Teamsters
Teamsters Women's Conference Kicks off in Boston Teamster.org ...More than a thousand Teamsters gathered in Boston Thursday to kick off the 2015 Teamsters Women’s Conference. The annual event, now in its 15th year, welcomed Teamsters from throughout North America for an exciting three days of solidarity and strength. “This conference gets bigger and better every year. This is about coming together, seeing each other and sisterhood,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President...
Teamsters Applaud National Labor Relations Board on Joint Employer Ruling Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union today applauded the National Labor Relations Board on its “joint employer” ruling in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., as an additional step to protect and provide a voice to millions of American workers by holding employers that rely on temporary or contracted workers accountable...
How 2 Phoenix companies are at the center of NLRB decision on temp agencies, franchises Business Journal ...The NLRB decision is based on a case involving Phoenix-based Leadpoint Business Services, its staffing of 150 to 200 workers to Browning Ferris Industries recycling plant in Milpitas, California, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters efforts to unionize there.
Browning Ferris is owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services...
Teamsters Local 104's Sun Tran Workers Hold Strong On Picket Lines Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local Union 104’s Unfair Labor Practice strike against Sun Tran has now begun its fourth week with no end in sight. Day twenty two begins the same as the previous twenty one days with the striking employees and their supporters continuing to walk the picket lines at the Ronstadt Transit Center in downtown Tucson, as well as the north and south facilities...
Still no solution between Sun Tran and Teamsters 104 Tucson News ...As the union worker strike against Sun Tran moves into its fourth week, both sides are still far apart in finding a solution. The union said this is an insult. "I'm offended they came back with a regressive offer which is bargaining in bad faith," said Teamsters Spokesman Andrew Marshall. "I mean how do you expect us to do anything but reject it"...
Tech shuttle Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation accused of forming "sham" union Business Journal ...Local tech shuttle company Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation is being accused by the National Labor Relations Board of creating a fake union in order to avoid a Teamster effort to organize its workforce, reports the San Francisco Examiner. Bauer’s is well known for its commuter shuttles used by marquee-name Bay Area tech companies like Cisco Systems...
Skyway Negotiations at Standstill; Toll Collectors Prepare for Strike Beginning Labor Day Weekend Local 727 ...Chicago Skyway toll collectors may be forced to strike because Skyway Concession Company has ground contract negotiations to a halt. The current three-year contract was set to expire July 3, but Teamsters Local 727 agreed on a two-month extension. The final negotiation meeting is scheduled for Aug. 31 — the day the contract extension expires. The members are scheduled to take a vote on Sept. 2...
Truckin’ on The Economist ...Mr McGregor reportedly earned $500,000 (not including bonuses or sponsorships) for a recent bout. But most UFC fighters make decidedly less. The median pay per fight is $24,500, and most pugilists get in the ring only a couple of times a year. Some fighters think the muscle of a union might help them get better pay and more say. Earlier this month, the Teamsters, along with a local culinary union, announced that they intended to help fighters organise...
Global Labor & Trade
TTIP deal: Business lobbyists dominate talks at expense of trade unions and NGOs Belfast Telegraph ...The world’s biggest companies in finance, technology, pharma, tobacco and telecoms are dominating discussions with the EU executive body’s trade department responsible for the proposed EU-US free trade treaty, which could become the biggest such deal ever made. Between January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations...
Will China’s currency devaluation complicate the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Lexology ...As trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries continue to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, China’s recent currency devaluation has sparked a debate over the inclusion of currency manipulation controls in global trade agreements. China is not currently part of the TPP, however, the agreement includes a mechanism for allowing other countries, including China, to join the agreement in the future...
TISA and Tech's Double Standards On Secret Government Internet Deals EFF.org ...The stash of previously-secret correspondence about the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) that EFF obtained and published this week speaks volumes about the extent to which technology companies such as IBM and Google, and trade lobby groups such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Internet Digital Economy Alliance (IDEA), have bought into the dangerous idea that trade agreements should be used to govern the Internet...
The TPP Must Not Undermine North America’s Dairy Sector (opinion) CitizensTrade.org ...As international trade negotiators continue attempting to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), farm, labor and consumer groups from throughout the Pacific Rim are demanding that they not interfere with nations’ sovereign right and responsibility to protect family farmers, processing workers and domestic food supplies – including North America’s dairy sector...
