Teamsters
American Airlines Passenger Service Agents Reach Tentative Agreement Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters/Communications Workers of America Association has reached a tentative first agreement with American Airlines covering 15,000 passenger service agents. The Association is the joint bargaining group (IBT and CWA) that represents agents at American Airlines. Details of the tentative agreement are being provided to members and a ratification vote will be scheduled...
Southern California Teamsters seek “employee” recognition for harbor truckers AJOT ...A watershed battle between the Teamsters Union and Pacific 9 Transportation in Southern California may be the tipping point in the union’s efforts to force harbor-trucking companies to reclassify drivers from independent contractors to employees. If that happens, there will be major changes in the compensation for drivers picking up and delivering containerized truckloads at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Teamsters tell Whole Foods: Black Lives Matter USI Live ...This past weekend, protesters from the Teamsters and the Sierra Club group Sierra Rise educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo East convention about Whole Food’s exploitation of prison labour for profit. The protestors distributed leaflets that read “Whole Prison Labor.” The leaflets were also sponsored by the Organic Consumers Association and the Food Chain Workers Alliance...
Global Labor & Trade
Rift Over Drug Protections Complicates Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Talks Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how long to protect certain high-end drugs from lower-cost imitators has emerged as the leading obstacle to negotiations aimed at completing a 12-nation trade agreement spanning the Pacific. While officials from the U.S. and other counties cite some progress on two other thorny issues, the drug debate continues to divide Australia and other countries from America in the high-level talks that began Wednesday...
Lawmakers push for 'meaningful' sugar market access in TPP Reuters ...Forty-five U.S. lawmakers are pressing trade representative Michael Froman to boost U.S. sugar imports as talks over a Pacific trade agreement resume this week, ratcheting up pressure on a sticking point in prior rounds. Led by Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Democrat Earl Blumenauer from Oregon, the legislators are urging Froman to seek a Trans-Pacific Partnership pact with "commercially meaningful liberalization" of sugar trade...
Pacific trade talks step closer to clearing auto parts hurdle Reuters ...Negotiators trying to clinch a Pacific Rim free trade deal made headway on Wednesday over how to remove a stumbling block and give automakers a freer hand to sell cars in the United States with more parts purchased in Asia. People briefed on the closed-door talks said Canada and Mexico signalled a willingness to open the North American auto market to more parts made in Asia...
Pacific Trade Deal Talks Resume, Under Fire From U.S. Presidential Hopefuls New York Times ...Trade ministers for the United States and 11 other Pacific nations gathered in Atlanta on Wednesday to try to reach agreement on the largest regional free-trade pact ever. But knotty differences persist, and antitrade blasts from American presidential candidates have not eased prospects for any deal. The talks in a downtown Atlanta hotel are picking up where ministers left off two months ago after deadlocking at a Maui resort...
Push grows to target tobacco, health in Pacific trade rules Reuters ...Pressure is mounting on Pacific trading partners over potential steps to block foreign investors from suing governments over anti-smoking measures, under a free trade pact that is nearing completion. Trade ministers from 12 countries are discussing possible exemptions from rules letting foreign companies sue governments over damage to investments as they try to wrap up talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Protesting Big Pharma 'Death Sentence,' Cancer Patient Arrested Outside TPP Talks Common Dreams ...A cancer patient was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday after allegedly "disrupting" the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in a protest aimed at maintaining access to affordable cancer medicines in the dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, that would be impacted by the colossal trade deal...
Portugal goes to the polls with voters resigned to austerity Yahoo News ...Portugal exited the bailout scheme in May 2014 but only after the government imposed harsh austerity and the biggest tax hikes in living memory. The jobless rate has fallen to 12 percent from a peak of 17.5 percent at the beginning of 2013. But the recovery has yet to be felt on the streets. One in five Portuguese continue to live below the poverty line with an income of less than 5,000 euros per year...
State & Living Wage Battles
Alabama to stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters Raw Story ...The state of Alabama, which requires a photo ID to vote, announced this week that it would stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties where 75 percent of registered voters are black. Due to budget cuts, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that 31 satellite DMV offices would no longer have access to driver’s licenses examiners, meaning that residents will need to travel to other counties to apply for licenses. The move comes just one year after the state’s voter photo ID law went into effect...
Proposed Fla. bill to require 6 weeks paid family care leave NBC ...Florida Senator Dwight Bullard proposed a bill that, if passed, will require employers to allow six weeks of paid leave for workers after children are born or adopted. "I totally agree with it," said Shellie Desmaret. "I think the bill is long and coming in the state of Florida," said Paul McRae, who supports the bill...
WV has new prevailing wage; critics remain MetroNews ...West Virginia once again has a prevailing wage but there remain critics of how the numbers were calculated. WorkForce West Virginia filed the information with the Secretary of State’s Office Wednesday. The prevailing wage is the wage required for different jobs on construction projects that are totally funded by the state...
Washington state behind the curve on minimum wage KGMI ...Since the 1990s, Washington state has led the nation in raising minimum wage. But will the state’s minimum wage increase again next year? In short, no. And state officials say the reason is because inflation, as measured by the National Consumer Price Index, didn’t increase over the past year either. That index decreased by 0.3 percent...
Details emerge on Sacramento minimum-wage hike plan SacBee ...acramento would require larger businesses to pay a higher minimum wage before small businesses with fewer than 40 employees, according to a draft of the ordinance obtained by The Sacramento Bee. A task force convened by Mayor Kevin Johnson recommended last month that the city gradually increase its minimum wage to $12.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020...
U.S. Labor
Political Appeal of Bashing American Unions May Have Peaked Bloomberg ...Unions might never recover the strength they had decades ago, but recent signs suggest renewed support for labor, or at least an end to its run as a Republican bogeyman. After building a campaign around his battle with government workers, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker abruptly ended his presidential campaign Sept. 21. His decision came a month after a Gallup Poll found that support for unions jumped 5 percentage points...
United Auto Workers reject contract deal with Fiat Chrysler CBS ...United Auto Workers union members have rejected a proposed contract with Fiat Chrysler in a rebuke of union leaders who had praised the deal. Official totals weren't released, but workers at many large factories voted against the pact by large margins, making victory impossible...
The Fight For 15 Just Landed at America’s Busiest Airport In These Times ...Encouraged by an energetic rally of more than 100 janitors and other members of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 1, a group of low-wage security, cleaning and passenger service workers at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Tuesday launched a campaign to organize 5,000 airport workers to win higher wages and the right to form a union without intimidation. The O’Hare organizing drive hopes, first, to bring the non-union workers at the airport into the Fight for $15 movement, initiated three years ago among fast food workers...
Janitors march for their jobs, benefits Philly.com ...Thousands of union janitors marched through Center City Wednesday, hoping to preserve their benefits and earn what they call fair wages. The rally on Chestnut Street included brief speeches by mayoral candidate Jim Kenney, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke. Members of SEIU 32BJ gathered outside a high-rise apartment building at 2116 Chestnut...
IBEW Local 125 Pickets Pacific power headquarters NW Labor Press ...Nearly 200 outside linemen and wiremen from several electrical utilities in Oregon, Washington, and Utah picketed Sept. 23 outside the corporate headquarters of PacifiCorp in the Lloyd District. The union workers at Pacific Power, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, have been bargaining for a new contract for more than a year. They have rejected two proposals. The most recent was on Sept. 1, at which time they also voted to authorize a strike if needed...
