TEAMSTERS
Strike Ends as Chicago Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement with Coca-Cola Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 ended its unfair labor practice strike against Coca-Cola Refreshments late on Tuesday, Dec. 29, after reaching tentative agreement on a fair three-year contract for 319 production and warehouse workers. Upon ratification, the tentative agreement will transfer Local 727 members into a new health and welfare plan previously available to Coca-Cola management...
Teamsters reach tentative pact with Coca-Cola, end strike Chicago Tribune ...Coca-Cola workers who have been on strike for nearly a month are heading back to work after their union reached a tentative three-year contract with the company. Teamsters Local 727, which says it represents 319 production workers at Coca-Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, announced late Tuesday that the bargaining committee recommended ratification of what it called a "fair" contract offer by Coke...
Teamsters: Port Drivers Win Nearly $7 Million in Wages, End Misclassification Teamster.org ...On Dec. 14, the California Labor Commissioner determined that 38 drivers at leading port trucking company Pacific 9 Transportation, which hauls containers from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for some of America’s premiere brands – including Costco, Goodyear Tires, Ugg Boots, and Microsoft – are in fact employees, not independent contractors, and ordered Pac 9 to pay them nearly $6.9 million in stolen wages...
Port drivers win millions in back pay from trucking firm LA Times ...A port trucking firm in Carson has been ordered to turn over nearly $7 million in back pay to 38 drivers, the latest in a series of recent wins for port drivers and the Teamsters union that has been trying to organize them. The state Labor Commissioner's Office ruled this month that the drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation were improperly treated as independent contractors rather than as employees...
NYC horse carriage industry thanks supporters for help Daily News ...Horse carriages — which for the past two years have operated under a cloud of uncertainty — are starting 2016 on a positive note. The industry, which Mayor de Blasio threatened to ban on his first day in office, bought a full page ad in Friday’s Daily News thanking its supporters for helping them stay around for the past two years...
American Red Cross Workers Vote To Join Teamsters In Maine PR Newswire ...Workers at the American Red Cross' Portland donation center have voted to join Teamsters Local 340. The blood donation center's 57 employees will now form a bargaining unit that includes collections technicians, collections specialists and mobile unit assistants of various classifications. These employees are responsible for setting up and administering blood drives across the southern half of the state...
Beer hauler moves to bust Teamsters union NW Labor Press ...Teamsters Local 162 is facing what more and more looks like a union-busting effort by General Distributors Inc. When truck drivers, warehouse workers, and sales employees learned that the profitable company would seek $1.5 million a year in concessions from them in their next union contract, they voted 59 to 5 to strike, and about 80 members of Teamsters Local 162 walked off the job Nov. 17. In response, the company threatened to permanently replace them...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Zimbabwe: Public workers threaten strike over delayed pay Africa Report ...The year is opening on a tense note for the Zimbabwean government, as tens of thousands of public workers have threatened to go on strike over delayed salaries. Civil servants in the southern African nation are yet to be paid their December salaries, with the government promising to pay them by Tuesday, but this has not been enough to calm the restive workers...
Jerusalem sanitation workers strike after 170 fired Times of Israel ...Jerusalem sanitation workers went on strike Thursday, after the city sent termination letters to 170 employees in the department. The municipality also warned that the move was the first of many necessary cutbacks to come — with up to 2,000 more firings — if the Finance Ministry does not transfer to the city the funds needed to keep a balanced budget in 2016...
U.S. Election Debate Complicates Passage of Pacific Trade Pact Wall Street Journal ...An international trade agreement embraced by President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress is drawing fire from many presidential candidates, illustrating the populist shift of both parties in the age of Donald Trump. Contenders ranging from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas have spoken out against the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
TPP nations arranging to sign free-trade deal in early February Japan Times ...Japan, the United States and 10 other nations that reached a broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact in October are arranging to sign the deal in early February, an official from one of the nations has said. Following the broad agreement after more than five years of negotiations, the 12 nations released the text of the landmark trade deal in November...
TPP trade deal pits Pittsburgh against Philadelphia Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh manufactures the products. Philadelphia ships them around the world. One city stands to gain from expanding trade into the Pacific Rim while the other has much to lose, their mayors say. That’s why Philadelphia’s outgoing mayor, Michael Nutter, has been helping the White House stump for the Trans-Pacific Partnership while Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto stands opposed...
The Corporate-Friendly Trade Deals Threatening Ordinary People in 2016 Common Dreams ...Corporate media failed to cover the dangers of business-friendly trade deals in 2015, despite growing grassroots opposition to such pacts—and increasing public awareness about their contents. Will 2016 be the year looming toxic trade policies catapult into the mainstream? Sierra Club trade representative Ilana Solomon hopes so...
Greece Not to Agree to Creditors Unreasonable Austerity Demands - Tsipras Sputnik News ...Athens will follow the memorandum signed with its international creditors, but will not agree to unreasonable austerity demands, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said, as quoted by the local media on Sunday. According to Tsipras, 2016 will be a pivotal year, after several years of crisis for the country. The Greek economy has been severely strained because of the country’s multibillion debt accumulated after the 2008 world economic crisis...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Minimum wage rises in 14 states and several cities Al Jazeera ...As the United States marks more than six years without an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, 14 states and several cities are moving forward with their own increases, with most having taken effect Jan. 1. California and Massachusetts are highest among the states, both increasing from $9 to $10 an hour, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures...
American workers see progress on paid sick leave, no thanks to Congress Daily Kos ...Paid sick days have gained a lot of ground in the last few years, and continued to do so in 2015. Oregon became the fourth state to require paid sick leave for most workers, following Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts. The cities of Tacoma, Washington, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also passed paid sick leave laws...
Missouri speaker sounds doubtful over 'right to work' STL Today ...When it comes to a GOP-led charge to make Missouri a “right to work” state, a top Republican is throwing cold water on one of the hot-button issues of the last legislative session. In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, House Speaker Todd Richardson sounded doubtful that right to work would be a top goal for Republicans when the House and Senate return Wednesday...
Wages in NH expected to increase in 2016 Union Leader ...Wal-Mart, the state's largest retail employer, plans to raise wages for its 7,785 New Hampshire employees in 2016, in one of several signs that the year ahead could finally see meaningful improvement in earnings for hourly workers after years of wage stagnation...
Chris Christie Refuses To Help Unemployed New Jersey Residents Hold Onto Food Stamps Think Progress ...About 11,000 New Jersey residents are set to lose their food stamps after Gov. Chris Christie (R)’s administration said it won’t seek any waivers from the program’s work requirements. Since 2009, state governors have been encouraged to get waivers from the federal government for the requirement that able-bodied, childless adults work at least 20 hours a week to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...
Judge's ruling a mixed bag for those challenging voter ID law Journal Sentinel ...A federal judge has thrown out portions of a challenge to Wisconsin's voting laws but is allowing a key part of the lawsuit to proceed that could allow more types of identification to be used under the voter ID law. In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison also found the liberal One Wisconsin Institute could pursue its argument that recent restrictions on early voting violate the U.S. Constitution...
U.S. LABOR
Tentative agreement prevents custodial workers strike Bristol Press ...Just one day before a strike could have begun, a bargaining committee representing more than 2,100 janitors in Hartford, New Haven and other Connecticut cities and towns reached a tentative agreement with the Hartford County Cleaning Contractors Association. The four-year contract agreed to Wednesday — subject to ratification — includes incremental wage increases...
Labor board hands Whole Foods workers a victory CBS ...Whole Foods Market (WFM) can no longer forbid its employees from taking photographs or recording conversations at work, according to a recent federal ruling. "Smartphone pics and videos in this day and age are particularly 'essential' to proving an employee's rights have been violated," said the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a decision issued late last week...
150 Muslims Fired For Protesting Their Workplace’s Prayer Policies Think Progress ...About 150 Muslim workers at a meat processing plant have been fired for refusing to show up for work during an ongoing dispute over prayer accommodations. The controversy began on December 18, when 11 Somali Muslim workers at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Fort Morgan, Colorado requested to visit the building’s prayer room at the same time...
Ten of the Best Things That Happened to American Workers in 2015 Huffington Post ...Historians may remember 2015 as the year of the minimum wage -- and for good reason. Twenty-one states and multiple cities raised the minimum wage in the past 12 months, scarcely two years after the "Fight for $15" was dismissed as a pipe dream by some observers. The past year also saw other major advances for working Americans...
The End Of Unions? Upcoming Supreme Court Case Could Overturn Power To Collect Fees IBTimes ...A Supreme Court case beginning Jan. 11 has union members wondering if a ruling could sound a death knell on labor organizations that have grown accustomed to heightened limitations and declining memberships in recent years. Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will determine whether mandatory union dues violate workers' freedom of speech, and experts say a ruling could dictate the future of unions' ability to collect fees...
Workers' Comp Industrial Complex: The Middlemen Silencing Injured Workers Truthout ...Workers' comp is supposed to be simple. If you're injured on the job, your employer pays your medical bills and part of your wages while you recover. But over the past two decades, a cottage industry of middlemen has emerged, which some have dubbed the "workers' comp industrial complex." Even private equity firms have bought in, seeing profit opportunities in employers' and insurers' quest to contain spending...
Adjuncts at Loyola University Chicago Want a Union. Will the Jesuit University Respect Their Demands? The Nation ...Loyola University Chicago now faces the challenge of putting its Jesuit principles into practice as frustrated professors push for a union. The administration argues a union would interfere with the university’s “mission.” But according to Loyola’s struggling non-tenured faculty members, their poverty wages and exhausting working conditions prove that it is the administration’s corporate greed that is flouting the Jesuit tradition of social justice...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Happy New Year. You’re Deported. The Nation ...This is how the Department of Homeland Security says happy holidays: The federal government will reportedly begin raids to deport families who’ve arrived in the country in the last two years, according to The Washington Post. The enforcement operation could begin in a matter of weeks, and was first reported on Christmas Eve. The raids would target hundreds of adults and children who have a standing order of deportation against them...
Hundreds Demand Prosecutor In Tamir Rice Case Resign Think Progress ...Protests continued on Friday following a grand jury’s recent decision not to indict the two white police officers who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice. More than 100 activists marched to the home of the prosecutor who handled Rice’s case, Timothy McGinty, on New Year’s Day and demanded his resignation. Chanting “New year, no more!”...
