TEAMSTERS
School safety agents make more than 400 weapon, drug seizures over 4 months Daily News ...Safety agents recovered weapons, drugs and other contraband in and around city schools on 355 occasions from July 1 to Nov. 1, records show. Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd, whose union represents the school safety agents, said the alarming cases show how badly they are needed. “These stats prove there is danger every day for our agents and our children,” said Floyd, whose union includes 5,000 active agents...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Brazil's Petrobras, union strike talks fail, risk of fuel shortage rises Reuters ...Brazil's Petrobras and unions failed to reach an agreement on Monday over worker demands that the state-run oil company reverse budget cuts and cancel assets sales aimed at trimming its massive debt, union and company officials said. The week-old strike, already the biggest in 20 years, now risks an impasse that could hurt domestic fuel supplies and further hobble a company already under financial pressure and the fallout from a corruption scandal...
Obama’s last battle with Congress looms over Pacific trade deal Washington Post ...What could be President Obama’s final grand battle with Congress kicked off this week with the release of a sprawling Pacific Rim trade agreement, setting up the latest skirmish in a two-decade string of trade showdowns on Capitol Hill. Initial lawmaker reaction to the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been sharp from its likely opponents, who declared it “worse than we thought”...
Warren steps up criticism of the Pacific Rim trade deal Boston Globe ...Senator Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that she is prepared to do everything within her power to stop the historic Pacific Rim trade pact negotiated last month if it hurts American workers. Warren, in an interview with the Globe, criticized the Obama administration for dragging its feet in posting details of the deal, which went up online early Thursday morning -- five weeks after a deal was announced...
Trade pact backers hit 2 big hurdles: Donald and Hillary Politico ...Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are railing against the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the Democratic primary. On the right, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump is ripping the trade deal as a “disaster” negotiated by “incompetent people.” President Barack Obama’s herculean task of shepherding the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership through Capitol Hill is about to run into one major hurdle: 2016 presidential politics...
TPP is too flawed for a simple ‘yes’ vote (opinion) Boston Globe ...Congress should vote “no’’ on the current TPP, while simultaneously endorsing its trade provisions as well as continuing the work with our counterparts on the other chapters. The current drafts on investor rights, the environment, labor, and intellectual property make extravagant concessions to powerful corporate interests...
TPP is about many things, but free trade? Not so much (opinion) Globe and Mail ...Because we’re debating the future framework of the global economy, it would be nice if the debate over the TPP went beyond the old free-traders-versus-protectionists charade. At the very least, we should look under the hood and be suspicious of anyone trying to sell us the TPP as a “free-trade agreement”...
Portugal braces for fall of govt amid austerity backlash Washington Post ...Portugal’s new government faced what were likely to be its final hours in power Tuesday as anti-austerity forces in Parliament prepared to force its resignation. The showdown came less than two weeks after the center-right government was sworn in...
Greece and Creditors at Loggerheads Again; Troika Wants More Foreclosures Naked Capitalism ...European creditors want to extract more blood from a stone, in this case Greece. Greece and its lenders are again at odds over the latest "bailout" funds, which is €2 billion that was scheduled to be approved for release. But a precondition for getting more dough was that Greece show enough "progress," as in either have implemented or have committed to a sufficiently large number of "reforms"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Fast-food workers strike, seeking $15 wage, political muscle USA Today ...Fast-food workers demanding a $15 an hour wage walked out in dozens cities at 6 a.m. Tuesday, kicking off a year-long campaign to muster the political power of 64 million low-wage workers in next year's presidential election. The protests, which will take place in 270 cities, mark the workers' largest show of force in the three years since they launched a series of rallies to call for higher pay and the right to unionize...
'Come Get My Vote': Low-Wage Workers Rise Up in Advance of 2016 Election Common Dreams ...One year out from the 2016 presidential election, fast-food and other low-wage workers are striking on Tuesday in hundreds of cities across the U.S., demanding a livable wage, the right to form a union, and attention to their cause from those seeking elected office. Under the banner 'Come Get My Vote,' workers will walk off the job in 270 cities from Detroit to Denver, while close to 500 cities will host rallies...
Missouri labor unions spending big to fend off ‘right to work’ Kansas City Star ...Organized labor in Missouri is gearing up for another right-to-work fight in 2016. It’s been nearly two months since a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to kill legislation that would would have made it illegal to force a worker to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment...
Kentucky warily waits to see what Matt Bevin will do to 400,000 Medicaid enrollees Daily Kos ...Kentucky is feeling the first waves of panic now that tea party Republican Matt Bevin is about to become governor and implement his plans for undoing Kynect, the state's Obamacare program. While it's not entirely clear what those plans are now, since he's backtracked on his original full-on repeal position, he's still making it a top priority...
Who Stands with Workers? (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senate cafeteria workers serve food to the most august politicians, to their staffers, their Gucci-shoed lobbyists and to Senate visitors. Yet they don't earn close to a living wage. Those who work full time still live in poverty. Over the past months, these workers have walked out on the job, risking the work they need in order to demand decent wages and the right to organize...
Seattle's Experiment With Campaign Funding The Atlantic ...When people talk up the idea of the public financing of elections, they are usually referring to a system that goes something like this: Candidates must first raise money from individuals, and then the government will chip in matching funds or a pre-set amount that campaigns can spend on their race. In Seattle, however, voters just approved a system that flips that approach on its head...
U.S. LABOR
Capitol Workers to Strike Ahead of GOP Debate Roll Call ...Hours before a Republican primary debate, workers in the U.S. Capitol are going on strike and calling on the GOP senators running for president to help the workers who serve them. Senate food-service workers and some cleaning staff are set to walk off their jobs Tuesday morning to call for higher wages and a union. The event is set for Tuesday to highlight GOP presidential contenders who, in the opinion of the striking workers, have been silent on the Capitol workers’ low wages...
UAW listens to skilled-trades gripes; GM pact on hold USA Today ...The UAW is trying to untangle a knot holding up formal ratification of a new labor contract with General Motors as skilled-trades workers vented in meetings Monday over a variety of issues they say the contract doesn’t solve. Production workers, who account for a large majority of the UAW’s 52,700 members at GM (GM), approved the pact by a 58%-42% margin. But nearly 60% of skilled trades — the electricians, millwrights, pipefitters and diemakers — voted no...
Farm union begins awareness drive to alert workers to back pay they’re owed Fresno Bee ...Union workers will begin an awareness drive to get millions of dollars in back pay paid to farm workers that a new law says are owed wages that went unpaid for rest periods and “unproductive time,” United Farm Workers of America said. The drive begins Tuesday in Monterey, Sonoma, Madera, Fresno, Kern and Ventura counties, and is aimed at workers owed money under a law that officially goes into effect Jan. 1, 2016...
Bernie Sanders To Join Low-Wage Workers On Strike From U.S. Capitol Buildings Think Progress ...Workers who serve food at the United States Capitol went on strike Tuesday morning to protest their low wages and call attention to retaliatory actions they say their employer has taken against workers who want to unionize. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) plans to join the strikers outside a Senate office building for a press conference around mid-morning...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Black Student Revolt Against Racism Ousts 2 Top Officials at University of Missouri Democracy Now ...A revolt by African-American students at the University of Missouri has forced two top officials to resign. On Monday, President Tim Wolfe and Columbia campus chancellor Bowen Loftin announced they will step down in the face of protests over their handling of racism on campus. African-American students have staged weeks of demonstrations against what they called a lax response to bigotry and vandalism...
Climate Crisis Poised to Push 100 Million into Extreme Poverty Common Dreams ...Adding urgency to the call for bold emissions cuts and a radical rethinking of the global economy, a new report from the World Bank warns that human-caused climate change could push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty within just 15 years. Entitled Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty, the World Bank's study differs from previous efforts by looking at the poverty impacts of climate change...
Appeals court rules against Obama’s immigration plan Washington Post ...A federal appeals court on Monday ruled against President Obama’s plan to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, dealing another blow to the administration’s effort to remake immigration laws and likely setting up a final battle in the Supreme Court next year...
“A life sentence to poverty”: How our laws deny ex-offenders a true second chance Salon ...President Barack Obama has always supported criminal justice reform, broadly speaking. Recently, though, the president has moved criminal justice reform issues to the front-and-center of his public agenda. This summer, for example, he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Soon after, he held a (remarkably worthwhile) discussion on reform at the White House, too...
Michigan City Tells Residents To Pay Up Or They’ll Shut Off Water — Again Think Progress ...Months after a county judge ordered Flint, Michigan to cease shutting off water pipes and revise customers’ bills, the city is once again sending out letters warning customers to pay or go dry.
The city sent out more than 1,800 shutoff notices since last week, representing about 60 percent of all customers billed in September...
Showing posts with label fast food strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fast food strike. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Today's Teamster News 11.05.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Suspend Safeway Protests - For Now DC Labor ...Teamsters locals 730 and 639 have agreed to suspend their protests over the threatened closure of the Safeway Distribution Center in Upper Marlboro after State Senator Anthony Muse on Wednesday asked representatives of Safeway and Collington Services (which operates the center), along with the Teamsters, to participate in discussions aimed at preserving jobs at the center. The companies have until November 10 to respond to Muse’s request...
