Today's Teamster News 09.01.13

This Labor Day, Much of America Will Be . . . Laboring  Time   ...39 percent of employers will keep operations open and require some workers to come into work, while a seperate survey of Beyond.com users says that 45% of those folks will spend Labor Day working or looking for work...
The Burrito Chain That Pays Entry-Level Workers $10 An Hour And Wants To Pay More  ThinkProgress   ...Boloco, a Boston-based burrito chain, pays its entry-level workers anywhere from $9 to $11 an hour, most of them making $10, with many who advance into higher roles making $17 an hour or more, CEO John Pepper told Fox Business News...
Wis. GOP to Ban Public for Miles from Mine  The Progressive   ...A new bill to allow the Gogebic Taconite iron mining company to bar the public from using public access land on an eight-square-mile parcel near their proposed mine site. This is an area that attracts people from all over the country to enjoy the excellent trout fishing and hunting...
Income Gap Grows Wider (and Faster)  New York Times   ...when average wages grow faster than the median, as happened from 2009 through 2011, it means that lower earners are falling further behind those at the top...
Freedom From Jobs  Counterpunch   ... though some gains have certainly been made over the past half-century toward a more inclusive, egalitarian society, in many respects – particularly in economic matters – there has been little or no progress whatsoever...
Longshore union pulls out of national AFL-CIO, citing attacks at Northwest grain terminals  The Oregonian   ...The West Coast longshore union is pulling out of the national AFL-CIO, citing "attacks" in which the umbrella organization's members blatantly cross picket lines at Northwest grain terminals...
Why Wall Street Wants Larry Summers (and Why the Rest of Us Should Not)  Yahoo Finance!   ...Our recent near-death experience under Alan Greenspan’s anti-regulation Fed chairmanship, aided and abetted by the deregulation pushed by Summers, should cause the President to think hard about banking regulation...
NSA intimidation expanding surveillance state: Column  USA Today   ...If you run a business, and the FBI or NSA want to turn it into a mass surveillance tool, they believe they can do so, solely on their own initiative. They can force you to modify your system. They can do it all in secret and then force your business to keep that secret. Once they do that, you no longer control that part of your business...
Slavery!  zero hedge   ...There are more slaves today working in the world than ever before...

Housing problems still not solved, 50 years later

Today is the 50^th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  Marchers, including Teamsters from across the country, gathered in Washington, DC to call attention to civil rights issues, especially the need for good jobs for all people.  This series focuses on how well (or not) our society has met the 50-year-old demands of the marchers. So far, we’ve discussed the decline of the minimum wages, gaps in labor law protections, underwhelming federal focus on job training programs, and the impact of continuing segregation in schools.

Between the struggle for better jobs and political freedom was a fight that hit closer to home.

Marchers demanded access to equal housing opportunities, as African-Americans across the country struggled to find affordable and safe housing equivalent to the options that white households had.

They demanded that the president sign “an Executive Order banning discrimination in all housing supported by federal funds” and that decent housing would be guaranteed to all Americans in a “comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress.”

Discriminatory housing was so prevalent across the country that a satellite protest for the March on Washington in Seattle focused exclusively on expanding open housing.

In response to public pressure, both demands were met – and exceeded. The Civil Rights Act was expanded in 1968 to guard against racial, sexist, religious, and other forms of discrimination in all sectors of the housing market. Various executive orders have also strengthened the federal government’s commitment to ending housing discrimination. Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Program focuses on providing equal access to housing for all Americans.

Although housing discrimination is now illegal, segregated communities are commonplace, especially in denser areas. Cities have been devastated by the housing crisis that began with banks' predatory lending and concluded with aggressive, often illegal foreclosures. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition reports that more than 10.5 million properties went into foreclosure in the 53 months beginning January 1, 2007. And,

...up to 12 million more foreclosures were projected from the fourth quarter of 2008 to 2014... .As of December 12, 2010, 1,762,694 borrowers were seriously delinquent (i.e., over 60 days delinquent, or over 30 days delinquent in case of bankruptcy) ... The total equity lost by families with recently foreclosed properties is estimated at $5.6 trillion... In addition, an estimated $502 billion in property value has been lost due to nearby foreclosures.... The effects of the economic crisis have been enormous, both nationally and globally, and the confidence Americans once had in homeownership as a path to wealth has been shaken. Current and future generations will be impacted for decades to come.

