Today's Teamster News 10.03.13

NYC Teamsters begin campaign to create good commercial waste jobs  TeamsterNation   ...New York City Teamsters and their allies have high hopes for a campaign launched today to increase good jobs, recycling and justice in the commercial waste industry. New Yorkers are paying attention...
Teamsters at work after rejecting Wegmans contract  Democrat and Chronicle   ...Truck drivers, warehouse workers and other Wegmans Food Markets employees, who are members of Teamsters Local 118, were at work as scheduled Tuesday following a union vote Monday rejecting a company contract offer...
Northumberland County agrees to union raises  News-Item   ...Northumberland County commissioners approved Tuesday a collective bargaining agreement with court-appointed, non-professional employees that grants them at least a 3 percent raise next year. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 764, based in Milton, Pennsylvania...
Rail Safety Report Shows Increase in Fatal Incidents in Fourth Quarter  BMWED ...A comparison of roadway worker fatality data over a span of 21 years (1986–1994 and 1997– 2010) indicates that the highest number of roadway worker incidents occur in the 4th Quarter...
How Less Than 5% Of The US Population Caused The Government To Shut Down  Business Insider   ...it's just stunning that such few people — a group slightly larger than the population of Illinois — can hold that much power...
Union calls for fed workers to ‘fight back’ against shutdown  Washington Post   ...A labor leader representing federal employees is exhorting them to “take to the streets” to protest a partial government shutdown that began Tuesday...
Which lawmakers will refuse their pay during the shutdown?  Washington Post   ...Hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file federal employees were forced out of the office Tuesday morning because of the start of a government shutdown and won't be paid over the course of the impasse. As of noon Wednesday, here is the tally of  lawmakers who have said that they plan to donate or refuse compensation earned over the course of the impasse...
Fixing exorbitant CEO pay: All is not lost  Fortune   ...Despite what has felt like relentless insanity, the prognosis for positive changes to executive pay looks better than it has for a decade...
NOT SHOCKED: Five States With the Worst Food Insecurity are “Right-to-Work” States  We Party Patriots   ...A recent USDA report provides details on our growing trend of food (in)security. In 7 million homes, a family member has skipped meals because money was tight. A look at the five states where food insecurity is a problem (North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi) are also “Right-to-Work” states...
Independent Contractors – Keeping it Real  Construction Citizen   ...Real independent contractors are easy to identify. They are hired to perform a specific project, bring their own tools, have their own business cards, and send you an invoice when the work is done. If people are hired to perform ongoing work, told when to show up and what to do, those workers are not independent contractors...
The Cost of Crushing Dissent in New York City  Wall Street on Parade   ...Today, we have still not restored the Glass-Steagall Act, the largest Wall Street banks of 2008 are even larger and more dangerous today, and unprecedented levels of wealth and income inequality, enforced by the structure of Wall Street, is spreading economic misery to ever greater numbers of Americans...
GOP’s newest target: The postal service  Salon   ...The government itself wasn't enough. Led by Darrell Issa, they now want to go after your mail delivery...
Google Accused of Wiretapping in Gmail Scans  New York Times   ...Wiretapping is typically the stuff of spy dramas and shady criminal escapades. But now, web company giant Google must defend itself against accusations that it is illegally wiretapping in the course of gathering data about Internet users and showing them related ads...
Bill would require Michigan cities to buy American-made flags for veterans' grave sites  Detroit Free Press  ...A bill unanimously passed by the state Senate Wednesday would require Michigan cities to buy American-made flags and flag holders for veterans’ grave sites if those flags are competitively priced with foreign-made products...
New York to Sue Wells Fargo Over Mortgage Settlement  New York Times   ...Fielding complaints from borrowers struggling to save their homes, New York’s top prosecutor is preparing a lawsuit against Wells Fargo, accusing the bank, the nation’s largest home lender, of flouting the terms of a multibillion-dollar settlement aimed at stanching foreclosure abuses...
Poll: Majority in state support fully privatizing wine, spirit sales  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...Millions of dollars in lobbying efforts by groups on all sides of the liquor privatization issue had little impact on the opinions of everyday Pennsylvanians, according to two groups that released a poll Tuesday...
An overdue trash overhaul (opinion)  New York Daily News   ...Cleaning up commercial collection would help Bloomberg burnish his environmental legacy...
NY Thruway Authority cuts more workers  Times Union   ...New York’s Thruway Authority last week quietly laid off about a half-dozen non-union employees. Saying it was a personnel matter, Thruway spokesman Dan Weiller declined to comment on the precise nature of the job cuts or the reason...
N.C. voting rights advocates applaud federal lawsuit  USA TODAY   ...Voting rights advocates applauded the U.S. Justice Department's move Monday to sue North Carolina for racial discrimination over its tough new voting rules while Republicans in the state called the allegation "baseless."...
Pennsylvania House nudged to implement online voter registration  NewsWorks   ...A bipartisan coalition is urging the state House to pass a proposal allowing online voter registration in Pennsylvania. The measure, which passed unanimously in the Senate earlier this year, is currently before a House committee...

