TEAMSTERS
Pilgrim Parking Employees Stand Up Against Oppressive Pay, Benefits Offered by Company Teamster.org ...Workers at Pilgrim Parking facilities in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., are engaging in ongoing job actions at locations across the area to protest the company’s refusal to give employees a voice in the workplace. Pilgrim Parking workers are poorly compensated, as the company does not meet area standards for wages and benefits...
Port Driver and Warehouse Worker Strikes End With $3.5 Million In New Wage Theft Claims Filed Teamster.org ...After five days of active picketing that dramatically impacted trucking companies and the marine terminal operators that continued to allow the trucks of struck companies into their yards, misclassified “independent contractor” drivers from XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), and Gold Point Transportation ended their strike on October 30...
EVSC, Teamsters Reach Tentative Deal Tristate Homepage ...EVSC and Teamsters Local 215 have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement. This information was announced at EVSC meeting on Monday night. EVSC Board President Mike Duckworth tells Eyewitness News the two sides reached an agreement some time Monday morning. Duckworth says the two sides had been meeting over the weekend and were able to come to a series of agreements...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
TPP May Not Pass Due to Anti-Free Trade Provisions That Lack GOP Support Free Beacon ...More than twenty Republican members of Congress have said that anti-free trade provisions within the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are holding them back from supporting it, and without their support the deal may not pass. Several of those members have sent letters to President Obama’s lead adviser on trade, Michael Froman, regarding these concerns...
Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership: European Opposition To The TTIP Trade Pact Worries US IBTimes ...Europeans are having what U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman calls Europe’s “NAFTA moment.” Froman, who wants to finish the TTIP before President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017, has privately and publicly urged European countries to get ahead of the critics. “This is really the first trade agreement that has become a public controversy in Europe"...
Sounding the TTIP alarm across the European Union (opinion) New Internationalist ...Several weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of people across Europe and Britain marched to protest against the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a massive planned new trade deal between Europe and the US. They were rightly sounding the alarm, as TTIP will greatly reduce the ability of local governments to spend public money for local development...
Oil Workers Strike in Brazil for Wages, Investments, Assets Rio Times ...Twelve oil work unions which are part of the Oil Workers Federation (FUP) in Brazil began on November 1st, a strike at Petrobras refineries all over the country. According to union officials, strikers are protesting against Petrobras’ asset sales, investment cuts, project suspensions, and reduction of some workers’ rights. “The strike was agreed on more than 45 days ago. We did try negotiating with Petrobras and the majority shareholder, i.e. the federal government, before stopping work"...
Mahallah Workers End Strike, After Written Guarantee of Demands Egyptian Streets ...Workers at Mahallah’s Misr Spinning and Weaving Company ended an 11-day strike Sunday following a written guarantee that they will be granted the 10 percent social allowance promised by the president to be given retroactively starting July. Operations have been “restored fully across all departments,” state-run news agency MENA reported. The company says that the strike has led to losses amounting to at least EGP 25 million...
‘The Nobel Prize Is for Labor Movements around the World’ Solidarity Center ...The Tunisian General Labor Union (Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail, UGTT), a longtime Solidarity Center partner, was at the forefront of the four organizations that recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler said today. In a ceremony at the AFL-CIO honoring UGTT Secretary-General Houcine Abassi, Shuler praised Abassi’s courage and tenacity and called the UGTT’s work “inspirational to us in the United States”...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
If Ohio Bans Gerrymandering Today, There Could be Hope for American Democracy The Nation ... Ohio Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban partisan gerrymandering and establish a bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission to draw legislative district lines, is being pitched as a good-government reform. But that undersells its significance. This is a bold response to America’s broken political processes...
The toxic erosion of voter rights in Alabama Washington Post ...Alabama is one of many states with unnecessary voter ID laws, voter-suppression policies passed on the pretext of preventing virtually nonexistent forms of voter fraud. Last month, the state government made things even worse. Its new budget will make it harder to get a driver’s license...
Tacoma voters to decide whether to raise minimum wage KIRO ... a raise in the city’s minimum wage, and if so, how much it should be raised. Citizens’ Initiative Measure No. 1 and City of Tacoma Initiative Measure No. 1B concern an increase to the minimum wage. The results will be released at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. The first question is whether or not to raise the minimum wage. The second question, regardless if you voted yes or no on the first question, is, if the wage is raised, how much to raise it?...
Can Seattle Boot Big Money Out of Elections by Giving Voters "Democracy Vouchers?" Truthout ...A group of campaign reform advocates in the city of Seattle has a novel solution to curb the influence of money in political elections: more money. Today, Seattle voters will decide the fate of the Honest Elections ballot initiative, otherwise known as I-122...
U.S. LABOR
Detroit casino workers support strike option The Detroit News ...More than 1,300 union employees from Detroit’s three casinos voted Monday night to go on strike if their wage, health care and benefit demands aren’t met. Members of Local 24 of the hospitality union voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the power to call a strike in order to reach a contract settlement...
VW opposing UAW skilled trades worker vote at Tennessee plant Reuters ...Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) opposes a union representation vote by a portion of workers at the automaker's sole U.S. vehicle assembly plant, according to a letter to Chattanooga, Tennessee, employees issued Monday night. Volkswagen has been the most open to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union among foreign manufacturers with assembly plants in the southern United States...
Chicago Teachers Union amps up rhetoric in fight with district Chicago Tribune ...The Chicago Teachers Union said Monday that it will check members' appetite for a strike with a "practice vote" later this week after the head of Chicago Public Schools again warned of "drastic cuts" absent a state bailout of district finances. Gov. Bruce Rauner also stepped into the fray, saying at a forum in Bloomington that "misguided state policies" were to blame...
For now, Columbia grad students can't form union - NLRB regional director Reuters ...Although a U.S. labor board decision on Friday blocked Columbia University graduate students from trying to form a union, the case could eventually become part of a bid to overturn an 11-year-old prohibition on graduate student unionization. National Labor Relations Board Regional Director Karen Fernbach in New York City rejected a petition from a United Auto Workers affiliate seeking to represent teaching and research assistants at Columbia...
Collective Victory Declared as Obama Takes Small Step to 'Ban the Box' Common Dreams ...Following years of organizing by formerly-incarcerated people and their families, President Barack Obama announced Monday that, henceforth, he will instruct some federal employers to "ban the box"—or delay inquiries into a job applicant's incarceration history to curb discrimination and stigma. The proclamation was embraced by rights campaigners...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Why California Jails Poor People Unless They Pay The Bail Bondsman Think Progress ...California jails could soon stop locking up tens of thousands of people who haven’t even appeared before a judge yet simply because they’re too poor to post bail, if a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday succeeds. The bail scheduling system converts arrests and criminal allegations into a marketplace...
Seattle Declares Official State Of Emergency Over Homelessness Crisis Think Progress ...66 homeless people have died on the streets of Seattle and the surrounding area this year. Mayor Ed Murray has had enough. On Monday, Murray and King County Executive Down Constantine declared states of emergency in Seattle and the surrounding county...
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Today's Teamster News 11.02.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters see California as launching pad for drayage organizing efforts JOC ...The Teamsters union is eying California, a state with drivers clamoring for representation and a regulatory climate sympathetic to work misclassification, as a launching pad for a national drayage organizing push. The Teamsters union this past week intensified its organizing efforts in Los Angeles-Long Beach because drivers are clamoring for representation and the regulatory climate in California is favorable to champion issues such as worker misclassification, a union spokeswoman said Friday...
Port Driver and Warehouse Worker Strikes End With $3.5 Million In New Wage Theft Claims AJOT ...After five days of active picketing that dramatically impacted trucking companies and the marine terminal operators that continued to allow the trucks of struck companies into their yards, misclassified “independent contractor” drivers from XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), and Gold Point Transportation have ended their strike. Amazon warehouse workers employed by Wilmington-based California Cartage also ended their strike with the support of the Teamsters...
LA City Council backs port truck drivers in their strike action SPLASH247 ...Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Friday to support the port truck drivers who have been striking since Monday at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Reuters. Council members passed a resolution backing the truckers against certain trucking firms which have allegedly been misclassifying the drivers as “independent contractors” rather than as “employees”. The distinction costs the drivers in earnings and benefits...
Dr Pepper Snapple production workers in Bethlehem vote to join union Morning Call ...Production workers at Dr Pepper Snapple Group in Bethlehem, formerly Davis Beverage Group, have voted to unionize. Glenn Fulcher, vice president of Teamsters Local 830 in Philadelphia, said Friday that 34 workers voted 19-15 on Oct. 9 for union representation. The union is now in contact with Dr Pepper Snapple Group's labor attorney and is in the process of setting up dates for contract negotiations, Fulcher said...
Teamsters Back Patrick Murphy for the Senate in 2016 Sunshine State News ...On Friday, the Florida Teamsters endorsed U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., who is running for the Democratic nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. "I'm humbled and excited by the support of the Florida Teamsters,” Murphy said on Friday. “Florida's working families need leadership — from the local level to the U.S. Senate to the White House"...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
US Invites Russia and China to Join TPP Deal - Kerry Sputnik ...The United States invites Russia and China to become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement if they are open for cooperation, US State Secretary John Kerry said Monday. Countries all over the world, including Russia and China, are welcome to join various US-proposed initiatives, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, Kerry stated...
US 'welcomes' Thailand to join TPP Bangkok Post ...The United States “would welcome with open arms” Thailand’s ruling junta wanting the country to participate in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact without waiting for the return of a of a full democratic government to the country, the newly appointed US ambassador to Thailand said on Friday...
German frustration builds over TTIP secrecy from US DW.com ...German parliamentarians are demanding access to documents that contain the US position on transatlantic trade negotiations. TTIP supporters in the US argue that Washington shouldn't lay all of its cards on the table. In Germany, the documents are only available in the US embassy in Berlin...
UK Government austerity programme 'an international embarrassment' News.STV ...UK Government austerity measures are an "international embarrassment", according to the SNP. The comments were made as the United Nations launches an investigation into the impact of Conservative policies on "disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups" in the UK...
Petrobras Oil Workers Begin Strike, Seek to Block Asset Sales Bloomberg ...Brazil’s main oil union began a nationwide strike Sunday to halt asset sales by state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA at a time the company is slashing investments to reduce the biggest debt load in the oil industry.
The Oil Workers Federation, known as FUP, said the nationwide strike started on Nov. 1. Some of the FUP’s regional member unions began work stoppages on Oct. 29...
