High court hears critical union case

The most important union-related case in more than a generation was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court this morning, and its effects could be wide-reaching for the Teamsters and other unions.

A negative ruling in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association involving public workers and their unions could hurt all workers nationwide in their fight for their rights and decency on the job. The case pits nine anti-union teachers against the two teachers unions in California who represent them and against the state. The issue is whether states can order anti-union workers – whom, however, the union represents -- to pay “agency fees” to cover costs of contract bargaining and administration, such as defending grievances.

Maryann Parker, associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Unions, said:

This case should be seen for what it is: It would place substantial limitations on the ability of working people to advocate for themselves. In terms of what’s happening in the country [to workers, their wages, their declining standards of living and their rights], it’s very important.

The plaintiffs say such orders and laws violate their free speech rights by forcing them to support union political positions. But in reality, speakers at the Jan. 6 American Constitution Society panel said, Friedrichs is part of a broader movement to strip all workers of their rights.

 They lost, intentionally, in lower courts, but took their case to the High Court at the outright invitation in a prior court ruling by Associate Justice Samuel Alito. In a parallel, but more restricted case two years ago, Alito questioned whether any public worker unions had the right to require non-members to pay agency fees.

He didn’t win then. If he wins now, there would be wide ramifications for all workers, public and private, union and non-union. Parker noted that by outlawing the right for unions to charge anyone even “agency fees” – not to mention membership dues – unions would lose funds that help workers band together and fight for their rights and a better standard of living.

Parker and panelist Anisha Gupta, New York state’s deputy solicitor general, also stressed the practical impact of a decision for the Friedrichs dissidents. It would overturn almost 40 years of laws, precedents and cases involving public workers, following a 1976 High Court ruling in a case, Abood, involving the Detroit school board and its teachers unions.

A decision in the case is not expected until June.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report.

New Year brings new laws to help workers

New Year's Day brought new pro-worker state and local laws into effect, as past worker activism at those levels provided an alternative to gridlock and anti-worker attitudes in the GOP-run Congress in Washington.

And it wasn't just minimum wage laws, either. Data compiled by the National Partnership for Women and Families show a wide range of family-friendly and pro-worker legislation either took effect on New Year's Day or will take effect this year, on top of a host of new laws that began in 2015.

National Partnership Executive Director Debra Ness called 2015 a year filled with tremendous victories for America’s working families:

We expect the progress to continue, but our nation still has a long way to go to ensure that hardworking people aren’t left struggling when illness strikes or new children arrive, or because we have failed to eradicate pay and pregnancy discrimination. 

Not counting a carload of family-friendly laws that took effect last year, or state minimum wage hikes on Jan. 1, other state and local family-friendly laws that will start in 2016 included:

• Paid parental leave laws in Oregon (statewide), New York City (city workers), California (teachers), New Brunswick, N.J. (citywide), Seattle and King County public workers, all on Jan. 1, Tacoma (citywide, Feb. 1), Kansas City, Mo.(for city workers on May 1), Elizabeth, N.J. (March 2, citywide) and Montgomery County, Md. (countywide), on Oct. 1.
  
• California's paid sick leave law had its one-year anniversary on Jan. 1. It was the second such statewide law, and Massachusetts became the third on July 1, 2015. Many laws outlawing pregnancy discrimination took effect in a wide range of states last year.
  
• A strong equal pay law in California, the nation's most-populous state and home to one of every eight people in the U.S., took effect this Jan. 1.  Stronger statewide equal pay laws started in Oregon this Jan. 1 and will start in New York on Jan. 19. North Dakota’s stronger equal pay law started this past Aug. 1.
  
• With the GOP-run Congress refusing to strengthen the 53-year-old federal Equal Pay Act, California's legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown (D), backed by state unions, closed that law's loopholes -- at least in the Golden State.

While not in NPWF's chart, the Fight for 15 movement produced legislative and bargaining successes for low-wage workers in New York State and New York City, Massachusetts, Minnesota and elsewhere.

The union-backed movement campaigns for $15 an hour as a living wage and the right to unionize without employer harassment, intimidation, spying, firing and labor law-breaking. Some 42 percent of all U.S. workers earn less than $15 hourly, data shows.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report.

Teamsters deliver petitions telling UPS to drop ALEC membership

Teamsters deliver petitions to UPS this morning in Washington.

The Teamsters have for some time been calling for UPS to drop its membership in the anti-worker American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). But today, it showed the union's largest employer it is not alone in its stance.

In separate events in Washington and Atlanta, Teamster representatives led delegations that included environmental and community activists in delivering thousands of signed petitions to company offices in both cities. In all, some 75,000 signed petitions collected call on UPS to drop its ALEC membership.

Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer and Package Division Director, said:

There is absolutely no good reason why UPS should continue its membership in ALEC. ALEC is an organization that is committed to destroying every protection and gain middle class working families have fought so hard to secure. 

Representatives from Local 639 in Washington and Local 728 in Atlanta led the delegations. The Teamsters Union represents more than 250,000 members at UPS and UPS Freight. UPS continues as an active member of ALEC despite the state legislative group's anti-worker and anti-union agenda.

The signatures were collected during a massive petition drive led by the Teamsters, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Stand UP to ALEC, Jobs with Justice and the American Postal Workers Union.

Randy Brown, President of Local 728 and a former UPS driver, led the delegation that delivered the petitions to UPS world headquarters. He expressed his disappointment in the package delivery giant's refusal to leave ALEC:

UPS' membership in ALEC is distributing to me on a personal level. How can a company with the largest unionized workforce in the country participate in an organization that attacks the very workers that makes UPS so successful? It's time for UPS to do the right thing and leave ALEC.

Today's action is just the latest in the fight to get UPS to quit ALEC. In July, hundreds of Teamsters demonstrated outside ALEC's annual meeting in San Diego and called on the company to drop its affiliation with the group.

ALEC has served as a legislative clearinghouse which authors model bills that are often brought to state capitals by lawmakers and introduced as-is. The group also acts to connect lawmakers with corporate big-wigs. It is funded, in part, by billionaire industrialists the Koch Brothers.

West Virginia prepares for a 2016 RTW fight

GST Ken Hall talks about so-called RTW in West Virginia last month.

The defeat of so-called right-to-work (RTW) legislation in West Virginia earlier this year was a historic and symbolic victory for union members. Despite the entire state Legislature being run by Republicans for the first time in decades, the opposition from workers proved too overwhelming for a vote on the chamber floor.

Thousands of West Virginia Teamsters joined with their brothers and sisters – a coalition of workers made up of all stripes, trades and union affiliations – in protest of the anti-worker legislation. Their voice grew so loud that RTW proponents in the Legislature grew wary of a floor vote early on in the session; consequently, the bill seeking to turn West Virginia into RTW state died a slow committee death as more than 8,000 workers rallied on the steps of the Statehouse against the measure.

But another push in 2016 was all but certain. Many delegates were openly admitting they would be pushing harder during the next legislative session. Senate President Bill Cole publicly called for RTW to be on next year’s legislative agenda. Cole, a candidate to succeed Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, hopes to frame the narrative early on this time around to catapult him into office. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Fortunately, West Virginia Teamsters, led by Local 175 President and IBT General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall, have been working tirelessly to expose RTW for what it truly is: a corporate-backed effort to strip workers of their rights and cripple the unions. Following the 2014 midterm elections, the American Legislative Exchange Council – a group that has spearheaded the passage of right to work and other anti-worker laws – began hedging their bets on West Virginia, but they had underestimated the resolve of the Mountain State's workers.

As one of leading voices in the West Virginia labor movement, Hall has played a key role in the fight against RTW ever since the Republican takeover. Most recently, during a Nov. 15 Joint Committee meeting, he testified in opposition to new RTW legislation seeking to make West Virginia the 26th RTW-for-less state in the country:

It doesn’t bring jobs here, it only lowers wages, that’s not good for West Virginians. And it’s not just about union members, if you lower the wages of union workers, so will the wages of the other workers in the state be lowered. The fact is if you look at the 14 states that have the highest rate of unemployment, nine of them are right to work states.

Hall will once again play a key role to oppose the anti-worker legislation. He is set to appear on West Virginia television screens this Sunday on Decision Makers with Bray Cary.

As a native son, Hall is passionate in his opposition and will continue working to inform his fellow Mountaineers of what RTW would mean for working families in West Virginia:

Unlike many of the corporations pushing for right-to-work legislation, union workers spend their wages and pay taxes in West Virginia. If this is simply a war on unions, let me make sure you understand who unions are. These are hardworking West Virginians.

With Local 175 on the front lines – and GST Hall front and center – Teamster Nation will continue to report on the latest news in the fight against RTW in West Virginia. Stay tuned!

High court rulings could affect workers

The future for workers on the job could be shaped significantly by a spate of cases set to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court during its current term. And it is something more everyday Americans need to be aware of and consider.

Already, one high court decision is being lauded by the Teamsters. The justices this week denied the petition of Amerijet International, Inc., which sought to appeal a federal appeals court ruling that said worker disputes must be arbitrated under a collective bargaining agreement regardless of whether it occurred outside of the U.S.

