Today's Teamster News 07.29.14

Teamster News
AEI Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve National Agreement  teamster.org   ...Teamsters working at AEI/Danzas across the country overwhelmingly approved the new tentative National Master Agreement. Likewise, all but two of the supplements were approved by the affected membership...
Avis Shuttle Drivers Join Teamsters Local 839  teamster.org   ...The unit of 12 drivers came together to win the same benefits enjoyed by their Teamster coworkers who are Avis customer service staff and car washers...
Trade
With TTIP Consumer Protection Will Be A Privilege Of The Rich  RT   ...For some time now civil society and environmental organizations have been raising concerns over whether genetically-modified food will be labeled appropriately; whether antibiotics will be allowed in our food; or, whether chlorine-rinsed chicken will find its way onto Europe’s domestic market. Surprise! Surprise! Nowhere does the document address these...
State Battles
U.S. Labor Dept: Wisconsin Again Ranked #1 in Workers Lost Due To Outsourcing  Uppity Wisconsin   ...For the third year in a row, Wisconsin takes home the dubious crown of the nation's biggest per-capita outsourcer...
A Look At Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's Economic Claims  McClatchy DC   ...A casual listener - or voter - might conclude that Brownback faced a $500 million budget shortfall in June 2011, six months after he took office. He did not...
ALEC Agenda in Dallas: Evisceration of Medicaid, School Privatization and Expansion of Gas Exports  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Also at this year's meeting, ALEC's task forces will consider bills to make it virtually impossible to enroll in Medicaid, expand charter schools to further bankrupt traditional public schools, expand exports of "natural gas" from fracking, and undermine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air and Clean Water Act regulations...
Another Ohio City To Layoff Fire Fighters. Thanks John Kasich!  Plunderbund   ...Butler County has lost $31.6 million in local government funding thanks to Governor John Kasich’s budgets.  Warren County lost $15.2 million.   In Middletown, these cuts left the city struggling to find enough funding to pay for proper police and fire protection...
Thousands of disabled workers in Pa. paid far below minimum wage  Daily Times   ...About 13,000 disabled Pennsylvanians are earning an average of $2.40 an hour in a legal use of subminimum wages...
Unions gaining power in Mass.  Boston Globe   ...Among the victories unions are savoring: the highest minimum wage in the nation, new workplace protections for state employees, a bill of rights for housekeepers and other domestic workers, limits on nurse-to-patient ratios in intensive care units, and, nearing passage, a $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center...
Unions ready to fight Christie pension system plan  ABC 27   ...the Democrats who control the Legislature and their union allies say they aren't interested in hearing proposals from Christie after he unilaterally cut the state's contributions to pension funds for the last two fiscal years...
Monsanto Ordered To Pay $93 Million For Poisoning People  Axis Of Logic   ...The West Virginia State Supreme Court finalized a big blow to the biotech giant Monsanto this month, finishing a settlement causing Monsanto to pay $93 million to the tiny town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning citizens with Agent Orange chemicals...
Right to work makes city look cheap, ruthless (opinion)   Fort Wayne Journal Gazette   ...I would rather that my city employees are well paid, that they can come to address issues and concerns as required and that they’re professionals we pay to do a job for us...
Right To Work Not Decreasing Union Membership  Indiana Public Radio   ...Two years after Indiana became a right-to-work state, the membership decline unions feared hasn‘t happened. Unionization slipped from one in nine Hoosier workers in 2011 to one out of 11 in 2012, when right-to-work took effect. But union membership had been sliding for years before that, and in the first full year of right-to-work, membership actually rebounded by two-tenths of a percent...
Seattle City Council Appeals To Bezos Over Subcontracted Amazon Security  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...Seattle’s nine city council members declared themselves “deeply concerned” over alleged mistreatment of subcontracted security workers who patrol the company’s headquarters there...
War On Workers
This Congressman Wants To Give You The Right To Sue Union Busters  Huffington Post   ...If your boss tramples on your right to organize in the workplace, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes you should be able to sue for damages in federal court...
Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight For $15 An Hour  New York Times   ...In its most recent strike in mid-May, workers walked out at restaurants in 150 cities nationwide, with solidarity protests held in 30 countries. The focus increasingly includes unionizing; the movement’s motto has become “$15 and a union.”...
Market Basket Workers Violated Some Workers' Rights Lawsuit Says  Boston Globe   ...The management team of the much-loved supermarket president, whose recent firing has inspired a massive uprising of employees demanding his return, violated the law by locking in workers overnight and requiring them to take unpaid breaks, according to two former employees who are suing the company...
Obama Could Curb Corporate 'Inversions' On His Own: Ex-U.S. Official  Reuters   ...By invoking a 1969 tax law, Obama could bypass congressional gridlock and restrict foreign tax-domiciled U.S companies from using inter-company loans and interest deductions to cut their U.S. tax bills, said Stephen Shay, former deputy assistant Treasury secretary for international tax affairs in the Obama administration...
Miscellaneous
FAA Proposes to Fine Southwest Airlines $12M  Associated Press   ...The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it is proposing a $12 million civil fine against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with safety regulations related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners...

How Jimmy Hoffa tried to give unions the green flag at NASCAR

Legendary NASCAR driver Richard Petty and former Teamsters General President James R. Hoffa are two people you would likely never mention in the same sentence. But they have one of the most unique and interesting connections in the history of labor in sports: they both attempted to unionize NASCAR drivers.

In 1961, Jimmy Hoffa tried to change the playing field for NASCAR drivers. He and two drivers, Curtis Turner and Tim Flock, tried to create the Federation of Professional Athletes, which would represent racers. NASCAR founder Bill France threatened to use violence against any kind of unionization. According to Fox Sports,

The Teamsters offered loans to save Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was on the verge of failure because of massive cost overruns incurred in building the track. 

The drivers were offered benefit plans including pensions, insurance and scholarships for the children of drivers who died in crashes. 

While some drivers initially expressed interest in the union, prior to a race at Bowman-Gray Stadium in North Carolina, France laid down the law prohibiting any union members from ever participating in NASCAR events. According to accounts of the day, France told the racers, "I'll use a pistol to enforce it. I have a pistol and know how to use it."

France banned Turner and Flock for life. Both were later reinstated, though Flock never won another race after his ban.

In 1969, a second attempt was made to get drivers representation and safer racing conditions. Richard Petty, far and away the greatest NASCAR driver of all time, led a one-race boycott and protest of a collective of drivers. The next race resumed as usual, and organized labor hasn't been involved in NASCAR since.

That changed last week. While not explicitly a union, nine of the top race car teams formed the Race Team Alliance. There wasn't a mention of organizing drivers or collective bargaining, but this could be a very positive first step towards better representation for drivers who put their lives on the line every week chasing a checkered flag.

                                                                   -- Teamster Dan