TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Despite Deal, Resistance to TPP Grows in All Corners Huffington Post ...We know a bad deal when we see one and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) just announced in Atlanta sure looks like one. Hundreds of Teamsters were joined in the streets of Atlanta this past week by other fair trade advocates sticking up for everyday Americans who could be damaged by the TPP. Unfortunately, negotiators from the U.S. and the other involved nations did not listen...
Shuttle Drivers with Dollar Thrifty Choose Teamsters Local 299 Teamster.org ...Detroit shuttle drivers with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, have voted to join the Teamsters. The 15 shuttle drivers transport passengers to and from Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the rental car facility. They united seeking respect and the protections of a union contract...
Tentative Agreement Reached for Teamster Flight Attendants at NetJets Teamster.org ...In a message to Teamster flight attendants at NetJets Aviation (NJA) this week, Teamsters Local 284 President Paul Suffoletto announced that a tentative agreement covering NJA’s 278 flight attendants had been reached. As with any tentative agreement, there’s still work to be done to finalize the definitions, develop implementation timelines and transition agreements, create explanatory materials, and proof and clean up the language before it is submitted to the flight attendants for a ratification...
Illinois Training Center Goes Extra Mile Teamster.org ...Talking with Mike Borjas, the director of the Illinois Teamsters Joint Council No. 25 Employers Apprenticeship and Training Fund in Joliet, Illinois, you’d think that he was drawing up a lesson plan for training military personnel. But, his goal is providing the best training for Teamsters working in the construction trades as he can. Fortunately for the union, he is accomplishing this every day...
Bid to unionize Uber, Lyft advances Seattle Times ...Seattle City Council members voted 7-0 in a committee Friday to move ahead with a bill that would help independent-contractor drivers for companies like Uber to unionize. The bill, championed by Councilmember Mike O’Brien in partnership with the Teamsters Local 117, is a new approach by labor organizers to unionize workers who lack certain rights because they’re not classified as employees...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific Rim trade pact gets skeptical greeting in U.S. Congress Reuters ...A 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact hammered out over the weekend in Atlanta got a rocky response in Washington on Monday from U.S. lawmakers, indicating it has a long, difficult road ahead as Congress considers whether or not to approve it. Even influential Republicans, who had championed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), initially criticized the result but didn't pinpoint specific concerns...
Republicans Sour on Obama's Trade Pact The Atlantic ...Having secured a landmark trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations, President Obama is now relying on trade-loving Republicans to ratify it in Congress. But as details of the pact emerge, the chances of widespread GOP support are dicier than they once were. Senior Republicans have long been the loudest cheerleaders for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yet on Monday those same Republicans criticized the very deal that they gave Obama the power to strike...
Sanders Condemns 'Disastrous' TPP as Ministers Seal Deal for Corporate Elite Common Dreams ...Amid a last minute scramble, leaders from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries announced Monday that they had reached agreement on a sweeping trade deal, one that critics, including US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, say will slash standards and protections for both consumers and workers—with impacts to be felt across the globe...
Will Hillary Clinton flip on trade? Politico ...As much as she might want it, Hillary Clinton won’t get a free pass on free trade. Clinton has presented herself as a skeptic of the biggest trade deal in recent history, saying this summer that “we should be prepared to walk away” from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership unless it boosts Americans’ wages and national security. But with a deal announced Monday after months of backstage wrangling, she will be under intense pressure to take a stance...
Trade Officials Announce Conclusion of TPP—Now the Real Fight Begins (opinion) EFF ...Trade officials have announced today that they have reached a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Their announcement came after a drawn out round of negotiation in Atlanta, Georgia, which was mainly held up around disagreements over medicine patent rules and tariffs over autos and dairy. We have no reason to believe that the TPP has improved much at all from the last leaked version released in August...
Air France Workers Rip Shirts From Top Managers in Jobs Protest Bloomberg ...Air France executives were forced to flee with their clothes in tatters after workers stormed a meeting at Charles de Gaulle airport in protest at 2,900 planned job cuts. Violence erupted Monday as Air France told its works council that 300 pilots, 900 flight attendants and 1,700 ground staff might have to go after failed productivity talks with flight crew...
Outrage Stirred as Police Deploy Snipers to 'Observe' Anti-Austerity March in UK Common Dreams ...As the national Conservative Party in the U.K. held its annual meeting in Manchester over the weekend, an anti-austerity demonstration against the ruling party's economic policies attracted not only tens of thousands of people to march peacefully... but a few police snipers to keep "watch" over those who oppose the government's gutting of the public sector...
South Africa: 30,000 Miners Strike Over Pay Demand Morning Star ...Some 30,000 South African coalminers downed tools on Sunday night after cross-sector pay talks broke down. Conciliation came to an abrupt end last week when parties could not reach an agreement over demands by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) demand for a 1,000 rand (£48) rise for the lowest paid workers and 14 per cent for artisans, miners and officials...
Indigenous Communities Seek Autonomous Development Projects in Guatemala Truthout ...As Guatemala faces its greatest political crisis since the 1980s, behind the scenes, plans for the United States' Alliance for Prosperity continue to move along. The expansion of hydroelectric construction projects and the further integration of electric grids are central to the plan, yet these projects threaten indigenous communities' land rights...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Maine Governor Revives Old Rule To Punish Poor People For Saving Money Think Progress ...Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) has already knocked tens of thousands of people of his state’s food stamps rolls through a variety of stringent new rules for the program, but he’s not done. At a hearing Tuesday, state officials will lay out a new barrier to entry for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants that most other states have abandoned in recent years...
Opponents ask court to relax Wisconsin voter ID requirements Journal Sentinel ...Opponents of Wisconsin's voter identification law argued in federal court Monday that the legislation is improperly restrictive and should be expanded to allow people to use more forms of ID. The case represents the latest push from the American Civil Liberties Union against a law that has been the focus of a string of legal battles since it was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker four years ago...
Hearing set on Voter ID legal challenge Winston-Salem Journal ...The voter ID law will be back in federal court later this month. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder plans to hold a hearing Oct. 23 to get an update on efforts to settle the legal claims against the photo ID requirement. The N.C. NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s Voter Information Verification Act...
These Lawmakers Want D.C. To Be The First City To Guarantee Paid Family Leave Think Progress ...On Tuesday, seven city councilmembers in the District of Columbia will introduce a paid family leave bill that would create the most progressive system in the country and serve as a model for other cities that might be interested in paid leave. If it eventually gets passed and signed into law, it would be the first city-level program in the country...
Alabama ‘clarifies’ voter ID confusion (opinion) Boston Globe ...If anyone still doubts that the Republican push for voter identification is really about limiting the franchise of Democratic voters — and in particular African-American voters — the state of Alabama has helpfully cleared up the confusion. In 2014, Alabama passed a law that required all of its citizens have a photo ID in order to vote...
U.S. LABOR
Adjuncts Win Union Contract at Maryland Institute College of Art In These Times ...The national movement to unionize part-time faculty at U.S. colleges and universities has secured an initial beachhead in the Baltimore area with ratification of a first contract between Service Employees International Union Local 500 and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Voting on the ratification concluded in mid-September and a formal signing ceremony for the pact is set for October 8, labor representatives report...
We must despise our kids: Our ugly war on teachers must end now Salon ...With September’s data in, we can see how many teachers went back to school this year. And Gould finds that the tremendous gap that opened up when local budgets crashed during the recession has not come close to being filled. At the peak, we had 8.1 million public K-12 education teachers and staff in July 2008. Seven years later, we have far less, 7.8 million, despite a larger population of students that need to be served...
Contra Costa County Nurses Begin Two-Day Strike Tues. Oct 6 IndyBay ...Nurses who work at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and clinics across the County will officially begin a two-day strike Tuesday, October 6, after what nurses say is the County’s continued failure to address serious patient care concerns. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, which represents almost 1,000 County registered nurses, nurse practitioners and public health nurses, called on the County to immediately improve working conditions...
Supreme Court ‘right-to-work’ case could speed decline of unions Al Jazeera ...The Supreme Court will soon take up a case that could impose a de facto “right-to-work” rule across the public sector, eliminating public employee unions’ ability to require fees from nonmembers and, labor leaders say, threatening the unions’ survival. Labor officials often complain that right-to-work rules create a “free rider” problem...
UAW pledges new approach to members for FCA deal Detroit News ...United Auto Workers leaders are promising to handle a second round of contract talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV differently than the first discussions that culminated with membership overwhelmingly voting down a tentative four-year deal. In separate messages published online Monday, UAW President Dennis Williams and Vice President Norwood Jewell said they will not only address members’ issues with the contract itself, but communicate better...
Deere deal: Did UAW workers come out ahead? Des Moines Register ...United Auto Workers voted Sunday to ratify a six-year contract with Deere & Co., deciding that a modest pay bump and increased job security outweighed increases in their medical costs. The Moline, Ill.-based maker of iconic farm and construction equipment said the United Auto Workers union notified the company...
A Union Leader Who Always Knew Which Side He Was On The Nation ...Marty Beil knew which side he was on. He was a union man. Indeed, as Congressman Mark Pocan noted after Beil’s death last week at age 68, “Marty embodied the longstanding Wisconsin tradition of fighting for workers’ rights and protections.” Beil’s commitment to trade unionism was old-school and unequivocal. He was ready to bargain; but if the deal was no good, he took the fight to the streets...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
As Infrastructure Creaks, Congress Dithers Wall Street Journal ...Back in July, Congress failed, once again, to pass a long-term highway bill to make improvements in the nation’s transportation system. Instead of funding big infrastructure needs with a multiyear plan, as once was the norm in Washington, lawmakers passed a bill covering a grand total of three months—the 34th time since 2009 Congress has passed a temporary Band-Aid...
'Once-In-A-Millenium' Flooding Creates 'Otherworldly Scenes' in South Carolina Common Dreams ...South Carolina's once-in-a-millennium flooding this weekend left at least seven people dead and much of the state paralyzed—and as rains continued into Monday morning, officials warned that the deluge is likely to worsen. Climate scientists have linked South Carolina's catastrophic rains to climate change. "Joaquin has been traveling over a record-warm ocean surface and undoubtedly that has contributed to its rapid intensification," Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, told The Huffington Post...
War Crime in Afghanistan?: Outrage After U.S. Airstrike on Hospital Kills 22 Patients & Staff Democracy Now ...Doctors Without Borders is demanding an independent international inquiry into a U.S. airstrike Saturday on an Afghan hospital in the city of Kunduz that killed 22 people, including 12 staff members and 10 patients, three of them children. At least three dozen people were injured. The attack continued for 30 minutes after the U.S. and Afghan militaries were informed by telephone that the hospital was being bombed...
Showing posts with label airline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airline. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.01.15
Teamsters
EVSC Board and Teamsters working toward agreement, schedule more meetings Courier & Press ...Despite still lacking official agreements, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey believes the union and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. School Board are making progress in negotiating contracts for the five EVSC employee groups represented by Local 215. Whobrey said the employee groups — bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, special education assistants and bus aides — have issues in common and issues specific to their units...
Bipartisan Panel Including DOT Secretary Foxx, Teamsters President Hoffa and Mississippi Governor Barbour to Tackle Infrastructure Issues, Announce New Funding Campaign PR Newswire ...Infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and funds to fix it are disappearing. It's time to address the immediate need to fund infrastructure building, maintenance and repair. That's the message to be presented by Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Teamsters President Jim Hoffa and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at a National Press Club newsmaker press conference on September 9...
This Labor Ruling Could Give a Big Boost to the Fight For 15 The Nation ...The Teamsters had sought to organize a union election for Leadpoint workers—comprised of “part-time, and on-call sorters, screen cleaners, and housekeepers” on a short-term contract at a BFI recycling plant. The effort was thwarted by a regional labor-relations board and then appealed. The Teamsters argued that the narrow definition of joint employer allowed a company to act like a regular boss without upholding traditional employers’ responsibilities...
