Today's Teamster News 12.11.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters, Activists Deliver Thousands of Signed Petitions to UPS Calling for Withdrawal from ALEC  Teamster.org  ...Today, Teamsters Union representatives in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Ga. led delegations that included environmental and community activists that delivered thousands signed petitions to UPS offices in both cities. The 75,000 signed petitions collected call on the corporation to withdraw its membership in the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Hoffa: Final Customs Bill Offers Little More to Make TPP Better for Workers  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the issuance of a House-Senate conference report on a customs reauthorization bill that does little to address the many shortfalls contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): “If leaders in Congress were trying to come up with a way to make trade fair for American workers and those around the globe, they failed miserably"...
Drivers at Transdev Vote to Join Teamsters Local 117  Local 117  ...Drivers, who are employed by Transdev, have voted to join Teamsters Local 117. The 260 workers came together seeking retirement security, affordable health care, fair and equal treatment, strong representation, and respect. “We’ve taken a very important step toward making our work environment better for the future,” said John Secord, a 4-year Transdev employee...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Paris Transport Workers Strike Amid Spike In Suspicious Package Claims  IBTimes  ...Less than a month since the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 and fueled international concerns over security, Paris transport workers are expressing their concerns for their own safety. Workers went on a 24-hour strike Thursday, saying security concerns have increased as a result of a high number of suspicious packages being reported on Paris public transportation, the Agence France-Presse reported. Passengers in Paris reported severely disrupted train traffic...
McConnell deals blow to Obama TPP hopes  The Hill  ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday crushed any hope that Congress could pass a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement before the 2016 elections. McConnell, who has expressed concerns about the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and has yet to take a stance, said President Obama is risking defeat of his signature trade deal if he tries to push for passage before a lame-duck session next year...
Honduras and CAFTA Show Us One of the Key Reasons Why TPP Should Be Opposed  (opinion) AFLCIO  ...This week, the governments of Honduras and the United States signed an action plan to begin addressing the widespread failure to enforce labor laws in Honduras. While this is a small step in the right direction, the Honduran government has not fully considered or included workers' recommendations regarding this Monitoring and Action Plan. The Honduran government, employers and unions have reached consensus on some points...
Portugal's new anti-austerity government makes more spending cuts in battle to lower deficit  Star Tribune  ...Portugal's new anti-austerity Socialist government has hit a snag: it needs to introduce more cutbacks to keep its pledge of getting the budget deficit lower than 3 percent this year, as demanded by its eurozone partners and creditors. Finance Minister Mario Centeno said after a Cabinet meeting Thursday the government is imposing a freeze on non-urgent spending...
Tunisian Unions Receive Nobel Prize in Ceremony Today  Solidarity Center  ...,The Nobel Peace Prize was formally awarded today to the Tunisian “Quartet,” which includes the country’s labor movement for its role in brokering a peaceful path to democracy. At a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, Houcine Abassi, general secretary of the Tunisian General Labor Union (Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail, UGTT) said, “Tunisia is an exception so far in the Arab Spring countries, but this doesn’t mean that it may not be replicated in other countries”...
How Climate Change Will Transform Work  The Nation  ...The term “green economy” danced around the corridors at the Paris climate talks, evoking visions of electric cars and “clean tech.” But “decarbonization” is a messier story in the Global South. Workers in the rapidly warming “developing world” need more than wind turbines and highbrow organic farms; they need to build livelihoods that can mitigate ecological crisis—and leap ahead of the dominant fossil-fuel based economies, which historically have both controlled and stifled their development...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Connecticut Legislature Approves Budget Cuts  Wall Street Journal  ...Lawmakers in Connecticut on Tuesday approved a $350 million plan to address a shortfall in the state’s budget. The state Senate, controlled by Democrats, passed the bill 20-15. The House of Representatives, also controlled by Democrats, passed it 75-65. The plan cuts spending by $195.8 million and diverts $135.7 million from several specialized accounts, including the transportation fund...
Senate moves Pennsylvania budget fight into House's court  WTAE  ...The Pennsylvania Senate sprinted through hundreds of pages of just-unveiled budget legislation Thursday, handing it back to the House Republican majority and all but ensuring that a five-month stalemate that is crippling social services agencies would plow into next week. The Republican-controlled Senate adjourned Thursday night after a marathon week of passing major bills that authorize $30.8 billion in spending...
California pension overhaul advocates move forward after Kamala Harris issues analyses  Sac Bee  ...California moved one step closer to a public retirement fight after the state issued official summaries for two pension-change ballot proposals on Thursday – and for the first time neither labor unions nor the measures’ proponents griped that the language was politically slanted or inaccurate. “It’s not the most positive way to describe the initiative,” said Chuck Reed, the former San Jose mayor who is backing the proposal...

‘Right to work’ a tired, failed proposal  (opinion) Cincinnati.com  ...Here in Ohio, a broad coalition of working people is mobilizing against yet another attack on collective bargaining. Even though “right to work” has failed repeatedly in the past, Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, is pushing a new bill in the statehouse. It’s an effort to keep middle-class Ohioans from speaking up together for wages and benefits that can sustain our families...

Tucson talks of requiring paid sick leave from employers  Arizona Daily Star  ...The City Council is studying a proposal to require all Tucson employers to give earned sick days to employees, but the issue got off to a shaky start. Councilwoman Regina Romero proposed a city ordinance Tuesday making sick time mandatory as part of a “working family agenda,” but the discussion got heated and turned to whether the city can spend time on social justice issues while it’s trying to get its own fiscal house in order...

U.S. LABOR
Uber drivers get big boost in lawsuit against company  SF Chronicle  ...In a major setback for Uber, a federal judge on Wednesday dramatically expanded the scope — both in potential financial damages and in the number of people affected — of a class-action lawsuit by California drivers seeking to be reclassified as employees. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that even drivers who accepted mandatory arbitration in their Uber contract should be included in the case...
Negotiations Resume Between Kohler Company, Striking Workers  CBS  ...Negotiations resumed between Kohler company and union officials on Thursday, according to UAW Local 833 members. The 2,000 striking employees got their final paycheck at the end of last week from the company. Some will also have their vacation time paid out, members said...
Suburban office janitors rally for $15 wage as contract expiration looms  Business Journal  ...Dozens of janitors who staff more than 150 suburban Philadelphia office buildings called for a wage that would give their children a Christmas they deserve in a demonstration Thursday outside Vanguard's Malvern offices. Members of the 32BJ Service Employees International Union want the owners of the approximately 170 properties in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties to agree to raise their wage...
D.C. Streetcar Management Found Guilty of Threatening Workers  DC Labor  ...As news surfaced that the beleaguered DC Streetcar will not be ready this year and an exposé showed that the project has drained more than $200 million in taxpayer funds, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the private DDOT contractor charged with operating the streetcar engaged in illegal anti-union activity, including threatening workers who wanted to join a union. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) says the decision is a legal victory...
The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class  NPR  ...Americans have long lived in a nation made up primarily of middle-class families, neither rich nor poor, but comfortable enough. This year, that changed, according to the Pew Research Center. A just-released analysis of government data shows that as of 2015, middle-income households have become the minority...
Proposed House and Senate Bills Would Roll Back New Worker Protections in Guestworker Program  In These Times  ..After years of legal battles, the H-2B guestworker program finally acquired official rules in April. For the first time, workers in the program were guaranteed basic protections like minimum hours and local average wages. But now those rules are being challenged in several Congressional bills. The proposed bills could dramatically alter the program, cutting protections for U.S. and foreign workers alike...

UC Berkeley Workers, Students Say University’s Subcontracted Campus Jobs Mean Poverty Wages  In These Times  ...Twenty-two student protesters were arrested on December 3 after staging a two-hour occupation of the central administration offices at the University of California, Berkeley. The protesters stormed California Hall, where school head Chancellor Nicholas Dirks is headquartered, and sat down in the office lobby demanding living wages and benefits for workers employed by private contractors on campus...