Today's Teamster News 08.24.13

UPS Teamsters Not Impacted By Company Decision To Eliminate Spousal Coverage  IBT   ...UPS announced a change in its health care coverage for spouses of nonunion employees. Going forward, UPS will not cover spouses of nonunion employees who are eligible for employer coverage at their workplace. This decision does not impact the health care coverage of Teamsters at UPS...
Teamster school administrators ratify 3.1% hike in contract  The Montana Standard   ...The Butte school district’s 15 administrators, who are members of Teamsters Local 2, ratified a contract offer that provides a 3.1 percent wage hike in 2013-14, and a 1.5 percent increase in 2014-15...
Organizational Skills for Office Managers Scheduled for November 6-8  IBT   ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct a TLA for Teamster office managers and key administrative staff, November 6-8, 2013, at the International Headquarters in Washington, D.C...
Allied Bankruptcy Hearing Postponed By the Court to September 10   IBT   ...A hearing before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Allied Systems’ bankruptcy case that was scheduled for Thursday, August 22, has been postponed by the court to noon Tuesday, September 10...
March on Washington: Throngs to attend events, mark 'I Have a Dream' anniversary  CNN   ...Saturday's event begins with speeches before a march past the King Memorial, where an image of the slain civil rights leader now stands immortalized in granite...
Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren targets DOJ settlements with banks over forged documents and illegal practices  Global Dispatch   ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls the latest deal “settling cheap” in her letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, questioning whether a major government settlement with the nation’s largest mortgage companies is a “timid enforcement strategy.”...
Walmart's Latest Scheme to Replace the Middle Class With an Underclass Forced to Buy its Shoddy Goods  AlterNet    ...Almost 30 years ago, as the U.S. was bleeding jobs, Walmart launched a "Buy America" program and started hanging "Made in America" signs in its 750 stores. It was a marketing success, cementing the retailer's popularity in the country's struggling, blue-collar heartland. A few years later, NBC's Dateline revealed the program to be a sham...
Fired Walmart Workers Arrested at Rally Announcing Labor Day Deadline  The Nation   ...Nine fired workers and a current employee were arrested around 2:30 pm Thursday after locking arms and sitting in front of the entrance to a Washington, D.C. Walmart office...
Banks shed thousands of jobs as housing market improves  Los Angeles Times   ...Six years after the mortgage meltdown, delinquencies and foreclosures are way down. That's great for borrowers and bank balance sheets, but bad for bank workers — who are now being laid off by the thousands...
Boeing’s Wage-Slashing Move to SC Backfires as Company Can’t Meet 787 Production Demand  We Party Patriots   ...When Boeing left Washington for South Carolina in order to suppress the wages of its workers, it also left behind the quality work that had been provided by a highly skilled, union workforce. Now, that union-busting is backfiring as productivity has dropped immensely and Boeing is unable to meet their 787 Dreamliner production goals...
Keeping a Massive Trade Deal Out of the Fast Lane  The Nation   ...Congress itself hasn’t heard much about the TPP; the negotiating process has been characterized by extreme secrecy and the Obama administration has denied repeated calls from legislators to make the process more transparent, while pressing to finalize the agreement this year...
Louisiana businessman sentenced in Afghanistan kickback scheme  Associated Press   ...He kidnapped an Indian businessman in South Sudan, but got off. Now he’s been found guilty of demanding $60,000 in kickbacks for approving a $3.2m award to an American company for construction in Afghanistan. His sentence? 10 months in the federal slammer...
Fight Against ‘Right-to-Work’ Not Over in Michigan  In These Times   ...Last December, Gov. Rick Snyder outraged unions and progressives when he abruptly signed two bills into law making Michigan the 24th so-called "right-to-work" state. The laws allow workers to get union benefits without paying mandatory union membership dues. Organized labor has widely decried right-to-work laws as dangerous to unions and ultimately detrimental to all workers...
Sen. Jon Erpenbach goes to bat for Capitol protesters  The Cap Times   ..."I would suggest that you abandon the current permit policy, and stop the arrests of noon-time singers," Erpenbach writes. "Because if the goal was eliminating the singing — your policy is producing the direct opposite..."
Chicago Midway Airport Privatization Deal Could Negatively Affect Workers, residents  Progress Illinois   ...Privatization plans for Chicago Midway Airport could negatively affect both nearby residents as well as airport workers, according to Alderman Michael Zalewski (23rd), who is concerned about allegations that one of the two contenders for the privatization contract has a history of "union busting and black-listing."...
Quinn looking to boost minimum wage  Quad-City Times   ...Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's signing of the first of a series of increases in Illinois' minimum wage. And now, his former running mate and successor, Gov. Pat Quinn, says he wants to push the state's $8.25 per hour minimum wage higher...
Illinois receives more than $2 billion in relief from national foreclosure settlement  Rock River Times   ...Illinois Attorney General Madigan (D) reported that Illinois homeowners and assistance organizations have received more than $2 billion in total relief under the national foreclosure settlement...
Arizona and Kansas sue U.S. over voter registration law  Reuters   ...Kansas and Arizona filed a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government on Wednesday, seeking court approval for states to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote...
Maine group touts new plan to eliminate income tax  Associated Press   ...A conservative think tank in Maine is rolling out a new proposal to gradually phase out the state's income tax, one of the top priorities for Gov. Paul LePage's administration...

