Today's Teamster News 12.21.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Support Omnibus Spending Bill That Protects Worker Rights, Health Care  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters back a $1.1 trillion spending bill approved today by Congress for fiscal year 2016, saying it ensures workers retain their rights to organize on the job and will continue to receive comprehensive health insurance from their employers without being financially penalized.
“This omnibus package is a step in the right direction for workers,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said...
Teamsters Ken Hall: West Virginians’ lives are better without ‘right to work’  Gazette-Mail  ...The people of West Virginia are being told by some elected officials and business leaders that so-called right-to-work legislation will boost jobs and pay in the Mountain State. But what is right-to-work? As the Economic Policy Institute explains, right to work laws have nothing to do with whether people can be forced to join a union or contribute to a political cause they do not support; that is already illegal. Instead, right to work laws weaken a union’s ability to help workers bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits, and working conditions...
Coke Strike in Chicago Heats Up  Wall Street Journal  ...Coca-Cola Co.’s track record of U.S. labor peace is taking a hit in Chicago, where about 320 unionized workers at two bottling plants are striking over rising health-care premiums and are accusing management of intimidation tactics. The two-week-old strike by a Teamsters local poses a public relations threat after union members began unfurling banners with the slogans “Don’t Drink Coke”...

How Unions Could Change the Way Uber and Lyft Work  Bloomberg  ...Uber Technologies has overcome taxi driver protests, irate government officials, and the occasional self-made controversy. But the next fight for the ride-hailing company and rival Lyft may be with a modern-day Jimmy Hoffa. "When they got more cars, they started taking more advantage of the driver," said Teka, who's on the board of the App-Based Drivers Association, which is working with Seattle Teamsters to form a drivers union...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Chile airport workers end strike that left thousands stranded  BBC  ...Airport workers in Chile have agreed to end a four-day strike that led to major disruption. Most flights coming out of or landing in Chile's main airports were cancelled or delayed. The airport ground workers' union called the strike after the government rejected their request to join the more generous Chilean military pension plan...
China’s Latest Crackdown on Workers Is Unprecedented  The Nation  ...In an unprecedented crackdown on some of China’s most effective independent labor organizations, known as worker centers, seven worker-activists have been detained and held virtually incommunicado in detention facilities in Foshan and Guangzhou.  The activists are reportedly being detained on grounds of “endangering national security,” according to Amnesty International. It is unclear whether charges have been formally brought...
Union Members Exiled, Jailed as Burundi Violence Rises  Solidarity Center  ...Hundreds of union leaders and members, including at least 250 teachers, have fled Burundi while dozens more have been jailed, as the east African country roils in widespread violence. In October, a journalist and his family were shot dead at their home by security forces, according to the International Federation of Journalists. Broadcast media workers also were attacked with heavy weapons in May...
Why Amazon Workers in Germany Are on Strike  Fortune  ...Workers at German warehouses of U.S. online retailer Amazon.com were called out on a new strike by labor union Verdi on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Verdi said in a statement that workers at six of the nine Amazon warehouses were joining the strike, which will run until Dec. 24 at four of the centers and for shorter periods at the others...
Obama puts TPP trade deal at top of 2016 agenda  The Hill  ...President Obama expressed optimism at a Friday press conference that Congress can approve a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal. Obama called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a big deal" and acknowledged that opponents in both parties make for “an interesting situation." President Obama expressed optimism at a Friday press conference that Congress can approve a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) said earlier this week that he wants to take a vote as soon as possible...
Failure to Find Consensus in WTO to Re-boost Regional TTIP Deal  Sputnik News  ...A failure to find consensus between the developed and developing countries at a WTO conference will result in the EU and US reinforced efforts to conclude mega-regional agreements, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade pact and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), favoring corporate interests, the head of policy and campaigns at a London-based Global Justice Now organization said...
Greek PM Says Austerity Defeated in Spain  New York Times  ...Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is hailing the result of Spain's election as voter rejection of the unpopular austerity measures that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Popular Party invoked during the eurozone's debt crisis.
Tsipras says in a statement that "austerity has been politically defeated in Spain," adding that the results is vindication for those opposed to the tax hikes and spending cuts...
Investors on edge: Brazil to scale back austerity?  CNBC  ...The resignation of Brazil's pro-austerity finance minister has left markets on edge as amid concerns over whether his replacement will continue with a program of fiscal consolidation. On Friday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff replaced Finance Minister Joaquim Levy, a fiscal conservative appointed just over a year ago, with a close ally...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Union members meet to oppose Ohio Right to Work  Times Leader  ...Babe Erdos of the United Mine Workers of America was one of the speakers. "We think that the public needs to know the whole story of the so-called Right to Work," he said. According to Erdos, the median household income is $535 less per month in Right to Work states than in free-bargaining states such as Ohio. Information provided by We Are Ohio states that workers are injured and die on the job more often in Right to Work states...
Some local contractors hoping prevailing wage is maintained  Gazette Mail  ...Steve Ellis and John Strickland don’t want to see West Virginia’s prevailing wage abolished. The two commercial contractors from Charleston believe prevailing wage — the state law setting the minimum pay and benefits for laborers constructing public projects — is an essential part to their business and to the quality of life for the employees they hire...
National labor money gushes into Oregon minimum wage fight  Oregon Live  ...Oregon will have four ballot measures on the minimum wage out collecting ballot signatures next year. One would raise the state's $9.25 hourly wage to $15 — a number supported by Service Employees International Union in other parts of the country. The others, supported by labor-affiliated coalition Raise the Wage, would set a $13.50 wage and/or lift state restrictions that keep local governments from setting their own wages...
California Leads The Country In Minimum Wage  Capital Public Radio  ...On Jan. 1 California will have the highest minimum wage in the country. California Workers earning minimum wage will get an extra dollar an hour at the beginning of the year. The state raised the rate from $8 to $9 in July 2014. Soon it will be $10 an hour. Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Salinas sponsored the legislation behind the raises...
State reminds of minimum wage hike  Daily Star  ...State workers will join fast-food workers in a minimum wage increase taking effect Dec. 31, a bulletin from the state reminded employers. The bulletin issued Friday from the state Division of the Budget includes details about implementing phased wage increases that will bring the two groups of workers to a $15 minimum wage by 2021...
Judge Rules Virginia Voter ID Challenge Can Proceed  NBC  ...A federal judge is allowing an effort aimed at striking down Virginia's voter ID law to continue. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Friday that part of a suit filed by Virginia Democrats challenging the state's voter ID law could proceed while dismissing other related complaints...