The case originated from the dismissal by the cargo airline of a Teamster crew member while he was flying to Trinidad and Tobago. Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division, said the justices made the right call:

It comes as no surprise that the Supreme Court would refuse to hear this case, and in doing so, uphold the Eleventh Circuit Court's reasoning that this lawsuit is without merit. The lawsuit by Amerijet is unnecessary and a blatant abuse of the legal process in an effort to circumvent the legally established standards of labor law.

But that's far from the only hurdle the Teamsters and other unions could face in front of the high court. At the top of the list is agency-fee case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. As has been mentioned here previously, if the court was to effectively institute so-called "right to work" for public sector jobs across the country, wages would likely fall far below what those in the private sector earn for the same work.

The Teamsters represent about 273,000 public sector workers, and other unions represent millions more. These government employees are everyday Americans just trying to earn a living and support their families. But that will be increasingly difficult if union rights are curtailed nationwide.

Meanwhile, two other cases warrant mentioning. The first case arose Nov. 10, when the justices heard a confused class-action dispute involving computing how much money Tyson Foods workers lost. The firm did not pay 3,300 of them at its Storm Lake, Iowa, plant for mandatory time spent putting on and taking off protective gear, such as steel aprons, goggles and heavy work boots.

As part of Tyson Foods v. Peg Bouaphakeo et al, the AFL-CIO, Chicago-based pro-worker Interfaith Worker Justice and the National Employment Law Project filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the Tyson workers. The IWJ-NELP brief told the justices that letting Tyson get away with its behavior would reward employers for breaking the law by not keeping accurate records of time their workers toiled.

The federation said the case is important to all workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act – the wage and overtime law – who are forced to sue when they don’t get paid.

And justices will hear arguments on Nov. 30 on USPS whistleblower Marvin Green’s case. Green, who is African-American, says he was “constructively discharged” – in essence, forced to quit, which is illegal under labor law – after he filed a whistleblower complaint in 2009.

His complaint arose out of a racial job discrimination claim after he sought a supervisory post in Englewood, Colo. He was turned down, because, he told federal equal employment officials, of his race. USPS later suspended Green for allegedly delaying the mail – a false charge – and the harassment and pressure forced him to quit.

The court must decide how long a whistleblower such as Green has to sue. The Postal Service argues that whistleblowers have 45 days to sue from the time the agency committed the offense – if it did. Green says the time starts from the day he was forced to quit.

• Press Associates, Inc. contributed to this report.

NLRB bill is exactly what workers don't need

Workers in recent years have been taking it on the chin from corporations. Quality jobs have vanished and wages seem to be stuck in neutral. And some states have even decided to roll back union rights.

But not all lawmakers evidently believe that's enough. Even as income inequality grows while corporate profits soar, elected officials like Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) seem to believe corporations deserve less oversight and more breaks.

That's the only excuse one could have for introducing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Reform Act, which would lessen the agency's ability to intervene and fix workplace disputes.

As The Hill wrote today:

Under the new legislation, the NLRB would be turned into a six-member bipartisan agency that could make it more difficult to act. Furthermore, the agency’s top lawyer would have less authority.

The NLRB could also face funding cuts.

Rep. Wilson seems to bemoan the existence of unions. It makes one wonder if he knows that members of the Teamsters and other unions make on average more than $200 a week more than non-union workers? Or that during the 1950s when America's middle class was at its zenith that union membership was at its highest?

Probably not. But this union does. That's why enhancing workers' rights is part of the Teamsters' "Let's Get America Working" platform. And it's why Congress must say no to legislation like this that will only hurt everyday Americans even more.

Mo., Ky. show businesses don't need RTW

Anti-union forces pushing so-called right-to-work (RTW) legislation from state to state often tout the measure as one that will boost business creation. The thinking is RTW boosts business creation by cutting wages.

But that's just not the case, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. It shows that in the latest numbers available, the top two states for jobs creation nationally were Missouri and Kentucky, states that currently allow collective bargaining but are being targeted by the corporate class and their legislative friends to make them RTW.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon rejected RTW earlier this year and the Legislature could not overturn his veto. He said the statistics show his state is on the right path:

Small businesses are the engines of our economy, and that’s why we’ve worked hard to help entrepreneurs turn cutting-edge ideas into high-paying jobs for Missourians. This report -- showing Missouri is not only bucking the national trend, but leading the country in new business creation -- is proof positive that our efforts are paying off in a big way.

Business creation increased in 2013 by 16.7 percent. That was followed by Kentucky at 6.1 percent. An additional 1,293 businesses were created in the Show Me State than the previous year, while the Blue Grass State created 251 more than in 2012.

Statistics show that RTW states consistently produce lower pay – thousands of dollars per year per worker -- and fewer protections for workers. But businesses justify their pro-RTW campaigns by saying RTW creates new businesses, which in turn create jobs.

