TEAMSTERS
Teamster Pilots at Kalitta Air Authorize Strike Teamster.org ...Pilots employed by Kalitta Air, LLC, have voted overwhelmingly, 213-7, to authorize a strike against the Ypsilanti, Mich.-based cargo airline. Kalitta Air operates a fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft in support of the global network of DHL Express, a division of the German logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL. Ninety-two percent of eligible pilots voted...
Decision to Close N.C. MillerCoors Brewery Draws Scrutiny at Senate Antitrust Hearing Teamster.org ...At a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, concerns were raised about the recent decision by MillerCoors to close its Eden, N.C., brewery by the end of 2016. The decision to close the Eden brewery, which would eliminate roughly 10 percent of MillerCoors’ total production capacity and destroy about 450 Teamster jobs, was announced on Sept.14, 2015...
Teamsters Announce Fund to Assist San Bernardino Victims, Families Teamster.org ...Teamsters Joint Council 42 has created a support fund for the victims and families impacted by the San Bernardino shooting. Three Teamster members were killed and two were wounded in the shooting. “This is a tragic loss for the families of the victims and for our union family. Our Teamster brothers and sisters and their families need our support and we are here to help them,” said Randy Cammack...
Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola Outside Workers Reject Contract Offer Local 727 ...Outside workers at Reyes/Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution rejected the company’s four-year contract offer while inside workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract on Sunday, Dec. 6. Before the outside workers take a strike vote, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee will ask the company to return to the bargaining table in good faith in order to avoid a labor dispute...
University Teamsters voting on tentative contract Workday Minnesota ...Members of Teamsters Local 320 (link is external) employed at the University of Minnesota are voting on a tentative contract settlement that includes a 2 percent wage increase and six weeks of paid maternity leave. Members are voting by mail, with ballots to be counted Dec. 21, the union said. The Local 320 contract covers some 1,100 custodial, food service, animal and land care workers...
Significant Wage And Benefit Gains For Facebook Drivers In Teamsters Contract Labor Press ...Silicon Valley drivers who shuttle Facebook employees have joined Teamsters Local 853, ratifying what the union says is a strong labor contract. The Teamsters contract includes significant wage and benefits improvements. Teamsters International Vice President and Local 853 Secretary Treasurer says the Teamsters are moving "to bring drivers in the entire shuttle bus industry into the Teamsters Union"...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Canada: Cabdrivers Stage Uber Protest NYTimes ...Cabdrivers seeking a legal crackdown against Uber, the ride-sharing service, snarled traffic on expressways and downtown streets in Toronto on Wednesday. The disruption began during the morning rush hour with slow-moving convoys of taxis. Later, cabdrivers blocked a major downtown intersection. A police officer on a bicycle suffered minor injuries...
“No one has ever tried this before”: Mexican, U.S. Workers Bring Employer Charges Under NAFTA In These Times ...A transnational coalition of labor unions and community groups in the United States and Mexico charged multinational retail corporation Chedraui Commercial Group with violations of municipal, federal, and international labor law on November 12, filing unprecedented dual claims under compliant mechanisms embedded within the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)...
Lawmakers strike deal on key trade legislation The Hill ...House and Senate lawmakers on Wednesday announced a deal that would bolster U.S. customs enforcement, among the key trade items on President Obama’s legislative agenda. After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, top lawmakers said they had reconciled their differences on the measure that funds the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency...
Levin urges Dems to oppose customs bill deal The Hill ...A top House Democrat is urging his colleagues to oppose a deal on a customs enforcement measure, according to a letter obtained by The Hill. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed serious concerns about climate, human trafficking, immigration and currency provisions in the final House-Senate conference report released Wednesday...
Laid-off Newberg paper mill workers protest trade deal Business Journal ...Roughly 250 workers lost their jobs when a Newberg paper mill closed Nov. 17. On Tuesday, many returned to the mill to protest the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which they said would move U.S. jobs overseas. We don’t want other hard-working Oregon families to suffer the same hardships we have," said John Haslett, in a news release...
Three ways TTIP will violate your human rights Independent ...TTIP is promoted as being focused on the “shared values” of the USA and EU, including “upholding and promoting human rights”. However, the USA and EU prefer to protect corporations from human rights law; they were the strongest opponents of a UN move to create a binding mechanism for holding corporations accountable to international human rights law...
TTIP is a disaster for the Left. But Brexit would be worse (opinion) New Statesmen ...Combined with this trade agenda Cameron wants to cut the ‘burden’ of regulation. We should not be under any illusions: a UK outside the EU and governed by the Tories would lead to even further trade liberalisation, even more damaging trade deals and a deregulated corporate free-for-all...
'Austerity is hitting poorest children hardest', Welsh researchers claim Wales Online ...Austerity policies across Europe are hitting the poorest children hardest and local councils should do more to protect their rights, say researchers in Wales. The Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, which is based at Swansea University, has compiled a report on the effects of austerity polices based on evidence drawn from across Europe...
Ghana: Port Drivers' Union Want Burkinabe Counterparts Out All Africa ...According to the drivers, an illegal document called 'Bond de Chargement' has been imposed on them and failure to pay usually results in them being assaulted at the Burkinabe border. The chairman of the Joint Association of Port Transport Union, Husein Isahak said if the authorities fail to come to their aid, they will be forced to retaliate...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
NY Board Upholds $15 Minimum Wage for Fast-Food Workers ABC ...A state oversight board on Wednesday upheld the decision by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration to gradually raise the hourly minimum wage for many fast-food workers to $15. The New York Industrial Board of Appeals rejected the National Restaurant Association's arguments that that the wage order was unconstitutional, arbitrary, unsupported by the evidence and focused improperly on fast-food chains with more than 30 locations...