Fifty years after protesting for an end to housing discrimination in the city, a 2011 fair housing test in Seattle found that over half of the properties tested showed evidence of illegal discrimination. Two-thirds of properties gave better terms to white homebuyers and renters.

The US Department of Justice says on its website that:

Race discrimination in housing continues to be a problem. The majority of the Justice Department's pattern or practice cases involve claims of race discrimination. Sometimes, housing providers try to disguise their discrimination by giving false information about availability of housing, either saying that nothing was available or steering homeseekers to certain areas based on race.Because potential homeowners are often not aware of the manipulation, it becomes very difficult to fight the discrimination.

Regardless of how illegal housing discrimination has been for decades, race is still more predictive of housing status than income.

African-American, American Indian, and Latino children are between six and nine times more likely than white children to live in areas with a high concentration of poverty.

Forty-five percent of black children live in areas where over one in three people live in poverty, while only 12 percent of white children live in similar areas.

The effects are very clear. Neighborhoods with high levels of poverty have fewer educational opportunities, higher crime rates and higher costs for private investment and businesses – exactly where families do not want to live.

Continued housing discrimination, especially a generation after the government supposedly solved it, is a disgrace. It is time to march again.

Tomorrow’s low-wage worker strikes continue King’s fight for good jobs

Today thousands have descended on Washington, D.C, to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington. Tomorrow hundreds of fast-food workers will strike in cities across the country in an ongoing movement to win the demands of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. And just yesterday, truck drivers at the Port of L.A. staged the first-ever one-day strike to protest retaliation for trying to form a union.

Speakers at today’s commemoration in D.C. are paying homage to Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. But 50 years later, King’s dream of economic and racial justice is still just a dream for thousands of working-class Americans who are jobless or stuck in low-wage jobs.

As we have reported here, one of the demands of the March on Washington was “A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living.” Organizers in 1963 said “anything less than $2.00 an hour fails to do this.” That’s the equivalent of $15.27 an hour today.

Today’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour shows just how little economic justice has been won since King led the March on Washington

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa wrote this week in the Huffington Post,

Millions of solid middle-class jobs disappeared during the last decade because of the recession and unfair trade agreements. By a three-to-one margin, they have been replaced by those in low-wage occupations. Jobs that used to be the first step in the economic ladder for teenagers and college students are now filled by adults trying to pay their bills. 

And all of this is happening when the nation's corporations are doing better than ever. Sales are going through the roof while workers are being forced into untenable situations.

The demand for better jobs with living wages and dignity in the workplace is inseparable from the spirit that moved 250,000 people to march on Washington 50 years ago. While many of the formal barriers to racial equality have fallen since then, the economic barriers that keep so many Americans living at or near the poverty line are as strong as ever.

And the erosion of the achievements made by King’s struggle is multi-layered. When the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act earlier this summer, it put its stamp of approval on voter suppression laws that protect corporate power against workers and the poor.

"The fierce urgency of now” that King talked about in his “I Have A Dream” speech continues to inspire the bravery of low-wage workers who have been waging aggressive strikes in the fast-food, retail, trucking, and warehouse industries.

Increasingly…we are seeing workers stand up for their rights. Walkouts have become commonplace. They know they are getting a raw deal and are revolting. Whether it's one-day strikes by warehouse, retail and fast-food workers or on-going protests in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, the American public is demanding to be heard.  

People are joining together to raise awareness about the plight of low-wage workers in this country. And more and more each day are realizing the unfairness of the system.

The Teamsters are supporting the port truck drivers in L.A. who returned to work today after a successful one-day strike yesterday against Green Fleet Systems. They are part of the broad movement that includes workers at Walmart, warehouses, government contractors and fast-food chains.

Five years after the original March on Washington, King launched the “Poor People’s Campaign,” which he saw as the second phase of the civil rights movement. The campaign included demands for an “economic bill of rights” and living wages for all workers.

King was assassinated later that year in Memphis while supporting striking sanitation workers, some of whom made as little as 65 cents an hour.

Standing in this proud tradition, fast-food workers will strike in cities nationwide tomorrow, demanding a $15 an hour wage and the right to organize without retaliation.

These workers won’t be speaking from the stage at the National Mall today, but they are the real heroes honoring the legacy of King. They are confronting the powerful forces that continue to stand in the way of King’s dream – forces that include political and corporate bosses who pretend to celebrate the March on Washington while at the same time dismissing the demands of low-wage workers.

