Today's Teamster News 12.21.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Support Omnibus Spending Bill That Protects Worker Rights, Health Care  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters back a $1.1 trillion spending bill approved today by Congress for fiscal year 2016, saying it ensures workers retain their rights to organize on the job and will continue to receive comprehensive health insurance from their employers without being financially penalized.
“This omnibus package is a step in the right direction for workers,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said...
Teamsters Ken Hall: West Virginians’ lives are better without ‘right to work’  Gazette-Mail  ...The people of West Virginia are being told by some elected officials and business leaders that so-called right-to-work legislation will boost jobs and pay in the Mountain State. But what is right-to-work? As the Economic Policy Institute explains, right to work laws have nothing to do with whether people can be forced to join a union or contribute to a political cause they do not support; that is already illegal. Instead, right to work laws weaken a union’s ability to help workers bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits, and working conditions...
Coke Strike in Chicago Heats Up  Wall Street Journal  ...Coca-Cola Co.’s track record of U.S. labor peace is taking a hit in Chicago, where about 320 unionized workers at two bottling plants are striking over rising health-care premiums and are accusing management of intimidation tactics. The two-week-old strike by a Teamsters local poses a public relations threat after union members began unfurling banners with the slogans “Don’t Drink Coke”...

How Unions Could Change the Way Uber and Lyft Work  Bloomberg  ...Uber Technologies has overcome taxi driver protests, irate government officials, and the occasional self-made controversy. But the next fight for the ride-hailing company and rival Lyft may be with a modern-day Jimmy Hoffa. "When they got more cars, they started taking more advantage of the driver," said Teka, who's on the board of the App-Based Drivers Association, which is working with Seattle Teamsters to form a drivers union...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Chile airport workers end strike that left thousands stranded  BBC  ...Airport workers in Chile have agreed to end a four-day strike that led to major disruption. Most flights coming out of or landing in Chile's main airports were cancelled or delayed. The airport ground workers' union called the strike after the government rejected their request to join the more generous Chilean military pension plan...
China’s Latest Crackdown on Workers Is Unprecedented  The Nation  ...In an unprecedented crackdown on some of China’s most effective independent labor organizations, known as worker centers, seven worker-activists have been detained and held virtually incommunicado in detention facilities in Foshan and Guangzhou.  The activists are reportedly being detained on grounds of “endangering national security,” according to Amnesty International. It is unclear whether charges have been formally brought...
Union Members Exiled, Jailed as Burundi Violence Rises  Solidarity Center  ...Hundreds of union leaders and members, including at least 250 teachers, have fled Burundi while dozens more have been jailed, as the east African country roils in widespread violence. In October, a journalist and his family were shot dead at their home by security forces, according to the International Federation of Journalists. Broadcast media workers also were attacked with heavy weapons in May...
Why Amazon Workers in Germany Are on Strike  Fortune  ...Workers at German warehouses of U.S. online retailer Amazon.com were called out on a new strike by labor union Verdi on Monday as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Verdi said in a statement that workers at six of the nine Amazon warehouses were joining the strike, which will run until Dec. 24 at four of the centers and for shorter periods at the others...
Obama puts TPP trade deal at top of 2016 agenda  The Hill  ...President Obama expressed optimism at a Friday press conference that Congress can approve a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal. Obama called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a big deal" and acknowledged that opponents in both parties make for “an interesting situation." President Obama expressed optimism at a Friday press conference that Congress can approve a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) said earlier this week that he wants to take a vote as soon as possible...
Failure to Find Consensus in WTO to Re-boost Regional TTIP Deal  Sputnik News  ...A failure to find consensus between the developed and developing countries at a WTO conference will result in the EU and US reinforced efforts to conclude mega-regional agreements, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade pact and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), favoring corporate interests, the head of policy and campaigns at a London-based Global Justice Now organization said...
Greek PM Says Austerity Defeated in Spain  New York Times  ...Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is hailing the result of Spain's election as voter rejection of the unpopular austerity measures that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Popular Party invoked during the eurozone's debt crisis.
Tsipras says in a statement that "austerity has been politically defeated in Spain," adding that the results is vindication for those opposed to the tax hikes and spending cuts...
Investors on edge: Brazil to scale back austerity?  CNBC  ...The resignation of Brazil's pro-austerity finance minister has left markets on edge as amid concerns over whether his replacement will continue with a program of fiscal consolidation. On Friday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff replaced Finance Minister Joaquim Levy, a fiscal conservative appointed just over a year ago, with a close ally...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Union members meet to oppose Ohio Right to Work  Times Leader  ...Babe Erdos of the United Mine Workers of America was one of the speakers. "We think that the public needs to know the whole story of the so-called Right to Work," he said. According to Erdos, the median household income is $535 less per month in Right to Work states than in free-bargaining states such as Ohio. Information provided by We Are Ohio states that workers are injured and die on the job more often in Right to Work states...
Some local contractors hoping prevailing wage is maintained  Gazette Mail  ...Steve Ellis and John Strickland don’t want to see West Virginia’s prevailing wage abolished. The two commercial contractors from Charleston believe prevailing wage — the state law setting the minimum pay and benefits for laborers constructing public projects — is an essential part to their business and to the quality of life for the employees they hire...
National labor money gushes into Oregon minimum wage fight  Oregon Live  ...Oregon will have four ballot measures on the minimum wage out collecting ballot signatures next year. One would raise the state's $9.25 hourly wage to $15 — a number supported by Service Employees International Union in other parts of the country. The others, supported by labor-affiliated coalition Raise the Wage, would set a $13.50 wage and/or lift state restrictions that keep local governments from setting their own wages...
California Leads The Country In Minimum Wage  Capital Public Radio  ...On Jan. 1 California will have the highest minimum wage in the country. California Workers earning minimum wage will get an extra dollar an hour at the beginning of the year. The state raised the rate from $8 to $9 in July 2014. Soon it will be $10 an hour. Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Salinas sponsored the legislation behind the raises...
State reminds of minimum wage hike  Daily Star  ...State workers will join fast-food workers in a minimum wage increase taking effect Dec. 31, a bulletin from the state reminded employers. The bulletin issued Friday from the state Division of the Budget includes details about implementing phased wage increases that will bring the two groups of workers to a $15 minimum wage by 2021...
Judge Rules Virginia Voter ID Challenge Can Proceed  NBC  ...A federal judge is allowing an effort aimed at striking down Virginia's voter ID law to continue. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Friday that part of a suit filed by Virginia Democrats challenging the state's voter ID law could proceed while dismissing other related complaints...

