Today's Teamster News 01.21.12

Senate rejects Democrats' proposed changes to right-to-work  NWI Times   ...Senate Bill 269 is eligible for a final Senate vote as soon as Monday, though the Senate could await House action on right-to-work before voting. House Democrats boycotted a session for a fourth day Friday, but announced they'll return to the House floor Monday for a vote on what they believe is a constitutionally acceptable public referendum on right-to-work...
Fasano to Haridopolos: Don’t fast-track prison privatization  The Florida Independent   ...This week, lawmakers announced that two bills allowing the state to privatize prisons have been fast-tracked by leaders in the state’s GOP-led Legislature...
Lawmakers reach labor deal to clear FAA funding for takeoff  The Hill   ...A Senate Democratic aide said under the compromise reached Friday, the percentage of a company's workforce that would have to be in favor of a vote on unionization would be increased from 35 to 50 percent, and the NMB would have to hold public hearings before making future rule changes in lieu of requiring them to be reviewed by judges...
Unearned, and Taxed Unequally  New York Times   ...“It is unjust and in my opinion morally wrong to make a person with earned income pay considerably more in taxes than persons with unearned income from dividends...”
The Man Who Bought North Dakota  Bloomberg   ...the search for crude is making a quiet comeback in the U.S. Lots of attention has been paid to the surge in natural gas exploration, but more rigs are currently drilling for oil than gas...
Teamsters strike at Nichols Aluminum  Quad City Business Journal  ...Standing with union members outside the company's plant on Iowa 22, Local 371 president Howard Spoon said the biggest sticking point in the negotiations is health insurance...Local 371 represents about 254 Nichols employees...

Today's Teamster News 09.16.11

Michigan House passes school union dues proposal   CNBC   ...The Republican-led Michigan House on Thursday narrowly approved a proposal that would prohibit public schools from automatically deducting union dues from the paychecks of teachers and other employees...
Ohio Business Roundtable study finds compensation gap favors public workers  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...As Ohio's public-employee unions fight to keep collective-bargaining power, a group of executives from the state's largest corporations is pushing a study that depicts less lucrative compensation in the private sector...
Republicans Push NLRB Attack Bill Through House  unions.org   ...House Republicans today continued their attack on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) when they passed (238-186) a bill that would cripple the agency and allow employers to retaliate against workers who exercise their workplace rights...
Senate approves FAA, highway funding extensions  Reuters   ...The U.S. Senate approved legislation on Thursday to temporarily renew funding for airport and highway improvement projects, averting threatened shutdowns of both programs and job cuts affecting thousands of construction and other workers...
FBI Agents Raid Home of Top Staffer to Scott Walker  firedoglake   ...The investigation has already secured one conviction, against a wealthy campaign contributor to Walker, William Gardner, who exceeded campaign finance limits and hid donations to Walker and others...
Gov. Corbett’s Plan to Disenfranchise PA Voters Gains Attention  PW blog   ...the facts point to Governor Tom Corbett doing everything he can to make sure Democrats—even if they represent the majority of the state—are underrepresented in elections, allowing Republicans to weasel their way to more representation in the Keystone State and tip the scale nationally...

FAA gets funded, FL Republican whines

TeamsterNation is a little late on this story, but that's because we're on vacation with only limited time in front of the blogger. But yes, the Senate and House did compromise on Friday and managed to get the Federal Aviation Administration fully up and running.

The Senate agreed to a compromise with House Republicans. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood agreed to waive cuts to Essential Air Service, a sticking point in the standoff. They voted Friday. Here's the AP on what happened:

The Senate approved legislation yesterday that ended a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, and President Obama signed it into law, clearing the way for thousands of employees to return to work and hundreds of airport construction projects to resume...

Obama’s signature means nearly 4,000 furloughed FAA employees can return to work as soon as Monday. The shutdown has cost the government about $400 million in uncollected airline ticket taxes and idled thousands of construction workers.

Here's Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa:

I applaud the Senate and Secretary LaHood for their willingness to put the public interest first. But this hostage-taking has to stop. House Republicans can’t continue to threaten the well-being of our country for petty partisan advantage. Our elected officials should not be forcing Americans out of work to settle political scores.

Poor widdle Johnny Mica, the Florida Republican who led the House negotiators, whined that he had a "brutal week."  Mica forced the FAA's partial shutdown because he wanted to weaken labor unions by changing the rules for organizing elections. He phoned Dana Milbank at the Washington Post,

“I’ve had a brutal week, getting beat up by everybody,” Mica told me, minutes after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal that would end the shutdown and avoid the cuts to regional air service that Mica wanted.

