Today's Teamster News 05.26.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Local 986, Valet Workers Temporarily End Strike at SLS Hotel  Teamster.org  ...Today, valet parking attendants at SLS Hotel and Casino, along with Teamsters Local 986, are temporarily ending the unfair labor practice strike launched Wednesday at SLS Hotel and Casino. The strike could resume at any moment should SLS management continue to disregard the National Labor Relations Act and refuse to allow its 50 valet parking attendants to exercise their federally protected rights...
Teamster Taxi Drivers File Lawsuit Against D.C. Over Legislation Favoring Ride Services  Teamster.org  ...Today, D.C. taxi drivers and their Washington, D.C. Metro Area Taxi Operators Association filed a class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia over an unfair, two-tiered system that gives a competitive advantage to ride services like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar over taxi operators...
Hoffa Statement on Senate Fast Track Vote  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the Senate’s approval of a fast track bill today that will make it easier for bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to move through Congress: “The Teamsters are taking a stand against fast track because it’s right for U.S. workers and right for this country. That doesn’t change because of this disappointing outcome in the Senate"...
Teamsters: Any Delay in Infrastructure Funding Costs Jobs, Economic Opportunities  Teamster.org  ...Today, the Senate followed the House, and approved a two-month extension of the Highway Trust Fund, yet again choosing to delay finding a long-term solution on how to fund the repair and maintenance of our aging infrastructure. This marks the thirty-third short-term funding measure passed by Congress in six years and the third in the last year alone...
A Memorial Day Message From Jim Hoffa  Teamster.org  ...For more than a century, the Teamsters have seen some of our union brothers and sisters go off to war and not come home. We also know that many of our members have lost family and friends in such conflicts as well. The Teamsters are humbled by the sacrifice made by all these soldiers, and we wish those affected by their loss comfort and peace...
Teamsters, Basic Crafts Unions Reach Deal With Producers  Variety  ...Hollywood Teamsters and four other Basic Crafts Unions have reached a tentative agreement with producers on a three-year successor deal to the master contract. The new deal — which covers about 5,000 below-the-line employees — was concluded Thursday after four days weeks of negotiations between the unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers...

Global Labor & Trade
U.S. Fast-Track Vote Bolsters Talks on Pacific Trade Pact  Wall Street Journal  ...The U.S. Senate’s passage of fast-track legislation has injected fresh momentum into talks on a landmark Pacific trade deal, with negotiators saying they are in the final stages of discussions after more than five years of wrangling. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he feels good about progress on the deal...
‘Fast track’ trade fight advances  Politico  ...The US Senate on Friday approved a “fast track” trade promotion authority bill that will help President Barack Obama conclude a massive agreement with the Asia-Pacific and with European Union. The 62-37 vote followed two weeks of debate on the measure, which would allow the White House to submit trade agreements to Congress for straight up-or-down votes without any amendments...
No Pacific trade deal meeting until U.S. fast-track passes - Chile  Reuters  ...States hoping to set up a free trade zone across the Pacific can not hold a key meeting until both houses of the U.S. Congress pass legislation speeding the passage of the deal, a Chilean minister said, underscoring another major hurdle for the pact. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would cover about 40 percent of the world's economies from Japan to Chile, is nearing completion after more than five years of often heated negotiations...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks in ‘Last Stage’  Wall Street Journal  ...Chile says negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are at the final stage, and the passage of a major legislation in the U.S. Friday moves negotiators a step closer to holding concluding meetings. “We are in the last stage of TPP negotiations,” Chile’s Deputy Trade Minister Andres Rebolledo, who is representing Chile in negotiations for the trade pact, told The Wall Street Journal...
The TPP Is Corporate America's 'Precious,' but the House Is Mount Doom  Huff Post  ...For all the unexpected drama of the U.S. Senate, though, the real threat to fast track and the TPP has always been in the very heart of Republican political power: the House. Although corporate Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner are eager to pass fast track, tea party insurgents are suspicious of handing President Obama the power to negotiate trade agreements in secret...
Unions plan nationwide trade protests  Politico  ...Unions are keeping their fight against a trade bill alive. The AFL-CIO and its allies are organizing dozens of events over the Memorial Day recess to keep the pressure on House Democrats and Republicans as the chamber nears consideration of “fast-track” trade legislation...
Farmers Fight Real Estate Developers for Kenya's Most Prized Asset: Land  Truthout  ...In the early 20th century, this region was the site of territorial clashes between the British imperial army and native Kikuyu warriors. Today, the colonial threat has been replaced by a different challenge: real estate developers. Ramadhan Njoroge told IPS that his community’s worst fears came to life this past January, when several smallholder families “awoke to find markers demarcating land that we had neither sold nor had intentions to sell”...

