TEAMSTERS
Strike Ends as Chicago Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement with Coca-Cola Teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 ended its unfair labor practice strike against Coca-Cola Refreshments late on Tuesday, Dec. 29, after reaching tentative agreement on a fair three-year contract for 319 production and warehouse workers. Upon ratification, the tentative agreement will transfer Local 727 members into a new health and welfare plan previously available to Coca-Cola management...
Teamsters reach tentative pact with Coca-Cola, end strike Chicago Tribune ...Coca-Cola workers who have been on strike for nearly a month are heading back to work after their union reached a tentative three-year contract with the company. Teamsters Local 727, which says it represents 319 production workers at Coca-Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, announced late Tuesday that the bargaining committee recommended ratification of what it called a "fair" contract offer by Coke...
Teamsters: Port Drivers Win Nearly $7 Million in Wages, End Misclassification Teamster.org ...On Dec. 14, the California Labor Commissioner determined that 38 drivers at leading port trucking company Pacific 9 Transportation, which hauls containers from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for some of America’s premiere brands – including Costco, Goodyear Tires, Ugg Boots, and Microsoft – are in fact employees, not independent contractors, and ordered Pac 9 to pay them nearly $6.9 million in stolen wages...
Port drivers win millions in back pay from trucking firm LA Times ...A port trucking firm in Carson has been ordered to turn over nearly $7 million in back pay to 38 drivers, the latest in a series of recent wins for port drivers and the Teamsters union that has been trying to organize them. The state Labor Commissioner's Office ruled this month that the drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation were improperly treated as independent contractors rather than as employees...
NYC horse carriage industry thanks supporters for help Daily News ...Horse carriages — which for the past two years have operated under a cloud of uncertainty — are starting 2016 on a positive note. The industry, which Mayor de Blasio threatened to ban on his first day in office, bought a full page ad in Friday’s Daily News thanking its supporters for helping them stay around for the past two years...
American Red Cross Workers Vote To Join Teamsters In Maine PR Newswire ...Workers at the American Red Cross' Portland donation center have voted to join Teamsters Local 340. The blood donation center's 57 employees will now form a bargaining unit that includes collections technicians, collections specialists and mobile unit assistants of various classifications. These employees are responsible for setting up and administering blood drives across the southern half of the state...
Beer hauler moves to bust Teamsters union NW Labor Press ...Teamsters Local 162 is facing what more and more looks like a union-busting effort by General Distributors Inc. When truck drivers, warehouse workers, and sales employees learned that the profitable company would seek $1.5 million a year in concessions from them in their next union contract, they voted 59 to 5 to strike, and about 80 members of Teamsters Local 162 walked off the job Nov. 17. In response, the company threatened to permanently replace them...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Zimbabwe: Public workers threaten strike over delayed pay Africa Report ...The year is opening on a tense note for the Zimbabwean government, as tens of thousands of public workers have threatened to go on strike over delayed salaries. Civil servants in the southern African nation are yet to be paid their December salaries, with the government promising to pay them by Tuesday, but this has not been enough to calm the restive workers...
Jerusalem sanitation workers strike after 170 fired Times of Israel ...Jerusalem sanitation workers went on strike Thursday, after the city sent termination letters to 170 employees in the department. The municipality also warned that the move was the first of many necessary cutbacks to come — with up to 2,000 more firings — if the Finance Ministry does not transfer to the city the funds needed to keep a balanced budget in 2016...
U.S. Election Debate Complicates Passage of Pacific Trade Pact Wall Street Journal ...An international trade agreement embraced by President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress is drawing fire from many presidential candidates, illustrating the populist shift of both parties in the age of Donald Trump. Contenders ranging from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas have spoken out against the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership...
TPP nations arranging to sign free-trade deal in early February Japan Times ...Japan, the United States and 10 other nations that reached a broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact in October are arranging to sign the deal in early February, an official from one of the nations has said. Following the broad agreement after more than five years of negotiations, the 12 nations released the text of the landmark trade deal in November...
TPP trade deal pits Pittsburgh against Philadelphia Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh manufactures the products. Philadelphia ships them around the world. One city stands to gain from expanding trade into the Pacific Rim while the other has much to lose, their mayors say. That’s why Philadelphia’s outgoing mayor, Michael Nutter, has been helping the White House stump for the Trans-Pacific Partnership while Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto stands opposed...
The Corporate-Friendly Trade Deals Threatening Ordinary People in 2016 Common Dreams ...Corporate media failed to cover the dangers of business-friendly trade deals in 2015, despite growing grassroots opposition to such pacts—and increasing public awareness about their contents. Will 2016 be the year looming toxic trade policies catapult into the mainstream? Sierra Club trade representative Ilana Solomon hopes so...
Greece Not to Agree to Creditors Unreasonable Austerity Demands - Tsipras Sputnik News ...Athens will follow the memorandum signed with its international creditors, but will not agree to unreasonable austerity demands, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said, as quoted by the local media on Sunday. According to Tsipras, 2016 will be a pivotal year, after several years of crisis for the country. The Greek economy has been severely strained because of the country’s multibillion debt accumulated after the 2008 world economic crisis...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Minimum wage rises in 14 states and several cities Al Jazeera ...As the United States marks more than six years without an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, 14 states and several cities are moving forward with their own increases, with most having taken effect Jan. 1. California and Massachusetts are highest among the states, both increasing from $9 to $10 an hour, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures...
American workers see progress on paid sick leave, no thanks to Congress Daily Kos ...Paid sick days have gained a lot of ground in the last few years, and continued to do so in 2015. Oregon became the fourth state to require paid sick leave for most workers, following Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts. The cities of Tacoma, Washington, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also passed paid sick leave laws...
Missouri speaker sounds doubtful over 'right to work' STL Today ...When it comes to a GOP-led charge to make Missouri a “right to work” state, a top Republican is throwing cold water on one of the hot-button issues of the last legislative session. In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, House Speaker Todd Richardson sounded doubtful that right to work would be a top goal for Republicans when the House and Senate return Wednesday...
Wages in NH expected to increase in 2016 Union Leader ...Wal-Mart, the state's largest retail employer, plans to raise wages for its 7,785 New Hampshire employees in 2016, in one of several signs that the year ahead could finally see meaningful improvement in earnings for hourly workers after years of wage stagnation...
Chris Christie Refuses To Help Unemployed New Jersey Residents Hold Onto Food Stamps Think Progress ...About 11,000 New Jersey residents are set to lose their food stamps after Gov. Chris Christie (R)’s administration said it won’t seek any waivers from the program’s work requirements. Since 2009, state governors have been encouraged to get waivers from the federal government for the requirement that able-bodied, childless adults work at least 20 hours a week to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...
Judge's ruling a mixed bag for those challenging voter ID law Journal Sentinel ...A federal judge has thrown out portions of a challenge to Wisconsin's voting laws but is allowing a key part of the lawsuit to proceed that could allow more types of identification to be used under the voter ID law. In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison also found the liberal One Wisconsin Institute could pursue its argument that recent restrictions on early voting violate the U.S. Constitution...
U.S. LABOR
Tentative agreement prevents custodial workers strike Bristol Press ...Just one day before a strike could have begun, a bargaining committee representing more than 2,100 janitors in Hartford, New Haven and other Connecticut cities and towns reached a tentative agreement with the Hartford County Cleaning Contractors Association. The four-year contract agreed to Wednesday — subject to ratification — includes incremental wage increases...
Labor board hands Whole Foods workers a victory CBS ...Whole Foods Market (WFM) can no longer forbid its employees from taking photographs or recording conversations at work, according to a recent federal ruling. "Smartphone pics and videos in this day and age are particularly 'essential' to proving an employee's rights have been violated," said the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a decision issued late last week...
150 Muslims Fired For Protesting Their Workplace’s Prayer Policies Think Progress ...About 150 Muslim workers at a meat processing plant have been fired for refusing to show up for work during an ongoing dispute over prayer accommodations. The controversy began on December 18, when 11 Somali Muslim workers at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Fort Morgan, Colorado requested to visit the building’s prayer room at the same time...
Ten of the Best Things That Happened to American Workers in 2015 Huffington Post ...Historians may remember 2015 as the year of the minimum wage -- and for good reason. Twenty-one states and multiple cities raised the minimum wage in the past 12 months, scarcely two years after the "Fight for $15" was dismissed as a pipe dream by some observers. The past year also saw other major advances for working Americans...
The End Of Unions? Upcoming Supreme Court Case Could Overturn Power To Collect Fees IBTimes ...A Supreme Court case beginning Jan. 11 has union members wondering if a ruling could sound a death knell on labor organizations that have grown accustomed to heightened limitations and declining memberships in recent years. Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will determine whether mandatory union dues violate workers' freedom of speech, and experts say a ruling could dictate the future of unions' ability to collect fees...
Workers' Comp Industrial Complex: The Middlemen Silencing Injured Workers Truthout ...Workers' comp is supposed to be simple. If you're injured on the job, your employer pays your medical bills and part of your wages while you recover. But over the past two decades, a cottage industry of middlemen has emerged, which some have dubbed the "workers' comp industrial complex." Even private equity firms have bought in, seeing profit opportunities in employers' and insurers' quest to contain spending...
Adjuncts at Loyola University Chicago Want a Union. Will the Jesuit University Respect Their Demands? The Nation ...Loyola University Chicago now faces the challenge of putting its Jesuit principles into practice as frustrated professors push for a union. The administration argues a union would interfere with the university’s “mission.” But according to Loyola’s struggling non-tenured faculty members, their poverty wages and exhausting working conditions prove that it is the administration’s corporate greed that is flouting the Jesuit tradition of social justice...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Happy New Year. You’re Deported. The Nation ...This is how the Department of Homeland Security says happy holidays: The federal government will reportedly begin raids to deport families who’ve arrived in the country in the last two years, according to The Washington Post. The enforcement operation could begin in a matter of weeks, and was first reported on Christmas Eve. The raids would target hundreds of adults and children who have a standing order of deportation against them...
Hundreds Demand Prosecutor In Tamir Rice Case Resign Think Progress ...Protests continued on Friday following a grand jury’s recent decision not to indict the two white police officers who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice. More than 100 activists marched to the home of the prosecutor who handled Rice’s case, Timothy McGinty, on New Year’s Day and demanded his resignation. Chanting “New year, no more!”...
Media Coverage of Oregon Militia Standoff Raises Eyebrows — and Ire Common Dreams ...After members of a rightwing militia seized the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday afternoon, observers questioned the corporate media's treatment of the event, pointing to a double standard in coverage compared to other recent protests. Watchdog site Media Matters pointed out that while Fox's coverage of campus protests against racial discrimination was dismissive, its reporting "looked drastically different when those protesting have aligned with the network's conservative agenda"...
They’d be killed if they were black: The racial double standard at the heart of the new Bundy family standoff Salon ...At least 150 armed white men have seized control of a federal building outside of Burns, Oregon. The actions taken by Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and their supporters in Oregon are the very definition of terrorism and armed insurrection. If Muslims took up arms, occupied a federal building, recorded martyrdom videos, and threatened to kill police and other authorities, they would be called “terrorists”...
Showing posts with label workers comp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workers comp. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2016
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Today's Teamster News 11.17.15
TEAMSTERS
EVSC ratifies agreement with Teamsters 14 News ...The EVSC school board ratified its agreement with Teamsters Local 215 on Monday. EVSC union members have been working under a tentative agreement with the school corporation. The contracts are for non-teaching positions, like custodians and other support staff. The board president calls it "a fair agreement"...
Uber Drivers, Taxis to Rally at Seattle City Hall Local 117 ...Drivers will rally at City Hall on Wednesday, November 18 at 11 A.M. to highlight unfair working conditions in Seattle’s for-hire transportation industry and to demand fair pay, a level playing field, dignity, and respect. At the event, drivers will address a variety of issues such as public safety, driver safety, insurance regulations, deactivation, and low pay...
Teamster vote Nov. 23-24 at Threshold Enterprises Santa Cruz Sentinel ...Elena Cruz, 46, said she gets up at 3:30 a.m. so she can drive from her home in Castroville to Santa Cruz to start her 5 a.m. shift at Threshold Enterprises. She works in shipping and packaging for the privately held nutritional supplement-maker. She came to the Sentinel with two co-workers to explain why they support the union, which is negotiating a new contract to replace one for 600 workers that expired Sept. 16 and facing a decertification election on Nov. 23 and 24...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama’s trade deal is in trouble The Hill ...President Obama’s trade deal with 11 other Pacific Rim countries is in deep trouble with Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) haven’t decided whether they’re going to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — even after they helped the president win fast-track authority in a bruising interparty fight that was meant to ease its passage...
Anti-TPP Protesters in Washington, DC Call on Congress to Reject TPP Trade Deal Sputnik News ...The US Congress must not approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and should start new trade talks on a deal that would raise working, environmental and human rights standards, US advocacy group PopularResistance.org Co-Director Margaret Flowers told Sputnik....
Putin questions U.S.-led TPP trade pact arrangements Japan Times ...Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized on Tuesday the way the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is being arranged, saying the “clandestine talks” do not promote stability in the Asia-Pacific region. His comments were published on the Kremlin website just before this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum...
The TPP's Children's Table: Labor Rights and Currency Truthout ...The TPP has two classes of issues. On the one hand, there are the issues that really matter to the drafters of the deal. These are issues like protection of patents and copyrights and other forms of investment. That is the story of the adult table. The children's table is for issues that are of concern to labor rights, human rights and environmental rights activists...
