Seattle lawmakers side with Uber, taxi drivers

The Seattle City Council took the first swing at the nation's ballooning freelance "gig" economy, approving a measure that would give app-based drivers and others in the jurisdiction the ability to collectively bargain over their wages and working conditions.

Drivers stood up and were counted in Seattle fight.

Under the proposal, drivers would have the ability to come together to choose a nonprofit organization to represent them. Once authorized, the organization could engage in collective bargaining on the drivers’ behalf. The new law would apply to all taxi drivers, for-hire drivers and drivers for app-based dispatch companies, such as Uber and Lyft.

Drivers and community supporters celebrated the bill’s passage, calling it a turning point toward greater protections for workers in a changing economic landscape. Peter Kuel, an Uber driver and member of the leadership council of the App-Based Drivers Association, said:

Since I started driving for Uber, Uber has cut our pay without notice, terminated drivers without giving a reason and blocked our efforts to improve our working conditions. We’re looking for fairness and the ability to earn a living wage. 

Seattle app-based drivers as well as traditional taxi drivers are already aligned with Teamsters Local 117.Taxi drivers formed the Western Washington Taxicab Operators Association in 2012. In 2013, drivers for app-based dispatch companies formed the App-Based Drivers Association.

Because of their disputed status as independent contractors, however, for-hire drivers don't have the ability to unionize through a traditional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process, and they aren't covered under Seattle's wage theft, sick leave or new $15 an hour minimum wage law.

John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 117, is hopeful the legislation -- if signed by the mayor -- will go a long way towards making things more fair:

All workers, no matter where they work or the nature of their work, deserve the opportunity to have a voice. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights identifies the right of workers to bargain collectively as a fundamental human right. Now these workers have that right.

Figuring out the future of organizing as the gig economy continues to grow in the U.S. is a major challenge for workers. The Teamsters' victory earlier this year in the "Browning-Ferris" case decided by the NLRB was seen by many as an opportunity to expand union representation among millions of workers nationwide who previously were misclassified as independent contractors.

Legal challenges to the NLRB ruling have already been filed and are expected if the Seattle measure becomes law. But these rulings are just more proof that when workers are Teamster Strong, America is Stronger!

Today's Teamster News 04.13.15

Teamsters
Gregory Floyd Named Teamsters International Trustee   Teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced today that Gregory Floyd was appointed to serve as an International Trustee on the General Executive Board. Floyd is the President of Teamsters Local 237 in New York City, the union’s largest local chapter with more than 24,000 members that work in the public sector...
Ron Herrera Appointed Teamsters Western Region International Vice President  Teamster.org   ...Herrera has served on the General Executive Board as an International Trustee since 2012. Herrera, who was also recently appointed director of the Teamsters Solid Waste, Recycling and Related Industries Division, has spent his entire career as a vocal advocate for workers in Southern California. He is also Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 396 in Covina, Calif., Executive Director of the National Hispanic Caucus and Recording Secretary of Joint Council 42...
Willbros' Investors Call for Sale of Oil & Gas Business; Launch Watchdog Website  Teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters have joined with other investors of Willbros Group [NYSE: WG] to demand swift and drastic actions by Willbros’ board of directors including the sale of its Oil and Gas segment. Willbros stock price has dropped 73 percent over the past year, hitting a record low of $1.50 in recent weeks...
Teamsters Gain Ally In Mexican Trucking Challenge  Law360   ...A truck drivers' lobbying group has launched a bid to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Ninth Circuit challenge of an Obama administration move to open the U.S. border to Mexican trucking services...
Failed fast track is nearly upon us -- again   TeamsterNation   ...Despite the Teamsters and our allies making clear that U.S. residents will be hurt if fast track can be used to quickly push secret trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress, some lawmakers had decided to side with big business instead...

