TEAMSTERS
Revised NY-NJ clean-trucks plan stirs up controversy JOC ...The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week criticized the port authority for lifting a Jan. 1, 2017 deadline that would have forced 70 percent of the port’s trucks to be replaced or refitted with newer, less-polluting engines. Consolidation of the port’s fragmented drayage industry into fewer, stronger companies that use employee drivers has been a longtime goal of the Teamsters union, which is part of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and claims many owner-operators are misclassified as independent contractors...
10,000 needy families, hospitalized kids aided by Teamsters Joint Council 13 volunteers, friends, family Labor Tribune ...More than 10,000 needy families and their children and dozens of children who had to be in the hospital over the holidays had a brighter Christmas this past season as a result of the generosity and hearts of Teamsters throughout the region, all members of Teamsters Joint Council 13. In three separate programs supported by the Teamsters, food and toys were provided to the less fortunate and the working poor...
Teamsters and Freight; building up America Mandan News ...As many as three million heavy-duty trucks run on the highways, bringing freight to destination terminals from where smaller delivery trucks further carry the products to their destinations. The trucking industry reminds us that “Without trucks, America stops.” Another adage proclaims, “If you bought it, a truck brought it.” Truck drivers and other associated occupations can find membership in a large organization named the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Union retirees fearing pension cuts The Examiner ...The president of the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters, Jim Kabell, outlined troubles in the union’s pension fund to a full house at American Legion Post 21. Many wore T-shirts reading, “Stop the rush to pension cuts!” He also took aim at Congress for actions he said made things worse and for not acting on needed solutions, and he urged Teamsters to get active to address that...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Kia Workers OK Wage Deal After 5 Strike-Free Months Wards Auto ...Kia workers represented by the Korean Metal Workers Union sign a new wage agreement with the automaker Jan. 12, ending negotiations that dragged on for five months. Both sides had agreed when talks began Aug. 11 to conduct all sessions with a total news blackout. A tentative agreement was reached Jan. 6 and a ratification vote was held Jan. 10...
Private sector workers to go on strike on Feb 4 Ekathimerini ...Greece’s biggest private sector union, GSEE, decided on Friday to call a 24-hour strike for Thursday, February 4, in protest at government reforms and particularly a contentious overhaul of the social security system. Meeting in Athens, GSEE’s executive committee decided to ramp up the pressure against the government’s proposal and to join forces with other unions...
Luas workers in Ireland to go on strike Irish News ...Commuters face travel chaos after Luas staff announced plans to stage two 48 hour strikes next month. Workers will down tools on February 11 and 12 and again on February 18 and 19. The Siptu trade union confirmed three of four groups of workers, who balloted overwhelmingly to take industrial action, preferred to strike for 48 hours at meetings this week. Luas operator Transdev released figures claiming drivers are seeking a massive pay rise of almost 54pc...
Morocco Government Assaults Spur Sit-in Solidarity Center ...About four thousand workers staged a sit-in outside parliament in Rabat yesterday in a show of popular protest against socioeconomic policies that are economically harmful to working people, among them planned pension reforms, a freeze on talks with civil society groups and ongoing violations of worker rights–including the government’s refusal to negotiate with trade unions on wages and working conditions for public service workers...
Business leaders doubt trade vote happens before elections The Hill ...Business leaders on Thursday expressed doubt that a sweeping Pacific Rim trade agreement will come up for a vote in Congress before the November elections. Bruce Josten, the top lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that there are several significant factors in play that will determine whether lawmakers will be ready to vote on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by this summer...
Time for negotiations is finished for Trans-Pacific Partnership: trade minister Global News ...A renegotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is not possible even though serious concerns may be raised during public consultations, Canada’s trade minister said Thursday. “The negotiations are finished and for Canadians it’s important to understand that it’s a decision of yes or no,” Chrystia Freeland told reporters Thursday after receiving varied feedback at a meeting at the University of Montreal...
TTIP: what can we expect from 2016? Open Democracy ...TTIP negotiations continue, as the two sides failed to meet their goal of concluding talks by the end of 2015. EU and US negotiators now hope to reach a final political settlement by the end of Obama’s presidency in January 2017, thus making the next 12 months vitally important in the fight to derail the talks. The next round of negotiations is set to take place in Brussels at the end of February...
Protesters rally against Trans-Pacific Partnership WFMZ ...Protesters gathered outside Congressman Charlie Dent's office in Allentown Wednesday, rallying against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The partnership is a multi-national trade agreement that was reached in October after years of negotiations. The protest was organized by the Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition. Protesters want Congressman Dent to vote against the partnership when it reaches the house this spring...
How to Make the Trans-Pacific Partnership Work for Workers and Communities The Nation ... Allowing victimized workers and communities to use dispute-settlement mechanisms in trade agreements provides some measure of re-balance Nothing prevents the United States from going back to its TPP partners to negotiate a supplemental protocol creating a CIDS system to address all stakeholders’ concerns, not just the special interests of investors...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
WVU right-to-work study disputed as Legislature considers bill Gazette Mail ...Just as the West Virginia Legislature began considering “right-to-work” legislation Thursday, a new economic analysis has alleged that the intellectual backbone behind the Republican proposal, a West Virginia University study of the issue, made basic mistakes and “is fraught with several problems.” In November, the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research unveiled a study of right-to-work laws that was requested and funded by the Republican-led Legislature...
Senate fast tracks ‘Right-to-Work’ legislation Daily Telegraph ...Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee spent hours Thursday sparring over the provisions of a Right to Work law, slowing if only momentarily its fast-track passage to the floor of the Senate. SB1, which Republicans have renamed “Workplace Freedom,” is the first of the GOP agenda bills...
