Today's Teamster News 07.06.14

Teamsters
Southern California port truck drivers loading up on wage-theft cases  Los Angeles Times   ...the state Department of Industrial Relations has ruled in recent months that nearly 40 drivers were improperly designated as contractors, which denied them significant workplace protections. So far, $4.3 million in back pay and penalties has been awarded to drivers...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks going on in Ottawa  CBC News   ...Trade officials from Canada and other Asia-Pacific nations are meeting behind closed doors in Ottawa to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive free-trade proposal that could create one of the world's largest trading blocks...
War on Workers
Rupture-Prone Oil Trains Keep Rolling After Quebec Crash  Bloomberg   ...two-thirds of the tank cars in use today are still older models that safety experts say are vulnerable to puncture. The July 6 derailment last year in Quebec and seven other major ones in the U.S. and Canada since then have spilled more than 3 million gallons of oil, with some cars catching fire or exploding...
The Missing Part of the Unemployment Story  Economic Policy Institute   ...Unemployment rate if missing workers were looking for work: 9.6%...
Trends in Part-Time Employment  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ...The number of people working part-time involuntarily is down by 640,000 from its year ago level and by more than 1.6 million from its peak in 2010...
Wal-Mart’s big July 4 lie: This is how it really treats veterans  Salon   ...on my way to work, I tried to save the lives of several people from a gunman who was behaving erratically and waving a gun at a busy intersection. I still went to work my shift at Wal-Mart. The very next day, I was abruptly fired for making an 18 cent mistake on a workers’ discount card. My manager knew what happened the day before, but it didn’t matter...
On This Fourth of July, Meet Your Unpatriotic Corporations  The Nation   ...Walgreens, The New York Times reported, is looking to relocate from Illinois to Switzerland, in the process merging with a Swiss corporation and reincorporating itself as a foreign entity. It is, bluntly, an old-fashioned tax dodge, aimed at trimming eleven percentage points off the company’s corporate tax rate. Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that the move will cost US taxpayers more than $4 billion over the next five years...
On the Characteristics of Those Covered under Some Government Programs  Econbrowser   ...more than half of SNAP recipients are children or the elderly. For the remaining working-age individuals, many of them are currently employed. At least forty percent of all SNAP beneficiaries live in a household with earnings...
Hospitals Are Mining Patients' Credit Card Data to Predict Who Will Get Sick  Bloomberg   ...Imagine getting a call from your doctor if you let your gym membership lapse, make a habit of buying candy bars at the checkout counter, or begin shopping at plus-size clothing stores. For patients of Carolinas HealthCare System, which operates the largest group of medical centers in North and South Carolina, such a day could be sooner than they think...
Going Without Water in Detroit  New York Times   ...The average monthly water bill in Detroit is $75 for a family of four — nearly twice the United States average — and the department is increasing rates this month by 8.7 percent...
In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are  Washington Post   ...Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post...

Today's Teamster News 03.24.14

Teamster News
CCTA, Teamster negotiations fail; strike extends into second week  VT Digger   ...The bus drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 597, and the Chittenden County Transit Authority failed to come to an agreement after seven hours of negotiations on Saturday...
At least two issues divide CCTA and striking bus drivers  Burlington Free Press   ...Watterson said the talks centered on four issues highlighted by the union: compensation, cameras on the bus, including the use of anonymous complaints to discipline drivers, the use of part-time drivers and the length of the work day because of the split shifts expected for drivers...
The End of Jobs  In These Times   ...In a major victory for a long-running campaign,  port truck drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation in California have won the right to be considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and to form a union...
Trade
The Disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership and Unconstitutional Fast Track Authority  Economy in Crisis   ...Thomas Hartmann explains why this is dangerous...
State Battles
GOP to push 'right to work'  Associated Press   ...Missouri House Republican leaders are vowing to consider one of their top priorities, legislation known to supporters as "right to work," when lawmakers return from their weeklong break...
War on Workers
Google, Apple, and Other Tech Titans’ Wage-Suppression Conspiracy Estimated to Cover One Million Workers  naked capitalism   ...Between approximately 2005 and 2009, Defendants Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar allegedly engaged in an “overarching conspiracy” to eliminate competition among Defendants for skilled labor. The conspiracy consisted of an interconnected web of express bilateral agreements...
Why Electricity Costs Are Major Cause of Poverty in the South  Alternet   ...families in the Southeast pay a higher percentage of their income on electricity...
Miscellaneous
Banker Deaths Leave Industry Concerned As Coroners Probe  Bloomberg   ...Coroners in London are preparing to investigate two apparent suicides as unexpected deaths by finance workers around the world have raised concerns about mental health and stress levels in the industry...
Carter fears NSA is spying on his emails  The Hill   ...Former President Jimmy Carter (D) says he thinks the National Security Agency might be monitoring his emails....Carter said he sends messages to foreign leaders via snail mail instead...

Today's Teamster News 03.23.14

Teamster News
Teamsters score a win against “sharecropping on wheels.” But will the trucking industry really change?  Washington Post   ...Along with auto technicians, fast food workers, and baggage handlers, another profession has been hit by the separation of labor from employer: Port truckers, who haul containers from cargo ships on short trips around the terminal...
Port trucking company agrees to labor settlement with drivers  Orange County Register   ...Carson-based Pacific 9 Transportation Inc. has agreed to a settlement with 50 independent truck drivers that could force the company to treat them as employees, not independent contractors, according to an agreement filed with a federal labor relations agency in Los Angeles...
Anheuser-Busch, Teamsters reach tentative deal  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters say they have reached a tentative deal on a five-year contract for workers at the beverage-maker's 12 U.S. breweries...
Canadian National Railway Company and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference resume negotiations  PR Newswire   ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) for returning to the bargaining table and working to reach a new agreement...
Trade
Debate in US over trade deficit with China heats up  South China Morning Post   ...A chorus of voices in the United States has been calling for tougher trade action against China, alleging imports from the country are slashing jobs in the US...
State Battles
Right to work bill on the Missouri House schedule  Associated Press   ...Missouri House Republican leaders are vowing to consider legislation known to supporters as "right to work" when lawmakers return from their weeklong break...
Republican pitches alternative to liquor privatization  The Sentinel   ...A Bucks County Republican lawmaker opposed to selling off state-run liquor stores on Thursday unveiled an alternative to privatization of Pennsylvania’s market share of the industry...
State DOJ files first appeals in Capitol singalong cases  Wisconsin State Journal   ..The Wisconsin Department of Justice for the first time Friday appealed a Dane County judge’s decision to throw out tickets related to the Capitol singalong...
More than 100 USM students, faculty protest proposed budget cuts, layoffs  Bangor Daily News   ...University of Southern Maine students and faculty chanted, yelled and — in one case — stretched out on the floor of the hallway outside the office of Provost Michael R. Stevenson to protest during meetings Friday at which 15 full-time faculty members in nine departments were expected to be laid off...
The War on Workers
Spain austerity: Huge Madrid protest turns violent  BBC News   ...Violence has broken out at the end of an anti-austerity protest attended by tens of thousands of people in the Spanish capital Madrid...
When Minimum Wage Rises, Many Are Left Looking Up at It  New York Times   ...so many immigrants are willing to do this work that it is not hard for unscrupulous businesses to find people desperate enough to do it for less than what the law requires...
U.S. IRS audited fewer wealthy Americans in 2013  Reuters   ... The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that it audited fewer high-income Americans in 2013 than it did in 2012 or 2011, while it conducted more audits of people with no income...
Pixel & Dimed: On Not Getting By in the Gig Economy  Fast Company   ...For one month, I became the “micro-entrepreneur” touted by companies like TaskRabbit, Postmates, and Airbnb. Instead of the labor revolution I had been promised, all I found was hard work, low pay, and a system that puts workers at a disadvantage...
Industries Across the U.S. Are Stealing Wages From Their Lowest Paid Workers  The Real News   ...about a quarter of workers had not been paid minimum wage in the week of the survey. Three-quarters of them had not been paid overtime pay even though they had worked overtime hours...
Out of Work, Out of Luck  Five Thirty Eight Economics   ...Many if not most of the 3.8 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months will never again hold steady jobs...
The Stone Unturned: Credit Ratings  New York Times   ...It’s the one question about the 2008 financial crisis that people still ask me more than any other: Why have regulators done so little to rein in the credit rating agencies? Other institutions that contributed to the mortgage debacle have submitted to new rules and compliance requirements, but Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s and their peers remained relatively untouched...
S&P Judge Tentatively Rules It Must Face Deception Claims  Bloomberg   ...McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI)’s Standard & Poor’s unit must face California’s claims it deceived the state’s pension funds in its ratings of mortgage-back securities, a judge said in a provisional ruling...

Today's Teamster News 07.21.13

Port truckers for Carteret firm vote to join the Teamsters  Newark Star Ledger   ...More than 100 port truck drivers who work in Carteret for an Australian-based global logistics firm have voted to join the Teamsters, the union said today...
Ohio ranked second in nation for most jobs lost in June: state's unemployment rate up to 7.2%  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Ohio lost the second highest number of jobs in the country in June, just a month after posting the largest job gains, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday...
Moral Monday critics blinded by their own propaganda (opinion)  The Durham News   ...Like old Soviet-era Stalinists and modern religious theocrats they find it impossible to acknowledge the simple truth that’s painted in living color right before their eyes – namely, that millions of North Carolinians are not buying the snake oil they and their allies are selling and do not want to see the clock of state turned back a half-century or more...
Detroit’s Creditors Eye Its Art Collection  New York Times   ...As Detroit files for bankruptcy — the largest American city ever to do so — the impressive collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts has become a political bargaining chip in a fight that could drag on for years between the city and its army of creditors, who have said in no uncertain terms that the artworks must be considered a salable asset...
Unfunded Pension Liabilities Are $1 Trillion, Not $3.8 Trillion: Never Take Anything In a Washington Post Editorial At Face Value  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ...the unfunded liabilities (for state and local public sector pensions) are 0.22 percent of projected GDP over the next 30 years. And ... most state and local governments are already funding at levels that are consistent with making up this shortfall so there will no required tax increases or spending cuts to meet these future obligations...
How Goldman Made $5 Billion By Manipulating Aluminum Inventories (and Copper Is Up Next)  naked capitalism   ...Goldman and its speculator allies manipulate prices … This is simply another form of looting...
'Is there no limit to what this Government will privatise?': UK plasma supplier sold to US private equity firm Bain Capital  The Independent   ...The Government was tonight accused of gambling with the UK’s blood supply by selling the state-owned NHS plasma supplier to a US private equity firm...
NSA Spokesman Accidentally Admits that the Government Is Spying On Virtually All Americans  Washington's Blog   ...Given that there are now approximately 875,000 people in the government’s database of suspected terrorists – including many thousands of Americans – every single American living on U.S. soil could easily be caught up in the dragnet...
Public Cops for Private Kochs  NSFWCORP   ...police and private security formed a better ring of defense around the ALEC conference than what the CIA compound had in Benghazi...
TAFTA: Corporations Express Fear of Democracy  Public Citizen   ...The Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) negotiations have only just begun, but already hundreds of corporations are weighing in to let negotiators know what they hope to get out of the agreement...

Woo-hoo! Another Teamster organizing victory in NJ!

Please give a warm welcome to our 112 new brothers and sisters, truck drivers employed by Australia-based Toll Group at the company’s New Jersey division. They voted by a margin of nearly 70 percent to join Teamsters Local 469 in Hazlet. The bargaining unit includes local drivers who service the Ports of New York and New Jersey, hostlers who move trailers within the Toll yard and long-haul drivers.

The effort to form a union at Toll New Jersey came with surprisingly fierce resistance from the company, which is unionized in Australia, as well as at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. After the company hired a union buster, drivers filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The charges filed by the drivers included surveillance, coercion, and making threats. The labor board is investigating the charges.

Fred Schmidt, a Toll driver, said he feels they won their fight for dignity and respect on the job.

As a Teamster, we will now be able to fight for what we have earned without fear of retribution: a fair day's pay for a hard day's work, affordable medical benefits and real retirement security.

Fred Potter, Local 469 president and director of the Teamsters Port division, praised the drivers for refusing to buy the company's lies.

Toll drivers in New Jersey now have the same rights as Toll Group drivers in Los Angeles, who are represented by Teamsters Local 848, and as Australian Toll drivers represented by the Transport Workers Union.

The New Jersey Toll drivers’ victory comes at a crucial time in a national effort to modernize the port trucking industry. As many as 90 percent of America’s roughly 110,000 port truck drivers are misclassified as “independent contractors.” They are paid by the load at a poverty rate set by cargo owners like Walmart and Target.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called port trucking "the broken link in our nation's supply chain."

Port drivers file charges, claim Toll threatening Teamster organizing drive

Australia-based Toll Holdings is illegally interfering with New Jersey port drivers' right to form a union. Yesterday, the drivers filed charges with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB),  charging surveillance, coercion and intimidation.

The workers filed the charges just as they are about to cast their votes to become Teamsters.

More than 100 groups and individuals have signed a petition supporting the Toll drivers’ effort to form a union, and many of these organizations have written letters of support directly to the workers.

Toll Group has been dogged by similar board charges and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints.

Just six months ago, the company temporarily dropped its anti-union crusade after it failed  to stop Los Angeles drivers from forming a union at their worksite. The drivers, who affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 848,successfully pressured the company into signing a strong union contract early this year.

The contract signing seemed to indicate an end to the tumultuous dispute that played out both in the U.S. and Australia. No longer, said John Lambert, a Toll driver serving the Port of New Jersey:

This is a company that says it cares about safety. But it’s forcing all the local drivers to go to so-called “safety meetings” where there’s no talk about safety at all. All they do is try to scare drivers about the union. They say things some of us know just aren’t true – like it’s going to cost drivers hundreds of dollars if we go union.

Eric Tate, Teamsters Local 848 secretary-treasurer, says he's shocked by Toll's latest moves. Tate served on the Toll contract negotiation team on behalf of the Los Angeles drivers. The contract promised to consider rewarding their L.A. drivers with greater pay if the Teamsters can unionize drivers at nearby companies, and was seen as the company finally embracing a pro-organized labor stance in the U.S. Said Tate:

I thought Toll and the Teamsters had moved past such a confrontational relationship, particularly since L.A. Toll drivers have been working harder and are more productive than they have ever been. Unfortunately, Toll’s response has been to hire its own in-house union-buster!

Tate demanded a formal retraction and public apology from Toll’s Human Resources Director, Richard Pacheco, who is using captive audience meetings to reach drivers with slanderous anti-union statements. 

In one meeting, Pacheco declared that Teamsters Local 848, the local union representing Toll’s L.A. drivers, fined one driver $2,500 and two others $1,500 for “talking bad about the union.” Both claims are false, and now the subject of potential legal action if Pacheco does not retract or apologize by June 21.

Fred Schmitt, a New Jersey Toll driver, asked:

If Toll is not against unions, why did they hire a new HR Director that lists “union avoidance” as one of his skills? At the last mandatory meeting – where they try to intimidate drivers into voting against the union - I called him out on the things he was saying and he couldn’t back them up. Instead of a straight answer, the meeting was cut short. Is he just making stuff up?

Mail voting for the Toll’s New Jersey workforce is scheduled to end July 15 for long-haul drivers, and local drivers out on vacation or leave. The in-person voting for local drivers is set for June 28, 2013.

For more background on the Toll drivers’ campaign for justice, visit their website.

Savannah port truck driver grosses $60K, keeps $22K

Unorganized port truck drivers work hard for low pay, hustling 16 hours a day for trucking companies that cheat them. 

Organized port truck drivers earn more money, get paid for overtime, have affordable health benefits and job security.

Our brothers and sisters at Local 728 in Atlanta are working to organize the unorganized port drivers at the Port of Savannah, the fourth largest port in the U.S. Recently, a reporter rode along with Savannah driver Carol Cauley. Here is the reporter's account, from Connect Savannah:

Carol swings in the cab like the pro she is: She's been driving a truck on and off for eight years for C and G Trucking out of Chicago, one of the 150 trucking companies who do business inside the port. But in spite of her experience, she's making less and less money. 

"This is definitely a hustle," she sighs, gracefully swinging the 18-wheeler down Dean Forest Road near the port gates. "Cost of gas is going up, cost of food is going up. The only thing not going up is our rates." 

As an independent contractor, Carol can earn up to $78 for a round-trip run that takes her inside the port, where she picks up a shipping container, then back outside to one of several warehouses along the Savannah River. Depending on how much work there is, she can do this three or four times a day, which can take up to 16 hours as she waits in long loading lines. Surrounded by A/C and a radio, this might seem like a pretty good gig. 

Except that she has an endless list of payouts: Gas (you grousing that minivan is expensive to fill? Try a 100-gallon tank times $3.50 a gallon.) Monthly truck loan payments. Vehicle maintenance and repairs. Insurance. Tires (all 18 of them!) She also has to pay for her company phone. 

Carol, like other port truckers, may gross $60,000 a year but nets less than $22,000 — the poverty line for a family of four. She and most of her fellow drivers skip health insurance and dental visits. As more trucking companies come to Savannah to compete for business, management continues to undercut their fees, passing on the nickel-and-diming to their drivers. 

"We're responsible for every little expense," she sighs. "We can't even afford to buy the stuff we're hauling around every day. Guys are having strokes in their trucks stressing out about it." 

Here's the injustice: While the port truckers are considered "individual small business owners," the companies they drive for maintain complete control over them: They're not allowed to drive for anyone else and must clock in and out, just like employees protected under U.S. labor laws. Yet it remains awfully convenient to call them otherwise.

Last year, Local 848 successfully organized 65 port drivers at the Port of Los Angeles. For those drivers, who work for Australia-based Toll Holdings, joining the Teamsters made the difference between living comfortably and living in poverty. Local 728 hopes to make the same difference for the drivers in Savannah.

Port drivers fed up with doing the work, while Wal-Mart gets the gravy

Savannah port drivers are reaching out to the community to challenge their status as indentured servants. Like port drivers all over the country, they are misclassified as "independent contractors." Their employers force them into poverty by making them rent and maintain their trucks, and by refusing to pay benefits.

Now, with the help of Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta, the drivers are fighting back.

Sarah Jaffe published a great story today, "Sharecropping on Wheels," about their efforts. She writes:

Independent contractors ... don't have the right to form a union, leaving the port truckers without an official voice. Meanwhile, the companies for which they work face continuing pressure from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart to lower their costs—pressure which results, inevitably, in the workers being squeezed, with no real power to resist. 

The drivers in Savannah are coming together to challenge their misclassification, but also to try to find a way to organize now, whether or not they are classified as employees. The question is, “How can workers excluded, not just organize as a lobbying force, but begin to engage in forms of collective action?” asks Ben Speight, an organizer with Teamsters Local 728 in Georgia. The work done by Seattle-area taxicab drivers, for instance, who associated with Teamsters Local 117, is a possible example for these port drivers. 

The South presents unique challenges to organizing, certainly—Georgia has long been a so-called “right-to-work” state, and unions have almost no foothold there. But the ports serve as an integral part of the global supply chain and thus present an opportunity for the workers to exercise some power. Federal money has been authorized for the dredging of the Savannah River to deepen the port (and to mitigate environmental consequences from the dredging), meaning that there will be a lot of focus on Savannah in the coming years. 

On June 1, the Savannah drivers will hold a community/driver forum with Larry Benjamin of the U.S. Department of Labor's wage and hour division, as well as faith and community leaders, and elected officials from the state legislature and Savannah City Council. The coalition hosting the event calls itself “Stand Up for Savannah,” and it's looking beyond just the issue of driver misclassification to discuss ways in which the newfound wealth at the port could benefit everyone.

Read the whole thing here.

Big trouble for Teamster-hating union buster in Oakland?

Bill Aboudi, a greedy California hustler who doesn't care about the port truckers he employs, could be in very hot water.  Evidence shows he broke labor and environmental laws, and he owes the City of Oakland $235,000 in back rent.

Aboudi hates unions and he especially hates the Teamsters. He has threatened to blow up Teamster leaders. He has commented on news items about "pathatic" Teamster organizers. He has posted tweets calling Teamsters "union-busters." Worst of all, he led the fight to keep port drivers in poverty.

Aboudi and the Teamsters tangled several years ago. California Teamsters and environmental groups urged the Port of Oakland to contract with large, unionized trucking companies instead of small independent operators who misclassify drivers. That way, the larger companies would have the clout to stop the shippers from forcing trucks to idle for hours at the port. Aboudi led the smaller truckers in a successful fight against the plan.

Revenge is a meal best eaten cold, however. East Bay Express reports he owes 73 employees nearly $1 million in back wages:

In a tentative ruling issued last fall, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman concluded that there was "substantial and persuasive evidence" that Aboudi's employees "were routinely and consistently precluded from taking meal periods and rest breaks." 

The judge also concluded that there was "persuasive" evidence that Aboudi "consistently failed to pay for all hours worked." According to calculations by the workers' attorneys — based on a formula that the judge ordered them to use — Aboudi owes the employees $964,557, along with more than $400,000 in court costs and attorney fees.

That's not all. Aboudi has a truck parking operation that sent polluted stormwater into San Francisco Bay for four years. A lawsuit joined by the Teamsters alleges he allowed oil, grease, rinse water, soap residue, engine coolant, solvents, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals associated with vehicle fluids to flow into the Bay.

On top of that, Aboudi rents the land for his truck-parking operation from the City of Oakland. He owes the city $236,489 in back rent, utilities, and late fees. He violated a city ordinance against living on city property by allowing a former employee to live in his tractor-trailer on the parking facility. (In other words, Aboudi's former employee was homeless, thanks no doubt to Aboudi's poverty wages.) And 52 of his 73 tenants had no business licenses and paid no taxes to the city.

Aboudi claims drivers choose to become independent contractors because they love freedom. That's not what the port drivers say. According to the Teamsters Port Driver Organizing Resolution,

...port drivers, working in an extremely dangerous industry, are forced to toil in sweatshop working conditions for low wages and are denied benefits that most workers receive such as workers’ compensation, disability, Social Security, minimum wage, health and safety law protections.

Today's Teamster News 02.15.13

U.S. Grant Funded Workers' Play at LG Chem Factory  Wall Street Journal   ...The Obama administration's electric car efforts took another hit on Wednesday after a federal inspection found a South Korean advanced battery maker never scaled up U.S. production despite receiving $142 million in federal grants...
Wall Street wins again  Salon   ...The secret truth: There never was a “task force” dedicated to ferreting out mortgage fraud...
Euro-Area Economy Shrinks Most Since Depths of Recession  Bloomberg   ...The euro-area recession deepened more than economists forecast with the worst performance in almost four years as the region’s three biggest economies suffered slumping output....
New law credited with 'eye-popping' drop in California foreclosures  Ventura County Star   ...Foreclosure activity in California and Ventura County took a dramatic tumble in January as the state’s new Homeowner Bill of Rights kicked in...
Gas, Diesel Fuel Prices Continue to Rise  USAgNet   ...The U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline increased seven cents to $3.61 per gallon, up nine cents from last year at this time...The national average diesel fuel price increased eight cents to $4.10 per gallon, 16 cents higher than last year at this time...
Brewers of Corona and Budweiser revise buyout to appease US regulators  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev changed the terms of its proposed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo Thursday in an attempt to push through a deal...Regulators are leery of the tie-up because AB InBev and Modelo control about 46 percent of annual U.S. sales...
Fat-Cat Pay Makes Swiss So Mad Wages Face National Vote  Bloomberg   ...With more than 100,000 Swiss citizens having signed a petition to limit “fat-cat” pay, voters will decide at a March 3 referendum whether top executives should have their compensation set by shareholders...
Minimum Wage Would Be $21.72 If It Kept Pace With Productivity: Study  Huffington Post   ...While advancements in technology have increased the amount of goods and services that can be produced in a set amount of time, wages have remained relatively flat, the study points out...
How Labor Made US Airways, AMR Merger Happen  Forbes   ...the turning point in the merger effort may have come on April 20, 2012 when US Airways said it had gathered support from American’s three major unions for its effort to merge with American...
Ohio unions rally against outsiders doing pipeline construction  Akron Beacon Journal   ...Four building trades associated with pipeline construction will be holding a job action in Ohio's Carroll County early today where WillBros Inc., a company from over 1,300 miles away in Houston, TX is performing work...
Maine Lawmaker Proposes to Ban Union Campaign Contributions  Maine Public Broadcasting   ...a Republican lawmaker says it's a conflict of interest for public workers unions to contribute to candidates for state office, and has submitted legislation to prohibit the practice...
Kane rejects Pa. lottery contract, citing constitutional grounds  Philly.com   ...Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane rejected the Corbett administration's contract with a British firm to manage the $3.5 billion Pennsylvania Lottery, saying it "contravenes the Pennsylvania constitution."...
Scott aims to cut port regulations to spur economic growth Herald-Tribune ...(Florida Gov. Rick) Scott wants to increase the maximum gross vehicle weight for cargo containers by 5,000 pounds...
Obama trade proposal threatens more Minnesota jobs  Workday Minnesota   ...“The Trans-Pacific Partnership would accelerate job loss in Minnesota by forcing local employers to compete with companies that take advantage of sweatshop working conditions in places like Vietnam and Malaysia, which are undercutting even Chinese manufacturers,” said Josh Wise, director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition...
Justice Details ‘History Of Abusive Behavior’ At Wisconsin Supreme Court  Talking Points Memo   ...Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley ... offered details about what she called “a history of abusive behavior in our workplace that has escalated from tantrums and rages, to threats, and now to physical contact.” As early as February 2010, Bradley wrote in the document, she had emailed other justices on the court about Prosser’s “abusive temper tantrums...”
Bloomberg: NYC school bus strike is 'lost cause;' union urges him to negotiate  Staten Island Advance   ...Mayor Michael Bloomberg struck a raw nerve with his statement Thursday that the ongoing school bus strike is a "lost cause." The president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, representing the striking workers, blasted Bloomberg over the remark...

Inspired by Toll victory, 2nd group of port drivers ready to join Teamsters

Ready to fight for their union: Port truck drivers at American Logistics International.

A second group of truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach is officially kicking off its fight to join the Teamsters. Delegates for 85 port drivers at American Logistics International hand-delivered a letter to their boss late yesterday afternoon telling him the news.

The drivers were inspired to action by the amazing first contract won late last year by fellow port drivers, Teamster members who work for the Australian multinational Toll Group. Now, more of the thousands of port workers at LA/Long Beach are gearing up to fight for their union.

Teamsters International Vice President Fred Potter said word had spread quickly around the port about the Teamsters' first contract with Toll. Potter, who is also head of the Teamsters Port division, said his phone was ringing off the hook after the contract was signed. Workers, he said, finally believed they had the power to improve their lives.

The Toll contract was the first union contract signed by port drivers since trucking was deregulated in 1980.

The contract gives Toll drivers a $6-an-hour raise and, for the first time, a pension, affordable health care, job security and clean restrooms. They are now eager to go out and tell other port workers, 'You can do this, too,' Potter said. 

American Logistics International is based in Carson, Calif.

Today's Teamster News 10.13.12

Lenovo moves production of some laptops and tablets to North Carolina  manufacture this   ...While the decision is laudable because it will create roughly 115 manufacturing job in the U.S., it's worth noting that many of the components within the computers and tablets will have been made in places outside the United States...
What do Henry Kissinger, Le Duc Tho, Yasser Arafat, President Obama, And The EU Have In Common?  zero hedge   ...the euro is doing massive damage to the European fabric. It is creating tensions and even rage where there were none in the years leading up to the crisis—in Greece for example...
Governor Brown solves California's gas price problem  Econbrowser   ... Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) directed the California Air Resources Board to allow use right now of the winter blend instead of waiting as usual until the first of November, a move that the Board has implemented. This allows existing stocks of the winter fuel to be sold to add to the supply of the summer blend...
WI governor spurs emotions during campaign stop for Rick Hill  KPAX.com   ..."I was talking to some old labor leaders, and they told me that they have not seen a political action by organized labor in the city of Kalispell in the last 30 years that is comparable to this," Al Ekblad, Executive Secretary of the Montana State AFL-CIO said...
Ex-Walker appointee convicted of stealing $51,000 from veterans  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Prosecutors said the 62-year-old Kavanaugh had skimmed the money from bank deposits and phony withdrawals from accounts for the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a veterans service organization...
Los Angeles Port Truckers Test Out Their Picket Signs  In These Times   ...Six months after Los Angeles-area port truckers won a rare union election in a nearly union-free industry, contract negotiations have hit the rocks...

Woo-hoo! A historic Teamster organizing victory in CA!

Please welcome our 62 new brothers and sisters who drive trucks at the Port of Los Angeles. They voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 848 in Covina, Calif. yesterday.

Drivers were exuberant about the victory. Orlando Ayala, who's been driving at the port for 10 years, said,

A voice on the job means management can no longer humiliate us or force us to suffer in poverty while they profit.

Change To Win reported,

Amidst jubilant chants of “Yes We Did!” in Spanish and English, a brave group of professional truck drivers who haul brand-name fashion imports celebrated late evening news that they trounced in their closely-watched election to unite as Teamsters, despite their foreign employer’s vicious and expensive year-long campaign to intimidate workplace leaders and suppress their free choice. 

The Journal of Commerce reported,

Employee drivers who work for the Toll Group logistics company in Southern California won an historic election Wednesday to become one of the few harbor trucking fleets in the U.S. to become unionized. 

In an election sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board, the drivers voted 46-15 in favor of joining the Teamsters union, according to Change to Win, a coalition of labor, community and faith-based organizations supported by the Teamsters. 

Toll Group, which is based in Australia, is a logistics company that handles brand-name fashion imports in Los Angeles-Long Beach. The Teamsters have been working since last summer to organize the drivers. 

Drivers in Southern California said they have set the stage for other organizing efforts across the country. “Our victory means we are finally getting closer to the American dream. If we can win here, I know other port truck drivers across the U.S. can unite just like we did,” said Orlando Ayala.

Si se puede!

Today's Teamster News 1.6.11

Sanitationmen tell their side of Christmas blizzard  (Local 831)  New York Daily News  ..."We were short 400 men and we had crappy equipment"...
IPhone -Eye Phone Group, Zing Launch iTRUCKit Delivery Assistant  (Local 804)  TMCnet     ...In collaboration with UPS package delivery drivers...Eye Phone Group together with Zing launched a new delivery assistant iPhone  application called iTRUCKit (which) allows simplified recording of day-to-day activity along with enhanced tracking...
At brewery, cost-cutting was the priority  The Virginia Gazette  ...Around 50 layoffs were anticipated at the brewery as more local cuts were imposed by InBev...
Las Vegas Convention Business Up From Last Year  8NewsNow  ...The convention center's recovering business is giving local workers some job security...
Fedex Adds China-India Air-Cargo Flights on `Dramatic' Growth  Bloomberg News  ...The company expects “dramatic growth in trade” between China and India...
Canadian oilsands pipeline 'crucial' to American economy: U.S. oil industry  The Vancouver Sun   ...American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard hailed Calgary-based TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline as vital to the recovery of the nation's economy...
Port of Seattle says emissions enforcement going smoothly  Land Line Magazine   ...the first few days of enforcement of the port’s new Clean Truck Program have resulted in few delays...
China to open Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail in June-Xinhua  Reuters   ...The ...819-mile... railway, which has cost ...$33.45 billion ...began construction in April 2008 and was originally planned to open in 2012...

Today's Teamster News 12.30.10

U.S. Foreclosures Jump in Third Quarter: Regulators  CNBC   ...one reason for the increase in foreclosures is that banks have "exhausted" options for keeping many delinquent borrowers in their homes...
Trucking firm still searching for stability  The Press-Enterprise  ...The firm's rigs are still on the road, but its financial situation is filled with doubt...
Madison Dearborn's VWR Distribution Center Violates California Laws Protecting Public Health And Environment  IBT   ...Teamsters Union And city resident sue VWR And City Of Visalia to stop illegal project...
Nadler’s port bill dies; could be resurrected this year  The Trucker   ...The bill (that) ...would have rewritten federal law to allow ports and other public entities to regulate trucking within their jurisdictions...
City, union reps talking  Marietta Times  ...Leaders from three unions representing City of Marietta workers met with municipal officials Monday to discuss concessions aimed at avoiding furloughs...
New Page votes on contract today (Local 486)  Daily Press  ...Union employees at NewPage will decide ...(on)... a contract ...following two years of negotiations and previous failed agreements...
Sullivan unions to announce wage freeze battle plan (Local 445)  Mid-Hudson News  ...Unions representing almost 1,000 Sullivan County employees will announce their plans for fighting what they consider an illegal wage freeze...