Teamsters
Teamsters, Elected Officials Demand San Bernardino County Keep Its Promises Teamster.org ...More than 1,200 San Bernardino County public employees were joined by State Treasurer John Chiang and District Attorney Mike Ramos at a town hall meeting at the Ontario Convention Center this weekend to protest the County Board of Supervisors’ broken promises. County workers perform crucial jobs such as 911 dispatchers, techs at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, child abuse hotline workers, building and bridge inspectors, flood specialists and many more....
CDT Member Receives Back Pay, Reduced Discipline Local 727 ...A CDT dispatcher member has received back pay and a reduced suspension after Teamsters Local 727 representatives fought against management’s unfair discipline. Devin Allen was wrongfully suspended for absenteeism caused by an ongoing illness, of which management was aware, and management planned to terminate Allen upon his return from the suspension. The union immediately filed a grievance...
Faith inspires Oklahoma man to donate kidney to co-worker News OK ...Henley, a UPS driver, made regular route stops at a UPS store on Memorial in Oklahoma City where Hall worked. “I got to know him well know enough to say ‘hi’ and visit some,” Henley said. In April 2014, Hall was diagnosed with kidney failure. Henley, 35, started to ask what was involved with donating a kidney...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement: Potential damage to global public health People's World ... The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement currently being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries, threatens the future availability of affordable generic medicines and could undermine the global HIV response in developing countries, according to a new report released by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research...
Dutch MPs criticise US trade treaty secrecy, want TTIP openness DutchNews ...Dutch MPs from across the political spectrum are demanding answers on the European Commission’s decision to stop sending them details of the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The aim of the proposed free trade deal between the EU and US is to cut tariffs, standardise regulations and simplify investment...
How regional trade agreements can spark a fight over Feta cheese Fortune ...This arrangement poses a problem for the U.S. dairy industry. While the provision was made to protect those already in this business, new producers trying to sell their feta would be barred from entering the Canadian market unless they called their product “feta-like” or a similar term. This locking-in of existing names would extend to nearly a few hundred agricultural products that could only originate in 28 member states of the European Union...
Unions rally against China free trade deal Yahoo News ...Traffic outside the West Australian parliament was brought to a standstill as unions held a rally against the free trade deal with China, saying it will be bad for local jobs and exploit foreign workers. The CFMEU says Chinese companies will be able to bring in an entire overseas workforce for projects worth more $150 million in which they have a minimum 15 per cent stake...
Palestine Workers Find Strength in their Union Solidarity Center ...Trade unions in Palestine are among the most significant institutions of civil society not directly tied to any political party. As the primary voice for working families and the unemployed in Palestine, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) plays a prominent role in backing the rule of law and developing coalitions among organizations seeking a more stable, just and prosperous Palestine. The fight for introducing and enforcing a minimum wage in Palestine is an example of this struggle...
Tube strike suspended by unions BBC ...Two 24-hour Tube strikes planned for this week have been called off after talks between unions and London Underground (LU) managers. Tube workers have been in dispute with LU over rotas and working conditions on the new Night Tube service. The Unite union said it had suspended its action as a "gesture of goodwill" to allow further talks...
State & Living Wage Battles
Prevailing wage repeal petition drive nears finish line, possible action by Michigan Legislature MLive ...While construction workers restored the Michigan Capitol this summer, a fight over guaranteed wages on government building projects was taking place on street corners all over the state. A business-backed group working to repeal Michigan's 1965 prevailing wage law was busy circulating petitions, and organizers say they are close to completing the signature gathering phase — well ahead of schedule...
The Florida Republicans Who Couldn't Draw a Map The Atlantic ...GOP leaders have tried—and failed—to come up with new congressional districts after the state’s highest court ruled their last effort was too favorable to their party. When the Florida legislature convened for a special summer session earlier this month, lawmakers had, literally, one job: to redraw the state’s congressional districts after a court had thrown out the last map they came up with...
As Minimum Wages Rise, Restaurants Say No to Tips, Yes to Higher Prices New York Times ...Restaurant owners, customers and staff have long railed against the tyranny of tipping, but like a love affair gone bad, it has proved difficult to quit. Now, prompted by a spurt of new minimum wage proposals in major cities, an expanding number of restaurateurs are experimenting with no-tipping policies as a way to manage rising labor costs...
In Detroit, labor secretary hears pleas to boost minimum wage USA Today ...One-by-one, sometimes in tears, Detroit workers on Tuesday opened up to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, telling him how little they earn and why they joined a labor movement — Fight for 15 — that is seeking $15 an hour wages, as well as better benefits and opportunities for employees in the restaurant, retail and health care industries. They talked about how hard it is to work in low-wage jobs and how they struggle to use that income to care, not just for themselves, but also for their kids...
The Labor Prospect: Getting Sick of No Paid Sick Leave American Prospect ...Despite an expanding patchwork of paid sick leave policies cropping up around the U.S., an In These Times investigation reminds us that this country is woefully behind the rest of the world in terms of such worker rights. Lacking any sort of basic safety net, nearly one-quarter of working mothers are back on the grind within just two weeks of giving birth, the report finds...
U.S. Labor
Target Walks Away From Equal Opportunity Complaint With $2.8 Million Bill Think Progress ...Target agreed to pay $2.8 million on Monday to settle a claim that the retailer disproportionately screened out applicants based on their race or gender. The complaint, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), targeted certain hiring assessments used over the past decade. The sum represents one of the highest amounts paid in recent years to settle a claim of hiring discrimination...
Kroger/Columbus Ratifies Labor Pact with UFCW Local 1059 Progressive Grocer ...The Kroger Co.'s Columbus division has ratified a new labor agreement with UFCW Local 1059. "We are pleased to reach an agreement that is good for our associates," said Joe Grieshaber, president of Kroger's Columbus division. "This new contract provides wage increases, affordable health care and ongoing investment in our associates' pension fund to support their retirement"...
Deere opens talks with UAW Chicago Tribune ...Moline-based Deere said Tuesday that it has opened negotiations with the United Auto Workers union over a labor deal covering 10,000 manufacturing jobs. But the timing, on the back of China's "Black Monday" stock market crash, couldn't be worse for the UAW. Low commodity prices were already slowing demand for farm equipment...
Overworked and Out of Time: a Democracy Issue Counterpunch ...The long-shot United States Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been telling the large crowds attending his rallies that American workers put in the longest hours in the industrialized world. He’s on solid ground. According to the International Labor Organization, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers”...
90% Of WeWork Cleaners Jobless After Contract Termination Gothamist ...Roughly 90% of the subcontracted workforce who cleaned the New York offices of WeWork, the co-working startup recently valued at $10 billion, have been laid off amid allegations that the company is anti-union and discriminates against immigrants. The 150 custodians who picked up left-over coffee cups, swept hallways, and cleaned conference rooms for $10/hour learned in July that their employer had terminated its contract with WeWork...
Social Justice & Other News
High-End Visa Program Blasted as 'Immigration Reform for the 1%' Common Dreams ...Actions are taking place in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle on Tuesday decrying a controversial U.S. immigration program that unions and immigration advocates have dubbed "immigration reform for the 1%." The little-known EB-5 visa program allows wealthy foreigners to qualify for an entry visa when they invest a certain amount in an American business...
The Right-Wing Hasn’t Read This Black Lives Matter Textbook, But They Are Freaking Out Anyway Think Progress ...A line of textbooks aimed at teaching students current events has been targeted by right-wing media because it happens to address the complex issues raised by Black Lives Matter. Right-wing radio personality Larry Elder criticized the book on Fox News as means of “indoctrinating” black kids and “teaching them they are victims”...
Showing posts with label rail strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rail strike. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.06.15
Teamsters
Genentech Waste Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 853 Teamster.org ...Workers who collect waste materials for Genentech Inc., are the latest Silicon Valley workers to vote in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 15 workers include compliance technicians, chemists, in-site technicians and administrative assistants. They work at Genentech’s South San Francisco campus through contractor Clean Harbors, collecting and packaging waste and biodegradable materials needing special attention and care...
Teamsters Laud SEC Decision Making CEO, Employee Wage Gap Public Teamster.org ...In a victory for corporate disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today completed the CEO pay ratio rule required under the five-year-old Dodd-Frank financial law. The provision will require for the first time that companies reveal the pay gap between top executives and rank-and-file workers...
Second Group of Industrial Cleanup Workers Joins Teamsters Local 107 Teamster.org ...For the second time in four months, workers at a Philadelphia industrial cleanup company have joined Teamsters Local 107. On August 3, 2015, technicians at PSC Industrial Outsourcing, LP voted 13-2 to join Local 107 in Philadelphia. The technicians work along-side drivers of vacuum/tanker trucks and clean up contaminated liquids under city streets. The victory follows another at PSC, on March 26, when the drivers voted 11-0 to join Local 107, for a combined vote of 24-2...
Tucson bus system: Union strikes after rejecting contract Arizona Daily Star ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson's bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104's members last week rejected an offer. Officials said earlier that with a strike, Sun Tran's normal 43 routes would decrease to five...
Teamsters Call for Director Resignations at Airgas Teamster.org ...A majority, 53 percent, of Airgas shareholders voting in yesterday’s director elections withheld support from three independent board members standing for re-election. Excluding the shares held by board members and executive officers, the “no” vote was 62 percent of shares cast or more than 51 percent of total outstanding shares...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership could pose risk to public healthcare, leaked draft shows The Guardian ...The most recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement shows it may pose a risk to public health because of excessive intellectual property protections for medicines, according to an expert on the impact of international trade agreements on healthcare. The draft predates the most recent negotiation round held in Hawaii at the end of July...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Lead to Less Trade CEPR ...As a practical matter it is entirely possible that the TPP will lead to less trade. The rules that the United States is trying to impose on patents and copyrights and other forms of intellectual property claims will lead to considerably higher prices for the protected items. For example, the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi would sell for less than $1,000 per treatment without protection, but sells in the United States for $84,000 per treatment with patent protection...
TPP ministerial talks unlikely to be held by end of August The Japan Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade deal are unlikely to meet again by the end of this month amid remaining differences that prevented them from finalizing negotiations last week, sources said Thursday. Japan, the United States and the 10 other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership will look at possibly reconvening a ministerial meeting in September...
Conservatives were sure Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would be signed Globe and Mail ...The Conservative government was so confident in recent weeks it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement, reasoning their voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers – the one sector Ottawa expected would be sorely disappointed...
Ontario, auto parts suppliers raise alarm over TPP negotiations Windsor Star ...The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday it was alarmed by reports that Japan and U.S. negotiators were striking secret deals on lowering vehicle content requirements that would be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. “Anything lower than the 62.5 per cent NAFTA standard would threaten Canada’s auto supply chain,” said Flavio Volpe, APMA president...
Canadians spared blind vote on massive trade deal (opinion) The Star ...To trade negotiators and legacy-seeking politicians, the failure to finalize the world’s biggest trade deal in Hawaii last weekend was a frustrating setback. To Canadian voters, it was welcome pause. Most electors know little to nothing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade and investment pact hatched behind closed doors over the past six years...
Anti-austerity protests held across Athens CCTV ...Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of central Athens, demanding an end to austerity measures. They voiced their anger at the government's plans to sign a new bailout deal that includes pension cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the country's international creditors. "We are constantly on the streets. The measures are so barbaric and there is no other alternative for us other than to fight"...
Tube strike: London commuters deal with queues and delays BBC ...Commuters are dealing with long queues and delays as they try navigating London during a strike that has shut down the whole Tube network. About 250 extra buses have been laid on but there are reports of 200 miles of tailbacks as commuters switch to cars. The 24-hour strike by four unions began on Wednesday evening and there will be no Tube service until Friday...<
State & Living Wage Battles
In Return Towards Justice, Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law 'Discriminatory' Common Dreams ...A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Texas's controversial voter ID law, the most severe in the country, has a "discriminatory effect" against minority voters, in what civil rights campaigners say is an important step towards justice for African-American, Latino, and low-income people suppressed under the rule...
Kansas Comes To Its Senses, Abandons Plans To Hit Welfare Recipients With Draconian Fees Think Progress ...Kansan politicians tried to force public administrators to make life harder for poor people on welfare, passing a controversial law earlier this year to limit the amount of money public assistance benefits cards can withdraw from ATM machines at any one time to $25. But the public servants are fighting back, announcing Tuesday that they would rescind the law...
Puerto Rico’s Economic "Death Spiral" Tied to Legacy of Colonialism Democracy Now ...The White House has rejected a bailout package for Puerto Rico days after the U.S. territory failed to pay a small portion of the massive $72 billion it owes to bondholders. It was the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Unlike U.S. states and municipalities, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy...