More labour strikes in South African fruit industry Fresh Plaza ...More than 1500 workers, all members of FAWU employed by the Du Toit Agri Pty Ltd Group in Ceres, Prince Alfred Hamlet and Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape went on a strike Thursday, 12 November in demand of a wage increase and better working conditions. The company is said to be the leading packing and exporter of fruit and vegetables in the country. Last week a strike involving 2,000 banana workers at organic producer Umbhaba Banana Estates Farms, took place...
How the Paris Attacks Are Changing the EU’s Debate on Refugees The Atlantic ...The revelation that one of the suicide bombers who carried out Friday’s attacks on Paris entered Europe last month through the Greek island of Leros has complicated the increasingly fragile European plan to handle an historic migrant and refugee crisis. More than 700,000 people have entered Europe this year from the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Lawmakers feel new influence to raise the minimum wage Statesman Journal ...Oregon lawmakers are under renewed pressure to raise the state's $9.25 minimum wage. If lawmakers won't, several coalition groups have said, the issue will be decided by Oregon voters on the 2016 ballot. Monday afternoon, protesters at the Senate Interim Committee On Workforce and General Government broke into chants of "Fifteen now" and "Black lives matter"...
Voter photo ID, ethics reform among top priorities for Missouri Senate Republicans Missourinet ...State Senate Republicans have caucused and the filing of bills will begin December 1. The man who can decide what does and doesn’t reach the Senate floor in the 2016 session said he can’t rank legislative priorities, but Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) told Missourinet there are some issues that stand out. Voter photo ID will be proposed again...
Legislation cut California’s workers’ compensation medical costs SacBee ...Three years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature enacted a major overhaul of the system that compensates workers for job-related injuries and illnesses. Senate Bill 863, backed by employers and labor unions, affected many specific aspects of the system but was aimed largely at reducing medical costs and redirecting savings into cash benefit increases for disabled workers...
'Poverty Pay' Leads Walmart Employees to Skip Lunch or Steal it From Co-Workers Alternet ...Walmart employees are so poor that they are skipping lunch, sharing it or, in some cases, stealing it from their coworkers, some of the company’s workers claimed on Thursday while announcing a fast in protest of the company’s wages. Starting Friday morning, over 100 Walmart associates who are members of Our Walmart, a workers organization, and about a 1,000 supporters will begin a fast to shine light on what they describe as Walmart’s “poverty pay”...
U.S. LABOR
General Motors and UAW Union Delay Ratifying New Contract Fortune ...Disagreement between production workers and skilled trades workers at General Motors plants has pushed back the formal ratification of the United Auto Workers’ four-year labor agreement with the car company. The so-called Big Three automakers—Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GM, and Ford—have all entered negotiations with the UAW...
Ford UAW workers voting on new contract today WDRB ...Ford's 9,000 UAW members in Louisville are voting on a new contract today. The new contract will set wages and working conditions for Ford workers, and includes a number of pay increases, including an $8,500 signing bonus for each UAW member. If passed, it also comes with more than a billion dollars in upgrades to Louisville's two Ford plants...
Metro, Transit Union At Odds Over Contract WVXU ...The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 627 is encouraging members to attend Tuesday morning's Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) board meeting to speak out about the current contract situation. In a letter, the president of the union representing Metro employees told members their health insurance rates will dramatically increase next month despite the lack of a new contract...
EVSC ratifies agreement with Teamsters 14 News ...The EVSC school board ratified its agreement with Teamsters Local 215 on Monday. EVSC union members have been working under a tentative agreement with the school corporation. The contracts are for non-teaching positions, like custodians and other support staff. The board president calls it "a fair agreement"...
Uber Drivers, Taxis to Rally at Seattle City Hall Local 117 ...Drivers will rally at City Hall on Wednesday, November 18 at 11 A.M. to highlight unfair working conditions in Seattle’s for-hire transportation industry and to demand fair pay, a level playing field, dignity, and respect. At the event, drivers will address a variety of issues such as public safety, driver safety, insurance regulations, deactivation, and low pay...
Teamster vote Nov. 23-24 at Threshold Enterprises Santa Cruz Sentinel ...Elena Cruz, 46, said she gets up at 3:30 a.m. so she can drive from her home in Castroville to Santa Cruz to start her 5 a.m. shift at Threshold Enterprises. She works in shipping and packaging for the privately held nutritional supplement-maker. She came to the Sentinel with two co-workers to explain why they support the union, which is negotiating a new contract to replace one for 600 workers that expired Sept. 16 and facing a decertification election on Nov. 23 and 24...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama’s trade deal is in trouble The Hill ...President Obama’s trade deal with 11 other Pacific Rim countries is in deep trouble with Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) haven’t decided whether they’re going to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — even after they helped the president win fast-track authority in a bruising interparty fight that was meant to ease its passage...
Anti-TPP Protesters in Washington, DC Call on Congress to Reject TPP Trade Deal Sputnik News ...The US Congress must not approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and should start new trade talks on a deal that would raise working, environmental and human rights standards, US advocacy group PopularResistance.org Co-Director Margaret Flowers told Sputnik....
Putin questions U.S.-led TPP trade pact arrangements Japan Times ...Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized on Tuesday the way the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is being arranged, saying the “clandestine talks” do not promote stability in the Asia-Pacific region. His comments were published on the Kremlin website just before this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum...
The TPP's Children's Table: Labor Rights and Currency Truthout ...The TPP has two classes of issues. On the one hand, there are the issues that really matter to the drafters of the deal. These are issues like protection of patents and copyrights and other forms of investment. That is the story of the adult table. The children's table is for issues that are of concern to labor rights, human rights and environmental rights activists...
More labour strikes in South African fruit industry Fresh Plaza ...More than 1500 workers, all members of FAWU employed by the Du Toit Agri Pty Ltd Group in Ceres, Prince Alfred Hamlet and Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape went on a strike Thursday, 12 November in demand of a wage increase and better working conditions. The company is said to be the leading packing and exporter of fruit and vegetables in the country. Last week a strike involving 2,000 banana workers at organic producer Umbhaba Banana Estates Farms, took place...
How the Paris Attacks Are Changing the EU’s Debate on Refugees The Atlantic ...The revelation that one of the suicide bombers who carried out Friday’s attacks on Paris entered Europe last month through the Greek island of Leros has complicated the increasingly fragile European plan to handle an historic migrant and refugee crisis. More than 700,000 people have entered Europe this year from the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Lawmakers feel new influence to raise the minimum wage Statesman Journal ...Oregon lawmakers are under renewed pressure to raise the state's $9.25 minimum wage. If lawmakers won't, several coalition groups have said, the issue will be decided by Oregon voters on the 2016 ballot. Monday afternoon, protesters at the Senate Interim Committee On Workforce and General Government broke into chants of "Fifteen now" and "Black lives matter"...
Voter photo ID, ethics reform among top priorities for Missouri Senate Republicans Missourinet ...State Senate Republicans have caucused and the filing of bills will begin December 1. The man who can decide what does and doesn’t reach the Senate floor in the 2016 session said he can’t rank legislative priorities, but Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) told Missourinet there are some issues that stand out. Voter photo ID will be proposed again...
Legislation cut California’s workers’ compensation medical costs SacBee ...Three years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature enacted a major overhaul of the system that compensates workers for job-related injuries and illnesses. Senate Bill 863, backed by employers and labor unions, affected many specific aspects of the system but was aimed largely at reducing medical costs and redirecting savings into cash benefit increases for disabled workers...
'Poverty Pay' Leads Walmart Employees to Skip Lunch or Steal it From Co-Workers Alternet ...Walmart employees are so poor that they are skipping lunch, sharing it or, in some cases, stealing it from their coworkers, some of the company’s workers claimed on Thursday while announcing a fast in protest of the company’s wages. Starting Friday morning, over 100 Walmart associates who are members of Our Walmart, a workers organization, and about a 1,000 supporters will begin a fast to shine light on what they describe as Walmart’s “poverty pay”...
U.S. LABOR
General Motors and UAW Union Delay Ratifying New Contract Fortune ...Disagreement between production workers and skilled trades workers at General Motors plants has pushed back the formal ratification of the United Auto Workers’ four-year labor agreement with the car company. The so-called Big Three automakers—Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GM, and Ford—have all entered negotiations with the UAW...
Ford UAW workers voting on new contract today WDRB ...Ford's 9,000 UAW members in Louisville are voting on a new contract today. The new contract will set wages and working conditions for Ford workers, and includes a number of pay increases, including an $8,500 signing bonus for each UAW member. If passed, it also comes with more than a billion dollars in upgrades to Louisville's two Ford plants...
Metro, Transit Union At Odds Over Contract WVXU ...The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 627 is encouraging members to attend Tuesday morning's Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) board meeting to speak out about the current contract situation. In a letter, the president of the union representing Metro employees told members their health insurance rates will dramatically increase next month despite the lack of a new contract...
Union of Sonoma County government employees plans strike Tuesday Press Democrat ...The largest group of unionized Sonoma County government employees is set to go out on a one-day strike Tuesday, protesting what it contends is a stingy contract offer from the county, bad faith in negotiating at the bargaining table and other issues it says amount to unfair labor practices...
8 in 10 Hotel Workers Have Been Harassed at Work The Nation ...As part of UNITE HERE!’s Housekeeper’s Global Week of Action campaign, the hospitality workers of Long Beach, California, rallied on Thursday to push the City Council to adopt a set of labor standards that would limit their workloads and strengthen protection from assault...
Kohler workers reject offer, OK first union strike at company since 1983 Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel ...Union workers went on strike at Kohler Co. on Sunday after overwhelmingly rejecting what the firm had called its "last, best and final offer." Ninety-four percent voted down the Kohler proposal, Tim Tayloe, president of UAW Local 833, told cheering workers after the ballots were tallied...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
For-profit educator to pay $95.5M over recruitment tactics CBS News ...Federal officials on Monday said they reached a $95.5 million settlement with the nation's second-largest for profit educator, accused of running a high-pressure boiler room where admissions personnel were paid based purely on the number of students they enrolled. The civil settlement with Education Management Corporation, the biggest yet involving false claims to the Department of Education, stems from a case first brought by whistleblowers...
The GOP’s devious Wall Street welfare plan: Why the future of the economy hangs in the balance Salon ...This is a consequential week for the future of financial regulation. Republicans have pulled out a successful playbook: stick as many riders onto two must-pass bills as possible, holding them hostage to conservative ideology. The bills include a long-term reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund, which expires shortly, and a package of appropriations bills to keep the government funded...
Predictable and Deplorable: Over Half of US Governors Vow to Slam Door on Refugees Common Dreams ...In what appears to be a textbook case of xenophobia and political fearmongering in the wake of a tragedy, more than a dozen U.S. governors have declared their states off-limits to Syrian refugees in the days following Friday's terror attacks in Paris. In a statement Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, decried the rolling announcements as "un-American"...
Here We Go Again? Muslim Americans Brace for a Backlash After Paris The Nation ...When news of the Paris attacks spread, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian activists in the United States began a process that has become all too familiar in the 14 years after 9/11. In the midst of expressing their grief, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian advocates are also placed in the position of having to monitor for a backlash against their own communities...
Number of people killed by US police in 2015 at 1,000 after Oakland shooting The Guardian ...The number of people killed by law enforcement in the US this year has reached 1,000 after officers in Oakland, California, shot dead a man who allegedly pointed a replica gun at them. Authorities said several officers opened fire on the man on Sunday evening when he walked toward them as they towed away cars that had been used to perform so-called “sideshow” stunts in east Oakland...
8 in 10 Hotel Workers Have Been Harassed at Work The Nation ...As part of UNITE HERE!’s Housekeeper’s Global Week of Action campaign, the hospitality workers of Long Beach, California, rallied on Thursday to push the City Council to adopt a set of labor standards that would limit their workloads and strengthen protection from assault...
Kohler workers reject offer, OK first union strike at company since 1983 Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel ...Union workers went on strike at Kohler Co. on Sunday after overwhelmingly rejecting what the firm had called its "last, best and final offer." Ninety-four percent voted down the Kohler proposal, Tim Tayloe, president of UAW Local 833, told cheering workers after the ballots were tallied...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
For-profit educator to pay $95.5M over recruitment tactics CBS News ...Federal officials on Monday said they reached a $95.5 million settlement with the nation's second-largest for profit educator, accused of running a high-pressure boiler room where admissions personnel were paid based purely on the number of students they enrolled. The civil settlement with Education Management Corporation, the biggest yet involving false claims to the Department of Education, stems from a case first brought by whistleblowers...
The GOP’s devious Wall Street welfare plan: Why the future of the economy hangs in the balance Salon ...This is a consequential week for the future of financial regulation. Republicans have pulled out a successful playbook: stick as many riders onto two must-pass bills as possible, holding them hostage to conservative ideology. The bills include a long-term reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund, which expires shortly, and a package of appropriations bills to keep the government funded...
Predictable and Deplorable: Over Half of US Governors Vow to Slam Door on Refugees Common Dreams ...In what appears to be a textbook case of xenophobia and political fearmongering in the wake of a tragedy, more than a dozen U.S. governors have declared their states off-limits to Syrian refugees in the days following Friday's terror attacks in Paris. In a statement Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, decried the rolling announcements as "un-American"...
