TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement With Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement with grocery companies Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons that if passed, will cover more than 8,000 members across Southern California. The drivers, warehouse, dairy and manufacturing workers at the three companies will vote on the tentative agreement from Oct. 16-18...
Union Challenges Unjust Treatment of Paratransit Workers Local 727 ...In the last nine months alone, Teamsters Local 727 representatives have successfully fought for the reinstatement of a dozen paratransit workers who were wrongfully fired. The union also has filed about 75 grievances relating to issues with discipline, seniority, attendance and other contract violations committed by management at CDT, First Transit, MV Transportation and Ride Right locations...
An Uber Union? American Prospect ...If the National Labor Relations Act doesn’t cover independent contractors, could local governments still pass laws that would? It’s not without precedent: Some states have allowed farmworkers to join unions and O’Brien has been working with Teamsters Local 117 to find a concrete strategy for Seattle. While his bill focuses specifically on drivers, it may also set a precedent for workers' rights for other industries that rely on independent contract labor...
School board members: Teamsters negotiations need to be resolved soon Courier & Press ...At some point, there has to be an end. That's what Evansville Vanderburgh School Board Secretary Andy Guarino said about collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215. Duckworth noted issues and concerns have been addressed on the other four employee group contracts but he said binding arbitration is preventing the two groups from an agreement. Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said that shouldn't be a sticking point...
Port Driver Heads to D.C. Go By Truck News ...A port truck driver who was fired over employee classification issues is taking the fight to the White House. Alex Paz served on a panel at a conference on workers’ rights yesterday, Oct. 7, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
Yesterday’s White House Summit on Worker Voice was the first event of its kind. It sought to “explore ways to ensure that middle class Americans are sharing in the benefits of the broad-based economic growth that they are helping to create”...
Joe Biden would be only Democratic candidate backing Asia trade deal if he runs for president Star Tribune ..."This is a game changer," Biden said earlier this year in Mexico, describing TPP as a "comprehensive, high-standard trade agreement" that would raise the bar for 21st century trade. Clinton and other Democrats are aggressively seeking union endorsements in the primary. Galen Munroe, a Teamsters spokesman, said opposition to TPP would be an important consideration...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Hillary Clinton Just Made Passage of the TPP Much More Difficult The Nation ... In a Wednesday afternoon interview with PBS, Hillary Clinton announced that she is opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that was finalized just two days earlier. “As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,” she told Judy Woodruff. “I don’t believe it is going to meet the high bar I have set”...
Tobacco ‘carve-out’ sparks bid to sink TPP The Hill ...Lawmakers from tobacco-producing states and business groups are aiming to torpedo a sweeping Asia-Pacific deal over a provision they believe will severely damage the U.S. industry. Delegates from North Carolina, where the majority of the nation’s tobacco is grown, says language unveiled this week in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) unfairly targets the Tar Heel State’s prized crop...
China and Europe may team up to snub TPP CNBC ...The world's largest trade deal in recent decades may wind up creating high school-esque cliques on the international stage. As the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) celebrates after sealing an agreement five years in the making, analysts are wondering whether the key losers from the deal, China and Europe, could join forces in retaliation...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens America's Recent Manufacturing Resurgence The Atlantic ...Now that the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations have agreed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, those who follow manufacturing are looking with new scrutiny at the deal, which will now come before Congress. There’s been a resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S. after all, a movement called “onshoring.” The nitty-gritty details of the TPP are still not public, but it’s known that the agreement seeks to gradually reduce trade barriers such as tariffs among member countries...
Why the TPP Won’t Work for Workers The Nation ...Those who want evidence of the impact TPP may have on a huge chunk of the world’s workforce can look no further than how an existing free trade accord, based on the same model, is managing labor relations between Peru, a TPP signatory, and the United States. The US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement’s (PTPA) supposedly state-of-the-art labor grievance process is just starting to be tested in a landmark case...
TTIP: The Need For A New Trade Model Dedicated To Shared Prosperity (opinion) Social Europe ...Unions on both sides of the Atlantic are coming together to demand a new set of pro-worker objectives for the TTIP agreement. The AFL-CIO shares information, develops shared proposals and meets regularly with both partners’ negotiators to make clear that the status quo on trade is unacceptable. In 2014, the AFL-CIO and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) published a joint statement urging the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators to adopt an “open, democratic and participatory” process...
Anti-austerity protests turn violent in Belgium The Independent ...Up to 100,000 people took to the streets on Wednesday in the Belgian capital Brussels, in order to protest against the austerity policies of right-wing Prime Minister Charles Michel. In violent clashes, the police deployed a water cannon against protestors outside Brussels Nord train station. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest against austerity policies and was organised by the Belgium’s three main trade unions...
New VW boss warns staff of ‘massive cutbacks’ after emissions scandal Al Jazeera ...New Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Müller warned staffers on Tuesday to brace for "massive cutbacks" in response to the diesel emissions scandal that has hammered the company's stock and reputation. Speaking to employees at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, Müller, who replaced longtime CEO Martin Winterkorn late last month, said all the company's investment plans would be put under review and an existing cost-cutting program accelerated...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Tennessee’s First Year Of Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Didn’t Go Very Well Think Progress ...Tennessee’s first year of drug testing welfare recipients uncovered drug use by less than 0.2 percent of all applicants for the state’s public assistance system. The state implemented the testing regime in the summer of 2014, adding three questions about narcotics use to the application form for aid. Anyone who answers “yes” to any of the three drug questions must take a urine test or have their application thrown away immediately...
Can California Prevent Wage Discrimination Against Women? The Atlantic ...Despite, or perhaps because of, overwhelming congressional gridlock that has stymied federal legislation, states are taking their own steps toward addressing the gender wage gap. On Tuesday evening, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Pay Act, which is being called the “strongest” state law to tackle the issue...
State wants federal judge to rule on Voter ID before March primaries Winston-Salem Journal ...State attorneys want a federal judge to dismiss the legal challenge to North Carolina’s voter-identification law before the March 2016 presidential primary, according to court documents filed Wednesday. And though the plaintiffs, including the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, said they hoped to settle the matter before a trial, state attorneys said there’s no chance of that...
Alabama Puts Up More Hurdles for Voters (editorial) New York Times ...Barely one year after Alabama’s voter-ID law went into effect, officials are planning to close 31 driver’s license offices across the state, including those in every county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters. It's ostensibly a cost-cutting effort, but couples with the voter-ID law, these closings will make it even more difficult for many of the state's most vulnerable voters to get one of the most common forms of identification now required to cast a vote...
It’s Getting Harder To Move Beyond A Minimum-Wage Job FiveThirtyEight ...Minimum-wage jobs are meant to be the first rung on a career ladder, a chance for entry-level workers to prove themselves before earning a promotion or moving on to other, better-paying jobs. But a growing number of Americans are getting stuck on that first rung for years, if they ever move up at all...
U.S. LABOR
Obama praises unions, workers' rights at White House Summit Reuters ...President Barack Obama called for higher blue-collar wages and benefits and promoted collective bargaining on Wednesday, courting workers' unions in a day-long event as his advancing Pacific Rim trade deal has left many labor groups disenchanted with the White House. In a speech to workers, union leaders, lawmakers and employers, Obama supported the defense of workers' rights and urged workers to band together in an increasingly technology-driven economy...
UAW reaches tentative deal with Fiat Chrysler to avoid strike Washington Post ...The United Auto Workers union narrowly avoided a strike against Fiat Chrysler of America early Thursday morning, announcing an agreement less than two days after threatening to pull as many as 40,000 workers off the job while contract negotiations soured. The union posted on Facebook just after midnight that that bargaining committee had "secured significant gains"...
Ford Motor Company Dodges The Impending Workers’ Strike After Reaching An Agreement With The Union Business Finance News ...Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has avoided a workers’ strike at Ford’s Kansas City assembly plant, which produces its most profitable F-150 pickups along with the transit full size commercial vans. Approximately 7,500 people work at the Missouri Ford plant. According to Bloomberg, both parties reached on a tentative labor contract on Friday...
Companies agree to first union deal for Pittsburgh security guards Post-Gazette ...Capping what supporters have called the biggest labor organizing victory in Pittsburgh in a decade, a group of security companies have agreed to the first-ever contract covering hundreds of security guards who patrol dozens of large commercial buildings in the city. The local chapter of the property services labor union, known as 32BJ SEIU, began organizing security guards last fall by the hundreds...
Wave of Digital Media Organizing Continues as Al Jazeera America Goes Union In These Times ...The unionization of digital media continues—now at Al Jazeera America (AJAM), after the National Labor Relations Board confirmed this morning that the news publication’s digital workers voted 32-5 in favor of union representation under the NewsGuild of New York, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). AJAM digital workers had previously sought voluntary union recognition from employers on September 3...
Trevor Noah dissects the Uber economy: “You get into it for the 19-year-old who vomits in the back seat of your Camry” Salon ...Uber’s app-based taxi service might be available in 311 different cities and be estimated as a $50 billion company, but “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah and Jordan Klepper say there’s something disturbing about the new “gig economy.” The model of paying people for a brief service means fewer workers are salaried employees...
Senators Want To Clean Up After Supreme Court Decision That Exposed Older Workers To Discrimination Think Progress ...On Thursday, Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) will introduce the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA), a bill aimed at reversing a 2009 Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for workers to prove they have been victims of age discrimination, a Congressional staffer told ThinkProgress...
How Bernie Sanders’ New Bill Would Help More Workers Unionize Think Porgress ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unveiled a new bill this week that would make it easier for workers to form a union and negotiate a contract free from employer retaliation or foot-dragging. As he actively courts union endorsements of his presidential candidacy, Sanders’ latest move also draws a strong contrast with his Republican opponents in the presidential race, who have almost unanimously backed “right-to-work” laws that would weaken labor unions...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Not Just Consumer Fraud, VW Scandal Called 'Crime Against Climate' Common Dreams ...Joining the chorus of watchdogs who say Volkswagen (VW) must pay for its corporate crime, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) on Tuesday released an analysis charging that financial penalties for the company's environmental violations should be no less than $25.1 billion in the United States alone. While VW Chief Executive Matthias Müller stressed on Wednesday that "there were no deaths, and our cars were, and are safe," the evidence suggests otherwise...
Clinton to Meet Friday with Black Lives Matter Activists NBC ...A Clinton campaign aide confirmed that the meeting will take place Friday in DC. McKesson and other activists have already met over the last few weeks with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. They have been seeking meetings with all of the candidates of both parties to push their idea of police reforms that they have dubbed "Campaign Zero," the idea being to end police killings of civilians...
Showing posts with label welfare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label welfare. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.13.15
Teamsters
Tucson Bus Workers On Strike For Nearly A Week Arizona Republic ...Andrew Marshall with the Teamsters Local 104 says about 530 bus employees went on strike on Thursday last week. He says the union and Sun Tran are at an impasse over pay and safety issues like assaults on bus drivers and mold at a facility...
Global Labor & Trade
Robb: TPP Trade Deal Unlikely MacroBusiness ...Australia’s trade minister, Andrew Robb, has appeared at the National Press Club in Canberra today, where he admitted that concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is looking increasingly unlikely...