Media Coverage of Oregon Militia Standoff Raises Eyebrows — and Ire Common Dreams ...After members of a rightwing militia seized the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday afternoon, observers questioned the corporate media's treatment of the event, pointing to a double standard in coverage compared to other recent protests. Watchdog site Media Matters pointed out that while Fox's coverage of campus protests against racial discrimination was dismissive, its reporting "looked drastically different when those protesting have aligned with the network's conservative agenda"...
They’d be killed if they were black: The racial double standard at the heart of the new Bundy family standoff Salon ...At least 150 armed white men have seized control of a federal building outside of Burns, Oregon. The actions taken by Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and their supporters in Oregon are the very definition of terrorism and armed insurrection. If Muslims took up arms, occupied a federal building, recorded martyrdom videos, and threatened to kill police and other authorities, they would be called “terrorists”...
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2016
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.28.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Statement on New State Department Report That Upgrades Malaysia on Trafficking List Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to a new State Department document that improves the Malaysian government’s standing in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report: "The welfare of workers is at risk, and we must continue to push Malaysia to improve its anti-trafficking efforts rather than paving the way for it to participate in TPP"...
Google Express Workers File for Representation by Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 853 announced today that workers at Palo Alto-based Google Express Services filed for a representation election. The more than 140 warehouse and shipping workers sought out the Teamsters for help with improving working conditions, treatment on the job and compensation...
Workers at Google Express Bay Area Warehouse Take Step to Unionize Wall Street Journal ...A group of 140 warehouse workers at a Google Express facility in the San Francisco Bay-area have taken the first step toward unionizing. In a statement Monday, Local 853 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said workers who fill and ship orders at the Palo Alto, Calif., warehouse—all of whom were brought on by staffing agency Adecco—had filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board...
Google's Low-Wage Contract Workers Are Poised to Unionize Mother Jones ...Labor organizers with the Teamsters union announced Monday that they're holding an election to unionize workers for Google Express, the shopping service that delivers everything from toothpaste to televisions purchased by online consumers. The union is seeking to represent about 140 Google Express warehouse workers employed by Adecco, a temp agency that provides much of the delivery service's Bay Area staff...
Teamsters picket on behalf of Gold Cross employees Good 4 Utah ...Gold Cross employees joined together Monday to picket at the Gold Cross corporate office in Salt Lake City. Gold Cross paramedics say they've been negotiating with the company for 10 months, but the company has refused to budge. The paramedics say they won't strike because that could hurt the citizens. The Teamsters Union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board...
EVSC Board, Teamsters plan to resume collective bargaining Courier & Press ...Evansville Vanderburgh School Board President Mike Duckworth said the seven-member board is ready to resume collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215. After an executive session “training” on Saturday, where all board members were present, Duckworth said the members discussed many issues that are currently on the table with Local 215...
Global Labor & Trade
US human trafficking report under fire as Cuba and Malaysia are upgraded The Guardian ...The United States is facing criticism after it removed Cuba and Malaysia from the US State Department’s list of the countries categorically failing to respond to widespread human trafficking. Malaysia was also given an upgrade to the tier 2 watch list after a year on tier 3. It comes as President Obama works to smooth the way for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a huge US-led free trade deal with Malaysia and 11 other countries across south-east Asia...
Key Shift on Malaysia Before Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal New York Times ...With the Obama administration pushing to conclude a vast Asian trade pact, the State Department on Monday upgraded its assessment of Malaysia’s efforts to combat human trafficking, a move that could ease the country’s inclusion in the trade deal. Though the human trafficking report from the State Department is released annually, this year it carries added weight because of the administration’s desire to make final the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Feds face blowback over Malaysia human trafficking upgrade The Hill ...The State Department’s upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status is setting up another clash between Congress and the White House on global trade. The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released Monday gave Malaysia a boost to the Tier 2 Watch List from Tier 3, the lowest level, a move that could further complicate congressional approval of a massive Trans-Pacific trade pact...
Issues Mount as Negotiators Gather to Wrap Up Trans-Pacific Trade Pact New York Times ...The top trade negotiators of the United States and 11 other Pacific nations are gathering this week at a luxury resort in Maui for one last push to complete the largest regional trade accord in history, roping together 40 percent of the world’s economic output. But even though it is billed as the “final round” of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, trade representatives from the United States, Japan and Pacific nations from Canada and Chile to Australia and Vietnam have high hurdles to clear...
Canadian dairy farmers head to Maui in last ditch effort against TPP Global and Mail ...Led by the United States, a group of 12 countries including Japan, Canada, Chile and Malaysia are trying to create a Pacific Rim trading bloc with North American-calibre commercial rules – a counterweight to Chinese influence in the region. The price of entry for Canada to a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is expected to include opening up this country’s heavily sheltered dairy and poultry sectors to further foreign competition...
US Decision on People Trafficking in Malaysia “Manipulated” ITUC-CSI.org ...The unwarranted upgrade is presumed to be result of political interference by the administration to ensure that Malaysia remains eligible to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which has been under negotiation since 2008. The recently adopted Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) provides that Tier 3 countries cannot be parties to trade agreements with the United States. The status upgrade comes just two months after the discovery in Malaysia of mass graves containing 139 bodies of migrant workers...
Up to 6,000 Zimbabwe Workers Fired After Court Ruling Solidarity Center ...Up to 6,000 workers have been terminated over the past week in Zimbabwe, following a Supreme Court decision stating that companies can now unilaterally end workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, by giving them three months’ notice. The mass job cuts “are part of a scramble by companies to fire workers without benefits as they capitalize on last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling,” according to one news source...
Greece Moves Forward In Bailout Talks As Government Comes Under Fire Huffington Post ...Greece pushed ahead with talks on a new rescue loan Tuesday, but its government came under increasing pressure over claims it had a top-secret plan to prepare for a euro exit that involved accessing citizens' personal tax data. Emissaries from Greece's international creditors held a second day of preparatory talks with Greek officials, ahead of higher-level negotiations later this week on the country's new multi-billion euro lifeline...
State & Living Wage Battles
Minnesota's minimum wage rises to $9 per hour Saturday Star Tribune ...Minnesota will vault past Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota this week to gain the highest minimum wage in the Midwestern region at $9 an hour, which also will rank among the most-generous state wage floors in the country. The $1-per-hour bump takes effect Saturday for some 288,000 of Minnesota’s lowest-paid workers...
Repealing prevailing wage law would create work force shortage, says Saginaw's Herb Spence MLive ...At least one Saginaw business owner is not happy about the prospect that Michigan's prevailing wage law could be repealed. Those pushing for a repeal of the law, which mandates union-scale wages on state-funded construction projects, argue eliminating the prevailing wage would provide significant savings. Herb Spence III, the owner of Spence Brothers, said he thinks removing the law would hurt Michigan's construction industry and the state's economy in general...
Florida bill would more than double minimum wage to $15 Bay News 9 ...Florida Democrats have filed legislation to more than double the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, an eye-popping figure they hope will spark an outpouring of activism aimed at pressuring the Republican-controlled Legislature to act. The legislation, SB 6, is sponsored by Sen. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami), who for years has tried unsuccessfully to raise Florida's minimum wage of $8.05...
Legal maneuvers continue in redistricting cases News 4 Jax ...As a Leon County judge finalized the dates for a hearing on a third draft of Florida's congressional districts, a key lawmaker Monday refused to rule out the possibility of continuing the legal fight over the map, this time in federal court. Meanwhile, attorneys for the Legislature and critics of the 2012 redistricting process declined to discuss whether settlement talks were underway in a separate case dealing with a state Senate map that opponents also say was tainted by political considerations...
Hedge funds tell Puerto Rico: lay off teachers and close schools to pay us back The Guardian ...Billionaire hedge fund managers have called on Puerto Rico to lay off teachers and close schools so that the island can pay them back the billions it owes. The hedge funds called for Puerto Rico to avoid financial default – and repay its debts – by collecting more taxes, selling $4bn worth of public buildings and drastically cutting public spending, particularly on education. The group of 34 hedge funds hired former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists to come up with a solution to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis...
U.S. Labor
Down to the wire: Verizon strike looms Aug. 1 CBS ...With a contract deadline of midnight August 1, Verizon (VZ) and representatives of its 39,000-member union work force have four business days to reach a deal and avert a strike, which would hit consumers from Massachusetts to Virginia. The bargaining units involved serve the telecom provider's legacy landline and FiOS Internet and cable operations. Back in 2011, the same bargaining units went on a strike that lasted for two weeks...
Steelworkers, Asarco file NLRB charges Arizona Daily Star ...Unions representing workers at Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC have filed charges of unfair labor practices against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, as they continue working without a contract. The company in turn has filed NLRB charges against the unions, according to a member update posted on the website of the United Steelworkers, the lead union in the negotiations...
500 Lehigh Valley Verizon workers ready to strike Morning Call ... At least 500 Verizon union workers in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County could strike this weekend if a new labor deal is not reached. Ed Mooney, international vice president for Communications Workers of America District 2-13 in Philadelphia, said Monday the affected workers are technicians and customer-support employees in Verizon's wireline unit, which provides traditional phone services to homes and businesses, as well as high-speed FiOS Internet and television...
Zero Waste Remains a Dirty Business The Nation ...In an age of global warming, two global capitals, Los Angeles and New York, are going “zero waste.” Following a nationwide trend, the cities have launched new plans to aggressively reform their waste-management and recycling systems to nearly eliminate dumping in landfills. A policy analysis by the advocacy group LAANE and its associated national coalition Partnership for Working Families, lays out a “blueprint” for zero waste in cities. But according to LAANE, many municipal governments are modernizing their waste systems using regressive labor standards...
USW: Concessions at heart of U.S. Steel contract offer Chicago Tribune ...The United Steelworkers union said the concessions U.S. Steel has asked for would erode decades of contractual improvements and benefits. United Steelworkers said it has received an outline of an initial new contract proposal from U.S. Steel that includes dozens of demands for concessions. The union said the concessions would erode decades of contractual improvements and benefits won for members and their families...
AFSCME raises concerns about National Guard use Herald & Review ...A former top commander of the Illinois National Guard voiced concern Monday about a possible plan to use soldiers to help operate state government if there is a labor strike. State Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican who served as adjutant general from 1999 to 2003, said he would advise Gov. Bruce Rauner against such a move...