If King were still alive, today he would march. But tomorrow he would be out on the picket line with fast-food workers.

Teamsters still marching, 50 years later

The Teamsters are continuing the struggle for jobs and dignity 50 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Recognizing that much remains to be done, the Teamsters National Black Caucus met in Atlanta recently (see video above) and pledged to rededicate themselves to the struggle. Over the weekend, Teamsters from all over America came to Washington to join the march commemorating the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech."

A Teamster sister reminds us that Teamsters were at that historic event: 

Teamsters played a very important role in the March on Washington 50 years ago. They were at the forefront of the march demanding better jobs, better education and a decent living for all working men and women. There were Teamsters from all over the nation in Washington, D.C.,  on August 28, 1963. At the time, there was desperate need for economic equality for all. The Teamsters didn’t care about race, sex, religion, age, physical disability or national origin.  

Everyone deserved a chance to experience the American Dream; the dream of having freedom, a decent education, safe working conditions and a fair wage, regardless of who you were. A Teamster contract was as close to civil rights as one could get. It was a form of insurance to those who actually joined. Teamsters will always fight to protect working families. 

This sister came all the way from Cleveland to Saturday's march.

The Teamsters are still front and center fighting the war on workers. On Saturday,  the Teamsters -- along with hundreds of other unions, civil rights groups, clergy and community leaders -- were present demanding economic equality, better working conditions and better wages for every working-class man and woman. 

Many forget that the labor movement jump-started the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 50 years ago. A. Phillip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, organized the march, demanding change for economic equality, freedom and fair treatment in the workplace. He wanted all to have an opportunity to a good education and a decent wage to obtain the American Dream. 

In 1963, everyone felt the impact of the low wages, the discrimination and inequality. Forward-thinking workers in America understood that. To show their concern they traveled from near and far, bringing men and women from all walks of life to support the union as well as blacks in the March on Washington 50 years ago. 

The Teamsters Union continued that tradition on the 50^th anniversary.

Today's Teamster News 08.26.13

Congress, Public Waking Up to Trans-Pacific Partnership  Nation of Change   ...Members of Congress are starting to pay attention to the upcoming, secretly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “trade” agreement that isn’t really about trade. And the public is also becoming aware that this runaway job-loss express train is coming straight at us...
America's Outsourcers to be Reclassified as Manufacturers  Economic Populist   ...Don't like the trade deficit, low GDP and the public outrage over the offshore outsourcing?  Change the accounting method to make it go away!  Such is the agenda of government statisticians it appears...
Walmart's Latest 'Buy America' Sham  Huffington Post   ...Walmart's growing control of the grocery sector is pushing down wages throughout food production...
Governors applaud Made in the USA, but do their laws support American manufacturing?  manufacture this   ...Eight governors were quick to applaud Wal-Mart for their U.S. manufacturing efforts. But do their states' laws promote U.S. manufacturing through “buy America” provisions for state public works projects?...
Fast-Food Workers Will Strike On August 29 — Here's What You Need to Know  PolicyMic   ...Fast-food workers and labor groups are now calling for a $15/hour minimum wage and many are also asking for opportunities to unionize. Beginning with walk-outs in individual fast-food restaurants last year, the movement has progressed from the local to a national scale. A national strike by fast-food employees is set to take place on August 29...
Dr. King, The March on Washington, and Full Employment  Jared Bernstein Blog   ...[f]ifty years ago, the unemployment rate was 5 percent for whites and 10.9 percent for blacks, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Today, it is 6.6 percent for whites and 12.6 percent for blacks...
Elizabeth Warren May Control Larry Summers's Fate  Bloomberg   ...Warren indicated that Summers was too friendly to Wall Street, where he has made a lot of money as a consultant during his time away from government...
ObamaCare's architects reap windfall as Washington lobbyists  The Hill   ...ObamaCare has become big business for an elite network of Washington lobbyists and consultants who helped shape the law from the inside...
Cash Hoarders Devastate Economy The Real News   ..The wealthiest Americans are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash. They aren't reinvesting,...
Oregon Man Holds Up Bank For $1, Waits To Be Arrested To Get Health Care  Liberaland   ...Timothy Dean Alsip, 50, is homeless and needed health care, so he allegedly robbed a bank so he could medical attention...
REPORT: American Workers Have Seen A ‘Lost Decade’ In Wage Growth  ThinkProgress   ...Despite productivity gains of nearly 25 percent from 2000 to 2012, “wages were flat or declined for the entire bottom 60 percent” of the workforce, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)...
Colin Powell On Republican Voting Restrictions: ‘It’s Going To Backfire’  ThinkProgress   ...These kinds of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down, and make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African Americans might vote I think is going to backfire, because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote and I encourage that...
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files Donald Trump 'University' $40 million fraud suit  Daily News   ...Schneiderman’s office accuses Trump of defrauding more than 5,000 people nationwide through his “Trump University” that offered free seminars to help them get rich by teaching real estate-investing techniques used by the billionaire developer-turned-reality TV star...
The AFL-CIO Is Exploring New Investments in Alt-Labor and Texas Organizing  The Nation   ...the past two decades have seen an explosion in the number of “alt-labor” groups organizing and mobilizing workers outside of traditional union representation or bargaining; such groups currently mostly rely on union or foundation funding...
Private lobbyists get public pensions in 20 states  Associated Press   ...hundreds of lobbyists in at least 20 states ... get public pensions because they represent associations of counties, cities and school boards, an Associated Press review found. Legislatures granted them access decades ago on the premise that they serve governments and the public. In many cases, such access also includes state health care benefits...
Child poverty in Britain is causing 'social apartheid'  The Guardian   ...Britain risks "sleepwalking into a world where inequality becomes so entrenched that our children grow up in a state of social apartheid", according to a leading charity...

