Trade
Lies, damned lies, and the arguments for Fast-Tracking the TPP trade deal
The Ecologist …When US Trade Representative Michael Froman testified before Congress last week, he made impressive claims for the benefits of Fast-Tracking the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, writes Ben Beachy. Just one problem - all those claims were either untrue, or profoundly misleading...
War on Workers
Steelworkers Union Expands Walk Outs to Two BP Refineries Wall Street Journal …The striking United Steelworkers expanded walkouts to two more refineries over the weekend as talks between the union and energy companies continued into a second week. The strike now encompasses more than 5,000 workers at 11 U.S. fuel-making plants…
Republicans roll out right-to-work bills The Washington Examiner …Both right-to-work bills would amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit contracts between labor unions and businesses that force all of a company's workers to join a union or at least pay it a fee as a condition of employment. The legislation is certain to meet fierce Democratic resistance…
Stock Buybacks Are Killing the American Economy The Atlantic …Profits once flowed to higher wages or increased investment. Now, they enrich a small number of shareholders...
HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide millions The Guardian …HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files…
It’s cheaper and easier to rent an MBA than to hire one Quartz …The on-demand economy, where people work when they want and get paid by the task, has redefined the roles of taxi drivers and created new jobs such as professional grocery store shoppers who are paid by the hour to run other people’s errands. Less well known is how the 1099 economy (named for the US tax forms filed by independent contractors), is now bleeding into the upper echelon of the workforce: The nation’s top business school graduates...
Income Inequality Is Ravaging America’s Middle Class Economy In Crisis …The median wage in the U.S. is $28,031, or approximately $13.50 per hour. This means that half of working Americans make less than that. The cost of living for one person in the U.S. is $20,194. After taxes and living expenses, most Americans are just getting by...
Monday, February 9, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.08.14
Teamsters
Teamsters Membership Authorize Strike Action At CP Teamsters Canada …Today the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) members employed as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors, Trainmen and Yardmen throughout Canada has provided their National Bargaining Committee with a resounding demonstration of support…
Trade
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficits Widen, Further Exposing Failed Policy Huffington Post …In December the trade deficit in goods and services made its largest percentage jump in more than five years and the 2014 yearly total is its highest since 2012 - which begs the question: Why is the Obama administration doubling down on the failed trade policies of its predecessors?...
Five Reasons Congress Should Oppose the TPP truthout …Nearly 60,000 job losses can be attributed to the 2012 US-Korea FTA, EPI reports. Secretary of State John Kerry and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack insist that the TPP would support 650,000 jobs in the United States, but the Washington Post's Fact Checker awarded their "illusionary" job claims four Pinocchios for "fishy math."...
STUDY: TV News Shows Largely Ignore Historic Trade Negotiations Media Matters for America …Weeknight television news programs have given little attention to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sweeping trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and 10 nations from the Asia-Pacific region. Although the nations involved in the negotiations create a huge amount of economic activity, only PBS and MSNBC have devoted any significant coverage to the TPP since August 2013...
State Battles
Right-to-work law stands as judge dismisses suit over Michigan Capitol lockdown Michigan Live …A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the state's right-to-work law over alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act during the legislative process...
Lt. Governor ready to be tiebreaker in right-to-work vote (Video) Albuquerque Business Journal …Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez…said that as president of the New Mexico Senate and the tiebreaker, he'll vote for right-to-work legislation and support raising New Mexico's minimum wage to that of neighboring states…
The dangers of Illinois as a 'right to work' state Chicago Sun-Times …workers would suffer a substantial income loss from 5.7 percent to 7.3 percent. More damaging to middle class standards, workers would experience the equivalent of a decade-long wage freeze. Additionally, fewer workers would have health insurance and retirement savings…
War on Workers
Adjunct professors get poverty-level wages. Should their pay quintuple? Washington Post …Since getting into the game a few years ago, the Service Employees International Union has won elections covering about 24,000 contingent faculty across 25 campuses...
Union says U.S. refinery strike widened; cites unfair labor practices Reuters … The United Steelworkers union said on Saturday the strike by U.S. refinery workers is expanding to two more plants early on Sunday due to unfair labor practices by oil companies…
The job market is unquestionably improving, and at a nice clip. But wage growth is not heating up. The Washington Post …Wages/compensation are growing at about 2 percent, a rate that’s far from inflationary...