Despite Coca-Cola’s Regressive Proposals, Union Works to Fix Overtime Issues in Negotiations Local 727 ...As Coca-Cola management continued to drag its feet, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee worked to tackle major non-economic issues during contract negotiations on Wednesday, November 4. The union revisited its proposal to clarify overtime assignments and ensure Coca-Cola effectively communicates with workers when posting mandatory overtime. The Teamsters’ proposal also establishes and guarantees 40-hour workweek schedules...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific partners release TPP details Reuters ...The long-awaited text of a landmark US-backed Pacific trade deal has been released. It reveals the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 per cent of the world's economy but is criticised for its opacity. If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a legacy-defining achievement for US President Barack Obama and his administration's pivot to Asia, aimed at countering China's rising economic and political influence...
TPP trade deal: text published online The Guardian ...New Zealand has put the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) online, offering the first detailed look at the world’s largest free trade deal, the most ambitious effort in years to remove barriers to commerce. The New Zealand government, which signed on to the deal, put the contents of the agreement on its website on Thursday, saying it would continue to undergo legal review...
Full Text of TPP Released to Public... And It's Horrible Common Dreams ...It's a disaster for people, the planet, democracy, and the future of the global economy. That was the immediate assessment of informed critics as world governments, including the United States, on Thursday morning made the full text of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) available to the public for the first time...
What to Look for When the Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Is Released Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been completed. The agreement is a big deal. It is said it writes the rules for doing business in the 21st century and covers 40 percent of the world's economy. The agreement will determine whether the giant corporations will increase their domination or if regular people will instead be able to fight back...
Trans-Pacific Partnership critics concerned about environment, IP clauses in trade pact's fine print ABC ...Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) warn the full text of the agreement highlights serious concerns about environmental protections and intellectual property rights. For the first time the fine print of the agreement — which would eliminate 98 per cent of all tariffs between the 12 nations including Australia — has been released...
TPP leaders to meet on sidelines of APEC forum summit in Philippines Japan Times ...The leaders of 12 countries involved in the recently sealed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative will meet later this month in the Philippines to ensure early implementation of the pact, a government source said Wednesday. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a two-day summit...
Thousands expected in student protest against austerity CBC ...Thousands of students from CEGEPs and universities are expected to take part in a large demonstration today against austerity measures imposed by the Quebec government. Close to 20 student associations representing more than 50,000 students have a strike mandate for the province-wide protest on Nov. 5...
Brazil President’s Own Party Resists Her Austerity Plans Wall Street Journal ...Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is struggling to get the country’s Congress to pass legislation meant to curb a widening budget gap, faces more resistance from members of her own party than almost any other grouping, according to a recent survey of lawmakers. Ms. Rousseff’s left-wing Workers’ Party is reluctant to embrace spending cuts...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Fast-food workers plan new strike, aim to sway election USA Today ...Fast-food workers, already a potent political force, are planning their largest nationwide strike yet next week and this time will leverage their crusade for a $15-an-hour wage in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election. The group representing the workers, Fight for $15, plans on Tuesday to stage protests at restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the demonstrations three years ago...
Missouri House sponsor of bill backers call ‘paycheck protection’ wants to bring it back in 2016 Missourinet ...The House sponsor of what supporters call “paycheck protection” and opponents call “paycheck deception” wants to file that bill again in 2016. A “right-to-work” bill was vetoed this year by Governor Nixon and supporters fell 13 votes short of overturning that veto in the state House. Some Republicans are now debating whether it should be brought back up in 2016...
400,000 People Could Lose Their Health Care Because No One Turned Out To Vote Think Progress ...If you live in Kentucky, you probably didn’t vote yesterday. Turnout in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election was simply dreadful. According to the state’s chief elections officer, preliminary results show that only 30.7 percent of voters actually cast a ballot in this off-off-year election. That compares with 45.9 percent of voters in 2014...
Will State Courts Fill a Void on Voting Rights? The Atlantic ...In recent years, as the U.S. Supreme Court has limited its protections of the right to vote, some state courts have stepped in to fill the void. State judges have looked to their state constitutions—which are more explicit in conferring the right to vote—to provide relief from onerous election laws. And, in doing so, they have shown how these documents can be powerful tools to improve America’s democracy...
Paid Sick Leave Wins At The Voting Booth Think Progress ...On Tuesday, voters in Elizabeth, New Jersey approved a paid sick days law that guarantees all residents the right to earn leave. Once it goes into effect, the city’s 25,000 private sector workers will be able to earn an hour of sick time for every 30 they work, capped at five days a year for those at companies with 10 or more employees and at three days at smaller companies, to care for themselves or a sick family member...
Campaign to raise Maine's minimum wage tops 90K signatures WCSH ...A proposal to raise Maine's minimum wage is set to appear on next year's ballot. The group "Mainers For Fair Wages" has collected more than 90,000 signatures, which is well over the minimum requirement to get the issue on the ballot. The proposal for the statewide ballot would raise Maine's minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017...
Tacoma, Washington, Passes $12 Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Residents of Tacoma, Washington, are ready to raise the minimum wage -- just not too quickly. Voters in the city of 200,000 appear to have approved a ballot measure this week that would gradually raise the minimum wage in the city to $12 per hour. At the same time, they seem to have turned down a more ambitious measure...
U.S. LABOR
UAW Warns of General Motors Strike If Workers Fail to Approve Contract Wall Street Journal ...United Auto Workers leaders are pressing members to ratify a proposed contract from General Motors Co. after a handful of factories turned it down in initial rounds of voting, with union officials saying a costly strike is likely unavoidable if the deal fails, according to several people familiar with the matter. The UAW’s voting on GM’s proposed agreement to 52,700 of its U.S. factory workers began late last week and ends Saturday...
UAW-GM agreement reportedly en route to ratification MLive ...A new, four-year contract between General Motors and 52,600 UAW workers in the U.S. appears headed for ratification. The Detroit Free Press reports that workers at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, three sites in Pontiac and large plants in Missouri and Tennessee all gave the new contract clear majorities on Wednesday...
B&H Photo Warehouse Employees Vote to Join USW Union PR Newswire ...Today, workers at two B&H warehouses in Bushwick and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard voted by a 200-to-88 margin for representation by the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Workers had complained that they had been forced to work long hours in unsafe environments without proper training, while subject to discrimination...
NLRB Rejects Target’s Petition to Invalidate Union Vote in Brooklyn Wall Street Journal ...A small group of Target Corp. pharmacy workers in New York City are one step closer to becoming the retailer’s first ever union. The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday rejected Target’s appeal to invalidate the group’s September vote to unionize. In a letter denying the appeal, the NLRB said Target hadn’t raised any “substantial issues warranting review”...
Oxfam Calls Out ‘Big Chicken’ for Rampant Labor Abuses In These Times ...One of the world’s most prominent hunger-fighting organizations has launched a publicity campaign aimed at improving wages and workplace safety in U.S. chicken processing plants. Oxfam kicked off the campaign with a report released October 26 that details substandard wages and benefits, unsafe working conditions, and a culture of hostility to labor rights for the estimated 250,000 workers employed in chicken plants...
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Give Seniors a Raise Mother Jones ...Elizabeth Warren wants to give seniors the same pay raise enjoyed by CEOs—and to raise taxes on some executive pay in the process. The liberal senator from Massachusetts is introducing a bill on Thursday to boost Social Security payments for 2016 with a one-time bump in benefits...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Half Of Black Millennials Know A Victim Of Police Violence. What That Means For The 2016 Election. Think Progress ...Far before the Black Lives Matter movement was launched and before high-profile cases of police brutality permeated the national media, more than half of black millennials said in 2009 that they knew a victim of police violence. The University of Chicago released a report titled “Black Millennials in America” with the 2009 survey data that highlights how many people of color know victims of police violence...
With Historic Release of Drug Offenders & Help for Re-entry, US Takes "First Step" on Prison Crisis Democracy Now ...In the largest one-time release of federal prisoners in U.S. history, more than 6,000 inmates have been freed early under a resentencing effort for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Decisions by the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year reduced prison terms for certain drug offenses and applied those changes retroactively...
America’s Prison Population Is Falling, but Too Slowly to Undo Decades of Growth Mother Jones ...Here’s the good news: The number of prisoners in the United States dropped last year to its lowest point since 2005, a trend likely to continue following the release of about 6,000 inmates from federal prisons in the past few days. And here’s the bad: The prison population still only dropped by 1 percent in 2014...
Teamsters Suspend Safeway Protests - For Now DC Labor ...Teamsters locals 730 and 639 have agreed to suspend their protests over the threatened closure of the Safeway Distribution Center in Upper Marlboro after State Senator Anthony Muse on Wednesday asked representatives of Safeway and Collington Services (which operates the center), along with the Teamsters, to participate in discussions aimed at preserving jobs at the center. The companies have until November 10 to respond to Muse’s request...
Despite Coca-Cola’s Regressive Proposals, Union Works to Fix Overtime Issues in Negotiations Local 727 ...As Coca-Cola management continued to drag its feet, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee worked to tackle major non-economic issues during contract negotiations on Wednesday, November 4. The union revisited its proposal to clarify overtime assignments and ensure Coca-Cola effectively communicates with workers when posting mandatory overtime. The Teamsters’ proposal also establishes and guarantees 40-hour workweek schedules...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific partners release TPP details Reuters ...The long-awaited text of a landmark US-backed Pacific trade deal has been released. It reveals the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 per cent of the world's economy but is criticised for its opacity. If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a legacy-defining achievement for US President Barack Obama and his administration's pivot to Asia, aimed at countering China's rising economic and political influence...