Today's Teamster News 07.30.13

Waste Drivers In Michigan Join Teamsters Local 337  IBT   ...On July 26, drivers who transport trash in their tractor-trailer rigs voted overwhelmingly to join Local 337 in Detroit/Port Huron...
Teamsters Still Question Mexican Truck Safety Despite Court Decision  IBT ...The Teamsters today questioned the safety of Mexican trucks after a federal court refused to rehear the union’s challenge to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s cross-border truck pilot program...
Teamster horse-and-carriage drivers lash out on ASPCA’s alleged anti-Christine Quinn moves  New York Daily News   ...Teamsters Local 533 says the ASPCA violated its nonprofit status by giving $450,000 over the past several years to New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, which wants to end the horse-carriage industry and runs a website called QuinnHatesAnimals.com...
Latest UPS Update  IBT   ...As you are aware, the national agreement was approved by a majority of Teamsters who voted. However, 17 supplements and riders were not approved...
Teamster Lake Transit workers vote to strike indefinitely  Lake County News   ...On Sunday, Lake Transit Authority workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 665, voted to strike until they settle their new contract--a move that's expected to result in curtailed services for the county's transit riders...
Massive Cuts Looming for MTD Bus Riders  Santa Barbara Independent   ...Four Lines Face Outright Elimination, Another 13 Threatened With Reduced Service. Unless funding is restored, 50 MTD bus drivers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 186, would be affected by the cuts...
BART And Unions Still Far Apart Before Strike Deadline  KCBS5 News   ...While Bay Area Rapid Transit worker contract talks were scheduled to continue this week, the transit agency’s management and labor unions remain as far apart as ever, offering little hope that an agreement will be made before the strike deadline August 4th...
Misclassification of employees carries penalties (opinion)  ABQ Journal   …This practice of misclassification has created substantial problems for affected employees and for the United States Treasury, the Social Security and Medicare...
Fast food strikes intensify in seven cities  Salon   ...The biggest walkout yet began yesterday morning -- and the strikes could have far-reaching implications for labor…
Teachers crowd final Raleigh 'Moral Monday' protest  Associated Press   ...Thousands of North Carolina teachers and other protesters on Monday staged one of the largest of the almost-weekly demonstrations opposing Republican policy decisions...
Michigan attorney general backs pensioners in Detroit bankruptcy  Global Post   ...Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said on Saturday he would defend retirees who risk losing public pensions because of Detroit's bankruptcy, putting him at odds with the city's emergency manager appointed by fellow Republican Governor Rick Snyder...
Labor playing field needs to be leveled with ideas from both sides of the aisle (opinion)  Oakland Press   ...A recent guest opinion asserted that the passage of so-called Right-to-Work legislation in Michigan led to the state's mild economic recovery. To the contrary, it is highly doubtful that Michigan gained a single high-wage job as a result of Right-to-Work or any other piece of anti-labor legislation...
Quinn signs bill allowing online voter registration in Illinois  Chicago Tribune   ...Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure into law Saturday that will make Illinois the 18th state to allow voters to register online...
Landmark California regulations under federal fire  Los Angeles Times   ...Companies are going through Congress to fight California's stricter workplace, consumer and environmental laws. Gridlock and sympathetic Republicans in the House could work in their favor...
State agencies crack down on local temp worker abuse  Burlington County Times   ...The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor in South Jersey has some advice for employers who think they are not responsible for making sure temporary workers are getting paid minimum wage: Don’t...
Openness lost in privatization  Muskogee Phoenix   ...A push toward the privatization of Oklahoma state services is spawning criticism from those who see the trend as the decline of government transparency and accountability...