Today's Teamster News 08.25.13

John Lewis At March On Washington: ‘I’m Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away’  ThinkProgress   ...Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who was the youngest speaker during the March on Washington in 1963 — delivered a passionate address about the importance of protecting voting rights at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial fifty years later, as thousands gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the historic event on Saturday...
Thousands march to Mall to mark ‘Dream’ anniversary  Washington Post   ...Saturday was a day to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington, and a vision one man delivered so forcefully that five decades later, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech ranks with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress as among the most memorable in U.S. history...
In Paper War, Flood of Liens Is the Weapon  New York Times   ...liens, legal claims on property to secure the payment of a debt, were just the earliest salvos in a war of paper, waged by a couple who had lost their home to foreclosure in 2009 — a tactic that, with the spread of an anti-government ideology known as the “sovereign citizen” movement, is being employed more frequently as a way to retaliate against perceived injustices...
NSA abuses include Stalking ex-Girlfriends  Informed Consent   ...now we have LOVEINT or NSA analysts occasionally reading the emails of ex-lovers. It doesn’t happen a lot, the NSA told the WSJ, but often enough that there is a word for it...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat--against us!  Hightower Lowdown   ...The nullification of our people's right to direct expenditures of our own tax dollars is but one of the horror stories being quietly packed into a political-and-economic bombshell benignly labeled TPP --the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Bloomberg, Health Experts Denounce Obama's Gift to Big Tobacco in the TPP  Public Citizen   ...The Obama administration has drawn sharp criticism from leading health organizations, U.S. state representatives, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg by caving to pressure from Big Tobacco to abandon safeguards for tobacco control policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the pending "free trade" deal with 11 Pacific Rim countries...
New Jersey Senate Candidate To Single Mothers: Stop Relying On Food Stamps And Go To Work!  ThinkProgress   ...Lonegan, who is the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, encouraged single mothers to roll up their sleeves and go to work, adding that free market policies and less government will free “individuals to achieve their best potential..."
Drawing Down: How To Roll Back Police Militarization In America (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Today in America, SWAT teams are deployed about 100 to 150 times per day, or about 50,000 times per year -- a dramatic increase from the 3,000 or so annual deployments in the early 1980s, or the few hundred in the 1970s. The vast majority of today's deployments are to serve search warrants for drug crimes...
Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?  The Atlantic   ...The long-term unemployed tend to be people who 1) are a little bit older, and 2) got laid off from their last job...
Mark Leibovich on Glitz and Greed in Washington  Bill Moyers   ...The tragic story is that what has grown up in this city that was supposedly built on public service is this permanent feudal class of insiders, of people who are not term limited. Of people who never leave and never die, figuratively never die. And who are there and who are doing very, very well for themselves, very, very well for Washington, and not very, very well for the United States...
Feds: PA Cyber Charter School founder Trombetta schemed to steal $1 million  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...For more than a year, federal investigators pursued suspicions about Nicholas Trombetta, a high-flying educator with small-town origins who created the biggest, richest cyber school in the state...

