Teamsters
Teamsters Call On SFMTA To Adopt Labor Harmony Resolution Teamster.org ...Teamsters and drivers for Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation held an action next to the Mission Street BART station last week, urging SFMTA pass the labor harmony resolution that was unanimously adopted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in March...
Salary Hike For Montco Correctional Officers The Intelligencer ...The county’s correctional officers in December 2013 voted to be represented by a union. The vote was 120-82 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local Union 384 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Flexjet Pilots Win Jobs Back, Made Whole for Company's Labor Law Violations Teamster.org ...In a decision by distinguished arbitrator Joshua Javits, three pilots with Flexjet, LLC, have been reinstated to their positions with the carrier and made whole for their terminations. The arbitrator found the terminations were without cause and that the pilots’ terminations resulted from retaliation for protected union activity in violation of federal labor law...
Global Labor & Trade
Turkey In Political Crisis As Violence Spirals Huffington Post ...Gunmen opened fire on Turkish police outside an Istanbul palace and eight soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in the southeast on Wednesday, heightening a sense of crisis as the country's political leaders struggle to form a new government...
German Parliament Overwhelmingly Approves Greek Bailout Huffington Post ...Germany's parliament overwhelmingly approved a third bailout for Greece on Wednesday, removing a key hurdle to providing new loans to the country and keeping it from defaulting on its debts in as little as 24 hours...
EC's Transparency Spin Falls Flat As TTIP Made Even More Secretive Huffington Post ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the biggest trade deal ever negotiated. Yet all British MPs know about it is what little the European Commission (EC) decides to tell them -- and that's about to become a lot less. Last week German website Correct!v revealed that one of the only sources of information for what happens in secret TTIP negotiations will end...
South Sudanese President’s Chilling Threat Against The Lives Of Journalists Think Progress ...The pressure to sign a civil-war ending peace agreement may be getting to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. On Sunday, the embattled leader threatened to kill journalists reporting “against the country.”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Ohio Lawmaker: Now Is Time For Right To Work Cincinnati.com ...The proposal, which is being drafted, would prohibit mandatory union membership at workplaces. The change would give employees the choice to opt out of unions and their dues, said Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout. Twenty-five states have right-to-work laws, including recently passed proposals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana...
Obama's Paid-Leave Policies Make Progress In Cities USA Today ...In his State of the Union Address in January, President Obama said he would go around Congress if necessary and push states to adopt paid-leave laws. Eight months later, only one state — Oregon — has passed such a law. But 17 cities have...
Compromise On Raising Bangor Minimum Wage Fails, Talks To Continue Bangor Daily News ...The City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee failed Tuesday to move forward a proposed compromise on a local minimum-wage increase...
U.S. Labor
Transportation Secretary And New Jersey Officials Meet To Discuss Hudson River Rail Tunnels New York Times ...After Mr. Foxx met with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and the state’s two Democratic senators, Cory A. Booker and Robert Menendez, the officials signaled a new level of cooperation on the project. The four released a joint statement calling the meeting “substantive and productive,” and indicated that they would work to obtain “a substantial federal grant contribution” and other funding options for the plan, known as the Gateway Project...
One-Quarter Of Mothers Return To Work Less Than 2 Weeks After Giving Birth, Report Finds Huffington Post ...The researchers looked at a survey of 2,852 workers who took leave in 2012, honing in on the 93 women who took time off to care for a new baby. Of those women, nearly 12 percent took a week or less; another 11 percent took between one and two weeks off, according to the analysis. Among college graduates, longer leaves ruled the day: Eighty percent of the women who took at least six weeks leave had a degree. Only 54 percent of women without a degree were able to do so...
