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 prevailing wage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prevailing wage. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Today's Teamster News 01.13.16
TEAMSTERS
Ken Hall: Know the truth about right-to-work Gazette Mail ...Today at the State Capitol in Charleston I will join scores of Teamsters, union members and everyday West Virginians to let lawmakers know that approving so-called right-to-work is no way to improve the state’s economic woes. Make no mistake, West Virginia’s economy is extremely fragile and struggling. Our state is heavily dependent on coal production and with demand and pricings falling — things outside our control — we are in for a continued rough ride...
Rally Slated For Wednesday Against Right To Work At WV Capitol WCHTV ...Labor union members plan to rally against right-to-work legislation at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The Teamsters Local Union 175 announced members from across the state plan to visit the state Capitol, according to a news release. Members said they will voice their opposition to the passage of right-to-work law...
Railway-Crew Transport Drivers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745 Teamster.org ...On Thursday, January 7 drivers at Renzenberger, Inc., who transport crew members employed by Union Pacific Railroad, voted to join Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas. The road drivers, yard drivers, radius drivers, yard managers and yard coordinators at the company’s El Paso facility voted 27 to 1 to join Local 745. There are 54 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters look to fight pension cuts Green Bay Press Gazette ...Local Teamsters affected by Central States’ application to cut pension payouts have written letters, lobbied federal legislators and launched a local committee to coordinate efforts to oppose the cuts. Many are concerned that the cuts are not evenly distributed among retirees. “We’ve sent letters. We’ve met on this, but what do we do now?” retired Teamster Larry Holterman asked...
Hampden County sheriff candidate Nick Cocchi wins unanimous endorsement of Teamsters union Mass Live ...Nick Cocchi's latest round of support in his bid to become Hampden County sheriff comes from the Teamsters union, which resoundingly endorsed the Ludlow Democrat for the countywide job. "It is with great pleasure to inform you that the entire executive board of Teamsters Local 404 welcomes the opportunity to unanimously endorse your candidacy for sheriff of Hampden County"...
SMART TD, BLET petition FRA for speed signs UTU.org ...SMART TD and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) have submitted a petition to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for rulemaking that mandates uniform warning speed signs in advance of a permanent speed restriction. Recently, some railroads have begun removal of these safety indicators, which creates a hazard for operating crews and the public...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers strike at BHP Billiton's Chile-based Cerro Colorado mine Mining Weekly ...Unionised workers at global miner BHP Billiton's Cerro Colorado copper mine in Chile went on strike on Monday after contract negotiations failed, revealed a union official and the company. Workers "abandoned the mine, and the strike became effective as of eight in the morning", said union director Gustavo Tapia...
UK junior doctors' strike live: Latest updates as NHS workers walk out Mirror ...The Junior Doctors' Strike has been running since 8am, and medics are continuing to picket outside hospitals. Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, prompted fury and claims of "tactics" from doctors today by declaring a 'major incident' and telling its junior doctors to leave the picket lines within minutes of the strike starting...
Workers strike, block Apple subcontractor factory in Indonesia Jakarta Post ...Some 2,000 workers from PT Amtek Engineering in Batam, Riau Islands province, went on strike as planned on Monday, blocking the main and only entrance to the company’s factory. Gathering at the Cammo industrial area from as early as 6:30 a.m., local time, workers only cleared the entrance gate after 10 military personnel used force to make them move away from the gate...
Obama makes TPP push in SOTU Politico ...President Barack Obama during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night made his expected appeal to Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing it would open overseas markets to more U.S. goods and help the United States compete against China in the global economy. The remarks were met with scattered applause...
Obama expected to push Congress to pass TPP The Hill ...Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is sounding a cautious tone about the Asia-Pacific trade deal's chances in Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee chairman said that passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other nations “is difficult but doable” during a Politico Morning Money event Monday evening...
Seniors Protest Trans-Pacific Partnership OPB ...Seniors from Portland and about 20 other cities across the nation, are protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Tuesday. They chose Tuesday because President Obama is expected to push for the trade deal’s passage during his State of the Union address. Scott Blau with the Oregon Alliance for Retired Americans, says the TPP is bad for consumers, especially those who rely on prescription drugs...
Administration’s TPP Honey SOTU Guest: Falsely Sweet Story Exemplifies TPP Sales Job Eyes on Trade ...Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Obama SOTU guest Ronna Rice and her company Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey should be congratulated on their success. Tomorrow the President will no doubt talk about how the TPP will help her sell more honey. Yet like much of the White House TPP sale job, the nice narrative is not supported by the facts...
McDonald’s Faces EU Antitrust Complaint Wall Street Journal ...McDonald’s Corp. could face fresh regulatory headwinds in Europe after three Italian consumer groups filed an antitrust complaint with the European Union alleging that the fast-food chain imposes illegal terms on its franchisees. The complaint, which is supported by U.S. and European trade unions, alleges that McDonald’s abuses its dominant market position and harms consumers by charging its franchisees rents that exceed market rates by up to 10 times...
Cambodia: Collision Claims More Garment Worker Lives Solidarity Center ...Five garment workers lost their lives yesterday and dozens more were injured when the two flat-bed trucks they were commuting to work on collided, according to Solidarity Center staff at the site of the incident. One of the trucks was carrying 50 people and the other more than 70 workers. The deaths left at least eight children without their mother. Agence France-Presse reports that 13 of the injured workers are in critical condition...
High Tech Manufacturing’s Disposable Workers The Nation ...The global electronics industry boasts of technical perfection and seamless production. But look closer and you can spot assembly lines tangled with rotten nerve endings and veins swollen with toxins. Workers of the high tech economy face hazards that echo the lethal smokestacks of Dickensian England. This time, however, it’s not Manchester where workers are ailing, but the semiconductor capitals of the world in East Asia...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Faith leaders add voices to Maryland sick-leave movement Washington Post ...Maryland faith leaders on Monday joined the swelling ranks of sick-leave advocates backing legislation to require employers in the state to pay workers for time off when they are ill — a proposal that has languished in Congress but found limited success at the state and local levels...
Higher Louisiana minimum wage? WWL ...Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards wants to make it a priority to increase workers' earnings, including raising minimum wage in Louisiana. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It's been that way since 2009. Twenty-nine other states and Washington, DC have higher mandatory minimum wages, but not Louisiana...
Anchorage Democratic senator proposes $15 minimum wage Alaska Dispatch News ...An Anchorage Democratic senator is proposing that the state increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The proposal is included in legislation from Sen. Johnny Ellis. The bill also calls for an annual report on pay practices in Alaska. It was released Friday in a wave of measures filed ahead of the upcoming legislative session...
Oregon lawmakers scramble closer to deals on minimum wage, housing relief Oregon Live ...Lawmakers, advocates and Gov. Kate Brown are circling around compromises on two of the signature issues looming over next month's short legislative session: housing relief and whether to raise Oregon's minimum wage. Progress on both efforts, and several others, is expected to become clear during a three-day round of committee hearings set to start Wednesday morning...
Activists call for hike in Indiana's minimum wage WTHR ...A group of Hoosiers wants to more than double the state's minimum wage. Indiana's minimum wage currently sits at $7.25 an hour (the same as the federal rate), but a group of activists wants to raise that to $15 an hour (the same President Barack Obama lobbied for at the federal level)...
Kentucky Senate again seeks to repeal prevailing wage law for school construction projects Herald Leader ...Senate Republicans again are trying to exempt school and university construction from Kentucky’s prevailing wage law, which generally sets higher wage rates for public works projects. In past legislative sessions, the Democratic-led House, backed by labor unions, has thwarted Republican efforts to weaken the prevailing wage...
Counties still await right-to-work ruling Daily News ...Laws regarding unions and workplaces are in the news this week, but a ruling on a local right-to-work ordinance is still in the hands of a federal judge. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a highly watched case regarding mandatory union dues being paid by California teachers. In August, U.S. District Judge David Hale heard similar arguments in Louisville regarding Hardin County’s right-to-work law...
NAACP leader says NC not being clear on new voter ID law WXII ...The president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP says the state isn't being clear on the requirements for the new voter identification law. The Rev. William Barber told a news conference in Durham on Tuesday that the state hasn't provided voters with adequate information on their rights on election day...
U.S. LABOR
SEIU prepares for contract negotiations with SSM, calls for $15 an hour minimum wage STL Today ...The Service Employees International Union plans to seek a wage increase as the labor union prepares for its first contract negotiations with St. Louis University Hospital’s new owner, SSM Health. A handful of SEIU members petitioned outside St. Louis University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon calling for the minimum wage to be at least $15 per hour...
Hundreds of Sweet'N Low Workers to Lose Jobs as Plant Stops Manufacturing DNAInfo ...Hundreds of local workers will lose their jobs after Cumberland Packing announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its Flushing Avenue plant Friday. The company, which produces Sweet’N Low, said it will transition out of the packing and manufacturing business within the next year and outsource work to other “co-packing” facilities...
XPO Logistics Subsidiaries Sued for Misclassifying Drivers Wall Street Journal ...Three trucking company subsidiaries of XPO Logistics Inc. were sued in California on Monday for allegedly misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors. The lawsuit seeking class-action status, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, argues that drivers for XPO subsidiaries Pacer Cartage Inc., Harbor Rail Transport and PDS Transportation Inc. failed to pay minimum wage, provide meal breaks and rest breaks and reimburse business expenses...
The under-the-radar profit-maximizing scheduling practice that can put workers in a “downward spiral” Washington Post ...In the world of high-end retail, salespeople have long supplemented their modest salaries with commissions for transactions they helped close. More recently, however, employers have added a twist: The most productive workers also get the busiest shifts, both as a reward for their high performance, and to boost revenues as much as possible. But Giving the busiest hours to the most productive workers boosts sales by pitting staff against each other...
Will the U.S. Supreme Court Gut Public-Employee Unions? The Atlantic ...The most important fact about Monday’s oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is that this case—one of the most important of the term—will be decided on the basis of no facts at all. The petitioners in Friedrichs are asking the Court to hobble unions that represent more than 9 million public employees in 23 states and the District of Columbia. That decision will have large consequences...
Raising Retirement Age Disproportionately Hurts Poor Bloomberg ...The rich are increasingly outliving the poor, meaning policies aimed at delaying retirement could disproportionately hurt low socioeconomic status workers, new research shows. A disproportionately longer period of retirement means more years of collecting Social Security, Medicare and other government benefits for higher socioeconomic groups...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
White House, Hill Dems clash over immigration raids Politico ...Democratic furor over the Obama administration’s immigration raids erupted Tuesday when a senior White House official was summoned to the Capitol to meet with angry lawmakers and a top Senate Democrat pressed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to pause the controversial operations. The Democrats’ letter had criticized Obama for welcoming refugees from other parts of the world but treating immigrants from Central America differently...
Private Probation Companies Have Created A Two-Tiered Justice System. This Congressman Is Fighting Back. Think Progress ...More than 1,000 courts around the country contract with private companies, which promise cities that they will recoup revenue from those who owe fines and fees on things like traffic tickets. Many cities see them as a good bargain because the companies don’t charge anything for their services. Instead, they tack on extra fees to the probationers themselves, often people who are too poor to pay what they owe in the first place...
