Teamsters
Teamsters Announce National Carhaul Contract Transport Topics ...The Teamsters announced a tentative contract agreement with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division covering about 6,000 workers, including two of the largest auto and light truck carriers. The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry negotiating committee didn’t disclose any details, including the length or terms of the deal that now will be reviewed by affected local union officials before it is put to a membership vote...
Teamsters call out UPS over ALEC politics Freight Week ...The U.S. Teamsters Union has joined a broad-based coalition of 84 investor, public interest and civil rights groups to persuade the United Parcel Service (UPS) to cut its ties with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). According to public interest non-profit SourceWatch, ALEC is a corporate "bill mill" dominated by Republican politicians that enables corporations to provide state legislators wishlists that benefit their bottom line...
'Scab' labor threatens to prolong Sun Tran strike, scramble Tucson election Tucson Sentinel ...It's not just the drivers and mechanics of Teamsters Local 104 who are upset — it's their parent organization, the Arizona AFL-CIO, sounding the alarm. "This is a pivotal point in labor's history in Tucson," said Rebekah Friend, state AFL-CIO executive director "Will it affect local politics? Of course it will"...
Global Labor & Trade
Auto-Parts Dispute Taps the Brakes on Pacific Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how cars are assembled is pitting North America’s auto industry against Japan’s in a dispute now holding up a major trade agreement spanning the Pacific. The spat over which cars should be eligible for duty-free trade surfaced during high-level talks in late July that failed to wrap up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. The auto impasse is the most recent complication to finishing the TPP talks, along with dairy...
Mustapa: Progress being made on TPP negotiations The Star ...Malaysia remains optimistic about resolving issues in the best interest of the nation before coming to any conclusion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said much progress had been made since Malaysia first entered into negotiations five years ago...
Mexico Throws a Wrench Into Trade Talks Bloomberg ...When exhausted officials from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership wrapped up a week of talks in Hawaii at the end of July without reaching a deal, Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, brushed off efforts to pin the delay on him. Guajardo is fighting to ensure that the TPP does not jeopardize gains his country has made under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Trade agency names chief transparency officer The Hill ...U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman on Thursday tapped Timothy Reif to be the USTR’s chief transparency officer, a job established by the trade promotion authority law signed this summer by President Obama. Many lawmakers have complained that the direction of trade negotiations, especially those on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), have been closed off to all but high-level negotiators and large corporations...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership an Environmental Pollution Pass for Corporations? Huffington Post ...Nearly a decade in the making, advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) promote it as a necessary step to free trade and a robust global economy. Critics are skeptical saying the agreement will be harmful to the environment and economically benefits large corporations...
Travellers face delays as train and airport workers strike across Spain The Local ...Train worker unions began a 24-hour strike on Friday while the first in a series of many baggage handler strikes also launched ahead of the weekend. Train workers are disgruntled after the unions and train operator Renfe failed to come to agreement on working conditions, including about outsourcing workloads and hiring new personnel...
'Victory for the People' as Guatemalan President Resigns in Disgrace Common Dreams ...School of the Americas-trained Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, who oversaw acts of torture and genocide during the country's decades-long civil war, stepped down just before midnight Wednesday disgraced by unprecedented corruption charges—and by a popular movement against impunity for the ruling elite...
How the Refugees Crisis Is Wreaking Havoc on the European Union Mother Jones ...Talk of a euro exit dissipated. But the conversation in Europe is now dominated by the astronomical rise in the number of migrants trying to enter the continent, both refugees from wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries, as well as job seekers from elsewhere in Europe. The influx is again pitting EU states against each other...
State & Living Wage Battles
'Our Votes Matter': Rights Marchers in North Carolina Call for End to Voter Suppression Common Dreams ...Over one month into their multi-state trek, civil rights leaders and activists on Thursday are descending on the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh to call attention to what they say is a flagrant "crime against democracy," the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act...
Walmart and Walker: Always Low Wages Truthout ...When Walmart announced with great fanfare that it was boosting pay for frontline workers, CMD questioned the spin. Bloomberg reported that Walmart is cutting hours for its workers. Scott Walker raised eyebrows when he signed a contract with a big pay boost for the state troopers who provide his security detail. Now the US Department of Labor has found that Team Walker violated the law by failing to pay overtime for state troopers...
Michigan prevailing wage supporters allege misleading sales pitches in petition drive MLive ...Michigan prevailing wage supporters are accusing paid circulators of misleading the public about petitions seeking to repeal the 1965 law, a claim that a handful of sympathetic observers are vouching for. Bruce Sage, an attorney from Metro Detroit, told MLive he was approached this June by a man in a Meijer parking lot who asked him to sign a petition for a proposal to "ensure transparency in government"...
Sharron Angle seeks voter ID ballot measure Elko Daily ...Conservative activist Sharron Angle wants Nevada voters to decide whether to abolish the state health insurance exchange and require photo identification at the polls. The Republican former assemblywoman and former U.S. Senate candidate filed two petitions this week with the Nevada Secretary of State...
Voters Increasingly Favor Minimum Wage Hike US News & World Report ...With many of the jobs created by the recovering U.S. economy concentrated in low-paying sectors, likely voters in next year's presidential contest are increasingly supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage. In 2014, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota as well as several U.S. cities opted to raise the minimum wage above the current federal mandate of $7.25 per hour, and another seven states and the District of Columbia will vote on increases in 2016...
Fight For 15 Has Helped Pass Minimum Wage Hikes, But Yet To Deliver Broad-Based Pay Gains International Business Times ...The protests aren’t without impact. Major cities and states have lifted their minimum pay floors, the Democratic Party has officially embraced the call for $15 an hour and polls show the demands resonate with the broader public. These trends all bode well for the future pay prospects of low-wage workers. But for now, at least, millions are still waiting on that raise...
U.S. Labor
Unemployment Drops To Lowest Rate Since April Of 2008 Think Progress ...The economy added 173,000 jobs in August while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected 220,000 jobs to be added. That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March of 2008. August jobs reports are frequently unreliable, however...
OSHA Is Still Working on Silica Bloomberg ...The struggle to control silica is part of a pattern of weakness that characterizes OSHA. “They aren’t able to address a long list of commonsense problems, because the process of addressing them is just too hard,” says Harris, now a private attorney and a distinguished scholar at Cornell. The agency has a small budget and an ever-lengthening list of bureaucratic boxes it needs to check each time it wants to toughen regulations...
Detroit Three show interest in UAW healthcare overhaul idea Reuters ...The Detroit Three automakers are showing increased interest in the United Auto Workers union's proposal that they pool their healthcare systems, a sign that contract talks between the union and manufacturers are down to the big money issues. The UAW and bargainers for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles face a Sept. 14 deadline to negotiate new labor agreements for 142,000 U.S. workers...
More Bad News for A&P Supermarket Workers as Judge OKs Assaults on Union Contracts In These Times ...Union members at the A&P supermarket chain took a financial beating in federal court this week, as the company’s senior managers renewed their legal assault on the labor contracts covering some 25,000 employees in six mid-Atlantic states. The worst is yet to come for the low- to moderate-income grocery workers, however, as the judge in charge of the case made only limited rulings while indicating he may move more forcefully against the union as mass firings go forward...
Tech Companies Ordered To Pay Employees $415 Million For Working Together To Lower Wages Think Progress ...Nearly 65,000 employees for Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit in 2011 after the government uncovered emails between Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and other executives that showed companies conspired to not poach one another’s employees in an effort to keep salaries low and reduce turnover...
Social Justice & Other News
18-year-olds driving 18-wheelers?: Our view (editorial) USA Today ...As you hit the road this holiday weekend, with AAA predicting the highest travel volume in seven years, think about what travel might look like on Labor Day 2016. If the powerful trucking industry gets its way on Capitol Hill this month, interstate highways could be clogged with longer trucks, sleepier drivers and 18-year-olds behind the wheel of big rigs...
Chicago Hunger Strikers Enter Day 19 Challenging Rahm Emanuel’s Push to Privatize Public Schools Democracy Now ...In Chicago, a group of public school parents, grandmothers and education activists are entering the 19th day of a hunger strike to save Dyett High School, the only remaining open-enrollment public high school left in the community of Bronzeville. Supporters say the city neglected the school for years before announcing plans to close it. Under Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s mayor and former Obama chief of staff, the city has closed about 50 schools in predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods...
No, Protests Against Police Brutality Are Not Increasing Crime The Nation ...Much has been made in recent months of a series of isolated crime increases in a handful of US cities. Breathless accounts of a new crime wavehave appeared in both liberal and conservative media. Right-wing pundits and some police leaders have claimed that there is a “Ferguson effect”—a significant crime increase due to the “Black Lives Matter” protests against police violence. This is both junk science and political opportunism...
Showing posts with label OSHA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OSHA. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.07.15
Teamsters
Houston Waste Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Ratify First Contract Teamster.org ...Workers at WCA Waste Corporation of America in Houston, who voted to join the Teamsters in November, have ratified a first contract that improves wages and health care, among other gains. The workers are the only private waste company employees in Texas who have a union contract. “The organizing win, and now this first contract, represent huge victories for these employees,” said Robert Mele, President of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston....
Teamsters and UNITE HERE Announce Initiative to Organize UFC Fighters PR Newswire ...Today, two of the largest unions in the "fight capital" of the world launched an initiative to organize MMA fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), the largest promoter of professional MMA events. "We have been surprised to learn how poorly these professional fighters are treated in the UFC. We want to help them to improve conditions for themselves and raise standards for the sport," said Chris Griswold, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 986...
Teamsters 272 Speaks Out After Garage Attendant Member is Mistreated by Customer Labor Press ...Maximo is a Midtown parking attendant, and member of Teamsters Local 272, who received some unexpected attention after a video featuring him went viral recently. A customer, unhappy with the amount she owed for parking, berated Maximo with an anti-immigrant tirade. She called him “garbage” and an “idiot,” repeatedly telling him “learn how to speak English.” Local 272 Secretary-Treasurer and Business Manager Matthew Bruccoleri has a message for customers who vent their frustrations at ordinary workers...
Unionized Tucson bus workers strike after rejecting contract AZ Central ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson’s bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104’s members last week rejected an offer...
Unions gunning for MMA fighters Review Journal ...Ultimate Fighting Championship star Ronda Rousey as a Teamster? UFC's Las Vegas nemesis, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, is joining Teamsters Local 986 of South El Monte, Calif. for an "initiative" Thursday to organize UFC's 574 MMA fighters. It's the latest jab at UFC by the culinary union, which wants to bring workers at Las Vegas-based Station Casinos into Local 226. Teamsters Local 986 and Culinary Local 226 have several joint organizing projects in Las Vegas, including the Station Casinos organizing campaign...
Global Labor & Trade
Negotiators hope to wrap up Trans-Pacific Partnership talks this month LA Times ...After a disappointing round of talks ended last week in Hawaii without resolution, negotiators of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership are hoping to meet later this month to try again to wrap up one of the world's biggest free-trade agreements. Between now and then, negotiators have their work cut out for them: They need to iron out tough issues on the length of drug patents, so-called rules of origin for autos and, perhaps most intractable of all, market access for dairy goods — something particularly important for California, America's biggest dairy-producing state...
Kerry confident of concluding TPP trade pact this year Reuters ...U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Friday that an ambitious Pacific trade pact could be completed this year and said a recent nuclear deal with Iran proved hurdles in international agreements could be overcome. Kerry said many challenges remained in thrashing out a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), particularly on issues of autos and dairy, but the United States would do everything in its power to make it happen...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Are Free Trade Agreements Like TPP Really A Tool For Fixing Labor Rights Abuses? International Business Times ...As President Barack Obama pushes to make the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact a capstone of his global trade legacy, he is promoting the deal at home as a way to counter China's commercial influence in the Asia-Pacific region while also holding trade partners to tighter human rights agreements than Chinese dealmakers would. But experts say the president is exaggerating the extent to which trade pacts can force countries to address labor issues and human rights concerns...
New TPP Leaks Reveal US 'Pandering to Big Drug Companies,' Threatening Innovators Common Dream ...New leaks of the negotiating text of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement reveal that the Obama administration is pushing forth radical proposals that critics say will threaten to harm consumers and innovators while rewarding big drug companies and "extremist copyright" policies. Negotiators for the 12-nation trade pact failed last week to reach a final agreement at their meeting in Maui
Trade deficit widens 7% in June as imports jump USA Today ...The U.S. trade deficit increased in June as solid consumer spending pulled in more imports, while the strong dollar restrained exports. The Commerce Department said Wednesday the trade gap jumped 7% to $43.8 billion in June, up from $40.9 billion in May. Imports increased 1.2% to $232.4 billion, while exports edged lower to $188.6 billion from $188.7 billion...
Greece's tax revenues collapse as debt crisis continues The Guardian ...Fresh evidence of the dramatic impact of the Greek debt crisis on the health of the country’s finances has emerged, with official figures showing tax revenues collapsing. As talks continued over a proposed €86bn third bailout of the stricken state, the Greek treasury said tax revenues were 8.5% lower in the first six months of 2015 than the same period a year earlier. The bank shutdown that brought much economic activity to a halt began on 28 June...
