Teamsters deliver petitions telling UPS to drop ALEC membership

Teamsters deliver petitions to UPS this morning in Washington.

The Teamsters have for some time been calling for UPS to drop its membership in the anti-worker American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). But today, it showed the union's largest employer it is not alone in its stance.

In separate events in Washington and Atlanta, Teamster representatives led delegations that included environmental and community activists in delivering thousands of signed petitions to company offices in both cities. In all, some 75,000 signed petitions collected call on UPS to drop its ALEC membership.

Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer and Package Division Director, said:

There is absolutely no good reason why UPS should continue its membership in ALEC. ALEC is an organization that is committed to destroying every protection and gain middle class working families have fought so hard to secure. 

Representatives from Local 639 in Washington and Local 728 in Atlanta led the delegations. The Teamsters Union represents more than 250,000 members at UPS and UPS Freight. UPS continues as an active member of ALEC despite the state legislative group's anti-worker and anti-union agenda.

The signatures were collected during a massive petition drive led by the Teamsters, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Stand UP to ALEC, Jobs with Justice and the American Postal Workers Union.

Randy Brown, President of Local 728 and a former UPS driver, led the delegation that delivered the petitions to UPS world headquarters. He expressed his disappointment in the package delivery giant's refusal to leave ALEC:

UPS' membership in ALEC is distributing to me on a personal level. How can a company with the largest unionized workforce in the country participate in an organization that attacks the very workers that makes UPS so successful? It's time for UPS to do the right thing and leave ALEC.

Today's action is just the latest in the fight to get UPS to quit ALEC. In July, hundreds of Teamsters demonstrated outside ALEC's annual meeting in San Diego and called on the company to drop its affiliation with the group.

ALEC has served as a legislative clearinghouse which authors model bills that are often brought to state capitals by lawmakers and introduced as-is. The group also acts to connect lawmakers with corporate big-wigs. It is funded, in part, by billionaire industrialists the Koch Brothers.

