Teamsters
Hoffa: Congress Must Step Up to Protect Pensions Teamster.org ..."America’s retirement system has been undermined by Wall Street’s collapse seven years ago and poor government policy decisions in recent years. Rather than come up with creative plans to save the hard earned benefits of America's retirees, Congress instead passed a law last year that allows their pension benefits to be cut by as much as 30 percent. This would be devastating for those least able to take such a hit to their living standards. But there is a solution that doesn’t require retiree benefit cuts"...
Hoffa: The Time Has Passed for Short-Term Solutions for Highway Funding Teamster.org ...Today, the House voted to extend federal highway funding for another five months as the July 31 expiration of the current funding quickly approaches. This marks the fourth time this year that the House has voted to extend highway funding for the short-term rather than buckling down and finding a long-term solution. “The longer our representatives on Capitol Hill are unable to agree on long-term highway funding, the further and further our infrastructure falls into disrepair,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Teamsters Applaud Department of Labor Interpretation on Misclassified Workers Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union applauds the findings in the U.S. Department of Labor Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1, which recognizes the need to eliminate employee misclassification, citing the practice’s serious threat to workers’ rights. The Teamsters Union has been leading the fight against misclassification on both the state and federal levels for more than a decade,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Obama appoints emergency board in NJ Transit labor dispute NJ.com ...President Obama on Wednesday named an emergency board to try to resolve the labor dispute between NJ Transit and its engineers. The action came after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen unanimously voted July 8 to go out on strike unless the president formed the board, which has 30 days to recommend ways to resolve the impasse...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece approves contentious austerity measures, smoothing way for bailout Washington Post ...Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers on Thursday approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago. The vote represented a stark turnabout for the government, and it was the price Greece’s lenders demanded for saving the country from a whirlwind of economic turmoil. It was a stunning defeat for populist forces that have pushed for a break from years of grinding cuts...
Yeutter sees 'slim' prospects for TPP agreement at Hawaii session AgriPulse ...Former U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said he thinks chances are “slim” that the U.S. and 11other nations trying to forge the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will reach agreement during the upcoming negotiations in Hawaii in late July. Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said negotiators had made “considerable progress” in closing gaps on remaining issues...
U.S. senators concerned over Malaysia human-trafficking rating Reuters ...Nineteen U.S. senators, including Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday expressing "grave concern" that Malaysia may be upgraded in this year's U.S. list of human trafficking offenders. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. State Department plans to reverse last year’s downgrade of Malaysia in its annual TIP report, which could smooth the way for a major U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries...
Report Exposes 'Revolving Door' Within Corporate-Dominated TTIP Talks Common Dreams ...As European delegates met with stakeholders in Brussels Wednesday to discuss the details of a massive, pending trade deal between the U.S. and Europe, a new report highlights the revolving door that exists between negotiators of the deal and the industries expected to profit from it. Watchdog groups have long warned that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will benefit multinational corporations at the expensive of public and environmental health, labor rights, and state sovereignty...
Senators Press Kerry On Slavery About-Face Huffington Post ...A group of 19 senators led by Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, urging him not to remove Malaysia from the U.S. government's formal list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders. Doing so would allow the Obama administration to evade trade restrictions with Malaysia, after Congress passed legislation blocking trade perks for Tier 3 nations. Malaysia is a key nation involved in the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
Greek MPs pass austerity bill as Athens police clash with protesters The Guardian ...Five years into the worst crisis to hit their country in decades, Greek MPs voted by a large majority in the early hours of Thursday morning to accept draconian austerity as the price of further bailout funds but at great personal cost to prime minister Alexis Tsipras. In a vote that saw tensions soar in and outside parliament, the embattled leader’s radical leftist Syriza party suffered huge losses as 40 MPs revolted against the measures...
A Nation Torn: Greece Grapples With 'Humiliating' Austerity Deal Common Dreams ..."The scene in Athens is explosive," King's College London professor and Syriza central committee member Stathis Kouvelakis wrote for Jacobin Wednesday afternoon. Both in and outside of Greek Parliament, tensions are running high. A largely peaceful anti-austerity rally was disrupted at one point by an hour-long clash between anti-austerity protesters and police, leading to about 50 arrests...
UK unemployment rises for first time in two years BBC ...The UK unemployment total has risen for the first time in two years, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said 1.85 million people were unemployed in the March-to-May period, an increase of 15,000 from the previous quarter, with the jobless rate at 5.6%. The ONS also showed that the pace of pay rises continued to pick up...
Swazi Human Rights Leaders Released from Prison Solidarity Center ...Imprisoned Swazi human rights leader Mario Masuku and student activist Maxwell Dlamini were granted bail today by the Supreme Court of Swaziland, according to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). The two were charged with terrorism and jailed in May 2014 for slogans they allegedly shouted at a May Day rally. In May, an international delegation of union leaders traveled to Swaziland, calling on the government to guarantee the rights of workers to freely form unions and exercise freedom of speech and assembly...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker Tries To Change Welfare Rules So He Can Drug Test People Who Need Food Stamps Think Progress ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) sued the federal government Tuesday in an effort to protect a new program to drug test food stamp recipients. Walker signed his state’s budget into law Sunday, which included a provision to start drug testing people who apply for food stamps. But given that states have little leeway in making changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, better known as food stamps), Federal officials were expected to block the program...
GOP Is Standing Firm On Wages The Intelligencer ...West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole said GOP leaders likely will introduce a repeal of the state's prevailing wage on the first day of the 2016 legislative session if they remain unsatisfied with a state agency's efforts to recalculate the wage. There's been a battle brewing since June between Republican lawmakers and WorkForce West Virginia...
Kansas’s Teacher Exodus The Atlantic ...Frustrated and stymied by massive budget cuts that have trimmed salaries and classroom funding, Kansas teachers are “fleeing across the border” to neighboring states that offer better benefits and a friendlier climate for public education, NPR’s Sam Zeff reported. To be sure, this is a tough time for the Sunflower State, where funding shortfalls forced a half-dozen districts to shorten their academic calendars, and teacher jobs are being advertised on billboards...
After a May uptick, Michigan unemployment holds steady in June MLive ...The state's unemployment rate held at a steady 5.5 percent throughout May and June, according to numbers from the Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget. That's slightly higher than the national average of 5.3 percent...
Uber Fined, Faces Possible Suspension in California for Not Reporting Accessibility Data Slate ...Uber’s dust up with regulators continued on Wednesday when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) hit the ride-hailing company with a $7.3 million fine for skirting state laws designed to ensure passengers are treated fairly. A CPUC judge said Uber had not provided sufficient data to determine if the company was meeting these requirements, a violation of the 2013 law that allowed Uber to operate in the state...
“We Need to Stop Being Nice”: IL Labor, Community Activists Push Progressive Budget Crisis Solutions In These Times ...In the shadow of a potential state government shutdown, 125 leaders and policy wonks from 63 non-profit, community organizing and labor organizations came together on June 29 to deliberate over a series of proposals for revenue solutions to Illinois’s budget shortfall. Their goal: to push past the austerity narrative that has long constricted progressive policymaking at all levels of government in the state...
LA’s Garcetti says $15 minimum wage will lift 600,000 out of poverty Market Watch ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that his city’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years will lift 600,000 L.A.-area wage earners out of poverty. “In my city, where one out of four people live in poverty, we have a shot at putting that money back on Main Street,” Garcetti said at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Judge: Boeing Wrong For Withholding Job Relocation Information KPLU ...Boeing violated labor law by not giving information to its engineers’ union regarding plans for moving jobs out of the Puget Sound region, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled. Since 2013, the aerospace company has been moving work out of the region that had previously been done by members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)...
Jeb Bush Wants More Americans To Work Long Hours But Doesn’t Want To Pay Them Overtime Think Progress ...Speaking at an event in Iowa on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush voiced his opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to expand overtime protection to an extra five million workers. Calling it “the wrong approach,” he argued that the plan will result in lower wages, less overtime available, fewer people working, and will also ban business owners from giving managers bonuses...
Jeep Wrangler decision could come down to UAW talks Detroit News ...Jeep Wrangler production is anticipated to be a part of the 2015 contract negotiations between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers. After nine months of speculation about when a decision could come and Toledo officials orchestrating an aggressive land and incentive package to keep production in that city, the decision could arise as part of the collective bargaining agreements between the automaker and union...
USW focuses on Goodyear's plans for investment in U.S. plants Rubber & Plastics News ...While Goodyear's decision to locate a $550 million tire plant in Mexico might be considered a blow to the United Steelworkers, the labor union that represents about 9,000 Goodyear workers in the U.S. is claiming a partial victory. The USW said it negotiated a commitment from Goodyear to invest a like amount in its unionized U.S. plants for “high-value-added” tire production above and beyond the $700 million the tire maker already had budgeted for 2015...
Three-year IBEW contract up for Council approval KRBD ...Ratification of a new three-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is in front of the Ketchikan City Council Thursday night. The current contract expired on Dec. 31. If approved, the new contract will be retroactive to the start of this calendar year...
CCAC Adjunct Faculty Joins American Federation Of Teachers WESA ...Adjunct faculty at the Community College of Allegheny County voted to join their full-time colleagues as members of the American Federation of Teachers on Tuesday. “Being able to negotiate a living wage for ourselves was obviously the number one issue,” said adjunct art professor Gene Marsh, “and some other issues relating to benefits or access to full-time positions as they open up”...
Americans are taking less vacation time than ever — and it's hurting their relationships Today ...A survey of 1,200 adults by the U.S. Travel Association found that Americans are taking fewer vacation days than they did 15 years ago (16 days per year) with many people not taking all the vacation days they earn. And eschewing vacation time for more work can be damaging for relationships. "A lot more Americans now are working harder than ever," Dr. Sue Varma, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center, told Today...
Calm Down: SCOTUS’s ‘Friedrichs’ Case Won’t Mean the End of the American Labor Movement In These Times ...here are good reasons to be concerned. A ruling in favor of Friedrichs would legally and morally permit some workers to be “free riders”—individuals who take advantage of what the union by law must provide them without paying for it. Perhaps more important, it would disregard the fundamental reasoning behind the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)-protected “union security clauses.” But there are many other reasons to think that, win or lose on this case, the labor movement may not be as seriously damaged as many now fear...
Miscellaneous
Why Are the Koch Brothers and Van Jones Teaming Up to End Mass Incarceration? Democracy Now ...This week President Obama has launched a major push to reform the country's criminal justice system. On Monday, he granted clemency to 46 men and women facing extreme sentences - in some cases life in prison - for nonviolent drug offenses. Tomorrow he is set to become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Obama praised the "unlikely bedfellows" campaigning together for criminal justice reform from the left and right, including the Koch Brothers and Van Jones...
Detroit Is Ground Zero in the New Fight for Water Rights The Nation ...The rise of Detroit’s water movement comes none too soon. One year after the wave of disconnections began, the threat of mass shutoffs has spread to Baltimore, while the climate-related drought in California has forced the government to institute water-use restrictions. From coast to coast, the United States is careening into an age of widespread water instability. And once again, as so many times before, the Motor City is on the front lines of the resistance...
