Today's Teamster News 12.07.15

TEAMSTERS
Clark County School District Workers Vote to Join Teamsters  Teamster.org   ...Clark County School District (CCSD) support workers have voted overwhelmingly to join the Teamsters Union, the Employee-Management Relations Board (EMRB) announced today. There are more than 11,000 support workers in the bargaining unit. The vote for Teamsters Local 14 was a decisive win over the current bargaining representative at CCSD, with nearly 82 percent of workers voting to join the Teamsters...
CCSD support staff ousts ESEA in favor of Teamsters union  Review-Journal  ...A decade-long fight to unseat the labor union that represents more than 11,000 bus drivers, custodians and support staff who work for the Clark County School District culminated Saturday in a landslide vote for Teamsters Local 14. Claiming 81 percent of 5, 339 ballots cast in a runoff election, Teamsters leaders and supporters credited their victory to a change in rules that govern union elections...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
U.S. car makers count among Pacific trade pact skeptics  Yahoo  ...U.S. auto makers are unlikely to win a much bigger share of the Japanese vehicle market despite a bid to break down trade barriers under a new Pacific trade pact, highlighting the difficulties ahead in winning votes for the deal through Congress. Car makers joined the tobacco industry, pharmaceutical companies and financial services in expressing reservations about parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Vietnam Sees Record-High Foreign Investment on TPP, Eased Rules  Bloomberg  ...Vietnam expects disbursed foreign direct investment to reach a record high this year after the government eased business regulations, luring investors seeking to benefit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. The surge in the Southeast Asian country’s foreign investments comes as neighboring countries such as the Philippines report declines, reflecting overseas investors’ increasing attraction to Vietnam...
Drug prices expected to rise as result of TPP deal  Globe and Mail  ...The intellectual-property provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will drive up global drug prices and make it harder to treat diseases in developing countries, Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) says. A month after the final text of the TPP was released, the medical humanitarian organization has completed its analysis of the portions of the massive trade pact that will affect drug costs...
How the TPP Fulfills Big Ag's Wish List  Alternet  ...An initial review reveals that the agreement compromises food safety and public health, notably through measures pertaining to U.S. border inspection of food imports. The agreement limits food import inspections “to what is reasonable and necessary,” and—perhaps most alarming—requires border inspectors to notify food importers if a negative food safety check is issued so they can challenge the port inspection findings...
U.S. trade deficit rises 3.4% in October to $43.9 billion  LA Times  ...The U.S. trade deficit widened in October, the Commerce Department said Friday, as exports of U.S. goods fell to the lowest level in more than four years, a reflection of the impact of a weak global economy and stronger dollar. The trade deficit, the difference between exports and imports, widened 3.4% in October to $43.9 billion, compared to a revised $42.5 billion deficit in September...
Greek parliament narrowly approves 2016 austerity budget  Euronews  ...The Greek parliament has narrowly approved a 2016 budget which includes sharp cuts in spending and some tax increases. The measures were conditions set by the country’s international lenders when Athens signed up to a third rescue package from euro zone governments in August worth up to 84 billion euros. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said it was difficult for a government that wants to promote social justice...
To Lift Quality of Life and Economy, Finland Champions Universal Basic Income  Common Dreams  ...As a way to improve living standards and boosts its economy, the nation of Finland is moving closer towards offering all of its adult citizens a basic permanent income of approximately 800 euros per month. The monthly allotment would replace other existing social benefits, but is an idea long advocated for by progressive-minded social scientists and economists as a solution—counter-intuitive as it may first appear at first—that actually decreases government expenditures...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Pre-filed bill targets prevailing wage in disaster areas  Missouri Times  ...One of the shorter pre-filed bills submitted so far calls for a prohibition on prevailing hourly wage to be paid for a tax credit funded project in a disaster area. Rep. Bill White, R-Joplin, filed HB 1406, which “prohibits the Missouri Housing Development Commission from requiring a prevailing hourly wage to be paid to a contractor on a project for a housing tax credit if it is in a Governor-declared disaster area”...
Rauner: Right to work off the table “for now”  Capitol Fax  ...Gov. Rauner has long said he is not pushing a “right-to-work” agenda for Illinois, but when speaking to a friendly crowd Friday at the Illinois Manufacturers Association’s annual luncheon, Rauner said the idea was only off the table “for now.” “Our labor regulations, while all the states around us have gone right-to-work, that’s killing a lot of employers,” Rauner said. “I’ve taken that off the table, for now anyway, in the spirit of trying to get a deal”...
Oregon union fight heats up  Statesman Journal  ...The Northwest Accountability Project has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asking to have the Freedom Foundation's tax-exempt charity status revoked. The complaint is intensifying the battle over public unions in Oregon and Washington, and was co-signed by 18 organizations including labor unions and left-leaning activist groups. The Northwest Accountability Project is working to counter the Freedom Foundation's campaign to have home-care workers opt out of paying union dues...
Right to Work is DOA in Ohio for fear of a Senate Bill 5 reprise  (opinion) Cleveland.com  ...Bystanders can unbunch their Dockers: Right to Work isn't going anywhere in Ohio anytime soon, if ever, because the last thing key Republicans want is another Senate Bill 5. True, an Ohio House committee gave a proposed Right to Work (for Less) plan, House Bill 377, a hearing last week. House rules require every House bill to get at least one hearing...
When It Comes to Female Apprenticeship Numbers, Oregon is Blowing Other States Away  We Party Patriots  ...In Oregon, outreach efforts to ensure women have apprenticeship opportunities were rewarded at a ceremony earlier this month, during which elected officials and union leaders touted the state’s leadership and celebrated the receipt of a $3 million federal grant to develop such programs. According to the numbers, Oregon has more than double the number of women in apprenticeships (6.9 percent) than the national average (3.2 percent)...
Paul Ryan Just Accidentally Made a Great Case for Raising the Minimum Wage  The Nation  ...  While Ryan pushed many of his favorite myths about the safety net, he also inadvertently made one of the strongest cases to date for raising the minimum wage and investing in policies to help people balance work and caregiving. Indeed, in his grand finale, Ryan called on Congress to: “Push wages up. Push the cost of living down. Get people off the sidelines. I could think of no better way to restore confidence in the American economy”...