Why is Ramsey Orta, Man Who Filmed Police Killing of Eric Garner, the Only One Criminally Charged? Democracy Now ...As Sgt. Kizzy Adonis becomes the first officer to face reprimand for Eric Garner’s death, the only person present that day to be criminally charged is the young man who filmed it. Ramsey Orta, who recorded the fatal chokehold on his cellphone, has been arrested multiple times since. Orta says police have deliberately targeted him for capturing Garner’s death on video...
How Years Of Welfare Politics Is Leaving Thousands To Freeze This Winter Think Progress ...The increase in people going without heating assistance for the winter reflects an unnecessary strain placed on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by Congress. Because Congress never puts enough money into LIHEAP to actually deliver on the ambitions of the program, plenty of people who are eligible for the aid go without it every year. Federal funding for the program has fallen by about a third since 2010...
Obama’s hypocrisy: He said blame Wall Street, not food stamps — but he bailed out bankers and cut help for the hungry Salon ...“Food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did,” Obama declared in his final State of the Union address. There is a problem with this, however: Obama cut food stamps and bailed out Wall Street, punishing none of the people he readily admits caused the crisis...
Tavis Smiley Calls Out Corporate Media for Uncritical Coverage of "Racial Arsonist" Donald Trump Democracy Now ...The broadcaster Tavis Smiley made headlines this week for an appearance on ABC’s "This Week" when he called out Donald Trump for being an "unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonist." Trump responded by calling Smiley a "hater and racist." Smiley responds to Trump while also criticizing the corporate media for what he calls a lax response to the Republican front-runner’s views...
Ken Hall: Know the truth about right-to-work Gazette Mail ...Today at the State Capitol in Charleston I will join scores of Teamsters, union members and everyday West Virginians to let lawmakers know that approving so-called right-to-work is no way to improve the state’s economic woes. Make no mistake, West Virginia’s economy is extremely fragile and struggling. Our state is heavily dependent on coal production and with demand and pricings falling — things outside our control — we are in for a continued rough ride...
Rally Slated For Wednesday Against Right To Work At WV Capitol WCHTV ...Labor union members plan to rally against right-to-work legislation at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The Teamsters Local Union 175 announced members from across the state plan to visit the state Capitol, according to a news release. Members said they will voice their opposition to the passage of right-to-work law...
Railway-Crew Transport Drivers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745 Teamster.org ...On Thursday, January 7 drivers at Renzenberger, Inc., who transport crew members employed by Union Pacific Railroad, voted to join Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas. The road drivers, yard drivers, radius drivers, yard managers and yard coordinators at the company’s El Paso facility voted 27 to 1 to join Local 745. There are 54 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters look to fight pension cuts Green Bay Press Gazette ...Local Teamsters affected by Central States’ application to cut pension payouts have written letters, lobbied federal legislators and launched a local committee to coordinate efforts to oppose the cuts. Many are concerned that the cuts are not evenly distributed among retirees. “We’ve sent letters. We’ve met on this, but what do we do now?” retired Teamster Larry Holterman asked...
Hampden County sheriff candidate Nick Cocchi wins unanimous endorsement of Teamsters union Mass Live ...Nick Cocchi's latest round of support in his bid to become Hampden County sheriff comes from the Teamsters union, which resoundingly endorsed the Ludlow Democrat for the countywide job. "It is with great pleasure to inform you that the entire executive board of Teamsters Local 404 welcomes the opportunity to unanimously endorse your candidacy for sheriff of Hampden County"...
SMART TD, BLET petition FRA for speed signs UTU.org ...SMART TD and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) have submitted a petition to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for rulemaking that mandates uniform warning speed signs in advance of a permanent speed restriction. Recently, some railroads have begun removal of these safety indicators, which creates a hazard for operating crews and the public...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers strike at BHP Billiton's Chile-based Cerro Colorado mine Mining Weekly ...Unionised workers at global miner BHP Billiton's Cerro Colorado copper mine in Chile went on strike on Monday after contract negotiations failed, revealed a union official and the company. Workers "abandoned the mine, and the strike became effective as of eight in the morning", said union director Gustavo Tapia...
UK junior doctors' strike live: Latest updates as NHS workers walk out Mirror ...The Junior Doctors' Strike has been running since 8am, and medics are continuing to picket outside hospitals. Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, prompted fury and claims of "tactics" from doctors today by declaring a 'major incident' and telling its junior doctors to leave the picket lines within minutes of the strike starting...
Workers strike, block Apple subcontractor factory in Indonesia Jakarta Post ...Some 2,000 workers from PT Amtek Engineering in Batam, Riau Islands province, went on strike as planned on Monday, blocking the main and only entrance to the company’s factory. Gathering at the Cammo industrial area from as early as 6:30 a.m., local time, workers only cleared the entrance gate after 10 military personnel used force to make them move away from the gate...
Obama makes TPP push in SOTU Politico ...President Barack Obama during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night made his expected appeal to Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing it would open overseas markets to more U.S. goods and help the United States compete against China in the global economy. The remarks were met with scattered applause...
Obama expected to push Congress to pass TPP The Hill ...Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is sounding a cautious tone about the Asia-Pacific trade deal's chances in Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee chairman said that passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other nations “is difficult but doable” during a Politico Morning Money event Monday evening...
Seniors Protest Trans-Pacific Partnership OPB ...Seniors from Portland and about 20 other cities across the nation, are protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Tuesday. They chose Tuesday because President Obama is expected to push for the trade deal’s passage during his State of the Union address. Scott Blau with the Oregon Alliance for Retired Americans, says the TPP is bad for consumers, especially those who rely on prescription drugs...
Administration’s TPP Honey SOTU Guest: Falsely Sweet Story Exemplifies TPP Sales Job Eyes on Trade ...Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Obama SOTU guest Ronna Rice and her company Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey should be congratulated on their success. Tomorrow the President will no doubt talk about how the TPP will help her sell more honey. Yet like much of the White House TPP sale job, the nice narrative is not supported by the facts...
McDonald’s Faces EU Antitrust Complaint Wall Street Journal ...McDonald’s Corp. could face fresh regulatory headwinds in Europe after three Italian consumer groups filed an antitrust complaint with the European Union alleging that the fast-food chain imposes illegal terms on its franchisees. The complaint, which is supported by U.S. and European trade unions, alleges that McDonald’s abuses its dominant market position and harms consumers by charging its franchisees rents that exceed market rates by up to 10 times...
Cambodia: Collision Claims More Garment Worker Lives Solidarity Center ...Five garment workers lost their lives yesterday and dozens more were injured when the two flat-bed trucks they were commuting to work on collided, according to Solidarity Center staff at the site of the incident. One of the trucks was carrying 50 people and the other more than 70 workers. The deaths left at least eight children without their mother. Agence France-Presse reports that 13 of the injured workers are in critical condition...
High Tech Manufacturing’s Disposable Workers The Nation ...The global electronics industry boasts of technical perfection and seamless production. But look closer and you can spot assembly lines tangled with rotten nerve endings and veins swollen with toxins. Workers of the high tech economy face hazards that echo the lethal smokestacks of Dickensian England. This time, however, it’s not Manchester where workers are ailing, but the semiconductor capitals of the world in East Asia...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Faith leaders add voices to Maryland sick-leave movement Washington Post ...Maryland faith leaders on Monday joined the swelling ranks of sick-leave advocates backing legislation to require employers in the state to pay workers for time off when they are ill — a proposal that has languished in Congress but found limited success at the state and local levels...
Higher Louisiana minimum wage? WWL ...Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards wants to make it a priority to increase workers' earnings, including raising minimum wage in Louisiana. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It's been that way since 2009. Twenty-nine other states and Washington, DC have higher mandatory minimum wages, but not Louisiana...
Anchorage Democratic senator proposes $15 minimum wage Alaska Dispatch News ...An Anchorage Democratic senator is proposing that the state increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The proposal is included in legislation from Sen. Johnny Ellis. The bill also calls for an annual report on pay practices in Alaska. It was released Friday in a wave of measures filed ahead of the upcoming legislative session...
Oregon lawmakers scramble closer to deals on minimum wage, housing relief Oregon Live ...Lawmakers, advocates and Gov. Kate Brown are circling around compromises on two of the signature issues looming over next month's short legislative session: housing relief and whether to raise Oregon's minimum wage. Progress on both efforts, and several others, is expected to become clear during a three-day round of committee hearings set to start Wednesday morning...
Activists call for hike in Indiana's minimum wage WTHR ...A group of Hoosiers wants to more than double the state's minimum wage. Indiana's minimum wage currently sits at $7.25 an hour (the same as the federal rate), but a group of activists wants to raise that to $15 an hour (the same President Barack Obama lobbied for at the federal level)...
Kentucky Senate again seeks to repeal prevailing wage law for school construction projects Herald Leader ...Senate Republicans again are trying to exempt school and university construction from Kentucky’s prevailing wage law, which generally sets higher wage rates for public works projects. In past legislative sessions, the Democratic-led House, backed by labor unions, has thwarted Republican efforts to weaken the prevailing wage...
Counties still await right-to-work ruling Daily News ...Laws regarding unions and workplaces are in the news this week, but a ruling on a local right-to-work ordinance is still in the hands of a federal judge. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a highly watched case regarding mandatory union dues being paid by California teachers. In August, U.S. District Judge David Hale heard similar arguments in Louisville regarding Hardin County’s right-to-work law...
NAACP leader says NC not being clear on new voter ID law WXII ...The president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP says the state isn't being clear on the requirements for the new voter identification law. The Rev. William Barber told a news conference in Durham on Tuesday that the state hasn't provided voters with adequate information on their rights on election day...
U.S. LABOR
SEIU prepares for contract negotiations with SSM, calls for $15 an hour minimum wage STL Today ...The Service Employees International Union plans to seek a wage increase as the labor union prepares for its first contract negotiations with St. Louis University Hospital’s new owner, SSM Health. A handful of SEIU members petitioned outside St. Louis University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon calling for the minimum wage to be at least $15 per hour...
Hundreds of Sweet'N Low Workers to Lose Jobs as Plant Stops Manufacturing DNAInfo ...Hundreds of local workers will lose their jobs after Cumberland Packing announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its Flushing Avenue plant Friday. The company, which produces Sweet’N Low, said it will transition out of the packing and manufacturing business within the next year and outsource work to other “co-packing” facilities...
XPO Logistics Subsidiaries Sued for Misclassifying Drivers Wall Street Journal ...Three trucking company subsidiaries of XPO Logistics Inc. were sued in California on Monday for allegedly misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors. The lawsuit seeking class-action status, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, argues that drivers for XPO subsidiaries Pacer Cartage Inc., Harbor Rail Transport and PDS Transportation Inc. failed to pay minimum wage, provide meal breaks and rest breaks and reimburse business expenses...
The under-the-radar profit-maximizing scheduling practice that can put workers in a “downward spiral” Washington Post ...In the world of high-end retail, salespeople have long supplemented their modest salaries with commissions for transactions they helped close. More recently, however, employers have added a twist: The most productive workers also get the busiest shifts, both as a reward for their high performance, and to boost revenues as much as possible. But Giving the busiest hours to the most productive workers boosts sales by pitting staff against each other...
Will the U.S. Supreme Court Gut Public-Employee Unions? The Atlantic ...The most important fact about Monday’s oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is that this case—one of the most important of the term—will be decided on the basis of no facts at all. The petitioners in Friedrichs are asking the Court to hobble unions that represent more than 9 million public employees in 23 states and the District of Columbia. That decision will have large consequences...