China’s Currency Falls For A Third Consecutive Day The Atlantic ...China’s currency devaluation continued for a third day Thursday, as the country’s central bank set the official exchange rate of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar 1.1 percent lower than the day before. Since Tuesday, when the People’s Bank of China stunned markets by announcing the devaluation, the yuan has fallen 4.4 percent, triggering fluctuations in equity markets around the world...
State & Living Wage Battles
Let’s Expose The Gender Pay Gap New York Times ...More than a half-century after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the gap between what men and women earn has defied every effort to close it. And it can’t be explained away as a statistical glitch, a function of women preferring lower-paying industries or choosing to take time off for kids...
Redistricting Reform In Maryland And Virginia: Can The States Join Forces? Washington Post ...A logical starting point for such a compact is the fact that the two states’ political complexions are mirror images — one has a Republican governor stymied by Democratic legislators; the other has a Democratic governor foiled by Republicans. In both cases, elected lawmakers have arrogantly scoffed at reforming the process by which congressional maps are drawn, preferring to gerrymander districts for maximum partisan advantage...
White House To Hold Summit To Amplify Employees’ Voice In Workplace Wall Street Journal ...The White House will hold a summit in October to explore how American workers can amplify their voices on the job to get ahead, and it touted labor unions as a powerful way to enable that...
Study To Explore Raising The Minimum Wage In Long Beach Receives Unanimous Support Long Beach Post ...Long Beach officially launched itself into the center of the national minimum wage discussion last night, after the city council voted unanimously to approve a report that will explore the benefits and risks of raising wages across the city. The report, which is expected to take about 60 days to complete, could ultimately decide if the city joins others in the region in establishing a higher city-wide minimum wage...
Minding The Gap Philadelphia Inquirer ...With wages growing at the slowest rate in 33 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission's recent vote requiring publicly traded companies to report the ratio of chief executives' earnings to those of average workers should fuel discussion of income inequality and encourage companies to narrow the great divide...
Kansas Cancels Its Ultimate Plan To Punish The Poor Washington Post ...Kansas will not tell its welfare recipients how much cash they should be carrying, at least for now. The state announced last week it would not implement a controversial $25 daily limit on the benefits that enrollees can withdraw in cash from an ATM...
Worker Misclassification Bill Gets Initial NC House Approval WECT ...A second General Assembly chamber has backed an effort to prevent North Carolina businesses from avoiding paying taxes and other benefits by deliberately mislabeling workers as independent contractors...
SEC Admits It’s Not Monitoring Stock Buybacks To Prevent Market Manipulation The Intercept ...The Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted that it has no ability to enforce the main rule intended to prevent market manipulation when companies buy back their own stock, and has no intention to do so...
U.S. Labor
The Perils Of Ever-Changing Work Schedules Extend To Children’s Well-Being New York Times ...A growing body of research suggests that children’s language and problem-solving skills may suffer as a result of their parents’ problematic schedules, and that they may be more likely than other children to smoke and drink when they are older...
Is The Local Economy the Solution To A Post-Capitalist World? AlterNet ...According to community economics advocate Michael Shuman, mainstream economic development today is a scam. States and local government agencies spend big money to lure corporations to their region but do little to stimulate the local economy or support local businesses. And those small businesses, not the chain stores, are often what give a neighborhood its unique identity and make it desirable to live in...
Are Graduate Students ‘Workers’? The Nation ...So although they taught, researched and performed administrative tasks in exchange for the school’s financial support for their studies—even when working on a regular schedule with a designated hourly wage, under a supervisor—that labor wasn’t work, but rather, simply a privilege of their academic experience. This realm, supposedly, is one of scholarly discourse, not labor and capital...
Social Justice & Other News
As Tracy Morgan Heals, NTSB Says Driver In Fatal Crash Was Awake 28 Hours Los Angeles Times ...The investigation into the deadly crash has seemed to move as slowly as Morgan's recovery. But on Tuesday morning, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart confirmed the driver of the truck that struck Morgan's limousine had been awake for more than 28 hours before the collision...
Why Financial Aid Might Make College More Expensive Vox ...A recent paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that for every extra dollar a college gets in Pell Grants, the school charges 40 cents more in tuition. For every extra dollar in subsidized student loans, tuition goes up 65 cents. The effects were much more pronounced at private colleges...
Death Penalty In Connecticut Ruled Unconstitutional Huffington Post ...The Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the state's death penalty is unconstitutional. The ruling will affect the 11 inmates currently on the state's death row. Lawmakers repealed the state's death penalty in 2012, but stipulated it only applied to future crimes. Plaintiffs in Thursday's case had argued the 2012 ban should also extend to prisoners already on death row...
Maine Implemented An Elaborate New Drug Test For Welfare. Just One Person Flunked. Think Progress ...Maine began screening applicants to its welfare program in April, requiring those with past drug felony convictions to take a drug test. But despite spending $624 on the program, just one person has tested positive so far, the Associated Press reports...
American Schools Are More Segregated Now Then They Were In 1968, And The Supreme Court Doesn’t Care Think Progress ...White residents had just learned that students from the mostly black district that includes Ferguson, Missouri would be joining their own children due to a law giving students in failing school systems the opportunity to attend classes elsewhere — and these white parents were pissed. One mother demanded metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs, because she falsely believed that the black district was struggling because of a record of “violent behavior.” “I shopped for a school district!” she proclaimed as the crowd of white parents erupted around her in cheers, “I deserve to not have to worry about my children getting stabbed, or taking a drug, or getting robbed.”...
The Persecution Of Chelsea Manning The Atlantic ...Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted of giving a trove of secrets to WikiLeaks, is serving a 35-year sentence inside a military prison. And now she may be thrown into solitary confinement indefinitely, her lawyer says...
Labor And Industries Makes No Decision In Child-Labor Investigation Of Western Hockey League Seattle Times ...An investigation of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for possible child-labor violations by the state Department of Labor and Industries ended without a decision...
Tucson Bus Workers On Strike For Nearly A Week Arizona Republic ...Andrew Marshall with the Teamsters Local 104 says about 530 bus employees went on strike on Thursday last week. He says the union and Sun Tran are at an impasse over pay and safety issues like assaults on bus drivers and mold at a facility...
Global Labor & Trade
Robb: TPP Trade Deal Unlikely MacroBusiness ...Australia’s trade minister, Andrew Robb, has appeared at the National Press Club in Canberra today, where he admitted that concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is looking increasingly unlikely...
China’s Currency Falls For A Third Consecutive Day The Atlantic ...China’s currency devaluation continued for a third day Thursday, as the country’s central bank set the official exchange rate of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar 1.1 percent lower than the day before. Since Tuesday, when the People’s Bank of China stunned markets by announcing the devaluation, the yuan has fallen 4.4 percent, triggering fluctuations in equity markets around the world...
State & Living Wage Battles
Let’s Expose The Gender Pay Gap New York Times ...More than a half-century after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the gap between what men and women earn has defied every effort to close it. And it can’t be explained away as a statistical glitch, a function of women preferring lower-paying industries or choosing to take time off for kids...
Redistricting Reform In Maryland And Virginia: Can The States Join Forces? Washington Post ...A logical starting point for such a compact is the fact that the two states’ political complexions are mirror images — one has a Republican governor stymied by Democratic legislators; the other has a Democratic governor foiled by Republicans. In both cases, elected lawmakers have arrogantly scoffed at reforming the process by which congressional maps are drawn, preferring to gerrymander districts for maximum partisan advantage...
White House To Hold Summit To Amplify Employees’ Voice In Workplace Wall Street Journal ...The White House will hold a summit in October to explore how American workers can amplify their voices on the job to get ahead, and it touted labor unions as a powerful way to enable that...
Study To Explore Raising The Minimum Wage In Long Beach Receives Unanimous Support Long Beach Post ...Long Beach officially launched itself into the center of the national minimum wage discussion last night, after the city council voted unanimously to approve a report that will explore the benefits and risks of raising wages across the city. The report, which is expected to take about 60 days to complete, could ultimately decide if the city joins others in the region in establishing a higher city-wide minimum wage...
Minding The Gap Philadelphia Inquirer ...With wages growing at the slowest rate in 33 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission's recent vote requiring publicly traded companies to report the ratio of chief executives' earnings to those of average workers should fuel discussion of income inequality and encourage companies to narrow the great divide...
Kansas Cancels Its Ultimate Plan To Punish The Poor Washington Post ...Kansas will not tell its welfare recipients how much cash they should be carrying, at least for now. The state announced last week it would not implement a controversial $25 daily limit on the benefits that enrollees can withdraw in cash from an ATM...
Worker Misclassification Bill Gets Initial NC House Approval WECT ...A second General Assembly chamber has backed an effort to prevent North Carolina businesses from avoiding paying taxes and other benefits by deliberately mislabeling workers as independent contractors...
SEC Admits It’s Not Monitoring Stock Buybacks To Prevent Market Manipulation The Intercept ...The Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted that it has no ability to enforce the main rule intended to prevent market manipulation when companies buy back their own stock, and has no intention to do so...
U.S. Labor
The Perils Of Ever-Changing Work Schedules Extend To Children’s Well-Being New York Times ...A growing body of research suggests that children’s language and problem-solving skills may suffer as a result of their parents’ problematic schedules, and that they may be more likely than other children to smoke and drink when they are older...
Is The Local Economy the Solution To A Post-Capitalist World? AlterNet ...According to community economics advocate Michael Shuman, mainstream economic development today is a scam. States and local government agencies spend big money to lure corporations to their region but do little to stimulate the local economy or support local businesses. And those small businesses, not the chain stores, are often what give a neighborhood its unique identity and make it desirable to live in...
Are Graduate Students ‘Workers’? The Nation ...So although they taught, researched and performed administrative tasks in exchange for the school’s financial support for their studies—even when working on a regular schedule with a designated hourly wage, under a supervisor—that labor wasn’t work, but rather, simply a privilege of their academic experience. This realm, supposedly, is one of scholarly discourse, not labor and capital...
Social Justice & Other News
As Tracy Morgan Heals, NTSB Says Driver In Fatal Crash Was Awake 28 Hours Los Angeles Times ...The investigation into the deadly crash has seemed to move as slowly as Morgan's recovery. But on Tuesday morning, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart confirmed the driver of the truck that struck Morgan's limousine had been awake for more than 28 hours before the collision...
Why Financial Aid Might Make College More Expensive Vox ...A recent paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that for every extra dollar a college gets in Pell Grants, the school charges 40 cents more in tuition. For every extra dollar in subsidized student loans, tuition goes up 65 cents. The effects were much more pronounced at private colleges...
Death Penalty In Connecticut Ruled Unconstitutional Huffington Post ...The Connecticut Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the state's death penalty is unconstitutional. The ruling will affect the 11 inmates currently on the state's death row. Lawmakers repealed the state's death penalty in 2012, but stipulated it only applied to future crimes. Plaintiffs in Thursday's case had argued the 2012 ban should also extend to prisoners already on death row...
