Today's Teamster News 10.02.14

Teamster News
City Sanitation Workers Get In The Pink For Breast Cancer Awareness Month  New York Daily News   ...The 6,300 members of the Sanitation Department will be wearing pink ribbons on their green uniforms for the next 31 days in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “This has touched a lot of us throughout the department,” said sanitation worker Brian Tullo, whose mother battled breast cancer. ..
BLET Members Convene 3rd National Convention  teamster.org   ...BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce delivered his state of the union speech during the opening session of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen's Third National Convention...
New Legislation Aimed At Curbing Ridesharing Controversy In DC  WUSA   ...The Teamsters Local 922, which has formed an association with more than one thousand independent Washington taxi drivers, also issued a statement criticizing Cheh's bill. The legislation "does not do enough to provide for public safety, industry stability, or equity for taxi drivers," the Teamsters statement said...
Trade
The vulnerability of being ill informed: the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and Global Public Health  Journal of Public Health   ...the TPPA poses serious risks to global public health, particularly chronic, non-communicable diseases. At greatest risk are national tobacco regulations, regulations governing the emergence of generic drugs and controls over food imports by transnational corporations...
State Battles
Kansas: Continued Budget Hemorrhaging  Econbrowser   ...Tax collections by Kansas state government in September fell a sobering $21 million below projections to mark the fourth time in the past six months revenue failed to match targets, officials said Tuesday...
Wisconsin Has 3rd-Lowest Business Start-Up Rate In Country, According To Census Data  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...According to the data, about 5,700 businesses with employees were created in Wisconsin in 2012, which constitutes less than 6 percent of all Wisconsin firms. Only Iowa and West Virginia had lower rates for the year...
In Wisconsin, A Push For Voter ID Law, But Not Voter IDs  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The Advancement Project and ACLU have noted that the state would need to issue 6,000 IDs per day to protect the right to vote. Yet two-thirds of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles offices are only open part-time, and just one is open on Saturday, making it exceptionally difficult for working people to get an ID or to drive a friend or family member who doesn't have one...
Report: Fla. voters had country’s longest waits to cast ballots  Miami Herald   ...Voters in Florida waited far longer than those in other states to cast their votes in the 2012 election, hampered by long ballots and cutbacks in early voting options, according to a new report by congressional auditors...
National union leader visits Maine to back Michaud, condemn LePage ‘right to work’ push  Bangor Daily News   ...The president of the nation’s largest unionized labor organization came to Maine on Wednesday to boost Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s campaign for governor, calling the congressman “a friend of the working people, whether they’re union or not.”...
NJ’s minimum wage rising in January by 13 cents  Asbury Park Press   ...The 1.59 percent increase, from $8.25 an hour to $8.38, is required under a constitutional amendment approved by 61 percent of voters last November that raised the mimimum wage by $1 and provided for automatic yearly increases to keep pace with inflation...
Minimum wage to rise to $8.10 for Ohio workers in 2015, up 15 cents  cleveland.com   ...The increase, announced Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Commerce, will benefit workers employed by companies with annual gross receipts greater than $297,000 a year...
Court Blocks Part of New North Carolina Voting Law  Associated Press   ...Parts of North Carolina's new voting law, considered one of the toughest in the nation, were set aside for next month's elections because they were likely to disenfranchise black voters, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday...
War On Workers
Two years after college, too many grads are still 'adrift'  The Hill   ... Two years after graduation, 24 percent of graduates have been forced to move back home with their parents. No less shocking, 74 percent of college graduates "are receiving financial support from their families." Moreover, 23 percent of graduates who are "in the labor market are unemployed or underemployed," that is, they find themselves in jobs in which they work fewer than "20 hours per week" or where the majority of peer employees "have not completed even a year of college." Finally, a mere 47 percent of working graduates enjoy full-time jobs that "pay $30,000 or more annually," and this at a time when the average debt load for students who borrowed to attend college stands at $29,400...
Wal-Mart’s New Scheme To Prey On America’s Poor  Salon.com   ...to open an account, you have to buy a $2.95 “starter kit” from Walmart. There’s also a minimum deposit of $20 required. A visit to an out-of-network ATM will get you a $2.50 charge, and customers who do not keep a balance of $500 a month will get hit with a fee of $8.95. This last bit is especially worrying: if you suddenly lose your job, you can quickly rack up burdensome fees...
Worker Killed in Valley Forklift Accident  WOWT   ...Valley police say George Young was using a standing forklift Monday night while working at Midwest Manufacturing. At some point, the machine backed into a shelving unit and pinned him...
Miscellaneous
September U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Drops  Wall Street Journal   ...U.S. consumers unexpectedly pulled back on their economic optimism in September, according to a report released Tuesday. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 86.0 in September from a revised 93.4 in August, first reported as 92.4...

