TEAMSTERS
Teamster Pilots at Republic Airways Approve New Three-Year Contract Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Republic Airways Holdings Inc. announced today that pilots represented by Teamsters Local 357 voted to ratify a new three-year agreement. Results of the vote, which were tabulated today, were 1,363 votes in favor of the agreement to 421 votes against, with 1,784, or 90 percent of eligible pilots, participating in the vote...
Head of Teamsters, Jim Hoffa, stands with striking truckers in Long Beach Press-Telegram ...Teamster President Jim Hoffa joined striking port truck drivers Tuesday in Long Beach, saying the misclassification of these workers must end. “You have the support of the 1.4 million Teamster members,” Hoffa said. “We will bring justice to port truck drivers and warehouse workers nationwide.” The truck drivers who ferry goods to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Monday...
Teamsters ramp up drayage, warehouse worker organizing effort in LA-Long Beach JOC ...The Teamsters union Tuesday stepped up its organizing efforts in Southern California, targeting another drayage company in Los Angeles-Long Beach, and announcing a partnership with a warehouse worker advocacy organization. The latter signals a move by the Teamsters to organize what could potentially be thousands of workers in the warehouse and distribution industry...
Labor friction escalates between California port truckers, shippers Reuters ...Long-simmering labor tensions between Southern California port truckers and shipping companies they accuse of wage theft escalated on Tuesday as a group of drivers demanded recognition as full-fledged employees and petitioned to join the Teamsters union. The action, according to the Teamsters, was taken by at least 50 drivers who work for New Jersey-based Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT)...
New Third Shift Creates Jobs, Better Working Conditions for Pepsi Members Local 727 ...The addition of a third shift at the PepsiCo warehouse in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood means more union jobs and better working conditions for the location’s Teamsters Local 727 members. Starting Nov. 1, seven new third-shift production department machine operators and four additional workers will be on the job, along with the nearly 150 members already working at the warehouse...
Union, recycling advocates promote plan to revamp city’s sanitation setup City & State ...Teamsters Local 813, which represents commercial sanitation workers and is part of Transform Don’t Trash, would like to see labor peace agreements tied to licenses. Such accords typically prevent workers from striking or boycotting and give unions more leverage in attempting to organize. But Local 813’s support has raised questions about why it takes a push from organized labor to get the government to supervise the sector...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
U.S. officials to work with Congress on Pacific trade pact timing Reuters ...U.S. officials said on Tuesday they will work with Congress to find a window for lawmakers to consider a sweeping Pacific trade pact and warned that rejecting the deal would raise questions about America's leadership in the region. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he was confident of winning political support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal sealed with 11 trading partners earlier this month...
Bank Provisions in Pacific Trade Pact Draw Fire Wall Street Journal ...The sweeping Pacific trade agreement completed this month gives banks an added international legal protection that congressional critics warn could lead to more challenges to Wall Street regulations. U.S. officials play down the new protection for financial firms, saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership also contains several new legal provisions that limit the ability of banks to challenge American financial rules...
Indonesia 'not ready' to join TPP Nation Multimedia ...Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's intention to push for membership of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal signals a reversal in Indonesia's protectionist traditions, and some experts have warned that the country had yet to carefully calculate the implications of this change, arguing that the decision might put Southeast Asia's largest economy in an inferior position in relation to other members of the TPP and the world more broadly...
Joseph Stiglitz: Under TPP, Polluters Could Sue U.S. for Setting Carbon Emissions Limits Democracy Now ...Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz warns about the dangers of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "Under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments in the TPP that can be sued for the loss of profits as a result of the regulations that restrict their ability to emit carbon emissions...
Canadians split on support of TPP deal, poll suggests Vancouver Sun ...Almost one month after Canada and 11 other nations reached the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in Atlanta, Canadians remain sharply divided on whether such a deal is good or bad for the public at-large. That is the finding of a EKOS poll commissioned by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the results of which were released Today (Wednesday). The poll found almost an equal number of respondents supporting the TPP (41 per cent) and those who oppose the deal (38 per cent)...
Bundestag president calls TTIP undemocratic The Local ...The President (speaker) of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, has threatened to vote against the US-EU TTIP free trade agreement when it comes to a vote before the German parliament, saying that the deal lacks transparency and democratic legitimacy. ammert, who belongs to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that he considers it "out of the question"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage petition falls short with duplicate signatures WNEM ...petition to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law is being challenged, after claims that thousands of signatures were duplicated. It's a new twist in the GOP-led effort to go around Gov. Rick Snyder, and repeal a law the governor supports. John Purich is an attorney for a group wanting keep the state's prevailing wage law intact. "This one is not going to make it," Purich said...
In Minneapolis, a Strong ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law for Workers Runs Into a Corporate Roadblock In These Times ...Less than a year after San Francisco passed a first-of-its-kind fair scheduling ordinance for retail employers, progressive activists in Minneapolis began pushing for an even stronger scheduling ordinance of their own—along with paid sick leave, wage theft protections, and the possibility of a $15 minimum wage. But the campaign, dubbed the Working Families Agenda, ran into a roadblock earlier this month...
Sacramento City Council passes minimum wage increase KCRA ...The Sacramento City Council approved increasing minimum wage to $12.50 per hour by 2020 during its meeting Tuesday night. The ordinance, based on recommendations by the 2015 Task Force on Income Inequality, passed 6 to 3. In California, the current minimum wage is $9 per hour and will increase to $10...
Jersey City set to expand paid sick leave mandate NJ.com ...More small businesses would have to adhere to the city's paid sick time mandate under a measure set for adoption by the City Council tomorrow. The changes would require employers with fewer than 10 employees to provide workers with up to 24 hours of paid sick time and up to 16 hours of unpaid sick time annually. Previously, those businesses only had to provide unpaid time...
U.S. LABOR
UAW voting on GM contract starts Friday Detroit Free Press ...As UAW leaders brief local officials from more than 40 General Motors locations Wednesday afternoon, at least one local has decided its members will vote Friday on the four-year agreement. Details of the proposed contract will be shared Wednesday afternoon by UAW President Dennis Williams, Cindy Estrada, vice president of the union's General Motors department, and members of the bargaining committee...
Verizon gets call from Bernie Sanders to reach agreement with CWA union Fierce Telecom ...Verizon is facing yet another call to come to an agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, met with Verizon union employees during a demonstration near at Verizon Wireless store in New York's Times Square...
Final Major Budget Deal Of The Obama-Boehner Era Forces GOP To Release Social Security Hostages Think Progress ...The budget deal struck between Republican congressional leaders and the White House on Monday night would negate a previous GOP ploy to stage a crisis in Social Security funding next year. The deal will prevent a benefits cut by transferring funds from the main Social Security trust to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust, which would otherwise run short of funding next year and be forced to cut payments to beneficiaries by 20 percent...
Lacking Federal Protection, Rural LGBTQ Workers Falling Through the Cracks Common Dreams ...Despite having won federal recognition of the right to marry a partner of their choosing, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people continue to face the possibility of being fired or harassed at work because of their identity or sexual preference. As much as 70 percent of the United States, geographically speaking, lacks any employment protections for LGBT workers...
The Pay Gap Will Ensure That CEOs Enjoy Luxurious Retirement While Workers Keep Struggling Think Progress ...The pay gap between what CEOs make and what they pay their workers is pretty well known. A new report released on Wednesday illuminates a different gap: that between what CEOs have stashed away for retirement and what their workers have been able to amass. The report from the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies looks at the retirement accounts among CEOs...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Texas Sheriff Faces Lawsuit Over Federal Immigration Holds ABC ...A Texas sheriff who faced criticism from Gov. Greg Abbott for not complying with federal immigration holds is being sued by people who say they were detained for unconstitutionally long periods. The lawsuit was filed the same day Abbott made public a letter to Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez threatening to penalize the county over her revised policy to no longer honor all federal immigration detention holds...
'Codifying' Government Surveillance, Senate Passes CISA Common Dreams ...The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) without any of the proposed amendments that would have strengthened user protections. The bill passed 74-21. Rights groups immediately called for President Barack Obama to veto the bill and vowed to keep pressure up.
Tensions Rise as Climate Negotiations Resume in Bonn Truth-Out ...The last round of negotiations before the much-anticipated Paris Conference kicked off on Monday in Bonn. With only five official negotiating days left before Paris, those involved in the talks have plenty of work ahead of them before agreeing on what will hopefully be a legally-binding agreement next December...