Amazon's Brutal Workplace Is An Indicator Of An Inhumane Economy Los Angeles Times ...What, ultimately, is the point of all this high-intensity labor, 16 hours a day most days of the year? If it is to make men such as Bezos extremely rich, it has done that, but what is in it for the workers who devote their lives to his vision for two or three years and then wearily stumble away from the company? Have they built something important and soul-enriching? Or did they just shave some minutes off the time it takes to fill the shopping carts of impatient, lazy consumers? Shouldn’t there be a little more to life than that?...
A Simple Practice Can Transform The Lives Of First Responders Huffington Post ...Firefighters are known for their physical strength and bravery, but they also face an immense amount of emotional stress and pressure. And just as first responders train for fitness, so too should they work on sharpening and preparing their minds, according to neuroscientist Amishi Jha...
Social Justice & Other News
As Immigration Judges' Working Conditions Worsen, More May Choose Retirement Los Angeles Times ...“I just really didn't like telling these young kids they had to go back to this situation. It really was very stressful for me and distressing,” she said. “I started out my career representing people with asylum claims, and a lot of those were Central American. I didn't want to sign my name on something and send someone back somewhere where they could potentially lose their life.”...
Americans Back Federal Funds To Planned Parenthood For Health Services, Poll Shows Huffington Post ...Support for federal funding of Planned Parenthood itself to provide those women's health services was even stronger, according to the Reuters/Ipsos released on Wednesday...
These Former Debt Collectors Decided To Ditch The Industry, Buy Up Medical Debt And Forgive It Truthout ...When Paola Gonzalez received a phone call from RIP Medical Debt, she was certain what she heard was a mistake. A prank, maybe. The caller said a $950 hospital bill had been paid for in full: It would not affect her credit and she wouldn't have to worry about it again. "They wanted to pay a bill for me," she said. "I was just speechless."...
How Black Lives Matter Moved From A Hashtag To A Real Political Force Washington Post ...Black Lives Matter has evolved well beyond a hashtag attached to sometimes-smart and often-snarky posts about policing, jailing and racial disparities in the United States. Black Lives Matter, it would seem, has evolved into a social movement with political aims, policy demands and a disparate set of individuals motivated to push those issues into the 2016 campaign...
Confederate Flag Controversy: More US Schools Consider Bans On Display Of Southern Symbol As Charleston Unveils New Policy International Business Times ...Weeks after a white gunman opened fire in a historic black church in South Carolina, the Charleston County School District this week updated its code of conduct for the 2015-2016 school year, which began Monday, to include a ban on the Confederate flag. The policy prohibits students from wearing clothing, jewelry or other apparel featuring images of the rebel banner...
Science Isn’t Broken FiveThirtyEight ...If we’re going to rely on science as a means for reaching the truth — and it’s still the best tool we have — it’s important that we understand and respect just how difficult it is to get a rigorous result. I could pontificate about all the reasons why science is arduous, but instead I’m going to let you experience one of them for yourself. Welcome to the wild world of p-hacking...
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.20.15
Teamsters
L.A. Board of Supervisors Taking Closer Look at Port Drivers' Plight Eagle Rock Patch ...The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted May 20 to take a closer look at allegations of “wage theft” by truck drivers serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A representative for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said drivers were frequently issued “negative paychecks” because companies illegally charge for fuel, truck leases, repairs and insurance, calling the drayage companies “sweatshops on wheels”...
De Blasio Cuts Contract Deal With NYCHA Teamsters Union for Raises, Cost Cuts New York Observer ...Mr. de Blasio and Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, announced a preliminary deal—pending a union vote—that would grant 5,500 workers their first new contract since 2008 and 10 percent in retroactive and prospective raise over the next seven and a half years...
Global Labor & Trade
Rising skepticism among Democrats about Obama’s big trade deal Washington Post ...After meeting with Froman, Levin says he is not reassured. While Members of Congress have had access to much of the TPP, Levin says they have not yet been shown the portions fortifying labor standards. Levin’s primary concern is whether they will meaningfully hew to International Labor Standards on freedom of association, collective bargaining, protections against child labor, and other safeguards for workers, particularly when it comes to Vietnam and Mexico, a concern that is now being raised by Elizabeth Warren...