Defending Backpage, Sex Workers Say Removing Online Ads Does Them More Harm Truthout ...Sex workers across the country have rallied in defense of the website, taking to social media and launching petitions to demand that Healey stop her "attack" on the website, and that Visa and MasterCard reinstate their credit services. Advocates argue that cutting web services like Backpage will not stop trafficking. In fact, it has the opposite effect of driving sex workers who can't afford more expensive web services out into the streets and sometimes, into the hands of traffickers...
Univ. of California Academic Workers’ Union Calls on AFL-CIO To Terminate Police Union’s Membership In These Times ...United Auto Workers Local 2865, the union representing 13,000 teaching assistants and other student workers throughout the University of California, called on the AFL-CIO to end its affiliation with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). The resolution came in the wake of a letter written by the UAW’s Black Interests Coordinating Committee (BICC). The group formed in December 2014 in response to the acquittals of police officers in the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner...
Social Justice & Other News
Immigrants' attorneys say they were 'locked out' of detention centers after raising concerns LA Times ...Pro bono attorneys working at the country’s two largest immigrant family detention centers in Texas said Monday that they have been "locked out" after they raised concerns last week that officials were forcing the immigrant mothers they represent to sign legal papers without consulting them. The complaint comes as the Congressional Progressive Caucus and members of the House Judiciary Committee are preparing to hold a forum on family detention...
The Majority Of GOP Voters Want Mass Deportation, But It’ll Cost Them Think Progress ...Sixty-three percent of Republican voters would support deporting the population of 11 million undocumented immigrants, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The center-right organization American Action Forum (AAF) found that it would cost between $400 billion and $600 billion to apprehend, detain, legally process, and transport every undocumented immigrant back to their countries of origin. A a Center of American Progress report found that it would cost an average of about $10,070 to deport each individual...
Between the World and Me: Black American Motherhood (opinion) The Atlantic ...There was a time when some of us believed our daughters were safe. “At least you have girls,” a white colleague said to me after Trayvon Martin was murdered. Her flippant comment ignited a rage mingled with guilt and shame I felt at having soothed myself with the same thought. This was before Renisha McBride, Sandra Bland, before all of the videos, before the writers, witnesses, and recorders in this Age of Ferguson, as I like to call it, left us no place to hide...
Sandra Bland Laid to Rest; First Black Judge in Waller County Demands Sheriff Resign over Her Death Democracy Now ...Hundreds gathered Saturday to remember Sandra Bland at the suburban Chicago church she attended for decades before moving to Waller County, Texas, where she was set to begin a new job but was then discovered dead in her jail cell after a traffic stop escalated into an arrest. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Bill Foster have sent letters to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for a federal investigation into Bland’s death...
For-Profit Prison Accused of Subjecting Juveniles to 'Disgraceful' Conditions Common Dreams ...A for-profit British private security firm whose human rights abuses have been documented around the world, from Israel to South Africa to the United Kingdom, stands accused by a grand jury of operating a horrific juvenile detention center in Florida where conditions are so poor, and hygiene so bad, that the prison "should cease to exist." The firm G4S operates the Highlands Youth Academy in Avon Park, Florida, where young men and boys from 16 to 19 years old are incarcerated. A riot at the prison two years ago prompted the investigation...
Hoffa Statement on New State Department Report That Upgrades Malaysia on Trafficking List Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to a new State Department document that improves the Malaysian government’s standing in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report: "The welfare of workers is at risk, and we must continue to push Malaysia to improve its anti-trafficking efforts rather than paving the way for it to participate in TPP"...
Google Express Workers File for Representation by Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 853 announced today that workers at Palo Alto-based Google Express Services filed for a representation election. The more than 140 warehouse and shipping workers sought out the Teamsters for help with improving working conditions, treatment on the job and compensation...
Workers at Google Express Bay Area Warehouse Take Step to Unionize Wall Street Journal ...A group of 140 warehouse workers at a Google Express facility in the San Francisco Bay-area have taken the first step toward unionizing. In a statement Monday, Local 853 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said workers who fill and ship orders at the Palo Alto, Calif., warehouse—all of whom were brought on by staffing agency Adecco—had filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board...
Google's Low-Wage Contract Workers Are Poised to Unionize Mother Jones ...Labor organizers with the Teamsters union announced Monday that they're holding an election to unionize workers for Google Express, the shopping service that delivers everything from toothpaste to televisions purchased by online consumers. The union is seeking to represent about 140 Google Express warehouse workers employed by Adecco, a temp agency that provides much of the delivery service's Bay Area staff...
Teamsters picket on behalf of Gold Cross employees Good 4 Utah ...Gold Cross employees joined together Monday to picket at the Gold Cross corporate office in Salt Lake City. Gold Cross paramedics say they've been negotiating with the company for 10 months, but the company has refused to budge. The paramedics say they won't strike because that could hurt the citizens. The Teamsters Union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board...
EVSC Board, Teamsters plan to resume collective bargaining Courier & Press ...Evansville Vanderburgh School Board President Mike Duckworth said the seven-member board is ready to resume collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215. After an executive session “training” on Saturday, where all board members were present, Duckworth said the members discussed many issues that are currently on the table with Local 215...
Global Labor & Trade
US human trafficking report under fire as Cuba and Malaysia are upgraded The Guardian ...The United States is facing criticism after it removed Cuba and Malaysia from the US State Department’s list of the countries categorically failing to respond to widespread human trafficking. Malaysia was also given an upgrade to the tier 2 watch list after a year on tier 3. It comes as President Obama works to smooth the way for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a huge US-led free trade deal with Malaysia and 11 other countries across south-east Asia...
Key Shift on Malaysia Before Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal New York Times ...With the Obama administration pushing to conclude a vast Asian trade pact, the State Department on Monday upgraded its assessment of Malaysia’s efforts to combat human trafficking, a move that could ease the country’s inclusion in the trade deal. Though the human trafficking report from the State Department is released annually, this year it carries added weight because of the administration’s desire to make final the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Feds face blowback over Malaysia human trafficking upgrade The Hill ...The State Department’s upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status is setting up another clash between Congress and the White House on global trade. The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released Monday gave Malaysia a boost to the Tier 2 Watch List from Tier 3, the lowest level, a move that could further complicate congressional approval of a massive Trans-Pacific trade pact...
Issues Mount as Negotiators Gather to Wrap Up Trans-Pacific Trade Pact New York Times ...The top trade negotiators of the United States and 11 other Pacific nations are gathering this week at a luxury resort in Maui for one last push to complete the largest regional trade accord in history, roping together 40 percent of the world’s economic output. But even though it is billed as the “final round” of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, trade representatives from the United States, Japan and Pacific nations from Canada and Chile to Australia and Vietnam have high hurdles to clear...
Canadian dairy farmers head to Maui in last ditch effort against TPP Global and Mail ...Led by the United States, a group of 12 countries including Japan, Canada, Chile and Malaysia are trying to create a Pacific Rim trading bloc with North American-calibre commercial rules – a counterweight to Chinese influence in the region. The price of entry for Canada to a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is expected to include opening up this country’s heavily sheltered dairy and poultry sectors to further foreign competition...
US Decision on People Trafficking in Malaysia “Manipulated” ITUC-CSI.org ...The unwarranted upgrade is presumed to be result of political interference by the administration to ensure that Malaysia remains eligible to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which has been under negotiation since 2008. The recently adopted Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) provides that Tier 3 countries cannot be parties to trade agreements with the United States. The status upgrade comes just two months after the discovery in Malaysia of mass graves containing 139 bodies of migrant workers...
Up to 6,000 Zimbabwe Workers Fired After Court Ruling Solidarity Center ...Up to 6,000 workers have been terminated over the past week in Zimbabwe, following a Supreme Court decision stating that companies can now unilaterally end workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, by giving them three months’ notice. The mass job cuts “are part of a scramble by companies to fire workers without benefits as they capitalize on last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling,” according to one news source...
Greece Moves Forward In Bailout Talks As Government Comes Under Fire Huffington Post ...Greece pushed ahead with talks on a new rescue loan Tuesday, but its government came under increasing pressure over claims it had a top-secret plan to prepare for a euro exit that involved accessing citizens' personal tax data. Emissaries from Greece's international creditors held a second day of preparatory talks with Greek officials, ahead of higher-level negotiations later this week on the country's new multi-billion euro lifeline...
State & Living Wage Battles
Minnesota's minimum wage rises to $9 per hour Saturday Star Tribune ...Minnesota will vault past Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota this week to gain the highest minimum wage in the Midwestern region at $9 an hour, which also will rank among the most-generous state wage floors in the country. The $1-per-hour bump takes effect Saturday for some 288,000 of Minnesota’s lowest-paid workers...
Repealing prevailing wage law would create work force shortage, says Saginaw's Herb Spence MLive ...At least one Saginaw business owner is not happy about the prospect that Michigan's prevailing wage law could be repealed. Those pushing for a repeal of the law, which mandates union-scale wages on state-funded construction projects, argue eliminating the prevailing wage would provide significant savings. Herb Spence III, the owner of Spence Brothers, said he thinks removing the law would hurt Michigan's construction industry and the state's economy in general...
Florida bill would more than double minimum wage to $15 Bay News 9 ...Florida Democrats have filed legislation to more than double the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, an eye-popping figure they hope will spark an outpouring of activism aimed at pressuring the Republican-controlled Legislature to act. The legislation, SB 6, is sponsored by Sen. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami), who for years has tried unsuccessfully to raise Florida's minimum wage of $8.05...
Legal maneuvers continue in redistricting cases News 4 Jax ...As a Leon County judge finalized the dates for a hearing on a third draft of Florida's congressional districts, a key lawmaker Monday refused to rule out the possibility of continuing the legal fight over the map, this time in federal court. Meanwhile, attorneys for the Legislature and critics of the 2012 redistricting process declined to discuss whether settlement talks were underway in a separate case dealing with a state Senate map that opponents also say was tainted by political considerations...
Hedge funds tell Puerto Rico: lay off teachers and close schools to pay us back The Guardian ...Billionaire hedge fund managers have called on Puerto Rico to lay off teachers and close schools so that the island can pay them back the billions it owes. The hedge funds called for Puerto Rico to avoid financial default – and repay its debts – by collecting more taxes, selling $4bn worth of public buildings and drastically cutting public spending, particularly on education. The group of 34 hedge funds hired former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists to come up with a solution to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis...