Here We Go Again? Muslim Americans Brace for a Backlash After Paris The Nation ...When news of the Paris attacks spread, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian activists in the United States began a process that has become all too familiar in the 14 years after 9/11. In the midst of expressing their grief, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian advocates are also placed in the position of having to monitor for a backlash against their own communities...
Number of people killed by US police in 2015 at 1,000 after Oakland shooting The Guardian ...The number of people killed by law enforcement in the US this year has reached 1,000 after officers in Oakland, California, shot dead a man who allegedly pointed a replica gun at them. Authorities said several officers opened fire on the man on Sunday evening when he walked toward them as they towed away cars that had been used to perform so-called “sideshow” stunts in east Oakland...
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.29.15
TEAMSTERS
Port truck drivers and warehouse workers strike together for better wages and 'employee' status KPCC ...Truck drivers who haul cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are on strike again this week - this time with some new comrades on their picket lines: warehouse workers. Workers from California Cartage, a warehouse at the Port of L.A., have joined striking truckers who drive for Pacific 9 Transportation and XPO Logistics, creating the potential for disruption at two key links in the cargo supply chain...
CA Port Driver Strike Lingers Go By Trucks ...Drayage drivers for two trucking companies at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have entered their 15th week of striking. The drivers, who are classified as independent contractors for XPO Logistics and Pacific 9 Transportation, are seeking employee status. Teamsters and the organization Justice for Port Truckers are backing the strike...
Teamsters at Sysco Ratify New 3-Year Contract Local 117 ...In the end, solidarity won the day. On Saturday, October 24, Teamster drivers and warehouse workers, employed at Sysco, voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract. In contract negotiations, Sysco was proposing a two-tier system which would have divided the group and rolled back industry standards with respect to wages, health and welfare and seniority. But Teamsters at Sysco would not be pushed around...
Union Begins Coca-Cola Negotiations, Trades Initial Contract Proposals Local 727 ...The Teamsters Local 727 Coca-Cola Bargaining Committee met with Coca-Cola representatives on October 28 to kick off new contract negotiations. Both the union and management traded initial, non-economic contract proposals. Economic proposals for wages, pensions and health and welfare will be forthcoming. After several hours of deliberations following the exchange, both sides agreed to reconvene on Thursday...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Trans-Pacific Partnership Provision On Trade Disputes Draws Criticism NPR ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement the Obama administration is trying to sell to Congress includes a seemingly obscure and controversial provision. It's called the Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS among wonks. Under the system, cases are arbitrated by one of two bodies - the World Bank or a division of the United Nations. To date, the U.S. has been sued 17 times and won all its cases...
Froman tells UK: No to EU means no to trade deal Politico ...Michael Froman, U.S. trade representative, said the U.S. is “not particularly in the market for free trade agreements with individual countries.” The Obama administration has focused on wrapping up multilateral trade deals like TTIP (with the EU) and TPP (with Pacific partners). The Americans hope to finalize the deal with Europe before President Obama leaves office, an official said last week...
House uses rare procedure to revive Export-Import bank USA Today ...The House launched a rare effort Monday to circumvent Republican leadership in hopes of reviving the Export-Import Bank, which conservatives managed to choke off earlier this year. Business groups have pushed hard to renew the bank's charter. The bank provides loans and loan guarantees to allow foreign customers to buy U.S. goods and services...
Ontario mayors urge Trudeau to protect auto sector from TPP deal Globe and Mail ...Fresh discontent is surfacing over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Canada signed in the dying days of Stephen Harper’s government. Mayors representing 20 Ontario cities, from Oshawa to Windsor, with a significant number of auto-sector jobs on Wednesday called on Mr. Trudeau, the prime-minister-designate, to protect their industry from being sideswiped by the TPP...
Greece’s Bailout Deal with Europe Is Starting to Show Cracks Foreign Policy ...The European Union’s agreement to provide Greece with the 86 billion euros, or $95 billion, bailout that Athens needs to stay solvent is beginning to show signs of strain, with creditors threatening to delay an October payment as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struggles to implement promised austerity reforms...
Austerity cuts are causing mental distress and are linked to rise in suicides, health professionals warn Independent ...In the UK, suicide rates rose in 2011 and 2012. Men especially seem to be at risk: the male suicide rate is the highest it's been since 2001 and, for men between the ages of 45 and 59, the highest since 1981. After five years of austerity, families, charities, mental health professionals, campaigners and researchers have been highlighting what they regard as the profound effects on mental health...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
McCrory signs controversial immigration bill Winston-Salem Journal ...North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation Wednesday that targets “sanctuary cities” and immigrant identification, turning back pleas from advocates to veto a bill that they say harms immigrants and businesses that rely on immigrant labor. While protesters have been a constant presence at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh to urge McCrory to veto the measure, there were no protesters seen around the sheriff’s office...
Campaign to ditch workers' comp Fort Stockton Pioneer ...A series of new laws has cut workers’ compensation benefits, given employers and insurers more control over medical care, and made it more difficult for workers to qualify for coverage. But other than Texas and Oklahoma, no state has allowed companies to simply opt out. One Texas lawyer is helping companies opt out of workers’ compensation and write their own rules. What does it mean for injured workers?...
Can Fast-Food Work Ever Be A Decent Job? These Swedish McDonald's Workers Say Yes Fast Coexist ...What can a union do for low-wage workers? Comparing the lives of McDonald's workers in Chicago and Sweden shows the difference organizing can make. "Life is pretty hard right now," says KeJioun Johnson, a 20-year-old, part-time McDonald's cashier who lives with his single mom (a part-time bus driver) in government-subsidized housing...
Jersey City council expands paid sick leave law NJ.com ...Almost everyone working in Jersey City will be able to accrue paid sick leave, thanks to a measure adopted by the City Council tonight. The council in 2013 made the city the first in the state to mandate that most private employers provide their workers with paid sick leave. The council voted 7-1-1 to approve the measure (Ord. 15.145)...
U.S. LABOR
Michigan Transit Workers Fight To Prevent City Bus System From Eliminating Their Pensions In These Times ...For the drivers behind the wheel of this top-of-the-line fleet, not all is well: Grand Rapids bus drivers are without a signed union contract, because city officials want to cut their pension funds. One Rapid board member has called the current pension system a “terrible plan” and claims the board wants to “do better” for drivers, the board claims the pension fund is $2.6 million in the red. The drivers disagree...
UAW-GM workers set to vote on agreement with 'significant gains' MLive ...In a proposed agreement with General Motors, the UAW touts "significant gains" for workers, though only voting will tell if the rank-and-file agrees with this sentiment. In the proposed deal, workers would have traditional wages within eight years. It's similar to an agreement reached with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles...
In Historic Ruling, NLRB Says Tucson Taxi Drivers are Employees Market Watch ...In a groundbreaking ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Tucson, Arizona, has determined that more than 200 taxi drivers employed by AAA Transportation/Yellow Cab are employees and are therefore eligible for union representation. The ruling is the first of its kind for taxi drivers...
When Bank Workers Occupy the Banks The Nation ....After about eight years of seeing Main Street households get owned by Big Finance, front-line bank workers are now trying to reclaim Wall Street, branch by branch. In Los Angeles, where communities are still reeling from the financial crisis, front-line bank employees, and activists last week occupied the lobbies of Wells Fargo and Bank of America and demanded fair terms for the customers and the workforce...
Workers Pay The Price For Amazon’s New One-Hour Delivery Think Progress ...Amazon’s one-hour delivery option launched in the Bay Area this week, but the workers behind the scenes of the “Prime Now” service say they’re paying a steep price to make the super-fast turnaround a reality.
Prime Now drivers are suing Amazon over pay that amounts to less than the California minimum wage. Drivers in the Los Angeles market make $11 an hour, but buy their own gas, insurance, and auto maintenance service...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Amid Flood of Dark Money, Groups Make Simple Request of FEC: 'Do Your Job' Common Dreams ...Decrying the unprecedented flow of so-called "dark money" into the U.S. political process, a coalition of civic and religious organizations, environmentalists, and academics on Tuesday submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), calling on the agency to—put simply—do its job...
Criminalizing the Classroom: Inside the School-to-Prison Pipeline Democracy Now ...New York City has more than 5,000 police officers patrolling the city’s schools—that’s more than the combined number of school guidance counselors and social workers. Nationwide, more than 17,000 officers work in the school. What happens when students are arrested in the classroom?...
A GOP Debate Without a Winner—Or Much of a Point The Nation ...Donald Trump lost interest mid-way through the third Republican presidential debate. It’s a bad night for Trump when his most memorable line is a closing-statement claim of credit for negotiating a shorter debate: “I got it down to two hours so we can get the hell out of here.” The billionaire contender’s disdain for the whole affair was appropriate after an empty night of whining about the media...
The Budget Deal Clears the House of Representatives The Atlantic ...The final major vote of John Boehner’s drama-filled tenure as House speaker turned out to have very little drama at all. A bipartisan majority in the House on Wednesday afternoon easily approved the two-year budget agreement that Boehner negotiated with fellow congressional leaders and the Obama administration. The vote was 266-167...
Immigrant Women Launch Indefinite Hunger Strike, Asking To Be Freed From Detention Center Think Progress ...Detained women seeking asylum or other forms of humanitarian relief began an indefinite hunger strike at an immigration detention center in Texas on Wednesday night, sending hand-written letters to the federal government calling for their release. At least 27 immigrant women refused dinner on Wednesday at the T. Don Hutto detention center...
Port truck drivers and warehouse workers strike together for better wages and 'employee' status KPCC ...Truck drivers who haul cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are on strike again this week - this time with some new comrades on their picket lines: warehouse workers. Workers from California Cartage, a warehouse at the Port of L.A., have joined striking truckers who drive for Pacific 9 Transportation and XPO Logistics, creating the potential for disruption at two key links in the cargo supply chain...
CA Port Driver Strike Lingers Go By Trucks ...Drayage drivers for two trucking companies at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have entered their 15th week of striking. The drivers, who are classified as independent contractors for XPO Logistics and Pacific 9 Transportation, are seeking employee status. Teamsters and the organization Justice for Port Truckers are backing the strike...
Teamsters at Sysco Ratify New 3-Year Contract Local 117 ...In the end, solidarity won the day. On Saturday, October 24, Teamster drivers and warehouse workers, employed at Sysco, voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract. In contract negotiations, Sysco was proposing a two-tier system which would have divided the group and rolled back industry standards with respect to wages, health and welfare and seniority. But Teamsters at Sysco would not be pushed around...
Union Begins Coca-Cola Negotiations, Trades Initial Contract Proposals Local 727 ...The Teamsters Local 727 Coca-Cola Bargaining Committee met with Coca-Cola representatives on October 28 to kick off new contract negotiations. Both the union and management traded initial, non-economic contract proposals. Economic proposals for wages, pensions and health and welfare will be forthcoming. After several hours of deliberations following the exchange, both sides agreed to reconvene on Thursday...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Trans-Pacific Partnership Provision On Trade Disputes Draws Criticism NPR ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement the Obama administration is trying to sell to Congress includes a seemingly obscure and controversial provision. It's called the Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS among wonks. Under the system, cases are arbitrated by one of two bodies - the World Bank or a division of the United Nations. To date, the U.S. has been sued 17 times and won all its cases...
Froman tells UK: No to EU means no to trade deal Politico ...Michael Froman, U.S. trade representative, said the U.S. is “not particularly in the market for free trade agreements with individual countries.” The Obama administration has focused on wrapping up multilateral trade deals like TTIP (with the EU) and TPP (with Pacific partners). The Americans hope to finalize the deal with Europe before President Obama leaves office, an official said last week...
House uses rare procedure to revive Export-Import bank USA Today ...The House launched a rare effort Monday to circumvent Republican leadership in hopes of reviving the Export-Import Bank, which conservatives managed to choke off earlier this year. Business groups have pushed hard to renew the bank's charter. The bank provides loans and loan guarantees to allow foreign customers to buy U.S. goods and services...
Ontario mayors urge Trudeau to protect auto sector from TPP deal Globe and Mail ...Fresh discontent is surfacing over the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Canada signed in the dying days of Stephen Harper’s government. Mayors representing 20 Ontario cities, from Oshawa to Windsor, with a significant number of auto-sector jobs on Wednesday called on Mr. Trudeau, the prime-minister-designate, to protect their industry from being sideswiped by the TPP...
Greece’s Bailout Deal with Europe Is Starting to Show Cracks Foreign Policy ...The European Union’s agreement to provide Greece with the 86 billion euros, or $95 billion, bailout that Athens needs to stay solvent is beginning to show signs of strain, with creditors threatening to delay an October payment as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struggles to implement promised austerity reforms...
Austerity cuts are causing mental distress and are linked to rise in suicides, health professionals warn Independent ...In the UK, suicide rates rose in 2011 and 2012. Men especially seem to be at risk: the male suicide rate is the highest it's been since 2001 and, for men between the ages of 45 and 59, the highest since 1981. After five years of austerity, families, charities, mental health professionals, campaigners and researchers have been highlighting what they regard as the profound effects on mental health...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
McCrory signs controversial immigration bill Winston-Salem Journal ...North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation Wednesday that targets “sanctuary cities” and immigrant identification, turning back pleas from advocates to veto a bill that they say harms immigrants and businesses that rely on immigrant labor. While protesters have been a constant presence at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh to urge McCrory to veto the measure, there were no protesters seen around the sheriff’s office...