Local 'right-to-work' decision now in judge's hands Business First ...A "right-to-work" law that could have state or national implications is in the hands of a judge in Louisville. Earlier this year, Hardin Fiscal Court passed an ordinance that would allow workers to go to work for unionized companies without having to join the union. Similar legislation has been passed by some states, including Indiana and Tennessee. The issue has come up for the Kentucky General Assembly before...
I work at the US Senate. I shouldn't have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son (opinion) The Guardian ...I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes...
U.S. Labor
Companies forced to disclose CEO-workforce pay gap The Guardian ...Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against...
This new rule could reveal the huge gap between CEO pay and worker pay Washington Post ...Thousands of public U.S. companies are likely to soon be forced to share a number many would rather keep under wraps: how much more their chief executives make than their typical rank-and-file employees. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to finalize on Wednesday a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their "pay ratio," a simple bit of arithmetic that would cast an unprecedented spotlight on one of corporate America's thorniest debates...
Rauner: ‘No lockout’ of State Workers, But Strike Possible CBS ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he won’t lock out state workers if his administration and the largest public-employee union can’t agree on a new contract, but both sides acknowledged that they are nowhere near a deal.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ contract expired June 30, though both sides have agreed to keep workers on the job through September...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Hover Near Lowest in Four Decades Bloomberg ...Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits are hovering near the lowest levels in four decades, a sign the strong labor market will bolster U.S. growth. Jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000 in the week ended August 1, a report from the Labor Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 272,000. The 255,000 reading two weeks earlier was the lowest since November 1973...
Obama Drafts Order on Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors New York Times ...Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Obama has drafted an executive order to force any company that contracts with the federal government to issue paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative. The draft order, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, could affect hundreds of thousands of workers...
Christian University Claims Unions Are Against Its Religious Mission Gawker ...Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that. Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company Misled Them CNBC ...Three weeks ago, Uber rallied 400 drivers to testify in an employee classification lawsuit that they wanted to stay contractors. Now, some of them have changed their minds. After speaking with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit, six Uber drivers out of the 400 who originally testified on behalf of Uber have decided to speak against the ride-hailing company. They submitted new court declarations saying they were misled about the difference between contractors and employees...
#BlackLivesMatter and so should the high black unemployment rate — which is almost twice as high Raw Story ...The US unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.3% on Friday – the lowest unemployment rate in seven years. Yet there is one group whose unemployment rate is still close to 10%: African Americans. The unemployment rate for black Americans has remained almost twice that of the general population for so long that experts believe it’s suffering from the “wallpaper effect” – no one notices anymore. That may be about to change...
Social Justice & Other News
In Midst of Shutoffs, Protesters 'Liberate' Water from Detroit Mayor's Mansion Common Dreams ...Over a dozen protesters on Tuesday converged at the Detroit mayor's publicly-funded mansion and "liberated" his water supply, in a creative direct action highlighting the inequities that underlie the city's mass water shutoffs and resultant humanitarian crisis. Campaigners from the Detroit and Michigan Coalitions Against Tar Sands went to Mike Duggan's "Manoogian Mansion" and filled jugs of water from a hose attached to an external spigot. They carried banners that read "Water is Life"...
A Failure of Capitalism: Trump, Trucks and Voter Rage (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senator Casey's opposition to larger trucks confronts a classic example of industry misbehavior. Rather than raising wages and hiring more drivers, trucking companies are attempting to use the Federal Government to force truck drivers to haul even more freight for the same wage. Workers are being crushed from both sides -- more work for the same pay, while taxes creep steadily up. The government empowers corporations to impose demands on small businesses and workers that enable a race to the economic bottom. Trump's success is getting these small business people and workers to blame those below them...
Give Us the Ballot: The Struggle Continues 50 Years After Signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Democracy Now ...It was August 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and now 14-term Congressman John Lewis looked on. The law has been under constant attack ever since. Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the measure in a case called Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder when it ruled states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government...
Trump Mocked For Having No Real Immigration Plan, But Are His GOP Rivals Any Better? Think Progress ...Thursday’s premier GOP debate will feature real estate mogul Donald Trump comfortably in the number-one slot after his controversial remarks about undocumented Mexicans. Trump, when pressed by reporters for a concrete immigration plan, has said he would build a nearly 2,000 mile wall on the U.S.’ southern border and force Mexico to pay for it, deport all 11 million undocumented people currently living in the U.S., and then let whoever he determined to be the “good ones” back in. The statements were widely mocked as costly, unrealistic, and illegal...
Jonathan Ferrell Asked for Help—and Cops Killed Him Daily Beast ...The Ferrell case began before the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others sparked a media firestorm and national debate over the use of excessive police force on black men and teens. Shortly after Ferrell was killed, Kerrick was charged and suspended without pay. But it took a second grand jury to finally indict him...
Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color—for White Students The Atlantic ...In public schools, where roughly 90 percent of the country’s children are enrolled, the lessons students learn are often skewed because of who is delivering the instruction and what kind of curricula and learning materials that instruction entails. Not only is the vast majority of the country’s teaching force white, but Eurocentric attitudes also tend to filter into classrooms...
Genentech Waste Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 853 Teamster.org ...Workers who collect waste materials for Genentech Inc., are the latest Silicon Valley workers to vote in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 15 workers include compliance technicians, chemists, in-site technicians and administrative assistants. They work at Genentech’s South San Francisco campus through contractor Clean Harbors, collecting and packaging waste and biodegradable materials needing special attention and care...
Teamsters Laud SEC Decision Making CEO, Employee Wage Gap Public Teamster.org ...In a victory for corporate disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today completed the CEO pay ratio rule required under the five-year-old Dodd-Frank financial law. The provision will require for the first time that companies reveal the pay gap between top executives and rank-and-file workers...
Second Group of Industrial Cleanup Workers Joins Teamsters Local 107 Teamster.org ...For the second time in four months, workers at a Philadelphia industrial cleanup company have joined Teamsters Local 107. On August 3, 2015, technicians at PSC Industrial Outsourcing, LP voted 13-2 to join Local 107 in Philadelphia. The technicians work along-side drivers of vacuum/tanker trucks and clean up contaminated liquids under city streets. The victory follows another at PSC, on March 26, when the drivers voted 11-0 to join Local 107, for a combined vote of 24-2...
Tucson bus system: Union strikes after rejecting contract Arizona Daily Star ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson's bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104's members last week rejected an offer. Officials said earlier that with a strike, Sun Tran's normal 43 routes would decrease to five...
Teamsters Call for Director Resignations at Airgas Teamster.org ...A majority, 53 percent, of Airgas shareholders voting in yesterday’s director elections withheld support from three independent board members standing for re-election. Excluding the shares held by board members and executive officers, the “no” vote was 62 percent of shares cast or more than 51 percent of total outstanding shares...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership could pose risk to public healthcare, leaked draft shows The Guardian ...The most recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement shows it may pose a risk to public health because of excessive intellectual property protections for medicines, according to an expert on the impact of international trade agreements on healthcare. The draft predates the most recent negotiation round held in Hawaii at the end of July...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Lead to Less Trade CEPR ...As a practical matter it is entirely possible that the TPP will lead to less trade. The rules that the United States is trying to impose on patents and copyrights and other forms of intellectual property claims will lead to considerably higher prices for the protected items. For example, the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi would sell for less than $1,000 per treatment without protection, but sells in the United States for $84,000 per treatment with patent protection...
TPP ministerial talks unlikely to be held by end of August The Japan Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade deal are unlikely to meet again by the end of this month amid remaining differences that prevented them from finalizing negotiations last week, sources said Thursday. Japan, the United States and the 10 other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership will look at possibly reconvening a ministerial meeting in September...
Conservatives were sure Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would be signed Globe and Mail ...The Conservative government was so confident in recent weeks it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement, reasoning their voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers – the one sector Ottawa expected would be sorely disappointed...
Ontario, auto parts suppliers raise alarm over TPP negotiations Windsor Star ...The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday it was alarmed by reports that Japan and U.S. negotiators were striking secret deals on lowering vehicle content requirements that would be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. “Anything lower than the 62.5 per cent NAFTA standard would threaten Canada’s auto supply chain,” said Flavio Volpe, APMA president...
Canadians spared blind vote on massive trade deal (opinion) The Star ...To trade negotiators and legacy-seeking politicians, the failure to finalize the world’s biggest trade deal in Hawaii last weekend was a frustrating setback. To Canadian voters, it was welcome pause. Most electors know little to nothing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade and investment pact hatched behind closed doors over the past six years...
Anti-austerity protests held across Athens CCTV ...Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of central Athens, demanding an end to austerity measures. They voiced their anger at the government's plans to sign a new bailout deal that includes pension cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the country's international creditors. "We are constantly on the streets. The measures are so barbaric and there is no other alternative for us other than to fight"...
Tube strike: London commuters deal with queues and delays BBC ...Commuters are dealing with long queues and delays as they try navigating London during a strike that has shut down the whole Tube network. About 250 extra buses have been laid on but there are reports of 200 miles of tailbacks as commuters switch to cars. The 24-hour strike by four unions began on Wednesday evening and there will be no Tube service until Friday...<
State & Living Wage Battles
In Return Towards Justice, Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law 'Discriminatory' Common Dreams ...A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Texas's controversial voter ID law, the most severe in the country, has a "discriminatory effect" against minority voters, in what civil rights campaigners say is an important step towards justice for African-American, Latino, and low-income people suppressed under the rule...
Kansas Comes To Its Senses, Abandons Plans To Hit Welfare Recipients With Draconian Fees Think Progress ...Kansan politicians tried to force public administrators to make life harder for poor people on welfare, passing a controversial law earlier this year to limit the amount of money public assistance benefits cards can withdraw from ATM machines at any one time to $25. But the public servants are fighting back, announcing Tuesday that they would rescind the law...
Puerto Rico’s Economic "Death Spiral" Tied to Legacy of Colonialism Democracy Now ...The White House has rejected a bailout package for Puerto Rico days after the U.S. territory failed to pay a small portion of the massive $72 billion it owes to bondholders. It was the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Unlike U.S. states and municipalities, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy...
Local 'right-to-work' decision now in judge's hands Business First ...A "right-to-work" law that could have state or national implications is in the hands of a judge in Louisville. Earlier this year, Hardin Fiscal Court passed an ordinance that would allow workers to go to work for unionized companies without having to join the union. Similar legislation has been passed by some states, including Indiana and Tennessee. The issue has come up for the Kentucky General Assembly before...
I work at the US Senate. I shouldn't have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son (opinion) The Guardian ...I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes...
U.S. Labor
Companies forced to disclose CEO-workforce pay gap The Guardian ...Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against...
This new rule could reveal the huge gap between CEO pay and worker pay Washington Post ...Thousands of public U.S. companies are likely to soon be forced to share a number many would rather keep under wraps: how much more their chief executives make than their typical rank-and-file employees. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to finalize on Wednesday a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their "pay ratio," a simple bit of arithmetic that would cast an unprecedented spotlight on one of corporate America's thorniest debates...
Rauner: ‘No lockout’ of State Workers, But Strike Possible CBS ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he won’t lock out state workers if his administration and the largest public-employee union can’t agree on a new contract, but both sides acknowledged that they are nowhere near a deal.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ contract expired June 30, though both sides have agreed to keep workers on the job through September...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Hover Near Lowest in Four Decades Bloomberg ...Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits are hovering near the lowest levels in four decades, a sign the strong labor market will bolster U.S. growth. Jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000 in the week ended August 1, a report from the Labor Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 272,000. The 255,000 reading two weeks earlier was the lowest since November 1973...
Obama Drafts Order on Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors New York Times ...Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Obama has drafted an executive order to force any company that contracts with the federal government to issue paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative. The draft order, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, could affect hundreds of thousands of workers...
Christian University Claims Unions Are Against Its Religious Mission Gawker ...Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that. Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company Misled Them CNBC ...Three weeks ago, Uber rallied 400 drivers to testify in an employee classification lawsuit that they wanted to stay contractors. Now, some of them have changed their minds. After speaking with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit, six Uber drivers out of the 400 who originally testified on behalf of Uber have decided to speak against the ride-hailing company. They submitted new court declarations saying they were misled about the difference between contractors and employees...
#BlackLivesMatter and so should the high black unemployment rate — which is almost twice as high Raw Story ...The US unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.3% on Friday – the lowest unemployment rate in seven years. Yet there is one group whose unemployment rate is still close to 10%: African Americans. The unemployment rate for black Americans has remained almost twice that of the general population for so long that experts believe it’s suffering from the “wallpaper effect” – no one notices anymore. That may be about to change...