State & Living Wage Battles
Backers of bid to repeal prevailing wage law seek initial OK  WLNS  ...The group announced last week the submission of a citizens’ initiative to repeal Michigan’s law requiring workers on state-financed construction projects to be paid prevailing union-scale wages. If roughly 252,000 valid voter signatures are collected, the bill would go to the Legislature...
Voter photo ID initiative petition filed by Missouri Secretary of State candidate  Missourinet  ...A Republican candidate for Missouri Secretary of State has filed an initiative petition aimed at requiring voters in Missouri to show photo ID at the polls. Jay Ashcroft’s petition, if successful, would ask voters to change Missouri’s Constitution to allow photo ID to be required when voting...
How States Are Trying To Make Life Harder For The Poor  Think Progress  ...At the beginning of July, a new restriction will go into effect for recipients of welfare in Kansas that will only allow them to withdraw $25 in benefits a day. But it’s not the only state that has been looking for ways to make life harder on the poorest. Others have imposed drug tests and harsh limits without evidence that the policy changes would do much good...
Not Lovin' It: Thousands Storm McDonald's Head Quarters to Protest Low Wages  Truthout  ...In the largest protest of its kind, thousands of McDonald’s employees stormed the company’s headquarters on May 20 to demand that it stop spending millions manipulating stock prices, and start paying workers a living wage. McDonald’s cashiers and cooks came to the company’s shareholders meeting, at its corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. More than 100 were arrested for refusing to leave the property...
LA’s Minimum Wage Workers Just Won $15 an Hour—How Many Will Actually Be Paid That?  The Nation  ...Nearly half of Los Angeles just gave itself a raise. Following a wave of state and local minimum-wage bills and initiatives, Los Angeles became one of the largest cities to dramatically raise its hourly base pay. Still, with sky-high housing costs, Los Angeles will remain unaffordable for a large swath of low-income families, even on a steady job at $15 an hour...

U.S. Labor
If You Get Memorial Day Off, You’re Lucky  Think Progress  ...There is no law guaranteeing that workers get paid holidays in the United States. That makes it stand out from 13 developed peer countries that do require companies to offer at least some paid holidays, ranging from one day in France to 13 in Austria and Portugal. But in all other developed peers, workers can at least be assured that they will get paid vacation days that they could use to take a holiday if they wanted...
Tunkhannock teachers strike, promise unfair labor practice complaint  Times Leader  ...Tunkhannock Area School District teachers abruptly hit the picket lines Friday and their lead negotiator promised an unfair labor practice complaint will be filed following the school board’s rejection of a new contract Thursday. Walking the picket line outside the district administration building this morning, lead negotiator John Holland put the blame for the strike on the shoulders of School Board Member Kimberly Teeters...
Union representatives urge UC to support bill guaranteeing contractors, UC employees receive similar pay  Daily Californian  ...Union representatives called on the UC Board of Regents to support a bill that would ensure that workers employed by private university contractors are compensated comparably with university employees doing similar work. Advocates of Senate Bill 376 — including union AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger and California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski — publicly asked UC President Janet Napolitano to support the measure...
Why don't poor people just get jobs? Because they already did.  Daily Kos  ...The contrast between hardworking Americans and shiftless, lazy, poor people is a favorite of Republicans as they try to cut safety net programs like food stamps or housing assistance. But—even if you believe that people who don't work should starve—it's a contrast based on a lie. In reality, a majority of people living in poverty who can work, do work...

Miscellaneous
America’s Housing Developers Are Almost Exclusively Building Luxury Units  Think Progress  ...America’s housing developers have been hard at work in the past three years. But their labor has only exacerbated the affordable housing crisis that afflicts most of the country’s population centers. Out of every five multifamily rentals built in the country’s biggest cities from 2012 to 2014, four were luxury apartments “that command rents in the top 20 percent of the market”... 
Bernie Sanders Takes It to Wall Street With Financial Transactions Tax  Truthout  ...Last week Bernie Sanders, the Senator from Vermont and only announced challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, took a strong stand for everyday people. He proposed a financial transactions tax (FTT), effectively a Wall Street sales tax, and to use the revenue to make public colleges tuition free. While making college affordable to low and middle income families is important, the proposal for an FTT is a real game changer...
America will die old and broke: The systematic right-wing plot to ransack the middle-class nest egg  Salon  ...Private pensions have indeed been systematically destroyed in recent decades, and replaced by “defined contribution” 401k plans. The conventional wisdom is that pensions are “too expensive,” but this is the heart of the lie. A great many private pensions were once over-funded, but a change in law allowed companies to “invest” the “excess” funding in other parts of their business...
Farmers Cut Back as Beleaguered California Hit by Water Loss  Common Dreams  ...A day before California accepted voluntary water cutbacks by farmers, vandals targeting an inflatable dam in Fremont sent 50 million gallons of water meant for the city's residents flowing into the San Francisco Bay. "This is a very significant loss of water under any circumstances, and more so in the drought conditions we are experiencing," Robert Shaver, the Alameda County water district general manager... 