How smuggled workers power 'Made in China' Reuters ...The smuggling of illegal workers from Vietnam across the 1,400-km (840-mile) border into China is growing. Labor brokers estimate that tens of thousands work at factories in the Pearl River Delta, which abuts Hong Kong. Workers from other Southeast Asian nations are joining them. Visits by Reuters to a half-dozen factory towns in southern China revealed the employment of illegal workers from Vietnam is widespread, and authorities often turn a blind eye to their presence...
Congressional cracks appear in Brazil austerity plan FT ...Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff faced a fresh setback to her efforts to restore the country’s sinking public finances on Thursday after a rebellious congress voted for wage rises for key civil servants. The move, which sent the real to a fresh 12-year low and local bond yields to a record high, came as Ms Rousseff’s approval ratings fell to their lowest level and two small parties defected from her ruling coalition, further threatening her hold over congress...
London Underground services resume after 24-hour Tube strike BBC News ...London Underground services have resumed after a 24-hour strike shut down the entire network. The industrial action by four unions began on Wednesday evening as part of a dispute over the Night Tube, which is due to start next month. The unions are unhappy at conditions offered to drivers who will be working on the new service...
State & Living Wage Battles
WorkForce Still Working to Recalculate Prevailing Wage WV Public ...he prevailing wage in West Virginia expired on July 1 of this year after a political battle between lawmakers and the executive branch, but WorkForce West Virginia says they’re still working to recalculate the wage. The prevailing wage is the hourly rate workers are paid on construction projects that are paid for with state dollars...
Report Finds Confusion Over Voter ID Law Kept People From The Polls, Too Houston Press ...The Texas Voter law, requiring voters to have a photo ID, may have kept some people from the polls in November 2014's general election—but mere confusion about the law may have kept away voters, too. According to a new report released by public policy researchers at Rice University's Baker Institute and the University of Houston's Hobby Center, 13 percent of a sample of 400 nonvoters in U.S. Congressional District 23 said in a survey that they did not vote in part because they did not possess the proper photo ID...
Could Scott Walker's Legal Victory Expand PAC Superpowers? Truthout ...A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on Gov. Scott Walker's campaign practices clears the way for state candidates to work more closely with legally independent political groups and their enormous war chests. The big unanswered question is how ripples from the case might spread beyond the state's borders. The ruling could spark attempts to overturn laws in other states that restrict such coordination...
Unintended Consequence of Wal-Mart’s Raise: Unhappy Workers Bloomberg ...When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. chief Doug McMillon announced plans to boost store workers’ minimum wage earlier this year, he said the move was intended to improve morale and retain employees. Yet for some of the hundreds of thousands of workers getting no raise, the policy is having the opposite effect. If Wal-Mart and other retailers don’t also adjust pay for veteran hourly workers, they could face rising dissent, said David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute...
Dunkin Donut CEO Who Makes $4,887 an Hour Outraged at $15 Minimum Wage In These Times ...This week, the New York Wage Board recommended that the state's fast food workers should make $15 per hour, which has been the rallying cry for the labor movement across the country. The New York move was seen as a victory for workers in this industry, who are among the lowest-paid in the country. Within a day, corporate America was on the attack, to stop the spread of this burgeoning national movement...
Health care workers plead with Hillary Clinton for higher minimum wage CNN ...Hillary Clinton visited a technical college in Los Angeles on Thursday to hear the emotional stories, and needs, of home health-care workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. What she heard: Raise our wages. Throughout Clinton's appearance at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College, home health-care workers from across the country told Clinton what a pay bump would mean...
This bank just hiked its minimum wage to $15 CNN ...Amalgamated Bank announced Thursday that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The change will affect all employees, take effect immediately, and be retroactive to July 1. Amalgamated encouraged other financial institutions to "join the 'Fight for 15.'" "We're fortunate enough to be part of the wealthiest industry in America, so I'd hope others in the financial industry will follow," Amalgamated Bank CEO Keith Mestrich told CNNMoney...
U.S. Labor
Verizon Gets Upper Hand With Labor Unions in Wireless Shift Bloomberg ...Verizon Communications Inc., deadlocked in labor talks over pension benefits and health care that caused a strike in 2011, has gained bargaining power this time around after shedding operations that employ older unionized workers. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing about 39,000 Verizon employees, are in the weakest position they’ve ever been. That’s because the phone giant has refocused on wireless, where it sees more growth and employees are nonunionized...
UAW leader says union will 'negotiate smart' with Ford Detroit Free Press ...The UAW knows Ford is earning record profits in North America, but does not plan to use that as an opportunity to extract unreasonable raises in contract discussions this year. UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles said Thursday the union needs to remember that the companies that employ union members must be able to remain healthy for years to come...
Labor Dept. to unveil worker protection rule The Hill ...The Obama administration will unveil a long awaited proposal Thursday to lower workplace exposure to beryllium, a widely used metal that’s known to cause a deadly lung disease. The proposed rule would lower the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's (OSHA) current eight-hour permissible exposure limit for beryllium from 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter...
Amnesty International’s Long-Due Support for Sex Workers Rights The Nation ...Amnesty International, after two years of consultation with members and human rights advocates around the world, is meeting with the international board over the next few days in Dublin to “adopt a policy that seeks attainment of the highest possible protection of the human rights of sex workers.” The foundation of this proposal—that countries “review and repeal laws that make those who sell sex vulnerable to human rights violations”—has been mischaracterized as legalizing prostitution...
Unemployment Rate Steady As Economy Adds 215,000 Jobs NPR ...The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs last month, just shy of the number forecast by economists. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3 percent. Wages were up slightly and the number of long-term unemployed remained the same as June. The consensus forecast had been for 220,000 new jobs. The gains occurred in retail trade, health care, professional and technical services, and financial activities...
The Racial Gaps in America's Recovery The Atlantic ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s latest report, the unemployment rate in July was 5.3 percent, which is encouragingly low compared to the height of the recession, when it reached 10 percent. It’s also tantalizingly close to the 5.0 to 5.2 percent range that Federal Reserve policymakers say will signal the country’s return to full employment. What’s lost in that marquee number, though, is that this progress has been incredibly uneven, and minorities continue to struggle disproportionately...
Social Justice & Other News
First Republican Debate of 2016 Presidential Race Kicks Off on Fox News with Roger Ailes Favorites Democracy Now ...Ten leading Republican presidential candidates faced off in the first debate of the 2016 presidential election Thursday night. Fox News invited 10 candidates to take part: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Scott Walker. Some analysts described the debate as the Roger Ailes primary since the head of Fox News had so much say into who participated in the prime-time event...
Immigration issues dominate opening GOP presidential debate MSNBC ...Immigration issues dominated the first Republican presidential debate of the season, pitting GOP candidates against one another in addressing the millions of undocumented immigrants with firm roots in the United States. Looming over the debate was real estate mogul and billionaire Donald Trump, who basked in his center podium placement on the debate stage, defying odds by leading national polls. Trump claimed credit for making immigration a major campaign issue...
"Oppressed People Are Everywhere": A Year After Ferguson, a Conversation With One of the Protests' Organizers Mother Jones ...In the year since the Ferguson protests, police treatment of African Americans has come under intense scrutiny. Numerous police killings of unarmed black men in New York, Baltimore, North Charleston, and elsewhere have drawn national attention. And across the country, activists and community leaders have demanded accountability from officers and reforms from lawmakers. These efforts already have had some results. Still, police are on track to kill more people this year than last year...
Jon Stewart’s Humble, Remarkable Farewell The Atlantic ...After nearly 17 years as the star, Jon Stewart tried his best to make his final night at The Daily Show about anyone but himself—and he almost succeeded. On Thursday, Stewart wheeled out a parade of current and former correspondents, aired taped goodbyes from longtime rivals, and paid tribute to the show’s behind-the-scenes crew with a lengthy, faux-single-shot segment...
Trump's Narcissism Obscures His Outrage The Atlantic ...Saying that Donald Trump performed poorly in last night’s debate is stating the obvious. By any sane standard he’s been performing poorly since he entered the race. Yet he’s leading in the polls. Still, last night Trump didn’t even do obnoxious well. The reason, I suspect, is that to debate effectively, even if you’re a goon, you must talk about something other than yourself...
Paul Krugman: Donald Trump’s “know-nothingism” makes one pine for a “return to normal GOP hypocrisy” Salon ...The New York Times’ Paul Krugman used his Friday column to analyze the appeal of the candidates who participated in last night’s GOP debate — in particular, he analyzed the way in which Donald Trump’s obvious absurdity calls attention to the fundamental unseriousness of the candidates with whom he shared the stage. The conventions of political reporting and commentary, Krugman argued, prevents people from saying “the obvious — namely, that one of our two major political parties has gone off the deep end”...
Rick Santorum Vows To Cut Back Every Anti-Poverty Program To End The Culture Of Handouts Think Progress ...At the early Republican debate on Thursday evening among the candidates who didn’t get a slot in primetime, the hosts and candidates took time to talk about their concern that the country has a culture of dependency thanks to anti-poverty programs. Santorum responded by describing his plan to engineer a manufacturing rebound and thus create more jobs through a flat tax. But then he brought up his plans for anti-poverty programs...
Houston Waste Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Ratify First Contract Teamster.org ...Workers at WCA Waste Corporation of America in Houston, who voted to join the Teamsters in November, have ratified a first contract that improves wages and health care, among other gains. The workers are the only private waste company employees in Texas who have a union contract. “The organizing win, and now this first contract, represent huge victories for these employees,” said Robert Mele, President of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston....
Teamsters and UNITE HERE Announce Initiative to Organize UFC Fighters PR Newswire ...Today, two of the largest unions in the "fight capital" of the world launched an initiative to organize MMA fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), the largest promoter of professional MMA events. "We have been surprised to learn how poorly these professional fighters are treated in the UFC. We want to help them to improve conditions for themselves and raise standards for the sport," said Chris Griswold, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 986...
Teamsters 272 Speaks Out After Garage Attendant Member is Mistreated by Customer Labor Press ...Maximo is a Midtown parking attendant, and member of Teamsters Local 272, who received some unexpected attention after a video featuring him went viral recently. A customer, unhappy with the amount she owed for parking, berated Maximo with an anti-immigrant tirade. She called him “garbage” and an “idiot,” repeatedly telling him “learn how to speak English.” Local 272 Secretary-Treasurer and Business Manager Matthew Bruccoleri has a message for customers who vent their frustrations at ordinary workers...
Unionized Tucson bus workers strike after rejecting contract AZ Central ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson’s bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104’s members last week rejected an offer...
Unions gunning for MMA fighters Review Journal ...Ultimate Fighting Championship star Ronda Rousey as a Teamster? UFC's Las Vegas nemesis, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, is joining Teamsters Local 986 of South El Monte, Calif. for an "initiative" Thursday to organize UFC's 574 MMA fighters. It's the latest jab at UFC by the culinary union, which wants to bring workers at Las Vegas-based Station Casinos into Local 226. Teamsters Local 986 and Culinary Local 226 have several joint organizing projects in Las Vegas, including the Station Casinos organizing campaign...
Global Labor & Trade
Negotiators hope to wrap up Trans-Pacific Partnership talks this month LA Times ...After a disappointing round of talks ended last week in Hawaii without resolution, negotiators of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership are hoping to meet later this month to try again to wrap up one of the world's biggest free-trade agreements. Between now and then, negotiators have their work cut out for them: They need to iron out tough issues on the length of drug patents, so-called rules of origin for autos and, perhaps most intractable of all, market access for dairy goods — something particularly important for California, America's biggest dairy-producing state...
Kerry confident of concluding TPP trade pact this year Reuters ...U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Friday that an ambitious Pacific trade pact could be completed this year and said a recent nuclear deal with Iran proved hurdles in international agreements could be overcome. Kerry said many challenges remained in thrashing out a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), particularly on issues of autos and dairy, but the United States would do everything in its power to make it happen...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Are Free Trade Agreements Like TPP Really A Tool For Fixing Labor Rights Abuses? International Business Times ...As President Barack Obama pushes to make the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact a capstone of his global trade legacy, he is promoting the deal at home as a way to counter China's commercial influence in the Asia-Pacific region while also holding trade partners to tighter human rights agreements than Chinese dealmakers would. But experts say the president is exaggerating the extent to which trade pacts can force countries to address labor issues and human rights concerns...
New TPP Leaks Reveal US 'Pandering to Big Drug Companies,' Threatening Innovators Common Dream ...New leaks of the negotiating text of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement reveal that the Obama administration is pushing forth radical proposals that critics say will threaten to harm consumers and innovators while rewarding big drug companies and "extremist copyright" policies. Negotiators for the 12-nation trade pact failed last week to reach a final agreement at their meeting in Maui
Trade deficit widens 7% in June as imports jump USA Today ...The U.S. trade deficit increased in June as solid consumer spending pulled in more imports, while the strong dollar restrained exports. The Commerce Department said Wednesday the trade gap jumped 7% to $43.8 billion in June, up from $40.9 billion in May. Imports increased 1.2% to $232.4 billion, while exports edged lower to $188.6 billion from $188.7 billion...
