Teamsters
Michigan School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...School bus workers with First Student in Carleton, Mich., have voted overwhelmingly, 25-2, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The group of 35 drivers and monitors reached out to the Teamsters Union seeking a strong voice to address their workplace concerns...
Former De Blasio Staffer Wins Labor Backing in Queens Council Race Observer ...A former de Blasio administration staffer running for an open Queens City Council seat has won the first labor endorsement of the race. Rebecca Lynch, a member of Mr. de Blasio’s Community Affairs Unit until this month and a former Democratic district leader, won the backing of Teamsters Joint Council 16 today...
House needs to continue stand against fast track Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters would like to thank all lawmakers who stood with the people in that important vote. Pro-fast track lawmakers, however, are likely to pull out every procedural trick in the book to overturn it. That could mean taking another vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) as early as tomorrow...
Global Labor & Trade
Obama, Boehner abandon plans for Tuesday trade vote Washington Post ...President Obama and his momentary Republican allies in Congress mulled several difficult choices Monday for rescuing trade legislation into which the president has invested a massive amount of political capital in the hope of completing a 12-nation trade deal across the Pacific Rim. Their first call was to abandon plans for a second vote Tuesday on a piece of legislation that must also pass for the entire package to advance to Obama’s desk...
Obama’s environmental allies not buying his trade pitch on climate Washington Post ...President Obama has made environmental safeguards one of the selling points of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But environmental groups aren’t buying. The influential environmental groups — a key part of the effort to rally the Democratic base against the fast-track bill for trade talks — believe that a new trade pact could set back important gains achieved over the past two decades...
US fast-track vote leaves Pacific trade pact talks in limbo Associated Press ...How slow can you go? The effort to get U.S. trade legislation through Congress, clearing the way for progress on an Asia-Pacific trade accord, is in limbo once again. The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday shot down a proposal to give President Barack Obama authority to negotiate global trade deals for congressional approval or rejection, without amendments...
U.S. trade deal’s setback causes mixed reaction in Asia Washington Post ...The failure of a package of trade-related measures Friday in the House was a blow to President Obama, but it was also a blow to his ally, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, half a world away. Abe has made reviving Japan’s stubbornly anemic economy one of his top priorities, and forging a wide-ranging trade pact with the United States, through the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Nancy Pelosi: Trade promotion authority on its last legs (opinion) USA Today ...In order to succeed in the global economy, it is necessary to move beyond stale arguments of protectionism vs. free trade. To do so, we must recognize that workers' rights, consumer and intellectual protections, and environmental safeguards must be just as enforceable as the protection of the economic interests of investors...
Honduran Workers Win Unions at 3 Plants, Get Pact at 4th Solidarity Center ...Apparel workers in Honduras formed unions at three factories in recent days with the Central General de Trabajadores Honduras (CGT) and its apparel federation FESITRATEMASH, in a huge victory for workers seeking to improve their basic livelihoods. Some 9,000 workers at the Canadian-owned Gildan apparel factories in Choloma, San Pedro Sula and Villanueva make T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants...
In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm In These Times ...We know about extreme incidents such as the Rana Plaza collapse that capture the world’s attention, however briefly, or when workers get so fed up with the conditions that they strike long enough and loud enough to get the Western world’s attention. But the day-to-day disasters that maim or kill a single worker or the accumulation of lead in workers’ bodies—those go almost completely unreported...
Threats of Default and 'Grexit' Loom as Greece Refuses to Surrender Common Dreams ...As threats of a debt default, potential 'Greek exit,' and stock market crash loom, both sides appear to be digging in their heels after negotiations between Greece and European lenders collapsed on Sunday. Greece's leftist leader, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, slammed his creditors for their "insistence" on austerity, which he described as a "pillaging" of Greece's imperiled economy...
State & Living Wage Battles
After Cutting Taxes On The Rich, Kansas Will Raise Taxes On The Poor To Pay For It Think Progress ...Kansas lawmakers concluded the longest legislative session in state history Friday night by approving a slate of regressive tax hikes that will balance the state’s budget by targeting low-income workers and their families. More than half of the $384 million in new revenue expected from the tax hike will come from cigarette taxes and sales taxes, two policies described as “regressive” because they fall more heavily on lower-income taxpayers than on the wealthy...
Poll: Voters want to keep prevailing wage law Detroit News ...A group seeking to repeal Michigan's 50-year-old prevailing wage law might find its biggest support among Republican state lawmakers: A new poll suggests likely voters want to keep union-level wages for government construction projects. More than 59 percent of likely voters support maintaining Michigan's prevailing wage...
