Today's Teamster News 03.15.15

Teamsters
New JFK truck rules will drive job growth  Crain's New York Business   ...Not long ago, the Teamsters represented 5,000 air-freight drivers at JFK. Today, it's 1,200. And it's not just Teamsters. JFK supports more than 50,000 jobs in the city. An uncompetitive airport puts them at risk.
But a de Blasio administration regulation that took effect March 5 finally harmonized our trucking rules with the rest of the country, so industry-standard trucks can now pick up and drop off at JFK...
Trade
Do unions have the oomph to stop Obama's trade agenda?  Politico   ...“They certainly have gotten the attention of people who have relied on union support,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who acknowledged that her fellow Democrats often take labor’s loyalty for granted...
TPP: Just don't do it  The Ed Show   ...Nike implores employees to support TPP, which would boost trade to Nike's Vietnam manufacturing ties. Ed Schultz, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Charles Kernaghan discuss...
State Battles
Over 350 Workers Gather in New Hampshire to Call on Gov. Scott Walker to Apologize for Anti-Worker Agenda, Statements  Granite State Progress   ...Over 350 workers gathered outside of a NH GOP event in New Hampshire today to condemn Scott Walker’s anti-working family agenda and call for an apology following his recent CPAC comments equating working men and women with the terror group, ISIS...
War on Workers
A Lot Fewer Americans Get Unemployment Benefits Than You Think  Huffington Post   ... The share of unemployed Americans who receive unemployment insurance benefits has dwindled to its lowest point in decades, thanks in part to benefit cuts in Republican-led states...
By Saving Billions in Retiree Health and Pension Benefits, Auto Bailouts Were an Even Bigger Success Than Acknowledged  Economic Policy Institute   ...Thanks to the success of the federal bailouts, the company pension plans have all continued and paid all benefits earned by the retirees. And no pension liabilities have been transferred to the PBGC or the federal government...
Housemate Takes Blame for Shining Laser at Planes in Bronx  New York Times   ...After being charged this week with injuring several pilots by shining a laser beam at their plane, Frank J. Egan was held up as a pest, his arrest an example of pinpoint investigative work...