U.S. LABOR
NLRB challenges ATI’s lockout as illegal  Buffalo News  ...Allegheny Technologies Inc.’s four-month lockout of about 2,200 employees, including roughly 40 at its Lockport plant, faces a legal challenge. The National Labor Relations Board’s regional director in Pittsburgh told ATI and the Steelworkers union it will issue a complaint alleging the lockout is illegal...
UAW-Nexteer deal ratified by union members  Detroit News  ...A majority of United Auto Workers members near Saginaw voted to ratify a new deal with Nexteer Automotive – avoiding a potential strike that could have impacted the Detroit automakers. UAW Local 699, which represents more than 3,200 workers with the auto supplier, reported early Saturday morning via social media that 61.4 percent of members who voted supported the deal...
USW, U.S. Steel announce tentative contract agreement  Chicago Tribune  ...A tentative agreement between United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel reached Saturday brings to a close more than six months of difficult negotiations between the steelmaker and the unions representing 18,000 workers across the country. Those negotiations continued more than three months after the previous contract between the steelmaker and the union expired Sept.1...
Impending Chicago Teachers' Strike Adds Power to Nationwide Movements Against Inequality and Racism  Truthout  ...The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) shook up the country and sparked a resurgence in militancy among teachers' unions with its 2012 strike. And now Chicago teachers may be getting ready to do it again. On December 14, CTU announced the result of a strike vote held the previous week, in which 88 percent of its total membership - and a full 96 percent of members who voted - authorized a strike that could begin this March or April...
Ship Builder Settles $5 Million Lawsuit After Forcing Indians To Work And Live in Awful Conditions  Think Progress  ...A ship building and repair company will pay $5 million to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) race and national origin discrimination lawsuit with 476 Indian guest workers who worked at the company’s facilities after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While Indian workers lived in squalid containers “the size of a double-wide trailer,” non-Indian workers were not subjected to the same conditions...
Employers had a labor wish list for the budget. Almost none of it was granted.  Washington Post  ...The House and Senate Republican funding proposals contained riders rolling back the implementation of a broad swath of the administration's actions, as well as decisions by the National Labor Relations Board that allowed for the establishment of "micro unions" within workplaces, eased the path toward collective bargaining with a franchiser...
As Public Funding of Universities Dwindles, Faculty Are Unionizing Truthout  ...When newly installed University of Washington (UW) President Ana Mari Cauce and Interim Provost Jerry Baldasty got wind that the UW faculty was collecting signatures on union cards, they quickly sent a series of memos and emails to the 6,000 people eligible to vote. Their missives trumpeted their opposition to collective bargaining and denounced the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) effort to organize on campus...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
US Congress to Corporations: Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!  Common Dreams  ...Along with a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep government funded through September, the U.S. Congress is on the verge of passing a Republican-backed, $629 billion package of tax cuts that one group calls "a lobbyist-wrapped Christmas present for our nation's biggest corporations." The package of bills unveiled Wednesday is facing criticism...
Koch Brothers Supersize Higher Education Spending  Truthout  ...The Koch brothers are supersizing their already hefty investments into college students' hearts and minds. A pair of private foundations led by the billionaire industrialists poured more than $23.4 million into U.S. colleges and universities during 2014, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis...
The Two Big Political Mistakes of Obama's Presidency  (opinion) Alternet  ...Nothing Obama could have done would have avoided the tsunami of vicious racist and xenophobic hatred that washed over him and the country, aided and abetted by the savagely partisan and vitriolic Fox News. But Obama might well have stunted the emergence of the right-wing populist movement, had he pursued an aggressive populist strategy of his own — one that demonstrated government could effectively challenge giant corporations...
After 28 Years in Prison, Man Falsely Convicted in Botched Investigation to Walk Free  Democracy Now  ...A Denver, Colorado, man has spent 28 years in prison based on a dream—and it wasn’t his. Now he could soon be free. In 1989, Clarence Moses-EL, who is African-American, was sentenced to 48 years in prison after a woman said she dreamed he was the man who raped and beat her in the dark...
Hundreds Of New Orleans Residents Will Finally Be Able To Go Home  Think Progress  ...More than 10 years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and decimated the Lower Ninth Ward, community groups and local government have secured funding from the federal government they believe will be enough to get many of the residents home who have been trying to rebuild ever since they were displaced. For Boyd-Cannon, a jazz musician, that should mean she will finally be able to rebuild her family’s house on what became a vacant lot...
Wave of migrant children has Texas towns scrambling to set up housing  The Guardian  ...As a wave of Central American children are crossing the US border alone fleeing violence and poverty in their countries, new facilities to house these children are popping up with just a few days’ notice in southern border towns. In Rockwall, Texas, hundreds of children arrived Saturday to a hot spaghetti meal...