“I didn’t know it would cause this much consternation,” Mica said. “Now I’ve just got to get the broom and the shovel and clean up the mess.” Switching metaphors, he said he wanted “to unclog the toilet, but it backed up. So I don’t know what to do, what to say...”

 “A lot of people hate me now and think I’m the worst thing in the world for what I did.”

Well, yeah.

House leaves, FAA partly shutdown, 90K jobs on line



'Sure I care about jobs ...heh-heh'

This is how much House Speaker John Boehner cares about jobs: He recessed the House of Representatives immediately after they voted on the debt-ceiling deal last night. They did NOT take a vote on funding the Federal Aviation Administration. That means the agency will remain partially shut down for at least a month, and as many as 90,000 people will lose their jobs.
Nice, hunh?

You'll remember funding for the FAA was cut off because congressional Republicans are eager to weaken airline unions. They want to reinstate a grossly unfair election rule. The Democrats don't agree.

Think Progress reported yesterday,

...the FAA’s airport inspectors keep doing their jobs, even without pay:

The administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration says airport safety inspectors nationwide are working without pay and shouldering travel expenses themselves, as the agency’s budget crisis enters a second week. [...]

An inspector may travel to five airports in a two-week period, racking up thousands of dollars in hotel and airline tickets. Babbitt says they’re being asked to put those expenses on personal credit cards.

The government is losing more than $200 million a week in revenue generated through ticket taxes during the shutdown, and $2.5 billion in airport infrastructure improvement projects are on hold. The airlines, meanwhile, have used those tax breaks to line their own pockets rather than pass the savings on to customers.The Senate is reportedly staying in session to work on a re-authorization plan.

FAA shutdown could cost 4X as many jobs as were created in June



So anti-union he'll force his constituents to lose their jobs. 

You'd think that even extremist politicians in Washington would hesitate to do something that threatens 90,000 jobs in the U.S. Especially when recovery from the Great Recession is so weak that only 18,000 American jobs were created in June. But you'd be wrong. The Republican leadership in Congress is so desperate to please certain airline CEOs that they forced a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.  

According to the IBT,

An estimated 90,000 construction and agency jobs are at risk because of the partial FAA shutdown. Four thousand FAA workers were furloughed over the weekend. Construction workers are losing their jobs in dozens of airports. The FAA has issued more than 60 stop orders. Work on new control towers has stopped at LaGuardia Airport; Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Traverse City, Mich.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Gulfport, Miss.

Reports the Associated Press:

"It's frustrating," said Mike MacDonald, regional vice president of an FAA union representing nearly 1,200 engineers, architects, technicians and other workers who have been furloughed. "Why are we being used as pawns in this political game that has nothing to do with us?"

Most of his union's members "are like me - middle-aged with mortgages, kids in college and car loans," said MacDonald, 54, who has also been laid off. "It's scary."

Teamsters President Jim Hoffa says the impasse is "disgraceful."

The Republican leadership is trying to please certain airline CEOs who aim to weaken workers’ rights. It’s disgraceful for elected officials to force Americans out of work, let alone force them out of work in order to take away their democratic rights.

Here's what happened: For several years, Congress hasn't been able to agree on a long-term budget plan for the FAA because the House and the Senate can't agree on a bill. So Congress just votes to extend the previous budget authorization for another few months to keep the agency running.

After the Republicans won control of the House in November, they passed an FAA spending bill that makes it harder for airline workers to form a union.

So then Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican pictured above, changed the House version of the FAA extension to cut off funding for air service to small communities. He did it so Republican lawmakers could pretend that was the real reason they're forcing the partial FAA shutdown. (At least they're trying to hide their anti-worker agenda now).

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos explains:

Republicans are threatening these rural airports in order to get their way on the real issue: union rights for airline workers.

Here's the IBT on the reason for the shutdown: 

A dispute between the House and Senate over air service for small communities is masking the real reason lawmakers can’t agree on funding the FAA. Republicans want to repeal a commonsense change in the union election rule implemented by the National Mediation Board last year. The rule no longer counts absent voters as “no” votes. As a result, union elections are now just like every other election in a democracy. But because Republican leaders oppose workers’ rights, safety and modernization projects are halted and people are losing their jobs.