Teamsters, tens of thousands, march on Washington today

Teamster leaders practicing for today's March on Washington.

Teamsters thronged the National Mall today during the March on Washington, demanding good jobs along with tens of thousands of people also striving for a better America. Our Teamster brothers and sisters came from all corners of the country: From Florida and California, from Cleveland and St. Louis and New York City. Wearing black Teamsters shirts, they are walking proudly behind the blue Teamsters Human Rights Commission banner.

Edward Carter, business agent for Teamster Local 665 in California, summed up what the March on Washington was all about:

It's a march for jobs -- for everybody. 

Fifty years ago, Teamsters also flocked to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In fact, the march wouldn't have happened had it not been for organized labor. A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, organized the march, and most of the men and women responsible for its success came from the House of Labor.

As Dissent Magazine recently noted,

In 1963 progressive unionists of all races routinely intertwined the goals of civil rights and economic justice. That’s why the official slogan of the day was “For Jobs and Freedom.” Tens of thousands of union members, mostly from the North, crowded together along the Reflecting Pool with civil rights activists who were taking a break from the dangerous work of liberating the South.

Teamsters headed for the March on
Washington 50 years ago. 

Said Teamsters International Vice President Al Mixon, a leader of today's Teamsters' contingent of marchers:

I look at how far we've come and how far we have to go. It was about jobs then, it's about jobs now.

Roy Gillespie, a marcher, Human Rights Commission representative and member of Teamsters Local 600, agreed that we need to keep marching:

I am truly appreciative and thankful for the work done in 1963. I hope we continue fighting for the working men and women of this country to obtain the American Dream.

The Guardian downplays the demand for good jobs, as is typical of the mainstream media, but at least it's covering today's march:

There is already a huge turnout at the National Mall, with crowds lining the banks of the reflective pool. It is an evocative sight; redolent of the grainy footage of the March on Washington, except in bright colour rather than black and white... 

Estimating the size of the crowds is never easy - the debate over the numbers who attended in the 1963 march still rages today. But I would say there are easily thousands, and possibly tens of thousands of people here. And they've come from across America. I've spoken to people who have traveled from as far away as Mississippi, Chicago, Florida and Seattle.  

I think the scale of turnout is significant. The gathering feels less like a formal commemoration, and more like a protest. Time and again, people told me they believed America was still a racist country, only less overtly so. People are carrying placards about voter rights, equal education and, of course, the death of Trayvon Martin, and the acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman. Both of the 17-year-old's parents -- Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton -- are here.

Mixon and Crump

Mixon and Gillespie met with Ben Crump, Trayvon Martin's family lawyer, last night at a pre-march meeting in Washington.

Today's March on Washington is not only a statement about the need for good jobs, but an opportunity for people who fight for economic justice to get together and strengthen their bonds.

As Renee Taylor, a member of Teamsters Local 237 in New York, said:

I get a chance to be with my brothers and sisters to promote equality...There's a lot of people who don't have a job. We fight for them. 

March on, brothers and sisters.

March on Washington: It's still about jobs

Next week is the 50^th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  Marchers, including Teamsters from across the country, gathered in Washington, D.C., to call attention to civil rights issues, especially the need for good jobs for all people.  This series focuses on how well (or not) our society has met the 50-year-old demands of the marchers. So far, we’ve discussed the decline of the minimum wages and the gaps in labor law protections.

In 1963, America was in the middle of an economic crisis.  Although the national unemployment rate was only 5.6 percent that summer, almost one in five Americans lived in poverty. For black Americans, the situation was much more dire.  About half of African-Americans were in poverty – and were unemployed at over twice the rate of white Americans – something still true today.

None of the employment figures include people who had given up looking for a job or who work only a few hours a week while looking for a better job. Last month, the U6 unemployment rate -- the unemployed, the discouraged and the underemployed -- is 14 percent.

Organizers of the March on Washington believed that getting people good jobs was key to helping their communities.