After Laquan McDonald’s Shooting, Chicago Targets Police Contract Protections  Mother Jones  ...The Fraternal Order of Police contract with the city shapes how Chicago handles police misconduct allegations, disciplines rank-and-file officers, as well as when the city pays legal costs for police officers accused of wrongdoing. While activists have long called for changes to the contract, many people in local government have not been eager to take on that fight—until now...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Report Shows How Charter Schools Are in Business of 'Privatization and Profiteering'  Common Dreams  ...The explosion of charter schools in the U.S. is allowing individuals, corporations, and organizations to use public funds to secure their own financial gain and private profit—often at the expense of the common interest they claim to serve, a new policy brief from the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder finds...
Immigration official: Etowah immigration detainee hunger strike over  AL.com  ...A hunger strike by immigration detainees at the Etowah County Detention Center that began the day before Thanksgiving has ended, immigration officials say. Bryan Cox, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said eight detainees ate the evening meal Wednesday and "voluntarily ended their strike." "As of today the Etowah hunger strike is over," Cox said Wednesday...
Climate Apartheid: Greenpeace Chief Says Poorest Suffer Brunt of Rich Nations' Emissions  Democracy Now  ...Representatives from nearly 200 nations are in the final stretch of negotiations at the U.N. climate summit in Paris. The text has nearly 100 outstanding points of disagreement that still need to be resolved. One of the most contentious issues is the role that wealthy and more advanced developing countries should play in helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of climate change...
Poll: Majority of Americans oppose Trump's Muslim ban plan  Daily Kos  ...Poll: Majority of Americans oppose Trump's Muslim ban plan. There are sharp differences by political party. Just over half of Republicans responding -- 54 percent -- support such a ban, while most Democrats and independents do not...
Hundreds of U.S. Groups Join Forces to Stand Against 'Dangerous Tide of Hatred, Violence'  Common Dreams  ...It is incumbent on every public figure, elected politician, and media outlet to stand up against the "dangerous tide of hatred, violence, and suspicion" taking hold in the United States, over 700 prominent organizations and people declared in a full-page ad in Thursday's New York Times. Signatories warn that, in particular, violence is aimed at "Arab and Muslim Americans, women and the places we seek health care, Black people, immigrants and refugees...
A Guilty Verdict for Daniel Holtzclaw  The Atlantic  ...An Oklahoma County jury handed down a series of guilty verdicts on Thursday night in the trial of former Oklahoma City Police Department officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who allegedly raped and sexually assaulted at least 13 black women in the neighborhood he patrolled. Holtzclaw, who turned 29 years old on Thursday, faced 36 charges in total...

Today's Teamster News 10.05.15

TEAMSTERS
Hoffa Says Tenuous TPP Agreement Does Not Listen to Workers' Concerns  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to trade officials reaching an agreement on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal which would lead to thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas and unsafe food and products flooding our store shelves. “Bum trade deals like NAFTA have killed upwards of 1 million U.S. jobs, many of which moved abroad. And that’s the concern with the looming TPP"...
Don't break faith with workers on multiemployer pension plans: Marcy Kaptur and James P. Hoffa  (opinion) Cleveland Plain Dealer  ...This year, as we celebrate its 41st anniversary, ERISA's pension protections are crumbling. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury Department held a hearing in Washington, D.C., on finalizing a rule that opens the door to significant pension cuts including for current retirees. More than 100 retirees traveled to Washington, D.C., at their own expense to protest, and dozens spoke out against the rule at the hearing...
Union Continues Fight for CVS Pharmacists’ Breaks  Local 727  ...Teamsters Local 727 representatives continue to fight to ensure CVS pharmacist members are no longer denied their breaks and meal periods. Earlier this year, the union filed a grievance on behalf of all members for the company’s denial of uninterrupted breaks and meal periods. CVS management refused to work with the union to resolve the grievance, so Local 727’s legal department is taking the case to arbitration...
Strike, protests could happen for tech bus drivers, union warns  SF Gate  ...A union representing tech bus drivers warned members to prepare to strike if their employer, Compass Transportation, refuses to budge on giving them better health care benefits and more holidays. The drivers shuttle employees for large companies, including Apple, Genentech, Yahoo, eBay, PayPal and Evernote, and are represented by the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters Demand Reinstatement of Haitian Worker Unfairly Dismissed From Heineken Plant  Teamsters Canada  ...On September 1st, Wilson Celiné, an employee of Brasserie Nationale d’Haïti, showed up for work as usual, only to be handed a dismissal letter. Hired as a maintenance technician in 2006 by this subsidiary of multinational Heineken International, this engineer by profession and labour activist incurred the wrath of his employer by participating in a union activity and filing a complaint...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Is Reached  New York Times   ...The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations on Monday agreed to the largest regional trade accord in history, a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 percent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia. The Trans-Pacific Partnership still faces months of debate in Congress...
Officials Reach Deal On Trans-Pacific Partnership  Reuters   ...Pacific trade ministers have reached a deal on the most sweeping trade liberalization pact in a generation that will cut trade barriers and set common standards for 12 countries, an official familiar with the talks said on Monday. Leaders from a dozen Pacific Rim nations are poised to announce the pact later on Monday. The deal could reshape industries and influence everything from the price of cheese to the cost of cancer treatments...
Sanders blasts ‘disastrous’ Obama trade deal  The Hill  ...Sen. Bernie Sanders labeled a new trade deal finalized by the Obama administration on Monday as “disastrous,” and said he would work to defeat it. Sanders, the Vermont senator leading Hillary Clinton in polls of New Hampshire, said the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal will lead to the loss of U.S. jobs, adding he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the decision to complete it. “Wall Street and other big corporations have won again,” Sanders said...
TPP Would Include Auto Market Opening for Japan  New York Times  ...A U.S.-Japan agreement on autos trade as part of a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal would have its own dispute settlement mechanism, including penalties, if Japan does not open its market enough to U.S. vehicles, a source close to the negotiations said on Friday. Negotiators are working to finalize a trade deal which would stretch from Japan to Peru and autos trade has been one of a few remaining and politically charged sticking points...
If There Really Is a Final TPP Deal: Can It Pass Congress? When Does Congress Get to See a Final Text?  Citizen.org  ...If there really is a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, its fate in Congress is highly uncertain given the narrow margin by which trade authority passed this summer, the concessions made to get a deal, and growing congressional and public concerns about the TPP’s threats to jobs, wages, safe food and affordable medicines and more...
Australia, US reach trade compromise  Business Review  ...The US and Australia are in agreement on an elaborate compromise within the Trans-Pacific Partnership to protect the intellectual property of complex drugs known as biologics, according to industry officials and an organisation following the talks. Under the bilateral deal, whose exact language is believed to be incomplete, countries in the trade bloc would have an alternative of either providing eight years of exclusivity to biologic drugs, or providing five years of so-called data exclusivity...
Three million people across Europe call for TTIP to be scrapped  Economic Voice  ...A Europe-wide petition calling for a halt to the trade deals being negotiated between the EU and the USA and Canada has reached three million signatures in the space of one year, days before it will be delivered to the European Commission in Brussels. Over 500,000 of the signatures that had been collected were from people resident in the UK. This morning 3,007,065 had signed the petition...
Anti-austerity protesters march in Manchester  The Guardian  ...Tens of thousands of people have joined an anti-austerity protest in Manchester on the opening day of the Conservative party conference, voicing opposition to policies including spending and benefit cuts, NHS reforms and restrictions on trade unions. Up to 60,000 people are said to have joined the demonstration, which was largely peaceful...
South Africa Coal Wage Strike Starts With No Dialog Planned  Bloomberg  ...The largest labor union at South Africa’s biggest coal producers said no meetings are planned with the companies after a wage strike started on Sunday night. “Our members have downed tools and supported our call for a strike,” Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents about 30,000 staff in the sector, said by phone on Monday. No meetings are scheduled with producers, including Anglo American Plc, Glencore Plc and Exxaro Resources Ltd., he said...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Wisconsin’s Voter ID Law Back In Court For Discriminating Against Students And Veterans  Think Progress  ...Wisconsin once again has to defend its voter ID law in federal court, this time responding to a challenge to the law’s exclusion of veterans’ IDs, technical college IDs, and out-of-state drivers’ licenses. Staff attorney Sean Young with the American Civil Liberties Union will argue before the federal district court in Milwaukee on Monday, asking them to allow these alternative IDs to be added to the state’s strict list of acceptable documents...
Tough voter ID rules pull Kansas into multiple lawsuits  Salina Journal  ...Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s successful push to require new Kansas voters to document their U.S. citizenship has spawned three lawsuits, including one he pursued against a federal agency in trying to enforce the policy. Kansas is one of only four states that make new voters show a birth certificate, passport or other citizenship papers. The Kansas requirement took effect in 2013...