Greece's tax revenues collapse as debt crisis continues The Guardian ...Fresh evidence of the dramatic impact of the Greek debt crisis on the health of the country’s finances has emerged, with official figures showing tax revenues collapsing. As talks continued over a proposed €86bn third bailout of the stricken state, the Greek treasury said tax revenues were 8.5% lower in the first six months of 2015 than the same period a year earlier. The bank shutdown that brought much economic activity to a halt began on 28 June...
How smuggled workers power 'Made in China' Reuters ...The smuggling of illegal workers from Vietnam across the 1,400-km (840-mile) border into China is growing. Labor brokers estimate that tens of thousands work at factories in the Pearl River Delta, which abuts Hong Kong. Workers from other Southeast Asian nations are joining them. Visits by Reuters to a half-dozen factory towns in southern China revealed the employment of illegal workers from Vietnam is widespread, and authorities often turn a blind eye to their presence...
Congressional cracks appear in Brazil austerity plan FT ...Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff faced a fresh setback to her efforts to restore the country’s sinking public finances on Thursday after a rebellious congress voted for wage rises for key civil servants. The move, which sent the real to a fresh 12-year low and local bond yields to a record high, came as Ms Rousseff’s approval ratings fell to their lowest level and two small parties defected from her ruling coalition, further threatening her hold over congress...
London Underground services resume after 24-hour Tube strike BBC News ...London Underground services have resumed after a 24-hour strike shut down the entire network. The industrial action by four unions began on Wednesday evening as part of a dispute over the Night Tube, which is due to start next month. The unions are unhappy at conditions offered to drivers who will be working on the new service...
State & Living Wage Battles
WorkForce Still Working to Recalculate Prevailing Wage WV Public ...he prevailing wage in West Virginia expired on July 1 of this year after a political battle between lawmakers and the executive branch, but WorkForce West Virginia says they’re still working to recalculate the wage. The prevailing wage is the hourly rate workers are paid on construction projects that are paid for with state dollars...
Report Finds Confusion Over Voter ID Law Kept People From The Polls, Too Houston Press ...The Texas Voter law, requiring voters to have a photo ID, may have kept some people from the polls in November 2014's general election—but mere confusion about the law may have kept away voters, too. According to a new report released by public policy researchers at Rice University's Baker Institute and the University of Houston's Hobby Center, 13 percent of a sample of 400 nonvoters in U.S. Congressional District 23 said in a survey that they did not vote in part because they did not possess the proper photo ID...
Could Scott Walker's Legal Victory Expand PAC Superpowers? Truthout ...A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on Gov. Scott Walker's campaign practices clears the way for state candidates to work more closely with legally independent political groups and their enormous war chests. The big unanswered question is how ripples from the case might spread beyond the state's borders. The ruling could spark attempts to overturn laws in other states that restrict such coordination...
Unintended Consequence of Wal-Mart’s Raise: Unhappy Workers Bloomberg ...When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. chief Doug McMillon announced plans to boost store workers’ minimum wage earlier this year, he said the move was intended to improve morale and retain employees. Yet for some of the hundreds of thousands of workers getting no raise, the policy is having the opposite effect. If Wal-Mart and other retailers don’t also adjust pay for veteran hourly workers, they could face rising dissent, said David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute...
Dunkin Donut CEO Who Makes $4,887 an Hour Outraged at $15 Minimum Wage In These Times ...This week, the New York Wage Board recommended that the state's fast food workers should make $15 per hour, which has been the rallying cry for the labor movement across the country. The New York move was seen as a victory for workers in this industry, who are among the lowest-paid in the country. Within a day, corporate America was on the attack, to stop the spread of this burgeoning national movement...
Health care workers plead with Hillary Clinton for higher minimum wage CNN ...Hillary Clinton visited a technical college in Los Angeles on Thursday to hear the emotional stories, and needs, of home health-care workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. What she heard: Raise our wages. Throughout Clinton's appearance at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College, home health-care workers from across the country told Clinton what a pay bump would mean...
This bank just hiked its minimum wage to $15 CNN ...Amalgamated Bank announced Thursday that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The change will affect all employees, take effect immediately, and be retroactive to July 1. Amalgamated encouraged other financial institutions to "join the 'Fight for 15.'" "We're fortunate enough to be part of the wealthiest industry in America, so I'd hope others in the financial industry will follow," Amalgamated Bank CEO Keith Mestrich told CNNMoney...
U.S. Labor
Verizon Gets Upper Hand With Labor Unions in Wireless Shift Bloomberg ...Verizon Communications Inc., deadlocked in labor talks over pension benefits and health care that caused a strike in 2011, has gained bargaining power this time around after shedding operations that employ older unionized workers. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing about 39,000 Verizon employees, are in the weakest position they’ve ever been. That’s because the phone giant has refocused on wireless, where it sees more growth and employees are nonunionized...
UAW leader says union will 'negotiate smart' with Ford Detroit Free Press ...The UAW knows Ford is earning record profits in North America, but does not plan to use that as an opportunity to extract unreasonable raises in contract discussions this year. UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles said Thursday the union needs to remember that the companies that employ union members must be able to remain healthy for years to come...
Labor Dept. to unveil worker protection rule The Hill ...The Obama administration will unveil a long awaited proposal Thursday to lower workplace exposure to beryllium, a widely used metal that’s known to cause a deadly lung disease. The proposed rule would lower the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's (OSHA) current eight-hour permissible exposure limit for beryllium from 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter...
Amnesty International’s Long-Due Support for Sex Workers Rights The Nation ...Amnesty International, after two years of consultation with members and human rights advocates around the world, is meeting with the international board over the next few days in Dublin to “adopt a policy that seeks attainment of the highest possible protection of the human rights of sex workers.” The foundation of this proposal—that countries “review and repeal laws that make those who sell sex vulnerable to human rights violations”—has been mischaracterized as legalizing prostitution...
Unemployment Rate Steady As Economy Adds 215,000 Jobs NPR ...The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs last month, just shy of the number forecast by economists. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3 percent. Wages were up slightly and the number of long-term unemployed remained the same as June. The consensus forecast had been for 220,000 new jobs. The gains occurred in retail trade, health care, professional and technical services, and financial activities...
The Racial Gaps in America's Recovery The Atlantic ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s latest report, the unemployment rate in July was 5.3 percent, which is encouragingly low compared to the height of the recession, when it reached 10 percent. It’s also tantalizingly close to the 5.0 to 5.2 percent range that Federal Reserve policymakers say will signal the country’s return to full employment. What’s lost in that marquee number, though, is that this progress has been incredibly uneven, and minorities continue to struggle disproportionately...
Social Justice & Other News
First Republican Debate of 2016 Presidential Race Kicks Off on Fox News with Roger Ailes Favorites Democracy Now ...Ten leading Republican presidential candidates faced off in the first debate of the 2016 presidential election Thursday night. Fox News invited 10 candidates to take part: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Scott Walker. Some analysts described the debate as the Roger Ailes primary since the head of Fox News had so much say into who participated in the prime-time event...
Immigration issues dominate opening GOP presidential debate MSNBC ...Immigration issues dominated the first Republican presidential debate of the season, pitting GOP candidates against one another in addressing the millions of undocumented immigrants with firm roots in the United States. Looming over the debate was real estate mogul and billionaire Donald Trump, who basked in his center podium placement on the debate stage, defying odds by leading national polls. Trump claimed credit for making immigration a major campaign issue...
"Oppressed People Are Everywhere": A Year After Ferguson, a Conversation With One of the Protests' Organizers Mother Jones ...In the year since the Ferguson protests, police treatment of African Americans has come under intense scrutiny. Numerous police killings of unarmed black men in New York, Baltimore, North Charleston, and elsewhere have drawn national attention. And across the country, activists and community leaders have demanded accountability from officers and reforms from lawmakers. These efforts already have had some results. Still, police are on track to kill more people this year than last year...
Jon Stewart’s Humble, Remarkable Farewell The Atlantic ...After nearly 17 years as the star, Jon Stewart tried his best to make his final night at The Daily Show about anyone but himself—and he almost succeeded. On Thursday, Stewart wheeled out a parade of current and former correspondents, aired taped goodbyes from longtime rivals, and paid tribute to the show’s behind-the-scenes crew with a lengthy, faux-single-shot segment...
Trump's Narcissism Obscures His Outrage The Atlantic ...Saying that Donald Trump performed poorly in last night’s debate is stating the obvious. By any sane standard he’s been performing poorly since he entered the race. Yet he’s leading in the polls. Still, last night Trump didn’t even do obnoxious well. The reason, I suspect, is that to debate effectively, even if you’re a goon, you must talk about something other than yourself...
Paul Krugman: Donald Trump’s “know-nothingism” makes one pine for a “return to normal GOP hypocrisy” Salon ...The New York Times’ Paul Krugman used his Friday column to analyze the appeal of the candidates who participated in last night’s GOP debate — in particular, he analyzed the way in which Donald Trump’s obvious absurdity calls attention to the fundamental unseriousness of the candidates with whom he shared the stage. The conventions of political reporting and commentary, Krugman argued, prevents people from saying “the obvious — namely, that one of our two major political parties has gone off the deep end”...
Rick Santorum Vows To Cut Back Every Anti-Poverty Program To End The Culture Of Handouts Think Progress ...At the early Republican debate on Thursday evening among the candidates who didn’t get a slot in primetime, the hosts and candidates took time to talk about their concern that the country has a culture of dependency thanks to anti-poverty programs. Santorum responded by describing his plan to engineer a manufacturing rebound and thus create more jobs through a flat tax. But then he brought up his plans for anti-poverty programs...
Monday, July 13, 2015
Workers deserve a safe place to work
These are not heady days for U.S. workers, given the shipping of tens of thousands of jobs overseas and the stagnation in wages. But those aren't the only concerns facing working Americans. Health and safety are a major concern on the job, but increasingly it seems they are getting short shrift by government officials and the private sector.
A series of articles by online magazine Slate this month detail both the past and present reality of workplace safety, and they don't paint a pretty picture. Companies for years kept their mouths shut to workers about the toxic conditions they were toiling in, even to expecting mothers whose fetuses could be harmed.
Despite the existence of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the power of the agency has largely been curbed by lawmakers.The voice of big business is being heard, while hardworking Americans are paying the price, Slate explains:
Mary Vogel, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said better workplace training is key to keeping workers safe:
Congress needs to provide adequate funding for OSHA so it can ensure robust enforcement of safety laws and regulations. Basic workplace protections and labor standards are essential steps toward strengthening our economy and rebuilding a robust and stable middle class.
 |
| The Teamsters stand for safety and respect on the job. |
A series of articles by online magazine Slate this month detail both the past and present reality of workplace safety, and they don't paint a pretty picture. Companies for years kept their mouths shut to workers about the toxic conditions they were toiling in, even to expecting mothers whose fetuses could be harmed.
Despite the existence of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the power of the agency has largely been curbed by lawmakers.The voice of big business is being heard, while hardworking Americans are paying the price, Slate explains:
[H]ealth hazards such as mercury continue to plague America’s workers. OSHA has issued only 36 health standards and relies on mostly outdated exposure limits for the 470 substances it regulates; many more substances go unregulated. It rarely uses the general duty clause to cite alleged health violations, having concluded that the burden of proof is too steep. Hindered by court decisions, the White House, an often-hostile Congress, a weak underlying statute, and—some say—its own timidity, the agency is still searching for ways to protect workers from fumes, vapors, dusts, fibers, and liquids that can kill or incapacitate them.Other sources support such reporting. A document released last month by researchers at the University of Illinois' School of Public Health found, for example, that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers' health and safety. The document noted that 17 U.S. recycling workers died on the job between 2011 and 2013.
Mary Vogel, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said better workplace training is key to keeping workers safe:
Recycling is the right thing to do, but we have to do it the right way. That means educating and empowering recycling workers, and using proven prevention strategies which we know will reduce exposure to hazardous conditions. That’s how we can avoid tragedies like the death of a recycling worker just last [month] in Florida.For years, unions like the Teamsters have been a voice to speak out for such worker controls. But increasingly, many elected officials are doing all they can curb union influence. Instead, they side with corporations and protect their interests -- no matter who gets hurt because of it.
Congress needs to provide adequate funding for OSHA so it can ensure robust enforcement of safety laws and regulations. Basic workplace protections and labor standards are essential steps toward strengthening our economy and rebuilding a robust and stable middle class.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.17.15
Teamsters
ONTC and Teamsters reach five-year agreement Nugget ...Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today that they have reached a tentative five year collective agreement. TCRC MWED represents 161 unionized employees who are responsible for maintaining Ontario Northland’s rail infrastructure, including track, buildings and bridges along the rail line...
Dozens of FXI employees on strike Wane.com ...The employees, represented by Teamsters Local 414, have been negotiating their contract with FXI for the last three years. According to George Gurdis, the officer of Teamsters Local 414, the group of FXI workers was organized about three years ago and have never been on a contract. Now, FXI wants to slice their wages and lower their benefits. FXI produces foam for homes, healthcare, electronics, industrial, personal care and transportation markets...