Teamsters Membership Authorize Strike Action At CP Teamsters Canada …Today the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) members employed as Locomotive Engineers, Conductors, Trainmen and Yardmen throughout Canada has provided their National Bargaining Committee with a resounding demonstration of support…
Trade
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficits Widen, Further Exposing Failed Policy Huffington Post …In December the trade deficit in goods and services made its largest percentage jump in more than five years and the 2014 yearly total is its highest since 2012 - which begs the question: Why is the Obama administration doubling down on the failed trade policies of its predecessors?...
Five Reasons Congress Should Oppose the TPP truthout …Nearly 60,000 job losses can be attributed to the 2012 US-Korea FTA, EPI reports. Secretary of State John Kerry and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack insist that the TPP would support 650,000 jobs in the United States, but the Washington Post's Fact Checker awarded their "illusionary" job claims four Pinocchios for "fishy math."...
STUDY: TV News Shows Largely Ignore Historic Trade Negotiations Media Matters for America …Weeknight television news programs have given little attention to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sweeping trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and 10 nations from the Asia-Pacific region. Although the nations involved in the negotiations create a huge amount of economic activity, only PBS and MSNBC have devoted any significant coverage to the TPP since August 2013...
State Battles
Right-to-work law stands as judge dismisses suit over Michigan Capitol lockdown Michigan Live …A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the state's right-to-work law over alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act during the legislative process...
Lt. Governor ready to be tiebreaker in right-to-work vote (Video) Albuquerque Business Journal …Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez…said that as president of the New Mexico Senate and the tiebreaker, he'll vote for right-to-work legislation and support raising New Mexico's minimum wage to that of neighboring states…
The dangers of Illinois as a 'right to work' state Chicago Sun-Times …workers would suffer a substantial income loss from 5.7 percent to 7.3 percent. More damaging to middle class standards, workers would experience the equivalent of a decade-long wage freeze. Additionally, fewer workers would have health insurance and retirement savings…
War on Workers
Adjunct professors get poverty-level wages. Should their pay quintuple? Washington Post …Since getting into the game a few years ago, the Service Employees International Union has won elections covering about 24,000 contingent faculty across 25 campuses...
Union says U.S. refinery strike widened; cites unfair labor practices Reuters … The United Steelworkers union said on Saturday the strike by U.S. refinery workers is expanding to two more plants early on Sunday due to unfair labor practices by oil companies…
The job market is unquestionably improving, and at a nice clip. But wage growth is not heating up. The Washington Post …Wages/compensation are growing at about 2 percent, a rate that’s far from inflationary...
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.07.15
Teamsters
JCPS School Bus Driver Taken To Hospital, Assaulted By Student, Official Says WHAS ...A representative from the Teamsters Local 783, the union that represents school bus drivers, tells WHAS the driver was transporting students from the Binet School which serves special needs children. That teamsters representative says a student tried to open the bus' rear door, when a bus monitor intervened. When the bus driver walked back to help, the student allegedly pulled her by the hair, dragging her to the floor. The bus driver was taken to the hospital for arm and shoulder injuries...
CP Rail, Teamsters union tensions near boiling point CBC News ...Now, the union alleges the railway is violating a recent ruling regarding the use of union workers to teach CP Rail managers and office workers to operate trains. The union claims managers are telling locomotive engineers to vacate the train seat or be disciplined. The workers are then told to remain on the train engine...
Credentialing The Military Military.com ...One program to help military truck drivers get civilian credentials was developed by the Teamsters Union; it provides additional training, through the Teamsters Military Assistance Program, that helps service members earn commercial drivers' licenses. James P. Hoffa, the union's general president, is a featured speaker at the summit...
Air Canada And International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement On New Contract AviTrader ...Air Canada has reached a tentative collective agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) for the airline’s U.S.-based workforce. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership...
Fashion Week Will Kick Off With City Horse Carriages Trotting Models Down Central Park South New York Daily News ...Fashion Week will kick off next week with a parade of horse-drawn carriages trotting models down Central Park South for the second year in a row, a four-legged tradition that organizers say will be a permanent part of the festivities...
Trade
The Need to Address Currency Manipulation in TPP, and Why U.S. Monetary Policy Is Not at Risk Huffington Post ...Over the past decade, currency manipulation by foreign governments has resulted in an increase in unfairly traded imports into the United States and has made it more difficult for U.S. exporters to compete in foreign markets. The practice has cost U.S. workers between one million and five million jobs -- and is responsible for as much as half of excess unemployment in the United States...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Huge Deal. So Why Is It Being Kept Secret? In These Times ...The trade rules of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Asian nations would cover nearly 40 percent of the world economy—but don't ask what they are. Access to the text of the proposed deal is highly restricted...