Today's Teamster News 09.27.14

Teamsters
Hospitality union, Teamsters, quietly negotiating contract with Harrah's after employees unionize  NOLA.com   ...A pair of labor unions have for the last six months been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy...
Local 653 Secures Two Contracts For Workers At Reinhart Food, Bridgewater Public Works  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 653 continued its tradition of strong representation this week, securing first contracts for members at two employers – recently organized Reinhart Food Service and East Bridgewater Department of Public Works...
Why the Garbage Man Might Dislike Your Dog  New York Times   ...“I’ve had people, while I’m picking up the bags, they walk up and let the dog pee on the bag,” a trash collector named Kevin said as he paused before a townhouse on Charles Street in the West Village...
Trade
Glum outlook for reaching TPP agreement in Nov.  The Japan News   ...The forecast looks cloudy for reaching a broad agreement in November among countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, as Japan and the United States remain divided over specifics on sensitive issues...
Congress' Smackdown of Fast Track: Sweet 16 Bday  Huffington Post   ...Sixteen years ago today, 171 Democrats and 71 GOP Representatives united to vote down then-President Bill Clinton's request for Fast Track authority. As President Barack Obama now seeks to revive the extreme Nixon-era trade procedure, the 1998 Fast Track smackdown is worth remembering...
State Battles
ALEC Can't Hold On To Its Tech Giants Anymore  New Republic   ...With Yahoo becoming the latest company to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council in a matter of days, it's official: ALEC has lost favor with tech giants. ALEC is the right-wing organization that writes model legislation on everything from unions to regulations and tries to push it at the state level...
International Paper Leaves ALEC  Common Cause   ...Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC...
Scott Walker’s deficit, distortions, damage to state (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Walker, who brags about closing a large budget deficit, can no longer cover up the fact his own budget manipulations will create an enormous $1.8 billion budget deficit for whoever is governor in January...
Conservative PAC Grow Missouri Asks St. Louis Journalists To Write for its Blog  Romenesko   ...Grow Missouri is a conservative political action committee funded by billionaire Rex Sinquefield – described as “the Show Me State’s version of the Koch brothers.” Apparently not knowing the ethics rules for journalists, a rep for Grow Missouri has asked St. Louis reporters – including one who covers Grow Missouri for the Post-Dispatch – to contribute to the PAC’s blog...
Los Angeles hotel workers win $15 minimum wage after city council vote  The Guardian   ...The city council voted on Wednesday night to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15.37 for employees of hotels with more than 125 rooms, a decision expected to boost campaigns for better wages in other industries and cities...
War on Workers
Amazon's new Baltimore warehouse has outdoor cages for smokers  Baltimore Business Journal   ...Jennings described security at Amazon warehouses as more stringent than airport screenings, saying the company is highly focused on maintaining strict inventory control. But the company also wants its employees to be happy, so it includes features such as the smoking cages in warehouses...
It happens: Seniors with student debt - and smaller Social Security checks  Reuters   ...The GAO found that 706,000 of households headed by those aged 65 or older have outstanding student debts. That’s just 3 percent of all households, but the debt they hold has ballooned from $2.8 billion in 2005 to about $18.2 billion last year. Some 27 percent of those loans are in default...
1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working  The Weekly Standard   ...workplace participation overall is near a four-decade low...
Hyatt to pay ousted workers $1m in boycott-ending deal  Boston Globe   ...Hyatt Hotels Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to 98 Boston-area housekeepers who were fired five years ago and replaced by lower-paid, outsourced workers...
Warren Calls for Hearings on New York Fed Allegations  Bloomberg   ...Carmen Segarra, a former New York Fed bank examiner who was fired in 2012, ...described how she felt that her Fed colleagues were afraid of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and handled it with kid gloves...
How Eric Holder Failed the Economy (opinion)  Bloomberg   ...Of 21 separate actions against major financial companies from 2009 through May 2014, only eight were accompanied by charges against individuals, and none of them were high-level executives….more than 1,000 people were charged after the savings-and-loan bust of the 1980s, and more than 100 company officers and directors served prison terms...
Oil field worker dies in mishap  Amarillo Globe-News   ...a man’s leg got caught in a ditch-digging machine. Responders provided emergency medical services on the man, but he died at the scene as a result of the injuries...
Police: Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace  Associated Press   ...A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday...
Chicago-area air traffic center fire grounds 1,750 flights  Reuters   ...The fire was set by a longtime employee of Harris Corp, which provides equipment and technical support for the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Chicago and many others, U.S. government officials said...
LIBRE Initiative criticized for its ties to the Koch brothers  VOXXI   ...The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But lately, the group has been taking a lot of heat for collecting millions of dollars from Charles and David Koch...

