Misclassification is another corporate trick

Too many corporations are taking advantage of hardworking Americans who are trying to earn a living to support their families. Instead of bringing them on as full-time workers, these companies go on the cheap by hiring temporary or contract workers who don't have the same job protections or benefits. Meanwhile, the employer avoids paying some taxes and unemployment insurance.

Some firms are using temp workers to sort recycling.

Misclassification is getting worse nationwide, as we noted in another blog last week. A Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GALA) report released this week details another such example, U.S. recycling workers, who are often temp workers who have fewer workplace protections and are less likely to be informed of their legal right to a safe and healthy workplace.

As detailed in the document:

Reliance on temporary staffing agencies has allowed companies to distance themselves from responsibility for worker health and safety. Among employers who use temporary labor, failure to properly train and orient workers who are new to the job, or have been brought on as temporary labor, is a common practice and a serious concern. Research about work-related injuries for low-wage workers shows that workers who have received health and safety training are more likely to seek medical attention and to notify employers of injuries than workers who have not received health and safety training.

Such practices are the latest example of corporate America trying to fleece the public. Following the same playbook it uses to jam lousy trade deals through Congress, big business insists it needs to change the rules so can remain in business. This at a time when companies are registering record profits.

Luckily, there are some instances where misclassification is not allowed to run rampant. Fed Ex Ground, for instance, recently agreed to pay $228 million to about 2,300 drivers in California that the company improperly classified as independent contractors from 2000 to 2007. The settlement came after a federal appeals court in San Francisco last August determined the workers were employees under California law.

That determination and others like it are causing some employers to act. Instacart, an on-demand delivery service, announced this week that it will transition some 300 workers in Boston and Chicago from independent contractors to employees with benefits.

But that in and of itself won't change the dynamic that seems to be increasingly gripping our government. Our elected officials too often are doing the bidding of big business and instituting policies that are hurting workers. It happened with the fast track trade bill and it's happening with misclassification. They say these moves create jobs, but there is no evidence that it does. Instead, there are just bigger profits for corporations.

This is part of the reason that a presidential candidate like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is resonating with so many people. He makes it clear he won't turn his back on people, like many on Capitol Hill already have. Too many believe government is of and by corporations now. It should be of and by the people like our founders intended.

Today's Teamster News 06.24.15

Teamsters
Hoffa Statement on Senate Fast Track Cloture Vote  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the Senate’s decision to invoke cloture and cut off debate on the fast track trade bill currently being considered by the chamber: “The process surrounding fast track has been convoluted and confusing. And today, too many senators decided to trust big business and the House instead of standing up for American workers"...
Teamsters Join Sen. Blumenthal, Highway Safety Advocates, Families of Victims in Fight Against Truck Safety Rollbacks  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters Union stood with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), representatives for highway safety advocates and law enforcement and families of highway accident victims to denounce a series of dangerous provisions that 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...
McDonald's Accused Of Hanging California Produce Workers Out To Dry  Huffington Post  ...After impounding the ballots for more than a year, federal officials last week tallied the votes in an acrimonious union election at Taylor Farms Pacific, a California vegetable producer that supplies garnishes to major fast-food companies. After launching the union campaign in the fall of 2013, the Teamsters accused Taylor Farms supervisors of intimidating workers and interfering with organizing efforts, as Capital & Main reported last year...
New Report: U.S. Recycling Workers Exposed to Safety Hazards and High Injury Rates  Teamster.org  ... A new study, released Tuesday, June 23 by environmental, occupational safety, and community benefits experts in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, finds that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers’ health and safety. The report notes that unionized workers, with negotiated contracts in place enjoy more effective enforcement of legally mandated health and safety protections and also have the ability to bargain for additional safeguards to improve working conditions...