Today's Teamster News 11.20.15

TEAMSTERS
Senate Takes Another Step Towards Keeping Double 33-Foot Trailers Off the Road  Teamster.org  ...Lawmakers took another stand for highway safety yesterday when the Senate removed language from a spending bill that would force states to allow an increase in the length of tractor trailers. “The Teamsters are encouraged by this latest bipartisan action to prioritize highway safety over greater corporate profits,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said...
Members At Albany's Time-Union Ratify Contract  Teamster.org  ...Members of Teamsters Local 126 working at the Albany Times-Union newspaper have ratified, by a majority vote, a new three-year contract.  The 63 members all work in the mailing department of the newspaper and fought back against the company’s desire to cut costs and threats of wage reductions. “They played hardball with us,” said Stefan Krueger, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 126 and an employee in the mailing department unit for the past 27 years...
Drivers Rally at City Call, Call on Council to Pass O'Brien Legislation  Local 117  ...Drivers in Seattle's for-hire industry joined with dozens of community supporters to call on the City Council to pass Mike O'Brien's a Voice for Drivers legislation, which would give drivers the right to collectively bargain over their pay and working conditions. One driver said she had been recently deactivated by Lyft after helping to organize the day's event. "Last week they sent me an email saying that I was a platinum driver," she said. "Monday I attended a meeting at the Teamsters, and Tuesday I got an email saying I was deactivated"...
Seattle Lyft Driver Wants to Know Why She Was Deactivated After Attending a Teamsters Organizing Meeting  The Stranger  ..."I was at the Teamsters office," Kim says. "That's the only reason that [Lyft] deactivated me. I'm not stupid." Kim attended an organizing meeting for drivers at the Teamsters Local 117 office on Monday. By Tuesday at 1:43 p.m., Kim had been deactivated. Kim isn't the only app-based driver to claim that an account had been deactivated because of organizing activity. Last year, Will Anderson, a former Uber driver in Seattle, reported that he had been deactivated the morning after attending a meeting with the Teamsters Local 117...
Picketing at U focuses on parental leave  Workday Minnesota  ...Lack of parental leave was one focus of informational picketing Tuesday by workers at the University of Minnesota. Members of AFSCME and the Teamsters have been in negotiations with the University since June. The unions are seeking: Six weeks of parental leave, comparable to that given to P&A staff and faculty...
Cummins Teamsters Ratify new 3 Year Contract  Local 769  ...On Tuesday November 17, 2015 Teamsters Local 769 members at Cummins in Miami unanimously ratified a new 3 year agreement. The bargaining unit, which consists of diesel mechanics, the parts department and warehouse workers, have long been members of Teamsters Local 769 The diesel mechanics service engines for Miami-Dade Transit and public school buses and their marine division provides yacht service throughout the Caribbean...
Coca-Cola Stubbornly Sticks to Unreasonable Proposals, Stalls With One Day Left to Negotiate  Local 727  ...For the seventh consecutive bargaining session, Coca-Cola has wasted the time of the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee by refusing to budge from its unreasonable contract proposals. During another marathon 13-hour meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 18, Local 727 watched as management sat on its hands and resubmitted contract offers that members have explicitly made clear are unpalatable...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
India's central bank employees strike over pensions  BBC  ...Most of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 17,000 employees went on strike on Thursday in what the central bank described as "mass casual leave". The walk out resulted in "some interruptions" to clearing and settlement operations at the central bank, but it said that its systems were largely operational. Four unions had called for the strike to demand better pension benefits...
Tazreen Fire Survivors: ‘Our Suffering Has Just Started’  Solidarity Center  ...Survivors of the November 24, 2012, Tazreen fire who recently talked with Solidarity Center staff in Bangladesh say they endure daily physical and emotional pain and in many cases, have little or no means of financial support because they cannot work. Some, like Anju, who is unable to work, have never received compensation for their injuries...
Demerara Timbers workers strike for wage increase  Stabroek News  ...Under the umbrella of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), seventy workers from Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) went on strike on November 19 at the company’s Mabura Hill operations. According to a GAWU press release, the strike resulted from a failure of the company to arrive at a consensus with the union since June 22, 2015...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Obama Offers Helping Hand, Companies Give Cash To Support Democrats Backing Trade Pact  IBTimes  ...House Democrats have enjoyed the warm, friendly embrace of the chief executive and a steady flow of cold, hard cash from the companies that are backing a massive agreement with Asia-Pacific nations. Obama, in a display of political acumen that often has eluded him in dealing with Congress, never stopped wooing members who supported him as he eyeballed the prize -- ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Obama defends TPP secrecy, says now is chance for debate  Reuters ...U.S. President Barack Obama launched a defense on Friday of a signature Pacific trade pact kept largely under wraps and said the public would get its say before legislators in each country debate the full details. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a "mega-regional accord" covering four-tenths of global GDP...
Mexican Immigration Declining; More Are Returning Than Arriving  NPR  ...A new study of immigration to the United States shows that more Mexicans have returned home than have arrived here since 2009. The report from the Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center also finds that the overall flow of Mexicans between the two countries is the smallest since the 1990s. The conclusions are based on government data here and in Mexico...
Police tear-gas farmers at anti-cuts rally in Greek capital  RT  ...Clashes erupted between riot police and protesting farmers in front of the Hellenic Parliament in Athens, on Wednesday after some 4,000 agricultural workers rallied from across the country to condemn planned tax reforms and austerity measures. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters as they moved closer to the parliament building and threw oranges and other objects at officers...
Québec Fights Back Against Austerity  Counterpunch  ...We are supposed to accept austerity as being as natural as ocean tides. Or be demoralized by the power of the forces that continually press down on working people around the world. But there is an ongoing, organized fightback going on — in Québec. A series of rolling strikes by public-sector employees and students throughout 2015 appear to be headed toward a provincial general strike in December...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Why Missouri might be the next big battleground in the right-to-work debate  Washington Post   ...Missouri Republican gubernatorial candidates are using their anti-union stance to set up a fight with likely Democratic nominee Attorney General Chris Koster, who is funded in large part by labor groups and has vowed to block the policy, insisting it hurts wages. An August primary will decide who faces off in the race. Two days after Republicans failed to override the governor’s most recent veto on right to work, Koster’s campaign received a $20,00 campaign donation from a group representing carpenters...
Labor secretary: Wisconsin needs to raise its minimum wage  Journal Sentinel  ...The U.S. secretary of labor is calling on Wisconsin to raise its minimum wage. Thomas Perez, head of the Department of Labor, visited Milwaukee on Thursday to meet with workers and advocates for raising the minimum wage. The event, organized by Wisconsin Jobs Now, was focused on the "Fight for 15" movement, which aims to boost the pay for low-wage workers to $15 an hour...
Absentee ballots are expected to increase with new voter ID requirements  Shelby Star  ...In anticipation of next year’s requirement that voters have a photo ID, election workers across North Carolina asked voters this year if they had proper identification. Out of the more than 9,200 people who voted in Cleveland County's November municipal elections, fewer than 10 did not have an ID...
Lexington to boost minimum wage to $10.10  CNN  ...Minimum wage workers in Lexington, Kentucky are about to get a raise. The Lexington Urban County Council voted Thursday to boost the city's minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour over the next three years. The county will see a preliminary increase to $8.20 per hour on July 1, 2016...
Los Angeles Allegedly Forces The Mentally Ill Through Bureaucratic Nightmare For Welfare  Think Progress  ...A new lawsuit accuses Los Angeles County of making it too difficult for people with mental health issues to apply for a program called General Relief (GR), which is supposed to provide a $221 monthly stipend to all eligible Californians. In practice, the suit says, even that meager subsistence benefit is far out of reach for tens of thousands of people who need it most...

U.S. LABOR
U.S. airport workers stage one-day strike  USA Today  ...Baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, ramp workers, wheelchair attendants, janitors and other workers struck airports in Boston, Chicago O’Hare, New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia, New Jersey’s Newark, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. American, Delta, United and JetBlue airlines told Reuters the strike didn't disrupt flights. But workers and labor experts said the protests drew attention in the industry and among travelers a week before Thanksgiving...
United Auto Workers' new contract with Ford at risk of rejection  USA Today  ...Union workers at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant are the latest to soundly vote against a national contract with the automaker, casting further doubt about the United Auto Workers' ability to convince a majority of workers nationwide to ratify the agreement. About 53% of the more than 31,000 workers who have voted so far have voted against the contract...
Nursing home must bargain with union that lost election - NLRB judge  Reuters  ...A New York nursing home that called the police on labor organizers, fired a vocal union supporter and offered workers free jeans if they wore anti-union shirts on the job must bargain with a unit of the Service Employees International Union that lost an election, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled...
Solano County, SEIU reach tentative pact in labor dispute  Daily Republic  ...A late-night tentative agreement with the Service Employees International Union was reached Thursday after a 10-hour session with a state mediator, Solano County officials said – and a union spokeswoman said its bargaining team will recommend members approve the agreement...
Germany's largest trade union opens shop in Tennessee  Politico  ...The largest trade union in Germany is opening shop in the Nashville suburbs to help out the UAW in its bid to organize the South. IG Metall will announce this afternoon that it’s launching a joint office with UAW in Spring Hill, Tenn. as part of a “Transnational Partnership Initiative.” "IG Metall believes some German manufacturers are exploiting low-wage environments in the U.S. South...
Not all employers hate unions. These ones are trying to save them.  Washington Post  ...Unions are supposed to be a pain for employers. Especially strong, well-funded ones that are able to thwart their plans for change. not according to a host of government entities that have come to the defense of public sector unions at a moment when they could be wounded by a Supreme Court ruling on whether they're allowed to collect dues from nonmembers...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
France Cancels Major Climate March, But Groups Say They Won't Be Silenced  Common Dreams  ...The Prefecture of Police of Paris has reportedly cancelled a march planned for November 29 that organizers expected to draw at least 200,000 people, citing security concerns. Activists noted that other actions planned worldwide will still move forward. Nicolas Haeringer, French campaigner for climate advocacy group 350.org, said in response, "The government can prohibit these demonstrations, but our voices will not be silenced"...
Kochs' Freedom Partners Spent $129M in 2014, Invested Massively in Voter Data Lists  PR Watch  ...The Koch network's secret bank, "Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce," spent big during the 2014 midterm elections, including doubling its investment in voter data collection efforts and secretly backing U.S. Senate candidates associated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Freedom Partners is also vastly expanding surveillance and intelligence gathering on the Kochs' perceived opponents, Politico reports today...
Anti-Transparency Bill Implies Pennsylvania Police Have 'Something to Hide'  Common Dreams  ...The Pennsylvania State House on Tuesday passed a controversial bill that would hide the identities of police officers who use force or fire their guns while on duty, at least until an investigation is completed—a move the state ACLU chapter said would only serve to harm community relations...
Trump: ‘Absolutely’ Register All Muslims In A Database  Think Progress  ...On Thursday night, the billionaire Republican presidential candidate told an NBC reporter that all American Muslims “have to be” required to registered in a database in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. The attacks were carried out by ISIS, a group that proclaims itself to be Islamic — though many Muslims and religious scholars disagree that the group can be credibly considered part of the religion...
America Needs George W. Bush to Speak to His Party  Slate  ...What Bush did, successfully, was keep anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric out of national politics. He made clear that the United States was fighting a war against terrorists—not Muslims—and reminded Americans that “the majority of the victims of the terrorists have been innocent Muslims”...
Glenn Greenwald on "Submissive" Media's Drumbeat for War and "Despicable" Anti-Muslim Scapegoating  Democracy Now  ...In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, media coverage has seen familiar patterns: uncritically repeat government claims, defend expansive state power, and blame the Muslim community for the acts of a few. "Every time there’s a terrorist attack, Western leaders exploit that attack to do more wars," Greenwald says. "Which in turn means they transfer huge amounts of taxpayer money to these corporations that sell arms"...