Campaign to ditch workers' comp Fort Stockton Pioneer ...A series of new laws has cut workers’ compensation benefits, given employers and insurers more control over medical care, and made it more difficult for workers to qualify for coverage. But other than Texas and Oklahoma, no state has allowed companies to simply opt out. One Texas lawyer is helping companies opt out of workers’ compensation and write their own rules. What does it mean for injured workers?...
Can Fast-Food Work Ever Be A Decent Job? These Swedish McDonald's Workers Say Yes Fast Coexist ...What can a union do for low-wage workers? Comparing the lives of McDonald's workers in Chicago and Sweden shows the difference organizing can make. "Life is pretty hard right now," says KeJioun Johnson, a 20-year-old, part-time McDonald's cashier who lives with his single mom (a part-time bus driver) in government-subsidized housing...
Jersey City council expands paid sick leave law NJ.com ...Almost everyone working in Jersey City will be able to accrue paid sick leave, thanks to a measure adopted by the City Council tonight. The council in 2013 made the city the first in the state to mandate that most private employers provide their workers with paid sick leave. The council voted 7-1-1 to approve the measure (Ord. 15.145)...
U.S. LABOR
Michigan Transit Workers Fight To Prevent City Bus System From Eliminating Their Pensions In These Times ...For the drivers behind the wheel of this top-of-the-line fleet, not all is well: Grand Rapids bus drivers are without a signed union contract, because city officials want to cut their pension funds. One Rapid board member has called the current pension system a “terrible plan” and claims the board wants to “do better” for drivers, the board claims the pension fund is $2.6 million in the red. The drivers disagree...
UAW-GM workers set to vote on agreement with 'significant gains' MLive ...In a proposed agreement with General Motors, the UAW touts "significant gains" for workers, though only voting will tell if the rank-and-file agrees with this sentiment. In the proposed deal, workers would have traditional wages within eight years. It's similar to an agreement reached with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles...
In Historic Ruling, NLRB Says Tucson Taxi Drivers are Employees Market Watch ...In a groundbreaking ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Tucson, Arizona, has determined that more than 200 taxi drivers employed by AAA Transportation/Yellow Cab are employees and are therefore eligible for union representation. The ruling is the first of its kind for taxi drivers...
When Bank Workers Occupy the Banks The Nation ....After about eight years of seeing Main Street households get owned by Big Finance, front-line bank workers are now trying to reclaim Wall Street, branch by branch. In Los Angeles, where communities are still reeling from the financial crisis, front-line bank employees, and activists last week occupied the lobbies of Wells Fargo and Bank of America and demanded fair terms for the customers and the workforce...
Workers Pay The Price For Amazon’s New One-Hour Delivery Think Progress ...Amazon’s one-hour delivery option launched in the Bay Area this week, but the workers behind the scenes of the “Prime Now” service say they’re paying a steep price to make the super-fast turnaround a reality.
Prime Now drivers are suing Amazon over pay that amounts to less than the California minimum wage. Drivers in the Los Angeles market make $11 an hour, but buy their own gas, insurance, and auto maintenance service...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Amid Flood of Dark Money, Groups Make Simple Request of FEC: 'Do Your Job' Common Dreams ...Decrying the unprecedented flow of so-called "dark money" into the U.S. political process, a coalition of civic and religious organizations, environmentalists, and academics on Tuesday submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), calling on the agency to—put simply—do its job...
Criminalizing the Classroom: Inside the School-to-Prison Pipeline Democracy Now ...New York City has more than 5,000 police officers patrolling the city’s schools—that’s more than the combined number of school guidance counselors and social workers. Nationwide, more than 17,000 officers work in the school. What happens when students are arrested in the classroom?...
A GOP Debate Without a Winner—Or Much of a Point The Nation ...Donald Trump lost interest mid-way through the third Republican presidential debate. It’s a bad night for Trump when his most memorable line is a closing-statement claim of credit for negotiating a shorter debate: “I got it down to two hours so we can get the hell out of here.” The billionaire contender’s disdain for the whole affair was appropriate after an empty night of whining about the media...
The Budget Deal Clears the House of Representatives The Atlantic ...The final major vote of John Boehner’s drama-filled tenure as House speaker turned out to have very little drama at all. A bipartisan majority in the House on Wednesday afternoon easily approved the two-year budget agreement that Boehner negotiated with fellow congressional leaders and the Obama administration. The vote was 266-167...
Immigrant Women Launch Indefinite Hunger Strike, Asking To Be Freed From Detention Center Think Progress ...Detained women seeking asylum or other forms of humanitarian relief began an indefinite hunger strike at an immigration detention center in Texas on Wednesday night, sending hand-written letters to the federal government calling for their release. At least 27 immigrant women refused dinner on Wednesday at the T. Don Hutto detention center...
Monday, October 26, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.26.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamster Aviation Maintenance Technicians to Vote on United Contract Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood Teamsters today announced an agreement to put a proposed joint contract out for ratification for members working at United Airlines. The deal, if approved, would cover the company’s aviation maintenance technicians and related workers. The proposed contract would combine the subsidiary groups of workers formerly associated with Continental and Continental Micronesia with United...
United agrees to tentative deal with Teamsters Chicago Tribune ...United Airlines said Friday morning that it has agreed to a deal with the Teamsters to put the carrier's 8,600 technicians and related employees under a single contract. The proposed deal — which has yet to be ratified by rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — is United's first major deal since recently appointed CEO Oscar Munoz went on medical leave...
Port Truck Drivers Strike Over Wage Theft Capital & Main ...Truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will begin a strike at 6 a.m. today against local subsidiaries of XPO Logistics, a Connecticut-headquartered freight transportation company. Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa will bring a national spotlight to the fight later this week as he joins local union forces in support of the drivers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
TPP deal is bad for the auto sector, Ford Canada chief says Globe and Mail ...Key automotive provisions of the Trans-Pacific trade agreement are bad for Canada, so the new Liberal government needs to take a careful look at the deal before approving it, says Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. chief executive officer Dianne Craig. “We see [the Trans-Pacific Partnership] as a setback,” Ms. Craig said...
Indonesia to Decide on Joining Transpacific Partnership New York Times ...The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, said he would decide whether Southeast Asia's largest economy would join the United States-led Pacific trade agreement after his meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday. In an interview before a four-day visit to the United States this week, Mr. Joko also said that his government was rapidly stripping away cumbersome protectionist trade regulations that foreign businesses had long chafed at...
PM’s inaction on TTIP ‘means NHS at risk’ The National ...Party leaders from throughout the UK have signed to pledge to make sure the NHS is protected from TTIP, but there is one notable name missing: David Cameron. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could put the future of the health service at risk, union leaders have claimed, with the nature of the trade deal opening the door for US investment in public services...
Monster march in Berlin says no to the bosses’ TTIP treaty Socialist Worker ...Up to 250,000 people marched through Berlin last Saturday against the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It was Germany’s biggest demonstration since protests against the Iraq war in 2003. TTIP is a planned treaty to create the world’s biggest free trade area, involving the European Union (EU) and the US...
Canadian election rejects austerity: Paul Krugman Oregon Live ...On Monday, Canadian voters swept the ruling Conservatives out of power, delivering a stunning victory to the center-left Liberals. And while there are many interesting things about the Liberal platform, what strikes me most is its clear rejection of the deficit-obsessed austerity orthodoxy that has dominated political discourse across the Western world. The Liberals ran on a frankly, openly Keynesian vision, and won big...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Both Sides of Right-To-Work Mobilize For Governor’s Race WFPL ...Kentucky’s next governor will face a bevy of issues, ranging from a declining coal industry to a struggling pension system. Then there’s right-to-work. Right-to-work laws — which prohibit union dues as a condition of employment — have been adopted in 25 states. Proponents want to make Kentucky the 26th...
Labor Dept. To Set New 'Prevailing Wages' For Construction Projects In New Hampshire New Hampshire Public Radio ...The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to gather wage data for New Hampshire’s building and construction industries. The department is surveying firms about wages and benefits on a range of projects in order to set so-called prevailing wage rates for federal projects in the state...
Colorado Pushes for Universal Health Care That's Governed by the People Truthout ...First pot, now health. In November 2012, Colorado voters approved a ballot initiative that made recreational use of marijunana legal, despite a federal ban. In November of next year, the state will have the opportunity to lead the way again - this time, by opting out of Obamacare and replacing it with ColoradoCare, a universal health care system governed by those who rely on it...
Washington-area airport workers join fight for $15-an-hour minimum wage Washington Post ...A push for a $15-an-hour minimum wage for the lowest-paid airport workers across the United States has landed in Washington. Workers at Reagan National and Dulles International airports have joined a growing national campaign for better pay and benefits, bringing attention to hourly wages that are as low as $6.75...
Judge refuses to dismiss NC voter ID challenge Charlotte Observer ...A federal judge on Friday refused a request from state lawmakers to dismiss a challenge to the N.C. voter ID law. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder set the issue for a trial, tentatively in January. Attorneys for state lawmakers argued that a 2015 change to the ID provision of an election law overhaul made the 2013 legal challenge moot...
Elizabeth Warren Rips the Obama Administration on Puerto Rico Mother Jones ...After months of facing indifference from Congress, the people of Puerto Rico might finally be making progress on getting some help with the island's massive debt crisis from both the Obama administration and Congress. Last Wednesday, the Obama administration outlined a proposal that would allow the island's entities to restructure debts. After Obama finally rolled out a plan, Sen. Warren calls on the government to do more for the US colony...
Walmart’s Wage Increase Is Hurting Its Stock Price—and That’s OK The Nation ...The company created some real waves when it announced earlier this year that it planned to raise its starting wages to $9 an hour by April and $10 an hour by February of next year. A few months later, it reported that it had already reduced turnover. But it also just released its financial results forecasting a drop in annual profit in the near term...
U.S. LABOR
Deadline looms for auto workers' strike threat against GM Business Insider ...The United Auto Workers union and General Motors Co. have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract, avoiding a strike for now. The UAW said the agreement was reached at 11:43 p.m. Sunday, 16 minutes before the deadline it had set to either reach an agreement or call a strike at GM's U.S. plants. Details of the proposed contract weren't immediately available...
GM Reaches Tentative Deal With UAW Workers, Avoiding Strike Bloomberg ...General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative four-year agreement that is expected to provide raises across the board, averting a potential strike. The union announced the deal in an e-mailed statement without giving details. Local union leaders at Detroit-based GM are set to vote on Wednesday whether to send the accord to rank-and-file members for ratification...
U.S. lawmakers call for more oversight of workers’ comp Salon ...Ten prominent Democratic lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, are urging the U.S. secretary of labor to come up with a plan to ensure that state workers’ compensation programs are properly caring for injured workers. The lawmakers’ letter, sent Tuesday, was prompted by an investigation by ProPublica and NPR...
'Good' Jobs Aren't Coming Back The Atlantic ...Outsourcing decimated American manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s, erasing nearly six million jobs between 1989 and 2009. But the number of manufacturing jobs has started to slowly grow again, and about 700,000 jobs have been added since 2010. “Onshoring,” as it’s called, is at this stage delivering just a trickle of new jobs, but states such as Tennessee are offering companies generous incentives to try and speed up the process...
Teaching While Poor: Adjunct Professors and the Fight for Fair Wages The Nation ...If there’s one area that isn’t contributing to our historic levels of student debt, it’s adjunct professor’s pay. More than half of all college professors in the United States are adjuncts, working only “part-time.” One out of three of them live near or below the poverty line, and one out of four is on some form of public assistance...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Debt Ceiling Is Coming! Slate ...The debt ceiling deadline has been moved up two days to Nov. 3, according to the most recent estimate from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. That is 11 days from now and considerably fewer legislative days. So far the House hasn’t moved a bill, and neither has the Senate. There’s another problem emerging in the House of Representatives, too, if you can believe it: The votes supposedly aren’t there...
Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Joins Chorus Questioning Legality of Drone Killing Program Common Dreams ...Sparked by an exposé on the Obama administration's drone war, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) has echoed human rights groups and called into question the legality of the killing program. Based on documents leaked to The Intercept by an anonymous intelligence source, The Drone Papers offers an unprecedented look at the global killing program...
Voices of Rise Up October: Victims' Families Decry Police Violence Truthout ...On Saturday, thousands rallied in New York City against police brutality as part of three days of protest called "Rise Up October." Some 40 families across the country impacted by police violence participated in the event alongside scholars such as Dr. Cornel West and Chris Hedges, as well as celebrities including playwright Eve Ensler and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino...
Pro-Immigration Protester Violently Dragged Out Of Trump Rally Huffington Post ...Pro-immigration protesters and Donald Trump supporters clashed at a rally in Miami on Friday, leading to one protester being forcefully dragged out by his collar to chants of "USA! USA!" At least three separate protest groups showed up to the Republican presidential candidate's rally at his Trump National Doral Miami resort, with some bearing signs reading "Dignity" and "Equality"...
Teamster Aviation Maintenance Technicians to Vote on United Contract Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood Teamsters today announced an agreement to put a proposed joint contract out for ratification for members working at United Airlines. The deal, if approved, would cover the company’s aviation maintenance technicians and related workers. The proposed contract would combine the subsidiary groups of workers formerly associated with Continental and Continental Micronesia with United...