Global Labor & Trade
Trade Accord, Once Blocked, Nears Passage  New York Times  ... President Obama’s ambitious trade push is back on track, after several near-death moments, in large measure because top Republicans stood by him. The Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted to end debate on legislation granting Mr. Obama enhanced negotiating powers to complete a major Pacific trade accord, virtually assuring final passage Wednesday of Mr. Obama’s top legislative priority in his final years in office...
Senate pushes Obama's Pacific Rim trade pact forward  Reuters  ...President Barack Obama's call for "fast-track" trade negotiating authority to help him strike a Pacific Rim deal cleared a key hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, paving the way for a final vote on the legislation on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Senate was likely to vote to grant Obama the power to speed trade deals through Congress, including his Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If that happens, the fast-track measure would then go to the White House for Obama's signature...
Sanders and Warren stand tall on trade  The Hill  ...The U.S. Senate today passed the fast-track trade bill and sent it to President Obama for his signature. Those who believe in fighting for working men and women should give a standing ovation to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who waged what The Hill correctly called in a news story her "last stand on trade" — until the next fight begins tomorrow...
'A Great Day for Corporate America': US Senate Passes Fast Track  Common Dreams  ...In a win for multinational corporations and the global one percent, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly advanced Fast Track, or Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) —ensuring for all practical purposes the continued rubber-stamping of clandestine trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional?  The Atlantic  ...Despite the fairness of our court system, the U.S. government has consented in prior trade agreements, and in a leaked version of the still-secret TPP, to allow foreign investors to bypass our courts and instead move to “investor-state” arbitration. Thus, challenges based upon TPP to our duly enacted laws and other regulatory actions would be decided by three individuals who are not government officials and need not be American citizens...

Killing a Nation With Euphemisms: TPP-Eats-Medicare Edition  Truthout  ...If you lose your job to the TPP, you will get insufficient "assistance," followed by less-funded Medicare support. If you don't lose your job, you'll still be dealing with the smoking hole in Medicare funding made by the trade bill that caused your neighbor to lose her house after she lost her job...
Norway Oil-Rig Unions in Last-Chance Talks to Avoid Strike  Bloomberg  ...Norwegian oil-rig unions and employers started government-backed mediation on Wednesday in a final bid to avoid a strike that could shut down two North Sea oil fields. Talks started at 10 a.m. Oslo time, said Benedikte Naess, spokeswoman for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, which is representing employers. If the parties fail to reach a deal by midnight, 189 workers will go on strike...
Cabin crew give Lufthansa deadline to avoid strike  Reuters  ...German airline Lufthansa faces a June 30 deadline to make concessions to cabin crew over pay and pensions or suffer further strikes that would compound the effects of a costly dispute with its pilots. The UFO flight attendants' union said on Monday its members would strike on July 1 if an agreement was not reached with Lufthansa by then...
Embattled Alexis Tsipras faces domestic revolt over plans to implement 'harsh' austerity blitz  The Telegraph  ...Embattled Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a revolt within his radical Left party over austerity measures the country must approve to secure its future in the euro. Following a late-night emergency summit in Brussels on Monday, Athens laid out plans to carry out a series of economic reforms worth €8bn over the next two years...
The U.N. Investigated An Airline Accused Of Banning Employees From Getting Married. Here’s What They Found.  Think Progress  ...Qatar Airways has denied widespread accusations that it bans employees from getting married and that it doesn’t always summarily fire pregnant workers. But the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says otherwise. After a yearlong investigation into complaints made by the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, it decided that parts of the airlines’ policies do in fact require workers to notify the company when they become pregnant and that doing so often ends up in those workers getting terminated...