Guatemala President Faces Arrest as Business Interests and U.S. Scramble to Contain Uprising Democracy Now ...In Guatemala, a judge has ordered that former Vice President Roxana Baldetti must remain in prison while her corruption trial takes place. The ruling comes on the heels of the Guatemalan Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to lift the immunity from prosecution for President Otto Pérez Molina, clearing the way for his impeachment. The court passed the impeachment recommendation along to Congress. A general strike has been called in Guatemala for today...
200 Migrants Feared Dead as Europe’s Refugee Death Toll Creeps Towards 2,500 This Year Slate ...In the latest of what seems to be an accelerating series of now-hourly tragedies, hundreds are feared dead after two small boats carrying up to 500 migrants capsized en route to Italy from Libya. The migrant crisis on Europe's shores continues to spiral as the death toll approaches 2,500 this year...
Is austerity saving or sinking Brazil's troubled economy? BBC ...Brazil's Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has been on a drive to fix Brazil's troubled economy through austerity measures. That means spending less on unemployment benefits. Most workers now need to have been employed for a full year to receive government aid. President Rousseff might have thought she could cut spending without damaging the economy. But, as one Brazilian saying goes, the cure is now at risk of "killing the patient"...
State & Living Wage Battles
Governors Have Collected Millions In Presidential Campaign Contributions From State Contractors Think Progress ...New Jersey law currently prevents state contractors from giving more than $300 to statewide candidates’ campaigns. But that hasn’t stopped New Jersey contractors from donating more than $500,000 in total to the super PAC supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) presidential campaign...
Focus on 'right to work' gets more intense as legislators consider override attempt St. Louis Public Radio ...After a brief hiatus, both sides in the battle over “right to work” are back with a vengeance as they gear up for the Missouri General Assembly’s veto session in just over two weeks. The dueling campaigns may be aimed, in part, at influencing Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Cape Girardeau. A spokesman said the speaker has yet to decide whether to bring up the “right to work” bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this summer...
Prevailing wage still in Rauner’s crosshairs (opinion) Pekin Daily Times ...Before Gov. Bruce Rauner compromises on a state budget, he’s demanding lawmakers agree to his “Turnaround Agenda,” a misnamed list of changes ranging from limiting settlements judges and juries can award in lawsuits to restricting workers compensation protections. In the mix is his bid to abolish prevailing-wage laws...
Bill to raise California minimum wage stalls in Assembly SacBee ...A controversial measure to raise California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour over the next two years was held Thursday in a key financial committee, but the proposal may continue forward next session. Despite last-minute amendments put forth by author Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to delay the increase by another year, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, suggested he would look for other changes to advance Senate Bill 3 next year...
This State Just Became The First In The Nation To End Chronic Veteran Homelessness Think Progress ...On Thursday, the federal government announced that Connecticut is the first state in the country to end chronic homelessness among veterans. That means the state has found permanent housing for all veterans who have been homeless for at least one year or four times in the past three years, or has an immediate path to housing in place for them...
U.S. Labor
In landmark case, labor board will let more workers bargain with their employer’s employer Washington Post ...A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies. The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises...
The Labor Ruling McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality Huffington Post ...McDonald's, Burger King and every other company that relies on a franchise business model just suffered the legal setback they've been fearing for years. The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a "joint employer" alongside one of its subcontractors...
IKEA Says They’re “Socially Responsible.” So Why Are Workers Accusing Them of Union-Busting? In These Times ...With a potential strike deadline looming at one its largest U.S. warehouses, Sweden-based home furnishings retailer IKEA is facing renewed skepticism over its self-proclaimed commitment to fair labor policies, both in the United States and elsewhere. The deadline has immediate impact for about 450 unionized warehouse workers in Perryville, Maryland, many of whom find themselves puzzled at what they say is IKEA’s refusal to negotiate seriously over a new contract...
KapStone workers on strike TDN.com ...After 15 months of failed contract negotiations, KapStone millworkers officially went on strike early Thursday morning. The strike began at 3 a.m. Thursday after the union gave the company a three-hour notice at midnight. Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 officials said the length of the strike is open-ended...