Raising Retirement Age Disproportionately Hurts Poor Bloomberg ...The rich are increasingly outliving the poor, meaning policies aimed at delaying retirement could disproportionately hurt low socioeconomic status workers, new research shows. A disproportionately longer period of retirement means more years of collecting Social Security, Medicare and other government benefits for higher socioeconomic groups...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
White House, Hill Dems clash over immigration raids Politico ...Democratic furor over the Obama administration’s immigration raids erupted Tuesday when a senior White House official was summoned to the Capitol to meet with angry lawmakers and a top Senate Democrat pressed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to pause the controversial operations. The Democrats’ letter had criticized Obama for welcoming refugees from other parts of the world but treating immigrants from Central America differently...
Private Probation Companies Have Created A Two-Tiered Justice System. This Congressman Is Fighting Back. Think Progress ...More than 1,000 courts around the country contract with private companies, which promise cities that they will recoup revenue from those who owe fines and fees on things like traffic tickets. Many cities see them as a good bargain because the companies don’t charge anything for their services. Instead, they tack on extra fees to the probationers themselves, often people who are too poor to pay what they owe in the first place...
Why is Ramsey Orta, Man Who Filmed Police Killing of Eric Garner, the Only One Criminally Charged? Democracy Now ...As Sgt. Kizzy Adonis becomes the first officer to face reprimand for Eric Garner’s death, the only person present that day to be criminally charged is the young man who filmed it. Ramsey Orta, who recorded the fatal chokehold on his cellphone, has been arrested multiple times since. Orta says police have deliberately targeted him for capturing Garner’s death on video...
How Years Of Welfare Politics Is Leaving Thousands To Freeze This Winter Think Progress ...The increase in people going without heating assistance for the winter reflects an unnecessary strain placed on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by Congress. Because Congress never puts enough money into LIHEAP to actually deliver on the ambitions of the program, plenty of people who are eligible for the aid go without it every year. Federal funding for the program has fallen by about a third since 2010...
Obama’s hypocrisy: He said blame Wall Street, not food stamps — but he bailed out bankers and cut help for the hungry Salon ...“Food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did,” Obama declared in his final State of the Union address. There is a problem with this, however: Obama cut food stamps and bailed out Wall Street, punishing none of the people he readily admits caused the crisis...
Tavis Smiley Calls Out Corporate Media for Uncritical Coverage of "Racial Arsonist" Donald Trump Democracy Now ...The broadcaster Tavis Smiley made headlines this week for an appearance on ABC’s "This Week" when he called out Donald Trump for being an "unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonist." Trump responded by calling Smiley a "hater and racist." Smiley responds to Trump while also criticizing the corporate media for what he calls a lax response to the Republican front-runner’s views...
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Today's Teamster News 01.05.16
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Call On Solutions One Industries To Recognize Union, Honor Contract Teamster.org ...Teamsters that provide logistical and warehousing support for the men and women who serve at the Fort Irwin National Training Center are fighting an effort by One Solutions Industries to deny the wages and benefits guaranteed to the workers under their collective bargaining agreement. Solutions One Industries (SOI) was awarded the federal contract that covers the 23 members of Teamsters Local 166 on Nov. 1, 2015...
Cargill: Tried to resolve issues before firing Colorado Muslim workers Denver Post ...About 190 workers, mostly Somali, were let go after they left the meatpacking line to protest changes to prayer policy. The workers earn $14 per hour and up and are represented by a union, Teamsters Local 455. More than 2,000 people are employed at the plant...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strike deadline set in Ontario corrections talks Canadian Labour Reporter ...Ontario correctional workers will be in a legal strike or lockout position on Jan. 10. The Ontario Ministry of Labour issued a “no board” report on Dec. 24, 2015, with respect to negotiations between the provincial government and Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members in the Correctional Bargaining Unit of the Ontario Public Service...
With European trade deal unfinished, Obama to head to Germany in the spring Washington Post ...President Obama will head to Hannover, Germany in late April to attend a trade fair, the White House announced Wednesday, part of the administration's push to secure a European trade deal before he leaves office. Administration officials are hoping to make progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), negotiations between the United States and the European Union that have taken a back seat to the recently-forged Trans Pacific Partnership...
Business leaders announce support for TPP The Hill ..A group of the nation's chief executives is endorsing a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement, calling on Congress to pass the pact this year. The Business Roundtable announced support Tuesday for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) saying it is a “significant” agreement that will open foreign markets and create U.S. jobs. BRT is the second major business group this week to announce support for the 12-nation TPP deal...
The five biggest lobbying fights to watch in 2016 Washington Post ...1. Trans-Pacific Partnership: TPP, the sweeping trade deal reached in October between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, is expected to be hotly contested, both from members of Congress and from a wide swath of interest groups. It will be the biggest showdown among lawmakers, interest groups and the White House in 2016...
Chile will sign the TPP in February Fresh Plaza ...The Chilean government announced that it would sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in February in New Zealand. For this purpose, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Munoz, will travel to New Zealand to complete the processing of an arrangement that involves 12 countries, including the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Peru...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Dems say paid sick leave bill a priority WCAX ...Vermont lawmakers will return to Montpelier Tuesday. With a budget to balance, a revenue bill to compose and potentially marijuana legalization to debate, their schedule is full. Democrats also have their sights set on changing the way some companies do business. The two political parties differ wildly over whether mandating that employers offer paid sick leave is a good idea...
Cuomo Lifts Minimum Wage for Workers at New York Universities New York Times ...Continuing a push for the payment of higher wages for public-sector jobs, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced a plan on Monday to raise the minimum wage for state university workers to $15. Mr. Cuomo’s action was the latest to address what he sees as subpar wages: He used a state wage board to increase hourly pay to $15 for fast-food workers last summer and unveiled a similar plan for an estimated 10,000 state workers in November...
16 Michigan political issues to watch in 2016 MLive ...There is a legislative appetite to repeal prevailing wage in the state which provides union-scale wages on publicly funded construction projects. But Gov. Rick Snyder has telegraphed that it's not a priority of his. The ballot proposal could essentially circumvent the governor, repealing prevailing wage by getting 252,523 signatures and submitting it to the legislature...
N.H.'s Voter ID Law Remains Big Unknown for Presidential Primary Day NHPR ...New Hampshire’s primary is just five weeks away, and state election officials are anticipating record turnout. There’s something else on their minds too—this will be the first presidential primary with the state’s new voter ID law in place. The law, which passed three and a half years ago, was part of a wave of stricter voter laws pushed by Republicans across the country...
Right-to-work law would hurt workers, weaken labor unions in West Virginia (opinion) Herald Dispatch ...One piece of legislation likely to be considered in West Virginia in 2016 is misleadingly called "right to work," or RTW. It really has nothing to do with that right but a lot to do with targeting all working families. It's more like "right to work for less." According to current law, if most eligible workers in a private-sector job vote to join a union in a National Labor Relations Board election, all belong...
U.S. LABOR
Volkswagen appeals UAW election at Chattanooga plant Times Free Press ...In the latest salvo between Volkswagen and the United Auto Workers, VW has asked in an appeal of the union election at its Chattanooga plant this month that regulators scrap key cases on which the UAW based much of its legal footing. Lawyers for VW said the Specialty Healthcare legal cases on which the UAW depended to organize a small group of workers should be abandoned...
UAW receives notice of 936 layoffs at Freightliner plant WSOCTV ...A representative of the United Auto Workers Union told channel 9 on Monday that the union received a notice that 936 people will be laid off from the Cleveland Freightliner plant in Rowan County. The representative said the UAW received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice dated Dec. 31. The last day of work will be Friday...
Richmond Baking Company workers strike Pal-Item ...The company was notified Sunday by the Bakery Workers Union that employees would begin a strike at 2 p.m. Monday, and they did just that. Workers held signs saying "On strike unfair contract," "We have pride too," "More work? Less pay? No way," "Work up; family and pay down," "United We Stand Local 1," "Fair work fair pay" and "Honk 2 Help"...
Mediation begins in Valley bus union-operator negotiations KTAR ...Mediation begins Monday between the union representing bus drivers in the metro Phoenix area and the company that operates them. There is a new middle man in the fight between Transdev and the Amalgamated Transit Union. Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has been hired to help the two parties settle a collective bargaining agreement in hopes of avoiding a bus driver strike...
Analysis of NLRB Elections Shows Quicker Elections, More Union Wins BNA ...Since the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial amendments to its representation election rules took effect last April, supporters and opponents alike have asked two questions: Have the new rules served to speed up the election process? And, if so, has this pickup in tempo favored unions more than employers? Bloomberg BNA has released a report, Election Speed and the NLRB: How Unions Fare in the Representation Process, which suggests that the answer to both questions is yes...
The middle class is just this screwed: Janet Yellen declares victory while workers drown Salon ...Earlier this month when Fed chair Janet Yellen offered her rationale for raising interest rates, it was sadly reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech, given on the USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over in 2003. Between 2010 and 2014 poverty increased in one third of America’s 3,000 counties...
Who’s Fighting the Mental-Health Crisis on Campus? Unions. The Nation .... Though Yale’s Mental Health Services system is supposed to provide general psychiatric care for all students and employees, Yale’s Graduate Employee Student Organization (GESO) - the UNITE HERE!–affiliated labor group that Yale graduate employees have been trying to turn into an official union for over a decade - argues that services on campus are deeply inadequate and fraught with bureaucratic barriers...
Women Can’t Expect Equality In The Boardroom Until At Least 2065 Think Progress ...The share of women on corporate board seats among hundreds of the country’s biggest corporations has doubled over the last 17 years. But even if the rate of change significantly increased, it will take decades until women reach equality. In 2014, women made up about 16 percent of board seats among companies in the S&P 1500 index...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
'Don't open the door,' immigrants are warned as family deportation roundup continues LA Times ...More than a hundred immigrants, mostly Central American families, were detained in a handful of states through the weekend in a federal effort to deport those who recently entered the country and stayed illegally, according to officials and advocates. As part of the operation, 121 people were taken into custody -- primarily in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas -- and are being processed for deportation...
Robert Reich: The Economy in 2016: On the Edge of Recession Common Dreams ...Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good, but I’ll hazard a guess. I expect the U.S. economy to sputter in 2016. That’s because the economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it’s capable of producing. American consumers account for almost 70 percent of economic activity, but they won’t have enough purchasing power in 2016 to keep the economy going on more than two cylinders. Blame widening inequality..
5 Things You Need to Know About Oregon’s Militia Movement U.S. Uncut ...The ‘Patriot’ movement is a child of the White Power movement. Many of the tactics and talking points being used were popularized in the 1970s by the white supremacist group Posse Comitatus. This group promoted the “Christian Patriot” movement, advocated the formation of “Citizens Militias,” helped forge an idiosyncratic reading of the Constitution...
Here’s What Happened When Black People Tried Armed Occupation Think Progress ...30 years ago, a similar standoff between police and a black anti-government group in Philadelphia played out very differently. Armed members of a fringe liberation group called MOVE were bombed and burned alive for directing their weapons at police. The bombing highlighted the stark contrast in the way cops treat black and white radicals...