Showing posts with label overtime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overtime. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Todays Teamster News 07.06.15
Teamsters
Trucking Companies Try New Approach at Congested California Ports Wall Street Journal ...The Southern California ports are serving as a “test bed for the transformation of the industry,” said Jonathan Rosenthal, co-managing partner of Saybrook Capital. He said he’d like to employ 1,000 drivers in the next few years. The new companies have the Teamsters’ backing. In addition to Eco Flow, the union pointed to Toll Group, Sea-Logix LLC, Shippers Transport Express and Green Fleet Systems as companies that employ their drivers...
EVSC Board to discuss Teamster representation at Monday meeting Courier & Press ...Lacking an agreement with Teamsters Local 215, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board plans to discuss next steps at a regular meeting on Monday. EVSC Board President Mike Duckworth said the seven-member board will meet in executive session at 3:30 p.m. Monday. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey and union members plan to be at Monday night’s 5:30 p.m. meeting...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece stands defiant as no vote rails against wrenching austerity The Guardian ...Democracy in Greece spoke on Sunday and the response was a resounding “no” to demands for more of the excoriating austerity that over five long years has been the price of keeping Europe’s weakest economy afloat. 61% of voters rejected the terms of further financial assistance set by creditors at the European Union and International Monetary Fund...
6 chapters of TPP pact still unresolved Japan News ...Of the 31 chapters of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, six are expected to require “political settlement” at a ministerial meeting, according to Japanese government sources. The six include chapters on protection of intellectual property rights, treatment of state-owned enterprises and investment rules...
TISA Leaks Part Deux: More Evidence of Concerted Attack on Democracy Common Dreams ...One day after it leaked a trove of documents related to the massive, pro-corporate Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), WikiLeaks on Thursday published another four chapters of the proposed 52-nation trade deal. Thursday's batch of texts reveals "a concerted attempt to place restrictions on the ability of participating governments to regulate services sectors, even where regulations are necessary to protect the privacy of domestic populations"...
What is TTIP? The controversial trade deal proposal explained The Guardian ...If you are not yet familiar with the acronym TTIP it is likely you soon will be. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a proposed trade agreement and the subject of an ongoing series of negotiations between the EU and US aimed at creating the world’s biggest free trade zone spanning the north Atlantic. Food safety has become a major stumbling block. The talks have been conducted largely in secret...
Japan, U.S. to resume TPP talks on July 9 Japan News ...Japan and the United States will resume bilateral working-level talks related to Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade negotiations on July 9, the Japanese government said Thursday. The talks, to be held in Tokyo, are slated to last for two days. The two countries aim to find a common ground on contentious issues such as Japan’s import quota for U.S. rice and automobile trade...
Air Force One Serves as Reward for Obama Trade Allies Bloomberg ...Are you a congressional Democrat who bucked organized labor and the progressive base of your party to support President Barack Obama’s trade agenda? Then the White House may have a gift for you: Air Force One touching down in your hometown, where the president will hold a large rally and praise you for your hard work...
You Are What Washington, D.C., Wants You to Eat TakePart.com ... To the United States’ free-trade partners, buy-local initiatives can be perceived as barriers to trade. If TPP participants choose to challenge these rules, efforts to connect farmers, eaters, and decision makers could be made obsolete. While the TPP eliminates obstacles to trade for multinational corporations, it may well destabilize burgeoning efforts to foster an environmentally sound food system in the United States...
"Democracy Cannot Be Blackmailed": Greek Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Creditors’ Austerity Demand Democracy Now ...In voting against austerity, Greek voters have rejected measures that helped cripple the economy, but also turned down a financial lifeline for its struggling banks. The banks will remain closed today as the European Central Bank meets to consider new emergency loans. Tsipras says he will seek a new round of talks with creditors...
Asia markets sink after Greece votes 'No' to austerity Business Insider ...Asian stocks mostly fell Monday after Greek voters rejected more austerity demands from creditors, fuelling fears the country will crash out of the eurozone, but the euro recovered from initial losses as dealers wait for European leaders' next move. Analysts warned the decision had likely put Athens on course to exit the eurozone...
What is really at stake in the Greek crisis (opinion) IUF.org ...A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of a democratic alternative to austerity. The Syriza government of Greece incarnates that alternative, which is why the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have allied with the IMF to exorcise the challenge it represents. With few exceptions, political parties of every persuasion have tacitly or actively supported the anti-Syriza coalition...
Bangladesh Women Workers Increasingly Empowered Solidarity Center ...Women garment workers primarily fuel Bangladesh’s $24 billion a year garment industry, yet women are “still viewed as basically cheap labor,” says Lily Gomes, Solidarity Center senior program officer for Bangladesh. “There is a strong need for functioning factory-level unions led by women,” says Gomes, who is leading efforts to help empower women workers to take on leadership roles at factories and in unions throughout Bangladesh...
State & Living Wage Battles
No major state contracts expected during prevailing wage limbo Charleston Daily Mail ...State officials don’t expect any major building contracts to go out for bid in the next few months while WorkForce West Virginia recalculates the state’s prevailing wage, but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to say the contracting process will be free from complications. West Virginia’s prevailing wage, which expired Wednesday after WorkForce West Virginia failed to deliver a recalculated wage scale by the Legislature-imposed deadline of June 30, is used to determine the minimum hourly rate of pay for construction workers...
Hiking the minimum wage: What would it mean for Nevada? Las Vegas Sun ...Los Angeles’ increase, which won’t be fully instituted until 2020, is the latest in a trend of minimum wage increases across the nation. Now, some are wondering: Is Nevada next? The minimum wage here is $8.25 an hour for employees who aren’t offered employer-sponsored health insurance and $7.25 for those who are. This year’s legislative session saw various pushes to change the state minimum wage...
Not so fast on a dismissal of the state voter ID case, law’s challengers say NC Policy Watch ...The parties challenging the voter ID provisions of the state’s 2013 election law changes in state court have asked the judge to put the case on hold until after the 2016 presidential primary, saying that only then will the merits of the recently adopted “reasonable impediment” process for voters lacking a photo ID be established. The request comes in response to the state’s motion to dismiss the case in light of those new provisions which they say moot the case...
Pittsburgh council to introduce paid sick-leave legislation Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh Councilman Corey O’Connor is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Tuesday that would require Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, thrusting the city into a statewide and national debate on the millions of workers across the country who don’t have access to the benefit...
No consensus emerging in KC minimum wage fight Kansas City Star ...Six weeks ago, the Kansas City Council put off a decision on a minimum wage increase in hopes of finding middle ground between $15-per-hour advocates and business groups adamantly opposed to that idea. Now, as the council’s self-imposed July 16 deadline for a vote looms, a solution remains elusive...
Trucking Companies Try New Approach at Congested California Ports Wall Street Journal ...The Southern California ports are serving as a “test bed for the transformation of the industry,” said Jonathan Rosenthal, co-managing partner of Saybrook Capital. He said he’d like to employ 1,000 drivers in the next few years. The new companies have the Teamsters’ backing. In addition to Eco Flow, the union pointed to Toll Group, Sea-Logix LLC, Shippers Transport Express and Green Fleet Systems as companies that employ their drivers...
EVSC Board to discuss Teamster representation at Monday meeting Courier & Press ...Lacking an agreement with Teamsters Local 215, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board plans to discuss next steps at a regular meeting on Monday. EVSC Board President Mike Duckworth said the seven-member board will meet in executive session at 3:30 p.m. Monday. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey and union members plan to be at Monday night’s 5:30 p.m. meeting...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece stands defiant as no vote rails against wrenching austerity The Guardian ...Democracy in Greece spoke on Sunday and the response was a resounding “no” to demands for more of the excoriating austerity that over five long years has been the price of keeping Europe’s weakest economy afloat. 61% of voters rejected the terms of further financial assistance set by creditors at the European Union and International Monetary Fund...
6 chapters of TPP pact still unresolved Japan News ...Of the 31 chapters of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, six are expected to require “political settlement” at a ministerial meeting, according to Japanese government sources. The six include chapters on protection of intellectual property rights, treatment of state-owned enterprises and investment rules...
TISA Leaks Part Deux: More Evidence of Concerted Attack on Democracy Common Dreams ...One day after it leaked a trove of documents related to the massive, pro-corporate Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), WikiLeaks on Thursday published another four chapters of the proposed 52-nation trade deal. Thursday's batch of texts reveals "a concerted attempt to place restrictions on the ability of participating governments to regulate services sectors, even where regulations are necessary to protect the privacy of domestic populations"...
What is TTIP? The controversial trade deal proposal explained The Guardian ...If you are not yet familiar with the acronym TTIP it is likely you soon will be. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a proposed trade agreement and the subject of an ongoing series of negotiations between the EU and US aimed at creating the world’s biggest free trade zone spanning the north Atlantic. Food safety has become a major stumbling block. The talks have been conducted largely in secret...
Japan, U.S. to resume TPP talks on July 9 Japan News ...Japan and the United States will resume bilateral working-level talks related to Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade negotiations on July 9, the Japanese government said Thursday. The talks, to be held in Tokyo, are slated to last for two days. The two countries aim to find a common ground on contentious issues such as Japan’s import quota for U.S. rice and automobile trade...
Air Force One Serves as Reward for Obama Trade Allies Bloomberg ...Are you a congressional Democrat who bucked organized labor and the progressive base of your party to support President Barack Obama’s trade agenda? Then the White House may have a gift for you: Air Force One touching down in your hometown, where the president will hold a large rally and praise you for your hard work...
You Are What Washington, D.C., Wants You to Eat TakePart.com ... To the United States’ free-trade partners, buy-local initiatives can be perceived as barriers to trade. If TPP participants choose to challenge these rules, efforts to connect farmers, eaters, and decision makers could be made obsolete. While the TPP eliminates obstacles to trade for multinational corporations, it may well destabilize burgeoning efforts to foster an environmentally sound food system in the United States...
"Democracy Cannot Be Blackmailed": Greek Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Creditors’ Austerity Demand Democracy Now ...In voting against austerity, Greek voters have rejected measures that helped cripple the economy, but also turned down a financial lifeline for its struggling banks. The banks will remain closed today as the European Central Bank meets to consider new emergency loans. Tsipras says he will seek a new round of talks with creditors...
Asia markets sink after Greece votes 'No' to austerity Business Insider ...Asian stocks mostly fell Monday after Greek voters rejected more austerity demands from creditors, fuelling fears the country will crash out of the eurozone, but the euro recovered from initial losses as dealers wait for European leaders' next move. Analysts warned the decision had likely put Athens on course to exit the eurozone...
What is really at stake in the Greek crisis (opinion) IUF.org ...A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of a democratic alternative to austerity. The Syriza government of Greece incarnates that alternative, which is why the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have allied with the IMF to exorcise the challenge it represents. With few exceptions, political parties of every persuasion have tacitly or actively supported the anti-Syriza coalition...