TPP trade deal: text published online The Guardian ...New Zealand has put the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) online, offering the first detailed look at the world’s largest free trade deal, the most ambitious effort in years to remove barriers to commerce. The New Zealand government, which signed on to the deal, put the contents of the agreement on its website on Thursday, saying it would continue to undergo legal review...
Full Text of TPP Released to Public... And It's Horrible Common Dreams ...It's a disaster for people, the planet, democracy, and the future of the global economy. That was the immediate assessment of informed critics as world governments, including the United States, on Thursday morning made the full text of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) available to the public for the first time...
What to Look for When the Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Is Released Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been completed. The agreement is a big deal. It is said it writes the rules for doing business in the 21st century and covers 40 percent of the world's economy. The agreement will determine whether the giant corporations will increase their domination or if regular people will instead be able to fight back...
Trans-Pacific Partnership critics concerned about environment, IP clauses in trade pact's fine print ABC ...Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) warn the full text of the agreement highlights serious concerns about environmental protections and intellectual property rights. For the first time the fine print of the agreement — which would eliminate 98 per cent of all tariffs between the 12 nations including Australia — has been released...
TPP leaders to meet on sidelines of APEC forum summit in Philippines Japan Times ...The leaders of 12 countries involved in the recently sealed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative will meet later this month in the Philippines to ensure early implementation of the pact, a government source said Wednesday. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a two-day summit...
Thousands expected in student protest against austerity CBC ...Thousands of students from CEGEPs and universities are expected to take part in a large demonstration today against austerity measures imposed by the Quebec government. Close to 20 student associations representing more than 50,000 students have a strike mandate for the province-wide protest on Nov. 5...
Brazil President’s Own Party Resists Her Austerity Plans Wall Street Journal ...Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is struggling to get the country’s Congress to pass legislation meant to curb a widening budget gap, faces more resistance from members of her own party than almost any other grouping, according to a recent survey of lawmakers. Ms. Rousseff’s left-wing Workers’ Party is reluctant to embrace spending cuts...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Fast-food workers plan new strike, aim to sway election USA Today ...Fast-food workers, already a potent political force, are planning their largest nationwide strike yet next week and this time will leverage their crusade for a $15-an-hour wage in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election. The group representing the workers, Fight for $15, plans on Tuesday to stage protests at restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the demonstrations three years ago...
Missouri House sponsor of bill backers call ‘paycheck protection’ wants to bring it back in 2016 Missourinet ...The House sponsor of what supporters call “paycheck protection” and opponents call “paycheck deception” wants to file that bill again in 2016. A “right-to-work” bill was vetoed this year by Governor Nixon and supporters fell 13 votes short of overturning that veto in the state House. Some Republicans are now debating whether it should be brought back up in 2016...
400,000 People Could Lose Their Health Care Because No One Turned Out To Vote Think Progress ...If you live in Kentucky, you probably didn’t vote yesterday. Turnout in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election was simply dreadful. According to the state’s chief elections officer, preliminary results show that only 30.7 percent of voters actually cast a ballot in this off-off-year election. That compares with 45.9 percent of voters in 2014...
Will State Courts Fill a Void on Voting Rights? The Atlantic ...In recent years, as the U.S. Supreme Court has limited its protections of the right to vote, some state courts have stepped in to fill the void. State judges have looked to their state constitutions—which are more explicit in conferring the right to vote—to provide relief from onerous election laws. And, in doing so, they have shown how these documents can be powerful tools to improve America’s democracy...
Paid Sick Leave Wins At The Voting Booth Think Progress ...On Tuesday, voters in Elizabeth, New Jersey approved a paid sick days law that guarantees all residents the right to earn leave. Once it goes into effect, the city’s 25,000 private sector workers will be able to earn an hour of sick time for every 30 they work, capped at five days a year for those at companies with 10 or more employees and at three days at smaller companies, to care for themselves or a sick family member...
Campaign to raise Maine's minimum wage tops 90K signatures WCSH ...A proposal to raise Maine's minimum wage is set to appear on next year's ballot. The group "Mainers For Fair Wages" has collected more than 90,000 signatures, which is well over the minimum requirement to get the issue on the ballot. The proposal for the statewide ballot would raise Maine's minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017...
Tacoma, Washington, Passes $12 Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Residents of Tacoma, Washington, are ready to raise the minimum wage -- just not too quickly. Voters in the city of 200,000 appear to have approved a ballot measure this week that would gradually raise the minimum wage in the city to $12 per hour. At the same time, they seem to have turned down a more ambitious measure...
U.S. LABOR
UAW Warns of General Motors Strike If Workers Fail to Approve Contract Wall Street Journal ...United Auto Workers leaders are pressing members to ratify a proposed contract from General Motors Co. after a handful of factories turned it down in initial rounds of voting, with union officials saying a costly strike is likely unavoidable if the deal fails, according to several people familiar with the matter. The UAW’s voting on GM’s proposed agreement to 52,700 of its U.S. factory workers began late last week and ends Saturday...
UAW-GM agreement reportedly en route to ratification MLive ...A new, four-year contract between General Motors and 52,600 UAW workers in the U.S. appears headed for ratification. The Detroit Free Press reports that workers at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, three sites in Pontiac and large plants in Missouri and Tennessee all gave the new contract clear majorities on Wednesday...
B&H Photo Warehouse Employees Vote to Join USW Union PR Newswire ...Today, workers at two B&H warehouses in Bushwick and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard voted by a 200-to-88 margin for representation by the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Workers had complained that they had been forced to work long hours in unsafe environments without proper training, while subject to discrimination...
NLRB Rejects Target’s Petition to Invalidate Union Vote in Brooklyn Wall Street Journal ...A small group of Target Corp. pharmacy workers in New York City are one step closer to becoming the retailer’s first ever union. The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday rejected Target’s appeal to invalidate the group’s September vote to unionize. In a letter denying the appeal, the NLRB said Target hadn’t raised any “substantial issues warranting review”...
Oxfam Calls Out ‘Big Chicken’ for Rampant Labor Abuses In These Times ...One of the world’s most prominent hunger-fighting organizations has launched a publicity campaign aimed at improving wages and workplace safety in U.S. chicken processing plants. Oxfam kicked off the campaign with a report released October 26 that details substandard wages and benefits, unsafe working conditions, and a culture of hostility to labor rights for the estimated 250,000 workers employed in chicken plants...
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Give Seniors a Raise Mother Jones ...Elizabeth Warren wants to give seniors the same pay raise enjoyed by CEOs—and to raise taxes on some executive pay in the process. The liberal senator from Massachusetts is introducing a bill on Thursday to boost Social Security payments for 2016 with a one-time bump in benefits...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Half Of Black Millennials Know A Victim Of Police Violence. What That Means For The 2016 Election. Think Progress ...Far before the Black Lives Matter movement was launched and before high-profile cases of police brutality permeated the national media, more than half of black millennials said in 2009 that they knew a victim of police violence. The University of Chicago released a report titled “Black Millennials in America” with the 2009 survey data that highlights how many people of color know victims of police violence...
With Historic Release of Drug Offenders & Help for Re-entry, US Takes "First Step" on Prison Crisis Democracy Now ...In the largest one-time release of federal prisoners in U.S. history, more than 6,000 inmates have been freed early under a resentencing effort for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Decisions by the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year reduced prison terms for certain drug offenses and applied those changes retroactively...
America’s Prison Population Is Falling, but Too Slowly to Undo Decades of Growth Mother Jones ...Here’s the good news: The number of prisoners in the United States dropped last year to its lowest point since 2005, a trend likely to continue following the release of about 6,000 inmates from federal prisons in the past few days. And here’s the bad: The prison population still only dropped by 1 percent in 2014...
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Fast food, Walmart, low-wage workers strike for $15 and a union
 |
| NYC Teamsters, JC 16 Pres. George Miranda stand with #Fightfor15 protesters |
Teamsters and other union members are standing in solidarity with low-wage workers because we know the increase in poverty-wage jobs is a drag on middle-class wages, including those of union members. And most people working low-wage jobs are not high school students -- they are middle-aged mothers and fathers who have been pushed to the bottom thanks to a three-decade assault on workers' wages and living standards.
Today's protests and strikes are expanding the scope of the movement, both geographically and by industry. A USA Today article gives us a snapshot of today's mass protests:
It was an unusual coalition of low-wage workers taking shape on Wednesday, from home care workers in Raleigh-Durham to adjunct faculty members in Chicago. Fast-food workers protested in Miami even as peers in Washington, D.C. announced early Wednesday the filing of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
There was support overseas, too, as strikes organized in coordination with the U.S. strikes took place in New Zealand along with fast-food worker protests in Antwerp, Helsinki and several cities in Japan, organizers say.
The timing of the strikes on Tax Day is intentional, [Kendall] Fells [organizing director of Fight for $15] said, to focus public attention on the strain that low wages place on public budgets and taxpayers when working families are forced to rely on public assistance.
 |
| #Fightfor15 protests in LA. |
Since the "Fight for 15" movement took off two years ago, issues of income inequality and low wages have dominated the national spotlight. A number of states and cities have raised their minimum wages. The protests have pushed Walmart to raise wages for some of its lowest paid workers, followed by McDonald's efforts to head off protests with a very modest increase for a small portion of its workforce.