Social Justice & Other News
In Midst of Shutoffs, Protesters 'Liberate' Water from Detroit Mayor's Mansion Common Dreams ...Over a dozen protesters on Tuesday converged at the Detroit mayor's publicly-funded mansion and "liberated" his water supply, in a creative direct action highlighting the inequities that underlie the city's mass water shutoffs and resultant humanitarian crisis. Campaigners from the Detroit and Michigan Coalitions Against Tar Sands went to Mike Duggan's "Manoogian Mansion" and filled jugs of water from a hose attached to an external spigot. They carried banners that read "Water is Life"...
A Failure of Capitalism: Trump, Trucks and Voter Rage (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senator Casey's opposition to larger trucks confronts a classic example of industry misbehavior. Rather than raising wages and hiring more drivers, trucking companies are attempting to use the Federal Government to force truck drivers to haul even more freight for the same wage. Workers are being crushed from both sides -- more work for the same pay, while taxes creep steadily up. The government empowers corporations to impose demands on small businesses and workers that enable a race to the economic bottom. Trump's success is getting these small business people and workers to blame those below them...
Give Us the Ballot: The Struggle Continues 50 Years After Signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Democracy Now ...It was August 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and now 14-term Congressman John Lewis looked on. The law has been under constant attack ever since. Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the measure in a case called Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder when it ruled states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government...
Trump Mocked For Having No Real Immigration Plan, But Are His GOP Rivals Any Better? Think Progress ...Thursday’s premier GOP debate will feature real estate mogul Donald Trump comfortably in the number-one slot after his controversial remarks about undocumented Mexicans. Trump, when pressed by reporters for a concrete immigration plan, has said he would build a nearly 2,000 mile wall on the U.S.’ southern border and force Mexico to pay for it, deport all 11 million undocumented people currently living in the U.S., and then let whoever he determined to be the “good ones” back in. The statements were widely mocked as costly, unrealistic, and illegal...
Jonathan Ferrell Asked for Help—and Cops Killed Him Daily Beast ...The Ferrell case began before the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others sparked a media firestorm and national debate over the use of excessive police force on black men and teens. Shortly after Ferrell was killed, Kerrick was charged and suspended without pay. But it took a second grand jury to finally indict him...
Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color—for White Students The Atlantic ...In public schools, where roughly 90 percent of the country’s children are enrolled, the lessons students learn are often skewed because of who is delivering the instruction and what kind of curricula and learning materials that instruction entails. Not only is the vast majority of the country’s teaching force white, but Eurocentric attitudes also tend to filter into classrooms...
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.05.15
Teamsters
Teamsters and Coalition of Unions Reach Tentative Agreement with American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have come to a tentative agreement for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement, once voted on by the membership, will impact more than 1,100 Teamsters at 18 different local unions...
Sun Tran riders warned to prepare for driver strike Arizona Daily Star ...While union contract negotiations are underway, Sun Tran officials and union leaders warned bus riders to prepare for the possibility of a strike. Professional Transit Management of Tucson and Teamsters Local 104 have been in talks since June 17, and last week agreed to a five-day contract extension that expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday...
Plaque marks site where Minneapolis cops fired on striking workers People's World ...One day shy of the 81st anniversary, 200-plus people gathered in the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis on July 19 to unveil a plaque marking the spot where city police opened fire July 20, 1934, on unarmed striking members and supporters of Teamsters Local 574...
Global Labor & Trade
Canada, Mexico drawn into deal-breaking auto talks in Trans-Pacific negotiations Globe and Mail ...Canada and Mexico are joining forces to try to break a major logjam over Japanese autos at the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, working to come up with a solution that preserves their respective vehicle assemblers and parts makers should a deal open North America to greater Asian imports. Ottawa and Mexico City have been drawn deeply into a contentious issue at the Pacific Rim talks that held up a deal in Hawaii last week...
Kerry Hails Progress Toward Trans-Pacific Trade Pact, Despite Delays New York Times ...Days after negotiators failed to wrap up an Asia trade agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Tuesday that the pact would be completed, calling it vital for the economic well-being of the region. “We made progress, good progress, in our negotiations toward one of the most significant trade agreements in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Mr. Kerry said...
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks stall NW Labor Press ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— a proposed 12-nation NAFTA-style deal — is on ice. The corporate-led agreement is a top priority for the Obama Administration, and it was supposed to be finalized at a July 28-31 summit of trade ministers in Maui. Instead, the summit ended July 31 without a deal, and without any further dates set for negotiation. The talks have been conducted entirely in secret, and even the U.S. proposals are classified...
Australia wants exposure to future U.S. sugar demand in trade pact Reuters ...Australia is seeking a guaranteed slice of any growth in demand in the U.S. sugar market in talks with Washington on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, a source with knowledge of the Australian position said. Australia, the world's third-largest exporter of raw sugar, has rejected a U.S. offer to permit 152,000 tonnes of imports per year, or 62,000 tonnes more than typical annual sales, according to data from Australia's commodity forecaster...
TTIP: what does the transatlantic trade deal mean for renewable energy? The Guardian ...In July the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) came a step closer to reality. Formal talks have been ongoing for two years, but trying to create the world’s biggest free trade zone is no mean feat. Essentially, if passed, the EU and US will be able to trade without each other’s pesky tariffs or regulations getting in the way. Currently, the only energy sources traded in significant amounts between the EU and the US are refined petroleum products and solid fuels – but TTIP could allow Europe to gain access to US crude oil and natural gas resources...
Greece needs wide debt relief to avoid permanent depression, thinktank warns The Guardian ...Greece’s economy will suffer fresh damage from the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and will remain stuck in permanent depression unless it receives substantial debt relief, one of the UK’s leading thinktanks has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the increases in VAT reluctantly accepted by the Syriza-led coalition in Athens in exchange for a new bail out will result in a 1% fall in national output in 2016...
London Underground workers strike over 24 hour tube, ‘gaping holes in staffing’ RT ...stations expected to close, as workers reject Transport for London’s (TFL) pay offer for the proposed 24 hour tube service. Attacking the night tube project, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash said: “Londoners need to be aware that the night tube was rushed and botched from the off”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas Moves to Implement $25 ATM Withdrawal Limit for Welfare Recipients McClatchy ...Kansas plans to keep a controversial $25 limit on ATM withdrawals by welfare recipients, despite the possibility that the restriction might violate federal law. Despite legislation passed earlier this year to raise the limit, or do away with it entirely, a newly revised version of Kansas' welfare plan does not permit withdrawals of more than $25 per transaction per day...
The Bank Employees Who Make Less Than $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Tthe majority of people who work for banks in fact make far less. The most common occupation is bank teller, and nearly three-quarters of them make less than $15 an hour, according to an analysis from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) provided exclusively to ThinkProgress. Nearly a half million people work as bank tellers. Their median hourly wage is just $12.44, and 74.1 percent make less than $15...
Puerto Rico Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse Mother Jones ...Puerto Rico's economic crisis has only gotten worse in the month since Gov. Alejandro GarcÃa Padilla told the New York Times the island's $72 billion in debts was "not payable." Earlier this week, the island missed a key bond payment, making history and setting the stage for a bruising and protracted battle with creditors. There are many reasons Puerto Rico finds itself in this quandary, including its murky political status, and the situation seems to be deteriorating as time goes on...
Local right-to-work laws challenged in federal court WKYT ...The national battle over compulsory labor union dues landed in a Kentucky federal courthouse on Tuesday as a handful of unions tried to convince a judge to throw out a series of local laws designed to end closed shops. States have had the ability to outlaw mandatory union dues as a condition of employment for decades. But the question of whether local governments can do the same has not been fully decided...
The 7 most dangerous myths about a $15 minimum wage Salon ...What was once a fringe movement led largely by far left liberals has become a major media story and trending topic on Twitter: Workers, politicians, and even business owners are fighting for a higher minimum wage. And despite these successes, myths about what increased wages mean for America’s economy and workers continue to prevail, making the rounds in Facebook memes and even real news reports...
O’Malley Endorses a Constitutional Amendment Protecting the Right to Vote The Nation ...Five decades after the great advances of 1964 and 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been assaulted by Republican governor and legislators and the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, forcing activists to launch new campaigns to renew its core provisions. On Tuesday, the right-to-vote amendment proposal gained the enthusiastic support of a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley...
What’s The Matter With Kansas? They’re Losing All Their Teachers Think Progress ...Kansas embarked on an experiment with radical right-wing policies since Governor Sam Brownback (R) was elected in 2010, and it failed miserably. The centerpiece of the project, led by Governor Sam Brownback, was huge tax cuts, largely for wealthy individuals and businesses, based on the Republican orthodoxy that tax cuts create jobs. Now, a teacher shortage appears to be the latest consequence of Kansas’ abject failure to manage its economy...
Challenges expected to paid sick leave law Post-Gazette ...Brushing aside concerns about the speed of the legislation and the limits of its own authority, Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmingly approved a law Monday that will require all employers within the city borders to provide paid sick leave, part of a nationwide push to extend the benefit to millions who lack it. Council members and supporters, including Pittsburgh United, a coalition of unions, community organizations and advocacy groups, heralded the law as a just, common-sense measure...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Finds Retaliation After Capitol Food Worker Strike Roll Call ...The National Labor Relations Board has found that the Capitol’s food-service vendor likely violated labor laws when supervisors retaliated against workers who went on strike. In two separate cases, the NLRB found merit in allegations of retaliation, which included charges of interrogation and coercive statements. Workers in the Capitol Visitor Center and the Dirksen Senate Office Building filed unfair labor practice charges against Restaurant Associates in April and May, respectively, following an April 22 strike for higher wages and union representation...
Nurses protest at St. Petersburg General Hospital, claiming staffing shortages Tampa Bay ...Dozens of nurses formed a picket line outside St. Petersburg General Hospital late Monday to protest insufficient staffing levels and "dismal" wages. The nurses, affiliated with the labor union National Nurses United, allege hospital administrators have routinely ignored the staffing plan meant to ensure high-quality patient care...
Strike Over! IATSE Wins ‘Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge’ Contract Deadline ...A week and a half after the picket lines went up at the offices of 51 Minds Entertainment, the union and the production company for Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge have reached a deal. Agreed to late last night, the IATSE contract sees the post-crew back at work today with enshrined health and pension benefits...
Board rules Teach for America members in Detroit can be in teachers unions MLive ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled Friday that Teach for America teachers in a Detroit charter school have the right to be a part of a union. According to a statement from the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the NLRB said Friday 14 Teach for America corps members should have been able to vote in an election last spring...
Clark County, SEIU trade final jabs Review Journal ...At one point, Clark County's attorney asked the union president if his organization's bargaining position was "greedy." In another instance, the union's attorney accused the county of "arrogance." Those jabs and others are laid bare in a lengthy transcript of the arbitration proceedings between the county and its largest union, the Service Employees International Union Local 1107. The two-day July hearing was the culmination of a two-year stretch of stalled contract negotiations between the two that started in 2013...
Netflix Now Giving Employees 'Unlimited' Maternity, Paternity Leave Huffington Post ...Netflix on Tuesday announced that it would offer something completely unheard of in the corporate world: unlimited parental leave for the first year of a child's life. "We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Parents can return part-time, full-time, or return and then go back out as needed," said Tawni Cranz, Netflix’s Chief Talent Officer in a statement...
Janus Youth Programs employees vote to join AFSCME NW Labor Press ...esidential treatment employees at Janus Youth Programs in Portland voted 26-12 to join Oregon AFSCME. There are 49 employees in the bargaining unit. They will join Local 1790, newly established for Basic Rights Oregon employees. Janus Youth is a private non-profit that operates around Portland. The clients range from age 13 to 21, with those 18 and older housed separately from the younger kids...
A remarkable look at the gap between black and white unemployment Washington Post ...Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute breaks out data on unemployment by race and state and quarter, allowing for a more refined look at this racial split on jobs. "Nationally" in the second quarter, she writes, "African Americans had the highest unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, followed by Latinos (6.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), and Asians (3.8 percent)." What's more, she notes, the state with the lowest black unemployment, Tennessee, had the same unemployment rate for blacks as the white unemployment rate in the state with the highest white unemployment...