Bangladesh Women Workers Increasingly Empowered Solidarity Center ...Women garment workers primarily fuel Bangladesh’s $24 billion a year garment industry, yet women are “still viewed as basically cheap labor,” says Lily Gomes, Solidarity Center senior program officer for Bangladesh. “There is a strong need for functioning factory-level unions led by women,” says Gomes, who is leading efforts to help empower women workers to take on leadership roles at factories and in unions throughout Bangladesh...
State & Living Wage Battles
No major state contracts expected during prevailing wage limbo Charleston Daily Mail ...State officials don’t expect any major building contracts to go out for bid in the next few months while WorkForce West Virginia recalculates the state’s prevailing wage, but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to say the contracting process will be free from complications. West Virginia’s prevailing wage, which expired Wednesday after WorkForce West Virginia failed to deliver a recalculated wage scale by the Legislature-imposed deadline of June 30, is used to determine the minimum hourly rate of pay for construction workers...
Hiking the minimum wage: What would it mean for Nevada? Las Vegas Sun ...Los Angeles’ increase, which won’t be fully instituted until 2020, is the latest in a trend of minimum wage increases across the nation. Now, some are wondering: Is Nevada next? The minimum wage here is $8.25 an hour for employees who aren’t offered employer-sponsored health insurance and $7.25 for those who are. This year’s legislative session saw various pushes to change the state minimum wage...
Not so fast on a dismissal of the state voter ID case, law’s challengers say NC Policy Watch ...The parties challenging the voter ID provisions of the state’s 2013 election law changes in state court have asked the judge to put the case on hold until after the 2016 presidential primary, saying that only then will the merits of the recently adopted “reasonable impediment” process for voters lacking a photo ID be established. The request comes in response to the state’s motion to dismiss the case in light of those new provisions which they say moot the case...
Pittsburgh council to introduce paid sick-leave legislation Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh Councilman Corey O’Connor is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Tuesday that would require Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, thrusting the city into a statewide and national debate on the millions of workers across the country who don’t have access to the benefit...
No consensus emerging in KC minimum wage fight Kansas City Star ...Six weeks ago, the Kansas City Council put off a decision on a minimum wage increase in hopes of finding middle ground between $15-per-hour advocates and business groups adamantly opposed to that idea. Now, as the council’s self-imposed July 16 deadline for a vote looms, a solution remains elusive...
Fast Food CEO Blames Low-Wage Workers for Poverty The Nation ...In a recent op-ed, Puzder made the specious claim that the social safety net “can lock [people] into poverty.” What Puzder forgets to point out is that it is poverty wages—poverty wages paid by institutions like Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. to many of their 20,000-plus employees— that force families to turn to nutrition and housing assistance, and other government-supplemented work supports, just to get by...
U.S. Labor
Salon Media’s Editorial Staff To Unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East WGAEast.org ...The editorial staff at Salon Media, Inc., the pioneering digital media outlet founded in 1995, today issued the following letter announcing plans to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE): "We, the editorial staffers at Salon Media, Inc. have decided to organize. Every single one of the editorial employees at Salon supports unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East, and today we’re asking the management of Salon to recognize our union"...
3-day Milwaukee County bus drivers' strike ends with no deal on key sticking points of dispute Star Tribune ...Milwaukee County bus drivers have returned to work after a three-day strike over staffing and wages, despite a lack of a new contract. Union leaders say the strike ended as planned at 3 a.m. Saturday despite a few remaining issues preventing an agreement on a new deal. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 President James Macon says the biggest sticking point is the county's plan to hire more part-time drivers, with fewer benefits than full-time drivers...
The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why The Nation ...Millions of Americans just got a little more reason to look forward to staying late at work. The Obama administration has revised the national overtime rules to entitle nearly 5 million workers to the right to earn 50 percent more than the base wage for each hour worked in addition to the standard 40-hour week. The proposed rule, announced this week by the Department of Labor, would raise the threshold at which certain professionals qualify for overtime coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act...
The SEIU’s Odd Recipe for Unionizing Fast Food Bloomberg ...The Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest labor groups, is battling to organize America’s fast-food workers. Since 2012 the union has spent more than $25 million on a campaign that’s included backing lawsuits over alleged unpaid wages and racially motivated firings, promoting legislation to change the franchise system, and occasionally mounting attention-grabbing strikes...
GOP seeks to block new NLRB rules through funding Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans aren’t letting a presidential veto stop them from trying to block rules that would make it easier and faster for unions to organize. Stymied by the president’s March veto of their resolution against the policy change, Republicans now are using the budget process to block the rules...
Miscellaneous
Midair Collusion: Feds Probe Possible Conspiracy In U.S. Airline Industry Think Progress ...The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating major American air carriers over fears that Delta, American, United, and Southwest are conspiring together to restrict competition at travelers’ expense. Antitrust investigators have asked the four airlines to turn over all communications relating to passenger capacity on their planes over the past five years, including internal discussions, anything they’ve sent to or received from their competitors...
How Donald Trump Changed the GOP Debate on Immigration The American Prospect ...While his comments about the entirely fictional Mexican immigrant crime wave may have cost him many of the media and endorsement deals that sustain his fame (NBC, Univision, Macy's, Serta, and NASCAR have all cut their ties with him), it sure looks like Trump's particular brand of vulgar straight talk has vaulted him to the top tier of Republican candidates...
Economists say unemployment rate not as good as it sounds WWLP ...If you look at like the unemployment rate the job market seems to be improving across the United States. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but the numbers aren’t as good as many economists had hoped. This past month, the unemployment rate fell more than 5%, adding 200,000 jobs to the economy. However, after a brutal winter, economists were expecting those numbers to be much higher...
U.S. Labor
Salon Media’s Editorial Staff To Unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East WGAEast.org ...The editorial staff at Salon Media, Inc., the pioneering digital media outlet founded in 1995, today issued the following letter announcing plans to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE): "We, the editorial staffers at Salon Media, Inc. have decided to organize. Every single one of the editorial employees at Salon supports unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East, and today we’re asking the management of Salon to recognize our union"...
3-day Milwaukee County bus drivers' strike ends with no deal on key sticking points of dispute Star Tribune ...Milwaukee County bus drivers have returned to work after a three-day strike over staffing and wages, despite a lack of a new contract. Union leaders say the strike ended as planned at 3 a.m. Saturday despite a few remaining issues preventing an agreement on a new deal. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 President James Macon says the biggest sticking point is the county's plan to hire more part-time drivers, with fewer benefits than full-time drivers...
The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why The Nation ...Millions of Americans just got a little more reason to look forward to staying late at work. The Obama administration has revised the national overtime rules to entitle nearly 5 million workers to the right to earn 50 percent more than the base wage for each hour worked in addition to the standard 40-hour week. The proposed rule, announced this week by the Department of Labor, would raise the threshold at which certain professionals qualify for overtime coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act...
The SEIU’s Odd Recipe for Unionizing Fast Food Bloomberg ...The Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest labor groups, is battling to organize America’s fast-food workers. Since 2012 the union has spent more than $25 million on a campaign that’s included backing lawsuits over alleged unpaid wages and racially motivated firings, promoting legislation to change the franchise system, and occasionally mounting attention-grabbing strikes...
GOP seeks to block new NLRB rules through funding Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans aren’t letting a presidential veto stop them from trying to block rules that would make it easier and faster for unions to organize. Stymied by the president’s March veto of their resolution against the policy change, Republicans now are using the budget process to block the rules...
Miscellaneous
Midair Collusion: Feds Probe Possible Conspiracy In U.S. Airline Industry Think Progress ...The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating major American air carriers over fears that Delta, American, United, and Southwest are conspiring together to restrict competition at travelers’ expense. Antitrust investigators have asked the four airlines to turn over all communications relating to passenger capacity on their planes over the past five years, including internal discussions, anything they’ve sent to or received from their competitors...
How Donald Trump Changed the GOP Debate on Immigration The American Prospect ...While his comments about the entirely fictional Mexican immigrant crime wave may have cost him many of the media and endorsement deals that sustain his fame (NBC, Univision, Macy's, Serta, and NASCAR have all cut their ties with him), it sure looks like Trump's particular brand of vulgar straight talk has vaulted him to the top tier of Republican candidates...
Economists say unemployment rate not as good as it sounds WWLP ...If you look at like the unemployment rate the job market seems to be improving across the United States. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but the numbers aren’t as good as many economists had hoped. This past month, the unemployment rate fell more than 5%, adding 200,000 jobs to the economy. However, after a brutal winter, economists were expecting those numbers to be much higher...
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.01.15
Teamsters
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. 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...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Danafilms Workers Join Teamsters Local 170 Teamster.org ...Production workers at Danafilms, a plastic film manufacturer in Westborough, Mass., voted to join Teamsters Local 170 in an election held in April. Ballots impounded after the vote were counted yesterday, resulting in a 23-13 count in favor of representation. There are 44 workers in the bargaining unit...
EVSC, Teamsters haven't reached agreements, current contracts expire at midnight Courier & Press ...The midnight deadline to reach an agreement was not met between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams, meaning the school corporation's contracts with secretaries, special education assistants, bus aides, custodians and bus drivers are expired...
EVSC, Teamsters Still Deadlocked on Contract Tristate ...The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and Teamsters Local 215 remain deadlocked on contract negotiations as the eleventh-hour approaches. The talks have started and stalled for months, and at midnight Wednesday the contract will expire, leaving an uncertain future for nearly 700 employees and their union representation...
Global Labor & Trade
Australian politicians slam TPP for ‘excessive secrecy’ RT ...Australian lawmakers have slammed the country’s deal-making process as one lacking transparency and oversight. They’ve particularly criticized the currently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership for its “excessive secrecy.” The report, entitled the “Blind Agreement,” was a joint party report from the Labor, Liberal and Green parties...
Secret TPP Negotiations Denounced as “Undemocratic” in Peru TeleSUR ...On Tuesday, a group of Peruvian members of Congress and analysts denounced the secret negotiations of the US led Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty – or TPP – as undemocratic and an attempt by elites to force decisions on Peru. Together with 11 other countries, Peru has been negotiating TPP in secret, a trade agreement which could become the largest on the planet...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Hand Corporations the Reins to Our Government In These Times ...critics argue that within the hundreds of pages of esoteric provisions, the deal—like similar ones before it—includes a glaring double standard: It provides legal rights to corporations and investors that it does not extend to unions, public interest groups and individuals. 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...
Administration objects to Israeli-linked provision in trade bill Politico ...A day after President Barack Obama signed a key trade bill, his administration publicly stated its objection to a provision of the measure that critics say appears to legitimize Israeli settlements in Palestinian-claimed territories. The amendment to the trade law instructs U.S. trade negotiators to try to discourage foreign governments, especially in Europe, from signing on to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement...
Austerity ‘condemns’ children to poverty – report to UN RT ...Young people in the UK risk falling deeper into poverty if the government continues to make cuts to welfare programs, Britain’s four children’s commissioners have said. In a report for the United Nations, the commissioners say austerity policies have already pushed 2.3 million children into poverty with the figure set to hit 4.7 million by 2020...
