Teamsters
Drivers and Monitors with North River Collaborative Join Teamsters Local 653 Teamster.org ...Drivers and monitors with Massachusetts’s North River Collaborative have joined Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The 74 workers transport students with special needs and are based in Abington and Rockland, Mass. The workers’ election at North River Collaborative was conducted through card-check...
Walmart still has a ways to go to help workers Teamster Nation ...The world's largest retailer still has a long way to go to bring its workforce practices up to an acceptable level. Walmart workers and those in its food supply chain are forced to put up with a number labor issues. Teamsters are familiar with several of these situations. For instance, the union has and continues to fight the practices of salad producer Taylor Farms and organic food supplier United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)...
Global Labor & Trade
Trade pact proponents claim new momentum Politico ...the Democratic president and the two Republican leaders embarked on their most intense bipartisan negotiating spree in recent memory. The back channeling, combined with some complex procedural machinations, might allow the House and Senate to clear both Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance before the Fourth of July recess...
Obama, GOP set to jam House Dems on trade CNN ... President Barack Obama and top Republican congressional leaders joined together Wednesday to make an all-out push to convince pro-trade Democrats in the House and Senate to resurrect his trade agenda. Legislation to help pave the way for a major trade deal with roughly a dozen countries was left in limbo after a massive block of House Democrats ignored a personal appeal from the President and voted down the trade package last Friday...
Fast-track trade bill to get another vote in Congress on Thursday LA Times ...Trying to salvage President Obama's trade agenda, Republican leaders in Congress plan to vote again Thursday on legislation giving the president fast-track negotiating authority, sidestepping House Democrats’ opposition and leaving the future of a worker-assistance program uncertain...
House to vote for a second time on fast-track for Obama The Hill ...The House will vote Thursday on a stand-alone measure to grant President Obama fast-track trade authority. The decision follows a flurry of activity at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, as the White House and congressional Republicans rally around a strategy for moving forward with the trade package...
Karen Bass And Keith Ellison Just Threw A Wrench Into The Republican Trade Strategy Huffington Post ...Key Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), sent a letter on Wednesday to Senate leaders saying they do not support a new House Republican plan designed to ease the passage of President Barack Obama's trade agenda. Wednesday's letter, from Reps. Bass, G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), makes that goal harder to achieve...
TPP Versus NAFTA (opinion) New York Times ...Many people — myself included — thought that TPP would, in the end, follow the model of NAFTA: a Democratic president would push the agreement through Congress, but the bulk of the votes would be Republican. But it doesn’t seem to be going that way. Why?...
Greek government supporters rally in Athens against austerity Reuters ...A few thousand demonstrators rallied in front of the parliament in Athens on Wednesday to protest against austerity and back the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in its standoff with Greece's international creditors. The demonstration, which appeared to be made up mainly of supporters of the ruling Syriza party, came as pressure piled on Tsipras' government to accept creditors' demands...
An anti-austerity rebellion ramps up in the UK Aljazeera America ...On Saturday tens of thousands of people will march through London and Glasgow to demand an end to austerity and increases in spending and investment. The protest in London has been organized by the People’s Assembly, a left-wing campaign group that eschews formal political party ties...
Dominicans of Haitian Descent About to Be Deported Solidarity Center ...Hundreds of thousands of workers in the Dominican Republic without official identification papers have until today to register with the government or face deportation. The move—condemned widely as a violation of human rights—could leave as many as 120,000 Dominican-born and -raised women and men stateless, their future and their ability to earn a living jeopardized...
State & Living Wage Battles
Conservative lobbying group ALEC sets sights on local lawmakers Aljazeera-America ...State-level pre-emption laws like HB 40 that limit the authority of city and county governments in their dealings with private industry, while not new, have become more common in recent years. Seventeen states prohibit city and county governments from raising the minimum wage. Eleven states have barred local governments from mandating paid sick leave. Critics of these pre-emption laws say their rise can be traced to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Young adults in Michigan would have a lower minimum wage under bill MLive ...Youth under 20 years old could make less than Michigan's minimum wage under a bill that's headed to the full Senate for consideration. Under current law, employers can pay people under 18 either 85 percent of Michigan's minimum wage, or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater. The bill would change that to include all employees under 20...
Brown inks bill to protect immigrants San Diego Union-Tribune ...Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation further cracking down on people offering fraudulent immigration services. The bill, AB 60, carried by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, won unanimous support in the Assembly and Senate. The new law closes an loophole in a 2013 law she authored, which created protections for immigrants who were seeking immigration reform-related services...
Gov. signs bill increasing minimum wage WPRI ..Gov. Gina Raimondo has signed legislation to raise Rhode Island’s minimum wage. The Democratic governor says she’s proud to raise the state’s minimum hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 on Jan. 1. She plans to mark the change in a signing ceremony soon. Both legislative chambers approved the raise...
New York State Legislators Have Just One More Day to Pass a Bill Protecting Nail Salon Workers In These Times ...New York State lawmakers have just one day left in this year's legislative session to answer that question as two bills introduced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo remain on the table. After the exploitation of nail salon workers in New York came to public attention with a New York Times investigation of 150 nail salons over 13 months, Gov. Cuomo announced on May 18 legislation, emergency regulations and a public outreach program to protect these workers...
“Right-to-work” goes down the drain in Maine People's World ...Following effective worker lobbying, meetings, phone calls and 10,000 post cards, so-called right-to-work legislation went down the drain in Maine, by a 90-52 margin in the state House. Other anti-worker bills also hit the legislative garbage can. But the fight isn't over yet...
What Fast-Food Workers Are Fighting For The Nation ...Not long ago, $15 an hour for a “burger-flipping” gig would have sounded impossible too. But now, pressed by a nationwide grassroots labor movement, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Wage Board is potentially poised to nearly double the base wage for a fast-food labor force of nearly 165,000 people statewide. Following a groundbreaking $15 minimum-wage law that just passed in Los Angeles, a pay raise couldn’t come soon enough for New York’s fast-food workers, who earn on average under $16,000 a year...
How Walmart Spun an 'Extensive and Secretive Web' of Overseas Tax Havens Common Dreams ...Walmart has built a vast, undisclosed network of overseas tax havens—accounting for more than $76 billion of assets—that allows the multinational corporation to shirk public disclosure laws as well as its fair share of both foreign and U.S. taxes, according to a groundbreaking report published Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness. All told, the retail behemoth has established at least 78 subsidiaries in 15 offshore tax havens...
U.S Labor
FedEx Ground to pay $228 million to settle driver classification claims in California DC Velocity ...The ground delivery unit of FedEx Corp. has tentatively agreed to pay $228 million to settle claims by about 2,300 drivers in California that the company improperly classified them as independent contractors and not company employees while they drove for the unit from 2000 to 2007. The settlement, disclosed Friday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, must still be approved by a federal district court in California...
In California, Uber driver is employee, not contractor Reuters ...A driver for Uber is an employee, not a contractor, according to a California ruling that eventually could push up costs for the smartphone-based ride hailing service and hurt the closely watched start-up's valuation. The California Labor Commission's decision could ripple through the burgeoning industry of providing services via smartphones...
Striking airport workers rally outside the State House WWLP ...orkers who move baggage, help passengers and clean planes at Logan Airport went on a 24-hour strike Wednesday, alleging that airport contractors don’t pay enough and trample on their rights. Over 100 workers at G2 Secure Staff and Ready Jet went on strike, according to Roxana Rivera, an organizer with SEIU 32BJ, which has been stymied in attempting to organize the companies where she said a couple hundred people work...
House Republicans look to block union election rules, slash NLRB budget Reuters ...Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday renewed attempts to block new rules governing union elections and proposed cutting the budgets of the U.S. Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board. The House Appropriations Committee unveiled a budget bill for fiscal year 2016 that would also prohibit the NLRB from issuing a new standard on joint employment...
California Court Ruling Could Make It Nearly Impossible for Farmworkers to Win Union Contracts In These Times ...On May 18 in Fresno, California, the state's Court of Appeals for the 5th District ruled that a key provision of the state's unique labor law for field workers is unconstitutional. Should it be upheld by the state's supreme court, this decision will profoundly affect the ability of California farm workers to gain union contracts. At issue is the “mandatory mediation” provision of the state's Agricultural Labor Relations Act...
Tempers flare as D.C. nurse ratio bill returns — rebranded Washington Business Journal ...Councilman Vincent Orange finally appeared to pin D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt down on what would might make an acceptable minimum number of nurses per patient for local hospitals. “She finally had to acknowledge there are numbers that make sense,” said Ken Zinn, the D.C.-based political director for nurses union National Nurses United...
Miscellaneous
Applications for US jobless aid fall to nearly 15-year low News & Observer ...he number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, evidence that layoffs remain at unusually low levels and the job market is moving closer to full health. Weekly applications for jobless aid dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday...