The Persistent Stereotype About Latino Workers That Won’t Die Think Progress ...During a live taping of The View on Tuesday, guest co-host Kelly Osbourne sparked some outrage among viewers when she stereotyped Latinos as toilet cleaners as a way to rebuke 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The stereotype is rooted in some reality: Latinos do disproportionately work in the agriculture and service industry. The issue with fixating on the stereotype of Latinos who hold low-wage jobs isn’t that it’s demeaning work, but that it’s demeaning pay for the amount of physical labor involved...
Social Justice & Other News
Despite Epic Crash of World Economy, White Collar Prosecutions at 20-Year Low Common Dreams ...Despite lofty rhetoric from politicians who vowed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to hold Wall Street accountable, U.S. Justice Department statistics show a "long-term collapse" of federal white collar crime prosecutions, which are down to their lowest level in 20 years, according to a new report from Syracuse University. The analysis of thousands of records by the university's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows a more than 36 percent decline...
A Judge’s Rebuke of Immigration Detention (opinion) New York Times ...Children do not belong in prison. The mass detention of families offends American values, a lesson this country learned long ago at Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain and the other Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Learned, but apparently forgotten by the Obama administration, which has just been ordered by a federal judge to release several hundred women and children locked up in its immigration detention centers in southern Texas...
Black and White: Survey Reveals Huge Disparities in Assessing Police Violence Common Dreams ...Just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri—a death which propelled the national Black Lives Matter movement and a national conversation about racialized police violence to the forefront—a new poll released Wednesday reveals just how different the perceptions and experiences regarding law enforcement in the United States remain for black community members compared to their white counterparts...
Teamsters and Coalition of Unions Reach Tentative Agreement with American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have come to a tentative agreement for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement, once voted on by the membership, will impact more than 1,100 Teamsters at 18 different local unions...
Sun Tran riders warned to prepare for driver strike Arizona Daily Star ...While union contract negotiations are underway, Sun Tran officials and union leaders warned bus riders to prepare for the possibility of a strike. Professional Transit Management of Tucson and Teamsters Local 104 have been in talks since June 17, and last week agreed to a five-day contract extension that expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday...
Plaque marks site where Minneapolis cops fired on striking workers People's World ...One day shy of the 81st anniversary, 200-plus people gathered in the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis on July 19 to unveil a plaque marking the spot where city police opened fire July 20, 1934, on unarmed striking members and supporters of Teamsters Local 574...
Global Labor & Trade
Canada, Mexico drawn into deal-breaking auto talks in Trans-Pacific negotiations Globe and Mail ...Canada and Mexico are joining forces to try to break a major logjam over Japanese autos at the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, working to come up with a solution that preserves their respective vehicle assemblers and parts makers should a deal open North America to greater Asian imports. Ottawa and Mexico City have been drawn deeply into a contentious issue at the Pacific Rim talks that held up a deal in Hawaii last week...
Kerry Hails Progress Toward Trans-Pacific Trade Pact, Despite Delays New York Times ...Days after negotiators failed to wrap up an Asia trade agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Tuesday that the pact would be completed, calling it vital for the economic well-being of the region. “We made progress, good progress, in our negotiations toward one of the most significant trade agreements in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Mr. Kerry said...
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks stall NW Labor Press ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— a proposed 12-nation NAFTA-style deal — is on ice. The corporate-led agreement is a top priority for the Obama Administration, and it was supposed to be finalized at a July 28-31 summit of trade ministers in Maui. Instead, the summit ended July 31 without a deal, and without any further dates set for negotiation. The talks have been conducted entirely in secret, and even the U.S. proposals are classified...
Australia wants exposure to future U.S. sugar demand in trade pact Reuters ...Australia is seeking a guaranteed slice of any growth in demand in the U.S. sugar market in talks with Washington on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, a source with knowledge of the Australian position said. Australia, the world's third-largest exporter of raw sugar, has rejected a U.S. offer to permit 152,000 tonnes of imports per year, or 62,000 tonnes more than typical annual sales, according to data from Australia's commodity forecaster...
TTIP: what does the transatlantic trade deal mean for renewable energy? The Guardian ...In July the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) came a step closer to reality. Formal talks have been ongoing for two years, but trying to create the world’s biggest free trade zone is no mean feat. Essentially, if passed, the EU and US will be able to trade without each other’s pesky tariffs or regulations getting in the way. Currently, the only energy sources traded in significant amounts between the EU and the US are refined petroleum products and solid fuels – but TTIP could allow Europe to gain access to US crude oil and natural gas resources...
Greece needs wide debt relief to avoid permanent depression, thinktank warns The Guardian ...Greece’s economy will suffer fresh damage from the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and will remain stuck in permanent depression unless it receives substantial debt relief, one of the UK’s leading thinktanks has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the increases in VAT reluctantly accepted by the Syriza-led coalition in Athens in exchange for a new bail out will result in a 1% fall in national output in 2016...
London Underground workers strike over 24 hour tube, ‘gaping holes in staffing’ RT ...stations expected to close, as workers reject Transport for London’s (TFL) pay offer for the proposed 24 hour tube service. Attacking the night tube project, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash said: “Londoners need to be aware that the night tube was rushed and botched from the off”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas Moves to Implement $25 ATM Withdrawal Limit for Welfare Recipients McClatchy ...Kansas plans to keep a controversial $25 limit on ATM withdrawals by welfare recipients, despite the possibility that the restriction might violate federal law. Despite legislation passed earlier this year to raise the limit, or do away with it entirely, a newly revised version of Kansas' welfare plan does not permit withdrawals of more than $25 per transaction per day...
The Bank Employees Who Make Less Than $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Tthe majority of people who work for banks in fact make far less. The most common occupation is bank teller, and nearly three-quarters of them make less than $15 an hour, according to an analysis from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) provided exclusively to ThinkProgress. Nearly a half million people work as bank tellers. Their median hourly wage is just $12.44, and 74.1 percent make less than $15...
Puerto Rico Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse Mother Jones ...Puerto Rico's economic crisis has only gotten worse in the month since Gov. Alejandro GarcÃa Padilla told the New York Times the island's $72 billion in debts was "not payable." Earlier this week, the island missed a key bond payment, making history and setting the stage for a bruising and protracted battle with creditors. There are many reasons Puerto Rico finds itself in this quandary, including its murky political status, and the situation seems to be deteriorating as time goes on...
Local right-to-work laws challenged in federal court WKYT ...The national battle over compulsory labor union dues landed in a Kentucky federal courthouse on Tuesday as a handful of unions tried to convince a judge to throw out a series of local laws designed to end closed shops. States have had the ability to outlaw mandatory union dues as a condition of employment for decades. But the question of whether local governments can do the same has not been fully decided...
The 7 most dangerous myths about a $15 minimum wage Salon ...What was once a fringe movement led largely by far left liberals has become a major media story and trending topic on Twitter: Workers, politicians, and even business owners are fighting for a higher minimum wage. And despite these successes, myths about what increased wages mean for America’s economy and workers continue to prevail, making the rounds in Facebook memes and even real news reports...
O’Malley Endorses a Constitutional Amendment Protecting the Right to Vote The Nation ...Five decades after the great advances of 1964 and 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been assaulted by Republican governor and legislators and the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, forcing activists to launch new campaigns to renew its core provisions. On Tuesday, the right-to-vote amendment proposal gained the enthusiastic support of a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley...
What’s The Matter With Kansas? They’re Losing All Their Teachers Think Progress ...Kansas embarked on an experiment with radical right-wing policies since Governor Sam Brownback (R) was elected in 2010, and it failed miserably. The centerpiece of the project, led by Governor Sam Brownback, was huge tax cuts, largely for wealthy individuals and businesses, based on the Republican orthodoxy that tax cuts create jobs. Now, a teacher shortage appears to be the latest consequence of Kansas’ abject failure to manage its economy...
Challenges expected to paid sick leave law Post-Gazette ...Brushing aside concerns about the speed of the legislation and the limits of its own authority, Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmingly approved a law Monday that will require all employers within the city borders to provide paid sick leave, part of a nationwide push to extend the benefit to millions who lack it. Council members and supporters, including Pittsburgh United, a coalition of unions, community organizations and advocacy groups, heralded the law as a just, common-sense measure...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Finds Retaliation After Capitol Food Worker Strike Roll Call ...The National Labor Relations Board has found that the Capitol’s food-service vendor likely violated labor laws when supervisors retaliated against workers who went on strike. In two separate cases, the NLRB found merit in allegations of retaliation, which included charges of interrogation and coercive statements. Workers in the Capitol Visitor Center and the Dirksen Senate Office Building filed unfair labor practice charges against Restaurant Associates in April and May, respectively, following an April 22 strike for higher wages and union representation...
Nurses protest at St. Petersburg General Hospital, claiming staffing shortages Tampa Bay ...Dozens of nurses formed a picket line outside St. Petersburg General Hospital late Monday to protest insufficient staffing levels and "dismal" wages. The nurses, affiliated with the labor union National Nurses United, allege hospital administrators have routinely ignored the staffing plan meant to ensure high-quality patient care...
Strike Over! IATSE Wins ‘Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge’ Contract Deadline ...A week and a half after the picket lines went up at the offices of 51 Minds Entertainment, the union and the production company for Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge have reached a deal. Agreed to late last night, the IATSE contract sees the post-crew back at work today with enshrined health and pension benefits...
Board rules Teach for America members in Detroit can be in teachers unions MLive ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled Friday that Teach for America teachers in a Detroit charter school have the right to be a part of a union. According to a statement from the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the NLRB said Friday 14 Teach for America corps members should have been able to vote in an election last spring...
Clark County, SEIU trade final jabs Review Journal ...At one point, Clark County's attorney asked the union president if his organization's bargaining position was "greedy." In another instance, the union's attorney accused the county of "arrogance." Those jabs and others are laid bare in a lengthy transcript of the arbitration proceedings between the county and its largest union, the Service Employees International Union Local 1107. The two-day July hearing was the culmination of a two-year stretch of stalled contract negotiations between the two that started in 2013...
Netflix Now Giving Employees 'Unlimited' Maternity, Paternity Leave Huffington Post ...Netflix on Tuesday announced that it would offer something completely unheard of in the corporate world: unlimited parental leave for the first year of a child's life. "We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Parents can return part-time, full-time, or return and then go back out as needed," said Tawni Cranz, Netflix’s Chief Talent Officer in a statement...
Janus Youth Programs employees vote to join AFSCME NW Labor Press ...esidential treatment employees at Janus Youth Programs in Portland voted 26-12 to join Oregon AFSCME. There are 49 employees in the bargaining unit. They will join Local 1790, newly established for Basic Rights Oregon employees. Janus Youth is a private non-profit that operates around Portland. The clients range from age 13 to 21, with those 18 and older housed separately from the younger kids...
A remarkable look at the gap between black and white unemployment Washington Post ...Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute breaks out data on unemployment by race and state and quarter, allowing for a more refined look at this racial split on jobs. "Nationally" in the second quarter, she writes, "African Americans had the highest unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, followed by Latinos (6.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), and Asians (3.8 percent)." What's more, she notes, the state with the lowest black unemployment, Tennessee, had the same unemployment rate for blacks as the white unemployment rate in the state with the highest white unemployment...
The Persistent Stereotype About Latino Workers That Won’t Die Think Progress ...During a live taping of The View on Tuesday, guest co-host Kelly Osbourne sparked some outrage among viewers when she stereotyped Latinos as toilet cleaners as a way to rebuke 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The stereotype is rooted in some reality: Latinos do disproportionately work in the agriculture and service industry. The issue with fixating on the stereotype of Latinos who hold low-wage jobs isn’t that it’s demeaning work, but that it’s demeaning pay for the amount of physical labor involved...
Social Justice & Other News
Despite Epic Crash of World Economy, White Collar Prosecutions at 20-Year Low Common Dreams ...Despite lofty rhetoric from politicians who vowed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to hold Wall Street accountable, U.S. Justice Department statistics show a "long-term collapse" of federal white collar crime prosecutions, which are down to their lowest level in 20 years, according to a new report from Syracuse University. The analysis of thousands of records by the university's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows a more than 36 percent decline...
A Judge’s Rebuke of Immigration Detention (opinion) New York Times ...Children do not belong in prison. The mass detention of families offends American values, a lesson this country learned long ago at Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain and the other Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Learned, but apparently forgotten by the Obama administration, which has just been ordered by a federal judge to release several hundred women and children locked up in its immigration detention centers in southern Texas...
Black and White: Survey Reveals Huge Disparities in Assessing Police Violence Common Dreams ...Just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri—a death which propelled the national Black Lives Matter movement and a national conversation about racialized police violence to the forefront—a new poll released Wednesday reveals just how different the perceptions and experiences regarding law enforcement in the United States remain for black community members compared to their white counterparts...