Teamsters Local 357 Prepares Counter-Proposal to Republic Airways (RJET) Recent Offer Street Insider ...Teamsters Local 357 prepared a counter-proposal to Republic Airways latest offer. The announcement follows news that Local 357 would not put Republic Airways' recent so-called 'LBFO' offer to a vote, which sent shares of the carrier sharply lower. "As you know, on Tuesday the Local 357 EBoard announced their position that the Company's August 20th, 2015 offer should not be sent out for a vote. There are many reasons in support of their decision"...
Global Labor & Trade
As TPP Grinds To A Halt, Asian Countries Start Focusing On Rival Trade Agreement RCEP TechDirt ...that final breakthrough and completion never happened. Instead, we had the "Maui meltdown", when a whole bunch of old and new problems raised their heads, with the result that TPP may have missed a key deadline that means it won't be happening soon, if ever...
Poster woman for the war against the U.S.-led TPP Japan Times ...For Yoko Inoue, art is like a bomb: Throw it into a crowded street and the truth just might explode out of it. The Japanese-born, New York-based multimedia and performance artist takes aim at society’s assumptions about commerce and culture using works rooted in intensive research. This time, her target is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
The promised ‘transparency’ around TTIP has been a sham (opinion) The Guardian ...Beyond the lack of transparency, the real trouble with TTIP and the EU’s multitude of bilateral trade deals is not in the method, but in substance. Europe should put its weight behind a multilateral trading system based on open markets, fairness, sustainability and democracy. An equitable reform of the World Trade Organisation rules is clearly better for business...
Germany bullied France into policy of austerity, says Stiglitz BDLive ...France has been intimidated by Germany into pursuing an economic policy that is not working, Nobel prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz said on Monday. "There is a kind of intimidation," Mr Stiglitz, an outspoken opponent of austerity policy, said of the influence of Germany over the policies pursued by President Francois Hollande...
Indian unions to hold one-day national strike WSWS.org ...Tens of millions of Indian workers will join a one-day national strike this Wednesday, September 2, in protest against the pro-investor policies of the 15-month-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. Ten labor federations are sponsoring Wednesday’s strike. Prominent among them are the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)...
Airline Agrees To Stop Firing Flight Attendants For Getting Married, But Only After UN Investigation Think Progress ...Flight attendants who work for Qatar Airways will no longer risk losing their jobs if they decide to get married or pregnant. The International Labour Organisation, the labor agency at the United Nations, concluded a yearlong investigation in June, finding that the airline’s policies required workers to notify the company when they became pregnant and were often fired once they did...
State & Living Wage Battles
Religious leaders in Puerto Rico condemn austerity, ask Fed for help Reuters ...Religious leaders in Puerto Rico called on Monday for the island's government and its lenders to avoid austerity measures and for the Federal Reserve to step in with assistance. The religious leaders on the mostly Catholic island, working with Jubilee USA Network, a religious development organization in Washington, D.C., want a solution to Puerto Rico's debt crisis that invests in the island's economy, does not hurt the poor and brings about more budget transparency...
Scott to head to Kentucky to lure businesses next month Orlando Sentinel ...Gov. Rick Scott has a message for business owners in the Bluegrass State: the sun shines brighter in Florida than on your old Kentucky home. “Florida’s business climate is better than Kentucky’s in almost every way. Kentucky leaders continue blocking Kentucky counties from becoming right-to-work areas," Scott stated. Scott has targeted businesses in other states with Democratic governors in the past...
Minimum-wage debate heats up in Pennsylvania Times Online ...Nineteen U.S. cities and counties experienced mandated wage increases this year; 29 states and Washington, D.C., already require employers to pay workers more than $7.25. Pennsylvania isn’t part of this group – yet. There are five bills pending in the state Legislature proposing to raise the minimum wage...
Sen. Bill Nelson calls for independent redistricting commission for Florida Bradenton Herald ...The repeated failures of the Florida Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts is a sure sign that Florida needs to create an independent commission to do the work, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said during a stop in Tallahassee on Monday. “Seems to me we need an independent commission for future reapportionment so that you stop this self-serving process of drawing districts for your own self interest,” said Nelson, a Democrat...
U.S. Labor
Workers at Trump Taj Mahal Begin Preparations for Strike In These Times ...While Donald Trump's push for the Republican nomination for president is showing no signs of slowing, worker unrest at a hotel and casino that bear his name appears near the boiling point. Strike preparations have begun for over 1,100 non-gaming casino employees at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 54, gathered near their local headquarters last Tuesday...
USW to keep negotiating to avoid work stoppage NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union wants more time to negotiate rather than go on strike at Northwest Indiana's largest steel mills. The union reached a "continue to work agreement" with ArcelorMittal, meaning steelworkers won't hit the picket line when the contract expires Tuesday with no new bargain in place. The USW also told U.S. Steel it would extend talks to avoid a work stoppage...
The People Who Rebuilt New Orleans Are Still Waiting to Get Paid Alternet ...During a decade of fast-paced and rough-and-tumble post-Katrina reconstruction, contractors have stolen an estimated aggregate fortune worth millions of dollars from migrant workers like Vasquez. Accounts by him, other migrant workers, employment lawyers, workers’ advocates, and others paint a picture of systematic and multifaceted exploitation...
UAW-GM workers approve strike authorization Detroit News ...General Motors Co. union members have passed a strike authorization by 97 percent, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a letter Monday. Local unions representing GM’s about 50,800 hourly workers held strike authorization votes within the past few weeks. The votes are procedural and give the union the ability to call for a strike if necessary. It does not mean there will be a strike...
Social Justice & Other News
Overruling 'God's Authority,' Supreme Court Affirms Gay Marriage Ruling Common Dreams ...Backing up this year's landmark equality ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Kentucky county clerk's request to deny issuing same-sex marriage certificates on the grounds of religious preference. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis could not 'opt out' of her duties as a public official because of her personal objections...
How Katrina Sparked Reform in a Troubled Police Department The Atlantic ...The New Orleans Police Department had a reputation for corruption long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the summer of 2005. For decades, the department was infected by a culture of discrimination, abuse, and lawlessness. That culture spilled out into the open in the week after the storm. During that brief period, police officers shot and killed three unarmed civilians...
People Are Quicker to Shoot a Black Target Than a White Target Mother Jones ...According to a new report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, racial bias can affect the likelihood of people pulling the trigger of a gun—even if shooters don't realize they were biased to begin with. Researchers found that, in studies conducted over the past decade, participants were more likely to shoot targets depicting black people than those depicting white people...
Fear Canada? Slate ...Continuing to grope his way toward a semi-coherent immigration policy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggested Sunday that the idea of building a fence along America’s 5,525-mile border with Canada is a “legitimate issue.” Walker has stuck with his ridiculous position, saying he’s responding to concerns he’s heard from law enforcement. The border fence idea may be Trump-inspired lunacy, but Walker is hardly the first U.S. politician to draw attention to the threat emanating from America’s neighbor to the north...
EVSC Board and Teamsters working toward agreement, schedule more meetings Courier & Press ...Despite still lacking official agreements, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey believes the union and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. School Board are making progress in negotiating contracts for the five EVSC employee groups represented by Local 215. Whobrey said the employee groups — bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, special education assistants and bus aides — have issues in common and issues specific to their units...
Bipartisan Panel Including DOT Secretary Foxx, Teamsters President Hoffa and Mississippi Governor Barbour to Tackle Infrastructure Issues, Announce New Funding Campaign PR Newswire ...Infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and funds to fix it are disappearing. It's time to address the immediate need to fund infrastructure building, maintenance and repair. That's the message to be presented by Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Teamsters President Jim Hoffa and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at a National Press Club newsmaker press conference on September 9...
This Labor Ruling Could Give a Big Boost to the Fight For 15 The Nation ...The Teamsters had sought to organize a union election for Leadpoint workers—comprised of “part-time, and on-call sorters, screen cleaners, and housekeepers” on a short-term contract at a BFI recycling plant. The effort was thwarted by a regional labor-relations board and then appealed. The Teamsters argued that the narrow definition of joint employer allowed a company to act like a regular boss without upholding traditional employers’ responsibilities...
Teamsters Local 357 Prepares Counter-Proposal to Republic Airways (RJET) Recent Offer Street Insider ...Teamsters Local 357 prepared a counter-proposal to Republic Airways latest offer. The announcement follows news that Local 357 would not put Republic Airways' recent so-called 'LBFO' offer to a vote, which sent shares of the carrier sharply lower. "As you know, on Tuesday the Local 357 EBoard announced their position that the Company's August 20th, 2015 offer should not be sent out for a vote. There are many reasons in support of their decision"...
Global Labor & Trade
As TPP Grinds To A Halt, Asian Countries Start Focusing On Rival Trade Agreement RCEP TechDirt ...that final breakthrough and completion never happened. Instead, we had the "Maui meltdown", when a whole bunch of old and new problems raised their heads, with the result that TPP may have missed a key deadline that means it won't be happening soon, if ever...
Poster woman for the war against the U.S.-led TPP Japan Times ...For Yoko Inoue, art is like a bomb: Throw it into a crowded street and the truth just might explode out of it. The Japanese-born, New York-based multimedia and performance artist takes aim at society’s assumptions about commerce and culture using works rooted in intensive research. This time, her target is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
The promised ‘transparency’ around TTIP has been a sham (opinion) The Guardian ...Beyond the lack of transparency, the real trouble with TTIP and the EU’s multitude of bilateral trade deals is not in the method, but in substance. Europe should put its weight behind a multilateral trading system based on open markets, fairness, sustainability and democracy. An equitable reform of the World Trade Organisation rules is clearly better for business...
Germany bullied France into policy of austerity, says Stiglitz BDLive ...France has been intimidated by Germany into pursuing an economic policy that is not working, Nobel prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz said on Monday. "There is a kind of intimidation," Mr Stiglitz, an outspoken opponent of austerity policy, said of the influence of Germany over the policies pursued by President Francois Hollande...
Indian unions to hold one-day national strike WSWS.org ...Tens of millions of Indian workers will join a one-day national strike this Wednesday, September 2, in protest against the pro-investor policies of the 15-month-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. Ten labor federations are sponsoring Wednesday’s strike. Prominent among them are the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)...
Airline Agrees To Stop Firing Flight Attendants For Getting Married, But Only After UN Investigation Think Progress ...Flight attendants who work for Qatar Airways will no longer risk losing their jobs if they decide to get married or pregnant. The International Labour Organisation, the labor agency at the United Nations, concluded a yearlong investigation in June, finding that the airline’s policies required workers to notify the company when they became pregnant and were often fired once they did...
State & Living Wage Battles
Religious leaders in Puerto Rico condemn austerity, ask Fed for help Reuters ...Religious leaders in Puerto Rico called on Monday for the island's government and its lenders to avoid austerity measures and for the Federal Reserve to step in with assistance. The religious leaders on the mostly Catholic island, working with Jubilee USA Network, a religious development organization in Washington, D.C., want a solution to Puerto Rico's debt crisis that invests in the island's economy, does not hurt the poor and brings about more budget transparency...
Scott to head to Kentucky to lure businesses next month Orlando Sentinel ...Gov. Rick Scott has a message for business owners in the Bluegrass State: the sun shines brighter in Florida than on your old Kentucky home. “Florida’s business climate is better than Kentucky’s in almost every way. Kentucky leaders continue blocking Kentucky counties from becoming right-to-work areas," Scott stated. Scott has targeted businesses in other states with Democratic governors in the past...