At the New York Times, former labor reporter Steven Greenhouse explains why today's protests matter:
In a column at In These Times today, United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard underscored why this is such an important fight for labor:
Solidarity with low-wage workers everywhere!
At the New York Times, former labor reporter Steven Greenhouse explains why today's protests matter:
The more people who get involved, the more pressure that puts on cities and states to raise the minimum wage. It is good for unions and their members because it is bringing back and reinspiring collective action.
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| Brinks Security workers walk off job in Chicago today. |
Dominic Flis, whose company owns 18 Burger Kings in central Arkansas, said raising the minimum wage pushes up pay for other workers too.
“If somebody was already making $7.50, and minimum wage goes to $7.50, they’ll have some expectation of a raise as well,” Flis said. “And I have to maintain my workforce.”
The Brookings Institute calls this the ripple effect. The pay increase at the bottom ripples all the way up the pay scale.
IBT VP-At-Large George
Miranda #Fightfor15
[Kip] Hedges, [a] fired Delta worker, put it another way: “a lot of the better paid workers also understand that the bottom has to be raised otherwise the top is going to fall as well.”
If for no other reason than self-interest, join the gutsy minimum-wage workers at a Fight for $15 event Wednesday.Go to www.April15.org to continue following (and join!) today's Fight for 15 protests.
Solidarity with low-wage workers everywhere!
Friday, April 10, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.10.15
Teamsters
Teamsters: Long Beach Approves Construction Agreement Press-Telegram ...The City of Long Beach, California, has approved a new project labor agreement (PLA) for construction projects. This agreement puts into a motion an agreement to hire unionized labor for use on construction projects costing more than $500,000 each. Hundreds of construction workers in Southern California are represented by Teamsters Local 952, 166 and others...
OOIDA Files As Intervenor In Lawsuit Over Open Border To Mexican Trucks Land Line Magazine ...The granting of long-haul trucking authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers operating in the U.S. would adversely affect small-business truckers and highway safety, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association stated in a federal court filing on Tuesday, April 7. On behalf of the Association and its members, OOIDA filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Global Labor & Trade
White House Reveals Desperate Lack Of Support For TPP Truthout ...The White House is having a hard time generating any momentum for fast-track trade authority for the TPP and other agreements. The Obama administration pushed to stop the Seattle City Council from opposing fast-track legislation and the TPP, but instead got a unanimous vote against them from a major port city that trades with Asia...
As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report Common Dreams ...A new investigative look at the ties between big business interests in Colombia, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her family's charitable foundation are raising troubling questions about the role that corporate trade deals and big oil may have played in softening the powerful Democrat's position on human rights in the South American country...
One Lethal Loophole In The TPP CounterPunch ...After spending five long years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Obama administration is now pushing for the fast-track authority from Congress that would make it easier to get the final deal approved. One serious problem is that the TPP is not likely to include rules on currency, which is leading lawmakers from both parties to consider opposing the agreement. They are right to be concerned...
Fast track on trade is wrong track for America (opinion) The Register-Guard ...The TPP is built upon the foundation of the failed NAFTA and Korea “free trade” agreements. It incorporates all their shortcomings, which directly led to the loss of 743,000 American jobs and put downward pressure on wages in a wide variety of occupations. The new provisions will make it easier for corporations to challenge our labor, environmental and consumer protection laws...
Are These Strikes a Sign of Growing Militancy Among China’s Workers? The Nation ...It seems that even if not directly in contact, workers are aligned in their pushback against global manufacturing’s “race to the bottom.” As the relentless pressure to suppress labor costs begins to finally bottom out, workers may find new leverage on the shop floor, across the city, and maybe even across borders...
Protesters march in France as nationwide strikes target schools, Eiffel Tower and airspace US News ...Thousands of protesters, many blowing whistles and waving union flags, marched through Paris and other French cities on Thursday in a day of nationwide strikes.The protesters aired an array of grievances against state funding cuts, planned increases in the retirement age, and business-friendly reforms that could make firing workers easier...
State & Living Wage Battles
Politicians Try To Union-Bust Their Way To The White House Newsweek ...Fiery labor icon Mother Jones cannot be resting peacefully beneath the crabgrass in the Union Miners’ Cemetery, not far from Springfield, Illinois, where Bruce Rauner, the recently elected Republican governor, has launched an unprecedented attack on organized labor. Rauner is challenging public and private unions on several fronts—even pushing the state’s municipalities to create “right-to-work zones”...
Officials Use Decrepit Bridges, Highways To Make Their Point Washington Post ...In about 150 other cities, mayors and other officials will do stand-ups in front of bridges that need replacement and congested highways to make the point. The mayors say they’ll descend on Washington on May 11 to lobby Congress, but the attention they get Thursday will be played out on television, in print and online to the public at large...
California Lawmakers Propose Expanding Benefits To Some Immigrants San Francisco Chronicle ...California legislative leaders took a bold step Tuesday toward protecting immigrants living in the country without documentation by backing legislation to offer Medi-Cal and other public services to a population they said they want to help move out of the shadows...
Unions Oppose Bill That Would Bar Managers From Joining Albany Times Union ...In a week full of bills that have Nevada unions crying foul, an Assembly committee has passed an amended version of a bill that would dramatically change collective bargaining rules for Nevada public employees...
Senate Democrats Are Getting Fed Up With The SEC's Delay On CEO Pay Rule Huffington Post ...Senate Democrats are losing patience with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's failure to implement a new CEO pay rule. Democrats have been pushing the SEC for nearly five years to move forward with the rule, which Congress required the agency to develop under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The rule would mandate that companies publicly disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median earnings of workers at the firm...
Wall Street has gobbled up billions of New York City pension dollars Daily Kos ...Wall Street, not retired workers, has been getting the profits from New York City's pension funds, according to the city comptroller's office. Management fees have sucked up more than $2 billion over 10 years, virtually erasing gains for the funds that provide pensions for 715,000 city workers...
What corporate America should do for low-wage workers (opinion) Fortune ...On April 15, fast food, retail, and other low-wage workers are planning a wave of actions to demand a $15 minimum wage. This should be a wake-up call to the business community. It’s a moral disgrace that so many hard-working Americans have to scrape to get by on a minimum wage that is 25% below what it was in 1968...
U.S. Labor
Conservative Groups Rally Behind Gerawan Farming Capital & Main ...This year the Gerawans’ local state Assembly member, Republican Jim Patterson of Fresno, introduced Assembly Bill 1389. It would allow outside anti-union parties (such as Silvia Lopez) to inject themselves into mandatory mediation proceedings on the same basis as the union’s elected negotiating committee. Further, it would permit growers to decertify unions that “abandon” workers for three years...
Bank Workers Tell Their Bosses: Stop Making Us Sell Shady Products To Poor People Think Progress ...The newest line of criticism for the banking industry is coming from within, as a group of rank-and-file banking employees prepare to demand that their employer stop ordering them to use predatory sales tactics and start treating them as a valued piece of the workforce...
Miscellaneous
New Minutes Show Federal Reserve Sticking To A Gradual Approach On Rates Washington Post ...Members of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee were divided at the mid-March meeting over whether to raise interest rates in June or to wait a bit longer, but they remained united in their expectation that they would raise rates gradually...
Defenders of Wealth Blame Workers For Lousy Recovery, Not Policies Protecting Profits Alternet ...The Wall Street financed group Third Way and the Wall Street Journal gave us more proof for this proposition yesterday with a new explanation for the "jobless recovery." Their basic story is that the economy lost routine, relatively low-skilled jobs, but it now needs workers with high-skills for the new jobs that are being created...
Teamsters: Long Beach Approves Construction Agreement Press-Telegram ...The City of Long Beach, California, has approved a new project labor agreement (PLA) for construction projects. This agreement puts into a motion an agreement to hire unionized labor for use on construction projects costing more than $500,000 each. Hundreds of construction workers in Southern California are represented by Teamsters Local 952, 166 and others...
OOIDA Files As Intervenor In Lawsuit Over Open Border To Mexican Trucks Land Line Magazine ...The granting of long-haul trucking authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers operating in the U.S. would adversely affect small-business truckers and highway safety, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association stated in a federal court filing on Tuesday, April 7. On behalf of the Association and its members, OOIDA filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Global Labor & Trade
White House Reveals Desperate Lack Of Support For TPP Truthout ...The White House is having a hard time generating any momentum for fast-track trade authority for the TPP and other agreements. The Obama administration pushed to stop the Seattle City Council from opposing fast-track legislation and the TPP, but instead got a unanimous vote against them from a major port city that trades with Asia...
As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report Common Dreams ...A new investigative look at the ties between big business interests in Colombia, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her family's charitable foundation are raising troubling questions about the role that corporate trade deals and big oil may have played in softening the powerful Democrat's position on human rights in the South American country...
One Lethal Loophole In The TPP CounterPunch ...After spending five long years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Obama administration is now pushing for the fast-track authority from Congress that would make it easier to get the final deal approved. One serious problem is that the TPP is not likely to include rules on currency, which is leading lawmakers from both parties to consider opposing the agreement. They are right to be concerned...
Fast track on trade is wrong track for America (opinion) The Register-Guard ...The TPP is built upon the foundation of the failed NAFTA and Korea “free trade” agreements. It incorporates all their shortcomings, which directly led to the loss of 743,000 American jobs and put downward pressure on wages in a wide variety of occupations. The new provisions will make it easier for corporations to challenge our labor, environmental and consumer protection laws...
