Talking to your right-wing relatives over the holidays

We all have things we love about this time of  year. And things we don't.

Time off from work, receiving gifts, Christmas cookies and seeing our kids' eyes light up when they open the presents we got them are all in the good column. On the other hand, navigating crowded shopping malls, fighting through traffic and busy airports - these are not pleasant.

Now labor friend and economist Robert Reich has a new video to guide you through another unpleasant part of the holidays: talking to your right-wing relatives who want to give you an earful about how terrible unions are and how "big government" is hurting the corporate "job creators."

Reich plays the part of crotchety conservative uncle and the better-informed progressive who debunks all of "Uncle Bob's" anti-union, anti-worker arguments. In the latter role, Reich points out that Uncle Bob's gripping about paying high taxes to support lazy poor people is unfounded. In fact, Reich explains, while low-income folks are working harder than ever (more than 40-hour weeks and multiple jobs), they are also paying a larger portion of their earnings in taxes than the wealthy whose taxes are at an all-time low.

And while Uncle Bob is pretty sure that raising the minimum wage will cause the sky to fall, Reich points out that raising the minimum wage actually doesn't destroy jobs. With more money to spend, a higher minimum wage in workers' pockets means more consumer demand, which in turn requires businesses to hire more people. 

Predictably, Uncle Bob blames unions - it's not clear what be blames unions for but we can assume he thinks most bad things in our economy are the unions' fault. Reich shuts up Uncle Bob quickly by reminding him that the heyday of the American middle class of the 50s and 60s was a direct result of high unionization in America. As union membership has fallen, wages have stagnated and the middle class is withering away.

Check out the entire video and enjoy your time with family this holiday season.  