Maine Implemented An Elaborate New Drug Test For Welfare. Just One Person Flunked. Think Progress ...Maine began screening applicants to its welfare program in April, requiring those with past drug felony convictions to take a drug test. But despite spending $624 on the program, just one person has tested positive so far, the Associated Press reports...
American Schools Are More Segregated Now Then They Were In 1968, And The Supreme Court Doesn’t Care Think Progress ...White residents had just learned that students from the mostly black district that includes Ferguson, Missouri would be joining their own children due to a law giving students in failing school systems the opportunity to attend classes elsewhere — and these white parents were pissed. One mother demanded metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs, because she falsely believed that the black district was struggling because of a record of “violent behavior.” “I shopped for a school district!” she proclaimed as the crowd of white parents erupted around her in cheers, “I deserve to not have to worry about my children getting stabbed, or taking a drug, or getting robbed.”...
The Persecution Of Chelsea Manning The Atlantic ...Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted of giving a trove of secrets to WikiLeaks, is serving a 35-year sentence inside a military prison. And now she may be thrown into solitary confinement indefinitely, her lawyer says...
Labor And Industries Makes No Decision In Child-Labor Investigation Of Western Hockey League Seattle Times ...An investigation of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for possible child-labor violations by the state Department of Labor and Industries ended without a decision...
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.06.15
Teamsters
Genentech Waste Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 853 Teamster.org ...Workers who collect waste materials for Genentech Inc., are the latest Silicon Valley workers to vote in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 15 workers include compliance technicians, chemists, in-site technicians and administrative assistants. They work at Genentech’s South San Francisco campus through contractor Clean Harbors, collecting and packaging waste and biodegradable materials needing special attention and care...
Teamsters Laud SEC Decision Making CEO, Employee Wage Gap Public Teamster.org ...In a victory for corporate disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today completed the CEO pay ratio rule required under the five-year-old Dodd-Frank financial law. The provision will require for the first time that companies reveal the pay gap between top executives and rank-and-file workers...
Second Group of Industrial Cleanup Workers Joins Teamsters Local 107 Teamster.org ...For the second time in four months, workers at a Philadelphia industrial cleanup company have joined Teamsters Local 107. On August 3, 2015, technicians at PSC Industrial Outsourcing, LP voted 13-2 to join Local 107 in Philadelphia. The technicians work along-side drivers of vacuum/tanker trucks and clean up contaminated liquids under city streets. The victory follows another at PSC, on March 26, when the drivers voted 11-0 to join Local 107, for a combined vote of 24-2...
Tucson bus system: Union strikes after rejecting contract Arizona Daily Star ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson's bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104's members last week rejected an offer. Officials said earlier that with a strike, Sun Tran's normal 43 routes would decrease to five...
Teamsters Call for Director Resignations at Airgas Teamster.org ...A majority, 53 percent, of Airgas shareholders voting in yesterday’s director elections withheld support from three independent board members standing for re-election. Excluding the shares held by board members and executive officers, the “no” vote was 62 percent of shares cast or more than 51 percent of total outstanding shares...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership could pose risk to public healthcare, leaked draft shows The Guardian ...The most recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement shows it may pose a risk to public health because of excessive intellectual property protections for medicines, according to an expert on the impact of international trade agreements on healthcare. The draft predates the most recent negotiation round held in Hawaii at the end of July...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Lead to Less Trade CEPR ...As a practical matter it is entirely possible that the TPP will lead to less trade. The rules that the United States is trying to impose on patents and copyrights and other forms of intellectual property claims will lead to considerably higher prices for the protected items. For example, the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi would sell for less than $1,000 per treatment without protection, but sells in the United States for $84,000 per treatment with patent protection...
TPP ministerial talks unlikely to be held by end of August The Japan Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade deal are unlikely to meet again by the end of this month amid remaining differences that prevented them from finalizing negotiations last week, sources said Thursday. Japan, the United States and the 10 other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership will look at possibly reconvening a ministerial meeting in September...
Conservatives were sure Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would be signed Globe and Mail ...The Conservative government was so confident in recent weeks it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement, reasoning their voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers – the one sector Ottawa expected would be sorely disappointed...
Ontario, auto parts suppliers raise alarm over TPP negotiations Windsor Star ...The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday it was alarmed by reports that Japan and U.S. negotiators were striking secret deals on lowering vehicle content requirements that would be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. “Anything lower than the 62.5 per cent NAFTA standard would threaten Canada’s auto supply chain,” said Flavio Volpe, APMA president...
Canadians spared blind vote on massive trade deal (opinion) The Star ...To trade negotiators and legacy-seeking politicians, the failure to finalize the world’s biggest trade deal in Hawaii last weekend was a frustrating setback. To Canadian voters, it was welcome pause. Most electors know little to nothing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade and investment pact hatched behind closed doors over the past six years...
Anti-austerity protests held across Athens CCTV ...Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of central Athens, demanding an end to austerity measures. They voiced their anger at the government's plans to sign a new bailout deal that includes pension cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the country's international creditors. "We are constantly on the streets. The measures are so barbaric and there is no other alternative for us other than to fight"...
Tube strike: London commuters deal with queues and delays BBC ...Commuters are dealing with long queues and delays as they try navigating London during a strike that has shut down the whole Tube network. About 250 extra buses have been laid on but there are reports of 200 miles of tailbacks as commuters switch to cars. The 24-hour strike by four unions began on Wednesday evening and there will be no Tube service until Friday...<
State & Living Wage Battles
In Return Towards Justice, Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law 'Discriminatory' Common Dreams ...A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Texas's controversial voter ID law, the most severe in the country, has a "discriminatory effect" against minority voters, in what civil rights campaigners say is an important step towards justice for African-American, Latino, and low-income people suppressed under the rule...
Kansas Comes To Its Senses, Abandons Plans To Hit Welfare Recipients With Draconian Fees Think Progress ...Kansan politicians tried to force public administrators to make life harder for poor people on welfare, passing a controversial law earlier this year to limit the amount of money public assistance benefits cards can withdraw from ATM machines at any one time to $25. But the public servants are fighting back, announcing Tuesday that they would rescind the law...
Puerto Rico’s Economic "Death Spiral" Tied to Legacy of Colonialism Democracy Now ...The White House has rejected a bailout package for Puerto Rico days after the U.S. territory failed to pay a small portion of the massive $72 billion it owes to bondholders. It was the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Unlike U.S. states and municipalities, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy...
Local 'right-to-work' decision now in judge's hands Business First ...A "right-to-work" law that could have state or national implications is in the hands of a judge in Louisville. Earlier this year, Hardin Fiscal Court passed an ordinance that would allow workers to go to work for unionized companies without having to join the union. Similar legislation has been passed by some states, including Indiana and Tennessee. The issue has come up for the Kentucky General Assembly before...
I work at the US Senate. I shouldn't have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son (opinion) The Guardian ...I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes...
U.S. Labor
Companies forced to disclose CEO-workforce pay gap The Guardian ...Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against...
This new rule could reveal the huge gap between CEO pay and worker pay Washington Post ...Thousands of public U.S. companies are likely to soon be forced to share a number many would rather keep under wraps: how much more their chief executives make than their typical rank-and-file employees. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to finalize on Wednesday a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their "pay ratio," a simple bit of arithmetic that would cast an unprecedented spotlight on one of corporate America's thorniest debates...
Rauner: ‘No lockout’ of State Workers, But Strike Possible CBS ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he won’t lock out state workers if his administration and the largest public-employee union can’t agree on a new contract, but both sides acknowledged that they are nowhere near a deal.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ contract expired June 30, though both sides have agreed to keep workers on the job through September...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Hover Near Lowest in Four Decades Bloomberg ...Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits are hovering near the lowest levels in four decades, a sign the strong labor market will bolster U.S. growth. Jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000 in the week ended August 1, a report from the Labor Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 272,000. The 255,000 reading two weeks earlier was the lowest since November 1973...
Obama Drafts Order on Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors New York Times ...Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Obama has drafted an executive order to force any company that contracts with the federal government to issue paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative. The draft order, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, could affect hundreds of thousands of workers...
Christian University Claims Unions Are Against Its Religious Mission Gawker ...Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that. Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company Misled Them CNBC ...Three weeks ago, Uber rallied 400 drivers to testify in an employee classification lawsuit that they wanted to stay contractors. Now, some of them have changed their minds. After speaking with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit, six Uber drivers out of the 400 who originally testified on behalf of Uber have decided to speak against the ride-hailing company. They submitted new court declarations saying they were misled about the difference between contractors and employees...
#BlackLivesMatter and so should the high black unemployment rate — which is almost twice as high Raw Story ...The US unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.3% on Friday – the lowest unemployment rate in seven years. Yet there is one group whose unemployment rate is still close to 10%: African Americans. The unemployment rate for black Americans has remained almost twice that of the general population for so long that experts believe it’s suffering from the “wallpaper effect” – no one notices anymore. That may be about to change...
Social Justice & Other News
In Midst of Shutoffs, Protesters 'Liberate' Water from Detroit Mayor's Mansion Common Dreams ...Over a dozen protesters on Tuesday converged at the Detroit mayor's publicly-funded mansion and "liberated" his water supply, in a creative direct action highlighting the inequities that underlie the city's mass water shutoffs and resultant humanitarian crisis. Campaigners from the Detroit and Michigan Coalitions Against Tar Sands went to Mike Duggan's "Manoogian Mansion" and filled jugs of water from a hose attached to an external spigot. They carried banners that read "Water is Life"...
A Failure of Capitalism: Trump, Trucks and Voter Rage (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senator Casey's opposition to larger trucks confronts a classic example of industry misbehavior. Rather than raising wages and hiring more drivers, trucking companies are attempting to use the Federal Government to force truck drivers to haul even more freight for the same wage. Workers are being crushed from both sides -- more work for the same pay, while taxes creep steadily up. The government empowers corporations to impose demands on small businesses and workers that enable a race to the economic bottom. Trump's success is getting these small business people and workers to blame those below them...
Give Us the Ballot: The Struggle Continues 50 Years After Signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Democracy Now ...It was August 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and now 14-term Congressman John Lewis looked on. The law has been under constant attack ever since. Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the measure in a case called Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder when it ruled states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government...
Trump Mocked For Having No Real Immigration Plan, But Are His GOP Rivals Any Better? Think Progress ...Thursday’s premier GOP debate will feature real estate mogul Donald Trump comfortably in the number-one slot after his controversial remarks about undocumented Mexicans. Trump, when pressed by reporters for a concrete immigration plan, has said he would build a nearly 2,000 mile wall on the U.S.’ southern border and force Mexico to pay for it, deport all 11 million undocumented people currently living in the U.S., and then let whoever he determined to be the “good ones” back in. The statements were widely mocked as costly, unrealistic, and illegal...
Jonathan Ferrell Asked for Help—and Cops Killed Him Daily Beast ...The Ferrell case began before the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others sparked a media firestorm and national debate over the use of excessive police force on black men and teens. Shortly after Ferrell was killed, Kerrick was charged and suspended without pay. But it took a second grand jury to finally indict him...
Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color—for White Students The Atlantic ...In public schools, where roughly 90 percent of the country’s children are enrolled, the lessons students learn are often skewed because of who is delivering the instruction and what kind of curricula and learning materials that instruction entails. Not only is the vast majority of the country’s teaching force white, but Eurocentric attitudes also tend to filter into classrooms...
Genentech Waste Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 853 Teamster.org ...Workers who collect waste materials for Genentech Inc., are the latest Silicon Valley workers to vote in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 15 workers include compliance technicians, chemists, in-site technicians and administrative assistants. They work at Genentech’s South San Francisco campus through contractor Clean Harbors, collecting and packaging waste and biodegradable materials needing special attention and care...
Teamsters Laud SEC Decision Making CEO, Employee Wage Gap Public Teamster.org ...In a victory for corporate disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today completed the CEO pay ratio rule required under the five-year-old Dodd-Frank financial law. The provision will require for the first time that companies reveal the pay gap between top executives and rank-and-file workers...
Second Group of Industrial Cleanup Workers Joins Teamsters Local 107 Teamster.org ...For the second time in four months, workers at a Philadelphia industrial cleanup company have joined Teamsters Local 107. On August 3, 2015, technicians at PSC Industrial Outsourcing, LP voted 13-2 to join Local 107 in Philadelphia. The technicians work along-side drivers of vacuum/tanker trucks and clean up contaminated liquids under city streets. The victory follows another at PSC, on March 26, when the drivers voted 11-0 to join Local 107, for a combined vote of 24-2...
Tucson bus system: Union strikes after rejecting contract Arizona Daily Star ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson's bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104's members last week rejected an offer. Officials said earlier that with a strike, Sun Tran's normal 43 routes would decrease to five...
Teamsters Call for Director Resignations at Airgas Teamster.org ...A majority, 53 percent, of Airgas shareholders voting in yesterday’s director elections withheld support from three independent board members standing for re-election. Excluding the shares held by board members and executive officers, the “no” vote was 62 percent of shares cast or more than 51 percent of total outstanding shares...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership could pose risk to public healthcare, leaked draft shows The Guardian ...The most recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement shows it may pose a risk to public health because of excessive intellectual property protections for medicines, according to an expert on the impact of international trade agreements on healthcare. The draft predates the most recent negotiation round held in Hawaii at the end of July...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Lead to Less Trade CEPR ...As a practical matter it is entirely possible that the TPP will lead to less trade. The rules that the United States is trying to impose on patents and copyrights and other forms of intellectual property claims will lead to considerably higher prices for the protected items. For example, the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi would sell for less than $1,000 per treatment without protection, but sells in the United States for $84,000 per treatment with patent protection...
TPP ministerial talks unlikely to be held by end of August The Japan Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade deal are unlikely to meet again by the end of this month amid remaining differences that prevented them from finalizing negotiations last week, sources said Thursday. Japan, the United States and the 10 other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership will look at possibly reconvening a ministerial meeting in September...
Conservatives were sure Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would be signed Globe and Mail ...The Conservative government was so confident in recent weeks it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement, reasoning their voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers – the one sector Ottawa expected would be sorely disappointed...
Ontario, auto parts suppliers raise alarm over TPP negotiations Windsor Star ...The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday it was alarmed by reports that Japan and U.S. negotiators were striking secret deals on lowering vehicle content requirements that would be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. “Anything lower than the 62.5 per cent NAFTA standard would threaten Canada’s auto supply chain,” said Flavio Volpe, APMA president...
Canadians spared blind vote on massive trade deal (opinion) The Star ...To trade negotiators and legacy-seeking politicians, the failure to finalize the world’s biggest trade deal in Hawaii last weekend was a frustrating setback. To Canadian voters, it was welcome pause. Most electors know little to nothing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade and investment pact hatched behind closed doors over the past six years...
Anti-austerity protests held across Athens CCTV ...Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of central Athens, demanding an end to austerity measures. They voiced their anger at the government's plans to sign a new bailout deal that includes pension cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the country's international creditors. "We are constantly on the streets. The measures are so barbaric and there is no other alternative for us other than to fight"...
Tube strike: London commuters deal with queues and delays BBC ...Commuters are dealing with long queues and delays as they try navigating London during a strike that has shut down the whole Tube network. About 250 extra buses have been laid on but there are reports of 200 miles of tailbacks as commuters switch to cars. The 24-hour strike by four unions began on Wednesday evening and there will be no Tube service until Friday...<
State & Living Wage Battles
In Return Towards Justice, Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law 'Discriminatory' Common Dreams ...A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Texas's controversial voter ID law, the most severe in the country, has a "discriminatory effect" against minority voters, in what civil rights campaigners say is an important step towards justice for African-American, Latino, and low-income people suppressed under the rule...
Kansas Comes To Its Senses, Abandons Plans To Hit Welfare Recipients With Draconian Fees Think Progress ...Kansan politicians tried to force public administrators to make life harder for poor people on welfare, passing a controversial law earlier this year to limit the amount of money public assistance benefits cards can withdraw from ATM machines at any one time to $25. But the public servants are fighting back, announcing Tuesday that they would rescind the law...
Puerto Rico’s Economic "Death Spiral" Tied to Legacy of Colonialism Democracy Now ...The White House has rejected a bailout package for Puerto Rico days after the U.S. territory failed to pay a small portion of the massive $72 billion it owes to bondholders. It was the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Unlike U.S. states and municipalities, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy...
Local 'right-to-work' decision now in judge's hands Business First ...A "right-to-work" law that could have state or national implications is in the hands of a judge in Louisville. Earlier this year, Hardin Fiscal Court passed an ordinance that would allow workers to go to work for unionized companies without having to join the union. Similar legislation has been passed by some states, including Indiana and Tennessee. The issue has come up for the Kentucky General Assembly before...
I work at the US Senate. I shouldn't have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son (opinion) The Guardian ...I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes...
U.S. Labor
Companies forced to disclose CEO-workforce pay gap The Guardian ...Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against...
This new rule could reveal the huge gap between CEO pay and worker pay Washington Post ...Thousands of public U.S. companies are likely to soon be forced to share a number many would rather keep under wraps: how much more their chief executives make than their typical rank-and-file employees. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to finalize on Wednesday a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their "pay ratio," a simple bit of arithmetic that would cast an unprecedented spotlight on one of corporate America's thorniest debates...
Rauner: ‘No lockout’ of State Workers, But Strike Possible CBS ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he won’t lock out state workers if his administration and the largest public-employee union can’t agree on a new contract, but both sides acknowledged that they are nowhere near a deal.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ contract expired June 30, though both sides have agreed to keep workers on the job through September...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Hover Near Lowest in Four Decades Bloomberg ...Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits are hovering near the lowest levels in four decades, a sign the strong labor market will bolster U.S. growth. Jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000 in the week ended August 1, a report from the Labor Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 272,000. The 255,000 reading two weeks earlier was the lowest since November 1973...
Obama Drafts Order on Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors New York Times ...Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Obama has drafted an executive order to force any company that contracts with the federal government to issue paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative. The draft order, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, could affect hundreds of thousands of workers...
Christian University Claims Unions Are Against Its Religious Mission Gawker ...Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that. Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company Misled Them CNBC ...Three weeks ago, Uber rallied 400 drivers to testify in an employee classification lawsuit that they wanted to stay contractors. Now, some of them have changed their minds. After speaking with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit, six Uber drivers out of the 400 who originally testified on behalf of Uber have decided to speak against the ride-hailing company. They submitted new court declarations saying they were misled about the difference between contractors and employees...
#BlackLivesMatter and so should the high black unemployment rate — which is almost twice as high Raw Story ...The US unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.3% on Friday – the lowest unemployment rate in seven years. Yet there is one group whose unemployment rate is still close to 10%: African Americans. The unemployment rate for black Americans has remained almost twice that of the general population for so long that experts believe it’s suffering from the “wallpaper effect” – no one notices anymore. That may be about to change...
Social Justice & Other News
In Midst of Shutoffs, Protesters 'Liberate' Water from Detroit Mayor's Mansion Common Dreams ...Over a dozen protesters on Tuesday converged at the Detroit mayor's publicly-funded mansion and "liberated" his water supply, in a creative direct action highlighting the inequities that underlie the city's mass water shutoffs and resultant humanitarian crisis. Campaigners from the Detroit and Michigan Coalitions Against Tar Sands went to Mike Duggan's "Manoogian Mansion" and filled jugs of water from a hose attached to an external spigot. They carried banners that read "Water is Life"...
A Failure of Capitalism: Trump, Trucks and Voter Rage (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senator Casey's opposition to larger trucks confronts a classic example of industry misbehavior. Rather than raising wages and hiring more drivers, trucking companies are attempting to use the Federal Government to force truck drivers to haul even more freight for the same wage. Workers are being crushed from both sides -- more work for the same pay, while taxes creep steadily up. The government empowers corporations to impose demands on small businesses and workers that enable a race to the economic bottom. Trump's success is getting these small business people and workers to blame those below them...
Give Us the Ballot: The Struggle Continues 50 Years After Signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Democracy Now ...It was August 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and now 14-term Congressman John Lewis looked on. The law has been under constant attack ever since. Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the measure in a case called Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder when it ruled states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government...
Trump Mocked For Having No Real Immigration Plan, But Are His GOP Rivals Any Better? Think Progress ...Thursday’s premier GOP debate will feature real estate mogul Donald Trump comfortably in the number-one slot after his controversial remarks about undocumented Mexicans. Trump, when pressed by reporters for a concrete immigration plan, has said he would build a nearly 2,000 mile wall on the U.S.’ southern border and force Mexico to pay for it, deport all 11 million undocumented people currently living in the U.S., and then let whoever he determined to be the “good ones” back in. The statements were widely mocked as costly, unrealistic, and illegal...
Jonathan Ferrell Asked for Help—and Cops Killed Him Daily Beast ...The Ferrell case began before the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others sparked a media firestorm and national debate over the use of excessive police force on black men and teens. Shortly after Ferrell was killed, Kerrick was charged and suspended without pay. But it took a second grand jury to finally indict him...
Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color—for White Students The Atlantic ...In public schools, where roughly 90 percent of the country’s children are enrolled, the lessons students learn are often skewed because of who is delivering the instruction and what kind of curricula and learning materials that instruction entails. Not only is the vast majority of the country’s teaching force white, but Eurocentric attitudes also tend to filter into classrooms...
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Today's Teamster News 08.05.15
Teamsters
Teamsters and Coalition of Unions Reach Tentative Agreement with American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have come to a tentative agreement for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement, once voted on by the membership, will impact more than 1,100 Teamsters at 18 different local unions...
Sun Tran riders warned to prepare for driver strike Arizona Daily Star ...While union contract negotiations are underway, Sun Tran officials and union leaders warned bus riders to prepare for the possibility of a strike. Professional Transit Management of Tucson and Teamsters Local 104 have been in talks since June 17, and last week agreed to a five-day contract extension that expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday...
Plaque marks site where Minneapolis cops fired on striking workers People's World ...One day shy of the 81st anniversary, 200-plus people gathered in the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis on July 19 to unveil a plaque marking the spot where city police opened fire July 20, 1934, on unarmed striking members and supporters of Teamsters Local 574...