Today's Teamster News 11.16.15

TEAMSTERS
Air General Workers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Choose Teamsters  Teamster.org  ...Workers with Air General who provide cargo, mail handling and warehousing services at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have voted to join Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The 30 workers joined the Teamsters seeking better pay, benefits and working conditions...
Fort Polk Teamsters Vote for Strike Authorization  Teamster.org  ... Fort Polk federal contractors that work for URS/AECOM voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization last week following their rejection of a substandard last, best and final offer from the company. The workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 19 in Humble, Texas, voted down the contract proposal by a 90 percent margin...
Ballots Sent Out For San Bernardino County Contract  Teamster.org  ...Thousands of public employees in San Bernardino County, California, will now have an opportunity to use their voice in the workplace!  Yesterday, ballots for the tentative agreement covering the 11,000 employees went in the mail to each union household.  The bargaining committee and stewards from Teamsters Local 1932 (newly charted this year after the successful organizing campaign) unanimously endorsed the agreement...
Hoffa Opposes Highway Bill Measure  Go By Truck  ...Teamsters President James Hoffa penned an article for the Los Angeles Daily News expressing concern about a provision in the House of Representatives’ highway bill that he says would contribute to more dangerous highways. The provision would allow carriers to deny state-required rest and meal breaks to their drivers. Several judicial rulings have upheld California’s right to impose mandatory breaks for all workers, including truck drivers...
FRA: Northeast Rail Corridor Needs Significant Investment  Teamster.org  ...The Federal Railway Administration (FRA) issued a report this week on upgrades needed for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail system. Members of the Teamsters Rail Conference from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division work side by side on the NEC to keep the trains running efficiently and safely...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama urges Congress to approve Pacific trade pact early in 2016  Reuters  ...President Barack Obama on Friday urged the U.S. Congress to quickly approve a 12-nation Pacific trade pact early in 2016, telling reporters the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was essential to the American economy as well as national security. Obama last week gave Congress 90 days' notice that he would sign the TPP deal, which seeks to remove trade barriers and set common standards in 40 percent of the world economy...
TPP uncertainties to dog Obama trip to Asia  Politico  ...President Barack Obama wraps up Group of 20 meetings today in Turkey, where the recent attack in Paris has taken center stage. That stop precedes a trip through Asia this week, where he hopes to build on the momentum of the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and to reassure allies...
Leaders of TPP states to meet in Manila  Japan News  ...The leaders of Japan, the United States and 10 other countries that reached a broad Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord last month will hold a meeting in Manila on Wednesday. At the meeting, the TPP leaders are expected to declare that they will aim for the early entry into force of the TPP pact...
APEC Business Council Calls on States to Ratify TPP as Route to FTAAP  Sputnik News  ...The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) is calling on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member states to ratify the deal as soon as possible, as it may lead to trade agreements encompassing larger areas such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the head of Australia’s ABAC delegation said Monday...
TTIP trade talks: Germany urges US to let MPs see texts  BBC  ...The German government has urged American authorities to give German MPs access to key documents in the EU-US trade negotiations known as TTIP. The request came amid widespread opposition to the confidential talks, which are aimed at creating the world's biggest free trade zone...
ILO says most Bangladesh garment factories must improve fire safety  Reuters  ...The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Friday 80 percent of export-oriented ready made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh needed improvement in fire and electrical safety standards. A spotlight was thrown on Bangladesh's garment sector, the world's second biggest which supplies many global brands, after the collapse of a factory complex in 2013...
French officials warned that austerity increased security peril  Al Jazeera  ...After the carnage in and around Paris Friday night, when eight assailants used explosives and automatic weapons to kill at least 128 people, recent warnings by security officials over the spiking threat of attack amid budgetary austerity have assumed a particularly grim prescience...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Lawmakers hear right-to-work comparative study  Metro News  ...In Sunday’s Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary meeting, WVU economics researcher John Deskins reported his findings in relation to the differences between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states. West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny  Perdue spoke against right-to-work, pointing out that it hurts states’ economies more than it helps...
Wages, safety lower in right-to-work states, lawmakers told  WV Gazette-Mail  ...Legislators heard the pros and cons Sunday of proposed legislation to make West Virginia a right-to-work state, with proponents saying it will help grow the state’s economy, and opponents calling it an effort to destroy unions and hurt working-class families. Both sides agreed that average wages are lower in right-to-work states, but differed on whether that is a good or bad thing...
New York State Workers Laud Higher Minimum Pay  New York Times  ...The governor’s action highlights his larger efforts to increase the statewide minimum wage for all workers, in both the public and private sectors, to $15 an hour from the current rate of $8.75, which would require the approval of the State Legislature. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour...
Minimum wage: Pressure mounts on Oregon lawmakers to take up increase in 2016  OregonLive  ...As the movement to raise Oregon's minimum wage gathers steam, everyone is looking to see if the Legislature — facing ballot measures for $13.50 and $15, a worsening housing crisis in Portland and pressure from Gov. Kate Brown — will pass an increase during the 2016 session. Most agree that an increase is likely next year...
The Right’s Anti-Minimum Wage Arguments Have Pretty Much Stayed the Same for 80 Years  In These Times  ...Over the past year, the campaign to raise the minimum wage has been steadily accumulating prominence, political allies and, most importantly, successes. Not surprisingly, it has also occasioned a pushback from conservative politicians and columnists who view its increase as a misguided, self-defeating folly...