Are These Strikes a Sign of Growing Militancy Among China’s Workers? The Nation ...It seems that even if not directly in contact, workers are aligned in their pushback against global manufacturing’s “race to the bottom.” As the relentless pressure to suppress labor costs begins to finally bottom out, workers may find new leverage on the shop floor, across the city, and maybe even across borders...
Protesters march in France as nationwide strikes target schools, Eiffel Tower and airspace US News ...Thousands of protesters, many blowing whistles and waving union flags, marched through Paris and other French cities on Thursday in a day of nationwide strikes.The protesters aired an array of grievances against state funding cuts, planned increases in the retirement age, and business-friendly reforms that could make firing workers easier...
Politicians Try To Union-Bust Their Way To The White House Newsweek ...Fiery labor icon Mother Jones cannot be resting peacefully beneath the crabgrass in the Union Miners’ Cemetery, not far from Springfield, Illinois, where Bruce Rauner, the recently elected Republican governor, has launched an unprecedented attack on organized labor. Rauner is challenging public and private unions on several fronts—even pushing the state’s municipalities to create “right-to-work zones”...
Officials Use Decrepit Bridges, Highways To Make Their Point Washington Post ...In about 150 other cities, mayors and other officials will do stand-ups in front of bridges that need replacement and congested highways to make the point. The mayors say they’ll descend on Washington on May 11 to lobby Congress, but the attention they get Thursday will be played out on television, in print and online to the public at large...
California Lawmakers Propose Expanding Benefits To Some Immigrants San Francisco Chronicle ...California legislative leaders took a bold step Tuesday toward protecting immigrants living in the country without documentation by backing legislation to offer Medi-Cal and other public services to a population they said they want to help move out of the shadows...
Unions Oppose Bill That Would Bar Managers From Joining Albany Times Union ...In a week full of bills that have Nevada unions crying foul, an Assembly committee has passed an amended version of a bill that would dramatically change collective bargaining rules for Nevada public employees...
Senate Democrats Are Getting Fed Up With The SEC's Delay On CEO Pay Rule Huffington Post ...Senate Democrats are losing patience with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's failure to implement a new CEO pay rule. Democrats have been pushing the SEC for nearly five years to move forward with the rule, which Congress required the agency to develop under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The rule would mandate that companies publicly disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median earnings of workers at the firm...
Wall Street has gobbled up billions of New York City pension dollars Daily Kos ...Wall Street, not retired workers, has been getting the profits from New York City's pension funds, according to the city comptroller's office. Management fees have sucked up more than $2 billion over 10 years, virtually erasing gains for the funds that provide pensions for 715,000 city workers...
What corporate America should do for low-wage workers (opinion) Fortune ...On April 15, fast food, retail, and other low-wage workers are planning a wave of actions to demand a $15 minimum wage. This should be a wake-up call to the business community. It’s a moral disgrace that so many hard-working Americans have to scrape to get by on a minimum wage that is 25% below what it was in 1968...
U.S. Labor
Conservative Groups Rally Behind Gerawan Farming Capital & Main ...This year the Gerawans’ local state Assembly member, Republican Jim Patterson of Fresno, introduced Assembly Bill 1389. It would allow outside anti-union parties (such as Silvia Lopez) to inject themselves into mandatory mediation proceedings on the same basis as the union’s elected negotiating committee. Further, it would permit growers to decertify unions that “abandon” workers for three years...
Bank Workers Tell Their Bosses: Stop Making Us Sell Shady Products To Poor People Think Progress ...The newest line of criticism for the banking industry is coming from within, as a group of rank-and-file banking employees prepare to demand that their employer stop ordering them to use predatory sales tactics and start treating them as a valued piece of the workforce...
Miscellaneous
New Minutes Show Federal Reserve Sticking To A Gradual Approach On Rates Washington Post ...Members of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee were divided at the mid-March meeting over whether to raise interest rates in June or to wait a bit longer, but they remained united in their expectation that they would raise rates gradually...
Defenders of Wealth Blame Workers For Lousy Recovery, Not Policies Protecting Profits Alternet ...The Wall Street financed group Third Way and the Wall Street Journal gave us more proof for this proposition yesterday with a new explanation for the "jobless recovery." Their basic story is that the economy lost routine, relatively low-skilled jobs, but it now needs workers with high-skills for the new jobs that are being created...
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.08.15
Teamsters
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
Friday, December 5, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.05.14
Teamster News
First Student School Bus Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 653 teamster.org ...School bus workers at the Abington, Mass., First Student yard have voted overwhelmingly, 38-8, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The group of 60 drivers and monitors transport children in the Rockland, Holbrook and Weymouth school districts...
New Yorkers Swamp City Council Members With Phone Calls, Opposing Bill de Blasio’s Ban On Horse Carriages New York Daily News ...Angered by Mayor de Blasio’s drive to ban horse-drawn carriages, New Yorkers fought back Tuesday with their fingertips — swamping City Council members with phone calls urging them to oppose the mayor’s plan...
LA schools reach tentative agreement with supervisor staff union; teacher negotiations ongoing Associated Press ...LAUSD and Teamsters Local 572 announced agreements on job protections, food service practices and payment cycles Wednesday. The two sides had previously reached an agreement on salary...
Union workers turn the heat up in fight over oil terminal in the Bronx New York Daily News ...Dozens of union workers at a Bronx heating oil supply facility braved freezing rain Wednesday to fight for their jobs and protest the transfer of their facility...
College Scholarships Available To Sons and Daughters of Teamster Members teamster.org ...College scholarships, ranging in award amount between $1,000 and $10,000, are available to the sons, daughters or financially-dependent grandchildren of Teamster members through the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Trade
Obama Claims that Economic Reality Will Make It Hard to Get Political Support for His Trade Deals Center for Economic Policy and Research ... It's not clear why President Obama would be surprised that most of the public opposes trade deals that are likely to redistribute more income upward...
US To Determine Whether Child Labour Is Used In Indian Carpets Economic Times ...The US has proposed to determine whether Indian carpets are produced by forced or indentured child labour, even as it added cotton and sugarcane to the already existing child labour produced list from India...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate to quickly take up right-to-work legislation Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Nearly four years after mostly eliminating collective bargaining for public workers, Republicans are considering putting limits on most private-sector unions while giving an unprecedented exemption to the labor groups that support them politically...
After Republican Wins, Right To Work Bills On The Agenda Washington Post ...Republicans in at least five states — Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri — have introduced or plan to introduce versions of the law in legislative sessions that will begin in January. Legislators in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania are all likely to push similar laws, though union-friendly Democratic governors in each state will act as firewalls...
War on Workers
Minimum wage fight hits the streets of nearly 200 U.S. cities Reuters ...Thousands of U.S. fast-food workers and supporters marched in nearly 200 cities around the United States on Thursday including Chicago and Boston to advocate for a $15 minimum wage and other labor rights...
JPMorgan Rushed to Hire Trader Who Suggested on His Resume That He Knew How to Game Electric Markets Wall Street on Parade ...“There’s two things that I find incredible about this. First, that anyone would advertise in a resume that they know about a flaw in the system — signaling that they’re ready and willing to exploit that flaw. And, second, that somebody would hire the person sending that signal.”...
The Incredible Shrinking Incomes Of Young Americans The Atlantic ...In retail, wholesale, leisure, and hospitality—which together employ more than one quarter of this age group—real wages have fallen more than 10 percent since 2007...
Which U.S. Cities Have the Biggest Income Gaps? Wall Street Journal ...Fairfield County had the widest inequality of any U.S. metro area in 2009-13, according to newly released Census data...
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind On Bills New York Times ...A more recent national survey by the Federal Reserve, based on 2013 data, suggests the problem has not only persisted as the economy recovers but may even have worsened. More than 30 percent of Americans reported spikes and dips in their incomes. Among that group, 42 percent cited an irregular work schedule; an additional 27 percent blamed a span of joblessness or seasonal work...
Ohio Power Prices Could Spike With U.S. Plan To Cut Power Plant CO2 Emissions Cleveland Plain Dealer ...The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio filed a 67-page analysis with the U.S. EPA arguing the federal proposal would spike power prices, hurt industry and destabilize the regional high-voltage grid...
Oil Trains Hide In Plain Sight Wall Street Journal ...Finding the locations of oil-filled trains remains difficult, even in states that don’t consider the information top secret. There are no federal or state rules requiring public notice despite several fiery accidents involving oil trains, including one in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Listened In On Trade Group Talks To Stay Ahead Of Phone Encryption The Verge ...By monitoring any new encryption proposals before they were made public, the agency was able to get a head start on finding ways to break the new systems...
First Student School Bus Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 653 teamster.org ...School bus workers at the Abington, Mass., First Student yard have voted overwhelmingly, 38-8, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The group of 60 drivers and monitors transport children in the Rockland, Holbrook and Weymouth school districts...
New Yorkers Swamp City Council Members With Phone Calls, Opposing Bill de Blasio’s Ban On Horse Carriages New York Daily News ...Angered by Mayor de Blasio’s drive to ban horse-drawn carriages, New Yorkers fought back Tuesday with their fingertips — swamping City Council members with phone calls urging them to oppose the mayor’s plan...
LA schools reach tentative agreement with supervisor staff union; teacher negotiations ongoing Associated Press ...LAUSD and Teamsters Local 572 announced agreements on job protections, food service practices and payment cycles Wednesday. The two sides had previously reached an agreement on salary...