However, only three right-to-work states – Nevada, Arizona and Mississippi – saw any kind of new business growth. Mississippi and Arizona grew less than half a percentage point, while Nevada, at 4.25 percent, lagged far behind Missouri. The other eight growing states, led by Missouri and Kentucky, were non-RTW.

Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO, said:

Right-to-work doesn’t spur new business development. Business is created through innovation and workers earning a decent wage, which they can then invest in the economy.

While Missouri, Kentucky and six other non-RTW states grew, over the same time period, 39 states saw a decrease in new business creation. Of the states that did see an increase in the number of new businesses, Missouri outperformed them dramatically – experiencing a bigger growth in new business creation than all 10 of those states, including the three RTW states on the growth list, combined.

• Press Associates, Inc. contributed to this report.

Finally, some are getting the message on wages

What is a middle-class wage? Evidently, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) have taken a significant step towards defining it in their latest contract agreement with Fiat Chrysler.

The deal would raise the salaries of both veteran workers and newer workers up towards $30 an hour over a four- and eight-year period, respectively. Those salaries, in turn, will set a standard that even non-union foreign carmakers in the U.S. will feel pressured to follow, as The New York Times stated. In short, the effort shows the power organized labor. But it also shows the importance of efforts like the Teamsters' "Let's Get America Working" campaign. As the Times points out:

Clearly, unions can lift middle-class wages to a point, but more needs to be done. Higher federal spending on necessary public projects would lift pay by creating jobs; stricter laws on worker classification would ensure that employees are not wrongly denied overtime and benefits.

Of course, there are others in the private sector who also realize more has to be done to combat income inequality in this country. Earlier this year, for example, Seattle-based Gravity Payments announced it would pay all of its 120 workers at least $70,000 a year. The move by founder Dan Price didn't bankrupt the company; in fact, profits soared.

Even some franchisers, like one who owns a handful of Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants in northern Colorado, is raises wages. Steve Laurer told the Greeley Tribune the move will not only help his workers, but his businesses as well.

It is good to see that some employers are getting the message. But there is still a long ways to go for most workers. Misclassification, as the Times mentioned, is a huge problem for port truck drivers and workers in other industries like construction as well. Too many companies are still interested in pocketing all the profits at the expense of their employees.

As we enter the 2016 political campaign season, candidates and elected officials need to listen to the voices of everyday Americans. They are being treated unfairly and have had enough. Those who choose to oppose them do so at their own peril.

Unions contribute to affordable housing in NYC

The shortage is workforce housing is a real problem in cities and towns across the country. But five New York City union pension systems are doing what they can to help problem, investing some $150 million in projects to erect 20,000 units of affordable housing in the Big Apple, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced.

The money is being sent to the HIT to leverage some $1 billion in total investment in the housing in all five boroughs, the trust added in a mid-October statement. Union labor will build the housing in an economically targeted investment program. Economically targeted investments are designed to address market inefficiencies by providing capital or liquidity to under-served communities and populations across the city, added Comptroller Scott Stringer, New York City’s chief financial officer.

Stringer also advised the union pension systems on the projects. Working with the HIT on investing in housing “is a fiscally smart marriage of resources and housing policy,” he added. The investments provide market returns to the pension funds, HIT noted.

The HIT invests in affordable housing, and sometimes other projects, nationwide. As its key condition, union labor totally builds all the projects. But the new New York investment marks the first phase of a new HIT strategy for investing in the city over the next seven years, Housing Trust Chief Executive Stephen Coyle said.

The strategy, developed by HIT, union leaders, developers, community groups and Stringer’s staff, “aims to preserve the affordability of 12,500 to 15,000 housing units, construct 5,000 to 7,500 new housing units” and to “work with city and state agencies to finance and improve affordable public housing,” the Housing Investment Trust stated.

HIT estimated the seven-year plan would produce 7,300 union construction jobs, double that number in total jobs and $1 billion in wages and benefits to workers.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Sanders, Pocan unveil card check bill

Card check recognition -- which unions and their allies call “majority sign-up” -- is the key feature of a labor law reform measure Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced this week.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

The Workplace Democracy Act, announced the day before a White House summit on workers rights, also would mandate mediation and arbitration between labor and management if they don’t agree on a first contract following union certification.

Card check recognition and first contract arbitration are two key provisions of the former Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a large rewrite of federal labor law which unions and their allies started pushing almost a decade ago. Another section – high and multiple fines for corporate labor-law breaking – was in a separate bill, the Wage Act, unveiled in September.

Sen. Sanders said:

Millions of Americans who want to join unions are unable to do so because of the coercive and often illegal behavior of their employers. The benefits of joining a union are clear: higher wages, better benefits and a more secure retirement. If we are serious about reducing income and wealth inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to substantially increase the number of union jobs in this country. 