U.S. LABOR
UAW wins historic victory in U.S. South with vote at VW plant  Reuters  ...The United Auto Workers union won its first organizing vote at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the U.S. South on Friday, in a groundbreaking victory after decades of failed attempts. About 71 percent of skilled trades workers who cast ballots at Volkswagen AG's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to join the UAW, according to the company and the union. The skilled trades workers account for about 11 percent of the 1,450 hourly employees at the plant...
Communications Workers of America Ratify Agreements Covering AT&T Southeast Wireline Employees  Fierce Telecom  ...AT&T today announced that employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to ratify a four-year contract with AT&T Southeast wireline operations. Employees also voted to ratify tentative agreements on two southeast regional contracts covering AT&T Billing Southeast and Southeast Utility Operations. The contracts cover about 24,000 employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee...
Nexteer UAW workers reject proposed contract by a landslide  MLive  ...Nexteer Automotive workers represented by UAW Local 699 rejected a proposed contract in a landslide vote, according to the group. UAW Local 699 on Monday, Dec. 7 posted the tentative results of the vote on its Facebook page. The outcome was 399 "no" votes to 8 "yes" votes for trade workers, and 2,704 "no" votes to 72 "yes" votes for production workers...
The single ugliest myth the rich perpetuate about the poor  Salon  ...Many wealthy white conservative males believe they deserve their good fortunes, and that the poor are taking handouts. But on average little of the money of the wealthiest Americans is spent on productive job-creating ventures. Based on the evidence, the very people demeaned by the rich as ‘lazy’ are generally the hardest workers. 73 percent of public support recipients are members of working families...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Activists Stage Paris Sit-In To Protest Role of Corporate Polluters in Climate Talks  Democracy Now  ...Despite restrictions on protests following the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people, activists attempted to stage a mass sit-in at the Grand Palais in Paris today to protest corporate sponsors pushing for so-called "solutions" to climate change that include genetically modified foods, privatized water and biofuels...
Chicago Cover-Up Deepens as 80 Minutes of Footage Confirmed Missing  Common Dreams  ...Chicago's cover-up scandal is deepening after city officials were forced to release additional surveillance footage of the deadly shooting of 17-year-old African American Laquan McDonald by a white officer—and it showed an unexplained 80-minute gap covering the time the teenager was killed...
Hunger-Striking Asylum Seekers Bring Their Case to Clinton’s Front Door  The Nation   ...Immigration activists brought the current fight over immigrant detention to Hillary Clinton’s doorstep Thursday. Two dozen activists protested outside Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters to push the Democratic presidential front-runner and Bernie Sanders to respond to #Freedomgiving—the name activists gave to a week-long hunger strike that began the day before Thanksgiving...