Mogul may have hired PIs to tail horse-carriage drivers NY Post ...A deep-pocketed animal-rights activist paid a team of private eyes to spy on Central Park horse carriage drivers for three months in the hope of catching them breaking the law. Up to six gumshoes would camp outside Manhattan horse stables at 5:30 a.m. and follow drivers all day, sometimes until after midnight, confirmed Mike Ciravolo, an exec at celebrity investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates...
Rollex Ordered to Make Changes for Member Safety Teamsters Local 727 ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Rollex Corporation to fix 31 machines by July 31 after Teamsters Local 727 representatives insisted the changes be made immediately. Local 727 represents about 100 workers at the aluminum soffit and steel siding manufacturer located in Elk Grove Village, Ill...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP leaders hatch trade workaround Politico ...Under the emerging plan, the House would vote on a bill that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade deal with Pacific Rim countries, sending it to the Senate for final approval. To alleviate Democratic concerns, the Senate then would amend a separate bill on trade preferences to include Trade Adjustment Assistance...
GOP Leaders Putting Together Trade Rescue Plan Associated Press ...After talks with President Barack Obama, top Republican leaders in Congress put together a quick rescue plan Tuesday for highly controversial, White House-backed trade legislation that Democrats derailed in the House last week. Officials said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were likely to split the stalled bill into two parts in hopes of sending them to the president separately...
House Moves to Delay Action on Trade Bill for 6 Weeks New York Times ...Mr. Obama has now turned his focus to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to find a legislative strategy that would preserve trade promotion authority, which would give the president accelerated power to negotiate the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership accord with 11 other nations from Japan to Chile...
As NAFTA Memories Linger, Unions Hold Fast Against New Trade Deal NPR ..."Labor has enough of a institutional memory to know what happened with NAFTA," [Roland Zullo] says. "There was a theory behind NAFTA; there was a theory that by integrating Canada, U.S. and Mexico, there would be a sort of overall net economic benefit." But that didn't happen for U.S. workers in sectors like manufacturing. Michigan auto workers, for example, lost more than 100,000 jobs in the years that followed NAFTA's passage.
House GOP poised to pursue fast-track without aid for workers Politico ...The House is on the brink of scheduling a standalone vote on giving President Barack Obama fast-track trade authority without accompanying worker assistance legislation, according to multiple sources familiar with the plan. The House could vote on Trade Promotion Authority as early as this week, the sources said...
Domestic Workers: ‘Bought and Paid for in the Gulf States’ Solidarity Center ...In the Gulf, “employers feel they have bought domestic workers because they paid the recruitment fee,” Varia said. The situation is exacerbated in Gulf countries by the kefala system, which ties employment of foreign workers to their employers, and makes it illegal for workers to get another job in the country. Employers also typically take the passports of domestic workers, who toil unseen from the public and are especially vulnerable to abuse...
Qatar’s World Cup Preparations Could Kill as Many as 4,000 Migrant Workers The Nation ...While FIFA continues to sink deeper into a mire of scandal, the deepest hell in the world football body’s dominion is reserved for the workers toiling at the sweltering construction zones of Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host. As the legal turmoil swells in Geneva, however, human rights groups see a potential opening to revisit the controversy over whether Qatar deserves to be hosting the games at all...
State & Living Wage Battles
A Farmworkers Bill of Rights in New York May Finally End “Abhorrent and Unacceptable” Treatment In These Times ...Farmworkers in New York are not currently guaranteed a full 24-hour day off each week. They also lack the right to overtime pay, to unemployment and workers compensation insurance and are without collective bargaining rights—in an industry that’s worth some $5.7 billion annually. Legislation now being considered by the New York State Senate and Assembly aims to change this status quo...
Michigan House passes bill designed to bar cities from setting minimum wages News Maine ...Michigan House on Tuesday approved a bill designed to prohibit local governments from passing ordinances regarding minimum wages, benefits or work rules for companies operating within the premises of their towns. The Republican-led House voted 59 to 51 to approve a bill similar to one approved by the state Senate previous week...
Kotek minimum wage plan falls short of $15 an hour Portland Tribune ...House Speaker Tina Kotek has proposed increasing Oregon’s minimum wage in stages to $13 per hour by 2018 and allowing cities and counties to raise it even more. Kotek, a Democrat from Portland, disclosed details of her plan to reporters Monday, ahead of a hearing Wednesday by the House Rules Committee...
Clergy March on Billionaires as Moral Mondays Come to Chicago In These Times ...The activists, including Chicago’s Lutheran Bishop Wayne Miller, rallied before marching on the corporate headquarters of billionaire Sam Zell, a supporter of Gov. Rauner, awarded $4 million to Turnaround Illinois, a Rauner-allied super political action committee that supports banning political donations by government worker unions...
With Oregon's Bill, Paid Sick Leave Gains Momentum The American Prospect ...Building on a strong and growing level of momentum nationwide, on Friday, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that mandates paid sick leave. Governor Kate Brown, a progressive Democrat, is sure to sign the bill, making Oregon the fourth state to pass mandated paid sick leave. The vote is a significant win for a nationwide movement that’s been quietly gaining steam among cities, states, and presidential candidates in recent years...
Failing the Poor and the Economy, Kansas Gov Signs 'Regressive' Tax Deal Common Dreams ...Following the end of the longest legislative session in state history, which dragged on an extra 23 days, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Tuesday signed a massive budget deal into law that includes a $384 million tax hike—mostly on the poor. It's the largest tax increase ever introduced in the state, and more than half of it will come from sales tax and cigarette tax, which financial experts have long warned are regressive...
101-year-old woman can't vote due to voter ID laws, newspaper reports NOLA.com ...A 101-year-old Texas woman has shed a new perspective on the debate over voter ID laws. In a commentary essay for the San Antonio Express-News, 101-year-old Mary Lou Miller wrote that she was denied the right to vote because she does not have a government-issued ID, and has not had one since she stopped driving in her 80s...
How A Pay Rise For NY Fast-Food Workers Could Spread Across America Buzzfeed ...Success in obtaining a pay rise in New York — which would be the first of its kind in the country — will form part of a precedent the labor movement plans to export to cities across America. Leaders of the Fight for 15 movement to raise fast-food wages say they plan to treat a $15 sector-wide minimum wage in New York as a springboard to a well of strategic next steps for their campaign...
U.S. Labor
Labor Movement Hopes to Get a Bump From Pope Francis Visit Time ...Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke in front of a sparkling mosaic on Monday morning, and he was not in a church. The backdrop was not even Biblical, at least not technically. Instead the mosaic was a wall-sized portrait honoring workers at the AFL-CIO headquarters, where Wuerl, Catholic archbishop of Washington, was speaking alongside the labor organization’s president, Richard Trumka. Together, the two men championed care for workers...
SEIU says Clark County overreaching on new labor rules Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Leaders of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 urged Clark County commissioners Tuesday to reconsider county actions tied to a new state law. The county recently ordered SEIU Local 1107 President Martin Bassick to return from paid union leave to his county job, saying the new law doesn’t allow the leave to continue. The county also notified the union last week that wage and benefit increases will stop for SEIU-affiliated employees...
ATI braces for failure of labor talks, USW says Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...United Steelworkers union officials say Allegheny Technologies is making contingency staffing and security plans in case they fail to negotiate a new labor agreement to replace one that expires June 30. USW headquarters officials last week told members that the Pittsburgh specialty metals producer has hired Strom Engineering, a Minnetonka, Minn., firm that helps companies with labor disputes...
Communications workers union passes Black Lives Matter resolution St. Louis American ...Union members at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) national convention on June 10 passed a “Black Lives Matter” resolution to address the issues of “systematic racism” in the United States. “Part of our goal in passing the resolution is to start active members of CWA talking about these issues,” said Bradley Harmon, president of the CWA Local 6355. “That has already started. I think it deepened our commitment towards working for racial justice”...
When I Lost My Hands Making Flatscreens I Can't Afford, Nobody Would Help Me The Guardian ...I’ve worked in factories most of my life. I know I am not the first person to be injured. But more needs to be done to help the workers who are making the products that so many Americans buy. We don’t ask for even a tiny share of the billions these companies make. We are just asking for enough to take care of our families and, when we are hurt, to take care of ourselves, too...
Is Gawker’s Unionization a Sign That Creative Workers Are Finally Realizing Their Worth? The Nation ...Last week, the staff of Gawker, one of the most iconic web media companies, voted by a 75-25 margin to form a union with Writers Guild of America East. Representing more than 100 online editorial staffers, the bargaining unit covers a network of Gawker Media’s outlets. The exact form of the unit and contract demands will be hammered out later, but the bottom line appears to be that staff wanted to unionize to protect their current wages and benefits...
Miscellaneous
Clinton v Bush: America is getting the dynastic matchup it said it didn't want The Guardian ...Neither family would be a stranger to the upper echelons of US government. Clinton’s eight years as first lady to husband Bill and four years as President Obama’s secretary of state is matched not only by eight years as president by Jeb’s brother, George W Bush, but four years as president by their father George HW Bush and another eight years as vice-president under Ronald Reagan...
Here's the Latest Evidence of How Private Prisons Are Exploiting Inmates for Profit Mother Jones ...The for-profit prison industry sells itself as a cost-effective option for cash-strapped states, but according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin, privatized prisons are keeping inmates locked up longer in order to boost profits. Researcher Anita Mukherjee studied a decade of data from Mississippi and found that private prisons there doled out twice the amount of infractions against inmates, lengthening their sentences by an average of 2-3 months...
RNC Official Awkwardly Refuses To Denounce Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Screed Think Progress ...Hours after Donald Trump launched into an anti-immigrant tirade during his presidential campaign announcement and claimed that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, a top Republican party official has done nothing to denounce those comments...
ONTC and Teamsters reach five-year agreement Nugget ...Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today that they have reached a tentative five year collective agreement. TCRC MWED represents 161 unionized employees who are responsible for maintaining Ontario Northland’s rail infrastructure, including track, buildings and bridges along the rail line...
Dozens of FXI employees on strike Wane.com ...The employees, represented by Teamsters Local 414, have been negotiating their contract with FXI for the last three years. According to George Gurdis, the officer of Teamsters Local 414, the group of FXI workers was organized about three years ago and have never been on a contract. Now, FXI wants to slice their wages and lower their benefits. FXI produces foam for homes, healthcare, electronics, industrial, personal care and transportation markets...
Mogul may have hired PIs to tail horse-carriage drivers NY Post ...A deep-pocketed animal-rights activist paid a team of private eyes to spy on Central Park horse carriage drivers for three months in the hope of catching them breaking the law. Up to six gumshoes would camp outside Manhattan horse stables at 5:30 a.m. and follow drivers all day, sometimes until after midnight, confirmed Mike Ciravolo, an exec at celebrity investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates...
Rollex Ordered to Make Changes for Member Safety Teamsters Local 727 ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Rollex Corporation to fix 31 machines by July 31 after Teamsters Local 727 representatives insisted the changes be made immediately. Local 727 represents about 100 workers at the aluminum soffit and steel siding manufacturer located in Elk Grove Village, Ill...
Global Labor & Trade
GOP leaders hatch trade workaround Politico ...Under the emerging plan, the House would vote on a bill that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade deal with Pacific Rim countries, sending it to the Senate for final approval. To alleviate Democratic concerns, the Senate then would amend a separate bill on trade preferences to include Trade Adjustment Assistance...
GOP Leaders Putting Together Trade Rescue Plan Associated Press ...After talks with President Barack Obama, top Republican leaders in Congress put together a quick rescue plan Tuesday for highly controversial, White House-backed trade legislation that Democrats derailed in the House last week. Officials said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were likely to split the stalled bill into two parts in hopes of sending them to the president separately...
House Moves to Delay Action on Trade Bill for 6 Weeks New York Times ...Mr. Obama has now turned his focus to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to find a legislative strategy that would preserve trade promotion authority, which would give the president accelerated power to negotiate the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership accord with 11 other nations from Japan to Chile...
As NAFTA Memories Linger, Unions Hold Fast Against New Trade Deal NPR ..."Labor has enough of a institutional memory to know what happened with NAFTA," [Roland Zullo] says. "There was a theory behind NAFTA; there was a theory that by integrating Canada, U.S. and Mexico, there would be a sort of overall net economic benefit." But that didn't happen for U.S. workers in sectors like manufacturing. Michigan auto workers, for example, lost more than 100,000 jobs in the years that followed NAFTA's passage.
House GOP poised to pursue fast-track without aid for workers Politico ...The House is on the brink of scheduling a standalone vote on giving President Barack Obama fast-track trade authority without accompanying worker assistance legislation, according to multiple sources familiar with the plan. The House could vote on Trade Promotion Authority as early as this week, the sources said...
Domestic Workers: ‘Bought and Paid for in the Gulf States’ Solidarity Center ...In the Gulf, “employers feel they have bought domestic workers because they paid the recruitment fee,” Varia said. The situation is exacerbated in Gulf countries by the kefala system, which ties employment of foreign workers to their employers, and makes it illegal for workers to get another job in the country. Employers also typically take the passports of domestic workers, who toil unseen from the public and are especially vulnerable to abuse...