How the Leader of the Oregon Armed Protest Benefited From a Federal Loan Program Mother Jones ...As one of the leaders of a band of armed, anti-government activists who have taken over a Fish and Wildlife Service building in Oregon, Ammon Bundy has denounced the "tyranny" of the federal government. But not long ago, Ammon Bundy sought out help from the government he now decries and received a federal small-business loan guarantee...
The Melting Arctic's Dramatic Impact on Global Weather Patterns Truthout ...Arctic sea ice is melting at a record pace - and every summer looks grimmer. This past summer saw the ice pack at its fourth-lowest level on record, and the overall trend in recent decades suggests this will only continue. "Using satellites, scientists have found that the area of sea ice coverage each September has declined by more than 40 percent since the late 1970s, a trend that has accelerated since 2007"...
Teamsters Call On Solutions One Industries To Recognize Union, Honor Contract Teamster.org ...Teamsters that provide logistical and warehousing support for the men and women who serve at the Fort Irwin National Training Center are fighting an effort by One Solutions Industries to deny the wages and benefits guaranteed to the workers under their collective bargaining agreement. Solutions One Industries (SOI) was awarded the federal contract that covers the 23 members of Teamsters Local 166 on Nov. 1, 2015...
Cargill: Tried to resolve issues before firing Colorado Muslim workers Denver Post ...About 190 workers, mostly Somali, were let go after they left the meatpacking line to protest changes to prayer policy. The workers earn $14 per hour and up and are represented by a union, Teamsters Local 455. More than 2,000 people are employed at the plant...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strike deadline set in Ontario corrections talks Canadian Labour Reporter ...Ontario correctional workers will be in a legal strike or lockout position on Jan. 10. The Ontario Ministry of Labour issued a “no board” report on Dec. 24, 2015, with respect to negotiations between the provincial government and Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members in the Correctional Bargaining Unit of the Ontario Public Service...
With European trade deal unfinished, Obama to head to Germany in the spring Washington Post ...President Obama will head to Hannover, Germany in late April to attend a trade fair, the White House announced Wednesday, part of the administration's push to secure a European trade deal before he leaves office. Administration officials are hoping to make progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), negotiations between the United States and the European Union that have taken a back seat to the recently-forged Trans Pacific Partnership...
Business leaders announce support for TPP The Hill ..A group of the nation's chief executives is endorsing a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement, calling on Congress to pass the pact this year. The Business Roundtable announced support Tuesday for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) saying it is a “significant” agreement that will open foreign markets and create U.S. jobs. BRT is the second major business group this week to announce support for the 12-nation TPP deal...
The five biggest lobbying fights to watch in 2016 Washington Post ...1. Trans-Pacific Partnership: TPP, the sweeping trade deal reached in October between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, is expected to be hotly contested, both from members of Congress and from a wide swath of interest groups. It will be the biggest showdown among lawmakers, interest groups and the White House in 2016...
Chile will sign the TPP in February Fresh Plaza ...The Chilean government announced that it would sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in February in New Zealand. For this purpose, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Munoz, will travel to New Zealand to complete the processing of an arrangement that involves 12 countries, including the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Peru...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Dems say paid sick leave bill a priority WCAX ...Vermont lawmakers will return to Montpelier Tuesday. With a budget to balance, a revenue bill to compose and potentially marijuana legalization to debate, their schedule is full. Democrats also have their sights set on changing the way some companies do business. The two political parties differ wildly over whether mandating that employers offer paid sick leave is a good idea...
Cuomo Lifts Minimum Wage for Workers at New York Universities New York Times ...Continuing a push for the payment of higher wages for public-sector jobs, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced a plan on Monday to raise the minimum wage for state university workers to $15. Mr. Cuomo’s action was the latest to address what he sees as subpar wages: He used a state wage board to increase hourly pay to $15 for fast-food workers last summer and unveiled a similar plan for an estimated 10,000 state workers in November...
16 Michigan political issues to watch in 2016 MLive ...There is a legislative appetite to repeal prevailing wage in the state which provides union-scale wages on publicly funded construction projects. But Gov. Rick Snyder has telegraphed that it's not a priority of his. The ballot proposal could essentially circumvent the governor, repealing prevailing wage by getting 252,523 signatures and submitting it to the legislature...
N.H.'s Voter ID Law Remains Big Unknown for Presidential Primary Day NHPR ...New Hampshire’s primary is just five weeks away, and state election officials are anticipating record turnout. There’s something else on their minds too—this will be the first presidential primary with the state’s new voter ID law in place. The law, which passed three and a half years ago, was part of a wave of stricter voter laws pushed by Republicans across the country...
Right-to-work law would hurt workers, weaken labor unions in West Virginia (opinion) Herald Dispatch ...One piece of legislation likely to be considered in West Virginia in 2016 is misleadingly called "right to work," or RTW. It really has nothing to do with that right but a lot to do with targeting all working families. It's more like "right to work for less." According to current law, if most eligible workers in a private-sector job vote to join a union in a National Labor Relations Board election, all belong...
U.S. LABOR
Volkswagen appeals UAW election at Chattanooga plant Times Free Press ...In the latest salvo between Volkswagen and the United Auto Workers, VW has asked in an appeal of the union election at its Chattanooga plant this month that regulators scrap key cases on which the UAW based much of its legal footing. Lawyers for VW said the Specialty Healthcare legal cases on which the UAW depended to organize a small group of workers should be abandoned...
UAW receives notice of 936 layoffs at Freightliner plant WSOCTV ...A representative of the United Auto Workers Union told channel 9 on Monday that the union received a notice that 936 people will be laid off from the Cleveland Freightliner plant in Rowan County. The representative said the UAW received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice dated Dec. 31. The last day of work will be Friday...
Richmond Baking Company workers strike Pal-Item ...The company was notified Sunday by the Bakery Workers Union that employees would begin a strike at 2 p.m. Monday, and they did just that. Workers held signs saying "On strike unfair contract," "We have pride too," "More work? Less pay? No way," "Work up; family and pay down," "United We Stand Local 1," "Fair work fair pay" and "Honk 2 Help"...
Mediation begins in Valley bus union-operator negotiations KTAR ...Mediation begins Monday between the union representing bus drivers in the metro Phoenix area and the company that operates them. There is a new middle man in the fight between Transdev and the Amalgamated Transit Union. Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has been hired to help the two parties settle a collective bargaining agreement in hopes of avoiding a bus driver strike...
Analysis of NLRB Elections Shows Quicker Elections, More Union Wins BNA ...Since the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial amendments to its representation election rules took effect last April, supporters and opponents alike have asked two questions: Have the new rules served to speed up the election process? And, if so, has this pickup in tempo favored unions more than employers? Bloomberg BNA has released a report, Election Speed and the NLRB: How Unions Fare in the Representation Process, which suggests that the answer to both questions is yes...
The middle class is just this screwed: Janet Yellen declares victory while workers drown Salon ...Earlier this month when Fed chair Janet Yellen offered her rationale for raising interest rates, it was sadly reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech, given on the USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over in 2003. Between 2010 and 2014 poverty increased in one third of America’s 3,000 counties...
Who’s Fighting the Mental-Health Crisis on Campus? Unions. The Nation .... Though Yale’s Mental Health Services system is supposed to provide general psychiatric care for all students and employees, Yale’s Graduate Employee Student Organization (GESO) - the UNITE HERE!–affiliated labor group that Yale graduate employees have been trying to turn into an official union for over a decade - argues that services on campus are deeply inadequate and fraught with bureaucratic barriers...
Women Can’t Expect Equality In The Boardroom Until At Least 2065 Think Progress ...The share of women on corporate board seats among hundreds of the country’s biggest corporations has doubled over the last 17 years. But even if the rate of change significantly increased, it will take decades until women reach equality. In 2014, women made up about 16 percent of board seats among companies in the S&P 1500 index...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
'Don't open the door,' immigrants are warned as family deportation roundup continues LA Times ...More than a hundred immigrants, mostly Central American families, were detained in a handful of states through the weekend in a federal effort to deport those who recently entered the country and stayed illegally, according to officials and advocates. As part of the operation, 121 people were taken into custody -- primarily in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas -- and are being processed for deportation...
Robert Reich: The Economy in 2016: On the Edge of Recession Common Dreams ...Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good, but I’ll hazard a guess. I expect the U.S. economy to sputter in 2016. That’s because the economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it’s capable of producing. American consumers account for almost 70 percent of economic activity, but they won’t have enough purchasing power in 2016 to keep the economy going on more than two cylinders. Blame widening inequality..
5 Things You Need to Know About Oregon’s Militia Movement U.S. Uncut ...The ‘Patriot’ movement is a child of the White Power movement. Many of the tactics and talking points being used were popularized in the 1970s by the white supremacist group Posse Comitatus. This group promoted the “Christian Patriot” movement, advocated the formation of “Citizens Militias,” helped forge an idiosyncratic reading of the Constitution...
Here’s What Happened When Black People Tried Armed Occupation Think Progress ...30 years ago, a similar standoff between police and a black anti-government group in Philadelphia played out very differently. Armed members of a fringe liberation group called MOVE were bombed and burned alive for directing their weapons at police. The bombing highlighted the stark contrast in the way cops treat black and white radicals...
How the Leader of the Oregon Armed Protest Benefited From a Federal Loan Program Mother Jones ...As one of the leaders of a band of armed, anti-government activists who have taken over a Fish and Wildlife Service building in Oregon, Ammon Bundy has denounced the "tyranny" of the federal government. But not long ago, Ammon Bundy sought out help from the government he now decries and received a federal small-business loan guarantee...
The Melting Arctic's Dramatic Impact on Global Weather Patterns Truthout ...Arctic sea ice is melting at a record pace - and every summer looks grimmer. This past summer saw the ice pack at its fourth-lowest level on record, and the overall trend in recent decades suggests this will only continue. "Using satellites, scientists have found that the area of sea ice coverage each September has declined by more than 40 percent since the late 1970s, a trend that has accelerated since 2007"...
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Today's Teamster News 12.22.15
OUR LAST NEWS ROUND-UP OF THE YEAR
TEAMSTERS
How did two leaders with Teamsters union shape St. Louis with the ‘total persons’ movement? St. Louis Public Radio ...In the 1950s and ‘60s, two labor leaders were influential in St. Louis through their involvement with a new kind of ideology: the “total persons” movement. Both were involved with Teamsters Local 688, forming a political alliance that would shape public services, civil rights and economic justice in the region. Their names were Harold Gibbons and Ernest Calloway...
Right-to-Work in West Virginia Could be Political War of Words WOWK ...In three weeks, the state legislature will begin considering a bill that could affect thousands of workers in the Mountain State. Senator Cole (R-WV) says his goal is, "Making West Virginia a place where businesses want to locate." Ken Hall of the Teamsters said, "It's all about driving the wages down. I guess they could create a lot of jobs, if they get the wage rates down to a dollar an hour"...
Is D.C.’s Taxicab Complaints System Improving? City Paper ...Royale Simms, the local management chief of the Teamsters-affiliated D.C. Taxi Operators Association, says the real problem that the commission needs to address is a lack of front-end training for taxi drivers. One area to start with is the test for obtaining a taxi license: Simms says potential drivers have three chances to take the test, and the questions are repeated in the same order each time. “So you can learn A, B, C, and pass”...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strikes at Amazon German warehouses up to Christmas Reuters ...Workers at German warehouses of U.S. online retailer Amazon.com Inc were called out on a new strike by labor union Verdi on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Verdi said in a statement that workers at six of the nine Amazon warehouses were joining the strike, which will run until Dec. 24 at four of the centers and for shorter periods at the others...