Today's Teamster News 05.18.14

Trade
TPP ministers to seek progress in Singapore but deal unlikely  global post   ...Hopes have grown that talks for an ambitious Pacific trade deal will advance when ministers from 12 countries gather in Singapore on Monday and Tuesday after Japan and the United States moved closer on thorny issues, but observers say reaching a broad deal at the upcoming meeting is unlikely...
Brussels authorities help silence opposition to the ‘Great Transatlantic Market’ (TTIP)  The Economic Voice   ...over a thousand people were in the streets of Brussels, attempting to peacefully protest against austerity and the proposed great transatlantic market (TTIP) which were being discussed in the absence of citizens at the European Business Summit. In an unprovoked move 281 people were violently arrested said the Corporate Europe Observatory, including Belgian and European parliamentarians and candidates, senior trade union officials, farmers and many elderly citizens...
State Battles
In Georgia, Lawmakers Taking Pride in Policies That Hurt the Poor  Next New Deal   ...lawmakers in Georgia have been systematically dismantling the state’s social safety net. Of the 300,000 Georgian families living below the poverty line, only 19,000 receive TANF and more than three quarters of those cases involve children only. That means that fewer than seven percent of low-income Georgians are able to get the welfare assistance they badly need...
‘Right-to-work’ is actually just a right to freeload  The Athens News   ...But why should they bother with the transparent ruse of right-to-work laws when they can just offer legislation to ban unions? That's what they really want...
Come to North Dakota for the paycheck, lose your life  Los Angeles Times   ...The state had the highest rate of worker fatalities in the nation--17.7 per 100,000 workers, or more than five times the national average. The union calculated the toll as "one of the highest state job fatality rates ever reported for any state," and observed that it had more than doubled from the rate in 2007...
ALEC fires back, but proves its 'pro-business' state index is bogus  Los Angeles Times   ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics..."
War on Workers
A guide to the VA health care controversy  Washington Post   ...Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki faced tough questions from a Senate panel Thursday about the state of his department after allegations that some VA health clinics have cooked their books to cover up treatment delays...
The Deep Roots of Skilled Labor Shortages: Anti-Union, Anti-Worker Corporations  Economic Policy Institute   ...Oil giants like Chevron can afford to have their construction contractors pay well for skilled work, but they resist. Organizations they fund, such as the Business Roundtable, have led a decades-long campaign to weaken or destroy the building trades unions that actually train the greatest number of skilled tradesmen. Chevron, Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and many other energy industry corporations fund the American Legislative Exchange Council and its legislative efforts to kill unions and eliminate labor standards...
G.M. Is Fined Over Safety and Called a Lawbreaker  New York Times   ...Saying that safety practices at General Motors were “broken,” federal regulators on Friday imposed the biggest punishment they could on the automaker and condemned it over its failure to promptly report a defect that G.M. has linked to 13 deaths...
GM suggested engineers avoid ‘judgment words’ like ‘death trap,’ ‘grenade-like’  Politico Pro   ...GM told engineers to avoid using dozens of words when communicating about vehicle problems that could potentially lead to recalls, including everything from “safety” to “Kevorkianesque...”
Shocker: Cable TV prices went up four times the rate of inflation  ars technica   ...US homes on average receive 189.1 cable TV channels and only watch 17.5 of them...
Wal-Mart Says It Won't Oppose Increase in Minimum Wage  Wall Street Journal   ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it wouldn't oppose an increase in the federal minimum wage, its most explicit comment yet on the controversial debate to move past the $7.25-an-hour minimum...
Miscellaneous
Over 3000 Chinese Evacuated (By Boat & Plane) As Vietnam's Anti-China Riots Escalate; Taiwan Also On "High Alert"  zero hedge   ...China began evacuating hundreds of its nationals from Vietnam (via at least 2 planes and 5 ships) as the anti-China protests have become increasingly deadly following Beijing's attempt to deploy an oil drill in Vietnamese dispuited waters...

Another murdered Colombian trade unionist – brought to you by “free” trade

Oscar López Triviño

Meet Oscar López Triviño. He’s the latest victim of so-called free trade.

On November 9 Oscar was shot dead by paramilitaries in the Colombian city of Bugalagrande. Why? Because Oscar was a union member.

Several days before his murder, Oscar’s union, SINALTRAINAL, had launched a hunger strike in front of a Nestlé factory where Oscar worked for more than 25 years. The company withdrew from negotiations several months ago and was trying to dump the union. Nestlé workers were demanding the company respect various agreements with the union.

Any worker action, especially a strike, can be a deadly one in Colombia, the most dangerous country in the world to be a union member.

The day before Oscar was killed, members of his union received death threats from paramilitaries. Amnesty International reports:

On 8 November, the paramilitary group Los Urabeños sent a death threat by SMS to the phones of José Onofre Esquivel Luna and Álvaro Varela Pérez, who are both leaders of the Bugalagrande branch of SINALTRAINAL and work for Nestlé. The death threat read: “Guerrilla fighters son-of-a-bitch you continue to mess with Nestlé [,] no more forgiveness [,] we will cut you up [,] death to all communists of SINALTRAINAL.”  

This is what life is like for union members under the reign of a trade deal in a country that is notorious for anti-union violence.

Armed corporate goons like Los Urabeños have been responsible for the murders of 11 other union members in Colombia this year alone. A recent report by US Reps. George Miller and Jim McGovern concluded that threats, assaults and disappearances are on the rise. Last year 22 union members were murdered in Colombia. None of the murderers have been brought to justice.