Here's how nuts these anti-worker politicians are: Orlando International Airport has plans to rehabilitate a major taxiway. But those plans are on hold now because Mica prefers pleasing anti-union CEOs to keeping his constituents working.

Says Hoffa,

It appears to be too much to ask the Republican leadership to uphold simple fairness in elections, keep people working and modernize our aviation system. They themselves wouldn’t be in office, if the rule they wanted in place applied to their own elections. 

FAA to partially shut down over workers' rights

Isn't this just charming?

According to the Associated Press,

The Federal Aviation Administration is hours away from a partial shutdown that will put nearly 4,000 people out of work temporarily.

Congress left town this afternoon before voting on a bill to extend funding for the FAA. Airplanes will continue to fly, as air traffic controllers and safety inspectors will stay on the job because of the peculiarities of the way the agency is funded. But engineers and planners, for example, would be furloughed.

The failure to pass a bill means the FAA can't collect passenger taxes, so airline tickets will be slightly cheaper -- for a while. But Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate committee that overseas the FAA, said the agency

...estimates that it could only operate air traffic and support services through mid-August.

This would mean services to smaller areas like mine -- West Virginia -- would need to draw down in the near term so that the FAA can focus on primary traffic. That's not something we would look forward to.

A big reason for the impasse is that House negotiators (including another Wisconsin Republican, Rep. Tom Petri) insist on making it harder for railroad and airline workers to join unions.

We thought they were just trying to destroy the middle class. Now we're starting to think they want to destroy the country.

FAA might shut down tonight over workers' rights

No kidding.

The law authorizing spending for the Federal Aviation Administration expires tonight. The House and the Senate can't agree on a bill to keep it going. The reason? Extremists in the House want to make it harder for railroad and airline workers to organize. They want absent voters to be counted as "no" votes in National Mediation Board union elections. The Senate doesn't agree. (Nor do we.)

Rep. Kris Gibson, a New York Republican, explains why he agrees with the Senate in the video above.

And here's the Associated Press on what will happen if the House and Senate can't agree by midnight:

Portions of the Federal Aviation Administration will shut down at midnight — putting nearly 4,000 people temporarily out of work and allowing airline passengers to buy tickets without taxes — unless Congress can resolve a partisan dispute over legislation to temporarily extend the agency's operating authority.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday the government will lose about $200 million a week in airline ticket taxes and $2.5 billion in airport construction projects will come to a halt if the Federal Aviation Administration is forced to shut down.

A partial shutdown looks increasingly likely because Congress hasn't been able to agree on legislation to extend the FAA's operating authority, which expires at midnight Friday. Whatever happens in Washington, airlines will still operate as normal and air traffic controllers would remain on the job.

And here's Laura Clawson at Daily Kos explaining

Residents of Florida ...should be aware that a shutdown could cost their state $88 million in construction funding.

(Rep. John Mica is the Florida Republican heading the House negotiating committee.)

Notes Clawson,

All this in pursuit of a flatly antidemocratic standard for union representation elections.

Today's Teamster News 02.17.11

Thousands rally at Wisconsin Capitol to protest anti-union bill  Associated Press   ...The sweeping measure was moving swiftly through the GOP-led Legislature and would mark a dramatic shift for Wisconsin...
Labor packs Ohio Statehouse, protests union limits  CNBC   ...Hundreds of union protesters again packed the Statehouse in protest on Tuesday as government officials from around the state lined up in support of a bill that would wipe out Ohio's nearly 30-year-old collective bargaining law and make other union changes...
Labor unions work to raise profile in Statehouse  tribstar.com   ...Indiana’s labor unions...leadership is calling in the forces, mobilizing members en masse to protest what they’ve called an “anti-worker agenda” with far-reaching consequences...
UPS Executive Restates Earnings Guidance  Wall Street Journal   ...United Parcel Service Inc.'s chief financial officer described the weather last month as "brutal" but played down the overall impact of the winter storms and reiterated the company's 2011 earnings forecast...
Winter hammers FedEx profit and revenues  Fleet Owner   ...FedEx Corp. said earnings for the third quarter of its fiscal year took a severe beating due largely to severe winter weather In the U.S. and Europe that significantly disrupted its global shipping operations...
House committee passes FAA bill without provision opposed by FedEx  The Commercial Appeal   ...A similar measure is expected to pass the Senate later this week...
Legal troubles continue for YRC  The City Wire   ...YRC also faces a critical Feb. 28 deadline to qualify for debt restructuring or some other “qualifying transaction” as part of an agreement with the Teamsters...
Riot Police Face Striking Truckers in Colombia  Wall Street Journal   ...The truckers' strike, which began nearly two weeks ago over deregulation of the industry, involves the majority of some 200,000 Colombian truckers...
Baggage handlers hit picket lines in Toronto, Montreal (Local 419)  CTV   ...The union representing 400 striking baggage handlers at airports in Toronto and Montreal says its members plan to picket 24 hours a day until their labour dispute is resolved...
Harkin Opposes Anti-Worker Amendments to FAA Reauthorization  Sen. Tom Harkin   ...Harkin (D-IA) spoke on the floor of the Senate to oppose an amendment that would undermine flight crews’ job safety...
Loudoun County Transit/Veolia Workers March On Boss  IBT   ...Dozens of Loudoun County Transit drivers represented by Teamsters Local 570 in Baltimore, marched on their management today, presenting a petition demanding a fair union contract...