Georgia sanitation workers set to join Local 728

Months of rallies look to have paid off for DeKalb County sanitation workers.

Some 450 Atlanta-area sanitation workers are on the brink of joining the Teamsters. The DeKalb County Commission is slated to take a final vote next month to officially recognize the workers as members of Local 728 after years of attempting to organize.

The looming decision to change local law so the union can be recognized comes after workers attended many county commission meetings in recent months to urge DeKalb officials to allow them to join the Teamsters. Ben Speight, an organizer with Local 728, said the move has already paid benefits as the country recently approved a three percent raise for the workers.

Dejuan McDaniel, a 13-year department employee who drives a front-end loader and is a member of the organizing committee, said 80 percent of employees backed the move to organize. He said the strong support for the union comes from the desire to have a say in the workplace:

We have been without a serious voice for so long. We had safety issues that have been unheard. We had pay issues, mistreatment of employees. It was long overdue.

Fellow front-end loader driver and organizing committee member Charleen Anthony, who’s been with the department for five years, said the union will improve the workplace:

We really need the representation for when the guys go in to talk to their supervisors. If we had representation of the union, it would be a much better organization.

McDaniel said he was proud that he and his fellow workers are part of a long movement of sanitation workers fighting for better wages and conditions going back to when Memphis workers marched with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of his assassination in April 1968:

It is a continuing saga. I look at it like we are picking up [the] torch.

We look forward to officially welcoming our new brothers and sisters to the Teamster family!

Great coverage of GA Teamsters organizing the unorganized

Georgia Teamsters in Local 728 are doing a great job organizing the unorganized even in a No Rights At Work state.

About 70 DeKalb County sanitation workers showed up on Tuesday at a County Commission meeting to demand a union. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:

The turnout of workers in their neon yellow safety shirts — some taking a break from work — was just a fraction of the 411 employees who have petitioned commissioners to recognize Teamsters Local 728, an existing union in the region that DeKalb’s sanitation workers wish to join. Some invoked the (Rev. Martin Luther) King in explaining their main concerns: safety and dignity on the job. 

“I know most people don’t think about the trash when they put it out in the morning, because it’s gone when they come home,” said Angelo Williams, a driver who has worked for DeKalb for more than 12 years. “We do an excellent job in DeKalb. But we need an advocate so we can safely continuously serve this county.”...

It looks as if they'll get what they want:

DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, acknowledged the difficult work during brief comments to workers. Ellis reminded the workers that he had ordered his administrators to allow unionizing efforts and said there would be no repercussions against workers who were involved in the initiative. 

Commissioners, too, said they supported the right to join a union. The real hurdle: the legal question of how to allow union membership while honoring a local law that does not allow dues to be automatically deducted from employee pay. 

Working out that process could take months. So, too, could the separate question of one-time raises for the lowest-paid county workers, including haulers who can earn as little as $20,000 a year. 