Global Labor & Trade
Canada, Mexico drawn into deal-breaking auto talks in Trans-Pacific negotiations Globe and Mail ...Canada and Mexico are joining forces to try to break a major logjam over Japanese autos at the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, working to come up with a solution that preserves their respective vehicle assemblers and parts makers should a deal open North America to greater Asian imports. Ottawa and Mexico City have been drawn deeply into a contentious issue at the Pacific Rim talks that held up a deal in Hawaii last week...
Kerry Hails Progress Toward Trans-Pacific Trade Pact, Despite Delays New York Times ...Days after negotiators failed to wrap up an Asia trade agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Tuesday that the pact would be completed, calling it vital for the economic well-being of the region. “We made progress, good progress, in our negotiations toward one of the most significant trade agreements in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Mr. Kerry said...
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks stall NW Labor Press ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— a proposed 12-nation NAFTA-style deal — is on ice. The corporate-led agreement is a top priority for the Obama Administration, and it was supposed to be finalized at a July 28-31 summit of trade ministers in Maui. Instead, the summit ended July 31 without a deal, and without any further dates set for negotiation. The talks have been conducted entirely in secret, and even the U.S. proposals are classified...
Australia wants exposure to future U.S. sugar demand in trade pact Reuters ...Australia is seeking a guaranteed slice of any growth in demand in the U.S. sugar market in talks with Washington on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, a source with knowledge of the Australian position said. Australia, the world's third-largest exporter of raw sugar, has rejected a U.S. offer to permit 152,000 tonnes of imports per year, or 62,000 tonnes more than typical annual sales, according to data from Australia's commodity forecaster...
TTIP: what does the transatlantic trade deal mean for renewable energy? The Guardian ...In July the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) came a step closer to reality. Formal talks have been ongoing for two years, but trying to create the world’s biggest free trade zone is no mean feat. Essentially, if passed, the EU and US will be able to trade without each other’s pesky tariffs or regulations getting in the way. Currently, the only energy sources traded in significant amounts between the EU and the US are refined petroleum products and solid fuels – but TTIP could allow Europe to gain access to US crude oil and natural gas resources...
Greece needs wide debt relief to avoid permanent depression, thinktank warns The Guardian ...Greece’s economy will suffer fresh damage from the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and will remain stuck in permanent depression unless it receives substantial debt relief, one of the UK’s leading thinktanks has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the increases in VAT reluctantly accepted by the Syriza-led coalition in Athens in exchange for a new bail out will result in a 1% fall in national output in 2016...
London Underground workers strike over 24 hour tube, ‘gaping holes in staffing’ RT ...stations expected to close, as workers reject Transport for London’s (TFL) pay offer for the proposed 24 hour tube service. Attacking the night tube project, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash said: “Londoners need to be aware that the night tube was rushed and botched from the off”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas Moves to Implement $25 ATM Withdrawal Limit for Welfare Recipients McClatchy ...Kansas plans to keep a controversial $25 limit on ATM withdrawals by welfare recipients, despite the possibility that the restriction might violate federal law. Despite legislation passed earlier this year to raise the limit, or do away with it entirely, a newly revised version of Kansas' welfare plan does not permit withdrawals of more than $25 per transaction per day...
The Bank Employees Who Make Less Than $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Tthe majority of people who work for banks in fact make far less. The most common occupation is bank teller, and nearly three-quarters of them make less than $15 an hour, according to an analysis from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) provided exclusively to ThinkProgress. Nearly a half million people work as bank tellers. Their median hourly wage is just $12.44, and 74.1 percent make less than $15...
Puerto Rico Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse Mother Jones ...Puerto Rico's economic crisis has only gotten worse in the month since Gov. Alejandro García Padilla told the New York Times the island's $72 billion in debts was "not payable." Earlier this week, the island missed a key bond payment, making history and setting the stage for a bruising and protracted battle with creditors. There are many reasons Puerto Rico finds itself in this quandary, including its murky political status, and the situation seems to be deteriorating as time goes on...
Local right-to-work laws challenged in federal court WKYT ...The national battle over compulsory labor union dues landed in a Kentucky federal courthouse on Tuesday as a handful of unions tried to convince a judge to throw out a series of local laws designed to end closed shops. States have had the ability to outlaw mandatory union dues as a condition of employment for decades. But the question of whether local governments can do the same has not been fully decided...
The 7 most dangerous myths about a $15 minimum wage Salon ...What was once a fringe movement led largely by far left liberals has become a major media story and trending topic on Twitter: Workers, politicians, and even business owners are fighting for a higher minimum wage. And despite these successes, myths about what increased wages mean for America’s economy and workers continue to prevail, making the rounds in Facebook memes and even real news reports...
O’Malley Endorses a Constitutional Amendment Protecting the Right to Vote The Nation ...Five decades after the great advances of 1964 and 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been assaulted by Republican governor and legislators and the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, forcing activists to launch new campaigns to renew its core provisions. On Tuesday, the right-to-vote amendment proposal gained the enthusiastic support of a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley...
What’s The Matter With Kansas? They’re Losing All Their Teachers Think Progress ...Kansas embarked on an experiment with radical right-wing policies since Governor Sam Brownback (R) was elected in 2010, and it failed miserably. The centerpiece of the project, led by Governor Sam Brownback, was huge tax cuts, largely for wealthy individuals and businesses, based on the Republican orthodoxy that tax cuts create jobs. Now, a teacher shortage appears to be the latest consequence of Kansas’ abject failure to manage its economy...
Challenges expected to paid sick leave law Post-Gazette ...Brushing aside concerns about the speed of the legislation and the limits of its own authority, Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmingly approved a law Monday that will require all employers within the city borders to provide paid sick leave, part of a nationwide push to extend the benefit to millions who lack it. Council members and supporters, including Pittsburgh United, a coalition of unions, community organizations and advocacy groups, heralded the law as a just, common-sense measure...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Finds Retaliation After Capitol Food Worker Strike Roll Call ...The National Labor Relations Board has found that the Capitol’s food-service vendor likely violated labor laws when supervisors retaliated against workers who went on strike. In two separate cases, the NLRB found merit in allegations of retaliation, which included charges of interrogation and coercive statements. Workers in the Capitol Visitor Center and the Dirksen Senate Office Building filed unfair labor practice charges against Restaurant Associates in April and May, respectively, following an April 22 strike for higher wages and union representation...
Nurses protest at St. Petersburg General Hospital, claiming staffing shortages Tampa Bay ...Dozens of nurses formed a picket line outside St. Petersburg General Hospital late Monday to protest insufficient staffing levels and "dismal" wages. The nurses, affiliated with the labor union National Nurses United, allege hospital administrators have routinely ignored the staffing plan meant to ensure high-quality patient care...
Strike Over! IATSE Wins ‘Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge’ Contract Deadline ...A week and a half after the picket lines went up at the offices of 51 Minds Entertainment, the union and the production company for Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge have reached a deal. Agreed to late last night, the IATSE contract sees the post-crew back at work today with enshrined health and pension benefits...
Board rules Teach for America members in Detroit can be in teachers unions MLive ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled Friday that Teach for America teachers in a Detroit charter school have the right to be a part of a union. According to a statement from the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the NLRB said Friday 14 Teach for America corps members should have been able to vote in an election last spring...
Clark County, SEIU trade final jabs Review Journal ...At one point, Clark County's attorney asked the union president if his organization's bargaining position was "greedy." In another instance, the union's attorney accused the county of "arrogance." Those jabs and others are laid bare in a lengthy transcript of the arbitration proceedings between the county and its largest union, the Service Employees International Union Local 1107. The two-day July hearing was the culmination of a two-year stretch of stalled contract negotiations between the two that started in 2013...
Netflix Now Giving Employees 'Unlimited' Maternity, Paternity Leave Huffington Post ...Netflix on Tuesday announced that it would offer something completely unheard of in the corporate world: unlimited parental leave for the first year of a child's life. "We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Parents can return part-time, full-time, or return and then go back out as needed," said Tawni Cranz, Netflix’s Chief Talent Officer in a statement...
Janus Youth Programs employees vote to join AFSCME NW Labor Press ...esidential treatment employees at Janus Youth Programs in Portland voted 26-12 to join Oregon AFSCME. There are 49 employees in the bargaining unit. They will join Local 1790, newly established for Basic Rights Oregon employees. Janus Youth is a private non-profit that operates around Portland. The clients range from age 13 to 21, with those 18 and older housed separately from the younger kids...
A remarkable look at the gap between black and white unemployment Washington Post ...Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute breaks out data on unemployment by race and state and quarter, allowing for a more refined look at this racial split on jobs. "Nationally" in the second quarter, she writes, "African Americans had the highest unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, followed by Latinos (6.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), and Asians (3.8 percent)." What's more, she notes, the state with the lowest black unemployment, Tennessee, had the same unemployment rate for blacks as the white unemployment rate in the state with the highest white unemployment...
The Persistent Stereotype About Latino Workers That Won’t Die Think Progress ...During a live taping of The View on Tuesday, guest co-host Kelly Osbourne sparked some outrage among viewers when she stereotyped Latinos as toilet cleaners as a way to rebuke 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The stereotype is rooted in some reality: Latinos do disproportionately work in the agriculture and service industry. The issue with fixating on the stereotype of Latinos who hold low-wage jobs isn’t that it’s demeaning work, but that it’s demeaning pay for the amount of physical labor involved...
Social Justice & Other News
Despite Epic Crash of World Economy, White Collar Prosecutions at 20-Year Low Common Dreams ...Despite lofty rhetoric from politicians who vowed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to hold Wall Street accountable, U.S. Justice Department statistics show a "long-term collapse" of federal white collar crime prosecutions, which are down to their lowest level in 20 years, according to a new report from Syracuse University. The analysis of thousands of records by the university's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows a more than 36 percent decline...
A Judge’s Rebuke of Immigration Detention (opinion) New York Times ...Children do not belong in prison. The mass detention of families offends American values, a lesson this country learned long ago at Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain and the other Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Learned, but apparently forgotten by the Obama administration, which has just been ordered by a federal judge to release several hundred women and children locked up in its immigration detention centers in southern Texas...
Black and White: Survey Reveals Huge Disparities in Assessing Police Violence Common Dreams ...Just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri—a death which propelled the national Black Lives Matter movement and a national conversation about racialized police violence to the forefront—a new poll released Wednesday reveals just how different the perceptions and experiences regarding law enforcement in the United States remain for black community members compared to their white counterparts...
Teamsters and Coalition of Unions Reach Tentative Agreement with American Red Cross Teamster.org ...After several months of serious negotiations, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have come to a tentative agreement for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement, once voted on by the membership, will impact more than 1,100 Teamsters at 18 different local unions...
Sun Tran riders warned to prepare for driver strike Arizona Daily Star ...While union contract negotiations are underway, Sun Tran officials and union leaders warned bus riders to prepare for the possibility of a strike. Professional Transit Management of Tucson and Teamsters Local 104 have been in talks since June 17, and last week agreed to a five-day contract extension that expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday...