Are Deere, UAW headed for a strike? Des Moines Register ...A dramatic tail-off from record profits a couple of years ago for Deere & Co., Iowa's iconic equipment manufacturer, could set the stage for prolonged, and potentially contentious, labor negotiations once the current 6-year contract expires Thursday, economists and analysts say...
Don Blankenship faces more prison time for lying to Wall Street than 29 deaths at Upper Big Branch Daily Kos ...With Don Blankenship, the notorious former Massey Energy CEO, about to go on trial for multiple charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 miners in 2010, Mother Jones' Tim Murphy takes an in-depth look at Blankenship's brutal business practices and consolidation of political power in West Virginia...
Social Justice & Other News
Senators to Unveil Bipartisan Plan to Ease Sentencing Laws New York Times ...A long-awaited bipartisan proposal to cut mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent offenders and promote more early release from federal prisons is scheduled to be disclosed Thursday by an influential group of senators who hope to build on backing from conservatives, progressives and the White House...
Hedge Funds Keep Winning Government Auctions To Buy Family Homes. Elizabeth Warren Is Crying Foul. Think Progress ...At a rally with dozens of local government officials from around the nation in Washington, D.C., Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will call on the Obama administration to stop inviting Wall Street speculators into the landlord business and start doing more to keep struggling borrowers in their homes and neighborhoods...
'Exxons of Agriculture' Wielding Power to Block Real Climate Solutions: Report Common Dreams ...The publication by GRAIN describes how the fertilizer industry, whose products the group says are responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, has joined forces with major corporations like Walmart in order to cast itself as a purveyor of "climate smart" policies while protecting its interests...
Dead Man Walking: Richard Glossip vs. The Death Penalty Democracy Now ...Just moments before death row inmate Richard Glossip was scheduled to be killed on Wednesday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued a stay of execution citing questions over the execution protocol and the chemicals used for lethal injection. Richard Glossip’s case has attracted international attention. On Wednesday, Pope Francis urged Governor Fallin to commute the death sentence over questions of Glossip’s guilt...
Showing posts with label janitors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label janitors. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.30.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Statement on Presidential Endorsement Process Teamster.org ...On Tuesday, Sept. 29 the Teamsters Union General Executive Board decided to not endorse a presidential candidate at this time. The Teamsters look forward to meeting with Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation, who is committed to improving the lives of America’s working families...
Teamsters Call on UPS CEO to Get Company Out of ALEC During Protest in Detroit Teamster.org ...Detroit Teamsters were joined by representatives from labor, environmental, community, and religious groups at a protest today outside a Detroit Economic Club luncheon where UPS CEO David Abney was the keynote speaker. The group staged the protest to call on UPS to cease all affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Seabury Connector drivers & attendants join Teamsters 639 UnionCity ...Bus drivers and attendants at Seabury Connector have organized with Teamsters Local 639. "These drivers work hard every day transporting seniors around the nation’s capital and now have the opportunity to get the justice they deserve with a Teamster contract," reports Local 639. The organizing win is the seventh consecutive victory for Local 639, which notes that "Expanding our membership brings greater power to all our members"...
Brockton custodians ratify Teamsters contract with city The Enterprise ...More than 120 custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers employed by the Brockton Public Schools have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in Easton. That includes members of the Brockton Public School Custodians Association, which agreed last fall during a controversial series of collective bargaining discussions to accept lower pay rates for school crossing-guard duty...
Homeless tech bus driver finds new home SF Chronicle ...Roughly 180 bus drivers organized by the Teamsters continue to fight for higher wages and a more comprehensive benefits package. Compass has not yet agreed to what the drivers have asked for. Among the points of disagreement: the number of paid holidays for drivers and the amount Compass should pay for drivers’ health care and 401(k) plans, union members said...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S. agree to aim for conclusion of TPP talks this week Japan Times ...Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden agreed Tuesday that the two countries will cooperate in an effort to conclude talks on a Pacific free trade initiative this week, according to statements by both governments. Biden and Abe agreed that their negotiating teams for the Trans-Pacific Partnership would work closely together “with the goal of resolving the limited number of outstanding issues at the upcoming ministers meeting in Atlanta”...
House Dems want investigation of Malaysia's raised trafficking status The Hill ...Six House Democrats have asked the State Department’s watchdog to investigate the process that led to an upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Alan Grayson (Fla.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.) are questioning whether the administration promoted Malaysia to preserve fast-track authority for a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal...
Thousands of Ontario jobs at stake in Pacific Rim trade talks The Star ...The livelihoods of thousands of Ontario autoworkers and farmers are on the negotiating table as Canada heads into a round of high-stakes trade bargaining this week with the United States and 10 other Pacific Rim countries. Concluding the talks, which would create a massive free-trade zone touching four continents, hinges on the participants’ ability to overcome deep divisions...
Ottawa area farmers hold tractor protest against the Trans Pacific Partnership Canadians.org ...Ottawa area farmers brought a long convoy of tractors into downtown Ottawa this morning for a protest against the concessions the Harper government is poised to make at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Atlanta this week. CBC has reported, "Canada is preparing to open the border to more American milk, without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the United States"...
EU ambassador: TTIP conclusion next year ‘feasible’ Politico ...EU Ambassador the the U.S. David O’Sullivan said Tuesday that he believes Brussels and Washington could complete their bilateral trade pact by next year, but emphasized that the talks aren’t happening in a vacuum. “We are negotiating very seriously, and we have a common objective to try to conclude this agreement with this administration”...
NWC workers strike over health insurance coverage Jamaica Observer ...Over 1200 National Water Commission (NWC) workers stopped working islandwide this morning, further threatening the poor water supply caused by months of drought. They are protesting against a decision by the NWC’s management to transfer their health insurance coverage from Medecus to Sagicor. The workers are represented by four trade unions...
Kerala’s plantation workers’ strike: Poor pay and strong union Indian Express ...Kerala’s plantation sector has come to a standstill following the agitation of three lakh estate workers demanding that the daily wage be increased from Rs 232 to Rs 500. The demand has suddenly arisen as a fall-out of the historic agitation of women workers at the Munnar Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Limited (KDHPL), earlier this month...
State & Living Wage Battles
7 Disastrous Effects Of The Illinois Budget Crisis Think Progress ...First term Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has been in office for eight months and the state has not had a budget for nearly half that time. The governor is trying to tie passage of the new budget to changes in labor laws — including creating “right-to-work zones” — that would hurt state workers and to changes in the tax code, but the legislature refuses to sign the package...
Immigration bill heads to Gov. Pat McCrory News & Observer ...The [NC] state House voted 70-43 Tuesday night to restrict forms of ID for non-citizens and ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. The bill will be sent to the governor. Supporters of the measure say local governments shouldn’t get to opt out of federal laws...
Right-to-work vote opens rift in Missouri’s GOP Kansas City Star ...Kidd was one of 20 GOP lawmakers who voted against overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a so-called “right-to-work” bill. The bill would have made it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment. And Republican opposition killed it. That vote earned Kidd and his colleagues some powerful enemies...
W.Va. officials to reveal new prevailing wage Wednesday Associated Press ...West Virginia workforce officials say they are releasing the state’s new prevailing wage, which relied on a survey that received high participation marks from contractors. WorkForce West Virginia will release new minimum wages for public construction projects Wednesday. Agency spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby says 74 percent of contractors surveyed responded, with surveys sent to more than 5,000 businesses...