Senate support for Scott Walker's budget is razor thin Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker's budget hangs by a gossamer thread in the GOP-controlled state Senate, where "no" votes from just three lawmakers within his own party would be enough to derail his spending plan. Already, two conservative Republican senators have made clear they will be extremely difficult — perhaps impossible — for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) to win over without knocking moderate senators from their party out of the yes column...
Scott Walker's Wisconsin: A Laboratory for Oligarchs Truthout ...Scott Walker's attacks on unions and family paying jobs in Wisconsin helped elevate his national profile and ingratiated him with deep-pocketed political donors like the Kochs. Can he take this agenda nationwide? This weekend's New York Times Magazine has a cover story by Wisconsin native Dan Kaufman called "Scott Walker and the Fate of the Union" that digs deep into Walker's anti-worker crusade...
What’s the Matter With Indiana? Counterpunch ...Amid all that’s clearly wrong with Indiana’s current direction under right wing Republican rule, Quigley finds cause for optimism. “Despite a state political climate that proved inhospitable to labor in the right-to-work debate, private sector workers are launching union organizing campaigns across the state’s capital,” and in smaller towns as well. If We Can Win Here includes detailed case studies of membership recruitment...
Board Hears Support for Raising Food Workers’ Minimum Wage New York Times ...The mayor who faced a multitude of excited New York City workers in Manhattan on Monday morning was not Bill de Blasio. Instead, it was the mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, who listened patiently as a contingent of fast-food restaurant employees pleaded for an increase in their minimum wage to $15 an hour, cheered on by an auditorium filled with their colleagues and sympathizers...
U.S. Labor
Amid dispute with SEIU union, county makes contract offer Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County managers have made a contract offer to their largest employee union amid a dispute over interpretation of a new state law that revamps collective bargaining for government workers. The offer would end concerns over the county’s moves to end paid union leave for employees and stop all increases to wages and benefits...
Saint Louis University Hospital nurses vote against de-authorization of union St. Louis Public Radio ...Members of a nurse’s union at St. Louis University Hospital voted against de-authorizing their union late Monday, a measure that would have effectively created a “right-to-work” policy within the hospital. The National Nurses United affiliate has about 650 members at SLU Hospital; only 140 voted in favor of de-authorization...
Ford wants to lead UAW talks to address wage disparity Detroit Free Press ...Detroit Three-UAW bargaining will begin in earnest the week of July 13 and Ford wants to be first to ink an agreement that creates a more even playing field when it comes to wages in the auto industry. In the normally secretive world of UAW talks, key dates and details were released Monday about the next stages of bargaining...
Woman Alleges Waffle House Manager Asked, ‘You’re Pregnant Again?’ Then Fired Her For Pregnancy Think Progress ...Tabitha Handy says she assured her employer at Waffle House that she could continue doing her job after she found out she was pregnant in September, but then she was allegedly fired over concerns about whether she could keep doing it. Now, she’s suing them.
When she first told her direct manager, according to the lawsuit, he replied that he didn’t know of any other pregnant workers at Waffle House and told her to tell upper management about it...
Milwaukee County Transit union workers holding strike vote Fox 6 Now ..Milwaukee County Transit union workers will vote Tuesday, June 16th on whether to go on strike. They’ve been working without a contract for more than two months. The local union is in the midst of contract negotiations with Milwaukee County. But if they don’t come to a deal, they could strike. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 has more than one thousand members...
Surviving the Drought in California: Farm Workers Struggle to Put Food on the Table Truthout ...Undocumented farm workers are the backbone of America’s farm industry. Already living on the margins, the California drought is hitting them the hardest. People Power Media went to the heart of California’s Central Valley, in towns like Mendota, to find how the drought is impacting workers and their families...
Miscellaneous
Border Agent Allegedly Claimed That 3-Year-Old Child Crossed Border To ‘Look For Work’ Think Progress ...Since last summer, the Obama administration has adopted an aggressive deterrence strategy to lock up women and their children in detention under a “no release” policy as a way to deter future migrants from making the trek. Some people were released, but many were denied bond. Though many women and children currently in detention have favorable “credible fear” findings, many are still locked up in the three family detention centers...
U.S. industrial output hurt by weakness in manufacturing, mining Reuters ...U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell in May as manufacturing and mining activity remained weak, a sign that a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector continued to constrain economic growth. The softness in the production side of the economy contrasts starkly with recent upbeat data on retail sales, employment, consumer and small business confidence...
