Today's Teamster News 01.12.16

TEAMSTERS
D.C. Taxi Drivers Accuse Police Of Harassment In Barrage Of Tickets  WAMU  ...Officers in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fifth District were responsible for writing 1,368 tickets to cabbies from Jan. through Oct. 2015, more than three times the 394 tickets written in the city’s other six police districts combined, according to data obtained by the Teamsters Union Local 922 and shared with WAMU 88.5. The Teamsters’ lawyers are defending the drivers in court, claiming many of the tickets are bogus...
Teamsters, Carhaul Employers to Resume Contract Negotiations  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry Negotiating Committee (TNATINC) and carhaul employer representatives will reconvene this Wednesday, Jan. 13 and Thursday, Jan. 14 in Detroit to discuss and exchange proposals for a new national contract. In December, both sides made progress toward a new tentative agreement. While several of the outstanding contract issues have been largely resolved, both sides are still evaluating serious and difficult economic issues...
School district support staff union to challenge Teamsters election victory  Review Journal  ...A nearly 15-year fight to unseat the labor union that represents more than 11,000 bus drivers, custodians and other support staff who work for the Clark County School District again will head to court soon.
Thanks to a change in rules governing public-sector unions in Nevada, the Teamsters Local 14 claimed a landslide victory. But a lawyer for the Education Support Employees Association, which represents school support staff, promised to "promptly" challenge that in state court...
Minnesota Teamsters Endorse Angie Craig for 2nd Congressional District  Teamster.org  ...Today, Teamsters across Minnesota endorsed Angie Craig for Congress in the 2nd Congressional seat race set for this fall. “We are pleased to put our support behind Angie Craig who we know will be a strong advocate for working men and women across Minnesota and our country,” said Teamsters Joint Council 32 President Larry Yoswa...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Tensions rise as workers for Apple contractor in Indonesia plan strike  Jakarta Post  ...Authorities in Batam, Riau Islands, have called on thousands of workers from a major local company to drop plans to begin a three-week strike on Monday. Batam Free Trade Zone Management Agency public relations and promotions director Purnomo Andiantono said the concerns emerged after some 2,000 workers from PT Amtek Engineering Batam last week announced a plan to stage a collective strike...
UK Transport Union Announces Three 24-Hour Underground Strikes  Sputnik News  ...The United Kingdom's biggest Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union announced on Monday that London Underground staff were to stage three 24-hour strikes and a week of industrial action in two separate disputes over pay and night tube services. According to the RMT statement, Underground workers will strike for 24 hours on January 26, February 15 and February 17 over disputes about pay...
Tug boat workers' strike to disrupt shipping industry  Financial Review  ...Delays are expected to plague Australia's big east coast ports on Tuesday and Wednesday, with workers planning to walk off the job after an agreement could not be struck with tug boat engineers. The industrial action is protected and is over a new enterprise agreement between the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers and operator Svitzer Australia...
Ontario correctional workers give up right to strike to reach deal  CBC  ...Ontario's correctional workers and the government have agreed to move to binding arbitration within the next 60 days — and to designate the province's nearly 6,000 jail guards, parole and probation officers as essential service workers. That means the union agreed to give up its right to strike, not just for this contract but for successive ones...
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to be signed in NZ  NZ Herald  ...The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will be signed into existence in New Zealand. Chile let the cat out of the bag early by announcing the signing last week, before officials were ready, leading to swift backpedaling from organisers. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has just confirmed an event will be held in Auckland in early February...
DeLauro defies Obama on State of the Union issue  CT Mirror  ...Once again, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is defying President Obama as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address. Once again, the split is over trade. DeLauro, D-3rd District, is leading a fight against one of the things Obama wants to leave as part of his legacy – a Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other nations that ring the Pacific Ocean...
Trans-Pacific Partnership could be worth almost nothing to Australia  Mashable  ...Over the five years it was negotiated, the potential economic impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), set to become one of the biggest free trade deals of all time, has been condemned and praised with equal ferocity. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb claimed the TPP would deliver "enormous benefits" to Australia. Now the World Bank has looked into the matter, and as it turns out, all that secrecy has added up to very little for Australia...
Tamil National Alliance backs austerity, pro-investor policies in Sri Lanka  WSWS.org  ...As the year began, the Tamil nationalist organizations in Sri Lanka escalated their support for austerity and the use of Sri Lankan workers as cheap labor for international capital. Mavai Senathirajah, a leading parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), told the media, “we are expecting several development projects and economic zones in the North-East”...
Greece Renews Challenge to Creditors’ Austerity Policies  Wall Street Journal  ...Greece’s left-led government renewed its challenge to its creditors’ austerity policies on Tuesday, vowing to resist further pension cuts while calling on Europe to let Greece meet budget targets mainly via economic growth, not belt-tightening. “The best way to fill this gap [in Greece’s budget] isn't by reducing, but by increasing the economy,” Labor Minister George Katrougalos said...
Haiti Earthquake Anniversary: Garment Workers Still Struggle to Survive  Solidarity Center  ...Six years after a major earthquake devastated the Haitian capital and its environs and the international community promised to “build back better,” Haitian workers say their daily lives are a struggle for survival, with their meager wages insufficient to cover basic expenses. In recent interviews, Haitian garment workers told the Solidarity Center that they are worse off today than before the quake...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
How Corporate Political Spending Will Stay Secret in Wisconsin  PR Watch  ...Wisconsin Republicans are insisting that they didn't intend to allow corporate political donations to remain secret under the recent overhaul of the state's campaign finance laws. But secrecy, in fact, has become the distinguishing characteristic of Wisconsin elections. And that is by design. Sweeping campaign finance changes signed into law by Governor Scott Walker last month allowed corporations to donate up to $12,000 directly to "segregated funds"...
State ballot measure filed to raise minimum wage to $13.50  Seattle Times  ...Supporters of raising Washington state’s minimum wage filed a ballot measure Monday that seeks to incrementally raise Washington’s minimum wage to $13.50 an hour over four years starting in 2017, as well as provide paid sick leave to employees without it. The initiative was announced at a news conference by a coalition of workers and union members...
Are Neighboring States Putting Pressure on N.H. Lawmakers to Boost Minimum Wage?  NHPR  ...The new legislative session kicked off last week, as lawmakers began the process of again sifting through the hundreds of new bills. Many of these proposals would affect New Hampshire’s business community, including raising the state’s minimum wage, an issue that hasn’t gone anywhere in the past...
House Committee Hears Voter ID Proposal Today  Ozarks First  ...Two voter photo ID proposals will be heard Tuesday by the Missouri House’s Elections committee. Representative Tony Dugger (R-Hartville) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would ask voters to approve requiring a photo ID at the polls. A companion bill sponsored by Representative Justin Alferman (R-Hermann) would create the structure for voter photo ID if the ballot issue passes...
Kasich: New mothers should work at home online, not get paid family leave  Daily Kos  ...Screw paid parental leave. Republican presidential candidate (yes, still) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich thinks new mothers and fathers should rely on their employers to “try to be creative” instead of being required to offer paid leave. And if the extent of their employers’ creativity is “come to work or you’re fired,” as it is for so many Americans, oh well...
Is Ohio headed for 'right-to-work' anyway?  Cincinnati.com  ...Remember that political grudge match called Senate Bill 5? A U.S. Supreme Court case on whether government workers must pay union dues against their wills could upend a key part of Ohioans' decisive vote against the anti-collective bargaining law. If the court rules against unions – and it's looking like it might – Ohio's public workers could become "right-to-work" overnight...
Michigan Knew Last Year That Flint’s Water Might Be Poisoned But Decided Not to Tell Anyone  Slate  ...Michigan governor Rick Snyder declared last week that the poisonously high levels of lead in drinking water in Flint, Michigan constitute a state of emergency. Reporting by Michigan Radio and research by the ACLU, though, alleges that the state government itself may have broken laws last year to cover up evidence of high lead levels that were turned up in tests it was supervising...