Obama: Police Are 'Scapegoats' for Broader Failures of Society The Atlantic ...President Obama’s speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago was always going to require some careful political balancing. he conversation was fairly soft. It was classic Obama: Admitting that every side had something to offer, steering a moderate path, and calling on all sides to step up and compromise...
National Outrage as Videos of Brutal Police Assault on Black Student Go Viral Common Dreams ...A brutal attack by a male officer on a black, female high school student in Columbia, South Carolina on Monday has spurred widespread outrage after a number of cell phone videos of the incident went viral. In the videos, Spring Valley High School resource officer Ben Fields, who is white, is shown briefly reproaching the student, who refuses to get up from her desk, before he puts his arm around her neck...
Showing posts with label fair scheduling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fair scheduling. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.11.15
Teamsters
Teamsters, Bauer's Drivers Rally For Labor Harmony in San Francisco Teamster.org ...Teamsters and drivers for Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation held an action this morning in San Francisco to call on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to adopt a resolution ensuring labor harmony...
Tech-Shuttle Company Is Accused Of Thwarting Efforts To Unionize Its Drivers Mother Jones ..."The drivers need and deserve better wages, better benefits, and more respect," says Doug Bloch, the political director for the Northern California chapter of the Teamsters, which is holding a protest in San Francisco's Mission District today to call attention to Bauer's alleged union-busting tactics. "What Bauer's did is an insult to these workers."...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan Anxious At Lull, U.S. 'Giving Up', In Pan-Pacific Trade Talks Reuters ...Japan has expressed concern about a loss of momentum in talks on a pan-Pacific trade pact after participants failed to agree to meet again this month to try to clinch a deal that would cover 40 percent of the global economy...
China Devalues Yuan After Poor Economic Data Huffington Post ...China devalued its currency on Tuesday after a run of poor economic data, a move it billed as a free-market reform but which some suspect could be the beginning of a longer-term slide in the exchange rate...
After Marathon Talks, Greece And International Lenders Clinch Multi-Billion Euro Bailout Deal Huffington Post ...Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement on Tuesday after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin...
Bounty On Its Head: Wikileaks Raising €100K Reward For Secret Text Of TTIP Common Dreams ...The full text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) now has a bounty on its head. Launched publicly on Tuesday, the media outlet Wikileaks announced its creation of a crowd-sourcing effort that aims to raise a €100,000 reward for the full text of the the TTIP, the corporate-friendly trade pact currently being negotiated in secret by the United States and member countries of the European Union...
Despite Majority Opposition, Japan About To Hit 'Go' On Nuclear Restart Common Dreams ...Despite widespread public opposition and lingering safety concerns, Japan on Tuesday will switch on a nuclear reactor for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster...
Hundreds Of Peace Corps Vets Demand US Stop Funding Ethnic Cleansing Common Dreams ...Over 500 former Peace Corps volunteers are calling on the U.S. government to withhold military aid and stop funding the Dominican Republic's ethnic cleansing of people of Haitian descent, adding theirs to the cacophony of voices—from Pope Francis to United Nations experts to thousands marching in Port-au-Prince—speaking out against the mass-scale human rights violations...
State & Living Wage Battles
Daily Oil Trains Could Threaten Lives In The Bay Area San Francisco Chronicle ...If oil giant Phillips 66 has its way, an oil train disaster and increased air pollution may be coming to a Bay Area town near you. Phillips 66 is proposing an oil transport station to refine Canadian tars sands in San Luis Obispo. If the project is approved by the San Luis Obispo planning commission and board of supervisors, Phillips 66 will have a contract for 500 oil train trips a year that could go right down the spine of the Bay Area...
Wis. Residents Upset About Sand, Oil Train Delays Winona Daily News ...Neighbors living near railroad tracks in Wisconsin are becoming increasingly concerned about long train blockages since an increase in sand and oil shipments have caused them to grow into a frequent and dangerous disruption...
Florida Lawmakers Pushing For Higher Minimum Wage WFSU ...As workers across the country push for higher minimum wage, two Florida lawmakers are joining the fight. They’ve filed a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. But earning a living wage is about more than a person’s hourly pay...
Study Reveals The True Scope Of Voter Disenfranchisement In Texas Think Progress ...A Texas law, which closely resembles similar laws erecting obstacles to the franchise in other states, does far more to keep voters from casting a ballot than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston...
Silicon Valley’s Skyrocketing Housing Costs Shut Teachers Out Alternet ...Skyrocketing housing prices in Silicon Valley, the red-hot center of tech entrepreneurship and one of the most highly educated enclaves in the world, are making it hard for teachers to call the area home...
Election Rights Advocates Allege New Voter ID Violations In Ohio WLWT ...The advocates say the laws allow absentee ballots to be rejected for mistakes such as the wrong birth month even though the voter supplied the correction information when requesting the ballot...
U.S. Labor
Unpredictable Work Hours, Chaotic Life New York Times ...The tyranny of erratic work schedules is obvious to employees who don’t know what their schedules will be tomorrow or have to call in to see if there is work. And the effects have been well documented in articles and oral histories. Increasingly, the anecdotal evidence is being confirmed by research...
Social Justice & Other News
Huffington Post, Washington Post Reporters Charged For Doing Journalism In Ferguson Huffington Post ...Reporters from The Huffington Post and Washington Post have been charged with trespassing and interfering with a police officer’s performance, a chilling setback for press freedom coming nearly a year after their arrests in Ferguson, Missouri...
Jerry Brown Nixes 'Alien' From California Labor Law Huffington Post ...California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation Monday removing the word "alien" in reference to undocumented immigrants from the state's labor code. The measure, which will take effect Jan. 1, seeks to modernize the language used in California state law. Brown signed the legislation, SB 432, along with two other bills updating immigration policy on Monday...
Twitter Activists Slam St. Louis County Officials For Ferguson Response With #WhichEmergency Hashtag Salon.com ...Shortly after St. Louis County officials declared a state of emergency last night in response to protesters marking the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, activists on Twitter did something odd, agreeing with county officials and tweeting that there is, in fact, a state of emergency in St. Louis County — just not the one the officials had declared...
Here's How Much Water Golf Courses, Ski Resorts, And Pools Are Using In California Mother Jones ...Of the thirsty nonagricultural businesses, golf takes the lead: The average Palm Springs golf course uses the same amount of water in one day that a family of four does in five years. The 123 golf courses in the Palm Springs area use nearly a quarter of the region's groundwater...
Water Rationing In Puerto Rico Hits The Poor, Leaves Resorts Untouched Think Progress ...As the commonwealth’s reservoirs drop to their lowest levels in decades, the government has declared a state of emergency, and implemented strict rationing. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans now have had tap water only every third day, and that tightened this past weekend, giving families water only two days a week...
Heavily-Armed Oath Keepers Showed Up To Ferguson Last Night Mother Jones ...As demonstrators gathered in Ferguson to continue commemorating the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Monday, five heavily-armed men belonging to a vigilante group called the Oath Keepers were spotted patrolling the streets. According to reports, the Oath Keepers said they were on the scene to provide voluntary protection to a journalist working for the site InfoWars, the conspiracy mill run by noted lunatic Alex Jones...
Racialized Poverty In America Has Nearly Doubled In 21st Century Common Dreams ...Discriminatory housing, zoning, and other policy choices are driving the dramatic rise of racialized poverty and segregation across the United States, with the number of people residing in low-income "ghettos, barrios, and slums" nearly doubling in the 21st century alone, a new report finds...
Teamsters, Bauer's Drivers Rally For Labor Harmony in San Francisco Teamster.org ...Teamsters and drivers for Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation held an action this morning in San Francisco to call on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to adopt a resolution ensuring labor harmony...
Tech-Shuttle Company Is Accused Of Thwarting Efforts To Unionize Its Drivers Mother Jones ..."The drivers need and deserve better wages, better benefits, and more respect," says Doug Bloch, the political director for the Northern California chapter of the Teamsters, which is holding a protest in San Francisco's Mission District today to call attention to Bauer's alleged union-busting tactics. "What Bauer's did is an insult to these workers."...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan Anxious At Lull, U.S. 'Giving Up', In Pan-Pacific Trade Talks Reuters ...Japan has expressed concern about a loss of momentum in talks on a pan-Pacific trade pact after participants failed to agree to meet again this month to try to clinch a deal that would cover 40 percent of the global economy...
China Devalues Yuan After Poor Economic Data Huffington Post ...China devalued its currency on Tuesday after a run of poor economic data, a move it billed as a free-market reform but which some suspect could be the beginning of a longer-term slide in the exchange rate...