Since its inception in 1982, SINALTRAINAL alone has seen more than 20 of its members killed by right-wing death squads. Among slain SINALTRAINAL members, 13 worked for Nestlé. The company has of course denied any connections to paramilitary violence.

Oscar’s death is a tragic reminder of what can happen when governments enact trade deals to enrich corporations while providing no say or protections for workers – especially in a country like Colombia.

Yet that’s what is happening again with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an anti-worker trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors by Pacific Rim countries. Among those countries is Vietnam, a country that is rife with labor abuses including sweatshop conditions, poverty wages and child slavery.

If conditions in Colombia tell us anything, it’s that without public pressure the TPP will not only allow labor rights violations to continue in places like Vietnam, it will make them worse.

Fortunately, members of Congress are waking up to the fact that trade deals that are not fully vetted hurt workers and the environment. More than 190 members of the House are on record opposing fast-track authorization for the TPP. That means they want a full debate on the entire agreement, not the quick up-or-down vote that has allowed bad deals like the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to be ratified.

Jim Hoffa wrote in the Huffington Post this week:

Fast track is an attack on democracy. Americans have been kept out of the loop on how the TPP will affect their everyday lives. The last thing we need is for politicians to fast-track a Pacific trade deal through Congress that allows them to build in secret provisions that help their campaign contributors, but hurt working- and middle-class families. 

The death of union members like Oscar in Colombia is every reason for bringing the TPP into the light of day. In the meantime, workers need to hold governments accountable when they allow unionists to be assassinated with impunity. Nestlé workers in Colombia should enjoy the same rights that Nestlé Teamsters enjoy here in the U.S.!

You can sign the petition here to tell the Colombian government to bring Oscar’s murderers to justice and provide security to other SINALTRAINAL members who remain at risk.

¡Oscar presente!

Vietnam found to allow child slavery in garment factories

Vietnam’s tolerance of child slavery should disqualify it from joining the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

A recent U.S. government report confirms Vietnamese children are being forced to work in garment factories against their will. The government discovered child slavery when two Department of Labor officials visited Vietnam in January to investigate labor practices. As part of their visit, they met with Vietnamese government officials, unions and international and non-governmental groups working on child protection and worker rights issues. They found Vietnam has laws on the books, but they are not stopping child slavery:

Enacting laws, meaningfully enforcing those laws, and establishing policies and programs are important components of any country’s efforts to combat forced child labor. However, based on the evidence reviewed, there are more than isolated cases of forced child labor in garment production.

The findings back up a report by the Workers Rights Consortium that outlined repeated instances of child slavery. The document also detailed the squalid working conditions and low wages tolerated in Vietnam.

Teamster President James P. Hoffa spoke out last month against allowing Vietnam to be a part of the TPP, saying the nation should clean up its act before it can be allowed to. He demanded that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman hold the Southeast Asian nation accountable for its human rights violations.

U.S. workers should not be forced to compete against child slaves in garment factories.  The last thing American working families need is another trade deal that’s unfair to American workers.

As TPP negotiations get set to resume in Brunei later this week, U.S. trade representatives and lawmakers must make sure the deal is a fair one. No one doubts the value of trade, but not if it puts the American worker at a disadvantage.