United agrees to tentative deal with Teamsters Chicago Tribune ...United Airlines said Friday morning that it has agreed to a deal with the Teamsters to put the carrier's 8,600 technicians and related employees under a single contract. The proposed deal — which has yet to be ratified by rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — is United's first major deal since recently appointed CEO Oscar Munoz went on medical leave...
Port Truck Drivers Strike Over Wage Theft Capital & Main ...Truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will begin a strike at 6 a.m. today against local subsidiaries of XPO Logistics, a Connecticut-headquartered freight transportation company. Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa will bring a national spotlight to the fight later this week as he joins local union forces in support of the drivers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
TPP deal is bad for the auto sector, Ford Canada chief says Globe and Mail ...Key automotive provisions of the Trans-Pacific trade agreement are bad for Canada, so the new Liberal government needs to take a careful look at the deal before approving it, says Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. chief executive officer Dianne Craig. “We see [the Trans-Pacific Partnership] as a setback,” Ms. Craig said...
Indonesia to Decide on Joining Transpacific Partnership New York Times ...The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, said he would decide whether Southeast Asia's largest economy would join the United States-led Pacific trade agreement after his meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday. In an interview before a four-day visit to the United States this week, Mr. Joko also said that his government was rapidly stripping away cumbersome protectionist trade regulations that foreign businesses had long chafed at...
PM’s inaction on TTIP ‘means NHS at risk’ The National ...Party leaders from throughout the UK have signed to pledge to make sure the NHS is protected from TTIP, but there is one notable name missing: David Cameron. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could put the future of the health service at risk, union leaders have claimed, with the nature of the trade deal opening the door for US investment in public services...
Monster march in Berlin says no to the bosses’ TTIP treaty Socialist Worker ...Up to 250,000 people marched through Berlin last Saturday against the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It was Germany’s biggest demonstration since protests against the Iraq war in 2003. TTIP is a planned treaty to create the world’s biggest free trade area, involving the European Union (EU) and the US...
Canadian election rejects austerity: Paul Krugman Oregon Live ...On Monday, Canadian voters swept the ruling Conservatives out of power, delivering a stunning victory to the center-left Liberals. And while there are many interesting things about the Liberal platform, what strikes me most is its clear rejection of the deficit-obsessed austerity orthodoxy that has dominated political discourse across the Western world. The Liberals ran on a frankly, openly Keynesian vision, and won big...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Both Sides of Right-To-Work Mobilize For Governor’s Race WFPL ...Kentucky’s next governor will face a bevy of issues, ranging from a declining coal industry to a struggling pension system. Then there’s right-to-work. Right-to-work laws — which prohibit union dues as a condition of employment — have been adopted in 25 states. Proponents want to make Kentucky the 26th...
Labor Dept. To Set New 'Prevailing Wages' For Construction Projects In New Hampshire New Hampshire Public Radio ...The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to gather wage data for New Hampshire’s building and construction industries. The department is surveying firms about wages and benefits on a range of projects in order to set so-called prevailing wage rates for federal projects in the state...
Colorado Pushes for Universal Health Care That's Governed by the People Truthout ...First pot, now health. In November 2012, Colorado voters approved a ballot initiative that made recreational use of marijunana legal, despite a federal ban. In November of next year, the state will have the opportunity to lead the way again - this time, by opting out of Obamacare and replacing it with ColoradoCare, a universal health care system governed by those who rely on it...
Washington-area airport workers join fight for $15-an-hour minimum wage Washington Post ...A push for a $15-an-hour minimum wage for the lowest-paid airport workers across the United States has landed in Washington. Workers at Reagan National and Dulles International airports have joined a growing national campaign for better pay and benefits, bringing attention to hourly wages that are as low as $6.75...
Judge refuses to dismiss NC voter ID challenge Charlotte Observer ...A federal judge on Friday refused a request from state lawmakers to dismiss a challenge to the N.C. voter ID law. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder set the issue for a trial, tentatively in January. Attorneys for state lawmakers argued that a 2015 change to the ID provision of an election law overhaul made the 2013 legal challenge moot...
Elizabeth Warren Rips the Obama Administration on Puerto Rico Mother Jones ...After months of facing indifference from Congress, the people of Puerto Rico might finally be making progress on getting some help with the island's massive debt crisis from both the Obama administration and Congress. Last Wednesday, the Obama administration outlined a proposal that would allow the island's entities to restructure debts. After Obama finally rolled out a plan, Sen. Warren calls on the government to do more for the US colony...
Walmart’s Wage Increase Is Hurting Its Stock Price—and That’s OK The Nation ...The company created some real waves when it announced earlier this year that it planned to raise its starting wages to $9 an hour by April and $10 an hour by February of next year. A few months later, it reported that it had already reduced turnover. But it also just released its financial results forecasting a drop in annual profit in the near term...
U.S. LABOR
Deadline looms for auto workers' strike threat against GM Business Insider ...The United Auto Workers union and General Motors Co. have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract, avoiding a strike for now. The UAW said the agreement was reached at 11:43 p.m. Sunday, 16 minutes before the deadline it had set to either reach an agreement or call a strike at GM's U.S. plants. Details of the proposed contract weren't immediately available...
GM Reaches Tentative Deal With UAW Workers, Avoiding Strike Bloomberg ...General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative four-year agreement that is expected to provide raises across the board, averting a potential strike. The union announced the deal in an e-mailed statement without giving details. Local union leaders at Detroit-based GM are set to vote on Wednesday whether to send the accord to rank-and-file members for ratification...
U.S. lawmakers call for more oversight of workers’ comp Salon ...Ten prominent Democratic lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, are urging the U.S. secretary of labor to come up with a plan to ensure that state workers’ compensation programs are properly caring for injured workers. The lawmakers’ letter, sent Tuesday, was prompted by an investigation by ProPublica and NPR...
'Good' Jobs Aren't Coming Back The Atlantic ...Outsourcing decimated American manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s, erasing nearly six million jobs between 1989 and 2009. But the number of manufacturing jobs has started to slowly grow again, and about 700,000 jobs have been added since 2010. “Onshoring,” as it’s called, is at this stage delivering just a trickle of new jobs, but states such as Tennessee are offering companies generous incentives to try and speed up the process...
Teaching While Poor: Adjunct Professors and the Fight for Fair Wages The Nation ...If there’s one area that isn’t contributing to our historic levels of student debt, it’s adjunct professor’s pay. More than half of all college professors in the United States are adjuncts, working only “part-time.” One out of three of them live near or below the poverty line, and one out of four is on some form of public assistance...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Debt Ceiling Is Coming! Slate ...The debt ceiling deadline has been moved up two days to Nov. 3, according to the most recent estimate from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. That is 11 days from now and considerably fewer legislative days. So far the House hasn’t moved a bill, and neither has the Senate. There’s another problem emerging in the House of Representatives, too, if you can believe it: The votes supposedly aren’t there...
Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Joins Chorus Questioning Legality of Drone Killing Program Common Dreams ...Sparked by an exposé on the Obama administration's drone war, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) has echoed human rights groups and called into question the legality of the killing program. Based on documents leaked to The Intercept by an anonymous intelligence source, The Drone Papers offers an unprecedented look at the global killing program...
Voices of Rise Up October: Victims' Families Decry Police Violence Truthout ...On Saturday, thousands rallied in New York City against police brutality as part of three days of protest called "Rise Up October." Some 40 families across the country impacted by police violence participated in the event alongside scholars such as Dr. Cornel West and Chris Hedges, as well as celebrities including playwright Eve Ensler and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino...
Pro-Immigration Protester Violently Dragged Out Of Trump Rally Huffington Post ...Pro-immigration protesters and Donald Trump supporters clashed at a rally in Miami on Friday, leading to one protester being forcefully dragged out by his collar to chants of "USA! USA!" At least three separate protest groups showed up to the Republican presidential candidate's rally at his Trump National Doral Miami resort, with some bearing signs reading "Dignity" and "Equality"...
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.15.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters to vote on contract with SoCal supermarket chains JOC ...Employees at three major West Coast grocery chains will vote this weekend on a tentative contract between their employers and the Teamsters union. The tentative agreement covers more than 8,000 truck drivers and warehouse, dairy and manufacturing workers employed by Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons in Southern California. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the grocery companies reached a tentative pact after three months of negotiations...
Teamsters picket at Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas Review Journal ...Members of the Teamsters Local 986 picketed Wednesday in front of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, saying that valet parking attendants at the hotel-casino have been working without a contract since voting to form a union in 2009. A union spokesman said more than a dozen Hard Rock valet workers would be covered by the contract. The pickets included Teamsters members from other resorts...
Teamsters local pickets Cranston City Hall in contract negotiation issue Providence Journal ...Mayor Allan Fung and Teamsters Local 251, which represents some of the city's full-time workers, came head-to-head over contract negotiations on Wednesday as about 30 people picketed in front of City Hall. The Teamsters’ contract expired June 30, and the city and union began negotiating for a new contract on June 2...
Teamsters Urge Safeway to Keep Good Jobs at Maryland Distribution Facilities DC Labor ...Teamsters are calling for Safeway to keep good jobs in Maryland, after the company unexpectedly issued a notice that it plans to start closing its Upper Marlboro and Landover, MD, grocery distribution facilities 19 days before Christmas, resulting in the layoff of more than 700 workers. The warehouse workers, members of Teamsters Locals 730 and 639, based in Washington, D.C., received a 60-day layoff notice from C&S Wholesale Grocers, which operates the Safeway-owned facilities...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Former US officials urge Congress to pass TPP The Hill ...More than two dozen former top U.S. officials are urging Congress to support a sweeping Pacific trade agreement that could get a vote sometime early next year. The group of 26 former Asia-focused trade, economic, diplomatic, security and intelligence officials sent a letter on Wednesday to House and Senate leadership. But the expansive agreement, completed last week in Atlanta after five years of talks, faces stiff headwinds from congressional lawmakers in both parties...
Don't Hold Your Breath for Cheap Steaks: Here's the TPP Timeline Bloomberg ...businesses seeking to take advantage of the deal -- which could have benefits and fallout for automakers, cattle and dairy farmers and drug manufacturers -- will have to wait for months and possibly even years before they will see its effects. The deal must be ratified by all 12 nations, and in many, that will be a multi-step process...
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown Slams Obama-Backed TPP As 'Massive Sellout of American Workers' IBTimes ...Democratic senators have typically used deferential language when discussing Obama administration initiatives, even ones they don't support. In that, they have emulated Ronald Reagan's (possibly apocryphal) "Eleventh Commandment" about not publicly attacking members of your own party. But that may be changing with the president's push for a 12-nation trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Clinton says Pacific trade deal falls short on addressing currency manipulation Reuters ...U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal because it does not adequately address currency manipulation. Clinton, who announced her opposition to the deal last week, said at a campaign event on Wednesday that she had hoped the agreement would have "enforceable provisions" related to currency manipulation...
RCEP: The next trade deal you need to know about CNBC ...The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement last week could speed up talks on its lesser-known Asia-wide equivalent, trade analysts say. Negotiators working on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are currently in the middle of a week-long meeting. The RCEP was conceived in 2013 and is being negotiated between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus regional trading partners including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea...
EU Concerned TTIP Deal to Lower Labor, Eco Standards - Ex-UN Advisor Sputnik ...The TTIP agreement seeks to liberalize trade between the United States and Europe and create the world's largest trade zone, encompassing more than 60 percent of global production. "Many Europeans, including policymakers, fear labor standards will be undermined, not raised by the [TTIP] trade agreement," Aaronson, who is also a professor at the George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs, said...
Public transport workers strike in Amsterdam and Utrecht Dutch News ...Commuters in Amsterdam and Utrecht face chaos on Thursday morning because of a strike by transport workers. The strike has been called by the FNV transport union to protest at the pay deal for civil servants agreed between three other unions and employers this summer. Qbuzz had gone to court in an effort to have the strike declared illegal...
Half of world's wealth now in hands of 1% of population – report The Guardian ...Global inequality is growing, with half the world’s wealth now in the hands of just 1% of the population, according to a new report. The middle classes have been squeezed at the expense of the very rich, according to research by Credit Suisse. Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of Credit Suisse, said: “Middle class wealth has grown at a slower pace than wealth at the top end. This has reversed the pre-crisis trend"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Low-wage workers rally, march in push for $15 hourly minimum Boston Globe ...Low-wage workers filled the hallways at the [Massachusetts] State House Tuesday as legislators considered a number of bills that would have a major impact on their jobs, from giving hourly employees more predictable schedules to raising the minimum wage at fast-food chains and big-box retailers to $15 an hour...
Group launches hunger strike in Charlotte over immigration legislation Charlotte Observer ...A group of people demanding that Gov. Pat McCrory veto a bill that cracks down on undocumented immigrants in the state is continuing a hunger strike Thursday outside the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center. They began Wednesday afternoon, and participants said they intend to go without food until Friday afternoon. They are demanding that McCrory veto HB 318...
Kansas Voter ID Law Sets Off a New Battle Over Registration New York Times ...This month, under a rule adopted by the Kansas secretary of state’s office, county election officials throughout the state began to cull names from the voters list, removing people who had been on it at least 90 days. Those removed from the list must start the registration process over in order to vote. The move has touched off a new battle over voter registration, pitting the Republican secretary of state, Kris W. Kobach, an ardent supporter of strict voting rules, against Democrats and advocates of voting rights...