Union workers turn the heat up in fight over oil terminal in the Bronx New York Daily News ...Dozens of union workers at a Bronx heating oil supply facility braved freezing rain Wednesday to fight for their jobs and protest the transfer of their facility...
College Scholarships Available To Sons and Daughters of Teamster Members teamster.org ...College scholarships, ranging in award amount between $1,000 and $10,000, are available to the sons, daughters or financially-dependent grandchildren of Teamster members through the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Trade
Obama Claims that Economic Reality Will Make It Hard to Get Political Support for His Trade Deals Center for Economic Policy and Research ... It's not clear why President Obama would be surprised that most of the public opposes trade deals that are likely to redistribute more income upward...
US To Determine Whether Child Labour Is Used In Indian Carpets Economic Times ...The US has proposed to determine whether Indian carpets are produced by forced or indentured child labour, even as it added cotton and sugarcane to the already existing child labour produced list from India...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate to quickly take up right-to-work legislation Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Nearly four years after mostly eliminating collective bargaining for public workers, Republicans are considering putting limits on most private-sector unions while giving an unprecedented exemption to the labor groups that support them politically...
After Republican Wins, Right To Work Bills On The Agenda Washington Post ...Republicans in at least five states — Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri — have introduced or plan to introduce versions of the law in legislative sessions that will begin in January. Legislators in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania are all likely to push similar laws, though union-friendly Democratic governors in each state will act as firewalls...
War on Workers
Minimum wage fight hits the streets of nearly 200 U.S. cities Reuters ...Thousands of U.S. fast-food workers and supporters marched in nearly 200 cities around the United States on Thursday including Chicago and Boston to advocate for a $15 minimum wage and other labor rights...
JPMorgan Rushed to Hire Trader Who Suggested on His Resume That He Knew How to Game Electric Markets Wall Street on Parade ...“There’s two things that I find incredible about this. First, that anyone would advertise in a resume that they know about a flaw in the system — signaling that they’re ready and willing to exploit that flaw. And, second, that somebody would hire the person sending that signal.”...
The Incredible Shrinking Incomes Of Young Americans The Atlantic ...In retail, wholesale, leisure, and hospitality—which together employ more than one quarter of this age group—real wages have fallen more than 10 percent since 2007...
Which U.S. Cities Have the Biggest Income Gaps? Wall Street Journal ...Fairfield County had the widest inequality of any U.S. metro area in 2009-13, according to newly released Census data...
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind On Bills New York Times ...A more recent national survey by the Federal Reserve, based on 2013 data, suggests the problem has not only persisted as the economy recovers but may even have worsened. More than 30 percent of Americans reported spikes and dips in their incomes. Among that group, 42 percent cited an irregular work schedule; an additional 27 percent blamed a span of joblessness or seasonal work...
Ohio Power Prices Could Spike With U.S. Plan To Cut Power Plant CO2 Emissions Cleveland Plain Dealer ...The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio filed a 67-page analysis with the U.S. EPA arguing the federal proposal would spike power prices, hurt industry and destabilize the regional high-voltage grid...
Oil Trains Hide In Plain Sight Wall Street Journal ...Finding the locations of oil-filled trains remains difficult, even in states that don’t consider the information top secret. There are no federal or state rules requiring public notice despite several fiery accidents involving oil trains, including one in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Listened In On Trade Group Talks To Stay Ahead Of Phone Encryption The Verge ...By monitoring any new encryption proposals before they were made public, the agency was able to get a head start on finding ways to break the new systems...
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.29.14
Teamster News
AEI Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve National Agreement teamster.org ...Teamsters working at AEI/Danzas across the country overwhelmingly approved the new tentative National Master Agreement. Likewise, all but two of the supplements were approved by the affected membership...
Avis Shuttle Drivers Join Teamsters Local 839 teamster.org ...The unit of 12 drivers came together to win the same benefits enjoyed by their Teamster coworkers who are Avis customer service staff and car washers...
Trade
With TTIP Consumer Protection Will Be A Privilege Of The Rich RT ...For some time now civil society and environmental organizations have been raising concerns over whether genetically-modified food will be labeled appropriately; whether antibiotics will be allowed in our food; or, whether chlorine-rinsed chicken will find its way onto Europe’s domestic market. Surprise! Surprise! Nowhere does the document address these...
State Battles
U.S. Labor Dept: Wisconsin Again Ranked #1 in Workers Lost Due To Outsourcing Uppity Wisconsin ...For the third year in a row, Wisconsin takes home the dubious crown of the nation's biggest per-capita outsourcer...
A Look At Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's Economic Claims McClatchy DC ...A casual listener - or voter - might conclude that Brownback faced a $500 million budget shortfall in June 2011, six months after he took office. He did not...
ALEC Agenda in Dallas: Evisceration of Medicaid, School Privatization and Expansion of Gas Exports Center for Media and Democracy ...Also at this year's meeting, ALEC's task forces will consider bills to make it virtually impossible to enroll in Medicaid, expand charter schools to further bankrupt traditional public schools, expand exports of "natural gas" from fracking, and undermine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air and Clean Water Act regulations...
Another Ohio City To Layoff Fire Fighters. Thanks John Kasich! Plunderbund ...Butler County has lost $31.6 million in local government funding thanks to Governor John Kasich’s budgets. Warren County lost $15.2 million. In Middletown, these cuts left the city struggling to find enough funding to pay for proper police and fire protection...
Thousands of disabled workers in Pa. paid far below minimum wage Daily Times ...About 13,000 disabled Pennsylvanians are earning an average of $2.40 an hour in a legal use of subminimum wages...
Unions gaining power in Mass. Boston Globe ...Among the victories unions are savoring: the highest minimum wage in the nation, new workplace protections for state employees, a bill of rights for housekeepers and other domestic workers, limits on nurse-to-patient ratios in intensive care units, and, nearing passage, a $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center...
Unions ready to fight Christie pension system plan ABC 27 ...the Democrats who control the Legislature and their union allies say they aren't interested in hearing proposals from Christie after he unilaterally cut the state's contributions to pension funds for the last two fiscal years...
Monsanto Ordered To Pay $93 Million For Poisoning People Axis Of Logic ...The West Virginia State Supreme Court finalized a big blow to the biotech giant Monsanto this month, finishing a settlement causing Monsanto to pay $93 million to the tiny town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning citizens with Agent Orange chemicals...
Right to work makes city look cheap, ruthless (opinion) Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ...I would rather that my city employees are well paid, that they can come to address issues and concerns as required and that they’re professionals we pay to do a job for us...
Right To Work Not Decreasing Union Membership Indiana Public Radio ...Two years after Indiana became a right-to-work state, the membership decline unions feared hasn‘t happened. Unionization slipped from one in nine Hoosier workers in 2011 to one out of 11 in 2012, when right-to-work took effect. But union membership had been sliding for years before that, and in the first full year of right-to-work, membership actually rebounded by two-tenths of a percent...
Seattle City Council Appeals To Bezos Over Subcontracted Amazon Security Bloomberg Businessweek ...Seattle’s nine city council members declared themselves “deeply concerned” over alleged mistreatment of subcontracted security workers who patrol the company’s headquarters there...
War On Workers
This Congressman Wants To Give You The Right To Sue Union Busters Huffington Post ...If your boss tramples on your right to organize in the workplace, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes you should be able to sue for damages in federal court...
Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight For $15 An Hour New York Times ...In its most recent strike in mid-May, workers walked out at restaurants in 150 cities nationwide, with solidarity protests held in 30 countries. The focus increasingly includes unionizing; the movement’s motto has become “$15 and a union.”...
Market Basket Workers Violated Some Workers' Rights Lawsuit Says Boston Globe ...The management team of the much-loved supermarket president, whose recent firing has inspired a massive uprising of employees demanding his return, violated the law by locking in workers overnight and requiring them to take unpaid breaks, according to two former employees who are suing the company...
Obama Could Curb Corporate 'Inversions' On His Own: Ex-U.S. Official Reuters ...By invoking a 1969 tax law, Obama could bypass congressional gridlock and restrict foreign tax-domiciled U.S companies from using inter-company loans and interest deductions to cut their U.S. tax bills, said Stephen Shay, former deputy assistant Treasury secretary for international tax affairs in the Obama administration...
Miscellaneous
FAA Proposes to Fine Southwest Airlines $12M Associated Press ...The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it is proposing a $12 million civil fine against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with safety regulations related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners...
AEI Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve National Agreement teamster.org ...Teamsters working at AEI/Danzas across the country overwhelmingly approved the new tentative National Master Agreement. Likewise, all but two of the supplements were approved by the affected membership...
Avis Shuttle Drivers Join Teamsters Local 839 teamster.org ...The unit of 12 drivers came together to win the same benefits enjoyed by their Teamster coworkers who are Avis customer service staff and car washers...
Trade
With TTIP Consumer Protection Will Be A Privilege Of The Rich RT ...For some time now civil society and environmental organizations have been raising concerns over whether genetically-modified food will be labeled appropriately; whether antibiotics will be allowed in our food; or, whether chlorine-rinsed chicken will find its way onto Europe’s domestic market. Surprise! Surprise! Nowhere does the document address these...