After Marathon Talks, Greece And International Lenders Clinch Multi-Billion Euro Bailout Deal Huffington Post ...Greece and its international lenders reached a multi-billion euro bailout agreement on Tuesday after talking through the night, officials said, potentially saving the country from financial ruin...
Bounty On Its Head: Wikileaks Raising €100K Reward For Secret Text Of TTIP Common Dreams ...The full text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) now has a bounty on its head. Launched publicly on Tuesday, the media outlet Wikileaks announced its creation of a crowd-sourcing effort that aims to raise a €100,000 reward for the full text of the the TTIP, the corporate-friendly trade pact currently being negotiated in secret by the United States and member countries of the European Union...
Despite Majority Opposition, Japan About To Hit 'Go' On Nuclear Restart Common Dreams ...Despite widespread public opposition and lingering safety concerns, Japan on Tuesday will switch on a nuclear reactor for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster...
Hundreds Of Peace Corps Vets Demand US Stop Funding Ethnic Cleansing Common Dreams ...Over 500 former Peace Corps volunteers are calling on the U.S. government to withhold military aid and stop funding the Dominican Republic's ethnic cleansing of people of Haitian descent, adding theirs to the cacophony of voices—from Pope Francis to United Nations experts to thousands marching in Port-au-Prince—speaking out against the mass-scale human rights violations...
State & Living Wage Battles
Daily Oil Trains Could Threaten Lives In The Bay Area San Francisco Chronicle ...If oil giant Phillips 66 has its way, an oil train disaster and increased air pollution may be coming to a Bay Area town near you. Phillips 66 is proposing an oil transport station to refine Canadian tars sands in San Luis Obispo. If the project is approved by the San Luis Obispo planning commission and board of supervisors, Phillips 66 will have a contract for 500 oil train trips a year that could go right down the spine of the Bay Area...
Wis. Residents Upset About Sand, Oil Train Delays Winona Daily News ...Neighbors living near railroad tracks in Wisconsin are becoming increasingly concerned about long train blockages since an increase in sand and oil shipments have caused them to grow into a frequent and dangerous disruption...
Florida Lawmakers Pushing For Higher Minimum Wage WFSU ...As workers across the country push for higher minimum wage, two Florida lawmakers are joining the fight. They’ve filed a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. But earning a living wage is about more than a person’s hourly pay...
Study Reveals The True Scope Of Voter Disenfranchisement In Texas Think Progress ...A Texas law, which closely resembles similar laws erecting obstacles to the franchise in other states, does far more to keep voters from casting a ballot than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston...
Silicon Valley’s Skyrocketing Housing Costs Shut Teachers Out Alternet ...Skyrocketing housing prices in Silicon Valley, the red-hot center of tech entrepreneurship and one of the most highly educated enclaves in the world, are making it hard for teachers to call the area home...
Election Rights Advocates Allege New Voter ID Violations In Ohio WLWT ...The advocates say the laws allow absentee ballots to be rejected for mistakes such as the wrong birth month even though the voter supplied the correction information when requesting the ballot...
U.S. Labor
Unpredictable Work Hours, Chaotic Life New York Times ...The tyranny of erratic work schedules is obvious to employees who don’t know what their schedules will be tomorrow or have to call in to see if there is work. And the effects have been well documented in articles and oral histories. Increasingly, the anecdotal evidence is being confirmed by research...
Social Justice & Other News
Huffington Post, Washington Post Reporters Charged For Doing Journalism In Ferguson Huffington Post ...Reporters from The Huffington Post and Washington Post have been charged with trespassing and interfering with a police officer’s performance, a chilling setback for press freedom coming nearly a year after their arrests in Ferguson, Missouri...
Jerry Brown Nixes 'Alien' From California Labor Law Huffington Post ...California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation Monday removing the word "alien" in reference to undocumented immigrants from the state's labor code. The measure, which will take effect Jan. 1, seeks to modernize the language used in California state law. Brown signed the legislation, SB 432, along with two other bills updating immigration policy on Monday...
Twitter Activists Slam St. Louis County Officials For Ferguson Response With #WhichEmergency Hashtag Salon.com ...Shortly after St. Louis County officials declared a state of emergency last night in response to protesters marking the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, activists on Twitter did something odd, agreeing with county officials and tweeting that there is, in fact, a state of emergency in St. Louis County — just not the one the officials had declared...
Here's How Much Water Golf Courses, Ski Resorts, And Pools Are Using In California Mother Jones ...Of the thirsty nonagricultural businesses, golf takes the lead: The average Palm Springs golf course uses the same amount of water in one day that a family of four does in five years. The 123 golf courses in the Palm Springs area use nearly a quarter of the region's groundwater...
Water Rationing In Puerto Rico Hits The Poor, Leaves Resorts Untouched Think Progress ...As the commonwealth’s reservoirs drop to their lowest levels in decades, the government has declared a state of emergency, and implemented strict rationing. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans now have had tap water only every third day, and that tightened this past weekend, giving families water only two days a week...
Heavily-Armed Oath Keepers Showed Up To Ferguson Last Night Mother Jones ...As demonstrators gathered in Ferguson to continue commemorating the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Monday, five heavily-armed men belonging to a vigilante group called the Oath Keepers were spotted patrolling the streets. According to reports, the Oath Keepers said they were on the scene to provide voluntary protection to a journalist working for the site InfoWars, the conspiracy mill run by noted lunatic Alex Jones...
Racialized Poverty In America Has Nearly Doubled In 21st Century Common Dreams ...Discriminatory housing, zoning, and other policy choices are driving the dramatic rise of racialized poverty and segregation across the United States, with the number of people residing in low-income "ghettos, barrios, and slums" nearly doubling in the 21st century alone, a new report finds...
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.21.15
Teamsters
Port truck drivers to wage 6th strike beginning Tuesday Press-Telegram ...Port truck drivers at a Carson-based company announced Monday they will again walk off the job to protest what they describe as wage theft and unfair working conditions. Drivers with Pacific 9 Transportation will begin pickets at 6 a.m. Tuesday at the company’s yard in Carson, then spread to marine terminals at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is trying to win unionization for the drivers...
Teamsters Deliver Results for Annual Food Drive Teamster.org ...This year’s sixth annual “Feed the County” campaign in Aroostook County, Maine, once again garnered a successful result thanks to efforts by Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine. At Saturday’s “Potato Blossom Parade” in Fort Fairfield, Maine, the Teamsters collected 10,000 pounds of food. They also raised $6,000 in monetary donations. This allows Catholic Charities to obtain 54,000 pounds of food...
Minneapolis Teamsters Commemorate '34 Teamsters Strikes (video) Teamster.org ...Former General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel joined Local 120 staffer (and granddaughter) Haylee Hilton to discuss the significance of the first marker to commemorate the historic 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strikes. The marker was unveiled during a June 18 ceremony in the city's Warehouse District...
Negotiations remain at standstill between EVSC Board and Teamsters Courier & Press ...Two weeks after the July 6 Evansville Vanderburgh School Board meeting, which was overflowing into the administration building’s lobby with Teamsters Local 215 members, collective bargaining sessions between the two groups remain at a standstill. Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said nothing new has happened since the last school board meeting...
Global Labor & Trade
House Democrats, Advocates Blast Trade Deal Protections For Drug Companies Huffington Post ...House Democrats and health care advocates blasted drug patent provisions in a current draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on Friday, criticizing the Obama administration for advancing policies that could drive up drug global drug costs. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), together with health advocates and a representative of the generic drug maker Mylan, called on the Obama administration to change aspects of the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact...
EU TTIP chief negotiator: ISDS proposal being finalized Politico ...The European Union will soon give the United States a formal proposal for revamping an investment dispute settlement mechanism that has raised concerns in Europe over the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership pact. “We would be aiming to put forward a proposal to the United States that is different from the existing ISDS [investor-state dispute settlement] regime,” Ignacio Garcia Bercero, the EU chief TTIP negotiator, told reporters...
House Dems: Financial safeguards needed in trade deal The Hill ...Four House Democrats on Monday urged the Obama administration to ensure that a pending Asia-Pacific trade deal includes strong capital controls that would help minimize the damaging effects of financial crises. The lawmakers want the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to give governments more flexibility to protect the stability of their financial systems by stemming the flow of speculative capital...
Pacific Partnership needs reform before it will help workers: Richard Trumka (opinion) USA Today ...The debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has just begun and workers in dozens of industries from every sector are going to have plenty to say about it. The last six months mark a fundamental shift in how our nation approaches and evaluates international trade proposals. Since before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), international trade has been treated as a "no-brainer," the sole purview of corporate and neo-liberal elites...