Plaque marks site where Minneapolis cops fired on striking workers People's World ...One day shy of the 81st anniversary, 200-plus people gathered in the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis on July 19 to unveil a plaque marking the spot where city police opened fire July 20, 1934, on unarmed striking members and supporters of Teamsters Local 574...
Global Labor & Trade
Canada, Mexico drawn into deal-breaking auto talks in Trans-Pacific negotiations Globe and Mail ...Canada and Mexico are joining forces to try to break a major logjam over Japanese autos at the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, working to come up with a solution that preserves their respective vehicle assemblers and parts makers should a deal open North America to greater Asian imports. Ottawa and Mexico City have been drawn deeply into a contentious issue at the Pacific Rim talks that held up a deal in Hawaii last week...
Kerry Hails Progress Toward Trans-Pacific Trade Pact, Despite Delays New York Times ...Days after negotiators failed to wrap up an Asia trade agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Tuesday that the pact would be completed, calling it vital for the economic well-being of the region. “We made progress, good progress, in our negotiations toward one of the most significant trade agreements in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Mr. Kerry said...
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks stall NW Labor Press ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— a proposed 12-nation NAFTA-style deal — is on ice. The corporate-led agreement is a top priority for the Obama Administration, and it was supposed to be finalized at a July 28-31 summit of trade ministers in Maui. Instead, the summit ended July 31 without a deal, and without any further dates set for negotiation. The talks have been conducted entirely in secret, and even the U.S. proposals are classified...
Australia wants exposure to future U.S. sugar demand in trade pact Reuters ...Australia is seeking a guaranteed slice of any growth in demand in the U.S. sugar market in talks with Washington on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, a source with knowledge of the Australian position said. Australia, the world's third-largest exporter of raw sugar, has rejected a U.S. offer to permit 152,000 tonnes of imports per year, or 62,000 tonnes more than typical annual sales, according to data from Australia's commodity forecaster...
TTIP: what does the transatlantic trade deal mean for renewable energy? The Guardian ...In July the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) came a step closer to reality. Formal talks have been ongoing for two years, but trying to create the world’s biggest free trade zone is no mean feat. Essentially, if passed, the EU and US will be able to trade without each other’s pesky tariffs or regulations getting in the way. Currently, the only energy sources traded in significant amounts between the EU and the US are refined petroleum products and solid fuels – but TTIP could allow Europe to gain access to US crude oil and natural gas resources...
Greece needs wide debt relief to avoid permanent depression, thinktank warns The Guardian ...Greece’s economy will suffer fresh damage from the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and will remain stuck in permanent depression unless it receives substantial debt relief, one of the UK’s leading thinktanks has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the increases in VAT reluctantly accepted by the Syriza-led coalition in Athens in exchange for a new bail out will result in a 1% fall in national output in 2016...
London Underground workers strike over 24 hour tube, ‘gaping holes in staffing’ RT ...stations expected to close, as workers reject Transport for London’s (TFL) pay offer for the proposed 24 hour tube service. Attacking the night tube project, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash said: “Londoners need to be aware that the night tube was rushed and botched from the off”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas Moves to Implement $25 ATM Withdrawal Limit for Welfare Recipients McClatchy ...Kansas plans to keep a controversial $25 limit on ATM withdrawals by welfare recipients, despite the possibility that the restriction might violate federal law. Despite legislation passed earlier this year to raise the limit, or do away with it entirely, a newly revised version of Kansas' welfare plan does not permit withdrawals of more than $25 per transaction per day...
The Bank Employees Who Make Less Than $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Tthe majority of people who work for banks in fact make far less. The most common occupation is bank teller, and nearly three-quarters of them make less than $15 an hour, according to an analysis from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) provided exclusively to ThinkProgress. Nearly a half million people work as bank tellers. Their median hourly wage is just $12.44, and 74.1 percent make less than $15...
Puerto Rico Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse Mother Jones ...Puerto Rico's economic crisis has only gotten worse in the month since Gov. Alejandro García Padilla told the New York Times the island's $72 billion in debts was "not payable." Earlier this week, the island missed a key bond payment, making history and setting the stage for a bruising and protracted battle with creditors. There are many reasons Puerto Rico finds itself in this quandary, including its murky political status, and the situation seems to be deteriorating as time goes on...
Local right-to-work laws challenged in federal court WKYT ...The national battle over compulsory labor union dues landed in a Kentucky federal courthouse on Tuesday as a handful of unions tried to convince a judge to throw out a series of local laws designed to end closed shops. States have had the ability to outlaw mandatory union dues as a condition of employment for decades. But the question of whether local governments can do the same has not been fully decided...
The 7 most dangerous myths about a $15 minimum wage Salon ...What was once a fringe movement led largely by far left liberals has become a major media story and trending topic on Twitter: Workers, politicians, and even business owners are fighting for a higher minimum wage. And despite these successes, myths about what increased wages mean for America’s economy and workers continue to prevail, making the rounds in Facebook memes and even real news reports...
O’Malley Endorses a Constitutional Amendment Protecting the Right to Vote The Nation ...Five decades after the great advances of 1964 and 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been assaulted by Republican governor and legislators and the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, forcing activists to launch new campaigns to renew its core provisions. On Tuesday, the right-to-vote amendment proposal gained the enthusiastic support of a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley...
What’s The Matter With Kansas? They’re Losing All Their Teachers Think Progress ...Kansas embarked on an experiment with radical right-wing policies since Governor Sam Brownback (R) was elected in 2010, and it failed miserably. The centerpiece of the project, led by Governor Sam Brownback, was huge tax cuts, largely for wealthy individuals and businesses, based on the Republican orthodoxy that tax cuts create jobs. Now, a teacher shortage appears to be the latest consequence of Kansas’ abject failure to manage its economy...
Challenges expected to paid sick leave law Post-Gazette ...Brushing aside concerns about the speed of the legislation and the limits of its own authority, Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmingly approved a law Monday that will require all employers within the city borders to provide paid sick leave, part of a nationwide push to extend the benefit to millions who lack it. Council members and supporters, including Pittsburgh United, a coalition of unions, community organizations and advocacy groups, heralded the law as a just, common-sense measure...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Finds Retaliation After Capitol Food Worker Strike Roll Call ...The National Labor Relations Board has found that the Capitol’s food-service vendor likely violated labor laws when supervisors retaliated against workers who went on strike. In two separate cases, the NLRB found merit in allegations of retaliation, which included charges of interrogation and coercive statements. Workers in the Capitol Visitor Center and the Dirksen Senate Office Building filed unfair labor practice charges against Restaurant Associates in April and May, respectively, following an April 22 strike for higher wages and union representation...
Nurses protest at St. Petersburg General Hospital, claiming staffing shortages Tampa Bay ...Dozens of nurses formed a picket line outside St. Petersburg General Hospital late Monday to protest insufficient staffing levels and "dismal" wages. The nurses, affiliated with the labor union National Nurses United, allege hospital administrators have routinely ignored the staffing plan meant to ensure high-quality patient care...
Strike Over! IATSE Wins ‘Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge’ Contract Deadline ...A week and a half after the picket lines went up at the offices of 51 Minds Entertainment, the union and the production company for Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge have reached a deal. Agreed to late last night, the IATSE contract sees the post-crew back at work today with enshrined health and pension benefits...
Board rules Teach for America members in Detroit can be in teachers unions MLive ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled Friday that Teach for America teachers in a Detroit charter school have the right to be a part of a union. According to a statement from the Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the NLRB said Friday 14 Teach for America corps members should have been able to vote in an election last spring...
Clark County, SEIU trade final jabs Review Journal ...At one point, Clark County's attorney asked the union president if his organization's bargaining position was "greedy." In another instance, the union's attorney accused the county of "arrogance." Those jabs and others are laid bare in a lengthy transcript of the arbitration proceedings between the county and its largest union, the Service Employees International Union Local 1107. The two-day July hearing was the culmination of a two-year stretch of stalled contract negotiations between the two that started in 2013...
Netflix Now Giving Employees 'Unlimited' Maternity, Paternity Leave Huffington Post ...Netflix on Tuesday announced that it would offer something completely unheard of in the corporate world: unlimited parental leave for the first year of a child's life. "We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Parents can return part-time, full-time, or return and then go back out as needed," said Tawni Cranz, Netflix’s Chief Talent Officer in a statement...
Janus Youth Programs employees vote to join AFSCME NW Labor Press ...esidential treatment employees at Janus Youth Programs in Portland voted 26-12 to join Oregon AFSCME. There are 49 employees in the bargaining unit. They will join Local 1790, newly established for Basic Rights Oregon employees. Janus Youth is a private non-profit that operates around Portland. The clients range from age 13 to 21, with those 18 and older housed separately from the younger kids...
A remarkable look at the gap between black and white unemployment Washington Post ...Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute breaks out data on unemployment by race and state and quarter, allowing for a more refined look at this racial split on jobs. "Nationally" in the second quarter, she writes, "African Americans had the highest unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, followed by Latinos (6.6 percent), whites (4.6 percent), and Asians (3.8 percent)." What's more, she notes, the state with the lowest black unemployment, Tennessee, had the same unemployment rate for blacks as the white unemployment rate in the state with the highest white unemployment...
The Persistent Stereotype About Latino Workers That Won’t Die Think Progress ...During a live taping of The View on Tuesday, guest co-host Kelly Osbourne sparked some outrage among viewers when she stereotyped Latinos as toilet cleaners as a way to rebuke 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The stereotype is rooted in some reality: Latinos do disproportionately work in the agriculture and service industry. The issue with fixating on the stereotype of Latinos who hold low-wage jobs isn’t that it’s demeaning work, but that it’s demeaning pay for the amount of physical labor involved...
Social Justice & Other News
Despite Epic Crash of World Economy, White Collar Prosecutions at 20-Year Low Common Dreams ...Despite lofty rhetoric from politicians who vowed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to hold Wall Street accountable, U.S. Justice Department statistics show a "long-term collapse" of federal white collar crime prosecutions, which are down to their lowest level in 20 years, according to a new report from Syracuse University. The analysis of thousands of records by the university's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows a more than 36 percent decline...
A Judge’s Rebuke of Immigration Detention (opinion) New York Times ...Children do not belong in prison. The mass detention of families offends American values, a lesson this country learned long ago at Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain and the other Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Learned, but apparently forgotten by the Obama administration, which has just been ordered by a federal judge to release several hundred women and children locked up in its immigration detention centers in southern Texas...
Black and White: Survey Reveals Huge Disparities in Assessing Police Violence Common Dreams ...Just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri—a death which propelled the national Black Lives Matter movement and a national conversation about racialized police violence to the forefront—a new poll released Wednesday reveals just how different the perceptions and experiences regarding law enforcement in the United States remain for black community members compared to their white counterparts...
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.01.15
Teamsters
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.11.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: TAA Will Offer Little Help to Workers Hit Hard by Trade Huffington Post ...For years, the Teamsters have been strong supporters of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) legislative efforts that have offered support to thousands of workers who have lost their jobs due to bad trade deals. But not this time. As lawmakers get ready to consider TAA legislation in the House in an effort to sweeten the pot and encourage the passage of the fast track trade bill, they too should reconsider their support of the measure...