Fed Holds Off on Interest Rate Hike, Downgrades Economic Forecast TruthOut ...Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday kept the central bank's benchmark short-term interest rate near zero, opting against the first increase since 2006 after determining the economy still isn't strong enough to handle it. Fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. They projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year...
How big banks and racist policies helped shape segregation, police brutality Salon ...Housing equity is Americans’ most important source of wealth. Average black family income is now about 60 percent of white family income, but black household wealth is only about 5 percent of white household wealth. This disparity is almost entirely attributable to federal policy that prohibited black families from accumulating equity during the suburban boom and thus from bequeathing that wealth to children, as whites have done...
Showing posts with label unfi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unfi. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Walmart still has a ways to go to help workers
Walmart in recent months has being trying to improve its public image by talking about raising its wages and improving working conditions. But the world's largest retailer still has a long way to go to bring its workforce practices up to an acceptable level, as a recent report by the Food Chain Workers' Alliance shows.
As it stands, Walmart workers and those in its food supply chain are forced to put up with a number
labor issues, including gender and racial discrimination, unfair treatment of immigrants, low pay and violations of workers' freedom of association. There have also been safety violations and worker fatalities, as the document notes.
The Teamsters are familiar with several of these situations. For instance, the union has and continues to fight the practices of salad producer Taylor Farms and organic food supplier United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), for the treatment of workers and the environment.
In talking about California-based Taylor Farms, the document states:
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| President Hoffa rallied with Taylor Farms workers last year. |
labor issues, including gender and racial discrimination, unfair treatment of immigrants, low pay and violations of workers' freedom of association. There have also been safety violations and worker fatalities, as the document notes.
The Teamsters are familiar with several of these situations. For instance, the union has and continues to fight the practices of salad producer Taylor Farms and organic food supplier United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), for the treatment of workers and the environment.
In talking about California-based Taylor Farms, the document states:
Among the many labor rights issues at Taylor Farms, the company’s almost permanent use of temporary workers through the Abel Mendoza and Slingshot agencies is one that must be highlighted. Almost two-thirds of Taylor Farms’ Tracy workforce is staffed by one of these agencies. This staffing method allows Taylor Farms to avoid giving out full-time benefits to workers that have been there for years. Some of these “temporary” employees have been working at Taylor Farms for up to 14 years and most are paid only the minimum wage. On average, the workers in Tracy earn $3 per hour less than union workers in the same job classifications in Salinas.Meanwhile, the paper also details UNFI's effort to crackdown on warehouse workers interested in joining the Teamsters, and how the federal government sided with the union:
On February 10, 2015, the federal government found that UNFI unlawfully refused to bargain with the Teamsters union at its Moreno Valley facility [in Southern California]. This conduct would be troubling by any employer, but “it is all the more so because UNFI has represented itself to the public as a company that operates according to principles of social responsibility…” Because of UNFI’s illegal scare tactics and refusal to recognize the union contract, UNFI warehouse workers in Moreno Valley still do not have protection and benefits from unionization and collective bargaining.If Walmart is truly interested in doing the right thing and helping workers and the environment, it will use its market power to sway suppliers and distributors to allow workers to organize and raise their standards to benefit people all across the globe.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.14.15
Teamsters
FedEx Freight Workers In California Vote To Join Teamsters Local 439 teamster.org ...A group of 50 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Stockton, Calif., terminal have voted to join Teamsters Local 439. The vote took place Thursday, March 12 and today, and the workers voted 33 to 12 to become Teamsters...
Teamsters Testify About UNFI At Supply Chain Commission Hearing teamster.org ...Former Workers Tell Commission Members About UNFI’s Abuses...
Drivers For Facebook Contractor Loop Transp. Gain Strong Agreement, Wage Increases teamster.org ...Drivers for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation are now covered under a Teamsters Local 853 contract, providing for wage increases, health care benefits and a number of improvements to their working conditions. The contract, which workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify on Feb. 21, went to Facebook for its agreement as Loop’s paying client before implementation...
San Bernardino County Public Employees To Vote In Teamster Election teamster.org ... Ballots were mailed out this week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino, Calif., county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation...
Teamsters Continue Fight To Unionize More Bay Area Drivers KGO ...The Teamsters hit the streets of San Francisco for a rally. They're handing out union cards to the drivers of Bauer Transportation, a company contracted to drive workers to some Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco and Google...
Woodbridge Winery Workers Join Teamsters Local 601 In California teamster.org ...Nearly 50 workers at Woodbridge Winery in Acampo, Calif. joined Teamsters Local 601 in Stockton, voting 32-13 in favor of representation. The new bargaining unit of cellar operation employees includes 46 workers who are seeking improved pay, benefits and the protection of a union contract...
Trade
Unhappy Third Birthday for Korea FTA Drags Down Obama Push for Fast Track Public Citizen Global Trade Watch ...U.S. Exports Down, Imports from Korea Up and Job-Killing Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 84 Percent on Third Anniversary of Korea Pact, Which Is TPP Template...
Progressives: We’ve Never Heard Of This “Progressive” Group Backing Obama’s Trade Deal BuzzFeed News ...The “Progressive Coalition For American Jobs,” run by former Obama campaign staffers, purports to represent the progressive left on the trade deal that the progressive left hates...
Major Unions Stepping up Battle against Free-Trade Pact Associated Press ...the Teamsters union called for U.S. negotiators on the trade pact to press for a crackdown on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the emerging agreement...
‘Exploitation’: Clothing Labels Accused Of Cambodia Worker Discrimination, Child Labor RT ...HRW [Human Rights Watch] says workers in Cambodia’s garment factories, producing name-brand clothing sold in the US, Canada and Europe, often come to grips with "discriminatory and exploitative labor conditions." According to HRW, the combination of short-term contracts which make it easier to get rid of workers at any moment, poor government labor inspection and enforcement, as well as aggressive tactics against independent unions make it extremely difficult for workers to assert their rights...
State Battles
Push to rewrite Kansas collective bargaining laws stalls Kansas City Star ...The committee was set to vote Friday on both measures, but Chairwoman and Olathe Republican Julia Lynn canceled the meeting. Lynn said she’s not sure when the votes will occur and said House GOP leaders have signaled that they’re reluctant to tackle such issues...
Chumbley: Right to work all wrong for Missouri Springfield News-Leader ...Missouri's General Assembly is preparing to pass the deceptively titled Right to Work and Paycheck Protection bills. These bills are an attack on workers and an offense to the God of justice...
Union members rally against GOP labor bills outside Legislature Las Vegas Review-Journal ... Hundreds of union members rallied in front of the Nevada Legislature on Thursday to protest Republican efforts to curb collective bargaining and push public employee retirement reforms...
Union workers to protest Walker in NH New Hampshire Union Leader ...Union members and organizers plan to protest outside when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to a state Republican Party event Saturday at Concord High School...
WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs prevailing wage change, Coal Jobs and Safety Act WOWK TV ...Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed three bills into law March 12, including one that changes West Virginia's prevailing wage law...
Maine Republicans Try Again To Push Through 'Right-to-Work' Legislation NPR ...Republicans are once again trying to move a so-called "right-to-work" bill through the Legislature. Their goal is to put an end to a long-standing requirement that public and private sector workers in a unionized shops must either join the union or pay representation fees as a condition of employment...
Senate Kills Bill To Restore State Minimum Wage New Hampshire Union Leader ...The Republican-dominated state Senate has rejected a bill to restore a state minimum wage in New Hampshire. The legislation would have set the hourly rate at $8.25 in 2016, $9 in 2017 and $10 in 2018...
War on Workers
The Retirement Savings Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots Is Getting Bigger Bloomberg ...The median retirement account balance when you look across all households? $2,500...
Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails (opinion) New York Times ...To protect communities and the environment, the Transportation Department needs to act quickly to require more resilient rail cars, improve the safety of rail infrastructure and operations, and reduce the volatility of oil at the wellhead, before it is loaded onto trains...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Retail Sales Fall Amid Rough Weather Wall Street Journal ...U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February as a mix of bad weather and consumer caution outweighed an improving labor market and cheap gasoline prices...
FedEx Freight Workers In California Vote To Join Teamsters Local 439 teamster.org ...A group of 50 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Stockton, Calif., terminal have voted to join Teamsters Local 439. The vote took place Thursday, March 12 and today, and the workers voted 33 to 12 to become Teamsters...
Teamsters Testify About UNFI At Supply Chain Commission Hearing teamster.org ...Former Workers Tell Commission Members About UNFI’s Abuses...
Drivers For Facebook Contractor Loop Transp. Gain Strong Agreement, Wage Increases teamster.org ...Drivers for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation are now covered under a Teamsters Local 853 contract, providing for wage increases, health care benefits and a number of improvements to their working conditions. The contract, which workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify on Feb. 21, went to Facebook for its agreement as Loop’s paying client before implementation...