New Zealand logistics workers strike to disrupt Nike supply chain Scoop ...Approximately 20 workers from Toll Logistics’ Nike distribution centre in Auckland are commencing strike action today. The workers are striking over poor pay and to protest the company’s excessive use of labour hire employees. The company uses approximately 70 labour hire employees who receive minimum wages and no secure hours, said FIRST Union organiser Jared Abbott...
Mexican Border Workers Make A Push To Unionize NPR ...Delgado is among some 70 former workers who've set up a protest camp outside Lemark, located just 10 miles south of the Texas border. They claim they were fired soon after demanding higher pay. They say they're tired of struggling to provide for their families on a salary that, according to government figures, puts them below the poverty line...
‘When We Made Mistakes in Our Sewing, They Slapped Us’ The Nation ... Over two years after one of the worst industrial accidents in recent memory, Bangladesh’s garment workers are “safer” now—or so they’ve been told. So why do they still go to work afraid? Two years after labor and industry groups brokered a hard-won pact to improve factory safety, the Bangladesh Accord, most of the industry appears to be failing basic safety benchmarks....
Japan more than quadruples TPP economic boost estimate: Nikkei Reuters ...Japan's government has estimated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will boost the economy by 14 trillion yen ($115.5 billion) or about 3 percentage points, over four times more than its initial calculation, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. In March 2013, the Cabinet Office said joining the TPP would boost gross domestic product by 3.2 trillion yen or 0.66 percentage point based on the assumption that all tariffs would be scrapped immediately after enactment...
Spanish Election Marks Another Rejection of Austerity New York Times ...European leaders and economists are still locked in a heated debate about whether austerity policies have done more to help or hurt people in the region, particularly in Europe’s heavily indebted south. But as the election Sunday in Spain showed, voters seem to have made up their minds...
Hedge Funds vs. Greece: Lobbyists Want "Cheap Ticket" to Speculation Truthout ....This summer, Greece's financial authorities fined 20 hedge funds for speculating against the Greek economy. Now, the main global lobby group for hedge funds is trying to tweak the EU's rules so they can have a free play in the future. Global hedge funds attacked Greek banks in the early part of 2015. These were the months when the Greek economy was particularly fragile...
County commissioners oppose TPP agreement Hibbing Daily Tribune ...St. Louis County commissioners on Tuesday solidified their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Commissioner Tom Rukavina of Pike Township brought the resolution forward after State Rep. Jason Metsa addressed the board earlier in the year on the TPP’s affect on local business and industry, which was unanimously approved...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage repeal may take longer to affect NWI NWITimes ...The 80-year-old system, which the Indiana General Assembly repealed this year, had been in place to ensure construction wages were in line with the local market, said Dewey Pearman, executive director of Construction Advancement Foundation. It also kept governments from having the power to inflate or depress the wages, he said. Common or prevailing construction wages went away July 1, and it's expected to have a big impact on Northwest Indiana...
Senate Leader: Mo. Right-to-Work Needs More Support in House Ozarks First ...Right-to-work is going to need more backing in the state House for it to receive time in the state Senate in 2016, according to the latter chamber’s leader. After leading an effort to bring that issue to a vote last session, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (R-Joplin) says it isn’t likely to have the support it needs in the House for the Senate to consider it...
Scott Walker Corruption Case Threatens to Implicate Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Mother Jones ... For three years, prosecutors in Wisconsin tried to investigate what they believed was illegal campaign coordination between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and conservative outside groups. The investigation has become a political flash point in the state: Walker and conservatives claim it is a witch hunt led by liberal prosecutors, while liberals believe it is about the power of dark money in Wisconsin politics...
Democrats' effort to change N.J. redistricting pushes on despite Republican outcry NJ.com ...Democratic state lawmakers on Monday continued to move forward with a proposal aiming to overhaul the way New Jersey redraws its legislative districts despite an ongoing outcry from Republicans. The state redraws the districts every decade and won't do so again until 2021. But this resolution would put a question on next November's ballot asking voters whether to amend the New Jersey constitution to approve a number of changes to the process...
Business leaders propose alternatives to Long Beach’s minimum wage push Press Telegram ...The question of whether Long Beach employers will be required to pay a higher minimum wage is on pace to be answered in early 2016, and policymakers have competing studies offering labor’s and business group’s perspectives on the issue. Pro-labor and pro-business groups have released their own reports intended to bolster their sides’ arguments in favor of a $15 minimum or a compromise position backed by local business that would raise the minimum wage to $12.50...
Health service professionals seek minimum wage increase WPTZ ...Lori Lobdell has been working at the Advocacy and Resource Center for over 20 years and describes the work they do as amazing. She feels they should get more money. That's why she supporting a bill in the state Senate asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to raise the starting salary of human services workers to $15 an hour...
U.S. LABOR
UAW Brings Charges Against Volkswagen for Refusal to Bargain ABC ...The United Auto Workers is bringing charges against Volkswagen for refusing to bargain with a group of skilled workers who won a union vote at the German automaker's lone U.S. plant in Tennessee earlier this month. The UAW's Local 42 says in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that a Volkswagen representative on Monday declined to recognize or bargain with the union...
How Kohler employees' united front won new contract and 'livable wages' The Guardian ...Before the strike began on 15 November, Kohler, with 48 factories and 30,000 employees worldwide, threatened to move many of the production jobs from its headquarters city here, 57 miles north of Milwaukee, if it were forced to end its two-tier contract. Before walking out, the workers voted overwhelmingly – by a 94% majority – to authorize a strike...
Southwest Airlines suspends 100 ramp workers, alleges illegal sickout Star Telegram ...About 100 Southwest Airlines ramp workers are not feeling the love from their employer this holiday season after they were suspended without pay through January. The Transport Workers Union, which represents over 11,000 ground workers and baggage handlers, said the suspensions are in retaliation for some workers using the time off to attend a “strike preparedness” meeting held by the union...
SEIU puts $3M into ballot fight with California hospitals Business Journal ...Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West says it still has an agreement with the California Hospital Association to work on issues like Medi-Cal financing. “We are just preparing for all potential situations,” spokesman Sean Wherley said in an email. One of those options apparently includes moving ahead with a proposed November ballot initiative that would limit CEO pay, regulate charity care and cap hospital prices...
Why The Fed's Rate Hike Will Hit Black Workers Harder Than Whites Huffington Post ...The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday is bad news for black workers. The move is expected to put downward pressure on job creation by raising borrowing costs throughout the economy. While the rate hike is a modest measure on its own, it sets the stage for a series of additional developments that stand to have a much bigger contractionary effect on the economy...
When the Workers Become the Owners: Taking the Co-op Movement to the Next Level Truthout ...There's a revolution taking place in the US workforce - but you may not have heard about it. Around the country, workers are starting businesses that they democratically control and that financially benefit them. These businesses, called worker cooperatives, are owned and governed by the employees. Every worker is a member of the co-op, which gives them one share and one vote in the company's operations...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The U.S. Food System Has a Race Problem, and the Farm Bill Is the Cause — and Possible Solution Alternet ...The 10 largest mega-corporations generate $450 million annually in food sales. These companies’ CEOs earn, on average, 12 times what their workers make. A new report out of the University of California, Berkeley, draws a direct line from these and other disparities to the the Farm Bill, the hulking, billion-dollar omnibus federal legislation...
‘Schlonged’: Trump’s Astonishingly Sexist Attack On Hillary Think Progress ...Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used a campaign stop in Michigan on Monday to make astonishingly sexist attacks against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. At one point, Trump told the Grand Rapids crowd that Clinton got “schlonged” by President Obama during their 2008 Democratic primary race. “Schlong” is a well-known reference to a man’s genitals. There are no alternative definitions for the word, according to Merriam-Webster...
Is Trump Channeling Working-Class Anger or Simple Racism? (opinion) Slate ...Trump is channeling class anger into prejudice, and exploiting the result. And Sanders isn’t the only person who thinks this. In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, President Obama offered similar sentiments. “[P]articularly blue-collar men have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, where they are no longer getting the same bargain that they got when they were going to a factory and able to support their families on a single paycheck,” said Obama...
'Outrageous and Totalitarian': Mall of America Sues to Block Black Lives Matter Protest Common Dreams ...Black Lives Matter organizers say they have no plans to back down from a racial justice protest planned for Wednesday. The suit requires that organizers "immediately" post messages on social media and send out a mass text message announcing that the December 23rd event—intended to focus on the November police killing of 24-year-old Minneapolis black man Jamar Clark—is cancelled...
Baltimore Officer’s Rescheduled Freddie Gray Trial Complicates Prosecution of Other Cops Slate ...The judge in the first trial of a Baltimore police officer for the death of Freddie Gray ordered a new trial date Monday, after the initial trial of officer William Porter resulted in a hung jury last week. Prosecutors hopes for a sting of convictions was complicated by the jury’s inability to reach a consensus verdict on Porter, who faces charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office...
TEAMSTERS
How did two leaders with Teamsters union shape St. Louis with the ‘total persons’ movement? St. Louis Public Radio ...In the 1950s and ‘60s, two labor leaders were influential in St. Louis through their involvement with a new kind of ideology: the “total persons” movement. Both were involved with Teamsters Local 688, forming a political alliance that would shape public services, civil rights and economic justice in the region. Their names were Harold Gibbons and Ernest Calloway...
Right-to-Work in West Virginia Could be Political War of Words WOWK ...In three weeks, the state legislature will begin considering a bill that could affect thousands of workers in the Mountain State. Senator Cole (R-WV) says his goal is, "Making West Virginia a place where businesses want to locate." Ken Hall of the Teamsters said, "It's all about driving the wages down. I guess they could create a lot of jobs, if they get the wage rates down to a dollar an hour"...
Is D.C.’s Taxicab Complaints System Improving? City Paper ...Royale Simms, the local management chief of the Teamsters-affiliated D.C. Taxi Operators Association, says the real problem that the commission needs to address is a lack of front-end training for taxi drivers. One area to start with is the test for obtaining a taxi license: Simms says potential drivers have three chances to take the test, and the questions are repeated in the same order each time. “So you can learn A, B, C, and pass”...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strikes at Amazon German warehouses up to Christmas Reuters ...Workers at German warehouses of U.S. online retailer Amazon.com Inc were called out on a new strike by labor union Verdi on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Verdi said in a statement that workers at six of the nine Amazon warehouses were joining the strike, which will run until Dec. 24 at four of the centers and for shorter periods at the others...
New Zealand logistics workers strike to disrupt Nike supply chain Scoop ...Approximately 20 workers from Toll Logistics’ Nike distribution centre in Auckland are commencing strike action today. The workers are striking over poor pay and to protest the company’s excessive use of labour hire employees. The company uses approximately 70 labour hire employees who receive minimum wages and no secure hours, said FIRST Union organiser Jared Abbott...
Mexican Border Workers Make A Push To Unionize NPR ...Delgado is among some 70 former workers who've set up a protest camp outside Lemark, located just 10 miles south of the Texas border. They claim they were fired soon after demanding higher pay. They say they're tired of struggling to provide for their families on a salary that, according to government figures, puts them below the poverty line...