U.S. LABOR
UAW Donating Water To Flint Residents  WILX  ...Members of the United Auto Workers union are donating drinking water to Flint residents affected by the city's water crisis. The Flint Journal reported Saturday that bottled water would be brought to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in a caravan of trucks. An emergency has been declared in Flint where water drawn from the Flint River leached lead from old plumbing for months...
USW: NLRB Issues Third Consolidated Complaint against Asarco  PR Newswire  ...The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a third consolidated complaint against Asarco, LLC, which includes an allegation that the company unlawfully implemented portions of its so-called "last, best and final" contract proposal on Dec. 1, 2015, in the absence of a bargaining impasse...
National Labor Board takes McDonald’s to court  Al Jazeera  ...Current and former McDonald’s workers who accuse the fast-food giant of illegal union-busting will get their day in court on Monday, when an administrative law judge is expected to begin hearing arguments in a major unfair labor practice suit. The Obama administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will represent the workers in a case that could have wide-ranging consequences for the McDonald’s franchising model...
Graduate Students at Private Universities Could Soon Have the Right to Unionize  The Nation  ... Late last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finally agreed to review the cases of Columbia University and New School graduate students who have been campaigning for years to form an official union on their campus. Their pending decision could overturn a precedent that has hamstrung labor organizing on private college and university campuses for over a decade...
Detroit Teachers Hold Sick-Out to Demand Fixes to School's "Abominable" Problems  Common Dreams  ...Detroit teachers on Monday organized a "sick-out" to call attention to the school district's "abominable" problems, including filthy buildings and overwhelmingly large class sizes, and called on officials to follow through on long-held promises to salvage the city's educational system. Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), said Monday, "The deplorable conditions in our schools have created a serious environmental and educational crisis"...
Why Transportation Workers Should Care About Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association  TTD.org  ...Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) is an orchestrated, malicious attack on workers’ rights. This case isn’t just about teachers in California—it’s about weakening the rights of workers, specifically those employed in the public sector. The group behind the court case is the Center for Individual Rights, which has ties to greedy CEOs and wealthy special interests...
This is why you’re burning out: Science proves being on call is just as stressful as working  Salon  ...A recent study links extended work availability with decreased calmness, mood, and energy levels. By looking at industries from technical services to nursing, the study evaluated the effects of being on-call — that is, not at work, but being expected to remain available by phone for questions or customer requests...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Powerball’s $1.3 Billion Swindle Of Americans  Think Progress  ...In October, the consortium of states that runs Powerball approved a series of rule changes that made it much harder to win the jackpot. The purpose of this change was to increase the chances that there would be no grand prize winner for any given drawing. The purpose of creating massive jackpots is because they induce more people to play. The prospect of big payouts spark a flood of free media attention. For all the money Americans spend, they get very little in return — particularly the poorest...
Clinton calls for stopping immigration raids  USA Today  ...Hillary Clinton on Monday called on the Obama administration to end raids that target undocumented immigrants who recently arrived from Central America. Clinton, whose statement came during the Iowa Black and Brown forum, said that enforcement efforts should be "humane." "We have laws and we must be guided by those laws, but we shouldn't have armed federal officers showing up at peoples' homes, taking women and children out of their beds in the middle of the night"...
A Pill That Cures Hepatitis Costs Just $4, but If You Live in America It's $1,000  Alternet  ...Nearly one year after receiving FDA approval, on October 10, 2014, Gilead Sciences Inc. patented Harvoni, which is Solvaldi combined with one of these inhibitors. Global demand for Harvoni quickly skyrocketed as,according to the World Health Organization, there are currently 130-150 million people living with chronic hepatitis C, globally...
The defining American crisis our corporate media still can’t be bothered to cover  Salon  ...Of the five Republican debates and of the three Democratic debates, not one moderator has asked a question involving the words “poverty” or “poor.” In the GOP debates, the candidates only bring up the topic as a way to swipe President Obama, which is fair enough but is not a discussion of poverty much less a good-faith attempt to mitigate it. By comparison, the Democratic debate moderators brought up “ISIS” or “Terrorism” 21 times total in all three debates...
White Nationalist PAC Blankets Iowa With Robocalls For Trump  TPM  ...Some registered voters in Iowa received robocalls Saturday from a white nationalist super PAC that urged them to support Donald Trump in the 2016 election: “I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America. We don’t need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture"...
Historic Settlement over NYPD's Anti-Muslim Spying Imposes Oversight & Bars Ethnic-Based Targeting  Democracy Now  ...In a major legal victory, New York City will appoint an independent civilian monitor to oversee the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism activities. The announcement comes after two lawsuits challenged the NYPD’s programs of spying on Muslims and religious centers. The suits argued the NYPD violated the U.S. and New York state constitutions by singling out and stigmatizing entire communities based on their religion...

Today's Teamster News 12.15.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters: Seattle Drivers Win a Voice With Historic City Council Vote  Teamster.org  ...Drivers in Seattle’s for-hire industry won the right to collectively bargain over their wages and working conditions through an initiative passed by the City Council today. The Mike O’Brien-sponsored bill will now move to the mayor’s desk for his signature. Drivers and community supporters celebrated the bill’s passage...
Seattle first U.S. city to let Uber drivers unionize  Detroit News  ...Seattle on Monday became the first city in the nation to allow drivers of ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions. Supporters erupted into cheers after the City Council voted 8-0 in favor of the legislation, which is seen as a test case for the changing 21st century workforce. The Teamsters Union Local 117 also celebrated the vote, while the National Right To Work Legal Foundation criticized it as a violation of drivers’ rights...
Teamsters Make Progress at Carhaul Talks, More Negotiations to be Scheduled  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters Union and carhaul employer representatives continue to discuss and exchange proposals for a new national contract that are responsive to the concerns of the membership. Based on the talks just concluded last week, we can report some tentative progress. Many of the contract proposals have been resolved, but both sides still need to focus on the economic issues. The parties have decided to suspend talks over the holidays...
AFSCME and University reach tentative contract agreement  Workday Minnesota  ...AFSCME will brief clerical and technical workers this week on a tentative contract settlement with the University of Minnesota that the union said "begins to close the gap between the haves and have-nots at the University." The union credited solidarity among its local unions and with Teamsters Local 320 for leading to a breakthrough in the six-month negotiations...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Hundreds of Myanmar Garment Workers Mark Seventh Day of Labor Strike  Radio Free Asia  ...More than 200 garment workers in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon Monday marked the seventh day of a strike demanding full salary for November after the owner of the factory that employs them docked their pay for failing to meet production targets. The workers have been protesting since Dec. 7...
Steelworkers union calls on Canada, U.S. to reject TPP  Canadian Manufacturing  ...The executive board of the United Steelworkers have adopted a formal resolution urging Ottawa and Washington to reject the tentative Trans-Pacific Partnership. The union says the resolution is the precursor for a “fully engaged” TPP rejection campaign that will get underway in both Canada and the U.S. “The TPP will only continue the failed trade policies of the past"...
Major Summit Could Put World's Poorest Inhabitants on Corporate Chopping Block  Alternet  ...Last week, 453 civil society groups including trade unions, farmers, environmentalists, public interest groups and development advocates from over 150 countries wrote an urgent letter to members of the WTO to “express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO.” The 10th Ministerial meeting of the WTO is occurring against a backdrop of accelerated “mega-regional” comprehensive pro-corporate “trade” deals...
TPP trade agreement undercuts biologic patents  Washington Examiner  ...An important part of the deal is protection of intellectual property — including copyright, trademarks and patents — which are necessary for commercial and scientific innovation. The biggest obstacle to congressional approval, however, appears to be the deal's inadequate protection of intellectual property in "biologic" medicines...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Takes a Hit  Hoosier Ag Today  ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal recently suffered a huge setback after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview Congress should not take up the trade deal before the November elections. McConnell told the Washington Post that President Obama would be making a big mistake by pushing for a vote on TPP during the election cycle...
Don’t Be Misled; The TPP Is Still Coming Full Steam  (opinion) OurFuture.org  ...Recently there have been news reports that Republicans are going to delay TPP until after the 2016 elections. Do not be misled; this is a bargaining ploy. They want the Obama administration to make “side agreements” that give corporations even more. We have to keep up the fight, and keep getting the word out. People opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “trade” agreement have recently had their hopes lifted...
India's October tea output drops 7% as workers strike  Economic Times  ...India's tea production in key October month dropped 7 per cent from a year earlier to 158.06 million kg, the state-run Tea Board said in a statement, as a strike called by plantation workers in southern India hit plucking. Production in the southern state of Kerala, where plantation workers went on strike demanding higher wages, dropped 60 percent...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right-Wing GOP Governor Succeeds in Making More People Go Hungry  Alternet  ...Maine's Gov. Paul LePage can now claim the proud policy achievement of making more needy people go hungry.   David Farmer reports in Daily Bangor News that during LePage's administration, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which administers SNAP benefits, has been so badly mismanaged it risks losing federal funding. The USDA also admonished the organization for failing to process applications in a timely way...
Amid $15 debate, tipped workers call for one minimum wage  Times Union  ...If state lawmakers approve a raise for all workers during the next legislative session, those earning tips say it’s time to dismantle the state’s two-tiered wage system. In a letter sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United Co-Founder and Co-Director Saru Jayaraman called on the governor to move to abolish the separate tipped minimum wage for certain workers in the restaurant and hospitality industries...
New state laws address gender pay gap, child care, disability leave  SF Chronicle  ...About three dozen employment laws take effect in California next year, including ones that bolster equal-pay protections, help workers with chronic health conditions and give parents unpaid time off to research schools and deal with child care emergencies. The most significant law on an annual list put out by the California Chamber of Commerce is SB358, the widely publicized Fair Pay Act...
Senate’s Motives At Issue As Redistricting Trial Starts  CBS  ...The decisions prompting state Senate leaders to choose a redistricting plan they recommended to a Leon County judge took center stage Monday, the first day of a trial to determine whether that map should go to the Florida Supreme Court. Circuit Judge George Reynolds has the task of recommending to the Supreme Court either the Senate’s redistricting proposal or one of several plans offered by a coalition of voting-rights groups...
Lincolnshire creates right-to-work zone that unions oppose  Daily Herald  ...Lincolnshire has become the first town in the Chicago area to establish itself as a right-to-work zone, a move critics have assailed as anti-union. t's also a move experts say is sure to face a legal challenge. To create the zone, the village board approved an ordinance preventing local employers from requiring workers to pay union dues with payroll deductions...