Greek banks reopen as citizens brace for new austerity measures Christian Science Monitor ...Orderly lines formed outside banks in Athens Monday morning as Greek banks reopened for the first time in three weeks. With the government contemplating withdrawing from the euro, faced with about €200 billion in debt, and the prospect of harsh austerity measures attached to any bailout from Europe – Greek banks had been shuttered for weeks to prevent the financial system from collapsing under a flood of withdrawals...
How Can Greece Break Out of the Austerity Trap? The Nation ...Greek banks have reopened this week, but Greece’s economy remains trapped in a tragic financial standoff—ironically, an economic war orchestrated by the monetary system originally designed to promote peaceful cooperation. So as the protests, financial panic, and political brinksmanship run their course, can anyone envision Greece actually rebuilding from this mess? ...
Bitterness remains as Crown Metal workers end 2-year strike The Star ...After a strike that spanned two bitter winters, the taste of victory is far from sweet for the workers of Crown Metal packaging. Employees narrowly voted Sunday night to ratify a new collective agreement with the Toronto-based beer can manufacturer, after one of province’s longest pickets in recent history...
State & Living Wage Battles
Bills seek more stable hours for low-paid workers Boston Globe ...Unpredictable scheduling is on the rise across the country as the part-time and around-the-clock labor force expands, and there is a growing movement to give employees, most of them low-wage, more control over when they work. A federal bill reintroduced last week and cosponsored by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as bills in 10 states, including Massachusetts, would require employers to stabilize schedules...
Members Of Congress Introduce Largest Minimum Wage Hike Yet Think Progress ...On Wednesday, members of Congress will introduce a national increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) along with Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison (MN), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), and other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will release details of the legislation after a morning event that day. A $15 minimum wage hike marks a significant increase from past Democratic bills to raise it...
Sanders to push $15 minimum wage bill The Hill ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing new legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour. The Democratic presidential candidate, who has made addressing income inequality a centerpiece of his campaign, will introduce the minimum wage bill Wednesday. Sanders has long called for a $15 minimum wage, but this is the first bill he is introducing to do so...
Wisconsin dairy farmers push for immigration reform Journal Sentinel ...Wisconsin dairy farmers are pushing for immigration reform, saying they need a federal labor policy that guarantees they will have enough employees to maintain and expand their businesses. By some estimates, nearly half or more of the hired help on U.S. dairy farms is immigrant labor — with a large percentage of those workers being undocumented. Without the foreign help, some farmers say, they would be forced to quit milking cows...
Florida Legislature to redraw congressional lines in August Associated Press ...Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature, dealing with the fallout of a sharply critical decision by the state's highest court, will hold a nearly two-week special session in August to draw up new congressional districts. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner finally announced Monday that they were summoning legislators back to town to respond to the court. In an extraordinary ruling earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court gave lawmakers just 100 days to draw up the new map...
How Hedge and Vulture Funds Have Exploited Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis The Nation ...over the past few years there’s been a growing presence of hedge funds, which avoid regulatory oversight and are solely interested in profit, regardless of how a national—or in the case of Puerto Rico, territorial—economy performs. Vulture funds, their more extreme counterparts, specifically target debt that is distressed or in danger of default in troubled economies, hoping to cash in on settlements after buying the debt for pennies on the dollar...
L.A. County supervisors set to vote on minimum wage increase LA Times ...Los Angeles County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to boost the minimum wage in county-controlled unincorporated areas from $9 to $15 over the next few years, following the lead of the city of Los Angeles. The anticipated vote could put the greater Los Angeles area on track to a $15-an-hour regional wage -- or could result in a patchwork system in which some of the 87 smaller independent cities in the county move to a higher wage and others hold out...
U.S. Labor
N.M. Field and Dairy Laborers Win Right To Workers’ Comp—Court Calls Exemption ‘Absurd’ In These Times ...The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled in June that excluding field and ranch workers from workers’ comp protection is unconstitutional. It was the second victory for New Mexico’s farmworkers in less than a year—and that’s big news in a low-wage sector made up primarily of immigrant workers, where victories tend to be few and far between. The first victory came last August when farmworkers finally started getting paid the correct minimum wage...
NLRB: Wilkes-Barre General Hospital violated federal law by withholding nurses’ longevity pay Times Leader ...The National Labor Relations Board has upheld a ruling that Wilkes-Barre General Hospital violated federal labor law when it withheld longevity-based pay from nurses last year. In an order dated July 14, the NLRB upheld the decision of Administrative Law Judge Susan A. Flynn, who ruled in September that the hospital violated the National Labor Relations Act when it failed to pay longevity-based wage increases to nurses after their union contract expired...
Unions’ New Target For Improving T-Mobile: The German Government Buzzfeed ...Telecommunications workers in America and Europe are petitioning the German Bundestag, or parliament, to take responsibility for labor conditions at U.S.-based T-Mobile. The German government owns a 31.7% share in Deutsche Telekom, the primary parent company of T-Mobile. This is enough, workers at Germany’s ver.di union and the U.S. Communications Workers of America argue, to mean the government should use its shareholder power to pressure Deutsche Telekom into enforcing international labor standards at its subsidiary...
The UAW and two tier employment Michigan Radio ...The UAW thinks their membership has sacrificed enough. Most of their higher-paid longtime, or “legacy,” workers make $28.50 an hour. But they haven’t had a raise in eight years, which, in reality, means they’ve had a pay cut. And the newer, Tier II workers can make a maximum of $19.28 an hour, which means that some workers are making more than $300 dollars a week less than another guy next to them who is doing the same job...
Miscellaneous
Smashing All Previous Records, 2015 on Track to Be Hottest Year Yet Common Dreams ...The planet Earth, with mankind's help, is leap-frogging into sweltering new territory. With the monthly update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) out Monday, three of the world's official climate reporting agencies agree that June 2015 was the hottest on record, and that this year is shaping up to be the hottest year yet. Scientists attribute this heat to human-induced global warming coupled with a particularly potent El Niño event...
Hillary Clinton—'Black lives matter. Everyone in this country should stand firmly behind that.' Daily Kos ...Although there is a tremendous amount of debate happening in the world of progressive activists about the #BlackLivesMatter protests at the conference over the weekend, there can be no denying they have elevated this debate to an unprecedented level. Their tenacious, relentless protesting means that real criminal justice reform will be a topic that no presidential candidate will be able to skirt if he or she wants to have any serious chance for the nomination or the White House...
Sandra Bland and the Long History of Racism in Waller County, Texas The Atlantic ...Waller County, Texas, has had a complicated racial history since the days when it was a part of Mexico. The messy, confusing double legacy of that history has persisted to the present, most recently embodied in the death of Sandra Bland in a Waller County jail cell. Bland, a 28-year-old from Chicago, was on a road trip to start a new job at her alma mater, historically black Prairie View A&M University, when she was pulled over by a state trooper for failing to signal a turn...
Red States 'Feel The Bern' as Populist Message Resonates Common Dreams ...On his latest round of campaign rallies this weekend, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drew three more huge crowds in support of his populist message. And while this has become a common occurrence these days for the senator, who is running for president in the 2016 election as a Democrat, the most recent turnouts are particularly significant because he is on a red-state swing...
Port truck drivers to wage 6th strike beginning Tuesday Press-Telegram ...Port truck drivers at a Carson-based company announced Monday they will again walk off the job to protest what they describe as wage theft and unfair working conditions. Drivers with Pacific 9 Transportation will begin pickets at 6 a.m. Tuesday at the company’s yard in Carson, then spread to marine terminals at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is trying to win unionization for the drivers...
Teamsters Deliver Results for Annual Food Drive Teamster.org ...This year’s sixth annual “Feed the County” campaign in Aroostook County, Maine, once again garnered a successful result thanks to efforts by Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine. At Saturday’s “Potato Blossom Parade” in Fort Fairfield, Maine, the Teamsters collected 10,000 pounds of food. They also raised $6,000 in monetary donations. This allows Catholic Charities to obtain 54,000 pounds of food...
Minneapolis Teamsters Commemorate '34 Teamsters Strikes (video) Teamster.org ...Former General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel joined Local 120 staffer (and granddaughter) Haylee Hilton to discuss the significance of the first marker to commemorate the historic 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strikes. The marker was unveiled during a June 18 ceremony in the city's Warehouse District...