West Virginia unions protest right-to-work News Center ...Union groups have hit the Capitol for events opposing the right-to-work push introduced by the Republican-led Legislature. At a West Virginia AFL-CIO event Wednesday morning, workers shared negative experiences from Oklahoma and Virginia, both right-to-work states. Americans for Prosperity, a well-heeled conservative group fueled by the industrialist Koch brothers, also announced online and direct mail advertising in favor of right-to-work...
Prevailing Wage Passes Kentucky Senate State Journal ...Unlike the hugely bipartisan support of the bourbon, winery and microbrewing industry in the state, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate stood diametrically opposed to a prevailing wage bill that passed Thursday to the House. Republican Sen. Wil Schroder of Wilder sponsored the bill exempting public school projects of $250,000 or more from the state’s requirement for the prevailing wage cost to workers...
Oregon governor asks for huge minimum wage hikes CNN ...Gov. Kate Brown is pushing a new, two-tiered system that would increases wages in Portland to $15.52 over the next six years, while other areas would have a minimum of $13.50. The state's current minimum wage is $9.25. If approved by state legislators, Oregon would join a growing list of states that are boosting minimum-wage paychecks. Thirteen states, including California, Nebraska and Vermont, are set to bolster their minimum wages in 2016...
Minimum Wage Workers Plan Strike In Charleston Ahead Of Democratic Debate BuzzFeed ...Low-wage workers will strike and protest in Charleston, South Carolina in the lead-up to the Democratic debate there Sunday night, according to the Fight for 15, the union-backed movement to raise the minimum wage. Hundreds of fast-food, home care, child care and other low-wage employees will converge on the city, according to Fight for 15 Organizing Director Kendall Fells...
The Plot Against Paul LePage The Atlantic ...On Thursday, a group of state legislators in Maine will introduce a measure to impeach LePage. “People have really had enough, all across the state,” Representative Ben Chipman of Portland, the lead sponsor, told me Wednesday. “They’re tired of the governor’s behavior and they’re tired of the legislature not doing anything about it." The impeachment order would create an investigative committee to look into allegations against LePage and then bring back articles of impeachment...
U.S. LABOR
Los Angeles Charter Teachers Say Their Administration Is Aggresively Trying To Bust Their Union In These Times ...A formerly low-profile union organizing campaign by teachers at the largest charter school operation in Los Angeles is emerging into the public spotlight as the charter operator is ramping up its effort to defeat the organizing effort, teachers say. The school operator, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, has been so aggressive against the union that a local judge issued an injunction December 3 against the operator’s apparent labor law violations...
Ski Patrols Seek to Unionize U.S. Slopes as Wealth Gap Grows Bloomberg ...The snowiest peaks in the U.S. are the latest site of pitched union battles, a result of the growing corporatization of the $11 billion ski industry and a widening wealth divide between those who own resorts and those who keep them running. Labor’s promise of better compensation and job security has proved particularly enticing to ski patrollers...
Charged with Firing Teachers for Organizing, a Chicago Charter Network Settles American Prospect ...The National Labor Relations Board finalized a settlement agreement this week between Urban Prep Academies, an all-male charter network in Chicago, and more than a dozen Urban Prep teachers who were fired abruptly back in June. The firings came less than a month after a majority of teachers at Urban Prep voted to unionize with the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ChiACTS)...
NLRB rejects McDonalds’ request to treat joint employer cases separately People's World ... Over the dissent of its remaining Republican member, the National Labor Relations Board has rejected McDonalds' request to split its "joint employer" cases into 31 separate cases involving 161 restaurants nationwide. The board's early-January decision allows the massive case of McDonald's labor law-breaking to go forward as one unified case...
With public sector unions on the rocks, middle class may take another hit Washington Post ...For all his talk about "middle class economics" in recent years, it might have seemed odd that President Obama didn't mention the "middle class" once during his nearly hour-long speech to Congress. Instead, he talked about "working families." Those phrases aren't interchangeable anymore — so many working people have exited the middle class that it's no longer the demographic majority...
What Do Unions Do for the Middle Class? Center for American Progress ...The United States has long called itself a middle-class nation. But that statement is less true today than it was 30 years ago.
The most widely used barometer of the financial health of the middle class—real median household income as published by the U.S. Census Bureau—has barely grown over the last thirty years. At the same time, the middle class has been hollowed out as incomes have polarized...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
U.S. justices consider taking Obama appeal on immigration action Reuters ...The nine U.S. Supreme Court justices were due to meet privately on Friday to discuss whether to hear President Barack Obama's bid to revive his plan to shield more than 4 million immigrants from deportation, a move that bypassed the Republican-led Congress. The court could make an announcement as soon as Friday afternoon on whether it will take up the dispute, which would become one of the centerpiece cases of its current term...
As Federal Government Launches New Deportation Raids, Churches Vow To Take In Immigrants Think Progress ...Churches across the country are gearing up to defy the federal government’s deportation efforts, preparing to offer Central American asylum-seekers sanctuary in their churches and protect them from an aggressive new wave of federal raids. Shortly after New Year’s Day 2016, the Obama administration launched a barrage of highly publicized raids primarily intended to detain and deport Central American immigrants...
More Than Half of Americans Reportedly Have Less Than $1,000 to Their Name Esquire ...In a recent survey, 56 percent of Americans said they have less than $1,000 in their checking and savings accounts combined, Forbes reports. Nearly a quarter (24.8 percent) have less than $100 to their name. Meanwhile, 38 percent said they would pay less than their full credit card balance this month, and 11 percent said they would make the minimum payment...