Today's Teamster News 06.18.13

7-Eleven Stores Operated 'Modern Day Plantation System,' Feds Claim  ABC News   ...The owners of 7-Eleven franchises in New York and Virginia created a "modern day plantation system" in which undocumented workers were furnished with stolen identities and forced to work 100 hours a week for a fraction of their wages, according to a federal authorities...
McD's worker sues: Don't pay by debit card  The Times Leader   ...When she received her first paycheck, enclosed was a Chase Bank debit card with instructions on how to use it and the fees attached...
U.S. chief records officer details federal e-mail record-keeping programs  Washington Post   ...Cabinet officials have used (secret) alternative e-mail accounts in addition to government addresses to conduct federal business...
Apple releases information on data requests from NSA, other agencies  Los Angeles Times   ...Apple Inc., said it received 4,000 to 5,000 requests for customer data from U.S. officials during the six months ending in May, as it became the latest high-tech company to provide some details on its involvement in the National Security Agency's Internet surveillance program...
Trade Agreements, Privacy, and the Cloud  MacLean’s ...What does privacy have to do with trade agreements? As Canada, the U.S., and nine other countries negotiate a multilateral trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, U.S. negotiators are pushing to include a provision that would commit members to allowing free-flow of data over their borders...
More Bangladesh Factories Dangerous  Associated Press   ...A separate inspection, by the garment industry, of 200 risky factories found that 10 percent of them were so dangerous that they were ordered to shut. The textiles minister said a third inspection, conducted by the government, could show that as many as 300 factories were unsafe...
Turkey unrest: Unions call strike over crackdown  BBC News   ...Turkish unions have called a strike to protest against the police crackdown on demonstrators...
Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil  Reuters   ...As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption...
Bank Of America Paid Foreclosure Bonuses While Lying To Homeowners  Think Progress   ...One of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers intentionally, knowingly, and routinely falsifies paperwork and lies to homeowners in order to boot them from their homes, according to bank insiders...
Why Let a Bank Write U.S. Financial Reform Legislation? (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Reasonable people would agree that a bank having a history of involvement with fraud and mismanagement (and a recipient of one of the largest bank bailouts) shouldn't be writing bank legislation. Unless, of course, you are the U.S. Congress doing business as usual...
Justices: Arizona voter registration rules go too far  USA Today   ...The Supreme Court ruled handily Monday that Arizona cannot add to federal voter registration requirements by demanding proof of citizenship...
California Gov. Brown targets enterprise zone tax credits   Appeal Democrat   ...A battle is raging over a California program that grants businesses tax breaks for creating jobs but prevents the public from knowing who got them and why…
Michigan foreclosure bills would give banks the upper hand (opinion)  Detroit Free Press   ...On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee passed a package of foreclosure bills that will set Michigan back decades in its efforts to prevent foreclosures and the damage they cause to families, neighborhoods, communities and our still fragile economy...
RI could be 3rd US state to OK paid leave for workers caring for children, spouses or parents Associated Press   ...People ... who care for a new child or sick loved one could continue receiving pay for up to eight weeks under a proposal pending in Rhode Island's General Assembly...
Scott blocks paid sick-time vote in Orange, statewide  Sun Sentinel   ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that would block local governments from enacting mandatory paid-sick-time measures. Scott sided with Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and a broad array of powerful business interests that argued the ban was needed to avoid a patchwork of local employment rules for companies...
Iowa cities bypass state to halt payday lenders  Associated Press   ...Efforts to limit payday lenders in Iowa have repeatedly failed in the Legislature, but more cities are approving zoning changes that make it harder to open the businesses...
Christine Quinn Snags Teamsters Unions’ Endorsement  Politicker   ...City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has snagged the endorsement of the 120,000-member strong Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York for mayor...
Seattle Teamsters Support Even Playing Field for Taxis  Teamsters Local 117   ...Ride sharing and other flat rate taxis in Seattle are undercutting unionized taxi drivers...