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.25.15
Teamsters
EVSC, Teamsters to resume negotiations Monday Courier & Press ...After three weeks of standstill in discussions, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams have agreed to meet next week for collective bargaining sessions. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said meetings are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday...
Teamsters Join Battle Against HOS Changes, Truck Size Provisions Trucking News ...The Teamsters Union this week stood with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), representatives for highway safety advocates and law enforcement and families of highway accident victims to denounce a series of provisions it claims would threaten the safety of the driving public. This week, the Senate will follow the House and mark up the FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill...
Teamsters at Fleischmann's Plant Make Vinegar for the World Local 727 ...Vinegar is Bob Maza’s unofficial family business. Maza followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as an operator at Fleischmann’s Vinegar Co., beginning at age 17. “My dad got me the job. I started there right out of high school in 1972, and I’ve been there ever since,” said Maza, a Teamsters Local 727 steward...
The war against bad trade deals continues TeamsterNation ...The battle now turns to the TPP. Americans have not yet seen the text of this lengthy and complex agreement and even elected officials have limited access to the document. Teamsters and other advocates plan on keeping up the pressure to build real and enforceable labor and environmental standards...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress renews 'fast track' trade authority USA Today ...The Republican-controlled Congress delivered a significant second-term victory for President Obama, sending to his desk a six-year renewal of trade promotion authority intended to advance one of the largest trade pacts in history later this year. Trade promotion authority, more commonly referred to as "fast track" or TPA, reestablishes an expedited legislative process for presidents to submit trade deals to Congress that can only be approved or rejected, not amended...
Senate approves fast-track, sending trade bill to White House The Hill ...The Senate voted Wednesday to approve fast-track authority, securing a big second-term legislative win for President Obama after a months-long struggle. The 60-38 Senate vote capped weeks of fighting over the trade bill, which pitted Obama against most of his party — including Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)...
Fast-Track’s Passage Sets Up Round Two on Obama’s Trade Agenda Wall Street Journal ...The White House and Republican leaders notched a significant victory Wednesday with the Senate’s passage of divisive trade legislation, but the win kicks off a grueling, monthslong process to complete a Pacific trade pact that still faces domestic opposition and must win final congressional approval. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the fast-track legislation within days, clearing a negotiating roadblock that prevented officials from moving ahead on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Here’s how much corporations paid the Senate to fast-track passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Raw Story ...The US Senate passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) — the fast-tracking bill — by a 65-33 margin on 14 May. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 62-38 to bring the debate on TPA to a close. Those impressive majorities follow months of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing by the world’s most well-heeled multinational corporations with just a handful of holdouts.
Even in Chicago, Democrats Sprint Away From Obama on Trade National Journal ...Even in Obama's home base, trade has driven a deep rift between the president and his fellow Democrats. At the same time, the labor movement has ramped up pressure on lawmakers to vote against fast-track, which they say will cost American jobs and slash wages. And Chicago-area Democrats locked in primaries that could be decided by a spare few thousand votes can ill afford to get on the wrong side of labor on a litmus-test issue...
Pay deal averts rail strike threat BBC ...The threat of a UK national rail strike has been averted after Network Rail agreed a two-year pay deal with unions. Members of the RMT, TSSA and Unite unions have voted to accept the offer. The deal includes a 2% pay rise this year and a pay increase in line with RPI inflation next year...
Greece 'Shoved Over Red Line' as IMF Pushes Even Harsher Cuts Common Dreams ...More austerity, more cuts, or no deal. That's the message the International Monetary Fund threw back at the Greek government after negotiators on Wednesday rejected the latest reform proposals submitted by the Syriza government. According to reporting on the ground, there were a "flurry of proposals, counter-proposals, leaks and verbal attacks" in Brussels as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras continued to try to hash out an acceptable bail-out...
China Workers Contracted by Uniqlo Strike Over Plant Closure ABC News ...More than 300 Chinese workers at a garment factory that supplies international brands such as Uniqlo have been protesting for about two weeks what they say is a unilateral decision by the management to close down. The strike is one of more than 1,000 collective actions since January by Chinese workers, who are increasingly turning to group actions in fighting for their rights...
State & Living Wage Battles
Dispute over union fees could return to Supreme Court Sacramento Bee ...Powerful public-sector unions are facing another high-profile legal challenge that they say could wipe away millions from their bank accounts and make it tougher for them to survive. A group of California schoolteachers, backed by a conservative group, has asked the Supreme Court to rule that unions representing government workers can't collect fees from those who choose not to join...
Scott Walker Reveals Extreme Views On Equal Pay Think Progress ...He likened the push for equal pay laws to seeking to make more people reliant on government. “For [Obama and Clinton], your measure of success in government is how many people are dependent on the government.”
But what Walker implies he’d rather do to address the wage gap — give women more education and qualifications — won’t do the trick...
Debate ramping up ahead of vote on right-to-work veto Joplin Globe ...While it never received support from a number of House and Senate Republicans from districts near the state’s urban cores, right-to-work received unanimous support from the Republicans who represent Southwest Missouri. The bill was passed out of a committee chaired by Lant, R-Pineville, who said in a recent interview that he is pushing the effort to override Nixon’s veto...
NAACP head says state ‘blinked’ on voter ID Winston-Salem Journal ...A noisy protest staged last week by the state NAACP at the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh forced legislators to pass the law that modifies the voter ID law, the Rev. William Barber, the president of the N.C. chapter of the NAACP, said Wednesday. “They blinked,” Barber said. “They had to go back and fix what was clearly voter suppression”...
De Blasio refused offer linking minimum wage to pension deal Capital New York ...Mayor Bill de Blasio was offered a deal to raise the minimum wage for New York City in exchange for supporting a police pension proposal, but he rejected the offer, multiple sources told Capital. The deal, offered by the Republican-controlled State Senate, would have established an $11.50-an-hour minimum wage for New York City, the sources familiar with the talks said...
Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Country’s Most Robust Paid Sick Leave Law Think Progress ...The Montgomery County, Maryland council voted unanimously to pass a paid sick leave bill on Tuesday, making the town the 23rd place in the country to enact such a requirement. The law is one of the most robust to be passed at the city or state level so far. “The Montgomery County paid sick days laws is one of the strongest yet, and it should serve as a model for the state of Maryland and the nation,” said Charly Carter, director of Maryland Working Families...
U.S. Labor
Someone Has to Sort Your Recycling, and It’s a Disgusting and Dangerous Job The Nation ...The industries that pride themselves on being friends of the earth are often hostile to workers, according to new research on the safety conditions in recycling plants. Published by the Massachusetts Council for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), National COSH, and other advocacy groups, the analysis of the industry shows that, despite the green sector’s clean, progressive image, workers remain imperiled by old-school industrial hazards...
Marathon refinery workers in Texas to end strike July 6 The Courier ...Unionized workers at Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas will go back to work July 6 following nearly five months of striking. They ratified a contract with the company on Tuesday. About 1,200 workers at the refinery in Texas City, Texas, walked off the job Feb. 1...
Verizon and its unions off to tough start to contract talks Times Union ...Verizon and the unions that represent 38,000 of its workers in the Northeast, including about 1,000 in the Capital Region, have gotten off to an acrimonious start to their contract negotiations. After Verizon publicized it had offered employees wage increases, which included a $1,000 cash payment in the final year of a proposed three-year agreement, union officials accused the company of trying to surgarcoat what was really a bad deal...
AT&T, CWA begin negotiations for 27,000 Southeast employees Fierce Telecom ...AT&T has begun contract negotiations with 27,000 employees in its Southeast territory represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The Southeast region, which was formerly BellSouth, has wireline employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Both parties met yesterday with both presenting their own position statements on the negotiation process...
School bus company underpaid workers in NY state more than $290K, Cuomo says; Poughkeepsie employees affected Daily Freeman ...More than $290,000 in wages have been returned to 462 workers at Durham School Services locations across New York as the result if an investigation by the state Department of Labor’s Division of Worker Protection, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. The labor department launched an investigation after Service Employees International Union Local 200 raised concerns about possible pay violations at the Durham location in Syracuse...
Miscellaneous
Federal Judge Halts Sysco-US Foods Merger Wall Street Journal ...A federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking Sysco Corp.’s planned acquisition of US Foods Inc., a ruling that could kill a deal to combine the nation’s two largest food distributors. The decision handed a high-profile victory to the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a lawsuit in February chanllenging the transaction on anti-trust grounds...
Obamacare upheld by US supreme court as conservative justices rescue law The Guardian ...Chief justice John Roberts has come to the rescue of Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms for a second time as the US supreme court struck down a Republican-led challenge to Obamacare that could have gutted the legislation and stripped millions of Americans of their health insurance. The decision in the high stakes case of King v Burwell all but guarantees that Obamacare will survive...
U.S. to Reduce Long Stays for Families at Immigration Centers New York Times ...In a sharp change of policy, Homeland Security officials announced plans Wednesday to end the long-term detention of mothers with children caught crossing the border illegally by allowing most of them to be released quickly on bond. The changes by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson expanded policies he ordered last month that were designed to shorten family detention but that had only limited effect...
Deadly American Extremism: More White Than Muslim The Atlantic ...It’s an accident of fate that Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s formal sentencing for the Boston Marathon bombing is happening just now, as the U.S. continues to reel from the Charleston massacre. Jihadists have killed 26 people, versus 48 by what New America calls “right-wing extremists.” In that way, Dylann Roof is far more representative of political violence in 21st century America than Dzokhar Tsarnaev could ever be...
EVSC, Teamsters to resume negotiations Monday Courier & Press ...After three weeks of standstill in discussions, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams have agreed to meet next week for collective bargaining sessions. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said meetings are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday...
Teamsters Join Battle Against HOS Changes, Truck Size Provisions Trucking News ...The Teamsters Union this week stood with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), representatives for highway safety advocates and law enforcement and families of highway accident victims to denounce a series of provisions it claims would threaten the safety of the driving public. This week, the Senate will follow the House and mark up the FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill...
Teamsters at Fleischmann's Plant Make Vinegar for the World Local 727 ...Vinegar is Bob Maza’s unofficial family business. Maza followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as an operator at Fleischmann’s Vinegar Co., beginning at age 17. “My dad got me the job. I started there right out of high school in 1972, and I’ve been there ever since,” said Maza, a Teamsters Local 727 steward...
The war against bad trade deals continues TeamsterNation ...The battle now turns to the TPP. Americans have not yet seen the text of this lengthy and complex agreement and even elected officials have limited access to the document. Teamsters and other advocates plan on keeping up the pressure to build real and enforceable labor and environmental standards...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress renews 'fast track' trade authority USA Today ...The Republican-controlled Congress delivered a significant second-term victory for President Obama, sending to his desk a six-year renewal of trade promotion authority intended to advance one of the largest trade pacts in history later this year. Trade promotion authority, more commonly referred to as "fast track" or TPA, reestablishes an expedited legislative process for presidents to submit trade deals to Congress that can only be approved or rejected, not amended...
Senate approves fast-track, sending trade bill to White House The Hill ...The Senate voted Wednesday to approve fast-track authority, securing a big second-term legislative win for President Obama after a months-long struggle. The 60-38 Senate vote capped weeks of fighting over the trade bill, which pitted Obama against most of his party — including Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)...
Fast-Track’s Passage Sets Up Round Two on Obama’s Trade Agenda Wall Street Journal ...The White House and Republican leaders notched a significant victory Wednesday with the Senate’s passage of divisive trade legislation, but the win kicks off a grueling, monthslong process to complete a Pacific trade pact that still faces domestic opposition and must win final congressional approval. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the fast-track legislation within days, clearing a negotiating roadblock that prevented officials from moving ahead on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Here’s how much corporations paid the Senate to fast-track passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Raw Story ...The US Senate passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) — the fast-tracking bill — by a 65-33 margin on 14 May. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 62-38 to bring the debate on TPA to a close. Those impressive majorities follow months of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing by the world’s most well-heeled multinational corporations with just a handful of holdouts.
Even in Chicago, Democrats Sprint Away From Obama on Trade National Journal ...Even in Obama's home base, trade has driven a deep rift between the president and his fellow Democrats. At the same time, the labor movement has ramped up pressure on lawmakers to vote against fast-track, which they say will cost American jobs and slash wages. And Chicago-area Democrats locked in primaries that could be decided by a spare few thousand votes can ill afford to get on the wrong side of labor on a litmus-test issue...