Marco Rubio knows you can't live on minimum wage, but he wouldn't raise it Daily Kos ...Rubio thinks it would be awfully nice if businesses would pay wages people could live on, but the policies he's interested in are about making things easier for businesses, not workers. And maybe eventually the policy giveaways to business will trickle down to workers in the form of higher wages. Rubio has "full confidence," in fact, even though he is fully aware that it's not happening now...
It’s Science: Raising Minimum Wage Would Make America a Happier Place The Nation ... Smith is the author of an academic cri de cœur, published in the September 2015 issue of American Psychologist, in which she calls on the psychological profession to take a strong stance in support of raising the minimum wage. [She] asks her colleagues to consider the “mountain of evidence that supports the damaging impact of poverty upon the psychological, social and physical well-being of adults, children and communities”...
Comment sought on new sick leave law rules Statesman Journal ...The Bureau of Labor and Industries is seeking comment on implementing Oregon's new paid sick leave law. A series of public rulemaking hearings will be held in Eugene, Bend and Portland this month. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said the new law is an important step forward for workplaces. "We want to hear from the public so that our agency can make the new protections work for employees and businesses alike," he said...
Missouri: Judge Strikes Down Law Increasing St. Louis’s Minimum Wage Associated Press ...A state judge has struck down a St. Louis ordinance that sought to raise the city’s minimum wage. Judge Steven Ohmer of St. Louis Circuit Court declared the ordinance invalid and barred the city from enforcing it. His ruling Wednesday came a day before a 60-cent increase was to set the city’s minimum wage at $8.25 an hour...
U.S. LABOR
Thousands of City Janitors Authorize Strike Biz Philly ...The union representing 2,800 janitors who clean 168 Center City office buildings — including the Comcast Center and Cira Centre — has voted to authorize a strike amidst negotiations for a new contract. The 32BJ SEIU union has been negotiating with Building Owners Labor Relations Inc. since September 3 but failed to come to an agreement. Negotiations are ongoing, but the union now has the ability to strike if no deal is reached before the Thursday deadline...
UAW ratifies contract with MMNA Pantagraph ... United Auto Workers Local 2488, representing about 950 workers at the Mitsubishi auto plant, has overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with company. An "official notice" on the UAW's Facebook page Thursday morning states the vote was 697 in favor of the agreement and 103 voting "no"...
Inside Corporate America’s Campaign to Ditch Workers’ Comp ProPublica ...Standing before a giant map in his Dallas office, Bill Minick doesn’t seem like anyone’s idea of a bomb thrower. But backed by some of the biggest names in corporate America, this mild-mannered son of an evangelist is plotting a revolution in how companies take care of injured workers. His idea: Let them opt out of state workers’ compensation laws — and write their own rules...CSU Faculty Fight to Stop ‘University Professor’ From Becoming the New McJob In These Times ...Faculty across the 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU) system will be voting on strike authorization October 19-28. Should the 23,000 workers, mostly instructional employees, organized as the California Faculty Association (CFA) vote in favor of authorization, CFA leaders will be able to call a work stoppage if they cannot reach a settlement with the CSU system’s overseers, the Board of Trustees, over salary negotiations...
Hard Times For Seniors: No Cost of Living Increase for Social Security for 2016 Alternet ...On October 15, the Social Security Administration will announce some news that will be distressing to more than one in four households: there will be no Social Security cost of living adjustment ("COLA") for 2016. This is no small matter. The purpose of the annual adjustments is to ensure that Social Security's benefits don't lose value over time...
The Neverending Workday The Atlantic ...Work cultures of long hours reflect a notion of professionalism based on athleticism, in which one’s pace and accomplishments exist to be bested. Like a marathon, the never-ending office day tests psychological will and bodily capacity in equal measure. But even casual runners know the value of a good night’s sleep. Without adequate rest the body just isn’t up to the challenge...
Chicago Workers Thrive Three Years After Taking Over a Window Factory Truthout ...In 2008, Republic's owners closed the factory and laid off the work force without the required 60-days notice. Workers occupied the factory and refused to leave the premises until they were paid what they were owed. The story went nationwide. The New Era Windows and Doors Cooperative has been in operation since 2013. It hasn't been easy, but the worker-owners have learned together how to operate their own business...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigration creates its own wall inside GOP field CNBC ...immigration has divided conservative activists from business-oriented Republicans and the fast-growing Hispanic constituency the GOP needs more votes from to win presidential elections. But Donald Trump widened that divide — and began his rise to the top of Republican polls with hot rhetoric in his presidential announcement speech about who was crossing America's Southern border...
The Democratic Presidential Candidates Declared War on Unfettered Capitalism (opinion) Slate ...Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate revealed much more than the state of the horse race. It didn’t just pit Hillary Clinton against Sen. Bernie Sanders, or affect Vice President Joe Biden’s decision about running, or introduce the other candidates. It framed the whole election. Democrats are putting together a case for jerking the leash on capitalism. It’s moral, pragmatic, and smart. It fits the spirit of the times. Republicans had better come up with an answer...
People's Climate Returns as Communities Converge for Actions Nationwide Common Dreams ...Climate justice activists and community members are coming together throughout the country on Wednesday to demand urgent action from world leaders on the environment, workers rights, social justice, and other issues ahead of next month's United Nations COP21 talks in Paris. Actions are expected in more than 175 communities across 40 states as part of the National Day of Action on Climate, calling for an end to fossil fuels and investment in sustainable energy...
Eric Garner and Tamir Rice among those missing from FBI record of police killings The Guardian ...Killings by police that unleashed a new protest movement around the US in 2014, including those of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and John Crawford, are missing from the federal government’s official record of homicides by officers because most departments refuse to submit data. Only 224 of 18,000 law enforcement agencies around the US reported a fatal shooting by their officers to the FBI last year...
Teamsters to vote on contract with SoCal supermarket chains JOC ...Employees at three major West Coast grocery chains will vote this weekend on a tentative contract between their employers and the Teamsters union. The tentative agreement covers more than 8,000 truck drivers and warehouse, dairy and manufacturing workers employed by Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons in Southern California. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the grocery companies reached a tentative pact after three months of negotiations...
Teamsters picket at Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas Review Journal ...Members of the Teamsters Local 986 picketed Wednesday in front of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, saying that valet parking attendants at the hotel-casino have been working without a contract since voting to form a union in 2009. A union spokesman said more than a dozen Hard Rock valet workers would be covered by the contract. The pickets included Teamsters members from other resorts...
Teamsters local pickets Cranston City Hall in contract negotiation issue Providence Journal ...Mayor Allan Fung and Teamsters Local 251, which represents some of the city's full-time workers, came head-to-head over contract negotiations on Wednesday as about 30 people picketed in front of City Hall. The Teamsters’ contract expired June 30, and the city and union began negotiating for a new contract on June 2...
Teamsters Urge Safeway to Keep Good Jobs at Maryland Distribution Facilities DC Labor ...Teamsters are calling for Safeway to keep good jobs in Maryland, after the company unexpectedly issued a notice that it plans to start closing its Upper Marlboro and Landover, MD, grocery distribution facilities 19 days before Christmas, resulting in the layoff of more than 700 workers. The warehouse workers, members of Teamsters Locals 730 and 639, based in Washington, D.C., received a 60-day layoff notice from C&S Wholesale Grocers, which operates the Safeway-owned facilities...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Former US officials urge Congress to pass TPP The Hill ...More than two dozen former top U.S. officials are urging Congress to support a sweeping Pacific trade agreement that could get a vote sometime early next year. The group of 26 former Asia-focused trade, economic, diplomatic, security and intelligence officials sent a letter on Wednesday to House and Senate leadership. But the expansive agreement, completed last week in Atlanta after five years of talks, faces stiff headwinds from congressional lawmakers in both parties...
Don't Hold Your Breath for Cheap Steaks: Here's the TPP Timeline Bloomberg ...businesses seeking to take advantage of the deal -- which could have benefits and fallout for automakers, cattle and dairy farmers and drug manufacturers -- will have to wait for months and possibly even years before they will see its effects. The deal must be ratified by all 12 nations, and in many, that will be a multi-step process...
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown Slams Obama-Backed TPP As 'Massive Sellout of American Workers' IBTimes ...Democratic senators have typically used deferential language when discussing Obama administration initiatives, even ones they don't support. In that, they have emulated Ronald Reagan's (possibly apocryphal) "Eleventh Commandment" about not publicly attacking members of your own party. But that may be changing with the president's push for a 12-nation trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Clinton says Pacific trade deal falls short on addressing currency manipulation Reuters ...U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal because it does not adequately address currency manipulation. Clinton, who announced her opposition to the deal last week, said at a campaign event on Wednesday that she had hoped the agreement would have "enforceable provisions" related to currency manipulation...
RCEP: The next trade deal you need to know about CNBC ...The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement last week could speed up talks on its lesser-known Asia-wide equivalent, trade analysts say. Negotiators working on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are currently in the middle of a week-long meeting. The RCEP was conceived in 2013 and is being negotiated between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus regional trading partners including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea...
EU Concerned TTIP Deal to Lower Labor, Eco Standards - Ex-UN Advisor Sputnik ...The TTIP agreement seeks to liberalize trade between the United States and Europe and create the world's largest trade zone, encompassing more than 60 percent of global production. "Many Europeans, including policymakers, fear labor standards will be undermined, not raised by the [TTIP] trade agreement," Aaronson, who is also a professor at the George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs, said...
Public transport workers strike in Amsterdam and Utrecht Dutch News ...Commuters in Amsterdam and Utrecht face chaos on Thursday morning because of a strike by transport workers. The strike has been called by the FNV transport union to protest at the pay deal for civil servants agreed between three other unions and employers this summer. Qbuzz had gone to court in an effort to have the strike declared illegal...
Half of world's wealth now in hands of 1% of population – report The Guardian ...Global inequality is growing, with half the world’s wealth now in the hands of just 1% of the population, according to a new report. The middle classes have been squeezed at the expense of the very rich, according to research by Credit Suisse. Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of Credit Suisse, said: “Middle class wealth has grown at a slower pace than wealth at the top end. This has reversed the pre-crisis trend"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Low-wage workers rally, march in push for $15 hourly minimum Boston Globe ...Low-wage workers filled the hallways at the [Massachusetts] State House Tuesday as legislators considered a number of bills that would have a major impact on their jobs, from giving hourly employees more predictable schedules to raising the minimum wage at fast-food chains and big-box retailers to $15 an hour...
Group launches hunger strike in Charlotte over immigration legislation Charlotte Observer ...A group of people demanding that Gov. Pat McCrory veto a bill that cracks down on undocumented immigrants in the state is continuing a hunger strike Thursday outside the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center. They began Wednesday afternoon, and participants said they intend to go without food until Friday afternoon. They are demanding that McCrory veto HB 318...
Kansas Voter ID Law Sets Off a New Battle Over Registration New York Times ...This month, under a rule adopted by the Kansas secretary of state’s office, county election officials throughout the state began to cull names from the voters list, removing people who had been on it at least 90 days. Those removed from the list must start the registration process over in order to vote. The move has touched off a new battle over voter registration, pitting the Republican secretary of state, Kris W. Kobach, an ardent supporter of strict voting rules, against Democrats and advocates of voting rights...
Marco Rubio knows you can't live on minimum wage, but he wouldn't raise it Daily Kos ...Rubio thinks it would be awfully nice if businesses would pay wages people could live on, but the policies he's interested in are about making things easier for businesses, not workers. And maybe eventually the policy giveaways to business will trickle down to workers in the form of higher wages. Rubio has "full confidence," in fact, even though he is fully aware that it's not happening now...
It’s Science: Raising Minimum Wage Would Make America a Happier Place The Nation ... Smith is the author of an academic cri de cœur, published in the September 2015 issue of American Psychologist, in which she calls on the psychological profession to take a strong stance in support of raising the minimum wage. [She] asks her colleagues to consider the “mountain of evidence that supports the damaging impact of poverty upon the psychological, social and physical well-being of adults, children and communities”...
Comment sought on new sick leave law rules Statesman Journal ...The Bureau of Labor and Industries is seeking comment on implementing Oregon's new paid sick leave law. A series of public rulemaking hearings will be held in Eugene, Bend and Portland this month. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said the new law is an important step forward for workplaces. "We want to hear from the public so that our agency can make the new protections work for employees and businesses alike," he said...
Missouri: Judge Strikes Down Law Increasing St. Louis’s Minimum Wage Associated Press ...A state judge has struck down a St. Louis ordinance that sought to raise the city’s minimum wage. Judge Steven Ohmer of St. Louis Circuit Court declared the ordinance invalid and barred the city from enforcing it. His ruling Wednesday came a day before a 60-cent increase was to set the city’s minimum wage at $8.25 an hour...
U.S. LABOR
Thousands of City Janitors Authorize Strike Biz Philly ...The union representing 2,800 janitors who clean 168 Center City office buildings — including the Comcast Center and Cira Centre — has voted to authorize a strike amidst negotiations for a new contract. The 32BJ SEIU union has been negotiating with Building Owners Labor Relations Inc. since September 3 but failed to come to an agreement. Negotiations are ongoing, but the union now has the ability to strike if no deal is reached before the Thursday deadline...