Card check recognition mandates that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certify a union represents workers if a simple majority of them sign valid authorization cards, rather than going through the time-consuming, often-delayed NLRB election process. Firms often abuse and manipulate the elections process, besides openly breaking labor law during campaigns. The Sanders-Pocan bill also says that once the union is recognized, the firm must open bargaining within 10 days.

If they can’t agree on a pact within 90 days, the union or the bosses can seek compulsory mediation. If they still can’t agree after a month of that, they submit remaining issues to binding arbitration.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report. 

Workers seeking respect should look to unions

Despite the picture being painted by some leaders engaged in political posturing, the vast majority of adults are working to earn a living. But it is employers who don't seem to value much of what everyday Americans do on the job.

As an excellent piece in The New York Times today highlights, society is quick to judge people on the work they do and categorize them and their salaries. Often, whether one uses their mind to complete their duties is the deciding factor. And if it is determined that a job is unskilled or low-skilled, any respect or dignity for that worker is thrown out the window:

The labels “low-skilled” or “unskilled” workers — the largest demographic being adult women and minorities — often inaccurately describe an individual’s abilities, but play a powerful role in determining their opportunity. The consequences are not only severe, but incredibly disempowering: poverty-level wages, erratic schedules, the absence of retirement planning, health benefits, paid sick or family leave and the constant threat of being replaced. 

Instead of improved job quality, the rewards for task-oriented workers are pats on the back and the constant encouragement to aspire for something better.

Of course, there are some who value these employees' contributions. The Teamsters and other unions stand up for workers like this everyday because they know these people are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Better pay, benefits and working conditions reward hard-working union workers by allowing them to provide for their families.

That idea isn't popular with corporate America. Some businesses, for instance, are fighting to overturn a National Labor Relations Board ruling in a case brought by Bay Area Teamsters that ruled parent companies can be held responsible for the treatment of temporary or contractor workers at their facilities.

But the benefits of union membership are well-known. The U.S. Labor Department’s own statistics show the median union worker earns more than $200 a week more than the median non-union worker. That’s an extra $10,000 a year that goes into the pockets of union workers. These jobs also offer health benefits and retirement security.

The jobs being done by those at the lower end of the income scale should be valued. By joining a union, workers can help themselves earn the respect and fair pay they're entitled to receive.

Increased job deaths show need to focus on workplace safety

Why do we need unions? The reasons are many, but a key statistic released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlights an often-overlooked one -- to monitor workplace safety.

Too many people die at the workplace. The Labor Department reported that 4,679 workers were fatally injured on the job in 2014, up two percent from the previous year. The numbers were particularly grim for the workforce's oldest participants, who saw fatalities rise by nine percent. The 1,621 recorded deaths for those 55 and over is the highest since the agency began tracking such numbers in 1992.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez said the numbers are not acceptable:

Far too many people are still killed on the job -- 13 workers every day taken from their families tragically and unnecessarily. These numbers underscore the urgent need for employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees as the law requires.

Construction injuries – many of them falls – killed 874 workers last year, up from 828 the year before, BLS reported. The construction death rate is triple the death rate among all workers from occupational injuries, which was 3.3 per 100,000 last year, unchanged from 2013.

Meanwhile, BLS said 181 oil and gas extraction workers died on the job last year, 17 percent more than the year before. That industry’s death rate was 14.1 per 100,000 workers, second only to agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (24.1 deaths per 100,000 workers) in fatality rates. The most-dangerous occupations last year were loggers (109.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers), fishers and related occupations (80.8), aircraft pilots and engineers (63.2) and roofers (46.2).

Some of the most economically vulnerable workers are also among groups with high on-the-job death numbers. Perez called 789 Hispanic-named workers who died on the job last year a figure that’s “unacceptably high.” And 827 of 2014’s dead workers were foreign-born.

Unions have a long history of overseeing safety concerns. That's because the Teamsters and others labor groups have workers’ interests at heart. Legislation like so-called right-to-work hampers their ability to do so. Workers don't feel safe to air their concerns when they don't have an advocate.

Everyday Americans deserve better. That's why the Teamsters and other unions continue their push to make workplace safety a reality.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Report details power of collective bargaining

As awareness grows nationwide about the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots, so do the opportunities to combat it. A new AFL-CIO report notes that more than 2.4 million workers are set to bargain on new contract through the end of 2016, creating an opportunity for sizable wage growth for many everyday Americans.

According to the report, working people who bargained for new contracts in the first half of 2015 saw their wages increase by an average of 4.3 percent, an increase of $1,147 a year for an average wage earner in the U.S. These increases are up from 2.9 percent in the first half of 2014, with substantial wage wins occurring in sectors from nursing and oil to airline pilots and teachers.