Showing posts with label pregnant workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnant workers. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.17.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: Fast Track Is The Wrong Track Teamster.org ...Official statement of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the introduction today in Congress of legislation that would allow Congress to give a quick up-or-down vote to trade agreements: "Leaders in the House and Senate, buoyed by their friends in big business, are moving forward with pushing fast-track trade promotion legislation that would allow secret trade pacts to sail through Congress"...
Congress Is Facing Its Last Call to Stand Up for Fair Trade (Hoffa column) Huffington Post ...The moment has arrived. Worries about Congress allowing secret trade deals to be enacted with little oversight are no longer theoretical. Legislation that would allow agreements like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to slide unscathed through Capitol Hill has been introduced and will soon be considered by the Senate Finance Committee. And the consequences are dangerous for all Americans...
Uber Drivers, Teamsters Protest On National Day Of Action For Higher Wages KUOW.org ...One of the half-dozen protests in the Seattle area focused on the way drivers for Uber and other taxi-like services are paid. The company sets the fares that drivers can charge. Drivers use their own cars and pay their own expenses. Organizers with the Teamsters Local 117 said the drivers often wind up making less than minimum wage. The Teamsters helped drivers form the App-Based Drivers Association last year...
Guam Foremost Workers Back To Work Marianas Variety ...For about two dozen Foremost Foods Inc./Coca Cola Guam employees, it’s back to business and negotiations for fair salaries and benefits are back on the table. On Tuesday, Foremost Foods Inc. management said the 25 strikers who demonstrated along Route 16 on April 2 returned to work. The employees who went on strike were part of the Teamsters 986 union...
Seven Union Leaders Urge Congress To Support Opening Consultations With Qatar And The UAE To Address Unfair Subsidies Teamster.org ....The presidents of the Air Line Pilots Association International, the Allied Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO sent a letter to Congress urging members to call on the U.S. government to open consultations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates...
Global Labor & Trade
Fast Track to Hell: Trade Bill Officially Introduced in Congress Common Dreams ...The fight over Fast Track just got real. U.S. House and Senate leaders announced Thursday afternoon that they have reached a deal on legislation aimed at jamming the Trans Pacific Partnership through Congress...
Trade-off: Deal splits Democrats between business, labor Washington Post ...The hardest sell for President Barack Obama will be persuading members of his own party to back a bipartisan agreement on global U.S. trade policy. Longtime divisions in the Democratic ranks broke open Thursday when top congressional lawmakers finally reached a long-sought deal that would pave the way for the broadest trade policy pact in years...
U.S. lawmakers' bill holds key to Pacific trade deal Reuters ...Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia. The agreement, over six months in the making, sets the stage for a tough legislative battle over the rules for Obama's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Democrats’ civil war over free trade Politico ...The most important trade bill in a decade has pitted Harry Reid against President Barack Obama. Liberal Democrat Rosa DeLauro against moderate Democrat Ron Kind. Labor unions against pro-business Democrats. And Elizabeth Warren against virtually everyone who supports a landmark piece of legislation that would allow the president to close what could be the biggest free-trade deal in history...
Fast Track Introduced: Hatch Bill Would Revive Controversial 2002 Mechanism That Faces Broad Congressional, Public Opposition Public Citizen ...The Fast Track bill introduced today would revive the old unacceptable Fast Track process. It would delegate away Congress’ constitutional trade authority and give blank-check powers to whomever may be president during the next three to six years for any agreements he or she may pursue. Instead of establishing a new “exit ramp,” the bill includes the same impossible conditions from past Fast Track bills...
Obama’s Free Trade Deal Lets Corporations Impose Their Will Think Progress ...Progressives who usually make up President Obama’s base supporters are mounting loud protests against his newest proposal on international trade, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as a key Democrat in the Senate reportedly prepares to strike a deal that would send the TPP hurtling toward passage.
“Fast track” bad for America’s manufacturers (opinion) The Hill ...For decades, we’ve heard that so-called “free trade” agreements will lead to higher wages, new jobs and more economic development. Free trade was supposed to be the panacea that will cure our nation’s economic ills. But small business owners like me know better...
French public radio strike winds down after four weeks Reuters ...A strike at France's public radio operation ran out of steam on Wednesday, journalists at the company said, ending four weeks of daily reminders to listeners that the unpopular Socialist government had been unable to stop it...
After Decades of Struggle, Salvadoran Communities Declare Territory Free of Mining Truthout.org ...The Vancouver-based Pacific Rim mining corporation also filed an ICSID lawsuit against El Salvador in 2009, after the permit for operations at its El Dorado gold mining project didn't come through. Both Pacific Rim and Commerce Group Corp cited provisions in the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and Salvadoran investment protection legislation as the legal basis for their cases...