Global Labor & Trade
Greece defends bailout tactics as latest deadline looms   The Guardian   ...Eurozone officials disagreed with this assessment, saying Athens was still able to meet its international obligations, and regarded its ability to pay public sector wages and pensions as a domestic problem, according to the report. They deplored Greece’s unwillingness to discuss cuts to public sector pensions...
50 Reasons We Cannot Afford the TPP   Public Citizen   ...The TPP would extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) model that has contributed to massive U.S. trade deficits and job loss, downward pressure on middle class wages, unprecedented levels of inequality, lagging exports, new floods of agricultural imports, and the loss of family farms...
When corporate profit trumps human rights, we all lose  (opinion) The Hill   ...The United States is the largest economy in the world and a global leader in the advancement of human rights. We should not reward countries that abuse the human rights of LGBT people and women with a trade agreement that would establish those countries as privileged trading partners...
What Is a 'Corporatist Agenda,' and Where Can We Find One?  (opinion) Huffington Post   ...The White House has several serious challenges with this narrative. First, TPP looks like a corporatist agenda, walks like one, quacks like one, and has the same effect on my daily life as a corporatist agenda. When you say, "It's not a corporatist agenda," you immediately put your credibility in doubt...
What's driving Seattle's opposition to international trade pact? Income inequality, Bellevue rep says  Puget Sound Business Journal   ...The massive Trans Pacific Partnership is in “real trouble,” and much of that is because average voters find nothing in it for them. Regional debate about the 12-nation TPP trade agreement has been fiery recently, with the Seattle City Council last month unanimously voting to oppose it in the current form...

State & Living Wage Battles
Judge Overturns Gov. Rauner’s Order Restricting Union Dues   CBS   ...A judge has issued an order requiring Illinois government agencies to immediately reinstate mandatory union dues for nonmembers. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner last month issued an executive order ending the dues, which nonmembers must pay to cover the cost of non-political union activities that benefit all employees...
Gov. Rauner hopes deal will speed resolution of union dues dispute  State Journal-Register ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has agreed to allow government agencies to resume taking fees from the paychecks of nonunion members to cover union representation while his lawsuit challenging the legality of the fees is resolved in court...
Reining in payday loans falls by wayside in New Mexico   Associated Press   ...High-interest lending practices have been a target of consumer advocates for decades in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the country. They failed again this year in the Legislature, however, as bills that would have capped interest rates on payday loans at 36 percent fell by the wayside...
Why the federal government still sometimes doesn’t obey its own minimum wage laws   Washington Post   ...The Service Contract Act is obscure, and the Department of Labor has to police every complaint, so sometimes it's just overlooked. In its complaint, Good Jobs Nation says in total the violations have deprived 65 workers of $1,578,700 in wages at three workplaces over the two years the statute covers. Their findings illustrate the difficulty the federal government has had in enforcing its own laws...
Federal janitors and zoo groundskeepers file wage theft complaint   Daily Kos   ...The minimum wage isn't the only wage rate that applies—or should apply—to many federal contract workers, and a group of people who work in Washington, DC, institutions say they're not getting the pay they're legally entitled to. Janitors at the Department of Education, groundskeepers at the National Zoo, and tour bus drivers under a contract with the National Park Service say they haven't been getting the SCA-mandated prevailing wage
Workers Sue Walmart For Manipulating Employee Classification To Deny Them Overtime Pay  Think Progress   ...because they are labeled managers, they are exempt from federal overtime laws that require employers to pay workers time and a half for more than 40 hours of work a week. The lawsuit alleges that they “were ‘managers’ in name only because they did not have the managerial duties or authority”...

U.S. Labor
Doctors at University of California health clinics go on strike  LA Times  ...Unionized doctors began a strike Saturday at student health clinics on University of California  campuses in Southern California, saying administrators had acted unfairly during negotiations for the physicians' first contract...
Striking Lyondell Houston refinery workers to weigh final offer  Reuters   ...More than 400 striking hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW) at Lyondell Basell Industries' Houston refinery are scheduled to vote on the company's last, best and final offer on Monday and Tuesday, a local union official said on Sunday...
NEA: No Child Left Behind rewrite doesn’t level the playing field   Washington Post   ...The head of the country’s largest teachers union said that her organization does not support a bipartisan proposal in the Senate to replace the nation’s main federal education law because it does not go far enough to create equal educational opportunities for poor children...

Miscellaneous
Report Reveals How Corporate Tax Dodgers Avoid Paying Their Fair Share - or Any Share At All  Common Dreams   ...Pointing to egregious examples of Fortune 500 corporations "manipulating the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits," a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice makes a sharp case for corporate tax reform..,
Will Hillary's Constant Feeding at the Corporate Trough Make it Hard for Her to Embrace Needed Populism?   (opinion) Alternet   ...The Clinton campaign plans to focus on “economic security” – but the question is: whose? Clinton can adopt classical Democratic positions based on expanding the safety and boosting wages, but her ability to truly transform America's economy and reduce economic inequality will be hampered if she feels indebted to the very same corporations that made her husband and her rich...