State Battles
U.S. Labor Dept: Wisconsin Again Ranked #1 in Workers Lost Due To Outsourcing Uppity Wisconsin ...For the third year in a row, Wisconsin takes home the dubious crown of the nation's biggest per-capita outsourcer...
A Look At Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's Economic Claims McClatchy DC ...A casual listener - or voter - might conclude that Brownback faced a $500 million budget shortfall in June 2011, six months after he took office. He did not...
ALEC Agenda in Dallas: Evisceration of Medicaid, School Privatization and Expansion of Gas Exports Center for Media and Democracy ...Also at this year's meeting, ALEC's task forces will consider bills to make it virtually impossible to enroll in Medicaid, expand charter schools to further bankrupt traditional public schools, expand exports of "natural gas" from fracking, and undermine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air and Clean Water Act regulations...
Another Ohio City To Layoff Fire Fighters. Thanks John Kasich! Plunderbund ...Butler County has lost $31.6 million in local government funding thanks to Governor John Kasich’s budgets. Warren County lost $15.2 million. In Middletown, these cuts left the city struggling to find enough funding to pay for proper police and fire protection...
Thousands of disabled workers in Pa. paid far below minimum wage Daily Times ...About 13,000 disabled Pennsylvanians are earning an average of $2.40 an hour in a legal use of subminimum wages...
Unions gaining power in Mass. Boston Globe ...Among the victories unions are savoring: the highest minimum wage in the nation, new workplace protections for state employees, a bill of rights for housekeepers and other domestic workers, limits on nurse-to-patient ratios in intensive care units, and, nearing passage, a $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center...
Unions ready to fight Christie pension system plan ABC 27 ...the Democrats who control the Legislature and their union allies say they aren't interested in hearing proposals from Christie after he unilaterally cut the state's contributions to pension funds for the last two fiscal years...
Monsanto Ordered To Pay $93 Million For Poisoning People Axis Of Logic ...The West Virginia State Supreme Court finalized a big blow to the biotech giant Monsanto this month, finishing a settlement causing Monsanto to pay $93 million to the tiny town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning citizens with Agent Orange chemicals...
Right to work makes city look cheap, ruthless (opinion) Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ...I would rather that my city employees are well paid, that they can come to address issues and concerns as required and that they’re professionals we pay to do a job for us...
Right To Work Not Decreasing Union Membership Indiana Public Radio ...Two years after Indiana became a right-to-work state, the membership decline unions feared hasn‘t happened. Unionization slipped from one in nine Hoosier workers in 2011 to one out of 11 in 2012, when right-to-work took effect. But union membership had been sliding for years before that, and in the first full year of right-to-work, membership actually rebounded by two-tenths of a percent...
Seattle City Council Appeals To Bezos Over Subcontracted Amazon Security Bloomberg Businessweek ...Seattle’s nine city council members declared themselves “deeply concerned” over alleged mistreatment of subcontracted security workers who patrol the company’s headquarters there...
War On Workers
This Congressman Wants To Give You The Right To Sue Union Busters Huffington Post ...If your boss tramples on your right to organize in the workplace, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes you should be able to sue for damages in federal court...
Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight For $15 An Hour New York Times ...In its most recent strike in mid-May, workers walked out at restaurants in 150 cities nationwide, with solidarity protests held in 30 countries. The focus increasingly includes unionizing; the movement’s motto has become “$15 and a union.”...
Market Basket Workers Violated Some Workers' Rights Lawsuit Says Boston Globe ...The management team of the much-loved supermarket president, whose recent firing has inspired a massive uprising of employees demanding his return, violated the law by locking in workers overnight and requiring them to take unpaid breaks, according to two former employees who are suing the company...
Obama Could Curb Corporate 'Inversions' On His Own: Ex-U.S. Official Reuters ...By invoking a 1969 tax law, Obama could bypass congressional gridlock and restrict foreign tax-domiciled U.S companies from using inter-company loans and interest deductions to cut their U.S. tax bills, said Stephen Shay, former deputy assistant Treasury secretary for international tax affairs in the Obama administration...
Miscellaneous
FAA Proposes to Fine Southwest Airlines $12M Associated Press ...The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it is proposing a $12 million civil fine against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with safety regulations related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners...
Friday, May 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.23.14
Have a wonderful holiday, everyone! TeamsterNation will be on hiatus over the Memorial Day holiday. We'll see you again Tuesday morning!
Teamster News
Youngstown Approves Pacts With 2 Employee Unions Insurance News Net ...City council approved contracts with two labor unions that provide salary increases for the first time in about four years. The deals with Teamsters Local 377, which represents 30 street department workers...
Trade
TTIP: EU And US Prepare To Enhance Global Corporatocracy With Free Trade Deal International Business Times ...Belgian MP Alain Maron, who was one of the 200 arrested in Belgium last Thursday, May 15, as an unauthorized protest against TTIP broke out in Brussels, branded the deal "an erosion of consumer and human rights."...
State Battles
Two Ways Chris Christie Screwed Over Pensioners for GOP Donors In These Times ...Christie isn't being forced to renege on the pension payment—he's choosing to spend money on corporate subsidies and investment fees rather than on those pension promises...
EXCLUSIVE: We name the political donors whose firms got $14bn of pension cash from New Jersey Pando ...political donors associated with 43 financial firms managing New Jersey pension money have spent a total of $11.6 million on contributions to New Jersey politicians and to major political organizations operating in New Jersey elections...
Koch Brothers' Detroit Abomination: Stunning Avarice And Cruelty Reaches New Low Salon.com ...After much controversy and debate, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has agreed to provide $195 million in state funding that will limit pension cuts to no more than 4.5 percent and protect the Detroit Institute of Art from liquidating its collection. "This is a settlement. This is not a bailout." Snyder said. "And I want to be very, very clear about that." Not so fast Gov. Snyder. Americans for Prosperity has built a shiny new website...
War On Workers
Just Released: What Kinds of Jobs Have Been Created during the Recovery? Liberty Street Economics ...during the recession, the vast majority of jobs that were lost in the nation and across the region were middle-skill jobs, such as construction workers, teachers, machine operators, and administrative support workers. These jobs have not come back during the recovery...
Students Now Indentured to the Banksters Truthout ...Back in January, 31-year-old Tony Muzzatti, who at the time owed around $60,000 in student loan debt to Sallie Mae and always made on-time payments, was told that he had to immediately make a payment of $10,000, or face asset seizures. That's because his grandmother, who also happened to be his cosigner on the student loans, had just died...
Business That Bashed Obama's OSHA Just Had Horrifying Industrial Accident Huffington Post ...During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape. "I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama." Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc. in Saukville, Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012 campaign story. On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident...
Cutting Off Emergency Unemployment Benefits Hasn't Pushed People Back To Work Five Thirty Eight ...Of the roughly 1.3 million Americans whose benefits disappeared with the end of the program, only a quarter had found jobs as of March, about the same success rate as when the program was still in effect; roughly another quarter had given up searching...
Larry Summers: Student Debt Is Slowing The U.S. Housing Recovery Wall Street Journal ...Former White House adviser Lawrence Summers said Wednesday that student debt is slowing the housing recovery and the broader economic recovery, adding a prominent voice to the debate in Washington...
Over 100 McDonald's Workers Arrested Protesting Outside Shareholder Meeting Think Progress ...More than 100 workers and dozens of other protesters were arrested during peaceful protests outside McDonald's corporate headquarters on Wednesday. On Thursday, a thousand McDonald's workers and their supporters are marching on the company's Oak Brook, Illinois campus...
Sallie Mae Torments Faithful Student Borrowers After Co-Signers Die Huffington Post ...Seven borrowers who had been paying their Sallie Mae student loans on time for years were unexpectedly threatened with asset seizures after a Sallie Mae contractor demanded they immediately repay tens of thousands of dollars simply because a family member had died...
Miscellaneous
Ray LaHood Declares U.S. Highways ‘One Big Pothole’ at ALK Summit Truckinginfo ...Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood opened the second day of the ALK Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J., on Wednesday by telling attendees that while the U.S. is "the greatest country in the world [our] transportation and infrastructure is a big mess..."
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions The Guardian ...A landmark surveillance bill, likely to pass the US House of Representatives on Thursday, is hemorrhaging support from the civil libertarians and privacy advocates who were its champions from the start...
Teamster News
Youngstown Approves Pacts With 2 Employee Unions Insurance News Net ...City council approved contracts with two labor unions that provide salary increases for the first time in about four years. The deals with Teamsters Local 377, which represents 30 street department workers...
Trade
TTIP: EU And US Prepare To Enhance Global Corporatocracy With Free Trade Deal International Business Times ...Belgian MP Alain Maron, who was one of the 200 arrested in Belgium last Thursday, May 15, as an unauthorized protest against TTIP broke out in Brussels, branded the deal "an erosion of consumer and human rights."...
State Battles
Two Ways Chris Christie Screwed Over Pensioners for GOP Donors In These Times ...Christie isn't being forced to renege on the pension payment—he's choosing to spend money on corporate subsidies and investment fees rather than on those pension promises...
EXCLUSIVE: We name the political donors whose firms got $14bn of pension cash from New Jersey Pando ...political donors associated with 43 financial firms managing New Jersey pension money have spent a total of $11.6 million on contributions to New Jersey politicians and to major political organizations operating in New Jersey elections...
