Today's Teamster News 03.14.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Host UPS Workers Union Network Meeting  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union this week is hosting an international delegation of representatives from trade unions that represent UPS workers worldwide to share information and coordinate strategies...
Teamsters reject CCTA offer; bus drivers set to strike on March 17  VtDigger.org   ...Members of the drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 597, voted 54-0 on Wednesday to reject the latest offer from the Chittenden County Transit Authority. CCTA has 68 drivers; all are in the union...
Clara Day: A Teamster’s Life  teamster.org   ...She was a powerful voice in support of the civil rights movement...
Trade
Who is funding China's military rise? We are.  manufacture this   ...China has accumulated a massive trade surplus with the U.S., and they're using it on a military spending spree...
James P. Hoffa: U.S.-Korea Pact Shows the False Promises of ‘Free’ Trade  Detroit News   ...Michigan has lost 2,800 jobs from the pact and seen a $518 million drop in net exports to Korea. Overall, more than 40,000 Americans are now out of work due to the agreement...
Administration Uses Data Omissions and Distortions to Try to Hide Dismal Korea FTA Realities  Public Citizen   ... U.S. monthly goods exports to Korea are down 11 percent, imports from Korea have increased and the U.S. monthly trade deficit with Korea has swelled 47 percent...
Europe and U.S. divided on trade issues  Pork Network   ...Europe's reluctance to buy hormone meat or genetically modified food from the United States has exposed an "enormous gulf" that threatens the world's biggest trade pact, industry and labour groups told EU and U.S. negotiators on Wednesday...
Japan, U.S. make 'bit of progress' in trade talks -Japanese official  Reuters   ...Plans for a free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), have been bogged down amid a stand-off between the United States and Japan over market access...
State Battles
Again, Florida trying to restrict voter rights  Bradenton Herald   ...Florida is once again trying to constrain voter rights by restricting satellite locations where citizens can deposit absentee ballots...
The Real Story Behind the Detroit Pension Fight and What it Means to America's Future  Huffington Post   ...pension underfunding and corruption go hand in hand: areas which have seen pension crises tend to have high rates of corruption, as measured by such indicators as the number of public officials who wind up in prison. Pay-to-play schemes are rampant, and reports of bribery, such as those revealed in Detroit, are common...
Right-to-work bill dies in House committee  The Richmond Register   ...The sponsor of a right-to-work law in Kentucky knew it had no chance of passing a House committee Thursday. But that didn’t stop Rep. Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, the House Minority Leader, and several others from making their case before the House Labor and Industry Committee in a room filled to overflowing, mostly with union members who oppose the measure...
Appeals Court Resurrects Initiative Petition Drive For Campaign Donation Limits  St. Louis Public Radio   ...The Western District Court of Appeals of Missouri has resurrected an initiative-petition effort to restore campaign donation limits in Missouri. But the proposal’s backers may not have enough time to collect the signatures needed to get their proposal before voters...
Scott Walker Will Push Wisconsin State Legislature To Modify Voter ID Requirements  Huffington Post   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) told reporters Tuesday that he considers voter identification laws the most "pressing" election-related issue in the state, and as such will direct the state legislature hold a special session to modify a law that has been blocked by courts since 2011...
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of North Carolina's 'Moral Monday' protest movement comes to Madison  The Daily Page   ..."The parallels between North Carolina and Wisconsin are undeniable," Wendell Harris, vice-president of Wisconsin NAACP, said in a news release. "We welcome Rev. Barber -- one of the greatest civil rights leaders of our time -- with great enthusiasm..."
The War on Workers
McDonald’s Workers File Wage Suits in 3 States  New York Times   ...McDonald’s workers in California, Michigan and New York filed lawsuits this week against the company and several franchise owners, asserting that they illegally underpaid employees by erasing hours from their timecards, not paying overtime and ordering them to work off the clock...
Wall Street Bonuses Are Bouncing Back, While Everyone Else's Wages Are… Meh  Business Insider   ...Average Wall Street bonuses have exploded, reaching a height of nearly $218,000 in 2006 - seven times larger than the average bonus of $29,800 in 1985.  ... Household income fell from a post-crash peak of about $55,600 to about $51,000 in 2012 - an 8% drop - declining in each year from 2008 to 2012...
Jobless deal comes down to wire  Politico   ...Senators struck a bipartisan deal on Thursday to revive expired long-term jobless benefits following months of dramatic stops and starts on the issue...
Obama says it's time to change overtime rules  CNN   ...Current rules governing overtime pay are "wrong," President Barack Obama said Thursday as he signed an order directing his administration to reexamine how employees are paid for working more than 40 hours per week...
Study Proves Campaign Donations Buy Access  firedoglake   ...this may be painfully obvious. Just in case you, for some reason I can’t fathom, had doubts that money buys influence in Washington our friends in the ivory tower decided to perform a scientific experiment to prove it...

Teamster voices from across America

Back in the day, Robert Seay fought hard for the wages, seniority and safe working conditions that workers have today.

And now you can hear about his role in Teamster history on The Rick Smith Show. Just click here.

Rick Smith is a Teamster visiting labor history sites across America on his "Peoples Tour of America." He has already visited Teamster locals in Memphis, Little Rock and Los Angeles.