Egyptian textile workers’ strike enters 10th day Middle East Monitor ...The workers’ strike at Egypt’s biggest textile factory has entered its 10th day as the administration threatens to end staff contracts if they do not return to work, Quds Press reported on Friday. In order to return to work, the workers’ have demanded that the company officially agree on payment of a “social allowance” equivalent to a ten per cent addition to their monthly pay...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Wisconsin Poised to Gut Its Campaign Finance and Anti-Corruption Laws Mother Jones ...Scott Walker's presidential bid may have failed, but the Wisconsin governor and his Republican allies are making a massive push to transform the way the state conducts elections and investigates illegal campaign activity. If they're successful—and by all indications, they will be—by the end of this week, they will have uprooted Wisconsin's anti-public corruption laws and lifted restrictions on the money pouring into state elections...
Koch Brothers Hit the Airwaves in Support of Wisconsin Corruption Measures Truthout ...The Koch-backed measures to eviscerate Wisconsin's limits on money in elections and neuter the state's election watchdog hit a stumbling block in the state senate last week, with a handful of Republican senators expressing concern that the measures go too far. So the Kochs are going on the offensive...
Counties experiment with right-to-work laws Washington Examiner ...An experiment in Kentucky could have major implications for workers' rights and union organizing: Can counties and other municipalities pass right-to-work laws? Conservative activists have gotten 12 counties in the Bluegrass State to pass right-to-work ordinances...
Group trying to repeal Michigan prevailing wage law starts new petition drive Detroit Business ...A ballot committee trying to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law said Friday it will start a new petition drive after it incorrectly submitted duplicate signatures to state election officials. The committee, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, also said it asked the Board of State Canvassers to reject the petition it submitted last month to the Michigan Bureau of Elections...
Portland to vote on minimum wage increase tomorrow WCSH ...Starting January the minimum wage in Portland is set to go up to $10.10 an hour. This does not included tipped employees such as servers and bartenders. However on Tuesday, Portland residents will be able to vote to raise the minimum wage even more. Question number one on Tuesday's ballot is whether or not minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour in the city of Portland...
U.S. LABOR
Steel talks enter 3rd month as USW frustration grows Chicago Tribune ...The rally was held as union steelworkers at ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel were about to enter into their third month without a new contract and with no sign of any progress being made at the bargaining table in Pittsburgh. The last contract expired Sept. 1, and negotiators for both sides have been meeting since before that. They returned to the table Monday following a short recess...
SEIU reaches new four-year deal for Pittsburgh-area janitors Washington Times ...A union representing more than 1,000 Pittsburgh-area janitors says it has reached a new contract agreement with office building owners. The current contract is set to expire at midnight Saturday. The new, four-year deal runs through Oct. 31, 2019. The Managers, Owners and Contractors Association began negotiating with the janitors’ Service Employees International Union bargaining committee last month...
UAW members in Fairfax, Lansing split on GM contract The Detroit News ...Thousands of General Motors Co. hourly workers will vote Monday on a tentative agreement, which financially is richer than the company’s 2011 contract and what Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV employees ratified, but so far has received mixed support from UAW members at two GM assembly plants...
Milwaukie ratifies contract with AFSCME employees Portland Tribune ...With a unanimous City Council vote, the city of Milwaukie finalized the contract with its employee union on Thursday after city workers had been working with an expired contract since July 1. Although to Local 350-5 already had been making more than $15 hourly, they are also celebrating Milwaukie City Council’s Oct. 20 passage of a resolution to pay all city employees at least $15 an hour...
After Defending His Own Family Time, Paul Ryan Refuses To Support Paid Family Leave Think Progress ...On a number of Sunday shows this weekend, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) responded to recent calls that he support a federal paid family leave program after insisting on preserving his own family. The new speaker of the House made it clear that he won’t back such a policy. In order to consider a run, as many in his party had urged, he had laid out a number of conditions, including the protection of the weekends he flies back to Wisconsin...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrants Launch Hunger Strike At Detention Center With Long History Of Abuse: ‘We Are Humans’ Think Progress ...At least 20 male immigrants, mainly from Central America, began a hunger strike at an adult immigration detention facility in California on Friday night, according to the advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC). The hunger strike at the Adelanto Detention Facility is the fourth one launched by immigrant detainees across the nation...
Robert Reich: Everywhere You Look Huge Cartels Are Jacking Up Prices, Gouging You However They Can Alternet ...Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward. But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions are hidden inside the market...
Republicans 'cautious' about confronting Black Lives Matter on campaign trail The Guardian ...There are few areas of bipartisan consensus in the 2016 presidential election. Criminal justice has emerged as one. Republicans and Democrats are agreed: reform needs to happen. However, as the Black Lives Matter movement seeks a greater role in shaping the conversation around a justice system that disproportionately affects African Americans, candidates are reacting in decidedly different ways...
More Denial, More Problems: UN Predicts Millions of Climate Refugees to Come Truthout ...This year continues on pace to become, by far, the hottest year ever recorded. Thus, it is obvious why the dramatic impacts of anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) are becoming increasingly prevalent and obvious. A recent NASA report reveals that the ice covering Greenland is melting faster than previously thought...
'Absolute Crap' But Brilliant: Corporate America's Plan to 'Misbehave Without Reproach Common Dreams ...An independent investigation by journalists featured in the New York Times on Sunday offers an in-depth look at the way American corporations have used the inclusion of "arbitration clauses" within consumer contracts to strategically circumvent judicial review of their behavior and immunize themselves from class action lawsuits –"realistically the only tool citizens have to fight illegal or deceitful business practices"...
For Some Americans, the Housing Crisis Isn't Over The Atlantic ...the housing markets in many of the hardest-hit areas have recovered, and cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York are even seeing record real-estate prices. Yet while the national housing market may be well on the way to recovery, the markets in some areas of the country are actually getting worse...
Teamsters see California as launching pad for drayage organizing efforts JOC ...The Teamsters union is eying California, a state with drivers clamoring for representation and a regulatory climate sympathetic to work misclassification, as a launching pad for a national drayage organizing push. The Teamsters union this past week intensified its organizing efforts in Los Angeles-Long Beach because drivers are clamoring for representation and the regulatory climate in California is favorable to champion issues such as worker misclassification, a union spokeswoman said Friday...
Port Driver and Warehouse Worker Strikes End With $3.5 Million In New Wage Theft Claims AJOT ...After five days of active picketing that dramatically impacted trucking companies and the marine terminal operators that continued to allow the trucks of struck companies into their yards, misclassified “independent contractor” drivers from XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), and Gold Point Transportation have ended their strike. Amazon warehouse workers employed by Wilmington-based California Cartage also ended their strike with the support of the Teamsters...
LA City Council backs port truck drivers in their strike action SPLASH247 ...Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Friday to support the port truck drivers who have been striking since Monday at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Reuters. Council members passed a resolution backing the truckers against certain trucking firms which have allegedly been misclassifying the drivers as “independent contractors” rather than as “employees”. The distinction costs the drivers in earnings and benefits...
Dr Pepper Snapple production workers in Bethlehem vote to join union Morning Call ...Production workers at Dr Pepper Snapple Group in Bethlehem, formerly Davis Beverage Group, have voted to unionize. Glenn Fulcher, vice president of Teamsters Local 830 in Philadelphia, said Friday that 34 workers voted 19-15 on Oct. 9 for union representation. The union is now in contact with Dr Pepper Snapple Group's labor attorney and is in the process of setting up dates for contract negotiations, Fulcher said...
Teamsters Back Patrick Murphy for the Senate in 2016 Sunshine State News ...On Friday, the Florida Teamsters endorsed U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., who is running for the Democratic nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. "I'm humbled and excited by the support of the Florida Teamsters,” Murphy said on Friday. “Florida's working families need leadership — from the local level to the U.S. Senate to the White House"...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
US Invites Russia and China to Join TPP Deal - Kerry Sputnik ...The United States invites Russia and China to become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement if they are open for cooperation, US State Secretary John Kerry said Monday. Countries all over the world, including Russia and China, are welcome to join various US-proposed initiatives, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, Kerry stated...
US 'welcomes' Thailand to join TPP Bangkok Post ...The United States “would welcome with open arms” Thailand’s ruling junta wanting the country to participate in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact without waiting for the return of a of a full democratic government to the country, the newly appointed US ambassador to Thailand said on Friday...
German frustration builds over TTIP secrecy from US DW.com ...German parliamentarians are demanding access to documents that contain the US position on transatlantic trade negotiations. TTIP supporters in the US argue that Washington shouldn't lay all of its cards on the table. In Germany, the documents are only available in the US embassy in Berlin...
UK Government austerity programme 'an international embarrassment' News.STV ...UK Government austerity measures are an "international embarrassment", according to the SNP. The comments were made as the United Nations launches an investigation into the impact of Conservative policies on "disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups" in the UK...
Petrobras Oil Workers Begin Strike, Seek to Block Asset Sales Bloomberg ...Brazil’s main oil union began a nationwide strike Sunday to halt asset sales by state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA at a time the company is slashing investments to reduce the biggest debt load in the oil industry.
The Oil Workers Federation, known as FUP, said the nationwide strike started on Nov. 1. Some of the FUP’s regional member unions began work stoppages on Oct. 29...
Egyptian textile workers’ strike enters 10th day Middle East Monitor ...The workers’ strike at Egypt’s biggest textile factory has entered its 10th day as the administration threatens to end staff contracts if they do not return to work, Quds Press reported on Friday. In order to return to work, the workers’ have demanded that the company officially agree on payment of a “social allowance” equivalent to a ten per cent addition to their monthly pay...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Wisconsin Poised to Gut Its Campaign Finance and Anti-Corruption Laws Mother Jones ...Scott Walker's presidential bid may have failed, but the Wisconsin governor and his Republican allies are making a massive push to transform the way the state conducts elections and investigates illegal campaign activity. If they're successful—and by all indications, they will be—by the end of this week, they will have uprooted Wisconsin's anti-public corruption laws and lifted restrictions on the money pouring into state elections...
Koch Brothers Hit the Airwaves in Support of Wisconsin Corruption Measures Truthout ...The Koch-backed measures to eviscerate Wisconsin's limits on money in elections and neuter the state's election watchdog hit a stumbling block in the state senate last week, with a handful of Republican senators expressing concern that the measures go too far. So the Kochs are going on the offensive...
Counties experiment with right-to-work laws Washington Examiner ...An experiment in Kentucky could have major implications for workers' rights and union organizing: Can counties and other municipalities pass right-to-work laws? Conservative activists have gotten 12 counties in the Bluegrass State to pass right-to-work ordinances...
Group trying to repeal Michigan prevailing wage law starts new petition drive Detroit Business ...A ballot committee trying to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law said Friday it will start a new petition drive after it incorrectly submitted duplicate signatures to state election officials. The committee, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, also said it asked the Board of State Canvassers to reject the petition it submitted last month to the Michigan Bureau of Elections...