Residents Of Flint Are Being Billed For Poisoned Water And Threatened With Shutoffs If They Don’t Pay Think Progress ...Last week Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) declared a state of emergency over the level of lead being found in Flint’s tap water, and this week he activated the state National Guard to help provide residents with bottled water, filters, and lead testing kits.
But even in the midst of this crisis, city residents aren’t just being charged for their poisoned tap water — they’re being threatened with shutoffs if they don’t quickly pay their bills...
Chicago Releases Another Video Of A Police Officer Killing An Unarmed Teenager Think Progress ...The city of Chicago released a video of another police officer killing an unarmed black teenager three years ago, after giving up a lengthy legal battle to keep it from the public eye. This time, the teenager’s name was not Laquan McDonald but Cedrick Chatman. The grainy video shows the 17-year-old Chatman fleeing the police before he is shot by Officer Kevin Fry...
Showing posts with label freight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freight. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2016
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.03.15
Teamsters
Crystal Motor Express Drivers Choose Teamsters Teamster.org ...Drivers at Crystal Motor Express in Lynnfield, Mass., have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 42 in Lynn, Mass. The newly organized group consists of 55 drivers. “Teamsters Joint Council 10 continues to focus on organizing in core industries. We welcome these freight drivers to the Teamster family,” said David W. Laughton, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Joint Council 10...
Teamsters Urge Investor Support for Executive Pay Safeguard at Allegiant Travel Co. Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a long-term investor of Allegiant Travel Company urges fellow shareholders to vote FOR Item #3 on the company’s proxy—a proposal that would help prevent unearned windfall awards being paid to executives in the event of a change of control. The shareholder proposal will be presented at the company’s annual meeting, which will be held June 18, 2015, in Las Vegas...
Teamsters Protest Sysco in Michigan Teamster.org ...Teamsters protested Sysco Corporation outside the Michigan Restaurant Association’s Capitol Day in Lansing, Mich., today. Sysco is the largest foodservice distributor in the nation. Sysco faces a federal investigation of 30 alleged violations of labor law and 35 objections to a May 7 Grand Rapids, Mich., union election in which a lead union supporter was fired and workers were threatened with the loss of benefits or their jobs if they voted for union representation...
President Pierce testifies for two-person crews, PTC at Congressional hearing BLET.org ...Dennis Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and President of the Teamsters Rail Conference, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives today and urged the timely implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC), coupled with a minimum two-person operating crew to ensure safety along the nation’s railroads...
Truckers say working conditions likely cause for recent tragedies WSAV ...Responding to two recent accidents involving trucks that resulted in ten deaths, a groups of local truck drivers say long hours may have been a likely factor. Teamsters Local 728 representative Jerome Irwin, Sr. stood with local drivers this morning...
For truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, it's a waiting game KPCC ...More than 40 percent of U.S. imports flow through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. An army of 14,000 short-haul truck drivers are tasked with hauling that cargo from the port complex to warehouses and rail yards around Southern Calfornia. But some of those truckers say, despite their critical role at the ports, they are among the lowest paid workers there, due to ridiculously long wait times...
Global Labor & Trade
Wikileaks offers $100,000 for details of Obama’s trade deal Washington Post ...Wikileaks put a hit out on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal Tuesday, offering $100,000 to anyone who turns over the chapters that have yet to be leaked. The government-document exposing organization already published some chapters of the secret deal, but it wants the whole thing. It’s also using crowdfunding to raise the money to pay the bounty...
Hoyer Urges Civility Among Democrats in Trade Debate Roll Call ...He specifically discussed labor’s outsized influence in pressuring members to oppose legislation that would give President Barack Obama latitude to negotiate a major trade deal with Pacific nations. The AFL-CIO in particular has threatened Democrats who support so-called fast-track authority...
Liberals plot new way to blow up Obama’s trade deal Washington Post ...In the House, a big bloc of liberals has hit on what they hope will be a new way to sink Fast Track. It turns on an obscure aspect of this debate that has gone under-covered: A problematic funding mechanism for a program, which would be part of the whole deal, that grants assistance to workers displaced by trade. The Senate version of TAA is funded in part by cuts to Medicare growth...
Barney Frank: Obama Is Making 'A Big Mistake' On TPP Huffington Post ...Frank said Obama should leverage the trade deal, now being negotiated with 11 Pacific nations, to pass policies that would reduce income inequality, but are currently opposed by the powerful corporations backing TPP. Among the policies that Frank said that Obama could exchange for the trade deal are an increase in the minimum wage, stronger protections for unions, and the end of tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas...
Rana Plaza Charges: ‘A Long-Delayed Step Toward Justice’ Solidarity Center ...Reports that at least 41 government officials have been charged in the deadly 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh “represent a long-delayed step toward justice,” says Solidarity Center Asia Regional Program Director Tim Ryan. “Finally, after more than two years, the Bangladesh government is moving toward holding accountable those who were responsible for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of women and men toiling for pennies in those five garment factories”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Nevada minimum wage raised to $9 for workers without insurance Las Vegas Sun ... Nevada’s minimum wage is increasing to $9 an hour for workers not offered company health insurance. A conference committee of the Senate and Assembly agreed on amendments to SB193 that would raise the wage from $8.25 an hour...
Union workers oppose right-to-work Effingham Daily News ...Union workers packed Effingham City Council Chamber Tuesday evening to explain to city officials how the establishment of a right-to-work zone in the city would hurt their livelihoods. Gov. Bruce Rauner has pushed for the state to allow local communities to establish such zones...
New prevailing wage method won’t change much, union leader says WV Gazette ...New methodology for calculating prevailing wage rates for state-funded construction projects is not likely to dramatically change wages for construction workers, the executive director of the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation said Tuesday. “In general, it should be about the same,” Steve White said of the new methodology for calculating prevailing wage, released Monday by WorkForce West Virginia...