USW plans another rally as contract deadline nears NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union is planning another big rally at AcelorMittal Burns Harbor on Sept. 1, when the current three-year contracts with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expire. If no new contracts are reached by Sept. 1, the USW could go on strike, work without a contract, or agree to extend the current contract and continue to work while a new contract is negotiated by the company...
SEIU home-care workers sign 'historic' contract Statesman Journal ...The Service Employees Union International Local 503, which represents 24,000 Oregon home-care workers, has signed a contract with the state they're calling historic. The contract paves the way for a $15 an hour wage for home-care workers by 2017, among other provisions. "Our workers, personal support and home care, really need to have a living wage," said Eileen Ordway, a home-care worker and member of the SEIU's bargaining team...
Behind the Business Attire, Many Bank Workers Earn Poverty Wages In These Times ...The collared shirts and pressed slacks may be hiding the reality: a significant portion of customer service workers in the retail banking industry make salaries low enough to make public assistance necessary. The Committee for Better Banks (CBB), a Communications Workers of America (CWA)-affiliated community and labor coalition, was created in 2013 to put an end to that...
Home Care Workers' Inclusion in Basic Labor Protections Is Just the Beginning Truthout ...Today, workers in the fastest growing workforce in the country - home care - have to live on poverty wages, struggling to pay for the gas that will get them to the seniors they assist each day. In many ways, the workers who provide those services have not changed; they are still largely women, with women of color and especially Black women providing a disproportionate amount of the care for all in the nation...
Social Justice & Other News
Detention Program Allegedly Barred Lawyers From Visiting Their Immigrant Clients Think Progress ...Advocates from an immigration detention visitation group say they have been barred from visiting potential clients in California and Alabama just a few weeks after they filed a complaint alleging abusive conditions at one detention facility. Shutting attorneys out of detention centers has been on the rise across the country...
After Hurricane Katrina, Poor Black Women Were Largely Ignored, Study Says Mother Jones ...Ten years after Hurricane Katrina displaced 40,000 people in New Orleans, opinions about the recovery can be traced along racial lines. A pair of new studies underscores that African American women, particularly those who lived in public housing, faced some of the biggest hurdles after the storm. Nearly four in five white residents in New Orleans say their state has "mostly recovered," while nearly three in five African American residents say it has not...
How Hedge Funds Are Exploiting Baltimore’s Poorest Residents Think Progress ...The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore and the ensuing protests brought the nation’s attention to the economic devastation that continues to grip the city. Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay...
Showing posts with label teamsters women's conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teamsters women's conference. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2015
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.21.13
Striking railroad Teamsters ordered back to work, no single operators allowed TeamsterNation ...An Akron, Ohio, district court judge this afternoon ordered striking locomotive engineers and trainmen at the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway back to work. He also ordered the railroad to refrain from allowing supervisors or management to operate trains...
Warehouse Workers At IKEA Vote To Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Warehouse workers, employed at the IKEA distribution center in Frederickson, Wash., have voted to join Teamsters Local 117. The 64 workers at the facility came together seeking job security, fair and equal treatment, strong representation, and respect...
Hoffa, Brune: Trade Is Good When It's Fair teamster.org ...It's been almost 20 years since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and families and communities are still reeling from its consequences...
Teamsters Picket Rochester Wegmans teamster.org ...Wegmans-picketing Teamsters from Local 118 are calling on their employer to protect good jobs in Rochester and stop retaliating against employees for standing up for their rights under Federal law. Today the union will file an unfair labor practice charge against Wegmans due to the company’s actions against employees...
Sullivan settles five-year contract with Teamsters Mid-Hudson News …Ratifying a new contract was a tossup among members Teamsters Local 445 who work for Sullivan County in New York. The union narrowly agreed to the new five-year deal by a 152 to 141 vote...
Teamster Women Get Fired Up teamster.org ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall addressed the Women’s Conference on Friday, the second day of the annual event, in New Orleans. Get the full coverage of the conference here... |
Rural/Metro Files Two Critical Documents—Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement teamster.org ...Rural Metro filed two critical documents outlining how the company plans to emerge from bankruptcy on Sunday, September 15. Those documents are the Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement...