U.S. lawmakers compromise on 'poison-pill' Pacific trade rules Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers reached a compromise on Tuesday on rules that threatened to derail a proposed Pacific trade partnership by agreeing to soften tough provisions against human trafficking. An amendment to legislation allowing trade deals a rapid run through Congress had been dubbed a "poison pill" for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
McConnell moves to end debate on trade bill The Hill ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to end debate on "fast-track" trade legislation, after Democrats objected to allowing additional amendment votes. McConnell said he hopes Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will continue to try to find a way forward on amendments to the legislation, after talks appeared to hit a hurdle Tuesday...
Clinton finds problems with Obama TPP trade proposal CNN ...Hillary Clinton took aim Tuesday at two core components of a massive free trade pact that President Barack Obama is negotiating — signaling some agreement with the deal's liberal critics. The Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race said she wants to see rules included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would penalize countries for driving down the value of their currencies...
Broad Coalition Rallies to Defeat Obama on Trade Deal Bloomberg ...Unions remain a backbone of the opposition to the TPP. The United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers unions are among those who've organized plant demonstrations, and the UAW is mobilizing retired auto workers. The AFL-CIO has been leafletting, including in the states and districts of lawmakers like those of Senator Ron Wyden, the chief Democratic negotiator on trade...
Barack Obama’s shocking TPP paradox: Why the gargantuan trade deal undermines everything he says he cares about (opinion) Salon ...After four decades of intense globalization, the results are in: America used to make things, often in unionized and well-paid sectors, but cheap labor abroad — accessed by corporations when free trade agreements hammer down tariff barriers — have steered the U.S. toward a low-wage, non-unionized service economy. And yet the president, so readily vocal about the phenomenon, has made advocacy for a trade deal that challenges American jobs with dirt-cheap labor in Vietnam, Indonesia, and elsewhere his job lately...
Why Fast Track Is a Dangerous Gift to Corporate Lobbies (opinion) Huff Post ...including Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the two draft treaties. ISDS is a dangerous policy that undermines the case for TPP and TTIP. The ISDS framework is an unjustified grant of exceptional power to multinational companies above and beyond the legal system in which the companies operate...
ILO: Precarious Work Rises, Incomes Fall around the World Solidarity Center ...More than 60 percent of workers worldwide, predominantly women, are in temporary, part-time or short-term jobs in which wages are falling, a growing trend that is fueling global income inequality and poverty, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report released today. Although the incomes of permanent workers are relatively stable, the percentage of such workers is declining globally...
Ford halts production in Turkey due to Renault, Fiat labor strikes BGN News ...Laborers have been on strike in Fiat and Renault factories in Bursa province since last week over employment conditions. Protests began on late Thursday at Turkey's largest car factory, run by Oyak Renault, a joint venture between the French automaker and the Turkish army pension fund Oyak, in the northwest city of Bursa...
L.A. Board of Supervisors Taking Closer Look at Port Drivers' Plight Eagle Rock Patch ...The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted May 20 to take a closer look at allegations of “wage theft” by truck drivers serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A representative for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said drivers were frequently issued “negative paychecks” because companies illegally charge for fuel, truck leases, repairs and insurance, calling the drayage companies “sweatshops on wheels”...
De Blasio Cuts Contract Deal With NYCHA Teamsters Union for Raises, Cost Cuts New York Observer ...Mr. de Blasio and Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, announced a preliminary deal—pending a union vote—that would grant 5,500 workers their first new contract since 2008 and 10 percent in retroactive and prospective raise over the next seven and a half years...
Global Labor & Trade
Rising skepticism among Democrats about Obama’s big trade deal Washington Post ...After meeting with Froman, Levin says he is not reassured. While Members of Congress have had access to much of the TPP, Levin says they have not yet been shown the portions fortifying labor standards. Levin’s primary concern is whether they will meaningfully hew to International Labor Standards on freedom of association, collective bargaining, protections against child labor, and other safeguards for workers, particularly when it comes to Vietnam and Mexico, a concern that is now being raised by Elizabeth Warren...