Right-to-work issue prompts push in Republican Party  Joplin Globe  ...In the wake of the right-to-work fight in Missouri this year, some conservative business leaders and organizations have launched a two-pronged push that, if successful, could bring changes to the state's work environment, its education and legal systems, and more. But some Republicans fear one part of that push could end up dividing the party...
Prevailing wage backers push for public vote on repeal  Detroit News  ...The best chance advocates have to save a Michigan law that promises better wages on public works projects is if Republican legislators ignore a petition initiative and instead let voters decide the fate of prevailing wage. The 50-year-old statute requires workers on state-financed government construction projects to be paid local wage and benefit rates, which are based on union contracts...
Koch Brothers Backing Misleading Anti-Solar Campaign in Florida  Truthout  ...The Koch brothers and utility giants are bankrolling a ballot initiative in Florida to block the development of home solar and to protect the utilities' continuing oligopoly on energy generation in the Sunshine State. Solar is booming in the U.S., with a thirty percent increase in generation in 2014, but surprisingly it's facing an uphill battle in Florida...
Brown proposes paid sick leave  Journal-News  ...Federal legislation introduced last month would mandate employers provide some form of sick days, to use to heal or to care for a sick family member. While some business professionals understand the need, they say it may not be practical. Congress is considering the Healthy Families Act, a bill that’s being pushed by 30 senators in the Senate, including Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio...
Lawsuit Against St. Louis Minimum Wage Hike In Court Tomorrow  CBS  ...It’s business versus the city in court tomorrow. St. Louis is 10 days away from a minimum wage increase to $8.25 per hour, and eventually up to $11 per hour in 2018. But Attorney Jane Dueker is representing a coalition of business groups against the minimum wage hike. Her side believes the city is not able to raise the minimum wage to higher than what the state requires...

U.S. LABOR
Bankruptcy Lawyers Strip Cash from Coal Miners’ Health Insurance  Pro Publica  ...As coal companies go bankrupt or shut down throughout Appalachia and parts of the Midwest, the immediate fallout includes lost jobs and devastated communities. But the Indiana case stands out as an example of how financial deals hatched far from coal country can also endanger the future safety net. At issue is health insurance promised to people who worked for the Squaw Creek Coal Company in Warrick County, Indiana...
UAW, Fiat officials miscalculated young worker angst  USA Today  ...UAW negotiators failed to understand the deep hostility of entry-level workers who, instead of taking a substantial raise, chose to join forces with higher-paid veterans to resoundingly defeat a proposed, four-year deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Entry-level workers, referred to as Tier 2, have been stuck in a separate, lower pay range since 2007...
Frontier strikes deals with IBEW unions in California, Florida  Fierce Telecom  ...Frontier has reached union labor agreements with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) AFL-CIO in California and Florida, allowing it to move forward with its $10.5 billion acquisition of Verizon's wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas that's expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016. The IBEW local unions in California and Florida said in separate statements that they support the deal...

These Guestworkers Just Won $20 Million Back From the Company That Trafficked Them  The Nation  ... They came from India to repair the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and were repaid with months of abuse. On Katrina’s 10th anniversary, both the workers and their bosses are finally getting their due. Following a landmark lawsuit victory in February, the maritime company that imported the roughly 500 “guestworkers” to repair storm-damaged Gulf Coast oil facilities has officially apologized as part of a $20 million settlement...
Video Game Voice Actors Push for Strike Over Performance Bonuses and Stressful Recordings  In These Times  ...Voice actors are demanding they receive residual income based on sales, with a performance bonus for every 2 million online subscribers or copies sold. This set-up is designed to ensure smaller games are unaffected, as this is the threshold at which a game can be considered a "blockbuster," according to creen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the union representing the actors...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The irreversible damage of Volkswagen’s stunning deceit  Salon  ...Volkswagen’s ruse to circumvent U.S. auto emissions standards has left many wondering about the precise environmental impact of its cars, which emitted more pollutants than regulations allow. On September 18 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered that four Volkswagen vehicles from model years 2009 to 2015 had been rigged with illegal software. They used a sophisticated algorithm that would make the cars run cleanly during emissions tests...
How Global Warming Makes Overcrowded Prisons Even More Dangerous  Mother Jones  ...There is no population more captive to the effects of global warming than the incarcerated. And given the huge concentration of black and Latino prisoners in America, this is a classic case of environmental injustice, as these consequences fall widely on prisoners of color. A new study from Daniel W. E. Holt of the Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law explains over 144 pages what the climate-change toll truly is on the two-million-plus bodies caged in our prison system...
Doctors Without Borders Says U.S. May Have Committed War Crime  Slate  ...Doctors Without Borders said it was closing its hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz on  Sunday, a day after it was hit by what seems to have been a U.S. airstrike. The medical charity, commonly known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, increased the death toll in the bombing, saying the total fatalities amount to 22, including 12 staff members and 10 patients, and 37 people were wounded...
Britain Says No to Slavery Reparations, But Offers to Buy Jamaica New Prison  Common Dreams  ...British Prime Minister David Cameron stirred outrage this week when he rejected growing calls for slavery reparations and instead offered £25 million for a new prison that would allow his government to deport Jamaican nationals incarcerated in the UK to serve out their sentences on the Caribbean island...

Today's Teamster News 07.27.15

Teamsters
Allentown Healthcare Workers Vote For Teamster Representation  Teamster.org   ...A majority of janitorial workers working for Crothall Healthcare at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Penn., have recently voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 773. There are 233 total employees in the group which consists of staff members assigned in the cleaning crews, room preparation and as floor technicians...
Chicago Teamsters at Translogix Ratify New Three-Year Contract  Joint Council 25  ...Approximately 180 members of Teamsters Local 710 ratified a new three-year contract with Translogix by a two-to-one margin on June 10. Teamsters who work out of two Chicago facilities will receive either a pay raise or yearly bonus — respective to their location — as part of the new contract. In addition, language regarding pushback scheduling has been improved...

Global Labor & Trade
Despite criticism from Congress, Malaysia, Cuba taken off US human trafficking blacklist  US News & World Report  ...The State Department has taken Malaysia and Cuba off its blacklist of countries failing to combat modern-day slavery. That could leave the U.S. open to criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in its annual human trafficking report. Critics contend that Malaysia's upgrade is related to its participation in a U.S.-backed trade agreement among Pacific Rim countries...
Rice, milk and cars among the stumbling blocks in historic trade pact  Politico  ...The Obama administration is closer than ever on a breakthrough on the biggest trade deal in world history. But years of delicate negotiating could be undone by Canadian milk. Or Japanese rice. Or U.S. pharmaceutical patents. Top trade officials from 12 countries scattered around the Asia-Pacific region descended on the island of Maui on Friday for a week of meetings...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership issues in-depth  Politico  ...There are hundreds if not thousands of issues to resolve within the nearly 30 chapters of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, which would cover more than 40 percent of world economic output. A complicated four-way dance is going on in the dairy negotiations, and right now everyone is waiting for Canada to make its move. U.S. dairy producers were opposed to the agreement when it only included New Zealand...
Corporate lobbying expense jumps as U.S. trade debate rages  Reuters  ...Washington lobbying by companies and groups involved in global trade boomed in the past nine months, records show, as Congress debated a landmark trade pact proposed by President Barack Obama, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Lobbying expenditures by members of a pro-TPP coalition increased to $135 million in the second quarter of 2015, up from $126 million in the first quarter and $118 million in the fourth quarter of 2014...
TPP enters final negotiations  NZ Herald  ...A controversial trade deal between New Zealand and other Pacific Rim countries including the United States enters final negotiations this week. Prime Minister John Key said there would be "give and take" in the final negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), but he remained confident in the deal...
Wyden: Canada must open door to dairy for trade deal  KTVZ  ...Canada must agree to significantly expand market access for dairy products from the United States in any Trans Pacific Partnership deal, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wrote to Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer on Friday. Wyden and Hatch said their support for a final TPP agreement that includes Canada is contingent on Canada’s ability to meet TPP’s high standards...
TPP meeting 'will reveal changes to dairy markets'  Radio NZ  ...New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy is expecting a crucial meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this week will reveal how far key countries will go to open up their protected dairy markets. Mike Petersen is on his way to Hawaii for ministerial talks on the Pacific-wide trade pact. Trade Minister Tim Groser is still waiting for a further offer on opening up the dairy markets of Japan, Canada and the United States...
Peru: Construction Union Leaders Murdered  Solidarity Center  ...One construction union leader was killed and another injured as the men left a union organizing meeting in Casma, Peru, this week. Miguel Cotelo Villanueva, a member of the Federación de Trabajadores en Construcción Civil de Perú (Federation of Civil Construction Workers of Peru, FTCCP)­­, Peru’s largest construction union, is the most recent of 14 construction union leaders murdered in the past five years. Victor Rodas, another FTCCP union leader, was murdered on July 10 in similar circumstances...
Greek Austerity and Its Resemblance to African Debt Peonage  Global Research   ...The current situation in Greece resembles the debt peonage that many African countries have been subjected to for decades. They suffered the consequences of the so-called structural adjustment under the supervision of the international finance institutions and the result was economic and social devastation. In the post-Independence Zimbabwe, for example, the Mugabe government abandoned its ‘growth with equity’ strategy and went for the economic model designed by the World Bank and the IMF...