Today's Teamster News 04.03.15

Global Labor & Trade
Unions, Progressives Pressure Democrats To Oppose Trade Deals  Business Journals   ...Labor unions and progressive organizations are sending a message to Democrats: If you support fast-tracking trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, don’t be surprised if we oppose you in your next Democratic primary...
U.S., Japan Seek Trade Deal in Advance of Abe Washington Visit   Bloomberg Business   ...U.S. and Japanese negotiators are rushing to complete a trade agreement they can unveil during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington later this month, something they hope will pave the way for a broader Asia-Pacific pact involving 10 other countries...
Trade bill timeline could push Senate to act   Politico   ...Senate aides have circulated a tentative date of mid-April for advancing “fast-track” trade legislation in the recognition that Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden have to move quickly to finalize a deal on the bill or risk losing their chance to get it passed by the end of the spring session...
Astroturf Warning: TPP Critics Call Out Fake 'Progressive' Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda  Common Dreams   ...Critics of the corporate-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership are lining up against what they call an "astroturf" operation claiming to represent progressives in favor of Fast Tracking the sweeping and secretive trade deal. No such progressives exist, they say...
A Turning Point For Chinese Workers  In These Times   ...As unions have struggled and strikes have declined in the United States in recent years, labor militancy has surged in other parts of the world—and nowhere more so than China. Now the movement appears to be starting to achieve significant institutional reform...

State & Living Wage Battles
Rand Paul’s Favorite Union-Buster  Bloomberg   ...Yessin, who’s represented companies in more than 200 conflicts with unions, says the NLRA doesn’t block states from letting local officials regulate some union activities. Yessin’s ideas offer conservatives a path forward on anti-union legislation known as “right-to-work” laws...
Packed House As Oswego Discusses Rauner 'Right-To-Work' Proposal  Chicago Tribune   ...Rauner's office has asked cities and villages across the state to support his initiatives aimed to "get the house in order" by changing how Illinois does business. One of the changes Rauner wants involves letting local communities enact "right-to-work" zones, which would allow voters to decide whether or not employees should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment...
Indiana’s Highway To Hell: Welcome To The Sick New Corporate Order  Salon.com   ...It’s the “circle of life,” neoliberal style: Enter into “free trade” deals which benefit global investors, then watch as wages stagnate and jobs disappear. Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, depriving the nation of funds for infrastructure. Make under- and unemployed residents of cities like Gary, Indiana, pay tolls to make up the shortfall, and jeopardize the retirement security of middle-class Americans in sketchy privatization deals to replace lost infrastructure funding...
McDonald's Is Raising Wages For Some Workers  Huffington Post   ...McDonald's is finally giving some of its workers a raise. The fast-food giant on Wednesday announced plans to give employees a 10 percent pay bump and some extra benefits. The raise will affect about 90,000 workers at a small fraction of McDonald’s stores. Employees at franchises, which make up the majority of the burger chain's locations, won't be affected...
Seattle begins to phase in $15 minimum wage  Union Bulletin   ...Most workers in Seattle will see the minimum wage increase to $11 an hour this week. Some small businesses will get a $1 credit for employees who earn tips or get health insurance and will pay $10 an hour. It will take until 2017 for Seattle workers at large companies and chains to earn $15 an hour...
Fight “Right to Work” in Oregon  Counterpunch   ...There is justifiable dread that anti-union “Right to Work” laws will be purchased into existence by out-of-state billionaires championing the laws around the country. Fortunately, an antidote to Right to Work is also being publicly debated in Oregon, where there is pending legislation to push the state’s minimum wage to $15...
Candidates Who Mock The Law (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Mr. Bush seems to have adopted every dark-money trick in the book. Will others now follow? As it is, the presidential campaign will begin under a dark-money cloud. Americans want a president with the right stuff, and that does not mean bags of secret cash...

U.S. Labor
Philadelphia airport workers strike over wages and benefits  Boston Globe   ...A few dozen baggage handlers, airplane cleaners and other non-union workers went on strike at Philadelphia’s airport Thursday, demanding higher wages, benefits, and an end to what they say are unfair labor practices...
CSX Worker Struck, Killed By Train At Rail Yard  WTRV   ...An investigation is underway after a CSX worker was struck and killed by a train early Wednesday morning. Henrico police said the industrial accident happened around just before 3 a.m. at the ACCA train yard in the 2100 block of Westwood Avenue...