State & Living Wage Battles
‘Right-to-work’ laws hold down wages but don’t create jobs Richmond Register ...The effort to promote “right to work” laws with local governments in Kentucky is founded on claims about job and economic growth that are unsupported by the research, according to a new report by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. The report looks at the most careful previous studies on RTW that show the law is not associated with an increase in jobs, but with lower wages and benefits for all workers...
Nannies, Aides For Elderly Push For Labor Law Protections Hartford Courant ...Nannies, maids, gardeners, personal chefs, chauffeurs and caregivers for the elderly are asking Connecticut to change labor laws to require that they be paid at least the minimum wage. Currently, domestic workers and farm workers are excluded from federal laws that established the right to a minimum wage and to overtime...
Nebraska Becomes the Thirteenth State to Protect Pregnant Workers' Job Security National Women's Law Center ...Earlier this week, Governor Ricketts signed the Nebraska Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (LB 267) into law that grants pregnant workers the right to reasonable accommodations, so that no woman will have to choose between the health and safety of her pregnancy and her paycheck...
Stop Corporate Welfare Kings And Tax Escapees From Strip-Mining America (opinion) Huffington Post ...In many states, it is a literal race to the bottom for elected officials to offer corporations sweeter tax deals to keep jobs in their locality -- see the 2013 Boeing controversy in the state of Washington, in which the aerospace industry, much of which is made up of Boeing, was awarded $8.7 billion in tax breaks over 16 years to produce the 777X jetliner in-state...
During Fight for 15 Protests, Nearly 50 Chicago Armored Guards Go on Strike In These Times ...The Fight for 15 campaign says that yesterday’s protests in over 200 cities around the country were the biggest yet since the movement began almost three years ago. But they have also expanded in ways that no one, including the campaign’s staffers, thought possible—like when nearly 50 drivers and security guards employed by Brink’s, the global security and logistics company known for its armored bulletproof trucks, suddenly decided to walk off the job early Wednesday morning...
Senate Approves Common Wage Repeal WRTV ...After almost two hours of debate, the Indiana Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the state's common construction wage...
What It Will Take To Revive The Middle Class Washington Post ...This week, the National Employment Law Project reported that fully 42 percent of U.S. workers make less than $15 an hour — a sea of workers that extends beyond such usual suspects as janitors and food servers; even once decently paid employees such as auto assembly-line workers now work for a median hourly wage that has descended to $15.30...
A New Day For The Minimum Wage? (opinion) New York Times ...Real leadership will also require going beyond calling for a robust minimum wage. It also means supporting the protesters’ parallel demand for the right to organize without retaliation, which would lay the groundwork for collective bargaining in service industries...
U.S. Labor
Airline food workers strike at LAX LA Times ...More than 100 workers who prepare food for airlines flying out of Los Angeles International Airport went on strike Tuesday, saying they are overworked and lack the proper equipment to do their jobs, union organizers said...
The Laws That Could Protect Workers From Chaotic Schedules That No One Knows About Think Progress ...New York has a law on the books that requires employers in most industries to pay workers four hours’ worth of pay if they show up to work, even if they’re then sent home due to a lack of demand. Schneiderman is looking into whether these large companies, which include Gap, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, the owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s, J. Crew, and Sears, are violating the law with on-call shifts...
Unions Still Matter (opinion) Al-Jazeera ...The importance of these studies is clear: Unions are the most important institution in the fight against inequality. But for too long, many liberals seemed happy to watch unions disappear. Part of the problem is that they misunderstood unions as primarily economic institutions, interested in parochially negotiating wages and benefits for their members. In reality, unions are far more important as political actors promoting policies that benefit the working class and middle class as a whole...
Why We've Decided to Organize Gawker ...Some of us on the Gawker Media editorial staff have decided to try to unionize. There is already a great deal of interest in this idea among editorial employees in New York (and they are all more than capable of speaking for themselves, and I'm sure that they will). The final shape that the union might take, and who exactly will be in it, and what specific goals it will pursue all remain to be seen...
The Dystopian Way Employers Are Ruining Their Workers’ Job Prospects Salon.com ...When Emily Brunner and Caitlin Turowski were hired by Jimmy John’s sandwich shop, prominent among their many employee orientation forms were noncompete agreements (NCAs) that they were required to sign. According to court documents, these agreements outlined when, where, how, and by extension, if they could work for "competing food establishments"...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Industrial Production Falters As Oil Sector Weighs Wall Street Journal ...U.S. industrial output fell in March and posted the first quarterly decline since the recession ended, signs that a retrenching domestic oil industry and stronger dollar are limiting production. Industrial production, which measures the output of manufacturers, utilities and mines, decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday...