San Bernardino County Public Employees To Vote In Teamster Election teamster.org ... Ballots were mailed out this week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino, Calif., county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation...
Teamsters Continue Fight To Unionize More Bay Area Drivers KGO ...The Teamsters hit the streets of San Francisco for a rally. They're handing out union cards to the drivers of Bauer Transportation, a company contracted to drive workers to some Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco and Google...
Woodbridge Winery Workers Join Teamsters Local 601 In California teamster.org ...Nearly 50 workers at Woodbridge Winery in Acampo, Calif. joined Teamsters Local 601 in Stockton, voting 32-13 in favor of representation. The new bargaining unit of cellar operation employees includes 46 workers who are seeking improved pay, benefits and the protection of a union contract...
Trade
Unhappy Third Birthday for Korea FTA Drags Down Obama Push for Fast Track Public Citizen Global Trade Watch ...U.S. Exports Down, Imports from Korea Up and Job-Killing Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 84 Percent on Third Anniversary of Korea Pact, Which Is TPP Template...
Progressives: We’ve Never Heard Of This “Progressive” Group Backing Obama’s Trade Deal BuzzFeed News ...The “Progressive Coalition For American Jobs,” run by former Obama campaign staffers, purports to represent the progressive left on the trade deal that the progressive left hates...
Major Unions Stepping up Battle against Free-Trade Pact Associated Press ...the Teamsters union called for U.S. negotiators on the trade pact to press for a crackdown on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the emerging agreement...
‘Exploitation’: Clothing Labels Accused Of Cambodia Worker Discrimination, Child Labor RT ...HRW [Human Rights Watch] says workers in Cambodia’s garment factories, producing name-brand clothing sold in the US, Canada and Europe, often come to grips with "discriminatory and exploitative labor conditions." According to HRW, the combination of short-term contracts which make it easier to get rid of workers at any moment, poor government labor inspection and enforcement, as well as aggressive tactics against independent unions make it extremely difficult for workers to assert their rights...
State Battles
Push to rewrite Kansas collective bargaining laws stalls Kansas City Star ...The committee was set to vote Friday on both measures, but Chairwoman and Olathe Republican Julia Lynn canceled the meeting. Lynn said she’s not sure when the votes will occur and said House GOP leaders have signaled that they’re reluctant to tackle such issues...
Chumbley: Right to work all wrong for Missouri Springfield News-Leader ...Missouri's General Assembly is preparing to pass the deceptively titled Right to Work and Paycheck Protection bills. These bills are an attack on workers and an offense to the God of justice...
Union members rally against GOP labor bills outside Legislature Las Vegas Review-Journal ... Hundreds of union members rallied in front of the Nevada Legislature on Thursday to protest Republican efforts to curb collective bargaining and push public employee retirement reforms...
Union workers to protest Walker in NH New Hampshire Union Leader ...Union members and organizers plan to protest outside when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to a state Republican Party event Saturday at Concord High School...
WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs prevailing wage change, Coal Jobs and Safety Act WOWK TV ...Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed three bills into law March 12, including one that changes West Virginia's prevailing wage law...
Maine Republicans Try Again To Push Through 'Right-to-Work' Legislation NPR ...Republicans are once again trying to move a so-called "right-to-work" bill through the Legislature. Their goal is to put an end to a long-standing requirement that public and private sector workers in a unionized shops must either join the union or pay representation fees as a condition of employment...
Senate Kills Bill To Restore State Minimum Wage New Hampshire Union Leader ...The Republican-dominated state Senate has rejected a bill to restore a state minimum wage in New Hampshire. The legislation would have set the hourly rate at $8.25 in 2016, $9 in 2017 and $10 in 2018...
War on Workers
The Retirement Savings Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots Is Getting Bigger Bloomberg ...The median retirement account balance when you look across all households? $2,500...
Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails (opinion) New York Times ...To protect communities and the environment, the Transportation Department needs to act quickly to require more resilient rail cars, improve the safety of rail infrastructure and operations, and reduce the volatility of oil at the wellhead, before it is loaded onto trains...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Retail Sales Fall Amid Rough Weather Wall Street Journal ...U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February as a mix of bad weather and consumer caution outweighed an improving labor market and cheap gasoline prices...
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Teamsters, organic consumers protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West
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| Sergio Acosta came to Expo West 2015 because he was fired by UNFI for organizing a union. |
Here's the story they told at the National Products Expo West: UNFI intimidated, fired and threatened immigrant workers trying to organize a union in Moreno Valley, Calif., breaking federal laws that protect workers' rights. The corporation even made death threats against workers, according to a 2012 report by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF). UNFI violated workers' rights in Auburn, Wash., when it threatened to replace them permanently, according to the ILRF.
Presently, UNFI still refuses to recognize the union formed by UNFI drivers in Moreno Valley. The Teamsters Union was federally certified last November as the drivers’ union after UNFI managed to delay the counting of the ballots for over a year.
In Anaheim, protesters also targeted Whole Foods because UNFI is its dominant supplier. “If values matter, like Whole Foods advertises, then it should live by them,” said Randy Korgan, Organizing Director for Teamsters Local 63 in Covina, Calif. Korgan explained,
Whenever a group of workers at a UNFI warehouse or truck yard attempts to form a union, UNFI management brutalizes them with a barrage of tactics based on contempt and fear, solely for the purpose of intimidating their own workers.
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| Teamsters have a message for UNFI. |
Many people are showing their support here at Expo West. They agree that if Whole Foods and UNFI want to start living their professed values, UNFI needs to stop firing workers like me, stop the death threats against immigrant workers like they did in Moreno Valley and start recognizing the workers’ union.
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| This airplane banner flew over the Anaheim Convention Center. |
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| Unveiling a banner at Expo West. |
We came to Natural Products Expo West to inform the businesses and organizations in this industry about UNFI’s unconscionable behavior. What’s amazing is how many buyers, restaurant owners and organic producers told us they also feel bullied by UNFI and Whole Foods’ abuse of dominant market power.Small retailers and producers were unwilling to share their stories publicly for fear of retaliation from UNFI and Whole Foods.
Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director, said it's time for UNFI to stop the bullying and intimidation. Said Vairma,
Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights to join together to improve their working conditions.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Teamsters protest Sprouts Farmers Market in Bakersfield, Calif.
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| Protesting Sprouts in Bakersfield, Calif. |
Teamsters were joined at the protest by grocery distribution workers and community leaders. They distributed balloons and leaflets that read, “Sprouts: Unhealthy for our Community,” and fly swatters that read, “Shop & Swat at Sprouts.”
Marc Moran, an organizer at Teamsters Joint Council 42 in Pomona, Calif., said:
UNFI and Sprouts both claim to be values-driven organizations. Both companies have benefited from consumers’ shift toward food and groceries that are perceived to be ethically sourced in a sustainable manner. We are here today to inform the public about UNFI’s unconscionable behavior.UNFI has $6 billion in revenue and is America’s largest organic and natural foods wholesaler. Sprouts Farmers Market was taken public by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, which is still a major direct holder of Sprouts.
In Moreno Valley, Calif., UNFI broke federal laws that protect workers’ rights when it intimidated, threatened and fired workers. In November 2014, the federal government certified the Teamsters Union as the drivers’ union in Moreno Valley after UNFI managed to delay the ballot counting for over a year on a technicality. Yet, UNFI still refuses to recognize the workers’ union.
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| Another view of the protest against Sprouts. |
It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation. Over the years, UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights to join together to improve their working conditions.Randy Korgan, Organizing Director for Teamsters Local 63 in Covina, Calif., described how UNFI intimidates workers:
Whenever a group of workers at a UNFI warehouse or truck yard attempt to form a union, UNFI management brutalizes them with a barrage of tactics based on contempt and fear, solely for the purpose of intimidating their own workers. It's time Sprouts took a stand to stop this illegal bullying behavior in their supply chain. We expect that Sprouts, with its claim to be values-driven, would tell its suppliers to treat the local workers and local community with respect.Across America, UNFI has taken massive tax subsidies while local school systems struggle. UNFI recently built a warehouse in this manner in Hudson Valley, N.Y. The company took 15 years’ worth of tax breaks, even though the community has experienced major cuts in the local school district’s education budget and has seen property taxes rise.
Organic consumers also worry that UNFI, with its acquisition of Sacramento, Calif.-based Tony’s Fine Foods, is veering away from a professed commitment to organic food – possibly straying toward factory farming and undermining the further growth of sustainable farming and food consumption.
Today's Teamster News 02.26.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: Port Driver Efforts Show The Long, Hard Fight For Justice Huffington Post ...The port truck industry is highly fragmented, poorly organized and grossly inefficient. Deregulation has forced trucking companies to engage in cutthroat competition. Consequently, many are gearing up to fight the efforts of drivers and the Teamsters to organize and receive a fair wage. Luckily, more and more decision makers are beginning to side with workers...