Qatar’s World Cup Preparations Could Kill as Many as 4,000 Migrant Workers The Nation ...While FIFA continues to sink deeper into a mire of scandal, the deepest hell in the world football body’s dominion is reserved for the workers toiling at the sweltering construction zones of Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host. As the legal turmoil swells in Geneva, however, human rights groups see a potential opening to revisit the controversy over whether Qatar deserves to be hosting the games at all...
State & Living Wage Battles
A Farmworkers Bill of Rights in New York May Finally End “Abhorrent and Unacceptable” Treatment In These Times ...Farmworkers in New York are not currently guaranteed a full 24-hour day off each week. They also lack the right to overtime pay, to unemployment and workers compensation insurance and are without collective bargaining rights—in an industry that’s worth some $5.7 billion annually. Legislation now being considered by the New York State Senate and Assembly aims to change this status quo...
Michigan House passes bill designed to bar cities from setting minimum wages News Maine ...Michigan House on Tuesday approved a bill designed to prohibit local governments from passing ordinances regarding minimum wages, benefits or work rules for companies operating within the premises of their towns. The Republican-led House voted 59 to 51 to approve a bill similar to one approved by the state Senate previous week...
Kotek minimum wage plan falls short of $15 an hour Portland Tribune ...House Speaker Tina Kotek has proposed increasing Oregon’s minimum wage in stages to $13 per hour by 2018 and allowing cities and counties to raise it even more. Kotek, a Democrat from Portland, disclosed details of her plan to reporters Monday, ahead of a hearing Wednesday by the House Rules Committee...
Clergy March on Billionaires as Moral Mondays Come to Chicago In These Times ...The activists, including Chicago’s Lutheran Bishop Wayne Miller, rallied before marching on the corporate headquarters of billionaire Sam Zell, a supporter of Gov. Rauner, awarded $4 million to Turnaround Illinois, a Rauner-allied super political action committee that supports banning political donations by government worker unions...
With Oregon's Bill, Paid Sick Leave Gains Momentum The American Prospect ...Building on a strong and growing level of momentum nationwide, on Friday, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that mandates paid sick leave. Governor Kate Brown, a progressive Democrat, is sure to sign the bill, making Oregon the fourth state to pass mandated paid sick leave. The vote is a significant win for a nationwide movement that’s been quietly gaining steam among cities, states, and presidential candidates in recent years...
Failing the Poor and the Economy, Kansas Gov Signs 'Regressive' Tax Deal Common Dreams ...Following the end of the longest legislative session in state history, which dragged on an extra 23 days, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on Tuesday signed a massive budget deal into law that includes a $384 million tax hike—mostly on the poor. It's the largest tax increase ever introduced in the state, and more than half of it will come from sales tax and cigarette tax, which financial experts have long warned are regressive...
101-year-old woman can't vote due to voter ID laws, newspaper reports NOLA.com ...A 101-year-old Texas woman has shed a new perspective on the debate over voter ID laws. In a commentary essay for the San Antonio Express-News, 101-year-old Mary Lou Miller wrote that she was denied the right to vote because she does not have a government-issued ID, and has not had one since she stopped driving in her 80s...
How A Pay Rise For NY Fast-Food Workers Could Spread Across America Buzzfeed ...Success in obtaining a pay rise in New York — which would be the first of its kind in the country — will form part of a precedent the labor movement plans to export to cities across America. Leaders of the Fight for 15 movement to raise fast-food wages say they plan to treat a $15 sector-wide minimum wage in New York as a springboard to a well of strategic next steps for their campaign...
U.S. Labor
Labor Movement Hopes to Get a Bump From Pope Francis Visit Time ...Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke in front of a sparkling mosaic on Monday morning, and he was not in a church. The backdrop was not even Biblical, at least not technically. Instead the mosaic was a wall-sized portrait honoring workers at the AFL-CIO headquarters, where Wuerl, Catholic archbishop of Washington, was speaking alongside the labor organization’s president, Richard Trumka. Together, the two men championed care for workers...
SEIU says Clark County overreaching on new labor rules Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Leaders of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 urged Clark County commissioners Tuesday to reconsider county actions tied to a new state law. The county recently ordered SEIU Local 1107 President Martin Bassick to return from paid union leave to his county job, saying the new law doesn’t allow the leave to continue. The county also notified the union last week that wage and benefit increases will stop for SEIU-affiliated employees...
ATI braces for failure of labor talks, USW says Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...United Steelworkers union officials say Allegheny Technologies is making contingency staffing and security plans in case they fail to negotiate a new labor agreement to replace one that expires June 30. USW headquarters officials last week told members that the Pittsburgh specialty metals producer has hired Strom Engineering, a Minnetonka, Minn., firm that helps companies with labor disputes...
Communications workers union passes Black Lives Matter resolution St. Louis American ...Union members at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) national convention on June 10 passed a “Black Lives Matter” resolution to address the issues of “systematic racism” in the United States. “Part of our goal in passing the resolution is to start active members of CWA talking about these issues,” said Bradley Harmon, president of the CWA Local 6355. “That has already started. I think it deepened our commitment towards working for racial justice”...
When I Lost My Hands Making Flatscreens I Can't Afford, Nobody Would Help Me The Guardian ...I’ve worked in factories most of my life. I know I am not the first person to be injured. But more needs to be done to help the workers who are making the products that so many Americans buy. We don’t ask for even a tiny share of the billions these companies make. We are just asking for enough to take care of our families and, when we are hurt, to take care of ourselves, too...
Is Gawker’s Unionization a Sign That Creative Workers Are Finally Realizing Their Worth? The Nation ...Last week, the staff of Gawker, one of the most iconic web media companies, voted by a 75-25 margin to form a union with Writers Guild of America East. Representing more than 100 online editorial staffers, the bargaining unit covers a network of Gawker Media’s outlets. The exact form of the unit and contract demands will be hammered out later, but the bottom line appears to be that staff wanted to unionize to protect their current wages and benefits...
Miscellaneous
Clinton v Bush: America is getting the dynastic matchup it said it didn't want The Guardian ...Neither family would be a stranger to the upper echelons of US government. Clinton’s eight years as first lady to husband Bill and four years as President Obama’s secretary of state is matched not only by eight years as president by Jeb’s brother, George W Bush, but four years as president by their father George HW Bush and another eight years as vice-president under Ronald Reagan...
Here's the Latest Evidence of How Private Prisons Are Exploiting Inmates for Profit Mother Jones ...The for-profit prison industry sells itself as a cost-effective option for cash-strapped states, but according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin, privatized prisons are keeping inmates locked up longer in order to boost profits. Researcher Anita Mukherjee studied a decade of data from Mississippi and found that private prisons there doled out twice the amount of infractions against inmates, lengthening their sentences by an average of 2-3 months...
RNC Official Awkwardly Refuses To Denounce Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Screed Think Progress ...Hours after Donald Trump launched into an anti-immigrant tirade during his presidential campaign announcement and claimed that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, a top Republican party official has done nothing to denounce those comments...
Monday, May 18, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.18.15
Teamsters
Los Angeles, Long Beach port truck drivers move nation’s goods Press-Telegram ...The port congestion has ramped up the Teamsters’ efforts to unionize drivers, leading to lawsuits over wage theft allegations and strikes at port terminals, rail yards and trucking companies. Julie Gutman Dickinson, an attorney representing the Teamsters [said] that the issue of misclassification existed long before the congestion issues arose. “It’s effectively wage theft,” she said. “It’s taking away money from hard-working drivers and putting it into the pockets of these companies. They are at the mercy of these companies”...
Global Labor & Trade
No love for Obama trade deal at California Democrats' protest Los Angeles Times ...Union workers gathered for a demonstration on the second day of the California Democratic Convention harshly criticized President Obama, giving voice to the grassroots angst that has turned much of the president's own party against him on a signature trade deal. powerful figures in the president's own party have undermined the pact, including firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is scheduled to address convention delegates Saturday morning...
Canadian MPs Join International Legislators to Oppose “Certification” in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, say it Endangers Country Sovereignty Common Dreams ...Today, in Canada, NDP trade critic Don Davies and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May joined in the debate by joining 40 parliamentarians from the other countries in writing a letter encouraging trade ministers to oppose the United States’ certification process. The certification process allows the United States to vet the other countries’ sovereign laws ensuring they “conform” with the trade agreement...
Labor activists let Castro know they’re not down with TPP San Antonio Express-News ...Friday afternoon, a group of eight labor activists from four organizations visited Castro’s downtown district office, holding signs that read, “Save Our Jobs! Don’t Fast Track the TPP!” One of the activists, Fuerza Unida co-founder Viola Casares, carried a pair of Levi’s jeans, a statement on the effects of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which she blames for Levi Strauss plant shutdowns in the United States...
Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel (opinion) Bloomberg ...In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side. The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say she’s right...
The TPP: Why it Won’t Address Security Concerns with China (opinion) Renewing America ...Proponents who argue that the TPP is vital to countering China’s ambitions are ignoring the fact that those countries aren’t rushing into China’s embrace. In fact, just the opposite is true. Several of the TPP participants are more interested in stronger alliances with the United States which aren’t dependent on preferential trade relations and new trade agreements...
Trade and Trust (opinion) New York Times ...We were assured that the dispute settlement procedure couldn’t be used to force changes in domestic laws; actually, it apparently could. We were told that TPP couldn’t be used to undermine financial reform; again, it appears that it could.
How important are these concerns? It’s hard to judge. But the administration is in effect saying trust us, then repeatedly bobbling questions about the deal in a way that undermines that very trust...
Thousands of Renault Workers Strike in Turkey Industry Week ...More than 2,500 workers in a factory run by French carmaker Renault in western Turkey have gone on strike over wages and benefits, the company said Friday. Workers stopped production overnight Thursday in the company's factory in the Bursa province, state-run Anatolia news agency said...
Officials Pledge Charges After Factory Fire Kills 72 Workers In The Philippines Think Progress ...Officials in the Philippines are pledging to file charges against the owners of a suburban Manila factory where at least 72 workers died in a Wednesday fire. The metal barriers that prevented them from escaping out second-story windows are only the most immediate example of the unsafe and exploitative working conditions that workers and officials say Kentex Manufacturing Corp. imposed at the plant...
Students Ask Why JanSport Parent Company Won’t Sign Bangladesh Worker Safety Agreement In These Times ...This past April marked the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a tragedy that called attention to the horrible labor conditions many Bangladeshi workers labor under. That disaster also led to new regulations, most notably the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five-year legally binding agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions. One of the corporations that won’t sign is a company that many Americans are unfamiliar with: VF Corporation, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based clothing business that owns over 30 brands...
State & Living Wage Battles
Illinois Republican Governor Gets ZERO Votes On His 'Right To Work' Bill Alternet ...Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner, watched his anti-union bill called, 'Right-To-Work,' die a swift, cruel death in the House, on Thursday, with zero votes. Natasha Korecki with Chicago Sun Times reports the the tally was 0 yes votes, 72 no votes, and 37 voting present - "offering a blistering rebuke" to Rauner’s agenda...
Missouri Governor confirms he will veto ‘right to work’ Missourinet ...The bill called “right to work” by its supporters and “right to work for free” by opponents was the cause of much of the drama in the final week of the Missouri legislative session, and now Governor Jay Nixon confirms he won’t hesitate to use his veto pen on it. Senate Republicans forced a vote on the legislation and in response Democrats blocked debate the rest of the week... Sanders and Warren Sign Letter Urging Obama to Get Behind 'Fight for $15' Movement Common Dreams ...In a letter sent to the White House on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Senate Democrats in urging President Obama to escalate his support for struggling Americans and get behind the 'Fight for $15' movement, which has galvanized low-paid workers across the nation in a collective call for better treatment by employers, the right to unionize, and a living wage...
SEIU to ask FTC to probe alleged abusive practices by franchisors Reuters ...The Service Employees International Union, backer of a three-year campaign to improve the plight of low-wage retail and fast-food workers, on Monday said it would petition the Federal Trade Commission to investigate alleged abusive practices by major franchisors, including McDonald's Corp and 7-Eleven Inc...
The Slippery Math of Right-To-Work Advocates (opinion) Newsweek ...A bevy of “right-to-work” bills has been introduced in state legislatures across the United States this year. The legislation has generated intense debate and contention, making headlines across the country. What was most alarming about the parade of bills introduced this year, however, was how their proponents manipulated facts in order to propel them through state legislatures...
U.S. Labor
Postal workers union protests in Tampa Tampa Tribune ...Fifty or so members of the American Postal Workers Union fanned out at downtown intersections Thursday to demonstrate for better customer service and more job security just one week before their union contract is set to expire. The U.S. Postal Service has seen its ranks shrinking over the past decade, dropping from 850,000 employees to 450,000 , and it is scheduled to cut another 50,000 jobs by Oct. 1. APWU members staged the National Day of Action in 82 locations across the nation Thursday...
Security Officers Fight ‘Economic and Occupational Segregation’ in Silicon Valley In These Times ...On May 5, Silicon Valley security officers rallied outside the office of Broadcom, a wireless-component maker (which produces the WiFi chips in Apple iPhones), in hope of drumming up support for an organizing campaign at the company's security subcontractor, Universal Protection Service (UPS). They were joined by a high-profile supporter: Rev. Jesse Jackson...