Minimum-wage debate heats up in Pennsylvania Times Online ...Nineteen U.S. cities and counties experienced mandated wage increases this year; 29 states and Washington, D.C., already require employers to pay workers more than $7.25. Pennsylvania isn’t part of this group – yet. There are five bills pending in the state Legislature proposing to raise the minimum wage...
Sen. Bill Nelson calls for independent redistricting commission for Florida Bradenton Herald ...The repeated failures of the Florida Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts is a sure sign that Florida needs to create an independent commission to do the work, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said during a stop in Tallahassee on Monday. “Seems to me we need an independent commission for future reapportionment so that you stop this self-serving process of drawing districts for your own self interest,” said Nelson, a Democrat...
U.S. Labor
Workers at Trump Taj Mahal Begin Preparations for Strike In These Times ...While Donald Trump's push for the Republican nomination for president is showing no signs of slowing, worker unrest at a hotel and casino that bear his name appears near the boiling point. Strike preparations have begun for over 1,100 non-gaming casino employees at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 54, gathered near their local headquarters last Tuesday...
USW to keep negotiating to avoid work stoppage NWI Times ...The United Steelworkers union wants more time to negotiate rather than go on strike at Northwest Indiana's largest steel mills. The union reached a "continue to work agreement" with ArcelorMittal, meaning steelworkers won't hit the picket line when the contract expires Tuesday with no new bargain in place. The USW also told U.S. Steel it would extend talks to avoid a work stoppage...
The People Who Rebuilt New Orleans Are Still Waiting to Get Paid Alternet ...During a decade of fast-paced and rough-and-tumble post-Katrina reconstruction, contractors have stolen an estimated aggregate fortune worth millions of dollars from migrant workers like Vasquez. Accounts by him, other migrant workers, employment lawyers, workers’ advocates, and others paint a picture of systematic and multifaceted exploitation...
UAW-GM workers approve strike authorization Detroit News ...General Motors Co. union members have passed a strike authorization by 97 percent, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a letter Monday. Local unions representing GM’s about 50,800 hourly workers held strike authorization votes within the past few weeks. The votes are procedural and give the union the ability to call for a strike if necessary. It does not mean there will be a strike...
Social Justice & Other News
Overruling 'God's Authority,' Supreme Court Affirms Gay Marriage Ruling Common Dreams ...Backing up this year's landmark equality ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Kentucky county clerk's request to deny issuing same-sex marriage certificates on the grounds of religious preference. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis could not 'opt out' of her duties as a public official because of her personal objections...
How Katrina Sparked Reform in a Troubled Police Department The Atlantic ...The New Orleans Police Department had a reputation for corruption long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the summer of 2005. For decades, the department was infected by a culture of discrimination, abuse, and lawlessness. That culture spilled out into the open in the week after the storm. During that brief period, police officers shot and killed three unarmed civilians...
People Are Quicker to Shoot a Black Target Than a White Target Mother Jones ...According to a new report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, racial bias can affect the likelihood of people pulling the trigger of a gun—even if shooters don't realize they were biased to begin with. Researchers found that, in studies conducted over the past decade, participants were more likely to shoot targets depicting black people than those depicting white people...
Fear Canada? Slate ...Continuing to grope his way toward a semi-coherent immigration policy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggested Sunday that the idea of building a fence along America’s 5,525-mile border with Canada is a “legitimate issue.” Walker has stuck with his ridiculous position, saying he’s responding to concerns he’s heard from law enforcement. The border fence idea may be Trump-inspired lunacy, but Walker is hardly the first U.S. politician to draw attention to the threat emanating from America’s neighbor to the north...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.24.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Statement on Senate Fast Track Cloture Vote Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the Senate’s decision to invoke cloture and cut off debate on the fast track trade bill currently being considered by the chamber: “The process surrounding fast track has been convoluted and confusing. And today, too many senators decided to trust big business and the House instead of standing up for American workers"...
Teamsters Join Sen. Blumenthal, Highway Safety Advocates, Families of Victims in Fight Against Truck Safety Rollbacks Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union stood with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), representatives for highway safety advocates and law enforcement and families of highway accident victims to denounce a series of dangerous provisions that would threaten the safety of the driving public. This week, the Senate will follow the House and mark up the FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill...
McDonald's Accused Of Hanging California Produce Workers Out To Dry Huffington Post ...After impounding the ballots for more than a year, federal officials last week tallied the votes in an acrimonious union election at Taylor Farms Pacific, a California vegetable producer that supplies garnishes to major fast-food companies. After launching the union campaign in the fall of 2013, the Teamsters accused Taylor Farms supervisors of intimidating workers and interfering with organizing efforts, as Capital & Main reported last year...
New Report: U.S. Recycling Workers Exposed to Safety Hazards and High Injury Rates Teamster.org ... A new study, released Tuesday, June 23 by environmental, occupational safety, and community benefits experts in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, finds that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers’ health and safety. The report notes that unionized workers, with negotiated contracts in place enjoy more effective enforcement of legally mandated health and safety protections and also have the ability to bargain for additional safeguards to improve working conditions...
Global Labor & Trade
Trade Accord, Once Blocked, Nears Passage New York Times ... President Obama’s ambitious trade push is back on track, after several near-death moments, in large measure because top Republicans stood by him. The Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted to end debate on legislation granting Mr. Obama enhanced negotiating powers to complete a major Pacific trade accord, virtually assuring final passage Wednesday of Mr. Obama’s top legislative priority in his final years in office...
Senate pushes Obama's Pacific Rim trade pact forward Reuters ...President Barack Obama's call for "fast-track" trade negotiating authority to help him strike a Pacific Rim deal cleared a key hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, paving the way for a final vote on the legislation on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Senate was likely to vote to grant Obama the power to speed trade deals through Congress, including his Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If that happens, the fast-track measure would then go to the White House for Obama's signature...
Sanders and Warren stand tall on trade The Hill ...The U.S. Senate today passed the fast-track trade bill and sent it to President Obama for his signature. Those who believe in fighting for working men and women should give a standing ovation to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who waged what The Hill correctly called in a news story her "last stand on trade" — until the next fight begins tomorrow...
'A Great Day for Corporate America': US Senate Passes Fast Track Common Dreams ...In a win for multinational corporations and the global one percent, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly advanced Fast Track, or Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) —ensuring for all practical purposes the continued rubber-stamping of clandestine trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional? The Atlantic ...Despite the fairness of our court system, the U.S. government has consented in prior trade agreements, and in a leaked version of the still-secret TPP, to allow foreign investors to bypass our courts and instead move to “investor-state” arbitration. Thus, challenges based upon TPP to our duly enacted laws and other regulatory actions would be decided by three individuals who are not government officials and need not be American citizens...
Hoffa Statement on Senate Fast Track Cloture Vote Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the Senate’s decision to invoke cloture and cut off debate on the fast track trade bill currently being considered by the chamber: “The process surrounding fast track has been convoluted and confusing. And today, too many senators decided to trust big business and the House instead of standing up for American workers"...
Teamsters Join Sen. Blumenthal, Highway Safety Advocates, Families of Victims in Fight Against Truck Safety Rollbacks Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union stood with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), representatives for highway safety advocates and law enforcement and families of highway accident victims to denounce a series of dangerous provisions that would threaten the safety of the driving public. This week, the Senate will follow the House and mark up the FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill...
McDonald's Accused Of Hanging California Produce Workers Out To Dry Huffington Post ...After impounding the ballots for more than a year, federal officials last week tallied the votes in an acrimonious union election at Taylor Farms Pacific, a California vegetable producer that supplies garnishes to major fast-food companies. After launching the union campaign in the fall of 2013, the Teamsters accused Taylor Farms supervisors of intimidating workers and interfering with organizing efforts, as Capital & Main reported last year...
New Report: U.S. Recycling Workers Exposed to Safety Hazards and High Injury Rates Teamster.org ... A new study, released Tuesday, June 23 by environmental, occupational safety, and community benefits experts in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, finds that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers’ health and safety. The report notes that unionized workers, with negotiated contracts in place enjoy more effective enforcement of legally mandated health and safety protections and also have the ability to bargain for additional safeguards to improve working conditions...
Global Labor & Trade
Trade Accord, Once Blocked, Nears Passage New York Times ... President Obama’s ambitious trade push is back on track, after several near-death moments, in large measure because top Republicans stood by him. The Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted to end debate on legislation granting Mr. Obama enhanced negotiating powers to complete a major Pacific trade accord, virtually assuring final passage Wednesday of Mr. Obama’s top legislative priority in his final years in office...
Senate pushes Obama's Pacific Rim trade pact forward Reuters ...President Barack Obama's call for "fast-track" trade negotiating authority to help him strike a Pacific Rim deal cleared a key hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, paving the way for a final vote on the legislation on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Senate was likely to vote to grant Obama the power to speed trade deals through Congress, including his Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If that happens, the fast-track measure would then go to the White House for Obama's signature...
Sanders and Warren stand tall on trade The Hill ...The U.S. Senate today passed the fast-track trade bill and sent it to President Obama for his signature. Those who believe in fighting for working men and women should give a standing ovation to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who waged what The Hill correctly called in a news story her "last stand on trade" — until the next fight begins tomorrow...
'A Great Day for Corporate America': US Senate Passes Fast Track Common Dreams ...In a win for multinational corporations and the global one percent, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly advanced Fast Track, or Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) —ensuring for all practical purposes the continued rubber-stamping of clandestine trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Unconstitutional? The Atlantic ...Despite the fairness of our court system, the U.S. government has consented in prior trade agreements, and in a leaked version of the still-secret TPP, to allow foreign investors to bypass our courts and instead move to “investor-state” arbitration. Thus, challenges based upon TPP to our duly enacted laws and other regulatory actions would be decided by three individuals who are not government officials and need not be American citizens...
Killing a Nation With Euphemisms: TPP-Eats-Medicare Edition Truthout ...If you lose your job to the TPP, you will get insufficient "assistance," followed by less-funded Medicare support. If you don't lose your job, you'll still be dealing with the smoking hole in Medicare funding made by the trade bill that caused your neighbor to lose her house after she lost her job...
Norway Oil-Rig Unions in Last-Chance Talks to Avoid Strike Bloomberg ...Norwegian oil-rig unions and employers started government-backed mediation on Wednesday in a final bid to avoid a strike that could shut down two North Sea oil fields. Talks started at 10 a.m. Oslo time, said Benedikte Naess, spokeswoman for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, which is representing employers. If the parties fail to reach a deal by midnight, 189 workers will go on strike...
Cabin crew give Lufthansa deadline to avoid strike Reuters ...German airline Lufthansa faces a June 30 deadline to make concessions to cabin crew over pay and pensions or suffer further strikes that would compound the effects of a costly dispute with its pilots. The UFO flight attendants' union said on Monday its members would strike on July 1 if an agreement was not reached with Lufthansa by then...
Embattled Alexis Tsipras faces domestic revolt over plans to implement 'harsh' austerity blitz The Telegraph ...Embattled Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a revolt within his radical Left party over austerity measures the country must approve to secure its future in the euro. Following a late-night emergency summit in Brussels on Monday, Athens laid out plans to carry out a series of economic reforms worth €8bn over the next two years...
The U.N. Investigated An Airline Accused Of Banning Employees From Getting Married. Here’s What They Found. Think Progress ...Qatar Airways has denied widespread accusations that it bans employees from getting married and that it doesn’t always summarily fire pregnant workers. But the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says otherwise. After a yearlong investigation into complaints made by the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, it decided that parts of the airlines’ policies do in fact require workers to notify the company when they become pregnant and that doing so often ends up in those workers getting terminated...