U.S. Labor
Down to the wire: Verizon strike looms Aug. 1 CBS ...With a contract deadline of midnight August 1, Verizon (VZ) and representatives of its 39,000-member union work force have four business days to reach a deal and avert a strike, which would hit consumers from Massachusetts to Virginia. The bargaining units involved serve the telecom provider's legacy landline and FiOS Internet and cable operations. Back in 2011, the same bargaining units went on a strike that lasted for two weeks...
Steelworkers, Asarco file NLRB charges Arizona Daily Star ...Unions representing workers at Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC have filed charges of unfair labor practices against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, as they continue working without a contract. The company in turn has filed NLRB charges against the unions, according to a member update posted on the website of the United Steelworkers, the lead union in the negotiations...
500 Lehigh Valley Verizon workers ready to strike Morning Call ... At least 500 Verizon union workers in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County could strike this weekend if a new labor deal is not reached. Ed Mooney, international vice president for Communications Workers of America District 2-13 in Philadelphia, said Monday the affected workers are technicians and customer-support employees in Verizon's wireline unit, which provides traditional phone services to homes and businesses, as well as high-speed FiOS Internet and television...
Zero Waste Remains a Dirty Business The Nation ...In an age of global warming, two global capitals, Los Angeles and New York, are going “zero waste.” Following a nationwide trend, the cities have launched new plans to aggressively reform their waste-management and recycling systems to nearly eliminate dumping in landfills. A policy analysis by the advocacy group LAANE and its associated national coalition Partnership for Working Families, lays out a “blueprint” for zero waste in cities. But according to LAANE, many municipal governments are modernizing their waste systems using regressive labor standards...
USW: Concessions at heart of U.S. Steel contract offer Chicago Tribune ...The United Steelworkers union said the concessions U.S. Steel has asked for would erode decades of contractual improvements and benefits. United Steelworkers said it has received an outline of an initial new contract proposal from U.S. Steel that includes dozens of demands for concessions. The union said the concessions would erode decades of contractual improvements and benefits won for members and their families...
AFSCME raises concerns about National Guard use Herald & Review ...A former top commander of the Illinois National Guard voiced concern Monday about a possible plan to use soldiers to help operate state government if there is a labor strike. State Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican who served as adjutant general from 1999 to 2003, said he would advise Gov. Bruce Rauner against such a move...
Defending Backpage, Sex Workers Say Removing Online Ads Does Them More Harm Truthout ...Sex workers across the country have rallied in defense of the website, taking to social media and launching petitions to demand that Healey stop her "attack" on the website, and that Visa and MasterCard reinstate their credit services. Advocates argue that cutting web services like Backpage will not stop trafficking. In fact, it has the opposite effect of driving sex workers who can't afford more expensive web services out into the streets and sometimes, into the hands of traffickers...
Univ. of California Academic Workers’ Union Calls on AFL-CIO To Terminate Police Union’s Membership In These Times ...United Auto Workers Local 2865, the union representing 13,000 teaching assistants and other student workers throughout the University of California, called on the AFL-CIO to end its affiliation with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). The resolution came in the wake of a letter written by the UAW’s Black Interests Coordinating Committee (BICC). The group formed in December 2014 in response to the acquittals of police officers in the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner...
Social Justice & Other News
Immigrants' attorneys say they were 'locked out' of detention centers after raising concerns LA Times ...Pro bono attorneys working at the country’s two largest immigrant family detention centers in Texas said Monday that they have been "locked out" after they raised concerns last week that officials were forcing the immigrant mothers they represent to sign legal papers without consulting them. The complaint comes as the Congressional Progressive Caucus and members of the House Judiciary Committee are preparing to hold a forum on family detention...
The Majority Of GOP Voters Want Mass Deportation, But It’ll Cost Them Think Progress ...Sixty-three percent of Republican voters would support deporting the population of 11 million undocumented immigrants, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The center-right organization American Action Forum (AAF) found that it would cost between $400 billion and $600 billion to apprehend, detain, legally process, and transport every undocumented immigrant back to their countries of origin. A a Center of American Progress report found that it would cost an average of about $10,070 to deport each individual...
Between the World and Me: Black American Motherhood (opinion) The Atlantic ...There was a time when some of us believed our daughters were safe. “At least you have girls,” a white colleague said to me after Trayvon Martin was murdered. Her flippant comment ignited a rage mingled with guilt and shame I felt at having soothed myself with the same thought. This was before Renisha McBride, Sandra Bland, before all of the videos, before the writers, witnesses, and recorders in this Age of Ferguson, as I like to call it, left us no place to hide...
Sandra Bland Laid to Rest; First Black Judge in Waller County Demands Sheriff Resign over Her Death Democracy Now ...Hundreds gathered Saturday to remember Sandra Bland at the suburban Chicago church she attended for decades before moving to Waller County, Texas, where she was set to begin a new job but was then discovered dead in her jail cell after a traffic stop escalated into an arrest. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Bill Foster have sent letters to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for a federal investigation into Bland’s death...
For-Profit Prison Accused of Subjecting Juveniles to 'Disgraceful' Conditions Common Dreams ...A for-profit British private security firm whose human rights abuses have been documented around the world, from Israel to South Africa to the United Kingdom, stands accused by a grand jury of operating a horrific juvenile detention center in Florida where conditions are so poor, and hygiene so bad, that the prison "should cease to exist." The firm G4S operates the Highlands Youth Academy in Avon Park, Florida, where young men and boys from 16 to 19 years old are incarcerated. A riot at the prison two years ago prompted the investigation...
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.23.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: Senate Transportation Bill is Positive Step, But Safety Issues Remain Teamster.org ...Today, the Senate voted to take up a six-year surface transportation reauthorization that will include three years of funding for highway, rail and transit programs. The House has passed a five-month extension funding programs until the end of the year. “While some lawmakers seem content to ignore our broad transportation infrastructure needs, it is clear many U.S. roads and bridges don’t have the luxury of time to be fixed,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Hoffa: Workers in D.C. and Around the Country Deserve '$15 and a Union' Teamster.org ...The Teamsters stand with thousands of workers who rallied on Capitol Hill today and millions of hardworking Americans around the country who deserve the dignity and respect that earning $15 an hour would bring. These same workers should also have the ability to unionize so they can advocate for themselves going forward...
Teamsters: Toyota is a Danger to American Families Teamster.org ...Today, the Teamsters Union posted the first of several roadside billboards about the Toyota Corporation in order to educate the American public about the economic and safety dangers posed by the company. "Toyota is bidding out much of its automobile transport work to small, unproven operators who undercut the health care protections and retirement security of their drivers,” said Kevin Moore, Teamsters International Trustee and Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Teamsters Call On UPS To Leave ALEC At Massive Protest In San Diego Teamster.org ...Hundreds of Teamsters from across California traveled to San Diego today to participate in a massive protest outside a national meeting for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Teamsters had one clear message they wanted to send – it was time for UPS to end its affiliation with ALEC. The Teamsters Union represents more than 250,000 members at UPS and UPS Freight...
Port truck drivers to get hearings on wage theft claims as they strike against employer, Pacific Transportation 9 OC Register ..."Pac 9’s desperate tactic to stop the drivers from getting their day in court has failed. History will show that the drivers’ sacrifices on the picket line, coupled with the facts presented in court, will lead to permanent change in the port trucking industry,” Eric Tate, Secretary-Treasurer of Local Teamsters 848, which is representing the drivers, said in a statement...
Leslie Marshall Show On Executive Compensation at McKesson (radio) Teamster.org ...Louis Malizia, with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Capital Strategies Department, spoke with the Leslie Marshall Show about the disparity between high-level managers and frontline workers at McKesson. McKesson is the world’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributor, yet many of its employees cannot afford health care. The Teamsters recently sponsored a shareholder proposal to curb unearned executive pay...
Global Labor & Trade
Zimbabwe Supreme Court Guts Worker Job Security Solidarity Center ...The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe upheld a decision late last week stating that companies can now terminate workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, by giving them three months’ notice. The unanimous decision “has grave consequences for anyone under formal employment,” according to one news source and comes “at time when business is crying for flexible labor laws in order to improve industrial competitiveness”...
State poised to issue report crucial to trade deal The Hill ...The State Department will release a human trafficking report Monday that many lawmakers fear could raise Malaysia’s status — allowing them to remain in a sweeping international trade pact. Congressional lawmakers and human rights groups are rankled over speculation that the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report will upgrade the Asian nation — one of 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — from tier 3 to a higher status that would help them remain part of the talks...
Abuse and Exploitation of Migrants Ignored in Exchange for TPPA APR Network ...The recent Reuters report on United States President Barack Obama’s move to upgrade the human rights status of Malaysia to allow the continuation of the negotiations of the TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) gives a taste of what is to come, especially for migrants’ rights, if the trade deal will be signed. Citing congressional sources, Reuters reports that President Obama is going to move Malaysia’s status from Tier 3 in its annual trafficking in persons report, to Tier 2...
Why everyone hates Obama's signature trade deal CNN ...After years of painful, drawn-out meetings, negotiators are preparing for what could be the final round of talks over the biggest free trade deal in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Even as the deal nears completion, plenty of groups are trying to scuttle the agreement...
Bar unhappy over Malaysia’s upgrade on U.S. watch list on trafficking Therakyat Post ...The Bar Council expressed its unhappiness that Malaysia may be upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch List status in the rankings in the imminent 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report prepared by the United States Department of State. Its president, Steven Thiru, said any upgrade of Malaysia in the 2015 TIP report would appear to be primarily motivated by a desire to allow Malaysia to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)...
TPP will prevent ban on foreign ownership TVNZ ...Labour says it will not support a trade partnership with the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific nations if new conditions are not met because it worries that it could see New Zealand give up too much power. ONE News can reveal that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade deal will stop the right to restrict sales of homes and farm land to non-resident foreigners in fellow TPP countries...
US Trade Deficit Expansion Weighs on GDP The Desert Sun ...The U.S. trade deficit, which had shrunk significantly in the post "great financial recession" aftermath, reversed sharply in the first quarter 2015. Already beset by a drop in business and industry stock building early in the year, together with export restricting West Coast port strikes, and inclement weather in the East and Midwest, plus a strong export-reducing dollar, the first quarter trade deficit posted the greatest downward widening since the pre-recession (2008-10) years...
Anti-Austerity Protesters Massed Outside Greek Parliament Before Vote Huffington Post ...As Greek lawmakers gathered Wednesday to vote on a bill that would institute more economic reforms demanded by the nation's creditors, crowds amassed outside the Hellenic Parliament to decry the latest austerity measures. The vote, expected in the early hours of Thursday, has spurred anger among Greeks who called for an end to austerity when they elected the ruling Syriza party, only to have the government ultimately accept additional harsh economic policies in order to secure bailout funds...
Varoufakis: Troika Forced Syriza Into Choice Between 'Suicide or Execution' Common Dreams ...In his first international television interview since stepping down from his post as Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday that European lenders had forced his government to make a choice between "suicide or execution." After five months of rigorous negotiations, the outspoken Varoufakis stepped down from his post the night of the Greek referendum. And despite voting against the latest austerity package, Varoufakis said he understood why Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to accept...
State & Living Wage Battles
New York Plans $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers New York Times ...The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City began nearly three years ago has led to higher wages for workers all across the country. On Wednesday, it paid off for the people who started it. A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wednesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour over the next few years...
New York Fast Food Workers On Passage Of The $15 Wage: ‘It’s A Dream Come True’ Think Progress ...On Wednesday, the wage board New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) convened unanimously passed a proposal for a $15 an hour minimum wage for the state’s fast food industry. The labor commissioner is expected to approve the recommendation and issue a wage order raising these workers’ pay to at least that amount. The minimum wage for fast food workers will reach $15 an hour in New York City by 2018 and in the rest of the state by 2021...
Aiming to Lift 'Starvation Wage,' Progressive Lawmakers Push for $15 Nationwide Common Dreams ..."We are here today to send a very loud and a very clear message to the United States Congress, the President of the United States, and corporate America," Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bellowed before a crowd of striking low-wage workers in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. "In the richest country on the face of the earth, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty"...
ALEC Admits School Vouchers Are for Kids in Suburbia PR Watch ...School vouchers were never about helping poor, at-risk or minority students. But selling them as social mobility tickets was a useful fiction that for some twenty-five years helped rightwing ideologues and corporate backers gain bipartisan support for an ideological scheme designed to privatize public schools. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is meeting in San Diego today, has decided to drop the pretense that vouchers have anything to do with social and racial equity...
How Walker Turned 'Job Creation' Into a Goodie Bag for Campaign Donors TPM ...When Scott Walker was elected Wisconsin governor in 2010, he came into office with a playbook he’d followed as the Milwaukee County executive: he declared an emergency. Taxes: too high. Public benefits: too generous. Businesses: too burdened. Unions: too coddled. One of his first acts in January 2011 was to call an emergency session of the state legislature. One of the first pieces of legislation he signed as governor, Act 7, privatized the state’s department of commerce by turning it into a public-private hybrid called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation...
The Governor Who Forgot How to Veto a Bill The Atlantic ...LePage may have learned the art of politics in the four-and-a-half years since Maine voters first elected him to the governorship, but it seems he hasn’t yet mastered state law. In a turn of events as incomprehensible as it sounds, the combative conservative apparently muffed the vetoes of 65 bills at the end of the annual legislative session. He is now asking the state’s highest court to rule on whether he successfully rejected the measures, or whether they have in fact become law...
Changes to Pittsburgh workers paid-sick leave legislation introduced Post Gazette ...City Councilman Corey O’Connor introduced a series of amendments Wednesday to legislation requiring Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, softening some of the rough edges to make the proposed law easier to swallow for businesses. Now, the law will not apply to seasonal workers, the amount of paid leave required is reduced and employees must work more hours to accrue it, among other changes...
Hoffa: Senate Transportation Bill is Positive Step, But Safety Issues Remain Teamster.org ...Today, the Senate voted to take up a six-year surface transportation reauthorization that will include three years of funding for highway, rail and transit programs. The House has passed a five-month extension funding programs until the end of the year. “While some lawmakers seem content to ignore our broad transportation infrastructure needs, it is clear many U.S. roads and bridges don’t have the luxury of time to be fixed,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Hoffa: Workers in D.C. and Around the Country Deserve '$15 and a Union' Teamster.org ...The Teamsters stand with thousands of workers who rallied on Capitol Hill today and millions of hardworking Americans around the country who deserve the dignity and respect that earning $15 an hour would bring. These same workers should also have the ability to unionize so they can advocate for themselves going forward...
Teamsters: Toyota is a Danger to American Families Teamster.org ...Today, the Teamsters Union posted the first of several roadside billboards about the Toyota Corporation in order to educate the American public about the economic and safety dangers posed by the company. "Toyota is bidding out much of its automobile transport work to small, unproven operators who undercut the health care protections and retirement security of their drivers,” said Kevin Moore, Teamsters International Trustee and Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Teamsters Call On UPS To Leave ALEC At Massive Protest In San Diego Teamster.org ...Hundreds of Teamsters from across California traveled to San Diego today to participate in a massive protest outside a national meeting for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Teamsters had one clear message they wanted to send – it was time for UPS to end its affiliation with ALEC. The Teamsters Union represents more than 250,000 members at UPS and UPS Freight...
Port truck drivers to get hearings on wage theft claims as they strike against employer, Pacific Transportation 9 OC Register ..."Pac 9’s desperate tactic to stop the drivers from getting their day in court has failed. History will show that the drivers’ sacrifices on the picket line, coupled with the facts presented in court, will lead to permanent change in the port trucking industry,” Eric Tate, Secretary-Treasurer of Local Teamsters 848, which is representing the drivers, said in a statement...
Leslie Marshall Show On Executive Compensation at McKesson (radio) Teamster.org ...Louis Malizia, with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Capital Strategies Department, spoke with the Leslie Marshall Show about the disparity between high-level managers and frontline workers at McKesson. McKesson is the world’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributor, yet many of its employees cannot afford health care. The Teamsters recently sponsored a shareholder proposal to curb unearned executive pay...
Global Labor & Trade
Zimbabwe Supreme Court Guts Worker Job Security Solidarity Center ...The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe upheld a decision late last week stating that companies can now terminate workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, by giving them three months’ notice. The unanimous decision “has grave consequences for anyone under formal employment,” according to one news source and comes “at time when business is crying for flexible labor laws in order to improve industrial competitiveness”...
State poised to issue report crucial to trade deal The Hill ...The State Department will release a human trafficking report Monday that many lawmakers fear could raise Malaysia’s status — allowing them to remain in a sweeping international trade pact. Congressional lawmakers and human rights groups are rankled over speculation that the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report will upgrade the Asian nation — one of 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — from tier 3 to a higher status that would help them remain part of the talks...
Abuse and Exploitation of Migrants Ignored in Exchange for TPPA APR Network ...The recent Reuters report on United States President Barack Obama’s move to upgrade the human rights status of Malaysia to allow the continuation of the negotiations of the TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) gives a taste of what is to come, especially for migrants’ rights, if the trade deal will be signed. Citing congressional sources, Reuters reports that President Obama is going to move Malaysia’s status from Tier 3 in its annual trafficking in persons report, to Tier 2...
Why everyone hates Obama's signature trade deal CNN ...After years of painful, drawn-out meetings, negotiators are preparing for what could be the final round of talks over the biggest free trade deal in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Even as the deal nears completion, plenty of groups are trying to scuttle the agreement...
Bar unhappy over Malaysia’s upgrade on U.S. watch list on trafficking Therakyat Post ...The Bar Council expressed its unhappiness that Malaysia may be upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch List status in the rankings in the imminent 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report prepared by the United States Department of State. Its president, Steven Thiru, said any upgrade of Malaysia in the 2015 TIP report would appear to be primarily motivated by a desire to allow Malaysia to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)...
TPP will prevent ban on foreign ownership TVNZ ...Labour says it will not support a trade partnership with the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific nations if new conditions are not met because it worries that it could see New Zealand give up too much power. ONE News can reveal that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade deal will stop the right to restrict sales of homes and farm land to non-resident foreigners in fellow TPP countries...
US Trade Deficit Expansion Weighs on GDP The Desert Sun ...The U.S. trade deficit, which had shrunk significantly in the post "great financial recession" aftermath, reversed sharply in the first quarter 2015. Already beset by a drop in business and industry stock building early in the year, together with export restricting West Coast port strikes, and inclement weather in the East and Midwest, plus a strong export-reducing dollar, the first quarter trade deficit posted the greatest downward widening since the pre-recession (2008-10) years...
Anti-Austerity Protesters Massed Outside Greek Parliament Before Vote Huffington Post ...As Greek lawmakers gathered Wednesday to vote on a bill that would institute more economic reforms demanded by the nation's creditors, crowds amassed outside the Hellenic Parliament to decry the latest austerity measures. The vote, expected in the early hours of Thursday, has spurred anger among Greeks who called for an end to austerity when they elected the ruling Syriza party, only to have the government ultimately accept additional harsh economic policies in order to secure bailout funds...
Varoufakis: Troika Forced Syriza Into Choice Between 'Suicide or Execution' Common Dreams ...In his first international television interview since stepping down from his post as Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday that European lenders had forced his government to make a choice between "suicide or execution." After five months of rigorous negotiations, the outspoken Varoufakis stepped down from his post the night of the Greek referendum. And despite voting against the latest austerity package, Varoufakis said he understood why Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to accept...
State & Living Wage Battles
New York Plans $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers New York Times ...The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City began nearly three years ago has led to higher wages for workers all across the country. On Wednesday, it paid off for the people who started it. A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wednesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour over the next few years...
New York Fast Food Workers On Passage Of The $15 Wage: ‘It’s A Dream Come True’ Think Progress ...On Wednesday, the wage board New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) convened unanimously passed a proposal for a $15 an hour minimum wage for the state’s fast food industry. The labor commissioner is expected to approve the recommendation and issue a wage order raising these workers’ pay to at least that amount. The minimum wage for fast food workers will reach $15 an hour in New York City by 2018 and in the rest of the state by 2021...
Aiming to Lift 'Starvation Wage,' Progressive Lawmakers Push for $15 Nationwide Common Dreams ..."We are here today to send a very loud and a very clear message to the United States Congress, the President of the United States, and corporate America," Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bellowed before a crowd of striking low-wage workers in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. "In the richest country on the face of the earth, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty"...
ALEC Admits School Vouchers Are for Kids in Suburbia PR Watch ...School vouchers were never about helping poor, at-risk or minority students. But selling them as social mobility tickets was a useful fiction that for some twenty-five years helped rightwing ideologues and corporate backers gain bipartisan support for an ideological scheme designed to privatize public schools. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is meeting in San Diego today, has decided to drop the pretense that vouchers have anything to do with social and racial equity...
How Walker Turned 'Job Creation' Into a Goodie Bag for Campaign Donors TPM ...When Scott Walker was elected Wisconsin governor in 2010, he came into office with a playbook he’d followed as the Milwaukee County executive: he declared an emergency. Taxes: too high. Public benefits: too generous. Businesses: too burdened. Unions: too coddled. One of his first acts in January 2011 was to call an emergency session of the state legislature. One of the first pieces of legislation he signed as governor, Act 7, privatized the state’s department of commerce by turning it into a public-private hybrid called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation...
The Governor Who Forgot How to Veto a Bill The Atlantic ...LePage may have learned the art of politics in the four-and-a-half years since Maine voters first elected him to the governorship, but it seems he hasn’t yet mastered state law. In a turn of events as incomprehensible as it sounds, the combative conservative apparently muffed the vetoes of 65 bills at the end of the annual legislative session. He is now asking the state’s highest court to rule on whether he successfully rejected the measures, or whether they have in fact become law...
Changes to Pittsburgh workers paid-sick leave legislation introduced Post Gazette ...City Councilman Corey O’Connor introduced a series of amendments Wednesday to legislation requiring Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, softening some of the rough edges to make the proposed law easier to swallow for businesses. Now, the law will not apply to seasonal workers, the amount of paid leave required is reduced and employees must work more hours to accrue it, among other changes...
Uber Strikes Deal With New York City to Avoid Cap on Ride-Hailing Vehicles in City Slate ...Uber and New York City struck a conciliatory tone, agreeing to a deal that would avoid the city capping the number of Uber drivers on city streets. The agreement softens a New York City Council bill that aimed at curtailing the ride-hailing service’s growth over concerns about increasing congestion on city streets caused by ride-hailing services...
U.S. Labor
Grocery Chain’s Financial Meltdown Could Leave Thousands of Union Workers Jobless In These Times ...Plans to dismember the A&P supermarket chain were revealed in a federal bankruptcy court in New York this week, with dire results predicted for more than 15,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The historic grocery retailer—the original Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. was formed back in 1859—intends to sell or close all of its 300 stores spread across six Mid-Atlantic states, according to documents filed Monday in the U.S...
NYC Airport Strike Averted at JFK, LaGuardia on Labor Truce Bloomberg ...More than 1,200 workers at New York’s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports will stay on the job after scrapping a strike hours before it was supposed to begin. An airline contractor, Command Security Corp.’s Aviation Safeguards unit, agreed to stay neutral in an organizing effort among its workers, the Service Employees International Union’s Local 32BJ said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Security officers, baggage handlers and wheelchair attendants had planned to walk off the job starting later in the day...
Future of Focus plant looms over start of Ford-UAW talks Detroit Free Press ...Top UAW officials and some of Ford's highest ranking executives will meet today to formally mark the start of contract talks exactly two weeks after the Dearborn automaker said it would move production of the Focus compact car to Mexico. Typically, the ceremonial event to kick-start contract negotiations is a warm and fuzzy event designed to underscore the close working relationship between the union and the automaker...
USW critical of ArcelorMittal contract proposal Chicago Tribune ...The United Steelworkers union said it has received an initial three-year contract proposal from ArcelorMittal management that includes no wage increases, reduced incentive payments and increased costs for health care for active and retired workers. The current USW contract with both ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expires on Sept. 1...
DOL Decision Could Mean the End of Wage Theft Through “Independent Contractor” Misclassification In These Times ...Last week, the administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, David Weil, released a “letter of guidance” that clarifies who is an employee and who is an “independent contractor”—that is, essentially an individual running his or her own business. He argues that the most definitive statement from Congress comes from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which says that “to employ” means “to suffer or permit to work.” And, he concludes, “under the Act, most workers are employees”...
A Quiet Triumph for Gay Workers The Atlantic ...Gay Americans can now get married in the morning and then, in the afternoon, just for being gay, their employers can fire them. Is doing so legal? Up until last week, the answer was yes for Americans living in the 28 states without explicit bans on workplace sexual-orientation discrimination. But an important ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) means that courts in those states are now more likely to say that such discrimination is illegal...
UC willl raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, heightening focus on efforts to boost the rate statewide LA Times ... The campaign to significantly increase the minimum wage shifted from local government to the state Wednesday, with UC President Janet Napolitano announcing that several thousand workers would have their salaries increased to $15 an hour by 2017. UC's action is expected to heighten debate in the state Legislature about a proposal to boost the statewide minimum wage and has also prompted calls for the California State University system to follow suit...
Social Security Has Enough Money To Expand Benefits Now, Trustee's Report Shows Alternet ...The Social Security Board of Trustees has just released its annual report to Congress. The most important takeaways are that Social Security has a large and growing surplus, and its future cost is fully affordable. It is sometimes reported that Social Security's current costs exceed its revenue, but if that happened, we wouldn't need a report to tell us. The whole country would know, because 59 million beneficiaries would not get their earned benefits as they now do every month...
Applications for US Unemployment Aid Plummet to 42-Year Low Associated Press ...The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid plunged last week to the lowest level in nearly 42 years, evidence that employers are holding onto their staffs and likely hiring at a steady pace. Yet the drop also reflects seasonal volatility in the data. The unemployment rate fell in June mostly because many of the unemployed stopped looking for work, rather than found jobs. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to a 38-year low...
Miscellaneous
Most Undocumented Immigrants Will Stay Under Obama’s New Policies, Report Says New York Times ...Under new immigration enforcement programs the Obama administration is putting in place across the country, the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants — up to 87 percent — would not be the focus of deportation operations and would have “a degree of protection” to remain in the United States, according to a report published Thursday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington...
Elizabeth Warren humiliates executive invited by Senate Republicans to defend opposition to financial regulations Salon ...On Tuesday, Senate Republicans invited Primerica President Peter Schneider to testify against proposed regulations that would protect retirement savings from sketchy financial schemes — and it didn’t take long before he wished they hadn’t. The Huffington Post’s Zach Carter reports that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wasted no time in embarrassing Scheider, whose outfit is precisely the sort of sketchy financial scheme that the legislation is designed to protect the elderly against...
#SayHerName: Protests Demand Justice for Sandra Bland & Black Teen Found Dead in Jail 1 Day Later Democracy Now ...In Texas, new information has emerged about the arrest of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old African-American woman found dead in a jail cell in what authorities claim was a suicide by hanging. Bland was stopped for not signaling a lane change. Dash cam video shows Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia forced her from her car, threatening to "light [her] up," after she failed to put out her cigarette. Hundreds gathered in New York to honor Sandra Bland and highlight the case of Kindra Chapman, an 18-year-old African-American woman found dead in an Alabama jail cell one day after Sandra Bland was found dead...
Sandra Bland Committed "Contempt of Cop," But That's Not Against the Law Slate ...In 2010, Christy Lopez, the Department of Justice official who led the federal investigation into the Ferguson, Missouri police department after Michael Brown's death, wrote a paper on the subject of "contempt of cop" arrests. (Lopez's Ferguson investigation found that officers in Ferguson had a habit of making unjustified and abusive arrests.) Lopez opens her report by noting that disagreeing with, criticizing, or otherwise being verbally difficult with a police officer is behavior protected by the First Amendement...
U.S. Labor
Grocery Chain’s Financial Meltdown Could Leave Thousands of Union Workers Jobless In These Times ...Plans to dismember the A&P supermarket chain were revealed in a federal bankruptcy court in New York this week, with dire results predicted for more than 15,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The historic grocery retailer—the original Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. was formed back in 1859—intends to sell or close all of its 300 stores spread across six Mid-Atlantic states, according to documents filed Monday in the U.S...
NYC Airport Strike Averted at JFK, LaGuardia on Labor Truce Bloomberg ...More than 1,200 workers at New York’s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports will stay on the job after scrapping a strike hours before it was supposed to begin. An airline contractor, Command Security Corp.’s Aviation Safeguards unit, agreed to stay neutral in an organizing effort among its workers, the Service Employees International Union’s Local 32BJ said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Security officers, baggage handlers and wheelchair attendants had planned to walk off the job starting later in the day...
Future of Focus plant looms over start of Ford-UAW talks Detroit Free Press ...Top UAW officials and some of Ford's highest ranking executives will meet today to formally mark the start of contract talks exactly two weeks after the Dearborn automaker said it would move production of the Focus compact car to Mexico. Typically, the ceremonial event to kick-start contract negotiations is a warm and fuzzy event designed to underscore the close working relationship between the union and the automaker...
USW critical of ArcelorMittal contract proposal Chicago Tribune ...The United Steelworkers union said it has received an initial three-year contract proposal from ArcelorMittal management that includes no wage increases, reduced incentive payments and increased costs for health care for active and retired workers. The current USW contract with both ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expires on Sept. 1...
DOL Decision Could Mean the End of Wage Theft Through “Independent Contractor” Misclassification In These Times ...Last week, the administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, David Weil, released a “letter of guidance” that clarifies who is an employee and who is an “independent contractor”—that is, essentially an individual running his or her own business. He argues that the most definitive statement from Congress comes from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which says that “to employ” means “to suffer or permit to work.” And, he concludes, “under the Act, most workers are employees”...
A Quiet Triumph for Gay Workers The Atlantic ...Gay Americans can now get married in the morning and then, in the afternoon, just for being gay, their employers can fire them. Is doing so legal? Up until last week, the answer was yes for Americans living in the 28 states without explicit bans on workplace sexual-orientation discrimination. But an important ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) means that courts in those states are now more likely to say that such discrimination is illegal...
UC willl raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, heightening focus on efforts to boost the rate statewide LA Times ... The campaign to significantly increase the minimum wage shifted from local government to the state Wednesday, with UC President Janet Napolitano announcing that several thousand workers would have their salaries increased to $15 an hour by 2017. UC's action is expected to heighten debate in the state Legislature about a proposal to boost the statewide minimum wage and has also prompted calls for the California State University system to follow suit...
Social Security Has Enough Money To Expand Benefits Now, Trustee's Report Shows Alternet ...The Social Security Board of Trustees has just released its annual report to Congress. The most important takeaways are that Social Security has a large and growing surplus, and its future cost is fully affordable. It is sometimes reported that Social Security's current costs exceed its revenue, but if that happened, we wouldn't need a report to tell us. The whole country would know, because 59 million beneficiaries would not get their earned benefits as they now do every month...
Applications for US Unemployment Aid Plummet to 42-Year Low Associated Press ...The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid plunged last week to the lowest level in nearly 42 years, evidence that employers are holding onto their staffs and likely hiring at a steady pace. Yet the drop also reflects seasonal volatility in the data. The unemployment rate fell in June mostly because many of the unemployed stopped looking for work, rather than found jobs. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to a 38-year low...
Miscellaneous
Most Undocumented Immigrants Will Stay Under Obama’s New Policies, Report Says New York Times ...Under new immigration enforcement programs the Obama administration is putting in place across the country, the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants — up to 87 percent — would not be the focus of deportation operations and would have “a degree of protection” to remain in the United States, according to a report published Thursday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington...
Elizabeth Warren humiliates executive invited by Senate Republicans to defend opposition to financial regulations Salon ...On Tuesday, Senate Republicans invited Primerica President Peter Schneider to testify against proposed regulations that would protect retirement savings from sketchy financial schemes — and it didn’t take long before he wished they hadn’t. The Huffington Post’s Zach Carter reports that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wasted no time in embarrassing Scheider, whose outfit is precisely the sort of sketchy financial scheme that the legislation is designed to protect the elderly against...
#SayHerName: Protests Demand Justice for Sandra Bland & Black Teen Found Dead in Jail 1 Day Later Democracy Now ...In Texas, new information has emerged about the arrest of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old African-American woman found dead in a jail cell in what authorities claim was a suicide by hanging. Bland was stopped for not signaling a lane change. Dash cam video shows Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia forced her from her car, threatening to "light [her] up," after she failed to put out her cigarette. Hundreds gathered in New York to honor Sandra Bland and highlight the case of Kindra Chapman, an 18-year-old African-American woman found dead in an Alabama jail cell one day after Sandra Bland was found dead...
Sandra Bland Committed "Contempt of Cop," But That's Not Against the Law Slate ...In 2010, Christy Lopez, the Department of Justice official who led the federal investigation into the Ferguson, Missouri police department after Michael Brown's death, wrote a paper on the subject of "contempt of cop" arrests. (Lopez's Ferguson investigation found that officers in Ferguson had a habit of making unjustified and abusive arrests.) Lopez opens her report by noting that disagreeing with, criticizing, or otherwise being verbally difficult with a police officer is behavior protected by the First Amendement...
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.04.15
Teamsters
Leaders of Carhaul Local Unions Approve Contract Proposals Teamster.org ...Leaders of local unions that represent Carhaul Teamsters overwhelmingly approved contract proposals today in Detroit that will be presented to the employer group on Thursday, June 4 as both sides prepare to negotiate a new National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement (NMATA). “Thanks to our members who filled out surveys and our local unions that sent in proposals, we were able to come up with a package of contract proposals that local unions approved today,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
EVSC and Teamsters clash on two points during collective bargaining Courier & Press ...Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. officials called an impromptu news conference late Wednesday afternoon to disclose two key concerns they have in current collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215 representatives. EVSC School Board Negotiator Susan Traynor Chastain spoke on behalf of the board to discuss contract negotiations with the five EVSC employee groups represented by the Teamsters — bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, special education assistants and bus aides...
Global Labor & Trade
Progressives Mount Final Push Against Bill That 'Threatens Everything You Care About' Common Dreams ...With President Barack Obama "in overdrive" pushing his trade agenda and the House expected to take up so-called Fast Track authority "any day now," progressives are flooding Capitol Hill on Wednesday with phone calls and petitions expressing their opposition to corporate-friendly trade deals...
Barack Obama: China might join trade deal — eventually Politico ...China could eventually join the trade pact currently under negotiation with 12 Pacific Rim nations, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. A central part of Obama’s pitch for the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been that it would prevent China from making the rules in the region...
In ‘Fast-Track’ Pitch, Obama Ready to Fight Unions in Democratic Primaries Roll Call ...President Barack Obama will protect pro-trade Democrats in party primaries against unions and others opposed to his “fast-track” trade agenda, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. Earnest said the president is vowing to work hard to get Democrats on board, and that includes a vow to have their back politically...
Mayors leading Obama's charge on trade Politico ...President Barack Obama will have to hope America’s mayors are a little more convincing than he’s been. Faced with House Democrats who aren’t buying the administration’s efforts to draw a connection between global trade and local job growth, big-city mayors — most of them Democrats — are stepping up...
Trade deficit drops sharply to $40.9B in April USA Today ...The U.S. trade deficit declined sharply in April as exports posted a modest gain and imports fell, raising hopes that trade will not be as big a drag on economic growth in the current quarter. The April deficit dropped 19.2 percent to $40.9 billion...
WikiLeaks Strikes Again: Leaked TISA Docs Expose Corporate Plan For Reshaping Global Economy Common Dreams ...An enormous corporate-friendly treaty that many people haven't heard of was thrust into the public limelight Wednesday when famed publisher of government and corporate secrets, WikiLeaks, released 17 documents from closed-door negotiations between countries that together comprise two-thirds of the word's economy. Analysts warn that preliminary review shows that the pact, known as the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), is aimed at further privatizing and deregulating vital services...
The TPP Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight (opinion) Other Words ...As Congress gets ready to vote on whether to “fast-track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), its proponents are making weaker and more far-fetched arguments for the deal. And they keep getting their facts wrong and their logic twisted. This hit parade of failed arguments should convince any fence sitters that this is a bad deal...
Zimbabwe Economy in Crisis, Few Jobs, Workers Unpaid Solidarity Center ...Zimbabwe’s economy is in deep decline, making it harder for average Zimbabweans to work and live, and leaving them less and less confident in their future, according to Solidarity Center Regional Program Director for Africa Imani Countess, in testimony yesterday on Capitol Hill. “Most workers earn salaries far below the poverty level, and many workers—even in the formal sector—go for months without receiving their wages,” Countess said...
Greek unemployment rate stable at 25.6% MarketWatch ...About 1.2 million Greeks remain without a job, with the inactive population--those who aren't in employment or searching for a job, often because they have become discouraged--amounting to 3.4 million. Austerity measures imposed by creditors have allowed Greece to achieve a surplus in the primary budget, which excludes interest payments, but Athens underscores how much of a toll it has taken on economic growth and employment...
State & Living Wage Battles
Nixon expected to veto Missouri right-to-work measure KSPR ...Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday is set to take action on the bill alongside United AutoWorkers members near Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant. The measure would prohibit workplace contracts that require union fees to be collected from nonmembers. Nixon has criticized the bill, which he says could lead to lower wages. Other opponents have said it could undermine unions...
Proposed initiative petition would up state’s minimum wage Rolla Daily News ...Three initiative petitions to increase Missouri's minimum wage have been approved for circulation. Secretary of State Jason Kander on Tuesday announced supporters of all three now can begin collecting signatures. The petitions need to be signed by at least 5 percent of legal voters in six of the state's eight congressional districts to make it onto a ballot...
Public sounds off to election board over voter ID law WNCN ...The State Board of Elections is giving the public a chance to raise concerns about North Carolina's voter ID law. Officials held the first of nine public hearings Wednesday night to get input from residents. The public hearings are being used to see how residents would like to see this law implemented...
Illinois House to vote on changes to workers’ compensation KTRS ...Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan says the Illinois House will consider changes to the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system when it reconvenes Thursday. Madigan put out a release Wednesday noting overhauling workers’ compensation is one of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top priorities...
In Houston, Clinton to Target Texas' Voter ID Law Texas Tribune ...Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will use a speech Thursday in Houston to call for expanded early voting across the country and criticize states like Texas for tightening election laws, according to her presidential campaign. Speaking at historically black Texas Southern University, the Democratic front-runner will propose a national requirement of at least 20 days of in-person early voting...
Walmart's latest raises show just how low its pay is Daily Kos ...You know you're a low-wage employer when you're bragging about raising base pay levels to $15 an hour ... for your managers. And not even all of them: Wal-Mart told The Associated Press late Monday that department managers of complex and service-oriented jobs in areas like produce, electronics and auto care, will start at $13 per hour...
Attempts To Limit Voting Rights Stunted As Efforts To Enhance Voting Access Prevail Huff Post ...A number of state legislatures are adjourning, and supporters of expanded access to the ballot box may be sighing in relief as they see some of the major efforts to restrict voting access were stymied during this legislative session. As the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University highlighted Wednesday, "For the third year in a row, bills to expand voters’ access to the ballot box outpace those to restrict voting, both in terms of introduction and enactment"...
Los Angeles City Council approves landmark minimum wage increase LA Times ...andmark ordinance boosting the minimum wage in Los Angeles won approval Wednesday from the City Council despite a variety of unresolved issues about how the law would work. The law, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, affects hundreds of thousands of workers and makes Los Angeles the largest city in the country to mandate higher pay for workers at the bottom of the income ladder...
U.S. Labor
SEIU, County close the gap in latest labor deal Sun Gazette ...Tulare County Services Employees International Union (SEIU) are looking forward to a padded pocketbook in their new deal with the County pending ratification and acceptance. In previous years SEIU has attempted to gain back some of its pay held by the County as they struggled through the Great Recession. As recent as last year SEIU Chapter 251 fought for a 9% raise that they were not able to garner. However, now there appears to be a deal that satisfies both parties...
Northwestern University still awaiting ruling from National Labor Relations Board Chicago Business Journal ...A full 10 months after legal teams from Northwestern University and the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) submitted their final filings to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., there's still no indication when the NLRB will issue a final ruling on whether Northwestern University's football team can unionize under the CAPA banner...
Talk of Philly newspaper strike, unionizing move at Gawker, big window onto media labor relations Poynter ...Union members in Philadelphia will vote Wednesday evening on whether to give leaders the right to call a walkout and potentially trigger an American labor relations rarity: a big city newspaper strike. And, by total coincidence, what could prove a notable if unrelated labor relations happening is playing out in New York: an attempt to unionize workers at Gawker Media...
Streetcar pact signed by SORTA, transit union Business Courier ...The union that represents Cincinnati transit workers has signed a deal with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, clearing the way for its members to operate Cincinnati’s streetcar – if the City Council chooses to go that route...
