Today's Teamster News 12.12.14

Teamster News
Workers At Con-Way Freight In Miami Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769  teamster.org   … A group of 74 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Miami Lakes, Fla., voted today to join Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami, Fla...
Teamsters Mourn Death Of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 727 joins the State of Illinois in mourning the death of State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who died Dec. 10 of complications from a stroke...
New Orleans Ready Mix Drivers Vote For Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Ready Mix cement workers at Lafarge Concrete have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 270, New Orleans. Lafarge Concrete is one of the largest cement suppliers in the area and handles all types of projects: highways, commercial buildings, schools and residences...
Teamsters Make Public Cry For Better Contracts  Insurance News   ..."While emergency communication is important, so are the daily needs of the nursing home residents and your employees who care for them," said Herb Garber, a representative of Teamsters Local 776, a union representing nursing home workers, during a speech at the meeting...
Bill de Blasio’s Horse-Carriage Ban Gains Little Support From Congress Members From New York  New York Daily News   ...Members of Congress from New York don't get to vote on Mayor de Blasio's bid to ban horse-drawn carriages — but that isn't stopping them from weighing in against the proposal...
Anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS will make 'substantial payment' for campaign finance violations  New York Daily News   ...The group trying to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city will make a “substantial payment” to settle charges that it broke campaign finance rules in last year’s city elections, its lawyer said Wednesday...
Gene Laughlin  Champaign News-Gazette   ...Gene was a World War II Army veteran, serving in the Philippines and Australia. Upon discharge, he worked as a Teamsters truck driver and was a member of Teamsters Local 26. Gene was also a lifetime member of the VFW Post 630, American Legion Post 24, Moose and Eagles Lodges...
Teamsters Reject Contract Proposed By Giant Eagle Subsidiary  WFMJ   ...Local Teamsters employed by Tamarkin, a subsidiary of Giant Eagle, tonight narrowly defeated a contract extension which employees say was the company's "final offer. Union Leaders won't comment, but rank and file employees told 21 News that the company is trying to build a new warehouse, at their expense...
Trade
Labor warns Obama on trade policy  The Hill   ...Labor unions and environmental groups warned President Obama Wednesday that getting too cozy with congressional Republicans on trade issues could imperil other parts of his policy agenda...
Germany calls for transparency on US-EU trade deal  Economic Times   ...Germany has called for more transparency in negotiations for a sweeping trade pact between the European Union and the United States after complaints that the controversial talks are too secretive. "The trust of the citizens is essential to make this important agreement happen," German agriculture minister Christian Schmidt said yesterday after discussing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact with officials in Washington...
State Battles
Wisconsin lawmaker, right-to-work champion leads push on U.S. Constitution  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The state Legislature's most vocal advocate for right-to-work legislation inside Wisconsin is working outside the state to hold a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution...
Board of Port Authority Proposes a Wage Increase for Airport Workers  New York Times   ...The board meeting held by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday may turn out to be the last one held somewhere other than the World Trade Center and the last one attended by redshirted airport workers demanding higher wages...
Ohio's charter school performance is "grim" and needs state attention, Stanford researcher tells the City Club  Plain Dealer   ...Ohio's longstanding and "grim" problem with underperforming charter schools is improving, a Stanford researcher said at the City Club today, but the state needs to increase its quality control efforts...
War on Workers
Congress poised to allow cuts to private pension payouts  Los Angeles Times   ...More than 1 million Americans who were promised secure, predictable retirement income probably will see part of their monthly benefit checks evaporate as Congress moves to stabilize some private pension systems veering toward insolvency...
Congressional spending bill would suspend some hours-of-service provisions, require FMCSA to further study rules’ impacts  CCJ   ...Congress likely will send a bill to the White House in the coming days that includes a provision that will put a stay on enforcement of two key elements of the 2013 rule: The requirement that a driver’s 34-hour restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the provision limiting the use of the restart to one time per week. The suspension of enforcement will last at least until Sept. 30, 2015...
House narrowly averts government shutdown, Senate up next  Chicago Tribune   …The House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Thursday, narrowly passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill despite strenuous Democratic objections to controversial financial provisions.
Employees Shouldn’t Be Treated Like Products (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Hail the lowly bar code. By enabling retailers to track sales and inventory, it allows them to order goods from warehouses and manufacturers only when needed, reducing overhead and costs. Just-in-time production is a signal achievement of our digitized age. Just-in-time labor is not. Millions of retail workers are routinely summoned to their workplaces with little more advance warning than their employers accord the truckloads of goods or food those workers sell...
Walmart Illegally Punished Workers, Judge Rules  New York Times   ...In a decision made public on Wednesday, Geoffrey Carter, an N.L.R.B. administrative law judge, also found that a Walmart manager had illegally intimidated workers by saying, “If it were up to me, I’d shoot the union.” In addition, the judge said it was unlawful for Walmart managers to tell employees that co-workers returning from a one-day strike would be looking for a new job...
Guest: For better or worse, the labor movement is reinventing itself (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...Haltingly, with understandable ambivalence, the American labor movement is morphing into something new. Its most prominent organizing campaigns of recent years — of fast-food workers, domestics, taxi drivers and Wal-Mart employees — have prompted states and cities to raise their minimum wage and create more worker-friendly regulations...
Miscellaneous
Backroom Move Strips 'Backdoor' NSA Spying Ban From Spending Bill  Huffington Post   ...In place of the backdoor surveillance ban is language that states the NSA must not "target" American citizens' content for surveillance. But the agency's highly specific definition of targeting would still allow it to collect and search Americans' emails as long as they are sent abroad...
Fed Sets Tough New Capital Rule For Big Banks  Wall Street Journal   ...The proposal, which will be phased in starting in 2016 and take full effect in 2019, is aimed squarely at pushing big banks to shrink, an outcome regulators were explicit in saying they hope to encourage to reduce the likelihood a firm’s failure could require bailouts or damage the broader economy...