Portland to vote on minimum wage increase tomorrow WCSH ...Starting January the minimum wage in Portland is set to go up to $10.10 an hour. This does not included tipped employees such as servers and bartenders. However on Tuesday, Portland residents will be able to vote to raise the minimum wage even more. Question number one on Tuesday's ballot is whether or not minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour in the city of Portland...
U.S. LABOR
Steel talks enter 3rd month as USW frustration grows Chicago Tribune ...The rally was held as union steelworkers at ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel were about to enter into their third month without a new contract and with no sign of any progress being made at the bargaining table in Pittsburgh. The last contract expired Sept. 1, and negotiators for both sides have been meeting since before that. They returned to the table Monday following a short recess...
SEIU reaches new four-year deal for Pittsburgh-area janitors Washington Times ...A union representing more than 1,000 Pittsburgh-area janitors says it has reached a new contract agreement with office building owners. The current contract is set to expire at midnight Saturday. The new, four-year deal runs through Oct. 31, 2019. The Managers, Owners and Contractors Association began negotiating with the janitors’ Service Employees International Union bargaining committee last month...
UAW members in Fairfax, Lansing split on GM contract The Detroit News ...Thousands of General Motors Co. hourly workers will vote Monday on a tentative agreement, which financially is richer than the company’s 2011 contract and what Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV employees ratified, but so far has received mixed support from UAW members at two GM assembly plants...
Milwaukie ratifies contract with AFSCME employees Portland Tribune ...With a unanimous City Council vote, the city of Milwaukie finalized the contract with its employee union on Thursday after city workers had been working with an expired contract since July 1. Although to Local 350-5 already had been making more than $15 hourly, they are also celebrating Milwaukie City Council’s Oct. 20 passage of a resolution to pay all city employees at least $15 an hour...
After Defending His Own Family Time, Paul Ryan Refuses To Support Paid Family Leave Think Progress ...On a number of Sunday shows this weekend, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) responded to recent calls that he support a federal paid family leave program after insisting on preserving his own family. The new speaker of the House made it clear that he won’t back such a policy. In order to consider a run, as many in his party had urged, he had laid out a number of conditions, including the protection of the weekends he flies back to Wisconsin...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrants Launch Hunger Strike At Detention Center With Long History Of Abuse: ‘We Are Humans’ Think Progress ...At least 20 male immigrants, mainly from Central America, began a hunger strike at an adult immigration detention facility in California on Friday night, according to the advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC). The hunger strike at the Adelanto Detention Facility is the fourth one launched by immigrant detainees across the nation...
Robert Reich: Everywhere You Look Huge Cartels Are Jacking Up Prices, Gouging You However They Can Alternet ...Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward. But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions are hidden inside the market...
Republicans 'cautious' about confronting Black Lives Matter on campaign trail The Guardian ...There are few areas of bipartisan consensus in the 2016 presidential election. Criminal justice has emerged as one. Republicans and Democrats are agreed: reform needs to happen. However, as the Black Lives Matter movement seeks a greater role in shaping the conversation around a justice system that disproportionately affects African Americans, candidates are reacting in decidedly different ways...
More Denial, More Problems: UN Predicts Millions of Climate Refugees to Come Truthout ...This year continues on pace to become, by far, the hottest year ever recorded. Thus, it is obvious why the dramatic impacts of anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) are becoming increasingly prevalent and obvious. A recent NASA report reveals that the ice covering Greenland is melting faster than previously thought...
'Absolute Crap' But Brilliant: Corporate America's Plan to 'Misbehave Without Reproach Common Dreams ...An independent investigation by journalists featured in the New York Times on Sunday offers an in-depth look at the way American corporations have used the inclusion of "arbitration clauses" within consumer contracts to strategically circumvent judicial review of their behavior and immunize themselves from class action lawsuits –"realistically the only tool citizens have to fight illegal or deceitful business practices"...
For Some Americans, the Housing Crisis Isn't Over The Atlantic ...the housing markets in many of the hardest-hit areas have recovered, and cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York are even seeing record real-estate prices. Yet while the national housing market may be well on the way to recovery, the markets in some areas of the country are actually getting worse...
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.27.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Local 1205 Members at Baumann Buses Overwhelmingly Approve Contract Teamster.org ...In a secret ballot vote that was completed this afternoon, by a margin of 84 percent to 16 percent, Teamsters Local 1205 members working for Baumann/Acme Buses approved a new three-year union contract. This new contract, with its complex details, was recommended by the elected rank-and-file negotiating committee...
Baltimore Sun Drivers, Mailers, Pressmen Ratify New Teamster Contract Teamster.org ...After two years of difficult negotiations, tentative agreements for three departments at the Baltimore Sun represented by Local 355 and Local 888 were ratified at a jointly-held membership meeting Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. The company had sought to shift the full burden of healthcare premium costs to workers, among other regressive demands, but bargaining committee members representing drivers and printers (Local 355) and mailers (Local 888) endorsed agreements that preserve current healthcare contributions and enhances job security...
Trucker strike begins at ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles Press-Telegram ...A group of truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike Monday, but port officials said the labor action had minimal impact on cargo operations. The “unfair labor practice” strike includes drivers “misclassified as independent contractors” rather than employees by Pacific 9 Transportation and XPO Logistic, said Barb Maynard of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
President says Indonesia intends to join TPP trade deal Reuters ...Indonesian President Joko Widodo, speaking after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, said his Southeast Asian country intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the United States has forged with 11 other nations. "We are the largest economy in Southeast Asia," Widodo said through a translator. "And Indonesia intends to join the TPP"...
Chamber holds off on endorsing trade deal Washington Examiner ...Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue held off on endorsing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal the White House recently concluded negotiations on, stating that even he was not certain what was in the fine print of the deal. The Chamber is one of the leading advocates for free-trade policies, and its support will be crucial to getting the deal approved by Congress...
The TPP: An Attack on the Internet Counterpunch ...Wikileaks, the on-line bible of revealed secrets, published several leaked sections of what its editors believe is the final edition and the collective groan morphed into an outcry. It was, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation puts it, “all that we feared.” The TPP internationalizes some of the worst inequities and abuses specific signing governments are currently committing and nowhere is that more true than with surveillance and communications repression...
Years after the Rana Plaza tragedy, too many of Bangladesh’s factories are still “death traps” Quartz ...The 2013 garment factory collapse at Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza, which killed at least 1,133 people, was seen around the world as a wake-up call. There had already been several deadly tragedies in the country’s massive and growing garment industry, such as the 2012 Tazreen Fashions fire, but the deaths at Rana Plaza were on a new scale. Nobody could ignore the dire conditions that workers toiled in any longer...
17,000 workers strike at Egypt’s largest public textile factory Al Bawaba ...A strike by 17,000 workers at Egypt’s largest public sector textile company entered its sixth day Monday, making it the largest and longest-lasting Mahallah workers action since ex-army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office over a year ago. Labor Minister Gamal Sorour said after meetings on Monday with officials in Gharbiya province, home to the beleaguered Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, that workers must resume production immediately...
Portugal's Democracy Cracks Under Weight Of Austerity Huffington Post ...Elections in Portugal this week offered the latest sign that when an individual European nation’s voters challenge eurozone austerity policies, the monetary union -- and the international creditors it represents -- takes precedence. Portugal’s president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, fueled an ongoing debate about the future of European democracy on Thursday when he reappointed an outgoing center-right prime minister despite election results...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Group challenges $1M drive to repeal prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...The ballot committee Protect Michigan Jobs filed a challenge Monday to a $1-million business-backed petition drive to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law, saying more than 40% of the signatures submitted are duplicates or otherwise invalid. The group pushing to repeal the law, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, disputes the finding, and now it will be up to the state Board of Canvassers -- and possibly the courts -- to decide the issue...
Voter ID lawsuit hearing tentatively set for January Daily Tarheel ...A federal judge refused to dismiss challenges to North Carolina’s Voter ID law during a court hearing on Friday, and set a new tentative hearing for Jan. 16. The N.C. General Assembly passed the law two years ago, requiring voters to have photo ID when voting in-person. It would go into effect in 2016, possibly influencing the upcoming presidential primaries...
Why Are So Many Food Charities Shutting Down In Ohio? Think Progress ...As the Thanksgiving season starts, Ohio’s food charities are in rocky shape. About 40 food pantries in the state have been forced to close down or merge with another outfit in the past 16 months. Despite the closures, Ohioans can still turn to more than 1,700 individual food pantries around the state. But the contraction in food charities’ presence is a reminder of how precarious the nation’s volunteer-driven anti-hunger efforts are these days...
Supporters of higher minimum wage in capital seek compromise as vote looms Sacramento Bee ...Proponents of an embattled plan to raise Sacramento’s minimum wage are rushing to craft a new compromise in advance of Tuesday’s scheduled City Council vote, but it is far from certain that a deal can be reached. The plan would gradually hike the minimum wage in the city to $12.50 an hour by 2020...
U.S. LABOR
A Significant Deal for Automakers and Unions The Atlantic ...For nearly a decade, new workers hired at unionized auto plants across the country have started their jobs knowing a troubling fact: They made less than their colleagues, sometimes half as much. And no matter how hard they worked, they could never earn the wages of the people standing next to them on the assembly line. But, in a deal reached Sunday night, the UAW and GM announced that they had hammered out an agreement that would get rid of the two-tier wage system...
UAW members anxiously await details of GM contract Detroit Free Press ...One down, another close to the finish line and one more to go. That's pretty much where things stand in the UAW's contract talks with the Detroit Three. The UAW reached a new tentative agreement with General Motors shortly before midnight on Sunday but that agreement still has a long way to go before it becomes official...
UFCW 8-Golden State Members Ratify Agreements with Rite Aid Business Wire ...Concluding two years of collective bargaining, members of UFCW 8-Golden State have voted overwhelmingly to ratify new agreements with the Rite Aid drug store in the northern and southern regions of the state. UFCW 8-Golden State President Jacques Loveall praised the agreements, which cover approximately 2,500 Rite Aid Clerks and Pharmacists between the Oregon border and Kern County...
Union elections are rigged against workers The Hill ...Over the past couple of years, low-wage McDonalds, Wal-Mart and federal contract workers have been striking to win a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Some people ask us, “Why don’t you stop striking and just hold a union election?” The truth is America’s low-wage workers are striking because union election rules are rigged against us...
The Hellish Conditions Facing Workers At Chicken Processing Plants Think Progress ...In a report released on Tuesday, Oxfam America is launching a new campaign to address what it says are rampant health and safety issues, as well as low pay and few benefits, that face the people who process chicken in the country’s plants. Consumer demand has been growing. That demand has come with increased pressure on processing line speeds, which are twice as fast today as they were in 1979...