State & Living Wage Battles
Push for $15 minimum wage gathers steam  Dallas Morning News  ...The federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009, but labor unions and anti-poverty advocates are pushing a rate more than twice that amount as the new standard needed to afford hourly earners a decent living. The movement to make $15-per-hour the mandatory minimum over the next several years has seen success in a number of cities and is starting to spill over to statehouses and public universities...
Prevailing wage debate continues among WV officials  State Journal  ...Republican lawmakers said their intention with the 2015 legislation was not to eliminate the wage, but to come up with a better way of determining it. As a result of Senate Bill 361, WorkForce West Virginia, a division of the state Department of Commerce tasked with making sure West Virginians can be put to work, was asked by the West Virginia Legislature to come up with what the prevailing hourly wage for public improvement projects should be...
Dunkin' Donuts CEO Who Earns $10 Million Claims to Be Outraged by $15 Minimum Wage  Alternet  ...This week, the New York Wage Board recommended that the state's fast food workers should make $15 per hour, which has been the rallying cry for the labor movement across the country. Dunkin Donuts CEO Nigel Travis – who previously held senior positions at Papa John's and Burger King, other low-wage employers – appeared on CNN and decried the $15 minimum wage as “absolutely outrageous.” He went on to claim that the move will prevent his company from hiring more people...
Is There A Subliminal Message In Walmart’s Minimum Wage TV Ad?  Buzzfeed  ...It has been a good week for the Fight for 15, the national movement to raise pay for low wage workers to $15 an hour. From New York to California and D.C., cities and public institutions have moved closer to pay hikes that center around the number, more than twice the current federal minimum. Today, a union-backed campaign is calling for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into a Walmart commercial it claims is “unfairly implying that workers are paid enough to support themselves and their families”...
Uber Wins a Battle With New York, Now It’s War  The Nation  ...When New York Mayor Bill De Blasio talked of a Tale of Two Cities on the campaign trail, promising to address an epidemic of social inequality, he probably wasn’t expecting a viral app to drive a multibillion-dollar wedge through Gotham’s fault-lines of race and class. But now De Blasio and city lawmakers have been blindsided by Uber’s corporate surge, forced to stall an attempt to cap the company’s expansion...

U.S. Labor
Verizon Communications (VZ) Workers Vote To Strike Amid Tense Contract Talks  International Business Times   ...Many of the almost 40,000 workers at Verizon Communications Inc.'s wireline unit voted to strike amid negotiations over a new labor agreement. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union announced the results of the vote -- 86 percent of the workers who cast ballots approved the strike -- during a rally in New York Saturday. The move does not necessarily mean workers will go on strike...
Mitsubishi, UAW partnering to ID buyer for plant  Pantagraph  ...Workers returned to the Mitsubishi auto plant on Monday with both the company and the United Auto Workers pledging to "work collaboratively to identify a suitable buyer to assume operations of the facility." In a statement, the company repeated that production at the Normal plant will stop at the end of November...
USW takes aim at new contract proposals  Chicago Tribune  ...United Steelworkers said Friday it has received more proposals from ArcelorMittal seeking additional concessions from its workers as the two sides continued to meet to hammer out a new three-year contract. The union said the new proposals came as its committee was still working on a response to the steel giant's initial proposal made earlier this week...
The New American Slavery: Invited to the U.S., Foreign Workers Find A Nightmare  Buzzfeed   ...The H-2 visa program invites foreign workers to do some of the most menial labor in America. Then it leaves them at the mercy of their employers. Thousands of these workers have been abused — deprived of their fair pay, imprisoned, starved, beaten, raped, and threatened with deportation if they dare complain. And the government says it can do little to help...
Did ICE Violate Its Own Deportation Guidelines in Arresting Chicago-Area Unionized Meatpackers?  In These Times  ...On Friday, June 26, workers from the Ruprecht Company’s meatpacking factory in Mundelein, Illinois, walked off the job in a spontaneous strike against a pending immigration audit. Several weeks later, eight Ruprecht workers, three of whom are members of UNITE HERE Local 1, have been apprehended by immigration authorities. In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the eight workers were picked up after the department discovered the workers had records that fall within its priorities for arrest during a routine immigration audit...
D.C. Circuit Backs NLRB on Hospital Discipline Cases  Bloomberg  ...The National Labor Relations Board properly held that a Virginia hospital violated federal labor law when it discharged, disciplined or failed to promote three nurses because they engaged in protected concerted activity, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held July 24. The court also approved the board's decision that a second nurse was given a final written warning for protesting INOVA's treatment of Miller and a third nurse was denied a promotion, both in violation of the National Labor Relations Act...
Why Women Shouldn’t Have to Act Like Dudes at Work  The Atlantic  ...When it comes to gender equality in the workplace, the research on its economic benefits is clear: Equality can boost profits and enhance reputation. But the progress of women in the workplace is so far inadequate: Women are woefully underrepresented in executive positions, the pay gap persists, and the motherhood penalty is very real...

Social Justice & Other News
Body Cams Are The Next Step In The Over-Policing Of Schools  Think Progress  ...Burlington Community School District in Burlington, Iowa may be the first school district in the nation to ensure that all of its 13 administrators, principals and associate principals, wear body cameras. Administrators have compared the need for body cameras in schools to the need for body cameras on police officers. But as with police officers, the argument against body cameras for administrators is that the administrators still hold the power since they hold the camera...
Vowing to #SayHerName and More, Hundreds Gather to Honor Life and Death of Sandra Bland  Common Dreams  ...Hundreds of people attended the funeral of Sandra Bland on Saturday at the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois outside of Chicago to commemorate the woman whose untimely death in Texas jail cell on July 13 has further galvanized a national call demanding something be done about the extreme levels of police violence and the pervasive mistreatment of black women, men, and other minorities across the country...
Paul Krugman: The GOP has never “abandoned its dream” of destroying the social safety net  Salon  ...In his Monday column at the New York Times, economist Paul Krugman went after GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush for claiming that Medicare ought to be “phased out,” claiming that such talk is emblematic an ideologically motivated desire on the part of the Republican Party to destroy the social safety net — especially if there’s evidence that it’s working...
“Collective Healing” at Nat’l Black Lives Matter Convergence Ends with Police Pepper-Spraying Teen  Democracy Now  ...More than a thousand Black Lives Matter supporters converged in Cleveland, Ohio, this weekend for a historic conference to raise national attention about police brutality and other pressing issues, including immigration rights, economic justice and LGBTQ rights. During the opening ceremony, family members of more than 20 African Americans killed by police took to the stage to speak about why they continue to fight for justice...
Taking a road trip this summer? Enjoy America's crumbling infrastructure  The Guardian  ...The US’s once gleaming interstate highway system is in crisis. The federal program that funds maintenance and improvements – the Highway Trust Fund – is set to expire on 31 July. Congress passed a five-week funding “patch” to extend the deadline, one of 34 it has passed in the last nine years. But if lawmakers don’t settle upon a more permanent solution, the US Department of Transportation says the fund will become insolvent before year’s end...
The disingenuous ways Uber hides behind its algorithm  Slate  ...In June, the California Labor Commission ruled in favor of classifying Uber driver Barbara Ann Berwick as an employee and not as an independent contractor. But the battle over ride-hailing apps continues to rage as companies, governments, activists, and incumbent businesses all seek to shape how a new generation of companies will be regulated. A class-action suit with potentially even bigger implications continues to wind its way through the federal courts, with Uber resisting every step of the way...
Judge rules U.S. government should not hold immigrant children  Reuters  ...The U.S. government is violating a 1997 settlement by detaining unauthorized immigrant children, and an order may be forthcoming to require the release of the minors and parents detained with them, a judge in California has ruled. The ruling on Friday by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee follows an influx across the U.S.-Mexico border of immigrants from Central America...
Aging Infrastructure Plagues Nation’s Busiest Rail Corridor  New York Times  ...In Maryland, a century-old rail tunnel needed emergency repairs this winter because of soil erosion from leaks, causing widespread train delays. In Connecticut, an aging swing bridge failed to close twice last summer, stopping train service and stranding passengers. And last week, New Jersey Transit riders had a truly torturous experience. There were major delays on four days because of problems with overhead electrical wires and a power substation, leaving thousands of commuters stalled for hours...