WNC public hearings set on voter ID law Citizen-Times ...The State Board of Elections is holding the first of nine public hearings on the rules governing North Carolina's voter identification law. The first hearing is scheduled for Raleigh beginning at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at board headquarters. The other hearings will be held throughout the state during June...
St. Louis mayor supports a $15 minimum wage USA Today ...St. Louis could be the next city to raise its minimum wage significantly, if Mayor Francis Slay has his way. Slay spokeswoman Maggie Crane on Tuesday confirmed that the Democratic mayor wants to raise the city's minimum. A starting point for discussion is $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2020...
Walmart is a cultural sickness: How the American workplace is enriching the wealthy — and destroying everyone else Salon ...The Waltons are among the wealthiest people on the globe, yet their business won’t guarantee American workers the fundamental dignity of having a child without fear of repercussion. And so it goes with workers’ rights across sectors of the economy. In any moral society, this would be considered a crime. And in more advanced societies, Walmart is forced to grant their workers more rights, like unionization...
U.S. Labor
United Auto Workers Units Draw Up Strike Plans Wall Street Journal ...With about 100 days remaining on a four-year labor pact, local United Auto Workers units are drawing up strike plans to prepare for potentially contentious negotiations with Detroit auto makers awash in profits. UAW officials—representing about 140,000 General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employees—will soon begin negotiating a new deal ahead of a Sept. 14 contract deadline...
MedStar, nurses union reach tentative agreement Washington Business Journal ...Nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center stand to earn increases of up to 12.5 percent over the next four years if they ratify a tentative agreement with the hospital later this week. Officials from both MedStar and National Nurses United confirmed nurses will vote on whether to ratify the four-year contract by Friday. If approved, the contract will take effect immediately...
NLRB Office: Saint Xavier Adjuncts May Count Union Votes Inside Higher Ed ...A local National Labor Relations Board office decided this week that adjuncts at Saint Xavier University may count their union election votes. The count was halted four years ago after the Roman Catholic University opposed the National Education Association-affiliated union drive...
NLRB approves union at Golden Dragon plant Montgomery Advertiser ...A federal agency last week certified a vote to unionize a plant that Gov. Robert Bentley touted as an example of economic development. The National Labor Relations Board issued a certificate of recognition Thursday to workers at GD Copper USA at Pine Hill in Wilcox County. The workers voted 75 to 74 in November to unionize under the United Steelworkers...
Union files another charge with NLRB against Kittanning hospital Trib Live ...The technicians and licensed practical nurses union filed another charge with the National Labor Relations Board against ACHM Hospital Tuesday, alleging administrators have discriminated against its members.
“The hospital has discriminated against the employees for participating in union activities and have continually engaged in bad-faith bargaining,” said Curtis Dahn, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals union...
Miscellaneous
‘I Am Disappointed': Elizabeth Warren Blasts Top Financial Industry Overseer For Failing The Public Think Progress ...Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Mary Jo White is under renewed scrutiny Tuesday after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) published a blistering 13-page letter to the commissioner listing the various ways in which she says White has failed to keep her promises to Warren and other senators since being sworn in in the spring of 2013...
US Congress passes surveillance reform in vindication for Edward Snowden The Guardian ...The US Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would end the bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, the most significant surveillance reform for decades and a direct result of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations to the Guardian two years ago. Senators voted 67-32 to pass the USA Freedom Act...
America's crumbling infrastructure Yahoo News ...America’s infrastructure could be reaching a breaking point. Literally. When it comes to our transportation infrastructure — that’s railroads, water pipelines, ports, dams, bridges, airports and roads — the United States has gotten way off track. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent report card gave America’s infrastructure a D+. And according to the World Economic Forum, the U.S. ranks 16th in quality of overall infrastructure...
Crystal Motor Express Drivers Choose Teamsters Teamster.org ...Drivers at Crystal Motor Express in Lynnfield, Mass., have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 42 in Lynn, Mass. The newly organized group consists of 55 drivers. “Teamsters Joint Council 10 continues to focus on organizing in core industries. We welcome these freight drivers to the Teamster family,” said David W. Laughton, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Joint Council 10...
Teamsters Urge Investor Support for Executive Pay Safeguard at Allegiant Travel Co. Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a long-term investor of Allegiant Travel Company urges fellow shareholders to vote FOR Item #3 on the company’s proxy—a proposal that would help prevent unearned windfall awards being paid to executives in the event of a change of control. The shareholder proposal will be presented at the company’s annual meeting, which will be held June 18, 2015, in Las Vegas...
Teamsters Protest Sysco in Michigan Teamster.org ...Teamsters protested Sysco Corporation outside the Michigan Restaurant Association’s Capitol Day in Lansing, Mich., today. Sysco is the largest foodservice distributor in the nation. Sysco faces a federal investigation of 30 alleged violations of labor law and 35 objections to a May 7 Grand Rapids, Mich., union election in which a lead union supporter was fired and workers were threatened with the loss of benefits or their jobs if they voted for union representation...
President Pierce testifies for two-person crews, PTC at Congressional hearing BLET.org ...Dennis Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and President of the Teamsters Rail Conference, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives today and urged the timely implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC), coupled with a minimum two-person operating crew to ensure safety along the nation’s railroads...
Truckers say working conditions likely cause for recent tragedies WSAV ...Responding to two recent accidents involving trucks that resulted in ten deaths, a groups of local truck drivers say long hours may have been a likely factor. Teamsters Local 728 representative Jerome Irwin, Sr. stood with local drivers this morning...
For truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, it's a waiting game KPCC ...More than 40 percent of U.S. imports flow through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. An army of 14,000 short-haul truck drivers are tasked with hauling that cargo from the port complex to warehouses and rail yards around Southern Calfornia. But some of those truckers say, despite their critical role at the ports, they are among the lowest paid workers there, due to ridiculously long wait times...
Global Labor & Trade
Wikileaks offers $100,000 for details of Obama’s trade deal Washington Post ...Wikileaks put a hit out on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal Tuesday, offering $100,000 to anyone who turns over the chapters that have yet to be leaked. The government-document exposing organization already published some chapters of the secret deal, but it wants the whole thing. It’s also using crowdfunding to raise the money to pay the bounty...
Hoyer Urges Civility Among Democrats in Trade Debate Roll Call ...He specifically discussed labor’s outsized influence in pressuring members to oppose legislation that would give President Barack Obama latitude to negotiate a major trade deal with Pacific nations. The AFL-CIO in particular has threatened Democrats who support so-called fast-track authority...
Liberals plot new way to blow up Obama’s trade deal Washington Post ...In the House, a big bloc of liberals has hit on what they hope will be a new way to sink Fast Track. It turns on an obscure aspect of this debate that has gone under-covered: A problematic funding mechanism for a program, which would be part of the whole deal, that grants assistance to workers displaced by trade. The Senate version of TAA is funded in part by cuts to Medicare growth...
Barney Frank: Obama Is Making 'A Big Mistake' On TPP Huffington Post ...Frank said Obama should leverage the trade deal, now being negotiated with 11 Pacific nations, to pass policies that would reduce income inequality, but are currently opposed by the powerful corporations backing TPP. Among the policies that Frank said that Obama could exchange for the trade deal are an increase in the minimum wage, stronger protections for unions, and the end of tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas...
Rana Plaza Charges: ‘A Long-Delayed Step Toward Justice’ Solidarity Center ...Reports that at least 41 government officials have been charged in the deadly 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh “represent a long-delayed step toward justice,” says Solidarity Center Asia Regional Program Director Tim Ryan. “Finally, after more than two years, the Bangladesh government is moving toward holding accountable those who were responsible for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of women and men toiling for pennies in those five garment factories”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Nevada minimum wage raised to $9 for workers without insurance Las Vegas Sun ... Nevada’s minimum wage is increasing to $9 an hour for workers not offered company health insurance. A conference committee of the Senate and Assembly agreed on amendments to SB193 that would raise the wage from $8.25 an hour...
Union workers oppose right-to-work Effingham Daily News ...Union workers packed Effingham City Council Chamber Tuesday evening to explain to city officials how the establishment of a right-to-work zone in the city would hurt their livelihoods. Gov. Bruce Rauner has pushed for the state to allow local communities to establish such zones...
New prevailing wage method won’t change much, union leader says WV Gazette ...New methodology for calculating prevailing wage rates for state-funded construction projects is not likely to dramatically change wages for construction workers, the executive director of the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation said Tuesday. “In general, it should be about the same,” Steve White said of the new methodology for calculating prevailing wage, released Monday by WorkForce West Virginia...
WNC public hearings set on voter ID law Citizen-Times ...The State Board of Elections is holding the first of nine public hearings on the rules governing North Carolina's voter identification law. The first hearing is scheduled for Raleigh beginning at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at board headquarters. The other hearings will be held throughout the state during June...
St. Louis mayor supports a $15 minimum wage USA Today ...St. Louis could be the next city to raise its minimum wage significantly, if Mayor Francis Slay has his way. Slay spokeswoman Maggie Crane on Tuesday confirmed that the Democratic mayor wants to raise the city's minimum. A starting point for discussion is $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2020...
Walmart is a cultural sickness: How the American workplace is enriching the wealthy — and destroying everyone else Salon ...The Waltons are among the wealthiest people on the globe, yet their business won’t guarantee American workers the fundamental dignity of having a child without fear of repercussion. And so it goes with workers’ rights across sectors of the economy. In any moral society, this would be considered a crime. And in more advanced societies, Walmart is forced to grant their workers more rights, like unionization...
U.S. Labor
United Auto Workers Units Draw Up Strike Plans Wall Street Journal ...With about 100 days remaining on a four-year labor pact, local United Auto Workers units are drawing up strike plans to prepare for potentially contentious negotiations with Detroit auto makers awash in profits. UAW officials—representing about 140,000 General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employees—will soon begin negotiating a new deal ahead of a Sept. 14 contract deadline...
MedStar, nurses union reach tentative agreement Washington Business Journal ...Nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center stand to earn increases of up to 12.5 percent over the next four years if they ratify a tentative agreement with the hospital later this week. Officials from both MedStar and National Nurses United confirmed nurses will vote on whether to ratify the four-year contract by Friday. If approved, the contract will take effect immediately...
NLRB Office: Saint Xavier Adjuncts May Count Union Votes Inside Higher Ed ...A local National Labor Relations Board office decided this week that adjuncts at Saint Xavier University may count their union election votes. The count was halted four years ago after the Roman Catholic University opposed the National Education Association-affiliated union drive...
NLRB approves union at Golden Dragon plant Montgomery Advertiser ...A federal agency last week certified a vote to unionize a plant that Gov. Robert Bentley touted as an example of economic development. The National Labor Relations Board issued a certificate of recognition Thursday to workers at GD Copper USA at Pine Hill in Wilcox County. The workers voted 75 to 74 in November to unionize under the United Steelworkers...
Union files another charge with NLRB against Kittanning hospital Trib Live ...The technicians and licensed practical nurses union filed another charge with the National Labor Relations Board against ACHM Hospital Tuesday, alleging administrators have discriminated against its members.
