Today's Teamster News 12.20.14

Teamster News
Anne Arundel County Fire Department Battalion Chiefs Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...–Anne Arundel County Fire Department battalion chiefs have voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 355 in Baltimore...
Negotiations At VIA Rail: The Teamsters Union And The Employer Have Requested A Conciliator  CNW News   ...The bargaining process between the 350 Locomotive Engineers at VIA Rail represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the rail carrier, are at a point that both parties agree that third party assistance would be beneficial...
CN reaches tentative labour agreement with Teamsters union representing locomotive engineers and conductors on Northern Quebec Internal Short Line  Yahoo Finance   ...The four-year agreement would provide wage increases and benefit improvements to 93 employees. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification by the affected TCRC members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote by the end of February 2015...
Council Asks EPA For Bridgeton Landfill Contaminant Studies  KMOX   ...The St. Louis County Council has unanimously passed a resolution that pushes the Environmental Protection Agency to release studies on groundwater contamination at the Bridgeton Landfill...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren: Obama Trade Deal Could Undermine Wall Street Reform  Huffington Post   ..."With millions of families still struggling to recover from the last financial crisis and the Great Recession that followed, we cannot afford a trade deal that undermines the government's ability to protect the American economy."...
The consequences of a crumbling TTIP (opinion)  Euractiv   …A growing number of Europeans see TTIP as selling out Europe's social and environmental standards. Perhaps the EU and the US should have never undertaken this mammoth project...
State Battles
Warren County Passes Local Right-To-Work Law   ...The General Motors plant in Warren County is a closed shop, meaning its 888 employees must pay union dues in order to work there. But the Warren County Fiscal Court passed a local law Friday banning that practice in the future, defying the state's Democratic attorney general and taking the first step toward trying to overturn a 49-year-old state decision...
Minimum Wage On Agenda At Legislature  Albuquerque Journal   ...Two bills have been pre-filed this week by Democratic lawmakers, both seeking a hike in the state’s current $7.50-per-hour minimum wage – one of them to $8.30 an hour and the other to $10.10....
Minimum Wage In Louisville Upped To $9  Louisville Courier Journal   ...The Metro Council and Mayor Greg Fischer, who were at odds over increasing the minimum wage, reached an agreement Thursday night with the council voting to increase the minimum wage in Jefferson County to $9 an hour gradually over three years...
Ohio's Minimum Wage Increase Expected To Boost Economy By $40 Million  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...As the calendar flips to 2015, Ohio's minimum wage will increase by 15 cents to $8.10 per hour, benefiting an estimated 313,000 low-wage workers in the state, according to a release from the National Employment Law Project, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that advocates on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers. In addition, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Ohio will rise by 7 cents to $4.05 per hour...
War on Workers
Obama labor board comes down hard on McDonald’s  Politico   …In a significant victory for fast-food demonstrators, the Obama administration filed 13 legal complaints on Friday against McDonald’s USA, LLC, alleging 78 instances in which it violated federal labor law by punishing workers for taking part in fast food protests...
When the Well Educated Middle Class Joins the Working Poor  BillMoyers.com   ...Today, around three-quarters of all US college professors are classified as “contingent faculty” — those who aren’t on a tenure track — and about half are technically “part-time,” even though many of them teach a full-time load of classes. They may be highly educated professionals, but most adjuncts struggle to make ends meet with low pay, limited benefits and zero job security...
Yard Worker Killed  Trade Winds   ...The worker was on a ladder about 30 feet above the deck at the time. He lost his balance and fell, striking his head on a beam...
Employee Dies While Working At Dayton Sand And Gravel  Portland Press Herald   ...Goodwin Mills Fire Chief Roger Hooper said Libby was climbing down a ladder attached to a bucket truck when he went into cardiac arrest and fell....The death is the second at the business in two yearsl...
Construction Worker Dies In Emerson  NorthJersey.com   ...A construction worker was killed Thursday afternoon when he was working near a backhoe and was hit in the head by the machine’s rear bucket, authorities said...
Miscellaneous

Today's Teamster News 02.13.11

'China ready to go to war to safeguard national interests'  Times of India   ...an article in a Communist party magazine has said that Beijing must send a "clear signal" to these countries that it is ready to go to war to safeguard its national interests... Factories Vanish, So Can Innovators  New York Times   ...as time passes, the people who make the iPad and the iPhone day after day — the engineers and factory workers in Asia — may produce the next innovations...
When income grows, who gains?  Economic Policy Institute   ...see how growth in average income was shared between the richest 10% and the other 90% of Americans...
When Democracy Weakens  (Opinoin) New York Times   ...the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite...
From Pentagon, a Buy Rating on Contractors  New York Times   ...banking isn’t the only industry where the government has allowed a handful of companies to become too big to fail...
Rallies, Vigils Planned In Response To Gov. Walker's Proposals  Channel 3000   ...State Sen. Jon Erpenbach To Hold Listening Session Sunday...
Kasich insults craftsmen (Opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...He claimed that prevailing-wage laws double the cost of construction projects...
The Best Trucking Companies to Work For  Supply Chain Digital   ...We had to exclude UPS, USPS and FedEx because it would be too easy to put them up as one of the best trucking companies to work for... 
Union taking town to task  (Local 687) Watertown Daily Times   ... The union representative for the town Highway Department claims Supervisor Joseph D. Gray acted improperly during contract negotiations last fall...