Minimum Wage Fight For $15: Oregon Ballot Measure Planned If Lawmakers Don't Pass Increase, Activists Say IB Times ...Oregon voters may get to raise the state’s minimum wage next fall if a group of labor unions and social activists gets its way. Unless state lawmakers pass a bill to increase the wages early next year, the Raise the Wage coalition will gather enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot in 2016, the group's leaders announced this week...
Group launches ballot initiative to mandate paid sick leave in Michigan MLive ...A group of activists on Tuesday announced a statewide ballot initiative aimed at enacting a law that would require Michigan employers to offer all workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The law would allow workers to take paid time off for personal or family health needs...
Protesters call for $15 minimum wage at Oak Park rally Chicago Tribune ...Dozens of fast food workers and supporters gathered inside Oak Park Village Hall Sept. 28 to call for the village to raise its minimum wage. Oak Park voters backed a "living wage" for village employees and contractors hired by the village in a 2009 referendum. The Oak Park Village Board has discussed the issue in the years since, but stalled on voting on any measure...
U.S. Labor
At the ‘Big 3’ grocers, bargaining begins with UFCW NW Labor Press ...Bargaining has begun over new union contracts for 10,000 workers at Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons stores in Portland and Bend, Oregon. And for the first time, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 will be bargaining with all grocery, meat, central checkout, and non-food contracts at a single table...
Ford UAW workers threaten strike; FCA-UAW contract hangs in balance MLive ..Workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Kansas City, Mo. truck plant are on a five-day strike notice over disagreements with the Dearborn company. The Kansas City plant employs about 7,500 workers, who build the Ford F-150. The announcement Tuesday from Settles comes as Fiat Chrysler workers continue to vote on a tentative contract between the UAW and FCA...
UAW-FCA deal appears headed for defeat Detroit News ...The tentative four-year contract between the United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears headed for defeat, after a majority of members at both the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Toledo Assembly Complex voted it down, The Detroit News has learned. A UAW spokesman Wednesday said he the UAW was not commenting while voting is ongoing, and a FCA spokeswoman declined comment...
Labor talks ongoing for USW, U.S. Steel Business Times ...The United Steelworkers and United States Steel Corp. continue to meet in Pittsburgh over efforts to reach a new contract, but a final deal has yet to be reached, according to an update posted to the union's website Monday. "Our bargaining team met among themselves and with company representatives for several hours on Monday, discussing a wide range of issues"...
Rank-and-File Teachers Object As Nation's Biggest Union Weighs Early Clinton Endorsement Common Dreams ...A rumored presidential endorsement by the nation's largest union is exposing a rift between rank-and-file members who are "feeling the Bern" and leadership who appear more willing to err on the Clinton side of caution. Various news reports have indicated that an announcement by the 3-million strong National Education Association is expected sometime this week...
Income Inequality Would Be Much Worse If Women Hadn’t Entered The Workforce Think Progress ...A new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP), which houses ThinkProgress, finds that between 1963 and 2013, income inequality among the bottom 95 percent of married couples increased by nearly 25 percent. Yet without a concurrent increase in women’s earnings, which rose fivefold over the same period, inequality would have grown more than 50 percent faster, rising instead by 38 percent...
Social Justice & Other News
The Data Are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding The Atlantic ...In America, schools with a lot of minority students are chronically underfunded. Is that the case because these students are poor, and poor communities have fewer resources for funding their schools? Or, is it because of the color of these students’ skin?Unsettlingly, recent research from data scientist David Mosenkis finds that poverty alone does not explain the underfunding...
Robert Reich: Donald Trump & Jeb Bush Plans Would Slash Taxes for the 1 Percent Democracy Now ...On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are proposing massive new tax cuts for the rich despite growing economic inequality across the country. On Monday, Donald Trump unveiled a plan to lower the income tax rate to the lowest level since 1931, cut corporate taxes and abolish the estate tax. Meanwhile, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has proposed broad tax cuts for individuals and corporations as part of his economic plan...
Teamsters Statement on Presidential Endorsement Process Teamster.org ...On Tuesday, Sept. 29 the Teamsters Union General Executive Board decided to not endorse a presidential candidate at this time. The Teamsters look forward to meeting with Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation, who is committed to improving the lives of America’s working families...
Teamsters Call on UPS CEO to Get Company Out of ALEC During Protest in Detroit Teamster.org ...Detroit Teamsters were joined by representatives from labor, environmental, community, and religious groups at a protest today outside a Detroit Economic Club luncheon where UPS CEO David Abney was the keynote speaker. The group staged the protest to call on UPS to cease all affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Seabury Connector drivers & attendants join Teamsters 639 UnionCity ...Bus drivers and attendants at Seabury Connector have organized with Teamsters Local 639. "These drivers work hard every day transporting seniors around the nation’s capital and now have the opportunity to get the justice they deserve with a Teamster contract," reports Local 639. The organizing win is the seventh consecutive victory for Local 639, which notes that "Expanding our membership brings greater power to all our members"...
Brockton custodians ratify Teamsters contract with city The Enterprise ...More than 120 custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers employed by the Brockton Public Schools have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in Easton. That includes members of the Brockton Public School Custodians Association, which agreed last fall during a controversial series of collective bargaining discussions to accept lower pay rates for school crossing-guard duty...
Homeless tech bus driver finds new home SF Chronicle ...Roughly 180 bus drivers organized by the Teamsters continue to fight for higher wages and a more comprehensive benefits package. Compass has not yet agreed to what the drivers have asked for. Among the points of disagreement: the number of paid holidays for drivers and the amount Compass should pay for drivers’ health care and 401(k) plans, union members said...
Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S. agree to aim for conclusion of TPP talks this week Japan Times ...Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden agreed Tuesday that the two countries will cooperate in an effort to conclude talks on a Pacific free trade initiative this week, according to statements by both governments. Biden and Abe agreed that their negotiating teams for the Trans-Pacific Partnership would work closely together “with the goal of resolving the limited number of outstanding issues at the upcoming ministers meeting in Atlanta”...
House Dems want investigation of Malaysia's raised trafficking status The Hill ...Six House Democrats have asked the State Department’s watchdog to investigate the process that led to an upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Alan Grayson (Fla.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.) are questioning whether the administration promoted Malaysia to preserve fast-track authority for a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal...
Thousands of Ontario jobs at stake in Pacific Rim trade talks The Star ...The livelihoods of thousands of Ontario autoworkers and farmers are on the negotiating table as Canada heads into a round of high-stakes trade bargaining this week with the United States and 10 other Pacific Rim countries. Concluding the talks, which would create a massive free-trade zone touching four continents, hinges on the participants’ ability to overcome deep divisions...
Ottawa area farmers hold tractor protest against the Trans Pacific Partnership Canadians.org ...Ottawa area farmers brought a long convoy of tractors into downtown Ottawa this morning for a protest against the concessions the Harper government is poised to make at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Atlanta this week. CBC has reported, "Canada is preparing to open the border to more American milk, without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the United States"...
EU ambassador: TTIP conclusion next year ‘feasible’ Politico ...EU Ambassador the the U.S. David O’Sullivan said Tuesday that he believes Brussels and Washington could complete their bilateral trade pact by next year, but emphasized that the talks aren’t happening in a vacuum. “We are negotiating very seriously, and we have a common objective to try to conclude this agreement with this administration”...
NWC workers strike over health insurance coverage Jamaica Observer ...Over 1200 National Water Commission (NWC) workers stopped working islandwide this morning, further threatening the poor water supply caused by months of drought. They are protesting against a decision by the NWC’s management to transfer their health insurance coverage from Medecus to Sagicor. The workers are represented by four trade unions...