U.S. LABOR
NLRB challenges ATI’s lockout as illegal  Buffalo News  ...Allegheny Technologies Inc.’s four-month lockout of about 2,200 employees, including roughly 40 at its Lockport plant, faces a legal challenge. The National Labor Relations Board’s regional director in Pittsburgh told ATI and the Steelworkers union it will issue a complaint alleging the lockout is illegal...
UAW-Nexteer deal ratified by union members  Detroit News  ...A majority of United Auto Workers members near Saginaw voted to ratify a new deal with Nexteer Automotive – avoiding a potential strike that could have impacted the Detroit automakers. UAW Local 699, which represents more than 3,200 workers with the auto supplier, reported early Saturday morning via social media that 61.4 percent of members who voted supported the deal...
USW, U.S. Steel announce tentative contract agreement  Chicago Tribune  ...A tentative agreement between United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel reached Saturday brings to a close more than six months of difficult negotiations between the steelmaker and the unions representing 18,000 workers across the country. Those negotiations continued more than three months after the previous contract between the steelmaker and the union expired Sept.1...
Impending Chicago Teachers' Strike Adds Power to Nationwide Movements Against Inequality and Racism  Truthout  ...The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) shook up the country and sparked a resurgence in militancy among teachers' unions with its 2012 strike. And now Chicago teachers may be getting ready to do it again. On December 14, CTU announced the result of a strike vote held the previous week, in which 88 percent of its total membership - and a full 96 percent of members who voted - authorized a strike that could begin this March or April...
Ship Builder Settles $5 Million Lawsuit After Forcing Indians To Work And Live in Awful Conditions  Think Progress  ...A ship building and repair company will pay $5 million to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) race and national origin discrimination lawsuit with 476 Indian guest workers who worked at the company’s facilities after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While Indian workers lived in squalid containers “the size of a double-wide trailer,” non-Indian workers were not subjected to the same conditions...
Employers had a labor wish list for the budget. Almost none of it was granted.  Washington Post  ...The House and Senate Republican funding proposals contained riders rolling back the implementation of a broad swath of the administration's actions, as well as decisions by the National Labor Relations Board that allowed for the establishment of "micro unions" within workplaces, eased the path toward collective bargaining with a franchiser...
As Public Funding of Universities Dwindles, Faculty Are Unionizing Truthout  ...When newly installed University of Washington (UW) President Ana Mari Cauce and Interim Provost Jerry Baldasty got wind that the UW faculty was collecting signatures on union cards, they quickly sent a series of memos and emails to the 6,000 people eligible to vote. Their missives trumpeted their opposition to collective bargaining and denounced the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) effort to organize on campus...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
US Congress to Corporations: Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!  Common Dreams  ...Along with a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep government funded through September, the U.S. Congress is on the verge of passing a Republican-backed, $629 billion package of tax cuts that one group calls "a lobbyist-wrapped Christmas present for our nation's biggest corporations." The package of bills unveiled Wednesday is facing criticism...
Koch Brothers Supersize Higher Education Spending  Truthout  ...The Koch brothers are supersizing their already hefty investments into college students' hearts and minds. A pair of private foundations led by the billionaire industrialists poured more than $23.4 million into U.S. colleges and universities during 2014, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis...
The Two Big Political Mistakes of Obama's Presidency  (opinion) Alternet  ...Nothing Obama could have done would have avoided the tsunami of vicious racist and xenophobic hatred that washed over him and the country, aided and abetted by the savagely partisan and vitriolic Fox News. But Obama might well have stunted the emergence of the right-wing populist movement, had he pursued an aggressive populist strategy of his own — one that demonstrated government could effectively challenge giant corporations...
After 28 Years in Prison, Man Falsely Convicted in Botched Investigation to Walk Free  Democracy Now  ...A Denver, Colorado, man has spent 28 years in prison based on a dream—and it wasn’t his. Now he could soon be free. In 1989, Clarence Moses-EL, who is African-American, was sentenced to 48 years in prison after a woman said she dreamed he was the man who raped and beat her in the dark...
Hundreds Of New Orleans Residents Will Finally Be Able To Go Home  Think Progress  ...More than 10 years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and decimated the Lower Ninth Ward, community groups and local government have secured funding from the federal government they believe will be enough to get many of the residents home who have been trying to rebuild ever since they were displaced. For Boyd-Cannon, a jazz musician, that should mean she will finally be able to rebuild her family’s house on what became a vacant lot...
Wave of migrant children has Texas towns scrambling to set up housing  The Guardian  ...As a wave of Central American children are crossing the US border alone fleeing violence and poverty in their countries, new facilities to house these children are popping up with just a few days’ notice in southern border towns. In Rockwall, Texas, hundreds of children arrived Saturday to a hot spaghetti meal...

Another example of corporate welfare run amok

Again and again, local and state governments have chosen to give millions in handouts to multi-national corporations so they will come and bring jobs. But repeatedly those efforts have failed.

The latest example is featured in a fine piece by The Washington Post looking at the practice in the Deep South, where the tax breaks have been large and the jobs have largely paid little. Workers there (and elsewhere) pay for these deals on the front end and then get screwed on the back end!

The article details the decision by Chinese company Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group to build  and open a factory in Wilcox County, Ala. last year after much lobbying from local officials. Oh yeah, and approximately $200 million in corporate welfare tax breaks, infrastructure improvements and cash payments.

When the deal was announced in 2013, the average worker was expected to make $15 to $17 an hour. But even the company itself only places that rate at $13 an hour. Meanwhile, those throughout the state are paying the price, as the article explains:

Company executives visiting the region were greeted with imported Chinese tea and Mandarin video messages. Alabama’s state workforce team explained how, if chosen for the job, they would visit Golden Dragon’s Chinese headquarters, study the process, and make videos and training courses for the new U.S. employees. In Alabama, Golden Dragon wouldn’t pay taxes for 20 years; it would get free roads and land. 

Alabama also did something no other state was willing to try: Its legislature passed the “Made in Alabama” act, a tailored law that allowed the state to reimburse Golden Dragon for several prior years of tariffs. A version of the law had first been drafted by [company consultant Raymond] Cheng and a lawyer, according to Cheng and a lawmaker who sponsored the bill. 

Ultimately, the company was given the choice of the reimbursements or an extra $20 million in cash. Golden Dragon chose the cash.

This grand payout, mind you, takes place against the backdrop of a community that is undereducated and impoverished. And elected officials there seem to take advantage of this fact, as the Post noted:

In wide swaths of the Deep South, public schools struggle, turning out workers who lack basic skills. Agricultural work has long faded, while job opportunities in once-prosperous industries such as textiles and timber have been lost to cheaper options in Latin America or automation at home. Politicians say they must give freebies to lure companies here, or offer nothing at all and watch the region — which already lags behind the rest of the country on most measures of well-being — fall even further behind.

So what was the answer in the case of Golden Dragon? Workers late last year voted to unionize. Obviously, they must know that union jobs pay better and provide a real path towards a middle-class lifestyle.

The real solution, however, is to stop giving sweetheart deals to rich corporations. Investment in people, not the powerful.