UAW ratifies contract with MMNA Pantagraph ... United Auto Workers Local 2488, representing about 950 workers at the Mitsubishi auto plant, has overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with company. An "official notice" on the UAW's Facebook page Thursday morning states the vote was 697 in favor of the agreement and 103 voting "no"...
Inside Corporate America’s Campaign to Ditch Workers’ Comp ProPublica ...Standing before a giant map in his Dallas office, Bill Minick doesn’t seem like anyone’s idea of a bomb thrower. But backed by some of the biggest names in corporate America, this mild-mannered son of an evangelist is plotting a revolution in how companies take care of injured workers. His idea: Let them opt out of state workers’ compensation laws — and write their own rules...CSU Faculty Fight to Stop ‘University Professor’ From Becoming the New McJob In These Times ...Faculty across the 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU) system will be voting on strike authorization October 19-28. Should the 23,000 workers, mostly instructional employees, organized as the California Faculty Association (CFA) vote in favor of authorization, CFA leaders will be able to call a work stoppage if they cannot reach a settlement with the CSU system’s overseers, the Board of Trustees, over salary negotiations...
Hard Times For Seniors: No Cost of Living Increase for Social Security for 2016 Alternet ...On October 15, the Social Security Administration will announce some news that will be distressing to more than one in four households: there will be no Social Security cost of living adjustment ("COLA") for 2016. This is no small matter. The purpose of the annual adjustments is to ensure that Social Security's benefits don't lose value over time...
The Neverending Workday The Atlantic ...Work cultures of long hours reflect a notion of professionalism based on athleticism, in which one’s pace and accomplishments exist to be bested. Like a marathon, the never-ending office day tests psychological will and bodily capacity in equal measure. But even casual runners know the value of a good night’s sleep. Without adequate rest the body just isn’t up to the challenge...
Chicago Workers Thrive Three Years After Taking Over a Window Factory Truthout ...In 2008, Republic's owners closed the factory and laid off the work force without the required 60-days notice. Workers occupied the factory and refused to leave the premises until they were paid what they were owed. The story went nationwide. The New Era Windows and Doors Cooperative has been in operation since 2013. It hasn't been easy, but the worker-owners have learned together how to operate their own business...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigration creates its own wall inside GOP field CNBC ...immigration has divided conservative activists from business-oriented Republicans and the fast-growing Hispanic constituency the GOP needs more votes from to win presidential elections. But Donald Trump widened that divide — and began his rise to the top of Republican polls with hot rhetoric in his presidential announcement speech about who was crossing America's Southern border...
The Democratic Presidential Candidates Declared War on Unfettered Capitalism (opinion) Slate ...Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate revealed much more than the state of the horse race. It didn’t just pit Hillary Clinton against Sen. Bernie Sanders, or affect Vice President Joe Biden’s decision about running, or introduce the other candidates. It framed the whole election. Democrats are putting together a case for jerking the leash on capitalism. It’s moral, pragmatic, and smart. It fits the spirit of the times. Republicans had better come up with an answer...
People's Climate Returns as Communities Converge for Actions Nationwide Common Dreams ...Climate justice activists and community members are coming together throughout the country on Wednesday to demand urgent action from world leaders on the environment, workers rights, social justice, and other issues ahead of next month's United Nations COP21 talks in Paris. Actions are expected in more than 175 communities across 40 states as part of the National Day of Action on Climate, calling for an end to fossil fuels and investment in sustainable energy...
Eric Garner and Tamir Rice among those missing from FBI record of police killings The Guardian ...Killings by police that unleashed a new protest movement around the US in 2014, including those of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and John Crawford, are missing from the federal government’s official record of homicides by officers because most departments refuse to submit data. Only 224 of 18,000 law enforcement agencies around the US reported a fatal shooting by their officers to the FBI last year...
Friday, September 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.11.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Joins Congressional Leaders, Retirees at Rally to Stop Pension Cuts Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), retiree advocates and hundreds of retirees on Capitol Hill today to call on Congress to protect the earned retirement benefits of millions of American retirees and workers. The “Keep Our Pension Promises Act” (KOPPA), sponsored by Sen. Sanders and Rep. Kaptur, would protect workers and retirees from cuts to their earned retirement benefits...
BMWED/Teamsters Organizes Maintenance of Way Workers On Indiana Railroad Teamster.org ...Twenty-four maintenance of way employees with The Indiana Railroad Company are the newest members of the BMWED, a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference, voting in a super-majority Sept. 2 to join our Union. The results of the vote were certified by the National Mediation Board Sept. 3. The new members are now a part of the BMWED's Allied Federation...
First Contract For Teamsters At Engineered Wire Products Teamster.org ...After voting to be represented by Teamsters Local 377 in Youngstown, Ohio, in March, more than 25 workers at Engineered Wire Products recently ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The company produces rebar used in cement construction projects as well as specialty wire products for other uses in the industry...
Fresh from car-hauler talks, Teamsters back UAW JOC ...The Teamsters union is lending its horsepower to United Auto Workers Union efforts to secure a contract for more than 140,000 workers employed by the largest U.S. automakers. International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa promised on Labor Day that unionized car-haulers will support the UAW if the union calls a strike against any of Detroit's Big Three car makers...
Building Trades’ Bill to End Wage Disparities for CA Cement Drivers Clears Senate We Party Patriots ...By a 24-13 tally the California State Senate voted in favor of Assembly Bill 219, which closes loopholes that previously exempted some drivers of ready-mixed concrete from receiving the prevailing wage on public works projects. The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Daly (D-Anaheim) and was sponsored by the State Building Trades, the Teamsters, and the California Labor Federation...
Union Pushes for Fair Efficiency Standards at Coca-Cola Warehouses in Chicago, Alsip Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 will continue to fight any discipline Reyes management issues for not complying with efficiency standards until the union’s engineers complete independent testing at the Great Lakes Coca-Cola Division Chicago and Alsip warehouses. Local 727 submitted a request to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters asking for engineers to perform efficiency standards tests at the two locations, and now the union is waiting for the testing dates...
Global Labor & Trade
Senators urge hard line on auto trade talks The Detroit News ...Three senators urged the Obama administration to win more concessions for automakers as 12-nation trade talks may be getting closer to a deal. U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, wrote U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman urging the administration to take a hard line on auto issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The three urge him to negotiate an agreement that keeps U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars and trucks...
Trans-Pacific Partnership slammed by Unifor CBC ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership would kill Canadian auto jobs says Unifor, the union that represents thousands of autoworkers in this country. The TPP is a proposed agreement between not only the 12 Pacific Rim countries at the table, but others who could join later - countries like China, India or the Philippines. In June, the prime minister called the deal "essential" for Canada...
NAFTA risks becoming collateral damage in Obama’s geopolitical plans Globe and Mail ...U.S. negotiators recently left their Canadian and Mexican counterparts gobsmacked by a proposal that would allow auto parts with as little as 30-per-cent content from Trans-Pacific Partnership countries to enter North America tariff-free, a development that would reverse two decades of supply-chain integration on this continent and undermine the billions of dollars suppliers have invested in plants in Canada and Mexico...
The TPP Will Finish What Chile’s Dictatorship Started The Nation ...The global rentier class that enriches itself off the neoliberal property-rights regime had, a decade ago, hoped to lock-down Latin America under the hemisphere-wide Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). But that scheme fell apart with the return of Latin America’s post-Washington Consensus left. So Washington came back with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country treaty—including Chile, Peru, and Mexico—vigorously promoted by the Obama administration...
Uruguay’s Vazquez Casts Doubt on Services Trade Pact Herald Tribune ...President Tabare Vazquez, who pulled Uruguay out of negotiations on the proposed international Trade in Services Agreement, known as TISA, said Thursday the accord may never become a reality. “Let’s try to describe things as they are,” Vazquez said to reporters. “TISA does not exist"...
Anti-Union Violence in Honduras: Sixth Time this Year Solidarity Center ...A second Honduran union leader and participant in the Network Against Anti-Union Violence in Honduras has been threatened with death if he does not stop his union-related work, according to the human rights group Aci Participa. Tomás Membreño Pérez, president of the agricultural workers union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria (STAS), received death threats by phone and on Facebook in recent days...
Ford workers strike at Brazil factory to protest job cuts Automotive News ...Workers at a Ford Motor Co. plant in Brazil began an open-ended strike on Thursday to protest job cuts, adding to labor tensions that have rattled the country's auto industry in the midst of its worst crisis in nearly two decades. The local metalworkers union said about 4,300 employees at Ford's Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, which makes trucks and compact passenger cars, went on strike...
State & Living Wage Battles
New York OKs $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers USA Today ...New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration formally approved the increase Thursday, a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he would work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries...
Nixon announces drop in workers compensation rates St. Louis Public Radio ...Missouri businesses can expect to pay less for workers compensation insurance. During a visit to Nelson Mulligan Carpenters Training Center in Affton on Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that a variety of Missouri businesses would see a drop in their workers comp rates. Companies pay for this insurance to avoid paying big costs when a worker gets hurt. he highest decrease will come in the contracting industry, which Nixon attributed to investments in worker safety...
Dozens of workers to strike at Sea-Tac Airport Friday over minimum wage Seattle Times ...Dozens of baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and others who work for Menzies Aviation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are expected to walk off their jobs Friday, protesting what they call unfair labor practices and demanding to be paid a $15 minimum wage. Menzies is a contractor for Alaska Airlines, providing ramp agents, baggage handlers, and other such service workers...
Could a Backroom Political Deal Stop Prevailing Wage Repeal? CapCon ...Unions are trying to cut a deal with business groups to prevent a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law, according to a news account out of Lansing. The idea is that business groups would use their influence on Republican lawmakers to halt a repeal measure that is likely to succeed in exchange for the unions dropping a proposed ballot initiative to nearly double the state’s main business tax...
Puerto Rican government unveils anti-worker austerity plan WSWS.org ...On Wednesday September 9, Governor Alejandro Padilla announced his government’s plan to deal with Puerto Rico’s historic debt crisis. The plan is a frontal attack on education, health care, jobs and living standards. The five-year plan, elaborated by Padilla and the Popular Party government, contains an extensive series of budget cuts to deal with the Island’s $72 billion public debt...
Scott Walker's Day One Plan to "Wreak Havoc" Lifted from ALEC PR Watch ...If Scott Walker is elected president, he will enact American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) policies on the first day of his presidency. Walker was an ALEC member as a state legislator, and according to outlets like The Guardian, Walker could be "The First ALEC President." In a speech today at Eureka College, Walker pledged to "wreak some havoc on Washington," and promised his first day in office would be "one of the busiest the White House has seen in years"...
John Kasich Was Against Poor People Before He Was for Them Mother Jones ...The tax policies Kasich has championed and implemented since he was elected governor in 2010 left Ohio's low-income folks worse off than they were decades ago. His economic policies have led to growing inequality in a state that should be in recovery. Median household incomes began falling in 2007 and continued to drop during Kasich's governorship...
U.S. Labor
Haggen employees' union prepared to fight to keep contract Bellingham Herald ...The union representing Haggen’s employees says it will fight to keep its contract as the company reorganizes after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a letter sent to Haggen employees Wednesday night, Sept. 9, UFCW 21 President Todd Crosby said the union is coordinating effors for all the local chapters up and down the West Coast in order to have a focused response and keeping a united front...
'Won't Back Down': Seattle Teacher Strike Continues for Third Day Common Dreams ...'The teachers remain on strike. The picket lines are united. And support among parents is strong.' That is the latest message from Seattle Education Association on Friday as classes were cancelled for the third day with the continuation of the strike which is demanding an unfreezing of wages, the end of unreasonable standardized testing for students, a more fair evaluation system for teachers, and new policies to increase equity of opportunity for the student body...
AFSCME, Rauner reach another deal to keep talking Illinois News Network ...Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and the state’s biggest public-employee union have reached their third pact to continue contract talks without threat of strike or lockout. This time, the extension or tolling agreement does not include an end date. Instead, both the administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 agree to stay at the table until they reach impasse...
UAW contract negotiations are getting down to the wire Business Journal ...The current collective bargaining agreement between the United Automobile Workers and Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler is set to expire Sept. 14, and the parties appear calm and confident even though there still hasn’t been a lead company named for the negotiations. The UAW typically chooses one of the three automakers to serve as the lead for negotiations...
SEIU jubilant over proposed labor contract with Oregon public universities Register-Guard ...Some 1,600 University of Oregon classified employees will receive 2.25 percent pay increases this year and next, and many will also receive annual so-called “step” increases of up to 4.9 percent, under a tentative deal announced Thursday. The deal covers 4,400 classified employees in more than 270 types of jobs at the state’s seven public universities, including the UO...
Union president voices concerns over potential RFTA negotiator Aspen Daily News ...The president of a local transit union went before the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Board on Thursday morning to voice the group’s displeasure with the potential hiring of controversial chief negotiator in upcoming collective bargaining talks. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1774 is seeking quicker wage progression for its members...
Social Justice & Other News
Most Americans differ with Trump on immigration, poll shows NJ.com ...Does illegal immigration lead to more violent crime? Should the U.S. build a wall to keep unauthorized immigrants out? While GOP front-runner Donald Trump has argued both questions get a resounding "yes," a new poll by Monmouth University finds most Americans see it differently than the real estate tycoon...