Fla congressman tries to make it harder for rail, airline workers to organize

You may know John Mica from The Colbert Report, where the Florida congressman was asked if TSA screeners made him take off his toupee when he went through airport security.

Mica is now chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is no friend to working families. What he's doing to FAA reauthorization, for example, isn't pretty. He's taking the Express Carrier Employee Protection Act out of the bill (that's the one that would return FedEx to the same labor law that govern all other package delivery companies). He's also trying to reverse a National Mediation Board rule change that allowed a union to be recognized if a simple majority of workers who cast ballots approved.

According to CQ today,

Mica’s bill also would nullify a National Mediation Board rule that went into effect in June. The rule changed the way ballots are counted in union elections. The NMB supervises union negotiations for the airline and rail industries governed by the Railway Labor Act.

Currently, union elections in those industries are determined by a majority vote of all employees. Those who do not cast votes are counted as voting “no.” The NMB change instead let the outcome of elections be determined by the majority of votes cast.

The change makes it easier to organize; in fact, Atlantic Southeast Airlines mechanics who wanted to join the Teamsters were the first to file for election under the new rule and the first to win union representation under it.
The bill will be discussed in committee on Wednesday. Stay tuned.

Today's Teamster News 02.04.11

Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment Up Slightly in January to 9.8%  Gallup   ...Underemployment at 18.9%, compared with 19.0% at the end of December...
Learning To Walk: Fear, Shame And Your Underwater Mortgage  Huffington Post   ...Nearly one in every four homeowners across the country owe more on their home than it's worth...
JP Morgan Hid Doubts on Madoff, Documents Suggest  New York Times   ...but continued to do business with him, according to internal bank documents made public in a lawsuit on Thursday...
Crowd debates right-to-work bill  Manchester Union-Leader   ...A right-to-work bill that would end the days when non-union workers in union shops have to pay a share of union expenses is making its way through the New Hampshire House...
Union leaders, officials ask A&P distributor to extend deadline on 1,200 layoffs  (Local 863)  Newark Star-Ledger   ...Union leaders and state and local officials today made an 11th-hour plea for a grocer store distributor to stay in Middlesex County instead of laying off its 1,200 workers..
Unions campaign for members at merged carrier  Houston Chronicle   ...Hoffa began a push Thursday to convert thousands of United Airlines workers now represented by another union...
YRC Worldwide, ABF Freight System Appeal Gets Expedited Review  Kansas City Business Journal   ...the company warned that drawing out the process could harm its effort to restructure its finances...
Analysts: YRC Worldwide will report lower revenue, more losses  Kansas City Business Journal  ...Analysts...predict that the company will report a loss of $1.37 a share for the three months ending Dec. 31...
UPS Increases Dividend 11%, Projecting Strong 2011 Cash Flow  Bloomberg   ...“We believe that 2011 is going to be a great year for UPS ...
ABF Freight Posts $58 Million Loss for 2010  Journal of Commerce   ...TruckingHigher rates help LTL trucker cut losses 42 percent from 2009...
Oilsands crude will flow regardless of Keystone XL, says new report  Alaska Dispatch   ... the study found that regardless of whether or not the line is built, the U.S. will still import oil from Western Canada...
2 big sections of high-speed rail line face delays  Associated Press   ...The state agency...has recommended delaying the environmental impact report on segments running through two densely populated areas until at least next year...
Workers angered about changes in Florida pension plan  Examiner   ...Unions have circulated a video of Scott during his campaign in which he promised not to support a reduction in state pension benefits...
Local 700 Wins Overtime Grievance   IBT   ...Bureau of Rodent Control Must Post Overtime Lists...
House, Senate toss labor provision  Memphis Commercial Appeal   ...The Senate began debating a Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill Wednesday that does not contain a controversial labor provision, objected to by FedEx...
City Hall Docks Pay For Workers' Snow Day  (Local 237)  NY1News   ...Some city workers are criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for a mixup in messaging during last week's snowstorm...
USA 3000 Pilots Withdraw from Voluntary ASAP  PR Newswire  

