Today's Teamster News 08.26.15

Teamsters
Teamsters, Elected Officials Demand San Bernardino County Keep Its Promises  Teamster.org  ...More than 1,200 San Bernardino County public employees were joined by State Treasurer John Chiang and District Attorney Mike Ramos at a town hall meeting at the Ontario Convention Center this weekend to protest the County Board of Supervisors’ broken promises. County workers perform crucial jobs such as 911 dispatchers, techs at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, child abuse hotline workers, building and bridge inspectors, flood specialists and many more....
CDT Member Receives Back Pay, Reduced Discipline  Local 727  ...A CDT dispatcher member has received back pay and a reduced suspension after Teamsters Local 727 representatives fought against management’s unfair discipline. Devin Allen was wrongfully suspended for absenteeism caused by an ongoing illness, of which management was aware, and management planned to terminate Allen upon his return from the suspension. The union immediately filed a grievance...
Faith inspires Oklahoma man to donate kidney to co-worker  News OK  ...Henley, a UPS driver, made regular route stops at a UPS store on Memorial in Oklahoma City where Hall worked. “I got to know him well know enough to say ‘hi’ and visit some,” Henley said. In April 2014, Hall was diagnosed with kidney failure. Henley, 35, started to ask what was involved with donating a kidney...

Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement: Potential damage to global public health  People's World  ... The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement currently being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries, threatens the future availability of affordable generic medicines and could undermine the global HIV response in developing countries, according to a new report released by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research...
Dutch MPs criticise US trade treaty secrecy, want TTIP openness  DutchNews  ...Dutch MPs from across the political spectrum are demanding answers on the European Commission’s decision to stop sending them details of the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The aim of the proposed free trade deal between the EU and US is to cut tariffs, standardise regulations and simplify investment...
How regional trade agreements can spark a fight over Feta cheese  Fortune  ...This arrangement poses a problem for the U.S. dairy industry. While the provision was made to protect those already in this business, new producers trying to sell their feta would be barred from entering the Canadian market unless they called their product “feta-like” or a similar term. This locking-in of existing names would extend to nearly a few hundred agricultural products that could only originate in 28 member states of the European Union...
Unions rally against China free trade deal  Yahoo News  ...Traffic outside the West Australian parliament was brought to a standstill as unions held a rally against the free trade deal with China, saying it will be bad for local jobs and exploit foreign workers. The CFMEU says Chinese companies will be able to bring in an entire overseas workforce for projects worth more $150 million in which they have a minimum 15 per cent stake...
Palestine Workers Find Strength in their Union  Solidarity Center  ...Trade unions in Palestine are among the most significant institutions of civil society not directly tied to any political party. As the primary voice for working families and the unemployed in Palestine, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) plays a prominent role in backing the rule of law and developing coalitions among organizations seeking a more stable, just and prosperous Palestine. The fight for introducing and enforcing a minimum wage in Palestine is an example of this struggle...
Tube strike suspended by unions   BBC  ...Two 24-hour Tube strikes planned for this week have been called off after talks between unions and London Underground (LU) managers. Tube workers have been in dispute with LU over rotas and working conditions on the new Night Tube service. The Unite union said it had suspended its action as a "gesture of goodwill" to allow further talks...

State & Living Wage Battles
Prevailing wage repeal petition drive nears finish line, possible action by Michigan Legislature   MLive  ...While construction workers restored the Michigan Capitol this summer, a fight over guaranteed wages on government building projects was taking place on street corners all over the state. A business-backed group working to repeal Michigan's 1965 prevailing wage law was busy circulating petitions, and organizers say they are close to completing the signature gathering phase — well ahead of schedule...
The Florida Republicans Who Couldn't Draw a Map  The Atlantic  ...GOP leaders have tried—and failed—to come up with new congressional districts after the state’s highest court ruled their last effort was too favorable to their party. When the Florida legislature convened for a special summer session earlier this month, lawmakers had, literally, one job: to redraw the state’s congressional districts after a court had thrown out the last map they came up with...
As Minimum Wages Rise, Restaurants Say No to Tips, Yes to Higher Prices  New York Times  ...Restaurant owners, customers and staff have long railed against the tyranny of tipping, but like a love affair gone bad, it has proved difficult to quit. Now, prompted by a spurt of new minimum wage proposals in major cities, an expanding number of restaurateurs are experimenting with no-tipping policies as a way to manage rising labor costs...
In Detroit, labor secretary hears pleas to boost minimum wage  USA Today  ...One-by-one, sometimes in tears, Detroit workers on Tuesday opened up to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, telling him how little they earn and why they joined a labor movement — Fight for 15 — that is seeking $15 an hour wages, as well as better benefits and opportunities for employees in the restaurant, retail and health care industries. They talked about how hard it is to work in low-wage jobs and how they struggle to use that income to care, not just for themselves, but also for their kids...
The Labor Prospect: Getting Sick of No Paid Sick Leave  American Prospect  ...Despite an expanding patchwork of paid sick leave policies cropping up around the U.S., an In These Times investigation reminds us that this country is woefully behind the rest of the world in terms of such worker rights. Lacking any sort of basic safety net, nearly one-quarter of working mothers are back on the grind within just two weeks of giving birth, the report finds...