Latest GOP Buzzword for Turning Social Security Into A Welfare Program: Means-Testing Salon ...Means-testing Social Security is a popular position among Republican presidential candidates this election cycle—if not among prospective voters. That means, essentially, turning the nation’s retirement system into a welfare program, targeted at those with real hardships. If they get their way, not only will Social Security benefits be slashed for millions, but something fundamental will have changed: our national retirement system will be transformed from a social insurance program to a welfare program...
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies Common Dreams ... A new investigation published Monday reveals that the U.S. Pentagon for years funneled millions to a charity organization employing it to serve as the front group for global espionage—very real revelations that experts warn could have dangerous implications for aid workers worldwide...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
In Student Victory, U. of Mississippi Removes State Flag with Confederate Emblem Democracy Now ...Early Monday morning, three campus police officers at the University of Mississippi removed the state flag with its Confederate emblem from the grounds of the school’s campus in Oxford. The move comes after the student government voted to remove the flag. Mississippi’s flag is the latest Confederate symbol to be targeted for removal from a public space since a white supremacist killed nine African-American worshipers in Charleston, South Carolina, four months ago...
Disturbing Video Shows School Cop Body Slam and Drag a Black Female Student Mother Jones ...Authorities in Richland County, South Carolina, are investigating a video that surfaced Monday showing a uniformed officer aggressively confronting a high school student. The video, which appears to have been recorded on a cellphone by a classmate, shows a white male officer standing over a black female student...
Teamsters Local 1205 Members at Baumann Buses Overwhelmingly Approve Contract Teamster.org ...In a secret ballot vote that was completed this afternoon, by a margin of 84 percent to 16 percent, Teamsters Local 1205 members working for Baumann/Acme Buses approved a new three-year union contract. This new contract, with its complex details, was recommended by the elected rank-and-file negotiating committee...
Baltimore Sun Drivers, Mailers, Pressmen Ratify New Teamster Contract Teamster.org ...After two years of difficult negotiations, tentative agreements for three departments at the Baltimore Sun represented by Local 355 and Local 888 were ratified at a jointly-held membership meeting Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. The company had sought to shift the full burden of healthcare premium costs to workers, among other regressive demands, but bargaining committee members representing drivers and printers (Local 355) and mailers (Local 888) endorsed agreements that preserve current healthcare contributions and enhances job security...
Trucker strike begins at ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles Press-Telegram ...A group of truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike Monday, but port officials said the labor action had minimal impact on cargo operations. The “unfair labor practice” strike includes drivers “misclassified as independent contractors” rather than employees by Pacific 9 Transportation and XPO Logistic, said Barb Maynard of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
President says Indonesia intends to join TPP trade deal Reuters ...Indonesian President Joko Widodo, speaking after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, said his Southeast Asian country intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the United States has forged with 11 other nations. "We are the largest economy in Southeast Asia," Widodo said through a translator. "And Indonesia intends to join the TPP"...
Chamber holds off on endorsing trade deal Washington Examiner ...Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue held off on endorsing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal the White House recently concluded negotiations on, stating that even he was not certain what was in the fine print of the deal. The Chamber is one of the leading advocates for free-trade policies, and its support will be crucial to getting the deal approved by Congress...
The TPP: An Attack on the Internet Counterpunch ...Wikileaks, the on-line bible of revealed secrets, published several leaked sections of what its editors believe is the final edition and the collective groan morphed into an outcry. It was, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation puts it, “all that we feared.” The TPP internationalizes some of the worst inequities and abuses specific signing governments are currently committing and nowhere is that more true than with surveillance and communications repression...
Years after the Rana Plaza tragedy, too many of Bangladesh’s factories are still “death traps” Quartz ...The 2013 garment factory collapse at Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza, which killed at least 1,133 people, was seen around the world as a wake-up call. There had already been several deadly tragedies in the country’s massive and growing garment industry, such as the 2012 Tazreen Fashions fire, but the deaths at Rana Plaza were on a new scale. Nobody could ignore the dire conditions that workers toiled in any longer...
17,000 workers strike at Egypt’s largest public textile factory Al Bawaba ...A strike by 17,000 workers at Egypt’s largest public sector textile company entered its sixth day Monday, making it the largest and longest-lasting Mahallah workers action since ex-army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office over a year ago. Labor Minister Gamal Sorour said after meetings on Monday with officials in Gharbiya province, home to the beleaguered Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, that workers must resume production immediately...
Portugal's Democracy Cracks Under Weight Of Austerity Huffington Post ...Elections in Portugal this week offered the latest sign that when an individual European nation’s voters challenge eurozone austerity policies, the monetary union -- and the international creditors it represents -- takes precedence. Portugal’s president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, fueled an ongoing debate about the future of European democracy on Thursday when he reappointed an outgoing center-right prime minister despite election results...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Group challenges $1M drive to repeal prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...The ballot committee Protect Michigan Jobs filed a challenge Monday to a $1-million business-backed petition drive to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law, saying more than 40% of the signatures submitted are duplicates or otherwise invalid. The group pushing to repeal the law, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, disputes the finding, and now it will be up to the state Board of Canvassers -- and possibly the courts -- to decide the issue...
Voter ID lawsuit hearing tentatively set for January Daily Tarheel ...A federal judge refused to dismiss challenges to North Carolina’s Voter ID law during a court hearing on Friday, and set a new tentative hearing for Jan. 16. The N.C. General Assembly passed the law two years ago, requiring voters to have photo ID when voting in-person. It would go into effect in 2016, possibly influencing the upcoming presidential primaries...
Why Are So Many Food Charities Shutting Down In Ohio? Think Progress ...As the Thanksgiving season starts, Ohio’s food charities are in rocky shape. About 40 food pantries in the state have been forced to close down or merge with another outfit in the past 16 months. Despite the closures, Ohioans can still turn to more than 1,700 individual food pantries around the state. But the contraction in food charities’ presence is a reminder of how precarious the nation’s volunteer-driven anti-hunger efforts are these days...
Supporters of higher minimum wage in capital seek compromise as vote looms Sacramento Bee ...Proponents of an embattled plan to raise Sacramento’s minimum wage are rushing to craft a new compromise in advance of Tuesday’s scheduled City Council vote, but it is far from certain that a deal can be reached. The plan would gradually hike the minimum wage in the city to $12.50 an hour by 2020...
U.S. LABOR
A Significant Deal for Automakers and Unions The Atlantic ...For nearly a decade, new workers hired at unionized auto plants across the country have started their jobs knowing a troubling fact: They made less than their colleagues, sometimes half as much. And no matter how hard they worked, they could never earn the wages of the people standing next to them on the assembly line. But, in a deal reached Sunday night, the UAW and GM announced that they had hammered out an agreement that would get rid of the two-tier wage system...
UAW members anxiously await details of GM contract Detroit Free Press ...One down, another close to the finish line and one more to go. That's pretty much where things stand in the UAW's contract talks with the Detroit Three. The UAW reached a new tentative agreement with General Motors shortly before midnight on Sunday but that agreement still has a long way to go before it becomes official...
UFCW 8-Golden State Members Ratify Agreements with Rite Aid Business Wire ...Concluding two years of collective bargaining, members of UFCW 8-Golden State have voted overwhelmingly to ratify new agreements with the Rite Aid drug store in the northern and southern regions of the state. UFCW 8-Golden State President Jacques Loveall praised the agreements, which cover approximately 2,500 Rite Aid Clerks and Pharmacists between the Oregon border and Kern County...
Union elections are rigged against workers The Hill ...Over the past couple of years, low-wage McDonalds, Wal-Mart and federal contract workers have been striking to win a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour and the right to form a union. Some people ask us, “Why don’t you stop striking and just hold a union election?” The truth is America’s low-wage workers are striking because union election rules are rigged against us...
The Hellish Conditions Facing Workers At Chicken Processing Plants Think Progress ...In a report released on Tuesday, Oxfam America is launching a new campaign to address what it says are rampant health and safety issues, as well as low pay and few benefits, that face the people who process chicken in the country’s plants. Consumer demand has been growing. That demand has come with increased pressure on processing line speeds, which are twice as fast today as they were in 1979...
Latest GOP Buzzword for Turning Social Security Into A Welfare Program: Means-Testing Salon ...Means-testing Social Security is a popular position among Republican presidential candidates this election cycle—if not among prospective voters. That means, essentially, turning the nation’s retirement system into a welfare program, targeted at those with real hardships. If they get their way, not only will Social Security benefits be slashed for millions, but something fundamental will have changed: our national retirement system will be transformed from a social insurance program to a welfare program...
Top-Secret Pentagon Program Exploited Aid Workers as Covert Spies Common Dreams ... A new investigation published Monday reveals that the U.S. Pentagon for years funneled millions to a charity organization employing it to serve as the front group for global espionage—very real revelations that experts warn could have dangerous implications for aid workers worldwide...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
In Student Victory, U. of Mississippi Removes State Flag with Confederate Emblem Democracy Now ...Early Monday morning, three campus police officers at the University of Mississippi removed the state flag with its Confederate emblem from the grounds of the school’s campus in Oxford. The move comes after the student government voted to remove the flag. Mississippi’s flag is the latest Confederate symbol to be targeted for removal from a public space since a white supremacist killed nine African-American worshipers in Charleston, South Carolina, four months ago...
Disturbing Video Shows School Cop Body Slam and Drag a Black Female Student Mother Jones ...Authorities in Richland County, South Carolina, are investigating a video that surfaced Monday showing a uniformed officer aggressively confronting a high school student. The video, which appears to have been recorded on a cellphone by a classmate, shows a white male officer standing over a black female student...
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.14.15
Teamsters
BLET/Teamsters statement on fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLET.org ...As federal investigators in Philadelphia begin to piece together what happened leading up to the horrific Amtrak derailment that occurred on May 12, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) extends our most heartfelt sympathy to the grieving families who lost a loved one in the accident, and also to the many victims who suffered serious injuries...
Teamsters, allies voice outrage at attempts to gut truck safety laws Teamster Nation ...Teamsters joined forces today with safety advocates, crash victims, and law enforcement allies for a press event on Capitol Hill to speak out against proposed rollbacks of major truck safety regulations. The event was held as the Appropriations Committee considers the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill for 2016, which includes "riders" that will force truck drivers to work longer hours and drive larger, heavier trucks...
Teamsters trying to organize at north Strip hotel CBS Las Vegas ...The union representing Las Vegas valet workers are protesting what they say is unfair treatment at the SLS Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Strip. Teamsters Local 986 said the group and supporters protested outside SLS Monday. The union wants to organize the casino-hotel’s 50 valet employees...