Miscellaneous
U.S. Factories Slow For Fifth Month In Row, But Economists See Rebound  Wall Street Journal   ...The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said its purchasing managers index fell for the fifth consecutive month in March, to 51.5 from 52.9 in February. The index is at its lowest reading since May 2013, though it’s still above the 50 level that reflects expansion...
When Will The NSA Stop Spying On Innocent Americans?  The Atlantic   ...Unless Congress acts, Americans will soon benefit from one of the Patriot Act's most important safeguards against abuse: Language in Section 215 of the law is scheduled to expire in June, depriving the FBI and NSA of a provision they've used to justify monitoring the phone calls of tens of millions of innocents...

Today's Teamster News 04.02.15

Trade
Australia should fix trade deal investor protection  Financial review   ...Two weeks ago an international arbitration panel awarded a US company compensation for the way its quarry project in Canada was "unfairly" rejected on environmental and planning grounds...  
In Press Call, Progressives Announce Anti-Fast Track Activities Nationwide  Public Citizen   ...Hundreds of progressive organizations are engaged nationwide in two action-packed weeks of rallies, press events, briefings, bird-dogging events, phone banks,canvasses and more to build opposition against Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Blame Bad Trade For Hurting America's Steel Industry  Alternet   ...Sucker punched by massive, illegally subsidized imports, American steel producers laid off thousands of workers in bedrock communities from Ohio and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. That’s in just the past three months...
ISDS A Bigger Threat Than ISIS (opinion)  Wanganui Chronicle   ...The Investor-State Dispute Settlement. ISDS is a means whereby investors (read corporations) may sue a government for lost corporate profits due to regulatory barriers of the defendant country. Regulatory barriers like environmental protections, health and safety rules, generic pharmaceuticals. ISDS is part of the invasive TPPA (TransPacific Partnership Agreement), a trade agreement written to benefit multinational corporations....
Cambodian Child Labor Laws Flouted With Fake IDs  The Guardian   ...“For many children in Cambodia, the child protection situation is dire,” says Unicef’s chief of communication...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Up To $11 For Most Wednesday  KING   ...Seattle's minimum wage is increasing to $11 for most businesses on Wednesday. It's the start of a phased increase to $15 per hour over the next several years...
City Council Pushes To Raise Minimum Wage  WDAF   ...The Kansas City council will consider an ordinance to raise minimum wage within the city to $15 an hour. Mayor Sly James talked about the ordinance during his state of the city address. The ordinance would begin raising the minimum wage within the city to $10 by September and then up to $15 by 2021...
Perez And Garcetti Take Aim At Wage Theft, Minimum Wage  Los Angeles Times   ...On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors voted 5 to 0 to study the possible effects of boosting wage floors at the county level. City leaders in Los Angeles are considering an increase in the minimum wage to $13.25 or $15.25 an hour from the state minimum of $9 an hour...
Oil Trains To Pay More In State Fees  Albany Times Union   ...The state will collect millions of dollars more from companies that ship oil from the Midwest in massive trains that pass through the Capital Region and other parts of the state under language contained in the state budget hammered out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers...
BNSF Implements New Safety Rules For Oil Trains  Flathead Beacon   ...In an effort to safely move massive oil trains from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, BNSF Railway has told shippers that it is implementing its own rules to try and prevent explosive derailments and accidental spills...
War on Workers
Student Debt Strikers Grow in Number and in Power  truthout   ...Just over a month ago, Waging Nonviolence reported that 15 former students of Corinthian Colleges — the beleaguered, notorious for-profit higher education system — were going on strike; not from their jobs, or from class, but from their debt. Today, there are over 100 debt strikers...
McDonald’s to Raise Pay at Outlets It Operates  New York Times   ...McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it would raise wages and offer new benefits to 90,000 employees in he 1,500 outlets in the United States that it owns and operates, responding to competitive pressure from a tighter job market and to labor campaigns drawing public attention to its pay policies...
Republicans Take Aim At Union ‘Official Time’ For Federal Employees  Washington Post   ...House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act...
Worker Killed In Fall At Site  New Braunfels Herald Zeitung   ...A San Antonio construction worker died as a result of an accident he had while working Tuesday in New Braunfels, a New Braunfels Police Department spokesman said. Authorities said Victor Echartea-Medina, 41, fell from about four stories up before being rushed in an ambulance to Resolute Health Hospital in town. The man died from his injuries...
Miscellaneous
DOJ Inspector General: ATF, FBI's Drones Worthless, Expensive And Completely Mismanaged  Techdirt   ...$3 million spent on drones, with only half currently considered "operational." In eight years (2006-2014), the drones have only been deployed to assist in 13 investigations, with nine of those occurring in the last four years. This may be good news for those concerned about extensive domestic surveillance, but it's not good news for those interested in how their tax dollars are being spent...