USW Strike: Marathon Petroleum Corp Galveston Bay Refinery To Vote On Monday Bidness Etc ...The United Steelworkers (USW) strike at Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Galveston Bay, Texas is likely to end soon as striking workers get ready to vote on a new contract next week. Officials of the labor union and company confirmed on Thursday voting will take place on Monday, after federal mediators helped hammer out the details of the newly-proposed contract...
Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 Think Progress ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) blamed the chemical company DuPont for failing to maintain the safety of workers, a failure that it says led to the death of four workers in November. OSHA cited the company for 11 safety violates and fined it $99,000. The company has a market capitalization of $63.6 billion and made $34.7 billion in revenue last year...
City warns of transit delays on several routes as dispute with transit union continues Winnepeg Free Press ...The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 1,100 bus operators and 250 maintenance workers, has been without a contract since it expired on Jan. 17. Last month, the union rejected the city’s offer of settlement, placing them in a legal strike position. In the following week, the ATU instructed its members to refuse overtime as contract negotiations continue...
Miscellaneous
New Rules on Oil Trains Draw Flak From Firefighters, Too Truthout ...Lawmakers and environmental and industry groups criticized the federal government’s new safety measures for oil trains when they were announced earlier this month. Now another group has expressed disappointment in the new rules: Emergency responders. They’re among the first in danger when a fiery derailment happens...
Job Prospects Have Improved for Graduates, but the Class of 2015 Still Faces a Challenging Labor Market EPI.org ...Recent improvements in economic conditions have begun to finally translate into better job prospects for young graduates, but there is a long way to go before we return to the labor market health of the pre-recession period. Although the labor market is slowly recovering, unemployment remains elevated for both young high school and college graduates; underemployment rates for these groups are also unusually high...
Los Angeles, Long Beach port truck drivers move nation’s goods Press-Telegram ...The port congestion has ramped up the Teamsters’ efforts to unionize drivers, leading to lawsuits over wage theft allegations and strikes at port terminals, rail yards and trucking companies. Julie Gutman Dickinson, an attorney representing the Teamsters [said] that the issue of misclassification existed long before the congestion issues arose. “It’s effectively wage theft,” she said. “It’s taking away money from hard-working drivers and putting it into the pockets of these companies. They are at the mercy of these companies”...
Global Labor & Trade
No love for Obama trade deal at California Democrats' protest Los Angeles Times ...Union workers gathered for a demonstration on the second day of the California Democratic Convention harshly criticized President Obama, giving voice to the grassroots angst that has turned much of the president's own party against him on a signature trade deal. powerful figures in the president's own party have undermined the pact, including firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is scheduled to address convention delegates Saturday morning...
Canadian MPs Join International Legislators to Oppose “Certification” in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, say it Endangers Country Sovereignty Common Dreams ...Today, in Canada, NDP trade critic Don Davies and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May joined in the debate by joining 40 parliamentarians from the other countries in writing a letter encouraging trade ministers to oppose the United States’ certification process. The certification process allows the United States to vet the other countries’ sovereign laws ensuring they “conform” with the trade agreement...
Labor activists let Castro know they’re not down with TPP San Antonio Express-News ...Friday afternoon, a group of eight labor activists from four organizations visited Castro’s downtown district office, holding signs that read, “Save Our Jobs! Don’t Fast Track the TPP!” One of the activists, Fuerza Unida co-founder Viola Casares, carried a pair of Levi’s jeans, a statement on the effects of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which she blames for Levi Strauss plant shutdowns in the United States...
Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel (opinion) Bloomberg ...In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side. The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say she’s right...
The TPP: Why it Won’t Address Security Concerns with China (opinion) Renewing America ...Proponents who argue that the TPP is vital to countering China’s ambitions are ignoring the fact that those countries aren’t rushing into China’s embrace. In fact, just the opposite is true. Several of the TPP participants are more interested in stronger alliances with the United States which aren’t dependent on preferential trade relations and new trade agreements...
Trade and Trust (opinion) New York Times ...We were assured that the dispute settlement procedure couldn’t be used to force changes in domestic laws; actually, it apparently could. We were told that TPP couldn’t be used to undermine financial reform; again, it appears that it could.
How important are these concerns? It’s hard to judge. But the administration is in effect saying trust us, then repeatedly bobbling questions about the deal in a way that undermines that very trust...
Thousands of Renault Workers Strike in Turkey Industry Week ...More than 2,500 workers in a factory run by French carmaker Renault in western Turkey have gone on strike over wages and benefits, the company said Friday. Workers stopped production overnight Thursday in the company's factory in the Bursa province, state-run Anatolia news agency said...
Officials Pledge Charges After Factory Fire Kills 72 Workers In The Philippines Think Progress ...Officials in the Philippines are pledging to file charges against the owners of a suburban Manila factory where at least 72 workers died in a Wednesday fire. The metal barriers that prevented them from escaping out second-story windows are only the most immediate example of the unsafe and exploitative working conditions that workers and officials say Kentex Manufacturing Corp. imposed at the plant...
Students Ask Why JanSport Parent Company Won’t Sign Bangladesh Worker Safety Agreement In These Times ...This past April marked the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a tragedy that called attention to the horrible labor conditions many Bangladeshi workers labor under. That disaster also led to new regulations, most notably the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five-year legally binding agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions. One of the corporations that won’t sign is a company that many Americans are unfamiliar with: VF Corporation, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based clothing business that owns over 30 brands...
State & Living Wage Battles
Illinois Republican Governor Gets ZERO Votes On His 'Right To Work' Bill Alternet ...Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner, watched his anti-union bill called, 'Right-To-Work,' die a swift, cruel death in the House, on Thursday, with zero votes. Natasha Korecki with Chicago Sun Times reports the the tally was 0 yes votes, 72 no votes, and 37 voting present - "offering a blistering rebuke" to Rauner’s agenda...
Missouri Governor confirms he will veto ‘right to work’ Missourinet ...The bill called “right to work” by its supporters and “right to work for free” by opponents was the cause of much of the drama in the final week of the Missouri legislative session, and now Governor Jay Nixon confirms he won’t hesitate to use his veto pen on it. Senate Republicans forced a vote on the legislation and in response Democrats blocked debate the rest of the week... Sanders and Warren Sign Letter Urging Obama to Get Behind 'Fight for $15' Movement Common Dreams ...In a letter sent to the White House on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Senate Democrats in urging President Obama to escalate his support for struggling Americans and get behind the 'Fight for $15' movement, which has galvanized low-paid workers across the nation in a collective call for better treatment by employers, the right to unionize, and a living wage...
SEIU to ask FTC to probe alleged abusive practices by franchisors Reuters ...The Service Employees International Union, backer of a three-year campaign to improve the plight of low-wage retail and fast-food workers, on Monday said it would petition the Federal Trade Commission to investigate alleged abusive practices by major franchisors, including McDonald's Corp and 7-Eleven Inc...
The Slippery Math of Right-To-Work Advocates (opinion) Newsweek ...A bevy of “right-to-work” bills has been introduced in state legislatures across the United States this year. The legislation has generated intense debate and contention, making headlines across the country. What was most alarming about the parade of bills introduced this year, however, was how their proponents manipulated facts in order to propel them through state legislatures...
U.S. Labor
Postal workers union protests in Tampa Tampa Tribune ...Fifty or so members of the American Postal Workers Union fanned out at downtown intersections Thursday to demonstrate for better customer service and more job security just one week before their union contract is set to expire. The U.S. Postal Service has seen its ranks shrinking over the past decade, dropping from 850,000 employees to 450,000 , and it is scheduled to cut another 50,000 jobs by Oct. 1. APWU members staged the National Day of Action in 82 locations across the nation Thursday...
Security Officers Fight ‘Economic and Occupational Segregation’ in Silicon Valley In These Times ...On May 5, Silicon Valley security officers rallied outside the office of Broadcom, a wireless-component maker (which produces the WiFi chips in Apple iPhones), in hope of drumming up support for an organizing campaign at the company's security subcontractor, Universal Protection Service (UPS). They were joined by a high-profile supporter: Rev. Jesse Jackson...
USW Strike: Marathon Petroleum Corp Galveston Bay Refinery To Vote On Monday Bidness Etc ...The United Steelworkers (USW) strike at Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Galveston Bay, Texas is likely to end soon as striking workers get ready to vote on a new contract next week. Officials of the labor union and company confirmed on Thursday voting will take place on Monday, after federal mediators helped hammer out the details of the newly-proposed contract...
Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 Think Progress ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) blamed the chemical company DuPont for failing to maintain the safety of workers, a failure that it says led to the death of four workers in November. OSHA cited the company for 11 safety violates and fined it $99,000. The company has a market capitalization of $63.6 billion and made $34.7 billion in revenue last year...
City warns of transit delays on several routes as dispute with transit union continues Winnepeg Free Press ...The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 1,100 bus operators and 250 maintenance workers, has been without a contract since it expired on Jan. 17. Last month, the union rejected the city’s offer of settlement, placing them in a legal strike position. In the following week, the ATU instructed its members to refuse overtime as contract negotiations continue...
Miscellaneous
New Rules on Oil Trains Draw Flak From Firefighters, Too Truthout ...Lawmakers and environmental and industry groups criticized the federal government’s new safety measures for oil trains when they were announced earlier this month. Now another group has expressed disappointment in the new rules: Emergency responders. They’re among the first in danger when a fiery derailment happens...
Job Prospects Have Improved for Graduates, but the Class of 2015 Still Faces a Challenging Labor Market EPI.org ...Recent improvements in economic conditions have begun to finally translate into better job prospects for young graduates, but there is a long way to go before we return to the labor market health of the pre-recession period. Although the labor market is slowly recovering, unemployment remains elevated for both young high school and college graduates; underemployment rates for these groups are also unusually high...
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.23.14
Teamster News
More Labor Problems at Buffett's NetJets IBT ...As contract talks drag on at Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK/B) NetJets, Inc., unionized pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and related employees, maintenance controllers, stock clerks and flight dispatchers are picketing at customer locations in California, New Jersey and the company's Columbus, Ohio corporate headquarters, according to the NetJets Union Coalition (NUC). NUC is a coalition between the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), the pilots' union, and the Teamsters, which represents all of the other unionized NetJets employees...
Trade
TTIP: don’t mention the job losses The Broker ...The headline finding from the official assessment of TTIP is that there will be a loss of at least one million jobs in the EU and US as a direct result of the agreement’s coming into force...
State Battles
Moral Mondays battles low pay, injustice, racism and more Indianapolis Star ...About 200 people gathered at the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday to fight for better pay, affordable health care, equal justice and other causes...
Google: We’re parting with the climate change skeptics at ALEC Washington Post ...Google is going to stop funding a key conservative group because of its stance on climate change, executive chairman Eric Schmidt revealed Monday...
Declining median incomes becomes anti-Rick Scott talking point for Fla. Dems St. Peters Blog ...Average household incomes in South Florida are declining. A study released Thursday by the U.S. Census bureau shows median income in 2013 at $46,946 down from $48,275 in 2010...
Christie's Pension Overseer Invested New Jersey Money In Fund He Is Linked To Privately International Business Times ...Grady was pushing to invest New Jersey public money into the same Blackstone fund in which his own firm was investing -- without disclosing that fact to N.J. officials...
In Brownbackistan, Everything Is Awesome! And Don’t Let Any Liberal Tell You Different Salon.com ...You’ve got runaway incompetence in the state administration; heavy-handed partisanship, with conservative Republicans crushing moderate Republicans after the familiar pattern; corporate money—Koch Industries is based in Wichita—sloshing around like a vast underground aquifer. You’ve got privatization, deregulation, and an enthusiastic race to the bottom...
Nikki Haley Busted Inflating Job Numbers...Again FitsNews ...For a third time, a mainstream media outlet in the Palmetto State has caught S.C. Gov.Nikki Haley inflating her administration’s job numbers...
State Has No Budget For Voter ID, Agencies Say Wisconsin State Journal ...Three state agencies charged with implementing voter ID for the Nov. 4 election say they have no additional money set aside to help voters and state workers comply with the newly reinstated requirement...
War On Workers
Obama Administration Issues New Rules to Combat Tax Inversions Wall Street Journal ...The Treasury Department tightened tax rules Monday to deter U.S. companies from moving their legal headquarters to lower-tax countries, part of a White House effort to slow a wave of so-called corporate inversions that effectively reduce federal revenues...
Dangers Aside, Railways Reshape Crude Market Wall Street Journal ...But it has frightened communities across the country where first responders fear the fireballs that have erupted in the past year after some oil-train derailments. Federal regulators recently proposed new rules to require sturdier cars to carry oil, lower speed limits on some shipments and testing of the volatility of the crude transported by train...
OSHA Will Put Workplace Safety Data Online As 'Nudge' To Employers Bloomberg Businessweek ...Starting in January, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will require employers to notify the government within 24 hours every time someone loses an eye, suffers an amputation, or gets admitted to the hospital with an injury sustained at work. The agency estimates that tens of thousands of injuries go unreported...