Negotiations remain at standstill between EVSC Board and Teamsters Courier & Press ...Two weeks after the July 6 Evansville Vanderburgh School Board meeting, which was overflowing into the administration building’s lobby with Teamsters Local 215 members, collective bargaining sessions between the two groups remain at a standstill. Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said nothing new has happened since the last school board meeting...
Global Labor & Trade
House Democrats, Advocates Blast Trade Deal Protections For Drug Companies Huffington Post ...House Democrats and health care advocates blasted drug patent provisions in a current draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on Friday, criticizing the Obama administration for advancing policies that could drive up drug global drug costs. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), together with health advocates and a representative of the generic drug maker Mylan, called on the Obama administration to change aspects of the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact...
EU TTIP chief negotiator: ISDS proposal being finalized Politico ...The European Union will soon give the United States a formal proposal for revamping an investment dispute settlement mechanism that has raised concerns in Europe over the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership pact. “We would be aiming to put forward a proposal to the United States that is different from the existing ISDS [investor-state dispute settlement] regime,” Ignacio Garcia Bercero, the EU chief TTIP negotiator, told reporters...
House Dems: Financial safeguards needed in trade deal The Hill ...Four House Democrats on Monday urged the Obama administration to ensure that a pending Asia-Pacific trade deal includes strong capital controls that would help minimize the damaging effects of financial crises. The lawmakers want the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to give governments more flexibility to protect the stability of their financial systems by stemming the flow of speculative capital...
Pacific Partnership needs reform before it will help workers: Richard Trumka (opinion) USA Today ...The debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has just begun and workers in dozens of industries from every sector are going to have plenty to say about it. The last six months mark a fundamental shift in how our nation approaches and evaluates international trade proposals. Since before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), international trade has been treated as a "no-brainer," the sole purview of corporate and neo-liberal elites...
Greek banks reopen as citizens brace for new austerity measures Christian Science Monitor ...Orderly lines formed outside banks in Athens Monday morning as Greek banks reopened for the first time in three weeks. With the government contemplating withdrawing from the euro, faced with about €200 billion in debt, and the prospect of harsh austerity measures attached to any bailout from Europe – Greek banks had been shuttered for weeks to prevent the financial system from collapsing under a flood of withdrawals...
How Can Greece Break Out of the Austerity Trap? The Nation ...Greek banks have reopened this week, but Greece’s economy remains trapped in a tragic financial standoff—ironically, an economic war orchestrated by the monetary system originally designed to promote peaceful cooperation. So as the protests, financial panic, and political brinksmanship run their course, can anyone envision Greece actually rebuilding from this mess? ...
Bitterness remains as Crown Metal workers end 2-year strike The Star ...After a strike that spanned two bitter winters, the taste of victory is far from sweet for the workers of Crown Metal packaging. Employees narrowly voted Sunday night to ratify a new collective agreement with the Toronto-based beer can manufacturer, after one of province’s longest pickets in recent history...
State & Living Wage Battles
Bills seek more stable hours for low-paid workers Boston Globe ...Unpredictable scheduling is on the rise across the country as the part-time and around-the-clock labor force expands, and there is a growing movement to give employees, most of them low-wage, more control over when they work. A federal bill reintroduced last week and cosponsored by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as bills in 10 states, including Massachusetts, would require employers to stabilize schedules...
Members Of Congress Introduce Largest Minimum Wage Hike Yet Think Progress ...On Wednesday, members of Congress will introduce a national increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) along with Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison (MN), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), and other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will release details of the legislation after a morning event that day. A $15 minimum wage hike marks a significant increase from past Democratic bills to raise it...
Sanders to push $15 minimum wage bill The Hill ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing new legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour. The Democratic presidential candidate, who has made addressing income inequality a centerpiece of his campaign, will introduce the minimum wage bill Wednesday. Sanders has long called for a $15 minimum wage, but this is the first bill he is introducing to do so...
Wisconsin dairy farmers push for immigration reform Journal Sentinel ...Wisconsin dairy farmers are pushing for immigration reform, saying they need a federal labor policy that guarantees they will have enough employees to maintain and expand their businesses. By some estimates, nearly half or more of the hired help on U.S. dairy farms is immigrant labor — with a large percentage of those workers being undocumented. Without the foreign help, some farmers say, they would be forced to quit milking cows...
Florida Legislature to redraw congressional lines in August Associated Press ...Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature, dealing with the fallout of a sharply critical decision by the state's highest court, will hold a nearly two-week special session in August to draw up new congressional districts. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner finally announced Monday that they were summoning legislators back to town to respond to the court. In an extraordinary ruling earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court gave lawmakers just 100 days to draw up the new map...
How Hedge and Vulture Funds Have Exploited Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis The Nation ...over the past few years there’s been a growing presence of hedge funds, which avoid regulatory oversight and are solely interested in profit, regardless of how a national—or in the case of Puerto Rico, territorial—economy performs. Vulture funds, their more extreme counterparts, specifically target debt that is distressed or in danger of default in troubled economies, hoping to cash in on settlements after buying the debt for pennies on the dollar...
L.A. County supervisors set to vote on minimum wage increase LA Times ...Los Angeles County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to boost the minimum wage in county-controlled unincorporated areas from $9 to $15 over the next few years, following the lead of the city of Los Angeles. The anticipated vote could put the greater Los Angeles area on track to a $15-an-hour regional wage -- or could result in a patchwork system in which some of the 87 smaller independent cities in the county move to a higher wage and others hold out...
U.S. Labor
N.M. Field and Dairy Laborers Win Right To Workers’ Comp—Court Calls Exemption ‘Absurd’ In These Times ...The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled in June that excluding field and ranch workers from workers’ comp protection is unconstitutional. It was the second victory for New Mexico’s farmworkers in less than a year—and that’s big news in a low-wage sector made up primarily of immigrant workers, where victories tend to be few and far between. The first victory came last August when farmworkers finally started getting paid the correct minimum wage...
NLRB: Wilkes-Barre General Hospital violated federal law by withholding nurses’ longevity pay Times Leader ...The National Labor Relations Board has upheld a ruling that Wilkes-Barre General Hospital violated federal labor law when it withheld longevity-based pay from nurses last year. In an order dated July 14, the NLRB upheld the decision of Administrative Law Judge Susan A. Flynn, who ruled in September that the hospital violated the National Labor Relations Act when it failed to pay longevity-based wage increases to nurses after their union contract expired...
Unions’ New Target For Improving T-Mobile: The German Government Buzzfeed ...Telecommunications workers in America and Europe are petitioning the German Bundestag, or parliament, to take responsibility for labor conditions at U.S.-based T-Mobile. The German government owns a 31.7% share in Deutsche Telekom, the primary parent company of T-Mobile. This is enough, workers at Germany’s ver.di union and the U.S. Communications Workers of America argue, to mean the government should use its shareholder power to pressure Deutsche Telekom into enforcing international labor standards at its subsidiary...
The UAW and two tier employment Michigan Radio ...The UAW thinks their membership has sacrificed enough. Most of their higher-paid longtime, or “legacy,” workers make $28.50 an hour. But they haven’t had a raise in eight years, which, in reality, means they’ve had a pay cut. And the newer, Tier II workers can make a maximum of $19.28 an hour, which means that some workers are making more than $300 dollars a week less than another guy next to them who is doing the same job...
Miscellaneous
Smashing All Previous Records, 2015 on Track to Be Hottest Year Yet Common Dreams ...The planet Earth, with mankind's help, is leap-frogging into sweltering new territory. With the monthly update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) out Monday, three of the world's official climate reporting agencies agree that June 2015 was the hottest on record, and that this year is shaping up to be the hottest year yet. Scientists attribute this heat to human-induced global warming coupled with a particularly potent El Niño event...
Hillary Clinton—'Black lives matter. Everyone in this country should stand firmly behind that.' Daily Kos ...Although there is a tremendous amount of debate happening in the world of progressive activists about the #BlackLivesMatter protests at the conference over the weekend, there can be no denying they have elevated this debate to an unprecedented level. Their tenacious, relentless protesting means that real criminal justice reform will be a topic that no presidential candidate will be able to skirt if he or she wants to have any serious chance for the nomination or the White House...
Sandra Bland and the Long History of Racism in Waller County, Texas The Atlantic ...Waller County, Texas, has had a complicated racial history since the days when it was a part of Mexico. The messy, confusing double legacy of that history has persisted to the present, most recently embodied in the death of Sandra Bland in a Waller County jail cell. Bland, a 28-year-old from Chicago, was on a road trip to start a new job at her alma mater, historically black Prairie View A&M University, when she was pulled over by a state trooper for failing to signal a turn...