‘Secret’ Trade Pact Stirs Up Suspicion truthdig ... “The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what has already been decided on its behalf, and what is now at stake with our various countries’ positions on these controversial regulatory issues.”...
Stop fast-track authority from removing the voice of the 100 percent (opinion) The Hill ...The morally responsible approach is to learn from damage caused by earlier trade deals and modify our approach. Just consider one example: last month, the Government Accountability Office reported that labor provisions, including the very terms sought by the Obama administration for TPP, have failed to improve working conditions internationally...
State Battles
Reality Check: Right To Work Hurts Working Families (opinion) Ruidoso News ... On average, workers who belong to a union and who have the power to bargain collectively with their employer take home nearly 20 percent more in earnings each week compared to workers who are not union members. The decline of union density over the past decades corresponds to the decline in income share for the vast majority, 60 percent, of middle class America....
Legislators Hear From Union Workers At Forum Huntington Herald Leader ...A major portion of attendees were union workers who spoke out against the prevailing wage and right to work bills, the first of which would eliminate the requirement of prevailing hourly rate wages for public improvement projects and the second of which would prohibit the requirement for workers to be in a union...
Gov. Rauner, Union Leaders Tangle During Mount Vernon Stop The Southern ...“He can call it as many ways as he can, but it’s right-to-work and it’s taking away from working class families in Southern Illinois, especially,” said Will Attig, a laborer from DeSoto. “We’re just out here to let him know, he’s not welcome here.” Bret Seferian, who works with the Illinois Education Association, based in Carterville, on behalf of SIU and John A. Logan employees’ unions, said it’s clear to him Rauner isn’t interested in “supporting employees.”...
Senate Democrats Pass $11-An-Hour State Minimum Wage In Rebuff To Rauner Chicago Tribune ...Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed through what could end up being a symbolic measure to raise the state's minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2019, bucking Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's call a day earlier for a smaller increase that would be phased in over a longer period of time...
Kentucky Minimum Wage Bill Passed In House Labor And Industry Committee WLKY ...Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo presented his minimum wage bill to the state Legislature Thursday. After discussion and voting, the bill passed in the House Labor and Industry Committee on a 13-to-3 vote...
Oh Sweet Irony: Walker Caught Lying About Removing "Search For Truth" from UW Mission Statement Daily Kos …He introduced a budget that removed several lines from the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement (aka a little thing known as "The Wisconsin Idea"), including the phrase, "basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth."...
War on Workers
Only 20% are Middle-Class, Most Don't Come Close Economic Populist …The number of 18-29 year olds who consider themselves lower-middle-class has doubled since 2008 reaching 49%...
How Nebraska Took Its Energy Out of Corporate Hands and Made It Affordable for Everyone Alternet ...In Nebraska, 121 publicly owned utilities, ten cooperatives, and 30 public power districts provide electricity to a population of around 1.8 million people. Public and cooperative ownership keeps costs low for the state’s consumers. Nebraskans pay one of the lowest rates for electricity in the nation and revenues are reinvested in infrastructure to ensure reliable and cheap service for years to come...
Gallup CEO Fears He Might “Suddenly Disappear” for Questioning U.S. Jobs Data Wall Street on Parade ... the percent of full time jobs in this country as a percent of the adult population “is the worst it’s been in 30 years.”...
Coke Settles Labor Dispute With Dismissed Employee Atlanta Journal Constitution ...Coca-Cola has settled a National Labor Relations Board complaint with a former employee who claimed the beverage giant fired him in retaliation for his role in trying to organize a union at a metro Atlanta bottling plant...
Comcast Employee Killed While Working On Utility Pole In Glen Ridge NJ.com ...A Comcast worker was killed while apparently working on a utility pole in Glen Ridge this morning...
Miscellaneous
What will passengers stand for? The Economist ...YET again a story has surfaced of an airline trying to get approval for a standing section on a plane. Previously the idea was mooted by Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair—although that was probably more attention-seeking than serious proposal. Now reports suggest that Spring Airlines, a Chinese budget carrier, is trying to get approval for standing posts, to which passengers could be strapped, presumably in a similar fashion to a Wall of Death fairground ride, although the airline might want to think of a better name than that...