U.S. lawmakers compromise on 'poison-pill' Pacific trade rules Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers reached a compromise on Tuesday on rules that threatened to derail a proposed Pacific trade partnership by agreeing to soften tough provisions against human trafficking. An amendment to legislation allowing trade deals a rapid run through Congress had been dubbed a "poison pill" for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
McConnell moves to end debate on trade bill The Hill ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to end debate on "fast-track" trade legislation, after Democrats objected to allowing additional amendment votes. McConnell said he hopes Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will continue to try to find a way forward on amendments to the legislation, after talks appeared to hit a hurdle Tuesday...
Clinton finds problems with Obama TPP trade proposal CNN ...Hillary Clinton took aim Tuesday at two core components of a massive free trade pact that President Barack Obama is negotiating — signaling some agreement with the deal's liberal critics. The Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race said she wants to see rules included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would penalize countries for driving down the value of their currencies...
Broad Coalition Rallies to Defeat Obama on Trade Deal Bloomberg ...Unions remain a backbone of the opposition to the TPP. The United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers unions are among those who've organized plant demonstrations, and the UAW is mobilizing retired auto workers. The AFL-CIO has been leafletting, including in the states and districts of lawmakers like those of Senator Ron Wyden, the chief Democratic negotiator on trade...
Barack Obama’s shocking TPP paradox: Why the gargantuan trade deal undermines everything he says he cares about (opinion) Salon ...After four decades of intense globalization, the results are in: America used to make things, often in unionized and well-paid sectors, but cheap labor abroad — accessed by corporations when free trade agreements hammer down tariff barriers — have steered the U.S. toward a low-wage, non-unionized service economy. And yet the president, so readily vocal about the phenomenon, has made advocacy for a trade deal that challenges American jobs with dirt-cheap labor in Vietnam, Indonesia, and elsewhere his job lately...
Why Fast Track Is a Dangerous Gift to Corporate Lobbies (opinion) Huff Post ...including Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the two draft treaties. ISDS is a dangerous policy that undermines the case for TPP and TTIP. The ISDS framework is an unjustified grant of exceptional power to multinational companies above and beyond the legal system in which the companies operate...
ILO: Precarious Work Rises, Incomes Fall around the World Solidarity Center ...More than 60 percent of workers worldwide, predominantly women, are in temporary, part-time or short-term jobs in which wages are falling, a growing trend that is fueling global income inequality and poverty, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report released today. Although the incomes of permanent workers are relatively stable, the percentage of such workers is declining globally...
Ford halts production in Turkey due to Renault, Fiat labor strikes BGN News ...Laborers have been on strike in Fiat and Renault factories in Bursa province since last week over employment conditions. Protests began on late Thursday at Turkey's largest car factory, run by Oyak Renault, a joint venture between the French automaker and the Turkish army pension fund Oyak, in the northwest city of Bursa...
France teachers strike over government reforms BBC ...Teachers across France are going on strike against government reforms to the education system. Trade unions representing 80% of teachers at French middle schools are leading the action against the plans...
State & Living Wage Battles
Will Mo. Lawmakers Attempt Right to Work Override? Ozarks First ...Gov. Jay Nixon has vowed to veto Right to Work legislation, telling KOLR 10 he thinks it's an "attack" on working people, while backers in the legislature are finding out whether enough support exists to override the governor's impending decision. About 25 other states have Right to Work laws. The issue has been talked about in Missouri for decades, but this legislative session was the first to put it on the governor's desk...
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has 'serious problems' with prevailing wage repeal bills MLive ...Republican Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday he has "serious problems" with prevailing wage repeal bills approved last week by the GOP-led Michigan Senate. Michigan law currently requires contractors to provide union wages and benefits on government-funded construction projects...