Tube strike: RMT and TSSA union workers vote to go on strike BBC ...More London Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over the new all-night Tube service. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions backed industrial action following a similar vote by drivers. Workers in these unions will now join a planned 24-hour walkout by members of the drivers' union Aslef, which begins at 21:30 BST on 8 July...
GM Korea workers vote in favor of strike over pay, output Reuters ...General Motors Co employees in South Korea voted on Wednesday in favour of a strike over wages and production volumes, prompted by uncertainty over the U.S. auto maker's output plans as its labor costs in the country rise. South Korea's National Labor Relations Commission is expected to meet on July 6 to decide whether to order a 10-day arbitration period, according to the company and the workers' union...
Greece debt crisis: Tsipras in new bailout 'concessions' BBC ...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has offered new concessions to the country's creditors. A letter to creditors sent by Mr Tsipras says he was prepared to accept most conditions that were on the table before talks collapsed and he called a referendum. On Tuesday, eurozone finance ministers refused to extend the previous bailout...
State & Living Wage Battles
Paid Sick Leave Law Gives California Employees More Time Off CBS ...Paid sick days are no longer an option for California employers as a new law takes effect this week. Baristas Kyla Wiegand and Eduard Andrusyak are part-time employees at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in East Sacramento. But come Wednesday, a new benefit is brewing at work—paid sick leave...
A Chris Christie presidency would be 'very disturbing', New Jerseyans warn The Guardian ...As he prepares to unveil his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Chris Christie is promising American voters that he will tell it to them straight – New Jersey-style. New Jersey has a straight message for American voters, too: run away. Criticism of Christie in his home state, where a Monmouth University poll last month tracked his favorability rating at a record low of 35%, is not confined to teachers. In a blistering editorial published at the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger warned, bluntly: “He lies”...
Inside The Push To End A State’s ‘Ugly Policy’ Targeting Poor Mothers Think Progress ...In most states, when a family in need has a new child, their welfare benefits increase to cover the extra costs that come with a new family member. But 16 other states operate differently, limiting benefits after a certain number of children. There’s no evidence that these limits have the desired result — in fact, people on welfare have the same sized families as those who don’t enroll, and there is strong evidence that these caps increase poverty...
The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S. Huffington Post ...U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Those U.S. citizens live in the territory of Puerto Rico. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis...
West Virginia's prevailing wage set to temporarily expire WOWKTV ...West Virginia's prevailing wage is set expire Tuesday at midnight, as WorkForce West Virginia and economists with West Virginia University and Marshall University continue to work on a new calculation method. During the 2015 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill to change the way prevailing wage is calculated...
Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect in Chicago NBC ...Minimum wage employees in Chicago will begin earning $10 an hour Wednesday as the first part of a yearly incremental minimum wage increase takes effect in the city. The $1.75 hourly bump is part of a plan aimed at raising the minimum wage in the city to $13 an hour by 2019...
Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50 Washington Post ...D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50. The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016...
Minimum wage ordinance upheld by judge Courier-Journal ...Louisville workers can expect a pay raise starting July 1 after a Jefferson County Circuit judge on Monday upheld an ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $9 an hour over the next three years. In a four-page ruling, Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said state law establishes a floor for wages that does not expressly authorize or forbid a local government from raising workers' pay rates...
U.S. Labor
Obama and labor reconcile, sort of, on overtime Politico ...What a difference a day makes. Last week, President Barack Obama was a traitor to progressive groups and unions for pushing his trade agenda through Congress. This week, he’s their hero for putting forward a regulation to expand overtime, which would give an estimated 5 million Americans a raise...
The Rise Of Anti-Union Rhetoric In The 2016 Race Think Progress ...This week, the Supreme Court agreed to take a case that could spell doom for public sector unions, with the potential to make the entire country so-called “right-to-work” territory. If that effort fails, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has vowed to make every state a “right-to-work” state if elected president. But while Walker may be the loudest and proudest union buster in the 2016 race, his fellow candidates are also striving to prove their anti-labor bona fides...
Supreme Court will hear case on public sector union fees Aljazeera ...A case that will soon be heard before the Supreme Court has the potential to institute a de facto right-to-work regime across the entire public sector. The Court said on Tuesday it would soon hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case concerning government employee unions' ability to gather fees from non-members...
With New Overtime Rule, President Obama May Have Given an Estimated 5 Million Workers a Raise In These Times ...President Obama’s administration took another promised step on Tuesday towards raising the living standards of American workers, and Republicans and business groups are not likely to be able to stop it. Using the administration’s power to update workplace rules regarding premium pay for overtime work, the Department of Labor on Tuesday began taking steps that could bring higher pay or more leisure time to an estimated 5 million middle-income workers by next year...
Santa Clara County, SEIU Reach 11th Hour Deal to Avoid Strike San Jose Inside ...Hours before thousands of workers planned to walk off the job, Santa Clara County's largest employee union reached a tentative four-year agreement after 72 straight hours of bargaining. The 11th hour deal reached at 4:30am today came in time for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to call off the 6am strike...
USW Offers to Remain at Work at ATI While Continuing to Bargain for a New Agreement PR Newswire ...Late Tuesday evening, the United Steelworkers (USW) offered to continue working following the expiration of the current labor agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), and to continue negotiations for a fair agreement. While the differences between the parties are quite significant, the USW believes the company should depart from its current, nonsense course of hiring temporary replacement workers and security goons...
Milwaukee County bus drivers strike, scrambling commute St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..Hundreds of Milwaukee County union bus drivers went on strike early Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling to make alternative plans to get to work and elsewhere. The roughly 750 drivers walked off the job at 3 a.m. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 leaders said the strike would last until Saturday...
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores Buzzfeed ...Victoria’s Secret is ending the use of on-call scheduling in its stores, employees were told yesterday — a major reversal of a policy that wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of thousands of retail workers across the country.
The chain told employees it would no longer use the controversial scheduling practice, which requires staff to be available for shifts that can be cancelled at the last minute...
GOP's New Attack on Social Security's Disability Benefits: Exaggerate Number Of Claims Alternet ...Congressional Republicans are trying to block a routine reallocation of funds to the SSDI Trust Fund, insisting that they will only allow reallocation if “reforms” to SSDI are implemented. The intellectual underpinning for their demands is that there is an unfolding fiscal crisis caused by workers who are able to earn a living but are instead choosing to claim disability benefits. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that SSDI benefits have become, if anything, less generous...
Miscellaneous
Ruling Against "Three Strikes" Sentencing Law Opens Door to Reform Truthout ...Friday's Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States highlights the complicated nature of sentencing provisions that result in lengthy prison terms, a leading cause of mass incarceration. The ruling struck down a sentencing provision that lengthened prison terms for certain federal prisoners and potentially impacts the lives of thousands of people who have received enhanced federal sentences...
White Racism, NIMBYism, And The Surprise Supreme Court Ruling That Could Finally Desegregate Cities Think Progress ...The people who fight housing discrimination and residential segregation in America were bracing for a defeat last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled on Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities Project. But instead of gutting a decades old legal theory known as “disparate impact,” as court watchers had predicted, Justice Anthony Kennedy penned a strong defense of the anti-racism tool on behalf of a 5-4 majority...
High Court's Ruling, Say Critics, Endorses 'Torturing People to Death' Common Dreams ...In the most closely-watched death penalty case in years, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 (pdf) that Oklahoma can use the controversial and experimental execution drug midazolam that was behind the last year's horrific killing of 38-year-old man Clayton Lockett—who writhed and groaned for 43 minutes before ultimately succumbing to a heart attack...
U.S. and Cuba to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties, Reopen Embassies After 50 Years Slate ...The gradual warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba continued on Tuesday with the news that the two will formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The final agreement is expected to be announced on Wednesday and the U.S. embassy is Havana should be up and running in July. U.S. diplomatic ties with Cuba were severed in 1961 following Castro’s ascent to power during the Cuban revolution...
US police killings headed for 1,100 this year, with black Americans twice as likely to die The Guardian ...Police in the United States are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015. The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June...
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.30.15
Teamsters
Teamsters to US Foods, Sysco: Restore Labor Relations, Customer Confidence Teamster.org ...Following today’s announcement that Sysco terminated its merger agreement with US Foods, the Teamsters Union cited the decision as a critical step toward restoring labor relations and renewing customer confidence at the two companies. “As Sysco and US Foods move forward, we remain committed to a meaningful dialogue about the future health and prosperity of these companies,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
EVSC, Teamsters exchange contract proposals, negotiations to occur again Tuesday Courier & Press ...Contracts expire at the end of June 30 and an agreement has not yet been reached, but discussions are occurring between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams. EVSC and Teamsters officials met on Monday afternoon. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said the union offered a proposal, the EVSC negotiating team countered, and the union offered another proposal...
Global Labor & Trade
In bipartisan ceremony, Obama signs trade legislation, calls for infrastructure bill Washington Post ...President Obama hailed a "true bipartisan effort" on Monday as he signed a package of trade bills into law, and he called on Washington to summon a similar spirit of compromise to address the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Obama was joined by seven members of Congress, including two Republicans, during a signing ceremony for the two bills, which will give his administration "fast-track" authority to complete trade accords and provide retraining for workers displaced by trade pacts...
TPP ministerial meeting set for last week of July: source Reuters ...A ministerial meeting aimed at finalizing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, trade deal is set for the last week of July, a source close to the negotiations said on Monday on condition of anonymity. The meeting of trade ministers from the dozen countries involved would likely mark the final stage in the TPP negotiations, a massive trade pact covering 40 percent of the world's economy...
New trade battle looms on the horizon The Hill ...President Obama’s prized fast-track authority is a done deal in Congress, but Washington is already steeling for the next major trade battle — this one over lawmakers’ approval of a sweeping Pacific Rim agreement. Completion of talks in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could come as early as August, setting up a fall fight over ratification that is all but certain to spill into the 2016 presidential race...
Trade vote puts Froman on faster track Politico ...Following Congress’ hard-fought approval of “fast-track” trade authority last week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman vowed not only to complete the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership but an even bigger pact with the European Union and three other major trade deals — all in the 18 months remaining in President Barack Obama’s term. It could add up to the biggest trade blitz in history, transforming the rules under which the world does business...
Thousands Of Greeks March For A No Vote On Austerity Measures Buzzfeed ...Thousands of Greeks gathered outside the country’s parliament on Monday night to campaign for a No vote in Sunday’s referendum on whether to accept austerity measures demanded by international organizations. Following months of negotiations between the left-wing Syriza-led government and international institutions, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called an all-or-nothing referendum...