Teamsters, Consumers And Community Protest Sprouts Farmers Market teamster.org ...“It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation,” said Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director. “Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights join together to improve their working conditions.”...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose Washington Post …Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty...
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton's On NAFTA Op-Ed News …NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality rose as corporations pocketed the wage differential. Now the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being sold with literally the same promises…
Trade Crazy: The Push For Fast-Track Trade Authority (opinion) Huffington Post ...There are many issues in the TPP that our trading partners don't like. They don't like rules that will force them to pay more for drugs from Pfizer and Merck, nor do they like rules that will make them pay more money to Time Warner for Hollywood movies, or to Microsoft for software...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate approves right-to-work bill Chicago Tribune …The Wisconsin state Senate narrowly passed a right-to-work bill Wednesday and sent it on to the Assembly, where the Republican majority is wider...
Koch-Funded Allies Descend on Wisconsin to Push Right to Work Center for Media and Democracy …It's a rare citizen who would rush to testify that the higher wages, benefits, and training that unions bring are a bad idea. Fortunately, the Wisconsin GOP had the full support of the Koch-funded "think tanks" that are a critical part of the right-wing infrastructure...
Registrations at Wisconsin Senate hearing overwhelmingly against right-to-work bill Associated Press …Opponents to right-to-work outnumbered supporters 70-to-1 at a Wisconsin state Senate public hearing that was cut short before Republicans voted to advance the bill...
Kenton County To Adopt "Right to Work" Ordinance River City News ...Kenton County will pass a so-called "Right to Work" ordinance at its next meeting after hearing a first reading on Tuesday night in Covington...
Missouri house passes two voter ID measures CedarRepublican.com …The Missouri House passed two measures Thursday, Feb. 19, which would make Missouri the 32nd state to require a government issued ID to vote...
Iowa Senate Approves $8.75 Minimum Wage Bill Des Moines Register ...Senate File 269 was approved 27-22 with no debate. All 26 Democrats voted for the bill. Only one Republican, Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, voted yes. Iowa's minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. The bill would increase Iowa's minimum wage to $8 an hour on July 1, 2015, and to $8.75 an hour on July 1, 2016...
This Billionaire Governor Taxed The Rich And Increased The Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One Of The Best In The Country Huffington Post ...The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay. It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong...
War on Workers
T.J. Maxx to hike minimum wage for workers CNN Monday …The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods is raising wages for its workers to at least $10 an hour by next year...
JPMorgan, Still On 2-Year Probation, Under Scrutiny in Gold Fixing Probe Wall Street on Parade …the U.S. Justice Department is investigating at least 10 of the biggest U.S. and foreign banks for potentially rigging the gold market and other precious metals markets. That investigation comes while ongoing investigations continue into the potential rigging by big banks of the setting of interest-rate benchmarks and foreign currency...
Student Debt Strikers Take On Corinthian College Mathbabe …Good for them. Corinthian College is a predatory and fraudulent company which was in the business of gaming the federal loan system while making false promises to its students. Those students are victims of fraud and should not be the ones paying back the government money for an education they never got. Instead, Corinthian should pay back the money...
Iron Worker At Barclays Center Crushed To Death By Steel Beams New York Daily News ...A 52-year-old iron worker constructing a green roof on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was crushed to death by steel beams on Tuesday, police said. Hardhat Peter Zepf was helping to move the massive beams — called joists — from a truck onto a hoist when four of the parts fell on him near the Atlantic Ave. side of the arena around 1 p.m., witnesses said...
Miscellaneous
Janet Yellen Puts Fed On Path To Lift Rates Wall Street Journal ...If the economy continues to strengthen as the Fed anticipates and officials become more confident that low inflation will rise toward their 2% goal, she said, the central bank “will at some point begin considering an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”...
Hoffa: Port Driver Efforts Show The Long, Hard Fight For Justice Huffington Post ...The port truck industry is highly fragmented, poorly organized and grossly inefficient. Deregulation has forced trucking companies to engage in cutthroat competition. Consequently, many are gearing up to fight the efforts of drivers and the Teamsters to organize and receive a fair wage. Luckily, more and more decision makers are beginning to side with workers...
Teamsters, Consumers And Community Protest Sprouts Farmers Market teamster.org ...“It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation,” said Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director. “Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights join together to improve their working conditions.”...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose Washington Post …Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty...
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton's On NAFTA Op-Ed News …NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality rose as corporations pocketed the wage differential. Now the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being sold with literally the same promises…
Trade Crazy: The Push For Fast-Track Trade Authority (opinion) Huffington Post ...There are many issues in the TPP that our trading partners don't like. They don't like rules that will force them to pay more for drugs from Pfizer and Merck, nor do they like rules that will make them pay more money to Time Warner for Hollywood movies, or to Microsoft for software...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate approves right-to-work bill Chicago Tribune …The Wisconsin state Senate narrowly passed a right-to-work bill Wednesday and sent it on to the Assembly, where the Republican majority is wider...
Koch-Funded Allies Descend on Wisconsin to Push Right to Work Center for Media and Democracy …It's a rare citizen who would rush to testify that the higher wages, benefits, and training that unions bring are a bad idea. Fortunately, the Wisconsin GOP had the full support of the Koch-funded "think tanks" that are a critical part of the right-wing infrastructure...
Registrations at Wisconsin Senate hearing overwhelmingly against right-to-work bill Associated Press …Opponents to right-to-work outnumbered supporters 70-to-1 at a Wisconsin state Senate public hearing that was cut short before Republicans voted to advance the bill...
Kenton County To Adopt "Right to Work" Ordinance River City News ...Kenton County will pass a so-called "Right to Work" ordinance at its next meeting after hearing a first reading on Tuesday night in Covington...
Missouri house passes two voter ID measures CedarRepublican.com …The Missouri House passed two measures Thursday, Feb. 19, which would make Missouri the 32nd state to require a government issued ID to vote...
Iowa Senate Approves $8.75 Minimum Wage Bill Des Moines Register ...Senate File 269 was approved 27-22 with no debate. All 26 Democrats voted for the bill. Only one Republican, Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, voted yes. Iowa's minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. The bill would increase Iowa's minimum wage to $8 an hour on July 1, 2015, and to $8.75 an hour on July 1, 2016...
This Billionaire Governor Taxed The Rich And Increased The Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One Of The Best In The Country Huffington Post ...The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay. It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong...
War on Workers
T.J. Maxx to hike minimum wage for workers CNN Monday …The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods is raising wages for its workers to at least $10 an hour by next year...
JPMorgan, Still On 2-Year Probation, Under Scrutiny in Gold Fixing Probe Wall Street on Parade …the U.S. Justice Department is investigating at least 10 of the biggest U.S. and foreign banks for potentially rigging the gold market and other precious metals markets. That investigation comes while ongoing investigations continue into the potential rigging by big banks of the setting of interest-rate benchmarks and foreign currency...
Student Debt Strikers Take On Corinthian College Mathbabe …Good for them. Corinthian College is a predatory and fraudulent company which was in the business of gaming the federal loan system while making false promises to its students. Those students are victims of fraud and should not be the ones paying back the government money for an education they never got. Instead, Corinthian should pay back the money...
Iron Worker At Barclays Center Crushed To Death By Steel Beams New York Daily News ...A 52-year-old iron worker constructing a green roof on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was crushed to death by steel beams on Tuesday, police said. Hardhat Peter Zepf was helping to move the massive beams — called joists — from a truck onto a hoist when four of the parts fell on him near the Atlantic Ave. side of the arena around 1 p.m., witnesses said...
Miscellaneous
Janet Yellen Puts Fed On Path To Lift Rates Wall Street Journal ...If the economy continues to strengthen as the Fed anticipates and officials become more confident that low inflation will rise toward their 2% goal, she said, the central bank “will at some point begin considering an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”...
Friday, November 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.07.14
Teamster News
Election Count Ensures Teamster Victory At UNFI Distribution Center teamster.org ...More than a year ago, truck drivers at United Natural Foods, Inc.’s (UNFI) distribution center voted in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election for representation by Teamsters Local 63 in Covina, Calif. The votes in that election were not counted – until now. On Nov. 4, the drivers’ votes were finally tallied after an NLRB panel mandated that the ballots be counted. The drivers voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Teamsters help deliver 664,000 signatures opposing Fast Track to key lawmaker on trade TeamsterNation ...Teamsters and allies carried 644,000 signatures opposing Fast Track legislation to Sen. Ron Wyden's office today. Wyden, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, plays a key role in moving trade deals like TPP and TTIP through Congress...
CN: a new conflict management mechanism is put to the test Digital Journal ...Teamsters are setting up an innovative mechanism for conflict management, in order to avoid strikes and lockouts at CN...
