas lawmakers concluded the longest legislative session in state history Friday night by approving a slate of regressive tax hikes that will balance the state’s budget by targeting low-income workers and their families. More than half of the $384 million in new revenue expected from the tax hike will come from cigarette taxes and sales taxes, two policies described as “regressive” because they fall more heavily on lower-income taxpayers than on the wealthy...
Poll: Voters want to keep prevailing wage law Detroit News ...A group seeking to repeal Michigan's 50-year-old prevailing wage law might find its biggest support among Republican state lawmakers: A new poll suggests likely voters want to keep union-level wages for government construction projects. More than 59 percent of likely voters support maintaining Michigan's prevailing wage...
Senate support for Scott Walker's budget is razor thin Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker's budget hangs by a gossamer thread in the GOP-controlled state Senate, where "no" votes from just three lawmakers within his own party would be enough to derail his spending plan. Already, two conservative Republican senators have made clear they will be extremely difficult — perhaps impossible — for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) to win over without knocking moderate senators from their party out of the yes column...
Scott Walker's Wisconsin: A Laboratory for Oligarchs Truthout ...Scott Walker's attacks on unions and family paying jobs in Wisconsin helped elevate his national profile and ingratiated him with deep-pocketed political donors like the Kochs. Can he take this agenda nationwide? This weekend's New York Times Magazine has a cover story by Wisconsin native Dan Kaufman called "Scott Walker and the Fate of the Union" that digs deep into Walker's anti-worker crusade...
What’s the Matter With Indiana? Counterpunch ...Amid all that’s clearly wrong with Indiana’s current direction under right wing Republican rule, Quigley finds cause for optimism. “Despite a state political climate that proved inhospitable to labor in the right-to-work debate, private sector workers are launching union organizing campaigns across the state’s capital,” and in smaller towns as well. If We Can Win Here includes detailed case studies of membership recruitment...
Board Hears Support for Raising Food Workers’ Minimum Wage New York Times ...The mayor who faced a multitude of excited New York City workers in Manhattan on Monday morning was not Bill de Blasio. Instead, it was the mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, who listened patiently as a contingent of fast-food restaurant employees pleaded for an increase in their minimum wage to $15 an hour, cheered on by an auditorium filled with their colleagues and sympathizers...
U.S. Labor
Amid dispute with SEIU union, county makes contract offer Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County managers have made a contract offer to their largest employee union amid a dispute over interpretation of a new state law that revamps collective bargaining for government workers. The offer would end concerns over the county’s moves to end paid union leave for employees and stop all increases to wages and benefits...
Saint Louis University Hospital nurses vote against de-authorization of union St. Louis Public Radio ...Members of a nurse’s union at St. Louis University Hospital voted against de-authorizing their union late Monday, a measure that would have effectively created a “right-to-work” policy within the hospital. The National Nurses United affiliate has about 650 members at SLU Hospital; only 140 voted in favor of de-authorization...
Ford wants to lead UAW talks to address wage disparity Detroit Free Press ...Detroit Three-UAW bargaining will begin in earnest the week of July 13 and Ford wants to be first to ink an agreement that creates a more even playing field when it comes to wages in the auto industry. In the normally secretive world of UAW talks, key dates and details were released Monday about the next stages of bargaining...
Woman Alleges Waffle House Manager Asked, ‘You’re Pregnant Again?’ Then Fired Her For Pregnancy Think Progress ...Tabitha Handy says she assured her employer at Waffle House that she could continue doing her job after she found out she was pregnant in September, but then she was allegedly fired over concerns about whether she could keep doing it. Now, she’s suing them.
When she first told her direct manager, according to the lawsuit, he replied that he didn’t know of any other pregnant workers at Waffle House and told her to tell upper management about it...
Milwaukee County Transit union workers holding strike vote Fox 6 Now ..Milwaukee County Transit union workers will vote Tuesday, June 16th on whether to go on strike. They’ve been working without a contract for more than two months. The local union is in the midst of contract negotiations with Milwaukee County. But if they don’t come to a deal, they could strike. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 has more than one thousand members...
Surviving the Drought in California: Farm Workers Struggle to Put Food on the Table Truthout ...Undocumented farm workers are the backbone of America’s farm industry. Already living on the margins, the California drought is hitting them the hardest. People Power Media went to the heart of California’s Central Valley, in towns like Mendota, to find how the drought is impacting workers and their families...
Miscellaneous
Border Agent Allegedly Claimed That 3-Year-Old Child Crossed Border To ‘Look For Work’ Think Progress ...Since last summer, the Obama administration has adopted an aggressive deterrence strategy to lock up women and their children in detention under a “no release” policy as a way to deter future migrants from making the trek. Some people were released, but many were denied bond. Though many women and children currently in detention have favorable “credible fear” findings, many are still locked up in the three family detention centers...
U.S. industrial output hurt by weakness in manufacturing, mining Reuters ...U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell in May as manufacturing and mining activity remained weak, a sign that a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector continued to constrain economic growth. The softness in the production side of the economy contrasts starkly with recent upbeat data on retail sales, employment, consumer and small business confidence...
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