“The hospital has discriminated against the employees for participating in union activities and have continually engaged in bad-faith bargaining,” said Curtis Dahn, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals union...
Miscellaneous
‘I Am Disappointed': Elizabeth Warren Blasts Top Financial Industry Overseer For Failing The Public Think Progress ...Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Mary Jo White is under renewed scrutiny Tuesday after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) published a blistering 13-page letter to the commissioner listing the various ways in which she says White has failed to keep her promises to Warren and other senators since being sworn in in the spring of 2013...
US Congress passes surveillance reform in vindication for Edward Snowden The Guardian ...The US Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would end the bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, the most significant surveillance reform for decades and a direct result of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations to the Guardian two years ago. Senators voted 67-32 to pass the USA Freedom Act...
America's crumbling infrastructure Yahoo News ...America’s infrastructure could be reaching a breaking point. Literally. When it comes to our transportation infrastructure — that’s railroads, water pipelines, ports, dams, bridges, airports and roads — the United States has gotten way off track. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent report card gave America’s infrastructure a D+. And according to the World Economic Forum, the U.S. ranks 16th in quality of overall infrastructure...
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.17.14
Teamster News
Security Guard Killed On Set Of TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ Deadline ...A Teamsters security guard was killed Monday night on the set of TNT’s sci-fi drama Falling Skies when he was struck by an unattended truck that rolled down a hill and pinned him against a tree. ..
American Airlines, US Airways Passenger Service Agents Vote To Join Teamsters-CWA Association teamster.org ...The joint effort to organize passenger service agents was led by Communication Workers of America (CWA) which will represent about 7,500 new members; 1,300 new members will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
American Airlines, US Airways Workers Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Union Huffington Post ...In a combined union election, airline employees voted on whether to join CWA-IBT, a joint union of the Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters. An overwhelming 86 percent voted in favor of unionizing...
Bus drivers to school board: “We cannot promise labor peace” Santa Rosa Press Gazette ...Members of Teamsters Local 991 held a practice protest Thursday morning at the Santa Rosa County School District’s Professional Development Center...
Mobile Mini Workers in Kansas City Vote Unanimously to Join Teamsters Local 541 teamster.org ...Local 541 is welcoming its new members at Mobile Mini in Kansas City, MO who voted unanimously for Teamster representation on September 10. There are four workers, plus temporary labor, included in the bargaining unit. “This is the first Mobile Mini unit that has been organized in the whole country that we know of,” said Local 541 Vice President and Business Representative Danny Gercone...
Con-way Freight Workers Vote To Organize In Laredo DC Velocity ...Con-way Freight workers in Laredo, Texas, agreed on Friday to unionize under the Teamsters union, the first time in the company's 31 years of operation that it will have to work with a bargaining unit...
Trade
Hoffa: TPA Might Move in Lame Duck Politico ...“The danger is, once the elections are over then they go into a smoke-filled room and pass an agreement which gives the president fast track,” Hoffa said at a press conference late Monday marking the start of a trade summit being held today in conjunction with Public Service International, a union representing public sector workers...
Public services unions open new trade agreements to public debate PSI ...Public services unions worldwide are determined to open to public scrutiy a new wave of global trade agreements, which are now being discussed behind closed doors...
Teamsters, Global Public Sector Trade Unions Warn Of Consequences Of Trade Policies teamster.org ...Meeting with global leaders of public sector unions, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and officials from Public Services International (PSI) discussed the growing concerns about the effects of public service trade policies as part of a public trade policy summit held today at Teamsters headquarters...
Teamsters, PSI Sound Alarm For Public Workers About Trade Deals teamster.org ...Three proposed trade deals could lead to millions of public sector workers losing their jobs worldwide if large corporations are allowed to impose their agenda, officials with the Teamsters and Public Services International (PSI) said today...
European Commission Denies EU Public Right To Express Views On TAFTA/TTIP And CETA TechDirt ...Since the European Commission refuses to take into account the public's views directly, people have turned to another mechanism to make their voices heard: a special kind of EU-wide petition called a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). If sufficient signatures are obtained from around the EU, the European Commission is obliged to respond, but the bar to make that happen is set quite high...
State Battles
Walker Shrugs and Declares, "There are Plenty of Jobs Out There" Uppity Wisconsin ...The problem, though-- according to Walker-- isn't that enough jobs have been created, but that there aren't enough workers out there that can pass a drug test...
Electoral Chaos In Wisconsin (opinion) New York Times ...voter ID laws don’t stop fraud. They stop otherwise-eligible voters from coming to the polls. Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge who sits on the same court as the judges on the ruling panel, made just this point when he said last fall that he was mistaken to have approved a voter ID law in Indiana seven years ago...
State reports increase in 2013 workplace deaths Associated Press ...The Indiana Department of Labor reports the number of workplace deaths in Indiana was up in 2013, but it was still the third-lowest number of fatalities recorded in the past 22 years...
Keystone XL Operator Seeks South Dakota Approval Bismarck Tribune ...The operator of the long-delayed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline on Monday formally asked South Dakota's utility regulators to recertify the portion of the project that runs through the state...
Early voting schedule expanded by Secretary of State Jon Husted while court decision under appeal cleveland.com ...Secretary of State Jon Husted has set new early, in-person voting hours for all 88 Ohio counties to comply with a federal court judge's order that he continues to appeal...
Google Refuses to Respond to Letter Questioning ALEC Ties The Progressive ...The Center for Media and Democracy/Progressive Inc. (CMD) has joined more than 50 watchdog, advocacy, and labor groups in sending a letter to Google asking it to cut its ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Google has not responded, telling the trade publication Ars Technica, "we aren't going to be commenting on this letter" and refusing to respond to repeated requests for comment made by the International Business Times...