JCPS School Bus Driver Taken To Hospital, Assaulted By Student, Official Says WHAS ...A representative from the Teamsters Local 783, the union that represents school bus drivers, tells WHAS the driver was transporting students from the Binet School which serves special needs children. That teamsters representative says a student tried to open the bus' rear door, when a bus monitor intervened. When the bus driver walked back to help, the student allegedly pulled her by the hair, dragging her to the floor. The bus driver was taken to the hospital for arm and shoulder injuries...
CP Rail, Teamsters union tensions near boiling point CBC News ...Now, the union alleges the railway is violating a recent ruling regarding the use of union workers to teach CP Rail managers and office workers to operate trains. The union claims managers are telling locomotive engineers to vacate the train seat or be disciplined. The workers are then told to remain on the train engine...
Credentialing The Military Military.com ...One program to help military truck drivers get civilian credentials was developed by the Teamsters Union; it provides additional training, through the Teamsters Military Assistance Program, that helps service members earn commercial drivers' licenses. James P. Hoffa, the union's general president, is a featured speaker at the summit...
Air Canada And International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement On New Contract AviTrader ...Air Canada has reached a tentative collective agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) for the airline’s U.S.-based workforce. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership...
Fashion Week Will Kick Off With City Horse Carriages Trotting Models Down Central Park South New York Daily News ...Fashion Week will kick off next week with a parade of horse-drawn carriages trotting models down Central Park South for the second year in a row, a four-legged tradition that organizers say will be a permanent part of the festivities...
Trade
The Need to Address Currency Manipulation in TPP, and Why U.S. Monetary Policy Is Not at Risk Huffington Post ...Over the past decade, currency manipulation by foreign governments has resulted in an increase in unfairly traded imports into the United States and has made it more difficult for U.S. exporters to compete in foreign markets. The practice has cost U.S. workers between one million and five million jobs -- and is responsible for as much as half of excess unemployment in the United States...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Huge Deal. So Why Is It Being Kept Secret? In These Times ...The trade rules of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Asian nations would cover nearly 40 percent of the world economy—but don't ask what they are. Access to the text of the proposed deal is highly restricted...
‘Secret’ Trade Pact Stirs Up Suspicion truthdig ... “The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what has already been decided on its behalf, and what is now at stake with our various countries’ positions on these controversial regulatory issues.”...
Stop fast-track authority from removing the voice of the 100 percent (opinion) The Hill ...The morally responsible approach is to learn from damage caused by earlier trade deals and modify our approach. Just consider one example: last month, the Government Accountability Office reported that labor provisions, including the very terms sought by the Obama administration for TPP, have failed to improve working conditions internationally...
State Battles
Reality Check: Right To Work Hurts Working Families (opinion) Ruidoso News ... On average, workers who belong to a union and who have the power to bargain collectively with their employer take home nearly 20 percent more in earnings each week compared to workers who are not union members. The decline of union density over the past decades corresponds to the decline in income share for the vast majority, 60 percent, of middle class America....
Legislators Hear From Union Workers At Forum Huntington Herald Leader ...A major portion of attendees were union workers who spoke out against the prevailing wage and right to work bills, the first of which would eliminate the requirement of prevailing hourly rate wages for public improvement projects and the second of which would prohibit the requirement for workers to be in a union...
Gov. Rauner, Union Leaders Tangle During Mount Vernon Stop The Southern ...“He can call it as many ways as he can, but it’s right-to-work and it’s taking away from working class families in Southern Illinois, especially,” said Will Attig, a laborer from DeSoto. “We’re just out here to let him know, he’s not welcome here.” Bret Seferian, who works with the Illinois Education Association, based in Carterville, on behalf of SIU and John A. Logan employees’ unions, said it’s clear to him Rauner isn’t interested in “supporting employees.”...
Senate Democrats Pass $11-An-Hour State Minimum Wage In Rebuff To Rauner Chicago Tribune ...Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed through what could end up being a symbolic measure to raise the state's minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2019, bucking Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's call a day earlier for a smaller increase that would be phased in over a longer period of time...
Kentucky Minimum Wage Bill Passed In House Labor And Industry Committee WLKY ...Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo presented his minimum wage bill to the state Legislature Thursday. After discussion and voting, the bill passed in the House Labor and Industry Committee on a 13-to-3 vote...
Oh Sweet Irony: Walker Caught Lying About Removing "Search For Truth" from UW Mission Statement Daily Kos …He introduced a budget that removed several lines from the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement (aka a little thing known as "The Wisconsin Idea"), including the phrase, "basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth."...