‘When We Made Mistakes in Our Sewing, They Slapped Us’ The Nation ... Over two years after one of the worst industrial accidents in recent memory, Bangladesh’s garment workers are “safer” now—or so they’ve been told. So why do they still go to work afraid? Two years after labor and industry groups brokered a hard-won pact to improve factory safety, the Bangladesh Accord, most of the industry appears to be failing basic safety benchmarks....
Japan more than quadruples TPP economic boost estimate: Nikkei Reuters ...Japan's government has estimated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will boost the economy by 14 trillion yen ($115.5 billion) or about 3 percentage points, over four times more than its initial calculation, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. In March 2013, the Cabinet Office said joining the TPP would boost gross domestic product by 3.2 trillion yen or 0.66 percentage point based on the assumption that all tariffs would be scrapped immediately after enactment...
Spanish Election Marks Another Rejection of Austerity New York Times ...European leaders and economists are still locked in a heated debate about whether austerity policies have done more to help or hurt people in the region, particularly in Europe’s heavily indebted south. But as the election Sunday in Spain showed, voters seem to have made up their minds...
Hedge Funds vs. Greece: Lobbyists Want "Cheap Ticket" to Speculation Truthout ....This summer, Greece's financial authorities fined 20 hedge funds for speculating against the Greek economy. Now, the main global lobby group for hedge funds is trying to tweak the EU's rules so they can have a free play in the future. Global hedge funds attacked Greek banks in the early part of 2015. These were the months when the Greek economy was particularly fragile...
County commissioners oppose TPP agreement Hibbing Daily Tribune ...St. Louis County commissioners on Tuesday solidified their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Commissioner Tom Rukavina of Pike Township brought the resolution forward after State Rep. Jason Metsa addressed the board earlier in the year on the TPP’s affect on local business and industry, which was unanimously approved...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage repeal may take longer to affect NWI NWITimes ...The 80-year-old system, which the Indiana General Assembly repealed this year, had been in place to ensure construction wages were in line with the local market, said Dewey Pearman, executive director of Construction Advancement Foundation. It also kept governments from having the power to inflate or depress the wages, he said. Common or prevailing construction wages went away July 1, and it's expected to have a big impact on Northwest Indiana...
Senate Leader: Mo. Right-to-Work Needs More Support in House Ozarks First ...Right-to-work is going to need more backing in the state House for it to receive time in the state Senate in 2016, according to the latter chamber’s leader. After leading an effort to bring that issue to a vote last session, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard (R-Joplin) says it isn’t likely to have the support it needs in the House for the Senate to consider it...
Scott Walker Corruption Case Threatens to Implicate Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Mother Jones ... For three years, prosecutors in Wisconsin tried to investigate what they believed was illegal campaign coordination between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and conservative outside groups. The investigation has become a political flash point in the state: Walker and conservatives claim it is a witch hunt led by liberal prosecutors, while liberals believe it is about the power of dark money in Wisconsin politics...
Democrats' effort to change N.J. redistricting pushes on despite Republican outcry NJ.com ...Democratic state lawmakers on Monday continued to move forward with a proposal aiming to overhaul the way New Jersey redraws its legislative districts despite an ongoing outcry from Republicans. The state redraws the districts every decade and won't do so again until 2021. But this resolution would put a question on next November's ballot asking voters whether to amend the New Jersey constitution to approve a number of changes to the process...
Business leaders propose alternatives to Long Beach’s minimum wage push Press Telegram ...The question of whether Long Beach employers will be required to pay a higher minimum wage is on pace to be answered in early 2016, and policymakers have competing studies offering labor’s and business group’s perspectives on the issue. Pro-labor and pro-business groups have released their own reports intended to bolster their sides’ arguments in favor of a $15 minimum or a compromise position backed by local business that would raise the minimum wage to $12.50...
Health service professionals seek minimum wage increase WPTZ ...Lori Lobdell has been working at the Advocacy and Resource Center for over 20 years and describes the work they do as amazing. She feels they should get more money. That's why she supporting a bill in the state Senate asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to raise the starting salary of human services workers to $15 an hour...
U.S. LABOR
UAW Brings Charges Against Volkswagen for Refusal to Bargain ABC ...The United Auto Workers is bringing charges against Volkswagen for refusing to bargain with a group of skilled workers who won a union vote at the German automaker's lone U.S. plant in Tennessee earlier this month. The UAW's Local 42 says in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that a Volkswagen representative on Monday declined to recognize or bargain with the union...
How Kohler employees' united front won new contract and 'livable wages' The Guardian ...Before the strike began on 15 November, Kohler, with 48 factories and 30,000 employees worldwide, threatened to move many of the production jobs from its headquarters city here, 57 miles north of Milwaukee, if it were forced to end its two-tier contract. Before walking out, the workers voted overwhelmingly – by a 94% majority – to authorize a strike...
Southwest Airlines suspends 100 ramp workers, alleges illegal sickout Star Telegram ...About 100 Southwest Airlines ramp workers are not feeling the love from their employer this holiday season after they were suspended without pay through January. The Transport Workers Union, which represents over 11,000 ground workers and baggage handlers, said the suspensions are in retaliation for some workers using the time off to attend a “strike preparedness” meeting held by the union...
SEIU puts $3M into ballot fight with California hospitals Business Journal ...Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West says it still has an agreement with the California Hospital Association to work on issues like Medi-Cal financing. “We are just preparing for all potential situations,” spokesman Sean Wherley said in an email. One of those options apparently includes moving ahead with a proposed November ballot initiative that would limit CEO pay, regulate charity care and cap hospital prices...
Why The Fed's Rate Hike Will Hit Black Workers Harder Than Whites Huffington Post ...The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday is bad news for black workers. The move is expected to put downward pressure on job creation by raising borrowing costs throughout the economy. While the rate hike is a modest measure on its own, it sets the stage for a series of additional developments that stand to have a much bigger contractionary effect on the economy...
When the Workers Become the Owners: Taking the Co-op Movement to the Next Level Truthout ...There's a revolution taking place in the US workforce - but you may not have heard about it. Around the country, workers are starting businesses that they democratically control and that financially benefit them. These businesses, called worker cooperatives, are owned and governed by the employees. Every worker is a member of the co-op, which gives them one share and one vote in the company's operations...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The U.S. Food System Has a Race Problem, and the Farm Bill Is the Cause — and Possible Solution Alternet ...The 10 largest mega-corporations generate $450 million annually in food sales. These companies’ CEOs earn, on average, 12 times what their workers make. A new report out of the University of California, Berkeley, draws a direct line from these and other disparities to the the Farm Bill, the hulking, billion-dollar omnibus federal legislation...
‘Schlonged’: Trump’s Astonishingly Sexist Attack On Hillary Think Progress ...Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used a campaign stop in Michigan on Monday to make astonishingly sexist attacks against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. At one point, Trump told the Grand Rapids crowd that Clinton got “schlonged” by President Obama during their 2008 Democratic primary race. “Schlong” is a well-known reference to a man’s genitals. There are no alternative definitions for the word, according to Merriam-Webster...
Is Trump Channeling Working-Class Anger or Simple Racism? (opinion) Slate ...Trump is channeling class anger into prejudice, and exploiting the result. And Sanders isn’t the only person who thinks this. In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, President Obama offered similar sentiments. “[P]articularly blue-collar men have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, where they are no longer getting the same bargain that they got when they were going to a factory and able to support their families on a single paycheck,” said Obama...
'Outrageous and Totalitarian': Mall of America Sues to Block Black Lives Matter Protest Common Dreams ...Black Lives Matter organizers say they have no plans to back down from a racial justice protest planned for Wednesday. The suit requires that organizers "immediately" post messages on social media and send out a mass text message announcing that the December 23rd event—intended to focus on the November police killing of 24-year-old Minneapolis black man Jamar Clark—is cancelled...
Baltimore Officer’s Rescheduled Freddie Gray Trial Complicates Prosecution of Other Cops Slate ...The judge in the first trial of a Baltimore police officer for the death of Freddie Gray ordered a new trial date Monday, after the initial trial of officer William Porter resulted in a hung jury last week. Prosecutors hopes for a sting of convictions was complicated by the jury’s inability to reach a consensus verdict on Porter, who faces charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office...
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Today's Teamster News 12.09.15
TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Transportation bill loosens political gridlock Detroit News ...For more than a decade, Congress’s failure to approve a long-term transportation spending bill placed infrastructure improvements on the back burner in Michigan and all across the country. That ended last week, however, when members of the House and Senate united behind a five-year, $305 billion plan to pay for road, rail and mass transit upgrades...
Coca-Cola, union agree to federal mediation as strike continues Chicago Tribune ...The union representing striking Coca-Cola workers accepted the company's offer for federal mediation, even as it shot back at a letter the beverage giant mailed to employees defending the company's behavior during contract negotiations. Members of Teamsters Local 727, the union representing 319 production and warehouse workers at facilities in Niles and Alsip, took to the picket lines Thursday to protest what the union calls unfair labor practices...
Teamsters, Activists To Deliver Nearly 50,000 Signed Petitions Calling On UPS To Withdraw From ALEC PR Newswire ...On Thurs., Dec. 10, Teamsters Union representatives in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Ga. will be joined by environmental and community activists as they deliver nearly 50,000 signed petitions to UPS offices in both cities. The petitions call on the corporation to withdraw its membership in the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
U.S. Representatives Call on Treasury to Reject CSPF Application for Cuts Teamster.org ...Members of Congress have submitted letters to Treasury Department appointee Ken Feinberg asking him to deny the massive pension cuts proposed in the Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan application. The representatives denounced the plan for the burden it would place on middle class workers and retirees and called for a more equitable solution...
Unions mourn members killed in San Bernardino shooting Workday Minnesota ...Twelve of the 15 people killed – and several of those injured – in the San Bernardino terrorist shooting were members of the Service Employees International Union or the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Both organizations are holding vigils and fundraisers for all the victims. Teamsters (link is external) General President Jim Hoffa said, “Today is a sad day, as we join the San Bernardino community with a heavy heart in mourning this tragic loss"...
Teamsters members at Fieldbrook Foods ratify union contract Observer Today ...The drivers, warehouse and production personnel employed by Fieldbrook Foods on One Ice Cream Drive, Dunkirk, have overwhelmingly ratified a successor collective bargaining agreement. The members approved the new four-year contract by a margin of two to one...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Sudan: Central Darfur State Workers On Strike All Africa ...The Central Darfur state employees and workers embarked on a brief strike on Tuesday in protest against the non-payment of their November salaries. They gave the authorities 48 hours to pay them their salaries. Otherwise, they will start an open-ended strike on Thursday, the head of the Central Darfur Workers' Union, Tajir Zakaria Idris, told Radio Dabanga...
India not seeking membership in TPP, TTIP Economic Times ...India has not sought membership in either of the two mega trade deals, Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic, the government informed Parliament today. "The government has not sought for membership of either the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)"...
Customs bill could reach finish line this week The Hill ...House and Senate lawmakers are nearing an agreement on a customs enforcement measure, even amid some Democratic dissent, which would wrap up another key piece of President Obama’s legislative trade agenda. Levin said that he is concerned a conference report will retain what he called “very troubling changes to the negotiating objectives in TPA [trade promotion authority]...