During a special podcast of the show, Brother Rick interviewed Teamster members about the history of the union, the changes in the trucking industry and the continued threat of No Rights At Work.  And he spoke to Robert Seay, now retired from Consolidated Freight and living in Memphis. Brother Seay tells us:

I started as a Teamster when I was 17 years old – started working at a dock in Birmingham, Alabama. I started out pushing a two-wheeler on the dock. In 1955 we got a pension system started and from contract to contract we fought to have better wages. We had to really fight for better working conditions, seniority rights. We had to walk picket lines in all kinds of weather, but we made it through.

Karin Jones, Teamsters historian, described how two unions came together in 1903 to form the Teamsters. She said the union recognized the need to collect and preserve the union's history, ever since the 100th anniversary. And so the Teamsters Labor History Research Center was established at the George Washington University. Said Sister Jones: 

The history archive gives students an opportunity to learn about labor and relate to the struggles that went into creating a strong labor movement to the challenges of today. We take donations from members, retirees, local unions, joint councils – everything that was important to members has a place in the Teamster archive.

Little Rock, Rick interviewed Melanie Orman, political coordinator at Local 878. She told Rick about the fights against cuts in unemployment benefits in the Arkansas Legislature and against attempts to misclassify drivers as independent contractors.

The next podcast of the People’s Tour will feature interviews made at Teamsters Joint Council 42 in Los Angeles. 

Teamsters keep alive the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt

Mrs. Roosevelt visits a coal mine. 

We must never forget the people who fought and died for the rights we have today. Nor must we forget the leaders who showed us the way.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a champion of American workers. Even as First Lady she frequented union halls, and she was a member of the Newspaper Guild for more than 25 years. She believed everyone has the right to a decent job, fair working conditions, a living wage, and a voice at work.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters keeps her memory alive through the Labor History Research Center at George Washington University. The Center hosted a book talk recently by Brigid O'Farrell, distinguished independent scholar and employment equality researcher. O’Farrell discussed her latest work, “She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Worker.”

Here's a review of O'Farrell's book, which was published in the summer of 2011:

Eleanor Roosevelt was a staunch and lifelong advocate for workers ... "She Was One of Us" tells for the first time the story of her deep and lasting ties to the American labor movement. Brigid O'Farrell follows Roosevelt—one of the most admired and, in her time, controversial women in the world—from the tenements of New York City to the White House, from local union halls to the convention floor of the AFL-CIO, from coal mines to political rallies to the United Nations. Roosevelt worked with activists around the world to develop a shared vision of labor rights as human rights, which are central to democracy. ...   

"She Was One of Us" provides a fresh and compelling account of her activities on behalf of workers, her guiding principles, her circle of friends—including Rose Schneiderman of the Women's Trade Union League and the garment unions and Walter Reuther, "the most dangerous man in Detroit"—and her adversaries, such as the influential journalist Westbrook Pegler, who attacked her as a dilettante and her labor allies as "thugs and extortioners." As O'Farrell makes clear, Roosevelt was not afraid to take on opponents of workers' rights or to criticize labor leaders if they abused their power; she never wavered in her support for the rank and file. 

O'Farrell explained the deep connections between Mrs. Roosevelt, American workers and their unions. From 1933 until her death in 1962, Roosevelt was a strong, politically involved woman who wrote columns ranging from the mundane tasks of First Lady to fighting Taft-Hartley and No Rights At Work laws.

Mrs. Roosevelt understood the No Rights At Work laws promoted then as now are “predatory and misleading.” And in a quote that's as relevant today as it was during her lifetime, Mrs. Roosevelt urged “all right-thinking citizens, from all walks of life, to join in protecting the nation’s economy and the working man’s union security from the predatory and misleading campaigns now being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.”

O’Farrell said the history of the labor movement is inextricably linked to that of Eleanor Roosevelt’s work. She explained that those connections must be researched and used to teach the new generation of labor leaders how to fight today's battles.

The Teamsters Union and The George Washington University launched the Labor History Research Center as an educational and research environment in 2008. Its purpose is to explore the role that the American labor movement in general, and the Teamsters in particular, have played in the development of the United States from the late 19th century until today.

O’Farrell’s appearance was part of a series of book talks being held at the Center. The first book talk, held in November, was by Professor Eric Arnesen of the GWU Department of History. His topic was the book, “The Next Emancipation: A. Philip Randolph’s Life in Labor and Civil Rights.”

For more on Brigid O’Farrell’s current and past work, you can visit her website here.

Today's Teamster News 12.03.10

Historic trucks will soon be homeless  Vancouver Sun   ...The Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum & Archives displaying approximately 20 trucks from 1913 and up have called a warehouse on Kingsway in Port Coquitlam home...
Recovery Gathers Steam  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. economy is starting to fire on more cylinders, though the upturn remains too weak to bring down high unemployment...
Unemployed, and Likely To Stay That Way  New York Times  ...The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work...
Dispel myth that public employees are all rich (opinion) Wisconsin State Journal   ...The myth that public employees are living it up at the expense of taxpayers is all too common — and completely untrue...Piper Jaffray Continues To Be Overweight On UPS  Benzinga   ...it believes UPS is one of the best names to play the transport recovery...
'Right to Work' cuts wages, benefits (opinion)  the starpress.com   ...workers in "right to work" states make about $5,300 less a year...