A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and one of the main organizers, said at the march:

We have no future in a society in which 6 million black and white people are unemployed and millions more live in poverty. Nor is the goal of our civil rights revolution merely the passage of civil rights legislation. Yes, we want all public accommodations open to all citizens, but those accommodations will mean little to those who cannot afford to use them. Yes, we want a Fair Employment Practice Act, but what good will it do if profit-geared automation destroys the jobs of millions of workers black and white?

Today, Teamsters International Vice President Al Mixon echoed Randolph as he prepared to join tomorrow's March on Washington 50 years later.

I look at how far we've come and how far we have to go. It was about jobs then, it's about jobs now. 

Participants at the 1963 march demanded “a massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers — Negro and white — on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.”

At that point, the only active job training program, the Manpower Development and Training Act, had been around for less than a year.  Only 200,000 people enrolled in the program. 

Today, 47 different federal programs that focus on job training are run through seven different departments. Most focus on a specific subset of the population: Farmworkers, Native Americans, veterans and youth all have multiple programs that offer basic employment help. Funding for all of the programs in 2009 totaled $18 billion, half of one percent of the total federal budget.  That represented a dramatic increase in funding over six years, and the current administration increased funding by a third since 2009.

The Department of Labor estimates that about 26 million people have worked with their programs that offer job training in the past year.  In January of this year alone, 22.7 million people were classified as truly unemployed - people who are unemployed (12.3 million), want work but have stopped searching for a job (2.4 million), or work part time because they can’t find full time employment (8.0 million).

Fifty years later, we still have plenty of marching to do.

Port drivers doing worse now than during 1963 March on Washington

LA port workers, still seeking justice

Next week is the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Marchers, including Teamsters from across the country, gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand good jobs for all people. This series focuses on how well (or not) our society has met the 50-year-old demands of the marchers. Yesterday’s piece discussed the marchers’ demand to raise the minimum wage.

A half-million people came to the 1963 March on Washington with a list of demands. One of those demands was “a broadened Fair Labor Standards Act to include all areas of employment which are presently excluded.” Since then, expanded federal employment regulations have improved the standard of living for some groups of workers, while deregulation in 1980 has hit port workers hard.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, originally passed in 1938, establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor regulations for workers in America.

In 1963 as well as today, some categories of workers are exempted from minimum wage laws and overtime, which has a dramatic impact on low-income families.

Domestic workers, a significant number of whom were African-American women, were often exploited because they were not guaranteed minimum wage or overtime pay.

Farm workers, government employees and workers at small retail stores were also exempt from the law.

Today all of these workers are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations -- an important achievement of the Civil Rights movement. However, many other groups of workers are still not covered. Many workers in computers services and transportation industries are exempt from overtime regulations. Tipped employees do get overtime protection, but have a reduced federal minimum wage that has not been adjusted for inflation in more than 20 years. The actual real wage of $2.13 per hour workers get from their employers has almost halved.

In 1963, most of the port truckers were members of the Teamsters. Their wages and benefits were comparable to those of autoworkers, steelworkers and over-the-road drivers. That's because trucking companies had to get a license from the Interstate Commerce Commission to haul freight. The ICC limited the number of trucks to keep the industry stable, which gave companies steady profits and their workers with decent wages and benefits. Then in 1980, port trucking was deregulated.

A 2009 Demos study reported:

New companies entered the industry, hiring their drivers non-union. Established companies faltered. Some went non-union; others went out of business. The firms that triumphed adopted a new business model. They sold all or most of their trucks to the drivers, then contracted with them on a per-load basis. The emerging independent contracting model meant trucking companies had few fixed costs, had no responsibility for workers’ compensation, social security, and unemployment insurance taxes, and were able to obtain drivers’ services without paying for health care costs or pension plans...

In many, many cases these "contracted" workers are actually employees who were misclassified as independent contractors. Although drivers require great skill to transport goods from the docks to warehouses, most drivers live in poverty and work on average over 60 hours a week in terrible working conditions. Since independent contractors are not technically employees, companies have no incentive to reduce the amount of hours they work -- or even improve safety standards for the people who work for them, as workers are often required to supply their own trucks.

This abuse has become so rampant that the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor have joined forces with 14 states to stamp out employer abuse through the Misclassification Initiative. Through this project, millions of dollars in back wages have been reclaimed for workers.

The nation's most active port is at Los Angeles/Long Beach. On Tuesday, port workers will hold a rally for justice, almost 50 years to the day after the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice. Find out more about the rally here.

