Today's Teamster News 01.14.16

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters, West Virginia Workers Stand Strong Against Right to Work  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall joined hundreds of labor union and community members at the State Capitol today to voice their opposition to right-to-work legislation introduced today in West Virginia. Delegates are expected to move forward on the measure as early as tomorrow...
NLRB Joint-Employer Rule Likely Headed For Appellate Review  Law360  ...The National Labor Relations Board’s new joint-employer standard is likely headed to an appeals court, after the board's ruling on Tuesday that Browning-Ferris and staffing agency Leadpoint, the parties in the case central to the new standard, unlawfully refused to bargain with the Teamsters. The ruling came four months after the NLRB adopted a looser joint-employer test...
Federal Appellate Court Enforces NLRB Ruling Against Chicago Parking Valet  Local 727  ...A federal appellate court judge has enforced a decision and order issued last year by the National Labor Relations Board against Chicago Parking Valet in which the NLRB found the company had engaged in unfair labor practices. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the NLRB’s decision and once again ordered the company to desist its unfair labor practices...
Teamsters Local 1932 hires new general manager  Examiner ...On Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the San Bernardino Public Employees Association/ Teamsters Local 1932 Board of Directors, General Manager Deidre Rodriguez stepped down. The board voted to hire Randy Korgan as the new manager in her place. Korgan most recently served as Teamsters Joint Council 42 Organizing Director...
Teamsters Members Win Over $70,000 in Overtime Back Pay  Local 2010  ...Christmas came for early for some members of Teamsters Local 2010 working in the UCSD Eye Institute. On December 22, 2015, 19 workers were awarded checks ranging from $126 to $5,074 for back pay owed for unpaid overtime. “If it wasn’t for the Teamsters we would have never gotten paid,” Leslie Medina said.  “With your help, we got what was owed us"...
Treasury Department Announces Additional January Public Sessions for Feedback on CSPF Rescue Plan  Teamster.org  ...The Treasury Department announced the details today for two additional public sessions in January for Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund retirees and participants to offer feedback on the proposed rescue plan. The sessions will be hosted by Treasury appointee Kenneth R. Feinberg...
Large pension cuts topic of Teamsters meeting Thursday  Kansas City Star  ...Kansas City area retired Teamsters will meet Thursday in another effort to head off large cuts to their pension checks set to hit next summer. The Missouri-Kansas City Committee to Protect Our Pensions is holding the afternoon session to educate and mobilize beneficiaries of the Central States Pension Fund. Thursday’s meeting includes an address by Jim Kabell, president of the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
DuluxGroup workers in Australia strike amid looming job cuts  Sydney Morning Herald   ...More than 100 staff at DuluxGroup have been barricaded from the paint maker's Brisbane factory after they voted to go on strike following the company's refusal to remove a cap on redundancy entitlements.
Dulux - which has branded the strike as "opportunistic" -  has installed temporary fencing on council land near the factory at Rocklea...
In Name of Patient Safety and Future of National Healthcare, UK Doctors Strike  Common Dreams  ...Tens of thousands of junior doctors across the United Kingdom joined in strikes and pickets on Tuesday, protesting what they describe as "a fundamental breakdown in trust...for which the government is directly responsible." The strike stems from a dispute over pay and working conditions, weekend shifts in particular...
Toronto's outside workers union announces strike mandate  Toronto Sun  ...Toronto's outside civic workers have voted to strike if negotiations with the city fail, the union announced late Wednesday. CUPE Local 416, representing 6,000 employees including garbage collectors, sought the strike mandate after the city applied for a provincial conciliator late last month...
Canada won't commit yet to Feb. 4 TPP signing  CBC  ...Canada's international trade minister says her government hasn't decided whether it will participate in an expected signing ceremony for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Auckland, New Zealand early next month. "We are aware that some of the countries are talking about a signing in New Zealand. Canada hasn't yet taken a decision," Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Vancouver Tuesday...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Obama's man appeals to Turnbull for help  Sydney Morning Herald  ...The US Ambassador to Australia says he wants Malcolm Turnbull to argue the case for the Trans-Pacific Partnership when he visits Washington next week, where members of Congress are undecided about how to vote. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama used his last State of the Union address to appeal to Congress to approve the 12-nation mega trade deal...
Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia might join TPP, says Miti  The Star  ...Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have actually expressed interest to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), said the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti). Miti said this in its written response to issues raised by Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram recently that countries such as Thailand and the Philippines had opted to distance themselves from this treaty...
Guest of Rep. Peter DeFazio at State of the Union has seen effect of trade agreements firsthand  Register-Guard  ...DeFazio places the blame for Phillips’ troubles squarely on the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which he and other critics say rewarded American companies that moved jobs overseas. NAFTA supporters say the tariff-cutting, investment-encouraging deal has helped boost the economies of the three signatories — the United States, Canada and Mexico. DeFazio has been a long-standing critic, however...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right to work one of 1st bills out of gate; opposition organized  Metro News  ...Republican legislative leaders are making right to work legislation a top priority for the 2016 Regular Legislative Session. The first bill introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday was the one written to make West Virginia a right to work state. Opponents of the legislation in West Virginia called right to work “destructive” legislation that, in their views, would clear the way for lower wages and the weakening of work protections...
Minimum wage question headed toward 2016 ballot in Maine  Maine Sun Journal  ...Leaders of a statewide referendum campaign to incrementally boost Maine's minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $12 an hour by 2025 said Wednesday they would deliver more than 80,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state's office Thursday. The campaign, Mainers for Fair Wages, needed just over 61,000 signatures from Maine voters to put the question on the ballot in 2016...
Supporters of redistricting amendment nearing signature goal  The Southern  ...Changing the way Illinois’ legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governor’s stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support...
Workers In Right To Work States Are Less Likely To Have Access To Retirement Plans  NH Labor News  ...Wide differences in access to and participation in employer-based retirement plans exist across states, with variations by employer size and industry type as well as by workers’ income, age, education, race and ethnicity, according to a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The report, Who’s In, Who’s Out: A Look at Access to Employer-Based Retirement Plans and Participation in the States, examines the rates of access to and participation in plans in all 50 states...
New York Governor Calls For Paid Family Leave With Moving Story About Caring For His Late Father  Think Progress  ...In his State of the State address on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called for the passage of legislation that would ensure that state residents can take 12 weeks of paid family leave for a new child or a serious illness. Toward the end of his speech, he shared the story of caring for his late father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, at the end of his life last year...
What's next for new Jersey paid sick leave bill?  NorthJersey.com  ...The failure to advance a sick leave bill feared by business leaders but once touted by state New Jersey Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto as a top legislative priority has left both sides wondering what comes next. The bill, which would have required employers to give their workers paid sick leave, was never even posted for a vote...
NAACP: Postpone NC voter ID trial until after primaries  Journal Now  ...The N.C. NAACP is asking a federal judge to postpone a trial on the state’s photo ID requirement until after the March 15 primary, according to court documents filed Tuesday. The trial is set to start Jan. 25 in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem. The state NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others sued North Carolina and Gov. Pat McCrory in 2013 after state Republican legislators passed a controversial sweeping elections law known as the Voter Information Verification Act...
Study: Minimum Wage Hikes Don't Hurt the Restaurant Industry  Eater  ...When restaurants raise prices to offset moderate increases to the minimum wage, the industry as a whole is not adversely affected. Like, at all. This is the conclusion of a study (see below) released last month by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration entitled "Have Minimum Wage Increases Hurt the Restaurant Industry? The Evidence Says No!"...
DC Council to consider bills on low-wage worker schedules  WJLA  ...The D.C. Council is considering two bills that are meant to provide low-wage workers with more predictable work hours. One bill would require the retail and food-service industries in the District of Columbia to provide their employees with written schedules at least 21 days in advance. The other would require janitors and maintenance workers in large office buildings to be given at least 30 hours of work per week...