D.C. Cab Companies Blame Steep Declines In Revenue On Ridesharing WAMU ...The rise of the “ridesharing” service UberX is bleeding traditional taxicabs in Washington. Although precise District-wide data is not available, taxicab company managers and individual drivers said their business is down at least 20 percent — and in some cases much more — because they cannot compete with the unregulated, low-price competition of UberX...
Oregon Residents Challenge the State "Right-to-Farm" Law The Progressive ...Such so-called "right-to-farm" laws insulate agricultural operations -- including large industrial livestock confinement operations and, in Oregon, private timber companies -- against lawsuits as long as they're following what is (or, in some cases, may become) a "generally accepted" farming or forest practice. These can include heavy aerial pesticide applications...
U.S. Home Sales Falter as Investors Pull Back Wall Street Journal ...The decline reflected fewer purchases by investors, who helped fuel the housing-market rebound. The share of overall sales that went to investors fell to 12% last month, the lowest level since late 2009. Investors accounted for as much as 23% of sales in early 2012 as they bought up properties, many in foreclosure, at bargain prices...
Lincoln County worker killed in dump truck wreck, fire The Clarion-Ledger ...A Lincoln County road crew member was killed in what appears to be a wreck in which his dump truck left the road, hit a tree and caught on fire, according to Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing...
Construction worker killed falling from building in Waterloo CTV News ...An 18-year-old man is dead after falling from a building at the Barrel Yards development in Waterloo...
More Labor Problems at Buffett's NetJets IBT ...As contract talks drag on at Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK/B) NetJets, Inc., unionized pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and related employees, maintenance controllers, stock clerks and flight dispatchers are picketing at customer locations in California, New Jersey and the company's Columbus, Ohio corporate headquarters, according to the NetJets Union Coalition (NUC). NUC is a coalition between the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), the pilots' union, and the Teamsters, which represents all of the other unionized NetJets employees...
Trade
TTIP: don’t mention the job losses The Broker ...The headline finding from the official assessment of TTIP is that there will be a loss of at least one million jobs in the EU and US as a direct result of the agreement’s coming into force...
State Battles
Moral Mondays battles low pay, injustice, racism and more Indianapolis Star ...About 200 people gathered at the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday to fight for better pay, affordable health care, equal justice and other causes...
Google: We’re parting with the climate change skeptics at ALEC Washington Post ...Google is going to stop funding a key conservative group because of its stance on climate change, executive chairman Eric Schmidt revealed Monday...
Declining median incomes becomes anti-Rick Scott talking point for Fla. Dems St. Peters Blog ...Average household incomes in South Florida are declining. A study released Thursday by the U.S. Census bureau shows median income in 2013 at $46,946 down from $48,275 in 2010...
Christie's Pension Overseer Invested New Jersey Money In Fund He Is Linked To Privately International Business Times ...Grady was pushing to invest New Jersey public money into the same Blackstone fund in which his own firm was investing -- without disclosing that fact to N.J. officials...
In Brownbackistan, Everything Is Awesome! And Don’t Let Any Liberal Tell You Different Salon.com ...You’ve got runaway incompetence in the state administration; heavy-handed partisanship, with conservative Republicans crushing moderate Republicans after the familiar pattern; corporate money—Koch Industries is based in Wichita—sloshing around like a vast underground aquifer. You’ve got privatization, deregulation, and an enthusiastic race to the bottom...
Nikki Haley Busted Inflating Job Numbers...Again FitsNews ...For a third time, a mainstream media outlet in the Palmetto State has caught S.C. Gov.Nikki Haley inflating her administration’s job numbers...
State Has No Budget For Voter ID, Agencies Say Wisconsin State Journal ...Three state agencies charged with implementing voter ID for the Nov. 4 election say they have no additional money set aside to help voters and state workers comply with the newly reinstated requirement...
War On Workers
Obama Administration Issues New Rules to Combat Tax Inversions Wall Street Journal ...The Treasury Department tightened tax rules Monday to deter U.S. companies from moving their legal headquarters to lower-tax countries, part of a White House effort to slow a wave of so-called corporate inversions that effectively reduce federal revenues...
Dangers Aside, Railways Reshape Crude Market Wall Street Journal ...But it has frightened communities across the country where first responders fear the fireballs that have erupted in the past year after some oil-train derailments. Federal regulators recently proposed new rules to require sturdier cars to carry oil, lower speed limits on some shipments and testing of the volatility of the crude transported by train...
OSHA Will Put Workplace Safety Data Online As 'Nudge' To Employers Bloomberg Businessweek ...Starting in January, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will require employers to notify the government within 24 hours every time someone loses an eye, suffers an amputation, or gets admitted to the hospital with an injury sustained at work. The agency estimates that tens of thousands of injuries go unreported...
D.C. Cab Companies Blame Steep Declines In Revenue On Ridesharing WAMU ...The rise of the “ridesharing” service UberX is bleeding traditional taxicabs in Washington. Although precise District-wide data is not available, taxicab company managers and individual drivers said their business is down at least 20 percent — and in some cases much more — because they cannot compete with the unregulated, low-price competition of UberX...
Oregon Residents Challenge the State "Right-to-Farm" Law The Progressive ...Such so-called "right-to-farm" laws insulate agricultural operations -- including large industrial livestock confinement operations and, in Oregon, private timber companies -- against lawsuits as long as they're following what is (or, in some cases, may become) a "generally accepted" farming or forest practice. These can include heavy aerial pesticide applications...
U.S. Home Sales Falter as Investors Pull Back Wall Street Journal ...The decline reflected fewer purchases by investors, who helped fuel the housing-market rebound. The share of overall sales that went to investors fell to 12% last month, the lowest level since late 2009. Investors accounted for as much as 23% of sales in early 2012 as they bought up properties, many in foreclosure, at bargain prices...
Lincoln County worker killed in dump truck wreck, fire The Clarion-Ledger ...A Lincoln County road crew member was killed in what appears to be a wreck in which his dump truck left the road, hit a tree and caught on fire, according to Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing...
Construction worker killed falling from building in Waterloo CTV News ...An 18-year-old man is dead after falling from a building at the Barrel Yards development in Waterloo...
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Temp workers live more dangerously than the rest of us
The tragic death of a temp worker buried alive in sugar at CSC Sugar in Pennsylvania dramatizes how hard it is for federal officials to enforce workplace safety.
Pro Publica and Univision reported the company that employed Janio Salinas had deliberately removed a safety device that would have saved his life just 13 days before he died.
Unfortunately, the death of Janio Salinas was not an isolated incident. An average of 4,400 people are killed every year in the U.S. at work, including untrained workers who suffocate while cleaning chemical tanks, get caught in food grinders and tire shredders or suffer heat stroke after a long day in a warehouse, on a garbage truck or on a roof.
Many of the nation's 2.9 million temporary workers often do dangerous jobs with little or no training or safety equipment. Though OSHA is trying to step up enforcement of safety rules, its task is daunting. OSHA had warned CSC Sugar about safety violations, for example, before Salinas' death. After he died, the company replaced the safety device and OSHA fined it a mere $18,098.
Pro Publica and Univision reported the company that employed Janio Salinas had deliberately removed a safety device that would have saved his life just 13 days before he died.
Inside the sugar plant in Fairless Hills, Pa., nobody could find Janio Salinas, a 50-year-old temp worker from just over the New Jersey border.
Throughout the morning, Salinas and a handful of other workers had been bagging mounds of sugar for a company that supplies the makers of Snapple drinks and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. But sugar clumps kept clogging the massive hopper, forcing the workers to climb inside with shovels to help the granules flow out the funnel-like hole at the bottom.
Coming back from lunch that day in February 2013, one employee said he had seen Salinas digging in the sugar. But when he looked back, Salinas was gone. All that remained was a shovel buried up to its handle. Then, peering through a small gap in the bottom of the hopper, someone noticed what appeared to be blue jeans.
It was Salinas. He had been buried alive in sugar.The reason the safety device was removed: a manager thought it was slowing production
Unfortunately, the death of Janio Salinas was not an isolated incident. An average of 4,400 people are killed every year in the U.S. at work, including untrained workers who suffocate while cleaning chemical tanks, get caught in food grinders and tire shredders or suffer heat stroke after a long day in a warehouse, on a garbage truck or on a roof.
Many of the nation's 2.9 million temporary workers often do dangerous jobs with little or no training or safety equipment. Though OSHA is trying to step up enforcement of safety rules, its task is daunting. OSHA had warned CSC Sugar about safety violations, for example, before Salinas' death. After he died, the company replaced the safety device and OSHA fined it a mere $18,098.
Jean Kulp, director of OSHA's Allentown, Pa., office, told Univision that her agency doesn't have the ability to shut down businesses and has limited criminal enforcement provisions.
In CSC's case, even though it removed a safety device and had received previous warnings to train its temp workers, OSHA didn't find the company "willfully in violation," which would have triggered bigger fines, she said. Kulp said the violations that were found didn't show "total disregard" for OSHA standards.Temp workers are far more likely to die or be injured on the job than permanent employees, according to an analysis by Pro Publica. They are far more likely to find work in dangerous occupations like manufacturing and warehousing:
...in five states, representing more than a fifth of the U.S. population, temps face a significantly greater risk of getting injured on the job than permanent employees.
In California and Florida, two of the largest states, temps had about 50 percent greater risk of being injured on the job than non-temps. That risk was 36 percent higher in Massachusetts, 66 percent in Oregon and 72 percent in Minnesota.Protecting America's Workers Act has been introduced in Congress every year for the past 10, but has been pretty much forgotten otherwise. In California, Teamsters are working hard to pass a law that would make employers responsible for the temp workers they hire through agencies. The bill, AB 1897, would crack down on employers that steal wages and put their temp workers in harm's way.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.23.14
Have a wonderful holiday, everyone! TeamsterNation will be on hiatus over the Memorial Day holiday. We'll see you again Tuesday morning!
Teamster News
Youngstown Approves Pacts With 2 Employee Unions Insurance News Net ...City council approved contracts with two labor unions that provide salary increases for the first time in about four years. The deals with Teamsters Local 377, which represents 30 street department workers...
Trade
TTIP: EU And US Prepare To Enhance Global Corporatocracy With Free Trade Deal International Business Times ...Belgian MP Alain Maron, who was one of the 200 arrested in Belgium last Thursday, May 15, as an unauthorized protest against TTIP broke out in Brussels, branded the deal "an erosion of consumer and human rights."...
State Battles
Two Ways Chris Christie Screwed Over Pensioners for GOP Donors In These Times ...Christie isn't being forced to renege on the pension payment—he's choosing to spend money on corporate subsidies and investment fees rather than on those pension promises...
EXCLUSIVE: We name the political donors whose firms got $14bn of pension cash from New Jersey Pando ...political donors associated with 43 financial firms managing New Jersey pension money have spent a total of $11.6 million on contributions to New Jersey politicians and to major political organizations operating in New Jersey elections...
Koch Brothers' Detroit Abomination: Stunning Avarice And Cruelty Reaches New Low Salon.com ...After much controversy and debate, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has agreed to provide $195 million in state funding that will limit pension cuts to no more than 4.5 percent and protect the Detroit Institute of Art from liquidating its collection. "This is a settlement. This is not a bailout." Snyder said. "And I want to be very, very clear about that." Not so fast Gov. Snyder. Americans for Prosperity has built a shiny new website...
War On Workers
Just Released: What Kinds of Jobs Have Been Created during the Recovery? Liberty Street Economics ...during the recession, the vast majority of jobs that were lost in the nation and across the region were middle-skill jobs, such as construction workers, teachers, machine operators, and administrative support workers. These jobs have not come back during the recovery...
Students Now Indentured to the Banksters Truthout ...Back in January, 31-year-old Tony Muzzatti, who at the time owed around $60,000 in student loan debt to Sallie Mae and always made on-time payments, was told that he had to immediately make a payment of $10,000, or face asset seizures. That's because his grandmother, who also happened to be his cosigner on the student loans, had just died...
Business That Bashed Obama's OSHA Just Had Horrifying Industrial Accident Huffington Post ...During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape. "I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama." Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc. in Saukville, Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012 campaign story. On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident...
Cutting Off Emergency Unemployment Benefits Hasn't Pushed People Back To Work Five Thirty Eight ...Of the roughly 1.3 million Americans whose benefits disappeared with the end of the program, only a quarter had found jobs as of March, about the same success rate as when the program was still in effect; roughly another quarter had given up searching...
Larry Summers: Student Debt Is Slowing The U.S. Housing Recovery Wall Street Journal ...Former White House adviser Lawrence Summers said Wednesday that student debt is slowing the housing recovery and the broader economic recovery, adding a prominent voice to the debate in Washington...
Over 100 McDonald's Workers Arrested Protesting Outside Shareholder Meeting Think Progress ...More than 100 workers and dozens of other protesters were arrested during peaceful protests outside McDonald's corporate headquarters on Wednesday. On Thursday, a thousand McDonald's workers and their supporters are marching on the company's Oak Brook, Illinois campus...
Sallie Mae Torments Faithful Student Borrowers After Co-Signers Die Huffington Post ...Seven borrowers who had been paying their Sallie Mae student loans on time for years were unexpectedly threatened with asset seizures after a Sallie Mae contractor demanded they immediately repay tens of thousands of dollars simply because a family member had died...