Thousands of Fast Food Workers to Protest McDonald’s Shareholder Meeting Today In These Times ...When McDonald’s stockholders meet on the leafy corporate campus in suburban Chicago today and tomorrow, thousands of protestors will be ready to greet them, according to organizers of the fast-growing Fight for $15 movement. Last year, in the first such confrontation, a few hundred people marched on and then blocked roads leading on to the company property before police arrested them...
Los Angeles Becomes The Largest City With a $15 Minimum Wage Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft legislation that would set the city’s minimum wage at $15 per hour by 2020 for businesses with more than 25 employees and by 2021 for smaller ones.
The council voted in favor of the move 14 to 1. The legislation will set the wage to $10.50 an hour for large businesses next year before gradually rising to $15...
McDonald's employees are swarming headquarters to protest low wages during the company's annual meeting Business Insider ...Thousands of McDonald's workers seeking a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to unionize are expected to swarm the fast-food giant's headquarters for two days of protests that will coincide with the fast-food chain's annual meeting on Thursday. Protests by low-wage fast-food and retail workers have helped fuel a national debate about pay levels...
U.S. Labor
Marathon Galveston Bay refinery workers vote to continue strike Reuters ...Hourly workers at Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery voted on Monday to continue a strike, rejecting a contract proposal developed by a federal mediator aimed at ending a stoppage that has lasted three-and-a-half months. Officials of United Steelworkers union Local 13-1, which represents the strikers, said nearly 900 striking workers had voted and the proposal was overwhelmingly rejected...
Bid to unionize Detroit charter school system in limbo Detroit News ...An effort to unionize a local charter school system remained unresolved Friday with no official results from an election held a day earlier. "While there were 19 more no votes from those who did not want the union, Detroit 90/90 challenged the voting rights of Teachers for America teachers and long-term substitutes, claiming the teachers they hired to stand in front of students are not actually professionals," said Nate Walker, K-12 organizer and policy analyst with AFT Michigan...
NLRB blocks union election at Stetson Charter School Philly.com ...The National Labor Relations Board yesterday blocked a union vote set for later this week at John B. Stetson Charter School after the union behind the organizing efforts filed an unfair-labor-practice charge. The Alliance of Charter School Employees union claims that Stetson, which is managed by charter operator ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania, has violated federal law...
County OKs AFSCME Contract; Salary Hikes Average 2.3% Cape May County Herald ...Cape May County government’s 686 members of local 3596 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have a new contract that will remain through Dec. 31, 2018. The former contract expired July 1, 2013. Negotiations had been ongoing since that time. The contract was unanimously approved by freeholders May 12 without comment...
Farm-labor case appears headed to Supreme Court Ag Alert ...A sweeping state appellate court decision, ruling part of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act unconstitutional, sets the stage for an eventual state Supreme Court decision on the act's mandatory mediation and conciliation provisions. the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the case, Gerawan Farming of Fresno, that it should have been given an opportunity to prove that the United Farm Workers union had "abandoned" Gerawan employees...
Miscellaneous
Why We Should Spend Billions More On Trains Think Progress ...In the same way that the U.S. subsidized cars, other countries are subsidizing trains. China is currently undertaking a huge public investment in rail. And while the system has experienced problems, ridership was nearly 900 million in 2014, compared to a paltry 30 million in the U.S. And the United Kingdom, with a far smaller area and population than the U.S., spends billions more than in public money to maintain its world-class system that regularly sees 1.2 billion passengers a year...
Progressive Groups Rally Behind Sanders' Plan to Tax 1% and Fund Higher Ed Common Dreams ...A broad coalition of nurses, students, religious and civil rights groups, environmentalists, labor and housing advocates on Tuesday praised Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) plan to use a so-called Robin Hood tax on stock transactions to fund tuition at four-year public colleges and universities...