Today's Teamster News 10.21.12

Walmart supply chain: warehouse staff agencies accused of wage theft  Guardian   ...a class action lawsuit (was) recently filed against Roadlink Workforce Solutions, who supply staff to Walmart's Elwood warehouse. The case alleges numerous ways in which wages are stolen or underpaid...
Spain’s main labor unions approve general strike for November 14  El Pais   ...The industrial action will coincide with a general strike in Portugal and with demonstrations and protests called by the European Trade Union Confederation against the austerity drive in Europe. General strikes may also be called for the same day in Cyprus, Malta and Greece...
Italian workers rally against job losses, spending cuts  Reuters   ...Thousands of Italian trade unionists rallied in central Rome on Saturday to protest against public spending cuts, job losses and factory closures, urging Mario Monti's government to do more to help workers hit by recession...
Third instance of voter registration dumping found in Virginia  Ray Story   ...A third instance of fraudulent voter registration has been uncovered in the important swing state of Virginia, where a Republican consultant has been arrested and thousands of discarded voter registration forms were recovered from a dumpster earlier this week...
International monitors at US polling spots draw criticism from voter fraud groups  The Hill   ...United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week...
Scott Walker To Headline David Koch Hosted Fundraiser  Huffington Post   ...Invitations to the $1,000-a-plate lunch at New York City's 21 Club on Nov. 1 have been sent out, billing Walker as a "special guest" at the effort to raise funds for the Empire State's Republican Party...

Today's Teamster News 10.19.12

Wall Street CEOs Up Pressure for Grand Bargain in the Lame Duck Session  firedoglake   ...As soon as the election is over expect a powerful renewed push for a “grand bargain” that cuts entitlements...
Abercrombie and Fitch, Other Retail Workers Protest 'Abusive' Scheduling  ABC News   ...Employees of Abercrombie & Fitch, Best Buy and other retailers protested Wednesday along New York City's posh Fifth Avenue shopping district against what they call "abusive" work scheduling...
Koch-backed activists use power of data in bid to oust Obama from White House  The Guardian   ...Americans for Prosperity building sophisticated digital tools to target swing-state moderates and spread anti-Obama message...
Man Tied To Va. GOP Arrested In Voter Form Destruction  Talking Points Memo   ...A Pennsylvania man employed by a company working for the Republican Party of Virginia was arrested by investigators from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s office on Thursday and charged with destroying voter registration forms...
U.S. home owners file class action suit vs. banks over Libor  Reuters   ...U.S. home owners have filed a class action suit in New York against 12 of the world's major banks, claiming that Libor manipulation made mortgage repayments more expensive than they should have been, the Financial Times reported on Monday...
District court finds Crow Wing County committed unfair labor practice  Brainerd Dispatch   ...At the end of 2011 as a three-year collective bargaining agreements expired, the county notified the unions it would not extend step increases — an incremental wage increase...Unions represented in the court action were ...  Minnesota Teamsters Public Law Enforcement Employees’ Union Local No. 320...