Today's Teamster News 10.04.14

Teamster News
Passavant Workers Take Strike Vote  New Castle News   ...Members of Teamsters Local 538 voted Thursday to give a 10-day strike notice to Passavant Health and Retirement Center in Zelienople. Betty Fischer, Teamsters Local 538 secretary/treasurer, said the vote was “overwhelming.”...
Environmental Activist To Address Bridgeton Landfill Concerns  St. Louis Public Radio   ...Environmental activist Lois Gibbs will be in St. Louis this weekend for a “teach-in” to address problems at the adjoining Bridgeton and West Lake landfills, located in Bridgeton a few miles from Lambert Airport...
Rev. Brian Jordan Blesses Horses With Holy Water, Praises City's Carriage Industry  New York Daily News   ...The veteran clergyman, an ardent supporter of the industry, delivered some kind words for the carriage horse owners as well. “These horses are cared for like children,” said Jordan, wearing cargo shorts and running shoes beneath his robe.
Assembly's Gary Pretlow: Veterinarians Say Carriage Horses 'Healthy, Happy, Well-Fed'  New York Daily News   ...State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow says the city's horse carriage industry should live on -- doctor's orders. The Westchester County Democrat, who sponsored legislation this spring to save the jobs of the drivers, is upping the ante by sending the City Council and mayor's office a testimonial from the state Veterinary Medical Society in support of keeping the horses on the job...
35 Port Truck Drivers Fired After Strike  AFL-CIO   ...The drivers, supported by the Teamsters, are some of the lowest paid workers in our communities. Because of their misclassification as “independent contractors,” some even take home negative paychecks. The 35 port drivers were fired from Total Transportation Services (TTSI). They include Jose Rosales, a port driver for over 10 years, husband and father of three children...
Trade
TTIP - Four Letters That Spell Rising Poverty (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Cheap labour may be good for investors and shareholders, but at the societal level at which governments operate, it creates a whole new set of problems...
Trade Deals Worsen Immigration Pressures (opinion)  Baltimore Sun   ...These trade agreements failed to achieve the promised increases in employment and wages and actually caused so much economic disruption and hardship in those countries that pressures for workers to emigrate actually increased instead of decreasing...
State Battles
New Temp Worker Bill Could Have Large Impact  Monterey Herald   ...A bill that used Taylor Farms as its rallying cry is likely to have a major affect across the state. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the "Temp Worker Protection Bill" on Sunday, which holds businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage or safety laws...
GOP Candidate Busted For Potential Voter Fraud! The Story Of Leslie Rutledge  Salon.com   ...Leslie Rutledge, the Republican candidate for Attorney General in Arkansas, has been discovered to have been registered to vote in multiple states in addition to Arkansas, and even voted by absentee ballot in Arkansas’ general election in November of 2008 –after she had registered to vote in Washington D.C. in July of the same year...
Christie defends Koch Brothers, calls questions about anonymous donors 'silliness' in Arizona  NJ.com   ...Questioning the lack of transparency about who has been funneling millions of dollars in negative campaign ads into the Arizona governor's race is "silliness" and "sophistry," Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday night while stumping for Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey...
Early voting hours unlikely to change before Election Day  cleveland.com   ...  the statewide early, in-person voting hours set Monday by Secretary of State Jon Husted will hold throughout Election Day on Nov. 4. That schedule includes early, in-person voting on the two Saturdays prior to Election Day, Sunday before Election Day and Monday before Election Day...
Michigan Legislature Approves Anti-Human Trafficking Bills  Associated Press   ...The bills now headed to Gov. Rick Snyder would let victims clear their criminal records. Minors under age 18 suspected of prostitution would be presumed to be trafficking victims, and “Johns” soliciting sex from minors would face stiffer criminal penalties...
Club for Growth won't disclose source of money for local ad buy  Columbia Daily Tribune   ...the Tribune reported Thursday that the ads were purchased with funds from the Missouri Club for Growth PAC, a political fund that has received $3.6 million, more than 99 percent of its funding in the past three years, from wealthy conservative activist Rex Sinquefield...
U.S. Supreme Court is asked to block Wisconsin's voter ID law  Associated Press   ...Opponents of Wisconsin's photo ID requirement for voters took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking an emergency halt to the state's implementation of the law before the fast approaching Nov. 4 election...
Group sues state over campaign coordination  Associated Press   ...A conservative group and ally of Gov. Scott Walker filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking that a Wisconsin law limiting coordination between third-party organizations and political candidates be declared unconstitutional...
War On Workers
The Missing Trio in Today's Jobs Report  Bloomberg   ...At 3 million, the number of long-term unemployed hardly budged. Youth unemployment rose somewhat to 20 percent, giving up half the gains of the prior month. And joblessness among those lacking a college education is still too high...
‘We Can’t Haul’: Rebounding Economy Reveals Shortage Of Truck Drivers  Bangor Daily News   ...In 1980, Vieth said, the average trucker earned four times the wage of a food service worker. But the $40,940 the average truck driver makes today is just 1.8 times that of food service workers...
Labor Participation Rate Drops To 36 Year Low; Record 92.6 Million Americans Not In Labor Force  zero hedge   ...while according to the Household Survey, 232,000 people found jobs, what is more disturbing is that the people not in the labor force, rose to a new record high, increasing by 315,000 to 92.6 million!...
Hackers’ Attack Cracked 10 Companies in Major Assault  New York Times   ...The breadth of the attacks — and the lack of clarity about whether it was an effort to steal from accounts or to demonstrate that the hackers could penetrate even the best-protected American financial institutions — has left Washington intelligence officials and policy makers far more concerned than they have let on publicly...
Huh? Walmart Foundation Battles Hunger As Walmart Workers Turn to Food Stamps  Inside Philanthropy   ...Last month, the foundation launched a new campaign, "Fight Hunger, Spark Change," that asks people to vote for which local food banks it should donate funds to. All this is ironic to say the least, given the food security challenges of Walmart's own huge labor force, many of whom don't earn much more than the minimum wage...
EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: How the Koch Brothers Are Molding the Next Scott Walkers  The Nation   ...Walker has, since his 2010 gubernatorial run, been a top recipient of campaign contributions from the Kochs, and a beneficiary of the “independent” campaigns of Koch-fueled groups such as Americans for Prosperity...
Koch-backed group plans direct attacks in Senate races  USA Today   ...Americans for Prosperity's decision to move to pointed attacks is significant because it shifts the group into more direct political activity — something tax-exempt organizations are required to limit. It also means the group must disclose its election-related activity — though not its donors — to federal regulators...
Worker Dies   Valdosta Today   ...Officials say that 61-year old Isabel Gomez died after a piece of heavy equipment fell and crushed him. Sheriff Andy Hester of Turner County reports that Gomez and his brother were working on a fork lift...
Worker dies after truck with gravel tips over  WOKV   ...the man was unloading gravel from a truck which had an apparatus raised up. That caused the truck to get unsteady and ultimately tip on to the man who was crouched next to it working...
High-Speed Trader Accused Of Commodity Market ‘Spoofing’  Bloomberg News   ...A high-frequency trader was indicted for “spoofing” -- placing and immediate canceling orders as a way to manipulate commodities markets -- in what the U.S. Justice Department says is the first criminal case of its kind...
Man Shoots Down Drone, Lawyers Scratch Their Heads  Popular Science   ...A man in New Jersey fired a shotgun at his neighbor's drone, and as the quadcopter crashed to the ground, the incident raised new legal challenges about when and if it’s okay to shoot a robot...
Miscellaneous

A trucker writes: God Bless the Teamsters!

Brother Steve Oswald, Teamsters Local 600, St. Louis

Teamsters celebrated National Truck Driver Appreciation Week with lots of great photos of union-driven trucks sent in by our members. Check out the Teamsters Facebook page to see them all, or keep an eye out for the video we're creating.

We also received some great comments, a few of which we'll share here:

Carolyn Steven: My husband is very private so we have not posted his photo with his truck this week. We live in a "right to work state". He is Union and I work as a teacher in this "right to work state" and very involved with the rights of workers since I am from a UAW family. Thanks for recognizing Truck Drivers. I work as an itinerant, special education teacher in a non-union state and drive as many mile as my Teamster husband. I give a silent praise to every trucker as I travel hoping they realize how important the work they do is and hopeful they are organized.

A good reminder:

Caroline Trimmer: Happy Driver Appreciation Week to all of the RETIRED DRIVERS from Anchor Motor Freight/Leaseway (the good old days)

A must-read:

Steve Oswald, Teamsters Local 600 St. Louis, MO. When I was a young man about 20 years old, I was living in my car with nowhere to go and no future...I met an old man who was a Teamster, we began to talk and I told him about my situation and he told me about driving trucks and the Teamsters. I had a Chauffer's License and with a little help from a girl friend at the time, and the advice from the old man, I got a job driving a truck. It wasn't the greatest job in the world but it was a Teamsters union job and it taught me a lot about trucking, management and unions. I quit that job after about 5 or 6 years and worked driving trucks non-union for a few years, what a mistake that was, but I did learn a lot about the non-union trucking industry the hard way, and I know it made me a better union man and appreciate the Teamsters union! So I knew I had to get back into the Teamsters and eventually I did, and that's a story in itself for another time! But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that if it wasn't for that old man, which I'm sorry to say I don't remember his name, my girlfriend at the time, fate, and the Teamsters, I don't know where I'd be right now! The Teamsters took me off of the streets gave me a good job and taught me a lot! Thank God for the Teamsters and organized labor, because without them I would probably be dead or in prison just like a lot of the guys I grew up with! ... God Bless The Teamsters!!!