ALEC Exodus Continues As Four More Companies Leave Lobby Common Cause ...Raytheon, Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison, and Illinois Tool Works all recently told Walden Asset Management that they no longer fund or have any involvement with ALEC...
War On Workers
500 truck drivers set to sue Walmart UNI Global Union News ...A federal district ruled on 10 September that over 500 current and former Walmart truck drivers in California can proceed with a class action lawsuit against the company it claims has violated state wage and hour laws...
Walmart's New Uniforms Made In Jordan, Despite 'Buy American' Campaign And Jordan Labor Controversy International Business Times ...The garment’s place of origin raised plenty of eyebrows due to the giant retailer’s recent pledge to buy more U.S.-made goods, as well as the slate of workers’ rights violations at Walmart suppliers in Jordan...
Lawmaker Assails Foreign Donations to Think Tanks New York Times ...Prominent Washington think tanks that routinely provide Congress with policy advice should refrain from taking foreign government donations, particularly from nations like Qatar that have been associated with financing extremist groups, a senior House lawmaker wrote this week in a letter to the president of the Brookings Institution...
Taxi unions to take on Uber app itfglobal.org ...Taxi worker unions meeting in Belgium today pledged to take action to prevent potentially unsafe competition by non-regulated freelance companies using app technologies...
New Jersey Loses 4th Casino As Trump Plaza Closes ABC News ...Theresa Volpe, a cocktail server at the Plaza for 26 years, is looking for a new job — along with about 8,000 others suddenly cut loose by Atlantic City's casinos since January. An unemployment assistance session will be held Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall...
Paycheck Fairness Act Blocked Again By Senate GOP Huffington Post ...The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with each other, impose harsher penalties for pay discrimination and require employers to be able to show that wage gaps between men and women are based on factors other than gender...
Narco Cash Flowed Through Citi, Deutsche Bank, BofA, Court Papers Say 100 Reporters ...A Colombian cocaine cartel allegedly laundered millions of dollars in drug money through the international banking giants Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, federal court papers reveal...
Chevron Draining Natural Gas After Worker Death Washington Times ...Authorities said that a Chevron Corp. subsidiary was still releasing natural gas Sunday from a pipeline off the Louisiana coast where a Saturday incident killed a maintenance worker...
Franchise Owners Flock To DC In Defense Of McDonald’s The Hill ...Fast food restaurateurs, hotel operators and other franchise owners from around the country are descending upon Washington on Tuesday to register their opposition to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finding they say threatens to undermine their business model...
A Hedge Fund Wants to Cut Jobs at Olive Garden, but Everyone Is More Worried About Losing Breadsticks Slog The Stranger ...The document is full of proposals to cut labor costs, including a call to modify "the front-of-the-house service to rely more on tipped servers, less on higher-salaried or higher-wage bussers and food runners," effectively moving payroll costs onto the customers, in addition to the company's attempts to train the customers to do the server's job themselves via tabletop tablet...
Miscellaneous
Why Tesla's Legal Breakthrough in Massachusetts Could Be a Big Deal Bloomberg ...Tesla (TSLA) appears to have finally blown by the last roadblock in its straight-to-consumers sales model in Massachusetts. The state’s supreme court on Monday rejected a legal challenge by the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association that sought to shutter Tesla’s showroom just west of Boston...
Security Guard Killed On Set Of TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’ Deadline ...A Teamsters security guard was killed Monday night on the set of TNT’s sci-fi drama Falling Skies when he was struck by an unattended truck that rolled down a hill and pinned him against a tree. ..
American Airlines, US Airways Passenger Service Agents Vote To Join Teamsters-CWA Association teamster.org ...The joint effort to organize passenger service agents was led by Communication Workers of America (CWA) which will represent about 7,500 new members; 1,300 new members will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
American Airlines, US Airways Workers Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Union Huffington Post ...In a combined union election, airline employees voted on whether to join CWA-IBT, a joint union of the Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters. An overwhelming 86 percent voted in favor of unionizing...
Bus drivers to school board: “We cannot promise labor peace” Santa Rosa Press Gazette ...Members of Teamsters Local 991 held a practice protest Thursday morning at the Santa Rosa County School District’s Professional Development Center...
Mobile Mini Workers in Kansas City Vote Unanimously to Join Teamsters Local 541 teamster.org ...Local 541 is welcoming its new members at Mobile Mini in Kansas City, MO who voted unanimously for Teamster representation on September 10. There are four workers, plus temporary labor, included in the bargaining unit. “This is the first Mobile Mini unit that has been organized in the whole country that we know of,” said Local 541 Vice President and Business Representative Danny Gercone...
Con-way Freight Workers Vote To Organize In Laredo DC Velocity ...Con-way Freight workers in Laredo, Texas, agreed on Friday to unionize under the Teamsters union, the first time in the company's 31 years of operation that it will have to work with a bargaining unit...
Trade
Hoffa: TPA Might Move in Lame Duck Politico ...“The danger is, once the elections are over then they go into a smoke-filled room and pass an agreement which gives the president fast track,” Hoffa said at a press conference late Monday marking the start of a trade summit being held today in conjunction with Public Service International, a union representing public sector workers...
Public services unions open new trade agreements to public debate PSI ...Public services unions worldwide are determined to open to public scrutiy a new wave of global trade agreements, which are now being discussed behind closed doors...
Teamsters, Global Public Sector Trade Unions Warn Of Consequences Of Trade Policies teamster.org ...Meeting with global leaders of public sector unions, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and officials from Public Services International (PSI) discussed the growing concerns about the effects of public service trade policies as part of a public trade policy summit held today at Teamsters headquarters...