America’s Over-Criminalization Epidemic: How The Prosecution Of Atlanta Teachers Exposes A Broken System Salon.com ...Whether it’s drug laws, mandatory minimums, the disenfranchisement of former felons, the widespread scourge of overcrowding, the death penalty or the continuing use of the abhorrent form of torture called solitary confinement, the number of serious problems can be overwhelming. As we saw this week when a group of former Atlanta public school educators were sentenced to seven years for standardized test cheating, it’s necessary to throw over-criminalization into the mix...
Seventy Years On, Let Us Renew FDR’s Struggle For An Economic Bill Of Rights The Nation ...Seventy years after this country lost Franklin Roosevelt and the promise of a final term spent advocating for a realization of the “new goals of human happiness and well-being,” those goals have yet to be realized. The historian Havey Kaye has argued that President Obama should recognize Roosevelt’s vision and present it anew...
Hoffa: Fast Track Is The Wrong Track Teamster.org ...Official statement of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the introduction today in Congress of legislation that would allow Congress to give a quick up-or-down vote to trade agreements: "Leaders in the House and Senate, buoyed by their friends in big business, are moving forward with pushing fast-track trade promotion legislation that would allow secret trade pacts to sail through Congress"...
Congress Is Facing Its Last Call to Stand Up for Fair Trade (Hoffa column) Huffington Post ...The moment has arrived. Worries about Congress allowing secret trade deals to be enacted with little oversight are no longer theoretical. Legislation that would allow agreements like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to slide unscathed through Capitol Hill has been introduced and will soon be considered by the Senate Finance Committee. And the consequences are dangerous for all Americans...
Uber Drivers, Teamsters Protest On National Day Of Action For Higher Wages KUOW.org ...One of the half-dozen protests in the Seattle area focused on the way drivers for Uber and other taxi-like services are paid. The company sets the fares that drivers can charge. Drivers use their own cars and pay their own expenses. Organizers with the Teamsters Local 117 said the drivers often wind up making less than minimum wage. The Teamsters helped drivers form the App-Based Drivers Association last year...
Guam Foremost Workers Back To Work Marianas Variety ...For about two dozen Foremost Foods Inc./Coca Cola Guam employees, it’s back to business and negotiations for fair salaries and benefits are back on the table. On Tuesday, Foremost Foods Inc. management said the 25 strikers who demonstrated along Route 16 on April 2 returned to work. The employees who went on strike were part of the Teamsters 986 union...
Seven Union Leaders Urge Congress To Support Opening Consultations With Qatar And The UAE To Address Unfair Subsidies Teamster.org ....The presidents of the Air Line Pilots Association International, the Allied Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO sent a letter to Congress urging members to call on the U.S. government to open consultations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates...
Global Labor & Trade
Fast Track to Hell: Trade Bill Officially Introduced in Congress Common Dreams ...The fight over Fast Track just got real. U.S. House and Senate leaders announced Thursday afternoon that they have reached a deal on legislation aimed at jamming the Trans Pacific Partnership through Congress...
Trade-off: Deal splits Democrats between business, labor Washington Post ...The hardest sell for President Barack Obama will be persuading members of his own party to back a bipartisan agreement on global U.S. trade policy. Longtime divisions in the Democratic ranks broke open Thursday when top congressional lawmakers finally reached a long-sought deal that would pave the way for the broadest trade policy pact in years...
U.S. lawmakers' bill holds key to Pacific trade deal Reuters ...Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia. The agreement, over six months in the making, sets the stage for a tough legislative battle over the rules for Obama's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Democrats’ civil war over free trade Politico ...The most important trade bill in a decade has pitted Harry Reid against President Barack Obama. Liberal Democrat Rosa DeLauro against moderate Democrat Ron Kind. Labor unions against pro-business Democrats. And Elizabeth Warren against virtually everyone who supports a landmark piece of legislation that would allow the president to close what could be the biggest free-trade deal in history...
Fast Track Introduced: Hatch Bill Would Revive Controversial 2002 Mechanism That Faces Broad Congressional, Public Opposition Public Citizen ...The Fast Track bill introduced today would revive the old unacceptable Fast Track process. It would delegate away Congress’ constitutional trade authority and give blank-check powers to whomever may be president during the next three to six years for any agreements he or she may pursue. Instead of establishing a new “exit ramp,” the bill includes the same impossible conditions from past Fast Track bills...