13,700 Moroccan Call Center Workers Win Union Solidarity Center ...Some 13,700 workers won collective bargaining rights at 11 call centers across Morocco, a major victory for the country’s union movement that culminates a three-year effort to help call center workers form a union. Elections took place between June 1 and June 10, and the results were announced late last week. The Union Marocaine du Travail (Moroccan Labor Union, UMT) also won the right to represent all the country’s workers at the national level...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania’s Contentious Charter School Fight Think Progress ...On Sunday, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill allowing a state-run district, the Achievement School District, to take control of low-performing public schools. The bill would require that the lowest performing schools would make huge changes in three years by converting to charter schools or contracting out work. The bill has been controversial among some education advocates, who argue that these bills are an effort to privatize education or deprioritize spending on public schools...
Study: Repealing prevailing wage will hurt Michigan Michigan Radio ...One new study suggests repealing Michigan’s prevailing wage law is a bad idea. Smart Cities Prevail and the Midwest Economic Policy Institute — two groups that support union-level pay and benefits for workers on publicly-funded construction projects — say their research shows overturning the prevailing wage would have “quite profound impacts” on Michigan’s economy...
Prevailing wage remains sticking point in budget stalemate Wisn.com ...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. What to do with the prevailing wage -- a law that sets minimum salaries for construction workers on a variety of public projects -- is one of several large issues that Republicans who control both the Senate and Assembly have not been able to agree on...
House speaker: Minimum wage hike 'unlikely' to pass this session Oregon Live ...House Speaker Tina Kotek said Monday it's "unlikely" that her proposal to raise Oregon's minimum wage to $13 an hour has enough support to pass before the end of session, all but confirming the Legislature won't vote on the issue until at least next year...
Puerto Rico Unemployment at 12.6%, Poverty at 41% 24/7 ...At the depth of the recession, unemployment reached 10.1% in the United States. Today, its sits at 5.5%, and job additions have surged at an average rate of over 250,000 a month. Puerto Rico has an unemployment rate of 12.6%, another sign of how poorly off the territory’s economy is. Puerto Rico’s civilian labor force is small, only 1.42 million, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, about the same as Nevada’s...
Meet One Of The First Home Care Workers In The Country To Win A $15 Minimum Wage Think Progress ...Kindalay Cummings-Akers has been working as a personal care attendant, caring for the elderly and disabled in their homes, for nearly a decade. But she will soon be making $15 an hour for the first time ever after she and her union, 1199SEIU, reached an agreement with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) at the end of last week. Home care workers have long been poorly paid, thanks in part to the fact that they are excluded from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements.
Victory for Democracy as Court Sides with Voters over 'Self-Dealing Legislators' Common Dreams ...In a decision hailed as a "major victory for voters," the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld an Arizona ballot initiative, adopted by voters in 2000, which took redistricting power away from elected politicians and gave it to a nonpartisan commission. The 5-4 decision, which saw Justice Anthony Kennedy serving as the swing vote, allows redistricting commissions to remain in place across the country and in turn works to curb the practice known as gerrymandering...
Citizenship proof for federal voter registration form rejected Tucson.com ...Arizona cannot require people to produce proof of citizenship before they register to vote, at least not for federal elections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The justices upheld a ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that said neither Arizona nor Kansas can demand the federal Election Assistance Commission add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal registration form the panel designed...
Fast-Food Restaurants Should Raise Minimum Wage, New York Panel Says New York Times ...The minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York should be raised substantially, maybe even to $15 an hour, a state panel appointed to study the issue said on Monday. The three-man panel, known as a wage board, agreed that fast-food restaurants that are parts of national chains should be required to pay more than the state’s minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. But the panel said it was not ready to make a full recommendation...
U.S. Labor
President Obama overtime rule could raise wages for 5 million Politico ...President Barack Obama will this week release a long-awaited overtime rule aimed at raising wages for 5 million people as soon as 2016, according to sources familiar with the plans. The proposed rule will more than double the salary level under which virtually all workers qualify for overtime pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in any given week. That threshold, now $23,660, will rise to $50,440...
Thousands of Santa Clara County Union Workers Set to Strike NBC ...Santa Clara County's largest union is on the verge of a strike. The union includes 911 dispatchers, public health nurses and many others. The union voted to strike if they can't reach a contract agreement with the county by Tuesday. The union has complained of unfair labor practices and worker shortages. The county says it's taking those concerns seriously and is close to making a deal...
Boston Airport Workers Strike, Join Growing Campaign to Unionize Subcontracted Airport Employees In These Times ...On the morning of June 17, a large group of non-union airport employees went on strike at Boston’s Logan Airport, with about 100 of them picketing outside the facility. The contracted workers belong to G2 Secure Staff and ReadyJet Flight Support; workers accuse both companies of engaging in unsafe labor practices and say they are seeking a fairer work environment and a union...
FairPoint workers seek more time to consider severance deal before layoffs Portland Herald Press ...FairPoint Communications workers in Maine have until Tuesday night to accept a voluntary severance deal before up to 80 employees are laid off in order of reverse seniority. But union leader Peter McLaughlin said that many employees had not received their severance offers as of Monday afternoon. McLaughlin, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Local 2327 in Augusta, said the union is asking North Carolina-based FairPoint to push back its 11:59 p.m. Tuesday deadline...
Largest federal workers union sues OPM over breach The Hill ...The country’s largest federal workers union has filed a class action lawsuit against the government agency at the center of the recent hack that exposed millions of people’s sensitive information. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) on Monday became the first to sue the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the wake of the massive data breach that has shaken the government...
Justices Take up Dispute Over Union Fees ABC News ...The Supreme Court will consider limiting the power of government employee unions to collect fees from non-members in a case that labor officials say could threaten membership and further weaken union clout. The justices said Tuesday they will hear an appeal from a group of California teachers who say it violates their First Amendment rights to have to pay any fees if they disagree with a union's positions and don't want to join it...
Miscellaneous
Americans Are Ready to Fight Powerful Interests New York Times ...Not long ago same-sex marriage was abhorrent to a majority of Americans, but now, according to polls, most approve of it. Meanwhile, the Confederate flag is being removed from public buildings and grounds. And even conservatives now agree fewer people should be imprisoned. But economic inclusiveness is proving more elusive. Yet Americans may be signaling they're ready for such a fight. Witness the current battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the elections of Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio...
President Obama’s immigration actions face skeptical judges Politico ...Two judges who dealt a significant blow to President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration last month will again play key roles in deciding whether the controversial programs are legally sound. Fifth Circuit Court Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod and Jerry Smith, both Republican appointees, in May ruled against the Obama administration’s request to proceed with the executive actions — which would protect more than 4 million immigrants here illegally from being deported...
Renting: Awful for Just About Everyone Right Now The Atlantic ...A recent report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard, puts some numbers on just how bad this problem is: About half of all renters in the U.S. are using more than 30 percent of their income to cover housing costs, and about 25 percent have rent that exceeds 50 percent of their monthly pay. It’s not just the poorest city-dwellers who are feeling the rent pressure...
Robert Reich: Economic Apartheid in America Alternet ...In a 5-4 ruling, the Court found that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 requires plaintiffs to show only that the effect of a policy is discriminatory, not that defendants intended to discriminate. The decision is important in the fight against economic apartheid in America – racial segregation on a much larger geographic scale than ever before...
Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are on the wrong side of history and they want us to know it Daily Kos ...As if determined that the South should retain its poor reputation on civil rights for another generation or two, the attorneys general of three states are saying "not so fast, Supreme Court" when it comes to marriage equality. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton has told county clerks that they can refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and judges and justices of the peace that they can refuse to marry them...
"This Flag Comes Down Today": Bree Newsome Scales SC Capitol Flagpole, Removing Confederate Flag Democracy Now ...On Saturday, Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old African-American woman, was arrested at the state Capitol after scaling the 30-foot flagpole and unhooking the Confederate flag. As police officers shouted at her to come down, Bree Newsome shimmied to the top, took the flag in her hand and said, "You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today!"...
Teamsters to US Foods, Sysco: Restore Labor Relations, Customer Confidence Teamster.org ...Following today’s announcement that Sysco terminated its merger agreement with US Foods, the Teamsters Union cited the decision as a critical step toward restoring labor relations and renewing customer confidence at the two companies. “As Sysco and US Foods move forward, we remain committed to a meaningful dialogue about the future health and prosperity of these companies,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
EVSC, Teamsters exchange contract proposals, negotiations to occur again Tuesday Courier & Press ...Contracts expire at the end of June 30 and an agreement has not yet been reached, but discussions are occurring between the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiating teams. EVSC and Teamsters officials met on Monday afternoon. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said the union offered a proposal, the EVSC negotiating team countered, and the union offered another proposal...
Global Labor & Trade
In bipartisan ceremony, Obama signs trade legislation, calls for infrastructure bill Washington Post ...President Obama hailed a "true bipartisan effort" on Monday as he signed a package of trade bills into law, and he called on Washington to summon a similar spirit of compromise to address the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Obama was joined by seven members of Congress, including two Republicans, during a signing ceremony for the two bills, which will give his administration "fast-track" authority to complete trade accords and provide retraining for workers displaced by trade pacts...
TPP ministerial meeting set for last week of July: source Reuters ...A ministerial meeting aimed at finalizing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, trade deal is set for the last week of July, a source close to the negotiations said on Monday on condition of anonymity. The meeting of trade ministers from the dozen countries involved would likely mark the final stage in the TPP negotiations, a massive trade pact covering 40 percent of the world's economy...
New trade battle looms on the horizon The Hill ...President Obama’s prized fast-track authority is a done deal in Congress, but Washington is already steeling for the next major trade battle — this one over lawmakers’ approval of a sweeping Pacific Rim agreement. Completion of talks in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could come as early as August, setting up a fall fight over ratification that is all but certain to spill into the 2016 presidential race...
Trade vote puts Froman on faster track Politico ...Following Congress’ hard-fought approval of “fast-track” trade authority last week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman vowed not only to complete the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership but an even bigger pact with the European Union and three other major trade deals — all in the 18 months remaining in President Barack Obama’s term. It could add up to the biggest trade blitz in history, transforming the rules under which the world does business...
Thousands Of Greeks March For A No Vote On Austerity Measures Buzzfeed ...Thousands of Greeks gathered outside the country’s parliament on Monday night to campaign for a No vote in Sunday’s referendum on whether to accept austerity measures demanded by international organizations. Following months of negotiations between the left-wing Syriza-led government and international institutions, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called an all-or-nothing referendum...
13,700 Moroccan Call Center Workers Win Union Solidarity Center ...Some 13,700 workers won collective bargaining rights at 11 call centers across Morocco, a major victory for the country’s union movement that culminates a three-year effort to help call center workers form a union. Elections took place between June 1 and June 10, and the results were announced late last week. The Union Marocaine du Travail (Moroccan Labor Union, UMT) also won the right to represent all the country’s workers at the national level...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania’s Contentious Charter School Fight Think Progress ...On Sunday, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill allowing a state-run district, the Achievement School District, to take control of low-performing public schools. The bill would require that the lowest performing schools would make huge changes in three years by converting to charter schools or contracting out work. The bill has been controversial among some education advocates, who argue that these bills are an effort to privatize education or deprioritize spending on public schools...