Today's Teamster News 08.22.13

Teamsters Sue Florida Governor And State Agencies   IBT   ...Teamsters Local 2011, the bargaining agent for 19,000 officers employed by the Florida Department of Corrections, has filed a law suit in Leon County Circuit Court that seeks to stop the state from forfeiting time accrued by correctional officers for work performed on statutorily-established state holidays throughout the year...
Reinstated Teamster corrections officers will get back pay  The Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 117 won $350,000 in back pay and benefits to three recently reinstated Washington State Reformatory corrections officers and a demoted sergeant who were unfairly disciplined after their coworker, Jayme Biendl, was killed by an inmate in 2011...
Teamsters, City of Kelso agree to new contract with raises  Longview Daily News   ...The city of Kelso and Teamsters Local 58 in Vancouver, Washington, have negotiated a contract that includes pay raises in each of the next three years for nine city library and clerical workers...
Sen. Clark to visit families  Daily Times Chronicle   ...Massachusetts State Sen. Katherine Clark, who has been endorsed by unions, including Teamsters Local 25, has had enough of a Congress that doesn't care about the issues affecting women and families. She is launching a kitchen table tour to talk to voters about the family issues and listen to their concerns...
Councilwoman Schipske Picks Up Endorsement From Teamsters   Everything Long Beach   ...The Teamsters Joint Council 42, representing over 200,000 workers, announced that it was throwing its support behind Gerrie Schipske, who is running for Mayor of Long Beach, Calif...
Organized Labor Throws Support behind March  Washington Informer   ...Bill Lucy wasn’t among the more than 250,000 people who took part in the 1963 March on Washington, but on the 50th anniversary of the seminal civil rights event, he said organized labor would be well represented...
Unions, public pension funds file formal objections to Detroit bankruptcy  MSNBC   ...Wall street and bondholders are on a collision course with unions and 21,000 retired pension holders in Detroit, most of them elderly. Yesterday the unions and two public pension funds filed formal objections to Detroit's bankruptcy filing ahead of a midnight deadline...
The Wisconsin Uprising Is Coming Back  Huffington Post   ...Erwin's strategies of chilling dissent aren't working, just as Walker's so-called "job creation" proposals are still falling short of the national average...
For retailers, low wages aren’t working out (opinion) Washington Post   ...This Wal-Mart low-prices, low-wages thing isn’t working out so well — even for Wal-Mart...
Walmart board chairman target of protests  The Californian   ...This weekend, former Walmart employees and supporters passed out flyers at the Salinas store in Salinas about Rob Walton, chairman of the board. “The Waltons are a very rich family and there is nothing wrong with that. But when … your employees have to look for a second job, because their pay rate is too low, that is injustice,” said Tony Barrera, a Salinas City Councilman...
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe  truthout   ...For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care...
Warren asks DOJ to explain 'timid' FHA settlement  The Hill   ...Warren wondered if a portion of a broad government settlement with mortgage servicers amounted to a drop in the bucket, and a sign of the government's "timid enforcement strategy" when it comes to chasing bad actors in the financial sector...
Port of Oakland Terminal Reopens After Trucker Protest  Transport Topics   ...The Port of Oakland, Calif., said Wednesday there are no protesters in the area and terminals are open, after protesting truck drivers had shut down a terminal Monday...
NSA Can Tap Three-Fourths Of Domestic U.S. Internet Traffic, Wall Street Journal Reports Huffington Post   ...The National Security Agency has developed surveillance programs that reach more Internet communications of Americans than have publicly been disclosed, according to current and formal officials cited in a Wall Street Journal article posted online Tuesday night...
The Business Community Finally Realizes Republicans Are Screwing Them Over PoliticusUSA   ...Guess who’s sorry they fell for the Koch brothers baloney? Oh, none other than the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and other business interests”. See, it turns out that what is good for the Koch brothers isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the business community, the country or Wall Street...
Welfare Can Pay More Than That Entry-Level Job   National Journal   ...Welfare programs pay more than minimum wage in 35 states. That's according to a new study released this week. Here is something to chew on: In 11 states, these programs pay more annually than the average teacher after his or her first year on the job...
The Three Factors That Put Lower-Income Americans At Greater Risk From Extreme Weather   Think Progress   ...As extreme weather batters communities across the country, a new report from the Center for American Progress details how these events disproportionately harm middle and lower-income Americans because they simply have fewer resources to prepare for and recover from such disasters...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to address Alabama Republicans on Friday  Huntsville Times   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a political firestorm when he moved to eliminate collective-bargaining rights for teachers and public employees, will the keynote speaker at the Alabama Republican Party's 2013 summer fundraising dinner...
Colorado Internet tax jumps hurdle  Associated Press   ...A federal appeals court has ruled Colorado's law requiring large online retailers to collect millions of dollars in state taxes on Internet sales is legal. The court ruled Tuesday a lower court overstepped its jurisdiction in tossing out the law last year...