War on Workers
Only 20% are Middle-Class, Most Don't Come Close Economic Populist …The number of 18-29 year olds who consider themselves lower-middle-class has doubled since 2008 reaching 49%...
How Nebraska Took Its Energy Out of Corporate Hands and Made It Affordable for Everyone Alternet ...In Nebraska, 121 publicly owned utilities, ten cooperatives, and 30 public power districts provide electricity to a population of around 1.8 million people. Public and cooperative ownership keeps costs low for the state’s consumers. Nebraskans pay one of the lowest rates for electricity in the nation and revenues are reinvested in infrastructure to ensure reliable and cheap service for years to come...
Gallup CEO Fears He Might “Suddenly Disappear” for Questioning U.S. Jobs Data Wall Street on Parade ... the percent of full time jobs in this country as a percent of the adult population “is the worst it’s been in 30 years.”...
Coke Settles Labor Dispute With Dismissed Employee Atlanta Journal Constitution ...Coca-Cola has settled a National Labor Relations Board complaint with a former employee who claimed the beverage giant fired him in retaliation for his role in trying to organize a union at a metro Atlanta bottling plant...
Comcast Employee Killed While Working On Utility Pole In Glen Ridge NJ.com ...A Comcast worker was killed while apparently working on a utility pole in Glen Ridge this morning...
Miscellaneous
What will passengers stand for? The Economist ...YET again a story has surfaced of an airline trying to get approval for a standing section on a plane. Previously the idea was mooted by Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair—although that was probably more attention-seeking than serious proposal. Now reports suggest that Spring Airlines, a Chinese budget carrier, is trying to get approval for standing posts, to which passengers could be strapped, presumably in a similar fashion to a Wall of Death fairground ride, although the airline might want to think of a better name than that...
Friday, February 6, 2015
Teamsters, BMW put past behind them, relocate successfully to new warehouse
 |
| Bob Lennox with BMW Teamsters |
But there's more to the story than that! The Teamsters and BMW put their animosity behind them and completed the daunting task of moving to the new parts distribution center.
Without any interruption of service, Local 495 Teamsters moved the facility from Ontario, Calif., to the new 326,000 square foot building in Redlands, Calif.
Moving the warehouse, with 63,000 parts – ranging from a simple screw to a complex engine – required careful planning, long hours and hard work. Seventy skilled Teamsters worked 10 hours a day, six days a week, for five months.
They provided uninterrupted service to 90 BMW dealers by stocking both the Ontario and Redlands facilities. The entire operation was shifted by December 1, and then the former facility was emptied. The new distribution center is supplying parts to dealerships in Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.
Secretary-Treasurer Bob Lennox, at the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony in mid-January this year, said,
This is world-class service for a world-class company.His sentiments were echoed by Scott Schlomer, the National Parts Distribution Center Manager, who called it,
...a great partnership. We couldn’t have succeeded in moving from Ontario without their help and cooperation of Local 495 members.The mutual management-union praise was another step that erases past traces of a dispute several years ago. Then, management had announced that the plant and all Teamster jobs would be outsourced to a non-union third party.
Lennox responded with an aggressive effort that included public demonstrations and handbilling at BMW Auto Dealerships throughout the western states. After a presentation by Lennox and BMW shop Steward Albert Bautista at the 2011 IBT Unity Conference, Teamster delegates expanded the campaign, spreading it to dealerships in major cities throughout the U.S.
An informational campaign targeted potential car buyers, asking them to reconsider their purchase until BMW reconsidered its anti-worker tactics. With the support of the IBT, the effort that began in Southern California counties quickly spread to San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver and Chicago.
Teamsters unity and power was on full display as the IBT Strategic Campaign Department coordinated U.S. campaign operations and raised the bar as the IBT Global Strategies Team joined the battle. Enlisting international support, port workers in 20 countries and carried out demonstrations in a powerful display of global solidarity. Unite the Union in the U.K. also directly intervened on behalf of Local 495’s 70 members.
With mounting pressure in the US and throughout Europe, BMW agreed to settle the dispute.
Said Lennox,
We have come a long ways since 2011. Today our members and management work closely together to provide outstanding support to our BMW dealers and their customers.Top officials with BMW of North America, Redlands mayor, Teamster officials and BMW dealers were on hand for the formal opening of the new facility in Redlands.