Be a voter this fall (UPDATE 2)

On the left is Leticia Perez, the first Latina
elected to any county board of supervisors
 in the Central Valley. Teamsters voter
registration helped put her over the top. 

(UPDATES 2nd graf with more recent information about California registration, adds ID of county supervisor in first photo, corrects UPS driver is registering in NoCal sted SoCal.)

Teamsters all over the country are busting their butts to register thousands of new voters. California Teamsters are especially active as they're fighting against Prop. 32, the potentially devastating Billionaire's Bill of Rights.

We've reported Local 856 in San Bruno set up registration tents and tables outside Delta Dental, where their members work. But there's been even more activity in California, as every single local is registering voters.   Between Joint Councils 7 and 42, almost 20,000 people became voters, and 90 percent of those are registered to vote by mail.

Joint Council 28 in Seattle is working with an immigrant rights group to test messages and outreach to their members who haven’t become voters or moved. They're trying out a phone app provided by Washington's secretary of state.

Said Joint Council President John Williams,

Business Agent Abe Taylor of Local 174 walked around warehouses and driver bays with his phone app and resolved hundreds of voter registration issues in just a few days.

Becoming a voter in NoCal.

Local 237 in New York City launched an aggressive September voter registration drive. President Greg Floyd said his local's 14,000 registered voters understand how important it is to vote since elected officials control many of their departments' budgets.

In New Jersey, International Vice President Fredrick Potter said his local, 469, is planning for a voter registration drive to coincide with a shop steward meeting and another at a local shopping mall.

David Robinson, president of Joint Council 43 in Detroit, said Michigan's working families lost a great deal when their collective bargaining rights were chipped away:

Now we are working with all the trade unions in the state to reverse that decision with a constitutional amendment. Re-establishing collective bargaining rights is one of the most important fights we’ve ever had.

If you aren't a voter, it's easy to become one. Just go to the Rock the Vote's website here. Or check out the Teamsters' web page to find out your state's deadline. Most deadlines are in October, so get cracking!

Real men (and women) register to vote

The Atlanta Falcons (yup, those Atlanta Falcons) are helping out with a voter registration drive in Marietta, Ga., tomorrow.

Other real men and women are registering voters across the country, especially our brothers and sisters in California. They're busting their butts to register voters so they can defeat the the Billionaires' Bill of Rights, Proposition 32, in November.

But about those Falcons: The AFL-CIO tells us,

If you live in the Marietta, Ga., area and haven’t registered to vote and are a football fan, you have a chance Wednesday to make your voice heard at the ballot box and meet members of the Atlanta Falcons and NFL Players Association (NFLPA). 

The players are pitching in with the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council for a voter registration event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches at 801 Church St., N.E. 

No matter where you live, if you haven’t registered to vote, click here to find out how to register in your state.

100+ CA Teamsters became voters today

California Teamsters from Local 856 in San Bruno are out today registering their brothers and sisters to be voters in November. They set up tents and tables in the employee parking lot outside Delta Dental, where Local 856 members work. And then they signed them up, one after another. (The Delta Dental complex has five buildings filled with Teamsters.) At last count, more than 100 Teamsters became voters today.

And they got Krushburgers for lunch, too.

It's especially important for Teamsters to be voters this fall. Our opponents are still mounting an all-out war on workers. The high-profile attacks in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin were just the tip of the spear. Working Americans are under attack in every state in the country.

In California, there's an especially nasty anti-union measure on the ballot. It would severely restrict unions' ability to donate money to political campaigns. Corporations, though, could spend to their hearts' content (they are people, after all, according to the Supreme Court and Mitt Romney).

This November we get to fight back at the ballot box. We know our enemies want to chip away at our rights, and they'll outspend us in a big way.  One thing they will not do is out-organize us. Props to Local 856 for making sure their brothers and sisters learn the issues, learns which candidates are on our side, and register to be voters.

It's a tricky business, as anti-worker politicians are doing everything they can to make it harder to register new voters. Judging by the photos sent to us by Brother Rudy Gonzalez, Local 856 members have all the rules in front of them and are dotting every i.

With all those Teamster boots on the ground (and Teamster trucks on the road), we can win in November!