How the TPP Will Affect You and Your Digital Rights EFF ...By excluding a large sector of communities—like security researchers, artists, libraries, and user rights groups—trade negotiators skewed the priorities of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) towards major tech companies and copyright industries that have a strong interest in maintaining and expanding their monopolies of digital services and content...
TiSA: A Framework for Reregulating the Global Trade in Services? (opinion) Huffington Post ...The EU is negotiating on behalf of its 28 member states, and with 23 other countries including the USA, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia alongside the WTO, for a 'plurilateral' Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). TiSA's main purpose is to set out new rules to make the global trade in services fit for the internet era...
Superbug Apocalypse: How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Harms Public Health Truthout ...If you thought the only reason to be concerned was eight years of government secrecy surrounding the trade deal, its relation to the growing likelihood of antibacterial-resistant strains of bacteria from unchecked antibiotics in our food may give you nightmares...
Anti-austerity protesters march in Dublin city centre Irish Times ...There was a strong Garda presence outside Leinster House today as protestors demonstrated against austerity. Kildare Street and Molesworth Street were closed as up to 200 of people gathered outside Leinster House for a National Demonstration against Austerity. The action was in opposition to the water charges, the property taxes and to austerity imposed by the Government...
Pakistan Journalists Assert Human Rights, Worker Rights Solidarity Center ...The recent murders of three Pakistani journalists in separate incidents highlight the dangers media professionals in that country face daily on the job. ollowing the launch of a recent series of Solidarity Center workshops that covered safety as well as gender equality, more than 60 journalists from around 15 local unions in Pakistan came away with the resources and information they need to better protect themselves...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Ohio Democrats rethink strategy against right-to-work, unemployment legislation Cleveland.com ...As Ohio's Republican lawmakers pick up a new battle to reduce unemployment benefits and reduce the power of unions in the state, Democrats say they have a more difficult case against them. The last Republican-lead attempt to limit union power, Senate Bill 5 in 2011, was rebuffed and overturned by outraged voters...
Michigan prevailing wage repeal group preparing to launch second petition drive MLive ...A committee seeking to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law plans to begin collecting a second round of petition signatures within the month. Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, regrouping after a failed petition drive marred by duplicate signatures, has hired National Petition Management of Brighton...
BIC to push right-to-work during 2016 Legislative Session Metro News ...Supporting right-to-work legislation is one of the top priorities for the West Virginia Business and Industry Council heading into the 2016 Legislative Session, according to chairman Chris Hamilton. The right-to-work bill would allow workers to choose whether to pay labor unions. Meetings will be held throughout the state this month. Hamilton said this is to ensure they are fully prepared for the upcoming session...
The Supreme Court Looks Poised To Blow Up Everything You Think You Know About Redistricting Think Progress ...There is little reason to think that the Roberts Court will take a modest approach to redistricting. To the contrary, Evenwel now seems likely to upset the racial balance of many states’ congressional delegations and throw many states’ redistricting processes into chaos...
Justices appear split in Texas redistricting challenge Washington Post ...The phrase has come to symbolize American democracy: “One person, one vote.” But there was considerable disagreement Tuesday among the justices of the Supreme Court about exactly what it means. When electoral districts are drawn by the states and localities, should they be derived from the total population of a place, as is done in all 50 states? Or, as the challengers to Texas’s redistricting plan propose, should only those eligible to vote be counted?...
Bellingham tells state lawmakers to pass paid sick leave Bellingham Herald ...City Council will ask the state Legislature to require paid sick and safe leave rather than look to pass a rule locally. By a 5-2 vote Monday night, Dec. 7, the council passed a resolution calling on state legislators to require employers to provide their workers paid sick and safe leave...
Christie: Union 'pigs will be charging' to Statehouse if Democrat succeeds him NJ.com ...Warning that "pigs will be charging down State Street" in Trenton if voters elect a Democratic governor after he leaves office, Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday urged New Jersey's business community to join his fight against public employee unions. Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, responded Tuesday afternoon, saying "Gov. Christie's tired strategy of finger pointing, blame and scare tactics is a smokescreen, not a solution"...
U.S LABOR
UAW reaches 2nd tentative deal with supplier Nexteer Detroit Free Press ...The UAW said late Tuesday that it has reached a new tentative agreement with Nexteer Automotive, an automotive supplier just outside of Saginaw, that ends a strike that began earlier in the day. More than 3,200 UAW members who work at Nexteer went on strike Tuesday, one day after 97% of workers who voted rejected the first contract...
Striking Capitol Workers Take Their Fight To Ted Cruz Think Progress ...The contractors, who work in the cafeterias and clean the buildings, say they were shut out of talks between Republican Senators and federal contractor organizations handling the renewal process. The new contract went into effect on Monday, according to their group’s press release, and failed to include the living wage of $15 an hour or union rights that they have been demanding for years...
Citrus workers go on strike in San Luis Yuma Sun ...Workers from two agriculture companies in the area, Bravo Harvesting and Pacific Avenue Growers, went on strike for a second day Tuesday, demanding higher pay and better working conditions. The strike began on Monday as workers gathered in the entrance and exits of parking lots for both companies...
Company threatens managers: If workers unionize, we'll cut your pay 60 percent Daily Kos ...Bosses have lots of strategies to block their workers from unionizing. Midwestern hardware chain Menards (owned by a huge Scott Walker supporter) really, really doesn’t want unions, it’s safe to say. So much so that the contract that managers sign threatens them with a big pay cut if workers join a union on their watch...
This is what the social safety net could look like for on-demand workers Washington Post ...Less than seven years after the founding of the largest company in the space, Uber, Washington is buzzing with talk of how to overhaul labor law to fit the new category of workers it claims to have created. That might seem like a long time. But the main corpus of regulations governing the work experience hasn’t changed substantially for more than 60 years...
Working Families Party Endorses Bernie Sanders for President NYTimes ...The Working Families Party, the labor-aligned third party that originated in New York and has sought to become a national force, endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont for president on Tuesday, handing him a symbolic boost from the state that twice elected Hillary Clinton to the Senate...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Unaccompanied Children Are Crossing The Southern Border Again Think Progress ...Federal officials will open three shelters in response to a resurgent flow of unaccompanied children through the southern U.S. border. Senior Obama administration officials said on Monday that the shelters, set to open in Texas and California, will add at least 1,400 more beds, according to the New York Times. In recent years, tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have fled violence and poverty in the Central America...
Chicago police inquiry triggers long-awaited change but hard choices ahead The Guardian ...Just hours after the US Justice Department announced this week that it would investigate the Chicago police department for civil rights violations, local elected officials went on the offensive. During an often-tense press conference, embattled Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who previously called a federal civil rights investigation “misguided”, pledged his full support...
Trump Isn't the Problem. It's the Bigotry of the GOP Base. Slate ...Fifty-seven percent say Islamic values are at odds with American values. As for Trump’s proposal to bar Muslim refugees, when the question is presented without cues, 5 of every 6 Republicans agree with him. The problem is the base—and by many measures, the majority—of the Republican Party. If you think we can’t elect a government in 2016 that would target a religious minority, you’re underestimating Trump. And you’re overestimating America...
With Anti-Muslim Bombast, Trump Doubles Down on 'Fascist Demagoguery' Common Dreams ...GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is doubling down on his xenophobic remarks about Muslims, even as they provoke widespread outrage and condemnation across the political spectrum. On Tuesday, Trump defended his fascist plan for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" by comparing it with President Franklin Roosevelt's decision to inter Japanese Americans during World War II...
What Do Survivors of War Have to Do to Live in Peace?: Voices from France's Largest Refugee Camp Democracy Now ...Residents of the largest refugee camp in France, situated outside the northern port city of Calais, often call it "The Jungle." It is a maze of wind-swept, ripped tents and muddy walkways where people informally live in sections according to their home countries. Walking through the camp is like walking through a map of the targets of U.S. bombing campaigns...
Hoffa: Transportation bill loosens political gridlock Detroit News ...For more than a decade, Congress’s failure to approve a long-term transportation spending bill placed infrastructure improvements on the back burner in Michigan and all across the country. That ended last week, however, when members of the House and Senate united behind a five-year, $305 billion plan to pay for road, rail and mass transit upgrades...
Coca-Cola, union agree to federal mediation as strike continues Chicago Tribune ...The union representing striking Coca-Cola workers accepted the company's offer for federal mediation, even as it shot back at a letter the beverage giant mailed to employees defending the company's behavior during contract negotiations. Members of Teamsters Local 727, the union representing 319 production and warehouse workers at facilities in Niles and Alsip, took to the picket lines Thursday to protest what the union calls unfair labor practices...
Teamsters, Activists To Deliver Nearly 50,000 Signed Petitions Calling On UPS To Withdraw From ALEC PR Newswire ...On Thurs., Dec. 10, Teamsters Union representatives in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Ga. will be joined by environmental and community activists as they deliver nearly 50,000 signed petitions to UPS offices in both cities. The petitions call on the corporation to withdraw its membership in the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
U.S. Representatives Call on Treasury to Reject CSPF Application for Cuts Teamster.org ...Members of Congress have submitted letters to Treasury Department appointee Ken Feinberg asking him to deny the massive pension cuts proposed in the Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan application. The representatives denounced the plan for the burden it would place on middle class workers and retirees and called for a more equitable solution...
Unions mourn members killed in San Bernardino shooting Workday Minnesota ...Twelve of the 15 people killed – and several of those injured – in the San Bernardino terrorist shooting were members of the Service Employees International Union or the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Both organizations are holding vigils and fundraisers for all the victims. Teamsters (link is external) General President Jim Hoffa said, “Today is a sad day, as we join the San Bernardino community with a heavy heart in mourning this tragic loss"...
Teamsters members at Fieldbrook Foods ratify union contract Observer Today ...The drivers, warehouse and production personnel employed by Fieldbrook Foods on One Ice Cream Drive, Dunkirk, have overwhelmingly ratified a successor collective bargaining agreement. The members approved the new four-year contract by a margin of two to one...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Sudan: Central Darfur State Workers On Strike All Africa ...The Central Darfur state employees and workers embarked on a brief strike on Tuesday in protest against the non-payment of their November salaries. They gave the authorities 48 hours to pay them their salaries. Otherwise, they will start an open-ended strike on Thursday, the head of the Central Darfur Workers' Union, Tajir Zakaria Idris, told Radio Dabanga...
India not seeking membership in TPP, TTIP Economic Times ...India has not sought membership in either of the two mega trade deals, Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic, the government informed Parliament today. "The government has not sought for membership of either the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)"...
Customs bill could reach finish line this week The Hill ...House and Senate lawmakers are nearing an agreement on a customs enforcement measure, even amid some Democratic dissent, which would wrap up another key piece of President Obama’s legislative trade agenda. Levin said that he is concerned a conference report will retain what he called “very troubling changes to the negotiating objectives in TPA [trade promotion authority]...
How the TPP Will Affect You and Your Digital Rights EFF ...By excluding a large sector of communities—like security researchers, artists, libraries, and user rights groups—trade negotiators skewed the priorities of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) towards major tech companies and copyright industries that have a strong interest in maintaining and expanding their monopolies of digital services and content...