Today's Teamster News 09/29/10

YRC CEO To Retire Upon Completion Of Recovery Plan Wall Street Journal ...Chief Executive Bill Zollars has plans to retire...

Senate Outsourcing Bill Stalls Wall Street Journal ...A new ... poll released Tuesday found outsourcing was the top factor cited by Americans as the cause of the country's continuing economic distress...

Investor Says He Will Vote Against Hertz Wall Street Journal ...Mr. Reeder's views could be part of a serious challenge to Hertz, whose deal goes for a vote before Dollar Thrifty shareholders on Sept. 30...

Recommendations to FAA Often Languish Washington Post ...many believe that the biggest cause of delay lies with the FAA itself...

Work stoppage hits ports The Philadelphia Inquirer ...Longshoremen shut down the Port of New York and New Jersey and Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia Tuesday to protest Del Monte Fresh Produce Co.'s move from Camden to a cheaper-labor terminal in Gloucester City...

As 44 million Americans live in poverty, a crisis grows (opinion) Washington Post ...the number of people living at less than two times the poverty line ($44,000 for a family of four) is ... the line between whether or not you can pay your bills ... That has reached 100,411,000 people. That's 33 percent of the country."

Today's Teamster News 09/21/10

Congress needs 
to pass FAA bill (opinion) Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Lobbyists for FedEx ... will use every available obstructionist tactic to block the Senate from voting on the bill...

Is This What a Recovery Feels Like? (opinion) New York Times ...Most Americans probably find it hard to believe that statisticians have deemed the U.S. economy to be out of recession...

Union, ranchers joining forces Bloomberg ...a labor union and farmers and ranchers ... say the world’s largest retailer is using its power to hold down prices in the agriculture industry...

Airline Profits Expected to Soar This Year New York Times ...an industry body Tuesday ... more than triple(d) its profit forecast for the world’s airlines to $8.9 billion this year ...

SAIC of China Weighs Buying Stake in G.M. New York Times ... A Chinese automaker has expressed interest in buying a stake in General Motors ...

GMAC Halts Foreclosures in 23 States for Review New York Times ...GMAC, which has been the recipient of billions of dollars of government aid... is concerned about potential liability in evicting families and selling houses to which it does not have clear title. ..

The Brothers Koch and AB 32 (opinion) New York Times ...a well-financed coalition of right-wing ideologues, out-of-state oil and gas companies and climate-change skeptics is seeking to effectively kill ...(AB 32) with an initiative on the November state ballot...

Links 07/16/10

Law Remakes U.S. Financial Landscape Wall Street Journal
To Protest Hiring of Nonunion Help, Union Hires Nonunion Pickets Wall Street Journal
Fed Nominees Seek Economic Boost Wall Street Journal
Airlines Cruise to Profits with Newfound Strength Wall Street Journal
Union Leader Says He Is Open to New Korea Trade Deal Wall Street Journal
What About Air Safety? New York Times
A Subdued Public Offering for KKR New York Times

Teamster takes down Wall Street Journal

Teamster Vincent Kloss from Ohio responds to a hideous Wall Street Journal editorial that repeats Fred Smith's talking points:


FedEx has developed a significant ground operation to compete with UPS. FedEx even uses ground transportation to transport its "air" packages where feasible. UPS simply wants a level playing field to compete with FedEx.

Your comment that UPS is at a disadvantage because its workforce consists of union members is an insult to every Teamster who helped build UPS into one of the most efficient, well-respected companies in the world. That system is labor intensive and requires thousands of dedicated employees to sort and deliver those packages.

You say that union employee equals "labor woes." I would hardly consider one 15-day work stoppage in my 32 years as a Teamster at UPS the kind of labor strife that has impeded UPS's ability to expand and be profitable. Last time I checked, UPS was still making billions of dollars in profits a year. And that, despite the fact that UPS was saddled with union employees.

Vincent J. Kloss
Aurora, Ohio