U.S. LABOR
Kohler workers on strike  Fight Back News  ...On Nov. 15, at 9:00 a.m., about 2100 workers of Kohler Co., represented by United Auto Workers Local 883 in Kohler, Wisconsin voted by a 93.4% margin to strike, with about 1800 members voting. The strike started Nov. 15. The facility is shuttered and not operational. In 2010, Kohler pushed the workers to accept a concessionary contract...
Majority favor UAW-Ford contract in early voting  Detroit Free Press  ...Ford's emphasis on investment in its 26 facilities across the U.S. is paying off in early positive results as 52,900 UAW members continue to vote on a new four-year tentative agreement on Sunday even as workers at a big assembly plant in Claycomo, Mo. voted against the agreement...
Kaiser, mental health workers avert strike  San Jose Mercury News  ...Kaiser Permanente and its mental health workers have reached a tentative contract settlement, averting a strike that had been planned to start Monday, the union announced late Sunday. Health clinicians and Kaiser agreed on a tentative three-year contract overcoming two major sticking points...
Solano County and SEIU labor union reach impasse  The Reporter  ...After months of negotiations, an expired contract and a two-day strike, Solano County and Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 have reached an impasse. “Future discussion would be futile,” said the county in a press release issued Friday afternoon. It noted that the impasse was declared after negotiations reached late into the night Thursday...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Voices from a City in Mourning: Paris Reels After 129 Killed in Deadliest Attacks in Decades  Democracy Now  ...France has entered a third day of mourning after a string of suicide bombings and shootings targeted restaurants, a concert hall and the national soccer stadium on Friday night. The simultaneous attacks killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. It was the deadliest attack on French soil in decades...
After Paris Attacks, Critics Warn Against 'Wars of Vengeance'  Common Dreams  ...As details trickled out about Friday's deadly attacks in and around Paris, observers urged world leaders to avoid knee-jerk responses both at home and abroad. Beating the drum for "all-out war" would not be strategically sound, critics cautioned in the wake of the attacks...
We kicked the Koch Brothers’ ass: How Denver parents beat back big money, charter schools, right-wing lies  Salon  ...News stories told of a national program bearing down on the school district, with “money pouring in from Americans for Prosperity, the national organization founded by the Koch brothers,” in an effort to impose an agenda from outside the community that included a new history curriculum, new restrictions on teachers’ job security, and more privately-operated charter schools. The results came in last week, and voters recalled the board majority and voted in a new slate of progressive-minded candidates...
The Second Democratic Debate Was a Great Night for Republicans  (opinion) The Nation  ...The Democrats kept citing the examples of Republicans to explain—and justify—their policies on everything from progressive taxation to breaking up big banks. The Democrats were not referencing 2016 Republicans, who in each new GOP presidential debate further expose the extent to which the party of Lincoln has broken faith with every idea for which it ever stood. Saturday was a great night for the Republican Party that was...
Protests Erupt In Minneapolis After Cops Shoot Unarmed Black Man  Think Progress  ...Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis took to the streets on Sunday to protest the police shooting of an unarmed black man who, according to some witnesses, was already in handcuffs when the cops opened fire. The man was shot during a midday altercation on the street, as police officers reportedly tried to stop him from interfering with a paramedic crew assisting a victim of an assault...

Today's Teamster News 09.02.15

Teamsters
New platform makes unions strong, America stronger  The Hill   ...Today, more than 1.4 million members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are compensated for their skills and hard work with salaries and benefits that give them dignity and allow them to live a middle-class lifestyle. If this were true of more American workers, our economy and our country would be better off. This is a message the Teamsters intend to bring to the entire American workforce as part of the union’s new “Let’s Get America Working” campaign...
Labor readies fall highway blitz  The Hill  ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union is gearing up for an aggressive fall push to convince lawmakers to approve a long-term highway bill that has eluded transportation advocates for the better part of a decade.  Federal funding for road and transit programs is set to expire on Oct. 29. The Teamsters union is planning to greet Congress upon its return to Washington next week...
Chicago Skyway Toll Workers Plan Labor Day Weekend Strike  NBC  ...Traffic may be moving smoothly along Chicago’s Skyway for the start of September, but it could come to a halt during the busy Labor Day travel weekend. A group of toll collectors may hold a strike over contract negotiations with the Skyway Concession Company, according to Teamsters Local 727, the union that represents them. The 30 workers are on the job without a contract – which expired at midnight – and the members are set to hold a strike vote on September 2...
U employees protest salary talks and administrative pay  Star Tribune  ...University of Minnesota workers gathered at a busy intersection on campus Monday to protest the current state of contract negotiations. The U has offered a 0.75 percent salary increase to employees who are represented by Teamsters Local 320. Among those affected by the proposal are food service, custodial and clerical workers throughout the university system...
Sun Tran's strike position doesn't tell the whole story  Arizona Daily Star  ...Two issues that are also extremely important and have contributed greatly to this strike, which Riley fails to mention, are the 22 assaults of drivers that have taken place over the past 22 months, one of which was a multiple stabbing. The other is the ongoing mold contamination of the Northwest Maintenance and Operations Facility and the buses themselves. Both are major health and safety issues...
Seattle might try something crazy to let Uber drivers unionize  Washington Post  ...Over the past few years, taxi drivers have affiliated with unions in cities across the country. So far, that’s worked out alright for taxi drivers, who’ve worked with the Teamsters in Washington State to make their case in Olympia — especially when they’ve banded together with taxi companies to keep rates high...
State of Illinois, Teamsters Reach New Labor Contract Deal  Progress Illinois  ...A new four-year collective bargaining agreement has been reached between state-employed Teamsters and the Rauner administration, the governor's office announced Monday. "The state previously announced an agreement with Teamsters Local 700, which covered 300 state workers in Cook County," the administration said in a news release...

Global Labor & Trade
Labor Leader Urges Clinton to Reject Pacific Trade Agreement  Newsweek   ...Labor leader Richard Trumka has an idea for Hillary Clinton to energize her presidential campaign after a listless summer: take a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Specifically, the head of the AFL-CIO suggested that coming out against the 12-country trade deal would help generate excitement for the Democratic front-runner...
Could Tobacco Carveout Kill TPP?  Roll Call  ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s rocky road in Congress faces a fresh threat from tobacco-state senators. Reuters reported the administration had been considering allowing tobacco to be carved out of the investor-state dispute settlement, which, among other things, would give tobacco companies little protection against stiff regulation by trade partners...
Canada’s auto towns have huge stake in Pacific trade talks  Edmonton Journal  ...Windsor’s auto industry would suffer if Canadian negotiators at Trans-Pacific Partnership talks succumb to pressure from Japan and the U.S. for an “unreasonably” low content limit for auto parts and new vehicles, Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, warned Monday...
Austerity Economics is Fraying Europe’s Social Contract  (opinion) Fair Observer  ...Austerity as an economic strategy is about more than just throwing a scare into countries that, exhausted by years of cutbacks and high unemployment, are thinking of changing course. It’s also about laying the groundwork for the triumph of multinational corporate capitalism and undermining the social contract between labor and capital that’s characterized much of Europe for the past two generations...
Indian workers strike over Modi labour reforms  BBC  ...Workers across India are staging a day-long strike to protest at the economic policies of the government. They say the "pro-business" policies of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government will put their jobs at risk and hurt ordinary people. The unions are demanding the government drop plans to sell off stakes in state-run companies and change labour laws...
Everyday People Put Solidarity Into Action Helping Refugees in Greece  Truthout  ...As Greece replaces Italy as the main European gateway for refugees fleeing their war-torn homelands, the country is battling to cope with the huge influx of souls at a time when it doesn't have much to give. Nevertheless, the deus ex machina in this case is not the government, but local residents and activists from near and far who are gathering food, medicine, clothes, toys and other equipment for the refugees...

State & Living Wage Battles
New California Law Is A Big Step Forward For Working Women  Think Progress  ...On Monday, the California Senate unanimously passed an equal pay bill with the strongest measures aimed at closing the gender wage gap in the country. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has said that he’ll sign it into law. The bill has a number of provisions, but the piece that stands out the most is one that requires employers to pay men and women the same for “substantially similar work”...
Group: Minimum wage hike needed in state  Bradford Era  ...A Harrisburg think-tank says it’s getting harder for rural Pennsylvanians to make ends meet and that a minimum wage increase is needed to bridge the gap. But some area politicians remain skeptical of the claims as well as the group behind them.   A new report issued by the Keystone Research Center (KRC) says the annual cost of living in rural Pennsylvania — places like McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter counties — is $27,357 for a single person...
‘Prevailing wage’ protects workers, taxpayers  (opinion) SC Times  ...The Times recently published a letter authored by a special interest group arguing that Minnesota should follow Wisconsin in repealing our prevailing wage law. Unfortunately, the letter displayed a shocking ignorance of both the mechanics of prevailing wage and the public policy underpinning this long-standing component of our public works bidding process...
Paid leave makes sense  (editorial) Philly.com   ...Only New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, and a handful of U.S. cities have caught up with other parts of the modern world by requiring some form of paid leave for employees who need to care for sick or disabled family members or a new child. It's time for that to change. U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez noted in a recent interview with the Inquirer Editorial Board, "We are the only civilized nation on the planet which doesn't have it"...
One Simple Change Could Drastically Improve Voter Turnout In California  Think Progress  ...As soon as this week, the California Senate could pass a bill to address its dismally low voter turnout by making registration automatic for the millions of residents with drivers licenses. Copying a landmark law passed by Oregon earlier this year, the policy would connect DMV records with voter registration rolls, putting the burden on the voter to opt-out rather than opt-in...