Trade
Republican Control Of Congress Does Not Mean TPP Is A Done Deal Japan Times ...“The election results mean that the Obama administration will not be able to step back its position regarding Japan and agriculture in TPP even if it were so inclined, as the demand for tariff zeroing on all commodities comes from the Republicans. Also, the prospect that fast-track will be passed during Obama’s last two years is further reduced by Republican control of the Senate,” Wallach said....
State Battles
Massachusetts Voters Approve Paid Sick Leave Measure Huffington Post ...Massachusetts on Tuesday became the third state in the nation to guarantee paid sick days for workers, with voters decisively approving a sick-leave ballot initiative, 60 percent to 40 percent...
Anchorage Voters Favor Unions In Repealing Mayor Sullivan's Labor Law Rewrite Alaska Dispatch News ...Anchorage voters soundly rejected Ballot Measure 1 in Tuesday’s election, in effect repealing the Sullivan administration’s rewrite of city labor law and handing a triumph to labor unions that have spent nearly two years bitterly fighting the measure...
Anti-Chevron candidates sweep to victory in Richmond races Contra Costa Times ...In a race that received national attention thanks to big money from Chevron, a slate of candidates on shoestring budgets swept their oil titan-backed opponents on Tuesday night in a resounding political defeat for the company and its campaign tactics...
A Big Night For Minimum Wage Increases FiveThirtyEight ...Tuesday night turned out to be a good night for Republicans. But it was also a good night for the minimum wage. Voters in five states endorsed minimum wage increases Tuesday. Significantly, minimum wage initiatives carried the day even in states where Republicans won statewide offices...
San Francisco Votes In $15 Minimum Wage CNN Money ...San Francisco on Tuesday became the second U.S. city to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to gradually raise the city's minimum wage from $10.74 currently. It passed with 77% of the vote, according to initial results reported by local authorities...
Since Texas Implemented Voter ID, The Number Of Provisional Ballots Doubled Think Progress ...Across the enormous state of Texas on Tuesday, voters encountered a wide range of problems at the polls—some stemming from the last-minute implementation of a strict voter ID law, and some based more on misinformation, intimidation and confusion...
Indiana Supreme Court upholds state's right-to-work law TheIndyChannel.com ...Indiana’s Supreme Court says the state’s right-to-work law does not violate the state constitution...
War on Workers
Labor Productivity Increases 2.0% for Q3 Economic Populist ...Overall labor is still getting squeezed for more efficiency and wages are still repressed. The mediocre Q3 productivity results also imply corporations can rake in the profits and not raise prices...
Uber’s Problems Keep Piling Up Boston.com ...Surge pricing, litigation, and subprime loans…oh my, Uber! Between a lawsuit over its labor practices, extremely expensive fares during Halloween, and now a controversy over its financing program, it seems like Uber can’t shift itself out of its troubled gear...
Tobacco Giant’s Move Could Reduce Child Labor Human Rights Watch ...The tobacco giant Philip Morris International has adopted a change in policy that could protect many child workers from danger on tobacco farms in the United States...
Westchester Construction Worker Dies After Elevator Shaft Fall: Police NBC New York ...he was putting away his tools when he broke through a screen covering the shaft...
Worker who died in Causeway accident had worked for company only a short time NOLA.com ...A man who died Monday when his construction vehicle was knocked off the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway had worked for Traffic Solutions Inc. only a short time, the owner said Tuesday (Nov. 4). Edward Burton, 57, of New Orleans, died after the truck he was driving slowly as part of a construction crew on the bridge was struck by a garbage truck...
Miscellaneous
Former NSA Lawyer Says BlackBerry Declined Because Encryption Isn’t A Good Business Model Slate ...On Tuesday at Web Summit in Dublin, former NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker said that expanded encryption efforts by tech companies like Apple and Google do more to harm U.S. intelligence than they do to defend against wrongful and excessive surveillance worldwide...
Uncle Sam's Databases Of Suspicion Huffington Post ...We do know that the nation’s domestic-intelligence network is massive, including at least 59 federal agencies, over 300 Defense Department units, and approximately 78 state-based fusion centers, as well as the multitude of law enforcement agencies they serve. We also know that local law enforcement agencies have themselves raised concerns about the system’s lack of privacy protections...
Election Count Ensures Teamster Victory At UNFI Distribution Center teamster.org ...More than a year ago, truck drivers at United Natural Foods, Inc.’s (UNFI) distribution center voted in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election for representation by Teamsters Local 63 in Covina, Calif. The votes in that election were not counted – until now. On Nov. 4, the drivers’ votes were finally tallied after an NLRB panel mandated that the ballots be counted. The drivers voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Teamsters help deliver 664,000 signatures opposing Fast Track to key lawmaker on trade TeamsterNation ...Teamsters and allies carried 644,000 signatures opposing Fast Track legislation to Sen. Ron Wyden's office today. Wyden, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, plays a key role in moving trade deals like TPP and TTIP through Congress...
CN: a new conflict management mechanism is put to the test Digital Journal ...Teamsters are setting up an innovative mechanism for conflict management, in order to avoid strikes and lockouts at CN...
Trade
Republican Control Of Congress Does Not Mean TPP Is A Done Deal Japan Times ...“The election results mean that the Obama administration will not be able to step back its position regarding Japan and agriculture in TPP even if it were so inclined, as the demand for tariff zeroing on all commodities comes from the Republicans. Also, the prospect that fast-track will be passed during Obama’s last two years is further reduced by Republican control of the Senate,” Wallach said....
State Battles
Massachusetts Voters Approve Paid Sick Leave Measure Huffington Post ...Massachusetts on Tuesday became the third state in the nation to guarantee paid sick days for workers, with voters decisively approving a sick-leave ballot initiative, 60 percent to 40 percent...
Anchorage Voters Favor Unions In Repealing Mayor Sullivan's Labor Law Rewrite Alaska Dispatch News ...Anchorage voters soundly rejected Ballot Measure 1 in Tuesday’s election, in effect repealing the Sullivan administration’s rewrite of city labor law and handing a triumph to labor unions that have spent nearly two years bitterly fighting the measure...
Anti-Chevron candidates sweep to victory in Richmond races Contra Costa Times ...In a race that received national attention thanks to big money from Chevron, a slate of candidates on shoestring budgets swept their oil titan-backed opponents on Tuesday night in a resounding political defeat for the company and its campaign tactics...
A Big Night For Minimum Wage Increases FiveThirtyEight ...Tuesday night turned out to be a good night for Republicans. But it was also a good night for the minimum wage. Voters in five states endorsed minimum wage increases Tuesday. Significantly, minimum wage initiatives carried the day even in states where Republicans won statewide offices...
San Francisco Votes In $15 Minimum Wage CNN Money ...San Francisco on Tuesday became the second U.S. city to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to gradually raise the city's minimum wage from $10.74 currently. It passed with 77% of the vote, according to initial results reported by local authorities...
Since Texas Implemented Voter ID, The Number Of Provisional Ballots Doubled Think Progress ...Across the enormous state of Texas on Tuesday, voters encountered a wide range of problems at the polls—some stemming from the last-minute implementation of a strict voter ID law, and some based more on misinformation, intimidation and confusion...
Indiana Supreme Court upholds state's right-to-work law TheIndyChannel.com ...Indiana’s Supreme Court says the state’s right-to-work law does not violate the state constitution...
War on Workers
Labor Productivity Increases 2.0% for Q3 Economic Populist ...Overall labor is still getting squeezed for more efficiency and wages are still repressed. The mediocre Q3 productivity results also imply corporations can rake in the profits and not raise prices...
Uber’s Problems Keep Piling Up Boston.com ...Surge pricing, litigation, and subprime loans…oh my, Uber! Between a lawsuit over its labor practices, extremely expensive fares during Halloween, and now a controversy over its financing program, it seems like Uber can’t shift itself out of its troubled gear...
Tobacco Giant’s Move Could Reduce Child Labor Human Rights Watch ...The tobacco giant Philip Morris International has adopted a change in policy that could protect many child workers from danger on tobacco farms in the United States...
Westchester Construction Worker Dies After Elevator Shaft Fall: Police NBC New York ...he was putting away his tools when he broke through a screen covering the shaft...
Worker who died in Causeway accident had worked for company only a short time NOLA.com ...A man who died Monday when his construction vehicle was knocked off the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway had worked for Traffic Solutions Inc. only a short time, the owner said Tuesday (Nov. 4). Edward Burton, 57, of New Orleans, died after the truck he was driving slowly as part of a construction crew on the bridge was struck by a garbage truck...
Miscellaneous
Former NSA Lawyer Says BlackBerry Declined Because Encryption Isn’t A Good Business Model Slate ...On Tuesday at Web Summit in Dublin, former NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker said that expanded encryption efforts by tech companies like Apple and Google do more to harm U.S. intelligence than they do to defend against wrongful and excessive surveillance worldwide...