U.S. LABOR
ArcelorMittal could idle some lines at Indiana Harbor  NWI Times  ...ArcelorMittal, one of Northwest Indiana's largest employers, may want to idle more operations at its steelmaking operations at Indiana Harbor in East Chicago. ArcelorMittal is currently discussing operations in East Chicago with the United Steelworkers union, as the two sides try to reach a new three-year labor pact...
Labor talks between Sonoma County, SEIU heading toward impasse  Press Democrat  ...Labor negotiations between Sonoma County and its largest union — representing more than half of the county’s 4,100 public employees — are nearing a stalemate that could drag out contract talks for months. The county has initiated impasse proceedings with the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which staged a three-day strike in November that disrupted some county services...
Sweet'N Low Workers Rally Outside Fort Greene Packing Plant to Save Jobs  DNA Info  ...Workers are saying “hell no” to Sweet’N Low manufacturer Cumberland Packing after the company announced last week it would end production at its Fort Greene plant. “We’re outraged, to say the least,” said UFCW Local 2013 President Louis Mark Carotenuto. Carotenuto said the workers, who have been called part of the Cumberland family, have since received little information about what’s going to happen to their jobs...
Mega-fleet XPO the latest to be hit with misclassification suit from port drivers  CCJ  ...Truck operators for three drayage carriers owned by carrier conglomerate XPO Logistics have filed a class action lawsuit seeking payment over alleged misclassification as contractors instead of employees, which led to lower wages and denial of state mandated breaks, plaintiffs claim...
Will St. Paul, Minnesota Teachers Soon Be Out on Strike?  In These Times  ...St. Paul teachers union organizer Patrick Burke says that the union has been practicing proactive behavior prevention strategies for a while now, with virtually no support from the district. The latest round of shocking school-based incidents, then, stand as more of a final straw than first steps on the road to a walk out. The union and district began contract negotiations in May of 2015, and Burke says the St. Paul Federation of Teachers put 25 proposals on the table...
UFW informs workers of undocumented rights in wake of ICE raids  Turnto23  ...One by one members of the UFW foundation approached people in Lamont passing out red cards that have the Fourth and Fifth Amendment on them in Spanish. The two amendments give workers constitutional protection from unlawful searches and the right to remain silent. On the other side of the card there are three statements that the UFW says the workers can say to the ICE agent...
Bar Associations Are Much More Like Unions Than Friedrichs’ Attorney Acknowledged  OnLabor  ...If the Supreme Court overturns Abood, it is not clear how States could continue to require lawyers to pay dues to State Bars.  Clearly much of what State bars do to regulate the legal profession involves questions of public policy.  And just as some teachers may disagree with the union’s position on teacher tenure or class size, some lawyers disagree with the bar association’s position on multi-jurisdictional practice or referral fees...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Myth of the middle class: Most Americans don’t even have $1,000 in savings  Salon  ...What exactly is the middle class? A new study suggests that the U.S. hardly even has one. More than half of Americans — 56 percent, to be exact — have less than $1,000 combined in their checking and savings accounts, according to a recent survey, Forbes reported...
Obama’s Immigration Raids Are Turning Latino Communities Into Ghost Towns  Think Progress  ...Even though the raids have so far been concentrated in Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia, there has been a ripple effect across the country. Latino immigrants in other states — afraid of becoming the next individuals arrested in what they perceive to be random targetings — are resorting to hiding in their homes, keeping their children home from school, and calling on legal residents to do their grocery shopping for them...
The influence of special interests extends to local editorial pages  Sunlight Foundation  ...The editorial pages of local newspapers still remain a key gathering place for debates about local and regional matters of importance. It is also a place where industries and individuals alike seek to influence policymakers at the local level. Alaska Dispatch News columnist Dermot Cole recently took this tactic to task after an op-ed on the seemingly obscure topic of occupational licensing was placed in the Dispatch News by Mark Holden, a senior vice president at Koch Industries...
Koch Daddy and the Nazis, a Revealing History from Jane Mayer  PR Watch  ...Mayer uncovers new information about how Fred Koch joined forces with a genuine Nazi sympathizer from the U.S. to build a refinery personally approved by Adolf Hitler himself, one of the three largest refineries in the Third Reich, which was used to create fuels for Hitler's deadly attacks on peaceful nations. While Mayer does not call Fred Koch a "Nazi sympathizer" himself, readers may disagree when reading Fred Koch's public praise for Germany under Hitler, as well as the other Axis powers, Japan and Italy...

Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley Address Police Violence and White Privilege at Brown and Black Forum  Truthout  ...Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley fielded pointed questions about police violence, racial justice, reparations, white privilege and deportations at the Iowa Brown & Black Forum on Monday night. The Iowa Brown & Black Forum has been bringing presidential candidates to one of the whitest states in the country in order for them to speak on issues of diversity since 1984...