Today's Teamster News 07.08.14

Teamster News
Port Truck Drivers Picket Harbor-Area Trucking Companies  Los Angeles Times   ...More than 120 truck drivers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports walked off the job Monday morning, organizers said, launching an indefinite protest against what they say are widespread workplace violations...
Teamsters Initiate Labor Action At LA-Long Beach In Midst Of Longshore Talks  Journal of Commerce   ...The Teamsters union, in the latest salvo in its long-sought plan to organize port truckers, took advantage of a critical juncture in contract negotiations for a new West Coast longshore agreement to set up pickets against three drayage companies operating at Los Angeles-Long Beach...
California Truck Drivers Go On Strike  MSNBC   ...California truck drivers at three major transportation companies went on strike Monday morning, demanding an end to purported labor law violations such as misclassification and intimidation. ...
California Truck Drivers Go On Indefinite Strike  Think Progress   ...The core complaint underlying the union drive is that companies like Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), Green Fleet Systems, and Pacific 9 Transportation deem their drivers “independent contractors” in order to avoid paying overtime and prevent their workers from enjoying various other labor law protections...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Makes Three State Senate Endorsements  New York Observer   ...The union backed ex-Councilman Leroy Comrie’s bid against indicted Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith, Dell Smitherman’s campaign against indicted Brooklyn State Senator John Sampson and Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera’s re-election campaign against Councilman Fernando Cabrera...
Teamsters union demands action from Ga. Ports Authority  WJCL News   ...Teamsters Local Union 728 out of Atlanta announced this week that it has called on the Georgia Ports Authority to come out publicly condemning the classification of port truck drivers as contract employees rather than full-time...
Trade
NE Ohio steelmakers keeping close eye on Commerce Department ruling  Trade Reform   ...July 11 …(is) the date when the U.S. Department of Commerce is set to decide whether to put new import duties on tubular steel — the type generally referred to as “oil country tubular goods” or “OCTG.”...
Steel Institute Joins Autos and Other Industries in Joint Outreach to Administration on Currency Manipulation  Steel Guru   ...The American Iron and Steel Institute and a dozen other pro manufacturing groups impacted by unfair trade practices have asked the Obama Administration to make sure strong and enforceable provisions prohibiting currency manipulation are included in all future US free trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership currently under negotiation...
State Battles
No Job Loss In Most States That Raised The Minimum Wage  Fiscal Times   ...Of the 13 states that raised their minimum wages, all but one saw job growth in the first five months of 2014. To be sure, that’s a small achievement in an environment where the national economy is adding something on the order of 250,000 jobs per month. The really interesting finding is that the states that raised the minimum wage saw job growth that was, on average, higher than states that did not...
War On Workers
Why You Feel Poorer  zero hedge   ...Wages are not keeping up with inflation, even the understated numbers reported by government. In short, the decline of a once-great economic power is well underway. The country is no longer growing enough to raise everyone’s standard of living...
American Workers Die Needlessly In The Heat Every Year  Washington Post   ...Over the past 10 years, the average is 36 deaths and 2,810 heat-related illnesses each year. While that’s bad enough, OSHA officials think the true numbers are higher, because autopsies aren’t usually performed on the victims and many heat-related deaths are listed as heart attacks...
Where Does $2 Trillion in Subsidies for the Wealthiest Hide in Plain Sight? Capital Gains Tax Breaks.  Next New Deal   ...Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Sixty-eight percent of that money will go to the top 1 percent. Stiglitz argues that there is “no justification for taxing those who work hard to earn a living at a higher rate than those who derive their income from speculation...”
REVEALED: Court docs show role of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation in Silicon Valley wage-fixing cartel  Pando Daily   ...Private emails sent by Pixar’s president and co-founder, Ed Catmull, and found by Pando amongst court documents, clearly state that Katzenberg’s Dreamworks Animation was party to the same secret non-solicitation agreements that the Department of Justice deemed were illegal antitrust violations that served to suppress workers’ wages. Catmull’s deposition in 2013 for the class action lawsuit further demonstrates that Dreamworks Animation was party to the illegal wage theft conspiracy...
Positively Un-American Tax Dodges  Fortune Magazine   ...Yes, leaving the country–a process that tax techies call inversion–is perfectly legal. A company does this by reincorporating in a place like Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5%, compared with 35% in the U.S. Inversion also makes it easier to divert what would normally be U.S. earnings to foreign, lower-tax locales ... mass inversion is a whole other thing, and that’s where we’re heading...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Said Edward Snowden Had No Access To Surveillance Intercepts. They Lied.  Mother Jones   ...In fact, he provided the Washington Post with a cache of 22,000 intercept reports containing 160,000 individual intercepts. The Post has spent months reviewing these files and estimates that 11 percent of the intercepted accounts belonged to NSA targets and the remaining 89 percent were "incidental" collections from bystanders...

Georgia sanitation workers set to join Local 728

Months of rallies look to have paid off for DeKalb County sanitation workers.

Some 450 Atlanta-area sanitation workers are on the brink of joining the Teamsters. The DeKalb County Commission is slated to take a final vote next month to officially recognize the workers as members of Local 728 after years of attempting to organize.

The looming decision to change local law so the union can be recognized comes after workers attended many county commission meetings in recent months to urge DeKalb officials to allow them to join the Teamsters. Ben Speight, an organizer with Local 728, said the move has already paid benefits as the country recently approved a three percent raise for the workers.

Dejuan McDaniel, a 13-year department employee who drives a front-end loader and is a member of the organizing committee, said 80 percent of employees backed the move to organize. He said the strong support for the union comes from the desire to have a say in the workplace:

We have been without a serious voice for so long. We had safety issues that have been unheard. We had pay issues, mistreatment of employees. It was long overdue.

Fellow front-end loader driver and organizing committee member Charleen Anthony, who’s been with the department for five years, said the union will improve the workplace:

We really need the representation for when the guys go in to talk to their supervisors. If we had representation of the union, it would be a much better organization.

McDaniel said he was proud that he and his fellow workers are part of a long movement of sanitation workers fighting for better wages and conditions going back to when Memphis workers marched with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of his assassination in April 1968:

It is a continuing saga. I look at it like we are picking up [the] torch.

We look forward to officially welcoming our new brothers and sisters to the Teamster family!

Who knew? Ga. film industry a bright spot for Teamsters

Actually, we knew the entertainment industry in Georgia is flourishing and creating good union jobs. Our members are working on the sets!

Lately they've been working more than ever. Between July 2011 and June 2012, Fortune reports 333 -- yup, 333 -- feature films, television movies, commercials and music videos were shot in Georgia. The state is now one of the top five in film production.