Today's Teamster News 07.14.15

Teamsters
McKesson Executive Compensation Under Fire, Again  Teamster.org  ...The country’s leading proxy voting advisor, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), recommends that McKesson shareholders vote for Item #7 on the company’s ballot -- a  Teamster-sponsored shareholder proposal to address the automatic accelerated vesting of equity awards for top executives in the event of a change of control...
Teamsters Union Files Lawsuit Against Republic Airways Calling On Fair Contracts  AvStop.com  ...Teamsters Local 357 in Plainfield, Ind., filed a lawsuit against Republic Airways for unilaterally changing pilots’ working conditions regarding “open time” flying without first agreeing with the union about those changes. More than 2,200 Republic pilots are members of Local 357 and have been seeking a fair contract from the company since 2007...

Global Labor & Trade
Obama Urged To Toss Canada Out Of TPP Trade Talks Over Dairy Supply Management  Huffington Post  ...U.S. politicians are pressuring the Obama administration to leave Canada out of a major and controversial trade deal, if Canada doesn't agree to deregulate its dairy and poultry industries and open them up to foreign competition. Reuters news service cites “two sources” close to the issue as saying the U.S. may go forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without Canada...
New trade fight brews for Obama, Dems  The Hill  ...A new trade fight is brewing between the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress. Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and other Democrats opposed to President Obama’s trade agenda are worried the State Department will upgrade Malaysia’s ranking in a human trafficking report to be released this week to ensure the country can be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal...
Canada Trade Minister Says Supply Management Won’t Kill TPP Deal  Bloomberg  ...“I am confident that at the end of the day Canada will be part of the TPP,” Fast said. “We have some market access issues left to resolve. They’re always the toughest ones that remain to the end. This is no different than any other negotiation.” Fast will join other negotiators and ministers in Hawaii later this month as TPP talks reach the final stage. The 12 countries involved are entering “the end-game in these negotiations”...
US lawmakers, activists alarmed at upgrade in Malaysia’s human trafficking rating  Malaysia Insider  ...The New York Times (NYT) newspaper and Huffington Post website reported that US Senator Robert Menendez will call for an investigation if the US government upgrades Malaysia’s rating. A Reuters report on July 8 quoted sources as saying that the US government was upgrading Malaysia’s status, thus paving the way for it to sign on to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)...
Has US desire for Asia trade deal trumped slavery with Malaysia's ranking?  Christian Science Monitor  ...President Obama says he wants the United States at the forefront of efforts to end the global scourge of slavery and human trafficking. But at the same time, Mr. Obama is keen to advance international trade and America’s leadership role in the global trading system – particularly by concluding as early as this year a vast free-trade agreement with Asian-Pacific countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Premier of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, Accepts Creditors’ Austerity Deal  New York Times  ...Forced by his nation’s creditors into broad new concessions to avert financial collapse, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece returned home on Monday with just days to sell the deal to fractured lawmakers and a dazed electorate. The agreement he struck with other European leaders early Monday after a contentious all-night bargaining session would give Greece the chance to receive its third international bailout...
Greek Debt Crisis: European Ministers Want Greece To Limit Ability Of Workers To Strike  International Business Times   ...For Greek workers, it’s a painful cornerstone of the first two bailouts: Labor market reform. Now it’s part of a third rescue package, according to the most recent last-ditch agreement to keep Greece in the eurozone. The text released by European leaders on Monday is vague, but it suggests the following: Greece will keep in place existing restrictions on workers’ bargaining rights that creditors have successfully demanded in the past...
#ThisIsACoup: Greeks Denounce Bailout Deal That Calls for New Round of Austerity  Democracy Now  ...Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own Syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for a new international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by Wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum...
Osun Workers End Strike as Govt Commences Payment of Salaries  This Day Live  ...Osun State workers monday ended their six weeks strike after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the state government to put an end to the industrial crisis in the state. Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),  Joint Public Service Negotiating Councils (JPSNC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state have dissociated the unions from the protests embarked upon by a ‘group of people’ in the state which the group claimed was over unpaid salaries...

State & Living Wage Battles
The Austerity Candidate? Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Launches Presidential Bid on Anti-Union Record  Democracy Now  ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has become the 15th Republican candidate to formally announce he’s running for president. On Monday, Walker launched his campaign by touting his successful efforts to eviscerate public employee unions in his home state and later defeat a recall effort against him. He also extolled his record reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal government and passing voter restrictions...
Wisconsin’s Construction Industry Is In For A Rough Ride — And So Are Its Taxpayers  Think Progress  ...About 24 hours before announcing his official White House candidacy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) made life a lot harder for people who sweat for a living. “We may end up having to lay some people off,” Chris Martinez, owner of Dairyland Energy Solutions in Butler, WI, told ThinkProgress. Martinez was referring to Walker’s repeal of the state’s 80-year-old prevailing wage law...
Scott Walker Campaigns Against Unions, Wages, and Weekends  The Nation  ...Scott Walker has gone Bush one better. The governor of Wisconsin and Bush rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination just codified the concept. The state budget that Walker signed on Sunday as Wisconsin’s governor includes a provision that eliminates a historic guarantee that factory and retail employees “must get at least 24 consecutive hours of rest for every seven-day stretch” of work...
Missouri 'Right to Work' legislation hopes to gain supporters  Heartland Connection  ...Missouri lawmakers may be on summer break, but that hasn't stopped one grassroots organization from traveling around the state and educating citizens on 'Right to Work' legislation. That legislation would have allowed workers who choose not to join a labor union to avoid paying the equivalent of dues...
Paid sick days would be mandatory under ballot initiative  MLive  ...Michiganders soon may be asked to sign for sick days as a new group pushes for all workers to have access to that benefit. The Time to Care Coalition will lead a legislative ballot initiative and plans to collect more than 300,000 signatures. The group's proposal would allow workers to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked...
Oklahoma GOP Makes Case Against Food Stamps: ‘Don’t Feed The Animals’  Think Progress  ...The Oklahoma Republican Party is making the case against food stamps by comparing poor people to animals, reviving a stereotype that’s often deployed against Americans who rely on government benefits to feed their families. In a Facebook post published Monday night, the Oklahoma GOP suggested that the millions of Americans receiving food stamps this year should not be enrolled in the program because “the animals will grow dependent"...
States Battle Cities Over Minimum Wage  Huffington Post  ...Kansas City is caught in the middle of a national fight that pits labor against business and increasingly, cities against states. As city after city has voted to give low-wage workers a raise in recent years, state after state has passed laws limiting local governments’ power to do so...
Scott Walker calls minimum wage one of many ‘lame idea’ from Democrats  Washington Post  ...Scott Walker appeared to take aim at the national minimum wage on Monday evening, referring to it as one of many "lame ideas" pushed by Democrats. Walker's comment came in a lengthy interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity immediately following a speech formally announcing his entrance into the 2016 presidential race...
Protests greet start of voter ID trial in Winston-Salem  WNCN  ...The outcome of a trial that began Monday could have a major impact on voting rights in North Carolina, and the start of the trial drew a large protest in Winston-Salem. The issue is whether voting law changes approved by the Republican-led General Assembly weakens the ability of minor voters to influence elections. That question is now being debated before a federal judge...
If This Amendment Passes, Several States Would Lose Millions in Federal Education Funding  Think Progress  ...Today the U.S. Senate will convene to debate amendments to the bipartisan No Child Left Behind rewrite. The House passed its rewrite to No Child Left Behind, or the Student Success Act, last week in a 218 to 213 vote. Democrats and civil rights groups opposed it, arguing that the bill would hurt low-income students, disabled students and students of color. The president has threatened to veto it...