The move was a shining example of union and management cooperation. Shop Steward Albert Bautista and Rosendo Cardenas reported that the members are providing quality work and were proud of their achievement. They reported that the Teamsters, to accomplish the move, had loaded, transferred and unloaded 11 trailers a day – 300 in all.
Great work, brothers and sisters!
This is what we union THUGGS do when bad weather threatens to ruin a charity event...
...We come to the rescue, tracking down boxes of hats and delivering them to runners raising money for cancer charities.
The RACE Cancer Foundation sent Teamsters Local 25 this story about how it all went down:
RACE Cancer Foundation hosts an annual road race, Super Sunday, which raises thousands of dollars for several charities doing extraordinary work fighting cancer. This year’s race, the 8th annual Super Sunday, was scheduled for February 1st. With the entry fee, all runners were to receive a free hat. The hats, valued at over $16,000 and packaged in 12 boxes, were shipped to arrive via UPS by Wednesday, January 28th. With last week’s blizzard, the packages were delayed and delivery was pushed out to Monday February 2nd, which would have missed the race entirely.
When the hats still had not yet arrived by Thursday, our race director J. Alain Ferry contacted UPS. They were able to ensure the packages were unloaded from a trailer and shipped to the South Boston facility that night. However UPS couldn't deliver the packages on Sunday.
Alain couldn't persuade a UPS supervisor in South Boston to deliver the packages any earlier than Monday. He posted to Facebook seeking help from anyone with a connection to UPS management in South Boston. On Friday evening, Kaitlyn Greeley, one of RACE’s event coordinators, saw the post and shared it with her friend Jim Collins, father of State Representative Nick Collins. Jim immediately reached out to Sean O'Brien of Teamsters Local 25.
Within minutes, Tom Mari of Teamsters Local 25 reached out to Alain and put the wheels in motion for the Teamsters to deliver the packages. Alain then recruited the help of Kaitlyn and Brittney Castine, another RACE event coordinator, to go back to the UPS facility. Brittney and Kaitlyn met Leo and Big Ernie, who said they'd help. Meanwhile, Tom tracked down Bill Sullivan, manager of the South Boston facility.
By 8:30 Saturday morning, the first of two trailers containing our hats had already been pulled up to the building and was being unloaded to search for our packages. Brittney returned to the UPS facility in South Boston to wait on standby for the packages. By 10am, all 12 boxes had been found, but could not be released to Brittney. She went to the New Balance store on Boylston Street, where runners would begin picking up their Super Sunday race numbers and hats. Early that afternoon, Larry and another Teamster delivered the packages to the New Balance store and all runners were able to get their hats at the race on Sunday.
RACE Cancer Foundation is a Boston-based 501(c)3 organization that organizes events to raise funds and awareness for various forms of cancer. Super Sunday is a 5 mile and 5K road race in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 2015 Super Sunday race benefits TargetCancer, the Joe Andruzzi Foundation, and Cancer Resource Foundation.Remember, THUGGs stands for Those Helpful Union Guys and Gals!
Today's Teamster News 02.06.15
Teamsters
Buoyed By Election Win, Teamsters Seek To Represent CCSD Support Workers Las Vegas Review Journal ...On Tuesday night, a runoff election that’s been pending for nearly a decade was held between the Education Support Employees Association and Teamsters Local 14 for the right to represent the Clark County School District’s support staff at the bargaining table. The Teamsters garnered 71 percent of the 5,190 votes cast in the runoff election, which has been delayed for years over legal wrangling...
More Tech Companies’ Shuttle Drivers To Vote on Joining Teamsters Wall Street Journal …In the latest sign of organized labor’s efforts to make inroads in Silicon Valley, the drivers of shuttle buses for employees at five big tech companies will vote late this month on representation by the Teamsters Union, the union said Thursday...
Trade
Latest TISA leak signals new threat to health services NSW Nurses & Midwives' Association …Fresh concerns have been raised by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) over threats to the provision of health services in Australia as part of a trade deal being negotiated in secret by the Federal Government...
Strong dollar pushes US trade deficit higher AFP …The US trade deficit expanded sharply in 2014 as the stronger dollar encouraged record imports from China and the European Union, Commerce Department data released Thursday showed...
Breaking: Dismal new trade data shows more job loss from trade deals TeamsterNation ...The Census Bureau today released the bad news that the U.S. trade deficit rose 6 percent to a near-record high. "Trade deficit" is another phrase for "lost jobs."...