U.S. Labor
Airport contract workers protest for union, higher wages  Sun Sentinel  ...Chanting and holding up signs in the sweltering midday heat, contract employees from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport brought their fight for the right to unionize and earn higher wages to downtown Fort Lauderdale. The Service Employees International Union, which is helping to organize the airport contract workers, accuse G2 and Eulen of thwarting their employees' efforts to unionize to improve their wages and working conditions...
With contract expiring, USW workers gather for rally  Chicago Tribune  ...out 2,000 steelworkers, their families and supporters arrived at a Tuesday afternoon rally in Burns Harbor by shuttle bus, cars and on motorcycles, some traveling from as far away as Nebraska, reiterating their resolve to fight for a fair contract for steelworkers across the country. The rally and march was held hours before the United Steelworkers contract with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel was set to expire, at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, and with some optimism...
Judge In California Delivers Uber’s Worst Nightmare  Think Progress  ...Uber’s business model is on the rocks late Tuesday after a federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit targeting the company’s treatment of drivers as independent contractors. The case is one of several high-profile suits brought by drivers against the technology start-up that has displaced traditional taxis in many markets...
UAW Workers, BU Reach Contract Accord  BU Today  ...Almost 600 clerical, technical, and service employees on the Charles River Campus will get annual raises of between 2.0 and 2.5 percent over the next five years under the terms of a new contract agreement with United Auto Workers Local 2324. The agreement, which took effect July 1, the start of the University’s fiscal year, incorporates previously announced University-wide changes to BU’s health insurance and long-term disability plan...
UE Becomes First National Union in U.S. To Endorse BDS Against Israel  In These Times  ...On August 20 in Baltimore, the last day of its 74th national convention, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) became the first national union in the United States to heed the 2005 call made by Palestinian civil society groups for a global Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to protest Israeli violations of international law...

Social Justice & Other News
Donald Trump’s Shaky Grasp on Immigration  New York Times  ...Since the housing bubble burst and construction jobs dried up, more unauthorized immigrants have left the United States than have come in. Careful estimates by the Pew Research Center show that the number of undocumented Mexicans living in the United States shrank by roughly 1.1 million by 2012, from its peak in 2007. Illegal immigration could rebound as the American economy recovers further. But Mr. Massey and others argue that a more powerful force is pulling in the other direction...
Koch Brother Claims He Is a Libertarian, but He Wants to Control a Lot of Our Choices  Truthout  ...David Koch’s claim that he is socially liberal is belied by the fact that his political entities have funneled millions of dollars to Christian Right organizations. PR Watch reported that, “Kochs' Freedom Partners helped funnel at least $3 million as of May 2014 to groups that actively attack marriage equality...
As 'Muslim-Free Zones' Flourish, Groups Demand DOJ Probe  Common Dreams  ...A coalition of 82 civil liberties and human rights organizations, as well as faith-based groups and immigrant rights advocates, on Tuesday called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the growing number of businesses around the country declaring themselves 'Muslim-free zones.' Doing so violates the constitutional rights of American Muslims, particularly under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964...
"Mr. Smith Goes to Prison": After Year in Jail, Former State Senator Condemns Mass Incarceration  Democracy Now  ...Smith was elected state senator in 2006 and served until 2009, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy for an election law violation tied to the 2004 campaign. Smith was sentenced to one year and a day in a Kentucky federal prison. He chronicles his experience in his new book, "Mr. Smith Goes to Prison: What My Year Behind Bars Taught Me About America’s Prison Crisis"...
Robert Reich: Economic redistribution isn’t enough  Salon  ...Keynes may be proven right about technological progress. But he overlooked one big question: How to redistribute the profits from these marvelous labor-saving inventions, so we’ll have the money to buy the free time they provide? Without such a mechanism, most of us are condemned to work ever harder in order to compensate for lost earnings due to the labor-replacing technologies...

Today's Teamster News 08.21.15

Teamsters
Labor, Community And Environmental Advocates Call On McDonald's To Protect Workers In Its Supply Chain  Teamster.org   ...Advocates from labor, community and environmental organizations joined together to today at a rally outside a McDonald’s in downtown San Francisco, to demand that the company adhere to its own supplier code of conduct and protect workers’ rights throughout supply chain...
Teamsters Break Strike Record, Plan To Rally  Arizona Daily Star   ...The strike has passed the record for the longest ever. In 2001, the workers were on strike for 12 days. Teamsters Local 104 is holding a rally at 4 p.m. today, at Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E. Congress St...
EVSC, Teamsters Plan To Meet Again In Late August  Evansville Courier & Press   ...Teamsters Local 215 and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board negotiating teams have scheduled a collective bargaining session for Aug. 29 to further discuss contract proposals exchanged a week ago...
Carriage Horse Drivers Hesitate To Declare Victory Over Animal Rights Advocates On Proposed Ban  New York Daily News   ...Round one of the carriage horse wars goes to the Teamsters union — but drivers are skittish about declaring a runaway victory over animal rights activists...
Teamsters Win Union Recognition For Fuelers At Newark Airport  Patch   ...In a decision announced on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Allied Aviation Service Company of New Jersey to recognize and bargain with Local 553, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO, which represents a group of about 40 workers at the airport...
Support Staff, Board Agree On Contract After Eight Years  Akron Leader   ...For the first time in eight years, support staff in the Copley-Fairlawn City School District will be working under a contract. The district’s Board of Education approved the contract with support staff represented by Teamsters Local 348 at a special Aug. 13 meeting and board retreat. The contract was presented to the union in May and union members voted Aug. 8 to accept it, said Treasurer John Wheadon...
Driver Drug Testing: Teamsters, Other Labor Groups Ask House To Reject Senate Changes  Overdrive   ...17 workers’ advocate associations, including the Teamsters and a branch of the AFL-CIO, have asked those in the House tasked with crafting the lower chamber’s version of the DRIVE Act to nix the provision that would make hair testing a regulator-recognized option. The House has not yet taken up the Senate’s version of the legislation, and House lawmakers have not indicated whether the lower chamber will in its upcoming fall session...

Global Labor & Trade
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Calls For New Elections  New York Times   ...Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece called Thursday for new national elections in a bid to consolidate his power and press ahead with the 86 billion euro bailout plan he agreed to with European creditors...
Macedonia Troops Fire Stun Grenades At Crowds Of Migrants On Border  Huffington Post   ...Macedonian special police forces fired stun grenades Friday to disperse thousands of migrants stuck on a no-man's land with Greece, a day after declaring a state of emergency on its border to deal with a massive influx of migrants heading north to the European Union...
Congress Is Sick of the Secrecy Around the TPP  The Nation   ...This has consistently irritated members of Congress, especially those already suspicious of the wide-reaching pact. Their aggravation is especially sharp now that the deal is nearing completion—this is the period in which legislators can actually influence the shape of the document. Once the deal is signed, Congress will not be able to amend the TPP, as per the rules of the fast-track legislation passed earlier this summer, and the deal will only need a simple majority in the Senate...