Today's Teamster News 01.13.16

TEAMSTERS
Ken Hall: Know the truth about right-to-work  Gazette Mail  ...Today at the State Capitol in Charleston I will join scores of Teamsters, union members and everyday West Virginians to let lawmakers know that approving so-called right-to-work is no way to improve the state’s economic woes. Make no mistake, West Virginia’s economy is extremely fragile and struggling. Our state is heavily dependent on coal production and with demand and pricings falling — things outside our control — we are in for a continued rough ride...
Rally Slated For Wednesday Against Right To Work At WV Capitol  WCHTV  ...Labor union members plan to rally against right-to-work legislation at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The Teamsters Local Union 175 announced members from across the state plan to visit the state Capitol, according to a news release. Members said they will voice their opposition to the passage of right-to-work law...
Railway-Crew Transport Drivers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745  Teamster.org  ...On Thursday, January 7 drivers at Renzenberger, Inc., who transport crew members employed by Union Pacific Railroad, voted to join Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas. The road drivers, yard drivers, radius drivers, yard managers and yard coordinators at the company’s El Paso facility voted 27 to 1 to join Local 745. There are 54 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters look to fight pension cuts  Green Bay Press Gazette  ...Local Teamsters affected by Central States’ application to cut pension payouts have written letters, lobbied federal legislators and launched a local committee to coordinate efforts to oppose the cuts. Many are concerned that the cuts are not evenly distributed among retirees. “We’ve sent letters. We’ve met on this, but what do we do now?” retired Teamster Larry Holterman asked...
Hampden County sheriff candidate Nick Cocchi wins unanimous endorsement of Teamsters union  Mass Live  ...Nick Cocchi's latest round of support in his bid to become Hampden County sheriff comes from the Teamsters union, which resoundingly endorsed the Ludlow Democrat for the countywide job. "It is with great pleasure to inform you that the entire executive board of Teamsters Local 404 welcomes the opportunity to unanimously endorse your candidacy for sheriff of Hampden County"...
SMART TD, BLET petition FRA for speed signs  UTU.org  ...SMART TD and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) have submitted a petition to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for rulemaking that mandates uniform warning speed signs in advance of a permanent speed restriction. Recently, some railroads have begun removal of these safety indicators, which creates a hazard for operating crews and the public...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers strike at BHP Billiton's Chile-based Cerro Colorado mine  Mining Weekly  ...Unionised workers at global miner BHP Billiton's Cerro Colorado copper mine in Chile went on strike on Monday after contract negotiations failed, revealed a union official and the company. Workers "abandoned the mine, and the strike became effective as of eight in the morning", said union director Gustavo Tapia...
UK junior doctors' strike live: Latest updates as NHS workers walk out  Mirror  ...The Junior Doctors' Strike has been running since 8am, and medics are continuing to picket outside hospitals. Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, prompted fury and claims of "tactics" from doctors today by declaring a 'major incident' and telling its junior doctors to leave the picket lines within minutes of the strike starting...
Workers strike, block Apple subcontractor factory in Indonesia  Jakarta Post  ...Some 2,000 workers from PT Amtek Engineering in Batam, Riau Islands province, went on strike as planned on Monday, blocking the main and only entrance to the company’s factory. Gathering at the Cammo industrial area from as early as 6:30 a.m., local time, workers only cleared the entrance gate after 10 military personnel used force to make them move away from the gate...
Obama makes TPP push in SOTU  Politico  ...President Barack Obama during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night made his expected appeal to Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing it would open overseas markets to more U.S. goods and help the United States compete against China in the global economy. The remarks were met with scattered applause...
Obama expected to push Congress to pass TPP  The Hill ...Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is sounding a cautious tone about the Asia-Pacific trade deal's chances in Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee chairman said that passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other nations “is difficult but doable” during a Politico Morning Money event Monday evening...
Seniors Protest Trans-Pacific Partnership  OPB  ...Seniors from Portland and about 20 other cities across the nation, are protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Tuesday. They chose Tuesday because President Obama is expected to push for the trade deal’s passage during his State of the Union address. Scott Blau with the Oregon Alliance for Retired Americans, says the TPP is bad for consumers, especially those who rely on prescription drugs...
Administration’s TPP Honey SOTU Guest: Falsely Sweet Story Exemplifies TPP Sales Job  Eyes on Trade  ...Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Obama SOTU guest Ronna Rice and her company Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey should be congratulated on their success. Tomorrow the President will no doubt talk about how the TPP will help her sell more honey. Yet like much of the White House TPP sale job, the nice narrative is not supported by the facts...
McDonald’s Faces EU Antitrust Complaint  Wall Street Journal  ...McDonald’s Corp. could face fresh regulatory headwinds in Europe after three Italian consumer groups filed an antitrust complaint with the European Union alleging that the fast-food chain imposes illegal terms on its franchisees. The complaint, which is supported by U.S. and European trade unions, alleges that McDonald’s abuses its dominant market position and harms consumers by charging its franchisees rents that exceed market rates by up to 10 times...
Cambodia: Collision Claims More Garment Worker Lives  Solidarity Center  ...Five garment workers lost their lives yesterday and dozens more were injured when the two flat-bed trucks they were commuting to work on collided, according to Solidarity Center staff at the site of the incident. One of the trucks was carrying 50 people and the other more than 70 workers. The deaths left at least eight children without their mother. Agence France-Presse reports that 13 of the injured workers are in critical condition...
High Tech Manufacturing’s Disposable Workers  The Nation  ...The global electronics industry boasts of technical perfection and seamless production. But look closer and you can spot assembly lines tangled with rotten nerve endings and veins swollen with toxins. Workers of the high tech economy face hazards that echo the lethal smokestacks of Dickensian England. This time, however, it’s not Manchester where workers are ailing, but the semiconductor capitals of the world in East Asia...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Faith leaders add voices to Maryland sick-leave movement  Washington Post  ...Maryland faith leaders on Monday joined the swelling ranks of sick-leave advocates backing legislation to require employers in the state to pay workers for time off when they are ill — a proposal that has languished in Congress but found limited success at the state and local levels...
Higher Louisiana minimum wage?  WWL  ...Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards wants to make it a priority to increase workers' earnings, including raising minimum wage in Louisiana. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It's been that way since 2009. Twenty-nine other states and Washington, DC have higher mandatory minimum wages, but not Louisiana...
Anchorage Democratic senator proposes $15 minimum wage  Alaska Dispatch News  ...An Anchorage Democratic senator is proposing that the state increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The proposal is included in legislation from Sen. Johnny Ellis. The bill also calls for an annual report on pay practices in Alaska. It was released Friday in a wave of measures filed ahead of the upcoming legislative session...
Oregon lawmakers scramble closer to deals on minimum wage, housing relief  Oregon Live  ...Lawmakers, advocates and Gov. Kate Brown are circling around compromises on two of the signature issues looming over next month's short legislative session: housing relief and whether to raise Oregon's minimum wage. Progress on both efforts, and several others, is expected to become clear during a three-day round of committee hearings set to start Wednesday morning...
Activists call for hike in Indiana's minimum wage  WTHR  ...A group of Hoosiers wants to more than double the state's minimum wage. Indiana's minimum wage currently sits at $7.25 an hour (the same as the federal rate), but a group of activists wants to raise that to $15 an hour (the same President Barack Obama lobbied for at the federal level)...
Kentucky Senate again seeks to repeal prevailing wage law for school construction projects  Herald Leader  ...Senate Republicans again are trying to exempt school and university construction from Kentucky’s prevailing wage law, which generally sets higher wage rates for public works projects. In past legislative sessions, the Democratic-led House, backed by labor unions, has thwarted Republican efforts to weaken the prevailing wage...
Counties still await right-to-work ruling  Daily News  ...Laws regarding unions and workplaces are in the news this week, but a ruling on a local right-to-work ordinance is still in the hands of a federal judge. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a highly watched case regarding mandatory union dues being paid by California teachers. In August, U.S. District Judge David Hale heard similar arguments in Louisville regarding Hardin County’s right-to-work law...
NAACP leader says NC not being clear on new voter ID law  WXII  ...The president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP says the state isn't being clear on the requirements for the new voter identification law. The Rev. William Barber told a news conference in Durham on Tuesday that the state hasn't provided voters with adequate information on their rights on election day...