Pay deal averts rail strike threat BBC ...The threat of a UK national rail strike has been averted after Network Rail agreed a two-year pay deal with unions. Members of the RMT, TSSA and Unite unions have voted to accept the offer. The deal includes a 2% pay rise this year and a pay increase in line with RPI inflation next year...
Greece 'Shoved Over Red Line' as IMF Pushes Even Harsher Cuts Common Dreams ...More austerity, more cuts, or no deal. That's the message the International Monetary Fund threw back at the Greek government after negotiators on Wednesday rejected the latest reform proposals submitted by the Syriza government. According to reporting on the ground, there were a "flurry of proposals, counter-proposals, leaks and verbal attacks" in Brussels as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras continued to try to hash out an acceptable bail-out...
China Workers Contracted by Uniqlo Strike Over Plant Closure ABC News ...More than 300 Chinese workers at a garment factory that supplies international brands such as Uniqlo have been protesting for about two weeks what they say is a unilateral decision by the management to close down. The strike is one of more than 1,000 collective actions since January by Chinese workers, who are increasingly turning to group actions in fighting for their rights...
State & Living Wage Battles
Dispute over union fees could return to Supreme Court Sacramento Bee ...Powerful public-sector unions are facing another high-profile legal challenge that they say could wipe away millions from their bank accounts and make it tougher for them to survive. A group of California schoolteachers, backed by a conservative group, has asked the Supreme Court to rule that unions representing government workers can't collect fees from those who choose not to join...
Scott Walker Reveals Extreme Views On Equal Pay Think Progress ...He likened the push for equal pay laws to seeking to make more people reliant on government. “For [Obama and Clinton], your measure of success in government is how many people are dependent on the government.”
But what Walker implies he’d rather do to address the wage gap — give women more education and qualifications — won’t do the trick...
Debate ramping up ahead of vote on right-to-work veto Joplin Globe ...While it never received support from a number of House and Senate Republicans from districts near the state’s urban cores, right-to-work received unanimous support from the Republicans who represent Southwest Missouri. The bill was passed out of a committee chaired by Lant, R-Pineville, who said in a recent interview that he is pushing the effort to override Nixon’s veto...
NAACP head says state ‘blinked’ on voter ID Winston-Salem Journal ...A noisy protest staged last week by the state NAACP at the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh forced legislators to pass the law that modifies the voter ID law, the Rev. William Barber, the president of the N.C. chapter of the NAACP, said Wednesday. “They blinked,” Barber said. “They had to go back and fix what was clearly voter suppression”...
De Blasio refused offer linking minimum wage to pension deal Capital New York ...Mayor Bill de Blasio was offered a deal to raise the minimum wage for New York City in exchange for supporting a police pension proposal, but he rejected the offer, multiple sources told Capital. The deal, offered by the Republican-controlled State Senate, would have established an $11.50-an-hour minimum wage for New York City, the sources familiar with the talks said...
Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Country’s Most Robust Paid Sick Leave Law Think Progress ...The Montgomery County, Maryland council voted unanimously to pass a paid sick leave bill on Tuesday, making the town the 23rd place in the country to enact such a requirement. The law is one of the most robust to be passed at the city or state level so far. “The Montgomery County paid sick days laws is one of the strongest yet, and it should serve as a model for the state of Maryland and the nation,” said Charly Carter, director of Maryland Working Families...
U.S. Labor
Someone Has to Sort Your Recycling, and It’s a Disgusting and Dangerous Job The Nation ...The industries that pride themselves on being friends of the earth are often hostile to workers, according to new research on the safety conditions in recycling plants. Published by the Massachusetts Council for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), National COSH, and other advocacy groups, the analysis of the industry shows that, despite the green sector’s clean, progressive image, workers remain imperiled by old-school industrial hazards...
Marathon refinery workers in Texas to end strike July 6 The Courier ...Unionized workers at Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas will go back to work July 6 following nearly five months of striking. They ratified a contract with the company on Tuesday. About 1,200 workers at the refinery in Texas City, Texas, walked off the job Feb. 1...
Verizon and its unions off to tough start to contract talks Times Union ...Verizon and the unions that represent 38,000 of its workers in the Northeast, including about 1,000 in the Capital Region, have gotten off to an acrimonious start to their contract negotiations. After Verizon publicized it had offered employees wage increases, which included a $1,000 cash payment in the final year of a proposed three-year agreement, union officials accused the company of trying to surgarcoat what was really a bad deal...
AT&T, CWA begin negotiations for 27,000 Southeast employees Fierce Telecom ...AT&T has begun contract negotiations with 27,000 employees in its Southeast territory represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The Southeast region, which was formerly BellSouth, has wireline employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Both parties met yesterday with both presenting their own position statements on the negotiation process...
School bus company underpaid workers in NY state more than $290K, Cuomo says; Poughkeepsie employees affected Daily Freeman ...More than $290,000 in wages have been returned to 462 workers at Durham School Services locations across New York as the result if an investigation by the state Department of Labor’s Division of Worker Protection, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. The labor department launched an investigation after Service Employees International Union Local 200 raised concerns about possible pay violations at the Durham location in Syracuse...
Miscellaneous
Federal Judge Halts Sysco-US Foods Merger Wall Street Journal ...A federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking Sysco Corp.’s planned acquisition of US Foods Inc., a ruling that could kill a deal to combine the nation’s two largest food distributors. The decision handed a high-profile victory to the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a lawsuit in February chanllenging the transaction on anti-trust grounds...
Obamacare upheld by US supreme court as conservative justices rescue law The Guardian ...Chief justice John Roberts has come to the rescue of Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms for a second time as the US supreme court struck down a Republican-led challenge to Obamacare that could have gutted the legislation and stripped millions of Americans of their health insurance. The decision in the high stakes case of King v Burwell all but guarantees that Obamacare will survive...
U.S. to Reduce Long Stays for Families at Immigration Centers New York Times ...In a sharp change of policy, Homeland Security officials announced plans Wednesday to end the long-term detention of mothers with children caught crossing the border illegally by allowing most of them to be released quickly on bond. The changes by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson expanded policies he ordered last month that were designed to shorten family detention but that had only limited effect...
Deadly American Extremism: More White Than Muslim The Atlantic ...It’s an accident of fate that Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s formal sentencing for the Boston Marathon bombing is happening just now, as the U.S. continues to reel from the Charleston massacre. Jihadists have killed 26 people, versus 48 by what New America calls “right-wing extremists.” In that way, Dylann Roof is far more representative of political violence in 21st century America than Dzokhar Tsarnaev could ever be...
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.19.15
Teamsters
City Hall strikes contract deal with Teamsters Local 237 Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement with Teamsters Local 237, one of the only remaining municipal unions working under an expired contract. The agreement covering more than 5,500 New York City Housing Authority employees follows the pattern of wage increases every other civilian union has received during de Blasio's 17-month tenure...
BLET/SMART–TD statement on Positive Train Control, crew size following fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLE-T.org ...Members of BLET’s Safety Task Force and SMART Transportation Division’s National Safety Team, in addition to representatives from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference (BMWED), are working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist in the investigation of the catastrophic May 12 derailment of Amtrak Train 188...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress plots to pay for a trade deal by raiding Medicare Los Angeles Times ...The plan on Capitol Hill is to move the Trade Assistance Program expansion in tandem with fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, possibly as early as this week. Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in Medicare, and the Obama White House, which should be howling in protest, has remained silent...
Warren Expands Criticism of Obama’s Trade Agenda to Labor Rights Bloomberg ...Senator Elizabeth Warren expanded her criticism of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, arguing on Monday that the U.S. has consistently failed to enforce rules promoting labor rights abroad. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, released a staff memo outlining “decades of failure” by U.S. administrations to ensure that American trading partners live up to promises in free-trade agreements...
McConnell: Senate to finish trade this week The Hill ...Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned senators on Monday that they will finish "fast track" trade legislation this week. McConnell wants to pass the "fast-track" bill, which would allow the president to get his trade deals passed through Congress by a simple majority vote, before senators leave at the end of the week for the Memorial Day recess...
GOP: Business lobby blowing it on trade Politico ...Top House Republicans believe the business community is blowing its chance to clinch a trade deal. Unlike unions, they say, Big Business advocates aren’t flooding Capitol phone lines. They’re not winning over skeptical Republicans. And they haven’t made much headway with business-friendly Democrats who are considering voting for the package, either...
Republicans claim enough votes to pass fast-track trade bill Reuters ...Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC...
Perils of Globalization When Factories Close and Towns Struggle New York Times ...The benefits are not distributed evenly. Trade increases overall prosperity by eliminating less productive jobs. In theory, the workers find new jobs. In practice, studies by Mr. Hanson and other economists show that in cities like Galesburg, global competition is increasing unemployment and reducing wages. Josh Bivens, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that increased globalization, aided by a strong dollar that led to a persistent trade deficit, reduced the annual earnings of the roughly 70 percent of American workers...
German train drivers to strike again BBC ...Drivers for Germany's Deutsche Bahn have declared a fresh strike, marking the ninth walkout in just 11 months. GDL union leader Claus Weselsky gave no end date for the strike, but said it would "last a little longer" than the previous five-day stoppage.
GDL wants a 5% pay rise for 20,000 drivers and a shorter working week...
Guatemalan Domestic Workers Reveal a Dirty Business Truthout ...186,000 domestic workers are in Guatemala and more than 50 percent have emigrated to Guatemala City from impoverished rural areas. [Some] work up to 14 hours a day and are usually paid $150 a month, half of the national minimum monthly wage, which is currently $304.68. What makes Castellanos unique is her determination to fight for better working conditions in Guatemala, where labor unionism is weak after the repression of workers' movements under the country's recent history of military dictatorships...
Bolivian army step in as bakers go on strike BBC ...Bolivian soldiers have begun producing tens of thousands of bread rolls because of a bakers strike. The government called in the troops when there were reports of shortages in several neighbourhoods. Bolivian bakers went on a 48-hour strike in protest against a government decision to scrap subsidies for wheat flour...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas’ Governor Destroyed The State Budget With Massive Tax Cuts And Now Kansans Are Paying The Price Think Progress ...On one side, die-hard conservatives in the legislature are resisting efforts to unwind a key piece of Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) signature tax cuts. On the other, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are saying it’s time to admit the governor’s approach is unworkable. While they quarrel, Kansas faces a two-year deficit projected to be well over a billion dollars – a piddling amount in Congress, but equal to nearly 17 percent of the state’s $6 billion annual spending...
Speaker: Missouri 'Right To Work' Veto Override Uncertain Ozarks First ...Governor Jay Nixon (D) says he will veto that bill, but House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) says it's too early to be thinking about whether supporters in the legislature can muster the votes to overturn him. "We'll talk with our members and see if there's a will to override and obviously see if there is not a will to override," said Richardson...
Amid Protest Plans, McDonald's to Ban Media from Shareholder Meeting Common Dreams ...With thousands of workers planning to descend on McDonald's annual shareholder meeting on May 21 to demand higher wages and fairer treatment, the fast food giant has announced it will ban all media from the corporate event—a move that union leaders called "extremely shocking and troubling"...
Bosses Are Turning Poverty-Wage Workers Into ‘Managers’—and Barring Them From Overtime in the Process The Nation ...Welcome to the promotion from hell: Federal law says time-and-a-half is for ordinary laborers, and management is exempt from overtime provisions. So congratulations, as a shop “manager,” you no longer qualify for overtime—but still end up doing basically the same work for less. In the precarious low-wage economy, advocates say employers are hyper-exploiting the system to skirt fair labor laws...
SEIU seeks federal investigation of franchise industry Chicago Tribune ...The Service Employees International Union on Monday said it has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the franchise industry, seeking information on how some of the world's biggest franchise operators, including McDonald's, set the terms of their business models. The union, which has been pushing to boost the pay of low-wage fast-food workers, said the current structure gives too much power to franchisers...
Prevailing wage, local hiring mandates sidelined at Milwaukee County for more discussion Milwaukee Business Journal ...A proposal to enact local hiring and wage requirements on projects that receive Milwaukee County subsidies was sidelined Monday to create more time for discussion and potential revisions. The proposal builds off earlier “community benefits” laws, including one affecting Milwaukee County’s land in the Park East corridor...
City Council To Consider $15 Minimum Wage Increase Proposal CBS Los Angeles ...The City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to increase Los Angeles’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years. The council, which will meet at 10 a.m., was expected to discuss the proposal that was unanimously approved on May 13 by its Economic Development Committee...
U.S. Labor
Contract ending for NC postal workers The Charlotte Post ...North Carolina postal workers have more on their minds this morning than the heavy load of Monday mail. The American Postal Workers Union contract is set to expire on Wednesday. Postal worker Deborah Smith says it's a tough time for postal employees...