Study: Repealing prevailing wage will hurt Michigan Michigan Radio ...One new study suggests repealing Michigan’s prevailing wage law is a bad idea. Smart Cities Prevail and the Midwest Economic Policy Institute — two groups that support union-level pay and benefits for workers on publicly-funded construction projects — say their research shows overturning the prevailing wage would have “quite profound impacts” on Michigan’s economy...
Prevailing wage remains sticking point in budget stalemate Wisn.com ...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. What to do with the prevailing wage -- a law that sets minimum salaries for construction workers on a variety of public projects -- is one of several large issues that Republicans who control both the Senate and Assembly have not been able to agree on...
House speaker: Minimum wage hike 'unlikely' to pass this session Oregon Live ...House Speaker Tina Kotek said Monday it's "unlikely" that her proposal to raise Oregon's minimum wage to $13 an hour has enough support to pass before the end of session, all but confirming the Legislature won't vote on the issue until at least next year...
Puerto Rico Unemployment at 12.6%, Poverty at 41% 24/7 ...At the depth of the recession, unemployment reached 10.1% in the United States. Today, its sits at 5.5%, and job additions have surged at an average rate of over 250,000 a month. Puerto Rico has an unemployment rate of 12.6%, another sign of how poorly off the territory’s economy is. Puerto Rico’s civilian labor force is small, only 1.42 million, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, about the same as Nevada’s...
Meet One Of The First Home Care Workers In The Country To Win A $15 Minimum Wage Think Progress ...Kindalay Cummings-Akers has been working as a personal care attendant, caring for the elderly and disabled in their homes, for nearly a decade. But she will soon be making $15 an hour for the first time ever after she and her union, 1199SEIU, reached an agreement with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) at the end of last week. Home care workers have long been poorly paid, thanks in part to the fact that they are excluded from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements.
Victory for Democracy as Court Sides with Voters over 'Self-Dealing Legislators' Common Dreams ...In a decision hailed as a "major victory for voters," the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld an Arizona ballot initiative, adopted by voters in 2000, which took redistricting power away from elected politicians and gave it to a nonpartisan commission. The 5-4 decision, which saw Justice Anthony Kennedy serving as the swing vote, allows redistricting commissions to remain in place across the country and in turn works to curb the practice known as gerrymandering...
Citizenship proof for federal voter registration form rejected Tucson.com ...Arizona cannot require people to produce proof of citizenship before they register to vote, at least not for federal elections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The justices upheld a ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that said neither Arizona nor Kansas can demand the federal Election Assistance Commission add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal registration form the panel designed...
Fast-Food Restaurants Should Raise Minimum Wage, New York Panel Says New York Times ...The minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York should be raised substantially, maybe even to $15 an hour, a state panel appointed to study the issue said on Monday. The three-man panel, known as a wage board, agreed that fast-food restaurants that are parts of national chains should be required to pay more than the state’s minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. But the panel said it was not ready to make a full recommendation...
U.S. Labor
President Obama overtime rule could raise wages for 5 million Politico ...President Barack Obama will this week release a long-awaited overtime rule aimed at raising wages for 5 million people as soon as 2016, according to sources familiar with the plans. The proposed rule will more than double the salary level under which virtually all workers qualify for overtime pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in any given week. That threshold, now $23,660, will rise to $50,440...
Thousands of Santa Clara County Union Workers Set to Strike NBC ...Santa Clara County's largest union is on the verge of a strike. The union includes 911 dispatchers, public health nurses and many others. The union voted to strike if they can't reach a contract agreement with the county by Tuesday. The union has complained of unfair labor practices and worker shortages. The county says it's taking those concerns seriously and is close to making a deal...
Boston Airport Workers Strike, Join Growing Campaign to Unionize Subcontracted Airport Employees In These Times ...On the morning of June 17, a large group of non-union airport employees went on strike at Boston’s Logan Airport, with about 100 of them picketing outside the facility. The contracted workers belong to G2 Secure Staff and ReadyJet Flight Support; workers accuse both companies of engaging in unsafe labor practices and say they are seeking a fairer work environment and a union...
FairPoint workers seek more time to consider severance deal before layoffs Portland Herald Press ...FairPoint Communications workers in Maine have until Tuesday night to accept a voluntary severance deal before up to 80 employees are laid off in order of reverse seniority. But union leader Peter McLaughlin said that many employees had not received their severance offers as of Monday afternoon. McLaughlin, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Local 2327 in Augusta, said the union is asking North Carolina-based FairPoint to push back its 11:59 p.m. Tuesday deadline...
Largest federal workers union sues OPM over breach The Hill ...The country’s largest federal workers union has filed a class action lawsuit against the government agency at the center of the recent hack that exposed millions of people’s sensitive information. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) on Monday became the first to sue the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the wake of the massive data breach that has shaken the government...
Justices Take up Dispute Over Union Fees ABC News ...The Supreme Court will consider limiting the power of government employee unions to collect fees from non-members in a case that labor officials say could threaten membership and further weaken union clout. The justices said Tuesday they will hear an appeal from a group of California teachers who say it violates their First Amendment rights to have to pay any fees if they disagree with a union's positions and don't want to join it...
Miscellaneous
Americans Are Ready to Fight Powerful Interests New York Times ...Not long ago same-sex marriage was abhorrent to a majority of Americans, but now, according to polls, most approve of it. Meanwhile, the Confederate flag is being removed from public buildings and grounds. And even conservatives now agree fewer people should be imprisoned. But economic inclusiveness is proving more elusive. Yet Americans may be signaling they're ready for such a fight. Witness the current battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the elections of Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio...
President Obama’s immigration actions face skeptical judges Politico ...Two judges who dealt a significant blow to President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration last month will again play key roles in deciding whether the controversial programs are legally sound. Fifth Circuit Court Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod and Jerry Smith, both Republican appointees, in May ruled against the Obama administration’s request to proceed with the executive actions — which would protect more than 4 million immigrants here illegally from being deported...
Renting: Awful for Just About Everyone Right Now The Atlantic ...A recent report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard, puts some numbers on just how bad this problem is: About half of all renters in the U.S. are using more than 30 percent of their income to cover housing costs, and about 25 percent have rent that exceeds 50 percent of their monthly pay. It’s not just the poorest city-dwellers who are feeling the rent pressure...
Robert Reich: Economic Apartheid in America Alternet ...In a 5-4 ruling, the Court found that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 requires plaintiffs to show only that the effect of a policy is discriminatory, not that defendants intended to discriminate. The decision is important in the fight against economic apartheid in America – racial segregation on a much larger geographic scale than ever before...
Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are on the wrong side of history and they want us to know it Daily Kos ...As if determined that the South should retain its poor reputation on civil rights for another generation or two, the attorneys general of three states are saying "not so fast, Supreme Court" when it comes to marriage equality. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton has told county clerks that they can refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and judges and justices of the peace that they can refuse to marry them...
"This Flag Comes Down Today": Bree Newsome Scales SC Capitol Flagpole, Removing Confederate Flag Democracy Now ...On Saturday, Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old African-American woman, was arrested at the state Capitol after scaling the 30-foot flagpole and unhooking the Confederate flag. As police officers shouted at her to come down, Bree Newsome shimmied to the top, took the flag in her hand and said, "You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today!"...
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.19.15
Teamsters
City Hall strikes contract deal with Teamsters Local 237 Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement with Teamsters Local 237, one of the only remaining municipal unions working under an expired contract. The agreement covering more than 5,500 New York City Housing Authority employees follows the pattern of wage increases every other civilian union has received during de Blasio's 17-month tenure...
BLET/SMART–TD statement on Positive Train Control, crew size following fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLE-T.org ...Members of BLET’s Safety Task Force and SMART Transportation Division’s National Safety Team, in addition to representatives from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference (BMWED), are working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist in the investigation of the catastrophic May 12 derailment of Amtrak Train 188...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress plots to pay for a trade deal by raiding Medicare Los Angeles Times ...The plan on Capitol Hill is to move the Trade Assistance Program expansion in tandem with fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, possibly as early as this week. Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in Medicare, and the Obama White House, which should be howling in protest, has remained silent...
Warren Expands Criticism of Obama’s Trade Agenda to Labor Rights Bloomberg ...Senator Elizabeth Warren expanded her criticism of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, arguing on Monday that the U.S. has consistently failed to enforce rules promoting labor rights abroad. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, released a staff memo outlining “decades of failure” by U.S. administrations to ensure that American trading partners live up to promises in free-trade agreements...
McConnell: Senate to finish trade this week The Hill ...Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned senators on Monday that they will finish "fast track" trade legislation this week. McConnell wants to pass the "fast-track" bill, which would allow the president to get his trade deals passed through Congress by a simple majority vote, before senators leave at the end of the week for the Memorial Day recess...
GOP: Business lobby blowing it on trade Politico ...Top House Republicans believe the business community is blowing its chance to clinch a trade deal. Unlike unions, they say, Big Business advocates aren’t flooding Capitol phone lines. They’re not winning over skeptical Republicans. And they haven’t made much headway with business-friendly Democrats who are considering voting for the package, either...
Republicans claim enough votes to pass fast-track trade bill Reuters ...Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC...
Perils of Globalization When Factories Close and Towns Struggle New York Times ...The benefits are not distributed evenly. Trade increases overall prosperity by eliminating less productive jobs. In theory, the workers find new jobs. In practice, studies by Mr. Hanson and other economists show that in cities like Galesburg, global competition is increasing unemployment and reducing wages. Josh Bivens, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that increased globalization, aided by a strong dollar that led to a persistent trade deficit, reduced the annual earnings of the roughly 70 percent of American workers...
German train drivers to strike again BBC ...Drivers for Germany's Deutsche Bahn have declared a fresh strike, marking the ninth walkout in just 11 months. GDL union leader Claus Weselsky gave no end date for the strike, but said it would "last a little longer" than the previous five-day stoppage.
GDL wants a 5% pay rise for 20,000 drivers and a shorter working week...
Guatemalan Domestic Workers Reveal a Dirty Business Truthout ...186,000 domestic workers are in Guatemala and more than 50 percent have emigrated to Guatemala City from impoverished rural areas. [Some] work up to 14 hours a day and are usually paid $150 a month, half of the national minimum monthly wage, which is currently $304.68. What makes Castellanos unique is her determination to fight for better working conditions in Guatemala, where labor unionism is weak after the repression of workers' movements under the country's recent history of military dictatorships...
Bolivian army step in as bakers go on strike BBC ...Bolivian soldiers have begun producing tens of thousands of bread rolls because of a bakers strike. The government called in the troops when there were reports of shortages in several neighbourhoods. Bolivian bakers went on a 48-hour strike in protest against a government decision to scrap subsidies for wheat flour...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas’ Governor Destroyed The State Budget With Massive Tax Cuts And Now Kansans Are Paying The Price Think Progress ...On one side, die-hard conservatives in the legislature are resisting efforts to unwind a key piece of Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) signature tax cuts. On the other, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are saying it’s time to admit the governor’s approach is unworkable. While they quarrel, Kansas faces a two-year deficit projected to be well over a billion dollars – a piddling amount in Congress, but equal to nearly 17 percent of the state’s $6 billion annual spending...