US Unemployment Aid Applications Drop to 276,000 AP ...Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign that job cuts remain low as employers are confident enough in the business outlook to hold onto their staffs. The Labor Department says applications for unemployment aid dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 276,000. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, ticked up 2,750 to 274,750...
Miscellaneous
All This Economic Inequality Sucks, Say Most Americans Common Dreams ...The new poll, conducted jointly by the New York Times and CBS News, found that a "strong majority"—more than six out of 10 people across party lines—think the nation's "wealth should be more evenly divided" among its people and only slightly less (with Republican support falling off) think government policies should drive the effort to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor...
New US trucking technology mandate to contribute to higher rates JOC ...The U.S. federal government on Wednesday mandated that heavy trucks be equipped with electronic stability controls by Aug. 1, 2017, the latest in a series of actions taken by the federal government to improve safety that will ultimately contribute to higher truck rates. Once implemented, the National Highway Transit Safety Association said the controls could prevent 1,700 crashes annually...
After Ruling That McDonald’s Can’t Pay Workers In Bank Cards, The Bank Pays Up Think Progress ...Paying employees through prepaid debit cards that incur fees when workers try to withdraw their cash is illegal in Pennsylvania, a judge ruled Tuesday. The lawsuit targeting a McDonald’s franchisee in the eastern-central part of the state has already prompted a powerful Wall Street bank to voluntarily give money back...
Leaders of Carhaul Local Unions Approve Contract Proposals Teamster.org ...Leaders of local unions that represent Carhaul Teamsters overwhelmingly approved contract proposals today in Detroit that will be presented to the employer group on Thursday, June 4 as both sides prepare to negotiate a new National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement (NMATA). “Thanks to our members who filled out surveys and our local unions that sent in proposals, we were able to come up with a package of contract proposals that local unions approved today,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
EVSC and Teamsters clash on two points during collective bargaining Courier & Press ...Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. officials called an impromptu news conference late Wednesday afternoon to disclose two key concerns they have in current collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215 representatives. EVSC School Board Negotiator Susan Traynor Chastain spoke on behalf of the board to discuss contract negotiations with the five EVSC employee groups represented by the Teamsters — bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, special education assistants and bus aides...
Global Labor & Trade
Progressives Mount Final Push Against Bill That 'Threatens Everything You Care About' Common Dreams ...With President Barack Obama "in overdrive" pushing his trade agenda and the House expected to take up so-called Fast Track authority "any day now," progressives are flooding Capitol Hill on Wednesday with phone calls and petitions expressing their opposition to corporate-friendly trade deals...
Barack Obama: China might join trade deal — eventually Politico ...China could eventually join the trade pact currently under negotiation with 12 Pacific Rim nations, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. A central part of Obama’s pitch for the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been that it would prevent China from making the rules in the region...
In ‘Fast-Track’ Pitch, Obama Ready to Fight Unions in Democratic Primaries Roll Call ...President Barack Obama will protect pro-trade Democrats in party primaries against unions and others opposed to his “fast-track” trade agenda, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. Earnest said the president is vowing to work hard to get Democrats on board, and that includes a vow to have their back politically...
Mayors leading Obama's charge on trade Politico ...President Barack Obama will have to hope America’s mayors are a little more convincing than he’s been. Faced with House Democrats who aren’t buying the administration’s efforts to draw a connection between global trade and local job growth, big-city mayors — most of them Democrats — are stepping up...
Trade deficit drops sharply to $40.9B in April USA Today ...The U.S. trade deficit declined sharply in April as exports posted a modest gain and imports fell, raising hopes that trade will not be as big a drag on economic growth in the current quarter. The April deficit dropped 19.2 percent to $40.9 billion...
WikiLeaks Strikes Again: Leaked TISA Docs Expose Corporate Plan For Reshaping Global Economy Common Dreams ...An enormous corporate-friendly treaty that many people haven't heard of was thrust into the public limelight Wednesday when famed publisher of government and corporate secrets, WikiLeaks, released 17 documents from closed-door negotiations between countries that together comprise two-thirds of the word's economy. Analysts warn that preliminary review shows that the pact, known as the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), is aimed at further privatizing and deregulating vital services...
The TPP Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight (opinion) Other Words ...As Congress gets ready to vote on whether to “fast-track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), its proponents are making weaker and more far-fetched arguments for the deal. And they keep getting their facts wrong and their logic twisted. This hit parade of failed arguments should convince any fence sitters that this is a bad deal...
Zimbabwe Economy in Crisis, Few Jobs, Workers Unpaid Solidarity Center ...Zimbabwe’s economy is in deep decline, making it harder for average Zimbabweans to work and live, and leaving them less and less confident in their future, according to Solidarity Center Regional Program Director for Africa Imani Countess, in testimony yesterday on Capitol Hill. “Most workers earn salaries far below the poverty level, and many workers—even in the formal sector—go for months without receiving their wages,” Countess said...
Greek unemployment rate stable at 25.6% MarketWatch ...About 1.2 million Greeks remain without a job, with the inactive population--those who aren't in employment or searching for a job, often because they have become discouraged--amounting to 3.4 million. Austerity measures imposed by creditors have allowed Greece to achieve a surplus in the primary budget, which excludes interest payments, but Athens underscores how much of a toll it has taken on economic growth and employment...
State & Living Wage Battles
Nixon expected to veto Missouri right-to-work measure KSPR ...Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday is set to take action on the bill alongside United AutoWorkers members near Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant. The measure would prohibit workplace contracts that require union fees to be collected from nonmembers. Nixon has criticized the bill, which he says could lead to lower wages. Other opponents have said it could undermine unions...
Proposed initiative petition would up state’s minimum wage Rolla Daily News ...Three initiative petitions to increase Missouri's minimum wage have been approved for circulation. Secretary of State Jason Kander on Tuesday announced supporters of all three now can begin collecting signatures. The petitions need to be signed by at least 5 percent of legal voters in six of the state's eight congressional districts to make it onto a ballot...
Public sounds off to election board over voter ID law WNCN ...The State Board of Elections is giving the public a chance to raise concerns about North Carolina's voter ID law. Officials held the first of nine public hearings Wednesday night to get input from residents. The public hearings are being used to see how residents would like to see this law implemented...
Illinois House to vote on changes to workers’ compensation KTRS ...Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan says the Illinois House will consider changes to the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system when it reconvenes Thursday. Madigan put out a release Wednesday noting overhauling workers’ compensation is one of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top priorities...
In Houston, Clinton to Target Texas' Voter ID Law Texas Tribune ...Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will use a speech Thursday in Houston to call for expanded early voting across the country and criticize states like Texas for tightening election laws, according to her presidential campaign. Speaking at historically black Texas Southern University, the Democratic front-runner will propose a national requirement of at least 20 days of in-person early voting...
Walmart's latest raises show just how low its pay is Daily Kos ...You know you're a low-wage employer when you're bragging about raising base pay levels to $15 an hour ... for your managers. And not even all of them: Wal-Mart told The Associated Press late Monday that department managers of complex and service-oriented jobs in areas like produce, electronics and auto care, will start at $13 per hour...
Attempts To Limit Voting Rights Stunted As Efforts To Enhance Voting Access Prevail Huff Post ...A number of state legislatures are adjourning, and supporters of expanded access to the ballot box may be sighing in relief as they see some of the major efforts to restrict voting access were stymied during this legislative session. As the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University highlighted Wednesday, "For the third year in a row, bills to expand voters’ access to the ballot box outpace those to restrict voting, both in terms of introduction and enactment"...
Los Angeles City Council approves landmark minimum wage increase LA Times ...andmark ordinance boosting the minimum wage in Los Angeles won approval Wednesday from the City Council despite a variety of unresolved issues about how the law would work. The law, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, affects hundreds of thousands of workers and makes Los Angeles the largest city in the country to mandate higher pay for workers at the bottom of the income ladder...
U.S. Labor
SEIU, County close the gap in latest labor deal Sun Gazette ...Tulare County Services Employees International Union (SEIU) are looking forward to a padded pocketbook in their new deal with the County pending ratification and acceptance. In previous years SEIU has attempted to gain back some of its pay held by the County as they struggled through the Great Recession. As recent as last year SEIU Chapter 251 fought for a 9% raise that they were not able to garner. However, now there appears to be a deal that satisfies both parties...
Northwestern University still awaiting ruling from National Labor Relations Board Chicago Business Journal ...A full 10 months after legal teams from Northwestern University and the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) submitted their final filings to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., there's still no indication when the NLRB will issue a final ruling on whether Northwestern University's football team can unionize under the CAPA banner...
Talk of Philly newspaper strike, unionizing move at Gawker, big window onto media labor relations Poynter ...Union members in Philadelphia will vote Wednesday evening on whether to give leaders the right to call a walkout and potentially trigger an American labor relations rarity: a big city newspaper strike. And, by total coincidence, what could prove a notable if unrelated labor relations happening is playing out in New York: an attempt to unionize workers at Gawker Media...
Streetcar pact signed by SORTA, transit union Business Courier ...The union that represents Cincinnati transit workers has signed a deal with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, clearing the way for its members to operate Cincinnati’s streetcar – if the City Council chooses to go that route...
US Unemployment Aid Applications Drop to 276,000 AP ...Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign that job cuts remain low as employers are confident enough in the business outlook to hold onto their staffs. The Labor Department says applications for unemployment aid dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 276,000. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, ticked up 2,750 to 274,750...
Miscellaneous
All This Economic Inequality Sucks, Say Most Americans Common Dreams ...The new poll, conducted jointly by the New York Times and CBS News, found that a "strong majority"—more than six out of 10 people across party lines—think the nation's "wealth should be more evenly divided" among its people and only slightly less (with Republican support falling off) think government policies should drive the effort to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor...
New US trucking technology mandate to contribute to higher rates JOC ...The U.S. federal government on Wednesday mandated that heavy trucks be equipped with electronic stability controls by Aug. 1, 2017, the latest in a series of actions taken by the federal government to improve safety that will ultimately contribute to higher truck rates. Once implemented, the National Highway Transit Safety Association said the controls could prevent 1,700 crashes annually...
After Ruling That McDonald’s Can’t Pay Workers In Bank Cards, The Bank Pays Up Think Progress ...Paying employees through prepaid debit cards that incur fees when workers try to withdraw their cash is illegal in Pennsylvania, a judge ruled Tuesday. The lawsuit targeting a McDonald’s franchisee in the eastern-central part of the state has already prompted a powerful Wall Street bank to voluntarily give money back...
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