ABF Teamster Wins National Four-Axle Competition Championship Teamsters Local 492 ...Teamster and Albuquerque ABF Line Driver Ralph Garcia won first place in the four-axle competition at the 2013 National Truck Driving Championships, which was held in Salt Lake City late August...
Labor Leaders React to Hotel Latest Tristate ...The Southwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council said Thursday it stands in full support of the proposed downtown hotel. Chuck Whobrey, president of Teamsters Local 215, wasn't at the meeting, but said the hotel is necessary for downtown redevelopment...
Employers cut jobs in 20 US states in August Associated Press ...Unemployment rates rose in 18 states, fell in 17 and were unchanged in 15...
Target to Hire 18,000 Fewer Seasonal Workers This Holiday Season; Expect Other Retailers to Do the Same Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis ..."Target lowered their expectations for the rest of the year, citing a tougher-than-expected spending environment..."
L.A. homeless hired to buy latest iPhones USA Today ...Many driven from Skid Row to Pasadena say they were unpaid and stranded after Apple Store halted scheme...
GOP's misguided attack on food stamps (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Unable to push a $20-billion cut in food stamps through the House in June, Republicans are now seeking to cut $40 billion over 10 years by tightening eligibility and cutting off able-bodied adults who don't find or train for jobs. ...But while it may motivate some idle adults to get to work, it would also punish those who simply can't find jobs at a time when there are three applicants for every opening...
Offshoring Linked to Declining U.S. Labor Share, Likely to Continue Brookings ...The decline in the U.S. labor share – now at its lowest level in the post-war period after the Great Recession – has been concentrated in sectors that face increased import competition in the wake of the overall rising role of imports in the U.S. economy, according to a new paper presented today at the Fall 2013 Conference on the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA)...
LinkedIn Customers Allege Company Hacked E-Mail Addresses Bloomberg ...LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), owner of the world’s most popular professional-networking website, was sued by customers who claim the company appropriated their identities for marketing purposes by hacking into their external e-mail accounts and downloading contacts’ addresses...
Unions launch offensive against potential government shutdown Washington Post ...Federal employee unions, having guided their members through government shutdown threats in 2011 and 2012, are arming for another possible shutdown in 11 days if Congress cannot resolve its partisan fiscal battle...
Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter Washington Post ...USIS, the Falls Church, VA government contractor that handled the background check for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday that it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his secret-level clearance in 2007...
Arkansas lawmakers back cuts to food stamp program KATV ABC 7 ...Arkansas' four congressmen have voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from the food stamp program, a 5 percent reduction to the nation's main feeding program used by more than 1 in 7 Americans...
Ex-Halliburton manager charged in Gulf of Mexico spill probe Associated Press ...A former Halliburton manager was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a case that coincides with a guilty plea to a related charge by the Houston-based oilfield services company...
Chase Bank, JPMorgan Chase to refund customers $309 million for unfair billing Sacramento Bee ...Federal regulators on Thursday ordered Chase Bank and JPMorgan Chase to refund $309 million to more than 2 million customers for illegally billing them for credit-monitoring services they never received...
Federal Reserve Program Is Socialism For The Rich firedoglake ...Why is there such a gap between the haves and the have-nots? Probably because the Federal Reserve is pumping up assets for the haves to the tune of $85 billion, a month...
Elites’ strange plot to take over the world Salon ...Western elites in America and Western Europe after World War II made a serious effort to get rid of nations altogether, and combine all “freedom-loving peoples” into one giant “Atlantic Union,” a federal state built on top of the NATO military alliance...
Don't take ax to public's right to know (opinion) The Cap Times ...If Wisconsinites were looking for a measure of how far out of control things have gotten under Gov. Scott Walker’s hyperpartisan approach to governing, they need look no further than an incident involving a key confidante of the governor and a process server seeking to deliver paperwork related to the state’s open records law...
Warehouse Workers At IKEA Vote To Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Warehouse workers, employed at the IKEA distribution center in Frederickson, Wash., have voted to join Teamsters Local 117. The 64 workers at the facility came together seeking job security, fair and equal treatment, strong representation, and respect...