State & Living Wage Battles
Congressional Democrats to Introduce Ambitious New Bill to Restore the Voting Rights Act The Nation ...Two years ago, on June 25, 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated the centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act. Tomorrow, congressional Democrats will introduce an ambitious new bill that would restore the important voting-rights protections. The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 would compel states with a well-documented history of recent voting discrimination to clear future voting changes with the federal government, require federal approval for voter ID laws...
Chicago Activists Say City's $10 Minimum Wage Is Not Enough, Decry Rauner Cuts Progress Illinois ...While Chicago's minimum wage is set to increase to $10 per hour in two weeks, a group of community activists gathered Tuesday morning in the Loop to say the raise is not enough. Highlighting the plight of "chronically underpaid and undervalued" home and child care workers, Kelly-Rushton was one of roughly two-dozen people to call for a statewide $15 minimum wage--a yearly salary of about $31,000--during the demonstration at Daley Plaza downtown...
Bobby Jindal Is Running For President. Here Is How He Ran Louisiana. Think Progress ...Since Gov. Jindal took office in 2008, Louisiana has earned some dubious honors. The state has the largest gender pay gap in the country, with women making 66 cents for every dollar a man earns. A study by the Violence Policy Center published in late January found the state also has the second-highest rate of gun deaths in the nation, and the state’s rate of incarceration currently leads the U.S. — and thus, the world...
Governor marks Rhode Island's minimum wage increase ABC ...Gov. Gina Raimondo has marked the passage of legislation to raise Rhode Island's minimum wage with a ceremonial bill signing. The governor was joined by state lawmakers Monday to mark the occasion. Raimondo says she's proud to raise the state's hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 starting Jan. 1...
Kate Brown signs bill making it easier for parents to opt students out of state tests -- but says they shouldn't Oregon Live ...Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that on Monday she signed a bill making it easier for parents to opt their children out of taking state standardized tests. But she said educators and state officials should convince parents not to do so. House Bill 2655, which was strongly backed by the Oregon Education Association, prioritizes the rights of parents to exempt their children from that one aspect of public schooling...
Ikea Will Raise U.S. Minimum Wage to $11.87 to Retain Workforce Bloomberg ...Ikea Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, will raise the hourly minimum wage it pays workers in the U.S. by 10 percent to $11.87, seeking to keep employees from moving to other merchants that have boosted pay recently. The increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, follows a 17 percent boost to $10.76 an hour this year...
Montgomery Co. Council approves paid sick leave WUSA ...Tuesday, Montgomery County council members voted unanimously (9-0) in favor of a bill that requires employers to give full-time employees seven paid sick days. The Earned Sick and Safe Leave Bill requires employers to provide a minimum of one-hour paid time off for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than five workers would have to offer seven sick days. Of those, four days would be paid and three days would be unpaid...
U.S. Labor
Marathon Galveston Bay workers OK contract, end five-month strike Business Insider ...Striking workers from Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay Refinery ratified a new contract on Tuesday, ending a five-month strike, said local union officials. About 90 percent of the more than 1,000 workers cast secret ballots at their local union hall in Texas City, Texas, within sight of the 451,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery on Monday and Tuesday to end the work stoppage that began on Feb. 1...
‘Marriage Boot Camp’ Strike Over; IATSE And Producers Reach Deal Deadline ...Members of the postproduction crew on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp went on strike today to win an IATSE contract. After less than 12 hours, they have a deal, and everyone’s going back to work. IATSE reps and Marriage Boot Camp producers at Thinkfactory have agreed that their postproduction and production staff now will be unionized...
UAW, GM to open bargaining July 13, FCA the next day Detroit Free Press ...Negotiations between the UAW and the Detroit 3 automakers open July 13 amid the industry's most financially healthy period in more than a decade, especially in North America. The talks begin with ceremonial handshakes July 13 for General Motors; July 14, Fiat Chrysler; and July 23, Ford...
Boeing sued over 'toxic' plane cabin air The Hill ...A group of flight attendants are suing airplane manufacturer Boeing for allegedly exposing them to "toxic" air inside its planes, the Chicago Tribune reports. The flight attendants, who worked for Alaska Airlines, are alleging that Boeing knowingly exposed passengers and flight crews to toxic air that was sucked into its planes through the engine by the system that is used to maintain cabin pressure during flights, according to the report...
GE, unions reach labor agreement Louisville Business First ...Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co., has reached tentative agreements on new labor contracts with national leaders of its two largest unions: the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Workers at the company's GE Appliances division, which is based in Louisville, are represented by the IEU-CWA. The company has about 6,230 workers in Louisville...
Workers at Berkshires mental health, addiction center vote for strike Mass Live ...Workers at the Brien Center, a Berkshires-based mental health and addiction treatment agency, are set to strike unless a contract agreement is reached in the next two weeks. Clinicians and care staff represented by SEIU Local 509 voted to authorize the strike to protest what they describe as near-poverty wages and unproductive negotiations with the center, according to a union press release...
Miscellaneous
National Movement to Lower Flag of Racial Hatred, 150 Years Overdue Common Dreams ...One hundred and fifteen years after the end of the American Civil War and despite decades of calls for its retirement, the Confederate Flag—the emblem of the Old South and its racist legacy—may finally be coming down. In South Carolina on Tuesday, lawmakers voted to take up legislation to remove the flag from statehouse grounds, one day after Republican Governor Nikki Haley made similar remarks...
Public Spending on Infrastructure Construction Sinking to Great Recession Levels We Party Patriots ...New numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show the extent to which government has failed to adequately fund infrastructure construction and the effect this has had on the overall economy. The new statistics show that total public construction spending is nearing Great Recession lows at a time when the American Society of Civil Engineers grades America’s infrastructure as a D+...
"Perpetrator Has Been Arrested, But Killer is Still at Large": Calls Rise to Remove Confederate Flag Democracy Now ...Calls are growing in South Carolina to remove the Confederate battle flag at the state Capitol after last week’s mass shooting of nine African-American worshipers at the historic Emanuel AME Church. The flag has been the source of controversy for decades in South Carolina, but a growing number of politicians, including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, are calling for its removal...
After 13 Years of Hell, Human Held Without Charges Has One Question for US Common Dreams ...Moath al-Alwi, who has been a prisoner of the U.S. government and detained at the offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002 without ever being charged with a crime or afforded a trial, has a simple yet urgent question for the American people and the U.S. government: Why am I still here?...
Norway Oil-Rig Unions in Last-Chance Talks to Avoid Strike Bloomberg ...Norwegian oil-rig unions and employers started government-backed mediation on Wednesday in a final bid to avoid a strike that could shut down two North Sea oil fields. Talks started at 10 a.m. Oslo time, said Benedikte Naess, spokeswoman for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, which is representing employers. If the parties fail to reach a deal by midnight, 189 workers will go on strike...
Cabin crew give Lufthansa deadline to avoid strike Reuters ...German airline Lufthansa faces a June 30 deadline to make concessions to cabin crew over pay and pensions or suffer further strikes that would compound the effects of a costly dispute with its pilots. The UFO flight attendants' union said on Monday its members would strike on July 1 if an agreement was not reached with Lufthansa by then...
Embattled Alexis Tsipras faces domestic revolt over plans to implement 'harsh' austerity blitz The Telegraph ...Embattled Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a revolt within his radical Left party over austerity measures the country must approve to secure its future in the euro. Following a late-night emergency summit in Brussels on Monday, Athens laid out plans to carry out a series of economic reforms worth €8bn over the next two years...
The U.N. Investigated An Airline Accused Of Banning Employees From Getting Married. Here’s What They Found. Think Progress ...Qatar Airways has denied widespread accusations that it bans employees from getting married and that it doesn’t always summarily fire pregnant workers. But the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says otherwise. After a yearlong investigation into complaints made by the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, it decided that parts of the airlines’ policies do in fact require workers to notify the company when they become pregnant and that doing so often ends up in those workers getting terminated...
State & Living Wage Battles
Congressional Democrats to Introduce Ambitious New Bill to Restore the Voting Rights Act The Nation ...Two years ago, on June 25, 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated the centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act. Tomorrow, congressional Democrats will introduce an ambitious new bill that would restore the important voting-rights protections. The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 would compel states with a well-documented history of recent voting discrimination to clear future voting changes with the federal government, require federal approval for voter ID laws...
Chicago Activists Say City's $10 Minimum Wage Is Not Enough, Decry Rauner Cuts Progress Illinois ...While Chicago's minimum wage is set to increase to $10 per hour in two weeks, a group of community activists gathered Tuesday morning in the Loop to say the raise is not enough. Highlighting the plight of "chronically underpaid and undervalued" home and child care workers, Kelly-Rushton was one of roughly two-dozen people to call for a statewide $15 minimum wage--a yearly salary of about $31,000--during the demonstration at Daley Plaza downtown...
Bobby Jindal Is Running For President. Here Is How He Ran Louisiana. Think Progress ...Since Gov. Jindal took office in 2008, Louisiana has earned some dubious honors. The state has the largest gender pay gap in the country, with women making 66 cents for every dollar a man earns. A study by the Violence Policy Center published in late January found the state also has the second-highest rate of gun deaths in the nation, and the state’s rate of incarceration currently leads the U.S. — and thus, the world...
Governor marks Rhode Island's minimum wage increase ABC ...Gov. Gina Raimondo has marked the passage of legislation to raise Rhode Island's minimum wage with a ceremonial bill signing. The governor was joined by state lawmakers Monday to mark the occasion. Raimondo says she's proud to raise the state's hourly rate from $9 to $9.60 starting Jan. 1...
Kate Brown signs bill making it easier for parents to opt students out of state tests -- but says they shouldn't Oregon Live ...Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that on Monday she signed a bill making it easier for parents to opt their children out of taking state standardized tests. But she said educators and state officials should convince parents not to do so. House Bill 2655, which was strongly backed by the Oregon Education Association, prioritizes the rights of parents to exempt their children from that one aspect of public schooling...
Ikea Will Raise U.S. Minimum Wage to $11.87 to Retain Workforce Bloomberg ...Ikea Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, will raise the hourly minimum wage it pays workers in the U.S. by 10 percent to $11.87, seeking to keep employees from moving to other merchants that have boosted pay recently. The increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, follows a 17 percent boost to $10.76 an hour this year...
Montgomery Co. Council approves paid sick leave WUSA ...Tuesday, Montgomery County council members voted unanimously (9-0) in favor of a bill that requires employers to give full-time employees seven paid sick days. The Earned Sick and Safe Leave Bill requires employers to provide a minimum of one-hour paid time off for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than five workers would have to offer seven sick days. Of those, four days would be paid and three days would be unpaid...
U.S. Labor
Marathon Galveston Bay workers OK contract, end five-month strike Business Insider ...Striking workers from Marathon Petroleum Corp's Galveston Bay Refinery ratified a new contract on Tuesday, ending a five-month strike, said local union officials. About 90 percent of the more than 1,000 workers cast secret ballots at their local union hall in Texas City, Texas, within sight of the 451,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery on Monday and Tuesday to end the work stoppage that began on Feb. 1...
‘Marriage Boot Camp’ Strike Over; IATSE And Producers Reach Deal Deadline ...Members of the postproduction crew on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp went on strike today to win an IATSE contract. After less than 12 hours, they have a deal, and everyone’s going back to work. IATSE reps and Marriage Boot Camp producers at Thinkfactory have agreed that their postproduction and production staff now will be unionized...
UAW, GM to open bargaining July 13, FCA the next day Detroit Free Press ...Negotiations between the UAW and the Detroit 3 automakers open July 13 amid the industry's most financially healthy period in more than a decade, especially in North America. The talks begin with ceremonial handshakes July 13 for General Motors; July 14, Fiat Chrysler; and July 23, Ford...