Giant rally at Teamsters headquarters (video)

That's "Giant rally" as in "Giant Food rally"

Hundreds of Teamsters, labor supporters and D.C.’s own resident rapper Head-Roc protested outside of the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) annual public policy meeting at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

Two of FMI’s highest-profile corporate members, C&S Wholesale Grocers and Dutch-owned Royal Ahold, have been destroying middle class jobs in states up and down the East Coast. They've been closing facilities and shipping jobs to low-wage warehouses in other states. Giant Food is a subsidiary of Royal Ahold.

During the rally, Head-Roc got the crowd of more than a hundred pumping with his song, “Giant Ain’t The G They Used To Be”:

Giant Food!

Well known in the DMV,

They ‘bout to do us like Wal-Mart it’s plain to see.

Got their start here locally, now they Fancy International

And ain’t what they used to be!

The new Corporate Policy,

Is called “Turn your back on the Community!”

Teamsters Together! We Gonna Brave the Weather!

Organized to Protect the Lives we Treasure!

Teamster General President Jim Hoffa and General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel joined Head-Roc on stage. Hoffa said

These multi-billion dollar grocery giants are meeting with their highly-paid lobbyists in the hotel behind you because they want to rig the system. They want to siphon as much money out of workers, shoppers and the American economy as they can, by destroying good, middle-class jobs.

Thomas Ratliff, president of Teamsters Local 639 in Washington, D.C., said the Teamsters wouldn’t stand for such attacks on workers:

We’re not going to take this lying down. Giant and Royal Ahold want to talk about sacrifice, but they are forgetting the sacrifice our members gave to help make these companies successful.

Sign a petition here to tell Giant Foods to quit outsourcing good jobs.

Today's Teamster News 03.16.11

Senate Republicans to drop contempt finding against Democrats  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...The top GOP leader in the state Senate backtracked Tuesday, saying Republicans would lift fines and a contempt finding against Democratic senators...
Wisconsin Governor's Allies Ran a Toxic Bailout Bank... and Got Rich  Huffington Post   ...People in Wisconsin are pulling their money out of Marshall & Ilsley (M&I) Bank because they know it's been helping their Governor's crusade against public employees and the middle class...
Ohio Town Sees Public Job as Only Route to Middle Class  New York Times   ...as Ohio’s legislature moves toward final approval of a bill that would chip away at public-sector unions, those workers say they see it as the opening bell in a race to the bottom...
Indiana House Democrats begin their 4th week of walkout  Indianapolis Star   ...Democrats want changes to bills that use tax dollars to fund private school tuition and which impact collective bargaining for labor unions...
Labor unions continue to rally each day at Ind. Statehouse  nwi.com   ...Union workers have rallied every day since Feb. 22, when House Democrats went to Illinois to halt action on perceived anti-union legislation...
Michigan's GOP Gov. Slashes Corporate Tax Rate by 86%, Hikes Taxes for Working Poor  ThinkProgress   ...Taxes on individuals from the state income tax would rise by $1.7 billion or nearly 31 percent...
'Right-to-work' bill stalls in Missouri Senate  stltoday.com   ...Dempsey, who controls the Senate debate agenda, said the bill won't come up again this week. After next week's spring break, it will have to compete for floor time with priorities such as congressional redistricting, abortion, the state budget and possibly tax credits...
YRC Worldwide misses restructuring milestone, warns of bankruptcy potential  Kansas City Star   ...“The required lenders have not indicated that they intend to declare an event of default under the credit agreement, and we are continuing to work with the parties,” YRC wrote in the filing...
Giant Food responds to Teamsters  The Exminer   ...The decision has not been made on whether to move jobs out of Maryland, Giant says...  