State Battles
Governor Of Illinois Takes Aim At Labor New York Times ...Joining the ranks of Republican governors taking aim at the power of labor unions, the new chief executive of Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner, said on Wednesday that the state should ban some political contributions by public employee unions and allow local “right to work” laws...
NLRB: Employer Letters Regarding Dues Payment Options Violated NLRA National Law Review ...Since Indiana became a Right-to-Work state, one of the most common employer questions has been – what can I tell my employees about when they can withdraw their dues authorization forms? The NLRB last week, in a non-RTW context, did give us some guidance – even though it’s probably guidance that most employers wouldn’t necessarily welcome...
Missouri House Panel Endorses 'Right To Work' Bills KSDK ...The House Workforce Standards and Development Committee on Wednesday approved three right-to-work bills, marking an early start on a measure that failed to pass the full chamber last year...
Lt. Governor Ready To Be Tiebreaker In Right-To-Work, Minimum Wage Votes Albuquerque Business First ...Sanchez said that as president of the New Mexico Senate and the tiebreaker, he'll vote for right-to-work legislation and support raising New Mexico's minimum wage to that of neighboring states. This year, for the first time in 60 years, the New Mexico House of Representatives is under Republican control, which gives measures such as right-to-work a greater chance of passing...
Wisconsin Reporter poll: Majority Of GOP Lawmakers Mum On Right-To-Work Vote Wisconsin Reporter ...In the Assembly, Republican lawmakers sound a little more squishy about right-to-work legislation. Several say they “support the concept” of allowing employees to decide whether they want to join a union and pay union dues, but they wouldn’t commit to voting for a bill...
Union Reps Protest Prevailing Wage Repeal Legislation Charleston Gazette ...Several labor and legislative leaders filled the main hall of the state Culture Center Wednesday afternoon, to discuss what they say are the negative impacts repealing West Virginia’s existing prevailing wage law would have on state workers...
Latest Bid For Minimum Wage Hike In Illinois Lets Chicago Go Higher Chicago Sun Times ...The latest bid to raise Illinois’ minimum wage could allow Chicago a higher wage than the rest of the state. However, the city would be prohibited from unilaterally raising its minimum wage beyond the $13 an hour by 2019 approved last year by the Chicago City Council...
Wyoming Lawmakers Again Reject Minimum-Wage Hike Casper Star Journal ...A second attempt to raise Wyoming’s minimum wage has failed. The Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee refused to advance Senate File 131 on Wednesday when none of the lawmakers on the panel seconded a motion by Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, to advance the bill...
War on Workers
Whether In Greece Or The U.S., It’s Clear: Austerity Doesn’t Work (opinion) In These Times ...Workers were the victims of austerity’s slashed public services, wages and jobs. Those demanding austerity—the 1 percent—and those imposing it—conservative politicians—escaped its bitter effects with shields of cash. Austerity was not for them. It was for those without big bankrolls. That would be bad enough if austerity worked. But, as Greece illustrates horribly, it does not...
Buoyed By Election Win, Teamsters Seek To Represent CCSD Support Workers Las Vegas Review Journal ...On Tuesday night, a runoff election that’s been pending for nearly a decade was held between the Education Support Employees Association and Teamsters Local 14 for the right to represent the Clark County School District’s support staff at the bargaining table. The Teamsters garnered 71 percent of the 5,190 votes cast in the runoff election, which has been delayed for years over legal wrangling...
More Tech Companies’ Shuttle Drivers To Vote on Joining Teamsters Wall Street Journal …In the latest sign of organized labor’s efforts to make inroads in Silicon Valley, the drivers of shuttle buses for employees at five big tech companies will vote late this month on representation by the Teamsters Union, the union said Thursday...
Trade
Latest TISA leak signals new threat to health services NSW Nurses & Midwives' Association …Fresh concerns have been raised by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) over threats to the provision of health services in Australia as part of a trade deal being negotiated in secret by the Federal Government...
Strong dollar pushes US trade deficit higher AFP …The US trade deficit expanded sharply in 2014 as the stronger dollar encouraged record imports from China and the European Union, Commerce Department data released Thursday showed...
Breaking: Dismal new trade data shows more job loss from trade deals TeamsterNation ...The Census Bureau today released the bad news that the U.S. trade deficit rose 6 percent to a near-record high. "Trade deficit" is another phrase for "lost jobs."...