Teamsters, PSI Sound Alarm For Public Workers About Trade Deals teamster.org ...Three proposed trade deals could lead to millions of public sector workers losing their jobs worldwide if large corporations are allowed to impose their agenda, officials with the Teamsters and Public Services International (PSI) said today...
European Commission Denies EU Public Right To Express Views On TAFTA/TTIP And CETA TechDirt ...Since the European Commission refuses to take into account the public's views directly, people have turned to another mechanism to make their voices heard: a special kind of EU-wide petition called a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). If sufficient signatures are obtained from around the EU, the European Commission is obliged to respond, but the bar to make that happen is set quite high...
State Battles
Walker Shrugs and Declares, "There are Plenty of Jobs Out There" Uppity Wisconsin ...The problem, though-- according to Walker-- isn't that enough jobs have been created, but that there aren't enough workers out there that can pass a drug test...
Electoral Chaos In Wisconsin (opinion) New York Times ...voter ID laws don’t stop fraud. They stop otherwise-eligible voters from coming to the polls. Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge who sits on the same court as the judges on the ruling panel, made just this point when he said last fall that he was mistaken to have approved a voter ID law in Indiana seven years ago...
State reports increase in 2013 workplace deaths Associated Press ...The Indiana Department of Labor reports the number of workplace deaths in Indiana was up in 2013, but it was still the third-lowest number of fatalities recorded in the past 22 years...
Keystone XL Operator Seeks South Dakota Approval Bismarck Tribune ...The operator of the long-delayed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline on Monday formally asked South Dakota's utility regulators to recertify the portion of the project that runs through the state...
Early voting schedule expanded by Secretary of State Jon Husted while court decision under appeal cleveland.com ...Secretary of State Jon Husted has set new early, in-person voting hours for all 88 Ohio counties to comply with a federal court judge's order that he continues to appeal...
Google Refuses to Respond to Letter Questioning ALEC Ties The Progressive ...The Center for Media and Democracy/Progressive Inc. (CMD) has joined more than 50 watchdog, advocacy, and labor groups in sending a letter to Google asking it to cut its ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Google has not responded, telling the trade publication Ars Technica, "we aren't going to be commenting on this letter" and refusing to respond to repeated requests for comment made by the International Business Times...
ALEC Exodus Continues As Four More Companies Leave Lobby Common Cause ...Raytheon, Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison, and Illinois Tool Works all recently told Walden Asset Management that they no longer fund or have any involvement with ALEC...
War On Workers
500 truck drivers set to sue Walmart UNI Global Union News ...A federal district ruled on 10 September that over 500 current and former Walmart truck drivers in California can proceed with a class action lawsuit against the company it claims has violated state wage and hour laws...
Walmart's New Uniforms Made In Jordan, Despite 'Buy American' Campaign And Jordan Labor Controversy International Business Times ...The garment’s place of origin raised plenty of eyebrows due to the giant retailer’s recent pledge to buy more U.S.-made goods, as well as the slate of workers’ rights violations at Walmart suppliers in Jordan...
Lawmaker Assails Foreign Donations to Think Tanks New York Times ...Prominent Washington think tanks that routinely provide Congress with policy advice should refrain from taking foreign government donations, particularly from nations like Qatar that have been associated with financing extremist groups, a senior House lawmaker wrote this week in a letter to the president of the Brookings Institution...
Taxi unions to take on Uber app itfglobal.org ...Taxi worker unions meeting in Belgium today pledged to take action to prevent potentially unsafe competition by non-regulated freelance companies using app technologies...
New Jersey Loses 4th Casino As Trump Plaza Closes ABC News ...Theresa Volpe, a cocktail server at the Plaza for 26 years, is looking for a new job — along with about 8,000 others suddenly cut loose by Atlantic City's casinos since January. An unemployment assistance session will be held Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall...
Paycheck Fairness Act Blocked Again By Senate GOP Huffington Post ...The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with each other, impose harsher penalties for pay discrimination and require employers to be able to show that wage gaps between men and women are based on factors other than gender...
Narco Cash Flowed Through Citi, Deutsche Bank, BofA, Court Papers Say 100 Reporters ...A Colombian cocaine cartel allegedly laundered millions of dollars in drug money through the international banking giants Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, federal court papers reveal...
Chevron Draining Natural Gas After Worker Death Washington Times ...Authorities said that a Chevron Corp. subsidiary was still releasing natural gas Sunday from a pipeline off the Louisiana coast where a Saturday incident killed a maintenance worker...
Franchise Owners Flock To DC In Defense Of McDonald’s The Hill ...Fast food restaurateurs, hotel operators and other franchise owners from around the country are descending upon Washington on Tuesday to register their opposition to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finding they say threatens to undermine their business model...
A Hedge Fund Wants to Cut Jobs at Olive Garden, but Everyone Is More Worried About Losing Breadsticks Slog The Stranger ...The document is full of proposals to cut labor costs, including a call to modify "the front-of-the-house service to rely more on tipped servers, less on higher-salaried or higher-wage bussers and food runners," effectively moving payroll costs onto the customers, in addition to the company's attempts to train the customers to do the server's job themselves via tabletop tablet...
Miscellaneous
Why Tesla's Legal Breakthrough in Massachusetts Could Be a Big Deal Bloomberg ...Tesla (TSLA) appears to have finally blown by the last roadblock in its straight-to-consumers sales model in Massachusetts. The state’s supreme court on Monday rejected a legal challenge by the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association that sought to shutter Tesla’s showroom just west of Boston...
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