Koch Brothers' Detroit Abomination: Stunning Avarice And Cruelty Reaches New Low Salon.com ...After much controversy and debate, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has agreed to provide $195 million in state funding that will limit pension cuts to no more than 4.5 percent and protect the Detroit Institute of Art from liquidating its collection. "This is a settlement. This is not a bailout." Snyder said. "And I want to be very, very clear about that." Not so fast Gov. Snyder. Americans for Prosperity has built a shiny new website...
War On Workers
Just Released: What Kinds of Jobs Have Been Created during the Recovery? Liberty Street Economics ...during the recession, the vast majority of jobs that were lost in the nation and across the region were middle-skill jobs, such as construction workers, teachers, machine operators, and administrative support workers. These jobs have not come back during the recovery...
Students Now Indentured to the Banksters Truthout ...Back in January, 31-year-old Tony Muzzatti, who at the time owed around $60,000 in student loan debt to Sallie Mae and always made on-time payments, was told that he had to immediately make a payment of $10,000, or face asset seizures. That's because his grandmother, who also happened to be his cosigner on the student loans, had just died...
Business That Bashed Obama's OSHA Just Had Horrifying Industrial Accident Huffington Post ...During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape. "I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama." Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc. in Saukville, Wisconsin, told the Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012 campaign story. On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident...
Cutting Off Emergency Unemployment Benefits Hasn't Pushed People Back To Work Five Thirty Eight ...Of the roughly 1.3 million Americans whose benefits disappeared with the end of the program, only a quarter had found jobs as of March, about the same success rate as when the program was still in effect; roughly another quarter had given up searching...
Larry Summers: Student Debt Is Slowing The U.S. Housing Recovery Wall Street Journal ...Former White House adviser Lawrence Summers said Wednesday that student debt is slowing the housing recovery and the broader economic recovery, adding a prominent voice to the debate in Washington...
Over 100 McDonald's Workers Arrested Protesting Outside Shareholder Meeting Think Progress ...More than 100 workers and dozens of other protesters were arrested during peaceful protests outside McDonald's corporate headquarters on Wednesday. On Thursday, a thousand McDonald's workers and their supporters are marching on the company's Oak Brook, Illinois campus...
Sallie Mae Torments Faithful Student Borrowers After Co-Signers Die Huffington Post ...Seven borrowers who had been paying their Sallie Mae student loans on time for years were unexpectedly threatened with asset seizures after a Sallie Mae contractor demanded they immediately repay tens of thousands of dollars simply because a family member had died...
Miscellaneous
Ray LaHood Declares U.S. Highways ‘One Big Pothole’ at ALK Summit Truckinginfo ...Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood opened the second day of the ALK Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J., on Wednesday by telling attendees that while the U.S. is "the greatest country in the world [our] transportation and infrastructure is a big mess..."
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions The Guardian ...A landmark surveillance bill, likely to pass the US House of Representatives on Thursday, is hemorrhaging support from the civil libertarians and privacy advocates who were its champions from the start...
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Teamsters 'out & looking militant' support supersized global fast food strike
 |
| Philadelphia Teamsters support the strikers on Thursday morning. |
In the biggest one-day strike to date, fast-food workers walked off the job in 150 U.S. cities and planned protests in 30 cities overseas, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Malawi, Morocco, New Zealand, Panama, and the United Kingdom. They were joined by community activists and union workers.
As restaurant workers protested their poverty wages, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced its two co-chief executives took home $50 million for 2013.
Workers all over the country are telling news reporters that they are sick of working for wages that don't cover food and rent. More than half of all fast food workers require some form of public assistance such as Medicaid, food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit, according to a university study.
The restaurant industry claims that teenagers working temporary, entry-level jobs fill the ranks of their employees. But studies show the average age of fast-food workers is 28, one-fourth of them are supporting a child and more than 30 percent have some college education.
 |
| Seattle Teamsters supporting fast food strikers |
Today, Philadelphia Teamsters were out early in Philadelphia -- 'looking militant as usual,' according to 15NowPhilly.
Hell yeah @teamsters out & looking militant as usual. Union united for ALL LOW WAGE WORKERS!They joined fast food workers from Burger King, Subway, Popeye's, Dunkin' Donuts and KFC who joined in the global effort. In addition to the request for higher livable wages, the workers want to form a union without retaliation.
Teamsters in Seattle started off the morning in solidarity with fast food workers, reported Jobs With Justice. According to the Associated Press,
Seattle demonstrators taking part in a national day one-day protest of low wages for fast-food workers started Thursday with a rally a Cal Anderson Park.
Taylor Farms, Teamsters and fast-food workers
Organizers said strike locations would be announced through the day, followed by a 4 p.m. rally at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle.In Oakland, Calif., Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers protested with fast-food strikers today as well. California Teamsters are engaged in a valiant organizing struggle with Taylor Farms food processing workers. Together with fast-food workers and other union members, Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers are fighting for laws that protect vulnerable temporary workers. In addition to demonstrating with fast-food strikers, today Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers met with California lawmakers such as Sen. Roger Hernandez and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who pledged their support.
As our friends at Union Solidarity International tweeted,
It’s time for trickle up economics.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Fast food strikes in 100+ cities
 |
| Fast food strikers in Chicago today |
The Associated Press has the story:
Fast-food workers and labor organizers are marching, waving signs and chanting in cities across the country Thursday amid a push for higher wages.The actions would mark the largest showing yet in a push that began a year ago. At a time when there's growing national and international attention on economic disparities, labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats are hoping to build public support to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25, or about $15,000 a year for full-time work...
In New York City, about 100 protesters blew whistles and beat drums while marching into a McDonald's at around 6:30 a.m.; one startled customer grabbed his food and fled as they flooded the restaurant, while another didn't look up from eating and reading amid their chants of "We can't survive on $7.25!"
Community leaders took turns giving speeches for about 15 minutes until the police arrived and ordered protesters out of the store. The crowd continued to demonstrate outside for about 45 minutes. A McDonald's manager declined to be interviewed and asked that the handful of customers in the store not be bothered.From Twitter we learn:
- In Durham, N.C., strikers are chanting: "Hold the burgers. Hold the fries. Make our WAGES super sized!"
- Strikers in Washington, D.C., are marching with a sign that says, "It's time to supersize our economy."
- A Ronald McGrinch is accompanying Chicago strikers as they march down Michigan Ave.
- Detroit's 6 a.m. strike was the largest yet.
Our favorite tweet:
“I want to trade my food stamp card for A UNION CARD!” - Mary Coleman, @PopeyesChicken worker.
Follow the action on Twitter with tge #FastFoodStrike hashtag.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Walmart workers to strike in 15 cities tomorrow
Josh Eidelson at The Nation reports:
This week’s rallies follow an August 22 civil disobedience action at which the campaign announced a Labor Day deadline for Walmart to raise its wages to at least $25,000 per year, and reverse the terminations of twenty workers who participated in a June strike.
Thursday’s actions will include a march through downtown Los Angeles to the site of a proposed Walmart in Chinatown, and a demonstration in Washington, DC, where all sides are awaiting word on whether Mayor Vince Gray will veto a bill (passed by City Council in July but formally sent to his desk last Friday) that would require “large retailers” like Walmart to pay employees at least $12.50 in total hourly compensation. Thursday actions are also planned for cities in the East, West, South and Midwest: Baton Rouge, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle.Walmart protests tomorrow follow strikes last week involving low-wage workers in the port trucking and fast-food industries. Walmart workers are fighting back against management retaliation against OUR Walmart supporters, and they are part of a growing movement to raise wages and standards for America's growing population that is trying to survive on poverty wages.
Eidelson adds:
Thursday’s rallies will have the largest total turnout by Walmart employees, and the biggest overall number of participants, of any Walmart mobilization since the one-day November 23 strike last year, in which organizers say 400-some workers walked off the job and thousands of supporters turned out to support them. Since then, organizers say hundreds of workers took part in collective confrontations with local management over scheduling on April 24, and over a hundred participated in the longer June work stoppage, which included a week of protests in and around Walmart’s Arkansas hometown.
The OUR Walmart campaign has asked the National Labor Relations Board, whose pace and penalties labor has long charged are insufficient for protecting workers, to seek an injunction to more quickly address Walmart’s recent alleged retaliation.Last week, port truck drivers staged a historic one-day strike in their drive to become Teamsters and raise standards at the Port of Los Angeles.
While corporations in retail and other low-paying industries are rolling in record profits, low-wage workers represent the fastest-growing segment of American workers and the country's expanding income gap.
Making Change at Walmart wrote in a statement yesterday:
Economists, labor market experts and others have been increasingly voicing concern about the growing income inequality and its impact on the economy. Walmart, the largest company on the Fortune 500 list, made $16 billion in profit last year, and the majority of owners of the company, the Waltons, have the combined wealth of nearly half of American families. Meanwhile, many Walmart workers continue to earn on average poverty wages of $8.81 an hour.
Rather than providing good jobs that American workers need and deserve, Walmart is trying to silence workers who are standing up with their co-workers to live better and spending its time and money trying to deny workers a decent day’s pay.
Since June, Walmart has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers, including firing 20 worker-leaders. More than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Walmart.Not only do Walmart and other low-wage workers represent a growing part of the labor force, they represent a huge upsurge of collective action against corporate greed and the fight to save the middle class.
Teamsters and supporters everywhere are encouraged to stand in solidarity with Walmart workers tomorrow. Visit the Corporate Action Network website to find a protest in your area.
SOLIDARITY!
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