TiSA: A Framework for Reregulating the Global Trade in Services? (opinion) Huffington Post ...The EU is negotiating on behalf of its 28 member states, and with 23 other countries including the USA, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia alongside the WTO, for a 'plurilateral' Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). TiSA's main purpose is to set out new rules to make the global trade in services fit for the internet era...
Superbug Apocalypse: How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Harms Public Health Truthout ...If you thought the only reason to be concerned was eight years of government secrecy surrounding the trade deal, its relation to the growing likelihood of antibacterial-resistant strains of bacteria from unchecked antibiotics in our food may give you nightmares...
Anti-austerity protesters march in Dublin city centre Irish Times ...There was a strong Garda presence outside Leinster House today as protestors demonstrated against austerity. Kildare Street and Molesworth Street were closed as up to 200 of people gathered outside Leinster House for a National Demonstration against Austerity. The action was in opposition to the water charges, the property taxes and to austerity imposed by the Government...
Pakistan Journalists Assert Human Rights, Worker Rights Solidarity Center ...The recent murders of three Pakistani journalists in separate incidents highlight the dangers media professionals in that country face daily on the job. ollowing the launch of a recent series of Solidarity Center workshops that covered safety as well as gender equality, more than 60 journalists from around 15 local unions in Pakistan came away with the resources and information they need to better protect themselves...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Ohio Democrats rethink strategy against right-to-work, unemployment legislation Cleveland.com ...As Ohio's Republican lawmakers pick up a new battle to reduce unemployment benefits and reduce the power of unions in the state, Democrats say they have a more difficult case against them. The last Republican-lead attempt to limit union power, Senate Bill 5 in 2011, was rebuffed and overturned by outraged voters...
Michigan prevailing wage repeal group preparing to launch second petition drive MLive ...A committee seeking to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law plans to begin collecting a second round of petition signatures within the month. Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, regrouping after a failed petition drive marred by duplicate signatures, has hired National Petition Management of Brighton...
BIC to push right-to-work during 2016 Legislative Session Metro News ...Supporting right-to-work legislation is one of the top priorities for the West Virginia Business and Industry Council heading into the 2016 Legislative Session, according to chairman Chris Hamilton. The right-to-work bill would allow workers to choose whether to pay labor unions. Meetings will be held throughout the state this month. Hamilton said this is to ensure they are fully prepared for the upcoming session...
The Supreme Court Looks Poised To Blow Up Everything You Think You Know About Redistricting Think Progress ...There is little reason to think that the Roberts Court will take a modest approach to redistricting. To the contrary, Evenwel now seems likely to upset the racial balance of many states’ congressional delegations and throw many states’ redistricting processes into chaos...
Justices appear split in Texas redistricting challenge Washington Post ...The phrase has come to symbolize American democracy: “One person, one vote.” But there was considerable disagreement Tuesday among the justices of the Supreme Court about exactly what it means. When electoral districts are drawn by the states and localities, should they be derived from the total population of a place, as is done in all 50 states? Or, as the challengers to Texas’s redistricting plan propose, should only those eligible to vote be counted?...
Bellingham tells state lawmakers to pass paid sick leave Bellingham Herald ...City Council will ask the state Legislature to require paid sick and safe leave rather than look to pass a rule locally. By a 5-2 vote Monday night, Dec. 7, the council passed a resolution calling on state legislators to require employers to provide their workers paid sick and safe leave...
Christie: Union 'pigs will be charging' to Statehouse if Democrat succeeds him NJ.com ...Warning that "pigs will be charging down State Street" in Trenton if voters elect a Democratic governor after he leaves office, Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday urged New Jersey's business community to join his fight against public employee unions. Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, responded Tuesday afternoon, saying "Gov. Christie's tired strategy of finger pointing, blame and scare tactics is a smokescreen, not a solution"...
U.S LABOR
UAW reaches 2nd tentative deal with supplier Nexteer Detroit Free Press ...The UAW said late Tuesday that it has reached a new tentative agreement with Nexteer Automotive, an automotive supplier just outside of Saginaw, that ends a strike that began earlier in the day. More than 3,200 UAW members who work at Nexteer went on strike Tuesday, one day after 97% of workers who voted rejected the first contract...
Striking Capitol Workers Take Their Fight To Ted Cruz Think Progress ...The contractors, who work in the cafeterias and clean the buildings, say they were shut out of talks between Republican Senators and federal contractor organizations handling the renewal process. The new contract went into effect on Monday, according to their group’s press release, and failed to include the living wage of $15 an hour or union rights that they have been demanding for years...
Citrus workers go on strike in San Luis Yuma Sun ...Workers from two agriculture companies in the area, Bravo Harvesting and Pacific Avenue Growers, went on strike for a second day Tuesday, demanding higher pay and better working conditions. The strike began on Monday as workers gathered in the entrance and exits of parking lots for both companies...
Company threatens managers: If workers unionize, we'll cut your pay 60 percent Daily Kos ...Bosses have lots of strategies to block their workers from unionizing. Midwestern hardware chain Menards (owned by a huge Scott Walker supporter) really, really doesn’t want unions, it’s safe to say. So much so that the contract that managers sign threatens them with a big pay cut if workers join a union on their watch...
This is what the social safety net could look like for on-demand workers Washington Post ...Less than seven years after the founding of the largest company in the space, Uber, Washington is buzzing with talk of how to overhaul labor law to fit the new category of workers it claims to have created. That might seem like a long time. But the main corpus of regulations governing the work experience hasn’t changed substantially for more than 60 years...
Working Families Party Endorses Bernie Sanders for President NYTimes ...The Working Families Party, the labor-aligned third party that originated in New York and has sought to become a national force, endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont for president on Tuesday, handing him a symbolic boost from the state that twice elected Hillary Clinton to the Senate...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Unaccompanied Children Are Crossing The Southern Border Again Think Progress ...Federal officials will open three shelters in response to a resurgent flow of unaccompanied children through the southern U.S. border. Senior Obama administration officials said on Monday that the shelters, set to open in Texas and California, will add at least 1,400 more beds, according to the New York Times. In recent years, tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have fled violence and poverty in the Central America...
Chicago police inquiry triggers long-awaited change but hard choices ahead The Guardian ...Just hours after the US Justice Department announced this week that it would investigate the Chicago police department for civil rights violations, local elected officials went on the offensive. During an often-tense press conference, embattled Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who previously called a federal civil rights investigation “misguided”, pledged his full support...
Trump Isn't the Problem. It's the Bigotry of the GOP Base. Slate ...Fifty-seven percent say Islamic values are at odds with American values. As for Trump’s proposal to bar Muslim refugees, when the question is presented without cues, 5 of every 6 Republicans agree with him. The problem is the base—and by many measures, the majority—of the Republican Party. If you think we can’t elect a government in 2016 that would target a religious minority, you’re underestimating Trump. And you’re overestimating America...
With Anti-Muslim Bombast, Trump Doubles Down on 'Fascist Demagoguery' Common Dreams ...GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is doubling down on his xenophobic remarks about Muslims, even as they provoke widespread outrage and condemnation across the political spectrum. On Tuesday, Trump defended his fascist plan for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" by comparing it with President Franklin Roosevelt's decision to inter Japanese Americans during World War II...
What Do Survivors of War Have to Do to Live in Peace?: Voices from France's Largest Refugee Camp Democracy Now ...Residents of the largest refugee camp in France, situated outside the northern port city of Calais, often call it "The Jungle." It is a maze of wind-swept, ripped tents and muddy walkways where people informally live in sections according to their home countries. Walking through the camp is like walking through a map of the targets of U.S. bombing campaigns...
Monday, December 7, 2015
Foes of Mich. workers take aim at prevailing wage again
Those behind an effort to sandbag Michigan's prevailing wage law are not giving up, despite the fact its first effort at a ballot measure failed because of the presence of a massive number of duplicate and improper names on the signature sheets.
Chris Fisher, leader of the anti-prevailing wage group, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, has vowed to re-start the petition process, saying he would submit new petition language to the Secretary of State to do just that. He had to ditch the old campaign on Oct. 30.
Fisher's threat was prompted by an earlier press conference by the union-backed group, Protect Michigan Jobs, which found 43 percent of the 390,000 repeal signatures the so-called taxpayers group submitted to the state Board of Canvassers were invalid. That means the petition was more than 25,000 short of the 252,523 valid names state law required.
Much of the funding for the petition effort came from the ultra-rich, ultra-right DeVos family of Grand Rapids, owners of the exploitative Amway direct sales firm. The Michigan campaign to repeal the prevailing wage, which would trash construction workers' wages and job protections, is part of a nationwide effort to destroy workers' pay and obliterate both their unions and their rights on the job.
Bart Carrigan, a co-chair of Protect Michigan Jobs and President and CEO of Associated General Contractors of Michigan, said the effort would be disastrous for workers:
Now, having filed the petition paperwork, the group's new deadline to collect the necessary 252,523 signatures is in April 2016. If sufficient signatures are collected -- and approved -- the prevailing wage repeal question goes before the Republican-run state legislature. There, the building trades have been lobbying a handful of moderate Republican lawmakers not to approve it.
If the legislature votes down the measure or passes on it, the prevailing wage repeal question goes to the voters as a statewide referendum in November 2016. State surveys indicate strong support for prevailing wage, and construction industry leaders have also publicly expressed support for the law.
Stick up for workers, Michigan! Say no to repealing prevailing wage!
Chris Fisher, leader of the anti-prevailing wage group, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, has vowed to re-start the petition process, saying he would submit new petition language to the Secretary of State to do just that. He had to ditch the old campaign on Oct. 30.Fisher's threat was prompted by an earlier press conference by the union-backed group, Protect Michigan Jobs, which found 43 percent of the 390,000 repeal signatures the so-called taxpayers group submitted to the state Board of Canvassers were invalid. That means the petition was more than 25,000 short of the 252,523 valid names state law required.
Much of the funding for the petition effort came from the ultra-rich, ultra-right DeVos family of Grand Rapids, owners of the exploitative Amway direct sales firm. The Michigan campaign to repeal the prevailing wage, which would trash construction workers' wages and job protections, is part of a nationwide effort to destroy workers' pay and obliterate both their unions and their rights on the job.
Bart Carrigan, a co-chair of Protect Michigan Jobs and President and CEO of Associated General Contractors of Michigan, said the effort would be disastrous for workers:
Eliminating prevailing wage to cut wages and benefits of hard working skilled trades men and women in our state would hurt the Michigan economy, aggravating current worker shortages in the industry and discouraging young people from entering these valuable professions. Let's end this attack on skilled trade workers and the companies who hire them as quickly as possible, so we can focus on building a better Michigan.Apparently, however, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers is confident that their deep-pocketed backers are willing to double-down on the incompetence of the anti-worker Associated Builders and Contractors and its signature collectors with their vow to re-start the petition process.
Now, having filed the petition paperwork, the group's new deadline to collect the necessary 252,523 signatures is in April 2016. If sufficient signatures are collected -- and approved -- the prevailing wage repeal question goes before the Republican-run state legislature. There, the building trades have been lobbying a handful of moderate Republican lawmakers not to approve it.
If the legislature votes down the measure or passes on it, the prevailing wage repeal question goes to the voters as a statewide referendum in November 2016. State surveys indicate strong support for prevailing wage, and construction industry leaders have also publicly expressed support for the law.
Stick up for workers, Michigan! Say no to repealing prevailing wage!
- Press Associates, Inc. contributed to this report.
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