U.S. LABOR
SEIU prepares for contract negotiations with SSM, calls for $15 an hour minimum wage  STL Today  ...The Service Employees International Union plans to seek a wage increase as the labor union prepares for its first contract negotiations with St. Louis University Hospital’s new owner, SSM Health. A handful of SEIU members petitioned outside St. Louis University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon calling for the minimum wage to be at least $15 per hour...
Hundreds of Sweet'N Low Workers to Lose Jobs as Plant Stops Manufacturing  DNAInfo  ...Hundreds of local workers will lose their jobs after Cumberland Packing announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its Flushing Avenue plant Friday. The company, which produces Sweet’N Low, said it will transition out of the packing and manufacturing business within the next year and outsource work to other “co-packing” facilities...
XPO Logistics Subsidiaries Sued for Misclassifying Drivers  Wall Street Journal  ...Three trucking company subsidiaries of XPO Logistics Inc. were sued in California on Monday for allegedly misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors. The lawsuit seeking class-action status, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, argues that drivers for XPO subsidiaries Pacer Cartage Inc., Harbor Rail Transport and PDS Transportation Inc. failed to pay minimum wage, provide meal breaks and rest breaks and reimburse business expenses...
The under-the-radar profit-maximizing scheduling practice that can put workers in a “downward spiral”  Washington Post  ...In the world of high-end retail, salespeople have long supplemented their modest salaries with commissions for transactions they helped close. More recently, however, employers have added a twist: The most productive workers also get the busiest shifts, both as a reward for their high performance, and to boost revenues as much as possible. But Giving the busiest hours to the most productive workers boosts sales by pitting staff against each other...
Will the U.S. Supreme Court Gut Public-Employee Unions?  The Atlantic  ...The most important fact about Monday’s oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is that this case—one of the most important of the term—will be decided on the basis of no facts at all. The petitioners in Friedrichs are asking the Court to hobble unions that represent more than 9 million public employees in 23 states and the District of Columbia. That decision will have large consequences...
Raising Retirement Age Disproportionately Hurts Poor  Bloomberg  ...The rich are increasingly outliving the poor, meaning policies aimed at delaying retirement could disproportionately hurt low socioeconomic status workers, new research shows. A disproportionately longer period of retirement means more years of collecting Social Security, Medicare and other government benefits for higher socioeconomic groups...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
White House, Hill Dems clash over immigration raids  Politico  ...Democratic furor over the Obama administration’s immigration raids erupted Tuesday when a senior White House official was summoned to the Capitol to meet with angry lawmakers and a top Senate Democrat pressed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to pause the controversial operations. The Democrats’ letter had criticized Obama for welcoming refugees from other parts of the world but treating immigrants from Central America differently...
Private Probation Companies Have Created A Two-Tiered Justice System. This Congressman Is Fighting Back.  Think Progress  ...More than 1,000 courts around the country contract with private companies, which promise cities that they will recoup revenue from those who owe fines and fees on things like traffic tickets. Many cities see them as a good bargain because the companies don’t charge anything for their services. Instead, they tack on extra fees to the probationers themselves, often people who are too poor to pay what they owe in the first place...
Why is Ramsey Orta, Man Who Filmed Police Killing of Eric Garner, the Only One Criminally Charged?  Democracy Now  ...As Sgt. Kizzy Adonis becomes the first officer to face reprimand for Eric Garner’s death, the only person present that day to be criminally charged is the young man who filmed it. Ramsey Orta, who recorded the fatal chokehold on his cellphone, has been arrested multiple times since. Orta says police have deliberately targeted him for capturing Garner’s death on video...
How Years Of Welfare Politics Is Leaving Thousands To Freeze This Winter  Think Progress  ...The increase in people going without heating assistance for the winter reflects an unnecessary strain placed on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by Congress. Because Congress never puts enough money into LIHEAP to actually deliver on the ambitions of the program, plenty of people who are eligible for the aid go without it every year. Federal funding for the program has fallen by about a third since 2010...
Obama’s hypocrisy: He said blame Wall Street, not food stamps — but he bailed out bankers and cut help for the hungry  Salon  ...“Food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did,” Obama declared in his final State of the Union address. There is a problem with this, however: Obama cut food stamps and bailed out Wall Street, punishing none of the people he readily admits caused the crisis...
Tavis Smiley Calls Out Corporate Media for Uncritical Coverage of "Racial Arsonist" Donald Trump  Democracy Now  ...The broadcaster Tavis Smiley made headlines this week for an appearance on ABC’s "This Week" when he called out Donald Trump for being an "unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonist." Trump responded by calling Smiley a "hater and racist." Smiley responds to Trump while also criticizing the corporate media for what he calls a lax response to the Republican front-runner’s views...

High court hears critical union case

The most important union-related case in more than a generation was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court this morning, and its effects could be wide-reaching for the Teamsters and other unions.

A negative ruling in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association involving public workers and their unions could hurt all workers nationwide in their fight for their rights and decency on the job. The case pits nine anti-union teachers against the two teachers unions in California who represent them and against the state. The issue is whether states can order anti-union workers – whom, however, the union represents -- to pay “agency fees” to cover costs of contract bargaining and administration, such as defending grievances.

Maryann Parker, associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Unions, said:

This case should be seen for what it is: It would place substantial limitations on the ability of working people to advocate for themselves. In terms of what’s happening in the country [to workers, their wages, their declining standards of living and their rights], it’s very important.

The plaintiffs say such orders and laws violate their free speech rights by forcing them to support union political positions. But in reality, speakers at the Jan. 6 American Constitution Society panel said, Friedrichs is part of a broader movement to strip all workers of their rights.

 They lost, intentionally, in lower courts, but took their case to the High Court at the outright invitation in a prior court ruling by Associate Justice Samuel Alito. In a parallel, but more restricted case two years ago, Alito questioned whether any public worker unions had the right to require non-members to pay agency fees.

He didn’t win then. If he wins now, there would be wide ramifications for all workers, public and private, union and non-union. Parker noted that by outlawing the right for unions to charge anyone even “agency fees” – not to mention membership dues – unions would lose funds that help workers band together and fight for their rights and a better standard of living.

Parker and panelist Anisha Gupta, New York state’s deputy solicitor general, also stressed the practical impact of a decision for the Friedrichs dissidents. It would overturn almost 40 years of laws, precedents and cases involving public workers, following a 1976 High Court ruling in a case, Abood, involving the Detroit school board and its teachers unions.

A decision in the case is not expected until June.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report.