Today's Teamster News 04.09.15

Teamsters
Teamster Correctional Officers in Washington State Earn Community Support   Local 117   ...Over the last few weeks, members at Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) have talked with dozens of local, small business owners, and over 50 businesses have pledged their support for getting our DOC contract funded...
New Bethlehem Township Contracts Give Raises, Increase Benefits Contributions  Lehigh Valley Express-Times   ...Bethlehem Township on Monday approved new contracts with 35 union employees, giving them 2 percent raises for two years and a 3 percent raise in 2017...
New York City Carriage Horses Are Stress-Free Even After Long Day Of Trotting, Academic Says  New York Daily News   ...A California academic who specializes in equine medicine conducted an intensive study of stress levels on Big Apple carriage horses and found them completely angst-free – even after a long day trotting in Central Park...
Union Demands Independent Autopsy After Worker Dies Using NYCHA Hoist  New York Daily News   ...Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, questioned the city’s findings. “The position that she was found in, the head wound, the trauma was not addressed,” he said. “I’m calling for an independent autopsy by somebody who does not have a political interest to tell us what killed Toni Jackson.”...

Global Labor & Trade
US Congress continues TPP fast-track negotiations as presidential race heats up  ABC Rural   ...It's crunch time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious and controversial attempt to create a free trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific. But as talks enter the final stages, there's growing concern the deal could stall because of domestic politics in the US...
As Fast Track/TPP Becomes New Third Rail, Where Is Clinton?  Huffington Post   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a new "third rail" for progressives and the activist Democratic "base." The thing is that more and more people are seeing it. And more and more people are asking Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against it...
Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws  Common Dreams   ...In Ghana, a coalition of students, trade unions, and small scale farmer organizations have mobilized against a pending Plant Breeders' Rights Bill, that would place aggressive legal restrictions against a farmer's use of seeds...
Exploited and Sexually Abused Qatari Migrant Workers Forced to Run Marathon  Alternet    ...Migrants who work under severe conditions often akin to slavery were forced to participate in a state-sponsored “megamarathon” in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is on schedule to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated that 4,000 migrant workers will die during construction...

State & Living Wage Battles
Right To Work In Ohio? Niche Panel Will Consider  Cincinnati.com   ...A niche legislative panel will consider adding right to work to the Ohio constitution, although the proposal – submitted by an Ohio citizen and obtained by The Enquirer – appears unlikely to pass...
Sweeping Collective Bargaining Reform Gets Legislative Hearing  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the state’s collective bargaining law was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee, where local government officials said it would give them flexibility to handle tight budgets and union representatives said it would gut recruitment and retention and jeopardize public safety...
Alabama Bill Would Increase Workers' Comp Benefits For Amputees  NPR   ...Alabama lawmakers have introduced a bill that would nearly triple the maximum compensation for workers who suffer amputations on the job. The bill, filed April 2, comes less than a month after a ProPublica and NPR investigation showed that Alabama had the lowest such benefits in the country...
Kansas Welfare Bill Would Cut Into Benefits With ATM Fees  FiveThirtyEight   ...Under the new rules, if someone receiving benefits plans to use her money to make a $600 rent payment, she’ll need to start withdrawing money and setting it aside 24 days in advance. So over 24 days, this hypothetical woman would lose $24 in fees; she’d need to start one day earlier to make her rent payment...

U.S. Labor
NLRB hits Postal Service over response to cyber breach  Washington Post   ...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint calling on the U.S. Postal Service to negotiate with employee groups over how quickly to tell personnel about cyber attacks that affect their personal data...
New Union Election Rules Set Amid Court Challenges  CBS News   ...The National Labor Relations Board on Monday issued guidance from its general counsel on implementing the rules, adopted by the agency last year and set to take effect April 14, which shorten the time between a union filing a petition to represent workers and an election...
Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law  Capital & Main   ...Gerawan Farming, one of the country’s largest growers, with 5,000 people picking its grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers’ union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks...