Kerala’s plantation workers’ strike: Poor pay and strong union Indian Express ...Kerala’s plantation sector has come to a standstill following the agitation of three lakh estate workers demanding that the daily wage be increased from Rs 232 to Rs 500. The demand has suddenly arisen as a fall-out of the historic agitation of women workers at the Munnar Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Limited (KDHPL), earlier this month...
State & Living Wage Battles
7 Disastrous Effects Of The Illinois Budget Crisis Think Progress ...First term Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has been in office for eight months and the state has not had a budget for nearly half that time. The governor is trying to tie passage of the new budget to changes in labor laws — including creating “right-to-work zones” — that would hurt state workers and to changes in the tax code, but the legislature refuses to sign the package...
Immigration bill heads to Gov. Pat McCrory News & Observer ...The [NC] state House voted 70-43 Tuesday night to restrict forms of ID for non-citizens and ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. The bill will be sent to the governor. Supporters of the measure say local governments shouldn’t get to opt out of federal laws...
Right-to-work vote opens rift in Missouri’s GOP Kansas City Star ...Kidd was one of 20 GOP lawmakers who voted against overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a so-called “right-to-work” bill. The bill would have made it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment. And Republican opposition killed it. That vote earned Kidd and his colleagues some powerful enemies...
W.Va. officials to reveal new prevailing wage Wednesday Associated Press ...West Virginia workforce officials say they are releasing the state’s new prevailing wage, which relied on a survey that received high participation marks from contractors. WorkForce West Virginia will release new minimum wages for public construction projects Wednesday. Agency spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby says 74 percent of contractors surveyed responded, with surveys sent to more than 5,000 businesses...
Minimum Wage Fight For $15: Oregon Ballot Measure Planned If Lawmakers Don't Pass Increase, Activists Say IB Times ...Oregon voters may get to raise the state’s minimum wage next fall if a group of labor unions and social activists gets its way. Unless state lawmakers pass a bill to increase the wages early next year, the Raise the Wage coalition will gather enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot in 2016, the group's leaders announced this week...
Group launches ballot initiative to mandate paid sick leave in Michigan MLive ...A group of activists on Tuesday announced a statewide ballot initiative aimed at enacting a law that would require Michigan employers to offer all workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The law would allow workers to take paid time off for personal or family health needs...
Protesters call for $15 minimum wage at Oak Park rally Chicago Tribune ...Dozens of fast food workers and supporters gathered inside Oak Park Village Hall Sept. 28 to call for the village to raise its minimum wage. Oak Park voters backed a "living wage" for village employees and contractors hired by the village in a 2009 referendum. The Oak Park Village Board has discussed the issue in the years since, but stalled on voting on any measure...
U.S. Labor
At the ‘Big 3’ grocers, bargaining begins with UFCW NW Labor Press ...Bargaining has begun over new union contracts for 10,000 workers at Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons stores in Portland and Bend, Oregon. And for the first time, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 will be bargaining with all grocery, meat, central checkout, and non-food contracts at a single table...
Ford UAW workers threaten strike; FCA-UAW contract hangs in balance MLive ..Workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Kansas City, Mo. truck plant are on a five-day strike notice over disagreements with the Dearborn company. The Kansas City plant employs about 7,500 workers, who build the Ford F-150. The announcement Tuesday from Settles comes as Fiat Chrysler workers continue to vote on a tentative contract between the UAW and FCA...
UAW-FCA deal appears headed for defeat Detroit News ...The tentative four-year contract between the United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears headed for defeat, after a majority of members at both the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Toledo Assembly Complex voted it down, The Detroit News has learned. A UAW spokesman Wednesday said he the UAW was not commenting while voting is ongoing, and a FCA spokeswoman declined comment...
Labor talks ongoing for USW, U.S. Steel Business Times ...The United Steelworkers and United States Steel Corp. continue to meet in Pittsburgh over efforts to reach a new contract, but a final deal has yet to be reached, according to an update posted to the union's website Monday. "Our bargaining team met among themselves and with company representatives for several hours on Monday, discussing a wide range of issues"...
Rank-and-File Teachers Object As Nation's Biggest Union Weighs Early Clinton Endorsement Common Dreams ...A rumored presidential endorsement by the nation's largest union is exposing a rift between rank-and-file members who are "feeling the Bern" and leadership who appear more willing to err on the Clinton side of caution. Various news reports have indicated that an announcement by the 3-million strong National Education Association is expected sometime this week...
Income Inequality Would Be Much Worse If Women Hadn’t Entered The Workforce Think Progress ...A new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP), which houses ThinkProgress, finds that between 1963 and 2013, income inequality among the bottom 95 percent of married couples increased by nearly 25 percent. Yet without a concurrent increase in women’s earnings, which rose fivefold over the same period, inequality would have grown more than 50 percent faster, rising instead by 38 percent...
Social Justice & Other News
The Data Are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding The Atlantic ...In America, schools with a lot of minority students are chronically underfunded. Is that the case because these students are poor, and poor communities have fewer resources for funding their schools? Or, is it because of the color of these students’ skin?Unsettlingly, recent research from data scientist David Mosenkis finds that poverty alone does not explain the underfunding...
Robert Reich: Donald Trump & Jeb Bush Plans Would Slash Taxes for the 1 Percent Democracy Now ...On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are proposing massive new tax cuts for the rich despite growing economic inequality across the country. On Monday, Donald Trump unveiled a plan to lower the income tax rate to the lowest level since 1931, cut corporate taxes and abolish the estate tax. Meanwhile, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has proposed broad tax cuts for individuals and corporations as part of his economic plan...
Friday, September 25, 2015
Today's Teamster News 09.25.15
Teamsters
Brockton Custodians Ratify First Teamsters Contract Teamster.org ...By a vote of 90-6, custodians, craftsmen and outside ground crews in the Brockton township public school system have voted to ratify their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. This continues the tradition of strong contracts and benefits that has been a hallmark of Local 653’s representation of its members...
Labor Unrest At California Ports Continue As More Subcontracted Workers Go On Strike In These Times ...The nation’s largest port—spread across parts of both Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA—is a strangely varied workplace. And after years of tenacious effort, workers throughout the port may soon share one important tool their predecessors once had: a union and, therefore, a better job...
Drivers Who Shuttle Genentech Workers Will Get Wage Increase San Francisco Chronicle ...Shuttle drivers who transport Genentech employees received a wage increase Thursday as negotiations continue between their employer, Compass Transportation, and the Teamsters...
Teachers, Drivers Team Up Against Violence From Students WHAS ...For the first time the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the union for the bus drivers, are teaming up and fighting back...
Truck Driver Run Over By Own Trailer At Port Of Long Beach Last Week, Police Say Long Beach Post ...A truck driver was fatally struck by his own vehicle last week at the Port of Long Beach (POLB) when he attempted to unlatch a trailer from his tractor, which was not adequately parked, authorities said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters held a press conference yesterday demanding more information from port. Details regarding the fatality were released by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) today...
Union Questions Plan To Shift City Workers To GSD Chicago Tribune ...On Monday, Paul Berkowitz, an attorney for Teamsters Local 142, in Gary, sought clarification from the GSD commissioners. He said 37 Teamsters received a letter from the city's human resources department stating they would be transferred to the GSD by Dec. 4. He said 14 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) would also shift to GSD...