The Teamsters have registered their share of contract victories this year, whether its was a deal recently struck covering Silicon Valley shuttle bus drivers serving Apple, Yahoo and eBay or an agreement covering nearly 500 Tuscon, Ariz. transit workers who came to an agreement after a 42-day strike. These contracts show the value of union membership.

As the collective bargaining document notes:

We are in the midst of an exceptional moment for raising wages through collective bargaining. Millions of American workers will have bargained contracts by the end of 2016, and considering that most of the largest organized workforces are going to the bargaining table, it is likely that more workers will be seeking raises through the collective bargaining process in 2015–2016 than at any other point in recent American labor history. 

Collective bargaining is our best tool for raising wages in America. It should be front and center as Congress considers policy and as presidential candidates announce agendas. Moreover, the results will illuminate the larger issue underpinning chronic wage stagnation: that vibrant worker organizations are key to restoring the balance of economic power in our country.

That's why the Teamsters and other worker advocates fight so hard against the forces who try to do away with them, like the recent victory in Missouri. Workers lose when so-called right-to-work legislation wins, with big business raking in additional profits.

Unions play a pivotal role in the future of this country. If workers want better salaries, the best way is to join one like the Teamsters. That way workers have a bigger voice at the bargaining table.

Unions rally to restore, strengthen Voting Rights Act

Urged on by union leaders, civil rights leaders and sympathetic lawmakers, more than 1,000 people descended on Congress last week to demand lawmakers restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act.

Voting rights is still a problem.

The lobbying followed a mass rally on Capitol Hill, organized by the Democracy Initiative. The rally was the culmination of a months-long march of unionists, civil rights activists, clergy, environmentalists and others from Selma, Ala., to D.C., demanding restoration and improvement of the law.

They all demanded lawmakers approve the Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation introduced in June to overturn the two-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted the enforcement sections of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
 
Several of the speakers vowed that if Congress didn't act now, marchers would be back, with sit-ins and risking arrest, just as the original civil rights marchers crusaded, sat in and were arrested 50 or more years ago.

Larry Cohen, the former president of the Communications Workers of America, said:

We will continue to work, we will continue to fight, we will continue to march until we have justice, the right to vote and democracy in our country. We will mobilize millions. ... We care about workers’ rights, which are in a shambles and are a disgrace, but we can’t win these fights if 30 million people can’t vote. 

The legislation, introduced by top Democrats on committees that handle civil rights bills and Congressional Black Caucus members, just picked up its first GOP backer, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. It also would outlaw voter suppression laws that curb or ban voting by African-Americans, women, Latinos, workers, students, the elderly and others.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Pope's visit offers hope for workers

Pope Francis arrives in the United States tomorrow, and whether you are a member of the Catholic faith or not, there is reason to be excited. For more than maybe any other global leader, the pope is a friend of workers worldwide.

Since being selected as the leader of Roman Catholics in 2013, the pope has made it his mission to stand up for the downtrodden. He has been an outspoken advocate

Low-wage workers protest in front of the Capitol in July.

for workers and unions and a vocal critic of the growing issue of income inequality.

In fact, earlier this year, Pope Francis called on world leaders to create new working opportunities for the people of the world:

I wish to extend an invitation to everyone to greater solidarity and to encourage those in public office to spare no effort to give new impetus to employment. This means caring for the dignity of the person.

... Today many social, political and economic systems have chosen to exploit the human person ... not paying a just (wage), not offering work, focusing solely on the balance sheets, the company's balance sheets, only looking at how much I can profit. This goes against God!

It is a message many are hopeful he will continue to address we he arrives in Washington, D.C. tomorrow afternoon and later speaks not only to President Obama, but before Congress as well. The pope will later head to Philadelphia and New York City.

Pope Francis, however, is not the only religious leader taking on big business. In fact, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich last week challenged the policies of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner when he spoke out against so-called right-to-work.

Speaking at the Plumbers Hall in Chicago last Thursday, Bishop Cupich said the labor movement is essential to balancing out power in the workplace:

Work and unions are important not simply for what a worker 'gets,' but how they enable a
worker to provide for a family and participate in the workplace and society. Unions are important not simply for helping workers get more, but helping workers be more, to have a voice, a place to make a contribution to the good of the whole enterprise, to fellow workers and the whole of society.

The Teamsters could not agree more. That's why we released our new "Let's Get America Working" platform earlier this month, and it's why we've called on lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, to work hard to implement it so workers can earn a fair wage and the economy can prosper.

Instituting such a program is going to take a lot of effort. That's why those advocating for workers are trying to appeal to the better angels in us all. The Teamsters welcome the efforts of Pope Francis, Bishop Cupich and all those in the faith community who see value in hardworking people all over the world. And we urge them to continue with the fight for justice.