Today's Teamster News 11.24.15

TEAMSTERS
Shuttle Bus Drivers For Apple, Ebay, Yahoo, Silicon Valley Giants Approve Labor Contract, Winning Pay Raises And Benefits  IBTimes  ...Shuttle bus drivers for some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley have scored a boost in working standards. Nearly 100 workers at Compass Transportation, a firm that provides bus service for companies like Apple, eBay and Yahoo, approved a labor agreement Sunday that includes significant pay raises and new benefits. It comes months after the drivers voted to join the Teamsters union...
Silicon Valley’s Bus Drivers Are Fighting Their Way Into The Region’s Uneven Economic Boom Think Progress  ...Private bus routes that inspired rowdy protests around Silicon Valley in recent years will now deliver some shared prosperity in that booming but divided region. Drivers on the routes are seeing their wages and benefits increase dramatically thanks to unionization and contract negotiations. Drivers joined the Teamsters as protests and media scrutiny put pressure on tech firms and bus vendors alike over the past few years...
Coca-Cola Offers Insulting Economics Package, Ignores Vast Majority of Teamster Proposals  Local 727  ...With only one more day of contract negotiations on the calendar, management for Coca-Cola returned to the bargaining table with Local 727 on Monday admitting they “didn’t know where to begin.” Cola-Cola management offered no explanation for what they’ve been doing with their time throughout the previous eight bargaining sessions. Instead, when negotiations came to a close on Nov. 23, the company ignored nearly all of the union’s outstanding proposals...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
New police raids, more arrests in attacks on Korean trade union rights  IUF.org  ...The increasingly authoritarian government of Korean President Park Geun-hye is stepping up its attacks on trade unions and their rights. Two-hundred police raided the office of the KCTU Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union (KPTU) on November 6, seizing documents of the union's Cargo Truckers Solidarity Division (KPTU-TruckSol), whose members transporting products for the food company Pulmone are fighting for union recognition and safe working conditions...
Indonesian workers strike against new pay regulations  Bangkok Post  ...Thousands of Indonesian workers rallied in several cities on Tuesday to demand the government repeal a new rule that they say limits pay increases. Labour unions say the rule only allows a maximum 10% increase per year in monthly salaries and puts them in a weak position in negotiations with employers...
Obama Talks TPP Abroad While Concerns Persist for Voters At Home, New Polling Shows  American Manufacturing  ...President Obama is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week where 19 world leaders gather annually to discuss growth and trade. The hot topic at this year’s meeting: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The president will be selling its benefits to his counterparts, but Americans back home are far from convinced...
China and U.S. Say They’ve Made Strides in Trade Talks  New York Times  ...In their first top-level trade talks since President Obama hosted China’s leader in September, the United States and China said on Monday that they had made progress on sticking points, including preventing the theft of trade secrets and opening the Chinese market more broadly to American multinationals...
TPP allows Internet censorship to favour big corporations, say Pakatan MPs   Malaysian Insider ...The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will protect the interests of big corporations more than the rights of Internet users, opening the door to wider censorship, Pakatan Harapan lawmakers said today. Internet service providers (ISP) would be given the role of "internet police" in the new trade pact when it comes to copyrighted content...
TPP: Massive giveaway to corporate interests  (opinion) The Hill  ...What does it take to bring Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump together? One terrible trade deal - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The reasoning behind this diverse opposition is simple – the TPP is a massive giveaway to corporate special interests that will give hardworking Americans two things they can’t afford – lost jobs and lower wages...
Pacific Trade and Worker Rights  (editorial) New York Times  ...Obama administration officials say the T.P.P. goes further on labor standards than those earlier pacts. For example, the T.P.P.’s labor chapter requires all 12 countries to adopt minimum wage, working hour and occupational safety regulations. That is an improvement, but it could turn out to be mostly symbolic because the agreement does not specify how countries should set minimum wages. Nor does it establish any minimum standard for safety regulations...
Five years into austerity, Britain prepares for more cuts  Reuters  ...After laying off nearly half its staff over the last five years, scaling back street cleaning and relying on volunteers to work at some of its libraries, the London borough of Lewisham is getting ready for what could be much more painful spending cuts. Officials in Lewisham's town hall, like those across the country, know they will have to shoulder much of Chancellor George Osborne's renewed push to fix Britain's budget...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Constitutional amendment for higher minimum wage sought  Review Journal  ...Backers of raising Nevada's minimum wage filed a proposed constitutional amendment Monday that would abolish the state's existing two-tiered system and gradually increase the rate to $13 an hour. The initiative filed with the secretary of state's office by the Committee to Raise the Minimum Wage in Nevada would set a rate of $9.25 an hour beginning in late 2018...
Thanksgiving Is Almost Here, and Over a Million New Yorkers Might Go Hungry  The Nation  ...This Thanksgiving, New Yorkers will be asked to “Remember the Needy.” But for millions of households, that starts with thinking about themselves. The latest statistics on hunger in the city tells the proverbial Tale of Two Cities as a Tale of Two Pantries.  New York’s abysmal wealth gap is evident in many indicators: unemployment rates, rent hikes, surveys showing heavy economic anxiety...
Right-to-Work Whack-a-Mole  American Prospect  ...Right-to-work legislation continues to bubble up in states that have been successful in staving off such laws. Call it a never-ending game of right-to-work whack-a-mole. Last week, West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole called for lawmakers to pass right-to-work legislation in what he—and conservatives invariably—characterize as an attempt to attract businesses to the economically downtrodden region...
Who Turned My Blue State Red?  (opinion) New York Times  ...In eastern Kentucky and other former Democratic bastions that have swung Republican in the past several decades, the people who most rely on the safety-net programs secured by Democrats are, by and large, not voting against their own interests by electing Republicans. Rather, they are not voting, period. They have, as voting data, surveys and my own reporting suggest, become profoundly disconnected from the political process...
Pittsburgh paid sick leave law effective date delayed  Lexology  ...While the City of Pittsburgh previously announced that its Paid Sick Days Act (“PSDA”) would become effective on January 11, 2016, a Court order, as part of a lawsuit against the City challenging the validity of the PSDA, has extended this date by 60 days, to March 11, 2016.  The one-page order from the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas broadly covers “implementation, application and enforcement” of the PSDA...

U.S. LABOR
SEIU-UHW Revives Ballot Measure To Cap Hospital Executives' Pay  California Healthline  ...On Friday, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West revived a ballot measure that would cap hospital executives' pay after dropping a similar initiative 18 months ago, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. In November 2013, SEIU-UHW filed two proposed ballot initiatives with the state Attorney General's Office...
A holiday boost for UAW workers  The Detroit News  ...An estimated 142,000 American autoworkers, including 60,000 in Michigan, will receive retroactive pay and $3,000-$10,000 signing bonuses before Christmas, following contract ratifications between Detroit’s Big Three and the United Auto Workers. Collectively, contract bonuses from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are estimated to put more than $400 million, before taxes, into the pockets of hourly union members...
Disney workers mount H-1B challenge  Politico  ...Disney caught some bad press in June after the New York Times and other outlets reported that the company planned to lay off about 250 workers and replace them with guest workers. Now those workers are filing complaints against Disney. At least 23 of them petitioned the EEOC to hear their case...
Wage Gap Between Men and Women Closing For Wrong Reason: Male Wages Are Falling  Alternet  ...The wage gap between men and women is finally starting to close—but only because male wages are falling, according to a new briefing paper released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute. “No one in this country should work full-time and live in poverty,” said Massachsetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren at a Capitol Hill press conference to release the report...
The faces of the new food revolution  Al Jazeera  ...The “food movement” is complex and often misunderstood. Read snarky Slate articles and you might be led to believe the movement is a white, elitist phenomenon whose poster child is a Lululemon-wearing, latte-sipping Whole Foods shopper and whose de facto guru is Michael Pollan. In other words: out of touch with working Americans. But the people on the frontlines of the struggle to make healthy, sustainable, local food accessible to all Americans defy this stereotype...
How Delusional Nostalgia Is Killing the White Working Class  Alternet  ...A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute finds there are a few things you can count on about those who believe America’s best days are behind us. They are overwhelmingly white, and if you dig a bit deeper and examine the socioeconomics, often working class. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they stubbornly believe white people are subject to the same levels of racism as black and other people of color. They think the U.S. was a better place in the 1950s, when Jim Crow was law, immigrants were overwhelmingly European, women knew their place, and gay people were essentially invisible...