Global Labor & Trade
Car Industry 'Buried Report Revealing U.S. Car Safety Flaws Over Fears For TTIP Deal' The Independent ...The motor industry has been accused of withholding a report that reveals US cars are substantially less safe than European vehicles - for fear that the findings would hamper the drive to harmonise safety standards as part of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal...
Japan TPP Chief Negotiator: Broad Agreement Is Within Reach: Jiji Reuters ...Japan's chief negotiator for the 12-nation pan-Pacific trade talks said on Friday a broad agreement of the ambitious trade pact was within reach, Jiji news agency reported...
State & Living Wage Battles
The Great Divide In Workplace Benefits New York Times ...For a small, lucky set of parents, the work-family juggle is relatively easy. Their employers give them paid leave; nannies to accompany them on business trips; flexible hours; child and elder care; and even on-site haircuts and nap rooms. For the rest of American workers, life tends to be much more difficult...
Fairness For Franchise Businesses And Workers New York Times ...In California today, nearly 83,000 fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and other franchise businesses generate $94 billion in annual revenue and employ almost one million people. In California, and in the rest of the nation, however, developments in franchise law in recent decades have increasingly reduced the power of franchisees in dealings with their corporate parents. The result has been lower franchisee profits and lower worker pay, while corporate profits and executive compensation soar...
Council Will Consider $15 Minimum Wage For Santa Monica Santa Monica Lookout ...Santa Monica’s lowest wage earners could soon get a raise. The City Council on Tuesday will consider a gradual minimum wage hike that calls for it to reach $15 in 2020...
U.S. Labor
Troubling Signs Emerge In UAW-FCA Contract Voting Detroit Free Press ...Signs began to emerge late Thursday that a proposed contract between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in early trouble as large UAW locals in Sterling Heights, Center Line and Kokomo, Ind. voted against the new four-year deal...
I'm Making Only $2.64 An Hour Working As An Uber Driver AlterNet ...Twenty-six-year-old Takele Gobena is part of the “on-demand” economy, working full-time as a driver for Uber and part time for Lyft. The Ethiopian immigrant quit his job at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and purchased a new car to drive for the ride-hailing firms, believing it would make him a better provider for his one-year-old daughter. Instead, Gobena now finds himself in debt and, after expenses, making well below minimum wage. But because Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors, Gobena is not protected by minimum wage laws...
Social Justice & Other News
We Need To Protect And Preserve Public Housing In New York City New York Amsterdam News ...May 19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his 10-year plan to eliminate NYCHA’s operating deficit to prevent the downfall of a program that houses over 600,000 and employs over 11,000 New Yorkers. In fact, 1 out of every 8 New Yorkers lives in NYCHA housing...
John Boehner To Resign From Congress At End Of October Huffington Post ...House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will resign from Congress at the end of October, his office announced Friday...
Pope Francis’ Challenge To America New York Times ...In an address of memorable passion and nuance, Francis focused widely on the divisive immigration issues at home and abroad, the economic divide driving poverty, the threat to the environment, the “brutal atrocities” and “simplistic reductionism” of the world’s continuing conflicts, and the need, above all, for “courageous actions and strategies” rather than “facile proposals” from leaders responsible for solutions...
Pope To U.N.: Economics, Climate Change, And War Are All Connected Think Progress ...Pope Francis spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, articulating an urgent — but intentionally nuanced — call to address the world’s many interconnected problems, especially economic inequality, climate change, and war...
China Says It Will Start The World's Biggest Carbon Market By 2017 Mother Jones ...On Friday, Chinese president Xi Jinping will announce that China will start the world's largest carbon trading system by 2017, according to a statement released Thursday night by the White House...
Astounding Drug Prices Show How U.S. Government Is In Cahoots With Big Pharma AlterNet ...While Shkreli’s move may have been extremely ostentatious, and drawn the public’s attention, the issue of overpriced drugs in America is one that is not confined to Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals...
How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen's Pollution Scandal Cause? Vox ...Using these figures, the extra pollution from Volkswagen's US cars can be expected to lead to an additional 5 to 27 premature deaths per year. If we extrapolated worldwide to all 11 million vehicles, that would come to somewhere between 74 and 404 premature deaths each year...
Brockton Custodians Ratify First Teamsters Contract Teamster.org ...By a vote of 90-6, custodians, craftsmen and outside ground crews in the Brockton township public school system have voted to ratify their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. This continues the tradition of strong contracts and benefits that has been a hallmark of Local 653’s representation of its members...
Labor Unrest At California Ports Continue As More Subcontracted Workers Go On Strike In These Times ...The nation’s largest port—spread across parts of both Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA—is a strangely varied workplace. And after years of tenacious effort, workers throughout the port may soon share one important tool their predecessors once had: a union and, therefore, a better job...
Drivers Who Shuttle Genentech Workers Will Get Wage Increase San Francisco Chronicle ...Shuttle drivers who transport Genentech employees received a wage increase Thursday as negotiations continue between their employer, Compass Transportation, and the Teamsters...
Teachers, Drivers Team Up Against Violence From Students WHAS ...For the first time the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the union for the bus drivers, are teaming up and fighting back...
Truck Driver Run Over By Own Trailer At Port Of Long Beach Last Week, Police Say Long Beach Post ...A truck driver was fatally struck by his own vehicle last week at the Port of Long Beach (POLB) when he attempted to unlatch a trailer from his tractor, which was not adequately parked, authorities said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters held a press conference yesterday demanding more information from port. Details regarding the fatality were released by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) today...
Union Questions Plan To Shift City Workers To GSD Chicago Tribune ...On Monday, Paul Berkowitz, an attorney for Teamsters Local 142, in Gary, sought clarification from the GSD commissioners. He said 37 Teamsters received a letter from the city's human resources department stating they would be transferred to the GSD by Dec. 4. He said 14 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) would also shift to GSD...
Global Labor & Trade
Car Industry 'Buried Report Revealing U.S. Car Safety Flaws Over Fears For TTIP Deal' The Independent ...The motor industry has been accused of withholding a report that reveals US cars are substantially less safe than European vehicles - for fear that the findings would hamper the drive to harmonise safety standards as part of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal...
Japan TPP Chief Negotiator: Broad Agreement Is Within Reach: Jiji Reuters ...Japan's chief negotiator for the 12-nation pan-Pacific trade talks said on Friday a broad agreement of the ambitious trade pact was within reach, Jiji news agency reported...
State & Living Wage Battles
The Great Divide In Workplace Benefits New York Times ...For a small, lucky set of parents, the work-family juggle is relatively easy. Their employers give them paid leave; nannies to accompany them on business trips; flexible hours; child and elder care; and even on-site haircuts and nap rooms. For the rest of American workers, life tends to be much more difficult...
Fairness For Franchise Businesses And Workers New York Times ...In California today, nearly 83,000 fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and other franchise businesses generate $94 billion in annual revenue and employ almost one million people. In California, and in the rest of the nation, however, developments in franchise law in recent decades have increasingly reduced the power of franchisees in dealings with their corporate parents. The result has been lower franchisee profits and lower worker pay, while corporate profits and executive compensation soar...
Council Will Consider $15 Minimum Wage For Santa Monica Santa Monica Lookout ...Santa Monica’s lowest wage earners could soon get a raise. The City Council on Tuesday will consider a gradual minimum wage hike that calls for it to reach $15 in 2020...
U.S. Labor
Troubling Signs Emerge In UAW-FCA Contract Voting Detroit Free Press ...Signs began to emerge late Thursday that a proposed contract between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in early trouble as large UAW locals in Sterling Heights, Center Line and Kokomo, Ind. voted against the new four-year deal...