United Airlines Maintenance Workers Warn Shareholders of Problems at Airline Teamster.org ...United Airlines aviation maintenance technicians and related support personnel rallied outside the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Chicago today to warn investors and customers of problems at the airline. More than 9,000 Teamster aviation maintenance workers are seeking a fair collective bargaining agreement...
Clark County School District Employees To Vote For Teamster Representation Teamster.org ...Today, in a major victory for support staff workers at the Clark County School District (CCSD) in southern Nevada, the Employee-Management Relations Board (EMRB) announced a union election to be held November. The ballots will be mailed on November 2 and counted on December 5 in a simple-majority vote for Teamster representation at the nation’s fifth largest school district...
Teamsters Kick Off Carhaul Negotiations in Chicago Teamster.org ...Six days after the Teamsters exchanged contract proposals with the carhaul employer group, the union kicked off negotiations in Chicago today for a new national contract covering almost 6,000 employees. “Today is the start of a long process to negotiate a strong contract for our carhaul members, and we will not stop until we address our members’ concerns at the bargaining table,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Hoffa: Safety Of Motorists Could Be Jeopardized By Transportation Bill Teamster.org ...Highways across Michigan and the U.S. have become increasingly dangerous for motorists. And that will only get worse if Congress approves a transportation spending bill that effectively keeps the suspension of rules in place that allow truck drivers to work longer hours, that permits larger double-trailers and that prevents the U.S. Department of Transportation from raising minimum insurance standards that have been frozen in place for the last three decades...
United Airlines employees protest at annual meeting Chicago Tribune ...Frustration among United Airlines' 9,000 unionized maintenance technicians, some of whom demonstrated outside the carrier's headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday, spilled over to the corporate annual meeting inside. United and the workers, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been working on a joint contract since January 2013 that covers workers of United and Continental, which merged in 2010. Mediated talks are scheduled to continue next week in Las Vegas...
D.C. area Teamsters endorse Donna Edwards for Senate Washington Post ...Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) has won support from the Washington area Teamsters for her Maryland Senate campaign, two months after her primary rival U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) scored the first union endorsement in the contest. The Teamsters Local #639, which represents about 8,500 workers in Maryland, Virginia and the District and is largest in the region, announced their decision Wednesday...
Global Labor & Trade
House GOP prepares for close 'fast track' vote USA Today ...Seeing momentum for passage, House Republicans are aiming to move forward Friday with an anticipated close vote to renew trade promotion authority. The "fast track" trade bill is a top priority for Republicans and President Obama, but overwhelming opposition from the majority of congressional Democrats has pro-trade lawmakers anticipating a tight vote...
John Boehner set to move ahead on trade Politico ...Speaker John Boehner plans to bring a package of trade bills to the House floor Friday, despite lingering disagreements with Democrats. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), wading into the fast-track trade fight for the first time publicly, spent all week pressing Boehner to change the package, which passed the Senate last month...
Labor chief rebukes Obama in letter The Hill ...AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka this week sent President Obama a five-page letter slamming his push for fast-track trade authority, arguing labor unions have been treated unfairly throughout the process. Trumka railed against Obama in the letter, which was sent on Monday, asserting that he has “repeatedly isolated and marginalized labor and unions as the only opponents of fast track” and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Hoffa: TAA Will Offer Little Help to Workers Hit Hard by Trade Huffington Post ...For years, the Teamsters have been strong supporters of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) legislative efforts that have offered support to thousands of workers who have lost their jobs due to bad trade deals. But not this time. As lawmakers get ready to consider TAA legislation in the House in an effort to sweeten the pot and encourage the passage of the fast track trade bill, they too should reconsider their support of the measure...
United Airlines Maintenance Workers Warn Shareholders of Problems at Airline Teamster.org ...United Airlines aviation maintenance technicians and related support personnel rallied outside the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Chicago today to warn investors and customers of problems at the airline. More than 9,000 Teamster aviation maintenance workers are seeking a fair collective bargaining agreement...
Clark County School District Employees To Vote For Teamster Representation Teamster.org ...Today, in a major victory for support staff workers at the Clark County School District (CCSD) in southern Nevada, the Employee-Management Relations Board (EMRB) announced a union election to be held November. The ballots will be mailed on November 2 and counted on December 5 in a simple-majority vote for Teamster representation at the nation’s fifth largest school district...
Teamsters Kick Off Carhaul Negotiations in Chicago Teamster.org ...Six days after the Teamsters exchanged contract proposals with the carhaul employer group, the union kicked off negotiations in Chicago today for a new national contract covering almost 6,000 employees. “Today is the start of a long process to negotiate a strong contract for our carhaul members, and we will not stop until we address our members’ concerns at the bargaining table,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Hoffa: Safety Of Motorists Could Be Jeopardized By Transportation Bill Teamster.org ...Highways across Michigan and the U.S. have become increasingly dangerous for motorists. And that will only get worse if Congress approves a transportation spending bill that effectively keeps the suspension of rules in place that allow truck drivers to work longer hours, that permits larger double-trailers and that prevents the U.S. Department of Transportation from raising minimum insurance standards that have been frozen in place for the last three decades...
United Airlines employees protest at annual meeting Chicago Tribune ...Frustration among United Airlines' 9,000 unionized maintenance technicians, some of whom demonstrated outside the carrier's headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday, spilled over to the corporate annual meeting inside. United and the workers, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been working on a joint contract since January 2013 that covers workers of United and Continental, which merged in 2010. Mediated talks are scheduled to continue next week in Las Vegas...
D.C. area Teamsters endorse Donna Edwards for Senate Washington Post ...Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) has won support from the Washington area Teamsters for her Maryland Senate campaign, two months after her primary rival U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) scored the first union endorsement in the contest. The Teamsters Local #639, which represents about 8,500 workers in Maryland, Virginia and the District and is largest in the region, announced their decision Wednesday...
Global Labor & Trade
House GOP prepares for close 'fast track' vote USA Today ...Seeing momentum for passage, House Republicans are aiming to move forward Friday with an anticipated close vote to renew trade promotion authority. The "fast track" trade bill is a top priority for Republicans and President Obama, but overwhelming opposition from the majority of congressional Democrats has pro-trade lawmakers anticipating a tight vote...
John Boehner set to move ahead on trade Politico ...Speaker John Boehner plans to bring a package of trade bills to the House floor Friday, despite lingering disagreements with Democrats. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), wading into the fast-track trade fight for the first time publicly, spent all week pressing Boehner to change the package, which passed the Senate last month...
Labor chief rebukes Obama in letter The Hill ...AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka this week sent President Obama a five-page letter slamming his push for fast-track trade authority, arguing labor unions have been treated unfairly throughout the process. Trumka railed against Obama in the letter, which was sent on Monday, asserting that he has “repeatedly isolated and marginalized labor and unions as the only opponents of fast track” and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Paul Ryan Seeks to Bar Obama From Tweaking Immigration, Climate-Change Law Wall Street Journal ...Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) is seeking to prevent President Barack Obama from using trade agreements to make changes to U.S. laws on immigration and climate change, a move aimed at reassuring conservatives wary of voting to give Mr. Obama special trade authority...
House passes bill to repeal meat labeling rules The Hill ...The House passed legislation late Wednesday that would repeal country-of-origin labeling requirements for beef, pork and chicken products. Passage of the measure came easily on a vote of 300-131. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled last month against the U.S. appeal to keep its existing country-of-origin labeling regulation for imported cuts of beef and pork...
Leaked trade deal terms prompt fears for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme The Guardian ...The leak of new information on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) shows the mega-trade deal could provide more ways for multinational corporations to influence Australia’s control of its pharmaceutical regulations. Revealed via Wikileaks, the annexe on “transparency and procedural fairness for pharmaceutical products and medical devices” uncovered the draft agreements regarding medicines between the 12 TPPA member countries...
House passes bill to repeal meat labeling rules The Hill ...The House passed legislation late Wednesday that would repeal country-of-origin labeling requirements for beef, pork and chicken products. Passage of the measure came easily on a vote of 300-131. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled last month against the U.S. appeal to keep its existing country-of-origin labeling regulation for imported cuts of beef and pork...
Leaked trade deal terms prompt fears for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme The Guardian ...The leak of new information on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) shows the mega-trade deal could provide more ways for multinational corporations to influence Australia’s control of its pharmaceutical regulations. Revealed via Wikileaks, the annexe on “transparency and procedural fairness for pharmaceutical products and medical devices” uncovered the draft agreements regarding medicines between the 12 TPPA member countries...
Left wingers stage anti-austerity protest at Greek finance ministry, as bailout talks continue Associated Press ...Greek left-wing demonstrators are staging a sit-in at the finance ministry building in central Athens, in a protest against the radical, left-led government, which they accuse of planning new austerity measures. Thursday's protest came as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is engaged in a diplomatic offensive in Brussels to try to persuade European creditors to pay out the bailout loans the country needs to avoid default...
Jobsite Improvements Can’t Happen without Workers Solidarity Center ...The global economy generally is unregulated and the system encourages multinational corporations to operate or source from countries where wages are low, laws to protect human rights are few or unenforced and workers are impoverished and vulnerable, Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center executive director, said before the Canadian Parliament late yesterday...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker Congratulates Himself On His Education Record But Leaves Out Important Facts Think Progress ...In an op-ed for The Des Moines Register, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) talked up his record on education, saying that his decisions to get rid of teacher tenure and seniority and encourage the growth of more charter schools is responsible for better graduation rates and higher third grade reading scores. The data is skewed a little by the fact that the ACT test is largely taken in the Midwest and not on the east coast, and is required in certain states and not in others...
Kansas Waffles On Restriction That Would Only Let People Withdraw A Max Of $25 From Welfare Each Day Think Progress ...Though Kansas has been deadlocked over whether to raise taxes — something that should be unthinkable under its “tea party experiment” of baiting economic growth with lower taxes — it may be rolling back one particularly egregious aspect of restricting benefits on the poor...
California: Raise in Minimum Wage in Los Angeles Is to Be Signed Saturday New York Times ...Officials have given final approval to an ordinance that makes Los Angeles the largest city in the United States to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The City Council on Wednesday voted 12 to 1 for the increase and forwarded it to Mayor Eric Garcetti. His office says he plans to sign it on Saturday...
Could West Virginia Lose Prevailing Wage? WDTV ...Prevailing wage has the potential to disappear temporality come next month. On Monday June 8th, a Republican-led committee voted to not extend the deadline to set a new prevailing wage in our state. The agency met a June 1st deadline to share it's method on how the wage would be reached, but If WorkForce West Virginia doesn’t submit more details on it's plans by July 1st, the state will no longer have a prevailing wage for the time being...
Walmart Violated Minimum Wage Laws, Federal Judge Rules Huffington Post ...Wal-Mart could be on the hook for more than $100 million in back pay after a federal judge ruled the company failed to pay California minimum wage to truck drivers for activities that included inspecting and washing their trucks, an attorney said Wednesday. The ruling came after the company argued that the drivers are paid for particular activities that include those tasks...