State & Living Wage Battles
Congressional Democrats to Introduce Ambitious New Bill to Restore the Voting Rights Act  The Nation  ...Two years ago, on June 25, 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated the centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act. Tomorrow, congressional Democrats will introduce an ambitious new bill that would restore the important voting-rights protections. The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 would compel states with a well-documented history of recent voting discrimination to clear future voting changes with the federal government, require federal approval for voter ID laws...
Chicago Activists Say City's $10 Minimum Wage Is Not Enough, Decry Rauner Cuts  Progress Illinois  ...While Chicago's minimum wage is set to increase to $10 per hour in two weeks, a group of community activists gathered Tuesday morning in the Loop to say the raise is not enough. Highlighting the plight of "chronically underpaid and undervalued" home and child care workers, Kelly-Rushton was one of roughly two-dozen people to call for a statewide $15 minimum wage--a yearly salary of about $31,000--during the demonstration at Daley Plaza downtown...
Bobby Jindal Is Running For President. Here Is How He Ran Louisiana. Think Progress  ...Since Gov. Jindal took office in 2008, Louisiana has earned some dubious honors. The state has the largest gender pay gap in the country, with women making 66 cents for every dollar a man earns. A study by the Violence Policy Center published in late January found the state also has the second-highest rate of gun deaths in the nation, and the state’s rate of incarceration currently leads the U.S. — and thus, the world...
Governor marks Rhode Island's minimum wage increase  ABC  ...Gov. Gina Raimondo has marked the passage of legislation to raise Rhode Island's minimum wage with a ceremonial bill signing. The governor was joined by state lawmakers Monday to mark the occasion. Raimondo says she's proud to raise the state's hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 starting Jan. 1...
Kate Brown signs bill making it easier for parents to opt students out of state tests -- but says they shouldn't  Oregon Live  ...Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that on Monday she signed a bill making it easier for parents to opt their children out of taking state standardized tests. But she said educators and state officials should convince parents not to do so. House Bill 2655, which was strongly backed by the Oregon Education Association, prioritizes the rights of parents to exempt their children from that one aspect of public schooling...
Ikea Will Raise U.S. Minimum Wage to $11.87 to Retain Workforce  Bloomberg  ...Ikea Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, will raise the hourly minimum wage it pays workers in the U.S. by 10 percent to $11.87, seeking to keep employees from moving to other merchants that have boosted pay recently. The increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, follows a 17 percent boost to $10.76 an hour this year...
Montgomery Co. Council approves paid sick leave  WUSA  ...Tuesday, Montgomery County council members voted unanimously (9-0) in favor of a bill that requires employers to give full-time employees seven paid sick days. The Earned Sick and Safe Leave Bill requires employers to provide a minimum of one-hour paid time off for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than five workers would have to offer seven sick days. Of those, four days would be paid and three days would be unpaid...

U.S. Labor
Marathon Galveston Bay workers OK contract, end five-month strike  Business Insider  ...Striking workers from Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay Refinery ratified a new contract on Tuesday, ending a five-month strike, said local union officials. About 90 percent of the more than 1,000 workers cast secret ballots at their local union hall in Texas City, Texas, within sight of the 451,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery on Monday and Tuesday to end the work stoppage that began on Feb. 1...
‘Marriage Boot Camp’ Strike Over; IATSE And Producers Reach Deal  Deadline  ...Members of the postproduction crew on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp went on strike today to win an IATSE contract. After less than 12 hours, they have a deal, and everyone’s going back to work. IATSE reps and Marriage Boot Camp producers at Thinkfactory have agreed that their postproduction and production staff now will be unionized...
UAW, GM to open bargaining July 13, FCA the next day  Detroit Free Press  ...Negotiations between the UAW and the Detroit 3 automakers open July 13 amid the industry's most financially healthy period in more than a decade, especially in North America. The talks begin with ceremonial handshakes July 13 for General Motors; July 14, Fiat Chrysler; and July 23, Ford...
Boeing sued over 'toxic' plane cabin air  The Hill  ...A group of flight attendants are suing airplane manufacturer Boeing for allegedly exposing them to "toxic" air inside its planes, the Chicago Tribune reports. The flight attendants, who worked for Alaska Airlines, are alleging that Boeing knowingly exposed passengers and flight crews to toxic air that was sucked into its planes through the engine by the system that is used to maintain cabin pressure during flights, according to the report...
GE, unions reach labor agreement  Louisville Business First  ...Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co., has reached tentative agreements on new labor contracts with national leaders of its two largest unions: the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Workers at the company's GE Appliances division, which is based in Louisville, are represented by the IEU-CWA. The company has about 6,230 workers in Louisville...
Workers at Berkshires mental health, addiction center vote for strike  Mass Live  ...Workers at the Brien Center, a Berkshires-based mental health and addiction treatment agency, are set to strike unless a contract agreement is reached in the next two weeks. Clinicians and care staff represented by SEIU Local 509 voted to authorize the strike to protest what they describe as near-poverty wages and unproductive negotiations with the center, according to a union press release...