Boeing sued over 'toxic' plane cabin air The Hill ...A group of flight attendants are suing airplane manufacturer Boeing for allegedly exposing them to "toxic" air inside its planes, the Chicago Tribune reports. The flight attendants, who worked for Alaska Airlines, are alleging that Boeing knowingly exposed passengers and flight crews to toxic air that was sucked into its planes through the engine by the system that is used to maintain cabin pressure during flights, according to the report...
GE, unions reach labor agreement Louisville Business First ...Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co., has reached tentative agreements on new labor contracts with national leaders of its two largest unions: the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Workers at the company's GE Appliances division, which is based in Louisville, are represented by the IEU-CWA. The company has about 6,230 workers in Louisville...
Workers at Berkshires mental health, addiction center vote for strike Mass Live ...Workers at the Brien Center, a Berkshires-based mental health and addiction treatment agency, are set to strike unless a contract agreement is reached in the next two weeks. Clinicians and care staff represented by SEIU Local 509 voted to authorize the strike to protest what they describe as near-poverty wages and unproductive negotiations with the center, according to a union press release...
Miscellaneous
National Movement to Lower Flag of Racial Hatred, 150 Years Overdue Common Dreams ...One hundred and fifteen years after the end of the American Civil War and despite decades of calls for its retirement, the Confederate Flag—the emblem of the Old South and its racist legacy—may finally be coming down. In South Carolina on Tuesday, lawmakers voted to take up legislation to remove the flag from statehouse grounds, one day after Republican Governor Nikki Haley made similar remarks...
Public Spending on Infrastructure Construction Sinking to Great Recession Levels We Party Patriots ...New numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show the extent to which government has failed to adequately fund infrastructure construction and the effect this has had on the overall economy. The new statistics show that total public construction spending is nearing Great Recession lows at a time when the American Society of Civil Engineers grades America’s infrastructure as a D+...
"Perpetrator Has Been Arrested, But Killer is Still at Large": Calls Rise to Remove Confederate Flag Democracy Now ...Calls are growing in South Carolina to remove the Confederate battle flag at the state Capitol after last week’s mass shooting of nine African-American worshipers at the historic Emanuel AME Church. The flag has been the source of controversy for decades in South Carolina, but a growing number of politicians, including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, are calling for its removal...
After 13 Years of Hell, Human Held Without Charges Has One Question for US Common Dreams ...Moath al-Alwi, who has been a prisoner of the U.S. government and detained at the offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002 without ever being charged with a crime or afforded a trial, has a simple yet urgent question for the American people and the U.S. government: Why am I still here?...
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.29.14
Teamster News
Truckers at Pratt Logistics in Lower Macungie Unioninze The Morning Call ...Truck drivers at a Lower Macungie cardboard box-maker now are represented by the Teamsters after a union vote taken nearly two years ago was unsealed and certified earlier this month...
CCTA: Contract Proposal from Drivers is Next Step Toward Compromise Burlington Free Press ...A contract proposal was offered Wednesday evening by Teamster bus drivers to the Chittenden County Transportation Authority management as the next installment in the contract negotiation saga...
20 Teamsters jobs in the balance with possible new sanitation contract Cumberland Times-News ...Bids for a new three-year garbage collection contract with the city of Cumberland are under review with the future of 20 city sanitation workers with Teamsters Local 453 hanging in the balance...
NetJets Unions Form Coalition, Start Picketing Campaign AIN Online ...The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots and International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 284 executive boards launched the NetJets Union Coalition last week...
Trade
Hundreds protest against trade deal msn.nz ...Hundreds attended protest rallies across the country in opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. About 15 rallies were held from 1pm on Saturday in cities and towns from Invercargill to Hokianga...
NZNO Joining Rally Against TPP Voxy ...The New Zealand Nurses Organization is joining the international rally against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement...
U.S. Trade Deficits Have Grown More Than 440% with FTA Countries, but Declined 16% with Non-FTA Countries Public Citizen ...The aggregate U.S. goods trade deficit with Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners is more than five times as high as before the deals went into effect...
Labor Crisis Begets Violence on Colombia’s Pacific Coast In These Times ...The Pacific port city of Buenaventura handles around two-thirds of the country’s maritime foreign trade and connects Colombia to 300 ports around the world. But Buenaventura is better known as an epicenter of narco-paramilitary activity, making it one of Colombia’s many sites of rampant poverty and violence, death and hopelessness...
State Battles
St. Louis Religious Leaders Declare Opposition To 'Right-To-Work' Law St. Louis Public Radio ...Top religious leaders in St. Louis — led by Catholic Archbishop Robert J. Carlson — announced Friday that they oppose legislative efforts to pass “right-to-work’’ measures that would restrict labor rights...
Missouri Senate endorses unemployment change Associated Press ...The amount of time Missourians can receive unemployment benefits would be tied to the state's jobless rate under legislation endorsed by the state Senate on Wednesday...
Leah Vukmir agrees to turn over ALEC documents to settle open records lawsuit Wisconsin State Journal ...The agreement comes as part of a lawsuit settlement between Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal advocacy group, over documents it sought related to the American Legislative Exchange Council. It includes $15,000 in payments from the state on behalf of Vukmir...
Good news for Connecticut’s governor: He got the highest state minimum wage Washington Post ...Connecticut’s Gov. Dan Malloy can breathe a little easier: he just landed the minimum wage hike he’s been pushing so hard for. The new bill will raise the minimum wage by 2017 to $10.10, the highest among any state...
Illinois House gets millionaire tax plan moving Daily Herald ...Illinois lawmakers chose to advance an additional income tax on millionaires over a broader shift of taxes toward the wealthy Thursday, setting the tone for months of debate over how much people should pay to help the state stabilize its finances...
NY AG Settles Labor Violations with 6 Domino's Franchisees Blue MauMau ...New York's Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced settlements with six Domino’s franchisees over labor violations, requiring them to pay $448,000 in restitution to 750 employees...
FedEx loses another driver misclassification case, in Maine People's World ...FedEx, notorious for misclassifying its drivers as "independent contractors" - barring them from labor law protection and avoiding paying Social Security, Medicare and workers' comp taxes, lost another misclassification case, in Maine...
War on Workers
U.S. Government Charges Kellogg With Serious Violations of Federal Law bctgm.org ...The U.S. government charged the Kellogg Company with multiple and serious violations of federal law stemming from its October 22, 2013 lockout of more than 220 workers at the company's Memphis cereal production facility...
Class-action lawsuit seeks back pay for cabdrivers Chicago Sun-Times ...Chicago taxicab companies are “misclassifying” their drivers as independent contractors and should consider them employees eligible for overtime and the state’s $8.25-an-hour minimum wage, a federal class-action lawsuit claimed Wednesday...
Walmart Gets More Heat for Low Pay AOL Jobs ...The pressure on Walmart is growing from within, as workers tell behind-the-scenes tales of overwork and underpayment at America's largest employer. But there's another, potentially more damaging source of growing criticism: the media, including the financial media that covers events from the investor's perspective...
SEPTA union boss Willie Brown: We're not afraid to strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...The chances of a transit strike against SEPTA are "very good," union president Willie Brown said Wednesday...
The troubling reason Americans are so depressed AlterNet ...Our unhappiness can be traced to feelings of "learned helplessness" -- and corporations, in part, may be to blame...
Michigan State Univ. should end union organizing seminars, say anti-union lawmakers and builders Michigan Live ...The Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan is demanding that Michigan State University cancel its Building Trades Academy program on the grounds that it encourages "organizing in non-union construction companies"...
Greek unions to hold general strike on April 9 to protest latest austerity measures Associated Press ...Greece's largest public sector union says it will join a nationwide general strike April 9 to protest austerity measures. The move means that the walkout will affect all private and public sector services...
Miscellaneous
Social Security launches expedited process for Veterans’ disability claims Belvoir Eagle
Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent permanent and total have a new process that will treat their applications as high priority and issue expedited decisions...
Truckers at Pratt Logistics in Lower Macungie Unioninze The Morning Call ...Truck drivers at a Lower Macungie cardboard box-maker now are represented by the Teamsters after a union vote taken nearly two years ago was unsealed and certified earlier this month...
CCTA: Contract Proposal from Drivers is Next Step Toward Compromise Burlington Free Press ...A contract proposal was offered Wednesday evening by Teamster bus drivers to the Chittenden County Transportation Authority management as the next installment in the contract negotiation saga...
20 Teamsters jobs in the balance with possible new sanitation contract Cumberland Times-News ...Bids for a new three-year garbage collection contract with the city of Cumberland are under review with the future of 20 city sanitation workers with Teamsters Local 453 hanging in the balance...
NetJets Unions Form Coalition, Start Picketing Campaign AIN Online ...The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots and International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 284 executive boards launched the NetJets Union Coalition last week...
Trade
Hundreds protest against trade deal msn.nz ...Hundreds attended protest rallies across the country in opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. About 15 rallies were held from 1pm on Saturday in cities and towns from Invercargill to Hokianga...
NZNO Joining Rally Against TPP Voxy ...The New Zealand Nurses Organization is joining the international rally against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement...
U.S. Trade Deficits Have Grown More Than 440% with FTA Countries, but Declined 16% with Non-FTA Countries Public Citizen ...The aggregate U.S. goods trade deficit with Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners is more than five times as high as before the deals went into effect...
Labor Crisis Begets Violence on Colombia’s Pacific Coast In These Times ...The Pacific port city of Buenaventura handles around two-thirds of the country’s maritime foreign trade and connects Colombia to 300 ports around the world. But Buenaventura is better known as an epicenter of narco-paramilitary activity, making it one of Colombia’s many sites of rampant poverty and violence, death and hopelessness...
State Battles
St. Louis Religious Leaders Declare Opposition To 'Right-To-Work' Law St. Louis Public Radio ...Top religious leaders in St. Louis — led by Catholic Archbishop Robert J. Carlson — announced Friday that they oppose legislative efforts to pass “right-to-work’’ measures that would restrict labor rights...
Missouri Senate endorses unemployment change Associated Press ...The amount of time Missourians can receive unemployment benefits would be tied to the state's jobless rate under legislation endorsed by the state Senate on Wednesday...
Leah Vukmir agrees to turn over ALEC documents to settle open records lawsuit Wisconsin State Journal ...The agreement comes as part of a lawsuit settlement between Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal advocacy group, over documents it sought related to the American Legislative Exchange Council. It includes $15,000 in payments from the state on behalf of Vukmir...
Good news for Connecticut’s governor: He got the highest state minimum wage Washington Post ...Connecticut’s Gov. Dan Malloy can breathe a little easier: he just landed the minimum wage hike he’s been pushing so hard for. The new bill will raise the minimum wage by 2017 to $10.10, the highest among any state...
Illinois House gets millionaire tax plan moving Daily Herald ...Illinois lawmakers chose to advance an additional income tax on millionaires over a broader shift of taxes toward the wealthy Thursday, setting the tone for months of debate over how much people should pay to help the state stabilize its finances...
NY AG Settles Labor Violations with 6 Domino's Franchisees Blue MauMau ...New York's Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced settlements with six Domino’s franchisees over labor violations, requiring them to pay $448,000 in restitution to 750 employees...
FedEx loses another driver misclassification case, in Maine People's World ...FedEx, notorious for misclassifying its drivers as "independent contractors" - barring them from labor law protection and avoiding paying Social Security, Medicare and workers' comp taxes, lost another misclassification case, in Maine...
War on Workers
U.S. Government Charges Kellogg With Serious Violations of Federal Law bctgm.org ...The U.S. government charged the Kellogg Company with multiple and serious violations of federal law stemming from its October 22, 2013 lockout of more than 220 workers at the company's Memphis cereal production facility...