It's been a boon for Teamsters in Local 728 in Atlanta, where film director Tyler Perry has his own 200,000-square-foot studio. Atlanta Teamsters have worked on a number of productions lately, including the last X-Men, Identity Thief and the Vampire Diaries.

The entertainment industry has employed Georgia Teamsters for at least two generations. Stephen Roland, a Local 728 member since 1993, said his mother raised him on a set going back to the original Dukes of Hazzard. Now he works on theatrical productions operating anything that runs on gas or diesel with a steering wheel.

The reason for the recent entertainment boom in Georgia is the state tax incentive passed in 2008, Fortune reports.

Jeff Bennett, the deputy general counsel and associate executive editor of SAG-AFTRA says that the number of Georgia residents who have found union-covered work has increased 90% since its theatrical collective bargaining agreement in 2009. 

The growth of the entertainment industry in Georgia has translated into increased union jobs for construction set builders, glaziers, hairdressers, and Teamster truck drivers who help move equipment and trailers to film sites, according to Lee Thomas, the director of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Division. 

The tax incentives lured Flight  to Atlanta in 2011. Local 728 Teamtsers worked on the movie, which stars Denzel Washington as an alcoholic airline pilot. Wikipedia explains,

The film's relatively small budget of $31 million, which (director Robert) Zemeckis later calculated was his smallest budget in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1980, was due to tax rebates from Georgia and from Zemeckis and Washington having waived their customary fees.

Local 728 has also worked on Zombieland, Joyful Noise, Fast and Furious 5, Hunger Games 2, Drop Dead Diva, 42, Identity Thief, Walking Dead and Anchorman 2.

Great coverage of GA Teamsters organizing the unorganized

Georgia Teamsters in Local 728 are doing a great job organizing the unorganized even in a No Rights At Work state.

About 70 DeKalb County sanitation workers showed up on Tuesday at a County Commission meeting to demand a union. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:

The turnout of workers in their neon yellow safety shirts — some taking a break from work — was just a fraction of the 411 employees who have petitioned commissioners to recognize Teamsters Local 728, an existing union in the region that DeKalb’s sanitation workers wish to join. Some invoked the (Rev. Martin Luther) King in explaining their main concerns: safety and dignity on the job. 

“I know most people don’t think about the trash when they put it out in the morning, because it’s gone when they come home,” said Angelo Williams, a driver who has worked for DeKalb for more than 12 years. “We do an excellent job in DeKalb. But we need an advocate so we can safely continuously serve this county.”...

It looks as if they'll get what they want:

DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, acknowledged the difficult work during brief comments to workers. Ellis reminded the workers that he had ordered his administrators to allow unionizing efforts and said there would be no repercussions against workers who were involved in the initiative. 

Commissioners, too, said they supported the right to join a union. The real hurdle: the legal question of how to allow union membership while honoring a local law that does not allow dues to be automatically deducted from employee pay. 

Working out that process could take months. So, too, could the separate question of one-time raises for the lowest-paid county workers, including haulers who can earn as little as $20,000 a year. 

Stand strong and stand together!

This is what we union THUGGS do when something needs to be done

Actress Maria Bello at Teamsters Local 728

When actress Maria Bello told her driver that her charity organization was running low on funds, she probably didn’t expect her driver’s union to help organize a hugely successful fundraiser in less than a month, raising over $30,000 for Haitian women and children. But that’s exactly what happened thanks to Renee Call, a member of Teamsters Local 728.

Renee has been a Teamster for 15 years and she’s been a movie industry driver for five years. She drove Bello for three months while the actress worked on the film Prisoners. Renee, who also sits on the Teamsters Human Rights Commission, says Bello’s charity empowering women and children in Haiti inspired her to act:

I have a Teamster heart and, with that, I saw a need and knew we had to do something. That’s what Teamsters do. We help people. We just do what needs to be done. One of the closest people to an actor is their driver. I heard Maria talk about the charity so much and I knew we could help out. Everyone really came together to make the benefit event a success – Local 728 along with locals 25 in Boston, 480 in Nashville, 667 in Memphis, 745 in Dallas, and the IBT Human Rights Commission.

The event was held at Local 728’s union hall and drew a very impressive turnout of about 300 participants from dozens of other organizations and businesses in the industry. Live Haitian music and dancing followed Bello’s opening remarks, which included a big thanks to the Teamsters.