Speaker: Missouri 'Right To Work' Veto Override Uncertain Ozarks First ...Governor Jay Nixon (D) says he will veto that bill, but House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) says it's too early to be thinking about whether supporters in the legislature can muster the votes to overturn him. "We'll talk with our members and see if there's a will to override and obviously see if there is not a will to override," said Richardson...
Amid Protest Plans, McDonald's to Ban Media from Shareholder Meeting Common Dreams ...With thousands of workers planning to descend on McDonald's annual shareholder meeting on May 21 to demand higher wages and fairer treatment, the fast food giant has announced it will ban all media from the corporate event—a move that union leaders called "extremely shocking and troubling"...
Bosses Are Turning Poverty-Wage Workers Into ‘Managers’—and Barring Them From Overtime in the Process The Nation ...Welcome to the promotion from hell: Federal law says time-and-a-half is for ordinary laborers, and management is exempt from overtime provisions. So congratulations, as a shop “manager,” you no longer qualify for overtime—but still end up doing basically the same work for less. In the precarious low-wage economy, advocates say employers are hyper-exploiting the system to skirt fair labor laws...
SEIU seeks federal investigation of franchise industry Chicago Tribune ...The Service Employees International Union on Monday said it has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the franchise industry, seeking information on how some of the world's biggest franchise operators, including McDonald's, set the terms of their business models. The union, which has been pushing to boost the pay of low-wage fast-food workers, said the current structure gives too much power to franchisers...
Prevailing wage, local hiring mandates sidelined at Milwaukee County for more discussion Milwaukee Business Journal ...A proposal to enact local hiring and wage requirements on projects that receive Milwaukee County subsidies was sidelined Monday to create more time for discussion and potential revisions. The proposal builds off earlier “community benefits” laws, including one affecting Milwaukee County’s land in the Park East corridor...
City Council To Consider $15 Minimum Wage Increase Proposal CBS Los Angeles ...The City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to increase Los Angeles’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years. The council, which will meet at 10 a.m., was expected to discuss the proposal that was unanimously approved on May 13 by its Economic Development Committee...
U.S. Labor
Contract ending for NC postal workers The Charlotte Post ...North Carolina postal workers have more on their minds this morning than the heavy load of Monday mail. The American Postal Workers Union contract is set to expire on Wednesday. Postal worker Deborah Smith says it's a tough time for postal employees...
GOP lawmaker proposes defunding NLRB The Hill ...Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation to do away with funding for the National Labor Relations Board. Salmon claimed the NLRB, which was created in 1935 to conduct labor elections and manage labor policy, is biased toward labor unions. The Arizona Republican argued that the Justice Department could instead be solely tasked with enforcing labor laws...
UAW seeks to grow skilled trades apprentice programs Detroit News ...Ford, General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles run jointly administered apprentice programs with the UAW. The union hopes to expand the programs, which were dormant for several years leading up to and immediately following the economic downturn. Securing and growing the programs, as well as skilled trades positions that have shrunk following the recession, will be part of upcoming contract negotiations...
UFW set to protest at Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center ABC Bakersfield ...Members of the local United Farm Workers will be protesting at the new Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center in Bakersfield as part of a national push calling for immigration reform. The detention center houses close to 200 foreign nationals who are either waiting for deportation or are appealing the process...
Miscellaneous
Ignoring Businesses, Baltimore Shuts Off Water to 1,600 Homes Common Dreams ...However, community advocates say that in a city with skyrocketing unemployment and poverty, the rising cost of water and sewage is unaffordable to a large sector of the population. Further, in Detroit, where the local government has cut off water to over 17,000 residential households, the policy has been widely criticized by the United Nations as well as other watchdog groups as a violation of the human right to water...
City Hall strikes contract deal with Teamsters Local 237 Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement with Teamsters Local 237, one of the only remaining municipal unions working under an expired contract. The agreement covering more than 5,500 New York City Housing Authority employees follows the pattern of wage increases every other civilian union has received during de Blasio's 17-month tenure...
BLET/SMART–TD statement on Positive Train Control, crew size following fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia BLE-T.org ...Members of BLET’s Safety Task Force and SMART Transportation Division’s National Safety Team, in addition to representatives from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference (BMWED), are working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist in the investigation of the catastrophic May 12 derailment of Amtrak Train 188...
Global Labor & Trade
Congress plots to pay for a trade deal by raiding Medicare Los Angeles Times ...The plan on Capitol Hill is to move the Trade Assistance Program expansion in tandem with fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, possibly as early as this week. Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in Medicare, and the Obama White House, which should be howling in protest, has remained silent...
Warren Expands Criticism of Obama’s Trade Agenda to Labor Rights Bloomberg ...Senator Elizabeth Warren expanded her criticism of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, arguing on Monday that the U.S. has consistently failed to enforce rules promoting labor rights abroad. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, released a staff memo outlining “decades of failure” by U.S. administrations to ensure that American trading partners live up to promises in free-trade agreements...
McConnell: Senate to finish trade this week The Hill ...Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned senators on Monday that they will finish "fast track" trade legislation this week. McConnell wants to pass the "fast-track" bill, which would allow the president to get his trade deals passed through Congress by a simple majority vote, before senators leave at the end of the week for the Memorial Day recess...
GOP: Business lobby blowing it on trade Politico ...Top House Republicans believe the business community is blowing its chance to clinch a trade deal. Unlike unions, they say, Big Business advocates aren’t flooding Capitol phone lines. They’re not winning over skeptical Republicans. And they haven’t made much headway with business-friendly Democrats who are considering voting for the package, either...
Republicans claim enough votes to pass fast-track trade bill Reuters ...Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC...
Perils of Globalization When Factories Close and Towns Struggle New York Times ...The benefits are not distributed evenly. Trade increases overall prosperity by eliminating less productive jobs. In theory, the workers find new jobs. In practice, studies by Mr. Hanson and other economists show that in cities like Galesburg, global competition is increasing unemployment and reducing wages. Josh Bivens, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that increased globalization, aided by a strong dollar that led to a persistent trade deficit, reduced the annual earnings of the roughly 70 percent of American workers...
German train drivers to strike again BBC ...Drivers for Germany's Deutsche Bahn have declared a fresh strike, marking the ninth walkout in just 11 months. GDL union leader Claus Weselsky gave no end date for the strike, but said it would "last a little longer" than the previous five-day stoppage.
GDL wants a 5% pay rise for 20,000 drivers and a shorter working week...
Guatemalan Domestic Workers Reveal a Dirty Business Truthout ...186,000 domestic workers are in Guatemala and more than 50 percent have emigrated to Guatemala City from impoverished rural areas. [Some] work up to 14 hours a day and are usually paid $150 a month, half of the national minimum monthly wage, which is currently $304.68. What makes Castellanos unique is her determination to fight for better working conditions in Guatemala, where labor unionism is weak after the repression of workers' movements under the country's recent history of military dictatorships...
Bolivian army step in as bakers go on strike BBC ...Bolivian soldiers have begun producing tens of thousands of bread rolls because of a bakers strike. The government called in the troops when there were reports of shortages in several neighbourhoods. Bolivian bakers went on a 48-hour strike in protest against a government decision to scrap subsidies for wheat flour...
State & Living Wage Battles
Kansas’ Governor Destroyed The State Budget With Massive Tax Cuts And Now Kansans Are Paying The Price Think Progress ...On one side, die-hard conservatives in the legislature are resisting efforts to unwind a key piece of Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) signature tax cuts. On the other, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are saying it’s time to admit the governor’s approach is unworkable. While they quarrel, Kansas faces a two-year deficit projected to be well over a billion dollars – a piddling amount in Congress, but equal to nearly 17 percent of the state’s $6 billion annual spending...
Speaker: Missouri 'Right To Work' Veto Override Uncertain Ozarks First ...Governor Jay Nixon (D) says he will veto that bill, but House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Poplar Bluff) says it's too early to be thinking about whether supporters in the legislature can muster the votes to overturn him. "We'll talk with our members and see if there's a will to override and obviously see if there is not a will to override," said Richardson...
Amid Protest Plans, McDonald's to Ban Media from Shareholder Meeting Common Dreams ...With thousands of workers planning to descend on McDonald's annual shareholder meeting on May 21 to demand higher wages and fairer treatment, the fast food giant has announced it will ban all media from the corporate event—a move that union leaders called "extremely shocking and troubling"...
Bosses Are Turning Poverty-Wage Workers Into ‘Managers’—and Barring Them From Overtime in the Process The Nation ...Welcome to the promotion from hell: Federal law says time-and-a-half is for ordinary laborers, and management is exempt from overtime provisions. So congratulations, as a shop “manager,” you no longer qualify for overtime—but still end up doing basically the same work for less. In the precarious low-wage economy, advocates say employers are hyper-exploiting the system to skirt fair labor laws...
SEIU seeks federal investigation of franchise industry Chicago Tribune ...The Service Employees International Union on Monday said it has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the franchise industry, seeking information on how some of the world's biggest franchise operators, including McDonald's, set the terms of their business models. The union, which has been pushing to boost the pay of low-wage fast-food workers, said the current structure gives too much power to franchisers...
Prevailing wage, local hiring mandates sidelined at Milwaukee County for more discussion Milwaukee Business Journal ...A proposal to enact local hiring and wage requirements on projects that receive Milwaukee County subsidies was sidelined Monday to create more time for discussion and potential revisions. The proposal builds off earlier “community benefits” laws, including one affecting Milwaukee County’s land in the Park East corridor...
City Council To Consider $15 Minimum Wage Increase Proposal CBS Los Angeles ...The City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to increase Los Angeles’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years. The council, which will meet at 10 a.m., was expected to discuss the proposal that was unanimously approved on May 13 by its Economic Development Committee...
U.S. Labor
Contract ending for NC postal workers The Charlotte Post ...North Carolina postal workers have more on their minds this morning than the heavy load of Monday mail. The American Postal Workers Union contract is set to expire on Wednesday. Postal worker Deborah Smith says it's a tough time for postal employees...
GOP lawmaker proposes defunding NLRB The Hill ...Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation to do away with funding for the National Labor Relations Board. Salmon claimed the NLRB, which was created in 1935 to conduct labor elections and manage labor policy, is biased toward labor unions. The Arizona Republican argued that the Justice Department could instead be solely tasked with enforcing labor laws...
UAW seeks to grow skilled trades apprentice programs Detroit News ...Ford, General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles run jointly administered apprentice programs with the UAW. The union hopes to expand the programs, which were dormant for several years leading up to and immediately following the economic downturn. Securing and growing the programs, as well as skilled trades positions that have shrunk following the recession, will be part of upcoming contract negotiations...
UFW set to protest at Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center ABC Bakersfield ...Members of the local United Farm Workers will be protesting at the new Mesa Verde Immigration Detention Center in Bakersfield as part of a national push calling for immigration reform. The detention center houses close to 200 foreign nationals who are either waiting for deportation or are appealing the process...
