Have a Teamsters' Thanksgiving!

Be thankful for Teamster-affiliated products like these.

Thanksgiving is a day to spend with family and friends and to reflect on all the good things one has in life. Many people enjoy a feast and football. It's hard to imagine anything better.

Of course, there is a little way to make the holiday brighter for your fellow union members -- buy Teamster-made products! That way, you get quality goods and help keep your fellow brothers and sisters working!

Teamster members proudly manufacture butter and other dairy products with Land O'Lakes and Tillamook companies. Teamsters also craft jams, preserves and jellies at Smuckers. Use those ingredients to help prepare your Turkey Day staples.

But beverages also play an important role in any celebration. And here, the Teamsters really shine! On the beer front, the Teamsters make or cart all the Anheuser-Busch brands, as well as MillerCoors, all the Dundee brands and all the Genesee ales. The Teamsters also brew Blue Moon and have workers affiliated with Mendocino Brewing. And if you're craving an import, don't forget Becks or Molson.

For wine, the cellar operation workers at Woodbridge Winery are Teamsters. They produce some of the finest wines in California, including Ravens Wood, Toasted Head and Robert Mondavi wines.

So raise a glass to our great nation with great Teamster products. You'll be glad you did!

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

Finally, more retailers are being thankful for their employees

The good news is that it seems more and more retailers are getting the message that workers should be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with their families, not toiling away at work.

The bad news? Some companies still aren't complying and probably never will. Paging Walmart ...

Anyway, employees of Costco, T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, American Girl, Burlington Coat Factory, The Home Depot, Marshalls and Staples won't have to be on the job next Thursday. REI, meanwhile, is doing one better -- closing Thanksgiving Day as well as Friday. They're even paying their workers too!

Walmart still refuses to close on Thanksgiving.

But that good cheer is not being extended to employees of Walmart, Target, Macy's, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Kmart or Kohl's. They still are putting financial gains above time with family. Or so they think.

The real kick in the pants is that opening for a few hours on Thanksgiving does not even yield more profits for companies. They're just taking in funds that they would have earned eventually during the holiday shopping season anyway. So thousands of workers give up their holiday for nothing.

As The Street noted:

Labor groups have pushed back on big chains forcing employees to come in for the holiday, while consumer groups have called for shoppers to boycott going out on Thanksgiving 

And stores have started to answer -- though likely more because the strategy of opening on Thanksgiving doesn't add to the bottom line, rather than for workers' morale. Indeed, retailers are finding that being open on Thanksgiving isn't necessarily boosting holiday sales, but rather that Thursday's sales are simply coming at the expense of those on Black Friday.

Whatever the reason, it's the right call. It's time for others to do the same.

Today's Teamster News 11.27.13

H&L Bloom Bus Drivers Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers with H&L Bloom in Attleboro, Mass., have voted by a nearly 2-1 margin to join Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass., seeking job security and workplace protections...
Local 330 Arbitration Victory Preserves Area Construction Standards  teamstersjc25.com   ...Precedent was set when a Chicago arbitrator ruled subcontractors and owner operators performing union work in the construction trades must be paid area standard wages and benefits...
Winter School Bus Safety Tips  driveupstandards.org   ...With a severe winter predicted for much of the country, it’s critical to exercise caution while driving. Courtney Goodman-Bell, a business agent with Teamsters Local 777 in Lyons, Ill., representing school bus workers, offers the following safe driving tips...
Ratio of Job Seekers to Job Openings Holds Steady at 2.9-to-1, Equal to the Worst Month of Early 2000s Downturn  Economic Policy Institute   ...for nearly two out of every three job seekers, there simply were no jobs...
Walmart Workers Strike In Maryland, Making Nine Strikes In A Month  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart workers walked off the job at two stores in Maryland on Tuesday ... The strikes come a day after one in Miami and makes nine strikes total for the month of November...
Americans Really Hate Thanksgiving Shopping Creep, Poll Finds  Huffington Post   ...Although retailers have started creeping into Thanksgiving by pushing Black Friday openings earlier and earlier, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds that a big majority of Americans think retailers should stay closed on Thanksgiving so workers can have the day off...
How Walmart Shortchanges Employees Who Work Thanksgiving  ThinkProgress   ...With more stores than ever opening early this Thanksgiving, the larger chains are offering extra pay and perks to appease employees working holiday shifts. But the company calculates holiday pay differently from other retailers and manipulates staff schedules so they’re paid less on Thanksgiving than the retailer implies...
Pope Francis: Capitalism is “a new tyranny”  Salon   ...Pope Francis on Tuesday called capitalism “a new tyranny” and very explicitly called on global leaders to act on poverty and growing inequality...
A Fake Slum for Luxury Tourists Who Don't Want to See Real Poverty  Gizmodo   ...The Emoya Luxury Hotel and Spa near Bloemfontein, South Africa offers Shanty Town, a dozen shacks made from scrap wood and corrugated metal that it thinks is the perfect setting for your next corporate retreat or wedding anniversary. The resort has gone to great lengths to recreate the joys of slum living without the nuisances of crime, disease, or poor sanitation...
Breadlines Return  New York Times   ... one-sixth of ... (New York) city’s residents and one-fifth of its children live in homes without enough to eat...
Food Stamp Cuts, Holidays Stress Food Banks  Huffington Post   ...For those who help the hungry, 2013 is looking a lot like the years since the recession began—with the added challenge of a $5 billion cut in food stamp benefits, which took effect Nov. 1...
Salt Lake TPP Talks End with Growing Pressure to Announce “Deal” at December TPP Ministerial, but No Resolution of Major Controversies  Public Citizen   ... There was no discussion of disciplines to counter currency manipulation despite 230 House and 60 Senate GOP and Democrats demanding such terms...
Among American workers, poll finds unprecedented anxiety about jobs, economy  Washington Post   ...American workers are living with unprecedented economic anxiety, four years into a recovery that has left so many of them stuck in place...
Banks Threaten To Charge You For Saving Money  Huffington Post   ...In an effort to protect their record profits, banks might soon charge you for the privilege of having a savings account...
ALEC’s Proposal Threatens To Bypass Primaries, Weaken Voters In Electing Senators  MintPress News   ...The Equal State’s Enfranchisement Act seeks to give state legislatures the power to place Senate candidates directly on the ballot without party approval...
How Wall Street Turned America Into Incarceration Nation  AlterNet   ...Transforming poorer neighborhoods into desirable real estate for the new elites often requires getting rid of the poor: jail becomes the new home for many...
Revealed: How corporate spooks spy on activists  BillMoyers.com   ...A new report discusses some of the techniques. They can be devious...
Latest job numbers not good for Scott Walker — or those looking for work  The Cap Times   ...A new round of numbers show the pace of job creation in Wisconsin slowing by 37 percent for the one-year period ending in June — not good news politically for Gov. Scott Walker or for those looking for work...