SOCIAL JUSTICE &OTHER NEWS
In Biggest Tax Evasion Scheme of Its Kind, Big Pharma Becomes Behemoth  Common Dreams  ...Big Pharma just became Huge Pharma. Creating the world's largest drugmaker—and paving the way for higher pharmaceutical prices—Viagra-maker Pfizer Inc. and Allergan PLC, which manufactures Botox, said Monday that they would merge in a so-called inversion deal worth up to about $155 billion...
Texas wants immigration case delay that could push Supreme Court decision beyond Obama's term  US News & World Report  ...Texas asked the Supreme Court Monday for more time to answer the Obama administration's immigration appeal, a delay that probably would prevent the plan to shield millions of immigrants from deportation from taking effect during Barack Obama's presidency. The plan that Obama unveiled a year ago mainly affects people who are living in the country illegally, but who have children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents...
'Now More Than Ever': In Paris and Beyond, Climate Movement Will Be Heard  Common Dreams  ...The march may be cancelled, security may be strengthened, but the global climate movement is vowing that its voice will still be heard as world leaders convene in Paris for international negotiations over the future of the planet. Citing security concerns in the wake of the attacks in Paris, the city's Prefecture of Police on Wednesday cancelled a massive climate justice march planned for November 29...
Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot in Minneapolis  Slate  ...Police in Minneapolis were looking for three white male suspects Tuesday morning after gunmen opened fire and injured five people at a Black Lives Matter protest around 10:45 p.m. on Monday night, reported the Star Tribune. The protests where the shooting took place have been going on for more than a week, with demonstrators calling for answers in the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, a black man who was shot in the head by a police officer. Witnesses said Clark was in handcuffs when he was shot...
Chicago officer who shot black teen 16 times to face murder charge, reports say  The Guardian  ...A charge of murder is expected to be filed against a white Chicago police officer accused of shooting a black teenager 16 times, just one day before a deadline by which a judge has ordered the city to release a squad-car video of the incident. Veteran officer Jason Van Dyke is expected to be indicted on Tuesday on a murder charge in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald...
Why Trump's Race-Baiting Works  Slate ...Donald Trump has spent most of his campaign indulging and encouraging nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment. When it came to other racial and ethnic groups, however, Trump was silent, even telling crowds that he had a “great relationship with the blacks.” This past weekend, that changed. While Trump has been explicit with his nativist, and now racist, rhetoric, he’s not an innovator. If large numbers of Republicans are responsive to Trump’s vitriol, it’s because he echoes—in less coded terms—the discourse of much of right-wing media...
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Elected After Popular Uprising, Defends Local Control of Schools  Democracy Now  ...The education system of Newark, New Jersey has faced years of crisis, with high dropout rates, low-performing schools and a state takeover dating back two decades. In 2010, Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Democratic Mayor Cory Booker of Newark and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg joined forces to revamp Newark schools. But despite trumpeting their plan as a model for national school reform, millions of dollars flowed not to schools but to outside consultants...

Today's Teamsters News 10.14.15

TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Central States Shouldn't Cut Pensions  Teamster.org  ...Michigan workers and retirees should be allowed to live comfortably in their golden years. But increasingly, nest eggs that everyday people contributed to are being threatened. And retirement security is being taken away. The latest example is the Central States Pension Fund which serves hundreds of thousands of Teamsters in the Midwest, including thousands of Michiganians. Trustees with the pension plan filed a petition with the U.S. Treasury Department late last month that would cut the pensions...
Teamsters to Albertsons' Miller: Delay warehouse closing  Supermarket News  ...Teamsters representing workers at the two Safeway distribution centers slated for closure have appealed to the company’s CEO for an extension. As reported in SN, the centers, operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers for Safeway, are scheduled to close Dec. 5, with work outsourced to other C&S facilities...
Some UberX drivers plan weekend protests  San Francisco Chronicle  ...Some disgruntled UberX drivers and ex-drivers plan to refrain from working this weekend, terming their action a strike — although technically only employees can stage a strike. Uber drivers are independent contractors, a point currently being litigated in court in California. “It’s time to stand up for Uber driver’s rights,” said organizer Abe Husein, who said he drove part-time for Uber for five months in Kansas City, Mo., until he was deactivated in August...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
The Trans-Pacific Partnership May be Dead on Arrival  Huffington Post  ...News that U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had joined the entire rest of the democratic field in opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership may well sound the death knell for the agreement. It also raises a few interesting possibilities about where things go next. First though, on Clinton's "come to Jesus" moment: yes, it's politics...
The Moral Case Against the TPP  (opinion) The Nation  ... The TPP must be stopped—not simply because it could put jobs on the line. It needs to be stopped because it rewrites all the rules in favor of big corporations, allowing them to circumvent regulations for the public good—even as its backers claim they’re doing the opposite. The pope knows it. Obama must know it. Even Hillary Clinton, if you can believe it, says she knows it now. And if the texts are ever released, we’ll know it for sure, too...
Malmström tries a new tack on TTIP  Politico  ...European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström on Wednesday unveiled a new strategy which she called a direct response to growing opposition to an EU-U.S. trade deal, promising more transparency, increased protection for consumers, and a reformed investor dispute court. “We’ve listened to the debate,” said Malmström...
Rising Rates of Male Suicide Across Eurozone Connected to Austerity Measures  Newsweek  ...New research suggests that men of all ages committed suicide in increasing numbers in the eurozone's poorest countries as a direct result of austerity measures brought in across Europe following the 2009 recession. A study published in Social Science and Medicine is the first to examine the direct impact of fiscal austerity on suicide rates in the group of countries most affected by the eurozone crisis...
Manifesto Offers Vision of 'Joyful' Europe to Supplant Austerity's Misery  Common Dreams  ...Calling for a "European Europe, which can fulfill its mission to bring peace, freedom, justice, and solidarity to the world," a group of German economists, academics, policy advisers, and Social Democrats has issued a 12-point manifesto that rejects austerity, German hegemony, and right-wing extremism within the EU...
The Secret Weapon for Cutting Costs at Chinese Factories? Interns  The Nation  ... Rural migrants have filled manufacturing labor demands, but conscripted interns now form a major surplus army of labor, enabling manufacturers to capture a vulnerable youth workforce that’s increasingly striving for a life beyond factory drudgery. Though less publicized than Asia’s notorious garment sweatshops, advocates say the exploitation of contingent student workers follows similar practices of predatory capitalism as “development”...
South Africa Workers agree to end coal strike  BD Live  ...Just more than a week of strike action in the coal sector came to an end on Tuesday after the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) agreed in principle to a three-year wage deal with producers. No agreement had yet been signed, but management would communicate with workers for a return to work, probably on Wednesday morning, NUM chief negotiator for the sector Peter Bailey said outside the Chamber of Mines head office in Johannesburg...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
To Fix National Poverty Crisis, Study Shows Even $15 Wage Won't Do the Job  Common Dreams  ...There are few states in the U.S. where a $15 hourly wage is enough for workers to make ends meet, and a true livable wage would amount to no less than $16.87 an hour, a new report published Tuesday has found. Even making $15 an hour, which is roughly double the current federal minimum wage, would force a single adult to cut back on essentials like food or medicine in 35 states and Washington, D.C., according to the report...
Despite Increases, Mass. Workers Argue Minimum Wage Still Not High Enough  WBUR  ...The $9 per hour wage Theresa Pennington earns working at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Lowell is not enough to be able to afford an apartment of her own. Instead, she said, she lives with friends, but that means she is not able to keep custody of her 5-year-old daughter. “The fast food industry is one of the fastest growing in America and more and more of the workers look like me,” Pennington said. “We are not teenagers looking for pocket change"...
Florida minimum wage debate still going on  The Ledger  ...Raising the minimum wage is a national and statewide discussion. This month, 18 Florida Democrats tried living on $17 a day for five days in an effort to bring attention to the possibility of increasing the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, as called for in a bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Dwight Bullard and state Rep. Victor Torres Jr...
Minneapolis' largest businesses add to push against workplace changes  Star Tribune  ...On Tuesday, 80 members of the Minnesota Business Partnership — a group that includes the leaders of Target, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy and Mayo Clinic, among other major employers — convened a phone-conference strategy session. The goal: Defeat a set of proposals to guarantee more predictable schedules and paid sick leave...
Fight for 15 Activists Spend Columbus Day Rallying Against “Racist” Donald Trump  In These Times  ...The Fight for 15-organized protest, coinciding with Columbus Day, saw demonstrators toting a Donald Trump piñata march to the billionaire mogul’s hotel with a mariachi band in tow. Featuring Trump’s signature combover and its mouth contorted into a trumpet player’s puckered embouchure, the GOP frontrunner’s papier mâché doppelganger was filled with the names of people who had signed onto a statement opposing his rhetoric and policies...