I'm Making Only $2.64 An Hour Working As An Uber Driver AlterNet ...Twenty-six-year-old Takele Gobena is part of the “on-demand” economy, working full-time as a driver for Uber and part time for Lyft. The Ethiopian immigrant quit his job at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and purchased a new car to drive for the ride-hailing firms, believing it would make him a better provider for his one-year-old daughter. Instead, Gobena now finds himself in debt and, after expenses, making well below minimum wage. But because Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors, Gobena is not protected by minimum wage laws...
Social Justice & Other News
We Need To Protect And Preserve Public Housing In New York City New York Amsterdam News ...May 19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his 10-year plan to eliminate NYCHA’s operating deficit to prevent the downfall of a program that houses over 600,000 and employs over 11,000 New Yorkers. In fact, 1 out of every 8 New Yorkers lives in NYCHA housing...
John Boehner To Resign From Congress At End Of October Huffington Post ...House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will resign from Congress at the end of October, his office announced Friday...
Pope Francis’ Challenge To America New York Times ...In an address of memorable passion and nuance, Francis focused widely on the divisive immigration issues at home and abroad, the economic divide driving poverty, the threat to the environment, the “brutal atrocities” and “simplistic reductionism” of the world’s continuing conflicts, and the need, above all, for “courageous actions and strategies” rather than “facile proposals” from leaders responsible for solutions...
Pope To U.N.: Economics, Climate Change, And War Are All Connected Think Progress ...Pope Francis spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, articulating an urgent — but intentionally nuanced — call to address the world’s many interconnected problems, especially economic inequality, climate change, and war...
China Says It Will Start The World's Biggest Carbon Market By 2017 Mother Jones ...On Friday, Chinese president Xi Jinping will announce that China will start the world's largest carbon trading system by 2017, according to a statement released Thursday night by the White House...
Astounding Drug Prices Show How U.S. Government Is In Cahoots With Big Pharma AlterNet ...While Shkreli’s move may have been extremely ostentatious, and drawn the public’s attention, the issue of overpriced drugs in America is one that is not confined to Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals...
How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen's Pollution Scandal Cause? Vox ...Using these figures, the extra pollution from Volkswagen's US cars can be expected to lead to an additional 5 to 27 premature deaths per year. If we extrapolated worldwide to all 11 million vehicles, that would come to somewhere between 74 and 404 premature deaths each year...
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.05.15
Teamsters
LA Mayor Announces Eco-Flow, A New Port Drayage Trucking Company Teamster.org ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, port truck drivers, business leaders, labor leaders, and environmental groups today announced the formation of Eco Flow Transportation, a new, innovative company that will transform the drayage trucking industry by hiring all drivers as employees thereby creating a stable workforce...
Teamsters has allies on board for battle over school buses The Times ...National Express has come under renewed pressure from one of America’s most powerful unions to reform working practices at a subsidiary that carries more than a million children a day to and from school. The Teamsters union, which represents more than 1.4 million blue-collar workers in North America, has tabled a proposal for a vote at the transport group’s annual meeting tomorrow...
Teamsters: Workers reinstated after public pressure Capital New York ...Two workers who said they were fired from a New York City private trash hauling firm after testifying to the City Council about poor working conditions were reinstated, according to an announcement from the Teamsters who intervened on the workers' behalf. “New Yorkers have learned two things this week: Five Star Carting does not respect its workers or their free speech rights, but also that when workers, community members, and elected officials stand together, we win"...
Teamsters launch effort to stem growth of nonunion commercial movers Crain's New York ...Teamsters Local 814, along with their employers in the commercial-moving industry and other local labor organizations, began an advertising blitz Monday and released a letter from elected officials to discourage businesses from hiring nonunion or pseudo-union commercial movers...
These Food Distributors Are Trying To Convince A Judge To Let Them Form A Monopoly Think Progress ...After years of acquiring smaller competitors, US Foods and Sysco, Inc. are the last two large companies in the food distribution industry. The government, AAI, Food and Water Watch, and the Teamsters union all argue that the companies already control the market, and would represent a monopoly if merged...
St. Vincent technicians organize as Teamsters Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital voted 130-40 last week to be represented by Teamsters Local 170, the union reported. The local will represent more than 200 technicians who work in radiology, operating rooms and other departments...
Global Labor & Trade
Harry Reid Plans To Block Trade Deal Until The Senate Deals With Surveillance Reform, Highway Funding Huff Post ...Reid said he has spoken with his leadership team and is confident Democratic senators will stick together to demand the two bills be dealt with before moving to approval for trade promotion authority or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "I'm not willing to lay over and play dead on trade until we have some commitment from them on surface transportation," he said...
Economists Say White House Argument on Outsourcing Falls Flat Wall Street Journal ...Economists on both sides of the trade debate say the White House seems to be barking up the wrong tree, muddling arguments about two distinct things–foreign investment and outsourcing–on a hot-button issue that is dividing the public and Congress. Labor unions and skeptical economists are warning the Pacific pact could lead to the kind of outsourcing many workers blame on the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Chuck Schumer Warns Obama His Trade Agenda Is Dead Without A China Currency-Manipulation Crackdown Huff Post ...With Obama pushing Congress to give him so-called fast-track authority to pass massive new trade agreements with Pacific nations and Europe, Schumer and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are using the opportunity to try and force the White House to get tough on China's monetary policy...
GOP scrambling to limit defections on trade The Hill ...House Republican opposition to sweeping trade legislation isn’t breaking down along traditional Tea Party-GOP establishment fault lines. But the pockets of GOP defections will give President Obama and Republican leaders little wiggle room to muscle a bill through the lower chamber...
Robert Reich: The Trans Pacific Partnership is a corporate hijacking (opinion) Salon ...What we should have learned by now about trickle-down economics is that nothing trickles down. If the Trans Pacific Partnership is enacted, big corporations, Wall Street, and their top executives and shareholders will make out like bandits. Who will the bandits be stealing from? The rest of us...
Humanitarians split on Obama’s trade agenda: Trans Pacific Partnership Humanosphere ...Leading humanitarian organizations like the ONE Campaign and Oxfam appear to strongly disagree on whether to support the Obama Administration’s push to ‘fast-track’ an international trade agreement – and if its impact on the global fight against poverty and inequity will do more harm than good...
State & Living Wage Battles
As McDonald's Announces Corporate Shake-Up, Workers Vow to Rise Up Common Dreams ...On the same day that McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook announced sweeping changes aimed at "returning excitement" to the behemoth—and struggling—fast-food chain, thousands of McDonald's cooks and cashiers vowed to descend on the the company's annual shareholder meeting in Illinois later this month to demand higher wages, fairer treatment, and the right to organize...
Dems bet on $12 minimum wage The Hill ..Democrats are doubling down on their push for a national minimum wage hike ahead of the 2016 presidential election, as they look to make a campaign issue of an effort that met a stinging legislative defeat last year. Party leaders are rallying behind new legislation that would raise the wage to $12 an hour, well beyond the $10.10 effort that failed to pass when Democrats controlled the Senate...
LA Mayor Announces Eco-Flow, A New Port Drayage Trucking Company Teamster.org ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, port truck drivers, business leaders, labor leaders, and environmental groups today announced the formation of Eco Flow Transportation, a new, innovative company that will transform the drayage trucking industry by hiring all drivers as employees thereby creating a stable workforce...