Bello’s organization, We Advance, works in some of the poorest areas of Haiti outside the reach of many other NGOs. She cofounded the group with Haitian artist and activist Barbara Guillaume to advance the health, safety, and well-being of women in the country. As a grassroots community-based group, We Advance helps train community leaders advocating for better health and education for Haitian women.

An inspiring video featuring We Advance’s work was shown at the benefit in Atlanta and, as Renee says, “there weren’t many dry eyes in the house.” Renee added:

Through the night, we were happy to announce that over $30,000 had been raised. This money will feed and provide medicine and education for thousands of children in Haiti. Thank you, Atlanta, and everyone who came out and those that showed love and support!

Renee, a second generation Teamster, was especially grateful to Local 728 President Randy Brown for helping to make the event happen.

This was really a joint effort and we reached beyond national boundaries to show international solidarity with the poor in Haiti. We banded together and made it happen with only weeks to plan!  That’s something to be proud of!

And remember, THUGGS stands for Those Helpful Teamster Guys and Gals!

Here's why this Teamster occupied Atlanta

Occupy Atlanta.

Our Teamster brother Ben Speight, organizer for Local 728, joined Occupy Atlanta on Friday. Some are asking why Teamsters would support the Occupy movement. Here's Ben: 

Georgia continues to have a higher unemployment rate than the national average, 10.1 percent, and it has the third highest poverty rate.

Our members, like working people thoughout the country, are saddled with debt. Their kids are graduating from college without job opportunities. They're also saddled with debt.

We're seeing these same financial institutaions and Wall Street interests bankroll attacks on unions and fundamental workers' rights.

This is absolutely the right time for an economic justice movement behind the Teamsters' call to stop the war on workers.

Occupy Atlanta has run into a few difficulties. On Friday, U.S. Rep. and civil rights hero John Lewis stopped by the encampment. Lewis, by the way, is a good friend of Local 728. The Cascade Patch reports:

Last week, Occupy Atlanta refused to allow Lewis to speak at Woodruff Park downtown until the group had completed its "agenda." Lewis said he had another engagement and couldn't wait that long, and departed.

A video of the incident, posted by conservative groups, has become a YouTube sensation.

Here's the video. You'll see Teamster thug Ben Speight standing right next to Lewis. (Thug stands for "Teamsters Helping Unions Grow.")

Ben said Lewis, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the '60s, wasn't offended at all.

He said they did it during the SNCC days. He remembers it. He didn't even ask to speak. People asked him to speak.

Lewis, who endorses the "Occupy" movement, plans to come back and speak to the group.

On Monday night, Teamsters helped prevent arrests of protesters camped out in Woodruff Park downtown. Ben was there with Jim Nichols, UPS inside leader. Local 728's political director Eric Robertson watched on the live feed as police prepared to enforce a city ordinance that bans people from parks after 11 p.m. Robertson texted Mayor Reed and asked him to tell the police not to arrest the protesters.

The protesters stayed. Today, the mayor's office announced they could remain in the park.

Fewer unions = More poverty

The face of Georgia poverty. Peach picker, 1936.

Guest blogger Ben Speight, organizing director for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta, Ga., brings us this post today:


Unions keep people out of poverty. This comes as no surprise to proud union members and our families. But recent data from the U.S government makes the point even clearer.

Let’s look at my home state, Georgia, as a case in point. The new data shows that Georgia has the third highest poverty rate in the U.S. (1.83 million people), its highest rate of poor folks since 1983.

Fact is, many of these people are working, but are stuck in low-paying, non-union jobs. In the BLS report released earlier this year, Georgia is tied for the second lowest union member density rate in the U.S.-- with only 4 percent of all employed workers being union members in 2010.

Again, that’s the second lowest union density and the third highest poverty rate. Connection, anyone?

Verizon fight is our fight

Teamsters are heeding General President Jim Hoffa's call to honor the Verizon workers' picket lines -- and to join them. Above, Local 728 Teamsters join Jobs with Justice and CWA on a picket line in Atlanta. Way to go, brothers and sisters!

Hoffa, in a statement, said earlier,

As our 45,000 brothers and sisters walk the picket lines today, I want to let them know there are 1.4 million Teamsters supporting their fight for respect and justice in the workplace...We will not stand by and let big business continue its assault on working families. The Teamsters stand with these brave men and women who are now on the front lines of this war on workers. Their fight is our fight.