Today's Teamster News 7.27.13

Chicagoland Families Stand With Striking Teamster Funeral Directors, Transfer Services to Alternative Funeral Homes  IBT ...Families throughout Chicagoland are supporting striking funeral directors and drivers by refusing to cross picket lines and transferring their funeral services to worker-friendly funeral homes...
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Encouraged By Actions of Canadian Rail Safety Regulator  BLET   ...The following is the official statement from Dennis R. Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen in response to media inquiries regarding the BLET’s reaction to the July 23 Emergency Directive issued by Transport Canada...
DD2 renews contract with Durham School Services  WCSC-5 News   ...Dorchester District 2 has renewed its contract with Durham School Services, the company which provides transportation for its students. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 509...
Teamsters Picket In WV To Support Tenn. Members  WCHS-8 News   ...Members of the Teamsters union are picketing in West Virginia in support of their union brothers in Tennessee. Picketers set up shop outside the Cummins Crosspoint plant in Cross Lanes Friday morning. See the video here...
UFCW Locals 21, 367 and the Teamsters Stand Together for Fair Grocery Contract  UFCW   ...30,000  members of UFCW Locals 21 and 367 and Teamsters Local 38 in Washington state are covered by contracts at grocers Albertsons, Safeway, Fred Meyer and Quality Food Centers and other local independent stores that are up for bargaining this year. As the companies propose the elimination of healthcare, cuts to pay, and denied paid sick days, the union members have responded with more solidarity than ever...
Banks shiver as UBS swallows $885 million U.S. fine  Reuters   ...UBS will pay $885 million (574.8 million pounds) in a settlement with a U.S. regulator over allegations the Swiss bank misrepresented mortgage-backed bonds during the housing bubble, paving the way for billions more to be paid by other banks...
SAC Capital Is Arraigned on a Raft of Criminal Charges  New York Times   ...the firm was arraigned on a raft of criminal insider trading charges, making it the first large American company to face an indictment in more than a decade. Prosecutors on Thursday announced the case against SAC, run by the billionaire Steven A. Cohen, calling it a “veritable magnet of market cheaters...”
Fast-food workers’ pay protests pick up steam  Washington Post   ...Supporters of a fledgling movement for better pay for fast-food and other poorly paid employees are hoping for a major boost next week when thousands of low-wage workers are expected to walk off their jobs in seven U.S. cities. On Monday, workers are planning to stage one-day strikes at some of the nation’s best known and most profitable fast-food restaurants, including KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s...
Seattle fast-food workers file wage-theft complaints  Seattle Times   ...Fast-food workers announced the filing of wage-theft complaints against some local restaurants Thursday, as part of an effort to spotlight what some say is an epidemic problem for low-wage workers...
Solidarity Sing Along crowd grows as arrests continue at Wisconsin Capitol  The Cap Times   ...Arrests of protesters continued for the third straight day Friday at the state Capitol, suggesting a renewed effort by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration to silence the ad-hoc “Solidarity Sing Along” group is doing little to stop the daily event...
In Scott Walker era, unions are essential (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...Contrary to the notion in the Journal Sentinel July 23 editorial that Act 10 means public employee unions "lost many of their reasons for being," Wisconsin's lagging economy since Act 10 underscores exactly why these unions are needed more than ever...
Labor Leaders Seek Government Aid for Detroit   New York Times ...Top leaders of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. on Thursday called on President Obama and the Congress to offer an immediate financial infusion to Detroit, which last week became the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy...
Creditors to fight Detroit insolvency claim  Detroit News   ...“pension funds, unions and unsecured bondholders would receive, in some cases, as little as 10 cents on the dollar” while Bank of American and UBS will get 75 cents...
North Carolina approves nation’s most restrictive voter suppression law  Salon   ...the North Carolina state legislature approved a radical voter suppression bill on a party line vote. The measure, easily the most extreme anti-voter bill passed by any state since the Jim Crow era, now heads to Republican Governor Pat McCrory for his signature. Court challenges — many of them — will most assuredly follow...
Florida can continue purging voters  MSNBC   ...More fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act came this week as a Federal Appeals court dismissed a lawsuit brought last year that tried to block a Florida voter purge...
Obama and Vietnam’s Leader Pledge Deeper Ties  New York Times   ...Bearing a copy of a letter from Ho Chi Minh to Harry S. Truman, the president of Vietnam met President Obama on Thursday and pledged to deepen trade and military ties with the United States even as they tangled over human rights...
Why a Train Crash like Spain’s is Unlikely To Happen in the U.S.  Time   ...The train that derailed and killed at least 80 people and injured 178 Wednesday night is a harrowing reminder of what can go wrong at high speeds. But experts say that U.S. riders have little to fear from the rails...
Gubernatorial candidate seeks to overhaul public-sector unions  St. Cloud Times   ...Minnesota State Sen. Dave Thompson roused conservative support and drew unions’ ire last year with his sponsorship of a so-called “right-to-work” constitutional amendment...
Illinois Unions Call for Investigation  WTAX News Radio   ...Unions are calling for an investigation into whether business leaders tried to persuade credit agencies to lower Illinois’ bond rating...
Rhode Island Bars Criminal History Questions on Job Applications  JCK Online   ...A new Rhode Island law will prevent employers in the state from asking prospective employees about their criminal history on job applications...
David Simon urges Tribune Co. not to sell the Sun to Koch brothers  City Paper   ...David Simon, who spent 13 years as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun before creating The Wire and Treme, has lent his voice to a campaign urging the Sun‘s owners, the Chicago-based Tribune Company, not to sell the paper to the oil-company heirs and right-wing activists Charles and David Koch...