Today's Teamster News 11.26.13

United Airlines Mechanics Call for Pension Reinstatement During Informational Pickets at Airports Across the U.S.  teamster.org   ...On Monday, United Airlines (UAL) professional aviation mechanics represented by the Teamsters Union held informational pickets at 10 major airports around the country to let the public know they may be forced to strike if the company refuses to keep its promise to reinstate the workers’ pension plans...
BLET Urges Support For Two-Person Crew Bill  ble-t.org   ...The BLET, working jointly with SMART-Transportation Division (formerly the United Transportation Union), made nearly 150 visits to members of the U.S. House of Representatives last week in support of H.R. 3040, the Safe Freight Act...
Thanksgiving Openings Show Lack of Respect for Workers  teamster.org   ...“Many of them are underperforming and desperate for every dollar of sales.”...
Walmart Strikes Hit Three More Cities In Florida And California  ThinkProgress   ...Walmart workers went on strike on in Miami on Monday morning, following strikes in Tampa on Saturday and in Sacramento, CA on Friday...
National, Iowa Right to Work Groups Subsidized State Candidates, Misled IRS, Former Employee Charges  Open Secrets   ...A former political operative with the National Right to Work Committee who was involved with the 2008 and 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaigns has accused the anti-union group of running a sprawling off-the-books mass-mailing operation that violated state campaign finance laws and is at odds with the group's statements to the IRS...
WTO talks fail to agree on global trade deal text  Reuters   ...Marathon talks on the World Trade Organization's first-ever worldwide trade reform in Geneva failed early on Monday to agree on a text to put to ministers who meet in Bali next month...
Why Globalization Is Going Into Reverse  Bloomberg   ...A new study shows that cross-border investment and trade flows declined worldwide in 2012, ending a two-year recovery after the global financial crisis...
Bold Boeing workers refuse to screw over next generation  The Salon   ...By rejecting a contract that amounted to corporate extortion, employees have taken a stand for the middle class...
The Corporate Bully Whose Front Groups, Willful Distortions and Hate-Mongering Has Poisoned U.S. Politics: Meet Richard Berman  AlterNet   ...“Why don’t we know one of the most powerful people in America is? What he has done? Why '60 Minutes' called him Dr. Evil?” asks Saru Jayaraman, a leader in a growing national movement of restaurant workers demanding better pay and working conditions...
H&M: 'Living Wage' Coming To Textile Workers By 2018  Reuters   ...Hennes & Mauritz, the world's second-largest clothing retailer, laid out a plan on Monday to pay a fair "living wage" to some 850,000 textile workers by 2018, saying governments were acting too slowly...
4 Ways the Koch Brothers' Wealth Is Beyond Comprehension  Alternet   ...In 2012, David and Charles Koch made enough money in one second to pay the food bill for an entire year for a homeless woman named Beverly...
10 Biggest Myths About Retail Workers  The Guardian   ...The average age of a retail worker is  37 years old (pdf), and more than half of year-round retail workers  contribute a significant portion (pdf) of their family's total income. For example, researchers found that  a third (pdf) of New York City retail workers support at least one dependent...
Hungry Americans Less Productive as Budget Cuts Deepen: Economy  Bloomberg   ...Hunger costs the U.S. at least $167.5 billion each year in lost economic productivity and earnings, health-care expenses that could have been avoided by better nutrition and the value of charity to keep families fed...
Unions to address austerity measures  Kenora Online   ...Ontario Federation of Labour gathers in Toronto this week to address austerity measures, including anti-union legislation...
A tale of two states  MSNBC   ...After the 2010 elections, Wisconsin got to work targeting collective bargaining, tax cuts, and reduced spending. After the 2010 elections, Minnesota got to work raising taxes on the wealthy and making new in-state investments in areas such as education and infrastructure….Three years into Mr. Walker’s term, Wisconsin lags behind Minnesota in job creation and economic growth...
Heart of Darkness: Criminal Investigation of WI Recall $  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The post-Citizens United dark money showdown is underway in Wisconsin...
Herring wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces  Washington Post   ...The State Board of Elections on Monday declared Democrat Mark R. Herring Virginia’s next attorney general, capping a dramatic three-week certification process in the closest statewide race in Virginia history...