Today's Teamster News 12.22.15

OUR LAST NEWS ROUND-UP OF THE YEAR

TEAMSTERS
How did two leaders with Teamsters union shape St. Louis with the ‘total persons’ movement?  St. Louis Public Radio  ...In the 1950s and ‘60s, two labor leaders were influential in St. Louis through their involvement with a new kind of ideology: the “total persons” movement. Both were involved with Teamsters Local 688, forming a political alliance that would shape public services, civil rights and economic justice in the region. Their names were Harold Gibbons and Ernest Calloway...
Right-to-Work in West Virginia Could be Political War of Words  WOWK  ...In three weeks, the state legislature will begin considering a bill that could affect thousands of workers in the Mountain State. Senator Cole (R-WV) says his goal is, "Making West Virginia a place where businesses want to locate." Ken Hall of the Teamsters said, "It's all about driving the wages down. I guess they could create a lot of jobs, if they get the wage rates down to a dollar an hour"...
Is D.C.’s Taxicab Complaints System Improving?  City Paper  ...Royale Simms, the local management chief of the Teamsters-affiliated D.C. Taxi Operators Association, says the real problem that the commission needs to address is a lack of front-end training for taxi drivers. One area to start with is the test for obtaining a taxi license: Simms says potential drivers have three chances to take the test, and the questions are repeated in the same order each time. “So you can learn A, B, C, and pass”...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strikes at Amazon German warehouses up to Christmas  Reuters  ...Workers at German warehouses of U.S. online retailer Amazon.com Inc were called out on a new strike by labor union Verdi on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Verdi said in a statement that workers at six of the nine Amazon warehouses were joining the strike, which will run until Dec. 24 at four of the centers and for shorter periods at the others...
New Zealand logistics workers strike to disrupt Nike supply chain  Scoop  ...Approximately 20 workers from Toll Logistics’ Nike distribution centre in Auckland are commencing strike action today. The workers are striking over poor pay and to protest the company’s excessive use of labour hire employees. The company uses approximately 70 labour hire employees who receive minimum wages and no secure hours, said FIRST Union organiser Jared Abbott...
Mexican Border Workers Make A Push To Unionize  NPR  ...Delgado is among some 70 former workers who've set up a protest camp outside Lemark, located just 10 miles south of the Texas border. They claim they were fired soon after demanding higher pay. They say they're tired of struggling to provide for their families on a salary that, according to government figures, puts them below the poverty line...
‘When We Made Mistakes in Our Sewing, They Slapped Us’  The Nation  ... Over two years after one of the worst industrial accidents in recent memory, Bangladesh’s garment workers are “safer” now—or so they’ve been told. So why do they still go to work afraid?  Two years after labor and industry groups brokered a hard-won pact to improve factory safety, the Bangladesh Accord, most of the industry appears to be failing basic safety benchmarks....
Japan more than quadruples TPP economic boost estimate: Nikkei  Reuters  ...Japan's government has estimated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will boost the economy by 14 trillion yen ($115.5 billion) or about 3 percentage points, over four times more than its initial calculation, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. In March 2013, the Cabinet Office said joining the TPP would boost gross domestic product by 3.2 trillion yen or 0.66 percentage point based on the assumption that all tariffs would be scrapped immediately after enactment...
Spanish Election Marks Another Rejection of Austerity  New York Times  ...European leaders and economists are still locked in a heated debate about whether austerity policies have done more to help or hurt people in the region, particularly in Europe’s heavily indebted south. But as the election Sunday in Spain showed, voters seem to have made up their minds...
Hedge Funds vs. Greece: Lobbyists Want "Cheap Ticket" to Speculation  Truthout  ....This summer, Greece's financial authorities fined 20 hedge funds for speculating against the Greek economy. Now, the main global lobby group for hedge funds is trying to tweak the EU's rules so they can have a free play in the future. Global hedge funds attacked Greek banks in the early part of 2015. These were the months when the Greek economy was particularly fragile...
County commissioners oppose TPP agreement  Hibbing Daily Tribune  ...St. Louis County commissioners on Tuesday solidified their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Commissioner Tom Rukavina of Pike Township brought the resolution forward after State Rep. Jason Metsa addressed the board earlier in the year on the TPP’s affect on local business and industry, which was unanimously approved...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage repeal may take longer to affect NWI   NWITimes  ...The 80-year-old system, which the Indiana General Assembly repealed this year, had been in place to ensure construction wages were in line with the local market, said Dewey Pearman, executive director of Construction Advancement Foundation. It also kept governments from having the power to inflate or depress the wages, he said. Common or prevailing construction wages went away July 1, and it's expected to have a big impact on Northwest Indiana...
Senate Leader: Mo. Right-to-Work Needs More Support in House  Ozarks First  ...Right-to-work is going to need more backing in the state House for it to receive time in the state Senate in 2016, according to the latter chamber’s leader. After leading an effort to bring that issue to a vote last session, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (R-Joplin) says it isn’t likely to have the support it needs in the House for the Senate to consider it...
Scott Walker Corruption Case Threatens to Implicate Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices  Mother Jones  ... For three years, prosecutors in Wisconsin tried to investigate what they believed was illegal campaign coordination between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and conservative outside groups. The investigation has become a political flash point in the state: Walker and conservatives claim it is a witch hunt led by liberal prosecutors, while liberals believe it is about the power of dark money in Wisconsin politics...
Democrats' effort to change N.J. redistricting pushes on despite Republican outcry  NJ.com  ...Democratic state lawmakers on Monday continued to move forward with a proposal aiming to overhaul the way New Jersey redraws its legislative districts despite an ongoing outcry from Republicans. The state redraws the districts every decade and won't do so again until 2021. But this resolution would put a question on next November's ballot asking voters whether to amend the New Jersey constitution to approve a number of changes to the process...
Business leaders propose alternatives to Long Beach’s minimum wage push  Press Telegram  ...The question of whether Long Beach employers will be required to pay a higher minimum wage is on pace to be answered in early 2016, and policymakers have competing studies offering labor’s and business group’s perspectives on the issue. Pro-labor and pro-business groups have released their own reports intended to bolster their sides’ arguments in favor of a $15 minimum or a compromise position backed by local business that would raise the minimum wage to $12.50...
Health service professionals seek minimum wage increase  WPTZ  ...Lori Lobdell has been working at the Advocacy and Resource Center for over 20 years and describes the work they do as amazing. She feels they should get more money. That's why she supporting a bill in the state Senate asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to raise the starting salary of human services workers to $15 an hour...

U.S. LABOR
UAW Brings Charges Against Volkswagen for Refusal to Bargain  ABC  ...The United Auto Workers is bringing charges against Volkswagen for refusing to bargain with a group of skilled workers who won a union vote at the German automaker's lone U.S. plant in Tennessee earlier this month. The UAW's Local 42 says in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that a Volkswagen representative on Monday declined to recognize or bargain with the union...
How Kohler employees' united front won new contract and 'livable wages'  The Guardian  ...Before the strike began on 15 November, Kohler, with 48 factories and 30,000 employees worldwide, threatened to move many of the production jobs from its headquarters city here, 57 miles north of Milwaukee, if it were forced to end its two-tier contract. Before walking out, the workers voted overwhelmingly – by a 94% majority – to authorize a strike...
Southwest Airlines suspends 100 ramp workers, alleges illegal sickout  Star Telegram  ...About 100 Southwest Airlines ramp workers are not feeling the love from their employer this holiday season after they were suspended without pay through January. The Transport Workers Union, which represents over 11,000 ground workers and baggage handlers, said the suspensions are in retaliation for some workers using the time off to attend a “strike preparedness” meeting held by the union...
SEIU puts $3M into ballot fight with California hospitals  Business Journal  ...Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West says it still has an agreement with the California Hospital Association to work on issues like Medi-Cal financing. “We are just preparing for all potential situations,” spokesman Sean Wherley said in an email. One of those options apparently includes moving ahead with a proposed November ballot initiative that would limit CEO pay, regulate charity care and cap hospital prices...
Why The Fed's Rate Hike Will Hit Black Workers Harder Than Whites  Huffington Post  ...The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday is bad news for black workers. The move is expected to put downward pressure on job creation by raising borrowing costs throughout the economy. While the rate hike is a modest measure on its own, it sets the stage for a series of additional developments that stand to have a much bigger contractionary effect on the economy...
When the Workers Become the Owners: Taking the Co-op Movement to the Next Level  Truthout  ...There's a revolution taking place in the US workforce - but you may not have heard about it. Around the country, workers are starting businesses that they democratically control and that financially benefit them. These businesses, called worker cooperatives, are owned and governed by the employees. Every worker is a member of the co-op, which gives them one share and one vote in the company's operations...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The U.S. Food System Has a Race Problem, and the Farm Bill Is the Cause — and Possible Solution  Alternet  ...The 10 largest mega-corporations generate $450 million annually in food sales. These companies’ CEOs earn, on average, 12 times what their workers make.  A new report out of the University of California, Berkeley, draws a direct line from these and other disparities to the the Farm Bill, the hulking, billion-dollar omnibus federal legislation...
‘Schlonged’: Trump’s Astonishingly Sexist Attack On Hillary  Think Progress   ...Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used a campaign stop in Michigan on Monday to make astonishingly sexist attacks against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. At one point, Trump told the Grand Rapids crowd that Clinton got “schlonged” by President Obama during their 2008 Democratic primary race. “Schlong” is a well-known reference to a man’s genitals. There are no alternative definitions for the word, according to Merriam-Webster...
Is Trump Channeling Working-Class Anger or Simple Racism?  (opinion) Slate  ...Trump is channeling class anger into prejudice, and exploiting the result. And Sanders isn’t the only person who thinks this. In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, President Obama offered similar sentiments. “[P]articularly blue-collar men have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, where they are no longer getting the same bargain that they got when they were going to a factory and able to support their families on a single paycheck,” said Obama...
'Outrageous and Totalitarian': Mall of America Sues to Block Black Lives Matter Protest  Common Dreams  ...Black Lives Matter organizers say they have no plans to back down from a racial justice protest planned for Wednesday. The suit requires that organizers "immediately" post messages on social media and send out a mass text message announcing that the December 23rd event—intended to focus on the November police killing of 24-year-old Minneapolis black man Jamar Clark—is cancelled...
Baltimore Officer’s Rescheduled Freddie Gray Trial Complicates Prosecution of Other Cops  Slate  ...The judge in the first trial of a Baltimore police officer for the death of Freddie Gray ordered a new trial date Monday, after the initial trial of officer William Porter resulted in a hung jury last week. Prosecutors hopes for a sting of convictions was complicated by the jury’s inability to reach a consensus verdict on Porter, who faces charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office...