Today's Teamster News 10.18.13

Chicago Teamsters Secure Five-Year Agreement for Nearly 700 Workers  teamster.org   ...For approximately 700 Chicago area valet drivers, Teamsters Local 727 has secured a new contract that includes union health care coverage for full-time workers at dozens of companies...
Suburban Chicago Printers Choose Teamster Power  teamster.org   ...Web press operators and full service print production workers in suburban Chicago overwhelmingly joined the Teamsters Union and ratified their first union contract last month...
Font ResizeAmerican Canyon, Teamsters reach employee contract deal  Vallejo Times-Herald   ...A long-awaited contract deal with the city's middle managers represented by Teamsters Local 315 has been approved that includes restoration of furlough days and a 1.5 percent raise over the next three years...
DeKalb County Opens Door to Teamsters Representing Sanitation Workers  WABE News   ...Starting next year, DeKalb County’s 450 sanitation workers will have a new route to air their grievances, and they will have a union with them...
Grocers, unions talk, prepare for possible strike  The Olympian   ...Talks resumed Wednesday between major Puget Sound area grocery chains and unions, including the Teamsters, that represent 21,000 of their workers...
Local Union Communications: The Social Art of Educating Members' TLA to be Held December 3-4 teamster.org   ...This two-day Teamsters Leadership Academy (TLA), hosted by Local 986 in Los Angeles, will explore effective ways Teamster affiliates can communicate with members through the use of social networking, fliers, newsletters, websites and media...
ILA Strike Continues at Baltimore  Journal of Commerce Online   ...A longshoremen’s strike that has idled the Port of Baltimore continued into its second day yesterday. The workers struck on Oct. 16 after rejecting a proposed contract with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore. The port’s other ILA locals refused to cross the picket lines...
Organized labor criticizes county for its union dealings  Chronicle-Telegram   ...Labor leaders criticized Ohio’s Lorain County leaders for how they deal with unions, including paying large sums to a law firm that specializes in union busting to handle the county's contract negotiations and human resource issues…
Corporations Now Using Foreign Tribunals to Attack Domestic Court Rulings  Public Citizen   ...This dangerous trend of private three-person tribunals assuming the authority to contravene domestic court decisions at the behest of multinational corporations should raise the ire of those who support the independence of courts, the sovereignty of nations, the rule of law, or even the core democratic notion that a system of legal decision-making should be accountable to those who will live with the decisions...
Reich: Their Real Goal: To Make Us All So Cynical About Government, We Give Up (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Then they're free to take over everything...
Why Elizabeth Warren Is 'NOT Celebrating' The End Of The Government Shutdown  Huffington Post   ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) emailed supporters late Wednesday to say how glad she is that the government shutdown ended and the U.S. didn't default. But she made it clear she isn't celebrating...
Dying Middle-Class Neighborhoods Being Replaced By A Segregated Society  Huffington Post   ...The divide between rich and poor isn’t just growing in America’s bank accounts. It’s also splitting apart its neighborhoods, cutting the country in two, according to a new study...
Washington budget fight hurts auto sales  Muscatine Journal   ...Auto sales tailed off last week, and some dealers and experts are pointing the finger at bickering politicians in Washington. Collected data shows that sales fell in the second week of October as the partial shutdown of the government and the debate over the nation's borrowing dragged on...
Illinois Supreme Court to hear lawsuit on lawmaker pay  Associated Press   ...The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear Gov. Pat Quinn's appeal of a ruling that his veto of money for lawmaker pay was unconstitutional. Quinn said the lawmakers didn't deserve to get paid until they address Illinois' nearly $100 billion pension crisis...
Michigan to withhold payment to Xerox over Bridge Card outage  Associated Press   ...Michigan will withhold money from Xerox Corp. because a technical problem crashed the state’s debit card-style food stamps program. People in 17 states from Alabama to California were unable to use their food stamp cards on Saturday morning…
Mortgage settlements helped few  New York Times   ...The $25 billion national mortgage settlement has fallen far short of the original predictions, and more people gave up their homes in short sales than received debt reduction that would have allowed them to stay in their homes...
Walmart-contracted warehouse fined for unsafe working conditions  San Bernardino County Sun   ...A warehouse contracted by Walmart to move suitcases has been fined by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health for a number of unsafe and illegal working conditions...
U.K. joins currency manipulation probe  CNNMoney   ...A global crackdown into foreign exchange trading is gathering pace as U.K. regulators investigate possible misconduct by a number of firms in the $5.3 trillion foreign currency market...

Powerful new film exposes inequality for all (video)

Who is looking out for the American worker?  The perky, diminutive Robert Reich, in the classroom, in the news media and now in a movie.

In his fight for a better America, Reich explodes across the screen in director Jacob Kornbluth’s “Inequality for All."
 
Structured around his “Wealth and Poverty” lectures, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor comes off as the funny, self-deprecating college professor you wish you could take.  Driving around in a Mini Cooper, Reich talks to college students, a billionaire businessman and laid-off workers to find out why so many Americans continue to be so devastated five years after the 2008 banking crisis.

The conclusion: Without a strong middle class to guard against recessions, the economy is seriously vulnerable to any hiccup that comes along.

Using personal stories, interactive graphics, and a powerful speaker, “Inequality for All” is an entertaining and dynamic look at how inequality affects America.  Instead of shoving a bunch of buzzwords at the audience or showering them in statistics, Reich delves into the issues by releasing facts that are guaranteed to make anyone pause.

On inequality: The wealthiest 400 Americans own more than half of Americans combined.  The last time the
U.S. was this unequal was 1928 – the year before the Great Depression.

On outsourcing: Japan makes 28 percent more of the profits from an iPhone than America.  Although China gets belabored for outsourcing, they only make 3.6 percent of an iPhone’s profit.

Democrats, Republicans, and Independents will come together to enjoy the film.  Reich and Kornbluth are able to create a genuinely informative, accessible and entertaining movie for all workers to enjoy.

The film is now in movie theaters; click here to see if it's playing in a theater near you. Or you can order a copy for a screening in your community or union hall here.