Remembering Chavez and the Delano Grape Strike

There are moments in any movement that people can point to as ones that changed history. And 50 years ago today, labor giant Cesar Chavez was the catalyst for one of those.

At a church in the Central Valley of California on Sept. 16, 1965, the father of U.S. farmworker organizing cajoled Latino pickers to join Filipino grape workers and strike against area table and wine grape growers to protest years of low pay and poor conditions. It was the beginning of the five-year Delano Grape Strike and Boycott, which is discussed in the video above.

The effort went far beyond the fields of the Golden State, as United Farmer Workers  (UFW) -- a member of the Change to Win labor coalition like the Teamsters -- detailed:

Hundreds of grape strikers traveled across the U.S. and Canada, telling their stories and organizing mass support for the grape boycott. The strikers were joined by thousands of supporters who helped tirelessly organize the boycott.

... The boycott connected middle-class families in big cities with poor farm worker families in the California vineyards. Millions stopped eating grapes. At dinner tables across the country, parents gave children a simple, powerful lesson in social justice. 

By 1970, the grape boycott was a complete success. Table grape growers at long last signed their first union contracts, granting workers better pay, benefits, and protections.

There were other battles along the way. But Chavez was a great union and civil rights leader whose influence and importance has lingered well beyond his death in 1993.

Today, the union movement again sits at the precipice of great change. Growing income inequality has left many workers struggling with low wages -- not enough to support their families. The Teamsters, UFW and all unions have a role to play to ensure that everyday Americans receive a fair wage.

Union Strong, America Stronger!

Corporations don't join in on growing love of unions

There is renewed energy in the labor movement. Polls show American support of unions is growing, the data shows union members are paid more than non-union workers, and more and more there is a belief that corporations are taking advantage of employees in an effort to pocket even more profits.

Big business is getting wise to these changing winds as well. And they're doing all they can to clamp down on it before they lose control. In some instances, that means even creating their own fake unions so they can trick workers into accepting lower salaries. The New York Times details one such case in the carnival industry:

[W]hen a new union signed contracts with dozens of companies that operate at fairs and carnivals, it seemed that a group of workers long considered exploited had found a new ally. 

Labor advocates, however, have since charged that the new union was really a stalking-horse for industry, not a champion for laborers, many of whom come from Mexico. And instead of demanding that companies pay the carnival workers more, the advocates say the union deals assured the employers they would not have to do so. 

Several officers of the union, the Association of Mobile Entertainment Workers, also had close ties, it turned out, to two businessmen — one in Texas, the other in Mexico — who have long supplied carnivals and fairs with itinerant Mexican workers.

Other more established companies are putting the screws to workers the old fashion way -- by not giving an inch. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW) went into early September in continuing contract talks with Verizon – talks, IBEW said, that featured absolutely no change in the firm’s wide-ranging giveback demands. The talks cover more than 40,000 Verizon workers up and down the East Coast. Verizon makes some $12 million in profits a day.

In response, the unions took to the streets to show mass solidarity for their bargaining teams, with rallies all over the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. And they enlisted political support, from New York state lawmakers and the mayors of Salisbury, Md., and Yonkers, N.Y. In Albany, N.Y., CWA members demanded the New York Public Service Commission – which regulates telecom firms – get involved and pressure Verizon to bargain in good faith.

Taken together, it is further proof that while the public may increasingly have the back of workers, companies are not joining in. It's part of the reason the Teamsters are pushing forward with our new "Let's Get America Working" platform that not only calls for greater investment, but an increased focus on worker rights as well.

Everyday Americans trying to make ends meet won't be bullied by big business.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Union women outearn non-union women in every state

The Teamsters have repeated noted that it pays to be in a union. It doesn't matter who you are. And a new report looking at women in the workplace further proves that fact.

Teamster women gathered at annual conference last week.

Unionized women make more than their non-union sisters in every state, with gaps ranging from $48 weekly in D.C. to $349 in Wyoming, an Institute for Women's Policy Study document shows. All told, the median wage gap nationwide between union women and non-union women is $212 weekly. That's greater than the $173 wage gap for men.

The gaps are the largest in the low-density right-to-work states. Wyoming’s $349 translates into a 53 percent weekly wage advantage for union women there. The second and third largest gaps are in South Carolina (46 percent) and Louisiana (42 percent).

The median weekly gap between union and non-union working women is even larger for Latinas, the report says. Unionized Latinas earn $739, while non-union Latinas earn $520. White unionized women earn $923 weekly, while non-union white working women earn $704. Unionized African-American women earn $788, while their non-union sisters earn $590.