Today's Teamster News 02.02.11

Teamsters Mourn Slain Washington State Corrections Officer Jayme Lee Biendl  IBT   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is mourning the death of Washington State Corrections Officer Jayme Lee Biendl, who was slain at a prison chapel, allegedly by an inmate...
The Paradox of Corporate Taxes  New York Times   ... the United States now has a corporate tax code that’s the worst of all worlds. ..
LRB grants cab drivers OK to join Teamsters News 880 AM   ...The Labour Relations Board (LRB) has granted a group of more than 1,000 Edmonton drivers approval to join the Teamsters' Union...
Waivers From Rules Granted to Many  Wall Street Journal   ... 733 applicants, mainly employers and union-affiliated insurers, received an exemption from a requirement that puts their plans on the hook for up to $750,000 in eligible medical bills for each covered worker this year...
Dairy plant workers get state, union aid (Local 687)  Watertown Daily TImes   ...Employees at North Lawrence Dairy Inc. are receiving assistance from Teamsters Local 687, the state Department of Labor and other agencies as the plant prepares to shut down...
Smithfield road workers vote to join union  (Local 773)  Pocono Record   ...A majority of Smithfield Township's five road workers voted Friday to join a union...
Federal Judge Orders Carrier to Restore Teamster Pay   Journal of Commerce   ...Indiana cement hauler ordered to recognize union, resume bargaining...
Detroit Media Partnership Adds Jobs To Open Local Consumer Solutions Center (Local 372)  PR Newswire   ...Detroit Media Partnership today announced it is opening a new customer service center at its Sterling Heights operations facility in March...
Selectmen, police, DPW unions agree on contracts  (Local 633)  Laconia Citizen   ...Both union contracts for municipal employees in Gilford have been approved by selectmen...
UPS Profit Tops Estimates  Reuters   ...(UPS) reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates and forecast record-high profits in 2011, sending its shares up more than 4 percent...
FedEx to use rail intermodal service for first time in 40-year history, NS says  Progressive Railroading   ...FedEx Freight Corp. announced it's launching a new unified less-than-truckload (LTL) network, and offering new FedEx Freight® Priority and FedEx Freight® Economy LTL services...

Today's Teamster News 01.19.11

FedEx Change Makes Drivers Business Owners  Worcester Business Journal   ...In May, FedEx sent a letter to its drivers requiring that they incorporate their businesses within 180 days. They also have to be registered and in good standing with the states where they operate and treat anyone who works for them as an employee rather than a subcontractor...
CNY unions lead MLK Day food, clothing drive  (Local 317) WSYR-TV   ...For the 10th straight year local labor unions are honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by leading a food and clothing drive...
Doing good on MLKing holiday (Local 317) WSTM-TV ...this year they're also stuffing a bus with school supplies...
North Lawrence Dairy done  (Local 687) Watertown Daily Times   ...100 LOSING JOBS: Contract for Breyers yogurt pulled; plant operated in hamlet for more than a century...
Teamsters Local 320 Narrowly Avoid Strike  Northland's News Center   ... Snow plow drivers in St. Louis County won't strike following a contract vote Tuesday evening... 
Pipeline could be vital to national security interest Grand Island Independent   ...pipelines are a vital link to America’s energy needs with more than 2 million miles of pipelines crisscrossing America, including Nebraska’s Sandhills...
White House's Mexican trucking proposal draws ire of US truckers  The Examiner   ...Mexico-domiciled trucking companies and truck drivers must be required to comply with the same level of safety, security and environmental standards that apply to their U.S.-based companies and drivers...
Study Points to Windfall for Goldman Partners  New York Times   ...Goldman is on track to pay out $17.5 billion in compensation for last year...
Panel Begins to Set Rules to Govern Financial System  New York Times   ...the proposals are among the most concrete steps yet aimed at preventing financial institutions from becoming “too big to fail” ...
China strengthens rare-earth regulation  MarketWatch  ...China has drawn-up national planning regions for rare-earth and iron mines to strengthen government regulation over the development of the metals...

Still another Teamster organizing victory in NY

Congratulations to the new Teamsters in upstate New York who joined Local 687 in Pottsdam.

Local 687 has actually organized two bargaining units in Massena over the past two months, according to the Daily Courier-Observer. In November, 10 town employees became Teamsters. And yesterday, the Watertown Daily Times reported that the library employees joined the Teamsters this week.

TeamsterNation suspects this may be a trend. Are more and more public service employees looking to unions for security, especially as politicians step up attacks on government workers, and as state and local governments have to cut costs? 

According to the Daily Times, the Massena town employees organized because they're worried about their salaries and benefits. They joined the Teamsters right after the town council passed the budget for next year.

Local 687's business agent, Mickey Smith, said he didn't have to recruit the librarians; they came to him because of concerns about wages and benefits.

TeamsterNation wishes our new brothers and sisters the best of luck in getting that first contract. Already the town has hired a "labor consultant" to negotiate with the town employees.