U.S. LABOR
Detroit casino workers ratify new contract  Detroit Free Press  ...Workers at Detroit's three casinos ratified a new five-year contract Sunday — ending months of contentious and complicated negotiations and providing relief to thousands of workers. Joe Daugherty, president of Unite Here Local 24 and head of the bargaining committee for a group of unions, said in an e-mail that a majority of workers at all three casinos approved the contract...
UAW-Nexteer workers to vote on second deal  Detroit News  ...UAW Local 699 President Rick Burzynski believes a second tentative agreement reached with Nexteer Automotive addresses concerns that led to a 20-hour strike and 97 percent of membership rejecting a first deal. “We pretty much addressed everything that our workers wanted,” he said Monday morning, a week after workers walked off their jobs and picketed the Chinese-owned auto supplier...
NLRB certifies VW Chattanooga election results  Times Free Press  ...The National Labor Relations Board has certified the results of the United Auto Workers election held at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant on Dec. 3 and 4. Maintenance, or skilled trades, workers at the plant agreed to be represented by the UAW for collective bargaining purposes by a margin of 108 to 44...
Progress made in UAW, Kohler talks  Sheboygan Press  ...The Kohler Co. strike has entered its fifth week, with more talks scheduled for today between the company and the United Auto Workers Local 833. Union officials weren’t immediately available for comment Monday morning but posted on the UAW Local 833 Facebook page on Friday, Dec. 11, that there was “good movement in talks with the company today”...
IBEW 125 members ratify contract at Pacificorp  NW Labor Press  ...In votes counted Dec. 14, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 125 approved a new four-year contract with Pacific Power by a 72 percent margin. Local 125’s previous collective bargaining agreement with Pacific Power expired Jan. 26, 2015. In June and again in August, members voted down company proposals by overwhelming margins, and on Sept. 1, 2015, they authorized the union to call a strike...
Chicago Teachers Union’s Overwhelming Approval of Strike Shows Power of Bottom-up Organizing  In These Times  ...The numbers are in from the Chicago Teachers Union's strike authorization vote, and it's not even close. After three days of voting last week, 22,678 of the union's 24,752 eligible members cast ballots, and 96.05 percent of them voted “yes”—88 percent of all CTU members. The nation's third-largest — and arguably most important — teachers union has sent a clear message that they are willing to walk off the job amid their current round of contract negotiations...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
New rule: Truck drivers must electronically record hours  Newsday  ...An estimated 3 million commercial truck and bus drivers must electronically record their hours behind the wheel under a new government rule aimed at enforcing regulations designed to prevent fatigue. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released the long-awaited rule on Thursday. Drivers have been required to keep paper logs of their hours dating back to 1938...
After Paris, There Is Some Room for Hope  The Nation  ... it will undoubtedly be many years before renewable forms of energy—wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, and others still in development—replace fossil fuels as the world’s leading energy providers. Nonetheless, 2015 can be viewed as the year in which the epochal transition from one set of fuels to another took off, with renewables making such significant strides...
On policing, the national mood turns toward reform  Washington Post  ...In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired his police chief and faces a growing clamor for his resignation. In Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired her police chief and abandoned plans to seek reelection. And in San Francisco, protesters are demanding the head of yet another police chief, prompting Mayor Edwin Lee to vow last week to overhaul police procedures regarding deadly force...
A Tense Baltimore Braces for A Verdict  The Atlantic  ...As the jury prepares to deliver a verdict in the trial of the first of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore police department is taking pains to reach out to the community and signal that it is ready to respond to any outcome, including protest. Community activists, meanwhile, say that distrust of the police still runs deep...
Robert Reich: Why the Middle Class Is in Revolt and Susceptible to a Dangerous 'Strongman'  Alternet  ...Now someone comes along who’s even more of a bully than those who for years have bullied them economically, politically, and even violently. The attraction is understandable, even though misguided. If not Donald Trump, then it will be someone else posing as a strongman. If not this election cycle, it will be the next one. The revolt of the anxious class has just begun...
Flood of Anti-Muslim Violence Driving Record Year for Crimes of Hate  Common Dreams  ...2015 is shaping up to be "one of the most intensely anti-Muslim periods in American history," according to reports, as increasing xenophobia and hateful rhetoric has propelled a record number of attacks on mosques and Islamic centers across the U.S...

Today's Teamster News 11.23.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamster Silicon Valley Drivers Vote Overwhelmingly in Favor of Contract  Teamster.org  ...Shuttle drivers for seven major Silicon Valley companies voted by an overwhelming 95 percent today to approve a first contract that provides for industry-leading wages and benefits. The nearly 200 drivers, who are members of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., work for Compass Transportation, contractor to Apple, eBay, PayPal, Yahoo, Evernote, Genentech and Amtrak...
Labor deal for more Silicon Valley tech shuttle drivers  USA Today  ...Shuttle drivers for Apple, Yahoo, eBay and several other Silicon Valley companies overwhelmingly voted Sunday to accept a contract that will increase wages and benefits and give them their first paid Thanksgiving holiday. The drivers for those companies, as well as Amtrak, Evernote, Genentech and Paypal, voted to unionize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., back in February...
Teamsters, Employer Group Reconvene for Carhaul Negotiations  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Negotiating Committee (TNATINC) met this week with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division to begin negotiating a revised national carhaul contract. This week’s negotiations come after carhaulers voted to reject the national agreement and two supplemental agreements earlier this year...
Local 727 Reaches Tentative Agreement on New 4-Year Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola Contract  Local 727  ...Teamsters Local 727 reached tentative agreement on a new four-year contract for 600 members at Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola. Final negotiations stretched late into the night on Nov. 19 as the Bargaining Committee hammered out final details for strong wage increases, important benefits and fortified rights for drivers, bulk, merchandisers, laborers and all other Reyes Teamsters...
BMWED To Conduct Research On Occupational Risk Reduction  Teamster.org  ...The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes' (BMWED) President Freddie N. Simpson, with the full support of the BMWED National Division Officers, has approved a Brotherhood-wide research study to address the long-standing absence of high quality data reflecting the nature, frequency, severity and socio-economic consequences of occupational risk and its impact on BMWED members. BMWED members are a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference...
Teamsters Join with Business, Community to Host N.Y. Job Fair  Teamster.org  ...Sunset Park is home to some of the last sections of working waterfront in the city, and a job fair held Tuesday night aims to employ neighborhood residents in some of the good jobs on the waterfront. Manhattan Beer Distributors partnered with Teamsters Local 812, City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, and community organization UPROSE...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
The Maquiladora Workers of Juárez Find Their Voice  The Nation  ... After more than a decade of silence, maquiladora workers in Ciudad Juárez have found their voice. The city, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, is now the center of a growing rebellion of laborers in the border factories. At the gates to four plants, including a huge 5,000-worker Foxconn complex, they have set up encampments, or plantons, demanding recognition of independent unions, and protesting firings and reprisals...
Lufthansa cabin crew to strike Thursday, Friday  Globe and Mail  ...Lufthansa cabin crew have been called to another round of strikes starting Thursday and Friday, the head of trade union UFO, Nicoley Baublies, told Reuters on Monday. The cabin crew union staged a week of strikes earlier this month, costing the company tens of millions of euros and forcing the cancellation of about 4,700 flights...
U.S. trade czar confident of 2016 Congress vote on TPP  STL Today  ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Thursday he expected Congress to vote on a 12-nation Pacific Rim free-trade deal early next year. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which aims to liberalize trade for 40 percent of the global economy, must be ratified by U.S. Congress but opposition from many Democrats and some Republicans could mean a vote is unlikely before President Barack Obama leaves office...
Obama promotes TPP, says it is 'more than just a trade pact'  The Sun Daily  ...United States President Barack Obama, in his strong bid to promote the TPP to Asean member countries, said it is more than just a trade pact as it will build cooperation among nations. Acknowledging that the debates on TPP in many countries and skepticism on previously failed trade deals, Obama admitted that TPP deal is a “tough sell”...
As Obama heads to Malaysia, human trafficking stance questioned  Reuters  ...U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Malaysia on Friday for a Southeast Asia leaders’ summit comes amid allegations by U.S. lawmakers and rights groups that his administration ignored Malaysia’s abuse of trafficking victims such as Baser to secure the country’s help sealing a high-profile trade deal and strengthen ties to offset China’s growing political clout...
EFF Joins Broad Coalition of Groups to Protest the TPP in Washington D.C.  (opinion) EFF  ...Contained within these 6,000-plus pages of the completed TPP text are a series of provisions that empower multinational corporations and private interest groups at the expense of the public interest. Civil society groups represent diverse concerns, so while we may disagree on our specific concerns about the TPP, we commonly recognize that this is a toxic, undemocratic deal that must be stopped at all costs...
Trade laws undo local progress on food systems  (opinion) IATP.org  ...Careful examination of the recently released text for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is already revealing new risks for our food system. Those findings also tell us what to watch out for in the other big pending trade deal—the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union...
Greek economy stagnates under austerity and capital controls  ABC  ...This is the reality in Greece these days, as the latest austerity cuts a swathe through consumer spending and capital controls — measures to limit withdrawals from banks — stagnate the already downtrodden Greek economy. In what is now a damaging consumer cycle, the damaging of cuts to pensions means grandparents have less money in their wallets and no longer spend up as the dote on their grandchildren — sometimes with handcrafted shoes from France and Italy...
Bangladesh: ‘An Effective Union Can Ensure Fire Safety’  Solidarity Center  ...Bilkish Begum says she and other workers at a garment factory in Bangladesh could not discuss implementing fire safety measures with their employer—even after the deadly blaze at Tazreen Fashions factory killed 112 workers three years ago next week. Only when they formed a union, which provides workers with protection against retaliation for seeking to improve their workplace conditions, could they take steps to help ensure their safety...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Louisiana votes for Medicaid expansion  Daily Kos  ...The monumental David Vitter loss in Louisiana Saturday promises to be a big win for Louisiana. While it was Vitter's past scandals that dominated the election, it's Democratic Governor-elect John Bel Edwards' main policy promise that's the big news, and likely means health care for some 242,000 Louisiana residents in the coming year...
Advocates Dispute Dire Predictions of $15 Minimum Wage Study  Public News Service  ...A report released this week by a business group predicting dire consequences if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour doesn't reflect reality, fair-wage advocates say. According to the report by the Long Island Association, more than 23,000 Long Island jobs would be lost. Advocates for raising the wage say businesses would benefit from the increased spending...
Exposing North Carolina's shell game of electoral apartheid  Daily Kos  ...This fall, Daily Kos community member Bill Busa exposed North Carolina's sneaky new voter suppression tool in which county boards of elections in the state closed almost one-third of the state’s early voting polling places in 2014, replacing them with polls at new locations. The result of moving those early voting locations: African American voters found themselves 350,000 miles farther away from their nearest early voting sites...
Strangers Raise Money For Walmart Worker Fired For Picking Up Cans  Think Progress  ...When a parking lot attendant dared to recycle trash he picked up outside an upstate New York Walmart, the store fired him. Now generous strangers are trying to help cushion his sudden fall. Thomas Smith, 52, had been earning $9 an hour at an upstate New York Walmart for less than three months when his manager terminated him over the cans...
California cities embracing higher minimum wage  SGV Tribune ...Surrounded by city and union officials at a Labor Day rally in South Los Angeles last year, Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed raising the city’s minimum wage to $13.25 per hour by the end of the decade — a plan he said would significantly help low-income workers in Los Angeles while placing minimal burden on employers. Nine months later, Garcetti signed an ordinance that is more progressive than he proposed — a citywide wage hike to $15 an hour by 2021...

U.S. LABOR
UAW reaches end of winding road with Detroit automakers  Detroit Free Press  ...Detroit’s once-every-four-years ritual of UAW negotiations and ratification is finally over. The final two companies: General Motors and Ford, ratified their agreements late Friday after months of grueling talks. There are as many opinions about who won and who came up short as the 140,000 workers whose pay and benefits for the next four years were set in the contracts...
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, The Case To Push Right To Work Nationally  NH Labor News  ...The Supreme Court is about to hear a case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association that could overturn a nearly forty-year decision that allows unions to negotiate “fair-share” fees for non-union members who benefit from the union’s contract. “We are disappointed that at a time when big corporations and the wealthy few are rewriting the rules in their favor, the Supreme Court has chosen to take a case that threatens the fundamental promise of America"...
CWA accuses Alcatel-Lucent of stealing Lucent retirees' health care funds  Fierce Telecom  ...The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union has filed a request with the U.S. District Court in New Jersey to get a temporary restraining order against Alcatel-Lucent over claims that the French company plans to use money for retirees' health care to cover its own pension funding obligations. Under the proposed plan, CWA said that Alcatel-Lucent will move 20,000 retirees and an additional $1.2 billion...
Verizon workers rally for contract  Godanriver.com  ...Verizon workers across the East Coast, including Danville, rallied over contract negotiations Thursday evening. A small group of regional workers gathered at the 141 Trade St. garage where most of the technicians that service Verizon lines in Danville base their operation. The previous contract expired on Aug. 1. Verizon employees have been working without a contract since then...
The U.S. Is Beaten By 27 Other Countries When It Comes To Women’s Equality  Think Progress  ...While the world has made progress closing the gap between women and men in health, education, economic participation, and political empowerment over the last decade, the United States is not keeping up. The World Economic Forum (WEF) just released its 2015 Global Gender Gap report, which showed that the gap has dropped by 4 percent in the last ten years...
Heat kills California farmworkers, but the state won't always admit it  Daily Kos  ...Agricultural workers have fewer job protections than most other workers even as they do physically grueling labor for low pay. It’s a vicious circle—most of the people who work in the fields come from vulnerable groups, and the low wages and lack of protections keep them vulnerable. California’s heat is one significant source of illness and even death for farmworkers. But you might not know that from the state’s official statistics...
When Temp Workers Die While Being Taken to the Job, Who’s Responsible?  In These Times ...Since the Great Recession, the temporary staffing industry has boomed, and temp employment has accounted for significant portions of rebounding job growth. Temps—who are employed by agencies and whose labor is simply rented out by third-party businesses—have become seen as some of America’s most vulnerable workers. Labor advocates say that, in treating workers as replaceable units of labor, the temp industry can overlook workers’ most basic human needs...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
As Many Americans Have Criminal Records as College Diplomas  Truthout  ...The number of Americans with a criminal history has risen sharply over the past three decades. Today, nearly one-third of the adult working age population has a criminal record. In fact, so many Americans have a criminal record that counting them all is nearly impossible...
How Prison Reform Could Turn the Prison-Industrial Complex Into the Treatment-Industrial Complex  The Nation   ... many of the dollars expected to be “saved” from shuttering prisons may simply be funneled into privatized “alternatives to incarceration” like parole programs and halfway houses. These operations are often run by the household names of the prison business—they’re simply moving from behind bars to the so-called “treatment-industrial complex”...
Wall Street's Reprieve Expires  The Atlantic  ...Financial-regulation legislation—or efforts to stop it—ranks among the trickiest political knots that the White House and Congress have to unravel if they want to keep with their October budget compromise and fund the government. Democrats and Republicans in Congress—though not in the country at large—still line up on opposite sides of the fence...
Trump Supporters Punch, Kick Black Lives Matter Protester at Rally  Slate  ...Several people taking part in a rally for Donald Trump in Birmingham, Alabama pushed down, kicked, and punched a black protester. At least six Trump supporters shoved and tackled the protester, while one man punched the demonstrator and a woman kicked him while he was on the ground, according to CNN. One even attempted to choke the protester...
France Asks UN to Back 'Merciless' Military Response to Paris Attacks  Common Dreams  ...Just days after French President François Hollande vowed a "merciless" response to the Paris attacks, his government on Thursday submitted a resolution for the United Nations Security Council to "take all necessary measures" against ISIS. The French proposal, which could face a vote as early as Friday, competes with a separate one re-submitted by Russia this week...

Today's Teamster News 10.19.15

TEAMSTERS

Teamsters, Elected Officials, Community Leaders Tell Safeway To Keep Jobs In Maryland  Teamster.org  ...Safeway employees, Teamsters, elected officials and community leaders in Maryland rallied today outside the Collingwood distribution center to protest Cerberus Capital Management’s (Safeway’s new owner) plan to shutter the facility in less than 60 days. Safeway’s warehouse operator C&S Wholesalers abruptly sent a WARN notice to union officials of Teamsters Local 639 and 730 announcing their plan to close the facility...
How the “Wal-Mart effect” squeezes workers in the vast infrastructure behind your groceries  Washington Post  ...In the early afternoon of Oct. 6, a couple of lawyers from a company called C&S Wholesale Grocers arrived at the union hall of Teamsters Local 639 in Northeast Washington. Phil Giles, the union’s vice president, was already worried. Ever since C&S's Collington Services unit took over warehouse operations for Safeway, the workers who moved goods in and out of two facilities in Landover and Upper Marlboro, Md., figured their jobs might be at risk...
Twenty Taylor Farms Workers Hospitalized After Company Tells Employees To Keep Working Amid Spill  Teamster.org  ...Workers at Taylor Farms in Tracy, Calif. were hospitalized yesterday after being told to return to work as a chemical spill took place inside the salad processing facility. When they complained about the overpowering fumes, a supervisor in charge instructed them to go back to work. “Taylor Farms’ routine mistreatment of its workers in Tracy knows no bounds, and yesterday it nearly amounted to a death sentence for its employees,” said Ashley Alvarado, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 601...
Coca-Cola syrup plant workers in Lehigh Valley vote to join union  Morning Call  ...About 80 workers at the Coca-Cola Lehigh Valley Syrup plant in Upper Macungie Township have voted to unionize for the first time. Brian Taylor, a trustee and organizer with Teamsters Local 773 in Allentown, said this week that workers voted 58-24 on Oct. 1 for union representation. He said the union next hopes to meet with management and negotiate a labor deal...
Teamster car-haulers reject contract proposal  JOC  ...Teamsters union negotiators are heading back to the table with carhauling employers after union members that haul automobiles rejected a new national contract last week. The tentative National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement, which covers about 6,000 Teamster carhaulers, was overwhelming rejected by rank-and-file union members. Out of the 2,865 Teamster carhaulers at 39 locals who voted Oct. 15, 2,493 or 87 percent rejected the contract...
School bus workers vow strike after rejecting final contract offer at Hauppauge meeting  Newsday  ...A narrow majority of voting workers for a Ronkonkoma-based school bus company that transports 15,000 Long Island children each school day voted Saturday to reject a final contract offer and vowed to strike. Teamsters Local 1205 officials instructed workers to go to work Monday, but to be prepared in the event a union representative is waiting, ready to lead them in a picket line...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama shrugs off Hillary’s opposition to Pacific trade deal  Yahoo  ...the president faces new opposition to the trade deal from Hillary Clinton, who not only served as his secretary of state but played a large role in advancing the agreement. In 2012, while it was still being negotiated, the future 2016 presidential candidate famously called it “the gold standard.” But at this week’s Democratic debate, she repudiated it...
Orrin Hatch holds cards on trade deal  Politico  ...No one fought harder to give President Barack Obama trade promotion authority to complete a landmark 12-nation deal than Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. Now, no lawmaker may be more disappointed with the result — or better positioned to torpedo the deal if he chooses to oppose it...
China lays out ‘countermeasures’ to offset exclusion from TPP  Financial Times  ...China has “countermeasures” that it can take to offset the negative economic impact of the country’s exclusion from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, its National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Sheng Laiyun, NBS spokesman, waded into a growing debate in Beijing about the costs of being left out of the TPP...
TTIP is already letting big business shape our laws  (opinion) Independent  ...The concern about TTIP isn’t that "US standards are bad" and "European standards are good", but that policy-making across the world is already too geared to promoting the interests of big business. The VW scandal is just the most recent example of how serious the consequences of such a model are to our future. But TTIP will deepen that exact system...
Brazil's president backs finance minister, austerity drive  Reuters  ...Brazil President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday expressed support for Finance Minister Joaquim Levy and said the government will continue efforts to push austerity measures through Brazil's Congress. "Finance Minister Levy stays," Rousseff told reporters during a visit to Sweden, following a flurry of speculation in Brazilian media in recent days that the finance chief was getting ready to step down...
Greece Approves First Austerity Bill  Wall Street Journal  ...Greece’s lawmakers approved Friday the first bill containing tough austerity measures and economic overhauls agreed under its new bailout program. After a week-long debate, the bill, which includes stricter pension rules, tax hikes and tougher fines for tax evasion, was passed by the majority of Greece’s 300 lawmakers...
Children among Six Dead in Uzbek Cotton Harvest So Far  Solidarity Center  ...Six people, including two boys, one age 2, another age 17, died this month in circumstances related to Uzbekistan’s fall harvest, according to the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights. Uzbekistan primarily uses forced labor for cotton harvesting in September and October, and last year, at least 17 people died during the harvest season...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing Wage supporters will speak out for veterans  WLNS  ...Michigan war veterans who currently work in the construction industry will speak out in support of the state’s Prevailing Wage laws. The 50-year-old law requires workers on state-financed government construction projects to be paid local wage and benefit rates, which are based on union contracts...
Voters Could Change Ohio's Minimum Wage Daily Record  ...A group has submitted initial petition language to the attorney general's office as part of an effort to increase Ohio's minimum wage. Stand Up Ohio wants the latter to be increased to $10 per hour as of Jan. 1, 2017, then upped 50 cents annually through 2021, when it would reach $12. After that, the rate would be adjusted for inflation...
After Destroying Homeless Camps, Hawaii Declares State Of Emergency On Homelessness  Think Progress  ...On Friday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) signed an emergency proclamation on the state of its homeless population. The state has come under scrutiny, however, for often dealing with its burgeoning homeless population by simply cracking down on those who are on the streets...
Clinton slams Alabama’s ‘discriminatory’ voter law  The Hill  ...Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton on Saturday accused Alabama lawmakers of advancing “discriminatory” laws to roll back voting rights, as she looks to shore up support with black voters. In her first visit to Alabama as a presidential candidate, Clinton elevated her call for voting rights as she condemned the state’s decision last week to close 31 driver’s license offices...
The States Where $15 Isn’t A Living Wage  Think Progress  ...A new report from The Alliance For A Just Society argues that $15 may still fall short of a living wage. The report defines a living wage as “…one that allows families to meet their basic needs, without public assistance, and that provides them some ability to deal with emergencies and plan ahead. It is not a poverty or survival wage.” The cost of living calculation they use has some cushion to it...
We've seen what happens without a prevailing wage in Michigan  (opinion) Detroit Free Press  ...Somehow in Michigan, the value of our state’s long-standing and valuable prevailing wage law has been turned into a union versus business issue, and has been presented by some lawmakers as something that adds expenses to the ultimate cost of taxpayer-funded state and local construction projects. Nothing could be further from the truth. But that’s not stopping a misguided effort in the Legislature to try to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage laws...

U.S. LABOR
UAW workers more positive about new Fiat Chrysler contract  USA Today  ...A better deal, greater efforts to explain it and negotiations fatigue might be enough to ratify the new tentative agreement between the United Auto Workers union and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Unionized Fiat Chrysler workers will vote Tuesday and Wednesday on whether to ratify a new contract that will govern their working lives for the next four years. The mood heading into the vote suggests ratification is possible, but far from assured...
NLRB rules United Steelworkers Union can continue to represent UniFirst employees  TribLive  ...While the United Steelworkers Union continues its stalemate with Allegheny Technologies, it can celebrate at least one recent victory. The National Labor Relations Board ruled Oct. 1 that the USW still rightfully represents the workers at UniFirst, in New Kensington. UniFirst is a national company that supplies uniforms and workplace products to businesses...
Leaked Documents Show How Harvard Administration Wants To Defeat Grad Student Union  In These Times  ...Harvard’s grad students have launched a union campaign, and Harvard’s administration has launched its response. Internal documents from the administration to the faculty, which were leaked to me, reveal some fascinating developments in these increasingly common anti-union drives of elite Ivy League universities. First, university administrations have grown highly sensitized to any perception that they or their faculty are using intimidation and coercion to bust unions of academic workers...
Workers Fight Back Against Racism, Wage Theft, Toxic Hazards, and Chronic Overwork at Brooklyn B&H Warehouse  The Nation  ... The workers accuse the famed photo-gadget emporium of discrimination against the largely Latino immigrant warehouse workforce. On a typical workday, according to a list of charges issued by workers and their legal counsel, workers labor several hours straight without eating or drinking, sometimes in sweltering heat...
Contract battle between NBC10 & IBEW Local 98 comes to an end  Business Journal   ...NBC10’s striking photographers and technicians voted Friday to ratify a new four-year contract after more than three weeks off the job, NBC10 and other sources confirmed Friday morning. A source told the Philadelphia Business Journal that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, who represents the striking workers, relented on one issue...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Prisoners' Families Organize to Resist Incarceration and Its Costs  Truthout  ...Across the United States, family members have similar stories of the financial costs of their loved ones' incarceration. In September 2015, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together and Research Action Design released "Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families." The report, which includes interviews, surveys and focus groups with formerly incarcerated people and family members in 14 states, examines the financial and emotional costs of incarceration...
Homan Square revealed: how Chicago police 'disappeared' 7,000 people  The Guardian  ...Police “disappeared” more than 7,000 people at an off-the-books interrogation warehouse in Chicago, nearly twice as many detentions as previously disclosed, the Guardian can now reveal. From August 2004 to June 2015, nearly 6,000 of those held at the facility were black, which represents more than twice the proportion of the city’s population. But only 68 of those held were allowed access to attorneys or a public notice of their whereabouts...
Rich Nations Failing to Meet Climate Obligations at Expense of Poor: Report  Common Dreams  ...The U.S. and other wealthy nations are not pulling their weight in the climate change fight and may be setting the world on an even more devastating climate track, a new report published Monday reveals. Globally, governments' pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions are not adequate to stave off an average surface temperature warming of 2°C...

Today's Teamster News 09.23.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Vocational Training Makes for Better Paid, Better Prepared Workers  Huffington Post  ...America needs a 21st century workforce to better compete in the global economy. And the Teamsters are doing their part to make sure workers have the training they require so they can join the workforce of the future. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the union a five-year, $4.6 million grant to establish apprenticeship programs in the trucking industry...
Leaders of Carhaul Local Unions Endorse Tentative Agreement  Teamster.org  ...Today, leaders from local unions that represent carhaul members endorsed the tentative national carhaul agreement, paving the way for members to vote on the proposal later this month. “Today’s vote shows that local union leaders throughout the United States agree with the Negotiating Committee that this tentative agreement addresses our members’ top concerns and protects their benefits while providing real job security,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Teamsters, Coalition Tell Whole Foods: Black Lives Matter  Teamster.org  ...This past weekend, protesters from the Teamsters and the Sierra Club group Sierra Rise educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo East convention about Whole Food’s exploitation of prison labor for profit. “Although Whole Foods caters to the ‘socially conscious’ consumer, it relies on exploited prison labor to make a profit,” said Steve Vairma, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division...
EVSC Board, Teamsters still working toward five collective bargaining agreements  Courier & Press  ...While there is still no collective bargaining agreement between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board and Teamsters Local 215, contract proposals have been exchanged and both groups said dialogue is ongoing. Since April, the EVSC and Local 215 negotiating teams have met sporadically to negotiate new contracts...

Global Labor & Trade
Steel producers urge TPP negotiators to maintain regional content rules for autos  Canadian Manufacturing  ...The trade associations representing steel producers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico are urging Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiators to put the brakes on any deal that weakens “rules of origin,” also known as regional content rules, for the auto sector. The organizations sent a joint letter to their respective government trade agencies expressing concern that changes to current rules would “adversely impact the steel industry”...
U.S. dairy exporter pushes for TPP deal acceptable to Congress  Japan Times  ...Japan and other nations need to open their dairy markets further to hammer out a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal that is acceptable to Congress, Tom Suber, president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, suggested. Noting that “there are not so many (unresolved issues),” Suber expressed his belief that it is possible for the 12 nations involved in the talks to reach a broad agreement...
U.S. trade chief mum over next TPP talks  Japan Today  ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman kept the public guessing on Tuesday about the date of the next meeting on a broad Pacific free trade pact with his counterparts from 11 other countries. There have been reports that ministers negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative will resume talks possibly on Sept. 30 in Atlanta, but Froman declined to comment on the time frame...
Rallies for a fair TPP  UNIFOR  ...Simultaneous rallies will be held Wednesday evening outside the campaign and constituency offices of several Conservative candidates in the federal election, calling on the Harper Government to stand up for Canadian jobs in the Trans Pacific Partnership trade talks. "The Harper government has shown that it is willing to sacrifice good auto jobs to get a trade deal," Unifor National President Jerry Dias said...
Do U.S. Workers Really Have to Rely on Canadian and Mexican Negotiators to Look Out for Our Jobs?  AFL-CIO  ...When the TPP’s backers say “this time it’s different,” it is hard to prove them wrong—given the secrecy of the negotiations. But it seems like every trade agreement the U.S. trade representative negotiates gets sold to unsuspecting Americans as the “best ever,” and the TPP is no different. This time, negotiators from Canada and Mexico have called foul while there is still time to act—and we’re lucky they did...
MEPs react to new TTIP court proposals  BBC  ...MEPs have given a mixed reaction to new proposals to solve trade disputes between companies and governments in the TTIP EU-US trade deal. Many MEPs on the International Trade Committee said they welcomed plans announced last week by the European Commission for a new investment court system to resolve disputes...
Hyundai Motor Workers Strike at All Three Domestic Plants  Wall Street Journal  ...More than three-quarters of the workforce of Hyundai Motor Co. walked off the job on Wednesday, disrupting output at South Korea’s largest auto maker for a fourth straight year. Workers at all of the auto maker’s three domestic plants began an eight-hour strike early Wednesday morning after weeks of talks with management on wages and benefits broke down...
Greece's Cruel October: Clock Ticks To Implement New Austerity Reforms  Huffington Post  ...The financial team of the new Greek government will have to race against the clock this month to prepare a timetable for implementing the austerity reforms agreed to by the previous government. Greek leaders committed to a series of austerity measures in a controversial bailout deal with international creditors this summer...

State & Living Wage Battles
California Clamps Down on Secretive Political Donations  Mother Jones  ...California regulators took another step last week to crack down on secretive money in state elections. And for that, we have the Koch brothers to thank. On Thursday, state regulators added another layer of security, closing a loophole that might have allowed out-of-state groups and donors to secretly buy influence in California elections...
Cuomo builds on minimum wage campaign  NCPR  ...The push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour is getting some help from union-financed advertising, but it still has its opponents. Governor Cuomo has been pushing the proposal to phase-in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018 in the New York City region and 2021 upstate. The governor already took executive action to increase the higher minimum wage for fast food workers...
Federal Service Workers Strike to Send a Message to Pope Francis  The Nation   .... As Pope Francis arrived in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, one thousand federal service workers—including many at the US Capitol, where the pope will speak later in the week—went on strike to protest poverty wages, poor working conditions, and the lack of a union. The federal government is the largest low-wage employer in the country...
Campaign for a "Worker Bill of Rights" Puts ALEC in Spokane's Crosshairs  Truthout  ...On November 5, 2015, voters in Spokane, Washington, will decide whether or not they are willing to act on their collective frustration by enacting what community activists have termed a "Worker Bill of Rights" via a ballot initiative called Proposition 1. The initiative seeks to secure the "right to a family wage when employed by a large employer"...
Backers of $15 minimum wage ballot measure start gathering signatures  Oregon Live  ...The backers of a measure to raise Oregon's minimum wage to $15 are starting to gather signatures for the 2016 ballot. Oregonians for 15 plan to hold kickoff events in more than 20 cities Saturday to recruit and train volunteer signature gatherers...
The fight over prevailing wage isn't a classic 'right vs. left' battle  Michigan Radio  ...Governor Rick Snyder is dead set against repealing the prevailing wage requirement, and has indicated that he’ll veto any bill that does so, if he gets the chance. Many other Republicans more conservative also support prevailing wage, including Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan, the last Republican vice-presidential nominee. You might think major contractors like Barton Malow would want to get rid of prevailing wage, but you’d be wrong...

U.S. Labor
Top unions put brakes on Clinton endorsement  Politico  ...Two major unions have decided to delay endorsements in the presidential race -- a move labor insiders attribute in part to the uncertainty Vice President Joe Biden’s potential run has inserted into the Democratic primary. The decisions are a setback for Hillary Clinton, who has been courting the labor giants in the hopes of an early lock down of two powerhouse unions that can organize millions of members and resources on the ground...
Pottstown Memorial Medical Center workers authorize 1-day strike  WFMZ  ...Nearly 300 unionized health care workers at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center are planning to walk off the job for one day next month. Members of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania have voted to hold a one-day strike in mid-October, union officials said Tuesday. The exact date has not yet been announced...
UFCW 8-Golden State Reaches Tentative Contract Agreements with Safeway  Business Wire  ...UFCW 8-Golden State announced today they have reached tentative contract agreements with the Safeway supermarket chain in Northern and Central California. The four-year agreement with Safeway protects and enhances the wages, benefits and workplace standards enjoyed by approximately 9,000 workers at 130 Safeway stores, as well as retirees...
Mopar workers to get different pay in UAW-FCA deal  Detroit Free Press  ...Entry level Mopar workers and axle operators would be under a different wage in new UAW contract than other entry level workers, the Free Press has learned. The tentative agreement between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles creates two new wage ranges for entry-level employees that don't work on assembly lines...
Scott Walker’s Campaign Failed Because Voters Actually Don’t Want a Union Buster-in-Chief  In These Times  ...In deep red, right-to-work Texas, support for union busting was so low that Republican legislators failed to muster sufficient votes to ban payroll deductions for public sector union dues—something Walker had crowed about accomplishing in Wisconsin. The Economic Policy Institute found that 58% of workers would like to be union members instead of the meager 11% we have now as a result of decades of union busting...

Social Justice & Other News
You've heard the GOP rhetoric on immigration. Here are the facts.  LA Times  ...O all the issues that have bubbled up on the campaign trail so far, nothing has inspired absurdity quite like immigration. Donald Trump isn't the only Republican candidate to have made outlandish comments: Chris Christie has called for FedEx-like tracking of foreigners , and Carly Fiorina has endorsed a crackdown on Chinese birth tourism...
After Getting Shamed For 5000% Hike, ‘Most Hated Man In America’ Will Lower Drug Price  Think Progress  ...Martin Shkreli, the controversial pharmaceutical CEO and former hedge fund manager, announced that he would reduce the price of the drug Daraprim to “a point that is more affordable.” Shkreli has been the subject of unrelenting criticism since he implemented a 5000% increase in the price of the drug — from $13.50 per pill to $750 — which is used to treat severe infections in AIDS patients and infants...
Pope Francis calls for urgent action on climate change in White House speech  The Guardian  ...Pope Francis enlisted the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr to help bolster his call for urgent action on climate change on Wednesday in a welcoming ceremony at the White House that Barack Obama said would “shake our conscience from slumber”. In a surprise move, the pope made what amounted to a direct reference to Obama’s new emission regulations, which are deeply controversial among Republicans...
How Automatic Voter Registration Can Transform American Politics  The Nation  ... The US doesn’t have a voter turnout problem; we have a voter registration problem. Our turnout is abysmal because so many eligible voters are not even registered to vote.  Automatic voter registration would change that. In March 2015, Oregon became the first state to automatically register anyone who requests a driver’s license or state ID from the DMV unless they opt out...
The Growing Fight Against The Resurgence Of Debtors’ Prisons  Think Progress  ...Earlier this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a federal lawsuit against Alexander City for operating what it calls “modern-day debtors prisons.” According to the lawsuit, anyone who goes to court and can’t pay the fines is brought to a back room, asked by police if they can pay or have someone immediately bring the money, and are arrested and jailed if they can’t pay, even if they have partial payment...
Nearly 4,000 People Fighting California's Fires Are Paid Just $1 an Hour  Truthout  ...Some 4,000 of the people working on fire crews in California are prison laborers. These incarcerated people are earning just $1.45 - $3.90 per day while training and $1 per hour while laboring on the fire's front lines beside their more well-compensated civilian counterparts...

Today's Teamster News 09.11.15

Teamsters
Hoffa Joins Congressional Leaders, Retirees at Rally to Stop Pension Cuts  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), retiree advocates and hundreds of retirees on Capitol Hill today to call on Congress to protect the earned retirement benefits of millions of American retirees and workers. The “Keep Our Pension Promises Act” (KOPPA), sponsored by Sen. Sanders and Rep. Kaptur, would protect workers and retirees from cuts to their earned retirement benefits...
BMWED/Teamsters Organizes Maintenance of Way Workers On Indiana Railroad  Teamster.org  ...Twenty-four maintenance of way employees with The Indiana Railroad Company are the newest members of the BMWED, a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference, voting in a super-majority Sept. 2 to join our Union. The results of the vote were certified by the National Mediation Board Sept. 3. The new members are now a part of the BMWED's Allied Federation...
First Contract For Teamsters At Engineered Wire Products  Teamster.org  ...After voting to be represented by Teamsters Local 377 in Youngstown, Ohio, in March, more than 25 workers at Engineered Wire Products recently ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The company produces rebar used in cement construction projects as well as specialty wire products for other uses in the industry...
Fresh from car-hauler talks, Teamsters back UAW  JOC  ...The Teamsters union is lending its horsepower to United Auto Workers Union efforts to secure a contract for more than 140,000 workers employed by the largest U.S. automakers. International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa promised on Labor Day that unionized car-haulers will support the UAW if the union calls a strike against any of Detroit's Big Three car makers...
Building Trades’ Bill to End Wage Disparities for CA Cement Drivers Clears Senate  We Party Patriots  ...By a 24-13 tally the California State Senate voted in favor of Assembly Bill 219, which closes loopholes that previously exempted some drivers of ready-mixed concrete from receiving the prevailing wage on public works projects.  The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Daly (D-Anaheim) and was sponsored by the State Building Trades, the Teamsters, and the California Labor Federation...
Union Pushes for Fair Efficiency Standards at Coca-Cola Warehouses in Chicago, Alsip  Local 727  ...Teamsters Local 727 will continue to fight any discipline Reyes management issues for not complying with efficiency standards until the union’s engineers complete independent testing at the Great Lakes Coca-Cola Division Chicago and Alsip warehouses. Local 727 submitted a request to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters asking for engineers to perform efficiency standards tests at the two locations, and now the union is waiting for the testing dates...

Global Labor & Trade
Senators urge hard line on auto trade talks  The Detroit News  ...Three senators urged the Obama administration to win more concessions for automakers as 12-nation trade talks may be getting closer to a deal. U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, wrote U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman urging the administration to take a hard line on auto issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The three urge him to negotiate an agreement that keeps U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars and trucks...
Trans-Pacific Partnership slammed by Unifor  CBC  ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership would kill Canadian auto jobs says Unifor, the union that represents thousands of autoworkers in this country. The TPP is a proposed agreement between not only the 12 Pacific Rim countries at the table, but others who could join later - countries like China, India or the Philippines. In June, the prime minister called the deal "essential" for Canada...
NAFTA risks becoming collateral damage in Obama’s geopolitical plans  Globe and Mail  ...U.S. negotiators recently left their Canadian and Mexican counterparts gobsmacked by a proposal that would allow auto parts with as little as 30-per-cent content from Trans-Pacific Partnership countries to enter North America tariff-free, a development that would reverse two decades of supply-chain integration on this continent and undermine the billions of dollars suppliers have invested in plants in Canada and Mexico...
The TPP Will Finish What Chile’s Dictatorship Started  The Nation  ...The global rentier class that enriches itself off the neoliberal property-rights regime had, a decade ago, hoped to lock-down Latin America under the hemisphere-wide Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). But that scheme fell apart with the return of Latin America’s post-Washington Consensus left. So Washington came back with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country treaty—including Chile, Peru, and Mexico—vigorously promoted by the Obama administration...
Uruguay’s Vazquez Casts Doubt on Services Trade Pact  Herald Tribune  ...President Tabare Vazquez, who pulled Uruguay out of negotiations on the proposed international Trade in Services Agreement, known as TISA, said Thursday the accord may never become a reality. “Let’s try to describe things as they are,” Vazquez said to reporters. “TISA does not exist"...
Anti-Union Violence in Honduras: Sixth Time this Year  Solidarity Center  ...A second Honduran union leader and participant in the Network Against Anti-Union Violence in Honduras has been threatened with death if he does not stop his union-related work, according to the human rights group Aci Participa. Tomás Membreño Pérez, president of the agricultural workers union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria (STAS), received death threats by phone and on Facebook in recent days...
Ford workers strike at Brazil factory to protest job cuts  Automotive News  ...Workers at a Ford Motor Co. plant in Brazil began an open-ended strike on Thursday to protest job cuts, adding to labor tensions that have rattled the country's auto industry in the midst of its worst crisis in nearly two decades. The local metalworkers union said about 4,300 employees at Ford's Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, which makes trucks and compact passenger cars, went on strike...

State & Living Wage Battles
New York OKs $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers  USA Today  ...New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration formally approved the increase Thursday, a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he would work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries...
Nixon announces drop in workers compensation rates  St. Louis Public Radio  ...Missouri businesses can expect to pay less for workers compensation insurance. During a visit to Nelson Mulligan Carpenters Training Center in Affton on Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that a variety of Missouri businesses would see a drop in their workers comp rates. Companies pay for this insurance to avoid paying big costs when a worker gets hurt. he highest decrease will come in the contracting industry, which Nixon attributed to investments in worker safety...
Dozens of workers to strike at Sea-Tac Airport Friday over minimum wage  Seattle Times  ...Dozens of baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and others who work for Menzies Aviation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are expected to walk off their jobs Friday, protesting what they call unfair labor practices and demanding to be paid a $15 minimum wage. Menzies is a contractor for Alaska Airlines, providing ramp agents, baggage handlers, and other such service workers...
Could a Backroom Political Deal Stop Prevailing Wage Repeal?  CapCon  ...Unions are trying to cut a deal with business groups to prevent a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law, according to a news account out of Lansing. The idea is that business groups would use their influence on Republican lawmakers to halt a repeal measure that is likely to succeed in exchange for the unions dropping a proposed ballot initiative to nearly double the state’s main business tax...
Puerto Rican government unveils anti-worker austerity plan  WSWS.org  ...On Wednesday September 9, Governor Alejandro Padilla announced his government’s plan to deal with Puerto Rico’s historic debt crisis. The plan is a frontal attack on education, health care, jobs and living standards. The five-year plan, elaborated by Padilla and the Popular Party government, contains an extensive series of budget cuts to deal with the Island’s $72 billion public debt...
Scott Walker's Day One Plan to "Wreak Havoc" Lifted from ALEC  PR Watch  ...If Scott Walker is elected president, he will enact American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) policies on the first day of his presidency. Walker was an ALEC member as a state legislator, and according to outlets like The Guardian, Walker could be "The First ALEC President." In a speech today at Eureka College, Walker pledged to "wreak some havoc on Washington," and promised his first day in office would be "one of the busiest the White House has seen in years"...
John Kasich Was Against Poor People Before He Was for Them  Mother Jones  ...The tax policies Kasich has championed and implemented since he was elected governor in 2010 left Ohio's low-income folks worse off than they were decades ago. His economic policies have led to growing inequality in a state that should be in recovery. Median household incomes began falling in 2007 and continued to drop during Kasich's governorship...

U.S. Labor
Haggen employees' union prepared to fight to keep contract  Bellingham Herald  ...The union representing Haggen’s employees says it will fight to keep its contract as the company reorganizes after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a letter sent to Haggen employees Wednesday night, Sept. 9, UFCW 21 President Todd Crosby said the union is coordinating effors for all the local chapters up and down the West Coast in order to have a focused response and keeping a united front...
'Won't Back Down': Seattle Teacher Strike Continues for Third Day  Common Dreams  ...'The teachers remain on strike. The picket lines are united. And support among parents is strong.' That is the latest message from Seattle Education Association on Friday as classes were cancelled for the third day with the continuation of the strike which is demanding an unfreezing of wages, the end of unreasonable standardized testing for students, a more fair evaluation system for teachers, and new policies to increase equity of opportunity for the student body...
AFSCME, Rauner reach another deal to keep talking  Illinois News Network  ...Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and the state’s biggest public-employee union have reached their third pact to continue contract talks without threat of strike or lockout. This time, the extension or tolling agreement does not include an end date. Instead, both the administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 agree to stay at the table until they reach impasse...
UAW contract negotiations are getting down to the wire  Business Journal  ...The current collective bargaining agreement between the United Automobile Workers and Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler is set to expire Sept. 14, and the parties appear calm and confident even though there still hasn’t been a lead company named for the negotiations. The UAW typically chooses one of the three automakers to serve as the lead for negotiations...
SEIU jubilant over proposed labor contract with Oregon public universities  Register-Guard  ...Some 1,600 University of Oregon classified employees will receive 2.25 percent pay increases this year and next, and many will also receive annual so-called “step” increases of up to 4.9 percent, under a tentative deal announced Thursday. The deal covers 4,400 classified employees in more than 270 types of jobs at the state’s seven public universities, including the UO...
Union president voices concerns over potential RFTA negotiator  Aspen Daily News  ...The president of a local transit union went before the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Board on Thursday morning to voice the group’s displeasure with the potential hiring of controversial chief negotiator in upcoming collective bargaining talks. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1774 is seeking quicker wage progression for its members...

Social Justice & Other News
Most Americans differ with Trump on immigration, poll shows  NJ.com  ...Does illegal immigration lead to more violent crime? Should the U.S. build a wall to keep unauthorized immigrants out? While GOP front-runner Donald Trump has argued both questions get a resounding "yes," a new poll by Monmouth University finds most Americans see it differently than the real estate tycoon...
Dems filibuster Iran vote  The Hill  ...Senate Democrats held ranks Thursday and blocked a resolution disapproving the Iran nuclear deal, handing President Obama a major political victory. Only a few months earlier, some Senate opponents of the deal predicted they would be able to muster 67 votes to override a presidential veto...
As Refugee Aid Falters, European Leaders Pursue Military Action at Sea  Common Dreams  ...As their humanitarian response to the ongoing refugee crisis falters, European leaders are pressing the United Nations Security Council to authorized an escalated military force to pursue so-called "human smugglers" in the Mediterranean Sea's international waters. The effort to advance the draft resolution is, according to Foreign Policy, being led by Britain, whose government has come under fire for "turning its back" on people seeking refuge...
California Police Ransacked Public Apartments Without Warrants Under ‘Neighborhood Blitz’ Program  Think Progress  ...In an invasive, war-like operation known as the Neighborhood Blitz, police officers in Stockton, California illegally searched the apartments of poor minorities and physically disabled people, according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday. Under the guise of standard housing inspections, armed officers routinely burst into homes with little to no warning, ransacked the premises without warrants...
Robert Reich: Americans Obsess Over the Sex Lives of Strangers While CEOs Rob the Country Blind  Alternet  ...At a time many Republican presidential candidates and state legislators are furiously focusing on private morality – what people do in their bedrooms, contraception, abortion, gay marriage – America is experiencing a far more significant crisis in public morality. CEOs of large corporations now earn 300 times the wages of average workers. Insider trading is endemic on Wall Street, where hedge-fund and private-equity moguls are taking home hundreds of millions...
The Government Might Finally Get Tough on Wall Street Fraud   The Atlantic  ...On Wednesday, the Justice Department issued a new policy regarding the prosecution of white-collar criminals. Amid post-recession complaints from the public that the Wall Street executives responsible for the crash escaped criminal charges and jail time—and that in these seven years Wall Street hasn’t cleaned up its act—the new policy prioritizes the prosecution of executives involved in fraud...