CWA wants to make sure all UPS drivers got the message. CWA Local 2106 recommended a copy of the statement be distributed to all picket lines.

Any Teamster who sees and reads this letter will not cross our line--you may depend upon it. (If one does, take a picture and forward it--it will be a collector's item).

Thousands of e-activist Teamsters have signed an online petition supporting the Verizon workers. (If you haven't signed up as an e-activist, now would be a good time. Click here.)
Verizon is beginning to feel the pain of the strike, reports Steven Greenhouse at the New York Times.

As a strike by 45,000 Verizon workers approaches the two-week mark, the company’s customers are beginning to feel the impact — and are complaining about it.

Verizon acknowledges “minor” disruptions since the strike began on Aug. 7. But some customers of its landline telephone, Internet and cable television service are reporting significant delays getting current lines repaired and new ones installed.

Brothers and sisters, there is no time like the present to remember that united we stand, divided we beg.

Teamsters stand with Verizon workers

Local 25 Teamsters in Boston support striking Verizon workers.

Teamsters all over the country are answering General President Hoffa's call to walk the picket lines in solidarity with striking CWA workers at Verizon. (But remember to tell CWA if you start your own picket line.) Teamsters from Local 728 in Atlanta, along with Jobs with Justice and CWA, are making a strong showing outside of a Verizon store in Atlanta. (We'll post the video when we can figure out how to de-bug it.)

Teamsters from Local 25 in Boston are standing strong with Verizon workers, as you can see from the photo above.

UPS workers are refusing to cross Verizon workers' picket lines. Here's Axis of Logic reporting on the great support CWA members are getting:

Operating Engineers, crane operators, and other construction and building-service workers in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are refusing to cross picket lines. Teamsters at UPS have refused to deliver to Verizon offices, denying the company wireless and fiber-optic equipment. Even some non-union workers are refusing to cross. Dozens of unions, from nurses to janitors to teachers, have bolstered picket lines in support.

Busy UPS drivers are double-parking their trucks next to the vans operated by scabs and managers, boosting efforts by CWA and IBEW members to delay and deny scabs’ access to the work.

To walk a picket line, you can find the nearest one here. You can also adopt your own Verizon store to picket here.

CWA also suggests ways you can help out through Facebook, Twitter and an online petition. Click here to find out more.

VIDEO: 'Just practicing' picket for strong Teamster contract in GA

Teamster drivers and mechanics of Local 728 in Atlanta, Georgia who work at Republic Services/Allied Waste conduct a “just practicing” picket outside the employer's transfer station. Joined by community supporters from Atlanta Jobs with Justice and the Young Workers Council, these waste workers are fighting for a strong Teamsters contract and for Republic to cease illegal union busting tactics.

Teamsters carry on MLK's work in GA, MN, NM, CA, OH, IA, NC

Teamsters stand behind MLK III in Atlanta

Martin Luther King III led a march of a thousand people on Monday, an event organized by the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council and Teamsters Local 728 in support of workers' rights. (UPDATE: added ANGLC.)

Associated Press reported

King III laid a wreath at his parents' crypt before leading a group of clergy, labor and civil rights activists through downtown to the steps of the Georgia Capitol. Marchers held signs that read, "Stop the war on workers" and "Unions make us strong," and sang "This Little Light of Mine."

King III told the crowd at the statehouse that his father lost his life in the struggle for workers' dignity and democracy for all Americans, comparing the struggle to today's battle over collective bargaining rights in states including Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio.

Minnesota Teamsters, many from Local 320 and Local 1145, were among the estimated 5,000 people who took part in the huge rally in front of the Statehouse. Many carried signs reading “From Memphis 1968 to Madison 2011. The struggle continues.”

The protesters marched from the Cathedral of St. Paul to the Statehouse grounds. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports

The march for workers' rights, King's work the day he was killed, comes amid tough times for unions.

From the Cathedral they marched -- teachers, Teamsters, locomotive engineers -- united Monday in support of workers' rights and in defense of the middle class.

Out front, Russell Hess, megaphone in hand, asked, "Who builds America? Who teaches America?" and the people shouted, "We do!" 

In Ohio, WDTN in Dayton reported on the rally at Teamsters Local 957's hall.