Obama’s Free Trade Deal Lets Corporations Impose Their Will Think Progress ...Progressives who usually make up President Obama’s base supporters are mounting loud protests against his newest proposal on international trade, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as a key Democrat in the Senate reportedly prepares to strike a deal that would send the TPP hurtling toward passage.
“Fast track” bad for America’s manufacturers (opinion) The Hill ...For decades, we’ve heard that so-called “free trade” agreements will lead to higher wages, new jobs and more economic development. Free trade was supposed to be the panacea that will cure our nation’s economic ills. But small business owners like me know better...
French public radio strike winds down after four weeks Reuters ...A strike at France's public radio operation ran out of steam on Wednesday, journalists at the company said, ending four weeks of daily reminders to listeners that the unpopular Socialist government had been unable to stop it...
After Decades of Struggle, Salvadoran Communities Declare Territory Free of Mining Truthout.org ...The Vancouver-based Pacific Rim mining corporation also filed an ICSID lawsuit against El Salvador in 2009, after the permit for operations at its El Dorado gold mining project didn't come through. Both Pacific Rim and Commerce Group Corp cited provisions in the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and Salvadoran investment protection legislation as the legal basis for their cases...
‘Right-to-work’ laws hold down wages but don’t create jobs Richmond Register ...The effort to promote “right to work” laws with local governments in Kentucky is founded on claims about job and economic growth that are unsupported by the research, according to a new report by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. The report looks at the most careful previous studies on RTW that show the law is not associated with an increase in jobs, but with lower wages and benefits for all workers...
Nannies, Aides For Elderly Push For Labor Law Protections Hartford Courant ...Nannies, maids, gardeners, personal chefs, chauffeurs and caregivers for the elderly are asking Connecticut to change labor laws to require that they be paid at least the minimum wage. Currently, domestic workers and farm workers are excluded from federal laws that established the right to a minimum wage and to overtime...
Nebraska Becomes the Thirteenth State to Protect Pregnant Workers' Job Security National Women's Law Center ...Earlier this week, Governor Ricketts signed the Nebraska Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (LB 267) into law that grants pregnant workers the right to reasonable accommodations, so that no woman will have to choose between the health and safety of her pregnancy and her paycheck...
Stop Corporate Welfare Kings And Tax Escapees From Strip-Mining America (opinion) Huffington Post ...In many states, it is a literal race to the bottom for elected officials to offer corporations sweeter tax deals to keep jobs in their locality -- see the 2013 Boeing controversy in the state of Washington, in which the aerospace industry, much of which is made up of Boeing, was awarded $8.7 billion in tax breaks over 16 years to produce the 777X jetliner in-state...
During Fight for 15 Protests, Nearly 50 Chicago Armored Guards Go on Strike In These Times ...The Fight for 15 campaign says that yesterday’s protests in over 200 cities around the country were the biggest yet since the movement began almost three years ago. But they have also expanded in ways that no one, including the campaign’s staffers, thought possible—like when nearly 50 drivers and security guards employed by Brink’s, the global security and logistics company known for its armored bulletproof trucks, suddenly decided to walk off the job early Wednesday morning...
Senate Approves Common Wage Repeal WRTV ...After almost two hours of debate, the Indiana Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the state's common construction wage...
What It Will Take To Revive The Middle Class Washington Post ...This week, the National Employment Law Project reported that fully 42 percent of U.S. workers make less than $15 an hour — a sea of workers that extends beyond such usual suspects as janitors and food servers; even once decently paid employees such as auto assembly-line workers now work for a median hourly wage that has descended to $15.30...
A New Day For The Minimum Wage? (opinion) New York Times ...Real leadership will also require going beyond calling for a robust minimum wage. It also means supporting the protesters’ parallel demand for the right to organize without retaliation, which would lay the groundwork for collective bargaining in service industries...
U.S. Labor
Airline food workers strike at LAX LA Times ...More than 100 workers who prepare food for airlines flying out of Los Angeles International Airport went on strike Tuesday, saying they are overworked and lack the proper equipment to do their jobs, union organizers said...
The Laws That Could Protect Workers From Chaotic Schedules That No One Knows About Think Progress ...New York has a law on the books that requires employers in most industries to pay workers four hours’ worth of pay if they show up to work, even if they’re then sent home due to a lack of demand. Schneiderman is looking into whether these large companies, which include Gap, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, the owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s, J. Crew, and Sears, are violating the law with on-call shifts...
Unions Still Matter (opinion) Al-Jazeera ...The importance of these studies is clear: Unions are the most important institution in the fight against inequality. But for too long, many liberals seemed happy to watch unions disappear. Part of the problem is that they misunderstood unions as primarily economic institutions, interested in parochially negotiating wages and benefits for their members. In reality, unions are far more important as political actors promoting policies that benefit the working class and middle class as a whole...
Why We've Decided to Organize Gawker ...Some of us on the Gawker Media editorial staff have decided to try to unionize. There is already a great deal of interest in this idea among editorial employees in New York (and they are all more than capable of speaking for themselves, and I'm sure that they will). The final shape that the union might take, and who exactly will be in it, and what specific goals it will pursue all remain to be seen...
The Dystopian Way Employers Are Ruining Their Workers’ Job Prospects Salon.com ...When Emily Brunner and Caitlin Turowski were hired by Jimmy John’s sandwich shop, prominent among their many employee orientation forms were noncompete agreements (NCAs) that they were required to sign. According to court documents, these agreements outlined when, where, how, and by extension, if they could work for "competing food establishments"...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Industrial Production Falters As Oil Sector Weighs Wall Street Journal ...U.S. industrial output fell in March and posted the first quarterly decline since the recession ended, signs that a retrenching domestic oil industry and stronger dollar are limiting production. Industrial production, which measures the output of manufacturers, utilities and mines, decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday...
America’s Over-Criminalization Epidemic: How The Prosecution Of Atlanta Teachers Exposes A Broken System Salon.com ...Whether it’s drug laws, mandatory minimums, the disenfranchisement of former felons, the widespread scourge of overcrowding, the death penalty or the continuing use of the abhorrent form of torture called solitary confinement, the number of serious problems can be overwhelming. As we saw this week when a group of former Atlanta public school educators were sentenced to seven years for standardized test cheating, it’s necessary to throw over-criminalization into the mix...
Seventy Years On, Let Us Renew FDR’s Struggle For An Economic Bill Of Rights The Nation ...Seventy years after this country lost Franklin Roosevelt and the promise of a final term spent advocating for a realization of the “new goals of human happiness and well-being,” those goals have yet to be realized. The historian Havey Kaye has argued that President Obama should recognize Roosevelt’s vision and present it anew...
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.11.15
Teamsters
City and Teamsters to detail agreement in York ydr.com ...It's not clear what the agreement entails, but a city official said it will help the city financially…The Teamsters represent employees in the public works department as well as the parking bureau…
Trade
Growing Chorus of Diverse Voices Rejects TPP Huffington Post ...Those arguing to pass the TPP while bypassing Congress say that it is "inconvenient" for international negotiations to involve Congress. Any U.S. Official who openly is minimizing the process laid out in our Constitution deserves scrutiny...
Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years Alternet ...The TPP is a corporate power grab clearly worthy of Seattle-caliber mobilization. But the fight against this reprehensible deal requires different types of tactics. And the place to start is by derailing “Fast Track,” the mechanism that would allow TPP approval to rush through the U.S. Congress with little debate and no amendments...
State Battles
Right-to-Work Fate Appears Sealed in Kentucky General Assembly WKU ...All indications from Frankfort suggest Kentucky counties will continue to take the lead on right-to-work measures...
Governor: Right to work ‘common sense’ Albuquerque Journal ...Gov. Susana Martinez said she will push for so-called “right-to-work” legislation during the upcoming legislative session, calling a change to the state’s labor laws “common sense” and long overdue...
War on Workers
Unemployment Rate Drops Due to Almost Half a Million More Not in Labor Force Economic Populist ...The labor participation rate went back to 38 year record lows and is 62.7%. From a year ago, the number of people considered not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million...
Family ties that bind: Having the right surname sets you up for life Springer ...If your surname reveals that you descended from the “in” crowd in the England of 1066—the Norman Conquerors—then even now you are more likely than the average Brit to be upper class. To a surprising degree, the social status of your ancestors many generations in the past still exerts an influence on your life chances, say Gregory Clark of the University of California...
Collective Bargaining’s Erosion Expanded the Productivity–Pay Gap Economic Policy Institute ...Over the last few decades, productivity has grown substantially, but the hourly compensation of the typical worker has grown much less, especially in the last 10 years or so...
NC agency ends solo status for Koch-funded history materials Associated Press ...North Carolina's education agency will encourage teachers to draw their American history course materials from nearly a dozen sources, not just those provided by a group backed by the politically influential, conservative Koch family...
Labor chief pushes White House on overtime The Hill ...AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in an interview published Friday that he believed President Obama should take an executive action ensuring overtime pay for workers with an annual salary under $51,168. That would represent more than doubling the current threshold, which provides time-and-a-half pay for workers making $23,660 per year or less...
States adding more protections for pregnant workers Jacksonville.com ...As of Jan. 1, employers in Illinois must provide pregnant workers who request them more or longer bathroom breaks, rest periods, light duty, job transfers, leave time or other accommodations, unless doing so creates an undue hardship for the employer...Eleven other states have passed laws requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers. In 2014, laws took effect in Delaware, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Since 2011, Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey also have approved laws...
Maintenance Worker Killed in Concrete Crusher Accident Associated Press ...Authorities say a worker performing routine maintenance on a concrete crusher was killed when he somehow got entangled in the machinery...
Worker Dies, Crushed by Elevator in NYC Residential Tower Wall Street Journal ...“There was some movement in the elevator and the gentleman below got crushed by the elevator between the first floor and the basement,” said Roger Sakowich, FDNY deputy assistant chief, who was on scene. The elevator that crushed the man had been three floors above when it moved...
City and Teamsters to detail agreement in York ydr.com ...It's not clear what the agreement entails, but a city official said it will help the city financially…The Teamsters represent employees in the public works department as well as the parking bureau…
Trade
Growing Chorus of Diverse Voices Rejects TPP Huffington Post ...Those arguing to pass the TPP while bypassing Congress say that it is "inconvenient" for international negotiations to involve Congress. Any U.S. Official who openly is minimizing the process laid out in our Constitution deserves scrutiny...
Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years Alternet ...The TPP is a corporate power grab clearly worthy of Seattle-caliber mobilization. But the fight against this reprehensible deal requires different types of tactics. And the place to start is by derailing “Fast Track,” the mechanism that would allow TPP approval to rush through the U.S. Congress with little debate and no amendments...
State Battles
Right-to-Work Fate Appears Sealed in Kentucky General Assembly WKU ...All indications from Frankfort suggest Kentucky counties will continue to take the lead on right-to-work measures...
Governor: Right to work ‘common sense’ Albuquerque Journal ...Gov. Susana Martinez said she will push for so-called “right-to-work” legislation during the upcoming legislative session, calling a change to the state’s labor laws “common sense” and long overdue...
War on Workers
Unemployment Rate Drops Due to Almost Half a Million More Not in Labor Force Economic Populist ...The labor participation rate went back to 38 year record lows and is 62.7%. From a year ago, the number of people considered not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million...
Family ties that bind: Having the right surname sets you up for life Springer ...If your surname reveals that you descended from the “in” crowd in the England of 1066—the Norman Conquerors—then even now you are more likely than the average Brit to be upper class. To a surprising degree, the social status of your ancestors many generations in the past still exerts an influence on your life chances, say Gregory Clark of the University of California...
Collective Bargaining’s Erosion Expanded the Productivity–Pay Gap Economic Policy Institute ...Over the last few decades, productivity has grown substantially, but the hourly compensation of the typical worker has grown much less, especially in the last 10 years or so...
NC agency ends solo status for Koch-funded history materials Associated Press ...North Carolina's education agency will encourage teachers to draw their American history course materials from nearly a dozen sources, not just those provided by a group backed by the politically influential, conservative Koch family...
Labor chief pushes White House on overtime The Hill ...AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in an interview published Friday that he believed President Obama should take an executive action ensuring overtime pay for workers with an annual salary under $51,168. That would represent more than doubling the current threshold, which provides time-and-a-half pay for workers making $23,660 per year or less...
States adding more protections for pregnant workers Jacksonville.com ...As of Jan. 1, employers in Illinois must provide pregnant workers who request them more or longer bathroom breaks, rest periods, light duty, job transfers, leave time or other accommodations, unless doing so creates an undue hardship for the employer...Eleven other states have passed laws requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers. In 2014, laws took effect in Delaware, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Since 2011, Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey also have approved laws...
Maintenance Worker Killed in Concrete Crusher Accident Associated Press ...Authorities say a worker performing routine maintenance on a concrete crusher was killed when he somehow got entangled in the machinery...
Worker Dies, Crushed by Elevator in NYC Residential Tower Wall Street Journal ...“There was some movement in the elevator and the gentleman below got crushed by the elevator between the first floor and the basement,” said Roger Sakowich, FDNY deputy assistant chief, who was on scene. The elevator that crushed the man had been three floors above when it moved...
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