Except for management, business, financial, professional and sales occupations, union women also enjoy a wage gap over their non-union counterparts, the report says. They have a 95.5 percent gap in construction, natural resources and maintenance jobs. Other advantages are 26.7 percent in production, transportation and materials, 26.4 percent in services and 22.2 percent in administrative support and office occupations.

But the advantages don't stop with the paycheck. They extend into benefits as well:

Women who are labor union members (or covered by a union contract) are more likely to participate in a pension plan than those who are not unionized. Approximately three in four unionized women (74.1 percent) have a pension plan, compared with only slightly more than four in ten (42.3 percent) of their nonunion counterparts. Among the largest racial and ethnic groups, the difference in participation rates between union members and nonunion members ranges from about 27 percentage points for black women to about 35 percentage points for Asian/Pacific Islander women.

Women who are members of a labor union (or covered by a union contract) are also more likely to receive health insurance benefits through their job than those who are not unionized. As of 2013, approximately three in four unionized women (76.6 percent) had employer- or union-provided health insurance coverage, compared with about half (51.4 percent) of their nonunion counterparts. Among the largest racial and ethnic groups, the difference between coverage rates for union members and nonunion members was greatest for Hispanic women and women who identify with another race or two or more races (29.2 and 27.4 percentage points, respectively).

The Teamsters just concluded our annual Women's Conference last week. The event brought in more than 1,000 attendees who can attest the value of union membership. They know the strength that comes from being organized in the workplace. Here's hoping others will as well soon.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Do call it a comeback -- U.S. support for unions grows!

Americans' views of unions are on the upswing, according to a new Gallup poll, with nearly six in 10 now saying they see the worker organizations in a positive light. Those supporting unions grew five percent over the year before, and reached the highest level since 2008.

The news is particularly encouraging when digging deeper into the numbers. In particular. young adults polled are the strongest union backers, with 66 percent of those aged 18-to-34 supporting them. The message is coming through -- union membership equals better pay, better benefits and a better retirement!

As part of the report, Gallup stated:

With the economy continuing to do better than it did during the recession and the 2008 government bailout of two of the Big Three American auto companies -- for which unions' image may have suffered -- fading further into history, Americans' views of unions are largely restored to what they were six years ago. The solid majority approve of unions, and most would like to see unions' power strengthened, or at least maintained.

The poll was released as the labor movement continues its campaign to turn itself into a mass movement of workers, especially for workers – port truck drivers, fast food workers, retail workers, cabdrivers, “independent contractors” and more – most in need of workplace protection. Millions of those workers are unorganized, or, under current law, unorganizable.

Federal data shows 11 percent of U.S. workers are unionists, including one of every 14 in private industry. Press Associates reports that adding in the “free riders” -- workers whom right-to-work (RTW) laws order unions to represent without requiring payment for their services -- unions cover one of every eight U.S. workers. Some 17 percent of households have unionists in them, the Gallup poll says.

But there are still real concerns for workers. One is the continued push by some elected officials to get so-called RTW legislation through at the state and even county levels. These corporate apologists will stop at nothing to pay back their biggest supporters.

The Teamsters and other unions must continue to push out that truth -- that union jobs pay a better wage that allows workers to support their families. RTW, meanwhile, just further fills the wallets of big business.

SEC finally delivers on CEO pay ratio disclosure

It took five years, but now workers and shareholders will know how much a company's top executive makes compared to the average worker there.

SEC joins Teamsters in standing up to CEOs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the CEO pay ratio rule at a meeting today after years of discussions. The provision had been mandated as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law approved in 2010. More than 280,000 comments had been filed with the agency in favor of the measure.

Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said approval of the rule was a long time coming, but worth the wait:

At a time when corporate profits are near an all-time high and income inequality is growing, employees and shareholders have a right to know whether companies are padding the wallets of executives at the cost of workers and the company’s bottom line. It’s time we learn from the past failings that helped cause the Great Recession.

The Teamsters and other unions have actively called on the SEC to implement the rule. According to an AFL-CIO study of CEO pay at S&P 500 companies, the average CEO earned 373 times more than the typical U.S. worker in 2014. In contrast, CEOs in 1980 made 42 times more than the average employee.

But that doesn't mean the provision is perfect. As Bloomberg noted:

In a nod to businesses such as Exxon Mobil Corp. that oppose the effort, the SEC will require the metric to be updated only once every three years and will allow companies to exclude as much as five percent of their foreign workers from the calculation. 

The SEC allowed for some discretion in determining the median pay of workers. Companies can use sampling to estimate the figure, rather than calculating it by tallying data from all of the payrolls across the company.

The new rule will make a difference, however. While the CEO pay ratio disclosure alone will not resolve income inequality in our country, it can help identify a huge source of the problem and inform how we want to shape compensation in corporate America.