State & Living Wage Battles
Roseville Rep. Chirkun Seeks To Repeal Right-To-Work Laws  Macomb Daily   ...John Chirkun, a Roseville Democrat, announced Wednesday he is introducing a pair of bills that would overturn the right-to-work legislation that eliminated compulsory dues for unions in many workplaces. In a release, he said the pair of House bills “would return Michigan to a ‘free bargaining’ state, where unions are better positioned to negotiate for pay, benefits and working conditions on behalf of their members.”...
Minimum Wage Petition Is Approved For KC’s November Ballot, But It Could Get Withdrawn  Kansas City Star   ...The Kansas City Council agreed Thursday to place a citizens petition initiative on the November ballot that seeks a local minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2020. But the council also said the petition may get withdrawn from the ballot if the Missouri General Assembly acts in September to prevent a higher minimum wage...
Court Says Minimum Wage Increase Applies To Airport Workers  ABC News   ...A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a first-in-the nation initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the city of SeaTac should apply to thousands of workers at the airport. In its 5-4 ruling, the majority upheld the entirety of Proposition 1, writing that there was no indication that the law would interfere with airport operations. SeaTac's minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour in 2014 and increased again to $15.24 this January because it is tied to the consumer price index...
The Housing Crisis Is More Complex Than A Few People Paying Too Little In Rent  Washington Post   ...Affordable housing programs need more money to revamp old units, build new ones for mixed-income use and provide vouchers generous enough to get people out of bad neighborhoods and into better ones. Otherwise, wait lists will not go down, and those on them will have no chance to make their way up...

U.S. Labor
U.S. Factories Still Haven’t Recovered From The Recession  Washington Post   ...It took less than a year for America's factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took 3½ years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn't returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal Reserve...

Social Justice & Other News
Consumers Are Cutting The Cord To Gain Choices And Pay Less  New York Times   ...On the whole, cutting the cord with cable should benefit consumers. It will help people save money and gain more control over their entertainment by allowing them to pay only for what they want to watch. Many Americans chafe at having to pay about $67 a month for dozens of TV channels they never use so they can watch a handful of shows. The price of cable and satellite TV service has roughly doubled over the last 20 years, rising about twice as fast as inflation, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Can Our Transit System Get Any Worse?  New York Times   ...Of course, we must find money to repair and expand our subway systems, and we must sort out the interstate political rivalries at the Port Authority. But it’s our crisis-driven approach to infrastructure that most needs to change...
FAA Records Detail Hundreds Of Close Calls Between Airplanes And Drones  Washington Post   ...Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are clogging U.S. airspace, snarling air traffic and giving the FAA fits...
“People Know Next To Nothing About Reconstruction”: The Pernicious Civil War Revisionism Poisoning American History Students  Salon.com   ...Yes, slavery got washed out of the writing on the war. But it didn’t happen in a straight line. When it comes to the Civil War, what historians write is a reflection of the world they are living in at the moment...
The Largest Movie-Theater Chain In America Is Going To Start Searching Your Bags  Think Progress   ...Regal Cinemas, the biggest movie-theater chain in the United States, will start to search ticket-buyers’ bags before they enter any of its movie theaters...

Today's Teamster News 06.22.15

Teamsters
STA School Bus Drivers Choose Teamsters Local 445  Teamster.org  ...The men and women who transport schoolchildren for Student Transportation of America (STA) in Middletown, N.Y., have voted 56-47 to join Teamsters Local 445 in Rock Tavern, N.Y., after a hard-fought campaign for respect, fair pay and better working conditions at the company. There are 110 drivers in the bargaining unit...
Uno Foods Workers in Brockton Join Teamsters Local 653  Teamster.org  ...The workers who produce frozen pizzas for Uno Foods in Brockton, Mass., have voted by a more than 2-1 margin in favor of Teamsters Local 653 representation. The 90 workers joined the union seeking respect and better working conditions at the company...
Allegiant's Woes Continue, Exec's Pay Resolution Wins Shareholders' Support  Teamster.org  ...Shareholders of Allegiant Travel Company registered strong support for more robust executive pay policies and independent board oversight at the company’s annual meeting yesterday. A shareholder proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters seeking to prevent unearned windfall awards being paid to executives in the event of a change of control won majority support, 56.8 percent, by public shareholders...
EVSC and Teamsters still clash on two points during collective bargaining, meetings have stopped  Courier & Press  ...Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey plans to be at Monday night’s Evansville Vanderburgh School Board meeting with one request: to ask members to resume collective bargaining negotiations. Since April, three collective bargaining meetings for the five EVSC employee groups represented by Teamsters have occurred...

Global Labor & Trade
Fast-track back before Senate  The Hill  ...The Senate is poised to vote a second time on granting President Obama fast-track trade authority. The House revived the president’s trade agenda on Thursday, passing trade promotion authority (TPA), also known as fast-track, and sending the bill to the upper chamber. Obama has said he wants both TAA and fast-track to reach his desk, but pro-trade Senate Dems are wary of the new plan...
Hillary Clinton Says No to Granting ‘Fast Track’ Authority on Trade Deal  New York Times  ...Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would “probably not” vote for fast-track authority for the trade deal that President Obama is seeking, but she acknowledged that she once said positive things about “the potential” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Mrs. Clinton is in a bind over an agreement she once praised as a potential “gold standard” for trade deals when she was secretary of state...
Neoliberals’ pity party: Why an emboldened liberalism has corporate Dems running scared  Salon  ...While the ultimate fate of the TPP is still unclear, there’s one element of this ongoing fight within the Democratic Party that you should expect to see more of in the years to come. It’s not the rise of a more combative labor movement, though that’s certainly part of it. And it’s not the decline of the party’s neoliberal wing, though that’s happening, too. It's the wails of outrage and self-pity from moderate Democrats who resent the party’s once docile, but now ascendant, liberal base...
In House Trade Vote, Party Affiliation Mattered  Wall Street Journal  ...There’s no doubt international trade exact winners and losers across a vast economy. U.S. districts heavy on manufacturing get hit, while more highly educated areas, often big on service and tech jobs, hold their own or prosper. The GOP for decades has been the more pro-trade party, while the Democrats have channeled the apprehensions of unionized and working-class workers. In the trade vote, what mattered, above all, was party affiliation...
Why ‘Fast Track’ Was Defeated Once — and Why That Was the Right Decision  (opinion) Roll Call   ...With the effective defeat of the initial vote on the trade bill package, advocates of the trade agreement are making a herculean last gasp effort to get the bill passed on a re-vote. They are castigating opponents as Luddites who favor a new isolationism, diminishing the influence of the U.S. in the world. They claim the bill is a job creator. None of this is true...
The President's Trade Deal Struggles Because It's Bad Policy  (opinion)  Huffington Post  ...Proponents of NAFTA-style trade deals promise we will share the gains from trade, raise labor standards and protect the environment. Our lived experience tells us otherwise. Our US Trade Representative has never enforced environmental standards. Peru violated its commitments for environmental standards, and relaxed labor protections it needed to qualify for the US-Peru trade deal...
Several thousand rally in Athens against austerity  Reuters  ...Thousands of people rallied in front of parliament in Athens on Sunday, urging Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to resist pressure from international creditors to accept more austerity in exchange for unlocking billions of euros in bailout funds. The demonstration by supporters of Tsipras's ruling Syriza party and others opposed to the euro, was the second anti-euro rally in a week in central Athens...
Thousands join anti-austerity march in London  Aljazeera  ...Thousands of demonstrators staged an anti-austerity march in London on Saturday, in the first major public protest since Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron won a general election. Opposition politicians, trade union bosses and celebrities were among the crowds marching through the capital's financial district...
Workers may be losers in Mexico’s car boom  Washington Post  ...It wasn’t a planned strike, more an impromptu protest: A group of assembly-line workers at the Mazda car factory one spring morning just stepped away from their posts. In addition to long, strenuous hours, they said, they endured constant taunts from one assistant manager, who also had allegedly sexually harassed an employee. They refused to work until they could air their grievances with his superiors...
University Union Leader Murdered in Honduras  Solidarity Center  ...Héctor Martínez Motiño, president of a local sectional union of Workers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (SITRAUNAH), was murdered Tuesday, shot by gunmen as he drove home from work. Martínez Motiño, a lecturer at the Choluteca campus of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in the south of the country, had faced three other attempts on his life and numerous anonymous threats, the result of his reporting of violations of human and worker rights within the university... Sumifru banana workers regain jobs after 9-day strike  Bulatlat  ...The 147 workers in packing plant 90 of Japanese giant Sumitomo Fruit Corp. (Sumifru) in Compostela Valley are back at work beginning today June 19, after the conclusion of their strike which lasted nine days. Sumifru reportedly agreed to reinstate all the workers it fired last week in what the unions in the banana packing plants described as a foul, retaliatory action by Sumifru for their previous success in opposing wage cuts...

State & Living Wage Battles
With Lawsuit Looming, North Carolina Scrambles To Loosen Voter ID Rules  Think Progress  ...Just weeks ahead of a major court case from civil rights groups challenging North Carolina’s voting restrictions, state legislators passed a bill Thursday easing the controversial voter ID provision. If Governor Pat McCrory signs the new bill, voters who lack the an ID will still be able to cast a ballot, but only if they sign an affidavit swearing they fall into one of the acceptable categories...
US unemployment rates rose in half of states in May  Press TV  ...The Unemployment rate rose in half of US states last month, largely due to more people beginning to search for work but unable to find jobs, according to the latest government data. The growth in unemployment rates came as 37 states added jobs last month, while 12 states cut jobs, the report said. Montana’s unemployment rate was unchanged...
Paid sick leave for all N.J. workers? Bill set to advance Monday  NJ.com  ...Slowly but surely, Democrats who control the Legislature are advancing a bill that would require all New Jersey employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. The state Senate Labor Committee is scheduled to consider the legislation (S785) Monday afternoon...
Democrats plan event to support 'right-to-work' veto  Jopline Globe  ...State Rep. Charlie Norr, of Springfield, will be the keynote speaker on Wednesday when Southwest Missouri Democrats sponsor a town hall meeting in support of Gov. Jay Nixon's decision to veto the "right-to-work" measure passed by lawmakers in the recent session of the General Assembly. Republican members of the Missouri House and Senate have indicated they will attempt to override Nixon's veto in September...
New prevailing wage to miss July 1 deadline  Metro News  ...No decision has been made by Gov. Tomblin’s administration on what to do if there’s no new prevailing wage in West Virginia by July 1. WorkForce West Virginia is working to develop the wage but just recently sent out surveys to 5,250 contractors. It’s going to take a while to gather feedback according to WorkForce’s research director Jeff Green...
Wage Board meets final time before deciding on fast food workers' wage  WNYT  ...There will be one final meeting before there could be a decision on whether or not fast food workers should get paid more. The Wage Board created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo has its final meeting Monday in Albany and fast food workers are planning a rally at the meeting. Supporters of the "Fight for 15" movement say they are expecting hundreds to turn up for a rally Monday morning before the Wage Board meeting...

U.S. Labor
Philadelphia Airport Workers Win Major Victory Against Abusive Subcontracting  In These Times  ...After over a year of worker strikes and solidarity from a labor and faith coalition, Philadelphia International Airport contracted workers received assurance that they can form a union without retaliation and will be paid a $12 minimum wage­. This is a major victory for contracted workers across the country whose bosses and workplaces regularly take advantage of indirect employment arrangements to avoid responsibility for workers’ rights and conditions...
T-Mobile Ditches Policy That Could Punish Staff Requesting Too Much Sick Leave  Buzzfeed  ...T-Mobile has changed a disciplinary policy that could punish call center staff for requesting time off when sick or caring for family members, after pressure from workers and labor activists. The change comes after months of pressure from workers and union activists in America and Germany to improve conditions at T-Mobile. Their united front is the result of a rare partnership between the Communications Workers of America and ver.di, a powerful German union...
Closing wage gap will be key issue for UAW  Journal Gazette  ...The United Auto Workers, seeking to close the pay gap between veteran and newer workers, will begin formal negotiations with the biggest U.S. automakers next month, union Vice President Jimmy Settles said. The union will start talks with Ford on July 23 at Detroit’s Cass Tech High School, Settles said last week. Negotiations with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler will open July 13 and 14, he said...
Uneasy Peace Between Rauner Administration, AFSCME Council 31 with Contract Set to Expire July 1  Reboot Illinois  ...With the contracts between the state and unionized employees about to expire July 1, both the governor’s office and organized labor say they intend to stay at the table, But that may not not last forever. So far, there’s been little visible progress in talks between negotiators for Gov. Bruce Rauner and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents the bulk of more than 40,000 unionized state employees...
A Pot Industry First: Cannabis Workers Join Food Workers Union  KPLU  ...The employees at Tacoma’s Cannabis Club Collective will soon be members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. All eight staff members voted this week to join the 1.3 million-member international organization in what is the first-ever union contract in Washington’s marijuana industry...
Why It's Time for Interns to Unionize  (opinion) Alternet  ...Interns employed in D.C.’s web of progressive organizations often spend their days fighting for a living wage, but some don’t make even a dime, much less the current minimum wage. Some organizations offer “opportunities” for college credit or a small stipend, which is not sufficient for them to live and eat in one of America’s most expensive cities. Now, thanks to the organizing work of one savvy group of union interns, the tide may be about to turn...
Pay raises at stake in Clark County, SEIU clash  Las Vegas Review-Journal  ...Clark County and its largest union are locked in a contentious labor dispute over a new state law, a battle that might not end until September. In the meantime, workers affiliated with the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 with a June hiring anniversary will be the first to be denied the salary increases they anticipated before the law passed. A growing number will suffer the same fate each month until the dispute is resolved...

Miscellaneous
'Stand With Charleston': Communities Across Country Rise Up for Black Lives  Common Dreams  ...As Charleston’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church reopens for services, people across the United States on Sunday are marching through the streets, mobilizing in their faith communities, and staging direct actions to demand an end to white supremacist terror nationwide. "What happened to our family is part of a larger attack on Black and Brown bodies," wrote Rev. Waltrina Middleton...
Why Is the Flag Still There?  The Atlantic  ...The flags of the United States and of South Carolina, atop the Capitol dome in Columbia, were lowered to half-staff last week in the wake of the Charleston shootings. The Confederate battle flag flying on the Capitol grounds was not. Roof understood the symbolism of the flag he waved only all too well. When South Carolina seceded in 1860, it issued a Declaration which glossed over states’ rights. It did not mention the tariff. South Carolina was seceding, it explained, due to the “increasing hostility to the institution of slavery”...
Robert Reich: Mass incarceration is ruining us — and shackling the economy  Salon  ...Unless we recognize the racism and abuse of our criminal justice system and tackle the dehumanizing stereotypes that underlie it, our nation – and our economy – will never be as strong as it could be. We’re spending a fortune locking people up who could fuel our economy and build strong communities, in some cases just to increase the profits of private prison corporations...