Stand strong and stand together!

Memo to Bill Gates: Fix your own sanitation problem

It will take more than a solar-powered toilet to fix this mess.

Trash tycoon Bill Gates is fixated on improving sanitation by creating a better toilet. Cleaning up the burning, exploding, radioactive landfills he owns -- well, not so much.

Gates owns about a quarter of Republic Services/Allied Waste, by far the waste company's largest shareholder. He also runs a foundation that awarded $100,000 to the inventor of a solar-powered toilet. CNN reported:

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates thinks one of the answers to improving health is in the bathroom. 

A year ago, his foundation issued a challenge to universities to create a new toilet, launching a worldwide effort to improve sanitation. 

This week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced who won the challenge. 

California Institute of Technology was the big winner and was awarded $100,000 for its idea of a solar-powered toilet that generates hydrogen and electricity. 

A CBS St. Louis report suggests Gates should be paying attention to the sanitation problems created by his own company. Republic came in 46th out of 50 waste management companies ranked for their environmental record. Here's a litany of problems over the past 6 years:

• California fined Republic $725,000 for hazardous waste leaking from a landfill into San Francisco Bay. 
• Republic paid $1 million in fines and up to $36 million to remediate violations of the Clean Water Act at a landfill in Clark County, Nev.
• Republic was fined $10 million after a burning landfill created a stench in Ohio. 
• Republic paid a $650,000 fine for a fetid landfill in Findlay Township, Pa.
• Republic and Maricopa County, Ariz., paid a $1.5 million fine for failing to report on the quality of air near a landfill. 
• A court ordered Republic to pay $2.3 million in damages to six neighbors of a stinking Republic landfill in Lee County, S.C.

And now Missouri's attorney general is suing Republic for the stinking, burning, exploding, radioactive Bridgeton Landfill near St. Louis.

Got a contest for fixing those problems, Bill?