Global Labor & Trade
Senate compromise revives fast-track bill, but an uphill slog looms in House Washington Post ...One day after Democrats defied their own president with a filibuster that temporarily blocked a key trade measure, Senate leaders said they had reached an agreement to move forward with a series of votes that would break the impasse...
Obama vs. Warren: Trade spat turns personal Reuters ...President Barack Obama's swing at liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren has stirred a controversy that may complicate the chances of a pan-Pacific trade pact and could make it harder for the White House to get its way in future legislative battles. Facing stiff opposition to the trade deal from sections of his own Democratic Party, Obama launched a personalized criticism of Warren's efforts to lead the fight against giving the administration "fast-track" negotiating authority...
White House changes tone on trade The Hill ...Knowing it has to win over more Democrats, the White House shifted its tone on the Massachusetts senator. Earnest sought to downplay the scope of the Obama-Warren rift, emphasizing they agree on a wide array of issues from Wall Street reform to raising the minimum wage, even though they disagree on trade...
Barack Obama's Battle With Senate Democrats Is Over. For Now. National Journal ...Of the Senate's 46 Democrats, exactly one voted Tuesday to support a bill that Obama calls vital to the economy. But then, after a day of lousy news coverage and hand-wringing about a president who couldn't even get the support of his own party, it all blew over, and things were pretty much where Obama and his aides predicted they would be heading into Monday...
Democrats yield in Senate trade deal Politico ...After Democrats engineered a stunning defeat of President Barack Obama’s push for new trade deals on Tuesday, negotiators hashed out a compromise that offered both parties a way to save face without scuttling the administration’s trade agenda. At the least, the agreement means the Senate is likely to pass new powers for the president to fast-track trade pacts through Congress...
Fast Track will empower GOP president, McConnell says Washington Post ...In an interview with John Harwood, McConnell said that Republicans should support Fast Track authority, explicitly because — and here’s the rub — it will empower the next GOP president to negotiate trade deals more easily, despite Democratic opposition to them in Congress...
The secret corporate takeover of trade agreements (opinion) The Guardian ...Rules and regulations determine the kind of economy and society in which people live. They affect relative bargaining power, with important implications for inequality, a growing problem around the world. The question is whether we should allow rich corporations to use provisions hidden in so-called trade agreements to dictate how we will live in the 21st century...
Egypt outlaws workers’ right to strike Al-Monitor ...The ruling issued April 28 by the Supreme Administrative Court headed by Judge Labib Halim to criminalize strikes and penalize striking public workers by forcing them into retirement caused an uproar in legal circles and provoked the anger of those interested in labor and human rights...
Mexican Auto Workers Fired After Protesting Sexual Harassment In These Times ...In March, workers on a subassembly line organized a work-to-rule slowdown. That grabbed management’s attention. A meeting was held. Management and the union agreed to handle the problem with the supervisor. “We were informed that we weren’t going to be punished for the demonstration,” said Edgar Capetillo. They were fired without explanation. All 20 of the workers were male...
Dozens Feared Dead After Fire Consumes Factory In Philippines Common Dreams ...At least 65 people have been reported missing or dead after a fire consumed a rubber slipper factory in a suburb of the Philippine capital of Manila on Wednesday. Rex Gatchalian, mayor of the suburb of Valenzuela where the disaster took place, reportedly said that it took fire fighters four hours to quell the blaze and bodies were found inside the building...
State & Living Wage Battles
Missouri passes right-to-work bill, but governor's veto expected Reuters ...Missouri Republican lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday that would stop workers from being required to join a union or pay dues, but without enough votes to override an expected veto by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon. By a 92-66 vote, the Missouri House of Representatives approved the measure that would allow Missouri to join 25 other states with "right-to-work" laws...
House to vote on Right to Work: 'It's gonna fail. It's meant to fail. And it will fail.' Chicago Sun Times ...“Political theater” or a “serious vote” on which legislators must take a stand. Those are the contrasting views of the Illinois House vote scheduled Thursday for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s much trumpeted right-to-work proposal...
Senate panel OKs bills to repeal prevailing wage laws Detroit News ...The Senate leader and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, are making the repeal legislation a major priority, although Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says he doesn’t favor it. The legislation was sent to the full Senate by its Michigan Competitiveness Committee on 4-1 votes following a hearing that lasted about one-and-a-half hours...
Facebook Just Made Sure Even Their Janitors Are Making At Least $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Effective May 1, the new benefits will cover contract employees who work as cooks, janitors, security guards and other support staff at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The company plans to extend the benefits to third-party vendors with more than 25 employees at its other 16 campuses in the U.S. over the next year...
Union nursing home caregivers seek 'living wage' in State House rally Providence Journal ...With nursing homes and hospitals facing cuts as part of Governor Raimondo's Reinventing Medicaid initiative, Ward and other union health-care workers rallied at the State House on Wednesday to call for better pay and policies that promote better care. They are seeking what they call "a living wage" of $15 an hour...
The Fight For $15 Just Won a Powerful Supporter: Governor Cuomo The Nation ...The 99 percent can savor a small victory, as Governor Andrew Cuomo launches a plan to raise fast food workers’ pay to up to $15 an hour in one sweeping executive action. Last week Cuomo rolled out a new Wage Board, featuring three high-profile appointees tasked with reviewing labor conditions in the industry, with a mandate to secure “honor and justice” for the state’s 200,000 fast-food workers...
L.A. City Council committee votes to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2020 LA Daily News ...Amid a national discussion over economic inequality and following months of heated debate, Los Angeles is poised to dramatically hike the citywide minimum wage. A unanimous vote Wednesday by the seven-member Economic Development Committee laid out a series of increases over five years. Hourly pay would reach $10.50 next year, $12 by 2017, $13.25 by 2018 and $14.25 by 2019 under the plan...
U.S. Labor
Unions call attention to protracted labor negotiations with Southwest Dallas Morning News ...Unions representing pilots and ramp workers at Southwest Airlines sought Tuesday to call attention to their protracted labor negotiations with the Dallas-based carrier. The ramp workers, who are working under a contract that became amendable in June 2011, announced plans to picket outside Southwest’s annual meeting Wednesday in downtown Houston...
AT&T, CWA reach tentative wireline labor agreement Fierce Telecom ...AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have hammered out tentative agreements covering nearly 17,000 wireline employees in the Midwest. These tentative agreements cover union employees that work for AT&T Midwest and AT&T Corp...
UAW protests at Lear annual meeting Auto News ...The UAW protested outside Lear's annual shareholder meeting today near Detroit, calling attention to safety issues at the company's seat plants in the South. “Workers at auto parts plants nationwide are standing up and speaking out against low wages and unsafe conditions that now define far too many of America’s auto jobs," UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a statement today...
Strike energizes organized labor before contract talks NWI Times ...Now the strike is over. But contract talks are coming up later this year at Northwest Indiana's big steel mills and at Ford's factories just across the state line, and organized labor in the Calumet Region has a new energy. "The strike helped bring some solidarity to Northwest Indiana," USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap said...
Miscellaneous
Currently Available Technology May Have Prevented Fatal Amtrak Crash. But Congress Never Funded It. Think Progress ...Rather than provide the necessary funding to allow Amtrak to meet the rapidly approaching mandate, the GOP-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to cut about a fifth of Amtrak’s annual federal funds. Instead, a bill proposed in March by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) would extend the deadline for PTC implementation until December 2020...
Private Water Industry Says Water Bills "Have to Go Up" Truthout ...The topic that received the most attention was the nation's patchwork of rapidly deteriorating municipal water systems, which are estimated to need more than $1 trillion worth of upgrades. This, water executives said, not only represented a historic opportunity for their businesses, but could also be used as leverage to finally convince Americans to cough up more money for their tap water. It is the classic Shock Doctrine approach - turning a social crisis into a financial shakedown...
MOVE Bombing at 30: "Barbaric" 1985 Philadelphia Police Attack Killed 11 & Burned a Neighborhood Democracy Now ...Today marks the 30th anniversary of a massive police operation in Philadelphia that culminated in the helicopter bombing of the headquarters of a radical group known as MOVE. The fire from the attack incinerated six adults and five children, and destroyed 65 homes. Despite two grand jury investigations and a commission finding that top officials were grossly negligent, no one from city government was criminally charged...
BLET/Teamsters statement on fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLET.org ...As federal investigators in Philadelphia begin to piece together what happened leading up to the horrific Amtrak derailment that occurred on May 12, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) extends our most heartfelt sympathy to the grieving families who lost a loved one in the accident, and also to the many victims who suffered serious injuries...
Teamsters, allies voice outrage at attempts to gut truck safety laws Teamster Nation ...Teamsters joined forces today with safety advocates, crash victims, and law enforcement allies for a press event on Capitol Hill to speak out against proposed rollbacks of major truck safety regulations. The event was held as the Appropriations Committee considers the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill for 2016, which includes "riders" that will force truck drivers to work longer hours and drive larger, heavier trucks...
Teamsters trying to organize at north Strip hotel CBS Las Vegas ...The union representing Las Vegas valet workers are protesting what they say is unfair treatment at the SLS Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Strip. Teamsters Local 986 said the group and supporters protested outside SLS Monday. The union wants to organize the casino-hotel’s 50 valet employees...
Global Labor & Trade
Senate compromise revives fast-track bill, but an uphill slog looms in House Washington Post ...One day after Democrats defied their own president with a filibuster that temporarily blocked a key trade measure, Senate leaders said they had reached an agreement to move forward with a series of votes that would break the impasse...
Obama vs. Warren: Trade spat turns personal Reuters ...President Barack Obama's swing at liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren has stirred a controversy that may complicate the chances of a pan-Pacific trade pact and could make it harder for the White House to get its way in future legislative battles. Facing stiff opposition to the trade deal from sections of his own Democratic Party, Obama launched a personalized criticism of Warren's efforts to lead the fight against giving the administration "fast-track" negotiating authority...
White House changes tone on trade The Hill ...Knowing it has to win over more Democrats, the White House shifted its tone on the Massachusetts senator. Earnest sought to downplay the scope of the Obama-Warren rift, emphasizing they agree on a wide array of issues from Wall Street reform to raising the minimum wage, even though they disagree on trade...
Barack Obama's Battle With Senate Democrats Is Over. For Now. National Journal ...Of the Senate's 46 Democrats, exactly one voted Tuesday to support a bill that Obama calls vital to the economy. But then, after a day of lousy news coverage and hand-wringing about a president who couldn't even get the support of his own party, it all blew over, and things were pretty much where Obama and his aides predicted they would be heading into Monday...