Class-action lawsuit seeks back pay for cabdrivers Chicago Sun-Times ...Chicago taxicab companies are “misclassifying” their drivers as independent contractors and should consider them employees eligible for overtime and the state’s $8.25-an-hour minimum wage, a federal class-action lawsuit claimed Wednesday...
Walmart Gets More Heat for Low Pay AOL Jobs ...The pressure on Walmart is growing from within, as workers tell behind-the-scenes tales of overwork and underpayment at America's largest employer. But there's another, potentially more damaging source of growing criticism: the media, including the financial media that covers events from the investor's perspective...
SEPTA union boss Willie Brown: We're not afraid to strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...The chances of a transit strike against SEPTA are "very good," union president Willie Brown said Wednesday...
The troubling reason Americans are so depressed AlterNet ...Our unhappiness can be traced to feelings of "learned helplessness" -- and corporations, in part, may be to blame...
Michigan State Univ. should end union organizing seminars, say anti-union lawmakers and builders Michigan Live ...The Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan is demanding that Michigan State University cancel its Building Trades Academy program on the grounds that it encourages "organizing in non-union construction companies"...
Greek unions to hold general strike on April 9 to protest latest austerity measures Associated Press ...Greece's largest public sector union says it will join a nationwide general strike April 9 to protest austerity measures. The move means that the walkout will affect all private and public sector services...
Miscellaneous
Social Security launches expedited process for Veterans’ disability claims Belvoir Eagle
Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent permanent and total have a new process that will treat their applications as high priority and issue expedited decisions...
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.10.13
Teamsters Call On Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan To Stop Worker Abuse Teamsters Canada ...The demonstrators will publicly call on Teachers' to stop worker and human rights abuses at EXAL Corp., an aluminum bottle manufacturer in Youngstown, Ohio. EXAL is owned and actively managed by the Canadian pension plan...
Use of Phones on Planes Would Be More Than Just Annoying teamster.org ...President James P. Hoffa wrote to the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week asking the agency not to move forward with proposed changes that would allow passengers to speak on cell phones while in flight...
Sysco to buy rival US Foods Inc and become largest American distributor The Guardian ...Shareholders of US Foods, owned by affiliates of private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR & Co, will own about 13% of Sysco after the closing of the deal, which will create a company with revenue of $65bn...
Get a clue, McDonald’s: Chain tells workers how much to tip their pool cleaners, dog walkers, and masseuses Salon ...“In total, the tips add up to hundreds, if not more than a thousand dollars of gift suggestions for McDonald’s workers, many of whom earn just above minimum wage...”
A Record Number of Americans Can’t Afford Their Rent ThinkProgress ... low-income renters who make $15,000 or less would have to find housing that costs less than $375 a month, yet the median monthly cost for housing that was built in the last four years is more than $1,000...
More Than Three-Quarters of Workers Missing from the Labor Force Are Under Age 55 Economic Policy Institute ...even if all of the missing workers age 55 and over are early retirees who will never reenter the labor force no matter how strong job opportunities are (a very strong assumption), that still leaves 4.3 million missing workers under the age of 55 who are likely to re-enter the labor force when job opportunities strengthen...
TPP Trade Pact Misses Deadline as More Talks Planned for January Bloomberg ...The TPP, which would link an area with about $28 trillion in annual economic output, has been bogged down by differences over issues from agricultural tariffs to intellectual property. Leaders from the U.S. to Malaysia and Japan face opposition to the deal from lawmakers at home, an obstacle that will have to be overcome once the agreement itself is finalized...
NAFTA’s Impact on U.S. Workers Economic Policy Institute ...NAFTA was the template for rules of the emerging global economy, in which the benefits would flow to capital and the costs to labor...
Eight bodies, some dismembered, found on Mexican highway Reuters ...Mexican authorities found the bodies of eight kidnap victims, some dismembered, on a highway in the troubled southern state of Guerrero where government troops have been deployed to stem violence, officials said on Monday...
Meet the 20 Percent: Wealthy Social Liberals Standing Against Efforts to Fight Income Inequality Alternet ...The "20 percent" don’t want their taxes raised in an effort to reduce inequality...
Let's get this straight: AIG execs got bailout bonuses, but pensioners get cuts (opinion) The Guardian ...No one has accused city workers in Chicago or Detroit of bringing down the economy, but they could face pension cuts...
Unionization Yields Significant Gains in Pay and Benefits for Women Workers Center for Economic Policy Research ...Unionized women workers on average make 12.9 percent more than their non-union counterparts, are 36.8 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.4 percent more likely to have participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan...
“They’re getting away with murder”: East Coast takes Midwest to task over air pollution Salon ...The governors of eight Northeastern states petitioned the EPA to crack down on coal burning in the Midwest...
Detroit Bankruptcy Bankrupts Democracy The Nation ...The voters of Michigan sent a clear signal last fall. They rejected emergency-manager authoritarianism. Unfortunately, a federal bankruptcy judge has sided with a governor who could not win an election in Detroit and an approach that Detroit voters rejected...
Bad deals with Wall Street are costing the city as much as $1 billion a year: report New York Daily News ..."New York City could be saving $1 billion annually just by changing the way it does business with Wall Street," one of the report's authors, Connie Razza, director of strategic research initiatives at the Center for Popular Democracy, told the Daily News...
Use of Phones on Planes Would Be More Than Just Annoying teamster.org ...President James P. Hoffa wrote to the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week asking the agency not to move forward with proposed changes that would allow passengers to speak on cell phones while in flight...
Sysco to buy rival US Foods Inc and become largest American distributor The Guardian ...Shareholders of US Foods, owned by affiliates of private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR & Co, will own about 13% of Sysco after the closing of the deal, which will create a company with revenue of $65bn...
Get a clue, McDonald’s: Chain tells workers how much to tip their pool cleaners, dog walkers, and masseuses Salon ...“In total, the tips add up to hundreds, if not more than a thousand dollars of gift suggestions for McDonald’s workers, many of whom earn just above minimum wage...”
A Record Number of Americans Can’t Afford Their Rent ThinkProgress ... low-income renters who make $15,000 or less would have to find housing that costs less than $375 a month, yet the median monthly cost for housing that was built in the last four years is more than $1,000...
More Than Three-Quarters of Workers Missing from the Labor Force Are Under Age 55 Economic Policy Institute ...even if all of the missing workers age 55 and over are early retirees who will never reenter the labor force no matter how strong job opportunities are (a very strong assumption), that still leaves 4.3 million missing workers under the age of 55 who are likely to re-enter the labor force when job opportunities strengthen...
TPP Trade Pact Misses Deadline as More Talks Planned for January Bloomberg ...The TPP, which would link an area with about $28 trillion in annual economic output, has been bogged down by differences over issues from agricultural tariffs to intellectual property. Leaders from the U.S. to Malaysia and Japan face opposition to the deal from lawmakers at home, an obstacle that will have to be overcome once the agreement itself is finalized...
NAFTA’s Impact on U.S. Workers Economic Policy Institute ...NAFTA was the template for rules of the emerging global economy, in which the benefits would flow to capital and the costs to labor...
Eight bodies, some dismembered, found on Mexican highway Reuters ...Mexican authorities found the bodies of eight kidnap victims, some dismembered, on a highway in the troubled southern state of Guerrero where government troops have been deployed to stem violence, officials said on Monday...
Meet the 20 Percent: Wealthy Social Liberals Standing Against Efforts to Fight Income Inequality Alternet ...The "20 percent" don’t want their taxes raised in an effort to reduce inequality...
Let's get this straight: AIG execs got bailout bonuses, but pensioners get cuts (opinion) The Guardian ...No one has accused city workers in Chicago or Detroit of bringing down the economy, but they could face pension cuts...
Unionization Yields Significant Gains in Pay and Benefits for Women Workers Center for Economic Policy Research ...Unionized women workers on average make 12.9 percent more than their non-union counterparts, are 36.8 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.4 percent more likely to have participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan...
“They’re getting away with murder”: East Coast takes Midwest to task over air pollution Salon ...The governors of eight Northeastern states petitioned the EPA to crack down on coal burning in the Midwest...
Detroit Bankruptcy Bankrupts Democracy The Nation ...The voters of Michigan sent a clear signal last fall. They rejected emergency-manager authoritarianism. Unfortunately, a federal bankruptcy judge has sided with a governor who could not win an election in Detroit and an approach that Detroit voters rejected...
Bad deals with Wall Street are costing the city as much as $1 billion a year: report New York Daily News ..."New York City could be saving $1 billion annually just by changing the way it does business with Wall Street," one of the report's authors, Connie Razza, director of strategic research initiatives at the Center for Popular Democracy, told the Daily News...
Monday, December 9, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.09.13
Hampton O'Hare Housekeepers Ratify Contract with Annual Raises Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 representatives secured significant annual wage increases for the 18-member bargaining unit...
Teansters at Darigold Overwhelmingly Approve New Contract Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, have overwhelmingly ratified a new labor agreement that provides wage increases, health care protections, and retirement security for 220 workers and their families...
My week as one of Amazon's HUMAN drones: Revealed, what it's REALLY like to work in online warehouse and Santa's grotto it ain't Daily Mail ...Shops employ 47 people for every $10 million (£6 million) in sales, according to research done by a company called ILSR. Amazon employs only 14 people per $10 million of revenue.
Listen Up, Budget Cutters. Austerity Can Lead to Blood on the Streets, Even in America Alternet ... economic shocks alone are not enough to cause people to flip out. It’s the way governments respond to them that sets the stage for blood in the streets...
Report: Most people in poverty have jobs Salon ...A new report in the U.K. decimates the tired right-wing myth that poor people are in poverty because they don’t work...
California business group uses “job killer” list to help Wal-Mart Salon ...Bills deemed hurtful to businesses have a tendency to go nowhere in the state Legislature...
Unemployment IS Down: When Good News Really Isn’t truthdig ...for every person who found a job between September and November, three other people stopped looking...
Obama Trade Deal Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Political Powers Huffington Post ...The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post...
Don’t Believe the Spin from ALEC Center for Media and Democracy ...This year, ALEC began stamping the materials it gives to legislators with a “disclaimer” asserting that the documents are not subject to any state’s open records/freedom of information laws, despite the laws in many states that have long required lawmakers to disclose communications from outside groups and constituents...
Don’t Be Evil? Google Funding a Slew of Right-Wing Groups Bill Moyers ...Google, the tech giant supposedly guided by its “don’t be evil” motto, has been funding a growing list of groups advancing the agenda of the Koch brothers...
NSA spying hurts business of large U.S. hardware makers USA Today ...in China … IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and, most notably, Cisco Systems have reported substantial drops in sales since the NSA surveillance program came to light...
Hell on Wings - Cellphones Don't Belong on Planes (opinion) truthout ...Cardiologist Sarah Speck, who runs the heart program at Seattle's Swedish Hospital, tells me that "we need our downtime." She says the stress of workplace demands, exacerbated by constant connectivity, is "the new tobacco" in American society, leading to earlier onset of heart disease, which she is now seeing in patients in their 40s...
Busted and Bankrupt Detroit Can Now Wipe Out Worker Pensions Economic Populist ...While the damage has been building by ineffective, hoodwinked and even obviously corrupt city officials, the deal which broke Detroit's financial back was with, you guessed it, the banks. Specifically interest rate swaps along with derivative based loans is what did the city in and guess who originated these loans? Bank of America, UBS and Merrill Lynch...
Teansters at Darigold Overwhelmingly Approve New Contract Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, have overwhelmingly ratified a new labor agreement that provides wage increases, health care protections, and retirement security for 220 workers and their families...
My week as one of Amazon's HUMAN drones: Revealed, what it's REALLY like to work in online warehouse and Santa's grotto it ain't Daily Mail ...Shops employ 47 people for every $10 million (£6 million) in sales, according to research done by a company called ILSR. Amazon employs only 14 people per $10 million of revenue.