U.S. Labor
Congress Is Debating Whether or Not To Make It Easier for Bosses to Cheat Guestworkers  In These Times  ...In June, In These Times reported that industry groups have filed a lawsuit against new government-issued worker protections for H-2B guestworkers. That’s not their only strategy, however: new proposed riders on a Senate appropriations bill could block some of the new protections—and some old ones—no matter the outcome of the lawsuit. Many employers were outraged when the Obama administration passed new rules regulating the H-2B visa program...
Facing 'Retirement Crisis,' Sanders Leads Charge for Social Security Expansion  Common Dreams  ...On the eve of a once-in-a-decade White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA)—and in the face of what they describe as the "impending retirement savings crisis facing this nation"—a group of 70 Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Sunday called on President Barack Obama to expand Social Security benefits...
Richard Trumka on Gov. Scott Walker’s Presidential Run: “Walker is a national disgrace”  In These Times  ...“Scott Walker is a national disgrace,” says Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the United States’ largest union alliance, in response to Governor Scott Walker’s announcement of his presidential ambitions. His statement, composed of only six words, was released shortly before Walker’s announcement. Trumka’s expression of disgust should come as no surprise to those familiar with Walker’s union-busting policies...
UAW president: Contract talks with GM will not be easy  USA Today  ...Top officials from the UAW and General Motors were all smiles Monday as they kicked off contract talks and promised to work together even as sharp differences percolate just beneath the surface. This year, the union wants to win wage increases for autoworkers after years of rising sales and profits among U.S. automakers while the manufacturers will want to hold down labor costs...
KapStone millworkers to vote on 'unfair labor practice strike'  TDN.com  ...KapStone’s millworkers will be back to the polls this week to decide whether to go on an unfair labor practice strike, even as company and union officials continue federal mediation. Union members overwhelming approved of a measure in December that lends their bargaining board the power to call a strike if necessary. It’s been a month since Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 153 provided the company with a 10-day strike notice...
Council approves 3-year pact with AFSCME   Coshocton Tribune  ...City Council has unanimously approved a new three-year contract with non-uniformed workers that matches the 2.5 percent annual raises granted firefighters last month. Mayor Steve Mercer said the new pact with Local 2551 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will take effect Aug. 1. The current contract expires July 31...
Food Cart Vendors Are Getting Kicked to the Curb  The Nation  ...One of the strongest pillars of Los Angeles’s retail landscape isn’t a mom-and-pop storefront or a strip mall; in fact, it doesn’t even have a fixed address. The city is peppered with about 50,000 mobile food vendors, Old World startups on wheels, catering to high- and low-brow tastes ranging from grandma’s tamales to fresh tropical fruits to rolling shaved ice pops. But this vital layer of the urban foodie firmament has long operated essentially outside the law. And now controversy is swirling over a proposal to provide a formal permitting scheme to legalize their “microbusinesses”...

Miscellaneous
Wall Street’s sinister disappearing act: How it still endangers America — while Washington looks the other way  Salon  ...A common denominator bridges this gaping partisan chasm: Both sides ignore the role of Wall Street as a driver of inequality. In one sense, this is curious. If there is one group that is consistently among the least trusted and most disliked, it is the banks. Linking the core economic issue, inequality, to Wall Street makes for obvious populist appeal...
Hillary Clinton Lays Out Unexpectedly Tough Agenda On Wall Street  Think Progress  ...In the first major economic policy speech of her campaign, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton outlined her plan to crack down on major financial institutions and other players on Wall Street that have benefited from rising corporate profits while the middle class lags behind. “Over the course of this campaign, I will offer plans to reign in excessive risks on Wall Street and ensure that stock markets work for everyday investors, not just high-frequency traders or those with the best or fastest connections"...
Migrant Mothers and Children Being Freed From Detention  Truthout  ...Federal officials have begun releasing hundreds of detained mothers and children from the nation's family detention centers as part of plans to end long-term detention of migrant families. Nearly two hundred detained parents and children were released over the weekend, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials...
Opening Historic 'Possibility of Peace,' World Powers Clinch Iran Deal  Common Dreams  ...Following years of arduous negotiations, and decades of hostile relations, Iran and world powers on Tuesday announced a nuclear agreement that proponents say provides a historic opening for military deescalation, relief from devastating sanctions, and ultimately, peace. "This deal is a huge victory for diplomacy over war," Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies...

Today's Teamster News 6.29.15

Teamsters
Teamsters, Airgas employees on West Side, reject contract  Charleston Gazette  ...On Saturday, Teamster members working for Airgas Mid-America in Charleston unanimously rejected the company’s offer for a collective bargaining agreement. This would be the first contract negotiated by the union since the company’s employees on Charleston’s West Side voted to have the Teamsters represent them in July 2014. Local Airgas workers rejected the proposed contract in large part because the company refused to raise wages for their Charleston employees to a rate comparable to wages paid by its local competitor...

Global Labor & Trade
Pelosi on trade: 'The fight will continue'  The Hill  ...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vowed Thursday that liberals will carry their trade fight into the ongoing talks over a trans-Pacific deal at the top of President Obama's legislative wish list. The California Democrat said this week's passage of fast-track legislation, a key part of Obama's trade agenda, is just one setback in the much larger debate over the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
U.S. Democrats shrug off retribution threats for pro-trade votes  Reuters  ...Democrats in the U.S. Congress who backed legislation key to sealing a Pacific Rim trade pact this week shrugged off threats of retribution from labor unions and liberal activists who have vowed to hold them accountable at future elections. Forty-one Democrats this week defied pressure and supported legislation to let the White House seal trade deals and send them on a fast track through Congress...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s glaring double standard  Salon  ...Recently leaked drafts of the agreement show the pact includes the kind of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS) provisions written into most major trade deals passed since the North American Free Trade Agreement. Those provisions allow companies to use secretive international tribunals to sue sovereign governments. But also like past trade deals, the TPP is not expected to allow unions and public-interest groups to bring their own suits in the same tribunalss...
Why trade deals hurt Americans  PBS  ...The flood of imports has kept workers’ wages stagnant in the U.S. for decades and median household incomes declining—all at a time when importers like Wal-Mart and Apple are profiting tremendously from cheap overseas labor. While it costs only $2 to make bands for the Apple watch in Asia, those same bands retail at $49 in the U.S., making Apple a 96 percent profit. No wonder Apple has three times as much cash on hand as Uncle Sam. By shipping jobs overseas, companies make big profits, but deny Americans jobs. So yes, our trade policy is adding to inequality in the U.S...
King Obama, His Royal Court, and the TPP  (opinion) Common Dreams  ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. This term “fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress – senators and representatives – handcuffing themselves, so as to prevent any amendments or adequate debate before the final vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership – another euphemism that is used to avoid the word “treaty”...
Anti-austerity protesters rally at Greek parliament  Reuters  ...Several hundred anti-austerity protesters, chanting slogans against the European Union and IMF, rallied near parliament in Athens on Sunday as a deepening crisis forced Greece's leftist government to announce capital controls on the banking system. The protest was the latest in a string of rallies both for and against the government in recent weeks...
Cash Withdrawals and Hoarding as Default Looms Over Greece  New York Times  ...Five years of economic misery have taught many Greeks how to endure hardship. There was no panic on the streets, even as the breakdown of negotiations in Brussels between the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the country’s creditors could ultimately push Greece out of the eurozone...
Liberia Law Boosts Rights of Informal-Economy Workers  Solidarity Center  ...Liberian domestic workers and other informal-economy workers in Liberia are set to receive significant wage gains, collective bargaining rights and labor law protection under the Decent Work Bill signed today by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The bill takes effect when printed into handbills for distribution. Unskilled workers will earn a minimum of $3.50 per day, an amount that is more than five times the $15 per month salary...