Union members continue to rally against the law formerly known at Senate Bill 5. Monday, members of area unions and elected officials gathered at the Teamsters Local 957 in Dayton to speak out against the newly-signed law.

"It's so bad there's not even a starting point to try to change it," said Bill Dudley of the UFCW Local 75. "I'm so disappointed in our governor that he would go after the people we see as heroes in our community."

Sioux City, Iowa rally.



Brother Scott Utech, business agent/organizer with Local 554, posted this photo of a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, where an anti-worker bill was passed by the House but is dying in the Senate. The Sioux City Journal reports,

Dozens of union supporters rallied in front of City Hall on Monday as part of a nationwide pro-labor effort.

Waving signs reading “Solidarity” and “We Are One,” rallygoers said they were there to stand up for workers’ rights.

And Brother Randy Conrad tells us,

Teamsters Local 71 in Charlotte, NC joined other Unions, Community Groups, Citizens, and other leaders from across the city. Organizer Randy Conrad and Political Coordinator Keith Pope coordinated the event for Local 71.
"The message from Teamsters Local 71 to the Politicians is clear. Whether you’re Democrat, Republican, Independent, or other - you’re either with us or you’re not. We Will Remember in November", said both Conrad and Pope.

There were so many Teamsters at so many rallies we can't hope to keep track of them all. Here's just a sample, based on our Facebook postings. Brother Patrick Lynch says: NM great group in Albuquerque

Sister Elizabeth A Walker posts

We did ours today in solano county, Ca.

Sister Susan White tells us

there was a rally in merced, ca with about 150 attendees from different groups...IBT was represented...YEAH!

Today's Teamsters News 02.18.11

Hoffa Praises Wisconsin Demonstrators  IBT   ...Hoffa saluted the tens of thousands of people streaming into Wisconsin’s capital this week to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal...
State Democrats absent for vote as Wisconsin budget protests swell  CNN   ...Wisconsin state senators are expected to reconvene Friday as lawmakers wrangled over a bill that would strip teachers and other public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights and cut their benefits...
A third day of protests begins against the Walker budget bill for Wisconsin  The Daily Page   ..."Brothers and sisters! Monday, two thousand T.A.'s from the university came to the Capitol. Tuesday, 20,000 firefighters and teamsters and SEIU members came. Welcome to day three..."
Ohio Residents Also Protesting  neon tommy   ...The outpouring of anger by Wisconsin residents upset over proposed anti-union legislation spread across the Midwest Thursday as thousands of protestors in Ohio, which faces a similar measure, descended on the statehouse...
Teamsters head opposes Korean trade pact  Detroit News   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, in a break from the Obama administration and the United Auto Workers union, opposes the Korea Free Trade Agreement...
Truckers to Speak Out on HOS Proposal  Journal of Commerce   ...Carriers, drivers expected to oppose shorter hours at FMCSA listening session today...
Coke, NLRB reach union settlement  (Local 728) Atlanta Business Chronicle   ...The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Wednesday ordered a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co., Coca-Cola Refreshments USA Inc., to post a statement in two metro Atlanta bottling facilities, telling employees of their legal right to form a union...
Another female staffer attacked at Monroe prison  Associated Press   ...“We have been saying for months that there is an urgent need for fundamental changes at the DOC to ensure the safety of Correctional Employees. This incident reinforces that need,” said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117...

Teamster Victories in OH and GA

Welcome to several hundred new Teamsters at First Student in Ohio and the Red Cross in Atlanta. 

School bus workers in Columbus voted 170 to 46 to join Teamsters Local 413. There are 274 drivers in the bargaining unit.


“We just want fairness, and being Teamsters will give us that,” said Renee Turner, a driver since 2007. “When I saw that we had won I was so happy. If my back wasn’t hurting I would have stood up and danced!”

In Atlanta, Red Cross workers had to battle a union-busting law firm that held many captive-audience meetings, according to Ben Speight, organizer for Teamsters Local 728. "Red Cross even promised they would give a flat-screen TV away to the first person who could answer the most questions correctly on an anti-union questionnaire,” Speight said.

The vote was 36-14, with 51 collection specialists and technicians in the bargaining unit. It's the third organizing victory among Red Cross workers in the South -- Charlotte and Wilmington, N.C. -- since October.