Listen Up, Budget Cutters. Austerity Can Lead to Blood on the Streets, Even in America Alternet ... economic shocks alone are not enough to cause people to flip out. It’s the way governments respond to them that sets the stage for blood in the streets...
Report: Most people in poverty have jobs Salon ...A new report in the U.K. decimates the tired right-wing myth that poor people are in poverty because they don’t work...
California business group uses “job killer” list to help Wal-Mart Salon ...Bills deemed hurtful to businesses have a tendency to go nowhere in the state Legislature...
Unemployment IS Down: When Good News Really Isn’t truthdig ...for every person who found a job between September and November, three other people stopped looking...
Obama Trade Deal Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Political Powers Huffington Post ...The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post...
Don’t Believe the Spin from ALEC Center for Media and Democracy ...This year, ALEC began stamping the materials it gives to legislators with a “disclaimer” asserting that the documents are not subject to any state’s open records/freedom of information laws, despite the laws in many states that have long required lawmakers to disclose communications from outside groups and constituents...
Don’t Be Evil? Google Funding a Slew of Right-Wing Groups Bill Moyers ...Google, the tech giant supposedly guided by its “don’t be evil” motto, has been funding a growing list of groups advancing the agenda of the Koch brothers...
NSA spying hurts business of large U.S. hardware makers USA Today ...in China … IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and, most notably, Cisco Systems have reported substantial drops in sales since the NSA surveillance program came to light...
Hell on Wings - Cellphones Don't Belong on Planes (opinion) truthout ...Cardiologist Sarah Speck, who runs the heart program at Seattle's Swedish Hospital, tells me that "we need our downtime." She says the stress of workplace demands, exacerbated by constant connectivity, is "the new tobacco" in American society, leading to earlier onset of heart disease, which she is now seeing in patients in their 40s...
Busted and Bankrupt Detroit Can Now Wipe Out Worker Pensions Economic Populist ...While the damage has been building by ineffective, hoodwinked and even obviously corrupt city officials, the deal which broke Detroit's financial back was with, you guessed it, the banks. Specifically interest rate swaps along with derivative based loans is what did the city in and guess who originated these loans? Bank of America, UBS and Merrill Lynch...
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.04.13
BLET, Tacoma Rail sign new 5-year agreement teamster.org ...This agreement covers about 20 locomotive engineers and contains a signing bonus and significant wage and paid time off improvements, as well as health and welfare benefits equal to other city workers in Tacoma, Wash...
Safety alert for rail workers teamster.org ...All distractions, electronic or otherwise, reduce your focus on safety and can be fatal. This is true whether you are on or near the track or highway...
Henry J. "Hank" Breen, Founder and First Director of Airline Division, Passes Away teamster.org ...he assumed the position of Airline Division Director in 1961 at a time when the air cargo industry was largely unrepresented within an industry represented by other unions in the passenger airline industry...
2013 Teamster Women's Conference Registration teamster.org ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...
Obama underscores need to finish Asia-Pacific trade deal this year The Hill ...the president once again underscored his stance that the 12 nations involved in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should conclude talks this fall, the White House said...
Don't Let Corporations Hijack Another Trade Deal AFL-CIO ...Corporations are trying to manipulate the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement being negotiated right now that would be bigger than NAFTA—to increase their power over the global economy, so they have a say in everything from your rights at work to the prices of your prescriptions and the safety of your child’s toys...
Labor’s Thomas Perez: ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ Washington Post ...I’ve traveled the country in my short time here on the job, talking to CEOs...
Why This Particular Recovery Is So Bad at Creating New Jobs Pacific Standard ...Businesses are reluctant to invest their record profits in new workers, and instead, they’re hoarding cash—because they aren’t convinced people can afford to buy the goods and services they sell. Too many of them are unemployed!...
ECONOMISTS: Summers As Fed Chair Would Shave 0.5% Off GDP And Cost Us 350,000 Jobs Business Insider ...10-year Treasury rates have already risen because of the expectation that Summers will be nominated...
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed Mother Jones ...Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temp sector, federal data shows. But according to the American Staffing Association, the temp industry's trade group, the pool is even larger: Every year, a tenth of all US workers finds a job at a staffing agency...
What's Killing Poor White Women? The American Prospect ...For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why...
Across U.S., bridges crumble as repair funds fall short Los Angeles Times ...Engineers say thousands are close to collapse. And between the recession, sequestration and congressional gridlock, money to fix them is scarcer than ever...
Koch Family Sinks Big Money Into New Pro-Lhota PAC New York Observer ...David Koch and his wife, Julia, have each contributed $145,050 to “New Yorkers for Proven Leadership,” which will begin airing television ads tomorrow touting the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor, sources said...
Moral Monday Activists in North Carolina Demand Republicans Pay Attention to Their Constituents PolicyMic ...the protests were North Carolina’s new civil rights movement: especially as they resist the racially charged voter suppression legislation — described by some as the most restrictive in the country — that that impedes democracy for people of underprivileged racial and economic backgrounds...
Safety alert for rail workers teamster.org ...All distractions, electronic or otherwise, reduce your focus on safety and can be fatal. This is true whether you are on or near the track or highway...
Henry J. "Hank" Breen, Founder and First Director of Airline Division, Passes Away teamster.org ...he assumed the position of Airline Division Director in 1961 at a time when the air cargo industry was largely unrepresented within an industry represented by other unions in the passenger airline industry...
2013 Teamster Women's Conference Registration teamster.org ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...
Obama underscores need to finish Asia-Pacific trade deal this year The Hill ...the president once again underscored his stance that the 12 nations involved in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should conclude talks this fall, the White House said...
Don't Let Corporations Hijack Another Trade Deal AFL-CIO ...Corporations are trying to manipulate the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement being negotiated right now that would be bigger than NAFTA—to increase their power over the global economy, so they have a say in everything from your rights at work to the prices of your prescriptions and the safety of your child’s toys...
Labor’s Thomas Perez: ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ Washington Post ...I’ve traveled the country in my short time here on the job, talking to CEOs...
Why This Particular Recovery Is So Bad at Creating New Jobs Pacific Standard ...Businesses are reluctant to invest their record profits in new workers, and instead, they’re hoarding cash—because they aren’t convinced people can afford to buy the goods and services they sell. Too many of them are unemployed!...
ECONOMISTS: Summers As Fed Chair Would Shave 0.5% Off GDP And Cost Us 350,000 Jobs Business Insider ...10-year Treasury rates have already risen because of the expectation that Summers will be nominated...
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed Mother Jones ...Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temp sector, federal data shows. But according to the American Staffing Association, the temp industry's trade group, the pool is even larger: Every year, a tenth of all US workers finds a job at a staffing agency...
What's Killing Poor White Women? The American Prospect ...For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why...
Across U.S., bridges crumble as repair funds fall short Los Angeles Times ...Engineers say thousands are close to collapse. And between the recession, sequestration and congressional gridlock, money to fix them is scarcer than ever...
Koch Family Sinks Big Money Into New Pro-Lhota PAC New York Observer ...David Koch and his wife, Julia, have each contributed $145,050 to “New Yorkers for Proven Leadership,” which will begin airing television ads tomorrow touting the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor, sources said...
Moral Monday Activists in North Carolina Demand Republicans Pay Attention to Their Constituents PolicyMic ...the protests were North Carolina’s new civil rights movement: especially as they resist the racially charged voter suppression legislation — described by some as the most restrictive in the country — that that impedes democracy for people of underprivileged racial and economic backgrounds...
Friday, June 21, 2013
Please help these Teamster pilots get a contract
Our brothers and sisters at Local 357 asked us to post this. Please help them out.
IBT Local 357, representing over 2900 pilots at Republic Airways Holdings, has been in contract negotiations for years.
The pilots are covered by the Railway Labor Act, which means contracts do not expire and they cannot strike without government approval.
The local's leaders have been working countless hours on getting language inserted into a bill in Congress that funds the National Mediation Board (NMB). The NMB is the government agency that oversees mediation in the transportation industry when employers and unions are in contract negotiations. No regulation governs the timeliness of the outcome.
Local 357 needs union brothers and sisters, family and friends to contact federal lawmakers on committees that affect labor relations, transportation and funding, as well as their chiefs of staff.
Please visit http://bit.ly/146vBAj for a copy of the suggested letter and list of e-mail addresses. Local 357 leaders are set to meet with key members of Congress and their chiefs of staff next week. Having as many letters as possible sent prior to those meetings will strengthen Local 357’s position.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 04.20.13
Bombing Suspect in Custody Boston Globe ...After a two-hour standoff in Watertown, nineteen-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, the suspect in Monday’s fatal Marathon bombings, was taken into custody...
Chemical in Texas Blast Has a Well-Known Deadly Potential Los Angeles Times ...Massive explosion may have involved large amounts of ammonium nitrate stored at the site. It has caused some of the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history...
Republicans Accuse Labor Nominee Of Fighting For Civil Rights (opinion) Campaign for America’s Future ...Where does the Republican Party put its energy? On anything that furthers the interests of the wealthiest. Tax cuts and kicking government are right at the top of that list...
Anti-Sick Time Bill Has Little Public Support, But Lawmaker Says It’s ‘Right Thing’ To Do Florida Center for INvestigative Reporting ...HB 655 would prohibit local governments in the state from implementing laws that extend paid sick leave benefits to workers and would prevent local governments from requiring companies to pay workers a living wage. The bill is similar to others backed by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council...
Pension reforms moving through Florida Legislature HR.BLR.com ...The Florida House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would move new employees in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) from a defined benefit pension plan to a 401(k)-type defined contribution plan. The bill moves to the Senate for consideration...
Federal official confirms Maine Labor Department probe; state workers union seeks independent review of LePage Bangor Daily News ...Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Seth Harris told Gov. Paul LePage during a telephone call late Wednesday that an audit of the Maine Department of Labor’s handling of unemployment claims came in response to complaints of inconsistencies, not due to comments the governor allegedly made last month during a Blaine House lunch...
Protesters rip efforts touted by governor Livingston Daily ...About 70 people Thursday protested Michigan’s right-to-work laws, school funding cuts and business tax breaks— all of which Gov. Rick Snyder later touted as signs of progress nearby inside Crystal Gardens banquet center in Genoa Township...
Senate committee approves bill exempting some schools from paying prevailing wage MyNWMo.com ...Some school districts would no longer be required to pay the state prevailing wage on construction projects under a bill approved by the Senate Small Business Committee Wednesday...
CWA protests N.J. lottery privatization plan that could lead to dozens of job losses NJ.com ...The New Jersey Treasury Department said today that 63 of the state lottery's 136 public employees could lose their jobs if the Christie administration signs a contract with a private company to take over parts of the lottery, which it said last week it intends to do...
Campaign Pushing "Right to Work" Legislation for Pennsylvania Your Erie ...Pennsylvanians for a "right to work" state are launching an aggressive summer campaign...
Judge Rejects Stay in Wis. Police Union Lawsuit Associated Press ...A police union's lawsuit challenging Gov. Scott Walker's polarizing collective bargaining law will go forward, following a ruling Friday by a Madison judge who refused the state's request to delay proceedings until appeals in another case were settled…
East Chicago Mayor Cancels Furlough Days for Teamsters Local 142 Municipal Employees NWI Times ...City employees represented by Teamsters Local 142 will no longer have to take furlough days, Mayor Anthony Copeland announced Thursday. Employees not represented by a union are still required to take furloughs…
Drivers Express Bus Safety Concerns WEAR-TV ABC Pensacola ...School bus drivers say they've raised safety issues with the buses and their concerns have gone unheard at Durham School Services in Santa Rosa County, Florida...