Teamsters 'out & looking militant' support supersized global fast food strike

Philadelphia Teamsters support the strikers
on Thursday morning. 

Teamsters took to the streets along with striking fast food workers today, escalating the global movement for fair wages for all workers and the right to join a union.

In the biggest one-day strike to date, fast-food workers walked off the job in 150 U.S. cities and planned protests in 30 cities overseas, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Malawi, Morocco, New Zealand, Panama, and the United Kingdom. They were joined by community activists and union workers.

As restaurant workers protested their poverty wages, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced its two co-chief executives took home $50 million for 2013.

Workers all over the country are telling news reporters that they are sick of working for wages that don't cover food and rent. More than half of all fast food workers require some form of public assistance such as Medicaid, food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit, according to a university study.

The restaurant industry claims that teenagers working temporary, entry-level jobs fill the ranks of their employees. But studies show the average age of fast-food workers is 28, one-fourth of them are supporting a child and more than 30 percent have some college education.

Seattle Teamsters supporting fast food strikers 

Today, Philadelphia Teamsters were out early in Philadelphia -- 'looking militant as usual,' according to 15NowPhilly.

Hell yeah @teamsters out & looking militant as usual. Union united for ALL LOW WAGE WORKERS! 

They joined fast food workers from Burger King, Subway, Popeye's, Dunkin' Donuts and KFC who joined in the global effort. In addition to the request for higher livable wages, the workers want to form a union without retaliation.

Teamsters in Seattle started off the morning in solidarity with fast food workers, reported Jobs With Justice. According to the Associated Press,

Taylor Farms, Teamsters and fast-food workers

Seattle demonstrators taking part in a national day one-day protest of low wages for fast-food workers started Thursday with a rally a Cal Anderson Park. 

Organizers said strike locations would be announced through the day, followed by a 4 p.m. rally at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle.

In Oakland, Calif., Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers protested with fast-food strikers today as well. California Teamsters are engaged in a valiant organizing struggle with Taylor Farms food processing workers. Together with fast-food workers and other union members, Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers are fighting for laws that protect vulnerable temporary workers. In addition to demonstrating with fast-food strikers, today Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers met with California lawmakers such as Sen. Roger Hernandez and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who pledged their support.

As our friends at Union Solidarity International tweeted,

It’s time for trickle up economics.