Today's Teamster News 07.26.13

In Industry Where Few Workers Are 'Employees,' Teamsters Mount Multi-Front Attack  The Nation   ...A rare union election victory in New Jersey and a battery of wage theft complaints in California represent the latest steps in the Teamsters union’s effort to transform port trucking, a growing industry in which most workers aren’t considered employees under the law...
After a Long Battle, Teamster Waste Workers in Evansville, Indiana Ratify Contract  IBT   ...On July 22, 80 workers at Republic Services/Allied Waste in Evansville, Ind., who are members of Teamsters Local 215, ratified a contract that provides significant wage increases and strong retirement security...
U.S., Vietnam to intensify talks despite protests  Reuters   ...The United States and Vietnam have agreed to intensify talks on a regional free-trade agreement in hopes of finishing by the end of the year, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said on Wednesday, following a call by labor and human rights groups for negotiations with Hanoi to be suspended...
Journalist Covers Extreme Violence Against Workers and Union Activists in Colombia  AFL-CIO Now   ...“The dangers faced by union members and human rights activists mirror a long-lasting vortex of violence propelled by guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels, criminals and, according to human rights groups and others, military and government officials as well...”
Former UBS bankers get prison terms for muni bid-rigging  Reuters   ...Three former UBS AG (UBSN.VX) bankers were sentenced to prison on Wednesday for deceiving U.S. municipalities by rigging bids to invest municipal bond proceeds, with the longest sentence at 27 months, a fraction of what prosecutors had sought...
Detroit: latest battleground in the war on the Middle Class  NH Labor News   ...On Wednesday afternoon, the federal judge overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings suspended all other legal actions by public workers who are trying to protect their constitutional rights. And it is very unlikely that workers’ rights will be considered during the bankruptcy proceedings...
Georgia cities unable to file for bankruptcy  WALB News   ...Detroit's bankruptcy filing has some asking if a Georgia city could be next, but one attorney said the answer is no. State law prohibits cities from filing bankruptcy to absolve themselves of debt and forces city leaders to make tough decisions on raising taxes and cutting benefits and jobs...
Union reps decry liquor privatization, expired beer in Erie stores  Erie Times-News   ...A union group opposing liquor privatization was at a local grocery store Wednesday claiming some stores in Erie, Pennsylvania, have been selling beer past its expiration date...
80 dead, 31 critical after Spain train crash blamed on high speed; 1 American among the dead  Washington Post   ...A Spanish train that hurtled off the rails and smashed into a security wall as it rounded a bend was going so fast that carriages tumbled off the tracks like dominos, killing 80 people and maiming dozens more, according to eyewitness accounts and video footage obtained Thursday...
Low-wage workers rally in New York  PressTV   ...Demonstrators gathered in Brooklyn on Wednesday calling for better wages and denouncing harsh working conditions without benefits. The rally was organized by Fast Food Forward. The participants said the rally is part of the national movement of low-wage workers fighting for a better future...
Justice Department to challenge states’ voting rights laws  Washington Post   ...The Justice Department is preparing to take fresh legal action in a string of voting rights cases across the nation, U.S. officials said, part of a new attempt to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court ruling that the Obama administration has warned will imperil minority representation...
North Carolina First to Toughen Voting Laws After Ruling  Bloomberg News   ...North Carolina is poised to become the first state to pass a more restrictive voting law after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a core provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act...
Wisconsin’s union workers will have to wait for 1% raise   Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach is upset that at least 2,000 union state workers won't immediately share in the 1% pay raise put forward by Scott Walker's administration for each of the next two fiscal years. "Passing a state employment compensation plan without including any represented state employees reeks of punishment," Erpenbach said...
Police clash with Capitol singers for second straight day  Wisconsin State Journal   ...For the second day in a row, police at the state Capitol arrested people gathered in the rotunda without a permit as part of the long-running noontime singalong in protest of Gov. Scott Walker...
Most big American tech groups slip European tax net  Reuters   ...Most big U.S. technology firms cut their tax bills by not declaring a tax residence in their main European markets, preventing tax authorities in those countries from even assessing their income, a Reuters analysis of hundreds of corporate filings shows...

