TEAMSTERS
Teamsters At Sysco Back in Negotiations Today After Unanimous Strike Vote Local 117 ...Teamster warehouse workers and drivers who are employed at the major food service conglomerate Sysco have voted unanimously to authorize a strike. Union members voted 150-0 in favor of authorizing a strike after the Company allegedly committed a series of Unfair Labor Practices. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating Sysco for charges of bad-faith bargaining, unilateral changes in working conditions, and worker intimidation...
LA-based port truck driver to join President Obama at White House Summit on Worker Voice AJOT ...On Wed., October 7, a port truck driver who was misclassified for years as an “independent contractor” but fought for – and won – the right to be classified as an employee and is now a member of Teamsters Local 848, will be a panelist at the first ever “White House Summit on Worker Voice.” The professional driver, a husband and father to two young children, who was fired for filing a claim for Wage Theft with the California Labor Commissioner, now works for Eco Flow Transportation...
County to consider contract that includes raise for jail staff Merced Sun Star ...A group of Merced County jail and detention center employees would see their first pay raise in six years under an agreement to be considered Tuesday by the Merced County Board of Supervisors. The county has been in negotiations since May with Unit 12 of Teamsters Local Union 856, which represents more than a dozen unarmed and nonsworn employees of jails and juvenile detention centers...
A Strike May Park San Francisco's Tech Buses Gizmodo ...San Francisco’s tech workers may be looking for a new ride to work if their shuttle bus drivers go on strike over contract negotiations. At a meeting yesterday in San Leandro, leaders of the Teamsters Local 853 advised members to be prepared for a strike if there’s no progress on the contract proposal that the union approved and sent to Compass Transportation back in August. The proposal would increase pay and improve benefits for drivers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama’s trade deal faces stiff headwinds The Hill ...The White House’s announcement Monday of an international trade deal covering 40 percent of the world’s economy sets the stage for a bruising, months-long congressional battle that is already spilling into the 2016 presidential race. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations from Asia to Latin America, faces stiff headwinds in both parties...
Vilsack: TPP text available in next 30 days Capital Press ...U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be made available in the next 30 days. Farmers and members of Congress will be able to read the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the next 30 days, the head of the USDA says. Lawyers are “scrubbing the text” of the trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, making sure it is accurate...
China Responds Cautiously To TPP Deal, Which Analysts Say Will Bring Pressure For Faster Reforms IBTimes ...China has reacted cautiously to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP), which U.S. President Barack Obama said explicitly was designed to prevent “countries like China” from writing "the rules of the global economy." China’s Ministry of Commerce said it took an “open-minded attitude” to the deal, though Chinese analysts said it would increase pressure on Beijing to introduce further economic reforms...
The Meat Industry Is Licking Its Chops Over Obama's Massive Trade Deal Mother Jones ...The US meat industry scored a big victory this week when world leaders hammered out an agreement that would reduce trade barriers across the Pacific: from the United Sates, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Chile on this side to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Singapore on the other. So how would the TPP affect Big Meat in the United States? The industry is currently facing stagnant domestic demand for its product as Americans eat less meat. The TPP would open markets...
Breast Cancer Patient Arrested for Protesting TPP: "This is Price Gouging at the Cost of Lives" Democracy Now ...The United States and drug companies had pressed for longer monopolies on new biotech drugs, while multiple countries opposed the push, saying it could deny life-saving medicines to patients who cannot afford high prices. The compromise reportedly includes monopolies of between five and eight years. Last week in Atlanta, Zahara Heckscher, a cancer patient, disrupted TPP negotiations and was arrested...
The Trans-Pacific Pact Would Kill Jobs and Consumer Protection (opinion) New York Times ...The TPP includes investor protections also found in NAFTA that incentivize American job offshoring by eliminating risks otherwise associated with producing in low-wage countries. It would drive down our wages by putting Americans in competition with Vietnamese workers who make less than 65 cents per hour...
Three million #noTTIP signatures delivered to EU Commission in London The Economic Voice ...Over three million signatures from across Europe calling for TTIP to be scrapped were submitted to representatives of the European Commission in London at 11.30 am this morning, in the shadow of a 6 metre high inflatable TTIP Trojan Horse. The Trojan Horse symbolised that while TTIP is presented as a 'trade deal,' critics argue that it actually constitutes an unprecedented corporate power grab...
IMF warns of stagnation threat to G7 economies The Guardian ...The International Monetary Fund is warning that the weak recovery in the west risks turning into near stagnation after cutting its global economic growth forecast for the fourth successive year. In its half-yearly update on the health of the world economy, the Washington-based fund predicted expansion of 3.1% in 2015, 0.2 points lower than it was expecting three months ago...
Tens of thousands protest government free-market measures for biggest demo in a year US News & World Report ...Tens of thousands of workers are demonstrating through Brussels to protest the free-market regulations and austerity measures that the center-right government has been pushing through during its first year in office. Belgium's three main unions joined hands Wednesday behind a common platform arguing that the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel is promoting big companies at the expense of the workforce...
IndustriALL Union files ILO complaint against Thailand Reuters ...IndustriALL, a global labor union with 50 million members, has filed a complaint against Thailand at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, the union said on Wednesday. The complaint, sent to the ILO's committee on freedom of association, details 18 cases of worker and labor abuses, IndustriALL said in a statement...
Cambodian Garment Workers Rally for Minimum Wage Raise Solidarity Center ...Some 21,000 garment workers from six unions at more than 60 factories across Cambodia dedicated their 30-minute lunch breaks to rallies calling for a higher minimum wage. The monthly minimum wage for garment and footwear workers is $128. Last year, Cambodia’s garment exports totaled $5.7 billion...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
W.Va. Gov. Tomblin Announces $100 Million Statewide Budget Cut WSAZ ...West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Monday announced a plan to save the state nearly $100 million. Tomblin said it is needed to curb the loss from declining coal and natural gas revenue. The governor said most state agency spending will be cut by 4 percent. Tomblin said the fiscal year deficit currently exceeds more than $250 million...
Gov. Brown signs bill aimed at eliminating gender wage gap LA Times ...California took a major step Tuesday toward closing the lingering wage gap between men and women, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed one of the toughest pay equity laws in the nation. Women in California who work full time are paid substantially less — a median 84 cents for every dollar — than men, according to a U.S Census Bureau report this year...
California minimum wage measure seeks to tap into income inequality worries SacBee ...Proponents of a statewide ballot measure to raise California’s minimum wage signaled Tuesday that their effort will seize on unrest over income distribution and frame the wage debate as one of fairness. In the first major event in support of the proposed initiative, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said they would lead the union-funded endeavor to hike the state’s base wage to $11...
Little Rock Workers Convene City's First Wage Board NPR ...As part of a national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, some Little Rock workers plan to convene the city’s first wage board Tuesday. Little Rock’s four-member board is made up of Democratic State Representatives Charles Blake and Vivian Flowers, the chair of Arkansas Community Organizations Donna Massey, and Revered Stephen Copley, who led the recent voter-approved effort to gradually raise the minimum wage in Arkansas to $8.50 by 2017...
U.S. LABOR
Al Jazeera America becomes the latest new media organization to unionize The Guardian ...Al Jazeera America’s digital newsroom became the latest new media organization to unionize on Tuesday. Staff voted in favour 32 to 5, the National Labor Relations Board declared after counting the ballots cast by eligible employees. Al Jazeera America is the latest of a number of newsrooms to unionize this year...
Pot growers at Maryland company get union representation Business Journal ...Bethesda Biomedical Inc., awaiting state approval for a license to grow marijuana and operate a medical marijuana dispensary, has reached an agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to represent its employees. The agreement covers wages, health care, a retirement pension and other benefits for Bethesda Biomedical’s future employees...
UAW threatens strike at Fiat Chrysler U.S. operations Reuters ...United Auto Workers members are planning to strike at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV U.S. plants as soon as Wednesday evening, the first work stoppage since 2007, threatening to bring manufacturing to a halt. A strike at its U.S. operations could cost the automaker $40 million a week in operating profit, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research...
With Sanders at the Helm, Lawmakers Lobby for Labor Common Dreams ...With organized labor increasingly under attack in the U.S., a handful of lawmakers is pushing to make it easier for workers to join unions, allowing them to pool their collective power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday unveiled new legislation, dubbed the Workplace Democracy Act, which would expedite the process for forming labor unions and penalize companies that delay negotiations...
Neoliberalism is crushing your mailman: The myth of the postal service’s financial ruin Salon ...The truth is that almost all of the postal service’s losses can be traced back to a single change in the law made by the Republican Congress in 2006. That year, the Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under the terms of PAEA, the USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years...
This Is What The World's Largest Companies Are Making Off Their Employees Huffington Post ...You’re going to want a raise after reading this. Marketing firm MVF Global has calculated the “true value” of employees around the world, and maybe not surprisingly there is a pretty large gap between what workers at the world’s largest companies are paid and what they're actually worth to the company...
The US Tells Other Countries to Respect Unions—Shouldn’t the US Do the Same? The Nation ... While the just-announced Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is flawed on many levels, it includes language that requires countries such as Vietnam to recognize and respect the right to form independent trade unions. Yet, while the US government tells other countries to respect the right to organize unions and collectively bargain, those rights have been under assault here...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrant Rights Groups Will Start Protesting Obama Again Huffington Post ...Several immigrant rights groups announced Tuesday that they will spend a week protesting the deportation and detention policies of President Barack Obama, timed to mark the one-year anniversary of his announcement of executive actions to expand deportation relief. Obama, who has presided over more deportations than any other president, has long faced protests from immigrant rights activists...
Freedom for 6,000 Federal Prisoners The Atlantic ...About 6,000 federal inmates whose long sentences were reduced last year will be released at the end of October, marking the start of the most substantial effort yet to reduce America’s gargantuan prison population. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent judicial agency that oversees federal sentencing guidelines, first voted in April 2014 to reduce federal drug guideline sentences in an effort to curb prison overcrowding and excessive punishments...