Today's Teamster News 04.26.14

Teamster News
Republic Nuclear Dump Fire Threatens Investors, Workers  Huffington Post   ...Since 2010, a landfill fire has been moving toward 8,700 tons of unlined illegally dumped radioactive waste in Bridgeton, Missouri. The site is in the middle of working-class neighborhoods, right next to the Saint Louis airport, and near a hospital, schools and a great number of businesses. The Teamsters believe Bill Gates and other investors in Republic Services, Inc. should take a closer look...
Chicago Art Handlers Vote To Become Teamsters, Today  Art World   ...Art handlers with Mana-Terry Dowd LLC may set an industry precedent this month by being the first employees of a major art transportation company in Chicago to unionize...
Mayor de Blasio Laughs Off Idea Central Park Horse-Carriage Drivers Will Be Offered Taxi Cab Medallions  New York Daily News   ...Mayor de Blasio laughed off a report the city is offering tax cab medallions in exchange for their handsome cab licenses. Asked Thursday if a proposal was on the table, de Blasio gave a one word answer: "No."
Trade
Even Without Deal, U.S., Japan Play Up TPP Talks  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. and Japan tried to put their best face on their failure to reach a trade deal during President Barack Obama's Tokyo visit, saying major progress was made during nearly round-the-clock talks...
State Battles
Missouri House Republican leaders continue to push for 'right to work' bill  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...The prospects of a second vote on “right to work” remain uncertain, but state House Republican leaders said they continue to work on trying to gather enough votes to advance the measure...
Hicks receives warm understanding and support from colleagues and constituents after RTW vote  Missouri Times   ...Hicks initially felt alienated when he took the vote against RTW, but now feels more validated. “When I stood up and voted no, I went against my party for the first time...
The Kochs' Alternative GOP Comes Out Against Columbus Zoo Animals  The Wire   ...Ohio's chapter of American's for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers funded activist zoo group, sent out a mailer opposing a tax increase for the Columbus, Ohio zoo...
Koch Brothers Group Wipes Cliven Bundy Support From Social Media Accounts  Huffington Post   ...Americans for Prosperity Nevada, the state affiliate of the Koch Brothers-backed group, appears to have hastily deleted social media posts expressing support for Cliven Bundy, the renegade rancher who exposed himself as a racist in recent press conferences...
Republican Senator proposes Michigan minimum wage increase to undermine ballot proposal  Michigan Live   ...State Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) on Thursday said he introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $8.15 per hour starting Dec. 1, 2014. It also would raise the minimum rate for tipped employees from $2.65 per hour to $2.75 per hour...
Lawmakers advance minimum wage bill  KHON2   ...Lawmakers advanced a bill today to raise Hawaii’s minimum wage for the first time since 2007...
Murray says minimum-wage agreement will take more time  Seattle Times   ...Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said there’s still a few more weeks before a drop-dead deadline for an accord on a $15 minimum-wage proposal...
War on Workers
Northwestern University Football Players To Vote On Union Amid Debate Over Labor Rights  Washington Post   ...Northwestern University football players are scheduled to vote Friday whether to join a union, part of a labor battle that is drawing intense scrutiny from colleges with major athletic programs, national labor leaders and higher education lobbyists in Washington...
Miscellaneous
Americans Have Fewer Credit Cards And Less Debt  FiveThirtyEight   ...A new poll from Gallup suggests that Americans are less reliant on credit cards than any time since 2001. The survey, which was based on a random sample 1,026 adults, found that 29 percent of Americans do not own any credit cards...
Occupy Amazon: Elizabeth Warren, Thomas Piketty, Michael Lewis Books Surging Online  Huffington Post ...If Amazon's top-sellers list is any indication, Americans are fed up with rising income inequality. As of Thursday evening, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's new memoir, A Fighting Chance is the number two best-selling book on Amazon...

Today's Teamster News 11.17.13

Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs  New York Times   ...Five years after the economic crisis struck the Continent, youth unemployment has climbed to staggering levels in many countries: in September, 56 percent in Spain for those 24 and younger, 57 percent in Greece, 40 percent in Italy, 37 percent in Portugal and 28 percent in Ireland. For people 25 to 30, the rates are half to two-thirds as high and rising...
America’s Student Debt Balance Is Growing And Less Of It Is Getting Paid Back  Buzzfeed   ...Now it’s over $1 trillion, bigger than credit card debt...
Security Expert: “Buy American Doesn’t Sell Well Anymore Because It Means Give A Copy To The NSA”  zero hedge   ...We’ve previously noted that mass surveillance is killing American tech companies. And Cisco just blamed its earnings slump on China’s disdain for NSA spying...
Harsher cuts are on their way  MSNBC   ...Unless Congress reverses the cuts, defense discretionary spending will be cut by an estimated $19 billion in 2014 and non-defense spending will be cut $12 billion more...
Chase's Twitter Gambit Devolves into All-Time PR Fiasco  Rolling Stone   ...I almost couldn't believe it when I heard that JP Morgan Chase was going to do a live Twitter Q&A with the public – you know, all those people around the world they've been bending over and robbing for, oh, the last decade or so...
Feds expand hunt for offshore tax evaders  CNBC   ...Federal judges approved special summonses aimed at getting account data and identifying information of American banking clients of Switzerland's Zurcher Kantonalbank and Bermuda-based N.T. Butterfield & Son, prosecutors said Tuesday...
Bankers' lawsuit jeopardizes U.S. tax dodger crackdown: lawyers  Reuters   ...A court challenge by Texas and Florida bankers threatens to undermine a broad U.S. government crackdown on offshore tax avoidance and jeopardize a web of carefully crafted international agreements, tax lawyers said...
Elizabeth Warren: quiet revolutionary who could challenge Hillary Clinton in Democrats' 2016 race  The Guardian   ...Senator's tough stance against Wall Street is attracting voters on the left who are disenchanted with the party establishment...
Volkswagen Isn’t Fighting Unionization—But Leaked Docs Show Right-Wing Groups Are  In These Times   ...Mike Elk reports that while the company promised not to oppose the United Auto Workers attempts to organize their Chattanooga, TN plant, outside groups disagree with that decision. They're pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into anti-union campaigns...
Boeing, Recipient of the Largest State Tax Subsidy in History, Paid Nothing in State Corporate Income Taxes Over the Past Decade  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...Over the past decade, Boeing has managed to avoid paying even a dime of state income taxes nationwide on $35 billion in pretax U.S. profits...
The Sports Business Can’t Take Any More Money From Its Fans  Buzzfeed   ...The industry’s growth now mostly involves extracting billions from television networks and advertising. Ticket sales and merchandising growth are slowing...
Wisconsin Political Speech Raid  Wall Street Journal   ...In recent weeks, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz has hit dozens of conservative groups with subpoenas demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to recall Governor Walker and state legislative leaders...
Something stinks in Ohio  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The Buckeye Institute is largely funded by right-wing out-of-state foundations, and does not disclose its donors to the public despite its influence in shaping public policy in Ohio...
Seattle elects Socialist candidate to city council  Associated Press   ...She backed efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15; called for rent control in the city where rental prices keep climbing; and supports a tax on millionaires to help fund a public transit system and other services...