BLET Urges Investment In Amtrak At Senate Hearing BLET ...At a Senate subcommittee hearing on April 17, John Tolman, Vice President and National Legislative Representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, made a strong case for the U.S. to make a major investment in Amtrak...
Bon Appetit To Recognize Request for Unionization The Daily Pennsylvania ...Workers at Penn Hillel’s Falk Dining Commons might obtain official union recognition with Teamsters Local 929 by the end of the semester...
Dedicated Port Orchard UPS Driver Delivers 30 Years of Safety on the Road Seattle Times ...Peggy Larson is too polite to tell us how to drive. But if more of us drove like she does, the roads would be a lot safer...
Teamsters Vow To Continue Fight Against Dangerous Mexican Trucks in Wake of Court Decision IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is disappointed in the court’s decision upholding the legality of the pilot program to open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks. The union is reviewing its options with our attorneys...
Teamsters Demand Global Aviation Board Stop Costly Executive Search, Appoint CEO IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents approximately 340 pilots and flight attendants for Global Aviation’s two airlines World Airways and North American Airlines, are calling on the company’s board of directors to take swift and decisive action in selecting a chief executive officer with a proven track record of turning an airline around...
Chemical in Texas Blast Has a Well-Known Deadly Potential Los Angeles Times ...Massive explosion may have involved large amounts of ammonium nitrate stored at the site. It has caused some of the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history...
Republicans Accuse Labor Nominee Of Fighting For Civil Rights (opinion) Campaign for America’s Future ...Where does the Republican Party put its energy? On anything that furthers the interests of the wealthiest. Tax cuts and kicking government are right at the top of that list...
Anti-Sick Time Bill Has Little Public Support, But Lawmaker Says It’s ‘Right Thing’ To Do Florida Center for INvestigative Reporting ...HB 655 would prohibit local governments in the state from implementing laws that extend paid sick leave benefits to workers and would prevent local governments from requiring companies to pay workers a living wage. The bill is similar to others backed by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council...
Pension reforms moving through Florida Legislature HR.BLR.com ...The Florida House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would move new employees in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) from a defined benefit pension plan to a 401(k)-type defined contribution plan. The bill moves to the Senate for consideration...
Federal official confirms Maine Labor Department probe; state workers union seeks independent review of LePage Bangor Daily News ...Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Seth Harris told Gov. Paul LePage during a telephone call late Wednesday that an audit of the Maine Department of Labor’s handling of unemployment claims came in response to complaints of inconsistencies, not due to comments the governor allegedly made last month during a Blaine House lunch...
Protesters rip efforts touted by governor Livingston Daily ...About 70 people Thursday protested Michigan’s right-to-work laws, school funding cuts and business tax breaks— all of which Gov. Rick Snyder later touted as signs of progress nearby inside Crystal Gardens banquet center in Genoa Township...
Senate committee approves bill exempting some schools from paying prevailing wage MyNWMo.com ...Some school districts would no longer be required to pay the state prevailing wage on construction projects under a bill approved by the Senate Small Business Committee Wednesday...
CWA protests N.J. lottery privatization plan that could lead to dozens of job losses NJ.com ...The New Jersey Treasury Department said today that 63 of the state lottery's 136 public employees could lose their jobs if the Christie administration signs a contract with a private company to take over parts of the lottery, which it said last week it intends to do...
Campaign Pushing "Right to Work" Legislation for Pennsylvania Your Erie ...Pennsylvanians for a "right to work" state are launching an aggressive summer campaign...
Judge Rejects Stay in Wis. Police Union Lawsuit Associated Press ...A police union's lawsuit challenging Gov. Scott Walker's polarizing collective bargaining law will go forward, following a ruling Friday by a Madison judge who refused the state's request to delay proceedings until appeals in another case were settled…
East Chicago Mayor Cancels Furlough Days for Teamsters Local 142 Municipal Employees NWI Times ...City employees represented by Teamsters Local 142 will no longer have to take furlough days, Mayor Anthony Copeland announced Thursday. Employees not represented by a union are still required to take furloughs…
Drivers Express Bus Safety Concerns WEAR-TV ABC Pensacola ...School bus drivers say they've raised safety issues with the buses and their concerns have gone unheard at Durham School Services in Santa Rosa County, Florida...
BLET Urges Investment In Amtrak At Senate Hearing BLET ...At a Senate subcommittee hearing on April 17, John Tolman, Vice President and National Legislative Representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, made a strong case for the U.S. to make a major investment in Amtrak...
Bon Appetit To Recognize Request for Unionization The Daily Pennsylvania ...Workers at Penn Hillel’s Falk Dining Commons might obtain official union recognition with Teamsters Local 929 by the end of the semester...
Dedicated Port Orchard UPS Driver Delivers 30 Years of Safety on the Road Seattle Times ...Peggy Larson is too polite to tell us how to drive. But if more of us drove like she does, the roads would be a lot safer...
Teamsters Vow To Continue Fight Against Dangerous Mexican Trucks in Wake of Court Decision IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is disappointed in the court’s decision upholding the legality of the pilot program to open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks. The union is reviewing its options with our attorneys...
Teamsters Demand Global Aviation Board Stop Costly Executive Search, Appoint CEO IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents approximately 340 pilots and flight attendants for Global Aviation’s two airlines World Airways and North American Airlines, are calling on the company’s board of directors to take swift and decisive action in selecting a chief executive officer with a proven track record of turning an airline around...
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 02.20.13
Speculators driving gas prices up, up, up McClatchy ...gasoline prices are soaring again and eating away at the purchasing power of ordinary Americans. And again, financial speculators appear to be a big part of the story. The national average pump price hit $3.74 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline Tuesday, up a sharp 44 cents per gallon from just a month ago...
It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk New York Times ...Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — are increasingly requiring one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000 online sources, including major job boards and small- to midsize-employer sites...
Greeks Hold First General Strike as Samaras Implements Austerity Bloomberg ...The strike is the latest challenge from unions to Samaras, who has used emergency decrees twice in the past month to end walkouts prompted by the spending cuts and tax increases required to keep funds flowing to the country...The new pension and wage cuts and tax hikes follow a wave of austerity measures that has led the country to a sixth year of recession and unemployment to a record 27 percent...
Iberia strikers clash with police Irish Times ...Striking union workers clashed with police at Madrid’s Barajas airport yesterday on the first day of a week-long strike over more than 3,800 pending job cuts at Spain’s flagship airline Iberia. More than 80 Iberia flights were cancelled as workers at the carrier began a series of five-day walkouts...
Republican Bill Targets Private Sector Unions The Wheeler Report ...A bill being rushed through the Republican-controlled State Legislature is an attack on private sector
union bargaining rights, three legislators charged today. The proposal, sponsored by State Senator Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) and Representative Ed Brooks (RReedsburg), would allow employers to reduce the hours of their union-represented employees without the union’s approval...
Liquor privatization bill to be introduced The Patriot-News ...(Pennsylvania) State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, a leading advocate for privatization, has begun circulating a memo asking lawmakers to sponsor a bill. The bill, House Bill 790, will be introduced March 4...Democrats have fought efforts to sell the state stores, siding with unions representing state store workers...
Florida House speaker's plan for pension reform hits a snag Bradenton Herald ...A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Instead, the report was deemed incomplete...
Controversy over teachers' union email continues in Lansing Livingston Daily Press & Argus ...State House Bill 4201, introduced this month, would prohibit a public employee from using public email for political campaigning, union activities, union recruitment, or fundraising...
Bills target public-sector unions Arizona Republic ...Republicans at the Arizona Legislature are continuing efforts to restrict public-employee unions. Three bills to restrict unions passed a Senate committee on Monday. Another is scheduled for a House committee vote today. Several other bills are at various stages in the legislative process...
New Boeing contract splits engineers, tech workers Associated Press ...Boeing Co.'s engineers have accepted a new four-year contract while technical workers rejected their offer and voted to authorize a future strike...
School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor New York Times ...The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections...
Costco Teamsters Ratify Three-year Contract IBT ...Teamster members at Costco have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new three-year contract that includes a 9 percent wage increase over the term of the agreement, stronger job protections and an improved grievance procedure for the 15,000 workers. Costco Teamsters, who are the highest-paid retail employees in the country with the best benefits, voted 77 percent in favor of the new contract...
It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk New York Times ...Across industries and geographic areas, many other jobs that didn’t used to require a diploma — positions like dental hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters — are increasingly requiring one, according to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000 online sources, including major job boards and small- to midsize-employer sites...
Greeks Hold First General Strike as Samaras Implements Austerity Bloomberg ...The strike is the latest challenge from unions to Samaras, who has used emergency decrees twice in the past month to end walkouts prompted by the spending cuts and tax increases required to keep funds flowing to the country...The new pension and wage cuts and tax hikes follow a wave of austerity measures that has led the country to a sixth year of recession and unemployment to a record 27 percent...
Iberia strikers clash with police Irish Times ...Striking union workers clashed with police at Madrid’s Barajas airport yesterday on the first day of a week-long strike over more than 3,800 pending job cuts at Spain’s flagship airline Iberia. More than 80 Iberia flights were cancelled as workers at the carrier began a series of five-day walkouts...
Republican Bill Targets Private Sector Unions The Wheeler Report ...A bill being rushed through the Republican-controlled State Legislature is an attack on private sector
union bargaining rights, three legislators charged today. The proposal, sponsored by State Senator Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) and Representative Ed Brooks (RReedsburg), would allow employers to reduce the hours of their union-represented employees without the union’s approval...
Liquor privatization bill to be introduced The Patriot-News ...(Pennsylvania) State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, a leading advocate for privatization, has begun circulating a memo asking lawmakers to sponsor a bill. The bill, House Bill 790, will be introduced March 4...Democrats have fought efforts to sell the state stores, siding with unions representing state store workers...
Florida House speaker's plan for pension reform hits a snag Bradenton Herald ...A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Instead, the report was deemed incomplete...
Controversy over teachers' union email continues in Lansing Livingston Daily Press & Argus ...State House Bill 4201, introduced this month, would prohibit a public employee from using public email for political campaigning, union activities, union recruitment, or fundraising...
Bills target public-sector unions Arizona Republic ...Republicans at the Arizona Legislature are continuing efforts to restrict public-employee unions. Three bills to restrict unions passed a Senate committee on Monday. Another is scheduled for a House committee vote today. Several other bills are at various stages in the legislative process...
New Boeing contract splits engineers, tech workers Associated Press ...Boeing Co.'s engineers have accepted a new four-year contract while technical workers rejected their offer and voted to authorize a future strike...
School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor New York Times ...The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections...
Costco Teamsters Ratify Three-year Contract IBT ...Teamster members at Costco have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new three-year contract that includes a 9 percent wage increase over the term of the agreement, stronger job protections and an improved grievance procedure for the 15,000 workers. Costco Teamsters, who are the highest-paid retail employees in the country with the best benefits, voted 77 percent in favor of the new contract...
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Pilots who may qualify for food stamps to picket Republic Airways today
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| Republic Airways workers handbilling recently. |
Let's repeat that: some of Republic Airways' new pilots are paid so little they qualify for food stamps.
Today, the airline's shareholders will meet at 666 (we're not kidding) Fifth Ave. in New York City. Uniformed pilots, mechanics and flight attendants will be picketing outside.
The regional airline is nearing a crisis -- aka a strike -- created by CEO and Chairman Bryan Bedford. According to a Teamsters report, Independent Board Leadership at Republic Airways –The Final Frontier, Republic's clubby board and conflicted lead director cause the airline's problems.
The Teamsters General Fund calls for an independent chairman of the board. As a shareholder in the airline, that proposal will be voted on as our brothers and sisters who work for the airline picket outside.
Republic provides regional service for United, American US Airways and Delta.
Stay tuned; we'll be covering the picketing and the annual meeting results.
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