Today's Teamster News 12.18.15

TEAMSTERS
Parsippany School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union  Teamster.org  ...School bus drivers and aides at Student Transportation of America (STA) in Parsippany, N.J., overcame tough opposition from management Wednesday, voting decisively in favor of union representation by Teamsters Local 102 in Springfield Township, N.J. The 78 bus workers are calling for improved working conditions, respect on the job and assurances that they will be paid for all hours worked...
Orange County Employees Join Teamsters  Teamster.org  ...A majority of the more than 400 operations and service maintenance workers employed by Orange County, Calif., voted to join Local 952 yesterday. After years of being part of an association, the new members of the local, which include custodians, laborers, mechanics, public works maintenance, equipment operators and pest control workers, overwhelmingly chose Teamster representation...
Local 528 Welcomes Pepsi Workers  Teamster.org  ...Drivers, merchandisers and warehouse workers at the Pepsi facility in Macon, Ga., recently voted to become members of Local 528. A majority of the 45-person unit cast ballots in the Teamsters’ favor. “We are pretty excited that we won,” said Erick Barber, a warehouse worker at the Macon facility. “This is my first time being a union member and I encourage anyone considering joining the Teamsters to keep pushing forward”...
Talks Progress in Effort to Save Safeway Warehouse Jobs  DC Labor  ...Union leaders and political allies trying to save nearly 1,000 jobs at the Safeway warehouse in Upper Marlboroon Tuesday had their “most productive meeting yet” with top officials from Albertson’s, Safeway’s parent company. “We have a much clearer picture of what needs to happen, and it was a very productive meeting on all sides,” said Ritchie Brooks, president of Teamsters Local 730, which represents most of the workers...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers let go after strike for 6-peso raise  Mexico News Daily  ...Over 100 workers were laid off at a Lexmark plant in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, after going on strike for two days to press for a daily wage increase of 6 pesos, or US $0.35. They sought the increase, from 114 to 120 pesos, for more experienced workers, but the company rejected the demand in October. Discontent among workers had been brewing for months...
Cambodia garment factory owners ask government to help quash strike by workers  Star Tribune  ...Garment factory owners in Cambodia asked the government on Thursday to help stop a strike by workers for higher wages, saying the labor action is damaging the investment climate for the industry, the country's main source of exports. Wages are a volatile issue in Cambodia.  Unions sought an increase in the minimum monthly wage to $160 in 2016, but most settled for $140...
EU Aims for Free Trade Deal With US by End of Obama's Presidency - Merkel  Sputnik News ...The European Union aims to reach a free trade agreement with the United States by the end of current US President Barack Obama's term, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday. "We reiterated that we need a fast conclusion of talks on the Transatlantic Free Trade Area, and that it remains our goal to achieve such a political decision during Obama's presidency," Merkel told reporters...
TPP Ratification Process Grinding To A Halt As Canada Launches 'Widespread Consultations' On The Deal  Tech Dirt  ...The arrival of a new government in Canada has meant that the corporate sovereignty provisions in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU might be re-examined. The other major trade deal involving Canada, TPP, is much more complex. Although that limits the Canadian government's scope for changing course, it appears that it is nonetheless taking a radically different approach compared to its predecessor...
Spanish Coalition Speaks Out Against Proposed EU-US Free Trade Deals  Sputnik News  ...The Spanish United Left-Popular Unity coalition does not support the free trade deals the Euorpean Union is negotiating with the United States, the party candidate for the country’s parliament said. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free-trade deal between the European Union and the United States. The agreement which has been criticized for its unusual secrecy, is opposed by many Europeans...
County Board voices its opposition to TPP  Mesabi Daily News  ...St. Louis County commissioners on Tuesday solidified their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Commissioner Tom Rukavina of Pike Township brought the resolution forward after State Rep. Jason Metsa addressed the board earlier in the year on the TPP’s affect on local business and industry, which was unanimously approved...
Portugal's Anti-Austerity Govt Reverses Public Pay Cuts  ABC  ...Portugal's new Socialist government is restoring full pay to civil servants after four years of cuts, ticking off another item on its anti-austerity to-do list. Under legislation approved Friday, pay increases will be phased in over next year until previous pay levels are reached in October. Cuts of up to 10 percent for staff earning more than 1,500 euros ($1,620) a month came into force in 2011...
Albanians protest over government’s austerity measures  Euro News  ...Thousands of Albanians took to the streets to protest over the governments handling of the economy with rising levels of poverty and unemployment. The government has angered many by cracking down on non-payment of household electricity bills, increasing social security contributions and raising income tax...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
2016 Ballot Effort to Privatize California Public Employee Pensions Faces Rocky Start, New Poll Finds  Alternet  ...The conservative obsession to cut public employee pensions is facing an uphill climb in California, according to a newly released poll that found ambivalent support for a pair of 2016 ballot measures pushed by former San Jose and San Diego officials. According to a Capital & Main-David Binder statewide poll of 500 likely voters, there’s roughly a 40-40 split, with the rest undecided, for both measures...
Missouri lawmaker proposes $15 minimum wage statewide  Business Journal   ...A Democratic state representative from St. Louis has pre-filed legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.65 per hour to $15 per hour. State Rep. Michael Butler said in a statement that Missourians who work full-time jobs should not live in poverty...
Florida Senate redistricting trial ends as judge weighs options  Miami Herald  ...After eight rulings by the Florida Supreme Court and an admission of guilt by legislators, the Senate redistricting trial ended Thursday with a Tallahassee judge asking the parties to tell him their top choices for a new Senate map. Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds now must decide whether to accept one of four proposals offered by the challengers...
Federal judge dismisses voter ID challenge  Post Crescent  ...Wisconsin's requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls has survived another legal challenge after a federal judge Thursday dismissed portions of a wide-ranging lawsuit alleging the mandate burdens the right to vote. One Wisconsin Institute Inc., a liberal group; Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, a voting rights organization; and a half-dozen individual voters filed the lawsuit...
Will all N.J. workers get paid sick leave?  NJ.com  ...The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill entitling all employees to paid sick leave in New Jersey. The bill, which requires employers of all sizes to offer their workers paid sick time off, was opposed by business groups that called it a one-size-fits-all approach would hurt small businesses and drive up costs. Proponents say the measure is a pro-worker and pro-public health policy that will spare people from having to choose between their health and their jobs...
Labor advocates concerned about Tacoma minimum wage rules  News Tribune  ...Tacoma is wrapping up its rule-writing for the city’s new minimum wage law, and some labor advocates are concerned that the regulations water down what voters approved. Those advocates say several issues concern them, including what they describe as lax record-keeping requirements for employers and a fuzzy enforcement process...
City Wraps Up The Year By Giving Workers The Ability To Take A Paid Day Off When They Get Sick  Think Progress  ...New Brunswick, New Jersey passed a paid sick leave ordinance. That makes it the 27th place in the country to do so, as well as the eleventh city in the state. The news was received with mixed support by advocates. It marks another step forward in the wave of legislation that has swept the country and helps address the fact that 40 percent of workers in the city previously lacked paid leave for their own or a family member’s illness...