Dems filibuster Iran vote The Hill ...Senate Democrats held ranks Thursday and blocked a resolution disapproving the Iran nuclear deal, handing President Obama a major political victory. Only a few months earlier, some Senate opponents of the deal predicted they would be able to muster 67 votes to override a presidential veto...
As Refugee Aid Falters, European Leaders Pursue Military Action at Sea Common Dreams ...As their humanitarian response to the ongoing refugee crisis falters, European leaders are pressing the United Nations Security Council to authorized an escalated military force to pursue so-called "human smugglers" in the Mediterranean Sea's international waters. The effort to advance the draft resolution is, according to Foreign Policy, being led by Britain, whose government has come under fire for "turning its back" on people seeking refuge...
California Police Ransacked Public Apartments Without Warrants Under ‘Neighborhood Blitz’ Program Think Progress ...In an invasive, war-like operation known as the Neighborhood Blitz, police officers in Stockton, California illegally searched the apartments of poor minorities and physically disabled people, according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday. Under the guise of standard housing inspections, armed officers routinely burst into homes with little to no warning, ransacked the premises without warrants...
Robert Reich: Americans Obsess Over the Sex Lives of Strangers While CEOs Rob the Country Blind Alternet ...At a time many Republican presidential candidates and state legislators are furiously focusing on private morality – what people do in their bedrooms, contraception, abortion, gay marriage – America is experiencing a far more significant crisis in public morality. CEOs of large corporations now earn 300 times the wages of average workers. Insider trading is endemic on Wall Street, where hedge-fund and private-equity moguls are taking home hundreds of millions...
The Government Might Finally Get Tough on Wall Street Fraud The Atlantic ...On Wednesday, the Justice Department issued a new policy regarding the prosecution of white-collar criminals. Amid post-recession complaints from the public that the Wall Street executives responsible for the crash escaped criminal charges and jail time—and that in these seven years Wall Street hasn’t cleaned up its act—the new policy prioritizes the prosecution of executives involved in fraud...
Hoffa Joins Congressional Leaders, Retirees at Rally to Stop Pension Cuts Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), retiree advocates and hundreds of retirees on Capitol Hill today to call on Congress to protect the earned retirement benefits of millions of American retirees and workers. The “Keep Our Pension Promises Act” (KOPPA), sponsored by Sen. Sanders and Rep. Kaptur, would protect workers and retirees from cuts to their earned retirement benefits...
BMWED/Teamsters Organizes Maintenance of Way Workers On Indiana Railroad Teamster.org ...Twenty-four maintenance of way employees with The Indiana Railroad Company are the newest members of the BMWED, a division of the Teamsters Rail Conference, voting in a super-majority Sept. 2 to join our Union. The results of the vote were certified by the National Mediation Board Sept. 3. The new members are now a part of the BMWED's Allied Federation...
First Contract For Teamsters At Engineered Wire Products Teamster.org ...After voting to be represented by Teamsters Local 377 in Youngstown, Ohio, in March, more than 25 workers at Engineered Wire Products recently ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The company produces rebar used in cement construction projects as well as specialty wire products for other uses in the industry...
Fresh from car-hauler talks, Teamsters back UAW JOC ...The Teamsters union is lending its horsepower to United Auto Workers Union efforts to secure a contract for more than 140,000 workers employed by the largest U.S. automakers. International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa promised on Labor Day that unionized car-haulers will support the UAW if the union calls a strike against any of Detroit's Big Three car makers...
Building Trades’ Bill to End Wage Disparities for CA Cement Drivers Clears Senate We Party Patriots ...By a 24-13 tally the California State Senate voted in favor of Assembly Bill 219, which closes loopholes that previously exempted some drivers of ready-mixed concrete from receiving the prevailing wage on public works projects. The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Daly (D-Anaheim) and was sponsored by the State Building Trades, the Teamsters, and the California Labor Federation...
Union Pushes for Fair Efficiency Standards at Coca-Cola Warehouses in Chicago, Alsip Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 will continue to fight any discipline Reyes management issues for not complying with efficiency standards until the union’s engineers complete independent testing at the Great Lakes Coca-Cola Division Chicago and Alsip warehouses. Local 727 submitted a request to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters asking for engineers to perform efficiency standards tests at the two locations, and now the union is waiting for the testing dates...
Global Labor & Trade
Senators urge hard line on auto trade talks The Detroit News ...Three senators urged the Obama administration to win more concessions for automakers as 12-nation trade talks may be getting closer to a deal. U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, wrote U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman urging the administration to take a hard line on auto issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The three urge him to negotiate an agreement that keeps U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars and trucks...
Trans-Pacific Partnership slammed by Unifor CBC ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership would kill Canadian auto jobs says Unifor, the union that represents thousands of autoworkers in this country. The TPP is a proposed agreement between not only the 12 Pacific Rim countries at the table, but others who could join later - countries like China, India or the Philippines. In June, the prime minister called the deal "essential" for Canada...
NAFTA risks becoming collateral damage in Obama’s geopolitical plans Globe and Mail ...U.S. negotiators recently left their Canadian and Mexican counterparts gobsmacked by a proposal that would allow auto parts with as little as 30-per-cent content from Trans-Pacific Partnership countries to enter North America tariff-free, a development that would reverse two decades of supply-chain integration on this continent and undermine the billions of dollars suppliers have invested in plants in Canada and Mexico...
The TPP Will Finish What Chile’s Dictatorship Started The Nation ...The global rentier class that enriches itself off the neoliberal property-rights regime had, a decade ago, hoped to lock-down Latin America under the hemisphere-wide Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). But that scheme fell apart with the return of Latin America’s post-Washington Consensus left. So Washington came back with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country treaty—including Chile, Peru, and Mexico—vigorously promoted by the Obama administration...
Uruguay’s Vazquez Casts Doubt on Services Trade Pact Herald Tribune ...President Tabare Vazquez, who pulled Uruguay out of negotiations on the proposed international Trade in Services Agreement, known as TISA, said Thursday the accord may never become a reality. “Let’s try to describe things as they are,” Vazquez said to reporters. “TISA does not exist"...
Anti-Union Violence in Honduras: Sixth Time this Year Solidarity Center ...A second Honduran union leader and participant in the Network Against Anti-Union Violence in Honduras has been threatened with death if he does not stop his union-related work, according to the human rights group Aci Participa. Tomás Membreño Pérez, president of the agricultural workers union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria (STAS), received death threats by phone and on Facebook in recent days...
Ford workers strike at Brazil factory to protest job cuts Automotive News ...Workers at a Ford Motor Co. plant in Brazil began an open-ended strike on Thursday to protest job cuts, adding to labor tensions that have rattled the country's auto industry in the midst of its worst crisis in nearly two decades. The local metalworkers union said about 4,300 employees at Ford's Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, which makes trucks and compact passenger cars, went on strike...
State & Living Wage Battles
New York OKs $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers USA Today ...New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration formally approved the increase Thursday, a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he would work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries...
Nixon announces drop in workers compensation rates St. Louis Public Radio ...Missouri businesses can expect to pay less for workers compensation insurance. During a visit to Nelson Mulligan Carpenters Training Center in Affton on Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that a variety of Missouri businesses would see a drop in their workers comp rates. Companies pay for this insurance to avoid paying big costs when a worker gets hurt. he highest decrease will come in the contracting industry, which Nixon attributed to investments in worker safety...
Dozens of workers to strike at Sea-Tac Airport Friday over minimum wage Seattle Times ...Dozens of baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and others who work for Menzies Aviation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are expected to walk off their jobs Friday, protesting what they call unfair labor practices and demanding to be paid a $15 minimum wage. Menzies is a contractor for Alaska Airlines, providing ramp agents, baggage handlers, and other such service workers...
Could a Backroom Political Deal Stop Prevailing Wage Repeal? CapCon ...Unions are trying to cut a deal with business groups to prevent a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law, according to a news account out of Lansing. The idea is that business groups would use their influence on Republican lawmakers to halt a repeal measure that is likely to succeed in exchange for the unions dropping a proposed ballot initiative to nearly double the state’s main business tax...
Puerto Rican government unveils anti-worker austerity plan WSWS.org ...On Wednesday September 9, Governor Alejandro Padilla announced his government’s plan to deal with Puerto Rico’s historic debt crisis. The plan is a frontal attack on education, health care, jobs and living standards. The five-year plan, elaborated by Padilla and the Popular Party government, contains an extensive series of budget cuts to deal with the Island’s $72 billion public debt...
Scott Walker's Day One Plan to "Wreak Havoc" Lifted from ALEC PR Watch ...If Scott Walker is elected president, he will enact American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) policies on the first day of his presidency. Walker was an ALEC member as a state legislator, and according to outlets like The Guardian, Walker could be "The First ALEC President." In a speech today at Eureka College, Walker pledged to "wreak some havoc on Washington," and promised his first day in office would be "one of the busiest the White House has seen in years"...
John Kasich Was Against Poor People Before He Was for Them Mother Jones ...The tax policies Kasich has championed and implemented since he was elected governor in 2010 left Ohio's low-income folks worse off than they were decades ago. His economic policies have led to growing inequality in a state that should be in recovery. Median household incomes began falling in 2007 and continued to drop during Kasich's governorship...
U.S. Labor
Haggen employees' union prepared to fight to keep contract Bellingham Herald ...The union representing Haggen’s employees says it will fight to keep its contract as the company reorganizes after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a letter sent to Haggen employees Wednesday night, Sept. 9, UFCW 21 President Todd Crosby said the union is coordinating effors for all the local chapters up and down the West Coast in order to have a focused response and keeping a united front...
'Won't Back Down': Seattle Teacher Strike Continues for Third Day Common Dreams ...'The teachers remain on strike. The picket lines are united. And support among parents is strong.' That is the latest message from Seattle Education Association on Friday as classes were cancelled for the third day with the continuation of the strike which is demanding an unfreezing of wages, the end of unreasonable standardized testing for students, a more fair evaluation system for teachers, and new policies to increase equity of opportunity for the student body...
AFSCME, Rauner reach another deal to keep talking Illinois News Network ...Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and the state’s biggest public-employee union have reached their third pact to continue contract talks without threat of strike or lockout. This time, the extension or tolling agreement does not include an end date. Instead, both the administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 agree to stay at the table until they reach impasse...
UAW contract negotiations are getting down to the wire Business Journal ...The current collective bargaining agreement between the United Automobile Workers and Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler is set to expire Sept. 14, and the parties appear calm and confident even though there still hasn’t been a lead company named for the negotiations. The UAW typically chooses one of the three automakers to serve as the lead for negotiations...
SEIU jubilant over proposed labor contract with Oregon public universities Register-Guard ...Some 1,600 University of Oregon classified employees will receive 2.25 percent pay increases this year and next, and many will also receive annual so-called “step” increases of up to 4.9 percent, under a tentative deal announced Thursday. The deal covers 4,400 classified employees in more than 270 types of jobs at the state’s seven public universities, including the UO...
Union president voices concerns over potential RFTA negotiator Aspen Daily News ...The president of a local transit union went before the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Board on Thursday morning to voice the group’s displeasure with the potential hiring of controversial chief negotiator in upcoming collective bargaining talks. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1774 is seeking quicker wage progression for its members...
Social Justice & Other News
Most Americans differ with Trump on immigration, poll shows NJ.com ...Does illegal immigration lead to more violent crime? Should the U.S. build a wall to keep unauthorized immigrants out? While GOP front-runner Donald Trump has argued both questions get a resounding "yes," a new poll by Monmouth University finds most Americans see it differently than the real estate tycoon...
Dems filibuster Iran vote The Hill ...Senate Democrats held ranks Thursday and blocked a resolution disapproving the Iran nuclear deal, handing President Obama a major political victory. Only a few months earlier, some Senate opponents of the deal predicted they would be able to muster 67 votes to override a presidential veto...
As Refugee Aid Falters, European Leaders Pursue Military Action at Sea Common Dreams ...As their humanitarian response to the ongoing refugee crisis falters, European leaders are pressing the United Nations Security Council to authorized an escalated military force to pursue so-called "human smugglers" in the Mediterranean Sea's international waters. The effort to advance the draft resolution is, according to Foreign Policy, being led by Britain, whose government has come under fire for "turning its back" on people seeking refuge...
California Police Ransacked Public Apartments Without Warrants Under ‘Neighborhood Blitz’ Program Think Progress ...In an invasive, war-like operation known as the Neighborhood Blitz, police officers in Stockton, California illegally searched the apartments of poor minorities and physically disabled people, according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday. Under the guise of standard housing inspections, armed officers routinely burst into homes with little to no warning, ransacked the premises without warrants...
Robert Reich: Americans Obsess Over the Sex Lives of Strangers While CEOs Rob the Country Blind Alternet ...At a time many Republican presidential candidates and state legislators are furiously focusing on private morality – what people do in their bedrooms, contraception, abortion, gay marriage – America is experiencing a far more significant crisis in public morality. CEOs of large corporations now earn 300 times the wages of average workers. Insider trading is endemic on Wall Street, where hedge-fund and private-equity moguls are taking home hundreds of millions...
The Government Might Finally Get Tough on Wall Street Fraud The Atlantic ...On Wednesday, the Justice Department issued a new policy regarding the prosecution of white-collar criminals. Amid post-recession complaints from the public that the Wall Street executives responsible for the crash escaped criminal charges and jail time—and that in these seven years Wall Street hasn’t cleaned up its act—the new policy prioritizes the prosecution of executives involved in fraud...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)