GOP lawmaker proposes defunding NLRB The Hill ...Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation to do away with funding for the National Labor Relations Board. Salmon claimed the NLRB, which was created in 1935 to conduct labor elections and manage labor policy, is biased toward labor unions. The Arizona Republican argued that the Justice Department could instead be solely tasked with enforcing labor laws...
UAW seeks to grow skilled trades apprentice programs Detroit News ...Ford, General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles run jointly administered apprentice programs with the UAW. The union hopes to expand the programs, which were dormant for several years leading up to and immediately following the economic downturn. Securing and growing the programs, as well as skilled trades positions that have shrunk following the recession, will be part of upcoming contract negotiations...
UFW set to protest at Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center ABC Bakersfield ...Members of the local United Farm Workers will be protesting at the new Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center in Bakersfield as part of a national push calling for immigration reform. The detention center houses close to 200 foreign nationals who are either waiting for deportation or are appealing the process...
Miscellaneous
Ignoring Businesses, Baltimore Shuts Off Water to 1,600 Homes Common Dreams ...However, community advocates say that in a city with skyrocketing unemployment and poverty, the rising cost of water and sewage is unaffordable to a large sector of the population. Further, in Detroit, where the local government has cut off water to over 17,000 residential households, the policy has been widely criticized by the United Nations as well as other watchdog groups as a violation of the human right to water...
City Hall strikes contract deal with Teamsters Local 237 Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement with Teamsters Local 237, one of the only remaining municipal unions working under an expired contract. The agreement covering more than 5,500 New York City Housing Authority employees follows the pattern of wage increases every other civilian union has received during de Blasio's 17-month tenure...
BLET/SMART–TD statement on Positive Train Control, crew size following fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLE-T.org ...Members of BLET’s Safety Task Force and SMART Transportation Division’s National Safety Team, in addition to representatives from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference (BMWED), are working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist in the investigation of the catastrophic May 12 derailment of Amtrak Train 188...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress plots to pay for a trade deal by raiding Medicare Los Angeles Times ...The plan on Capitol Hill is to move the Trade Assistance Program expansion in tandem with fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, possibly as early as this week. Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in Medicare, and the Obama White House, which should be howling in protest, has remained silent...
Warren Expands Criticism of Obama’s Trade Agenda to Labor Rights Bloomberg ...Senator Elizabeth Warren expanded her criticism of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, arguing on Monday that the U.S. has consistently failed to enforce rules promoting labor rights abroad. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, released a staff memo outlining “decades of failure” by U.S. administrations to ensure that American trading partners live up to promises in free-trade agreements...
McConnell: Senate to finish trade this week The Hill ...Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned senators on Monday that they will finish "fast track" trade legislation this week. McConnell wants to pass the "fast-track" bill, which would allow the president to get his trade deals passed through Congress by a simple majority vote, before senators leave at the end of the week for the Memorial Day recess...
GOP: Business lobby blowing it on trade Politico ...Top House Republicans believe the business community is blowing its chance to clinch a trade deal. Unlike unions, they say, Big Business advocates aren’t flooding Capitol phone lines. They’re not winning over skeptical Republicans. And they haven’t made much headway with business-friendly Democrats who are considering voting for the package, either...
Republicans claim enough votes to pass fast-track trade bill Reuters ...Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC...
Perils of Globalization When Factories Close and Towns Struggle New York Times ...The benefits are not distributed evenly. Trade increases overall prosperity by eliminating less productive jobs. In theory, the workers find new jobs. In practice, studies by Mr. Hanson and other economists show that in cities like Galesburg, global competition is increasing unemployment and reducing wages. Josh Bivens, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that increased globalization, aided by a strong dollar that led to a persistent trade deficit, reduced the annual earnings of the roughly 70 percent of American workers...
German train drivers to strike again BBC ...Drivers for Germany's Deutsche Bahn have declared a fresh strike, marking the ninth walkout in just 11 months. GDL union leader Claus Weselsky gave no end date for the strike, but said it would "last a little longer" than the previous five-day stoppage.
GDL wants a 5% pay rise for 20,000 drivers and a shorter working week...
Guatemalan Domestic Workers Reveal a Dirty Business Truthout ...186,000 domestic workers are in Guatemala and more than 50 percent have emigrated to Guatemala City from impoverished rural areas. [Some] work up to 14 hours a day and are usually paid $150 a month, half of the national minimum monthly wage, which is currently $304.68. What makes Castellanos unique is her determination to fight for better working conditions in Guatemala, where labor unionism is weak after the repression of workers' movements under the country's recent history of military dictatorships...
Bolivian army step in as bakers go on strike BBC ...Bolivian soldiers have begun producing tens of thousands of bread rolls because of a bakers strike. The government called in the troops when there were reports of shortages in several neighbourhoods. Bolivian bakers went on a 48-hour strike in protest against a government decision to scrap subsidies for wheat flour...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas’ Governor Destroyed The State Budget With Massive Tax Cuts And Now Kansans Are Paying The Price Think Progress ...On one side, die-hard conservatives in the legislature are resisting efforts to unwind a key piece of Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) signature tax cuts. On the other, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are saying it’s time to admit the governor’s approach is unworkable. While they quarrel, Kansas faces a two-year deficit projected to be well over a billion dollars – a piddling amount in Congress, but equal to nearly 17 percent of the state’s $6 billion annual spending...
Speaker: Missouri 'Right To Work' Veto Override Uncertain Ozarks First ...Governor Jay Nixon (D) says he will veto that bill, but House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) says it's too early to be thinking about whether supporters in the legislature can muster the votes to overturn him. "We'll talk with our members and see if there's a will to override and obviously see if there is not a will to override," said Richardson...
Amid Protest Plans, McDonald's to Ban Media from Shareholder Meeting Common Dreams ...With thousands of workers planning to descend on McDonald's annual shareholder meeting on May 21 to demand higher wages and fairer treatment, the fast food giant has announced it will ban all media from the corporate event—a move that union leaders called "extremely shocking and troubling"...
Bosses Are Turning Poverty-Wage Workers Into ‘Managers’—and Barring Them From Overtime in the Process The Nation ...Welcome to the promotion from hell: Federal law says time-and-a-half is for ordinary laborers, and management is exempt from overtime provisions. So congratulations, as a shop “manager,” you no longer qualify for overtime—but still end up doing basically the same work for less. In the precarious low-wage economy, advocates say employers are hyper-exploiting the system to skirt fair labor laws...
SEIU seeks federal investigation of franchise industry Chicago Tribune ...The Service Employees International Union on Monday said it has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the franchise industry, seeking information on how some of the world's biggest franchise operators, including McDonald's, set the terms of their business models. The union, which has been pushing to boost the pay of low-wage fast-food workers, said the current structure gives too much power to franchisers...
Prevailing wage, local hiring mandates sidelined at Milwaukee County for more discussion Milwaukee Business Journal ...A proposal to enact local hiring and wage requirements on projects that receive Milwaukee County subsidies was sidelined Monday to create more time for discussion and potential revisions. The proposal builds off earlier “community benefits” laws, including one affecting Milwaukee County’s land in the Park East corridor...
City Council To Consider $15 Minimum Wage Increase Proposal CBS Los Angeles ...The City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to increase Los Angeles’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years. The council, which will meet at 10 a.m., was expected to discuss the proposal that was unanimously approved on May 13 by its Economic Development Committee...
U.S. Labor
Contract ending for NC postal workers The Charlotte Post ...North Carolina postal workers have more on their minds this morning than the heavy load of Monday mail. The American Postal Workers Union contract is set to expire on Wednesday. Postal worker Deborah Smith says it's a tough time for postal employees...
GOP lawmaker proposes defunding NLRB The Hill ...Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation to do away with funding for the National Labor Relations Board. Salmon claimed the NLRB, which was created in 1935 to conduct labor elections and manage labor policy, is biased toward labor unions. The Arizona Republican argued that the Justice Department could instead be solely tasked with enforcing labor laws...
UAW seeks to grow skilled trades apprentice programs Detroit News ...Ford, General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles run jointly administered apprentice programs with the UAW. The union hopes to expand the programs, which were dormant for several years leading up to and immediately following the economic downturn. Securing and growing the programs, as well as skilled trades positions that have shrunk following the recession, will be part of upcoming contract negotiations...
UFW set to protest at Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center ABC Bakersfield ...Members of the local United Farm Workers will be protesting at the new Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center in Bakersfield as part of a national push calling for immigration reform. The detention center houses close to 200 foreign nationals who are either waiting for deportation or are appealing the process...
Miscellaneous
Ignoring Businesses, Baltimore Shuts Off Water to 1,600 Homes Common Dreams ...However, community advocates say that in a city with skyrocketing unemployment and poverty, the rising cost of water and sewage is unaffordable to a large sector of the population. Further, in Detroit, where the local government has cut off water to over 17,000 residential households, the policy has been widely criticized by the United Nations as well as other watchdog groups as a violation of the human right to water...
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.12.15
Teamsters
Teamsters, Employees, Allies Protest SLS Hotel's Violations Against Workers Teamster.org ...Today, Teamsters, employees and community allies protested SLS Casino and Hotel management’s ongoing violations of its workers’ right to form a union. Hundreds took part to support the valet parking attendants’ ongoing struggle for fairness. Management has committed several Unfair Labor Practices, including interrogation of workers that support the union. Management has fired three workers...
One Hundred Teamster Construction Drivers In Three Days: Fast Organizing Through PLA Teamster.org ...Organizing is tough, and it's not getting easier. But many Teamster locals are finding creative ways to bring in new members and strengthen the union. The use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) help level the playing field for construction workers through the protection of a union contract. International Vice President Rome Aloise has spent nearly a decade envisioning a day when the Teamsters organize thousands of new construction workers under the promise of PLAs nationwide. In Aloise's home state of California, it appears that day has already arrived...
Teamsters Local 215 Scholarship fund awards $195,000 Courier & Press ...Officials with the Teamsters Local 215 Scholarship Fund recently announced the 109 sons and daughters of union members who are receiving between $500 and $3,200 in merit-based scholarships. The fund is giving a total of $195,000 in scholarships this year...
Valet union protests SLS Las Vegas casino-hotel on Strip Associated Press ...The union representing Las Vegas valet workers are protesting what they say is unfair treatment at the SLS Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Strip. Teamsters Local 986 said the group and supporters protested outside SLS Monday. The union wants to organize the casino-hotel's 50 valet employees...
Unions make strides among Silicon Valley workforce Aljazeera America ...Facebook shuttle drivers gained final approval for their union contract with Loop Transportation, the shuttle company that carries employees to and from Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters. The Loop drivers are now members of Teamsters Local 853 — which just the previous month had also successfully organized drivers for Apple, Yahoo, eBay, and Evernote, among others...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama's trade pact faces cliffhanger vote Politico ...The centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s economic agenda faces a cliffhanger vote in the Senate on Tuesday, as Democratic leaders move to block his trade bill — leaving one powerful Oregon Democrat who may hold the key to the outcome squeezed between his party leaders and the White House...
Fight Over China Currency Policies Threatens Vote on Trade Bill New York Times ...A heated dispute over how to challenge China on currency policy has imperiled a trade bill that has become President Obama’s top legislative priority, uniting even the president’s top Democratic supporters against taking up the bill in the Senate...
Senate Democrats Are Revolting Against Obama's Trade Plan National Journal ... The majority of Democrats will not vote for any fast-track bill, also known as Trade Promotion Authority or TPA, no matter what. They discount the administration's claim that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major potential trade agreement affecting 40 percent of the world's economy, would be the "most progressive trade agreement in history" because of labor and environmental concerns...
AIPAC-backed amendments add to trade bill turmoil Politico ...The trade legislation being debated on Capitol Hill is already highly contentious. Amendments added about Israel are raising the rancor even more. The trade bill amendments aim to discourage foreign governments — in particular European ones — from boycotting, divesting from or putting sanctions on commercial activity linked to Israel and “Israeli-controlled territories”...
Nike-backed group pushes Trans-Pacific Partnership in Oregon Sunlight Foundation ...While Obama tries to convince Congress and working Americans of the merits of a new free trade agreement, Nike, along with other Oregon exporters, is focusing some of its substantial financial firepower on touting the TPP in its home state...
Network Rail workers vote to strike over pay BBC ...Network Rail workers have voted in favour of a UK-wide strike in a row over pay, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union has said.
Its members voted 4-1 for action after rejecting pay offers from Network Rail, which owns and maintains most of Britain's railway infrastructure...