U.S. LABOR
Are those detested two-tiered UAW contracts finally on the way out?  LA Times  ...One artifact of the auto industry's near-death experience during the Great Recession is the two-tier contract, in which workers hired after a certain date are saddled with permanently lower wages and benefits than their older peers. The United Auto Workers are poised to reach an agreement with Fiat Chrysler that could spell the end to the gap...
Fiat Chrysler Said to Double Use of Temp Workers in UAW Contract  Bloomberg  ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV can double its use of lower-paid temporary staffers under a new labor agreement being voted on by the United Auto Workers union, said two people familiar with the matter. Savings from that concession helps offset big raises given to almost half of the company’s unionized U.S. hourly employees...
What Democrats Missed When They Debated Paid Family Leave  Think Progress  ...Paid family leave was a big topic of discussion at the first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday evening. But while all the candidates who were asked about the issue support a mandated family leave policy, they failed to mention the vital need to make sure new fathers have access to and take paid time off when their children arrive...
Is Campaign Cash From Police Unions Watering Down Democrats' Reform Efforts?  Truthout  ...At every turn, police unions and law enforcement lobbying groups have staunchly opposed measures aimed at policing reform. They have been the first and loudest voices to defend the perpetrators of each new incident of police murder and brutality caught on camera - no matter how heinous. Most recently, in California, unions called on Gov. Jerry Brown to veto a recently passed bill that aims to curb racial profiling...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Immigration Issues That Democratic Presidential Candidates Should Tackle  Think Progress  ...On Tuesday night, when Democratic presidential candidates take the stage for their first debate, they likely won’t touch the topic of immigration in the same blistering way as their Republican opponents have. There probably won’t be mentions of undocumented immigrants as potential criminals, “anchor babies,” and poor English language speakers. Instead, Democratic candidates will likely call for legal status (or citizenship) for the country’s 11.3 million undocumented immigrants...
Bernie and Hillary Duel as Democrats Debate  Common Dreams  ...The debate featured memorable back-and-forths on key issues as the two current frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, discussed such issues as the role that "casino capitalism" has played in wrecking the middle class, the importance of fighting climate change, the scourge of gun violence that grips the country, the failures of U.S. foreign policy in recent years, pervasive racial disparities throughout the criminal justice system, and others...
Why Debt-Free College Is A Big Issue for 2016 Democratic Candidates  The Atlantic  ...As Democratic presidential hopefuls assembled in Las Vegas Tuesday night for their first formal debate, one topic that has received little airtime during the Republican face-offs garnered far more attention: the high cost of attaining a college degree. Three of the five Democratic candidates have released detailed proposals that seek to reduce dramatically the amount of debt students might accrue on their way to a college degree...
Democrats express strong support for 'Black Lives Matter' movement  Mashable  ..."Black lives matter," Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said. "We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom." Black lives matter activists have interrupted Sanders rallies several times during his campaign, and he has since broadened his frequent speeches on economic inequality to include talk of racial inequality...

Today's Teamster News 10.09.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Applaud Introduction of Pension Accountability Act By Sen. Portman  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters Union applauds the efforts of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to pass legislation that would guarantee thousands of retirees and workers threatened by deep cuts to their pensions a meaningful voice in deciding their own future, without the threat of the Treasury Department nullifying their decision if it judges that the insolvency of the fund would be "systemically important" by causing a liability of more than $1 billion to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)...
Tenatative Agreement Reached With Sysco Over Food Service Contract  Local 117  ...Teamsters Local 117 has achieved a fully-recommended tentative agreement with Sysco over a contract involving 220 drivers and warehouse workers employed at the company’s food service distribution center in Kent. The union and the company reached the agreement late Wednesday night at the Teamsters Union Hall in Tukwila...
Union pay increases slowly at U  Minnesota Daily  ...For the past six years, administrators, faculty and staff have had wages increase by more than 2 percent, while members of the Teamsters Local 320 have had their pay increase by about 1 percent, according to University data. Since 2014, administrators, faculty and civil service staff have seen a 2.33 percent average wage bump. If current negotiations between Teamsters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3800, 3937 and 3801 stand the unions would experience an average pay increase of .875 percent...
Teamsters reach tentative agreement with SoCal chains  Supermarket News  ...The Teamsters Union said Wednesday it will recommend approval of new contracts with three Southern California chains. Voting is scheduled for Oct. 16 through Oct. 18, the union said. The contracts cover drivers and employees at the warehouses, dairies and manufacturing plants of Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons. Vons is now owned by Albertsons and Ralphs is a division of Kroger Co...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
After Years of Backroom Secrecy, Public Will Finally Get to See Full TPP Text  Common Dreams   ...After being shrouded in secrecy for years, the full contents of the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will soon be brought into the sunlight. According to Kevin Collier at Daily Dot, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has said the text will be made available to the public at large in approximately 30 days—on or around November 7...
TPP Treaty Full Text: WikiLeaks Releases Trans-Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property Rights Chapter  IBTimes  ...WikiLeaks claims it has obtained the final negotiated text of the Obama administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that covers intellectual property rights. It addresses internet services, medicines, publishers, civil liberties and biological patents. The agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries has been called the biggest global trade deal in decades...
Japan's Amari says not willing to renegotiate TPP trade pact  Reuters  ...Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari said on Friday he is not willing to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she opposed the free trade pact. Amari, speaking to reporters, urged U.S. lawmakers to back TPP and said going back on the deal now could hurt U.S. credibility...
Hillary Clinton's TPP deal disapproval is 'a critical turning point'  The Guardian  ...From the start, the Trans-Pacific trade pact that Barack Obama is trumpeting faced rough going on Capitol Hill, not least because some of Congress’s most powerful Republicans – among them the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell – were complaining about it. But the pact’s chances of winning ratification in Congress diminished on Wednesday when Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, said: “Based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement”...
China’s Heft Gives It Ammunition Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal  Wall Street Journal  ...On the surface, China appears a clear loser by its exclusion from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which aims to deepen economic ties and lower or eliminate tariffs in the 12-member bloc led by the U.S. and Japan. But company executives and economists say that despite China’s slowing growth, at least in the near term it is well armed against harm from TPP...
No End to Austerity for Serbian Seniors  Balkan Insight  ...Public debate on the issue has raged since last November, when the government imposed its cuts on the public sector ranging from 10 per cent off salaries to as much as 25 per cent off pensions. The measures sparked a national outcry, with education and pensioners’ trade unions being among the first to protest against the cutbacks. But a group of pensioners’ trade unions went a step further...
Tunisia Labor Movement Shares Nobel Peace Prize  Solidarity Center  ...For its role in brokering a peaceful path to democracy, Tunisia’s labor movement today was named a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee recognized the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet—comprised of longtime Solidarity Center ally the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers—for establishing “an alternative, peaceful political process"...
Breaking Ground: Mexico’s Miners Push for Worker Rights    Solidarity Center  ...Mine workers in Mexico labor in difficult and sometimes deadly working conditions. But through their union, the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSRM, known as “Los Mineros”), they are winning collective bargaining pacts. The union is breaking ground by raising the visibility of the work and activism of women members...
 