U.S. LABOR
23,000 NYC Janitors Could Walk Off Job  NY AFLCIO  ...With the contract deadline fast-approaching, commercial cleaners—members of 32BJ SEIU— voted to strike if no agreement is reached by the December 31st contract expiration. “We are not going to accept anything less than a fair deal that protects health care and retirement benefits and includes a raise that enables our members to continue to raise their families in New York City,” said 32BJ President Hector Figueroa...
SEIU 775 chalks up another victory as caregivers join union  Business Journal  ...SEIU 775 has scored another big victory. About 275 residential caregivers at ResCare Washington Inc. have joined the union, which represents 44,000 long-term care workers in Washington state and Montana. The caregivers join 953 home care workers from First Choice, a private home care agency, who joined the union in July...
This Is Why Chicago Teachers Are Fed Up With The Mayor  Think Progress  ...An overwhelming majority of the Chicago Teachers Union, 88 percent, voted on Monday to allow union leaders to call for a strike. It will be several months before the union decides whether to actually begin a strike. First, they’re going on a “fact-finding mission” in one last effort to resolve the negotiations. But if they do decide to walk out of their classrooms, it will be the second time the union has gone on strike...
The Nation Is Giving Workers 4 Months Of Paid Parental Leave  Huffington Post  ...The progressive magazine The Nation announced Wednesday that it would be offering workers four months of paid parental leave and 25 percent raises over the next six years. These kinds of benefits may be par for the course at tech companies like Google and Facebook and Netflix, but are pretty much unheard of in the media world -- or any other industry in the U.S., for that matter...
Dems call on Labor Dept. to investigate grocery chain  The Hill  ...House Democrats from Arizona, California and Nevada are calling on the Obama administration to investigate alleged labor law violations by one of North America’s largest retailers. A coalition of U.S. and Mexican labor and civil society groups  have accused the company of prohibiting employees from joining labor unions, inquiring about pregnancies during job interviews to screen out pregnant women and hiring volunteer grocery packers who are paid only tips...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Life-Saving Train Technology That Congress Isn’t Fully Funding  The Atlantic  ...The derailment of Amtrak train 188 in Philadelphia earlier this year, which killed eight people, introduced many Americans to a safety technology that could have prevented the crash in the first place: positive train control. Now, Congress has allocated $25 million in funding in the omnibus bill to help railroads implement the technology—but some of Washington’s most ardent supporters of PTC are still let down...
Not Just Oceans and Atmosphere, Rapid Warming Killing World's Lakes  Common Dreams  ...The world's lakes are warming at a faster rate than oceans and atmosphere, a trend that may already have triggered major changes in aquatic ecosystems, according to a new report published in Geophysical Research Letters on Wednesday. Globally, lakes have been heating up an average of 0.34°C (.61°F) per decade between 1985 and 2009, researchers found...
Hate Crimes Against Muslims Have Spiked in U.S. Since Paris Attack  Slate  ...A California State University research group that monitors suspected hate crimes against American Muslims says it's aware of 38 such incidents since the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris, triple the usual average of 12.6 per month. The New York Times spoke to Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism: The frequency of the recent attacks has not reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001...
Sanders is Right. The Childcare System in the US is a Disaster  Common Dreams  ...One presidential hopeful's assessment is that the child care system in the U.S. is disastrous. And based on the findings of a new survey, many working parents in the U.S. have reason to agree. The Pew Research Center report, which surveyed over 1,800 parents of kids under 18, showed that nearly half (48 percent) of working parents with at least one child under school age say their children attend day care or preschool...
New Orleans Votes to Remove Confederate Monuments to Robert E. Lee and Others  Slate  ...The New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to remove a handful of monuments to the Confederacy from prominent locations around the city. The 6-to-1 vote to remove the three Civil War-era inspired statues and one obelisk was the culmination of a contentious campaign that began over the summer when New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for their removal...

Today's Teamster News 12.17.15

TEAMSTERS
NC Legislators, Community Turn Up Heat on Miller/Coors  Teamster.org  ...Hundreds of community members joined Teamsters and state legislators at a rally yesterday to protest Miller/Coors plan to close their Eden, NC, facility. "Our rally yesterday brought state legislators and community members together with our members and retirees to show support for the workers here at the Miller/Coors facility," said Vernon Gammon, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 391...
Seattle Teamsters local to organize Uber, Lyft drivers after city council vote  People's World  ... Teamsters Local 117 in Seattle will step up its efforts to unionize Uber and Lyft drivers - who are already working with it on an organizing campaign - after the city council's unanimous vote to give those drivers workers' rights. The ordinance, passed 8-0 on Dec. 14, says the drivers, whom the ride-sharing services call "independent contractors" are, in Seattle, have the right to organize...
Lockport Town Board ratifies agreements with Teamsters, CSEA  Buffalo News  ...The Town Board on Wednesday ratified a seven-year contract with the Teamsters union, as well as a health insurance agreement with the Civil Service Employees Association. The deal with the 18 Teamsters members is retroactive to the start of 2014 and offers annual raises of 2 to 2.5 percent, depending on a worker’s job title and position on the pay scale...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Spain's rail workers to stage 23-hour strike on Friday  The Local  ...People making their way home for Christmas on Friday could be facing serious delays as workers stage an all-day strike to protest privitization plans. The strike, called by the CGT union, will take place from midnight to 11pm on Friday, December 18th, assuring a day of travel chaos for people heading home for Christmas...
Bangladesh tea workers strike against land acquisition  USA News  ...For the fourth consecutive day, about 15,000 Bangladeshi tea workers have continued an indefinite strike against a government plan to acquire hundreds of hectares of land that would adversely affect their lives and livelihood. Workers and family members from four tea estates in Habiganj district of northeastern Sylhet division are demanding the government scrap plans for a special 207-hectare economic zone...
Canada taking its time to ratify TPP deal  Globe and Mail  ...Canada is set to hold back on ratifying a key Asia-Pacific trade treaty, a move that would assuage critics but might hamper Washington’s bid to build domestic support for the deal, according to sources close to the talks. Canada is one of 12 countries that initialled the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in early October, agreeing in principle to create a trade zone covering 40 per cent of the world’s economy...
The GOP’s Growing Rift on Trade  National Journal  ...The Republican Party has split anew on one of its core tenets—free trade—and the question is how long the war will last. While the GOP has largely supported free trade for over three decades, its top-tier presidential candidates are split on the recently-struck Pacific trade accord, the most significant in a generation. And Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, has been labeled by The Wall Street Journal as potentially the most protectionist nominee since Herbert Hoover...
And Just Like That, "Free Trade" Pact Trounces US Law  Common Dreams   ...Claims that trade pacts like the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not trump public health and environmental policies were revealed to be fiction on Tuesday after Congress, bending to the will of the World Trade Organization, killed the popular country-of-origin label (COOL) law...
Trade deal will lock in high drug prices, hurt seniors  (opinion) The Hill  ... If implemented, TPP will maintain high drug prices for America’s seniors and undermine the sustainability of public health programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The TPP would enact unprecedented protections for Big Pharma. It would lock in patent exclusivity for biologics - specialty drugs used to treat diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis...
Saginaw County Board calls on Congress to oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership  MLive  ...Saginaw County's elected officials are asking members of the U.S. Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement involving 12 Pacific Rim countries including the United States. The county's Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 15, approved a resolution in opposition of the deal "and any similar trade deals if they fail to restructure the misguided and failed policies of the past"...
Does Lexmark Strike Signal New Labor Rights Movement in Mexico?  Common Dreams  ...Support is growing for over a hundred workers who were fired en masse after asking for pay raises and organizing rights at a Juarez plant operated by U.S.-based Fortune 500 company Lexmark International. Some 700 workers launched a strike last week at their Juarez plant calling for the company to increase pay for long-term employees from 114 to 120 pesos a day—a raise of roughly 35 cents—while others attempted to unionize...
Greece approves new austerity bill changing loan rules  Yahoo  ...Greek lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation granting the right to sell bad business loans from local banks to overseas funds as part of a new austerity bill demanded by bailout lenders from the rest of the eurozone. Labor unions, which oppose the reforms, staged two separate, peaceful protest marches in central Athens late Tuesday...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Owner of Arciuolo’s Shoe Store in Milford touts benefits of offering employees paid sick leave  NH Register  ...Connecticut became one of the first states to pass a Family and Medical Leave Bill, ensuring workers can’t be fired for taking leave, but she said it fails to cover many workers and because it doesn’t require them to be paid, many can’t afford the leave. The new bill establishes a paid family and medical leave compensation program administered by the state’s Labor Department...
New media campaign against House Republicans who opposed "right to work"  STLToday  ...A new ad campaign was unleashed this week targeting 20 Missouri House Republicans who helped defeat a "right-to-work" measure barring companies from requiring union membership or dues. The Committee for Accountable Government in Missouri, funded by more than $1 million in donations from the Joplin-based Humphreys family, announced a series of radio, television, digital and billboard ads...
Business group files suit challenging minimum wage initiative  Review-Journal  ...A coalition of business groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging an initiative that seeks to gradually raise Nevada's minimum wage. The suit filed by the Committee to Preserve Nevada Jobs, a coalition of three chambers of commerce, argues the proposed constitutional amendment goes beyond changing the minimum wage and will impose new regulations and penalties harmful to employers...
Hedge Funds Deepen Puerto Rico's Debt, Ravaging Island and Impoverishing People  Alternet  ...“This is a distress call from a ship of 3.5 million American citizens that have been lost at sea,” Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla said on December 1, begging the Senate Judiciary Committee to help protect his homeland from an unspooling disaster. After issuing bonds for over a decade on everything not nailed down, Puerto Rico now carries $73 billion in debt...
Florida gave about $70 million to charter schools that later closed; state recouped little  Miami Herald  ...Charter schools, which are public schools run by private groups, have received more than $760 million from state taxpayers since 2000 according to an Associated Press analysis of state Department of Education records. Schools can use the money for construction costs, rent payments, buses and even property insurance. Yet charter schools in 30 districts have wound up closing after receiving as much as $70 million...