Miscellaneous
Ray LaHood Declares U.S. Highways ‘One Big Pothole’ at ALK Summit Truckinginfo ...Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood opened the second day of the ALK Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J., on Wednesday by telling attendees that while the U.S. is "the greatest country in the world [our] transportation and infrastructure is a big mess..."
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions The Guardian ...A landmark surveillance bill, likely to pass the US House of Representatives on Thursday, is hemorrhaging support from the civil libertarians and privacy advocates who were its champions from the start...
Teamster News
Youngstown Approves Pacts With 2 Employee Unions Insurance News Net ...City council approved contracts with two labor unions that provide salary increases for the first time in about four years. The deals with Teamsters Local 377, which represents 30 street department workers...
Trade
TTIP: EU And US Prepare To Enhance Global Corporatocracy With Free Trade Deal International Business Times ...Belgian MP Alain Maron, who was one of the 200 arrested in Belgium last Thursday, May 15, as an unauthorized protest against TTIP broke out in Brussels, branded the deal "an erosion of consumer and human rights."...
State Battles
Two Ways Chris Christie Screwed Over Pensioners for GOP Donors In These Times ...Christie isn't being forced to renege on the pension payment—he's choosing to spend money on corporate subsidies and investment fees rather than on those pension promises...
EXCLUSIVE: We name the political donors whose firms got $14bn of pension cash from New Jersey Pando ...political donors associated with 43 financial firms managing New Jersey pension money have spent a total of $11.6 million on contributions to New Jersey politicians and to major political organizations operating in New Jersey elections...
Koch Brothers' Detroit Abomination: Stunning Avarice And Cruelty Reaches New Low Salon.com ...After much controversy and debate, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has agreed to provide $195 million in state funding that will limit pension cuts to no more than 4.5 percent and protect the Detroit Institute of Art from liquidating its collection. "This is a settlement. This is not a bailout." Snyder said. "And I want to be very, very clear about that." Not so fast Gov. Snyder. Americans for Prosperity has built a shiny new website...
War On Workers
Just Released: What Kinds of Jobs Have Been Created during the Recovery? Liberty Street Economics ...during the recession, the vast majority of jobs that were lost in the nation and across the region were middle-skill jobs, such as construction workers, teachers, machine operators, and administrative support workers. These jobs have not come back during the recovery...
Students Now Indentured to the Banksters Truthout ...Back in January, 31-year-old Tony Muzzatti, who at the time owed around $60,000 in student loan debt to Sallie Mae and always made on-time payments, was told that he had to immediately make a payment of $10,000, or face asset seizures. That's because his grandmother, who also happened to be his cosigner on the student loans, had just died...
Business That Bashed Obama's OSHA Just Had Horrifying Industrial Accident Huffington Post ...During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape. "I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama." Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc. in Saukville, Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012 campaign story. On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident...
Cutting Off Emergency Unemployment Benefits Hasn't Pushed People Back To Work Five Thirty Eight ...Of the roughly 1.3 million Americans whose benefits disappeared with the end of the program, only a quarter had found jobs as of March, about the same success rate as when the program was still in effect; roughly another quarter had given up searching...
Larry Summers: Student Debt Is Slowing The U.S. Housing Recovery Wall Street Journal ...Former White House adviser Lawrence Summers said Wednesday that student debt is slowing the housing recovery and the broader economic recovery, adding a prominent voice to the debate in Washington...
Over 100 McDonald's Workers Arrested Protesting Outside Shareholder Meeting Think Progress ...More than 100 workers and dozens of other protesters were arrested during peaceful protests outside McDonald's corporate headquarters on Wednesday. On Thursday, a thousand McDonald's workers and their supporters are marching on the company's Oak Brook, Illinois campus...
Sallie Mae Torments Faithful Student Borrowers After Co-Signers Die Huffington Post ...Seven borrowers who had been paying their Sallie Mae student loans on time for years were unexpectedly threatened with asset seizures after a Sallie Mae contractor demanded they immediately repay tens of thousands of dollars simply because a family member had died...
Miscellaneous
Ray LaHood Declares U.S. Highways ‘One Big Pothole’ at ALK Summit Truckinginfo ...Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood opened the second day of the ALK Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J., on Wednesday by telling attendees that while the U.S. is "the greatest country in the world [our] transportation and infrastructure is a big mess..."
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions The Guardian ...A landmark surveillance bill, likely to pass the US House of Representatives on Thursday, is hemorrhaging support from the civil libertarians and privacy advocates who were its champions from the start...
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.08.13
Teamster UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Recommend New Tentative Agreement teamster.org ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country endorsed a new tentative national agreement that would provide for major economic improvements and protect work and jobs at a time when most LTL companies are cutting wages and benefits...
New Safety Recommendations for Maintenance of Way Rail Employees teamster.org ...The Fatality Analysis of Maintenance of Way Employees and Signalmen (FAMES) Committee has released a report on its analysis of “Fatal Accidents occurring under Train Approach Warning (Watchmen/Lookout Protection), and includes specific recommendations to improve safety...
Retirement Shouldn’t Be Sacrificed for Corporate Welfare teamster.org ...“The absolute last thing we should do … is allow [Social Security] to begin to be dismantled inch by inch.”...
Teamsters Continue to Stand in Solidarity with Korean Railway Workers teamster.org ...Teamsters are standing in solidarity with Korean workers as they prepare for general strikes on January 9 and 16...
Angry Workers Swarm Seoul’s Streets, Demand President Resign In These Times ...South Korea may best be known for slick electronics and saccharine pop tunes. Instead, the streets were filled with throngs of angry union workers, facing down riot police in a show of defiance against a government plan that they say would lead to layoffs and privatization...
Scalia’s golden chance to kill unions The Salon ...A "sweeping" ruling could force right to work on every U.S. public sector worker, Harvard's Ben Sachs warns...
Senate moves ahead with measure to extend long-term unemployment benefits Washington Post ...The Senate voted Tuesday to move ahead with a measure to extend long-term federal unemployment benefits to more than 1 million Americans for three months…
What happened to US life expectancy? Incidental Economist ...Possible causes of this departure from international norms were highlighted in a 2013 Institute of Medicine report and have been ascribed to many factors, only some of which are attributed to medical care financing or delivery. These include differences in cultural norms that affect healthy behaviors (gun ownership, unprotected sex, drug use, seat belts), obesity, and risk of trauma...
Letter to My Elected Officials Regarding "Fast Track" on TPP (opinion) OpEd News ...The exclamation point on the demise of democracy in the once Superpower may well be the Trans Pacific Partnership, TPP, which has been devised by 600+ corporate attorneys, and will be monitored by the same, behind those closed doors that even YOU, our elected official, has been shut from knowing what is contained in the document, said to be some 26 Chapters with only three (3) having to do with "trade"...
Leaked Email Exposes Bank Of America's Social Media Spies Popular Resistance ...An email uncovered through a Washington state public records request has confirmed the existence of a Bank of America “social media trolling” spy team, used to carry out surveillance on multiple political groups...
JP Morgan Pulled $275 Million Of Its Own Money From Madoff Feeder Funds Months Before His Arrest Business Insider ...JP Morgan was aware of the Ponzi scheme before Madoff's arrest...
Boeing reports record orders and deliveries for 2013 BBC News ...Boeing reports record orders and deliveries last year, showing they can definitely pay their workers more...
The U.S. Government Uses Sweatshops, Too In These Times ...The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh last April exposed the cruel link between abusive Global South factories and the Western brands they supply. But while consumers may have been shocked to learn of the Gap or Benetton's latest designs strewn amid the wreckage of “death trap” factories, they might have missed that much of the clothing churned out by overseas sweatshops is custom-made for Uncle Sam...
America declared an ‘unconditional war on poverty’ 50 years ago, but you’d never know it The Guardian ...This 8 January marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of “unconditional war on poverty.” But a half century later, it’s time to re-examine the case Johnson made in 1964 for remedying poverty in America...
Workplace Deaths Among Miners Rose In 2013 ThinkProgress ...The number of deaths among miners caused by work-related accidents in 2013 increased to 42 last year, up from 36 in 2012, according to the latest Department of Labor (DOL) data...
Retirement Theft in 4 Despicable Steps AlterNet ...American workers are being cheated out of the retirement they've paid for all their lives...
Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012 Washington Post ...The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors…
Here’s Why Some Of The World’s Billionaires Dislike Pope Francis carbonated.tv ...How long were the rich going to remain silent and let the Pope Francis attack capitalism and consumerism? Not long. Billionaire feathers have been ruffled and they are making it known...
Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants To Take Away Workers’ Weekends ThinkProgress ...Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R) is pushing to undo the state’s law that employers have to provide their employees with at least one day off a week, the Huffington Post reports...
Oklahoma labor commissioner opposes OSHA proposal Kansas City Star ...Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello will testify against a proposed federal regulation made by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that Costello says is "fraught with peril."...
New Safety Recommendations for Maintenance of Way Rail Employees teamster.org ...The Fatality Analysis of Maintenance of Way Employees and Signalmen (FAMES) Committee has released a report on its analysis of “Fatal Accidents occurring under Train Approach Warning (Watchmen/Lookout Protection), and includes specific recommendations to improve safety...
Retirement Shouldn’t Be Sacrificed for Corporate Welfare teamster.org ...“The absolute last thing we should do … is allow [Social Security] to begin to be dismantled inch by inch.”...
Teamsters Continue to Stand in Solidarity with Korean Railway Workers teamster.org ...Teamsters are standing in solidarity with Korean workers as they prepare for general strikes on January 9 and 16...
Angry Workers Swarm Seoul’s Streets, Demand President Resign In These Times ...South Korea may best be known for slick electronics and saccharine pop tunes. Instead, the streets were filled with throngs of angry union workers, facing down riot police in a show of defiance against a government plan that they say would lead to layoffs and privatization...
Scalia’s golden chance to kill unions The Salon ...A "sweeping" ruling could force right to work on every U.S. public sector worker, Harvard's Ben Sachs warns...
Senate moves ahead with measure to extend long-term unemployment benefits Washington Post ...The Senate voted Tuesday to move ahead with a measure to extend long-term federal unemployment benefits to more than 1 million Americans for three months…
What happened to US life expectancy? Incidental Economist ...Possible causes of this departure from international norms were highlighted in a 2013 Institute of Medicine report and have been ascribed to many factors, only some of which are attributed to medical care financing or delivery. These include differences in cultural norms that affect healthy behaviors (gun ownership, unprotected sex, drug use, seat belts), obesity, and risk of trauma...
Letter to My Elected Officials Regarding "Fast Track" on TPP (opinion) OpEd News ...The exclamation point on the demise of democracy in the once Superpower may well be the Trans Pacific Partnership, TPP, which has been devised by 600+ corporate attorneys, and will be monitored by the same, behind those closed doors that even YOU, our elected official, has been shut from knowing what is contained in the document, said to be some 26 Chapters with only three (3) having to do with "trade"...
Leaked Email Exposes Bank Of America's Social Media Spies Popular Resistance ...An email uncovered through a Washington state public records request has confirmed the existence of a Bank of America “social media trolling” spy team, used to carry out surveillance on multiple political groups...
JP Morgan Pulled $275 Million Of Its Own Money From Madoff Feeder Funds Months Before His Arrest Business Insider ...JP Morgan was aware of the Ponzi scheme before Madoff's arrest...
Boeing reports record orders and deliveries for 2013 BBC News ...Boeing reports record orders and deliveries last year, showing they can definitely pay their workers more...
The U.S. Government Uses Sweatshops, Too In These Times ...The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh last April exposed the cruel link between abusive Global South factories and the Western brands they supply. But while consumers may have been shocked to learn of the Gap or Benetton's latest designs strewn amid the wreckage of “death trap” factories, they might have missed that much of the clothing churned out by overseas sweatshops is custom-made for Uncle Sam...
America declared an ‘unconditional war on poverty’ 50 years ago, but you’d never know it The Guardian ...This 8 January marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of “unconditional war on poverty.” But a half century later, it’s time to re-examine the case Johnson made in 1964 for remedying poverty in America...
Workplace Deaths Among Miners Rose In 2013 ThinkProgress ...The number of deaths among miners caused by work-related accidents in 2013 increased to 42 last year, up from 36 in 2012, according to the latest Department of Labor (DOL) data...
Retirement Theft in 4 Despicable Steps AlterNet ...American workers are being cheated out of the retirement they've paid for all their lives...
Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012 Washington Post ...The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors…
Here’s Why Some Of The World’s Billionaires Dislike Pope Francis carbonated.tv ...How long were the rich going to remain silent and let the Pope Francis attack capitalism and consumerism? Not long. Billionaire feathers have been ruffled and they are making it known...
Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants To Take Away Workers’ Weekends ThinkProgress ...Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R) is pushing to undo the state’s law that employers have to provide their employees with at least one day off a week, the Huffington Post reports...
Oklahoma labor commissioner opposes OSHA proposal Kansas City Star ...Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello will testify against a proposed federal regulation made by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that Costello says is "fraught with peril."...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)