Today's Teamster News 07.25.13

Labor and Human Rights Coalition, including Teamsters, Call for Suspension of Trade Discussion with Vietnam  IBT   ...Yesterday, a coalition of labor and human rights leaders called on negotiations with Vietnam around the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be suspended until the country can prove it has met basic labor, environmental and human right standards...
SCI is a Bad Neighbor, Forcing Teamsters Out on Strike   IBT   ...SCI, a $3.5 billion corporation which operates 16 funeral homes in the Chicagoland area, forced its Local 727 Teamsters out on an unfair labor practices strike on July 2. Visit http://www.integrityinillinois.com/ for updates on their fight for fairness. View the video here...
The Teamsters donate $40,000 to the victims of Lac-Mégantic  Canada Newswire   ...Teamsters Canada has collected $40,000 from its locals throughout the country and it will be donated to help out the victims of the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy...
Teamster nursing staff at ECRMC in contract negotiations with hospital  Imperial Valley Press   ...El Centro Regional Medical Center’s nursing staff has presented the hospital with a financial proposal as part of its first contract with the hospital as an organized labor group, a representative from Teamsters Local 542 confirmed...
BLET wants feds to mandate 2-member train crews  Associated Press   ...Most railroads in the U.S. use at least two crew members to operate freight trains. But there's no federal rule to prevent them from using one employee as did a Maine-based railroad whose train, while unattended, careened into a Canadian town, causing an explosion and fire that killed 47 people…
Some CPD officers seek to join Teamsters Local 142   Chesterton Tribune   ...Within the next 30 to 60 days, full-time employees of the Chesterton (Indiana) Police Department -- both sworn officers and civilians -- could put unionization to the vote...
Teamsters Support Vance-Cooks for U.S. Public Printer  IBT   ...George Tedeschi, on behalf of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has written Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in support of the nomination of Davita Vance-Cooks as U.S. Public Printer...
Fired Walmart Workers Arrested in Protest at Yahoo Headquarters  The Nation   ...Five activists were arrested at Yahoo! headquarters Monday afternoon in a protest over the firing of eleven Walmart employees who this month went on strike...
Wal-Mart Workers Launch Surprise Strike Over Safety Issues  Mint Press News   ...At least 30 non-union Wal-Mart warehouse workers in California launched a surprise two-day strike this morning to protest alleged retaliation for exposing safety risks...
Wisconsin Capitol Protest Leads To Two Dozen Arrests As Police Crack Down On Anti-GOP Demonstration  Huffington Post   ...Police made numerous arrests inside the Wisconsin's Capitol building on Wednesday, more than two years after tens of thousands of Wisconsinites filled the rotunda in Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's (R) budget...
Chicago Teachers Protest Layoffs, Chanting ‘Emanuel Has Got To Go!’  In These Times   ...Bravo and Johnson were among several hundred teachers, parents and community members marching outside the Chicago Board of Education Wednesday morning, protesting the layoffs of more than 2,100 teachers and staff in the past week and other public school cuts...
Detroit firefighters protest outside of bankruptcy hearing  Detroit News   ...A group of about 40 Detroit firefighters joined protesters gathered outside the downtown federal courthouse Wednesday, to fight against expected cuts to pensions and the potential loss of public safety positions, as lawyers gathered inside for the first hearing in the historic bankruptcy case...
Congress Tells Detroit to Forget Financial Bailout  Bloomberg   ...Lawmakers in Congress are dismissing the possibility of a federal bailout for Detroit, the largest U.S. city to declare bankruptcy....
Hundreds protest Pittsburgh’s most notorious low-wage employers  WPXI-TV   ...Hundreds of protestors joined together Wednesday to call on Pittsburgh’s most notorious low wage employers...
North Carolina Senate Passes the Most Draconian Voter Suppression Bill Ever  Politicususa   ...This bill makes registering hard and voting harder – with the added bonus of longer voting lines.  To add insult to the pretense that this is about preserving election integrity, they are making it easier for thugs like True the Vote and the Voter Integrity Project to intimidate voters and for outside groups to help Art Pope buy the government...
OSHA To Require Flight Department Hazmat Training  Aviation International News   ...New regulations from the OSHA mandate the training of thousands of airline workers by December 1 to educate them on how to identify and protect themselves from hazardous chemicals used in the workplace...
Are Shrinking Unions Making Workers Poorer?  The Atlantic   ...Here's what we know: Union membership has been nearly cut in half over the past thirty years. During that time, income inequality grew, with the top one percent of wealthiest Americans seeing especially big gains in their pre- and post-tax income. And although the economy has grown, wages have not…
Worker Centers Offer a Backdoor Approach to Union Organizing  Wall Street Journal   ...Juan Campis was sweating in the 90-plus degree heat as he whipped a white towel across a gleaming black Chevy TrailBlazer at a carwash here in Bronx, N.Y.—one of six in the city that was unionized in recent months with help from two nonprofit community groups…
3 Months After Texas Fertilizer Explosion, Workplace Safety Still Ignored   Mint Press News ...Long after the explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, killed 15 people, workplace safety violations continue to plague workers across the U.S...
New Illinois law to fight misclassification of workers  WREX13   ...A bill addressing the misclassification of construction workers as independent contractors has been signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn., meant to fight employers who missclassify their workers in an attempt to avoid paying state employment taxes, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, and overtime...
Senate passes student loan interest rate compromise  Politico   ...A hard fought deal to keep student loan interest rates down cleared the Senate Wednesday on a 81-18 vote, despite strong opposition from liberal Democrats who believe it would make skyrocketing student debt even worse in the long run...

Hoffa urges U.S. to drop TPP talks with Vietnam

If Vietnam were to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the U.S. would be turning a blind eye to what’s really going on there, according to a report by the Worker Rights Consortium.

Unsafe workplaces are tolerated in Vietnam. So are poverty wages, human trafficking, child labor and violent suppression of workers’ rights. These are unacceptable in the United States and should be globally. At the very least they are conditions that should not be encouraged.

On the eve of President Obama’s meeting with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang in Washington to discuss the TPP, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa today demanded that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman hold the Southeast Asian nation accountable for its violations of human rights. Hoffa said the U.S. should cut off talks and not enter any trade deal with Vietnam until it cleans up its act:

It is imperative that Mr. Froman ensure that Vietnam is in compliance with basic labor, environmental and human rights standards before the two sides move forward with Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. We have seen the tragedy that results due to lax enforcement of labor standards and human rights in Bangladesh – we cannot enter into a trade agreement with a country that shows the same disregard for workers safety and human rights.