Miscellaneous
Ignoring Businesses, Baltimore Shuts Off Water to 1,600 Homes Common Dreams ...However, community advocates say that in a city with skyrocketing unemployment and poverty, the rising cost of water and sewage is unaffordable to a large sector of the population. Further, in Detroit, where the local government has cut off water to over 17,000 residential households, the policy has been widely criticized by the United Nations as well as other watchdog groups as a violation of the human right to water...
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.11.15
Teamsters
City and Teamsters to detail agreement in York ydr.com ...It's not clear what the agreement entails, but a city official said it will help the city financially…The Teamsters represent employees in the public works department as well as the parking bureau…
Trade
Growing Chorus of Diverse Voices Rejects TPP Huffington Post ...Those arguing to pass the TPP while bypassing Congress say that it is "inconvenient" for international negotiations to involve Congress. Any U.S. Official who openly is minimizing the process laid out in our Constitution deserves scrutiny...
Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years Alternet ...The TPP is a corporate power grab clearly worthy of Seattle-caliber mobilization. But the fight against this reprehensible deal requires different types of tactics. And the place to start is by derailing “Fast Track,” the mechanism that would allow TPP approval to rush through the U.S. Congress with little debate and no amendments...
State Battles
Right-to-Work Fate Appears Sealed in Kentucky General Assembly WKU ...All indications from Frankfort suggest Kentucky counties will continue to take the lead on right-to-work measures...
Governor: Right to work ‘common sense’ Albuquerque Journal ...Gov. Susana Martinez said she will push for so-called “right-to-work” legislation during the upcoming legislative session, calling a change to the state’s labor laws “common sense” and long overdue...
War on Workers
Unemployment Rate Drops Due to Almost Half a Million More Not in Labor Force Economic Populist ...The labor participation rate went back to 38 year record lows and is 62.7%. From a year ago, the number of people considered not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million...
Family ties that bind: Having the right surname sets you up for life Springer ...If your surname reveals that you descended from the “in” crowd in the England of 1066—the Norman Conquerors—then even now you are more likely than the average Brit to be upper class. To a surprising degree, the social status of your ancestors many generations in the past still exerts an influence on your life chances, say Gregory Clark of the University of California...
Collective Bargaining’s Erosion Expanded the Productivity–Pay Gap Economic Policy Institute ...Over the last few decades, productivity has grown substantially, but the hourly compensation of the typical worker has grown much less, especially in the last 10 years or so...
NC agency ends solo status for Koch-funded history materials Associated Press ...North Carolina's education agency will encourage teachers to draw their American history course materials from nearly a dozen sources, not just those provided by a group backed by the politically influential, conservative Koch family...
Labor chief pushes White House on overtime The Hill ...AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in an interview published Friday that he believed President Obama should take an executive action ensuring overtime pay for workers with an annual salary under $51,168. That would represent more than doubling the current threshold, which provides time-and-a-half pay for workers making $23,660 per year or less...
States adding more protections for pregnant workers Jacksonville.com ...As of Jan. 1, employers in Illinois must provide pregnant workers who request them more or longer bathroom breaks, rest periods, light duty, job transfers, leave time or other accommodations, unless doing so creates an undue hardship for the employer...Eleven other states have passed laws requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers. In 2014, laws took effect in Delaware, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Since 2011, Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey also have approved laws...
Maintenance Worker Killed in Concrete Crusher Accident Associated Press ...Authorities say a worker performing routine maintenance on a concrete crusher was killed when he somehow got entangled in the machinery...
Worker Dies, Crushed by Elevator in NYC Residential Tower Wall Street Journal ...“There was some movement in the elevator and the gentleman below got crushed by the elevator between the first floor and the basement,” said Roger Sakowich, FDNY deputy assistant chief, who was on scene. The elevator that crushed the man had been three floors above when it moved...
City and Teamsters to detail agreement in York ydr.com ...It's not clear what the agreement entails, but a city official said it will help the city financially…The Teamsters represent employees in the public works department as well as the parking bureau…
Trade
Growing Chorus of Diverse Voices Rejects TPP Huffington Post ...Those arguing to pass the TPP while bypassing Congress say that it is "inconvenient" for international negotiations to involve Congress. Any U.S. Official who openly is minimizing the process laid out in our Constitution deserves scrutiny...
Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years Alternet ...The TPP is a corporate power grab clearly worthy of Seattle-caliber mobilization. But the fight against this reprehensible deal requires different types of tactics. And the place to start is by derailing “Fast Track,” the mechanism that would allow TPP approval to rush through the U.S. Congress with little debate and no amendments...
State Battles
Right-to-Work Fate Appears Sealed in Kentucky General Assembly WKU ...All indications from Frankfort suggest Kentucky counties will continue to take the lead on right-to-work measures...
Governor: Right to work ‘common sense’ Albuquerque Journal ...Gov. Susana Martinez said she will push for so-called “right-to-work” legislation during the upcoming legislative session, calling a change to the state’s labor laws “common sense” and long overdue...
War on Workers
Unemployment Rate Drops Due to Almost Half a Million More Not in Labor Force Economic Populist ...The labor participation rate went back to 38 year record lows and is 62.7%. From a year ago, the number of people considered not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million...
Family ties that bind: Having the right surname sets you up for life Springer ...If your surname reveals that you descended from the “in” crowd in the England of 1066—the Norman Conquerors—then even now you are more likely than the average Brit to be upper class. To a surprising degree, the social status of your ancestors many generations in the past still exerts an influence on your life chances, say Gregory Clark of the University of California...
Collective Bargaining’s Erosion Expanded the Productivity–Pay Gap Economic Policy Institute ...Over the last few decades, productivity has grown substantially, but the hourly compensation of the typical worker has grown much less, especially in the last 10 years or so...
NC agency ends solo status for Koch-funded history materials Associated Press ...North Carolina's education agency will encourage teachers to draw their American history course materials from nearly a dozen sources, not just those provided by a group backed by the politically influential, conservative Koch family...
Labor chief pushes White House on overtime The Hill ...AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in an interview published Friday that he believed President Obama should take an executive action ensuring overtime pay for workers with an annual salary under $51,168. That would represent more than doubling the current threshold, which provides time-and-a-half pay for workers making $23,660 per year or less...
States adding more protections for pregnant workers Jacksonville.com ...As of Jan. 1, employers in Illinois must provide pregnant workers who request them more or longer bathroom breaks, rest periods, light duty, job transfers, leave time or other accommodations, unless doing so creates an undue hardship for the employer...Eleven other states have passed laws requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers. In 2014, laws took effect in Delaware, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Since 2011, Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey also have approved laws...
Maintenance Worker Killed in Concrete Crusher Accident Associated Press ...Authorities say a worker performing routine maintenance on a concrete crusher was killed when he somehow got entangled in the machinery...
Worker Dies, Crushed by Elevator in NYC Residential Tower Wall Street Journal ...“There was some movement in the elevator and the gentleman below got crushed by the elevator between the first floor and the basement,” said Roger Sakowich, FDNY deputy assistant chief, who was on scene. The elevator that crushed the man had been three floors above when it moved...
Monday, August 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.25.14
Trade
Cambodian rat meat: A growing export market BBC News ...A unique harvest is under way in the rice fields of Cambodia where tens of thousands of wild rats are being trapped alive each day to feed a growing export market for the meat of rural rodents...
Steel Institute, Others Visit South Carolina to Address Currency Manipulation Trade Reform ...unfair currency policies hurt American job creation and economic growth – impacting the more than 3,000 steel jobs in South Carolina...
State Battles
Troubled New York Hedge Fund Billionaire Sent Scott Walker $1 Million Political Environment ...The firm’s founder, Steven A. Cohen, has so far escaped criminal charges. But the firm that bore his initials agreed in November to plead guilty to an array of insider trading allegations and to pay overall penalties totaling $1.8 billion...
War on Workers
The US Is One Of The Last Developed Countries Where It Can Still Take Days For Money To Show Up In Your Bank Account Business Insider ...while regulators and some financial institutions are finally recognizing this should no longer be the case, it will likely take years for any reforms to take effect...
Study: Overtime rules could benefit 6M The Hill ...Regulations now under construction at the Labor Department could expand the sphere of workers eligible for overtime pay by more than 6 million, according to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)...
No to Walmart-Style Classrooms Making Change at Walmart ...the Walton family, who owns Walmart, is also trying to spread the Walmart business model to our classrooms...
Dollar stores in battle to double down on the poor Reuters ... Family Dollar Stores,, which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree. Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America...
Burger King the Latest to Jump on the Corporate Tax Inversion Bandwagon naked capitalism ...Burger King Worldwide Inc. is in talks to buy Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc., a deal that would be structured as a so-called tax inversion and move the hamburger seller’s base to Canada...
Robots Able to Pick Peppers, Test Soil, and Prune Plants Aim To Replace Farm Workers Singularity Hub ...Farm robots are increasingly capable of autonomously performing complex tasks including plowing, plant and soil surveillance, and even the harvesting of fruit and vegetables...
Cambodian rat meat: A growing export market BBC News ...A unique harvest is under way in the rice fields of Cambodia where tens of thousands of wild rats are being trapped alive each day to feed a growing export market for the meat of rural rodents...
Steel Institute, Others Visit South Carolina to Address Currency Manipulation Trade Reform ...unfair currency policies hurt American job creation and economic growth – impacting the more than 3,000 steel jobs in South Carolina...
State Battles
Troubled New York Hedge Fund Billionaire Sent Scott Walker $1 Million Political Environment ...The firm’s founder, Steven A. Cohen, has so far escaped criminal charges. But the firm that bore his initials agreed in November to plead guilty to an array of insider trading allegations and to pay overall penalties totaling $1.8 billion...
War on Workers
The US Is One Of The Last Developed Countries Where It Can Still Take Days For Money To Show Up In Your Bank Account Business Insider ...while regulators and some financial institutions are finally recognizing this should no longer be the case, it will likely take years for any reforms to take effect...
Study: Overtime rules could benefit 6M The Hill ...Regulations now under construction at the Labor Department could expand the sphere of workers eligible for overtime pay by more than 6 million, according to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)...
No to Walmart-Style Classrooms Making Change at Walmart ...the Walton family, who owns Walmart, is also trying to spread the Walmart business model to our classrooms...
Dollar stores in battle to double down on the poor Reuters ... Family Dollar Stores,, which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree. Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America...
Burger King the Latest to Jump on the Corporate Tax Inversion Bandwagon naked capitalism ...Burger King Worldwide Inc. is in talks to buy Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc., a deal that would be structured as a so-called tax inversion and move the hamburger seller’s base to Canada...
Robots Able to Pick Peppers, Test Soil, and Prune Plants Aim To Replace Farm Workers Singularity Hub ...Farm robots are increasingly capable of autonomously performing complex tasks including plowing, plant and soil surveillance, and even the harvesting of fruit and vegetables...
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