Today's Teamster News 03.13.13

Are the Koch Brothers Trying to Buy the Los Angeles Times?  LA Weekly   ...Multiple sources tell L.A. Weekly that Charles and David Koch -- the infamous right-wing billionaire brothers -- are considering an offer on either the Tribune Co. newspaper group, which includes the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun or the entire Tribune Co., which includes more than 20 stations like WGN and KTLA Channel 5...
How Deadbeat Banks Pushed Detroit To The Brink  The National Memo   ...Detroit has been ravaged by an unending foreclosure crisis. Predatory loans trapped borrowers into monthly mortgage rates they couldn’t pay, with lenders particularly targeting lower-income minority areas like Detroit...
NLRB To Seek Supreme Court Review in Noel Canning v. NLRB  NLRB   ...The Board, in consultation with the Department of Justice, intends to file a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court for review of that decision....
If Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes, Why Should You?  Truthdig.com   ...60 of the largest U.S. corporations “parked a total of $166 billion offshore last year” shielding more than 40 percent of their profits from U.S. taxes. But they all still expect Uncle Sam to come to their aid with military firepower in case the natives abroad get restless and nationalize their company’s assets...
Job Openings Increase as U.S. Labor Market Improves   Bloomberg   ...The fewest workers on record were fired in January and job openings rebounded, showing employers are gaining confidence the U.S. expansion will be sustained even as lawmakers battle to trim the federal budget deficit...
TPP: What you need to know about this 'super-sized' trade deal  Rabble.ca   ...Like NAFTA, the TPP will handcuff our ability to set regulations in key areas like finance, industry, the environment, public procurement and fostering programs to create jobs at home. Free trade offers corporate subsidies for the rich and cut-throat competition for everyone else...
Lawmakers grill Cordray in duel over consumer watchdog  MoneyWatch   ...No legislators or financial experts question Cordray's credentials to lead the CFPB. But congressional Republicans have opposed the bureau even before it was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which seeks to protect people from deceptive financial practices...
Mo. House endorses union paycheck bill  Associated Press   ...After steadfast opposition from Democrats, the Missouri House and Senate each endorsed separate measures Tuesday that would change the way labor unions can collect and spend fees...
Appeals court refuses to grant stay in Act 10 case  WisPolitics Budget Blog   ...A state appeals court refused today to stay a Dane County judge's ruling that the governor's collective bargaining changes for some municipal employees are unconstitutional....
Florida senate president aims to hand out rare pay raises  Florida Today   ...The Senate president reiterated Friday that lawmakers will try to give state workers their first raise in six years, though he warned about the unpredictable nature of economic circumstances that could derail the plan...
Poll: Tom Corbett losing to 5 Democratic hopefuls  Politico   ...Only a third of voters approve of the Republican’s job performance. Fifty-eight percent disapprove...
Compass: Mayor's labor law guts a system that works for the city (opinion) Anchorage Daily News   ...these drastic rules would end forever a cost-effective system that for decades has worked fairly for taxpayers and employees. Sullivan's new law is a stab in the back to every citizen of Anchorage...
Soda Wars Backlash: Mississippi Passes 'Anti-Bloomberg' Bill  National Public Radio   ...A bill now on the governor's desk would bar counties and towns from enacting rules that require calorie counts to be posted, that cap portion sizes, or that keep toys out of kids' meals...
State pays millions as prison populations sink  Colorado Public News   ...Colorado’s governor and legislature quietly agreed last year to pay millions to a private prison company for cells the state would not need...
Twinkies sold by Hostess Brands in private equity deal  BBC News   ...In a joint bid, Metropoulos & Co and Apollo Global Management are paying $410m (£275m) for the bankrupt company...
Teamsters Call On TSA To Reverse Policy Allowing Knives On Planes  IBT  ...The Transportation Security Administration's recent decision allowing knives in the aircraft cabin is an outrageous move that will endanger the security of the flying public and the safety of thousands of flight attendants and pilots, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said today...
California Teamsters Urge Fair Treatment Of Immigrants  IBT  ...Teamsters Joint Council 7 spoke out at a recent hearing on the abuse of immigrant workers by California businesses. The hearing, called for by Assemblymember Roger Hernandez, Chair of the Assembly Labor & Employment Committee, included testimony from immigrant workers at Marquez Brothers and the warehouse, car wash and recycling industries...
Teamsters Local 705 on strike at sanitary district  NWITimes.com   ...District officials have said the two sides are stuck on issues related to wages and health insurance premium contributions, but Neil Messino, the Teamsters' contract administrator, said Monday the union has filed an unfair labor practices charge against Thorn Creek officials, saying they have refused to bargain in good faith with the union...

Today's Teamster News 03.05.13

Vulnerable U.S. Dairy Industry Could Be Harmed By TPP Trade Deal  IBT   ...Congress should not approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal without carefully considering the impact on vulnerable U.S. dairy farms and workers. ... the Teamsters would not support any trade deal that provides lesser protections to workers than to corporations...
Regulators Crack Down on Classifying Workers as Contractors  Wall Street Journal   ...State and federal regulators have cracked down on companies in recent months by filing lawsuits against companies that classify workers as independent contractors...Targeted companies span the labor spectrum from construction and package delivery to trucking and exotic dance...
Obama taps Walmart Foundation head as budget chief  NBC Politics   ...President Barack Obama will nominate Walmart Foundation Sylvia Mathews Burwell to direct the Office of Management and Budget ... one of the most important jobs in the administration...
Banks Find More Wrongful Foreclosures Among Military Members  New York Times   ...The nation’s biggest banks wrongfully foreclosed on more than 700 military members during the housing crisis and seized homes from roughly two dozen other borrowers who were current on their mortgage payments...
Despite Colombia's measures, labor union officials' lives at risk  Los Angeles Times   ...Last year, about 20 union leaders were killed in Colombia, with few if any of the slayings resulting in arrests. In addition, 90 labor leaders were kidnapped and 431 labor leaders were threatened, according to CUT, the nation's labor umbrella organization...
Union contracts could be in crosshairs as Gov. Snyder intervenes in Detroit  Fox News   ...Michigan lawmakers tired of failed efforts to save Detroit from its long, slow decline are poised to appoint an emergency manager who will assume control of virtually all aspects of city government. And union contracts could be in the crosshairs...
GOP may punish Mich. schools that sign long labor contracts before right-to-work deadline  The Republic   ...Michigan public universities and K-12 districts that consider signing unusually long new contracts before the contentious right-to-work law goes into effect March 28 may have to think twice. Some Republican lawmakers with the power of the purse are threatening to limit their state aid and call them into the Capitol for an explanation...
Mo. Senate stalled on 'paycheck protection' bill   Associated Press   ...An effort to ban public employee unions from automatically deducting dues from a member's paycheck has been gaining momentum across the country, but Missouri Democrats were able to stall it — at least for now...
Critics assail reform plans for Arizona elections  Arizona Republic   ...One bill would pare down early-voting lists; another would make it more difficult to deliver other people’s ballots to polling places; and other bills would make it more difficult to place citizen initiatives on the ballot...
Walker Walks Away from "John Doe" Investigation, Pushes Budget Deal Only ALEC Could Love  Center for Media and Democracy   ...There is no doubt that Walker emerges from the scandal in a stronger position to advance his extreme legislative agenda and his plans for higher office...