Uncle Sam's Databases Of Suspicion Huffington Post ...We do know that the nation’s domestic-intelligence network is massive, including at least 59 federal agencies, over 300 Defense Department units, and approximately 78 state-based fusion centers, as well as the multitude of law enforcement agencies they serve. We also know that local law enforcement agencies have themselves raised concerns about the system’s lack of privacy protections...
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Today's Teamster News 03.28.13
Iraqi oil: Once seen as U.S. boon, now it’s mostly China’s McClatchy ...Ten years after the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the country’s oil industry is poised to boom and make the troubled nation the No.2 oil exporter in the world. But the nation that’s moving to take advantage of Iraq’s riches isn’t the United States. It’s China...
Post analysis of Dow 30 firms shows declining tax burden as a share of profits Washington Post ...Most of the 30 companies listed on the country’s most famous stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average, have seen a dramatically smaller percentage of their profits go to U.S. coffers over time, even as their share prices have driven the Dow to an all-time high...
Cyprus crisis: capital controls loom as banks race to re-open The Guardian ...Protests are mounting in Cyprus as the full extent of Monday's EU-IMF bailout sinks in...
As Supreme Court Hears Challenge to ALEC Voting Bill, Two More States Introduce It Center for Media and Democracy ...Within days of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a challenge to an Arizona voting registration law that had been adopted as a "model" by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), two more states advanced bills that appear to track the ALEC/Arizona template...
Michelle Rhee takes on teachers' unions Los Angeles Times ...StudentsFirst, the advocacy group Rhee founded … is positioning itself as the political counterweight to teachers' unions….Among StudentsFirst's major donors is the Walton Family Foundation, funded by heirs to the fortune generated by Wal-Mart, which has vigorously opposed unions...
When workers die: “And nobody called 911″ Salon ...A man is scalded by nearly boiling water and citric acid. His fate points to a dark reality for temp workers...
Sweatshops still make your clothes Salon ...It’s been 16 years since Charles Kernaghan made Kathie Lee Gifford cry on national television, revealing that her Wal-Mart-sold clothing line was produced by Honduran children working 20-hour shifts. ... not that much has changed...
Howard Dean Launches Campaign To Flip State Legislatures Huffington Post ...Dean said that Democracy for America's "Purple to Blue Project" would work to swing state legislatures from Republican to Democrat, starting in Virginia, then adding three states in 2014...
Assembly passes rewrite of city labor laws by slim 6-5 margin Anchorage Daily News ...The Anchorage Assembly Tuesday night narrowly passed a rewrite of city labor laws that tips the balance of power in negotiations with city unions more toward management...
Union research shows pension overhaul will cost workers, taxpayers Palm Beach Post ...Public employee unions fighting the House pension overhaul rolled out research Tuesday that says the move will cost taxpayers more — challenging the view of House Speaker Will Weatherford and other proponents that closing the traditional plan to new workers will reduce state costs...
Jim Greer, Florida ex-GOP chairman, gets 18 months in prison Orlando Sentinel ...An Orlando judge on Wednesday sentenced Jim Greer, former high-flying chairman of the Florida GOP, to 18 months in prison for stealing $125,000 from the party...
Governor calls unions the voice of American workers People's World ..."We live in a time in which more and more capital is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told about 250 union delegates and activists here at the annual AFL-CIO Labor Legislative Conference on March 25 and 26...
Wisconsin gets an "F" for disclosing its spending Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Wisconsin is one of five states Tuesday that received an "F" for how it makes government spending available online...
Genesys Convalescent Center, Teamsters Local 332 reach first contract agreement Michigan Live ...After joining a union in the fall, Genesys Convalescent Center employees recently approved their first contract...
Teamsters-UNFI hearing in Moreno Valley The Press-Enterprise ...A hearing on whether United Natural Foods violated labor laws during a contentious union organizing campaign last year has been moved to Moreno Valley to accommodate Inland-area workers, a federal spokesperson said on Wednesday, March 27...
Teamsters leader says efforts to overturn right-to-work laws are 'swelling' Michigan Live ...The lame duck legislative push for so-called right-to-work laws in Michigan was driven by corporate special interests, chief among them being Grand Rapids’ own Dick DeVos...
Teamsters Take Demands For U.S. Workers' Rights To National Express Group Headquarters IBT ...Teamster school bus drivers who work at National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN) rallied with British members of Unite the Union outside the company's headquarters today, demanding the multinational transport company honor the human rights of its North American workers...
Post analysis of Dow 30 firms shows declining tax burden as a share of profits Washington Post ...Most of the 30 companies listed on the country’s most famous stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average, have seen a dramatically smaller percentage of their profits go to U.S. coffers over time, even as their share prices have driven the Dow to an all-time high...
Cyprus crisis: capital controls loom as banks race to re-open The Guardian ...Protests are mounting in Cyprus as the full extent of Monday's EU-IMF bailout sinks in...
As Supreme Court Hears Challenge to ALEC Voting Bill, Two More States Introduce It Center for Media and Democracy ...Within days of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a challenge to an Arizona voting registration law that had been adopted as a "model" by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), two more states advanced bills that appear to track the ALEC/Arizona template...
Michelle Rhee takes on teachers' unions Los Angeles Times ...StudentsFirst, the advocacy group Rhee founded … is positioning itself as the political counterweight to teachers' unions….Among StudentsFirst's major donors is the Walton Family Foundation, funded by heirs to the fortune generated by Wal-Mart, which has vigorously opposed unions...
When workers die: “And nobody called 911″ Salon ...A man is scalded by nearly boiling water and citric acid. His fate points to a dark reality for temp workers...
Sweatshops still make your clothes Salon ...It’s been 16 years since Charles Kernaghan made Kathie Lee Gifford cry on national television, revealing that her Wal-Mart-sold clothing line was produced by Honduran children working 20-hour shifts. ... not that much has changed...
Howard Dean Launches Campaign To Flip State Legislatures Huffington Post ...Dean said that Democracy for America's "Purple to Blue Project" would work to swing state legislatures from Republican to Democrat, starting in Virginia, then adding three states in 2014...
Assembly passes rewrite of city labor laws by slim 6-5 margin Anchorage Daily News ...The Anchorage Assembly Tuesday night narrowly passed a rewrite of city labor laws that tips the balance of power in negotiations with city unions more toward management...
Union research shows pension overhaul will cost workers, taxpayers Palm Beach Post ...Public employee unions fighting the House pension overhaul rolled out research Tuesday that says the move will cost taxpayers more — challenging the view of House Speaker Will Weatherford and other proponents that closing the traditional plan to new workers will reduce state costs...
Jim Greer, Florida ex-GOP chairman, gets 18 months in prison Orlando Sentinel ...An Orlando judge on Wednesday sentenced Jim Greer, former high-flying chairman of the Florida GOP, to 18 months in prison for stealing $125,000 from the party...
Governor calls unions the voice of American workers People's World ..."We live in a time in which more and more capital is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told about 250 union delegates and activists here at the annual AFL-CIO Labor Legislative Conference on March 25 and 26...
Wisconsin gets an "F" for disclosing its spending Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Wisconsin is one of five states Tuesday that received an "F" for how it makes government spending available online...
Genesys Convalescent Center, Teamsters Local 332 reach first contract agreement Michigan Live ...After joining a union in the fall, Genesys Convalescent Center employees recently approved their first contract...
Teamsters-UNFI hearing in Moreno Valley The Press-Enterprise ...A hearing on whether United Natural Foods violated labor laws during a contentious union organizing campaign last year has been moved to Moreno Valley to accommodate Inland-area workers, a federal spokesperson said on Wednesday, March 27...
Teamsters leader says efforts to overturn right-to-work laws are 'swelling' Michigan Live ...The lame duck legislative push for so-called right-to-work laws in Michigan was driven by corporate special interests, chief among them being Grand Rapids’ own Dick DeVos...
Teamsters Take Demands For U.S. Workers' Rights To National Express Group Headquarters IBT ...Teamster school bus drivers who work at National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN) rallied with British members of Unite the Union outside the company's headquarters today, demanding the multinational transport company honor the human rights of its North American workers...
Friday, March 1, 2013
This employer may think twice about provoking a strike
Perhaps the natural food distributor will think twice about trying to bust our great union.
Our brothers and sisters stood together in a very difficult struggle. The company fired 72 employees and permanently replaced them. The strike only ended after thousands of community members showed their solidarity with the warehouse workers and drivers.
On Feb. 7, UNFI Teamsters ratified a 5-year contract that increased wages and provided health and welfare protections. The company reinstated the 72 replaced workers.
Nineteen days later, UNFI (United Natural Foods, Inc.) revealed the cost of abusing workers in its Feb. 26 earnings report. According to Supermarket News
Shares of United Natural Foods Inc. fell about 4.8% Tuesday after the company trimmed its profit projections for the year in the wake of a recent labor strike.