Brother Steve Oswald back in the day

The photo below makes us hungry: 

Corie Kaminski Thorner: This is the way we roll for Truck Driver Appreciation Week

Teamsters celebrate Truck Driver Appreciation Week -- again!

It's that time of year again when the Teamsters celebrate Truck Driver Appreciation Week. Last year, we asked Teamsters to submit photos of themselves and their trucks to the Teamsters Facebook page. The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of Teamsters sent in photos, along with comments like the ones below. 

This year, we're again asking Teamsters to send us photos of themselves and their trucks -- either by posting on the Teamsters Facebook page or by sending a direct message to the page. 

We're looking forward to seeing more great photos and comments like the ones below: 

James F. Giles Everything everyone in America owns, eats, or uses got here on a truck - thanks, Teamsters. 

Richard LapointeMade the seniority list in Feb 1971 in Cambridge, MA and retired last year with an awesome pension after 42 years of service with several companies. God bless the Teamster's Union. It's always been the working class that made this country great. 

Nunzio Santuccio Keepem rolling !!!! 

Ray Roehrig Retired Local #500, Philadelphia, PA. Proud to be a Teamster! 

Greggjodi Gomes I am proud to be a part of Local 407 Truck Drivers Union Cleveland ,Ohio--- thank you for all you do for me and my family !! 

Mike Porchiazzo Truckers make the world go around! It's a long lonesome road in the lifetime of a trucker! 

Jennifer Young proud daughter of a Teamster Driver!! 

Larry Katra My stepdad was a union steward and saw him save many guys jobs over the years.The Teamsters was a great union and still is. 

Frank Milatzo In '62 I was just learning how to drive big rigs, joined the Teamsters 25 years ago after freight: got deregulated and couldn't make any money as an independent trucker. Best move I ever made 

Lenore Lopez I appreciate truck drivers, I wish more employers would respect the physical and mental demands of the job. 

Wayne Robertson Funny how when I'm on 2 wheels I worry less about them than I do the soccer mom in the grocery-getter. But I'm not invisible to them, and the living they make depends on their safety and courtesy!

Sandie Hawley where would we be without truckers, God bless em. 

Jennifer Mansfield My Daddy, Oklie J Huggins, 1928-2008. Teamster Truck Driver for 44 yrs.

Help Cory Booker fight entrenched anti-trucker interests on Capitol Hill (video)

The Senate bill that would have changed the 2013 federal hours-of-service rule to allow truckers to drive 82 hours a week was pulled from the Senate floor yesterday. That means the bill won't be voted on until and unless disagreements are resolved over procedural rules prevented the bill from moving forward for debate.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine quietly slipped an amendment onto a spending bill two days before a fatigued Walmart driver critically injured Tracy Morgan and killed a companion on the New Jersey Turnpike. New evidence suggests he was being pushed beyond the legal limits.

CCJ reports:

The annual Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill — which provides the Department of Transportation with its 2015 fiscal year funding — came to the Senate floor this week with an amendment that would have halted the requirement that a driver’s 34-hour restart include two consecutive 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the once-per-week limit on the restart, pending a study. That amendment — proposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — was added by the Appropriations Committee earlier this month. 

Freshman Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), however, had filed an amendment for consideration by the full Senate to strip the bill of the Collins amendment but keep the requirement for further study of the rule’s efficacy.

Booker said it was worth fighting the special interests who want to diminish highway safety in a speech yesterday on the Senate floor. "It is absolutely unacceptable to consider suspending these driver rules," Booker said. "This effort is an important one and I know it's an uphill fight. There are entrenched interests who tend to have a lot of influence on capitol hill, but this to me is one worth fighting."  

Please help Cory Booker in his uphill fight and urge your senators to support his amendment. Just click on this link.

Booker said 65 percent of truck drivers often feel drowsy while driving and 13 percent admitted they'd fallen asleep while driving. "Fatigue is an issue," he said. "Fatal accidents are common on our highways."

Here's what truck drivers say and their families say:

Jana Yancey Emory Oh man, my husband is a driver, and even with the current limits, he's totally sleep-deprived and always exhausted! When will government officials realize they are working for the PEOPLE, not the corporate bottom line?!? Is it going to take a full-on revolution????? 

David Smith Not only is the 82hr just crazy but something needs to be done with the 14hr day as well. It's just asking too much  

Tony Jimenez Don't increase their hours increase they're pay so the won't be a shortage of drivers

Please take a few moments and tell your senators to support Cory Booker at this link: http://ibt.io/HOS.

 

Teamsters, senators oppose dangerous increase in number of hours truckers may drive

Let's keep everybody safe on the highways, please.

As soon as this afternoon the Senate may approve a dangerous increase in the number of hours truckers may drive -- to 82 hours a week.

Teamsters strongly oppose letting more fatigued drivers on the highways and are working hard to protect the existing safety rules. We were joined to day by 10 U.S. senators who filed an amendment today that would prevent changes in the hours truck drivers can spend behind the wheel.

The current rules simply ensure that drivers are not forced to work more than 80 hours per week and have a chance to get two nights’ sleep during their limited time off.

(You can help, by the way, by contacting your senators and urging them to keep the current hours-of-service rules. Just click here.)

Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, two of the amendment sponsors, represent New Jersey, the state where comedian Tracy Morgan was critically injured. According to the Newark Star-Ledger,

Booker is also asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to review truck weight limits, in the wake of the crash a week ago that critically injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed a companion after a Wal-Mark truck struck and flipped the limo van they were riding in on the New Jersey Turnpike. Police say the Georgia truck driver, who has been charged with vehicular homicide and four counts of assault by auto, had not slept for 24 hours.

Here's what Booker said:

Truck accidents are on the rise and driver fatigue is a leading cause. Truck drivers are working extremely long days to deliver the goods we depend on, but it should never be at the cost of their safety and that of other drivers. 

(So remember to contact your senators and urge them to support Booker's amendment. Click here.)

Here's what Teamsters say:

Joe Saroli wrote on the Teamsters Facebook page:

... not only do we NOT want our members to share the road with fatigued drivers, we don't want fatigued drivers endangering the lives ALL Americans who drive the roads and highways.

Jean Pennington:

Truck drivers have families to that love them. 80 hours a week is insane. Corporate greed causes separation, and heart ache of family's. This must stop. We don't need zombie drivers on the roads.

Rjj Baptiste

This is insane. Expecting a person to be being a wheel for 82 hours! Let your voice be heard.

Michael Johnson

82 hours driving is insane corporate greed at work.without a thought to men at work.

Here's a list of the amendment sponsors:

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was joined by Senate colleagues John D. Rockefeller (D-W.VA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Teamsters celebrate Truck Driver Appreciation Week

We're celebrating National Truck Driver Appreciation Week over on our Facebook page with photos old and new of trucks and truck drivers. Many of our readers posted some great comments, which we thought we'd share with you:  

James F. Giles Everything everyone in America owns, eats, or uses got here on a truck - thanks, Teamsters. 

Richard Lapointe Made the seniority list in Feb 1971 in Cambridge, MA and retired last year with an awesome pension after 42 years of service with several companies. God bless the Teamster's Union. It's always been the working class that made this country great. 

Nunzio Santuccio Keepem rolling !!!! 

Ray Roehrig Retired Local #500, Philadelphia, PA. Proud to be a Teamster! 

Greggjodi Gomes I am proud to be a part of Local 407 Truck Drivers Union Cleveland ,Ohio--- thank you for all you do for me and my family !! 

Mike Porchiazzo Truckers make the world go around! It's a long lonesome road in the lifetime of a trucker! 

Jennifer Young proud daughter of a Teamster Driver!! 

Larry Katra My stepdad was a union steward and saw him save many guys jobs over the years.The Teamsters was a great union and still is. 

Frank Milatzo In '62 I was just learning how to drive big rigs, joined the Teamsters 25 years ago after freight: got deregulated and couldn't make any money as an independent trucker. Best move I ever made 

Lenore Lopez I appreciate truck drivers, I wish more employers would respect the physical and mental demands of the job. 

Wayne Robertson Funny how when I'm on 2 wheels I worry less about them than I do the soccer mom in the grocery-getter. But I'm not invisible to them, and the living they make depends on their safety and courtesy!

Sandie Hawley where would we be without truckers, God bless em. 

Jennifer Mansfield My Daddy, Oklie J Huggins, 1928-2008. Teamster Truck Driver for 44 yrs.

Ken Caccamise I have a story about the old days and how different than they are today. Today we have spring loaded brakes. When the air brake lines are disconnected from the tractor the brakes are set, that means "on." Back years ago before spring loaded brakes when you lost air the wheels freewheeled, brakes off. A retired union O/O I spoke with this summer was in the middle of a story when he said something that caught my ear. The story was about running NYC. Just below Mount Pocono on PA 611 there's a steep downward grade. A tractor trailer's drive shaft snapped off coming down that grade and went threw the decking behind the cab cutting the brake lines, loosing all the brakes. The driver crashed and was killed. Talk about a dangerous job. I will say that without the Teamster's these problem might still exist today...

Today's Teamster News 06.22.13

Ex-Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling's sentence cut to 14 years  BBC News   ...Jeffrey Skilling presided over Enron when it became embroiled in one of the biggest corporate frauds in US history...Thousands of workers lost their jobs and retirement savings when energy firm Enron collapsed in 2001...
Goodwill pays workers with disabilities as little as 22 cents an hour  Salon   ... In 2010, an Applebee’s in a tony New York suburb hired hearing- and visually impaired employees through a placement program with the Helen Keller National Center and paid them between $3.97 per hour and $5.96, well below the state minimum wage of $7.25. And it’s perfectly legal due to a Depression-era loophole in federal labor law...
Couple Orders Tie From Banana Republic, Gets Folders Full Of Sensitive Employee Info Instead Consumerist   ...When you order clothing online, there’s always the chance you’ll get the wrong size or color. But you rarely get three folders full of sensitive employee documents containing things like Social Security numbers, addresses, and tax forms. But that’s what one couple say happened to them when they placed an order with Banana Republic for a tie and pocket square...
Brazil protests: president to hold emergency meeting  The Guardian   ...Night of protests draws vast crowds in cities across Brazil, with a total turnout estimated at 2 million...
Deflating Minimum Wage Costs Workers Billions of Dollars (opinion)   Huffington Post   ...A single minimum wage worker who has worked continually for the federal minimum wage since 1968 has been deprived of over a quarter million dollars in wages over the course of those 45 years...
U.S., Vietnam still far apart on clothing in trade talks   Reuters   ...U.S. efforts to forge a "21st Century" trade agreement with Vietnam and 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific region are running into problems mired in the past, including a textile trade policy that U.S. industry does not want to give up…
Pressure Pays Off: Obama Administration Finally Lets Congress See Secretive TPP Text (But Still Not the Rest of Us)  Public Citizen   ...for the first known time in the three years that the secretive deal has been under negotiation by the Obama administration, said administration has allowed a member of Congress to view three chapters of the bracketed negotiating text...
Madoff trustee cannot sue big banks, U.S. court rules  Reuters   ...The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims suffered a big defeat as a federal appeals court rejected his bid to recover nearly $30 billion from JPMorgan Chase and Co. and other banks he accused of aiding in the swindler's fraud...
7-Eleven deploying immigration inspectors  New York Post   ...7-Eleven is deploying its own team of immigration inspectors to franchises nationwide in the wake of a big illegal-alien scandal where the feds say workers in Long Island and Virginia were given stolen identities and then forced to work up to 100 hours weekly for a fraction of their wages...
Three States Dump Major Private Prison Company In One Month  Think Progress   ...State lawmakers who embraced private prisons as a cost-cutting measure are starting to have trouble ignoring their abysmal conditions. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest and most powerful private prison company in the nation, lost four prison contracts in the past month after extensive reports of abuse, neglect, and even fraud...
Michigan lawmakers vote to change foreclosure rules  Detroit Free Press   ...The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday gave final approval to bills that keep intact the redemption period when homeowners can challenge a foreclosure’s legality. An earlier version of the measure would have reduced the period from six months to 60 days...
New scale bypass system can read driver logs, CSA profile with no stopping  Truck News   ...A new scale bypass system that allows drivers and carriers with good CSA scores to pass through weigh stations without stopping, is generating some buzz in the US...
Diversified drivers reject latest offer  Fort McMurray Today   ...Bus drivers with Diversified Transportation, who are members of Teamsters Local 362, have rejected another contract offer from their employers, even though the majority of the negotiating committee recommended accepting it...
FirstGroup Executives See Big Payouts as Company, Workers Suffer  IBT   ...FirstGroup PLC is under fire for awarding hefty bonus payments to top U.S. executives while workers have been denied fair wage increases and improved working conditions...
Get Text Message Updates That Are Important to YOU  IBT   ...Teamsters, sign up to get personalized text messages from the IBT. Text to 86466 the word MAG and your member ID number – located above the label on the back of your latest Teamster magazine...

Reads around the Internets for union members

From Union Hands and Voices

Here is this week's guide to places on the Internet you might want to visit.

Brother John Scearcy writes:

In Washington State 170 union members have been on strike for over two months protesting that their employer, United Natural Foods (UNFI), has committed many unfair labor practices none more disgusting than the fact that UNFI immediately permanently replaced about 1/2 of these members when they went out on this ULP strike. Please show your support for these workers by visiting this website:
www.unfidrivenbygreed.com. 

You can sign a petition and help with financial support.

We liked a recent letter to the editor of the Washington Post, which couldn't figure out what's driving the decline in union manufacturing jobs. David Prosten of Annapolis, president of Union Communication Services, wrote to the Post:

...more than 17,000 workers were fired or disciplined in 2010 because of union activity. ... 34 percent of union organizing drives see at least one worker fired. Get rid of the union advocate, be sure other workers see what’s happened to him or her, and what do you know: frightened workers, end of organizing drive and, unsurprisingly, a decline in unionized manufacturing jobs. There are no fines, damages or penalties levied against employers who use that tactic. Their worst-case scenario is having to pay back wages to illegally fired workers.

We liked that so much we're sharing a link to Union Communication Services' website here.

We like Unionosity as well. It's an online newspaper that focuses on labor issues. Here's what they say about themselves:

We cover topics related to work, the workplace, equality, fairness and progressive policy. We’re especially interested in precarity, non-traditional or new organizing models, campaigns for increased dignity and quality of life, the role of unions, and legislation that effects workers and workers’ lives.

The Corporate Action Network fights corporate abuse. CAN has helped our UFCW brothers adn sisters with the OUR Wal-Mart campaign. CAN's website says,

From American Trucks, Past and Present

Corporations have become so large, so complex, and so powerful that traditional methods of reining in their abusive practices often fall short. We want to give you the tools you need to fight corporate abuse and win. 

Are you working to fight corporate abuse? If your campaign has a great target and real opportunities to build networks, we want to hear from you.

Here are a couple more sites you should check out. Teamsters Local 638 is now on Facebook, so visit their page here and give them a Like. Union Hands and Voices has a Facebook page here.

And finally, a Facebook page dedicated to American Trucks Past and Present.