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
New York's $15 minimum wage hike ignites national interest  CBS  ...New York's plan to give fast-food workers a $15 minimum wage is spurring similar efforts in states around the country - even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo's push to enact an across-the-board $15 wage faces vocal opposition at home. In a campaign modeled after the successful push by fast-food workers in New York, groups in 18 states are creating citizen "wage boards" to pressure elected officials to raise the minimum wage...
Hearing on Voter ID Will Take Place This Month  WFDD  ...State attorneys want a federal judge to dismiss a legal challenge to North Carolina’s voter-identification law before the presidential primary in March. It’s a controversial issue that’s been on hold while a related court case is being considered. When the voting rights trial happened this summer, voter ID wasn’t part of the case...
Struggling Phoenix Workers Demand $15 Minimum wage  New Times  ...Arizona workers shared their stories with a panel of government and business leaders Thursday at a community meeting about raising the minimum wage. Workers across the country have rallied under Fight for $15's banner since 2012 to raise the minimum wage. In response, several cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, have bumped pay to $15 an hour...
Jeb Bush Is Completely Wrong About the Voting Rights Act  The Nation  ...Bush says the VRA is no longer necessary, but his home state of Florida has been a hotbed of voter suppression since 2000.  It’s a fallacy to assert that the VRA was important in 1965 but no longer needed. In 2011, Bush’s home state of Florida passed a severe law shutting down voter-registration drives—which was later blocked in court—and cutting early-voting days, which led to seven-hour lines during the 2012 election...
The Fight for $15 Is Making Significant Progress on Wages. Now It’s Time for Step 2: Unions.  In These Times  ...It’s a safe bet that most working people would like a pay raise. They are also often reluctant to ask for one, let alone demand a doubling of their hourly rates. Low-wage Americans—the 42 percent of workers making less than $15 an hour—know all too well that they don’t just want more; they need more simply to survive at the lowliest version of the American standard of living. Increasingly, they are pressing their demands more forcefully, possibly inventing a new form of unionism as they persevere...

U.S. LABOR
33 Workers Dead After U.S. Cargo Ship Lost at Sea. Could It Have Been Prevented?  In These Times  ...Search and rescue teams officially gave up hope yesterday after a failed five-day effort to locate 33 cargo ship workers lost at sea in the waters near the Bahamas. The sailors and other shipboard workers are presumed dead in the wreck of the U.S.-flagged commercial vessel El Faro, which disappeared October 1 in the high winds and heavy seas of Hurricane Joaquin. The last voyage of the El Faro has already taken on the air of maritime mystery...
New UAW-FCA deal gives Tier 2 workers path to top pay  Detroit Free Press  ...Fiat Chrysler entry-level workers could reach a new wage of $29 an hour over eight years, putting them at par with senior colleagues and effectively eliminating the much-hated two-tier pay scale under a new proposed deal between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The proposal was reached just prior to the Wednesday night deadline of 11:59 p.m., averting a potential midnight strike by 40,000 unionized workers...
Union campaign targeting Boeing South Carolina moves online with NLRB ruling  Post and Courier  ...The International Association of Machinists is using a new method to recruit Boeing South Carolina workers, taking advantage of a recent ruling that lets labor unions collect electronic signatures on election authorization cards. The National Labor Relations Board rule went into effect Sept. 1. It allows workers to log onto a website and submit such cards via the Internet...
Are Bosses Necessary?  The Atlantic  ...A radical experiment at Zappos may herald the emergence of a new, more democratic kind of organization. The company abolished managers, eliminated job titles, denounced its own organizational hierarchy, and vested all authority in a 10,000-word constitution that spells out a radical new system of self-governance. Freed from direct supervision, employees are expected to join various impermanent democratic assemblies called “circles” (headed, but not run, by a “lead link”)...
Right-Wing Urban Outfitters Now Asking Employees to Work for Free  Alternet  ...Urban Outfitters has become known for three things: 1) Offending every possible marginalized group under the sun with apparel that features really tasteless messages; 2) allegedly stealing designs from up-and-coming artists and selling them as their own; and 3) having a president and CEO, Richard Hayne, who has given money to anti-gay marriage crusader Rick Santorum and other Republican politicians. Now the company is making news for its boldest action yet: asking employees to work for free!...
Jobless claims fall to near a 42-year low  Reuters  ...While businesses appear to have little reason to let workers go these days, in recent months they have not shown much gusto in adding new hires. U.S. employers added just 142,000 jobs to their payrolls in September and 136,000 in August, which was well below the averages in prior months of about 200,000 new jobs added every month. The slowdown in hiring has boosted expectations the Fed will wait until early next year to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Partisan Divide Widens Over Immigration Policy  NPR  ...It probably won't surprise you that there's a growing polarization among Americans over how to deal with several immigration policy proposals. Whether it's Donald Trump's idea for a massive border fence or the proposal to change the Constitution so that babies of unauthorized residents aren't automatically made citizens, Republicans and Democrats are hardening their views, according to a new national survey issued by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center...
Obama Won't Support Extending Deadline for Rail Safety Equipment  Bloomberg  ...President Barack Obama plans to enforce a deadline for rail operators to install safety technology by the end of the year, despite warnings from railroads including Union Pacific Corp. and Amtrak that they can’t meet the mandate and would have to suspend some service without an extension. Railroads have had seven years to install positive train control technology, which can slow or stop trains to avoid crashes...
Courts Are Striking Back Against The Criminalization Of Homelessness  Think Progress  ...For the third time in as many months, a federal court has struck down a city’s panhandling ban for violating the First Amendment’s free speech protections. The most recent case concerned an anti-panhandling ordinance in Grand Junction, Colorado, which outlawed “aggressive panhandling”...
Autopsy Shows Oklahoma Used Wrong Drug to Kill Man Who Said His Body Was 'On Fire'  Common Dreams  ...Oklahoma correctional officials in January used the wrong drug to execute Charles Warner, who said his body was "on fire" after the injection was administered, according to his autopsy report released Thursday. Oklahoma correctional officers received the same incorrect drug on September 30 ahead of the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip, who received a stay from Governor Mary Fallin after she was made aware of the erroneous delivery...

Today's Teamster News 09.25.15

Teamsters
Brockton Custodians Ratify First Teamsters Contract  Teamster.org   ...By a vote of 90-6, custodians, craftsmen and outside ground crews in the Brockton township public school system have voted to ratify their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. This continues the tradition of strong contracts and benefits that has been a hallmark of Local 653’s representation of its members...
Labor Unrest At California Ports Continue As More Subcontracted Workers Go On Strike  In These Times   ...The nation’s largest port—spread across parts of both Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA—is a strangely varied workplace. And after years of tenacious effort, workers throughout the port may soon share one important tool their predecessors once had: a union and, therefore, a better job...
Drivers Who Shuttle Genentech Workers Will Get Wage Increase  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Shuttle drivers who transport Genentech employees received a wage increase Thursday as negotiations continue between their employer, Compass Transportation, and the Teamsters...
Teachers, Drivers Team Up Against Violence From Students  WHAS   ...For the first time the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the union for the bus drivers, are teaming up and fighting back...
Truck Driver Run Over By Own Trailer At Port Of Long Beach Last Week, Police Say  Long Beach Post   ...A truck driver was fatally struck by his own vehicle last week at the Port of Long Beach (POLB) when he attempted to unlatch a trailer from his tractor, which was not adequately parked, authorities said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters held a press conference yesterday demanding more information from port. Details regarding the fatality were released by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) today...
Union Questions Plan To Shift City Workers To GSD  Chicago Tribune   ...On Monday, Paul Berkowitz, an attorney for Teamsters Local 142, in Gary, sought clarification from the GSD commissioners. He said 37 Teamsters received a letter from the city's human resources department stating they would be transferred to the GSD by Dec. 4. He said 14 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) would also shift to GSD...