U.S. LABOR
Kohler employees OK new contract, end 32-day strike  Journal Sentinel  ...Kohler Co. workers overwhelmingly approved a new labor contract Wednesday evening, ending a 32-day strike and returning to their jobs with what they and their leaders said is a significantly better deal. With 91% of the vote, members of United Auto Workers Local 833 ratified a four-year pact that boosts wages, minimizes rising health care costs and improves pension benefits...
SEIU 32BJ Raucous Rally Packs Essex Gym as Union Leader Brown Heads to Negotiations  PolitickerNJ  ...Janitor members of SEIU 32BJ – 7,000 strong, who clean office buildings in more than 500 office buildings around New1216151659a Jersey – tonight voted to strike if they can’t reach an agreement before Dec. 31st. As he heads back into negotiations tomorrow with the New Jersey Contractors Association, 32BJ Vice President and NJ State Director Kevin Brown wants everyone at $15 an hour...
UAW contract vote at Nexteer latest chapter in company's century-old story  MLive  ...As United Auto Workers Local 699 members begin voting on a new labor contract with Nexteer Automotive, it marks the latest chapter for a Saginaw County company that dates back more than a century. UAW members began casting ballots Thursday, Dec. 17, and voting continues through 10 p.m. Friday. They are voting on a new labor contract stretching to 2020...
Sanders wins Communications Workers of America endorsement  CNN  ...The Communications Workers of America will endorse Bernie Sanders in Washington on Thursday, according to a source with knowledge of the endorsement. Despite a long record of supporting unions and marching on picket lines, Sanders has struggled to lock down national union endorsements. With 700,000 members, the Communications Workers of America is the largest union to endorse the Vermont senator...
What It’s Like To Fight For A Union When Your Boss Is Donald Trump  Think Progress  ...When the management at the Trump hotel caught wind of the union drive last year, they hired the “union avoidance” consulting firm Lupe Cruz and Associates. That company, which has busted union campaigns at American Apparel, the trucking company Conway, and some Hilton hotels, boasts on its website that it can help clients in “preserving a union free work place”...
U.S. To Increase Worker Protection From Deadly Silica Dust for First Time in More Than 40 Years  In These Times  ...For the first time in 45 years, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is poised to increase safety standards for worker exposure to the silica dust that can cause deadly and incurable lung disease. A rule that would cut in half the amount of silica dust to which most workers could be exposed—and limit levels further for construction and maritime workers—is expected to be finalized in February...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Fed Raises Interest Rates  The Atlantic  ...On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The committee’s two-day meeting concluded with Fed officials voting unanimously in favor of the raise; the target range for the federal funds rate will move from between 0 percent and 0.25 percent to between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent. Although this is “lift-off” from near-zero rates, these interest rates are still low by historical standards...
Villainous Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Has Been Arrested for Securities Fraud  Slate  ...Martin Shkreli, the widely loathed young pharma executive known for drastically hiking the price of a life-saving medication used by AIDS and cancer patients earlier this year, was arrested by federal authorities on charges of securities fraud Thursday morning, according to Bloomberg. Shkreli is currently the chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, which this Summer purchased the rights to Daraprim...
Hung Jury Results in Declaration of Mistrial in Freddie Gray Case  Common Dreams  ...A judge in Baltimore on Wednesday declared a mistrial after jurors said they could not agree on the guilt or innocence of Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter, charged on four separate counts related to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. The jury deliberated the case for three days before coming to the conclusion they were hopelessly deadlocked and would not be able to reach an unanimous verdict...
How Flint, Michigan, Saved Money and Poisoned Its Children: City Declares Water Emergency  Democracy Now  ...The mayor of Flint, Michigan, has declared a state of emergency to address lead poisoning in the city’s water supply. Last year, the city’s unelected emergency manager switched the city’s water source from the Detroit system to the long-polluted Flint River in an attempt to save money...
The Market Has Spoken: Funders Flee "Free-Market" Climate Denial Group  Truthout  ...Funding for climate change denial is drying up. The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a US climate change denial group that espouses the "free-market," has lost more than two thirds of its funding in the past two years, according to tax filings reviewed by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)...
Observers Slam CNN for Aiding and Abetting Hate Speech in GOP Debate  Common Dreams  ...From calls to ban non-American Muslims to pledges to carpet bomb densely-populated cities, the rise of hateful rhetoric among 2016 presidential candidates—and the real, violent consequences for those communities targeted—has raised widespread concern. But also on display during the fifth GOP debate on "national security" was the role of corporate media outlets such as CNN in stoking racist and dangerous rhetoric...