Red States 'Feel The Bern' as Populist Message Resonates Common Dreams ...On his latest round of campaign rallies this weekend, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drew three more huge crowds in support of his populist message. And while this has become a common occurrence these days for the senator, who is running for president in the 2016 election as a Democrat, the most recent turnouts are particularly significant because he is on a red-state swing...
Friday, July 17, 2015
Workers' fight for justice takes on many forms
 |
| Calif. Assemblyman David Chiu |
Unions, worker allies and even some lawmakers said during the Netroots Nation conference here they are stepping up their efforts to challenge corporations that are trying to maximize their profits at the expense of their employees. And many involved in the movement told attendees they are beginning to win, and others can too.
California Assemblyman David Chiu helped lead the movement to force large retail companies in San Francisco last year to issue worker schedules two weeks in advance, and penalize those employers that change it. He said the debate is now moving forward elsewhere:
This is a conversation not just happening in San Francisco, but around the country. And the more it is, the greater the chance it will prevail. ... I have no doubt over the next few years we will prevail.Part of the battle is trying to discuss the issue in a way that the public will understand. While the constant discussion of income inequality in the media and elsewhere over the past few years has raised awareness of the need for increasing the minimum wage, for instance, the discussion over the need for scheduling certainty still lags behind. It is part of an ongoing awareness campaign.
Nelini Stamp, co-director of Rise Up Georgia, said she originally began working in retail as a way to save up money for college. But the low wages and unpredictable schedules, mixed with the ever-increasing cost of higher education, has stalled that dream for now:
We want jobs. People want to work. But employers are taking it out of our hands. ... We believe we can push corporations to offer better schedules for their workers.Of course, there are ways for workers to challenge these matters themselves. By organizing and joining a union like the Teamsters, workers can take these issues head on and win. It isn't always easy, but it can and does succeed.
Maria Neyoy, a bakery department employee for the El Super grocery chain in Arizona, is working to bring change that will help workers there. Since she got involved, the company has raised her salary by $4 an hour in hopes to get her to stop unionization efforts, but she said through an interpreter she won't until her coworkers can also receive a better salary:
This company ... does have the money to give us the raises we deserve. They are treating us like slaves. We are going to be out there until we get the contract we deserve.
Today's Teamster News 07.17.15
Teamsters
Chicago Parking Valet Engaged in Unfair Labor Practices, NLRB Rules Local 727 ...Chicago Parking Valet has engaged in unfair labor practices, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Last year, an arbitrator ordered Chicago Parking Valet to pay employees, Teamsters Local 727 and the union Benefit Funds years’ worth back pay, dues and benefit contributions. However, the company then refused to furnish the union with requested information that was essential to carrying out the arbitration decision...
Teamsters, without a contract for last year-and-a-half, go on strike Thursday Belleville News-Democrat ...Some local construction sites may not be receiving concrete Thursday after about 80 metro-east laborers went on strike Thursday morning. The Teamsters Union Local 50 in Swansea announced the work stoppage after members had been delivering ready-mix concrete while working without a contract for the past year and a half. Union president Scott Alexander said the laborers were no closer to a settlement over their wages, pension and health care...
Teamsters Rail Ratify Five-Year Agreement with Ontario Northland Corridor Capital ...Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today the ratification of a new five-year collective agreement. 94% of the vote was in favour of the agreement. “I am happy that the membership strongly supported the agreement,” said Louis Wilson, representative of TCRC MWED...
Still No Deal Between EVSC and Teamsters Tristate Homepage ...Still no deal between the EVSC and Teamsters Local 215, the jobs of nearly 700 employees are on the line as both sides are still working to secure a contract. Their contract expired June 30. We're told while the Teamsters and the EVSC have been communicating negotiations have yet to resume...
Teamsters Local Union 340 holding annual food drive to benefit Caribou Catholic Charities News Channel Network ...Everyone loves being part of the Potato Blossom Festival…tomorrow the Teamsters Local Union 340 food truck will head up to the County to do just that. They’re holding their 6th annual statewide food drive to benefit Catholic Charities in Caribou. They’ll be bringing up what they’ve collected so far...
Global Labor & Trade
Tension builds between Canada, U.S. over TPP deal Globe and Mail ...The U.S. government is frustrated with Canada over Pacific Rim trade talks because it believes Ottawa promised greater foreign access to its dairy and poultry markets as a condition of joining – and yet has offered nothing as discussions enter the final stretch, sources say. This friction between Canada and the U.S. is exposing a fundamental disagreement...
Lawmakers say Canada risks ouster from TPP unless it opens access to dairy market AgriPulse ...A bipartisan group of 21 House members is warning Canada that it may not be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it continues to resist increasing access to its dairy market. The warning was contained in a letter to Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., and signed by House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas...
Public-Private 'Revolving Door' Boosts TTIP Lobby, Report Says TeleSur ...As a massive lobby fight swirls around TTIP negotiations, the extent of the fast-spinning revolving door between the public sector and the prospective private beneficiaries of the deal threatens to create major conflicts of interest and tighten the corporate stranglehold on TTIP trade talks, says a new report released Wednesday...
Pushed by unions, Labor threatens China trade deal in Senate Financial Review ...Pressure is building on the Abbott government to tighten the China Australia Free Trade Agreement with the federal Opposition saying the deal does not adequately protect Australian jobs. As the trade union movement prepares for an assault on the signed agreement at next week's Labor National Conference, shadow trade minister Penny Wong said it "lacks critical safeguards"...
Greek debt crisis eases as banks prepare to reopen Monday Washington Post ...The acute economic crisis that has gripped Greece for weeks eased markedly Thursday as European officials dismantled key obstacles to desperately needed loans and the country’s banks prepared to reopen Monday, three weeks after locking their doors. The positive signals came hours after Greece’s Parliament reluctantly approved austerity measures required as a condition of a $96 billion bailout...
Advancing Bailout, Greece Approves 'Terms of Surrender' to Austerity Common Dreams ...After a lengthy and tense debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning, the 300-member Greek Parliament voted by a majority of 229-64 to pass what former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis—one of those to vote "No"—is calling the "Terms of Greece's Surrender" to European creditors. The €86 billion bailout comes at a high political and social cost, forcing the imposition of harsh austerity measures and economic reforms tougher than those rejected by more than 60 percent of Greek voters...
State & Living Wage Battles
Chris Christie Is Turning Tap Water Into a Private Commodity The Nation ...In 2010, the citizens of Trenton, New Jersey, were asked to sell part of their water system for $80 million to New Jersey American Water, the largest private water utility company in the state. They rejected the privatization attempt by nearly four-to-one at the ballot box. However, lawmakers in New Jersey have passed legislation that attempts to silence the voices of communities like Trenton.
5 Ways Scott Walker's Allies On Wisconsin's High Court Just Legalized Political Corruption Alternet ...The Wisconsin Supreme Court has single-handedly rewritten the state’s limits on money in politics, rendering the state’s disclosure laws and contribution limits meaningless, and opening the door to unlimited funds directly from corporations and foreign firms. In a 4-2 decision that broke along ideological lines, the Court's conservative majority ended the John Doe probe into whether Governor Scott Walker illegally coordinated with supposedly "independent" dark money groups during the recall elections...
Do the math: Rauner’s call for repeal of prevailing wage law doesn’t add up (opinion) Chicago Reporter ...Illinois residents are starting to feel the pain from the state’s budget stalemate, as Governor Rauner continues to insist that his anti-union “turnaround agenda” be part of any budget solution. As part of that agenda, Rauner has called for repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law. In his state of the state address, he argued that the prevailing wage law increases the cost of construction by 20 percent. That’s not mathematically possible...
Voter ID Laws, Legacy of Segregation Still Affect Alabama US News & World Report ...Earlier this month, when the Center for American Progress Action Fund think tank released a state-by-state assessment of democracy, which looked at citizens' access to the polls, legislative representation and political influence, most observers weren't surprised that the Deep South ended up on the bottom rung. The grade, however, is an indication of a deeper, more complex problem found in Alabama and other Southern red states like Louisiana and Texas. The region's bitter legacy of racial segregation has created an environment where access to the polls is still questionable...
Tomblin weighs in on prevailing wage debate Daily Mail ...When discussing the ongoing spectacle surrounding the expiration of West Virginia’s prevailing wage law, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Thursday said misunderstanding has fueled the dispute between legislators and WorkForce West Virginia, the agency tasked with developing a new wage. While Tomblin acknowledged WorkForce West Virginia’s failure to disclose requested documents that Republicans are saying show how labor organizations attempted to influence the wage recalculation, he said he doesn’t believe the agency tried to hide anything...