Teamsters has allies on board for battle over school buses The Times ...National Express has come under renewed pressure from one of America’s most powerful unions to reform working practices at a subsidiary that carries more than a million children a day to and from school. The Teamsters union, which represents more than 1.4 million blue-collar workers in North America, has tabled a proposal for a vote at the transport group’s annual meeting tomorrow...
Teamsters: Workers reinstated after public pressure Capital New York ...Two workers who said they were fired from a New York City private trash hauling firm after testifying to the City Council about poor working conditions were reinstated, according to an announcement from the Teamsters who intervened on the workers' behalf. “New Yorkers have learned two things this week: Five Star Carting does not respect its workers or their free speech rights, but also that when workers, community members, and elected officials stand together, we win"...
Teamsters launch effort to stem growth of nonunion commercial movers Crain's New York ...Teamsters Local 814, along with their employers in the commercial-moving industry and other local labor organizations, began an advertising blitz Monday and released a letter from elected officials to discourage businesses from hiring nonunion or pseudo-union commercial movers...
These Food Distributors Are Trying To Convince A Judge To Let Them Form A Monopoly Think Progress ...After years of acquiring smaller competitors, US Foods and Sysco, Inc. are the last two large companies in the food distribution industry. The government, AAI, Food and Water Watch, and the Teamsters union all argue that the companies already control the market, and would represent a monopoly if merged...
St. Vincent technicians organize as Teamsters Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital voted 130-40 last week to be represented by Teamsters Local 170, the union reported. The local will represent more than 200 technicians who work in radiology, operating rooms and other departments...
Global Labor & Trade
Harry Reid Plans To Block Trade Deal Until The Senate Deals With Surveillance Reform, Highway Funding Huff Post ...Reid said he has spoken with his leadership team and is confident Democratic senators will stick together to demand the two bills be dealt with before moving to approval for trade promotion authority or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "I'm not willing to lay over and play dead on trade until we have some commitment from them on surface transportation," he said...
Economists Say White House Argument on Outsourcing Falls Flat Wall Street Journal ...Economists on both sides of the trade debate say the White House seems to be barking up the wrong tree, muddling arguments about two distinct things–foreign investment and outsourcing–on a hot-button issue that is dividing the public and Congress. Labor unions and skeptical economists are warning the Pacific pact could lead to the kind of outsourcing many workers blame on the North American Free Trade Agreement...
Chuck Schumer Warns Obama His Trade Agenda Is Dead Without A China Currency-Manipulation Crackdown Huff Post ...With Obama pushing Congress to give him so-called fast-track authority to pass massive new trade agreements with Pacific nations and Europe, Schumer and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are using the opportunity to try and force the White House to get tough on China's monetary policy...
GOP scrambling to limit defections on trade The Hill ...House Republican opposition to sweeping trade legislation isn’t breaking down along traditional Tea Party-GOP establishment fault lines. But the pockets of GOP defections will give President Obama and Republican leaders little wiggle room to muscle a bill through the lower chamber...
Robert Reich: The Trans Pacific Partnership is a corporate hijacking (opinion) Salon ...What we should have learned by now about trickle-down economics is that nothing trickles down. If the Trans Pacific Partnership is enacted, big corporations, Wall Street, and their top executives and shareholders will make out like bandits. Who will the bandits be stealing from? The rest of us...
Humanitarians split on Obama’s trade agenda: Trans Pacific Partnership Humanosphere ...Leading humanitarian organizations like the ONE Campaign and Oxfam appear to strongly disagree on whether to support the Obama Administration’s push to ‘fast-track’ an international trade agreement – and if its impact on the global fight against poverty and inequity will do more harm than good...
State & Living Wage Battles
As McDonald's Announces Corporate Shake-Up, Workers Vow to Rise Up Common Dreams ...On the same day that McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook announced sweeping changes aimed at "returning excitement" to the behemoth—and struggling—fast-food chain, thousands of McDonald's cooks and cashiers vowed to descend on the the company's annual shareholder meeting in Illinois later this month to demand higher wages, fairer treatment, and the right to organize...
Dems bet on $12 minimum wage The Hill ..Democrats are doubling down on their push for a national minimum wage hike ahead of the 2016 presidential election, as they look to make a campaign issue of an effort that met a stinging legislative defeat last year. Party leaders are rallying behind new legislation that would raise the wage to $12 an hour, well beyond the $10.10 effort that failed to pass when Democrats controlled the Senate...
Right to work bills launch hours of debate in Maine Legislature Central Maine ...abor union members faced off against the LePage administration and Republican lawmakers on Monday over the latest push to make Maine a so-called “right to work” state. The hours of debate and rhetoric over several bills largely echoed previous “right to work” attempts in Maine with supporters claiming the measures are needed to improve the state’s business competitiveness and opponents dismissing them as blatant efforts to undermine organized labor...
State Assembly passes bill allowing higher state minimum wage Daily News ...The state Assembly passed a bill Monday allowing a higher state minimum wage in New York City and nearby counties. The legislation, which faces opposition in the Senate, seeks to phase in a minimum wage that would reach $15 an hour by the end of 2018 in the city and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties...
Kanawha County will continue paying prevailing wage WV Gazette ...Members of the Kanawha County Commission are expected to vote Tuesday to keep paying prevailing wage rates for all county construction projects. In March, the WV Legislature passed a bill eliminating prevailing wage rates for public construction projects of less than $500,000. But Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said that doesn’t mean the county has to go along with the change...
U.S. Labor
Tufts Students Stage ‘Indefinite’ Hunger Strike Against Janitor Layoffs In These Times ...Tufts University students launched a hunger strike and took over a quad next to the Medford/Somerville campus’s main administrative building Sunday to protest planned layoffs of 35 janitors. Five undergraduates joined the “indefinite” hunger strike as a show of solidarity with the janitors, 17 percent of whom are slated to lose their jobs...
Clark County, SEIU heading to binding arbitration Review Journal ...Clark County and its largest union, which represents about 5,000 county employees, agreed Monday to go to binding arbitration to reach a contract agreement. The county and the Service Employees International Local 1107 started negotiations in June 2013. They’ve also spent months trying to get the matter to a third-party arbitrator, or fact-finder, for a final decision on the terms of a contract...
Union plans to fight MUA dissolution, job cuts Press of Atlantic City ...At a union meeting Monday, about two dozen local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members were urged to fight the potential dissolution of the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority, along with cuts to city staffing. “It’s about survival and supporting each other,” said Rafael Valentin, a staff representative for AFSCME District Council 71...
The conservative answer on Baltimore: Blame the teachers Daily Kos ...What's responsible for Baltimore's problems? Republicans need answers other than "massive economic inequality, racism, and police violence," and when Republicans need answers but can't admit what the real problems are, they turn to a familiar set of scapegoats. "...you still have a failing education system dominated by public sector unions, teachers unions"...
Miscellaneous
Relatives of 43 Missing Students: U.S.-Backed Drug War Fights Organized People, Not Organized Crime Democracy Now ...he relatives have criticized U.S. support for the drug war, saying Mexico is using the aid to kill innocent people. "If they were really fighting organized crime, as the United States government says, then the crime rates would have gone down," Bautista Salbador says. "Apparently they are not fighting organized crime; they are fighting organized people"...
America's Growing Inequality Worsens In One's Senior Years Alternet ...As traditional pension coverage has declined, those who still have adequate retirement packages are likely to be professionals, business executives, and the wealthy. To the extent that middle-class and poorer Americans have access to retirement plans at all, they are typically 401(k) or similar plans that depend on optional contributions from workers and employers...