Miscellaneous
Follow the Money: Invisible Investors Seek Big Bucks in Mass Incarceration  Truthout   ...Whether it be health care, food services or telecommunications, private equity firms rake in those big bucks by cutting corners on services, slashing jobs and wages, and taking advantage of pro-incarceration policy measures, from realignment to the war on drugs...
Living The High Life After Congress  Huffington Post   ...This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism...
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism Of Big Money (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians. But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring...

Corporate greed stretches beyond factory to family farmland

Nebraska family farm.

Here's another guest post from Rally Girl, a Nebraska native:

The war on workers isn’t just about city slickers whose manufacturing jobs disappear or public sector workers who can’t form unions. It’s a war on country folk, too.

Young, rural Americans are finding it harder and harder to do what members of their families have done for generations: farm. Young family farmers today are competing against polluting, power-hungry corporate farms and ultra-rich investors who are buying up farmland at never-before-seen prices. Prices are so high that farmers starting out can’t afford to buy the land they’ve lived and worked on for most of their young lives.

Clayton Masters at NPR reports:

Utica, Neb., banker Larry Rogers says that unless young people are left farmland by their family, they're pretty much out of luck.

"It has gotten more difficult with prices as they are today — even with the good prices for grain, I think it's more difficult for a young person to get started," Rogers says.

Ernie Goss, an economist at Omaha's Creighton University, says agriculture's appeal as an investment is one of the reasons for the drop.

"[Some people are] sitting in New York [and] saying, 'Well, I don't know, I've never even been to Nebraska, but by golly, I'm going to buy some Nebraska land,' " Goss says. "And you have these groups coming together ... that are buying farmland [and] driving up farmland prices to prices we've not seen before."

This is just another way the rich are getting richer by squeezing the middle class into poverty. But don’t think it affects rural Americans only. When farmers can’t farm, a plethora of problems develop:

• Pollution: Farmers are stewards of the land and understand the importance of preserving and conserving land for future generations. Family farmers are more likely to use techniques that preserve natural resources, unlike factory farms, which pollute the environment.

• High Unemployment: Without family farms, rural areas are left with high rates of unemployment and little opportunity for economic growth. Where family farms dominate, there are more schools, more businesses, more economic growth and more civic participation.

• Low Economic Development: Equitable land distribution fuels economic development. Researchers point to post-war countries as proof. When farm families achieve buying power, markets in fledging industries rise, making economic development possible.

Massive farmer-labor protest in WI

At least 100,000 protesters showed up in Madison today, and they're not happy with Scott Walker.

An Elvis impersonator holds up a sign with a picture of Walker that says, "Even a king knows when to listen to his people, and YOU ain't the king."

Steve Nelson from Local 200 is sending us photos of such anti-Walker signs and the huge crowd in Madison. We'll post them when we iron out our technical problems. News reports say Day 27 could be the biggest protest yet.

Brother Nelson also sent us a photo of a tractor, as today is the day of the tractorcade.

Rally Girl is watching the protest on the Internet and, as a Cornhusker, found a farmer's speech quite moving. She reports:

Some may question why farmers are rallying in Wisconsin in support of public-sector workers. As a rural American, I can attest to the fact that the labor movement and the family farming movement are one and the same. Both groups are fighting giant corporations, fighting for a special way of life, fighting to make a living from the work they do. And both support each other in their everyday lives. But don’t take it from me. Take it from a farmer who spoke to the 100,000 people in the crowd on Saturday and left his audience on their feet in an emotional cry for more:

Solidarity between farmers and workers is an old and sacred movement. Family farmers, like the labor movement, value the dignity of having power over your work—of being empowered by your work. Like the labor movement, we value a constructive setting to raise a family. Like the labor movement, we value economic democracy. What is a union anyway, but working people coming together to improve our lives? That is what we are here to do. We reject this union-busting bill.

This is a farmer issue because our rural schools are getting decimated by this budget and they are the center of our rural communities. Fourteen of 44 rural teachers in my home will be getting pink slips because of this budget. This is a farmer’s issue because Scott Walker wants to hack Badger Care and 11,000 family farm members depend on Badger Care. It’s a farmer’s issue because we have been battling corporate power for more than a century. WE SAY NO! Public workers are our friends and our neighbors and our family members and we stand in solidarity with them. We know we are all in this together. We go up together, or we go down together.