Global Labor & Trade
Car Industry 'Buried Report Revealing U.S. Car Safety Flaws Over Fears For TTIP Deal'  The Independent   ...The motor industry has been accused of withholding a report that reveals US cars are substantially less safe than European vehicles - for fear that the findings would hamper the drive to harmonise safety standards as part of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal...
Japan TPP Chief Negotiator: Broad Agreement Is Within Reach: Jiji  Reuters   ...Japan's chief negotiator for the 12-nation pan-Pacific trade talks said on Friday a broad agreement of the ambitious trade pact was within reach, Jiji news agency reported...

State & Living Wage Battles
The Great Divide In Workplace Benefits  New York Times   ...For a small, lucky set of parents, the work-family juggle is relatively easy. Their employers give them paid leave; nannies to accompany them on business trips; flexible hours; child and elder care; and even on-site haircuts and nap rooms. For the rest of American workers, life tends to be much more difficult...
Fairness For Franchise Businesses And Workers  New York Times   ...In California today, nearly 83,000 fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and other franchise businesses generate $94 billion in annual revenue and employ almost one million people. In California, and in the rest of the nation, however, developments in franchise law in recent decades have increasingly reduced the power of franchisees in dealings with their corporate parents. The result has been lower franchisee profits and lower worker pay, while corporate profits and executive compensation soar...
Council Will Consider $15 Minimum Wage For Santa Monica  Santa Monica Lookout   ...Santa Monica’s lowest wage earners could soon get a raise. The City Council on Tuesday will consider a gradual minimum wage hike that calls for it to reach $15 in 2020...

U.S. Labor
Troubling Signs Emerge In UAW-FCA Contract Voting  Detroit Free Press   ...Signs began to emerge late Thursday that a proposed contract between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in early trouble as large UAW locals in Sterling Heights, Center Line and Kokomo, Ind. voted against the new four-year deal...
I'm Making Only $2.64 An Hour Working As An Uber Driver   AlterNet   ...Twenty-six-year-old Takele Gobena is part of the “on-demand” economy, working full-time as a driver for Uber and part time for Lyft. The Ethiopian immigrant quit his job at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and purchased a new car to drive for the ride-hailing firms, believing it would make him a better provider for his one-year-old daughter. Instead, Gobena now finds himself in debt and, after expenses, making well below minimum wage. But because Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors, Gobena is not protected by minimum wage laws...

Social Justice & Other News
We Need To Protect And Preserve Public Housing In New York City  New York Amsterdam News   ...May 19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his 10-year plan to eliminate NYCHA’s operating deficit to prevent the downfall of a program that houses over 600,000 and employs over 11,000 New Yorkers. In fact, 1 out of every 8 New Yorkers lives in NYCHA housing...
John Boehner To Resign From Congress At End Of October  Huffington Post   ...House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will resign from Congress at the end of October, his office announced Friday...
Pope Francis’ Challenge To America  New York Times   ...In an address of memorable passion and nuance, Francis focused widely on the divisive immigration issues at home and abroad, the economic divide driving poverty, the threat to the environment, the “brutal atrocities” and “simplistic reductionism” of the world’s continuing conflicts, and the need, above all, for “courageous actions and strategies” rather than “facile proposals” from leaders responsible for solutions...
Pope To U.N.: Economics, Climate Change, And War Are All Connected  Think Progress   ...Pope Francis spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, articulating an urgent — but intentionally nuanced — call to address the world’s many interconnected problems, especially economic inequality, climate change, and war...
China Says It Will Start The World's Biggest Carbon Market By 2017  Mother Jones   ...On Friday, Chinese president Xi Jinping will announce that China will start the world's largest carbon trading system by 2017, according to a statement released Thursday night by the White House...
Astounding Drug Prices Show How U.S. Government Is In Cahoots With Big Pharma  AlterNet   ...While Shkreli’s move may have been extremely ostentatious, and drawn the public’s attention, the issue of overpriced drugs in America is one that is not confined to Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals...
How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen's Pollution Scandal Cause?   Vox   ...Using these figures, the extra pollution from Volkswagen's US cars can be expected to lead to an additional 5 to 27 premature deaths per year. If we extrapolated worldwide to all 11 million vehicles, that would come to somewhere between 74 and 404 premature deaths each year...

Today's Teamster News 09.21.15

Teamsters
Teamsters to FedEx: ‘Stop Paying Executives' Personal Taxes'  Teamster.org  ...Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the nation’s leading proxy voting advisor, recommends FedEx shareholders vote for a Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal aimed at reforming the company’s executive compensation. The proposal urges the company to stop paying the personal taxes on behalf of the senior executive officers...
Local 727 Tackles Unjust Treatment of Beverage Industry Members  Local 727  ...Since Teamsters Local 727 began representing more than 1,500 beverage industry members earlier this year, the union has won dozens of grievances relating to discipline and terminations, holiday pay, attendance, overtime, seniority and other issues. In total, Local 727 representatives have filed nearly 150 grievances for members at Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Hinckley Springs and Home Juice over the past five months...
Sun Tran, Teamsters release agreement details  Tucson News Now  ...Both sides originally did not want to talk about it, but now Tucson News Now has learned new details about the agreement between Sun Tran and the Teamsters Local 104 Union. City of Tucson officials said they used savings from the 42-day strike to come up with $1.5 million to settle it, so taxpayers are not out any extra money. Under the terms of the new agreement, each Teamsters striker will get a one-time lump sum payment of $3,303.37...
Will aggrieved workers get their day in court?  OC Register  ...In response to the successful complaints, trucking companies that employ hundreds of drivers are now insisting the drivers sign arbitration contracts waiving their right to file complaints, according to Julie Gutman Dickinson, a Teamsters union attorney who has been representing them. “Many drivers are monolingual Spanish speakers,” she said. “They are not given copies of the arbitration agreements they are forced to sign in any language other than English"...

Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S., Canada, Mexico to restart auto TPP talks Monday  Japan News  ...Japan, the United States, Canada and Mexico will hold working-level talks on Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday, focusing on automobile trade, according to the Japanese government. The upcoming talks are aimed at narrowing their gap over rules of origin, prior to a ministerial meeting that 12 countries joining TPP negotiations plan to hold in Atlanta in late September...
Stephen Harper Says Concessions Likely for Auto Industry in Pacific Trade Pact  Wall Street Journal  ...Canadian leader Stephen Harper signaled in an election debate late Thursday that he will make a concession on protections for the auto industry to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a suggestion that is triggering protest from the Canadian units of the big Detroit-based auto makers...
Harper’s TPP remarks draw ire of Ontario, union leader  Globe and Mail  ...Stephen Harper is being accused of sacrificing Canada’s 80,000-job auto-parts industry in his eagerness to sign on to a massive Pacific Rim trade deal – one his government is negotiating in the middle of the federal election campaign. The Conservative Leader made waves Thursday when he signaled that he’s determined to be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement even over the objections of the auto sector, whose members fear it will lead to a flood of foreign parts, produced by cheaper labour, killing their industry...
International agreement could hurt Saskatchewan dairy producers  Global News  ...Many Saskatchewan dairy producers are concerned their domestic market may shrink due to a possible trade agreement, according to their provincial advocacy group. SaskMilk’s policy manager Joy Smith says producers will have their eyes on upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement talks planned in Atlanta. The trade pact includes 12 North American and Asian countries, including Canada, the U.S. and Japan...
No deal at next TPP talks to extend negotiations for years: minister  Mainichi  ...The Japanese minister in charge of negotiations for a Pacific Rim free trade initiative said Friday that talks on the free trade deal will not be concluded anytime soon if the 12 member countries fail to strike an accord at an upcoming meeting starting late September. "There is a risk that an agreement will be put off for years" if no deal is reached at the next session, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari said at a press conference...
More Austerity Awaits Greeks in Election Aftermath  Greek Reporter  ...Greeks are bracing to face a series of austerity measures and harsh reforms in the aftermath of the election that brought to power the previous coalition of SYRIZA and ANEL. About fifty measures and reforms have to be implemented by December as required by the bailout program Athens signed in July. Also a series of pension cuts will be implemented depending on how high each pension is...
Sierra Leone workers strike at Shandong's iron ore mine  Reuters  ...Hundreds of Sierra Leonean workers at Shandong Steel's iron ore mine declared an unlimited strike on Saturday, alleging unfair treatment, a union leader said. The Chinese firm, formerly a minority partner of African Minerals in the African Minerals-run project, acquired full ownership earlier this year and resumed operations in May...
Workers Strike at Chinese Shipyard, Demand Three Months' Back-Pay  RFA  ...More than 1,000 workers at a shipbuilding yard in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu are on strike over unpaid wages, workers told RFA on Friday, as the industrial action entered its third day. Around one-fifth of the 5,000-strong workforce at the Sinopacific-owned shipyard in Jiangsu's Dayang city walked out on Wednesday...

State & Living Wages Battles
Scott Walker's Partisans Poised to Raze Nonpartisan Government Accountability Board  Huffington Post  ...Stung by the campaign finance probe into potentially illegal coordination between Governor Scott Walker and independent campaign finance groups, the Wisconsin GOP is on the warpath. Governor Walker called for "dismantling" of the Government Accountability Board (GAB), the nonpartisan, independent agency that oversees Wisconsin elections, campaign finance and ethics laws that gave the go-ahead to the investigation...
Scott Walker Was Coward During 2011 Wisconsin Protests  Alternet  ...According to a stunning, detailed new statement by a former top Republican legislative aide, it turns out that Walker isolated himself and hid in tightly controlled, heavily-guarded environments during the conflict covering six intense weeks in early 2011—which directly contradicts his tall tale of courageously facing his adversaries...
NJ minimum wage to remain at $8.38 an hour in 2016  North Jersey  ...New Jersey's minimum wage will remain $8.38 an hour in 2016, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Monday. The wage has been tied to the inflation rate since January 2014. In November 2013, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour...
Osceola mulls $11.66-an-hour living wage proposal  Orlando Sentinel  ...Osceola County's newly Democratic-controlled commission has wasted little time taking on controversial issues since January, passing anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender residents while raising the local gas tax to pay for roads and other infrastructure projects. Now the board is preparing to vote on an ordinance Monday that would set one of the highest minimum wages for county contracts in the state, at $11.66 an hour for the first year...

U.S. Labor
United Farm Workers claims victory in labor battle  Californian  ...Organized labor claimed a victory in a decades-long fight with one of the nation's largest fruit growers when a judge ruled that the company interfered with its employees' vote on whether to reject union representation. A decision issued Thursday sets aside an election held nearly two years ago by workers at Gerawan Farming Inc., which hires thousands of people annually to harvest nectarines, peaches and grapes in the Central Valley...
Shifting work to Mexico now up for UAW vote  Detroit Free Press  ...Building more cars in Mexico. It's a flash point for about 40,000 UAW workers preparing to vote on a tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, knowing the new four-year pact includes pay increases, profit sharing and bonuses but also shifts car production to plants south of the border...
Tile, marble union workers preparing to strike statewide  Khon  ...Members of the Hawaii Masons Union, specifically ceramic tile and marble setters are planning a statewide strike Monday. “Nobody wants a strike, nobody wins but this is like a last resort,” said Todd Saito, a business representative for Local #1 of Hawaii. He says contract negotiations with the Tile Contractors Association of Hawaii have been going on for over a year. “We just want a package that represents industry standards,” said Saito...
HCA, nurses reach collective bargaining agreement in 5 states  Tennessean  ...HCA reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with National Nurses United that would cover almost 8,000 nurses in five states if ratified. Nurses at the 17 hospitals will vote Monday whether to accept the agreements that cover a range of work conditions, including staffing, scheduling and workplace safety...
IBEW Local 125 authorizes strike at Pacific Power  NW Labor Press  ...Workers across Northern Oregon and Southeastern Washington voted overwhelmingly Sept. 1 to reject a contract offer and authorize the union bargaining committee to call a strike at Pacific Power. BEW Local 125 represents 320 linemen, meter readers, substation wiremen and other workers at the electric utility, in a service area that extends from Astoria to Bend to Walla Walla...
Judge’s Ruling Awards $600,000 to Exploited Workers  New York Times  ...More than six years after their rescue from virtual servitude, in which they worked for little pay in a turkey processing plant while living in a decrepit Iowa schoolhouse, more than two dozen men with intellectual disabilities will share nearly $600,000 owed to them, after a federal court order issued Thursday in Dallas...
American Slavery, Reinvented  The Atlantic  ...Given the scope and scale of prison labor in the modern era, one could reasonably expect some degree of compliance with modern labor standards. However, despite the hard-won protections secured by the labor movement over the past 100 years, incarcerated workers do not enjoy most of these protections...

Social Justice & Other News
New Report Shows How Women of Color Bear the Costs of Mass Incarceration  Truthout  ...As the report emphasizes, it is overwhelming women - particularly low-income women of color, given the race and class bias of our criminal justice system - who shoulder these burdens. A recent study found that 44 percent of Black women and 12 percent of white women have a family member imprisoned...
Are Student Debt Forgiveness Scams The Next Mortgage Meltdown?  Think Progress  ...With student loan defaults on the rise, regulatory agencies are increasingly concerned about borrowers being preyed upon by student debt relief scammers. These scammers, which promise students they can cut their student loan payments by 50 percent or more, take advantage of students’ lack of knowledge about repayment options...
Pope Francis in Cuba: "The World Needs Reconciliation in This Atmosphere of a Third World War" Democracy Now  ...Ahead of his first U.S. visit, Pope Francis celebrated mass in Cuba Sunday before hundreds of thousands of worshipers in Havana’s Revolution Square. Born in Argentina, Francis is the first Latin American pope. The pope’s homily in Havana included no direct political message besides urging the successful conclusion of Colombia peace talks that have been taking place in Cuba for nearly three years...
The Media Can No Longer Pretend That Trump’s Racist Birtherism Is Old News  The Nation  ... Until last night, Trump has successfully built a great big wall to keep his ugly birther narrative from crossing into his current presidential run. His candidacy now turns on his racist immigrant-bashing. It’s not that the press has completely forgotten the birther storm, which peaked in 2011...
Hedge Fund Manager Buys Rights To Critical Drug, Hikes Price By 5000%  Alternet  ...The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars...