VIDEO: Inside unionizing Silicon Valley

The Teamsters' efforts to organize low-wage workers in the Silicon Valley at places such as Facebook and Google are getting the attention of the national media at a time when income inequality is a top concern of Americans.

This MSNBC video discusses the work of the Teamsters and other unions to organize and the growing appeal of unions nationwide. Workers are organizing because they are tired of getting the short end of the stick while companies rake in huge profits!

Support is growing for unions across the country because everyday Americans realize they are stronger when they organize together than when they stand alone. Teamster Strong makes America Stronger!

Today's Teamster News 05.14.15

Teamsters
BLET/Teamsters statement on fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia  BLET.org   ...As federal investigators in Philadelphia begin to piece together what happened leading up to the horrific Amtrak derailment that occurred on May 12, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) extends our most heartfelt sympathy to the grieving families who lost a loved one in the accident, and also to the many victims who suffered serious injuries...
Teamsters, allies voice outrage at attempts to gut truck safety laws  Teamster Nation   ...Teamsters joined forces today with safety advocates, crash victims, and law enforcement allies for a press event on Capitol Hill to speak out against proposed rollbacks of major truck safety regulations. The event was held as the Appropriations Committee considers the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill for 2016, which includes "riders" that will force truck drivers to work longer hours and drive larger, heavier trucks...
Teamsters trying to organize at north Strip hotel  CBS Las Vegas  ...The union representing Las Vegas valet workers are protesting what they say is unfair treatment at the SLS Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Strip. Teamsters Local 986 said the group and supporters protested outside SLS Monday. The union wants to organize the casino-hotel’s 50 valet employees...

Global Labor & Trade
Senate compromise revives fast-track bill, but an uphill slog looms in House  Washington Post  ...One day after Democrats defied their own president with a filibuster that temporarily blocked a key trade measure, Senate leaders said they had reached an agreement to move forward with a series of votes that would break the impasse...
Obama vs. Warren: Trade spat turns personal  Reuters  ...President Barack Obama's swing at liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren has stirred a controversy that may complicate the chances of a pan-Pacific trade pact and could make it harder for the White House to get its way in future legislative battles. Facing stiff opposition to the trade deal from sections of his own Democratic Party, Obama launched a personalized criticism of Warren's efforts to lead the fight against giving the administration "fast-track" negotiating authority...
White House changes tone on trade  The Hill  ...Knowing it has to win over more Democrats, the White House shifted its tone on the Massachusetts senator. Earnest sought to downplay the scope of the Obama-Warren rift, emphasizing they agree on a wide array of issues from Wall Street reform to raising the minimum wage, even though they disagree on trade...
Barack Obama's Battle With Senate Democrats Is Over. For Now.  National Journal   ...Of the Senate's 46 Democrats, exactly one voted Tuesday to support a bill that Obama calls vital to the economy. But then, after a day of lousy news coverage and hand-wringing about a president who couldn't even get the support of his own party, it all blew over, and things were pretty much where Obama and his aides predicted they would be heading into Monday...
Democrats yield in Senate trade deal  Politico   ...After Democrats engineered a stunning defeat of President Barack Obama’s push for new trade deals on Tuesday, negotiators hashed out a compromise that offered both parties a way to save face without scuttling the administration’s trade agenda. At the least, the agreement means the Senate is likely to pass new powers for the president to fast-track trade pacts through Congress...
Fast Track will empower GOP president, McConnell says  Washington Post   ...In an interview with John Harwood, McConnell said that Republicans should support Fast Track authority, explicitly because — and here’s the rub — it will empower the next GOP president to negotiate trade deals more easily, despite Democratic opposition to them in Congress...
The secret corporate takeover of trade agreements  (opinion) The Guardian   ...Rules and regulations determine the kind of economy and society in which people live. They affect relative bargaining power, with important implications for inequality, a growing problem around the world. The question is whether we should allow rich corporations to use provisions hidden in so-called trade agreements to dictate how we will live in the 21st century...
Egypt outlaws workers’ right to strike  Al-Monitor  ...The ruling issued April 28 by the Supreme Administrative Court headed by Judge Labib Halim to criminalize strikes and penalize striking public workers by forcing them into retirement caused an uproar in legal circles and provoked the anger of those interested in labor and human rights...
Mexican Auto Workers Fired After Protesting Sexual Harassment  In These Times  ...In March, workers on a subassembly line organized a work-to-rule slowdown. That grabbed management’s attention. A meeting was held. Management and the union agreed to handle the problem with the supervisor. “We were informed that we weren’t going to be punished for the demonstration,” said Edgar Capetillo. They were fired without explanation. All 20 of the workers were male...
Dozens Feared Dead After Fire Consumes Factory In Philippines  Common Dreams  ...At least 65 people have been reported missing or dead after a fire consumed a rubber slipper factory in a suburb of the Philippine capital of Manila on Wednesday. Rex Gatchalian, mayor of the suburb of Valenzuela where the disaster took place, reportedly said that it took fire fighters four hours to quell the blaze and bodies were found inside the building...

State & Living Wage Battles
Missouri passes right-to-work bill, but governor's veto expected  Reuters  ...Missouri Republican lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday that would stop workers from being required to join a union or pay dues, but without enough votes to override an expected veto by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon. By a 92-66 vote, the Missouri House of Representatives approved the measure that would allow Missouri to join 25 other states with "right-to-work" laws...
House to vote on Right to Work: 'It's gonna fail. It's meant to fail. And it will fail.'  Chicago Sun Times  ...“Political theater” or a “serious vote” on which legislators must take a stand. Those are the contrasting views of the Illinois House vote scheduled Thursday for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s much trumpeted right-to-work proposal...
Senate panel OKs bills to repeal prevailing wage laws  Detroit News  ...The Senate leader and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, are making the repeal legislation a major priority, although Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says he doesn’t favor it. The legislation was sent to the full Senate by its Michigan Competitiveness Committee on 4-1 votes following a hearing that lasted about one-and-a-half hours...
Facebook Just Made Sure Even Their Janitors Are Making At Least $15 An Hour  Think Progress   ...Effective May 1, the new benefits will cover contract employees who work as cooks, janitors, security guards and other support staff at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The company plans to extend the benefits to third-party vendors with more than 25 employees at its other 16 campuses in the U.S. over the next year...
Union nursing home caregivers seek 'living wage' in State House rally  Providence Journal  ...With nursing homes and hospitals facing cuts as part of Governor Raimondo's Reinventing Medicaid initiative, Ward and other union health-care workers rallied at the State House on Wednesday to call for better pay and policies that promote better care. They are seeking what they call "a living wage" of $15 an hour...
The Fight For $15 Just Won a Powerful Supporter: Governor Cuomo  The Nation   ...The 99 percent can savor a small victory, as Governor Andrew Cuomo launches a plan to raise fast food workers’ pay to up to $15 an hour in one sweeping executive action. Last week Cuomo rolled out a new Wage Board, featuring three high-profile appointees tasked with reviewing labor conditions in the industry, with a mandate to secure “honor and justice” for the state’s 200,000 fast-food workers...
L.A. City Council committee votes to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2020  LA Daily News  ...Amid a national discussion over economic inequality and following months of heated debate, Los Angeles is poised to dramatically hike the citywide minimum wage. A unanimous vote Wednesday by the seven-member Economic Development Committee laid out a series of increases over five years. Hourly pay would reach $10.50 next year, $12 by 2017, $13.25 by 2018 and $14.25 by 2019 under the plan...

U.S. Labor
Unions call attention to protracted labor negotiations with Southwest  Dallas Morning News   ...Unions representing pilots and ramp workers at Southwest Airlines sought Tuesday to call attention to their protracted labor negotiations with the Dallas-based carrier. The ramp workers, who are working under a contract that became amendable in June 2011, announced plans to picket outside Southwest’s annual meeting Wednesday in downtown Houston...
AT&T, CWA reach tentative wireline labor agreement  Fierce Telecom  ...AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have hammered out tentative agreements covering nearly 17,000 wireline employees in the Midwest. These tentative agreements cover union employees that work for AT&T Midwest and AT&T Corp...
UAW protests at Lear annual meeting  Auto News  ...The UAW protested outside Lear's annual shareholder meeting today near Detroit, calling attention to safety issues at the company's seat plants in the South. “Workers at auto parts plants nationwide are standing up and speaking out against low wages and unsafe conditions that now define far too many of America’s auto jobs," UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a statement today...
Strike energizes organized labor before contract talks  NWI Times  ...Now the strike is over. But contract talks are coming up later this year at Northwest Indiana's big steel mills and at Ford's factories just across the state line, and organized labor in the Calumet Region has a new energy. "The strike helped bring some solidarity to Northwest Indiana," USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap said...

Miscellaneous
Currently Available Technology May Have Prevented Fatal Amtrak Crash. But Congress Never Funded It.  Think Progress  ...Rather than provide the necessary funding to allow Amtrak to meet the rapidly approaching mandate, the GOP-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to cut about a fifth of Amtrak’s annual federal funds. Instead, a bill proposed in March by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) would extend the deadline for PTC implementation until December 2020...
Private Water Industry Says Water Bills "Have to Go Up"  Truthout  ...The topic that received the most attention was the nation's patchwork of rapidly deteriorating municipal water systems, which are estimated to need more than $1 trillion worth of upgrades. This, water executives said, not only represented a historic opportunity for their businesses, but could also be used as leverage to finally convince Americans to cough up more money for their tap water. It is the classic Shock Doctrine approach - turning a social crisis into a financial shakedown...
MOVE Bombing at 30: "Barbaric" 1985 Philadelphia Police Attack Killed 11 & Burned a Neighborhood  Democracy Now  ...Today marks the 30th anniversary of a massive police operation in Philadelphia that culminated in the helicopter bombing of the headquarters of a radical group known as MOVE. The fire from the attack incinerated six adults and five children, and destroyed 65 homes. Despite two grand jury investigations and a commission finding that top officials were grossly negligent, no one from city government was criminally charged...

Today's Teamster News 04.21.15

Teamsters
Longtime Union Activist Rodney Smith Helps Organize Facebook Shuttle Drivers  Contra Costa Times   ...As a union organizer for Teamsters Local 853 based in San Leandro, Smith played a key role in winning the drivers their first union contract. In the process, the father of two helped pull off a precedent-setting vote that targets the growing income gap in Silicon Valley...
Pilots Fault Allegiant on Safety as Talks Stall  New York Times   ...But Allegiant’s scrappy success is now being questioned by its pilots, who say they are worried about repeated mechanical problems with the airline’s fleet of older planes, poor maintenance operations and a culture where profits come before safety. All the claims were reported by the pilots and compiled by the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition on behalf of the pilots’ union, the Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224...
PCC unions question change on carpenters, Teamsters   Philly.com  ...Marino wrote a letter saying he would dismiss complaints - primarily on technical grounds - by the Metropolitan Council of Regional Carpenters and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which said they had been improperly shut out of work last May at the Convention Center. On Thursday, Marino reversed course, saying he would hear arguments in the case...

Global Labor & Trade
‘Fast Track’ Trade Bill Taps Tension In Ohio  Wall Street Journal   ...Rep. Tim Ryan doesn’t need to travel far from home to see the damage he ascribes to bad trade deals. “You can see how it’s hollowed out,” said the Democratic lawmaker, pointing to empty or underutilized steel plants on a recent tour of his district in northeast Ohio. “Global trade regimes aren’t fairly written if this is the end result.”...
Japan says trade talks with US are close to deal   The Hill   ...Abe said he and Obama must play a leadership role to wrap a deal and “ultimately, what needs to happen is for both countries to make a political decision” to tackle difficult remaining issues. A U.S.-Japan bilateral agreement is a major step toward completing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Progressive Coalition Tells Lawmakers: 'Don't Trade Away Our Future' with Fast Track  Common Dreams   ...With members of Congress set to debate Fast Track authority this week, hundreds of environmentalists, consumer advocates, nurses, labor leaders, and elected officials stood shoulder-to-shoulder at a Washington, D.C. rally on Monday, pleading with lawmakers: 'Don't Trade Away Our Future!'
AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka explains why labor unions hate Obama’s trade deal  Vox  ...The TPP has created some strange bedfellows: the Obama administration has found itself with many GOP allies in promoting the trade deal, while unions and liberals like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders staunchly oppose it. Vox spoke with Trumka recently about why he opposes the pact...
Don't Let TPP Gut State Laws  (opinion) Politico   ...State laws and regulators are increasingly important as gridlock in Washington makes broad federal action on important issues an increasingly rare event. From environmental protection to civil rights to the minimum wage, the action is at the state level. Ironically, one thing that may get done soon in Washington is a trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has the potential to undermine a wide range of state and local laws...
Fast Tracking Democracy To Hell  (opinion) Huffington Post   ...The Congressional free traders want to Fast Track authorization of the TPP. Fast Track enables Congress to abdicate its constitutionally mandated duty to regulate international trade. Instead of scrutinizing, amending and improving proposed trade deals, lawmakers use Fast Track to gloss over the specifics and simply vote yea or nay on the entire package as presented...

State & Living Wage Battles
Workers Allege Walmart Closes Stores To Retaliate Against Strikes  Think Progress  ...Over the weekend, the AFL-CIO and United Food & Commercial Workers International Union filed an injunction on their behalf with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Walmart. “The Board should seek injunctive relief compelling Walmart to rehire every one of the 2200 Associates who have been terminated in all 5 stores,” it says...
David Koch on 2016 GOP Nominee: ‘It Should be Scott Walker.’ But...   The Nation   ...According to several reports from a New York State Republican Party fund-raising event on Monday, David Koch told the big donors: “We will support whoever the candidate is. But it should be Scott Walker.” That sounded like an endorsement. So did what Koch said outside the Manhattan event, at which Walker also spoke. Koch hailed the governor of Wisconsin “a tremendous candidate.”...
TWMP talks Right-to-Work, the budget, and 2016   The Missouri Times   ...Senate Pro Tem Tom Dempsey joined This Week In Missouri Politics to discuss the coming budget fight and his decision to put Right-to-Work legislation on the Senate calendar for debate...
Little Momentum for National Right-to-Work, Despite Support by White House Contestants  Bloomberg News   ...Despite the backing of at least two of the three current Republican presidential candidates and similar laws in place in half the states, right-to-work legislation remains highly unlikely to move at the federal level any time soon, lawmakers and other observers told Bloomberg BNA...
Not just fast food: Full-service restaurant chains pay poverty wages, too  Daily Kos   ...Fast food isn't the only part of the restaurant industry where workers are seriously underpaid. A recent report from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United shows that many workers in full-service restaurants are also paid so little that they need and get nearly $9.5 billion in public assistance each year...
How a $15 Minimum Wage Helps All Workers   Counterpunch   ...Regardless of their reasoning, the anti-$15 workers are arguing against their own best interest, since a $15 minimum wage would benefit the overwhelming majority of people who make over $15 an hour. This is because a $15 minimum wage would transform the labor market in favor of all working people. Economists have even given a term for this phenomenon, called “compression,” which describes the effects of how rising lower wages puts pressure on employers to raise wages for higher paid workers...
New York City Just Outlawed Running Credit Checks on Job Applicants   The Nation   ...The legislation, which passed last Thursday following an extensive grassroots campaign by local and national labor and community groups, restricts a boss, prospective employer or agency from “us[ing] an individual’s consumer credit history in making employment decisions.”...

U.S. Labor
Safety Regulations Issued For Trains Carrying Oil  New York Times   ...Responding to public pressure to act more quickly after a series of fiery train derailments involving oil shipments, the Transportation Department on Friday issued a series of emergency orders, including a 40-mile-an-hour speed limit for hazardous materials moving through urban areas. The emergency rules also require railroads to provide detailed information about a shipment within 90 minutes of any derailment...
Why Can't America Have Great Trains?  National Journal   ...Along with PBS and the United States Postal Service, Amtrak is perpetual fodder for libertarian think-tankers and Republican office-seekers on the prowl for government profligacy. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush repeatedly tried to eliminate its subsidy, while Mitt Romney promised to do the same. Democrats, for their part, aren't interested in slaying Amtrak, but mostly you get the sense they just feel bad for it...
One-day teacher strikes planned this week  King5.com  ...Teachers in eight school districts, from Arlington to Blaine, announced one-day strikes this week to protest the lack of funding for public schools. They look at their act of civil disobedience as an opportunity to demand that lawmakers to fully fund public schools as mandated by a state supreme court decision, and reduce class size according to the voter approved Initiative 1351...
NLRB Upholds Howard University Docs' Union Vote  Union City   ...Resident physicians at Howard University Hospital and community leaders are calling on hospital officials to come to the table to negotiate a first contract with the residents’ union in the wake of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling upholding the union election held earlier this year, in which a majority of the 263 Howard resident physicians voted in favor of representation...

Miscellaneous
Corporate Giants Often Get Huge Tax Breaks, While Poor, Undocumented Immigrants Have Paid Billions In State Taxes  New York Daily News   ...The truth is that for corporate giants like General Electric, Verizon, Citigroup, FedEx and others, the only certainty in terms of taxes is that they contribute as little to the country’s coffers as possible. Ironically, while many of these corporate behemoths pay zero taxes, the eternally vilified undocumented immigrants in New York paid $1.1 billion in state taxes in 2012...
Senate Races In 2016 Look Poised To Set Spending Records  Washington Post   ...Yes, the 2016 presidential race will be the most expensive in history. But the battle for control of the U.S. Senate in November 2016 also looks likely to smash spending records...
How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy  The Atlantic   ...Today, the biggest companies have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them, allowing them to be everywhere, all the time. For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business...

Today's Teamster News 03.13.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Praise Lt. Governor Stack For Supporting Working Families  IBT   ...Teamsters across the state are praising Lt. Governor Mike Stack for standing strong and striking down an attempt by some lawmakers to place a stranglehold on unions...
Could The Gogama Derailment Have Been Prevented?  NewsWire   ...The Teamsters Union once again raises concerns following the third train derailment in Northern Ontario in less than a month. For years, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC)—which represents more than 12,000 railway workers—have continually stressed the need for more inspectors to be hired to see to the optimal operation of the equipment and the integrity of the tracks...
Facebook approves shuttle drivers contract  USA Today   ...Facebook and the contractor that supplies the shuttle drivers who transport the social networking giant's employees have agreed to a union-negotiated contract...
Google Shuttle Drivers To See Pay Hike, Better Benefits  San Jose Mercury News   ...The overtures come amid a growing Silicon Valley labor movement that has unionized some companies' shuttle drivers and also sought to lift up janitors, cooks, security guards and other service workers who buttress the high-tech economy. Shuttle drivers for Yahoo, Apple, Genentech, eBay and Zynga voted to join the Teamsters last month, following the lead of Facebook drivers, who joined the union in November...
Ryder Drivers In California Unionize  Materials Management and Distribution   ...Drivers with Ryder Integrated Logistics at three California locations have voted to join the Teamsters Union, gaining representation for 105 workers in one week. Eight-four drivers in Riverside and nine drivers in Fontana are now members of Teamsters Local 166 in Bloomington, California, and 12 drivers in Orange, have joined Teamsters Local 952, also located in Orange...
Time to Celebrate with Some Union Wine  Beeson Tayer & Bodine   ...Nearly 50 workers at the Constellation Brands Woodbridge Winery have joined the ranks of Teamsters Local 601. Constellation Brands is one of the largest wineries in the United States and produces some of the finest wines in California, including Ravens Wood, Toasted Head and Robert Mondavi wines...
Trade
AFL-CIO head on Obama’s trade push: ‘We are going all out to oppose it’  Washington Post   ...The head of the nation's largest labor organization on Tuesday slammed President Obama's trade push and vowed to block efforts in Congress to help the administration finalize a major free trade pact in the Asia Pacific...
Saving Obama from a Bad Trade Deal  American Prospect   ...lans to rush fast-track authority for two trade deals for a quick House and Senate vote abruptly broke down on Tuesday. The White House was hoping to put the vote to Congress as early as this week...
Elizabeth Warren Says Trade Deal May Force U.S. Payouts to Overseas Firms  Bloomberg   ...A nearly completed trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations may require U.S. taxpayers to finance settlements to multinational corporations that say U.S. regulations hurt their companies, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday...
Major U.S. Unions Step Up Battle Against TPP  Japan Times   ...The largest American labor federation says it and its affiliated unions are freezing political contributions to federal candidates “until further notice” to channel funds into labor’s intensifying battle to stop or at least help shape a proposed free trade agreement being negotiated by the U.S. and other nations that border the Pacific Ocean...
State Battles
Bill would curtail bargaining power of public sector unions in Kansas  Wichita Eagle   ...Senate Bill 179, which had a hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, would define “conditions of employment” to exclusively mean salaries and wages in future contract negotiations between state and local governments and employees. That would mean that sick leave, insurance benefits and retirement benefits, for example, would no longer be included in negotiations between municipalities and police and firefighters’ unions...
Wages Are Lower in States With These Laws  New York Times   ...Where unions are strong, compensation increases even for workers not covered by any union contract, as nonunion employers face competitive pressure to match union standards...
House Narrowly Approves Right-To-Work Bill  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...A measure prohibiting labor unions from collecting agency fees to pay for negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements was approved by the House on a 149-146 vote Wednesday. However, the bill faces a near-certain death in the Senate, which is evenly split 12-12 on the issue...
NY Assembly Democrats Propose State Budget Increasing Minimum Wage, School Aid  Syracuse Post Standard   ...Assembly Democrats on Tuesday proposed a $150.7 billion state budget they say will put families first, proposing larger increases in the minimum wage and public school aid than Gov. Andrew Cuomo did...
War on Workers
Wall Street's Yearly Bonuses Could Double the Pay for All of America's Minimum Wage Workers  New Republic   ...So how much are the wolves of Wall Street cashing in? Collectively, the report found, the employees received $28.5 billion in bonuses last year, a 3 percent jump, despite a decline in industry profits...
Union signals possible proposal coming to end U.S. refinery strike  Reuters  ...The United Steelworkers union signaled that lead refinery owner representative Shell Oil Co. may offer a possible settlement in the coming days that could end the largest refinery strike in 35 years...
Juries To Decide Landmark Cases Against Uber and Lyft  Forbes   ...Two landmark lawsuits that claim that drivers for ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft should be considered employees rather than contractors will both go to jury trial, two U.S. judges ruled Wednesday. The decisions could have a ripple effect on the business models of the burgeoning on-demand and sharing economies...
1 Worker Killed, 1 Hurt in New Mexico Oil Field Explosion  Associated Press   ...
An explosion at a New Mexico oil field site has killed one worker and injured another. Authorities say preliminary information indicates the workers were loading material into perforated pipe being installed into a drilling pipe in southern Lea County when the blast occurred Wednesday...
Why Salaries Don’t Rise (opinion)  Washington Post   ...At the root of our great pay stagnation is the appropriation by major investors of the funds that used to go to businesses’ research, modernization, expansion and workers. Full employment will certainly boost workers’ wages, but unless the power shift from workers to investors is reversed, the stagnant middle class we will always have with us...

Today's Teamster News 02.23.15

Teamsters
Facebook shuttle drivers ratify new Teamsters contract: WSJ  Reuters   … Loop Transportation, the contractor that employs the drivers and negotiated with Teamsters Local 853, cautioned that the agreement was not finalized and must be approved by Facebook...
Canadian Pacific and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference agree to binding arbitration   Transport Intelligence   …Canadian Pacific and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have agreed to enter into binding arbitration to put an end to the work stoppage by CP's locomotive engineers and conductors...
Trade
Obama to make TPP free trade sales pitch to American people  Big News Network   …US President Barack Obama on Saturday began a major sales pitch to the US public to bring them round to the merits of free trade deals, an area in which he faces stiff resistance from many in his own Democratic party...
Europeans Want TTIP Trade-Deal, though Obama Blocks Making Its Terms Public  RINF Alternative News   …TTIP is a secretly negotiated trade deal between the U.S. and the EU, and all indications are that it will replace each nation’s drug-safety, product-safety, food-safety, environmental, and worker-protection, regulations and laws, placing them into the hands of panels composed of appointees of large international corporations, no longer in the hands of publicly elected officials, no longer in the hands of elected politicians, who need to face voters periodically in order to stay in power...
State Battles
Wisconsin Could Be Right-To-Work In A Matter Of Days  Huffington Post   …It's been more than two decades since Gov. Scott Walker (R) first pushed right-to-work legislation as a state lawmaker in Wisconsin. Now, all these years later, the famously anti-union governor may finally be getting his wish -- whether he likes it or not...
Second fight over union rights comes to Wisconsin as right-to-work debate looms  Associated Press   …The first step is a public hearing Tuesday before the state Senate's Labor Committee before the Senate takes it up for debate on Wednesday...
War on Workers
Trend in Temp Workers may not be Temporary  Economic Populist   …America's third largest job creator is a temp agency called Kelly Services, which provided employment to 555,000 employees in 2014...
Ex-Im critics pounce after bank yanks data  The Hill   …Critics of the Export-Import Bank are seething over the removal from a government Web site of previously public data earlier they say helps them detect cronyism…
Amid controversy, oil trains quietly rerouted through Virginia towns  Reuters   …CSX Corp is temporarily rerouting up to five oil trains through this small riverside town to bypass the site of an explosive oil train derailment that occurred 90 miles north in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, on Monday...
Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy  Reuters   …Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed...
Will America's Shale Boomtowns Bust? A Report From the Heart of North Dakota's Fracking Country  Fortune   …After reaching a 12-month high of $108 last summer, U.S. benchmark petroleum prices have dramatically declined, to a price now hovering near $50 per barrel. That has shaken global markets and energy companies alike, causing oil producers to slash their capital expenditure budgets and announce layoffs...
Worker dies in Canton's second fatal snow-related fall in 5 days  WCVB   …A worker fell 40 feet to his death Sunday while checking the roof of a building for snow removal...

Today's Teamster News 02.22.15

Teamsters
Union and company reach contract for Facebook shuttle drivers  USA Today   …Facebook shuttle bus drivers can expect higher wages and better working conditions as part of a new contract agreement reached today. More than two-thirds of about 90 drivers voted unanimously Saturday to accept a contract negotiated by the Teamsters and South San Francisco-based Loop Transportation…
Trade
TPP accord no longer expected before April  Japan Times   …Japan and the United States had hoped the 12-member TPP talks would conclude as early as March, assuming the two countries could clinch an accord at a bilateral meeting in late February or early March. The delay reflects slow progress in U.S. congressional procedures to grant President Barack Obama trade promotion authority...
State Battles
Right-to-work effort winds around Great Lakes into Wisconsin  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   …This week, the right-to-work debate moves front and center in Wisconsin...
NEW INFORMATION: Wisconsin Senate leader lays out timeline for right-to-work  Associated Press   …Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday that a public hearing will be held Tuesday on the measure by the Senate Labor Committee. Debate will begin Wednesday in the Senate and continue until there's a vote...
Can Labor Survive Nevada's Republican Party?  The Atlantic   …For the first time in decades, the GOP controls the state's assembly, the senate, and the governor's mansion—and they're targeting unions...
Udall speaks against right-to-work, urges more funds for early ed  Santa Fe New Mexican   …U.S. Sen. Tom Udall used his pulpit during a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature on Friday to weigh in on two of the most divisive issues facing state lawmakers this session...
War on Workers
America, Land of Low Pay -- The Numbers Will Surprise You  Alternet   …Each American produced an average of $140,000 in goods in 2013, but median wages were less than $28,000. Who's getting that money?...
U.S. Oil Workers' Union Expands Biggest Plant Strike Since 1980  Bloomberg News   …The United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 U.S. oil workers, called on four more plants to join the biggest strike since 1980 as talks dragged on with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, negotiating a labor contract for oil companies...
This is the scariest chart in the American economy today  Vox   …The unemployment rate has come down a lot, but the share of unemployed workers who've been unemployed a long time is still at historic levels...
Inmates riot at Willacy County prison  Valley Star   …Complaints over medical service led about 2,000 prisoners to riot Friday at the so-called tent-city prison here, setting fire to a tent-like dome while guards fired tear gas to try to control what Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence called the prison’s worst disturbance since it opened nearly 10 years ago.Two officers and a prisoner suffered minor injuries before officials tried to settle the uprising late Friday afternoon at the Willacy County Correctional Center, said Issa Arnita, spokesman for Management & Training Corp., the Utah company that operates the low security-level prison for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons…
The Rich Benefit the Most From Tax Breaks Designed to Help People Build Wealth  Bloomberg   …The federal government spent $384 billion in 2013 on tax incentives that encourage savings, linked mainly to home ownership and retirement plans. Most of that money went to the rich...
Investment Charges When Mexico Privatized Social Security  Conversable Economist   …"Fund managers charged an average load (a fee taken as a share of account contributions at the time of contribution) of 23 percent and an annual fee on assets under management of 0.63 percent, implying that a 100-peso deposit earning a 5 percent annual real return would only be worth 95.4 pesos after five years."...
Big tech companies cause income inequality — but not in the ways you think  Pando Daily   … these companies invest huge portions of their annual revenues into buying back stock to line the pockets of shareholders, not to mention keep the bulk of global profits safely offshore and out of the reach of US tax collectors. And because stock performance is often used as a key factor in determining executive compensation, buyback schemes may also boost a CEO’s take-home pay...
Coroner: Worker dies when rock falls in Pennsylvania mine  WPXI   …ndiana County Coroner Jerry L. Overman Jr. says in a news release that the man — 29-year-old Todd Trimble of Gallitzin — was installing roof bolts at Rosebud Heilwood mine on Friday afternoon when the rock fell and he was trapped underneath...

Today's Teamster News 01.13.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Call On Apple, Yahoo, Ebay, Zynga, Genetech, Amtrak To Support Compass Trans. Drivers  teamster.org   ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
More Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Look To Unionize  USA Today   ...The Teamsters have contacted the CEOs of six Silicon Valley-area companies — Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga — to tell them that its drivers want to join a union...
Teamsters vote to authorize strike over commercials contract  Los Angeles Times   ...A contract dispute between commercial producers and Teamsters Local 399 has escalated, raising the prospect of the first Hollywood strike by the union in nearly two decades...
State, Owner Negotiate Next Steps Involving Landfill Fire  St. Louis Public Radio   ...Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services has agreed to install two temperature monitoring probes in the landfill's north quarry, near radioactive waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill. The agreement came after Attorney General Chris Koster took more legal action against Republic Services this week, out of concern that the underground fire in the landfill's south quarry might be spreading north, closer to the area of radioactivity...
Trade
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact (opinion)  truthout   ...We need to slow the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) approval process down until after the 2016 elections. After the final full terms are made public, the voters should decide this issue using our democratic electoral processes. We need this to be a campaign issue in the Senate, House and Presidential elections. It will increase voter turnout (which is good for American democracy) and give the decision real legitimacy...
State Battles
Contractors unite to fight right-to-work  Milwaukee Business Times   ...More than 300 private businesses and private-sector skilled trade representatives from across Wisconsin have joined forces to support the newly formed Wisconsin Contractor Coalition and oppose so-called right-to-work legislation...
Steven Walters: Right-to-work fight would "distract" from Walker presidential bid   Gazette Xtra   ...Controversy over any right-to-work bill wouldn't end in Wisconsin's Capitol but could undercut his all-but-announced candidacy for president...
As White House defends unions, states go on the attack  alJazeera America   ...In state legislatures around the country, newly strengthened Republican majorities are expected to push right-to-work legislation and other policy initiatives feared by the labor movemen. Wisconsin, long considered a union stronghold, will also consider right-to-work legislation this year. So might New Mexico, West Virginia and Missouri, among others...
From Awful To Calamitous: Sam Brownback’s Second Term Is Off To A Terrible Start  Salon.com   ...the anti-tax crusader has little choice but to contemplate revenue increases — and according to the Wichita Eagle, Brownback is considering a range of options, including increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, ending some exemptions for sales and income taxes, increasing sales taxes, delaying further income tax cuts, and altering his tax law’s requirement that tax rates go down further if revenue increases by more than two percent...
War on Workers
House Budget Chair Signals Big Social Security Reforms A-Coming  Talking Points Memo   ...[U.S. Rep. Tom] Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security...
United Studies Outsourcing Up To 2,000 Airport Jobs  Wall Street Journal   ...United Continental Holdings Inc. on Monday said it may outsource up to 2,000 jobs at 28 U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis and West Palm Beach, Fla., to vendors who would perform the duties at lower cost...
The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report  The Guardian   ...the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed...
Buffett’s BNSF Railway Considering Safer Oil Tank Cars  Insurance Journal   ...BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative...
DuPont Workers May Have Been Exposed to Toxic Gas for Years  Associated Press   ...Records show that employees at a Houston-area pesticide plant where a poisonous gas killed four workers in November may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years...
Miscellaneous
U.S. bus lines added routes in 2014, airline flights fell: study  Reuters   ...Stagnating middle-class incomes and the widening income gap in America have boosted business at bus companies, which cost less than flying or driving. ...[and] a significant part of the boost in bus business comes from younger Americans, who are turned off by extra security at airports and "are used to traveling on a shoestring budget."...
Barney Frank: Unions key to income equality (opinion)  Portland Press Herald   ...for capitalism to thrive, society must not have more economic inequality than is necessary; at some point too much inequality becomes economically damaging – and potentially destabilizing as well. America has been in that latter situation for more than a decade…

Today's Teamster News 12.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Denounce Inclusion of Pension Reform Bill to Omnibus Spending Bill  teamster.org   ...“Today we have seen the ugly side of political backroom dealings as thousands of retirees may have their pensions threatened by proposed legislation that reportedly includes massive benefit cuts...
Friday deadline looms in behind-the-scenes battle over truck safety  TeamsterNation   ...More people will die if Congress weakens truck safety to make the trucking industry happy. And Congress may just do that as it races to meet the Dec. 12 deadline to pass a budget bill. Teamsters are joined with safety advocates to fight an effort to let truck drivers work 82 hours a week...
More Drowsy, Overworked Truck Drivers  New York Times   ...the rider that Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, is pushing on behalf of trucking interests. This atrocious giveaway would suspend existing Department of Transportation truck safety regulations put in place in 2012 following a lengthy, transparent and data-driven process to make sure truck drivers get sufficient rest when operating on the nation’s highways...
Booker fights to keep sleep rules for truckers  Newark Star Ledger   ...A giant spending bill needed to fund the U.S. government past Thursday also could suspend rules governing when truckers can be behind the wheel, an effort drawing from opposition from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others...
Teamsters Urge Facebook To Boost Pay For Shuttle Drivers  USA Today   ...In a letter obtained by USA TODAY, Teamsters official Rome Aloise called on Zuckerberg to amend Facebook's contract with Loop Transportation, the contractor who employs the drivers, to allow for improved wages...
Hoffa To Congress: Stop Bailout For UPS, Protect Retiree Benefits  teamster.org   ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today wrote a letter that was sent to the Congressional leadership and circulated to all members of Congress, expressing strong opposition to proposed legislation that would result in a $2 billion bailout of United Parcel Service (UPS)...
Teamsters At Las Vegas Hotel Ratify First Contract  teamster.org   ...The workers ratified their five-year contract by a vote of 23 to 3 on December 8, 2014. The group includes warehouse workers, groundskeepers and valets. The Cromwell, the only boutique hotel on the Strip, was built as the Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino and was later know as Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon...
Leslie Marshall Show Features Teamsters Fight At NetJets  teamster.org   ...More than 600 Teamster members are currently in a fight for fair wages and benefits from NetJets, an airline for the global super-rich. Paul Alves, a Teamsters Airline Division representative, talks with Leslie Marshall about that fight and what it means for Teamsters who work hard, transporting multi-millionaires and billionaires and their pampered pets...
Ed O’Neill: An Interview With a Modern Family Man and Union Guy  Capital and Main   ...So, I’ve always been, in my heart of hearts,  a teamster, a union guy...
Trade
Americans Protest Against TPP, Too  Free Malaysia Today   ...An hour of noisy protests ensured that chief negotiators involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks today were aware of growing US public opposition to the trade agreement and the dim prospects that US President Barack Obama will obtain Fast Track trade authority, Public Citizen said...
Got a T-Shirt? Chances Are Child Labor Was Involved  AFL-CIO Blog   ...Cotton production involves the most child labor and forced labor in the world, according to the 2014 “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs...
State Battles
WMC agenda includes right-to-work, tax breaks for the rich, unfettered frac sand mining  The Capital Times   …The state's biggest business lobby has laid out its legislative agenda for tax breaks, union busting and frac sand mining, and Republican lawmakers are lining up to carry it out...
Kentucky’s right to work movement changing battlefields (opinion)  The Courier-Journal   ...Republicans failed to capture control of Kentucky’s state House of Representatives in November’s election, putting the conservative goal of passing a statewide right-to-work law out of reach for at least another two years...
UAW certified to represent VW workers in Tennessee  Detroit Free Press   …An accounting firm has certified that the UAW represents more than 45% of Volkswagen workers, giving the union the ability to meet with the automaker's management on a regular basis….
Senate Panel Approves Atlantic City Financial Rescue Plan  Press of Atlantic City   ...A New Jersey Senate committee Monday approved a rescue plan designed to fix Atlantic City’s fiscal crisis by providing a stable source of casino payments to support the declining tax base...
$15 Minimum Wage Could Be On Tacoma Ballot In 2015  News Tribune   ...Tacoma could be the state’s latest battleground for a $15 minimum wage...
Florida Minimum Wage To Top $8 As Debate Grows  Florida Today   ...The automatic increase of 12 cents an hour, recalculated by law each year based on the federal Consumer Price Index, will increase the state minimum wage to $8.05 in January, up from $7.93. Voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment aimed at annual minimum-wage hikes...
War on Workers
Supreme Court: Amazon need not pay workers for security check time  cnet   …The justices say theft prevention screening isn't integral to warehouse employees' jobs, so Amazon doesn't have to provide compensation...
The Battle Over Working Time: A Countermovement Against Neoliberalism  American Prospect   ...Fast Food workers, taxi drivers, port truckers, Wal-Mart employees, car washers, Fed Ex freight truck drivers and many health-care workers are all organizing unions...
Big Job Gains and Rising Pay in Labor Data  New York Times   …employers added 321,000 jobs in November, a much stronger number than economists had predicted and the 10th consecutive month of net job gains above 200,000. Even more significant was that the improving job market finally delivered a sharp jump in average hourly earnings for ordinary workers that was double the anticipated 0.2 percent increase…
Wages Are Finally Rising, But America Still Needs A Big Raise  Washington Post   ...Increased productivity, in other words, has gone to increased profits instead of increased wages. The result, as you can see, is a big gap between how much workers are making now and how much they would have been making if wages had grown the 4 percent-a-year that they should have...
Miscellaneous
US Court Extends NSA Surveillance Rules In Current Form  Computer World   ...A U.S. secret court has extended the authorization of the National Security Agency to continue surveillance of phone records in its current form after a reform bill ran into difficulties in the Senate...

Today's Teamster News 11.22.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Win Midwest Seniority Case For Flight Attendants  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 135 prevailed in the Midwest Seniority Integration Arbitration on November 18, when labor arbitrator Homer C. La Rue found the Teamsters’ proposal to be the most “fair and equitable” method to integrate Republic and former Midwest flight attendants...
North Las Vegas Mayor, City Workers Come Together In Support Of Teamsters Local 14  teamster.org   ...Over 150 city workers gathered Thursday morning in front of City Hall to join Mayor John Lee in a show of support for Teamsters Local 14, recognizing the hard work and leadership the union played in averting the City of North Las Vegas from state takeover...
Teamsters Joint Council 16 Statement On Immigration Action  teamster.org   ...“Teamsters know that our diversity gives us strength. When our brothers and sisters demand justice and respect, we stand with them...
Labor Remains Strong In The Bay Area (opinion)  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Drivers are fed up with the long days behind the wheel and time spent waiting between runs. By a 43-to- 28 margin, they voted to go with the Teamsters. A contract comes next, and possible organizing drives for other tech bus drivers among the dozen or more companies that offer shuttle service...
Three Trucking Companies Picketed By Drivers Agree To Negotiate In Dispute At Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports  Daily Breeze   ...Three of five trucking companies targeted this week by picketing drivers serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have agreed to discuss labor disagreements and to “resolve outstanding issues” with their drivers...
Bridgeton Landfill Odor Concerns Grow As Weather Turns Colder  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...A new report shows that odor filters installed by the landfill’s owner Republic Services over the summer were only partially effective at reducing the smells...
Sysco Set To Merge With Biggest Rival In Billion Dollar Deal  New York Post   ...Sysco, the country’s biggest food distributor, is closing in on a deal to win regulatory approval for its $3.5 billion acquisition/merger with closest rival US Foods, The Post has learned. The company is in advanced talks to sell some assets to Blackstone Group-owned Performance Food Group...
Trade
Activists Worldwide Rally Against the TPP  Public Citizen   ...The groups also launched an online campaign resulting in thousands of calls and hundreds of thousands of e-mails to Members of Congress urging them to vote “No” on Fast Track. Across the country, 20 rallies and town halls brought the anti-Fast Track message to lawmakers’ home districts...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Fades As A Top Priority For Some GOP Governors  Wall Street Journal   ...Both Wisconsin and Ohio have already had bruising fights over public sector unions. At the start of his first term, Mr. Walker pushed through a law ending most collective-bargaining rights for government employees in Wisconsin, eventually leading to his recall. Ohio lawmakers passed similar legislation, only to have it overturned in a statewide vote...
SF Taxi Drivers Promise A Repeat Of Airport Protest  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Taxi operators complain that the newcomers are barely regulated while the ride services argue that the cab industry was a monopoly in need of a shakeup...
Utah Considers Cutting Off Water To The NSA’s Monster Data Center  Wired   ...The legislation, proposed by Utah lawmaker Marc Roberts, is due to go to the floor of the Utah House of Representatives early next year, but it was debated in a Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee meeting on Wednesday. The bill, H.B. 161, directs municipalities like Bluffdale to “refuse support to any federal agency which collects electronic data within this state.”...
War on Workers
Walmart Dodges Taxes While Its Employees Starve  Gawker   ...Two new reports today about Walmart, the world's top provider of crap. One points out that Walmart is a tax dodger; the other points out that Walmart worsens our national hunger crisis. A banner day for Walmart!...
Five Ugly Decades of Middle-Class Wages in America  Wolf Street   ...We thus get a hypothetical number for average weekly wages of this middle-class cohort, currently at $700 — well below its $827 peak back in the early 1970s...
Uber Slammed For Tracking Riders Without Permission  New York Post   ...Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any worse for Uber, the taxi-hail app finds itself in the middle of a spying scandal. Reports that Uber employees have tracked riders’ whereabouts without their permission — and for seemingly no good reason — has users rethinking their relationship with the $17 billion startup...
Worker killed in forklift accident  Brandon Sun   ...A 34-year-old Oakbank man died in an industrial accident Friday morning in the RM of Springfield just outside Winnipeg...
Another NY Dairy Farm Worker Dies; Voluntary Safety Enforcement Isn't Working (opinion)  Syracuse Post-Standard   ...On Nov. 9, a dairy farm worker was pulled into the auger of a grain silo and lost his life...His death is the most recent in a string of fatalities on dairy farms in New York state in less than two years...
Calgary construction worker killed after wall collapses on him  Journal of Commerce   ... a 60-year man was working with a demolition crew dismantling a brick building on 28th Street in northeast Calgary Thursday afternoon when a portion of the wall collapsed on top of him...

Today's Teamster News 11.20.14

Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In Charlotte Vote To Join Teamsters Local 71  teamster.org   ... A group of 222 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Charlotte, N.C., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 71...
Sysco And Us Foods Teamsters Protest Sysco Shareholders Meeting  teamster.org   ...Teamsters employed at Sysco and US Foods protested outside Sysco’s shareholders meeting today to demand answers to tough questions from the company’s Board of Directors about its proposed purchase of US Foods and the impact on thousands of jobs...
Facebook Drivers Vote To Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ... Drivers who shuttle Facebook employees to and from the company headquarters in Menlo Park., Calif., have voted in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Yonkers, Teamsters employees agree to new 10-year contract  MidHudson News   ...The City of Yonkers and Teamsters Local 456 have agreed to a new 10-year contract for city employees. The pack, supported by 80 percent of the union’s membership, is retroactive to 2009 and will expire in 2018, Mayor Michael Spano announced Wednesday...
Trade
Conservatives and Liberals Agree, TPP Hates Your Freedom (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...This supposed trade deal has far-reaching legal implications for our nation and beyond but it has been negotiated in secret without oversight from Congress or the American People...
Obama Is Pushing Two Giant Trade Deals — Here’s What You Need to Know  Campaign for America's Future   ...only eight House Democrats are on record as favoring fast-track. On the other side of the aisle, as I noted in January, the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,” and is warning, in the words of one “analyst” on the Tea Party News Network, that TPP is a “weapon aimed straight at our Constitution, straight at our sovereignty and straight at Christians around the world.”...
State Battles
S.F. Supervisors Vote 10-0 To Approve "Bill Of Rights" For Formula Retail Workers  San Francisco Business Journal   ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers will have more predictable schedules and more opportunities for full-time work under two ordinances passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday...
Voter ID Laws Scrutinized For Impact On Midterms  New York Times   ...In North Carolina, early voting was cut by seven days. In Kansas, 22,000 people were stopped from registering to vote because they lacked proof of citizenship. And in Texas, Democrats say the country’s toughest voter ID law contributed to a one-term congressman’s losing a tight race to his Republican rival....
Unions Aren't The Problem For Alabama Workers (opinion)  Montgomery Advertiser   ...union workers earn nearly $4 more per hour than non-union workers for the same work. They have significantly better benefits and retirement plans. And they receive raises and bonuses more frequently. Additionally, unions keep the gap between worker pay and CEO pay closer and they reduce the amount of tax dollars spent on employee training and re-training, because the unions usually ensure its members are properly trained...
Report That Poverty Declined Under Brownback Was Misleading  WIBW   ...A state agency acknowledges it sent out a news release shortly before November's election that incorrectly claimed poverty in Kansas had declined under Gov. Sam Brownback's administration...
UC tuition-hike plan advances, but debate just beginning  San Jose Mercury News   ...University of California regents voted Wednesday to raise tuition annually for the next five years if the state doesn't give the system more funding, making an aggressive -- if wildly unpopular -- first move in a high-stakes state-funding fight...
War on Workers
Push To Protect Immigrant Farm Workers  Wall Street Journal   ...Farm workers and some agriculture industry officials are making a last-minute push for President Barack Obama to include protections for undocumented agricultural workers in his new immigration policy, worried that the pending executive action may be the last opportunity to change immigration rules for a while...
Amazon Worker Forces Changes As Labor Board Settles Claim  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...the settlement requires the online retailer to post notices at its fulfillment centers notifying employees that they have the right to form unions and work with each other for collective benefits...
Senate Report Criticizes Goldman and JPMorgan Over Their Influence in Commodities Market  New York Times   ...A two-year Senate-led investigation is throwing back the curtain on the outsize and sometimes hidden sway that Wall Street banks have gained over the markets for essential commodities like oil, aluminum and coal...
Walmart Workers Rally in "Global Day of Action for Decent Work"  truthout   ...On November 19, Walmart workers in 10 countries are holding demonstrations to highlight the company's poor labor practices from its retail stores throughout the entire supply chain, and to call for a living wage for Walmart's global workforce and countless supply chain workers...
Tracy Morgan Fighting To Recover From ‘Severe Brain Injury,’ Lawyer Says  New York Times   ...A Walmart truck slammed into a limo van that was carrying Mr. Morgan and several friends on their way back from a show in Delaware. One person was killed, and three others were injured, two seriously. Mr. Morgan, 46, spent several weeks in a hospital and in rehabilitation...
Chesapeake police ID worker killed in accident  Associated Press   ...Chesapeake police have identified a worker who died after he was run over by truck. Officer Kelly O'Sullivan tells media outlets that 47-year-old Nouel Fallejo of Virginia Beach was working on the truck...
Lawsuit settlement in death of film worker in Ga.  Associated Press   ... The family of a film worker killed when she was hit along train tracks while shooting a biographical movie about singer Gregg Allman announced a settlement Wednesday with several defendants...
West Texas worker killed under semitrailer  Associated Press   ...Authorities in West Texas say a worker has died after being crushed under a semitrailer that he was working on...
Miscellaneous
Bill To Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked In Vote By Senate Republicans  New York Times   ...Tuesday’s vote only put off until next year a debate over security and personal liberties. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of reforms that were in the bill, which sponsors had named the U.S.A. Freedom Act, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings...

Today's Teamster News 11.19.14

Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards  teamster.org   ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook  teamster.org   ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union  Associated Press   ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday  Troy Messenger   ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises  Tampa Bay Times   ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade  The Hill   ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator  Reuters   ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances  Washington Post   ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan.  Lansing State Journal   ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings  Associated Press   ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study  Reuters   ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street  New York Times   ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists  BuzzFeed   ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record  KWQC   ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror  Salon.com   ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job  Associated Press   ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline  Associated Press   ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...

For a living wage and a union, California bus drivers rally and port drivers strike

Today in California truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach extended their strike to two more companies as Facebook shuttle drivers rallied in the Bay area. Both groups of drivers want better lives, higher wages and a union.

Striking port truck drivers today in Los Angeles

Teamsters and striking port drivers expanded their picket lines to rail yards serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport to try to disrupt cargo distribution before Black Friday.

The strike, which began Thursday, kicked off another season of short sudden strikes. On the same day the port drivers walked off the job in Los Angeles, hundreds of striking federal contract workers marched on Capitol Hill to demand a $15 minimum wage and a union. Back in California, Walmart workers staged their first-ever sit-down strike in a Crenshaw store, refusing to move for two solid hours. The action was livestreamed and can be seen here.

The port truck drivers and Facebook shuttle drivers are leading a wave of worker resistance to the unequal distribution of the nation's growing wealth. They are fighting on many fronts: against wage theft, against misclassification, against disruptive schedules, against dangerous working conditions and against retaliation for trying to form a union.

The port truck driver strike is starting to have an impact, according to Justice for LA/LB Port Drivers spokesperson Barb Maynard. Maynard said two companies that said they wouldn't sit under the same roof with the Teamsters are now sitting down and negotiating ... with the Teamsters.

According to CBS Los Angeles.

Drivers intend to follow trucks from Pacer and HRT to customer locations, including the rail yards, and picket the trucks while they are working at those locations. 

Truck drivers at the port have been walking off the job since the summer over their classification as independent contractors. The drivers want better pay and benefits and work place protections. 

“The truck drivers are already tired. They’re fed up with the abuse, they’re fed up with the injustice and they’re tired of the disrespect they’re giving us,” driver Alex Paz said.

Farther north, Facebook shuttle drivers, Teamsters and supporters rallied along with local officials such as Daly City Mayor David Canepa, San Mateo City Council Member David Lim, Maria Fernandez from Working Partnerships USA and Teamsters Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise. Ralliers demanded Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urge the drivers' employer, Loop Transportation, to recognize the Teamsters as their representative.

After the rally, supporters marched a petition with 5,000 signatures to Zuckerberg, who refused to accept it. 

Aloise tweeted:

Rome Aloise ‏@ibtrome 5h5 hours ago
Proof that Facebook is behind Loops antiunion stance Facebook refused to allow us to deliver over 5000 signatures urging them to be fair.