Others condemn what is going on in Vietnam. Rep. George Miller sent a letter to Froman today questioning whether Vietnam is following existing labor standards given the findings detailed in the report. He said the U.S. must be a leader when it comes to enforcing labor obligations:

As the Administration moves aggressively to complete TPP negotiations this year, we would be interested in your assessment as to whether a country such as Vietnam would have the ability to comply with obligations under the labor chapter of the TPP on a future date after the agreement is signed.

We must suspend trade negotiations with Vietnam until it improves its international labor, human rights and environmental standards. Too many members of Congress and the Obama administration, however, are either uninformed or disinterested in fair trade and human rights. That’s why we are demanding action. Tell your elected officials and Froman the U.S. should be setting the standards for how to treat workers and create safe products and not sink to level of nations like Vietnam.

Today's Teamster News 06.22.13

Ex-Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling's sentence cut to 14 years  BBC News   ...Jeffrey Skilling presided over Enron when it became embroiled in one of the biggest corporate frauds in US history...Thousands of workers lost their jobs and retirement savings when energy firm Enron collapsed in 2001...
Goodwill pays workers with disabilities as little as 22 cents an hour  Salon   ... In 2010, an Applebee’s in a tony New York suburb hired hearing- and visually impaired employees through a placement program with the Helen Keller National Center and paid them between $3.97 per hour and $5.96, well below the state minimum wage of $7.25. And it’s perfectly legal due to a Depression-era loophole in federal labor law...
Couple Orders Tie From Banana Republic, Gets Folders Full Of Sensitive Employee Info Instead Consumerist   ...When you order clothing online, there’s always the chance you’ll get the wrong size or color. But you rarely get three folders full of sensitive employee documents containing things like Social Security numbers, addresses, and tax forms. But that’s what one couple say happened to them when they placed an order with Banana Republic for a tie and pocket square...
Brazil protests: president to hold emergency meeting  The Guardian   ...Night of protests draws vast crowds in cities across Brazil, with a total turnout estimated at 2 million...
Deflating Minimum Wage Costs Workers Billions of Dollars (opinion)   Huffington Post   ...A single minimum wage worker who has worked continually for the federal minimum wage since 1968 has been deprived of over a quarter million dollars in wages over the course of those 45 years...
U.S., Vietnam still far apart on clothing in trade talks   Reuters   ...U.S. efforts to forge a "21st Century" trade agreement with Vietnam and 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific region are running into problems mired in the past, including a textile trade policy that U.S. industry does not want to give up…
Pressure Pays Off: Obama Administration Finally Lets Congress See Secretive TPP Text (But Still Not the Rest of Us)  Public Citizen   ...for the first known time in the three years that the secretive deal has been under negotiation by the Obama administration, said administration has allowed a member of Congress to view three chapters of the bracketed negotiating text...
Madoff trustee cannot sue big banks, U.S. court rules  Reuters   ...The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims suffered a big defeat as a federal appeals court rejected his bid to recover nearly $30 billion from JPMorgan Chase and Co. and other banks he accused of aiding in the swindler's fraud...
7-Eleven deploying immigration inspectors  New York Post   ...7-Eleven is deploying its own team of immigration inspectors to franchises nationwide in the wake of a big illegal-alien scandal where the feds say workers in Long Island and Virginia were given stolen identities and then forced to work up to 100 hours weekly for a fraction of their wages...
Three States Dump Major Private Prison Company In One Month  Think Progress   ...State lawmakers who embraced private prisons as a cost-cutting measure are starting to have trouble ignoring their abysmal conditions. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest and most powerful private prison company in the nation, lost four prison contracts in the past month after extensive reports of abuse, neglect, and even fraud...
Michigan lawmakers vote to change foreclosure rules  Detroit Free Press   ...The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday gave final approval to bills that keep intact the redemption period when homeowners can challenge a foreclosure’s legality. An earlier version of the measure would have reduced the period from six months to 60 days...
New scale bypass system can read driver logs, CSA profile with no stopping  Truck News   ...A new scale bypass system that allows drivers and carriers with good CSA scores to pass through weigh stations without stopping, is generating some buzz in the US...
Diversified drivers reject latest offer  Fort McMurray Today   ...Bus drivers with Diversified Transportation, who are members of Teamsters Local 362, have rejected another contract offer from their employers, even though the majority of the negotiating committee recommended accepting it...
FirstGroup Executives See Big Payouts as Company, Workers Suffer  IBT   ...FirstGroup PLC is under fire for awarding hefty bonus payments to top U.S. executives while workers have been denied fair wage increases and improved working conditions...
Get Text Message Updates That Are Important to YOU  IBT   ...Teamsters, sign up to get personalized text messages from the IBT. Text to 86466 the word MAG and your member ID number – located above the label on the back of your latest Teamster magazine...