Minimum wage lower today than during the March on Washington

50 years ago: Teamsters head to D.C.

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a significant moment in civil rights and labor history. In the days leading up to the celebration, we are going to reexamine the demands of protesters, including many Teamsters, and measure them against the progress made in the past 50 years.

The march was as much about creating more good jobs as it was about racial discrimination. Organizers, after all, called it, "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." Since 1963, the percentage of people in poverty has fallen, from about 20 percent in 1963 to about 15 percent today.

One of the most overlooked demands of the march was “a national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living.” Protesters wanted $2.00 an hour.

Today, that $2.00 hourly wage would equal $15.26 per hour, similar to what the “Strike for 15” coalition of fast food and other low-paid workers across the country are advocating.

Though low-wage workers are fighting for the same economic opportunities they were 50 years ago, their current economic reality is much worse.

Today the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Some political leaders have been talking about increasing the wage, but no significant effort has been put into reform.

In August of 1963, theminimum wage was $1.15. Today, a minimum wage worker who attended the March on Washington would be making an hourly rate of $8.78, according to the ConsumerPrice Index converter. The difference is that back then that rate was considered so low that Congress increased the rate less than a month later.

If the minimum wage were tied to inflation, full-time minimum wage workers would be making over $3,000 extra annually.

The impact is readily felt. Assuming a minimum wage employee works full time, with no time off for vacation, holidays, or illness, they would still need $7,000 to avoid falling below the official poverty line if they take care of anyone else

For a family of four with two kids, the Census Bureau says the absolute minimum workers need to support themselves is $22,811. At minimum wage, one worker would need to work more than 60 hours a week to support a family with the bare essentials.

Back in 1963, the same worker would have worked 10 fewer hours to meet the same requirements.

Obviously, many workers are forced to look for additional help.

The food stamp program, known as SNAP, was established permanently in 1963 to feed hungry low-income American families.

In the first two years of the program, fewer than a half million people were enrolled. Today 47 million people, or 15 percent of Americans, are enrolled. Another 15 million people are financially eligible for SNAP, but haven't enrolled in the program.

With wages stagnating and low income jobs on the rise, maybe it’s time to start marching again.

The 1963 March on Washington was about jobs -- and freedom

Teamsters head toward Washington in 1963.

As the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington approaches, we should all remember that 300,000 people didn't just want equality. They wanted jobs, and good wages, and economic justice.

They wanted the same things that low-wage workers are still fighting for today.

Algernon Austin at the Economic Policy Institute recently chronicled how far we still have to go to realize the dream of the March on Washington:

March organizers demanded a minimum wage that could realistically be expected to lift a family out of poverty. Specifically, they demanded a minimum wage of $2.00 an hour (up from $1.15 an hour). We are nowhere near that goal today. Adjusting for inflation, that wage would be more than $13.00 an hour today, close to twice the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. In fact, the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage today is about $2.00 less than it was at its peak value in 1968 (Cooper and Hall 2013).

Mark Vorpahl writing in truthout notes the 1963 marchers also demanded a federal jobs program -- something not even contemplated today, though the unemployment rate is higher now than it was then.

The ten demands of the march included both calls for the "Withholding of Federal funds from all programs in which discrimination exists" and "Desegregation of all school districts in 1963." These were combined with "A massive federal program to train and place unemployed workers — Negro and white — on meaningful dignified jobs at decent wages" and "A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living."

Often overlooked is the fact that the 1963 March on Washington was organized by unions and by people close to the labor movement. A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was in charge of the organizing effort.

Labor unions, including the Teamsters, are again supporting a March on Washington on August 24. The Labor Fightback Network urges you to participate:

Join the March on Washington August 24, 2013, to demand jobs and freedom for all; defend and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; respect and protect workers’ rights; and restore and expand voting rights!

 Find out more here.