ABF Freight, Teamsters talks look to get in gear  Kansas City Business Journal   ...In the latest round of talks, which concluded last week, the two sides moved closer to an agreement, a Friday release from the Teamsters said. The statement said that ABF has withdrawn its initial proposal and now is negotiating based on the existing labor agreement...
CitationAir Forces Pilots to Work a Month for Free  IBT  ...CitationAir, the Greenwich, Conn.-based provider of luxury business jet and charter aircraft services, radically altered the work schedules of the company's nearly 230 pilots...Management's new schedule pattern now requires pilots to be available for duty eight consecutive workdays during each two-week period for an increase of 26 more workdays per year... 
Teamsters issue strike notice to sanitary district  Northwest Indiana Times  ...The district announced in a news release Monday that the Teamsters Local 705 bargaining unit has submitted a notice that it intends to strike as soon as Wednesday...The district and union have been negotiating a four-year contract for the past 2-1/2 years...

High praise for NYC Teamster SanMen

NYC snowplow convoy turning off 7th Ave. (Thanks JeffreyNYC)

We've seen quite a lot of praise for our brothers and sisters of Teamsters Local 831, New York City's sanitation workers. Jaime A Rodriguez ‏tweeted:

What a excellent job by #NYC Sanitation cleaning up the snow. By 4pm its like #Nemo never happened. Cc: @NYCMayorsOffice

But it's a twitpic that really tells the story, with yesterday's tweet by Lee Goldberg at WABC:

Blue sky. White rooftops. Black streets. What a city! #nycsanitation @eyewitnessnyc

Here's the photo:

We'd also like to give a shoutout to all our brothers and sisters who kept the roads plowed, the trains moving, the grocery stores stocked and citizens safe.  And a special shoutout to all who are working today to restore power in the Northeast.

Amtrak tells us

Amtrak crews have been working through the night and this morning continue to clear track of snow and downed trees as well as making necessary repairs to restore train operations following the severe winter storm that impacted the Northeast.

Sister Mary Donch, a proud member of the Teamsters Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division 269, tweeted:

I was out there with an engine rescuing a stalled train at 2:30 AM! Proudly BLE&T 269!

Joan Puopolo Sullivan told us on Facebook that members of Teamsters Local 25 are staffing the South Shore Regional Emergency Communications Center in Hingham, Mass.

We are manning the police, fire, 911 phones. Good job by SSRECC dispatchers in Hingham.

And just a reminder that it isn't ALL about the Northeast:

Santo Joseph Messina posted on Facebook:

Keeping the Interstate and Main Routes safe for democracy. IL. Dept. of Transportation and Teamsters Local 330.

Great job, brothers and sisters!

Memphis leaders to Republic: 'You're unconscionable'

Rev. Mary Edwards, Greenleaf C.M.E. Church; Dr. Elena Delavega, Asst. Professor of Social Work at the University of Memphis; Rev. Herbert Lester, Asbury United Methodist Church; and Justin Sledge, philosophy graduate student at the University of Memphis; sanitation worker Robert Walker.

Today a delegation of workers' rights leaders delivered an open letter to the general manager of Republic Services/Allied Waste in Memphis. The message: Your attacks on sanitation workers are unconscionable.

Specifically, the letter said:

We believe it is unconscionable to risk the workers’ livelihood in old age. We believe it is unconscionable to expose the workers to untold dangers. And we believe it is unconscionable to neglect the needs and the rights of the workers who perform such an important and valuable service to our Memphis community.

The delegation, along with other clergy and community leaders, attended a workers' rights board hearing earlier this month at the Gift of Life Ministries. There, sanitation workers from Republic/Allied Waste testified about Republic’s abuse of workers and Memphis communities.

Republic is trying to take away workers' pensions as part of contract negotiations with Teamsters Local 984. Last month, it flew out-of-town replacement workers into Memphis in an attempt to bully its workers.

Said Brother Walker:

We put our lives on the line every day to protect the public health, and we deserve dignity and respect. Instead, the company is threatening lockouts and trying to intimidate us.

Memphis isn't the only place where Republic abuses its own employees. In May, the company locked out 80 workers in Evansville, Ind., for six weeks because the workers refused to give up their pensions. The company’s out-of-town replacement drivers damaged people’s homes, cars and even power lines. In March, Republic/Allied walked away from a ratified contract with Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala. Members were forced to strike and finally secured a contract.

Republic is a rich company that can afford to keep its promises to its employees. Last year it made $589 million on revenues of more than $8.2 billion.

Find out more about the company's dangerous and immoral behavior at a new website: www.PickUpTheGarbage.com. There's a video well worth watching.

Solidarity!

Today's Teamster News 11.03.12

U.S. job growth quickens, giving Obama some relief  Reuters   ...U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October and a small increase in the jobless rate was due to more workers restarting their job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama's re-election bid...
Gas Shortage Lingers, Crippling Aid Organizations And Recovery Effort  Huffington Post   ...Thursday, a deadly cocktail of mass power outages, port closures and skyrocketing demand for fuel shut down gas stations across New York and New Jersey, spurring mile-long lines and fights at the few pumps that remained open. Now, the shortage is crippling aid organizations spearheading relief in devastated areas...
Dems see chance as Gregg narrows gap to single digits in gov’s race  Associated Press   ...Democrat John Gregg has begun tying Pence to Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, whose candidacy is in jeopardy following remarks he made last week that a pregnancy resulting from rape is something “God intended...”
Department of Justice Investigating Alleged Ballot Fraud At Clackamas County Elections  Willamette Week   ...the woman filled in a straight Republican ticket on the ballots where preferences had been left blank by voters...
Early voting in Florida not extended despite long lines  Raw Story   ...Florida Gov. Rick. Scott denied a request from the League of Women Voters and Florida Democrats on Friday to extend early voting, according to the News-Press. Long lines and record turnout prompted the call, but Scott reiterated that “Early voting will end Saturday night,” although he said he wants “everyone to get out to vote...”
Vultures Descend On Bainport: Sensata Plant Set to Close November 5.  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ... Overpass Light Brigade  illuminated  the procession of masked vultures and large puppets with “VULTURE IN CHIEF” over to the Sensata plant in defiance of management’s orders that workers not be on the property outside of their assigned shifts...
Waukegan school bus drivers join Teamsters  Lake County News-Sun   ...The Waukegan workers had voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in May 2012 ... The Waukegan drivers lost their election by a vote of 86-90... The Teamsters local ... filed more than 20 unfair labor practice charges and seven objections to the election. The NLRB found merit in the charges...
County sanitation workers want union  The Champion Newspaper   ...DeKalb County sanitation workers say they need their voices to be heard. That’s why they want to be represented by the Teamsters union...
Some Rivers Casino employees might form union  Daily Herald   ...A movement to organize workers at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines is gaining support from the town’s Mayor Marty Moylan, himself a former union representative. Moylan, who retired earlier this year from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 134, said he was asked by the casino’s parking and valet attendants to support their efforts to unionize under the Teamsters Local 727...