State Assembly passes bill allowing higher state minimum wage Daily News ...The state Assembly passed a bill Monday allowing a higher state minimum wage in New York City and nearby counties. The legislation, which faces opposition in the Senate, seeks to phase in a minimum wage that would reach $15 an hour by the end of 2018 in the city and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties...
Kanawha County will continue paying prevailing wage WV Gazette ...Members of the Kanawha County Commission are expected to vote Tuesday to keep paying prevailing wage rates for all county construction projects. In March, the WV Legislature passed a bill eliminating prevailing wage rates for public construction projects of less than $500,000. But Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said that doesn’t mean the county has to go along with the change...
U.S. Labor
Tufts Students Stage ‘Indefinite’ Hunger Strike Against Janitor Layoffs In These Times ...Tufts University students launched a hunger strike and took over a quad next to the Medford/Somerville campus’s main administrative building Sunday to protest planned layoffs of 35 janitors. Five undergraduates joined the “indefinite” hunger strike as a show of solidarity with the janitors, 17 percent of whom are slated to lose their jobs...
Clark County, SEIU heading to binding arbitration Review Journal ...Clark County and its largest union, which represents about 5,000 county employees, agreed Monday to go to binding arbitration to reach a contract agreement. The county and the Service Employees International Local 1107 started negotiations in June 2013. They’ve also spent months trying to get the matter to a third-party arbitrator, or fact-finder, for a final decision on the terms of a contract...
Union plans to fight MUA dissolution, job cuts Press of Atlantic City ...At a union meeting Monday, about two dozen local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members were urged to fight the potential dissolution of the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority, along with cuts to city staffing. “It’s about survival and supporting each other,” said Rafael Valentin, a staff representative for AFSCME District Council 71...
The conservative answer on Baltimore: Blame the teachers Daily Kos ...What's responsible for Baltimore's problems? Republicans need answers other than "massive economic inequality, racism, and police violence," and when Republicans need answers but can't admit what the real problems are, they turn to a familiar set of scapegoats. "...you still have a failing education system dominated by public sector unions, teachers unions"...
Miscellaneous
Relatives of 43 Missing Students: U.S.-Backed Drug War Fights Organized People, Not Organized Crime Democracy Now ...he relatives have criticized U.S. support for the drug war, saying Mexico is using the aid to kill innocent people. "If they were really fighting organized crime, as the United States government says, then the crime rates would have gone down," Bautista Salbador says. "Apparently they are not fighting organized crime; they are fighting organized people"...
America's Growing Inequality Worsens In One's Senior Years Alternet ...As traditional pension coverage has declined, those who still have adequate retirement packages are likely to be professionals, business executives, and the wealthy. To the extent that middle-class and poorer Americans have access to retirement plans at all, they are typically 401(k) or similar plans that depend on optional contributions from workers and employers...
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Houston janitors’ strike spreads to 8 cities
Hundreds of striking janitors in Houston who walked off the job last week are being joined by hundreds more this week as picket lines extend to eight cities across the country. The janitors – employed by contractors to clean office buildings for companies like Exxon Mobile, Shell Oil, and JP Morgan Chase – are striking against unfair labor practices. They are also demanding an end to poverty wages in a city recently named by Forbes as the number one city for millionaires.
SEIU, which represents the janitors, reported in a press release this morning,
Tomorrow, the Houston janitors’ unfair labor practices strike will spread to eight cities across the United States. Janitors, who are members of SEIU Local 1, will fan out across the country to establish picket lines against their janitorial contractors in Washington, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, San Ramon and Oakland. On Thursday, janitors in Los Angeles and Denver will also join the strike. Janitors in these cities have indicated that they will not cross the picket lines, thereby expanding the strike to key real estate in new cities.The ULP strike that began last Tuesday is the first city-wide work stoppage by Houston janitors since 2006. SEIU explains how it started:
The janitors’ union contract expired on May 31, 2012. While in bargaining with their employers, janitors asked for a modest raise from $8.35 per hour to $10 per hour to be phased in over four years. However, building owners and contractors responded by offering a raise of just $.50 over five years – an almost certain promise that janitors will continue to live in poverty. When janitors refused to accept this offer, they were met with harassment and intimidation by their employers. This prompted workers to call for a city-wide strike on July 11 in response to unfair treatment.In an effort to intimidate workers, three of the companies illegally imposed unilateral changes by ceasing contributions to health and welfare funds.
The strike is in its second week and includes more than 400 janitors at 18 different buildings in Houston, a city with glaring income inequality. While one in five workers in the city make less than $10 an hour, Houston leads the nation in annual growth for millionaires.
Josh Eidelson at In These Times writes:
According to the union, Houston’s 15 largest employers brought in over $178 billion in profit last year, while union janitors, mostly working part-time schedules, are paid below $9,000 annually.Eidelson explains how SEIU is using sympathy pickets to win justice for janitors in Houston:
In some cities, SEIU janitors employed by some of the same companies have “conscience clauses” in their contracts, protecting their rise to honor picket lines by refusing work. That means that if a striking Houston worker traveled to such a city and began picketing the same company there, the workers inside could walk off the job, effectively spreading the strike throughout the country.Teamsters – many of whom also enjoy conscience clauses in their contracts – know solidarity is our best weapon against corporate greed and attacks on workers. And given the stakes of the dispute in Houston, it can mean the difference between a hard loss and striking a heavy blow against the one percent:
“What’s happening here in Houston is a microcosm of what’s happening to our whole country,” said Elsa Caballero, State Director for SEIU Local 1 Texas. “The gap between the richest 1% and working families is growing every day. It’s going to take bold action to rebuild our country’s middle class.”Solidarity!
-- Union Thug
Monday, August 30, 2010
Links 08/30/10
Striking Coke workers left without health care KOMO-TV ...Teamsters ...and their families find themselves in a scary spot without health benefits.
Century City janitors' strike spotlights workers' plight Los Angeles Times ...16 of the janitors who clean the high-rises that are home to some of the world's richest talent agencies, financial service companies and law firms were laid off.
Technical workers at Genesys Regional Medical Center reject contract; hospital prepares for a strike Flint Journal ...It’s almost official: the strike is on.
Free market has turned us into 'Matrix' drones The Independent ...A leading economist has likened the nation's acceptance of free-market capitalism to that of the brainwashed characters in the film The Matrix...
Wal-Mart suit over sex bias carries high stakes New York Times ...just a third of Wal-Mart’s managers were women, even though two-thirds of its employees were.
China Defends Control of Rare Earth Exports as Move to Protect Environment Bloomberg ...China defended its controls on exports of rare earth...
Century City janitors' strike spotlights workers' plight Los Angeles Times ...16 of the janitors who clean the high-rises that are home to some of the world's richest talent agencies, financial service companies and law firms were laid off.
Technical workers at Genesys Regional Medical Center reject contract; hospital prepares for a strike Flint Journal ...It’s almost official: the strike is on.
Free market has turned us into 'Matrix' drones The Independent ...A leading economist has likened the nation's acceptance of free-market capitalism to that of the brainwashed characters in the film The Matrix...
Wal-Mart suit over sex bias carries high stakes New York Times ...just a third of Wal-Mart’s managers were women, even though two-thirds of its employees were.
China Defends Control of Rare Earth Exports as Move to Protect Environment Bloomberg ...China defended its controls on exports of rare earth...
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