State & Living Wage Battles
Will Mo. Lawmakers Attempt Right to Work Override? Ozarks First ...Gov. Jay Nixon has vowed to veto Right to Work legislation, telling KOLR 10 he thinks it's an "attack" on working people, while backers in the legislature are finding out whether enough support exists to override the governor's impending decision. About 25 other states have Right to Work laws. The issue has been talked about in Missouri for decades, but this legislative session was the first to put it on the governor's desk...
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has 'serious problems' with prevailing wage repeal bills MLive ...Republican Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday he has "serious problems" with prevailing wage repeal bills approved last week by the GOP-led Michigan Senate. Michigan law currently requires contractors to provide union wages and benefits on government-funded construction projects...
Thousands of Fast Food Workers to Protest McDonald’s Shareholder Meeting Today In These Times ...When McDonald’s stockholders meet on the leafy corporate campus in suburban Chicago today and tomorrow, thousands of protestors will be ready to greet them, according to organizers of the fast-growing Fight for $15 movement. Last year, in the first such confrontation, a few hundred people marched on and then blocked roads leading on to the company property before police arrested them...
Los Angeles Becomes The Largest City With a $15 Minimum Wage Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft legislation that would set the city’s minimum wage at $15 per hour by 2020 for businesses with more than 25 employees and by 2021 for smaller ones.
The council voted in favor of the move 14 to 1. The legislation will set the wage to $10.50 an hour for large businesses next year before gradually rising to $15...
McDonald's employees are swarming headquarters to protest low wages during the company's annual meeting Business Insider ...Thousands of McDonald's workers seeking a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to unionize are expected to swarm the fast-food giant's headquarters for two days of protests that will coincide with the fast-food chain's annual meeting on Thursday. Protests by low-wage fast-food and retail workers have helped fuel a national debate about pay levels...
U.S. Labor
Marathon Galveston Bay refinery workers vote to continue strike Reuters ...Hourly workers at Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery voted on Monday to continue a strike, rejecting a contract proposal developed by a federal mediator aimed at ending a stoppage that has lasted three-and-a-half months. Officials of United Steelworkers union Local 13-1, which represents the strikers, said nearly 900 striking workers had voted and the proposal was overwhelmingly rejected...
Bid to unionize Detroit charter school system in limbo Detroit News ...An effort to unionize a local charter school system remained unresolved Friday with no official results from an election held a day earlier. "While there were 19 more no votes from those who did not want the union, Detroit 90/90 challenged the voting rights of Teachers for America teachers and long-term substitutes, claiming the teachers they hired to stand in front of students are not actually professionals," said Nate Walker, K-12 organizer and policy analyst with AFT Michigan...
NLRB blocks union election at Stetson Charter School Philly.com ...The National Labor Relations Board yesterday blocked a union vote set for later this week at John B. Stetson Charter School after the union behind the organizing efforts filed an unfair-labor-practice charge. The Alliance of Charter School Employees union claims that Stetson, which is managed by charter operator ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania, has violated federal law...
County OKs AFSCME Contract; Salary Hikes Average 2.3% Cape May County Herald ...Cape May County government’s 686 members of local 3596 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have a new contract that will remain through Dec. 31, 2018. The former contract expired July 1, 2013. Negotiations had been ongoing since that time. The contract was unanimously approved by freeholders May 12 without comment...
Farm-labor case appears headed to Supreme Court Ag Alert ...A sweeping state appellate court decision, ruling part of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act unconstitutional, sets the stage for an eventual state Supreme Court decision on the act's mandatory mediation and conciliation provisions. the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the case, Gerawan Farming of Fresno, that it should have been given an opportunity to prove that the United Farm Workers union had "abandoned" Gerawan employees...
Miscellaneous
Why We Should Spend Billions More On Trains Think Progress ...In the same way that the U.S. subsidized cars, other countries are subsidizing trains. China is currently undertaking a huge public investment in rail. And while the system has experienced problems, ridership was nearly 900 million in 2014, compared to a paltry 30 million in the U.S. And the United Kingdom, with a far smaller area and population than the U.S., spends billions more than in public money to maintain its world-class system that regularly sees 1.2 billion passengers a year...