Martin O’Malley Backs $15 National Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley on Thursday declared his support for raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, contrasting himself with frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I strongly support the national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because it will lift millions of families out of poverty and create better customers for American businesses,” O’Malley said in a statement...
U.S. Labor
EEOC Rules Workplace Sexual Orientation Discrimination Already Illegal Under Federal Law Slate ...On Thursday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission unanimously ruled that sexual orientation discrimination is already illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner reports, the EEOC's groundbreaking decision effectively declares that employment discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers is unlawful in all 50 states...
Democrats push to limit abusive work scheduling practices like split shifts Daily Kos ...Low hourly wages aren't the only thing that keep workers in the fast food and retail industries struggling. Scheduling matters, too. These days it's common for workers to not know their schedules more than a week ahead. Democrats, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, and Chris Murphy and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Bobby Scott, have a bill to fix that, or at least start to fix it: the Schedules That Work Act...
Wage Disparities High on List as Fiat Chrysler, UAW Begin Talks Wall Street Journal ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Chief Sergio Marchionne is open to killing the controversial two-tier wage system that union members dislike but is unwilling to raise overall labor costs, a position that could complicate the path to reaching a new labor deal in mid-September. “We need to make money in order to pay people, as crass as that may sound,” Mr. Marchionne said during Tuesday’s ceremonial handshake to mark the start of contract negotiations...
KapStone workers OK unfair labor practice strike TDN ...KapStone's union mill workers overwhelmingly authorized an unfair labor practice strike this week, the union reported. About 99 percent of voting union members approve of the strike authorization, officials of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers said Wednesday night. The vote is an attempt to show that any strike would be over an unfair labor practice rather than purely economic concerns...
Papa John’s Franchisee Faces Jail Time Over Stealing Workers’ Wages Think Progress ...On Wednesday, the owner of nine Papa John’s franchises in New York City pled guilty to the first criminal case brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman against a fast food franchisee over wage theft. According to court documents, including company records obtained by the attorney general’s office, Abdul Jamil Khokhar, the franchisee, and BMY Foods Inc. paid its 300 current and former workers the same base rate for any hours they worked after putting in 40 a week...
Unemployment Rates in New York City and State Fall to Seven-Year Lows New York Times ...The unemployment rates in New York City and New York State fell to their lowest levels in nearly seven years as the long, steady improvement of New York’s economy continued in June, according to State Labor Department figures released on Thursday. The department reported that New York City’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 percent, from 6.4 percent in May...
Wisconsin unemployment rate holds steady at 4.6% Journal-Sentinel ...Wisconsin's unemployment rate stood unchanged in June at 4.6% from May, although the index is below the 5.4% in the same month a year ago and well below a peak of 9.2% at the worst point after the recession. Statistics show that Wisconsin has been a slow-growth jobs state for more than a decade...
Serfing the Web: On-Demand Workers Deserve a Place at the Table The Nation ...The Federal Trade Commission workshop “The ‘Sharing’ Economy” purported to focus on “issues facing platforms, participants, and regulators.” But calling an Uber driver a mere “participant” unfairly predetermines the most fundamental labor issue of the digital economy: whether those who work for massive digital platforms deserve the protection of employment, or can be treated as mere “independent contractors” bereft of traditional labor protections...
Miscellaneous
Federal Government Deepens Commitment To Separate Justice Systems For Wall Street, Main Street Think Progress ...People who apply for jobs with federal contractors still have to check a box if they have been to prison, but a government agency is finally trying to “ban the box” — at least, for billionaire bankers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is quietly seeking to negate the consequences of felony guilty pleas that some of Wall Street’s biggest names entered earlier this year, according to a letter from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)...
Immigration Reform: Undocumented Immigrant Protest In Los Angeles Against County Jails Leads To 3 Arrests International Business Times ...Three people were arrested Wednesday evening at a Los Angeles demonstration protesting county jails taking part in a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiative that asks law enforcement officers to notify the agency if they believed an inmate was an undocumented immigrant before he or she was released. The controversial Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) was debated at a public forum hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department before protesters took to the streets...
Mass Graves of Immigrants Found in Texas, But State Says No Laws Were Broken Democracy Now ...Texas says there is "no evidence" of wrongdoing after mass graves filled with bodies of immigrants were found miles inland from the U.S.-Mexico border. The bodies were gathered from the desert surrounding a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, in Brooks County...
A Black Woman Named Sandra Bland Got Pulled Over in Texas and Died in Jail Three Days Later. Why? Slate ... troubling story posted Wednesday night by an ABC affiliate in Chicago is picking up momentum online Thursday: the case of Sandra Bland, a black woman from Naperville, Illinois, who was stopped by police in Waller County, Texas, for making an improper lane change last Friday and ended up dead in jail on Monday morning. Police say Bland—who was in the area for a job interview at her alma mater, Texas Prairie View A&M—was arrested for “assault on a public servant” and appears to have committed suicide...
After EPA Ignored Environmental Racism for Decades, Communities Fight Back Common Dreams ...The Environmental Protection Agency has been ignoring complaints about environmental racism across the United States for up to 20 years, repeatedly failing to investigate evidence that incinerators, power plants, and hazardous waste dumps are disproportionally harming the health of low-income communities of color, a new lawsuit charges...
Chicago Parking Valet Engaged in Unfair Labor Practices, NLRB Rules Local 727 ...Chicago Parking Valet has engaged in unfair labor practices, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Last year, an arbitrator ordered Chicago Parking Valet to pay employees, Teamsters Local 727 and the union Benefit Funds years’ worth back pay, dues and benefit contributions. However, the company then refused to furnish the union with requested information that was essential to carrying out the arbitration decision...
Teamsters, without a contract for last year-and-a-half, go on strike Thursday Belleville News-Democrat ...Some local construction sites may not be receiving concrete Thursday after about 80 metro-east laborers went on strike Thursday morning. The Teamsters Union Local 50 in Swansea announced the work stoppage after members had been delivering ready-mix concrete while working without a contract for the past year and a half. Union president Scott Alexander said the laborers were no closer to a settlement over their wages, pension and health care...
Teamsters Rail Ratify Five-Year Agreement with Ontario Northland Corridor Capital ...Northland Transportation Commission (Ontario Northland) and Teamsters Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division (TCRC MWED) announced today the ratification of a new five-year collective agreement. 94% of the vote was in favour of the agreement. “I am happy that the membership strongly supported the agreement,” said Louis Wilson, representative of TCRC MWED...
Still No Deal Between EVSC and Teamsters Tristate Homepage ...Still no deal between the EVSC and Teamsters Local 215, the jobs of nearly 700 employees are on the line as both sides are still working to secure a contract. Their contract expired June 30. We're told while the Teamsters and the EVSC have been communicating negotiations have yet to resume...
Teamsters Local Union 340 holding annual food drive to benefit Caribou Catholic Charities News Channel Network ...Everyone loves being part of the Potato Blossom Festival…tomorrow the Teamsters Local Union 340 food truck will head up to the County to do just that. They’re holding their 6th annual statewide food drive to benefit Catholic Charities in Caribou. They’ll be bringing up what they’ve collected so far...
Global Labor & Trade
Tension builds between Canada, U.S. over TPP deal Globe and Mail ...The U.S. government is frustrated with Canada over Pacific Rim trade talks because it believes Ottawa promised greater foreign access to its dairy and poultry markets as a condition of joining – and yet has offered nothing as discussions enter the final stretch, sources say. This friction between Canada and the U.S. is exposing a fundamental disagreement...
Lawmakers say Canada risks ouster from TPP unless it opens access to dairy market AgriPulse ...A bipartisan group of 21 House members is warning Canada that it may not be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it continues to resist increasing access to its dairy market. The warning was contained in a letter to Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., and signed by House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas...
Public-Private 'Revolving Door' Boosts TTIP Lobby, Report Says TeleSur ...As a massive lobby fight swirls around TTIP negotiations, the extent of the fast-spinning revolving door between the public sector and the prospective private beneficiaries of the deal threatens to create major conflicts of interest and tighten the corporate stranglehold on TTIP trade talks, says a new report released Wednesday...
Pushed by unions, Labor threatens China trade deal in Senate Financial Review ...Pressure is building on the Abbott government to tighten the China Australia Free Trade Agreement with the federal Opposition saying the deal does not adequately protect Australian jobs. As the trade union movement prepares for an assault on the signed agreement at next week's Labor National Conference, shadow trade minister Penny Wong said it "lacks critical safeguards"...