Hoffa, Brune: Trade Is Good When It's Fair teamster.org ...It's been almost 20 years since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and families and communities are still reeling from its consequences...
Teamsters Picket Rochester Wegmans teamster.org ...Wegmans-picketing Teamsters from Local 118 are calling on their employer to protect good jobs in Rochester and stop retaliating against employees for standing up for their rights under Federal law. Today the union will file an unfair labor practice charge against Wegmans due to the company’s actions against employees...
Sullivan settles five-year contract with Teamsters Mid-Hudson News …Ratifying a new contract was a tossup among members Teamsters Local 445 who work for Sullivan County in New York. The union narrowly agreed to the new five-year deal by a 152 to 141 vote...
Teamster Women Get Fired Up teamster.org ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall addressed the Women’s Conference on Friday, the second day of the annual event, in New Orleans. Get the full coverage of the conference here... |
Rural/Metro Files Two Critical Documents—Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement teamster.org ...Rural Metro filed two critical documents outlining how the company plans to emerge from bankruptcy on Sunday, September 15. Those documents are the Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement...
ABF Teamster Wins National Four-Axle Competition Championship Teamsters Local 492 ...Teamster and Albuquerque ABF Line Driver Ralph Garcia won first place in the four-axle competition at the 2013 National Truck Driving Championships, which was held in Salt Lake City late August...
Labor Leaders React to Hotel Latest Tristate ...The Southwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council said Thursday it stands in full support of the proposed downtown hotel. Chuck Whobrey, president of Teamsters Local 215, wasn't at the meeting, but said the hotel is necessary for downtown redevelopment...
Employers cut jobs in 20 US states in August Associated Press ...Unemployment rates rose in 18 states, fell in 17 and were unchanged in 15...
Target to Hire 18,000 Fewer Seasonal Workers This Holiday Season; Expect Other Retailers to Do the Same Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis ..."Target lowered their expectations for the rest of the year, citing a tougher-than-expected spending environment..."
L.A. homeless hired to buy latest iPhones USA Today ...Many driven from Skid Row to Pasadena say they were unpaid and stranded after Apple Store halted scheme...
GOP's misguided attack on food stamps (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Unable to push a $20-billion cut in food stamps through the House in June, Republicans are now seeking to cut $40 billion over 10 years by tightening eligibility and cutting off able-bodied adults who don't find or train for jobs. ...But while it may motivate some idle adults to get to work, it would also punish those who simply can't find jobs at a time when there are three applicants for every opening...
Offshoring Linked to Declining U.S. Labor Share, Likely to Continue Brookings ...The decline in the U.S. labor share – now at its lowest level in the post-war period after the Great Recession – has been concentrated in sectors that face increased import competition in the wake of the overall rising role of imports in the U.S. economy, according to a new paper presented today at the Fall 2013 Conference on the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA)...
LinkedIn Customers Allege Company Hacked E-Mail Addresses Bloomberg ...LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), owner of the world’s most popular professional-networking website, was sued by customers who claim the company appropriated their identities for marketing purposes by hacking into their external e-mail accounts and downloading contacts’ addresses...
Unions launch offensive against potential government shutdown Washington Post ...Federal employee unions, having guided their members through government shutdown threats in 2011 and 2012, are arming for another possible shutdown in 11 days if Congress cannot resolve its partisan fiscal battle...
Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter Washington Post ...USIS, the Falls Church, VA government contractor that handled the background check for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday that it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his secret-level clearance in 2007...
Arkansas lawmakers back cuts to food stamp program KATV ABC 7 ...Arkansas' four congressmen have voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from the food stamp program, a 5 percent reduction to the nation's main feeding program used by more than 1 in 7 Americans...
Ex-Halliburton manager charged in Gulf of Mexico spill probe Associated Press ...A former Halliburton manager was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a case that coincides with a guilty plea to a related charge by the Houston-based oilfield services company...
Chase Bank, JPMorgan Chase to refund customers $309 million for unfair billing Sacramento Bee ...Federal regulators on Thursday ordered Chase Bank and JPMorgan Chase to refund $309 million to more than 2 million customers for illegally billing them for credit-monitoring services they never received...
Federal Reserve Program Is Socialism For The Rich firedoglake ...Why is there such a gap between the haves and the have-nots? Probably because the Federal Reserve is pumping up assets for the haves to the tune of $85 billion, a month...
Elites’ strange plot to take over the world Salon ...Western elites in America and Western Europe after World War II made a serious effort to get rid of nations altogether, and combine all “freedom-loving peoples” into one giant “Atlantic Union,” a federal state built on top of the NATO military alliance...
Don't take ax to public's right to know (opinion) The Cap Times ...If Wisconsinites were looking for a measure of how far out of control things have gotten under Gov. Scott Walker’s hyperpartisan approach to governing, they need look no further than an incident involving a key confidante of the governor and a process server seeking to deliver paperwork related to the state’s open records law...
Friday, August 24, 2012
Teamster women won't back down
The hundreds of Teamster women converging this year in San Francisco are ready to go home and campaign for political candidates who side with workers. Today was the second day of inspirational speeches and calls to get out and work for fairness, for justice, for the future of the middle class.
Kelly Rivera Craine, is a shop steward and members of Teamsters Local 332 in Flint, Mich. Interviewed at the Teamsters Women's Conference, she said she loves coming:
It gets me pumped up and motivated. We went through negotiations this year at Genesys Health System, where I work as a registered nurse. This conference gets me recharged and ready to go back to my local and my job. We are excited to have 20 women here from Local 332.
At the conference today we heard from President Hoffa. He was inspirational. He’s an awesome speaker. President Hoffa and Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, both talked about getting people out to vote. It’s our right and it’s one of the reasons I became a shop steward, because I don’t want to sit back. I decided to try and make a change. When I see people not voting, it’s like why are you complaining? Everyone needs to get out and vote.
We also heard from Joanne Hayes-White, the chief of the San Francisco Fire Department. She made a comment about grabbing on to opportunities and about never knowing what you can do until you try. Fire fighters are predominantly male, so to see what she has done while raising a family shows that if you really work hard, you can do it.Diane Ersbo, a member of Teamsters Local 638 in Minneapolis, says there aren't enough words to describe the feeling of being in San Francisco with her Teamster sisters. But she tried!
This year is more important than any other voting year. We have everything at stake and we need to know who we are voting for. It’s time we organize our neighbors, our friends, our cousins and everyone we know. This isn’t just about this election; it’s about the shoulders we stand on. It’s about the life we were given because of the work done by our parents’ generation. We cannot lose all the gains our union has made in building the middle class. I have had a good life and I want to pass that on to my son.
There is a war on workers like never before, and that was the topic of the conference today. We know how to build Teamster power and we need every single Teamster in the Teamsters Union to do that now. You’re being called out on the battlefield to stand up for justice and for workers’ rights, so grab your boots, sisters and brothers, and let’s go! Make sure you organize, organize, organize and get yourself to the polls to vote. Get educated. Make a difference.You heard the sisters.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
What do Teamster women do when attacked?
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| Dancing dragons kicked off the Teamsters Women's Conference |
We fight back!
That's the message at the Teamsters Women's Conference just getting underway. They're in San Francisco, "a great union town," Sue Mauren called it, to applause.
There was plenty of applause, cheering, whistling and whooping among the 835 participants at the conference known for its energetic (putting it mildly) spirit.
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| Sue Mauren |
"Politicians are trying to take away the right to vote and that's wrong," Mauren said. "We're under attack, and when we're under attack, what do we do?"
"We fight back," bellowed the sisters in the audience.
Mauren's advice: "Make sure you network, see old friends, meet new friends, get energized and put on your fighting spirit!"
Local 856 was already energized. They'd already registered dozens of new voters on Wednesday at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel where the Teamster women are staying.
Rome Aloise, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7 in San Francisco, stressed the importance of voting this fall. "If we don't win this election, we're toast," he said.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer took it one further: "If we don't win this election, the middle class will disappear."
Boxer said she had just delivered 100,000 signatures on a petition to Mitt Romney's $12 million home in San Diego asking him to release his tax returned. "We want to see how much money he shipped overseas," she said. "The wealthy have to pay their fair share."
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