Tories to bring in tough anti-strike laws The Telegraph ...The Conservatives will push ahead with plans to ban strikes unless 40 per cent of people vote in favour of industrial action in government's first Queen's Speech, the new business secretary has said. Sajid Javid said that the Tories will not "hide away from the changes we want to make" as the party prepares to introduce a raft of new anti-strike laws...
Who is writing the TPP? (opinion) Boston Globe ...The president argues that the TPP is about who will “write the rules” for 40 percent of the world’s economy — the United States or China. But who is writing the TPP? The text has been classified and the public isn’t permitted to see it...
TPP Is Not Yet 'The Most Progressive Trade Agreement in History' (opinion) Huff Post ...I have deep concern -- and some dismay -- when the president says that "we are just wrong," or we are "satisfied with the status quo," or worse, we are "making this stuff up" when we express concerns about the status of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations...
State & Living Wage Battles
Hundreds of union workers come to Missouri Capitol for ‘Right to Work’ debate Missourinet ...Hundreds of union workers showed up at the capitol Monday to oppose a so-called “Right to Work” bill that is expected to move quickly in this final week of the legislative session. Testimony was emotional for some, including for Terry Nelson with the Carpenters District Council in the St. Louis region. He said government is trying to turn their contractors into adversaries...
Right to Work in Missouri Moves to Senate Floor CBS St. Louis ...A Senate committee approved legislation moving Missouri closer to becoming a Right to Work state. In a hearing of the Senate Small Business Committee, senators heard heavy opposition to make Missouri a Right to Work state.
Sen. Mike Parson (R-Bolivar) is the chairman of the committee. Many of his calls for testimony in support of the bill went answered...
States Where Minimum Wages Are Supposed To Be Living Wages Think Progress ...Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that he is taking advantage of a state law to raise minimum wages without the involvement of the legislature. He’s not the only governor with that power; others could also follow suit...
Senators answer court question on voter ID law Houston Chronicle ...The Texas Senate, with scant attention during an early morning vote, gave its unanimous answer to a lingering question the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals posed about the state’s embattled voter ID law. The bill won approval, 31-0. ore than 600,000 Texans lack the proper identification to vote under the state’s relatively new voting laws, among the most stringent in the nation...
How The Conservative Obsession With Policing Poor People’s Shopping Carts Got Started Think Progress ...In 2015, the poor are still smart shoppers. The USDA published research in early May comparing the food consumption patterns of SNAP recipients to both wealthier people and low-income families not receiving SNAP. The findings undermine the common conservative notion that the poor splurge on luxuries and empty calories...
U.S. Labor
New York City Nurses May Vote to Strike This Month In These Times ...Thousands of nurses at 12 hospitals poured into the streets of New York City April 16 to protest staffing shortages they say put patients at risk. The informational pickets were the latest salvo in negotiations with the city’s largest private hospitals. Next the New York State Nurses Association entered a month of intense federal mediation with three hospital systems. Voting for strike authorization could begin as soon as mid-May...
BP Whiting Refinery workers vote to end strike NWI Times ...United Steelworkers Local 7-1 members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract they say will make the BP Whiting Refinery a safer place to work and preserve bargaining rights the union has had for nearly 80 years. An estimated 92 percent of refinery workers and 100 percent of plant guards voted to ratify a new four-year agreement...
How Can You Get an Ethical Manicure? Support Worker Organizing The Nation ... Sarah Maslin Nir’s recent New York Times investigation reveals epidemic wage theft and abuse of workers across the roughly 2,000 under-regulated manicure shops dotting the city, where cheap mani-pedis are provided by Asian and Latina women workers who scrub and pamper fingers and toes amid noxious fumes. Following the Times’s extensive report, both state and city authorities are now weighing policies to tighten oversight...
Ricky Maclin, Leader of Historic 2008 Republic Windows and Doors Factory Occupation, Dies at 61 In These Times ...Melvin “Ricky” Maurice Maclin, Vice President of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, leader of the historic six-day factory occupation of Republic Windows and Doors in December 2008 and founding member of New Era Windows Cooperative, died on May 5. “This is a huge loss for me and for our movement,” said his good friend, Local 1110 President Armando Robles, who was also a leader in the Republic occupation...
Miscellaneous
The delicate flowers of Wall Street: Financial titans warn Hillary to be mindful of their feelings Salon ...The titans of the financial industry have faced zero criminal liability for nearly destroying the economy in 2008, they still enjoy unrivaled influence over the policy platforms of both major political parties, and no one except Bernie Sanders even considers making a run for the president without hitting up the hedge fund managers for donations...
Teamsters, Employees, Allies Protest SLS Hotel's Violations Against Workers Teamster.org ...Today, Teamsters, employees and community allies protested SLS Casino and Hotel management’s ongoing violations of its workers’ right to form a union. Hundreds took part to support the valet parking attendants’ ongoing struggle for fairness. Management has committed several Unfair Labor Practices, including interrogation of workers that support the union. Management has fired three workers...
One Hundred Teamster Construction Drivers In Three Days: Fast Organizing Through PLA Teamster.org ...Organizing is tough, and it's not getting easier. But many Teamster locals are finding creative ways to bring in new members and strengthen the union. The use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) help level the playing field for construction workers through the protection of a union contract. International Vice President Rome Aloise has spent nearly a decade envisioning a day when the Teamsters organize thousands of new construction workers under the promise of PLAs nationwide. In Aloise's home state of California, it appears that day has already arrived...
Teamsters Local 215 Scholarship fund awards $195,000 Courier & Press ...Officials with the Teamsters Local 215 Scholarship Fund recently announced the 109 sons and daughters of union members who are receiving between $500 and $3,200 in merit-based scholarships. The fund is giving a total of $195,000 in scholarships this year...
Valet union protests SLS Las Vegas casino-hotel on Strip Associated Press ...The union representing Las Vegas valet workers are protesting what they say is unfair treatment at the SLS Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Strip. Teamsters Local 986 said the group and supporters protested outside SLS Monday. The union wants to organize the casino-hotel's 50 valet employees...
Unions make strides among Silicon Valley workforce Aljazeera America ...Facebook shuttle drivers gained final approval for their union contract with Loop Transportation, the shuttle company that carries employees to and from Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters. The Loop drivers are now members of Teamsters Local 853 — which just the previous month had also successfully organized drivers for Apple, Yahoo, eBay, and Evernote, among others...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama's trade pact faces cliffhanger vote Politico ...The centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s economic agenda faces a cliffhanger vote in the Senate on Tuesday, as Democratic leaders move to block his trade bill — leaving one powerful Oregon Democrat who may hold the key to the outcome squeezed between his party leaders and the White House...
Fight Over China Currency Policies Threatens Vote on Trade Bill New York Times ...A heated dispute over how to challenge China on currency policy has imperiled a trade bill that has become President Obama’s top legislative priority, uniting even the president’s top Democratic supporters against taking up the bill in the Senate...
Senate Democrats Are Revolting Against Obama's Trade Plan National Journal ... The majority of Democrats will not vote for any fast-track bill, also known as Trade Promotion Authority or TPA, no matter what. They discount the administration's claim that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major potential trade agreement affecting 40 percent of the world's economy, would be the "most progressive trade agreement in history" because of labor and environmental concerns...
AIPAC-backed amendments add to trade bill turmoil Politico ...The trade legislation being debated on Capitol Hill is already highly contentious. Amendments added about Israel are raising the rancor even more. The trade bill amendments aim to discourage foreign governments — in particular European ones — from boycotting, divesting from or putting sanctions on commercial activity linked to Israel and “Israeli-controlled territories”...
Nike-backed group pushes Trans-Pacific Partnership in Oregon Sunlight Foundation ...While Obama tries to convince Congress and working Americans of the merits of a new free trade agreement, Nike, along with other Oregon exporters, is focusing some of its substantial financial firepower on touting the TPP in its home state...
Network Rail workers vote to strike over pay BBC ...Network Rail workers have voted in favour of a UK-wide strike in a row over pay, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union has said.
Its members voted 4-1 for action after rejecting pay offers from Network Rail, which owns and maintains most of Britain's railway infrastructure...
Tories to bring in tough anti-strike laws The Telegraph ...The Conservatives will push ahead with plans to ban strikes unless 40 per cent of people vote in favour of industrial action in government's first Queen's Speech, the new business secretary has said. Sajid Javid said that the Tories will not "hide away from the changes we want to make" as the party prepares to introduce a raft of new anti-strike laws...
Who is writing the TPP? (opinion) Boston Globe ...The president argues that the TPP is about who will “write the rules” for 40 percent of the world’s economy — the United States or China. But who is writing the TPP? The text has been classified and the public isn’t permitted to see it...
TPP Is Not Yet 'The Most Progressive Trade Agreement in History' (opinion) Huff Post ...I have deep concern -- and some dismay -- when the president says that "we are just wrong," or we are "satisfied with the status quo," or worse, we are "making this stuff up" when we express concerns about the status of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations...
State & Living Wage Battles
Hundreds of union workers come to Missouri Capitol for ‘Right to Work’ debate Missourinet ...Hundreds of union workers showed up at the capitol Monday to oppose a so-called “Right to Work” bill that is expected to move quickly in this final week of the legislative session. Testimony was emotional for some, including for Terry Nelson with the Carpenters District Council in the St. Louis region. He said government is trying to turn their contractors into adversaries...
Right to Work in Missouri Moves to Senate Floor CBS St. Louis ...A Senate committee approved legislation moving Missouri closer to becoming a Right to Work state. In a hearing of the Senate Small Business Committee, senators heard heavy opposition to make Missouri a Right to Work state.
Sen. Mike Parson (R-Bolivar) is the chairman of the committee. Many of his calls for testimony in support of the bill went answered...
States Where Minimum Wages Are Supposed To Be Living Wages Think Progress ...Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that he is taking advantage of a state law to raise minimum wages without the involvement of the legislature. He’s not the only governor with that power; others could also follow suit...
Senators answer court question on voter ID law Houston Chronicle ...The Texas Senate, with scant attention during an early morning vote, gave its unanimous answer to a lingering question the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals posed about the state’s embattled voter ID law. The bill won approval, 31-0. ore than 600,000 Texans lack the proper identification to vote under the state’s relatively new voting laws, among the most stringent in the nation...
How The Conservative Obsession With Policing Poor People’s Shopping Carts Got Started Think Progress ...In 2015, the poor are still smart shoppers. The USDA published research in early May comparing the food consumption patterns of SNAP recipients to both wealthier people and low-income families not receiving SNAP. The findings undermine the common conservative notion that the poor splurge on luxuries and empty calories...
U.S. Labor
New York City Nurses May Vote to Strike This Month In These Times ...Thousands of nurses at 12 hospitals poured into the streets of New York City April 16 to protest staffing shortages they say put patients at risk. The informational pickets were the latest salvo in negotiations with the city’s largest private hospitals. Next the New York State Nurses Association entered a month of intense federal mediation with three hospital systems. Voting for strike authorization could begin as soon as mid-May...
BP Whiting Refinery workers vote to end strike NWI Times ...United Steelworkers Local 7-1 members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract they say will make the BP Whiting Refinery a safer place to work and preserve bargaining rights the union has had for nearly 80 years. An estimated 92 percent of refinery workers and 100 percent of plant guards voted to ratify a new four-year agreement...
How Can You Get an Ethical Manicure? Support Worker Organizing The Nation ... Sarah Maslin Nir’s recent New York Times investigation reveals epidemic wage theft and abuse of workers across the roughly 2,000 under-regulated manicure shops dotting the city, where cheap mani-pedis are provided by Asian and Latina women workers who scrub and pamper fingers and toes amid noxious fumes. Following the Times’s extensive report, both state and city authorities are now weighing policies to tighten oversight...
Ricky Maclin, Leader of Historic 2008 Republic Windows and Doors Factory Occupation, Dies at 61 In These Times ...Melvin “Ricky” Maurice Maclin, Vice President of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, leader of the historic six-day factory occupation of Republic Windows and Doors in December 2008 and founding member of New Era Windows Cooperative, died on May 5. “This is a huge loss for me and for our movement,” said his good friend, Local 1110 President Armando Robles, who was also a leader in the Republic occupation...
Miscellaneous
The delicate flowers of Wall Street: Financial titans warn Hillary to be mindful of their feelings Salon ...The titans of the financial industry have faced zero criminal liability for nearly destroying the economy in 2008, they still enjoy unrivaled influence over the policy platforms of both major political parties, and no one except Bernie Sanders even considers making a run for the president without hitting up the hedge fund managers for donations...
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