State & Living Wage Battles
State Moves To Block Cities From Increasing Minimum Wage Or Requiring Paid Sick Leave  Think Progress  ...Michigan’s legislature passed a bill this week that blocks any cities in the state from passing their own minimum wage increases or paid sick leave requirements. The text of the bill states that “the regulation of the employment relationship between a nonpublic employer and its employees is a matter of state concern”...
Assembly plan would scale back prevailing wage as budget stalemate enters fifth week  Star Tribune  ...Nearly 60 percent of public projects in Wisconsin would not be subject to the prevailing wage law under a proposal introduced Monday by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as the state budget stalemate enters its fifth week. Gov. Scott Walker, who had previously said he wouldn't announce a presidential bid until after he signs the budget, is now planning to state his intentions as soon as July 13...
Maine lawmakers team-up to take down Right to Work  PR News Channel  ...In a move that surprised many labor supporters, especially in Ohio, Maine’s latest Right to Work effort was taken down with help from an unlikely source: state Republicans. Backed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the latest Right to Work bill was defeated 21-14 in the Republican-controlled state Senate. The Senate’s vote follows a similar result in the Democrat-controlled House earlier this month...
Changes to NC voter ID rankle some, but could preserve law  Citizen-Times  ...Federal and state lawsuits filed nearly two years ago challenging what’s in North Carolina’s election overhaul law are finally heading to trial starting next month. But unexpected moves on the way to the courthouse could break down arguments of plaintiffs seeking to overturn the law’s most high-profile component: a photo identification requirement to vote in person starting next year...
Jackson County Board votes to oppose 'Right to Work'  The Southern  ...In one of its largest gatherings in some time, the members of the Jackson County Board voted to support a resolution opposing right to work initiative. Last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposal to allow Right to Work zones received zero votes from members of the Illinois State House...

U.S. Labor
Communications Workers Of America Ratify Agreement For AT&T  Nasdaq  ...AT&T on Friday said that wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to ratify a three-year contract for AT&T Corp. (CWA Telecommunications and Technology Office). The AT&T Corp. contract covers about 4,500 employees located throughout the country.
Milwaukee County Transit union members to vote on new contract  Fox 6 Now  ...A new contract is on the table. But no agreement has been reached between Milwaukee County and its bus drivers. The two sides spent Friday, June 26th negotiating. While a new proposal is out there, a strike is not out of the question. Drivers will vote on the contract on Monday, June 29th. The county is offering more money in this newest contract. But the Amalgamated Transit Union says, that’s not what this is about...
NLRB intervenes in clash between Time Inc. and News Guild  Capital New York  ...The National Labor Relations Board has announced its intent to issue a complaint against Time Inc. by the end of this month if the magazine publisher and the News Guild of New York fail to reach an agreement amenable to the federal agency. The announcement comes several months after the union filed a charge against Time Inc. with the NLRB, pushing back against what it characterized as the company's unilateral implementation of its "last, best and final offer"...
AFSCME, MAPE come to tentative contract agreements with state of Minnesota  Star Tribune  ...The two largest state government unions reached tentative contract agreements with the administration of Gov. Mark Dayton, giving raises to more than 30,000 state workers of 2.5 percent in July 2015 and another 2.5 percent in 2016. “It’s a proper balance between managing the state budget and a good pay package for the employees” that will help recruit, develop and retain a solid workforce...
Could This Be the Biggest Blow Yet to Uber’s Business Model?  The Nation  ...The sharing economy has been having a rough ride lately: Enraged taxi drivers rose up against Uber with flaming street blockades in Paris and San Francisco cabbies rallied at Uber headquarters to protest the “ride-share” platform’s outsized grip on local taxi markets. But another potentially more disruptive development unfolded more quietly, in a San Francisco courtroom, with the simple words “alleged employee”...
“I think America is out of hand”: The shocking numbers that reveal just how burnt out American workers are  Salon  ...The American worker is overworked, underpaid, and suffering from severe burnout. This sentiment isn’t populist rhetoric, there are numbers to back it up. A new study from WorkPlaceTrends — an HR-focused research firm — and  Staples Advantage polled over 2,500 workers and reached troubling results. According to the data, 53 percent of American workers report feeling burned out at work...
Once Again, Bosses Are Trying To Eliminate New Protections for Guestworkers  In These Times  ...Once again, the beleaguered H-2B guestworker program is the subject of a legal battle. Once again, the battle is over basic worker protections. While employers are fighting in court and in Congress to have newly implemented protections removed, guestworker advocates are calling for the public to demand that the government keep them...
GOP battles to defund work of Obama labor board  The Hill  ...Congressional Republicans are using the power of the purse to do battle against a series of controversial labor regulations from the Obama administration. They say the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) gave a gift to labor unions by issuing what they call an “ambush election” rule that speeds up the process for organizing in the workplace...

Miscellaneous
Sysco Pulling Out of US Foods Buyout After FTC Move  New York Times  ...Sysco is scrapping its proposed $3.5 billion buyout of US Foods after a Federal Trade Commission legal victory that temporarily blocked the deal to combine the two food-service companies. The FTC opposed the deal, saying it would reduce competition. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., granted the halt on Tuesday...
Consumers Score Huge Victory as Federal Judge Blocks Sysco and US Foods Merger  Alternet  ...In a stunning victory for people, independent restaurants and public cafeterias, a federal judge struck down the proposed merger of Sysco and US Foods, the only two national food distribution companies in the United States. Sysco and US Foods are the only companies that provide national distribution networks to foodservice customers such as schools, restaurants and hospitals...
College is a con: The savage truth about your bachelor’s degree  Salon  ...Higher education wears the cloak of liberalism, but in policy and practice, it can be a corrupt and cutthroat system of power and exploitation. Tthe reality is that while college administrators might affix “down with the man” stickers on their office doors, many prop up a system that is severely unfair to American students and professors, a shocking number of whom struggle to make ends meet...
With Marriage Equality Won, LGBTQ Activism Continues for Bias Protections & Overlooked Trans Issues  Democracy Now  ...After the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on marriage equality, many LGBTQ leaders are now redirecting their attention to obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in areas of employment, housing and commerce. Nationwide, anti-discrimination laws for gay people are inconsistent and unequal with only 22 states barring discrimination based on sexual orientation...
The Supreme Court Knocks Down Major Death Penalty Challenge  Mother Jones  ...On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a state lethal injection protocol, allowing Oklahoma and other states to continue using a controversial sedative that's been implicated in a number of botched executions. The 5-4 decision in Glossip v. Gross was a win for conservatives who support the death penalty...

Today's Teamster News 05.11.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Nike's TPP Job Projections Will Be Just Another Round of Corporate Broken Promises  Teamster.org  ...Hoffa in response to Nike Inc.’s announcement today that the passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership will create thousands of new jobs in the U.S.: “Nike’s announcement that the Trans Pacific Partnership would lead to 10,000 new U.S. jobs at the company and up to 40,000 new jobs throughout the supply chain is nothing more than the same empty trade rhetoric we have heard over and over again since the passage of NAFTA"...
Albion College Workers Choose Teamsters Union  Teamster.org  ...Workers at Albion College in Albion, Mich., voted overwhelmingly in two separate elections Tuesday to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit. Facility operators voted 26-9, while secretarial-clerical workers voted 24-3, in favor of the Teamsters Union over their prior representative, the Michigan Education Association (MEA). The more than 70 new Teamsters are seeking bargaining power, fair wages and the security of their first Teamster contract...
At Unity, Teamsters look ahead to a bright future  Teamster Nation  ...Some 1,600 Teamster brothers and sisters from across North America gathered together today as part of the 12th annual Unity Conference to share their success stories and speak truth to power about the increasingly perilous state of workers across the continent. Rank-and-file union members joined with Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa as well as other Teamster leaders to let attendees know they all have a role in ensuring that Teamster Power will not flourish if they don't continue to contribute and speak out...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road to Future   New York Times  ...More than three-quarters of the lesser-powered shares voted in 2014 to eradicate the fief, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has put the matter on the ballot again. Swift is urging against the idea, pointing to dual-class structures at Zynga, Groupon and LinkedIn as “some of the most successful I.P.O.s in recent years”...