Democrats yield in Senate trade deal Politico ...After Democrats engineered a stunning defeat of President Barack Obama’s push for new trade deals on Tuesday, negotiators hashed out a compromise that offered both parties a way to save face without scuttling the administration’s trade agenda. At the least, the agreement means the Senate is likely to pass new powers for the president to fast-track trade pacts through Congress...
Fast Track will empower GOP president, McConnell says Washington Post ...In an interview with John Harwood, McConnell said that Republicans should support Fast Track authority, explicitly because — and here’s the rub — it will empower the next GOP president to negotiate trade deals more easily, despite Democratic opposition to them in Congress...
The secret corporate takeover of trade agreements (opinion) The Guardian ...Rules and regulations determine the kind of economy and society in which people live. They affect relative bargaining power, with important implications for inequality, a growing problem around the world. The question is whether we should allow rich corporations to use provisions hidden in so-called trade agreements to dictate how we will live in the 21st century...
Egypt outlaws workers’ right to strike Al-Monitor ...The ruling issued April 28 by the Supreme Administrative Court headed by Judge Labib Halim to criminalize strikes and penalize striking public workers by forcing them into retirement caused an uproar in legal circles and provoked the anger of those interested in labor and human rights...
Mexican Auto Workers Fired After Protesting Sexual Harassment In These Times ...In March, workers on a subassembly line organized a work-to-rule slowdown. That grabbed management’s attention. A meeting was held. Management and the union agreed to handle the problem with the supervisor. “We were informed that we weren’t going to be punished for the demonstration,” said Edgar Capetillo. They were fired without explanation. All 20 of the workers were male...
Dozens Feared Dead After Fire Consumes Factory In Philippines Common Dreams ...At least 65 people have been reported missing or dead after a fire consumed a rubber slipper factory in a suburb of the Philippine capital of Manila on Wednesday. Rex Gatchalian, mayor of the suburb of Valenzuela where the disaster took place, reportedly said that it took fire fighters four hours to quell the blaze and bodies were found inside the building...
Missouri passes right-to-work bill, but governor's veto expected Reuters ...Missouri Republican lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday that would stop workers from being required to join a union or pay dues, but without enough votes to override an expected veto by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon. By a 92-66 vote, the Missouri House of Representatives approved the measure that would allow Missouri to join 25 other states with "right-to-work" laws...
House to vote on Right to Work: 'It's gonna fail. It's meant to fail. And it will fail.' Chicago Sun Times ...“Political theater” or a “serious vote” on which legislators must take a stand. Those are the contrasting views of the Illinois House vote scheduled Thursday for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s much trumpeted right-to-work proposal...
Senate panel OKs bills to repeal prevailing wage laws Detroit News ...The Senate leader and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, are making the repeal legislation a major priority, although Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says he doesn’t favor it. The legislation was sent to the full Senate by its Michigan Competitiveness Committee on 4-1 votes following a hearing that lasted about one-and-a-half hours...
Facebook Just Made Sure Even Their Janitors Are Making At Least $15 An Hour Think Progress ...Effective May 1, the new benefits will cover contract employees who work as cooks, janitors, security guards and other support staff at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The company plans to extend the benefits to third-party vendors with more than 25 employees at its other 16 campuses in the U.S. over the next year...
Union nursing home caregivers seek 'living wage' in State House rally Providence Journal ...With nursing homes and hospitals facing cuts as part of Governor Raimondo's Reinventing Medicaid initiative, Ward and other union health-care workers rallied at the State House on Wednesday to call for better pay and policies that promote better care. They are seeking what they call "a living wage" of $15 an hour...
The Fight For $15 Just Won a Powerful Supporter: Governor Cuomo The Nation ...The 99 percent can savor a small victory, as Governor Andrew Cuomo launches a plan to raise fast food workers’ pay to up to $15 an hour in one sweeping executive action. Last week Cuomo rolled out a new Wage Board, featuring three high-profile appointees tasked with reviewing labor conditions in the industry, with a mandate to secure “honor and justice” for the state’s 200,000 fast-food workers...
L.A. City Council committee votes to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2020 LA Daily News ...Amid a national discussion over economic inequality and following months of heated debate, Los Angeles is poised to dramatically hike the citywide minimum wage. A unanimous vote Wednesday by the seven-member Economic Development Committee laid out a series of increases over five years. Hourly pay would reach $10.50 next year, $12 by 2017, $13.25 by 2018 and $14.25 by 2019 under the plan...
U.S. Labor
Unions call attention to protracted labor negotiations with Southwest Dallas Morning News ...Unions representing pilots and ramp workers at Southwest Airlines sought Tuesday to call attention to their protracted labor negotiations with the Dallas-based carrier. The ramp workers, who are working under a contract that became amendable in June 2011, announced plans to picket outside Southwest’s annual meeting Wednesday in downtown Houston...
AT&T, CWA reach tentative wireline labor agreement Fierce Telecom ...AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have hammered out tentative agreements covering nearly 17,000 wireline employees in the Midwest. These tentative agreements cover union employees that work for AT&T Midwest and AT&T Corp...
UAW protests at Lear annual meeting Auto News ...The UAW protested outside Lear's annual shareholder meeting today near Detroit, calling attention to safety issues at the company's seat plants in the South. “Workers at auto parts plants nationwide are standing up and speaking out against low wages and unsafe conditions that now define far too many of America’s auto jobs," UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a statement today...
Strike energizes organized labor before contract talks NWI Times ...Now the strike is over. But contract talks are coming up later this year at Northwest Indiana's big steel mills and at Ford's factories just across the state line, and organized labor in the Calumet Region has a new energy. "The strike helped bring some solidarity to Northwest Indiana," USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap said...
Miscellaneous
Currently Available Technology May Have Prevented Fatal Amtrak Crash. But Congress Never Funded It. Think Progress ...Rather than provide the necessary funding to allow Amtrak to meet the rapidly approaching mandate, the GOP-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to cut about a fifth of Amtrak’s annual federal funds. Instead, a bill proposed in March by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) would extend the deadline for PTC implementation until December 2020...
Private Water Industry Says Water Bills "Have to Go Up" Truthout ...The topic that received the most attention was the nation's patchwork of rapidly deteriorating municipal water systems, which are estimated to need more than $1 trillion worth of upgrades. This, water executives said, not only represented a historic opportunity for their businesses, but could also be used as leverage to finally convince Americans to cough up more money for their tap water. It is the classic Shock Doctrine approach - turning a social crisis into a financial shakedown...
MOVE Bombing at 30: "Barbaric" 1985 Philadelphia Police Attack Killed 11 & Burned a Neighborhood Democracy Now ...Today marks the 30th anniversary of a massive police operation in Philadelphia that culminated in the helicopter bombing of the headquarters of a radical group known as MOVE. The fire from the attack incinerated six adults and five children, and destroyed 65 homes. Despite two grand jury investigations and a commission finding that top officials were grossly negligent, no one from city government was criminally charged...
Monday, January 2, 2012
Today's Teamster News 01.02.12
The Obligatory Economic Predictions for 2012 Economic Populist ...We have nothing coming down the pike to give us that push to strong growth. Not a manufacturing policy, a hire Americans policy, an increase wages policy, a confrontation of bad trade deals agenda...
The $18 Trillion Threat Of The Unregulated Shadow Banking System Forbes ...When you add together the assets in hedge funds, ETFs, money market mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds and family investment offices(think Soros) the total amount of assets that are subject to oversight and regulation appears to be $18 trillion, down from $25 trillion before the 2008 meltdown...
Fewer young, but more elderly, have driver’s license The University Record ...“It is possible that the availability of virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact among young people,” says Michael Sivak, research professor at the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)...
And the “winner” of the worst footnote of 2011 is… footnoted.com ...Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and its former CEO, Léo Apotheker ... managed to get paid very handsomely for failing so spectacularly. Exactly how much Apotheker made ... is subject to a bit of interpretation... Various estimates we’ve seen pin it at somewhere between $25 million and $33 million... during Apotheker’s 11-month stint, HP stock declined by more than 40%...
US says Egypt agrees to stop raids on democracy groups BBC ...the US reacted sharply to the move, condemning it as an attack on democratic values and hinting that it could review the $1.3bn (£0.84bn) in annual US military aid to Cairo if such incidents continued...
Right-to-work legislation likely to dominate session Post-Tribune ...Debate on whether Indiana will become the 23rd right-to-work state will likely dominate the Indiana General Assembly session that starts Wednesday...
The $18 Trillion Threat Of The Unregulated Shadow Banking System Forbes ...When you add together the assets in hedge funds, ETFs, money market mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds and family investment offices(think Soros) the total amount of assets that are subject to oversight and regulation appears to be $18 trillion, down from $25 trillion before the 2008 meltdown...
Fewer young, but more elderly, have driver’s license The University Record ...“It is possible that the availability of virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact among young people,” says Michael Sivak, research professor at the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)...
And the “winner” of the worst footnote of 2011 is… footnoted.com ...Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and its former CEO, Léo Apotheker ... managed to get paid very handsomely for failing so spectacularly. Exactly how much Apotheker made ... is subject to a bit of interpretation... Various estimates we’ve seen pin it at somewhere between $25 million and $33 million... during Apotheker’s 11-month stint, HP stock declined by more than 40%...
US says Egypt agrees to stop raids on democracy groups BBC ...the US reacted sharply to the move, condemning it as an attack on democratic values and hinting that it could review the $1.3bn (£0.84bn) in annual US military aid to Cairo if such incidents continued...
Right-to-work legislation likely to dominate session Post-Tribune ...Debate on whether Indiana will become the 23rd right-to-work state will likely dominate the Indiana General Assembly session that starts Wednesday...
Friday, December 30, 2011
Today's Teamster News 12.30.11
Darker Nights as Some Cities Turn Off the Lights New York Times ...Cities around the nation, grappling with what is expected to be a fifth consecutive year of declining revenues and having exhausted the predictable budget trims, are increasingly considering something that would once have been untouchable: the lights...
Egypt Raids Offices of Nonprofits, 3 Backed by U.S. New York Times ...The raids are the latest and most forceful effort yet by the country’s ruling generals to crack down on perceived sources of criticism amid rising calls from Egyptian politicians and protesters and some Western leaders for the military to hand over power to a civilian government...
An Uproar on the Web Over $2 Fee by Verizon New York Times ...The $2 monthly fee, which takes effect Jan. 15, will apply to people who make one-time credit or debit card payments on the phone or online...