The natural-product specialist said the Teamsters strike at its Auburn, Wash., distribution facility added about $3.6 million to its costs in the recently ended second fiscal quarter, and another $600,000 to $1 million in costs are expected to occur in the third quarter. The strike ended earlier this month.As Local 117 pointed out,
In the end, the strike cost UNFI over 4 million dollars – money that could have been spent to protect workers and their families. Thanks to you, companies like UNFI will think twice before violating workers’ rights and putting profits over their hardworking employees.Well said.
Friday, February 8, 2013
9-week UNFI strike ends, good contract ratified
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| One day longer... |
Great news from our brothers and sisters in Washington! We'll let them tell the story:
On Thursday, February 7, warehouse workers and drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, overwhelmingly voted to ratify a fully-recommended 5-year contract agreement with United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI).
The contract vote, which was held after a 3:30 p.m. meeting at the Teamsters building in Tukwila, officially ends the nine-week strike that started on December 10 at the company’s distribution center in Auburn, Wash. Picket lines at the facility were taken down at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Warehouse workers and drivers will report to work early next week.
The agreement provides for the reinstatement of all workers, including the 72 who had been permanently replaced, health and welfare protections for workers, and meaningful wage increases.
Tracey A. Thompson, secretary-treasurer of Local 117, said:
Workers at UNFI stood together courageously in difficult conditions to fight for dignity and respect. With the help of our community partners and a strong bargaining committee, workers were able to achieve a fair and just contract.Local 117 members say they are ready to return to work. Robert Jurey, a warehouse worker and shop steward who has worked at UNFI’s Auburn facility for 13 years, said:
Our customers are our number one priority. We look forward to getting back into the warehouse and back in our trucks so that we can continue to provide the highest-quality service to our customers.Thompson thanked the many community partners for their unwavering support:
We are also deeply grateful to all of the individuals, unions, co-ops, small grocers, and other community organizations that took actions in solidarity with the striking workers and to those who donated to the hardship fund set up to provide workers with financial relief. Your generosity has made a tremendous difference in the lives of the 160 workers and their families who have been impacted by the strike.
Today's Teamster News 02.08.13
US citizens braced for austerity impact Financial Times ...The Pentagon has said that 800,000 civilian employees would see their hours cut by 20 per cent for the rest of the year and 46,000 temporary workers would be laid off. Other agencies would also see deep cuts in staff. There are estimates of a 25 per cent drop in border patrol agents, 600 fewer food safety inspectors at slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, and 1,200 fewer air traffic control operators...
Tax Holiday Ends, Consumers Scrimp Wall Street Journal ...Surveys show the majority of Americans who are aware of the tax increase say they plan to cut spending, and consumer confidence has wavered. Companies like Target Corp. and women's clothier Cato Corp. say the tax increase has crimped sales...
Profound Weight of Layoffs Is Seen in Work Trends Survey New York Times ...While about 8 percent of Americans are unemployed, nearly a quarter of Americans say they were laid off at some point during the recession or afterward...Of those laid off in recent years, nearly a quarter said they still had not found a job...
Postal Service dying from 1,000 cuts and a GOP stab in the back (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade...
American Airlines And US Airways Near Merger Deal Forbes ...AA’s parent company, AMR Corp., is in the final stages of talks with US Airways Group on a merger deal, and an agreement could be reached as soon as February 15th...
Tunisia faces general strike after Belaid assassination sparks crisis The Guardian ...The UGTT, Tunisia's trade union federation, called the strike in protest at the murder of Chokri Belaid on Wednesday. It will be the first such strike since 1978...
Senators look to revamp local pension plans Sun-Sentinel ...A panel of Florida lawmakers on Wednesday debated how best to revamp 492 municipal pension plans across the state...
Washtenaw County takes stance against right-to-work legislation with unanswered legal questions AnnArbor.com ...the commission voted 6-1 to approve the resolution that not only served as a formal expression of the majority of the commission's opposition to the right-to-work measures passed by the lame duck Michigan legislature in December, but also to direct staff to expedite union contract negotiations...
Dayton: Tax cuts caused Minn. economic problems Minnesota Public Radio ..."In the decade after Minnesota's income tax reductions, our economy fared worse than the nation and most other states," Dayton said...
Voter poll pulls losing numbers for Corbett's lotto plan Philly.com ...Sixty-four percent of the voters polled said they oppose his plan to turn over control of the lottery to a British company, Camelot Global Services...
Walmart Workers Are Back on Strike Over a New Wave of Alleged Threats The Nation ...half a dozen workers in Laurel, Maryland, walked off the job in protest of alleged retaliation by Walmart management...
Workers at UNFI vote to ratify 5-year contract agreement Auburn Reporter ...Warehouse workers and drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, overwhelmingly voted to ratify a fully-recommended 5-year contract agreement with United Natural Foods, Inc. on Thursday...The agreement provides for the reinstatement of all workers, including the 72 who had been permanently replaced, health and welfare protections for workers, and meaningful wage increases...
Moreno Valley warehouse charged with harassing union Press Enterprise ...The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces workplace laws and supervises union elections, has issued a complaint against a Moreno Valley food distribution center... union officials filed labor board charges alleging that employees were harassed and threatened by company officials...
Arbitrator rules in favor of deputy sheriffs on pay Capital Gazette ...An arbitrator has ruled in favor of the county's deputy sheriffs union in its grievance against the county for failing to pay negotiated wage increases in fiscal 2010...The sheriff's deputies are represented by Teamsters Union Local 355...
Teamsters Release Video Of Sanitation Workers At Martin Luther King, Jr. March IBT ...more than 400 sanitation workers from Atlanta, Ga., Pensacola, Fla., Mobile, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn. joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste treat its workers with respect...
Tax Holiday Ends, Consumers Scrimp Wall Street Journal ...Surveys show the majority of Americans who are aware of the tax increase say they plan to cut spending, and consumer confidence has wavered. Companies like Target Corp. and women's clothier Cato Corp. say the tax increase has crimped sales...
Profound Weight of Layoffs Is Seen in Work Trends Survey New York Times ...While about 8 percent of Americans are unemployed, nearly a quarter of Americans say they were laid off at some point during the recession or afterward...Of those laid off in recent years, nearly a quarter said they still had not found a job...
Postal Service dying from 1,000 cuts and a GOP stab in the back (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade...
American Airlines And US Airways Near Merger Deal Forbes ...AA’s parent company, AMR Corp., is in the final stages of talks with US Airways Group on a merger deal, and an agreement could be reached as soon as February 15th...
Tunisia faces general strike after Belaid assassination sparks crisis The Guardian ...The UGTT, Tunisia's trade union federation, called the strike in protest at the murder of Chokri Belaid on Wednesday. It will be the first such strike since 1978...
Senators look to revamp local pension plans Sun-Sentinel ...A panel of Florida lawmakers on Wednesday debated how best to revamp 492 municipal pension plans across the state...
Washtenaw County takes stance against right-to-work legislation with unanswered legal questions AnnArbor.com ...the commission voted 6-1 to approve the resolution that not only served as a formal expression of the majority of the commission's opposition to the right-to-work measures passed by the lame duck Michigan legislature in December, but also to direct staff to expedite union contract negotiations...
Dayton: Tax cuts caused Minn. economic problems Minnesota Public Radio ..."In the decade after Minnesota's income tax reductions, our economy fared worse than the nation and most other states," Dayton said...
Voter poll pulls losing numbers for Corbett's lotto plan Philly.com ...Sixty-four percent of the voters polled said they oppose his plan to turn over control of the lottery to a British company, Camelot Global Services...
Walmart Workers Are Back on Strike Over a New Wave of Alleged Threats The Nation ...half a dozen workers in Laurel, Maryland, walked off the job in protest of alleged retaliation by Walmart management...
Workers at UNFI vote to ratify 5-year contract agreement Auburn Reporter ...Warehouse workers and drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, overwhelmingly voted to ratify a fully-recommended 5-year contract agreement with United Natural Foods, Inc. on Thursday...The agreement provides for the reinstatement of all workers, including the 72 who had been permanently replaced, health and welfare protections for workers, and meaningful wage increases...
Moreno Valley warehouse charged with harassing union Press Enterprise ...The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces workplace laws and supervises union elections, has issued a complaint against a Moreno Valley food distribution center... union officials filed labor board charges alleging that employees were harassed and threatened by company officials...
Arbitrator rules in favor of deputy sheriffs on pay Capital Gazette ...An arbitrator has ruled in favor of the county's deputy sheriffs union in its grievance against the county for failing to pay negotiated wage increases in fiscal 2010...The sheriff's deputies are represented by Teamsters Union Local 355...
Teamsters Release Video Of Sanitation Workers At Martin Luther King, Jr. March IBT ...more than 400 sanitation workers from Atlanta, Ga., Pensacola, Fla., Mobile, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn. joined workers from the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike to demand that Republic Services/Allied Waste treat its workers with respect...