U.S. Labor
Target Walks Away From Equal Opportunity Complaint With $2.8 Million Bill  Think Progress  ...Target agreed to pay $2.8 million on Monday to settle a claim that the retailer disproportionately screened out applicants based on their race or gender. The complaint, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), targeted certain hiring assessments used over the past decade. The sum represents one of the highest amounts paid in recent years to settle a claim of hiring discrimination...
Kroger/Columbus Ratifies Labor Pact with UFCW Local 1059  Progressive Grocer  ...The Kroger Co.'s  Columbus division has ratified a new labor agreement with UFCW Local 1059. "We are pleased to reach an agreement that is good for our associates," said Joe Grieshaber, president of Kroger's Columbus division. "This new contract provides wage increases, affordable health care and ongoing investment in our associates' pension fund to support their retirement"...
Deere opens talks with UAW  Chicago Tribune  ...Moline-based Deere said Tuesday that it has opened negotiations with the United Auto Workers union over a labor deal covering 10,000 manufacturing jobs. But the timing, on the back of China's "Black Monday" stock market crash, couldn't be worse for the UAW. Low commodity prices were already slowing demand for farm equipment...
Overworked and Out of Time: a Democracy Issue  Counterpunch  ...The long-shot United States Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been telling the large crowds attending his rallies that American workers put in the longest hours in the industrialized world. He’s on solid ground. According to the International Labor Organization, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers”...
90% Of WeWork Cleaners Jobless After Contract Termination  Gothamist  ...Roughly 90% of the subcontracted workforce who cleaned the New York offices of WeWork, the co-working startup recently valued at $10 billion, have been laid off amid allegations that the company is anti-union and discriminates against immigrants. The 150 custodians who picked up left-over coffee cups, swept hallways, and cleaned conference rooms for $10/hour learned in July that their employer had terminated its contract with WeWork...

Social Justice & Other News
High-End Visa Program Blasted as 'Immigration Reform for the 1%'  Common Dreams  ...Actions are taking place in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle on Tuesday decrying a controversial U.S. immigration program that unions and immigration advocates have dubbed "immigration reform for the 1%." The little-known EB-5 visa program allows wealthy foreigners to qualify for an entry visa when they invest a certain amount in an American business...
The Right-Wing Hasn’t Read This Black Lives Matter Textbook, But They Are Freaking Out Anyway  Think Progress  ...A line of textbooks aimed at teaching students current events has been targeted by right-wing media because it happens to address the complex issues raised by Black Lives Matter. Right-wing radio personality Larry Elder criticized the book on Fox News as means of “indoctrinating” black kids and “teaching them they are victims”...

Teamsters President Hoffa, Teamster dairy worker blast Fast Track, TPP at Capitol Hill press conferenc

Jerry Reeves, Teamster Local 463 member and Lehigh Valley Dairies worker

Today Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and Local 463 member Jerry Reeves stood shoulder to shoulder with members of Congress at a news conference today to denounce Fast Track legislation that would make it easier for the TPP to pass.

Reeves, a worker at Lehigh Valley Dairies in Landsdale, Pa.,  said the TPP would hurt the nation’s dairy industry because a New Zealand conglomerate would be granted special access to the U.S. for its cheap dairy exports. Reeves said the deal could threaten the livelihoods of 40,000 Teamster dairy workers.

He also said,

TPP is shaping up to be a bad deal. Fast Track is the wrong track. We need these good jobs to stay here for working families.

Hoffa said he was proud the United States has the best environmental, labor and food safety laws. "The TPP will undermine all of them," he said. "Fast Track is the wrong track."

He called the TPP "a corporate power grab that will harm workers all over the world.” Read the Teamsters press statement here.

Also participating in the news conference were U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Alan Grayson, D-Fla. Slaughter said trade was responsible for the decline of America's middle class:

The largest export for the US over the last 20 years has been jobs.

In other trade news today, the Economic Policy Institute issued a report that shows ending currency manipulation could create 5.8 million jobs. The TPP does not deal with currency manipulation, according to reports. (We can't be sure, of course, because the negotiations are secret.) Reports EPI:

• The reduction of U.S. trade deficits and expansion of U.S. GDP would create 2.3 million to 5.8 million jobs, reducing the U.S. jobs deficit by between 28.8 percent and 72.5 percent.
• About 40 percent of the jobs gained would be in manufacturing, which would gain between 891,500 and 2,337,300 jobs. Agriculture would also gain 246,800 to 486,100 jobs, heavily affecting some rural areas.

Eliminating currency manipulation would reduce the U.S. trade deficit by $200 billion in three years under a “low-impact” scenario and $500 billion under a “high-impact scenario.” This would increase annual U.S. GDP by between $288 billion and $720 billion (between 2.0 percent and 4.9 percent).

As usual, ABC News missed the news conference. A report by Media Matters showed ABC has for six months completely ignored TPP, the most important jobs and wages issue in a generation. That, of course, is because ABC's corporate owners want to TPP passed. They know it couldn't possibly pass if most people knew about it.  

You can help derail Fast Track. Call your member of Congress at 1-888-979-9806 (you'll be instructed what to do). Or you can send an email by clicking here.

Will the TPP leave US dairy farms running dry?

Japanese farmers and consumers are rallying today in Tokyo against the latest job-killing trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. They expect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to announce soon that Japan will enter talks for the deal, dubbed "NAFTA on steroids."

The Japanese share the same concerns as American dairy farmers, workers and consumers: that the TPP will allow dairy imports from New Zealand to decimate vulnerable dairy farms, throw thousands out of people out of work and diminish food safety.

In the video above, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa explains the threat to nearly 1 million dairy workers, including 30,000 Teamsters. He joins syndicated talk show host Thom Hartmann in a segment called "Got Milk?" Here's the promo for the segment:

If President Obama has his way US dairy farms may soon be running dry, leaving Americans to drink the milk of foreign cows. But how can we prevent this from happening -- and ensure that the milk we drink is 100 percent Made in America?

Please watch.

Today's Teamster News 03.07.13

McDonald's Franchises In Pennsylvania Accused Of Exploiting Student Guest Workers  Huffington Post   ...some students received as few as four hours of work a week, at the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. After "exorbitant" deductions for housing, those wages were pushed below the legal minimum, the group says, while the students lived "up to 8 students to a room" at a cost of $300 per person...
Fast Track Authority for Trans-Pacific Trade Deal Opposed  AgWeb   ...The groups are most concerned with unfettered access to U.S. markets by Fonterra, New Zealand’s large dairy company, which controls some 90% of that country’s milk supply. ..
Florida Gets Organized to Stop the TPP  Public Citizen   ...most ... had never heard of the TPP ... Many reacted with surprise and anger when they learned about the provisions the Obama administration is secretly negotiating that give more power to corporations...
The War On Entitlements (opinion)  New York Times   ...Simply by eliminating the payroll tax earnings cap — and thus ending this regressive exemption for the top 5.2 percent of earners — would, according to the Congressional Budget Office, solve the financial crisis facing the Social Security system...
Citizens in Europe are rejecting austerity policies as deeply misguided (opinion)  The Guardian   ...European leaders recognise that, without growth, debt burdens will continue to grow, and that austerity by itself is an anti-growth strategy...
FAA says 173 air traffic control towers will close on April 7  CNN   ...The federal government will close 173 air traffic control towers at small- and medium-size airports on April 7 because of forced spending cuts...
Rahall Promotes ‘Made In America’ Bill For Infrastructure Projects  Charleston Gazette  ...The “Invest in American Jobs Act of 2013″ will require the use of products stamped “Made in America” to build highways, bridges, public transit facilities, passenger rails and airports across the country. Labor unions and manufacturing companies are backing the new legislation...
Gov: 250K Jobs Will Be 'Tough To Get'  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...Governor Scott Walker may be acknowledging he won't make his goal of creating 250,000 jobs in his first term, but Walker says he should still “aim high.”...
Game show host Bob Barker opposes bill that targets whistleblower videos  Indianapolis Star   ...Bob Barker, the former host of the TV game show “The Price is Right,” is urging Indiana’s lawmakers to defeat a bill that makes it unlawful to take unauthorized video at farms and businesses....
Teamsters Union Faces Pension Decision  WYFX   ...Members of a local teamsters union who work for a major garbage collection service are faced with a tough decision on whether to continue dumping money into their current pension plan or start investing money into the company's 401(K)...

More questions about the TPP mega-trade deal

We just got our hands on an article that raises disturbing questions about the latest job-killing trade deal, the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership).

Just yesterday, a letter raising questions about the TPP was delivered to eight Congressional leaders from the Teamsters and 10 allies representing dairy workers and farmers. The letter said the TPP could unleash unfair competition that could severely damage the U.S. dairy industry. (Just think about getting your milk from New Zealand.)

Karen Hansen-Kuhn wrote "Who's At the Table? Demanding Answers on Agriculture in the Trans-Pacific Partnership" by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She notes that the governments of the 11 Pacific Rim countries (that includes the U.S.) have negotiated the deal in secret since 2010. They have adamantly refused to release the  negotiating texts.

We do know one thing. Writes Hansen-Kuhn,

The TPP is not only about lowering tariffs. If implemented, it would expand protections for investors over consumers and farmers, and severely restrict governments’ ability to use public policy to reshape food systems.

Here's what's scary:

There is no agriculture chapter in the TPP. Instead, rules affecting agriculture, food systems and food safety are woven throughout the texts. Very little is known about the content of those drafts. 

Someone did leak part of the negotiating text, which revealed that investors could be given more power than governments. That happened under NAFTA. Three multinational corporations sued Mexico over its trade barriers to high-fructose corn syrup. The Mexican government thought those barriers necessary because of public health concerns. Guess who won? The multinationals. A NAFTA dispute panel ruled the Mexican government had to pay the firms $169 million because the country's laws interefered with corporate profit.

That's just one of many agricultural issues. But it highlights the big question behind all these trade deals: Is it wise to grant power to corporations to circumvent sovereign governments' legal systems?