Showing posts with label postal service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label postal service. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.09.15
Teamsters
Local 200 Welcomes Super Aggregate Drivers Teamster.org ...On Saturday May 30, 2015 truck drivers from Super Aggregate voted to become members of Teamsters Local 200 in Milwaukee.
“In an environment of a right to work state there are still employers that see the benefit of a Unionized workforce and employees that know the benefits of being a Teamster,” said Teamsters Local 200 Secretary-Treasurer Tom Millonzi...
In Memoriam: Walter Shea Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is saddened to announce the passing of Walter Shea, a longtime Teamster leader and former International Vice President. Shea had a rich life within the union and kept busy with political appointments. He was not only an International Vice President from 1982 to 1992, he served as an Executive Assistant to four General Presidents of the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters, US car-haulers start national contract talks JOC ...The Teamsters union and U.S. car-hauling trucking companies are preparing to negotiate a new multi-year contract at a time when the automotive business, and car-hauling, is booming. The union and management group exchanged proposals last week and will start negotiations on the National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement June 10, the Teamsters said...
L.A.-Based Location Managers Reach 3-Year Deal With Producers Variety ...The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and Teamsters Local 399 have reached a tentative agreement on a successor contract covering location managers. The tentative deal — which covers several hundred members in the Los Angeles area — was reached two weeks after Hollywood Teamsters and four other Basic Crafts Unions reached a tentative agreement with producers on a three-year successor deal...
Disney World characters complain after park warns not to reveal identities The Guardian ...The union representing actors who portray Mickey, Goofy and other characters at Walt Disney World filed a complaint on Friday with a national labor board, challenging a policy that it says prevents the performers from revealing which animated figures they portray. Teamsters Local 385 filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Disney was committing an unfair labor practice...
NLRB Says Federal Labor Law Doesn't Apply To Indian-Owned Casino Protected by Treaty Bloomberg ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled June 4 that the Chickasaw Nation's tribal sovereignty blocks the board from asserting jurisdiction over unfair labor practice charges against a tribe-controlled casino. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 886 alleged that the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla., violated the National Labor Relations Act by telling workers they weren't protected by the federal labor law...
Global Labor & Trade
Week ahead: House trade fight heats up The Hill ...The fight over fast-track trade authority is coming to a head, with a House vote possible as early as Thursday. President Obama and Republican leaders are edging closer to securing the votes needed to pass trade promotion authority. The legislation would help Obama close the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation economic pact...
Obama's Trade Quest In Congress Trails Him Across Atlantic Associated Press ...President Barack Obama's politically fraught trade quest in Washington trailed him across the Atlantic Sunday, as he met with world leaders anxiously watching a debate on Capitol Hill that could impact the status of economic pacts with the Asia-Pacific and Europe. The leaders spent more than an hour privately discussing trade issues as they opened a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations...
Labor runs ads slamming Rep. Kathleen Rice for backing trade bill Politico ...Big Labor is taking aim at another Democrat for supporting a contentious trade bill. The AFL-CIO has made a six-figure ad buy in New York against Rep. Kathleen Rice, slamming the freshman lawmaker for pledging to vote for legislation giving President Barack Obama the power to “fast track” trade deals through Congress. Rice initially said she opposed the controversial measure, but over the weekend, she announced she would support the bill...
Will TPP Kill the Post Office? Huffington Post ...As if we needed yet another reason for the public to see the text of TPP before Congress pre approves it with fast track, here is a question: Does the TPP contain provisions that corporations can use to force us to privatize "public" things like our Post Office, public schools, public roads etc., so they can replace them with profit-making enterprises that provide a return only to the wealthy few?...
Peru’s story haunts the TPP The Hill ...From the tragic massacre on “Devil’s Curve” six years ago to the surge in illegal logging to growing violence and threats against environmental defenders to the recent rollback of environmental and labor protections to the ISDS attacks on our environmental policies, Peru’s story suggests that it is time to rethink how we approach trade agreements before “Fast Tracking” more of the same via the TPP...
10 Reasons the TPP Is Not a 'Progressive' Trade Agreement (opinion) Huffington Post ...One must seriously question what President Obama and his corporate allies believe to be the definition of "progressive." History shows the very opposite of progress when it comes to these democratic sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting corporate-driven trade treaties -- unless progress is referring to fulfilling the deepest wishes of runaway global corporations...
Local 200 Welcomes Super Aggregate Drivers Teamster.org ...On Saturday May 30, 2015 truck drivers from Super Aggregate voted to become members of Teamsters Local 200 in Milwaukee.
“In an environment of a right to work state there are still employers that see the benefit of a Unionized workforce and employees that know the benefits of being a Teamster,” said Teamsters Local 200 Secretary-Treasurer Tom Millonzi...
In Memoriam: Walter Shea Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is saddened to announce the passing of Walter Shea, a longtime Teamster leader and former International Vice President. Shea had a rich life within the union and kept busy with political appointments. He was not only an International Vice President from 1982 to 1992, he served as an Executive Assistant to four General Presidents of the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters, US car-haulers start national contract talks JOC ...The Teamsters union and U.S. car-hauling trucking companies are preparing to negotiate a new multi-year contract at a time when the automotive business, and car-hauling, is booming. The union and management group exchanged proposals last week and will start negotiations on the National Master Automobile Transporters Agreement June 10, the Teamsters said...
L.A.-Based Location Managers Reach 3-Year Deal With Producers Variety ...The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and Teamsters Local 399 have reached a tentative agreement on a successor contract covering location managers. The tentative deal — which covers several hundred members in the Los Angeles area — was reached two weeks after Hollywood Teamsters and four other Basic Crafts Unions reached a tentative agreement with producers on a three-year successor deal...
Disney World characters complain after park warns not to reveal identities The Guardian ...The union representing actors who portray Mickey, Goofy and other characters at Walt Disney World filed a complaint on Friday with a national labor board, challenging a policy that it says prevents the performers from revealing which animated figures they portray. Teamsters Local 385 filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Disney was committing an unfair labor practice...
NLRB Says Federal Labor Law Doesn't Apply To Indian-Owned Casino Protected by Treaty Bloomberg ...The National Labor Relations Board ruled June 4 that the Chickasaw Nation's tribal sovereignty blocks the board from asserting jurisdiction over unfair labor practice charges against a tribe-controlled casino. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 886 alleged that the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla., violated the National Labor Relations Act by telling workers they weren't protected by the federal labor law...
Global Labor & Trade
Week ahead: House trade fight heats up The Hill ...The fight over fast-track trade authority is coming to a head, with a House vote possible as early as Thursday. President Obama and Republican leaders are edging closer to securing the votes needed to pass trade promotion authority. The legislation would help Obama close the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation economic pact...
Obama's Trade Quest In Congress Trails Him Across Atlantic Associated Press ...President Barack Obama's politically fraught trade quest in Washington trailed him across the Atlantic Sunday, as he met with world leaders anxiously watching a debate on Capitol Hill that could impact the status of economic pacts with the Asia-Pacific and Europe. The leaders spent more than an hour privately discussing trade issues as they opened a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations...
Labor runs ads slamming Rep. Kathleen Rice for backing trade bill Politico ...Big Labor is taking aim at another Democrat for supporting a contentious trade bill. The AFL-CIO has made a six-figure ad buy in New York against Rep. Kathleen Rice, slamming the freshman lawmaker for pledging to vote for legislation giving President Barack Obama the power to “fast track” trade deals through Congress. Rice initially said she opposed the controversial measure, but over the weekend, she announced she would support the bill...
Will TPP Kill the Post Office? Huffington Post ...As if we needed yet another reason for the public to see the text of TPP before Congress pre approves it with fast track, here is a question: Does the TPP contain provisions that corporations can use to force us to privatize "public" things like our Post Office, public schools, public roads etc., so they can replace them with profit-making enterprises that provide a return only to the wealthy few?...
Peru’s story haunts the TPP The Hill ...From the tragic massacre on “Devil’s Curve” six years ago to the surge in illegal logging to growing violence and threats against environmental defenders to the recent rollback of environmental and labor protections to the ISDS attacks on our environmental policies, Peru’s story suggests that it is time to rethink how we approach trade agreements before “Fast Tracking” more of the same via the TPP...
10 Reasons the TPP Is Not a 'Progressive' Trade Agreement (opinion) Huffington Post ...One must seriously question what President Obama and his corporate allies believe to be the definition of "progressive." History shows the very opposite of progress when it comes to these democratic sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting corporate-driven trade treaties -- unless progress is referring to fulfilling the deepest wishes of runaway global corporations...
Sherritt Workers in Madagascar Mull Strike Action Over Job Cuts Bloomberg ...Workers at Sherritt International Corp.’s Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar may go on strike after job cuts at the mine, a labor-union official said. The company, based in Toronto, said on June 4 the joint venture cut about 12 percent of its workforce, resulting in about 1,100 employees and contractors having their employment contracts suspended or being demobilized...
German Child Care Workers’ Strike Brings Debate on Priorities New York Times ...The strike by child care workers is the latest in a series of work actions that is putting Germany on track to have the most days lost to labor action in nearly a decade. By economists’ calculations, 350,000 work days have been lost in 2015 — a record that would seem more likely in France than in Germany. The number of days missed because of walkouts is already more than twice the number for all of 2014, according to the Cologne Institute for Economic Research...
State & Living Wage Battles
Lawmakers kill bill requiring predictable work hours Sacramento Business Journal ...Legislation that would have penalized large food and retail employers for making late changes to employee work schedules was held in the Assembly on Thursday and is finished for the year. Assemblyman David Chiu said in a statement that he would bring back Assembly Bill 357 next year...
Kentucky Governor Raises Minimum Wage With Executive Order New York Times ...Gov. Steven L. Beshear of Kentucky signed an executive order on Monday raising the hourly minimum wage for certain state employees to $10.10. The change, which angered state Republicans and drew praise from the governor’s fellow Democrats, affects almost 800 employees, including those making the current hourly minimum of $7.25...