Greek debt crisis eases as banks prepare to reopen Monday Washington Post ...The acute economic crisis that has gripped Greece for weeks eased markedly Thursday as European officials dismantled key obstacles to desperately needed loans and the country’s banks prepared to reopen Monday, three weeks after locking their doors. The positive signals came hours after Greece’s Parliament reluctantly approved austerity measures required as a condition of a $96 billion bailout...
Advancing Bailout, Greece Approves 'Terms of Surrender' to Austerity Common Dreams ...After a lengthy and tense debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning, the 300-member Greek Parliament voted by a majority of 229-64 to pass what former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis—one of those to vote "No"—is calling the "Terms of Greece's Surrender" to European creditors. The €86 billion bailout comes at a high political and social cost, forcing the imposition of harsh austerity measures and economic reforms tougher than those rejected by more than 60 percent of Greek voters...
State & Living Wage Battles
Chris Christie Is Turning Tap Water Into a Private Commodity The Nation ...In 2010, the citizens of Trenton, New Jersey, were asked to sell part of their water system for $80 million to New Jersey American Water, the largest private water utility company in the state. They rejected the privatization attempt by nearly four-to-one at the ballot box. However, lawmakers in New Jersey have passed legislation that attempts to silence the voices of communities like Trenton.
5 Ways Scott Walker's Allies On Wisconsin's High Court Just Legalized Political Corruption Alternet ...The Wisconsin Supreme Court has single-handedly rewritten the state’s limits on money in politics, rendering the state’s disclosure laws and contribution limits meaningless, and opening the door to unlimited funds directly from corporations and foreign firms. In a 4-2 decision that broke along ideological lines, the Court's conservative majority ended the John Doe probe into whether Governor Scott Walker illegally coordinated with supposedly "independent" dark money groups during the recall elections...
Do the math: Rauner’s call for repeal of prevailing wage law doesn’t add up (opinion) Chicago Reporter ...Illinois residents are starting to feel the pain from the state’s budget stalemate, as Governor Rauner continues to insist that his anti-union “turnaround agenda” be part of any budget solution. As part of that agenda, Rauner has called for repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law. In his state of the state address, he argued that the prevailing wage law increases the cost of construction by 20 percent. That’s not mathematically possible...
Voter ID Laws, Legacy of Segregation Still Affect Alabama US News & World Report ...Earlier this month, when the Center for American Progress Action Fund think tank released a state-by-state assessment of democracy, which looked at citizens' access to the polls, legislative representation and political influence, most observers weren't surprised that the Deep South ended up on the bottom rung. The grade, however, is an indication of a deeper, more complex problem found in Alabama and other Southern red states like Louisiana and Texas. The region's bitter legacy of racial segregation has created an environment where access to the polls is still questionable...
Tomblin weighs in on prevailing wage debate Daily Mail ...When discussing the ongoing spectacle surrounding the expiration of West Virginia’s prevailing wage law, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Thursday said misunderstanding has fueled the dispute between legislators and WorkForce West Virginia, the agency tasked with developing a new wage. While Tomblin acknowledged WorkForce West Virginia’s failure to disclose requested documents that Republicans are saying show how labor organizations attempted to influence the wage recalculation, he said he doesn’t believe the agency tried to hide anything...
Martin O’Malley Backs $15 National Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley on Thursday declared his support for raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, contrasting himself with frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I strongly support the national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because it will lift millions of families out of poverty and create better customers for American businesses,” O’Malley said in a statement...
U.S. Labor
EEOC Rules Workplace Sexual Orientation Discrimination Already Illegal Under Federal Law Slate ...On Thursday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission unanimously ruled that sexual orientation discrimination is already illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner reports, the EEOC's groundbreaking decision effectively declares that employment discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers is unlawful in all 50 states...
Democrats push to limit abusive work scheduling practices like split shifts Daily Kos ...Low hourly wages aren't the only thing that keep workers in the fast food and retail industries struggling. Scheduling matters, too. These days it's common for workers to not know their schedules more than a week ahead. Democrats, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, and Chris Murphy and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Bobby Scott, have a bill to fix that, or at least start to fix it: the Schedules That Work Act...
Wage Disparities High on List as Fiat Chrysler, UAW Begin Talks Wall Street Journal ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Chief Sergio Marchionne is open to killing the controversial two-tier wage system that union members dislike but is unwilling to raise overall labor costs, a position that could complicate the path to reaching a new labor deal in mid-September. “We need to make money in order to pay people, as crass as that may sound,” Mr. Marchionne said during Tuesday’s ceremonial handshake to mark the start of contract negotiations...
KapStone workers OK unfair labor practice strike TDN ...KapStone's union mill workers overwhelmingly authorized an unfair labor practice strike this week, the union reported. About 99 percent of voting union members approve of the strike authorization, officials of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers said Wednesday night. The vote is an attempt to show that any strike would be over an unfair labor practice rather than purely economic concerns...
Papa John’s Franchisee Faces Jail Time Over Stealing Workers’ Wages Think Progress ...On Wednesday, the owner of nine Papa John’s franchises in New York City pled guilty to the first criminal case brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman against a fast food franchisee over wage theft. According to court documents, including company records obtained by the attorney general’s office, Abdul Jamil Khokhar, the franchisee, and BMY Foods Inc. paid its 300 current and former workers the same base rate for any hours they worked after putting in 40 a week...
Unemployment Rates in New York City and State Fall to Seven-Year Lows New York Times ...The unemployment rates in New York City and New York State fell to their lowest levels in nearly seven years as the long, steady improvement of New York’s economy continued in June, according to State Labor Department figures released on Thursday. The department reported that New York City’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 percent, from 6.4 percent in May...
Wisconsin unemployment rate holds steady at 4.6% Journal-Sentinel ...Wisconsin's unemployment rate stood unchanged in June at 4.6% from May, although the index is below the 5.4% in the same month a year ago and well below a peak of 9.2% at the worst point after the recession. Statistics show that Wisconsin has been a slow-growth jobs state for more than a decade...
Serfing the Web: On-Demand Workers Deserve a Place at the Table The Nation ...The Federal Trade Commission workshop “The ‘Sharing’ Economy” purported to focus on “issues facing platforms, participants, and regulators.” But calling an Uber driver a mere “participant” unfairly predetermines the most fundamental labor issue of the digital economy: whether those who work for massive digital platforms deserve the protection of employment, or can be treated as mere “independent contractors” bereft of traditional labor protections...
Miscellaneous
Federal Government Deepens Commitment To Separate Justice Systems For Wall Street, Main Street Think Progress ...People who apply for jobs with federal contractors still have to check a box if they have been to prison, but a government agency is finally trying to “ban the box” — at least, for billionaire bankers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is quietly seeking to negate the consequences of felony guilty pleas that some of Wall Street’s biggest names entered earlier this year, according to a letter from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)...
Immigration Reform: Undocumented Immigrant Protest In Los Angeles Against County Jails Leads To 3 Arrests International Business Times ...Three people were arrested Wednesday evening at a Los Angeles demonstration protesting county jails taking part in a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiative that asks law enforcement officers to notify the agency if they believed an inmate was an undocumented immigrant before he or she was released. The controversial Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) was debated at a public forum hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department before protesters took to the streets...
Mass Graves of Immigrants Found in Texas, But State Says No Laws Were Broken Democracy Now ...Texas says there is "no evidence" of wrongdoing after mass graves filled with bodies of immigrants were found miles inland from the U.S.-Mexico border. The bodies were gathered from the desert surrounding a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, in Brooks County...
A Black Woman Named Sandra Bland Got Pulled Over in Texas and Died in Jail Three Days Later. Why? Slate ... troubling story posted Wednesday night by an ABC affiliate in Chicago is picking up momentum online Thursday: the case of Sandra Bland, a black woman from Naperville, Illinois, who was stopped by police in Waller County, Texas, for making an improper lane change last Friday and ended up dead in jail on Monday morning. Police say Bland—who was in the area for a job interview at her alma mater, Texas Prairie View A&M—was arrested for “assault on a public servant” and appears to have committed suicide...
After EPA Ignored Environmental Racism for Decades, Communities Fight Back Common Dreams ...The Environmental Protection Agency has been ignoring complaints about environmental racism across the United States for up to 20 years, repeatedly failing to investigate evidence that incinerators, power plants, and hazardous waste dumps are disproportionally harming the health of low-income communities of color, a new lawsuit charges...
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