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Today's Teamster News 02.02.13
As U.S. Growth Lags, Some Press the Fed to Do Still More New York Times ...In the five months since the Federal Reserve started a campaign to increase growth and reduce unemployment, the economy has slowed and unemployment has increased...
BP tried to manipulate gas market, alleges trader The Guardian ...BP faces new embarrassment in America with a court case brought by one of its former traders, who claims the company was trying to manipulate the natural gas liquids market...
Jobs report: why the recovery has stalled Christian Science Monitor ...employers added only 157,000 jobs in January...More jobs and faster growth should be the most important objectives now. Yet we’re moving in the opposite direction — following Europe’s sorry example of failed austerity economics...
Groundhog Day in the labor market Economic Policy Institute ...The labor market started out 2013 in a lackluster fashion, adding 157,000 jobs...It’s like we’re in Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” – each month we wake up to the same report...
Foreclosures decline nationally in December Los Angeles Times ...Foreclosures declined nationally in December...The sizable 19.5% decline in foreclosure inventory, accompanied by a similar drop in completed foreclosures, should help lay a path for a faster recovery in 2013...
Florida Governor Pushes Prison Work Release Privatization Plan Forbes ...Though Florida Governor Rick Scott has recently said he won’t privatize state prison operations...he recently recommended that 14 of the state’s publicly operated work release centers should also go to private contractors...
Eight plead guilty in Michigan right-to-work protest Associated Press ...Eight people have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors after being arrested inside the state Capitol building during a December protest against passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law...
Gov. Scott Walker transfers $40,000 to legal defense fund Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker transferred $40,000 in campaign funds late last year to his legal fund set up to pay two high-priced criminal defense lawyers to represent him in the lengthy John Doe investigation...
Justice Department sues to block Anheuser-Busch InBev merger with Grupo Modelo Washington Post ...The Justice Department moved Thursday to block beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev from merging with Mexico’s largest maker, Grupo Modelo, arguing the deal would threaten competition and raise prices for consumers. The $20.1 billion deal would have...added Grupo Modelo’s fast-growing Corona brand to AB InBev’s sizable portfolio...
Wal-Mart’s Union Complaint Shelved by U.S. Labor Board Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) won a 60-day hiatus from picketing at its U.S. stores in a settlement between a labor union and the world’s largest retailer...
Labor Board Refuses to Halt Strike by School Bus Drivers New York Times ...New York’s City’s two-week-old school bus strike will continue. On Friday, officials of the National Labor Relations Board...(rejected) a complaint brought by a coalition of 20 private bus companies, which argued that the strike was illegal...
Teamsters’ complaint accuses city of retaliation, harassment Quad-City Times ...The Teamsters union has filed a complaint against the city of Davenport, claiming its union steward in the Public Works Department was fired in retaliation for his union activities...It also claims the city and Public Works director Mike Clarke have harassed and retaliated against city employees for their union activity by refusing to accept grievances...
BP tried to manipulate gas market, alleges trader The Guardian ...BP faces new embarrassment in America with a court case brought by one of its former traders, who claims the company was trying to manipulate the natural gas liquids market...
Jobs report: why the recovery has stalled Christian Science Monitor ...employers added only 157,000 jobs in January...More jobs and faster growth should be the most important objectives now. Yet we’re moving in the opposite direction — following Europe’s sorry example of failed austerity economics...
Groundhog Day in the labor market Economic Policy Institute ...The labor market started out 2013 in a lackluster fashion, adding 157,000 jobs...It’s like we’re in Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” – each month we wake up to the same report...
Foreclosures decline nationally in December Los Angeles Times ...Foreclosures declined nationally in December...The sizable 19.5% decline in foreclosure inventory, accompanied by a similar drop in completed foreclosures, should help lay a path for a faster recovery in 2013...
Florida Governor Pushes Prison Work Release Privatization Plan Forbes ...Though Florida Governor Rick Scott has recently said he won’t privatize state prison operations...he recently recommended that 14 of the state’s publicly operated work release centers should also go to private contractors...
Eight plead guilty in Michigan right-to-work protest Associated Press ...Eight people have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors after being arrested inside the state Capitol building during a December protest against passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law...
Gov. Scott Walker transfers $40,000 to legal defense fund Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker transferred $40,000 in campaign funds late last year to his legal fund set up to pay two high-priced criminal defense lawyers to represent him in the lengthy John Doe investigation...
Justice Department sues to block Anheuser-Busch InBev merger with Grupo Modelo Washington Post ...The Justice Department moved Thursday to block beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev from merging with Mexico’s largest maker, Grupo Modelo, arguing the deal would threaten competition and raise prices for consumers. The $20.1 billion deal would have...added Grupo Modelo’s fast-growing Corona brand to AB InBev’s sizable portfolio...
Wal-Mart’s Union Complaint Shelved by U.S. Labor Board Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) won a 60-day hiatus from picketing at its U.S. stores in a settlement between a labor union and the world’s largest retailer...
Labor Board Refuses to Halt Strike by School Bus Drivers New York Times ...New York’s City’s two-week-old school bus strike will continue. On Friday, officials of the National Labor Relations Board...(rejected) a complaint brought by a coalition of 20 private bus companies, which argued that the strike was illegal...
Teamsters’ complaint accuses city of retaliation, harassment Quad-City Times ...The Teamsters union has filed a complaint against the city of Davenport, claiming its union steward in the Public Works Department was fired in retaliation for his union activities...It also claims the city and Public Works director Mike Clarke have harassed and retaliated against city employees for their union activity by refusing to accept grievances...
Friday, February 1, 2013
Whole Foods CEO calls workers 'herpes'
Teamsters have a message for UNFI CEO Steve Spinner.
This is what Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey actually said:
The union is like having herpes. It doesn't kill you, but it's unpleasant and inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.Whole Foods and the suppliers it uses brutally exploit workers who harvest, process and distribute their organic food. The companies claim their employees are "family" and guarantee fair prices for workers in poor countries. But Whole Foods distributor UNFI has illegally fired 72 underpaid and overworked warehouse workers, members of Teamsters Local 117, for going out on a ULP strike.
As Organic Consumer points out,
WFM’s Whole Trade Guarantee, through a third-party verified program, supposedly ensures that producers and laborers in developing countries get an equitable price for their goods in a safe and healthy working environment. But what about workers in the U.S.?Call it virtual virtue.
In a story titled, "Exposed: How Whole Foods and the Biggest Organic Foods Distributor Are Screwing Workers." Alternet reports,
...there’s nothing bountiful or good about the way the second-largest non-unionized food retailer exploits workers.
United Natural Foods Incorporated (UNFI), the largest multi-billion dollar wholesale distributor of organic and “natural” foods in the U.S., is currently under investigation for 45 violations of federal labor law, including physically threatening immigrant workers in California who were trying to form a union.
The company recently fired its underpaid and overworked unionized workers at its Auburn, Wash., distribution center for going on strike, and illegally hired non-union replacement workers.Organic Consumer has a point:
It’s time for WFM and UNFI to publicly acknowledge that Fair Trade principles and practices need to be implemented as part of their entire US/North American/global supply chain for food and organic and natural products, not just for the minority of products produced overseas and certified as Fair Trade.Here's how you can help:
- You can sign a petition here in support of the striking Teamsters at UNFI.
- You can call UNFI manager Hank Heatherly at (253) 333-6769. Tell him to rehire the fired workers and return to the bargaining table immediately.
- If you live in Washington State, and are willing to join in informational leafleting at Whole Foods Markets, sign up here.
- You can donate to the Worker Hardship Fund here.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tell UNFI CEO to quit lying about the Teamsters
Our brothers and sisters in Washington state are locked in a brutal fight with natural food distributor UNFI. Members of Local 117 are closing in on the third month of a strike against the company, which has 42 ULP charges pending, which hired 72 scabs and whose CEO tells preposterous lies about the situation.
The CEO, Steven Spinner, said Monday that UNFI's last proposal included caps on employee medical costs. The workers rejected that proposal by a vote of 104-26 because it eliminated that protection (which the previous contract included).
Local 117 sets the record straight on that issue and others in a strike update at www.UNFIDrivenByGreed.org. You can help our striking brothers and sisters by sending an email to Spinner at sspinner@unfi.com. Urge him to return to the bargaining table and to reinstate all 72 warehouse workers who were illegally replaced.
You can also sign a petition here to STOP putting profits over protections for working families.
Finally, Teamsters Local 117 asks:
Finally, Teamsters Local 117 asks:
Help a worker pay his rent and put food on the table! Donate to the Teamsters 117 UNFI Workers’ Hardship Fund. All proceeds from the fund go directly to workers and their families suffering the greatest financial hardship during the strike.
Solidarity.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Reads around the Internets for union members
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| From Union Hands and Voices |
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:You can sign a petition and help with financial support.
www.unfidrivenbygreed.com.
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,
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| 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.
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