Oregon Democrats to propose minimum wage increase this week Oregon Live ...emocrats will put forth a long-anticipated proposal this week to raise Oregon's minimum wage, House Speaker Tina Kotek said Monday. Kotek, D-Portland, told reporters she plans to introduce a bill that would incrementally raise the minimum wage over the next few years. She declined to provide specifics, including how high the new minimum wage would be under the proposal...
Prevailing wage calculation riles lawmakers Bluefield Daily Telegraph ...Prevailing wage once again raised lawmakers’ hackles, on Monday, as the method to calculate the wage developed by Workforce West Virginia was roundly criticized by Republicans on the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. Democrats on the committee said it was a matter of sour grapes since the method may not give Republicans the result they wanted - lower prevailing wages on public projects...
Barack Obama poised to hike wages for millions Politico ...The Obama administration is on the verge of possibly doubling the salary levels that would require employers to pay overtime in the most ambitious government intervention on wages in a decade. And it doesn’t need Congress’s permission. As early as this week, the Labor Department could propose a rule that would raise the current overtime threshold — $23,660 – to as much as $52,000...
Proposal for $15 minimum wage qualifies for Tacoma ballot Seattle Times ...An initiative to raise Tacoma’s minimum wage to $15 an hour has qualified for the November ballot. The Pierce County auditor’s staff has verified that petitions submitted by the 15 Now group contained 3,231 valid signatures of registered Tacoma voters, The News Tribune newspaper reported...
U.S. Labor
Federal contract workers strike outside U.S. courthouse in downtown Dallas Dallas Morning News ...A group of federal contract workers who handle security inside the Earle Cabell courthouse in downtown Dallas are on strike, complaining of unfair labor practices that have led to inflexible work schedules. The strike by the Local 293 branch of the United Government Security Officers of America (UGSOA) union began with a picket line outside the federal courthouse on May 26...
Verizon’s Biggest Union Claims Carrier Isn’t Fixing Broken Landlines Wall Street Journal ...Verizon Communications Inc.’s largest union says the company is refusing to fix broken landlines. The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 35,000 Verizon employees, says Verizon isn’t repairing copper lines in some areas in the Northeast. Instead, the union says, the carrier is steering customers to buy a wireless home phone service called Voice Link...
Black-White Unemployment Gap Widens In U.S. Chicago Defender ...he Black unemployment rate last month was nearly twice the national average and more than double the unemployment rate for Whites, according to jobs figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The statistics show the unemployment rate for Blacks at 10.2 percent in May, up from 9.6 percent in April. The unemployment rate for Whites has been at 4.7 percent since February...
Miscellaneous
Obama administration stops work on immigrant program Washington Post ...A series of legal setbacks have halted the government’s intensive preparations to move forward with President Obama’s executive actions shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, even as community organizations continue a rapid push to get ready for the programs, according to U.S. officials and immigrant advocacy groups...
Community Condemns Pool Prejudice in McKinney, Texas Common Dreams ...More than a thousand outraged community members took to the streets of McKinney, Texas on Monday night, two days after a local police officer assaulted a number of black and brown teenagers attending a pool party. Unlike other recent acts of police violence in Baltimore and Ferguson, this occurred at a private pool, in a gated community within an affluent suburb of Dallas, Texas—raising particular questions about wealth and race...
GM Has Not Paid for Its Crimes Truthout ...Last year, GM officials reluctantly estimated that faulty ignition switches could be linked to some 13 deaths from crashes involving several of their smaller car models. A year later, that number has reached 104, according to an announcement by the company compensation fund on May 18 - leaving family members of those killed and injured in crashes involving GM cars to ask just how many more deaths were the result of corporate negligence...
Student Debt Strikers Call Fed's Loan Forgiveness Plan a Bureaucratic Sham Common Dreams ...Despite a new announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that it will begin a process of debt-forgiveness for students cheated into high-priced loans by predatory for-profit colleges, one of the groups most responsible for lobbying to have the debts erased is reacting bitterly, saying the plan is more complicated than it needs to be and that those already victimized by one government-backed scheme should not be put through the ringer for a second time...
German Child Care Workers’ Strike Brings Debate on Priorities New York Times ...The strike by child care workers is the latest in a series of work actions that is putting Germany on track to have the most days lost to labor action in nearly a decade. By economists’ calculations, 350,000 work days have been lost in 2015 — a record that would seem more likely in France than in Germany. The number of days missed because of walkouts is already more than twice the number for all of 2014, according to the Cologne Institute for Economic Research...
State & Living Wage Battles
Lawmakers kill bill requiring predictable work hours Sacramento Business Journal ...Legislation that would have penalized large food and retail employers for making late changes to employee work schedules was held in the Assembly on Thursday and is finished for the year. Assemblyman David Chiu said in a statement that he would bring back Assembly Bill 357 next year...
Kentucky Governor Raises Minimum Wage With Executive Order New York Times ...Gov. Steven L. Beshear of Kentucky signed an executive order on Monday raising the hourly minimum wage for certain state employees to $10.10. The change, which angered state Republicans and drew praise from the governor’s fellow Democrats, affects almost 800 employees, including those making the current hourly minimum of $7.25...
Oregon Democrats to propose minimum wage increase this week Oregon Live ...emocrats will put forth a long-anticipated proposal this week to raise Oregon's minimum wage, House Speaker Tina Kotek said Monday. Kotek, D-Portland, told reporters she plans to introduce a bill that would incrementally raise the minimum wage over the next few years. She declined to provide specifics, including how high the new minimum wage would be under the proposal...
Prevailing wage calculation riles lawmakers Bluefield Daily Telegraph ...Prevailing wage once again raised lawmakers’ hackles, on Monday, as the method to calculate the wage developed by Workforce West Virginia was roundly criticized by Republicans on the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. Democrats on the committee said it was a matter of sour grapes since the method may not give Republicans the result they wanted - lower prevailing wages on public projects...
Barack Obama poised to hike wages for millions Politico ...The Obama administration is on the verge of possibly doubling the salary levels that would require employers to pay overtime in the most ambitious government intervention on wages in a decade. And it doesn’t need Congress’s permission. As early as this week, the Labor Department could propose a rule that would raise the current overtime threshold — $23,660 – to as much as $52,000...
Proposal for $15 minimum wage qualifies for Tacoma ballot Seattle Times ...An initiative to raise Tacoma’s minimum wage to $15 an hour has qualified for the November ballot. The Pierce County auditor’s staff has verified that petitions submitted by the 15 Now group contained 3,231 valid signatures of registered Tacoma voters, The News Tribune newspaper reported...
States Confront Wide Budget Gaps Even After Years of Recovery New York Times ...Though the national economy is in its sixth year of recovery from the recession, many states are still facing major funding gaps that have locked legislatures in protracted battles with governors. In some states, lawmakers have gone into overtime with unresolved budgets...
Speakers cite burdens of new voter ID law Charlotte Observer ...The N.C. General Assembly in 2013 passed the law, requiring voters to present certain types of photo ID issued by the government or by a federally recognized tribe in order to vote. It takes effect in January 2016 and has been challenged in state and federal courts. One speaker, Mary Riordan, said her last name has changed three times since she’s been eligible to vote, and she didn’t always submit proof of the change to the Board of Elections in a timely manner...
Speakers cite burdens of new voter ID law Charlotte Observer ...The N.C. General Assembly in 2013 passed the law, requiring voters to present certain types of photo ID issued by the government or by a federally recognized tribe in order to vote. It takes effect in January 2016 and has been challenged in state and federal courts. One speaker, Mary Riordan, said her last name has changed three times since she’s been eligible to vote, and she didn’t always submit proof of the change to the Board of Elections in a timely manner...
U.S. Labor
Federal contract workers strike outside U.S. courthouse in downtown Dallas Dallas Morning News ...A group of federal contract workers who handle security inside the Earle Cabell courthouse in downtown Dallas are on strike, complaining of unfair labor practices that have led to inflexible work schedules. The strike by the Local 293 branch of the United Government Security Officers of America (UGSOA) union began with a picket line outside the federal courthouse on May 26...
Verizon’s Biggest Union Claims Carrier Isn’t Fixing Broken Landlines Wall Street Journal ...Verizon Communications Inc.’s largest union says the company is refusing to fix broken landlines. The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 35,000 Verizon employees, says Verizon isn’t repairing copper lines in some areas in the Northeast. Instead, the union says, the carrier is steering customers to buy a wireless home phone service called Voice Link...
Black-White Unemployment Gap Widens In U.S. Chicago Defender ...he Black unemployment rate last month was nearly twice the national average and more than double the unemployment rate for Whites, according to jobs figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The statistics show the unemployment rate for Blacks at 10.2 percent in May, up from 9.6 percent in April. The unemployment rate for Whites has been at 4.7 percent since February...
Miscellaneous
Obama administration stops work on immigrant program Washington Post ...A series of legal setbacks have halted the government’s intensive preparations to move forward with President Obama’s executive actions shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, even as community organizations continue a rapid push to get ready for the programs, according to U.S. officials and immigrant advocacy groups...
Community Condemns Pool Prejudice in McKinney, Texas Common Dreams ...More than a thousand outraged community members took to the streets of McKinney, Texas on Monday night, two days after a local police officer assaulted a number of black and brown teenagers attending a pool party. Unlike other recent acts of police violence in Baltimore and Ferguson, this occurred at a private pool, in a gated community within an affluent suburb of Dallas, Texas—raising particular questions about wealth and race...
GM Has Not Paid for Its Crimes Truthout ...Last year, GM officials reluctantly estimated that faulty ignition switches could be linked to some 13 deaths from crashes involving several of their smaller car models. A year later, that number has reached 104, according to an announcement by the company compensation fund on May 18 - leaving family members of those killed and injured in crashes involving GM cars to ask just how many more deaths were the result of corporate negligence...