Miscellaneous
National Movement to Lower Flag of Racial Hatred, 150 Years Overdue  Common Dreams  ...One hundred and fifteen years after the end of the American Civil War and despite decades of calls for its retirement, the Confederate Flag—the emblem of the Old South and its racist legacy—may finally be coming down. In South Carolina on Tuesday, lawmakers voted to take up legislation to remove the flag from statehouse grounds, one day after Republican Governor Nikki Haley made similar remarks...
Public Spending on Infrastructure Construction Sinking to Great Recession Levels  We Party Patriots  ...New numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show the extent to which government has failed to adequately fund infrastructure construction and the effect this has had on the overall economy.  The new statistics show that total public construction spending is nearing Great Recession lows at a time when the American Society of Civil Engineers grades America’s infrastructure as a D+...
"Perpetrator Has Been Arrested, But Killer is Still at Large": Calls Rise to Remove Confederate Flag  Democracy Now  ...Calls are growing in South Carolina to remove the Confederate battle flag at the state Capitol after last week’s mass shooting of nine African-American worshipers at the historic Emanuel AME Church. The flag has been the source of controversy for decades in South Carolina, but a growing number of politicians, including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, are calling for its removal...
After 13 Years of Hell, Human Held Without Charges Has One Question for US  Common Dreams  ...Moath al-Alwi, who has been a prisoner of the U.S. government and detained at the offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002 without ever being charged with a crime or afforded a trial, has a simple yet urgent question for the American people and the U.S. government: Why am I still here?...

More good jobs, less bad pollution

If more U.S. cities recycled like Seattle, a million-plus good jobs would result, according to our friends at Partnership for Working Families. We're cross-posting their blog today about a new report that explains how:

The top 37 metro areas in the country are poised to create new jobs, make bad jobs into good ones, and solve tough environmental problems by transforming the way they handle their trash and recycling.

Transforming Trash in Urban America, a new report from the Partnership for Working Families, shows that creating jobs and slowing climate change through a new approach to waste management is both possible and urgent for America’s largest cities.

Our cities bear the brunt of the national jobs crisis, as well as suffering the worst effects of climate change, whether through superstorms, drought, fires, or heat waves.  The combination of national and global scale problems with federal political paralysis requires local solutions that add up to national impact.

Transforming the way we deal with our waste is one of the best ways cities can take local action on our jobs and environmental crises.  While the environmental benefits of recycling are well established, the best approach also raises standards in what are some of the worst jobs in country, and becomes a catalyst for economic development and job creation.   This comprehensive, sustainable approach to waste and recycling can yield dramatic results.  Tellus Institute’s More Jobs, Less Pollution study, prepared for labor and environmental organizations, found that we can create 1.3 million jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a level equivalent to shutting down 72 coal-fired power plants.

Transforming Trash in Urban America analyzes the top 37 cities in the country and asks whether the innovative recycling models being developed in a few cities could be applied broadly. We found huge potential to build good waste management and recycling systems that would maximize both environmental and economic benefits.

To conduct this study we did an in-depth public records analysis of city waste management plans, recycling reports, and local news.  We followed this document research with in-depth interviews with city waste management and recycling staff, as well as activists and allies in key cities.

We found a few cities doing a great job, many more on the cusp, and a significant number who are early enough in the development of their recycling systems that they can include job standards and creation from the outset.

• In a few model cities like Seattle and San Francisco, workers, environmentalists and community activists have successfully worked with elected leaders and sanitation staff to create comprehensive recycling systems that capture the sector’s full potential as a catalyst for the green economy. 
• Many other cities are on the cusp of capturing recycling’s full potential.  Oakland, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York are all examples of cities where important pieces of the puzzle have been put in place, but critical components, often related to standards for workers or economic development, have been left out.  In many of those cities, new labor/community/environment coalitions are successfully advocating to increase diversion and job standards together, all while strengthening local recycling economies.
• A significant number of cities that we surveyed have low recycling rates and/or few job components of their waste management plans, and lots of room for improvement.  Places like Denver and Milwaukee should adopt waste management and recycling policies that increase diversion and maximize job creation and equity from the very beginning.

The Partnership for Working Families, together with environmental, labor, and community allies, is building a ground up movement to tackle jobs and climate problems through a shift to comprehensive, sustainable waste management and recycling solutions.  Transforming Trash in Urban America shows that city level change can add up to national impact.