Teamster organizing victory in Washington!

Please welcome our 160 new brothers and sisters who shuttle rental cars for GCA Services Group at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. They voted 91-44 on Monday to join Teamsters Local 117 in Tukwila, Wash.

The rental car workers have been organizing for over six months to become Teamsters and win respect from management. Leonard Smith, organizing director at Local 117, says the victory will inspire other low-wage non-union workers at the airport:

This victory is an exciting step forward for all workers at the Seattle Airport. It’s an example of how working together and sticking together truly pays off. By uniting for respect and dignity, the workers are showing other employees at the airport that they can come together and fight to improve their lives.

Smith says that many workers at the airport are employed by companies like GCA, which is a contractor for Avis. These workers lack job security and are paid minimum wage. The GCA workers are setting an example for other Seattle airport workers by standing up for higher wages, benefits and paid sick days.

In its press release on the victory, Local 117 explained that the GCA campaign is connected to the broader movement to secure higher pay for low-wage workers:

The campaign for Teamster representation at GCA – which included help from organizers at Teamsters Local 174, SEIU and Working Washington – is part of an ongoing coalition effort among local unions and community groups organizing to win better working conditions for employees at the Seattle Airport.

The coalition has been working to organize non-union airport workers employed by contractors like GCA and others. In conjunction with other national campaigns to demand higher pay for low-wage workers, the coalition is pushing a ballot initiative in SeaTac, Wash., to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15.

Tracey Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 117, says the organizing win sets the stage for pushing up standards for other workers at the airport:

We are pleased to welcome these hardworking and dedicated workers who are so vital to the rental car operations of GCA. We look forward to representing them and helping them win a first contract that sets higher standards for them and other workers at the airport.

The GCA workers in Seattle join hundreds of other rental car workers at Hertz, Avis and Budget who also belong to Local 117.

Low-wage workers in Chicago, Milwaukee, Seattle join struggle

McDonald's manager in Milwaukee sides with workers, walks out.

Hundreds of low-wage workers walked off the job in Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle this morning during the fourth day of a nationwide drive to raise their wages. The movement spread beyond the seven cities targeted by organizers when employees in the Pacific Northwest joined in with short strikes of their own.

Low-wage workers are demanding an end to retaliation for organizing a union. In all three cities, they went from one business to another to protest poverty wages and workplace abuse. It was expected to be a daylong affair, with final rallies taking place in Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle in the early evening.

Workers in other industries have joined the revolt, which began last fall when low-wage retail and fast-food workers walked off the job in New York. Sudden short strikes have been used to elicit public support for low-wage workers at warehouse companies, government contractors and the waste industry. Today, Teamster paramedics and EMTs in El Centro, Calif., are in the fifth day of a strike to fight low wages paid by Gold Cross Ambulance. Teamsters yesterday protested pharmaceutical distributor McKesson’s retaliation against workers at a Lakeland, Fla., warehouse.

In Chicago, Samwiseoccupies reported about 200 people were marching from store to store raising awareness about the dire state of their wages. By mid-morning, workers had already visited Wendy’s, Subway, Sally’s Beauty Supply and Sears and were expected to visit many more sites.