State Battles
Governor Of Illinois Takes Aim At Labor New York Times ...Joining the ranks of Republican governors taking aim at the power of labor unions, the new chief executive of Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner, said on Wednesday that the state should ban some political contributions by public employee unions and allow local “right to work” laws...
NLRB: Employer Letters Regarding Dues Payment Options Violated NLRA National Law Review ...Since Indiana became a Right-to-Work state, one of the most common employer questions has been – what can I tell my employees about when they can withdraw their dues authorization forms? The NLRB last week, in a non-RTW context, did give us some guidance – even though it’s probably guidance that most employers wouldn’t necessarily welcome...
Missouri House Panel Endorses 'Right To Work' Bills KSDK ...The House Workforce Standards and Development Committee on Wednesday approved three right-to-work bills, marking an early start on a measure that failed to pass the full chamber last year...
Lt. Governor Ready To Be Tiebreaker In Right-To-Work, Minimum Wage Votes Albuquerque Business First ...Sanchez said that as president of the New Mexico Senate and the tiebreaker, he'll vote for right-to-work legislation and support raising New Mexico's minimum wage to that of neighboring states. This year, for the first time in 60 years, the New Mexico House of Representatives is under Republican control, which gives measures such as right-to-work a greater chance of passing...
Wisconsin Reporter poll: Majority Of GOP Lawmakers Mum On Right-To-Work Vote Wisconsin Reporter ...In the Assembly, Republican lawmakers sound a little more squishy about right-to-work legislation. Several say they “support the concept” of allowing employees to decide whether they want to join a union and pay union dues, but they wouldn’t commit to voting for a bill...
Union Reps Protest Prevailing Wage Repeal Legislation Charleston Gazette ...Several labor and legislative leaders filled the main hall of the state Culture Center Wednesday afternoon, to discuss what they say are the negative impacts repealing West Virginia’s existing prevailing wage law would have on state workers...
Latest Bid For Minimum Wage Hike In Illinois Lets Chicago Go Higher Chicago Sun Times ...The latest bid to raise Illinois’ minimum wage could allow Chicago a higher wage than the rest of the state. However, the city would be prohibited from unilaterally raising its minimum wage beyond the $13 an hour by 2019 approved last year by the Chicago City Council...
Wyoming Lawmakers Again Reject Minimum-Wage Hike Casper Star Journal ...A second attempt to raise Wyoming’s minimum wage has failed. The Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee refused to advance Senate File 131 on Wednesday when none of the lawmakers on the panel seconded a motion by Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, to advance the bill...
War on Workers
Whether In Greece Or The U.S., It’s Clear: Austerity Doesn’t Work (opinion) In These Times ...Workers were the victims of austerity’s slashed public services, wages and jobs. Those demanding austerity—the 1 percent—and those imposing it—conservative politicians—escaped its bitter effects with shields of cash. Austerity was not for them. It was for those without big bankrolls. That would be bad enough if austerity worked. But, as Greece illustrates horribly, it does not...
Thursday, February 5, 2015
More needs to be done as Family and Medical Leave Act turns 22 today
It could be used even more.
- About 40 percent of workers are not eligible for FMLA protections because their employers are too small or they have not worked for them long enough or for enough hours.
- Because the FMLA is unpaid leave, 80 percent of eligible workers can't afford to take it.
points out that every time the FMLA is used,
Each of those "uses" represents a person -- a mother or father, a daughter or son, a new parent -- who, thanks to the 12 weeks of unpaid leave the FMLA guarantees, was able to take time away from their paying jobs to care for a seriously ill loved one, recover from a serious medical condition, or welcome a new child, without sacrificing their jobs.Workers have guaranteed paid leave through programs in three states: California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) will introduce a bill in Congress to provide guaranteed paid leave for all American workers. It's called the FAMILY Act, for Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act.
“Being a working parent should not mean choosing between your job and taking care of yourself and your family," DeLauro said in a statement. “The single biggest economic issue facing Americans today is that too many jobs simply do not pay enough to live on."
Here's what the FAMILY Act will do:
- Provide workers with up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take time for their own serious health condition, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery; the serious health condition of a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner; the birth or adoption of child; and/or for particular military caregiving and leave purposes.
- Enable workers to earn 66 percent of their monthly wages, up to a capped amount.
- Cover workers in all companies, no matter their size. Younger, part-time, lower-wage and contingent workers would be eligible for benefits.
- Be funded by small employee and employer payroll contributions of two-tenths of one
- percent each (two cents per $10 in wages), or about $1.50 per week for a typical worker.
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