Tournament of Roses to Occupiers: You Can't March in Our Parade CNS News ...Although the group is not part of the parade, its Web site OccupytheRoseParade.org says, “Float #44/#99 will be our float with visual displays including a 250 foot ‘We the People’ U.S. Constitution, a 50 foot ‘We The Corporations’ version, a giant ‘Goldie Sachs’ Wheel of Fortune exhibit, a Wall Street ‘Occupy The Octopus’ (Occupy The Vampire Squid) representing Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citibank...
Indiana State Sen. Jim Tomes (R) Comes Out Against Mitch Daniels' Right-to-Work Agenda Crooks and Liars ...an Indiana Republican is challenging the governor's anti-union agenda. State Sen. Jim Tomes broke ranks with his party and penned a letter to the Evansville Courier & Press telling the truth about the law and the Republican agenda...
Violence at Merced County Jail prompts call for action KFSN ...Merced County (Teamsters) correctional officers say understaffing at the Merced County jail is putting officers and the public's safety at risk. Now they're asking for a special hearing on the issue...
Teamsters mechanics at United Airlines OK contract, pave way for deal with Continental workers Associated Press ...The union said the deal with United includes wage increases, continued health care benefits and improved job-security protection. Workers also got an $11,500 signing bonus and regained items that were lost when United went through a bankruptcy reorganization in the last decade...
Egypt Raids Offices of Nonprofits, 3 Backed by U.S. New York Times ...The raids are the latest and most forceful effort yet by the country’s ruling generals to crack down on perceived sources of criticism amid rising calls from Egyptian politicians and protesters and some Western leaders for the military to hand over power to a civilian government...
An Uproar on the Web Over $2 Fee by Verizon New York Times ...The $2 monthly fee, which takes effect Jan. 15, will apply to people who make one-time credit or debit card payments on the phone or online...
Tournament of Roses to Occupiers: You Can't March in Our Parade CNS News ...Although the group is not part of the parade, its Web site OccupytheRoseParade.org says, “Float #44/#99 will be our float with visual displays including a 250 foot ‘We the People’ U.S. Constitution, a 50 foot ‘We The Corporations’ version, a giant ‘Goldie Sachs’ Wheel of Fortune exhibit, a Wall Street ‘Occupy The Octopus’ (Occupy The Vampire Squid) representing Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citibank...
Indiana State Sen. Jim Tomes (R) Comes Out Against Mitch Daniels' Right-to-Work Agenda Crooks and Liars ...an Indiana Republican is challenging the governor's anti-union agenda. State Sen. Jim Tomes broke ranks with his party and penned a letter to the Evansville Courier & Press telling the truth about the law and the Republican agenda...
Violence at Merced County Jail prompts call for action KFSN ...Merced County (Teamsters) correctional officers say understaffing at the Merced County jail is putting officers and the public's safety at risk. Now they're asking for a special hearing on the issue...
Teamsters mechanics at United Airlines OK contract, pave way for deal with Continental workers Associated Press ...The union said the deal with United includes wage increases, continued health care benefits and improved job-security protection. Workers also got an $11,500 signing bonus and regained items that were lost when United went through a bankruptcy reorganization in the last decade...
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Today's Teamster News 12.21.11
3 Million Could Lose Jobless Pay in Impasse New York Times ...Jobless benefits have been overshadowed by debate on a payroll tax cut, but have become a huge sticking point in negotiations on a bill that deals with both issues...
BofA Shares Fall Below $5 for First Time Since March 2009 Bloomberg ...Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second- biggest U.S. lender, fell below $5 in New York trading for the first time since March 2009 amid concern that Europe’s debt crisis will be a drag on the world’s financial system...
Mass March by Cairo Women in Protest Over Abuse by Soldiers New York Times ...Several thousand women demanding the end of military rule marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square...
People’s Convention of Florida drafts proposals for 2012 session The Florida Independent ...Occupy Wall Street-inspired groups from around the state have begun to draft proposals to be handed to House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, on the first day of the Florida legislative session, Jan. 10...
Frustration over recall Walker signatures causing problems WTMJ ...With less than 30 days to go before the deadline to collect recall signatures one thing both sides can agree on is that it's getting down right nasty and dangerous out on the streets...
Alta Dena Dairy Workers Ratify Strong First Contract Locals 630 and 166 ...Drivers, production workers and equipment and maintenance mechanics at Alta Dena Dairy in City of Industry, Calif. ratified their first contract since joining Teamsters Locals 630 & 166 in Southern California in September 2011 through card recognition...
BofA Shares Fall Below $5 for First Time Since March 2009 Bloomberg ...Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second- biggest U.S. lender, fell below $5 in New York trading for the first time since March 2009 amid concern that Europe’s debt crisis will be a drag on the world’s financial system...
Mass March by Cairo Women in Protest Over Abuse by Soldiers New York Times ...Several thousand women demanding the end of military rule marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square...
People’s Convention of Florida drafts proposals for 2012 session The Florida Independent ...Occupy Wall Street-inspired groups from around the state have begun to draft proposals to be handed to House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, on the first day of the Florida legislative session, Jan. 10...
Frustration over recall Walker signatures causing problems WTMJ ...With less than 30 days to go before the deadline to collect recall signatures one thing both sides can agree on is that it's getting down right nasty and dangerous out on the streets...
Alta Dena Dairy Workers Ratify Strong First Contract Locals 630 and 166 ...Drivers, production workers and equipment and maintenance mechanics at Alta Dena Dairy in City of Industry, Calif. ratified their first contract since joining Teamsters Locals 630 & 166 in Southern California in September 2011 through card recognition...
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Today's Teamster News 11.25.11
Opening Day for Shoppers Shows Divide New York Times ...The low-end and midrange retailers are risking low margins as they cut prices to attract shoppers, while executives at luxury stores say that they are actually able to sell more at full price than in recent boom years...
Bank of America's billion dollar spin Salon ...In misleading TV ads, the bank casts itself as a champion of the working class and small business. Reality check!...
Debunking the conservative argument about the rich and taxes, in three easy charts Washington Post ...the percentage change of the overall average income of the top one percent has risen by 119 percent. That’s more than twice the amount of the change in their income tax, which grew by 54 percent in that time...
Egypt Military and Protesters Dig In for a Long Standoff New York Times ...the protesters, emboldened by the end of the fighting, said they were as determined as ever to stay in the square until the military council and its chief, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, left power...
Eurozone Fears Hit London Market Press Association ... Doubts over the future of the currency bloc were compounded as Italy was forced to pay more than 7% on the bond markets, a level that is widely seen as unsustainable...
Europe's Economic Implosion Heats Up Economic Populist ...Right before Thanksgiving, there were more events pointing to a tsunami from the Eurozone...
Bank of America's billion dollar spin Salon ...In misleading TV ads, the bank casts itself as a champion of the working class and small business. Reality check!...
Debunking the conservative argument about the rich and taxes, in three easy charts Washington Post ...the percentage change of the overall average income of the top one percent has risen by 119 percent. That’s more than twice the amount of the change in their income tax, which grew by 54 percent in that time...
Egypt Military and Protesters Dig In for a Long Standoff New York Times ...the protesters, emboldened by the end of the fighting, said they were as determined as ever to stay in the square until the military council and its chief, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, left power...
Eurozone Fears Hit London Market Press Association ... Doubts over the future of the currency bloc were compounded as Italy was forced to pay more than 7% on the bond markets, a level that is widely seen as unsustainable...
Europe's Economic Implosion Heats Up Economic Populist ...Right before Thanksgiving, there were more events pointing to a tsunami from the Eurozone...
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Today's Teamster News 11.23.11
Unions pack Indiana Statehouse to protest 'right to work' Louisville Courier-Journal ...Hundreds of union workers crowded the Statehouse hallways Tuesday, waving signs and chanting “shame on you” outside the Indiana House and Senate chambers as lawmakers organized for their 2012 session...
Scott Walker petitions take center stage in Wisconsin Politico ...officials are projecting a general election in May or June. That timeline means Democrats want to remain focused on Walker until at least next year...
Bill Cotterell: Teamsters offer extra toughness Tallahassee Democrat ...Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-run Legislature still want to privatize prisons in 18 counties of South Florida, and probably the rest of the state, eventually...
Weary, blistered Wall Street protesters reach DC Associated Press ...Organizers said the march, which they called Occupy the Highway, accomplished their goal of taking their concerns about income equality and corporate influence in politics on the road, including to rural communities that previously had little exposure to the movement...
The Old Order Stifles the Birth of a New Egypt New York Times ...The vestiges of Mr. Mubarak’s order — the military, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists, or fragmented liberals and leftists — seem ill prepared to navigate the transition from his rule...
Financial Finger-Pointing Turns to Regulators New York Times ...The IndyMac collapse, with its multibillion-dollar cost to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fund, highlights the role played by federal overseers of financial companies in the years leading up to the crisis. It also raises questions about whether government officials should be held accountable for dubious conduct related to the failure of an institution and whether the government has avoided pursuing some cases because of the roles regulators have played...
Scott Walker petitions take center stage in Wisconsin Politico ...officials are projecting a general election in May or June. That timeline means Democrats want to remain focused on Walker until at least next year...
Bill Cotterell: Teamsters offer extra toughness Tallahassee Democrat ...Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-run Legislature still want to privatize prisons in 18 counties of South Florida, and probably the rest of the state, eventually...
Weary, blistered Wall Street protesters reach DC Associated Press ...Organizers said the march, which they called Occupy the Highway, accomplished their goal of taking their concerns about income equality and corporate influence in politics on the road, including to rural communities that previously had little exposure to the movement...
The Old Order Stifles the Birth of a New Egypt New York Times ...The vestiges of Mr. Mubarak’s order — the military, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists, or fragmented liberals and leftists — seem ill prepared to navigate the transition from his rule...
Financial Finger-Pointing Turns to Regulators New York Times ...The IndyMac collapse, with its multibillion-dollar cost to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fund, highlights the role played by federal overseers of financial companies in the years leading up to the crisis. It also raises questions about whether government officials should be held accountable for dubious conduct related to the failure of an institution and whether the government has avoided pursuing some cases because of the roles regulators have played...
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Today's Teamster News 11.22.11
Right-to-work battle begins again Tuesday NWITimes.com ...Hundreds of Northwest Indiana union workers will be at the Statehouse on Tuesday hoping to speak with state lawmakers as they convene for the ceremonial first day of the legislative session, known as Organization Day...
Gov. wins major tax ruling at Mich. Supreme Court Associated Press ...Key parts of a Michigan law that taxes public pension income for the first time are constitutional, the state Supreme Court said Friday in a major victory for Gov. Rick Snyder...
14 arrested as unions, Occupy St. Louis protestors unite St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...About 800 people, bolstered by representatives of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, Service Employees International and other unions, participated in the rally and the subsequent march north through downtown...