Today's Teamster News 03.15.11

'Right-to-work' bill stalls in Missouri Senate  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...after debating the bill for about three hours, with packed galleries of pro-union spectators looking on, the Senate shelved it without a vote. Whether it will ever reach a vote was unclear...
Next up for Wisconsin: the mother of all recall drives  Christian Science Monitor   ...“In Wisconsin, nothing like this has ever happened; in terms of the US, nothing comes close to such a wholesale effort,”...
Wisconsin union fight could influence state Supreme Court race  Associated Press   ...The April 5 Supreme Court election is three weeks away, thrusting the conservative-leaning Prosser squarely into the sights of angry Democrats and union supporters...
Wisconsin keeps the protest fever alive  PressTV   ...Protesters greeted Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as he arrived at a restaurant in Brown County, Wisconsin for a dinner with local Republican leaders...
Unions to Rally Against Senate Bill 5 Tuesday  Strongsville Patch   ...The rally will be one of 12 held throughout Ohio, including one in Akron...
Kasich Policy Director: Our budget tomorrow has virtually nothing to do with the projected budget deficit  Plunderbund   ... “Even if there weren’t an $8 billion deficit, we’d probably be proposing many of the same things.”...
Republican, Democratic leaders of Indiana House talk more, but don't resolve boycott  Associated Press   ... Democrats still had unresolved concerns about a bill on government construction project wages...
LePage exempts own pension from budget cutbacks  Kennebec Journal   ...Under (Maine) Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget, teachers and other state employees will be required to increase their contributions to the pension system, from 7.65 percent of their salary to 9.65 percent...
Teamsters From Around D.C. Metro Region Rally for Justice at Giant Food  IBT   ...Supermarket Chain to Outsource Hundreds of Jobs Out of State...

Links 07/23/10

President Obama signs six-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits Washington Post ...The jobless bill revives a program that provides up to 99 weeks of income support to those who have lost their jobs in the recession.

Treasury Secretary Geithner says tax cuts for rich should expire Washington Post ...the White House wants to extend Bush-era tax cuts that benefit families earning less than $250,000 a year. But he said President Obama believes cuts affecting the top tax brackets should be allowed to expire on Jan. 1 to help reduce the nation's bloated budget deficit.

Lobbying By Obama Administration Foe U.S. Chamber of Commerce Grows To More Than $44 Million This Year OpenSecrets.org ...The lobbying powerhouse U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with its subsidiaries, spent a whopping $13.4 million on federal, state-level and grassroots lobbying during the second quarter.

Netroots-Labor Solidarity: A Work in Progress In These Times ...Netroots Nation shuns hotel over worker treatment, as bloggers and labor strenghen alliance.

Union, Giant Food strike deal on 341 jobs for warehouse: Grocer transferring operations in Jessup Maryland Business Gazette ..."We have reached agreement with Teamsters Local 730 concerning the effects of the transfer...

Which Senate hopefuls would defend secret ballots in union votes? Charleston Daily Mail ...
The AFL-CIO believes Manchin supports the plan. The state Chamber of Commerce believes Manchin opposes such measures.

U.P.S., Citing a Strong Performance, Raises Outlook New York Times ... the package delivery company said Thursday that its second-quarter net income increased 90 percent and raised its earnings outlook for the year

Continental Returns to Profit Wall Street Journal ...Continental Airlines Inc. reversed a big year-earlier loss in the second quarter, beating Wall Street estimates and underlining the airline industry's broader turnaround.

Links 07/20/10

Senate Set To Extend Unemployment Benefits Wall Street Journal
Consumer Post Prospect Has Democrats in Knots Wall Street Journal
Republican immigration position likely to alienate Latinos, Obama officials say Washington Post
Troops Head to Arizona Border Aug. 1 Politico
Republicans kiss the rich; diss the jobless The Hill
Union, Giant Food Strike Deal on 341 Jobs Gazette.net