Progressive Groups Rally Behind Sanders' Plan to Tax 1% and Fund Higher Ed Common Dreams ...A broad coalition of nurses, students, religious and civil rights groups, environmentalists, labor and housing advocates on Tuesday praised Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) plan to use a so-called Robin Hood tax on stock transactions to fund tuition at four-year public colleges and universities...
Friday, February 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.07.14
Senate Fails to Pass Three-Month Extension of Jobless Aid New York Times ...The Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of President Obama’s economic recovery plan...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
DHL declares war on workers in Turkey
TÜMTİS, the Turkey Motor Vehicle and Transport Workers’ Union, has been trying to organize the DHL workers for over a year. DHL management in Turkey has fired workers for trying to organize and threatened to fire other workers for joining TÜMTİS. On top of that, DHL is refusing to meet with the union over the firings.
Between last April and November, eight workers were fired for what the DHL called poor performance and endangering worker safety and health. But the workers said managers openly threatened one worker at a time with dismissal for organizing.
The International Transport Workers Federation has been working with TÜMTİS to get the workers’ jobs back. Even after the ITF started talks with management in June, DHL fired seven more workers for supporting the organizing effort.
Nine of the workers currently have cases pending in courts. Eight have been paid but haven’t gotten their jobs back despite a court order.
According to the LabourStart Act Now petition posted by ITF,
Sacked workers are currently standing outside the warehouses in an act of resistance over their unfair dismissal. TÜMTİS has made every attempt to engage local management and seek a resolution to the ongoing dismissals, but to no avail. Local management continues to approach workers who have joined TÜMTİS, reportedly telling them that they must resign from TÜMTİS or they will lose their job. The workers demand the right to become members of TÜMTİS, and organize a union in their workplace, free from intimidation and threat of dismissal.Last week, DHL International’s Human Resources department agreed with Turkish managers. They said the firings were performance-related and the company is obeying Turkish law. They also said management doesn't need to meet with TÜMTİS because the company doesn’t recognize the union as legally representing the workers.
Currently, 335 DHL Turkey workers are members of TÜMTİS. In addition to ITF, UNI Global Union is helping TÜMTİS and the workers organize free from harassment and intimidation by management at DHL Turkey.
Teamsters in the U.S. know the importance of international labor solidarity – especially with our brothers and sisters in Turkey. Last year the Teamsters helped Turkish UPS workers win the right to representation by TÜMTİS after a drawn out battle with UPS.
Sign the ITF petition and support DHL workers in Turkey.
Dayanışma (solidarity)!
-- Union Thug
Friday, July 29, 2011
Teamsters help UPS workers win in Turkey
All of the workers had registered to join the union or were members of it. The workers formed a picket line and their struggle went on for an incredible 272 days. Backed by massive international support from trade federation allies, they have now won the right to return and compensation.
About 3,000 workers have filed for union recognition and Turkey's Ministry of Labour and Social Security has legally certified the union as the workers' representative. This comes as the culmination of a years-long campaign by UPS workers and their union to improve working conditions at global delivery companies operating in Turkey.
MHS Magazine quotes Kenan Öztürk, general president of TÜMTİS:
This achievement is not only ours. It is the result of the collaboration of many trade unions under the umbrella of the Global Delivery Network of the International Transport Federation (ITF), and especially the Teamsters union in America, which represents hundreds of thousands of UPS workers in the company's home country. The European Transport Federation and its affiliates also played an integral role in this victory.
We will now continue toward negotiating a strong collective agreement for UPS workers and we will continue to apply our organisational efforts at MNG-Fed Ex, DHL and TNT in Turkey."Tebrikler" (congratulations) to our UPS brothers and sisters in Turkey!
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