Americans For Prosperity NH will be there on Nov 30th WILL YOU? NH Labor News ... the Koch Funded Americans For Prosperity of New Hampshire is trying to get members to show up to push for RTW...
Ohio’s job market remains sluggish Policy Matters Ohio ...Since July, the state has lost 8,300 jobs after gains earlier in the year. The unemployment rate in October inched down 0.1 point to 9.0 percent from a month earlier...
Egypt’s Cabinet Offers to Resign as Protests Rage New York Times ... The cabinet offered its resignation on Monday to Egypt’s transitional military rulers as security forces carried out an increasingly lethal crackdown on three days of violent street protests...
Deutsche Bank Could Transfer Financial Contagion: Simon Johnson Bloomberg ...You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company...
Gov. wins major tax ruling at Mich. Supreme Court Associated Press ...Key parts of a Michigan law that taxes public pension income for the first time are constitutional, the state Supreme Court said Friday in a major victory for Gov. Rick Snyder...
14 arrested as unions, Occupy St. Louis protestors unite St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...About 800 people, bolstered by representatives of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, Service Employees International and other unions, participated in the rally and the subsequent march north through downtown...
Americans For Prosperity NH will be there on Nov 30th WILL YOU? NH Labor News ... the Koch Funded Americans For Prosperity of New Hampshire is trying to get members to show up to push for RTW...
Ohio’s job market remains sluggish Policy Matters Ohio ...Since July, the state has lost 8,300 jobs after gains earlier in the year. The unemployment rate in October inched down 0.1 point to 9.0 percent from a month earlier...
Egypt’s Cabinet Offers to Resign as Protests Rage New York Times ... The cabinet offered its resignation on Monday to Egypt’s transitional military rulers as security forces carried out an increasingly lethal crackdown on three days of violent street protests...
Deutsche Bank Could Transfer Financial Contagion: Simon Johnson Bloomberg ...You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Today's Teamster News 07.20.11
Democratic senator Hansen retains seat in recall attempt Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ..."A win like this, in my mind, creates momentum for the next eight recall races," Hansen said...
S.B. 5 foes say petition drive made it Columbus Dispatch ...More than 800,000 valid signatures have been found on the Senate Bill 5 referendum petition, opponents of the law said as yesterday's deadline passed for county elections boards to turn in signature totals...
Poll: Voters would reject Emergency Manager law Michigan Messenger ...The poll found strong opposition to the law in both union and non-union households...
Conferees reconcile 4 spending bills Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Four days after reaching a global budget agreement, GOP leaders and the governor hammered out a deal Monday on four spending bills...
Report says N.J. to have painfully slow economic recovery Politics Patrol ...New Jersey gained 11 percent of jobs lost during the recession compared to 20 percent nationwide...
Standing Up for Economic Rights Is a Human Right Huffington Post ...As Arab citizens take to the streets, at great risk, to secure economic rights and democratic voice in their respective countries, several extremist governors and advocates are stripping American workers of their economic rights and voice by working to eliminate or weaken collective bargaining and voter protections...
S.B. 5 foes say petition drive made it Columbus Dispatch ...More than 800,000 valid signatures have been found on the Senate Bill 5 referendum petition, opponents of the law said as yesterday's deadline passed for county elections boards to turn in signature totals...
Poll: Voters would reject Emergency Manager law Michigan Messenger ...The poll found strong opposition to the law in both union and non-union households...
Conferees reconcile 4 spending bills Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Four days after reaching a global budget agreement, GOP leaders and the governor hammered out a deal Monday on four spending bills...
Report says N.J. to have painfully slow economic recovery Politics Patrol ...New Jersey gained 11 percent of jobs lost during the recession compared to 20 percent nationwide...
Standing Up for Economic Rights Is a Human Right Huffington Post ...As Arab citizens take to the streets, at great risk, to secure economic rights and democratic voice in their respective countries, several extremist governors and advocates are stripping American workers of their economic rights and voice by working to eliminate or weaken collective bargaining and voter protections...
Monday, February 21, 2011
Teamsters Take Protests to 38 States
 |
| Teamster gathering place in Madison. |
The protest continues in Wisconsin today. Wisconsin, though, isn't the only state where new governors and legislatures are considering right-to-work (for LESS) laws, eliminating project-labor agreements, killing prevailing wage laws and repealing minimum wage and child labor laws. In Congress, Republicans are pushing legislation to make it harder for workers to unionize.
Kamal Abbas, general coordinator of the independent Egyptian Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS), posted a video message from Cairo for American workers. It's on Michael Moore's website. Speaking from Liberation Square, where many Egyptian youths were killed, he said,
From this place, I want you to know that we stand with you as you stood with us.
I want you to know that no power can challenge the will of the people when they believe in their rights. When they raise their voices loud and clear and struggle against exploitation.
No one believed that our revolution could succeed against the strongest dictatorship in the region. But in 18 days the revolution achieved the victory of the people. When the working class of Egypt joined the revolution on 9 and 10 February, the dictatorship was doomed and the victory of the people became inevitable.
We want you to know that we stand on your side. Stand firm and don't waiver. Don't give up on your rights. Victory always belongs to the people who stand firm and demand their just rights.Ohio is catching on fire as "No on SB 5" events are planned today in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Youngstown and Toledo. A good summary, with details, can be found here.
In Indianapolis, Teamsters are among the crowd of workers lined up outside the Statehouse to protest a bill that would severely weaken unions, stripping many of the ability to negotiate wages and work rules. Our brothers and sisters from Indiana and Northern Kentucky locals will join the thousands expected to be there.
The protests are gaining support from all quarters (including Egypt). The president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce said he's siding with the protesters. He sent an email to his members saying
Given this state's long history of collective bargaining, policy changes of this magnitude should be thoroughly debated for an adequate period of time, in good faith by both sides, with all potential consequences considered. Currently, that is not happening.We also learned from Twitter (don't know if it's true, but sure hope so) that
Monday, February 14, 2011
Today's Teamster News 02.14.11
Workers protest outside Assembly speaker's home Associated Press ...At least 100 union workers marched in front of the home of Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald to protest the governor's plan to strip most public employees of their right to collective bargaining on many issues...
Public-Worker Unions Steel for Budget Fights Wall Street Journal ...As states and local governments seek to trim costs in a difficult economy, the unions are struggling to defend pay and benefit packages negotiated when times were flush...
The Egyptian Labor Uprising Against Mubarak naked capitalism ...Gamal (Mubarak) ... understood that the profit and power for his family lay in cooperating with foreign investors to squeeze labor as hard as possible...
Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable New York Times ...In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix...
Rising China Bests a Shrinking Japan Wall Street Journal ...For the U.S., while Japan was in some ways an economic rival, it also has been a geopolitical and military ally. China, however, is a potential challenger on all fronts...
Valley truckers hit hard by rising price of diesel Fresno Bee ...Ten weeks of rising diesel fuel prices are the latest blow to the trucking industry...
City Council to consider firefighter contract, boulder removal Billings Gazette ...It would give firefighters the same 2.9 percent raise already awarded to the city's police union and the Teamsters, which represents the rest of the city's union employees...
Public-Worker Unions Steel for Budget Fights Wall Street Journal ...As states and local governments seek to trim costs in a difficult economy, the unions are struggling to defend pay and benefit packages negotiated when times were flush...
The Egyptian Labor Uprising Against Mubarak naked capitalism ...Gamal (Mubarak) ... understood that the profit and power for his family lay in cooperating with foreign investors to squeeze labor as hard as possible...
Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable New York Times ...In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix...
Rising China Bests a Shrinking Japan Wall Street Journal ...For the U.S., while Japan was in some ways an economic rival, it also has been a geopolitical and military ally. China, however, is a potential challenger on all fronts...
Valley truckers hit hard by rising price of diesel Fresno Bee ...Ten weeks of rising diesel fuel prices are the latest blow to the trucking industry...
City Council to consider firefighter contract, boulder removal Billings Gazette ...It would give firefighters the same 2.9 percent raise already awarded to the city's police union and the Teamsters, which represents the rest of the city's union employees...
Monday, January 31, 2011
Today's Teamster News 01.31.11
Inflation in China May Limit U.S. Trade Deficit New York Times ...Inflation is starting to slow China’s mighty export machine, as buyers from Western multinational companies balk at higher prices...
Unrest in Egypt Unsettles Global Markets New York Times ...the situation in Egypt has the potential to cause more widespread uncertainty, especially if oil and other commodities keep surging or the unrest spreads to more countries in the Middle East...
What’s at Stake in the N.F.L.’s Labor Talks New York Times ...In the last two weeks, personalities as disparate as the Pittsburgh Steelers chairman emeritus Dan Rooney and Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie aired their concerns about the pace of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, which expires March 3...
State workers fear likely pension fees Miami Herald ...Florida is the last state not to require employees to contribute to their own pension, while some states offer free retirement to only a limited class of workers...
Wis. unions gird for cuts from Walker NECN ...Forcing concessions from state employees is a popular talking point for Gov. Scott Walker and one that likely will find a central place in his first State of the State speech on Tuesday...
Unethical Predatory Practices Economy in Crisis ...The United States is told that it must oblige to its commitment to “free trade,” not because it is in our best interest but because it is in our foreign creditors best interest...
Fight to finish on U.S.-S. Korea trade pact AFP ...With US President Barack Obama and his main foes both embracing a trade pact with South Korea, opponents are racing against the clock to regain momentum while supporters are leaving nothing to chance...
Unrest in Egypt Unsettles Global Markets New York Times ...the situation in Egypt has the potential to cause more widespread uncertainty, especially if oil and other commodities keep surging or the unrest spreads to more countries in the Middle East...
What’s at Stake in the N.F.L.’s Labor Talks New York Times ...In the last two weeks, personalities as disparate as the Pittsburgh Steelers chairman emeritus Dan Rooney and Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie aired their concerns about the pace of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, which expires March 3...
State workers fear likely pension fees Miami Herald ...Florida is the last state not to require employees to contribute to their own pension, while some states offer free retirement to only a limited class of workers...
Wis. unions gird for cuts from Walker NECN ...Forcing concessions from state employees is a popular talking point for Gov. Scott Walker and one that likely will find a central place in his first State of the State speech on Tuesday...
Unethical Predatory Practices Economy in Crisis ...The United States is told that it must oblige to its commitment to “free trade,” not because it is in our best interest but because it is in our foreign creditors best interest...
Fight to finish on U.S.-S. Korea trade pact AFP ...With US President Barack Obama and his main foes both embracing a trade pact with South Korea, opponents are racing against the clock to regain momentum while supporters are leaving nothing to chance...
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