Global Labor & Trade
Trade bill fate in doubt as debate kicks off  Politico   ...A controversial trade bill is well shy of the votes needed to pass the House and faces a difficult vote in the Senate as the debate in Congress kicks off in earnest this week. Congressional sources say that fewer than 20 House Democrats currently back giving President Barack Obama increased powers to cut trade deals...
Crunch time for TPPA talks  The Star   ...If the TPPA negotiations conclude, the texts will at some stage be made public, and the debate can be expected to intensify. But there are many hurdles to cross before that happens, and whether the political deadline can be met is still a big question. This will be answered in the next few weeks...
Obama’s Pacific Trade Push Faces a Senate Vote This Week  New York Times  ...President Obama’s most aggressive and sustained legislative push since the Affordable Care Act faces a crucial first test this week when a divided Senate considers a bill that would grant him accelerated power to complete a massive trade accord with 11 nations across the Pacific Rim...
Obama says 'dearest friends are wrong' when it comes to trade  The Hill   ...Several groups on the left ripped Obama for speaking about trade at the headquarters of Nike, which has been accused in the past of exploiting foreign workers. “It is sad to see how detached from reality President Obama is when it comes to TPP,” said Murshed Zaheed, deputy political director at the left-leaning CREDO...
Elizabeth Warren fires back at Obama: Here’s what they’re really fighting about  (interview) Washington Post  ...The president said in his Nike speech that he’s confident that when people read the agreement for themselves, that they’ll see it’s a great deal. But the president won’t actually let people read the agreement for themselves. It’s classified. The president has committed only to letting the public see this deal after Congress votes to authorize fast track. At that point it will be impossible for us to amend the agreement or to block any part of it without tanking the whole TPP...
Why Obama Wants To Torpedo A Plan To Fight Human Trafficking  Huff Post  ...The Senate is gearing up to vote on a bill granting Obama so-called “fast track” powers to streamline the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But a seemingly uncontroversial human rights provision authored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is giving the administration serious headaches as it attempts to win over skeptical members of its own party...
Will the TPP really protect workers?  (opinion) Washington Post  ...To date, the United States has never had a trade agreement that protects basic rights and raises wages and living standards for working people. Previous agreements have failed to ensure the integrity of the democratic process and preserve consumer and environmental protections. Comparing this pact to previous agreements sets a pretty low bar...
The arguments for the TPP are transparently weak  (opinion) Aljazeera America  ...President Barack Obama must be having difficulty rounding up the necessary votes in Congress to pass fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Otherwise we would not be seeing President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff Thomas McClarty, Secretary of State John Kerry and many other prominent people saying such silly things about the trade deal. If anyone is arguing that we should be happy about TPP because it will increase exports, they either do not understand basic economics or are trying to play games. Either way, this argument deserves to be ignored...
Eggs and insults fly as Uber battles for the streets of Milan  Alternet  ...Uber faces regulatory opposition in many places – authorities in the Chinese city of Chengdu paid a visit to Uber’s offices last week as part of an ongoing investigation; and the service has been banned in the US state of Kansas – but in Italy, the battle has become personal...

State & Living Wage Battles
Sen. Richard: Showdown on right-to-work looms  The Joplin Globe  ...As members of the Missouri General Assembly prepare to return to the Capitol for the final week of this year’s session, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard is readying for a showdown over what’s known as "right-to-work," a controversial policy that aims to restrict labor union activity. Richard, a Joplin Republican who backs the policy, told reporters Friday that he planned to force a vote on the measure...
Missouri Senate will press right-to-work, Voter ID  Kansas City Biz Journal  ...The head of the Missouri Senate said he’ll push right-to-work and voter ID legislation before anything else in the Legislature’s final week, The Jefferson City News Tribune reports. Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard acknowledged that there are a number of important bills still waiting for action. But he said if his priorities “don’t make it, nobody else’s will either”...
Lawmakers will hold hearings on repealing prevailing wage laws this week  Michigan Radio   ...Unions are expected to push back this week against bills that would repeal prevailing wage laws in Michigan. A state Senate panel is expected to hold hearings on Senate Bills 1, 2, and 3. The legislation would ban laws requiring union-level compensation for workers on publicly-funded construction projects...
Where do the presidential candidates stand on paid sick leave?  Daily Kos  ...Paid sick leave is gaining ground as a national issue. It's now the law in three states and a growing number of cities, but the momentum behind it just means Republicans are gearing up to fight harder. Republicans in the Pennsylvania state legislature, for instance, are still working away at their ALEC-inspired goal of overriding Philadelphia's paid sick leave law...
Business allies cool to Garcetti's minimum wage plan  Los Angeles Times  ...With the City Council expected to vote on the minimum wage plan later this month, some of the small-business owners who backed Garcetti's first mayoral bid are having misgivings. Garcetti defended his handling of business issues, saying in a statement that he had cut red tape at City Hall, rolled back the size of the business tax and fought for an expansion of the state's film tax credit...
Protesters March For Living Wage  Newsplex   ...Cars and vans honked as protesters made their way down West Main Street screaming chants about living wage. In the summer of 2012 Charlottesville City council voted to increase the living wage from $11.67 an hour to 13.00 an hour but some say that's still not enough...

U.S. Labor
Oakland Teachers Vote to Authorize Strike, Stage ‘Work-to-Rule’ Actions in Protest of Low Pay  In These Times  ...Public school teachers with the Oakland Education Association (OEA) voted last week to authorize strike action if the union’s executive board cannot come to an agreement with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in its year-long bargaining for a new contract. A central sticking point in the negotiations is over salary increases...
UAW, Car Makers Weigh New Class of Hires  Wall Street Journal  ...United Auto Workers officials are considering a plan to encourage the Detroit Three auto makers to add thousands of jobs traditionally belonging to auto-parts suppliers, hoping to fuel the union’s recent string of modest membership increases...
Kellogg to appeal NLRB's Memphis ruling  BattleCreek Enquirer ...Kellogg Co. said it will appeal the National Labor Relations Board finding that the company's lockout of employees at its Memphis cereal plant was unlawful. Kevin Bradshaw, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union's Memphis local, said "we're just glad to see the law is on our side"...
For the First Time, Guestworkers Get Crucial Legal Protections Under New Rules  In These Times  After nearly two months of suspense, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have issued two new rules for the H-2B guestworker program. Worker advocates are praising the rules for establishing badly-needed protections for guestworkers and U.S. workers alike, while industries that rely on H-2B workers call the new rules “flawed”...

Miscellaneous
America’s Richest Congressman, Worth Almost $500 Million, Says Poor Americans Are Doing Great  Think Progress  ...Congressman Darrell Issa, America’s richest Congressman with a net worth of nearly $500 million, says the nation’s poor are actually doing very well, suggesting that if wages for lower-income Americans grow too high, American products would not be able to compete on the global marketplace...
Paul Krugman Exposes Wall Street Vampires' Latest Ploy  Alternet  ..."Last year the vampires of finance bought themselves a Congress," Paul Krugman begins his colum Monday. He then spends the rest of the piece explaining why what might seem like a pretty harsh metaphor is actually apt. But first there's the fact that the bought and paid for Congressional Republicans are trying their darndest to repay their masters by killing the financial reform bill enacted in 2010...
DOJ to Investigate Pattern of Racist Policing in Baltimore  Common Dreams  ...The United States Department of Justice announced Friday that after weeks of uproar and protest it would open an official investigation into the Baltimore Police Department to determine whether the discrimination and events that led to the brutal death of Freddie Gray were part of systemic pattern of abuse...