Council Rejects Prevailing Wage Ordinance Woodstock Independent ...The Woodstock City Council refused to pass a state-mandated prevailing wage ordinance at its June 2 meeting, a vote that will likely prove to be symbolic. The vote came after a presentation from Larson detailing the cost to municipalities of Illinois’ prevailing wage laws. Such laws, which exist at the federal level as well as in 32 states, dictate the hourly wage and benefits paid to many government-contracted laborers, workers and mechanics...
U.S. Labor
With Thousands Marching in the Streets, Chicago Teachers Union Declares ‘This Means War!’ In These Times ...Cries of “this means war!” echoed throughout Chicago’s financial district this Tuesday as teachers demonstrated against the Board of Education ahead of union contract negotiations this summer. The rally, which began in front of Chicago’s James R. Thompson center, served as an unofficial kickoff for the CTU’s campaign to bargain a new contract with CPS’s Board of Education, which represents 400,000 students and the country’s third-largest school district. The current contract expires on June 30...
Now interns are unionizing, too Washington Post ...Of all workplace positions, perhaps none is quite so exploitable — at least stereotypically — as the intern. Sometimes paid, but often not, they're asked to perform duties nobody else wants to do in exchange for that essential first line on a resume indicating “experience.” Haley Quinn, a 20-year-old student at New York University, thought life could be a lot better for the nation’s youngest professionals. Last summer, while interning at the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, D.C., she did what seemed natural in that environment: Organizing her co-workers...
Agreement with Cal-OSHA gives UFW bigger role in heat protection enforcement Bakersfield Californian ...Cal-OSHA, the state’s workplace safety agency, has agreed to adjust its approach to heat-illness protections, including stepping up inspections during the warmest weather and targeting repeat offenders, under a lawsuit settlement announced Wednesday by the United Farm Workers labor union. The agreement gives the UFW a bigger role in reporting employers it suspects of violating existing rules, and calls on the union to do more to persuade field workers to cooperate with state inspectors...
Clark County stops pay increases for SEIU members Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County management has informed its largest union that employees won’t receive salary or benefit increases anytime soon, citing a new state law and contending that the contract between the county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 has expired. The freeze is expected to end in August or early September, when the county expects to have a new contract in place with the union...
Saline UAW workers avoid strike minutes before deadline Click On Detroit ...A Saline auto parts plant avoided a potential United Auto Workers strike. They reached a deal minutes before midnight with auto supplier Faurecia. The union had told its members to prepare for strike assignments at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. UAW Local 892 President Larry Robinson passed out a negotiations update Wednesday, which regarded the end of deadline extensions, concluding that, if there is no deal at midnight, "unless you hear otherwise, you should consider yourself on strike"...
USW to vote Thursday to end lockout at Century Aluminum's Hawesville smelter Platts ...Hundreds of union members would return to work Monday at Century Aluminum's 244,000 mt/year Hawesville smelter in Kentucky if the United Steelworkers union ratifies a tentative agreement with the Chicago-based company to end a monthlong lockout, a USW official said Wednesday. The five-year deal was hammered out Tuesday by negotiators with the assistance of a federal mediator...
Miscellaneous
'Infrastructure? Who Cares,' Says GOP-Led House as it Slashes Amtrak Budget Common Dreams ...The GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday voted to slash $242 million from the Amtrak budget. "Amtrak currently receives $1.3 billion from the government, most of which goes toward capital improvements and debt service," AP reports. "The GOP-drafted measure cuts $242 million from capital accounts but fully funds the $289 million request for operating losses"...
Here little lady, let me tell you how banking works: Jamie Dimon mansplains to Elizabeth Warren Salon ...Jamie Dimon, the billionaire CEO of JP Morgan Chase and face of Wall Street bankers, doesn’t think Senator Elizabeth Warren “fully understands the global banking system” but he’s reportedly offered to meet with her and explain a few things. Dimon told a group of bankers at a luncheon for The Executives’ Club of Chicago today that although he agrees with some of the concerns expressed by America’s most vocal critic of Wall Street, he just doesn’t think that Warren actually gets how the whole global banking thing works...
Police Kill Black Women Too—and We Don't Talk About It Enough Mother Jones ...During protests that shook Baltimore in April, Freddie Gray's name became a rallying cry in calls for criminal justice reform nationwide. But how many of us have heard of Rekia Boyd, the 22-year-old unarmed black woman who was fatally shot by a police detective in Chicago back in 2012? Just five days before demonstrations erupted for Gray in Maryland and then across the country, a judge acquitted the Chicago detective who killed Boyd, despite finding that he had acted in a manner that was "beyond reckless"...
Jobsite Improvements Can’t Happen without Workers Solidarity Center ...The global economy generally is unregulated and the system encourages multinational corporations to operate or source from countries where wages are low, laws to protect human rights are few or unenforced and workers are impoverished and vulnerable, Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center executive director, said before the Canadian Parliament late yesterday...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker Congratulates Himself On His Education Record But Leaves Out Important Facts Think Progress ...In an op-ed for The Des Moines Register, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) talked up his record on education, saying that his decisions to get rid of teacher tenure and seniority and encourage the growth of more charter schools is responsible for better graduation rates and higher third grade reading scores. The data is skewed a little by the fact that the ACT test is largely taken in the Midwest and not on the east coast, and is required in certain states and not in others...
Kansas Waffles On Restriction That Would Only Let People Withdraw A Max Of $25 From Welfare Each Day Think Progress ...Though Kansas has been deadlocked over whether to raise taxes — something that should be unthinkable under its “tea party experiment” of baiting economic growth with lower taxes — it may be rolling back one particularly egregious aspect of restricting benefits on the poor...
California: Raise in Minimum Wage in Los Angeles Is to Be Signed Saturday New York Times ...Officials have given final approval to an ordinance that makes Los Angeles the largest city in the United States to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The City Council on Wednesday voted 12 to 1 for the increase and forwarded it to Mayor Eric Garcetti. His office says he plans to sign it on Saturday...
Could West Virginia Lose Prevailing Wage? WDTV ...Prevailing wage has the potential to disappear temporality come next month. On Monday June 8th, a Republican-led committee voted to not extend the deadline to set a new prevailing wage in our state. The agency met a June 1st deadline to share it's method on how the wage would be reached, but If WorkForce West Virginia doesn’t submit more details on it's plans by July 1st, the state will no longer have a prevailing wage for the time being...
Walmart Violated Minimum Wage Laws, Federal Judge Rules Huffington Post ...Wal-Mart could be on the hook for more than $100 million in back pay after a federal judge ruled the company failed to pay California minimum wage to truck drivers for activities that included inspecting and washing their trucks, an attorney said Wednesday. The ruling came after the company argued that the drivers are paid for particular activities that include those tasks...
Council Rejects Prevailing Wage Ordinance Woodstock Independent ...The Woodstock City Council refused to pass a state-mandated prevailing wage ordinance at its June 2 meeting, a vote that will likely prove to be symbolic. The vote came after a presentation from Larson detailing the cost to municipalities of Illinois’ prevailing wage laws. Such laws, which exist at the federal level as well as in 32 states, dictate the hourly wage and benefits paid to many government-contracted laborers, workers and mechanics...
U.S. Labor
With Thousands Marching in the Streets, Chicago Teachers Union Declares ‘This Means War!’ In These Times ...Cries of “this means war!” echoed throughout Chicago’s financial district this Tuesday as teachers demonstrated against the Board of Education ahead of union contract negotiations this summer. The rally, which began in front of Chicago’s James R. Thompson center, served as an unofficial kickoff for the CTU’s campaign to bargain a new contract with CPS’s Board of Education, which represents 400,000 students and the country’s third-largest school district. The current contract expires on June 30...
Now interns are unionizing, too Washington Post ...Of all workplace positions, perhaps none is quite so exploitable — at least stereotypically — as the intern. Sometimes paid, but often not, they're asked to perform duties nobody else wants to do in exchange for that essential first line on a resume indicating “experience.” Haley Quinn, a 20-year-old student at New York University, thought life could be a lot better for the nation’s youngest professionals. Last summer, while interning at the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, D.C., she did what seemed natural in that environment: Organizing her co-workers...
Agreement with Cal-OSHA gives UFW bigger role in heat protection enforcement Bakersfield Californian ...Cal-OSHA, the state’s workplace safety agency, has agreed to adjust its approach to heat-illness protections, including stepping up inspections during the warmest weather and targeting repeat offenders, under a lawsuit settlement announced Wednesday by the United Farm Workers labor union. The agreement gives the UFW a bigger role in reporting employers it suspects of violating existing rules, and calls on the union to do more to persuade field workers to cooperate with state inspectors...
Clark County stops pay increases for SEIU members Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County management has informed its largest union that employees won’t receive salary or benefit increases anytime soon, citing a new state law and contending that the contract between the county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 has expired. The freeze is expected to end in August or early September, when the county expects to have a new contract in place with the union...
Saline UAW workers avoid strike minutes before deadline Click On Detroit ...A Saline auto parts plant avoided a potential United Auto Workers strike. They reached a deal minutes before midnight with auto supplier Faurecia. The union had told its members to prepare for strike assignments at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. UAW Local 892 President Larry Robinson passed out a negotiations update Wednesday, which regarded the end of deadline extensions, concluding that, if there is no deal at midnight, "unless you hear otherwise, you should consider yourself on strike"...
USW to vote Thursday to end lockout at Century Aluminum's Hawesville smelter Platts ...Hundreds of union members would return to work Monday at Century Aluminum's 244,000 mt/year Hawesville smelter in Kentucky if the United Steelworkers union ratifies a tentative agreement with the Chicago-based company to end a monthlong lockout, a USW official said Wednesday. The five-year deal was hammered out Tuesday by negotiators with the assistance of a federal mediator...
Miscellaneous
'Infrastructure? Who Cares,' Says GOP-Led House as it Slashes Amtrak Budget Common Dreams ...The GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday voted to slash $242 million from the Amtrak budget. "Amtrak currently receives $1.3 billion from the government, most of which goes toward capital improvements and debt service," AP reports. "The GOP-drafted measure cuts $242 million from capital accounts but fully funds the $289 million request for operating losses"...
Here little lady, let me tell you how banking works: Jamie Dimon mansplains to Elizabeth Warren Salon ...Jamie Dimon, the billionaire CEO of JP Morgan Chase and face of Wall Street bankers, doesn’t think Senator Elizabeth Warren “fully understands the global banking system” but he’s reportedly offered to meet with her and explain a few things. Dimon told a group of bankers at a luncheon for The Executives’ Club of Chicago today that although he agrees with some of the concerns expressed by America’s most vocal critic of Wall Street, he just doesn’t think that Warren actually gets how the whole global banking thing works...
Police Kill Black Women Too—and We Don't Talk About It Enough Mother Jones ...During protests that shook Baltimore in April, Freddie Gray's name became a rallying cry in calls for criminal justice reform nationwide. But how many of us have heard of Rekia Boyd, the 22-year-old unarmed black woman who was fatally shot by a police detective in Chicago back in 2012? Just five days before demonstrations erupted for Gray in Maryland and then across the country, a judge acquitted the Chicago detective who killed Boyd, despite finding that he had acted in a manner that was "beyond reckless"...
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