Striking employees chanted in English and Spanish:

“Workers can’t survive on $8.25” and “On strike! Shut it down! Chicago is a union town!”

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, a McDonald’s manager joined her workers in walking out. , She said they deserved higher pay and it was time to stand up for it, according to Wisconsin Jobs Now’s Twitter feed. Protesters later moved out to a Burger King in the city, where all workers walked off the job.

Viva la causa! reported there was a great turn out for the Milwaukee protests:

Too many striking workers, too few seats on the buses. What a great problem!

Seattle workers aren't getting full pay from local Starbucks.

And in Seattle, where low-wage workers weren’t expected to strike, protesters held a teach-in at a local Starbucks about wage theft. They also showed up at a Burger King restaurant to protest low wages.

The Teamsters Facebook page is filled with comments supporting the low-wage workers:

Jim Lutz: Gotta give em Credit for taking 1st step -a hard one when you only make 8 bucks an hour

Dale Felder: These workers are shining examples of bravery, fortitude, and determination. Because of their wonderful actions changes will appear. There is hope for the future of the 99%ers!

Rodney Justice:  If anyone would take the time to see just how much a McDonald's make per month they would see just how right the workers are.

Andy Newhausen:  I like the way it said allow workers to unionize, I believe they should just do it and to bad for the company. Big companies have reaped huge profits at the laborers expense for two long, pay them a fair wage or close your doors !

You can show your support for low-wage workers by adding your name to their petition here.

The petition says:

I support workers who are on strike for a living wage and better working conditions. No job in this country should pay so little that employees can’t make ends meet.

Solidarity on Day 2 of Seattle Teamsters strike

Be strong, brothers!

And props to Teamsters Local 174 Waste Management drivers who are honoring the picket lines set up by Local 117 Waste Management workers.  The Associated Press reports,

Teamsters Local 117 recycling and yard waste workers are picketing and Local 174 garbage truck drivers are honoring the picket lines. 

About 150 recycling and yard waste drivers walked out Wednesday demanding their pay equal the higher pay of garbage truck drivers.

Local 117 says,

Our region prides itself as one of the leaders in recycling in the country, yet Waste Management continues to devalue the work of recycle and yard waste drivers who help protect our environment and keep our cities clean. 

Sanitation work ranks as the 5th most dangerous job in the country. Drivers deal with rats, maggots, used syringes, chemicals, and rotting meat on a routine basis. Since 2005, four Puget Sound recycle workers have been killed on the job. 

Teamsters Local 117 calls on Waste Management to prevent a public health crisis and return to the bargaining table immediately and bargain a fair contract in good faith that recognizes the health and safety hazards its drivers face on the job.

The striking drivers will hold a news conference at 5 pm EDT in the Tukwila union hall.

Here's how you can help:

Visit www.SeattleTrashWatch.org and sign up.
Text TRASH to 206-535-1859 for updates and information.
Call 1-800-230-7418 to report trash, yard waste, or recycle service disruptions.
Email Theo Galoozis, Waste Management's VP of Labor Relations, and tell him to bargain in good faith.

And don't cross those picket lines (we know you wouldn't dream of it)!

Port of Seattle Clean Truck rules take effect...

...but in L.A., trucking companies are making an end-run around stricter clean air rules.

First, about Seattle: Local authorities are trying to reduce pollution from all kinds of maritime operations. Portworld reports that as of Jan. 1, trucks

...must have model-year 1994 or newer engines, and that all trucks must be registered in the Port's Drayage Truck Registry and display the Green Gateway sticker on the driver's side door.

More than 4,000 trucks and nearly 800 trucking companies are registered at the Port of Seattle, Portworld reports.

Los Angeles has had a Clean Trucks program in place since 2008, and things haven't exactly gone smoothly. L.A. recognized that the independent contractors who drive dirty old trucks ("sweatshops on wheels") can't afford to buy new ones. So the Port of L.A. required trucking companies to employ the drivers and take financial responsibility for the trucks. The trucking industry challenged the regulation and now it's tied up in the courts. Drivers are still independent contractors, but they're supposed to buy and maintain the pricey new trucks.

Neon Tommy, a digital newspaper, reported

...truck companies skirt Clean Truck Program rules by sending new trucks to pick up cargo at the port, while their older trucks haul the loads through nearby neighborhoods and along L.A. freeways...

Last month, the California Air Resources Board voted to ban the clean-to-dirty swaps. The new regulation could take effect this summer.