Student Debt Strikers Call Fed's Loan Forgiveness Plan a Bureaucratic Sham Common Dreams ...Despite a new announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that it will begin a process of debt-forgiveness for students cheated into high-priced loans by predatory for-profit colleges, one of the groups most responsible for lobbying to have the debts erased is reacting bitterly, saying the plan is more complicated than it needs to be and that those already victimized by one government-backed scheme should not be put through the ringer for a second time...
Monday, May 18, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.18.15
Teamsters
Los Angeles, Long Beach port truck drivers move nation’s goods Press-Telegram ...The port congestion has ramped up the Teamsters’ efforts to unionize drivers, leading to lawsuits over wage theft allegations and strikes at port terminals, rail yards and trucking companies. Julie Gutman Dickinson, an attorney representing the Teamsters [said] that the issue of misclassification existed long before the congestion issues arose. “It’s effectively wage theft,” she said. “It’s taking away money from hard-working drivers and putting it into the pockets of these companies. They are at the mercy of these companies”...
Global Labor & Trade
No love for Obama trade deal at California Democrats' protest Los Angeles Times ...Union workers gathered for a demonstration on the second day of the California Democratic Convention harshly criticized President Obama, giving voice to the grassroots angst that has turned much of the president's own party against him on a signature trade deal. powerful figures in the president's own party have undermined the pact, including firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is scheduled to address convention delegates Saturday morning...
Canadian MPs Join International Legislators to Oppose “Certification” in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, say it Endangers Country Sovereignty Common Dreams ...Today, in Canada, NDP trade critic Don Davies and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May joined in the debate by joining 40 parliamentarians from the other countries in writing a letter encouraging trade ministers to oppose the United States’ certification process. The certification process allows the United States to vet the other countries’ sovereign laws ensuring they “conform” with the trade agreement...
Labor activists let Castro know they’re not down with TPP San Antonio Express-News ...Friday afternoon, a group of eight labor activists from four organizations visited Castro’s downtown district office, holding signs that read, “Save Our Jobs! Don’t Fast Track the TPP!” One of the activists, Fuerza Unida co-founder Viola Casares, carried a pair of Levi’s jeans, a statement on the effects of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which she blames for Levi Strauss plant shutdowns in the United States...
Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel (opinion) Bloomberg ...In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side. The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say she’s right...
The TPP: Why it Won’t Address Security Concerns with China (opinion) Renewing America ...Proponents who argue that the TPP is vital to countering China’s ambitions are ignoring the fact that those countries aren’t rushing into China’s embrace. In fact, just the opposite is true. Several of the TPP participants are more interested in stronger alliances with the United States which aren’t dependent on preferential trade relations and new trade agreements...
Trade and Trust (opinion) New York Times ...We were assured that the dispute settlement procedure couldn’t be used to force changes in domestic laws; actually, it apparently could. We were told that TPP couldn’t be used to undermine financial reform; again, it appears that it could.
How important are these concerns? It’s hard to judge. But the administration is in effect saying trust us, then repeatedly bobbling questions about the deal in a way that undermines that very trust...
Thousands of Renault Workers Strike in Turkey Industry Week ...More than 2,500 workers in a factory run by French carmaker Renault in western Turkey have gone on strike over wages and benefits, the company said Friday. Workers stopped production overnight Thursday in the company's factory in the Bursa province, state-run Anatolia news agency said...
Officials Pledge Charges After Factory Fire Kills 72 Workers In The Philippines Think Progress ...Officials in the Philippines are pledging to file charges against the owners of a suburban Manila factory where at least 72 workers died in a Wednesday fire. The metal barriers that prevented them from escaping out second-story windows are only the most immediate example of the unsafe and exploitative working conditions that workers and officials say Kentex Manufacturing Corp. imposed at the plant...
Students Ask Why JanSport Parent Company Won’t Sign Bangladesh Worker Safety Agreement In These Times ...This past April marked the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a tragedy that called attention to the horrible labor conditions many Bangladeshi workers labor under. That disaster also led to new regulations, most notably the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five-year legally binding agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions. One of the corporations that won’t sign is a company that many Americans are unfamiliar with: VF Corporation, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based clothing business that owns over 30 brands...
State & Living Wage Battles
Illinois Republican Governor Gets ZERO Votes On His 'Right To Work' Bill Alternet ...Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner, watched his anti-union bill called, 'Right-To-Work,' die a swift, cruel death in the House, on Thursday, with zero votes. Natasha Korecki with Chicago Sun Times reports the the tally was 0 yes votes, 72 no votes, and 37 voting present - "offering a blistering rebuke" to Rauner’s agenda...
Missouri Governor confirms he will veto ‘right to work’ Missourinet ...The bill called “right to work” by its supporters and “right to work for free” by opponents was the cause of much of the drama in the final week of the Missouri legislative session, and now Governor Jay Nixon confirms he won’t hesitate to use his veto pen on it. Senate Republicans forced a vote on the legislation and in response Democrats blocked debate the rest of the week... Sanders and Warren Sign Letter Urging Obama to Get Behind 'Fight for $15' Movement Common Dreams ...In a letter sent to the White House on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Senate Democrats in urging President Obama to escalate his support for struggling Americans and get behind the 'Fight for $15' movement, which has galvanized low-paid workers across the nation in a collective call for better treatment by employers, the right to unionize, and a living wage...
SEIU to ask FTC to probe alleged abusive practices by franchisors Reuters ...The Service Employees International Union, backer of a three-year campaign to improve the plight of low-wage retail and fast-food workers, on Monday said it would petition the Federal Trade Commission to investigate alleged abusive practices by major franchisors, including McDonald's Corp and 7-Eleven Inc...
The Slippery Math of Right-To-Work Advocates (opinion) Newsweek ...A bevy of “right-to-work” bills has been introduced in state legislatures across the United States this year. The legislation has generated intense debate and contention, making headlines across the country. What was most alarming about the parade of bills introduced this year, however, was how their proponents manipulated facts in order to propel them through state legislatures...
U.S. Labor
Postal workers union protests in Tampa Tampa Tribune ...Fifty or so members of the American Postal Workers Union fanned out at downtown intersections Thursday to demonstrate for better customer service and more job security just one week before their union contract is set to expire. The U.S. Postal Service has seen its ranks shrinking over the past decade, dropping from 850,000 employees to 450,000 , and it is scheduled to cut another 50,000 jobs by Oct. 1. APWU members staged the National Day of Action in 82 locations across the nation Thursday...
Security Officers Fight ‘Economic and Occupational Segregation’ in Silicon Valley In These Times ...On May 5, Silicon Valley security officers rallied outside the office of Broadcom, a wireless-component maker (which produces the WiFi chips in Apple iPhones), in hope of drumming up support for an organizing campaign at the company's security subcontractor, Universal Protection Service (UPS). They were joined by a high-profile supporter: Rev. Jesse Jackson...
USW Strike: Marathon Petroleum Corp Galveston Bay Refinery To Vote On Monday Bidness Etc ...The United Steelworkers (USW) strike at Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Galveston Bay, Texas is likely to end soon as striking workers get ready to vote on a new contract next week. Officials of the labor union and company confirmed on Thursday voting will take place on Monday, after federal mediators helped hammer out the details of the newly-proposed contract...
Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 Think Progress ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) blamed the chemical company DuPont for failing to maintain the safety of workers, a failure that it says led to the death of four workers in November. OSHA cited the company for 11 safety violates and fined it $99,000. The company has a market capitalization of $63.6 billion and made $34.7 billion in revenue last year...
City warns of transit delays on several routes as dispute with transit union continues Winnepeg Free Press ...The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 1,100 bus operators and 250 maintenance workers, has been without a contract since it expired on Jan. 17. Last month, the union rejected the city’s offer of settlement, placing them in a legal strike position. In the following week, the ATU instructed its members to refuse overtime as contract negotiations continue...
Miscellaneous
New Rules on Oil Trains Draw Flak From Firefighters, Too Truthout ...Lawmakers and environmental and industry groups criticized the federal government’s new safety measures for oil trains when they were announced earlier this month. Now another group has expressed disappointment in the new rules: Emergency responders. They’re among the first in danger when a fiery derailment happens...
Job Prospects Have Improved for Graduates, but the Class of 2015 Still Faces a Challenging Labor Market EPI.org ...Recent improvements in economic conditions have begun to finally translate into better job prospects for young graduates, but there is a long way to go before we return to the labor market health of the pre-recession period. Although the labor market is slowly recovering, unemployment remains elevated for both young high school and college graduates; underemployment rates for these groups are also unusually high...
Los Angeles, Long Beach port truck drivers move nation’s goods Press-Telegram ...The port congestion has ramped up the Teamsters’ efforts to unionize drivers, leading to lawsuits over wage theft allegations and strikes at port terminals, rail yards and trucking companies. Julie Gutman Dickinson, an attorney representing the Teamsters [said] that the issue of misclassification existed long before the congestion issues arose. “It’s effectively wage theft,” she said. “It’s taking away money from hard-working drivers and putting it into the pockets of these companies. They are at the mercy of these companies”...
Global Labor & Trade
No love for Obama trade deal at California Democrats' protest Los Angeles Times ...Union workers gathered for a demonstration on the second day of the California Democratic Convention harshly criticized President Obama, giving voice to the grassroots angst that has turned much of the president's own party against him on a signature trade deal. powerful figures in the president's own party have undermined the pact, including firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is scheduled to address convention delegates Saturday morning...
Canadian MPs Join International Legislators to Oppose “Certification” in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, say it Endangers Country Sovereignty Common Dreams ...Today, in Canada, NDP trade critic Don Davies and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May joined in the debate by joining 40 parliamentarians from the other countries in writing a letter encouraging trade ministers to oppose the United States’ certification process. The certification process allows the United States to vet the other countries’ sovereign laws ensuring they “conform” with the trade agreement...
Labor activists let Castro know they’re not down with TPP San Antonio Express-News ...Friday afternoon, a group of eight labor activists from four organizations visited Castro’s downtown district office, holding signs that read, “Save Our Jobs! Don’t Fast Track the TPP!” One of the activists, Fuerza Unida co-founder Viola Casares, carried a pair of Levi’s jeans, a statement on the effects of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which she blames for Levi Strauss plant shutdowns in the United States...
Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel (opinion) Bloomberg ...In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side. The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say she’s right...
The TPP: Why it Won’t Address Security Concerns with China (opinion) Renewing America ...Proponents who argue that the TPP is vital to countering China’s ambitions are ignoring the fact that those countries aren’t rushing into China’s embrace. In fact, just the opposite is true. Several of the TPP participants are more interested in stronger alliances with the United States which aren’t dependent on preferential trade relations and new trade agreements...
Trade and Trust (opinion) New York Times ...We were assured that the dispute settlement procedure couldn’t be used to force changes in domestic laws; actually, it apparently could. We were told that TPP couldn’t be used to undermine financial reform; again, it appears that it could.
How important are these concerns? It’s hard to judge. But the administration is in effect saying trust us, then repeatedly bobbling questions about the deal in a way that undermines that very trust...
Thousands of Renault Workers Strike in Turkey Industry Week ...More than 2,500 workers in a factory run by French carmaker Renault in western Turkey have gone on strike over wages and benefits, the company said Friday. Workers stopped production overnight Thursday in the company's factory in the Bursa province, state-run Anatolia news agency said...
Officials Pledge Charges After Factory Fire Kills 72 Workers In The Philippines Think Progress ...Officials in the Philippines are pledging to file charges against the owners of a suburban Manila factory where at least 72 workers died in a Wednesday fire. The metal barriers that prevented them from escaping out second-story windows are only the most immediate example of the unsafe and exploitative working conditions that workers and officials say Kentex Manufacturing Corp. imposed at the plant...
Students Ask Why JanSport Parent Company Won’t Sign Bangladesh Worker Safety Agreement In These Times ...This past April marked the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a tragedy that called attention to the horrible labor conditions many Bangladeshi workers labor under. That disaster also led to new regulations, most notably the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five-year legally binding agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions. One of the corporations that won’t sign is a company that many Americans are unfamiliar with: VF Corporation, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based clothing business that owns over 30 brands...
State & Living Wage Battles
Illinois Republican Governor Gets ZERO Votes On His 'Right To Work' Bill Alternet ...Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner, watched his anti-union bill called, 'Right-To-Work,' die a swift, cruel death in the House, on Thursday, with zero votes. Natasha Korecki with Chicago Sun Times reports the the tally was 0 yes votes, 72 no votes, and 37 voting present - "offering a blistering rebuke" to Rauner’s agenda...
Missouri Governor confirms he will veto ‘right to work’ Missourinet ...The bill called “right to work” by its supporters and “right to work for free” by opponents was the cause of much of the drama in the final week of the Missouri legislative session, and now Governor Jay Nixon confirms he won’t hesitate to use his veto pen on it. Senate Republicans forced a vote on the legislation and in response Democrats blocked debate the rest of the week... Sanders and Warren Sign Letter Urging Obama to Get Behind 'Fight for $15' Movement Common Dreams ...In a letter sent to the White House on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Senate Democrats in urging President Obama to escalate his support for struggling Americans and get behind the 'Fight for $15' movement, which has galvanized low-paid workers across the nation in a collective call for better treatment by employers, the right to unionize, and a living wage...
SEIU to ask FTC to probe alleged abusive practices by franchisors Reuters ...The Service Employees International Union, backer of a three-year campaign to improve the plight of low-wage retail and fast-food workers, on Monday said it would petition the Federal Trade Commission to investigate alleged abusive practices by major franchisors, including McDonald's Corp and 7-Eleven Inc...
The Slippery Math of Right-To-Work Advocates (opinion) Newsweek ...A bevy of “right-to-work” bills has been introduced in state legislatures across the United States this year. The legislation has generated intense debate and contention, making headlines across the country. What was most alarming about the parade of bills introduced this year, however, was how their proponents manipulated facts in order to propel them through state legislatures...
U.S. Labor
Postal workers union protests in Tampa Tampa Tribune ...Fifty or so members of the American Postal Workers Union fanned out at downtown intersections Thursday to demonstrate for better customer service and more job security just one week before their union contract is set to expire. The U.S. Postal Service has seen its ranks shrinking over the past decade, dropping from 850,000 employees to 450,000 , and it is scheduled to cut another 50,000 jobs by Oct. 1. APWU members staged the National Day of Action in 82 locations across the nation Thursday...
Security Officers Fight ‘Economic and Occupational Segregation’ in Silicon Valley In These Times ...On May 5, Silicon Valley security officers rallied outside the office of Broadcom, a wireless-component maker (which produces the WiFi chips in Apple iPhones), in hope of drumming up support for an organizing campaign at the company's security subcontractor, Universal Protection Service (UPS). They were joined by a high-profile supporter: Rev. Jesse Jackson...
USW Strike: Marathon Petroleum Corp Galveston Bay Refinery To Vote On Monday Bidness Etc ...The United Steelworkers (USW) strike at Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Galveston Bay, Texas is likely to end soon as striking workers get ready to vote on a new contract next week. Officials of the labor union and company confirmed on Thursday voting will take place on Monday, after federal mediators helped hammer out the details of the newly-proposed contract...
Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 Think Progress ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) blamed the chemical company DuPont for failing to maintain the safety of workers, a failure that it says led to the death of four workers in November. OSHA cited the company for 11 safety violates and fined it $99,000. The company has a market capitalization of $63.6 billion and made $34.7 billion in revenue last year...
City warns of transit delays on several routes as dispute with transit union continues Winnepeg Free Press ...The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 1,100 bus operators and 250 maintenance workers, has been without a contract since it expired on Jan. 17. Last month, the union rejected the city’s offer of settlement, placing them in a legal strike position. In the following week, the ATU instructed its members to refuse overtime as contract negotiations continue...
Miscellaneous
New Rules on Oil Trains Draw Flak From Firefighters, Too Truthout ...Lawmakers and environmental and industry groups criticized the federal government’s new safety measures for oil trains when they were announced earlier this month. Now another group has expressed disappointment in the new rules: Emergency responders. They’re among the first in danger when a fiery derailment happens...
Job Prospects Have Improved for Graduates, but the Class of 2015 Still Faces a Challenging Labor Market EPI.org ...Recent improvements in economic conditions have begun to finally translate into better job prospects for young graduates, but there is a long way to go before we return to the labor market health of the pre-recession period. Although the labor market is slowly recovering, unemployment remains elevated for both young high school and college graduates; underemployment rates for these groups are also unusually high...
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.08.15
Teamsters
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.24.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Back Rubain Dorancy for Central Brooklyn Senate Seat New York Observer ...Council 16 of the union representing drivers of various trades decided to back the education activist in his primary race against Mr. Adams’ former aide Jesse Hamilton and Community Board 9 member Demetrius Lawrence. ...
Bus Strike: GET Board Meets To Consider Union Proposal KBFX ...Golden Empire Transit District board members first met in open session to take public input, then they held a closed meeting to consider the proposal from the Teamsters...
Servisair Inc. and Teamsters reach new collective agreement CNW ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Servisair Inc. and Teamsters Local 419 on ratifying a collective agreement for members working at Toronto Pearson International Airport...
Trade
Senate advances bill to end tax breaks for outsourcing The Hill ...The Senate voted 93-7 on Wednesday to advance a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and “Police Militarization”: The Coming Calamity, The Coming Resistance Centre For Research On Globalization ...While many praise the Trans-Pacific Partnership as free trade, one must be wary not only due to the geopolitical aspects, but also due to it being so secret that “often times, members of Congress and Parliament are denied access to them, even though the agreement will set out legal obligations that these elected officials will be expected to meet.”...
State Battles
Lake County judge strikes down Indiana right-to-work ban on union fees in 2nd blow to law The Republic ...Lake County Circuit Court Judge George Paras determined the law violates the state constitution by forcing unions to provide services to workers without payment...
Sealed Air jobs leaving the area Racine Journal Times ...All of the approximately 300 local Sealed Air jobs will leave the Racine area within the next three years, with the moves starting next year...
'Brain Drain' Continues As More Young Graduates Leave Wisconsin Wisconsin Public Radio ...UW Professor Says State Loses 14K College Graduates Per Year, Most Of Them Between Ages Of 21 And 29...
Unemployment up in Wisconsin's largest cities Associated Press ...The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployment rates in June increased in all of the state's 32 largest cities. Unemployment rates went up in 61 of 72 counties and remained unchanged in the other 11...
Scott Walker Gets Very Little Money From The Little People Cap Times ...Of the $8.2 million the governor raised in the first six months of the year, only $1.3 million – less than one sixth – came from such donors giving $75 or less. Nearly as much came from the 106 donors who gave him the maximum contribution of $10,000, and nearly twice as much – $2.47 million – came from donors who gave at least $5,000. Most of Walker’s money, $4.7 million, came from those who gave at least $1,000...
War On Workers
United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs To Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful Huffington Post ...On October 1, United Airlines is planning to outsource 630 gate agent jobs at 12 airports to companies that pay near-poverty level wages. The airports affected include Salt Lake City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa. As a result hundreds of employees who formerly made middle-class, living wages will be forced to transfer to other cities, take early retirement or seek employment elsewhere...
Postal Workers Protest Staples In Chicago NBC Chicago ...Hundreds of members of the American Postal Workers Union protested outside a Staples in Chicago Tuesday in hopes to keep mini-post offices from opening up inside the business...
ODOT Worker Killed During Workplace Accident In Eastern Oregon KATU ...A 54-year-old Oregon Department of Transportation worker was killed on the job Tuesday, the agency said...
Koch Brothers Back 'Creepy Carenival' Where Clowns Deter Millennials From Obamacare Forbes Magazine ...Creepy Uncle Sam is back. This time, he’s bringing you to a “Creepy Carenival” – an anti-Obamacare spectacle backed by the billionaire Koch brothers where smirking clowns choose patients’ surgeries by throwing knives at a revolving wheel, insurance premiums explode and a “Dropped Coverage” game dunks millennials into a “High-Risk Pool.”...
Miscellaneous
60 Percent Of Incoming College Football Players Support Unions, Says Survey SB Nation ...60 percent of the 2015 recruiting class is in favor of unionization for college athletes, and more than 86 percent are in favor of athletes receiving some sort of stipend...
Teamsters Back Rubain Dorancy for Central Brooklyn Senate Seat New York Observer ...Council 16 of the union representing drivers of various trades decided to back the education activist in his primary race against Mr. Adams’ former aide Jesse Hamilton and Community Board 9 member Demetrius Lawrence. ...
Bus Strike: GET Board Meets To Consider Union Proposal KBFX ...Golden Empire Transit District board members first met in open session to take public input, then they held a closed meeting to consider the proposal from the Teamsters...
Servisair Inc. and Teamsters reach new collective agreement CNW ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Servisair Inc. and Teamsters Local 419 on ratifying a collective agreement for members working at Toronto Pearson International Airport...
Trade
Senate advances bill to end tax breaks for outsourcing The Hill ...The Senate voted 93-7 on Wednesday to advance a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and “Police Militarization”: The Coming Calamity, The Coming Resistance Centre For Research On Globalization ...While many praise the Trans-Pacific Partnership as free trade, one must be wary not only due to the geopolitical aspects, but also due to it being so secret that “often times, members of Congress and Parliament are denied access to them, even though the agreement will set out legal obligations that these elected officials will be expected to meet.”...
State Battles
Lake County judge strikes down Indiana right-to-work ban on union fees in 2nd blow to law The Republic ...Lake County Circuit Court Judge George Paras determined the law violates the state constitution by forcing unions to provide services to workers without payment...
Sealed Air jobs leaving the area Racine Journal Times ...All of the approximately 300 local Sealed Air jobs will leave the Racine area within the next three years, with the moves starting next year...
'Brain Drain' Continues As More Young Graduates Leave Wisconsin Wisconsin Public Radio ...UW Professor Says State Loses 14K College Graduates Per Year, Most Of Them Between Ages Of 21 And 29...
Unemployment up in Wisconsin's largest cities Associated Press ...The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployment rates in June increased in all of the state's 32 largest cities. Unemployment rates went up in 61 of 72 counties and remained unchanged in the other 11...
Scott Walker Gets Very Little Money From The Little People Cap Times ...Of the $8.2 million the governor raised in the first six months of the year, only $1.3 million – less than one sixth – came from such donors giving $75 or less. Nearly as much came from the 106 donors who gave him the maximum contribution of $10,000, and nearly twice as much – $2.47 million – came from donors who gave at least $5,000. Most of Walker’s money, $4.7 million, came from those who gave at least $1,000...
War On Workers
United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs To Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful Huffington Post ...On October 1, United Airlines is planning to outsource 630 gate agent jobs at 12 airports to companies that pay near-poverty level wages. The airports affected include Salt Lake City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa. As a result hundreds of employees who formerly made middle-class, living wages will be forced to transfer to other cities, take early retirement or seek employment elsewhere...
Postal Workers Protest Staples In Chicago NBC Chicago ...Hundreds of members of the American Postal Workers Union protested outside a Staples in Chicago Tuesday in hopes to keep mini-post offices from opening up inside the business...
ODOT Worker Killed During Workplace Accident In Eastern Oregon KATU ...A 54-year-old Oregon Department of Transportation worker was killed on the job Tuesday, the agency said...
Koch Brothers Back 'Creepy Carenival' Where Clowns Deter Millennials From Obamacare Forbes Magazine ...Creepy Uncle Sam is back. This time, he’s bringing you to a “Creepy Carenival” – an anti-Obamacare spectacle backed by the billionaire Koch brothers where smirking clowns choose patients’ surgeries by throwing knives at a revolving wheel, insurance premiums explode and a “Dropped Coverage” game dunks millennials into a “High-Risk Pool.”...
Miscellaneous
60 Percent Of Incoming College Football Players Support Unions, Says Survey SB Nation ...60 percent of the 2015 recruiting class is in favor of unionization for college athletes, and more than 86 percent are in favor of athletes receiving some sort of stipend...
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.17.14
Teamster News
Horse and carriage drivers rally at City Hall, drop off 40,000 signatures supporting the industry New York Daily News ...Three months after the Daily News kicked off its campaign to stop de Blasio's proposed ban on the horse-drawn carriages, over 100 supporters rallied on de Blasio's door step to drop off five bags of signed petitions supporting the industry...
Hoffa: Sufficient Rest Key To Truck Driver Safety IBT ...The Teamsters Union today called for a renewed commitment by Congress to protect the driving public by keeping current hours of service rules in place to help prevent tragedies that are the result of driver fatigue...
Teamsters Ratify New Pipeline Agreement IBT ...An overwhelming majority of Teamster local unions that represent pipeline construction workers in the United States voted in favor of a new three-year contract, the Teamsters Union announced today. The contract covers about 4,000 Teamsters...
Teamsters Submit Comments On FAA Requirements For Drug Testing At Foreign Repair Stations IBT ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) called for the implementation of a single standard of drug testing for airline mechanics in its comments submitted today to the FAA on its proposed rulemaking, (Docket No. FAA-2012-1058), for required drug testing at foreign repair stations...
Funeral Giant SCI Continues Mistreatment Of Chicago-Area Workers IBT ...Funeral giant Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is once again mistreating its Chicago-area workers by proposing draconian, regressive changes while employing delay tactics and refusing to give Teamsters Local 727 a last, best and final offer for its membership to vote...
Oxford County Deputies Protest 'Low' Wages Oxford Hills Sun Journal ...Deputies from the Oxford County Sheriff's Office held a protest Tuesday morning to highlight their ongoing labor dispute with the county. Around 10 deputies and members of Teamsters Local 340 marched in front of the Oxford County Courthouse on Western Avenue to bring attention to the ongoing battle to raise their wages...
Trade
The TPP and Civil War Counterpunch ...While the poor, and what remains of the middle and the working classes, suffer defeat after defeat, the wealthy are hammering out yet another “free trade agreement.”...
To End Child Labor, Washington Must Press Companies to Act (opinion) New York Times ...Regulation and collective bargaining by independent unions free from political repression are the most important means to reduce child labor and other abuses in developing countries. Unfortunately the U.S. government has not put its enormous influence on the side of enforceable labor rights in the commercial agreements that it negotiates, fighting instead for the rights of patented drug companies and other corporations to exploit global monopolies. These priorities must be changed...
State Battles
Colorado Attorney General Files “Massive” Lawsuit Against Foreclosure Mills, Paving Way for Suits in Other States naked capitalism ...The Colorado case filed on Tuesday (embedded below) gives a detailed account of how the two largest foreclosure law firms in the state colluded to set prices on various services well above permissible levels, garnering as much as $97 million in ill-gotten gains since 2006...
Brownback Tax Cuts That Ravaged Surplus Hinder Re-Election Bid Bloomerg ...A policy that he promised would create an economic juggernaut produced a sinkhole. A projected $27 million surplus in fiscal 2015 is all that remains of $700 million two years ago, according to budget analysts. Job growth didn’t materialize, Moody’s Investors Service cut the state’s debt rating, former Republican Party chairwoman Rochelle Chronister called Brownback’s plan “ruinous” and “crazy” and 104 members of the party yesterday endorsed his Democratic opponent...
No outsourcing after taking WEDC money (opinion) Racine Journal Times ... at least two companies that received financial awards from the WEDC later outsourced jobs to foreign countries, with one of those companies receiving a second WEDC award after the fact...
War On Workers
US Port Strike Threat Highlights Supply Chain Risk naked capitalism ...Fears of a strike or lockout at the west coast ports that handle more than 40 per cent of all container imports to the US are disrupting businesses’ supply chains, as shippers anticipating a stoppage divert cargo to Canadian ports...
A Rare Win For The Unions? Staples Abandons Postal Service Trial Wall Street Journal ...The labor movement hasn’t had the best 2014 so far, with a bruising defeat for the UAW in its attempts to organize auto workers in the South, and an ominous Supreme Court ruling for public sector unions. But today, the American Postal Workers Union and its allies seem to be making progress in an important battle...
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as 'lethal weapons' The Guardian ...Google’s driverless car may remain a prototype, but the FBI believes the “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high-speed car chases within a matter of years. The report also warned that autonomous cars may be used as "lethal weapons"...
Miscellaneous
Study Urges Pay Increase For Jersey's 'Tipped' Workers Philadelphia Inquirer ...New Jersey's servers, bellhops, and bartenders earn lower hourly wages than their counterparts in Pennsylvania and Delaware, pushing them into poverty, according to a report released Wednesday...
Horse and carriage drivers rally at City Hall, drop off 40,000 signatures supporting the industry New York Daily News ...Three months after the Daily News kicked off its campaign to stop de Blasio's proposed ban on the horse-drawn carriages, over 100 supporters rallied on de Blasio's door step to drop off five bags of signed petitions supporting the industry...
Hoffa: Sufficient Rest Key To Truck Driver Safety IBT ...The Teamsters Union today called for a renewed commitment by Congress to protect the driving public by keeping current hours of service rules in place to help prevent tragedies that are the result of driver fatigue...
Teamsters Ratify New Pipeline Agreement IBT ...An overwhelming majority of Teamster local unions that represent pipeline construction workers in the United States voted in favor of a new three-year contract, the Teamsters Union announced today. The contract covers about 4,000 Teamsters...
Teamsters Submit Comments On FAA Requirements For Drug Testing At Foreign Repair Stations IBT ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) called for the implementation of a single standard of drug testing for airline mechanics in its comments submitted today to the FAA on its proposed rulemaking, (Docket No. FAA-2012-1058), for required drug testing at foreign repair stations...
Funeral Giant SCI Continues Mistreatment Of Chicago-Area Workers IBT ...Funeral giant Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is once again mistreating its Chicago-area workers by proposing draconian, regressive changes while employing delay tactics and refusing to give Teamsters Local 727 a last, best and final offer for its membership to vote...
Oxford County Deputies Protest 'Low' Wages Oxford Hills Sun Journal ...Deputies from the Oxford County Sheriff's Office held a protest Tuesday morning to highlight their ongoing labor dispute with the county. Around 10 deputies and members of Teamsters Local 340 marched in front of the Oxford County Courthouse on Western Avenue to bring attention to the ongoing battle to raise their wages...
Trade
The TPP and Civil War Counterpunch ...While the poor, and what remains of the middle and the working classes, suffer defeat after defeat, the wealthy are hammering out yet another “free trade agreement.”...
To End Child Labor, Washington Must Press Companies to Act (opinion) New York Times ...Regulation and collective bargaining by independent unions free from political repression are the most important means to reduce child labor and other abuses in developing countries. Unfortunately the U.S. government has not put its enormous influence on the side of enforceable labor rights in the commercial agreements that it negotiates, fighting instead for the rights of patented drug companies and other corporations to exploit global monopolies. These priorities must be changed...
State Battles
Colorado Attorney General Files “Massive” Lawsuit Against Foreclosure Mills, Paving Way for Suits in Other States naked capitalism ...The Colorado case filed on Tuesday (embedded below) gives a detailed account of how the two largest foreclosure law firms in the state colluded to set prices on various services well above permissible levels, garnering as much as $97 million in ill-gotten gains since 2006...
Brownback Tax Cuts That Ravaged Surplus Hinder Re-Election Bid Bloomerg ...A policy that he promised would create an economic juggernaut produced a sinkhole. A projected $27 million surplus in fiscal 2015 is all that remains of $700 million two years ago, according to budget analysts. Job growth didn’t materialize, Moody’s Investors Service cut the state’s debt rating, former Republican Party chairwoman Rochelle Chronister called Brownback’s plan “ruinous” and “crazy” and 104 members of the party yesterday endorsed his Democratic opponent...
No outsourcing after taking WEDC money (opinion) Racine Journal Times ... at least two companies that received financial awards from the WEDC later outsourced jobs to foreign countries, with one of those companies receiving a second WEDC award after the fact...
War On Workers
US Port Strike Threat Highlights Supply Chain Risk naked capitalism ...Fears of a strike or lockout at the west coast ports that handle more than 40 per cent of all container imports to the US are disrupting businesses’ supply chains, as shippers anticipating a stoppage divert cargo to Canadian ports...
A Rare Win For The Unions? Staples Abandons Postal Service Trial Wall Street Journal ...The labor movement hasn’t had the best 2014 so far, with a bruising defeat for the UAW in its attempts to organize auto workers in the South, and an ominous Supreme Court ruling for public sector unions. But today, the American Postal Workers Union and its allies seem to be making progress in an important battle...
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as 'lethal weapons' The Guardian ...Google’s driverless car may remain a prototype, but the FBI believes the “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high-speed car chases within a matter of years. The report also warned that autonomous cars may be used as "lethal weapons"...
Miscellaneous
Study Urges Pay Increase For Jersey's 'Tipped' Workers Philadelphia Inquirer ...New Jersey's servers, bellhops, and bartenders earn lower hourly wages than their counterparts in Pennsylvania and Delaware, pushing them into poverty, according to a report released Wednesday...
Friday, August 9, 2013
New postal stamps honor American workers
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is recognizing that American
workers are the nation’s backbone with a series of stamps that honor the contributions of industrial workers.
The USPS rolled out the forever stamps this week. Among the
men and women featured in the early 20th century images are a
railroad track worker, a linotyper in a publishing house and an airplane maker.
The sheet includes 12 different stamps and comes in five different versions.
Tom Perez, secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, said
the stamps are a reminder of the important role such workers have played in our history:These iconic images tell a powerful story about American economic strength and prosperity. These men and women and millions like them really did build a nation.
The stamps are available at your local post office or can be ordered here.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Today's Teamster News 04.18.13
CEOs Earn 354 Times More Than Average Worker CNNMoney ...Chief executives of the nation's largest companies earned an average of $12.3 million in total pay last year -- 354 times more than a typical American worker, according to the AFL-CIO...
Mortgage Relief Checks Go Out, Only to Bounce New York Times ...It is unclear how many of the 1.4 million homeowners who were mailed the first round of payments covered under the foreclosure settlement have had problems with their checks...
Europe faces threat of full-fledged depression Market Watch ...“Unemployment is at a record high, credit is going down, banks are failing…what do you call an economy like that?”...
Local unions offer $50,000 reward for tips Boston Globe ...A group of police and firefighter unions announced a $50,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for setting off two explosions at the Boston Marathon that took three lives and injured more than 170 people and have set up a fund for victims of the blast...
The Bank of America Lawsuits Continue Associated Press ...As soon as Bank of America puts one mortgage-related lawsuit behind it, another always seems to rear its head...
How Congress Undercuts the Postal Service (opinion) The Sacramento Bee ...The Postal Service gets no tax dollars, yet is constantly hammered as a money-wasting government agency. Every time it seeks to cut costs, Congress puts up roadblocks...
ALEC's best friend: The Indiana General Assembly Journal Gazette ...the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate-controlled group that writes model legislation, has an omnibus bill named in honor of the Indiana legislature's dubious achievement, "The Indiana Education Reform Package."...
Brownback Signs Bill That Requires Welfare, Unemployment Recipients to be Tested for Drugs Kansas City Star ...Calling drug addiction a “scourge in Kansas,” Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law Tuesday a bill to test welfare and unemployment recipients suspected of using illegal drugs...
Florida Republicans Target Foreign-Language Voting The Miami Herald ...Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old North Miami voter who became a symbol of Florida’s elections woes, could again find it tough to cast a ballot now that the state Senate voted Tuesday to keep a crackdown on foreign-language interpreters at the polls...
State Auditor General Finds $35 Million in Unpaid Corporate Taxes The Daily Pennsylvanian ...Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday that he found errors on more than 1,250 corporate tax returns, totaling a net gain of $35.4 million for the state...
Nevada Ups the Ante on Delaware's Tax Status Deutsche Welle ...The US state of Delaware is an incorporation mecca where registering a company is as easy as 1-2-3. It draws not just the top firms, but also many shady shell companies. That has caught the attention of Nevada...
Hoffa Visits Tulsa, Hears AA Mechanics’ Challenges and Hopes IBT ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited American Airlines mechanics and related workers in Tulsa last evening. Sitting in a room with a large group of mechanics, Hoffa heard from campaign leaders and learned about the specific problems mechanics and related are facing and their hope for strong Teamster representation at AA...
Workers At UPS Supply Chain Solutions Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769 IBT ...On April 16, employees at a UPS Supply Chain Solutions facility in Doral, Fla., voted to join Teamsters Local 769 in Miami...
Second Day of Garbage Strike in Northeast Ohio: Some Get Trash Collected on Time, Others See Delays The Plain Dealer ...Trash collection went as usual for some communities Tuesday, but others saw delays in the second day of the Teamsters strike against a private hauler serving many Northeast Ohio suburbs...
Pickets Target Gates-Owned Garbage Company Puget Sound Business Journal ...Allied Waste/Republic Services garbage truck drivers are picketing Wednesday in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac, protesting and supporting striking workers in Ohio...
Allied Waste/Republic Pickets Spread to Three Puget Sound Locations, Sanitation Workers Honor Lines IBT ...Garbage, recycle, and yard waste drivers, employed by Allied Waste/Republic Services, honored picket lines early this morning that were established by striking Local 377 Teamsters from Youngstown, Ohio. Picket lines were set up at the company’s facilities in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac...
Republic Services Garbage Workers Strike in McDonough Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Forty drivers, helpers and mechanics at Republic Services, a waste management company, began a strike in McDonough on Monday, citing what they call unfair labor practices. Efforts to reach Republic for comment were unsuccessful...
Durham Bus Drivers: 'Make Durham Be Accountable' ABC News ...Nearly 75 Bus drivers with Durham School Services filed into a conference room at the North Charleston Coliseum to say enough is enough...
Teamsters Local 77 Member Helps Deliver Baby Fox Philly News ...With so much sadness in Boston, we wanted to bring you some joy, and tell you about the birth of a beautiful baby girl. She arrived not at a hospital, but right outside a toll booth along the Pennsylvania Turnpike...
"City Hall Don't Frieze Out New Yorkers" Elected Officials And Labor Leaders Call Upon City Hall To Change Parks Permitting Because Of Rogue Art Show IBT ...Leaders of the City’s top labor organizations stood with members of the City Council to confront the organizers of the Frieze New York Art Show on their lack of support for union workers and their families...
Mortgage Relief Checks Go Out, Only to Bounce New York Times ...It is unclear how many of the 1.4 million homeowners who were mailed the first round of payments covered under the foreclosure settlement have had problems with their checks...
Europe faces threat of full-fledged depression Market Watch ...“Unemployment is at a record high, credit is going down, banks are failing…what do you call an economy like that?”...
Local unions offer $50,000 reward for tips Boston Globe ...A group of police and firefighter unions announced a $50,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for setting off two explosions at the Boston Marathon that took three lives and injured more than 170 people and have set up a fund for victims of the blast...
The Bank of America Lawsuits Continue Associated Press ...As soon as Bank of America puts one mortgage-related lawsuit behind it, another always seems to rear its head...
How Congress Undercuts the Postal Service (opinion) The Sacramento Bee ...The Postal Service gets no tax dollars, yet is constantly hammered as a money-wasting government agency. Every time it seeks to cut costs, Congress puts up roadblocks...
ALEC's best friend: The Indiana General Assembly Journal Gazette ...the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate-controlled group that writes model legislation, has an omnibus bill named in honor of the Indiana legislature's dubious achievement, "The Indiana Education Reform Package."...
Brownback Signs Bill That Requires Welfare, Unemployment Recipients to be Tested for Drugs Kansas City Star ...Calling drug addiction a “scourge in Kansas,” Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law Tuesday a bill to test welfare and unemployment recipients suspected of using illegal drugs...
Florida Republicans Target Foreign-Language Voting The Miami Herald ...Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old North Miami voter who became a symbol of Florida’s elections woes, could again find it tough to cast a ballot now that the state Senate voted Tuesday to keep a crackdown on foreign-language interpreters at the polls...
State Auditor General Finds $35 Million in Unpaid Corporate Taxes The Daily Pennsylvanian ...Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday that he found errors on more than 1,250 corporate tax returns, totaling a net gain of $35.4 million for the state...
Nevada Ups the Ante on Delaware's Tax Status Deutsche Welle ...The US state of Delaware is an incorporation mecca where registering a company is as easy as 1-2-3. It draws not just the top firms, but also many shady shell companies. That has caught the attention of Nevada...
Hoffa Visits Tulsa, Hears AA Mechanics’ Challenges and Hopes IBT ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited American Airlines mechanics and related workers in Tulsa last evening. Sitting in a room with a large group of mechanics, Hoffa heard from campaign leaders and learned about the specific problems mechanics and related are facing and their hope for strong Teamster representation at AA...
Workers At UPS Supply Chain Solutions Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769 IBT ...On April 16, employees at a UPS Supply Chain Solutions facility in Doral, Fla., voted to join Teamsters Local 769 in Miami...
Second Day of Garbage Strike in Northeast Ohio: Some Get Trash Collected on Time, Others See Delays The Plain Dealer ...Trash collection went as usual for some communities Tuesday, but others saw delays in the second day of the Teamsters strike against a private hauler serving many Northeast Ohio suburbs...
Pickets Target Gates-Owned Garbage Company Puget Sound Business Journal ...Allied Waste/Republic Services garbage truck drivers are picketing Wednesday in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac, protesting and supporting striking workers in Ohio...
Allied Waste/Republic Pickets Spread to Three Puget Sound Locations, Sanitation Workers Honor Lines IBT ...Garbage, recycle, and yard waste drivers, employed by Allied Waste/Republic Services, honored picket lines early this morning that were established by striking Local 377 Teamsters from Youngstown, Ohio. Picket lines were set up at the company’s facilities in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac...
Republic Services Garbage Workers Strike in McDonough Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Forty drivers, helpers and mechanics at Republic Services, a waste management company, began a strike in McDonough on Monday, citing what they call unfair labor practices. Efforts to reach Republic for comment were unsuccessful...
Durham Bus Drivers: 'Make Durham Be Accountable' ABC News ...Nearly 75 Bus drivers with Durham School Services filed into a conference room at the North Charleston Coliseum to say enough is enough...
Teamsters Local 77 Member Helps Deliver Baby Fox Philly News ...With so much sadness in Boston, we wanted to bring you some joy, and tell you about the birth of a beautiful baby girl. She arrived not at a hospital, but right outside a toll booth along the Pennsylvania Turnpike...
"City Hall Don't Frieze Out New Yorkers" Elected Officials And Labor Leaders Call Upon City Hall To Change Parks Permitting Because Of Rogue Art Show IBT ...Leaders of the City’s top labor organizations stood with members of the City Council to confront the organizers of the Frieze New York Art Show on their lack of support for union workers and their families...
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Today's Teamster News 04.11.2013
Republicans applaud chained CPI in Obama budget Politico ...It would decrease the amount paid out in Social Security benefits by lowering the rate of cost of living adjustments...
Republicans Attack President's Budget for Social Security Cuts CNN ..."He's going to have a lot of pushback from some of the major senior organizations ... and Republicans as well..."
Postal Service backs down on cutting Saturday mail CBS News ...The financially beleaguered Postal Service backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery, conceding Wednesday that its gamble to compel congressional approval had failed...
Lenders in settlement to make payouts to foreclosed borrowers Los Angeles Times ...most of the borrowers would receive $300, the minimum allowed under the settlement terms. The maximum of $125,000 would go to 1,135 borrowers whose homes were seized while they were serving in the military or who were current on their payments...
Poverty's grip seen across Baltimore Associated Press ...The number of Americans living in poverty today has not been seen since Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House, and nowhere is it more visible than in urban environments like Baltimore...
WTO Global Trade Growth Forecast for 2013 Lowered to 3.3 Percent Bloomberg ...The World Trade Organization cut its forecast for global trade growth again as the economic slowdown in Europe suppresses demand...
Paycheck Deception rears ugly head in Missouri International Brotherhood of Boilermakers ...Despite hearing testimony overwhelmingly in opposition to SB29, extremists in House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee voted today to send SB29 to the Missouri House floor. This paycheck deception bill seeks to shut hardworking public workers out of the political process – and to take away their voice on the job...
Happytown: State House wants to block sick-time ordinances Orlando Weekly ...Florida House votes in favor of bill that would pre-empt sick time ordinances by invalidating them before they pass at local level...
Bill Would Limit Cities From Requiring Some Worker Benefits Indiana Public Media ...Senate Bill 213 states that counties, cities, towns, and townships cannot require employers to provide benefits, terms of employment, working conditions, or attendance and leave policies that exceed those enshrined in federal or state law...
Wisconsin GOP lawmakers want to limit impact of courts Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...With some of their major legislative achievements thwarted by the courts in the past two years, Wisconsin Republicans are advancing a bill that would limit the ability of circuit judges to block state laws for the long term...
Teamsters, Hernando County Reach Contract Agreement Tampa Bay Times ...After two years of negotiations, Hernando County and Teamsters Local 79, which represents about 400 county workers, have reached a tentative agreement on a contract...
School Crossing Guards to Get Back Pay The Augusta Chronicle ...School workers, including school bus workers, are being encouraged to apply retroactively for winter break and spring break layoff unemployment benefits. Georgia is paying more than $8 million in earned unemployment benefits to more than 4,000 workers who were denied payments last year by the state’s labor commissioner...
Hoffa Hears Earful From Mechanics in Charlotte IBT ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited US Airways mechanics and related in Charlotte on Wednesday, April 10 to hear about the problems and challenges they are facing. The workers, who are leaders in the campaign to form a union with the Teamsters, gave him an earful about their problems and the terrible representation they are getting from the IAM...
Teamsters At Republic Services Extend Picket Lines to Sun Valley, California IBT …Sanitation workers employed at Republic Services/Allied Waste’s Carbon Limestone landfill in Youngstown, Ohio raised their 10th picket line extension at Republic’s Sun Valley, Calif. facilities early this morning...
Extremists Attacking Sick Leave: Enough To Make You Sick (Opinion) IBT ...The anti-crowd is at it again. Not satisfied with anti-worker, anti-union and anti-living wage, extremist politicians are now anti-earned sick leave...
Republicans Attack President's Budget for Social Security Cuts CNN ..."He's going to have a lot of pushback from some of the major senior organizations ... and Republicans as well..."
Postal Service backs down on cutting Saturday mail CBS News ...The financially beleaguered Postal Service backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery, conceding Wednesday that its gamble to compel congressional approval had failed...
Lenders in settlement to make payouts to foreclosed borrowers Los Angeles Times ...most of the borrowers would receive $300, the minimum allowed under the settlement terms. The maximum of $125,000 would go to 1,135 borrowers whose homes were seized while they were serving in the military or who were current on their payments...
Poverty's grip seen across Baltimore Associated Press ...The number of Americans living in poverty today has not been seen since Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House, and nowhere is it more visible than in urban environments like Baltimore...
WTO Global Trade Growth Forecast for 2013 Lowered to 3.3 Percent Bloomberg ...The World Trade Organization cut its forecast for global trade growth again as the economic slowdown in Europe suppresses demand...
Paycheck Deception rears ugly head in Missouri International Brotherhood of Boilermakers ...Despite hearing testimony overwhelmingly in opposition to SB29, extremists in House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee voted today to send SB29 to the Missouri House floor. This paycheck deception bill seeks to shut hardworking public workers out of the political process – and to take away their voice on the job...
Happytown: State House wants to block sick-time ordinances Orlando Weekly ...Florida House votes in favor of bill that would pre-empt sick time ordinances by invalidating them before they pass at local level...
Bill Would Limit Cities From Requiring Some Worker Benefits Indiana Public Media ...Senate Bill 213 states that counties, cities, towns, and townships cannot require employers to provide benefits, terms of employment, working conditions, or attendance and leave policies that exceed those enshrined in federal or state law...
Wisconsin GOP lawmakers want to limit impact of courts Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...With some of their major legislative achievements thwarted by the courts in the past two years, Wisconsin Republicans are advancing a bill that would limit the ability of circuit judges to block state laws for the long term...
Teamsters, Hernando County Reach Contract Agreement Tampa Bay Times ...After two years of negotiations, Hernando County and Teamsters Local 79, which represents about 400 county workers, have reached a tentative agreement on a contract...
School Crossing Guards to Get Back Pay The Augusta Chronicle ...School workers, including school bus workers, are being encouraged to apply retroactively for winter break and spring break layoff unemployment benefits. Georgia is paying more than $8 million in earned unemployment benefits to more than 4,000 workers who were denied payments last year by the state’s labor commissioner...
Hoffa Hears Earful From Mechanics in Charlotte IBT ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited US Airways mechanics and related in Charlotte on Wednesday, April 10 to hear about the problems and challenges they are facing. The workers, who are leaders in the campaign to form a union with the Teamsters, gave him an earful about their problems and the terrible representation they are getting from the IAM...
Teamsters At Republic Services Extend Picket Lines to Sun Valley, California IBT …Sanitation workers employed at Republic Services/Allied Waste’s Carbon Limestone landfill in Youngstown, Ohio raised their 10th picket line extension at Republic’s Sun Valley, Calif. facilities early this morning...
Extremists Attacking Sick Leave: Enough To Make You Sick (Opinion) IBT ...The anti-crowd is at it again. Not satisfied with anti-worker, anti-union and anti-living wage, extremist politicians are now anti-earned sick leave...
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