The public doesn’t support restrictive voter ID laws, but many new ones will be in force in 2016 Reuters ...Defenders of photo ID laws regularly cite public opinion polls that show widespread support for their arguments. Yet these polls reveal no such support, and they prove nothing about this new restrictive legislation because the polls’ questions cover a far broader range of IDs than the actual laws accept as proof of identity. The Texas photo ID law and recent polls in Texas offer a telling example of the disparity between the laws’ actual content and what poll respondents can assume are in them...
Michigan Senate delays bill that would impact minimum wage for people under 20 WSBT ...The minimum wage in the state is $8.15 an hour right now. It will increase to $8.50 in January. Right now 16 and 17-year-olds can be paid 85 percent of the current minimum wage. The bill being considered would allow employers to put 18 and 19-year-olds in that same category. Supporters say fewer 16 and 17-year-olds are applying for jobs...
Puerto Rico Legislature Approves Bill to Expand Paid Sick Leave Use Lexology ...Seeking to allow non-exempt employees to use paid sick leave for the illnesses of their family members and others, the Puerto Rico Legislature has sent a bill to Governor Alejandro García-Padilla to so amend the Commonwealth’s existing paid sick leave law. If House Bill 695 is approved, the amendments would become effective immediately. The Governor has 30 days to approve or veto HB 695...
Massachusetts’ Plan To Force State Prisoners To Pay Room And Board Will Do Far More Harm Than Good Think Progress ...Massachusetts currently spends at least $53,000 a year on every inmate — $1.2 billion in total. On Tuesday, the senate minority leader proposed a bill that would make 10,000 prisoners bear some of that financial burden. Under Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s (R-Gloucester) latest proposal, inmates would have to pay $2 a day for their food and housing...
U.S. LABOR
Talks continue between UAW, Kohler Sheboygan Press ...Talks are continuing between the Kohler Co. and the union representing about 2,100 striking production workers, company officials confirmed Wednesday, though neither side has indicated whether progress has been made toward a new labor pact. The talks come as United Auto Workers Local 833 members continue their more than 3-week-old strike, which has surpassed the duration of the union's last strike in 1983...
Chicago Teachers Union plans to vote on potential strike Washington Post ...Chicago Teachers Union members plan to begin voting Wednesday on whether to authorize a strike, setting in motion the latest in a series of political challenges for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The teachers’ contract expired in June, and efforts to reach a one-year contract agreement with Chicago Public Schools fell apart during the summer...
Coalinga hospital workers join SEIU-UHW Business Journal ...Health care workers at Coalinga Regional Medical Center recently voted to join SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. Approximately 200 hundred health care workers voted to join the union, lending their support to SEIU-UHW’s campaign to fully fund Medi-Cal as well as the statewide ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021...
Capitol Food Workers Escalate Protests in Senate Roll Call ...Dozens of Capitol food workers went on strike Tuesday, demanding to negotiate higher wages with their management and taking their message to other Senate workspace, specifically calling on Sen. Ted Cruz, who sits on the committee that oversees their contract, to support their push for better pay and union representation. The workers flooded the Texas Republican’s office, and the hallway outside, to award Cruz the “Golden Grinch” award...
AFSCME Plans Rally As Contract Talks Drag On Northern Public Radio ...The state's largest public employee union remains at odds with Governor Bruce Rauner's administration on a new contract. Negotiators for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees have been meeting with the governor's staff about twice a month since the summer. But AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall says there's been little movement toward a deal...
Walmart’s Imports From China Displaced 400,000 Jobs, a Study Says NYTimes ...Imports from China by Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and biggest importer, eliminated or displaced over 400,000 jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2013, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group that has long targeted Walmart’s policies. The jobs, mostly in manufacturing, represent about 13 percent of the 3.2 million jobs displaced...
Here's How Much the U.S. Middle Class Has Changed in 45 Years Bloomberg ...In the age of rising income inequality, the task of preserving America’s middle class has been taken on by politicians across the ideological spectrum. A new report from Pew Research Center shows just how much the economic fortunes of this group have changed since the 1970s. In every decade since then, the percentage of adults living in middle-income households has fallen...
Unwarranted Outcry: NLRB Browning-Ferris Decision Re-establishes Employer Responsibility CAP Action ...A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, that attempts to more clearly define who is a joint employer—and therefore responsible for bargaining and respecting workers’ rights—has triggered the predictable conservative backlash. However, a closer look at the facts indicates just how unwarranted this backlash is. Unfortunately, these latest criticisms are merely the continuation of conservative attacks on the NLRB and its efforts to uphold workers’ rights...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Showing How US Can Stand Up to Wall Street, Europe Advances 'Robin Hood Tax' Common Dreams ...Ten European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to some aspects of a so-called "Robin Hood Tax" on financial transactions, offering a model for U.S. politicians who have thus far showed little resolve on standing up to Wall Street high-rollers. As Reuters explains, a financial transaction tax (FTT) "is intended to recover some of the public money used to support banks [and] to curb speculative trading"...
Immigrants Say They Suffered Abuse And Neglect At This California Detention Center Think Progress ...Ten men filed a complaint against an immigration detention center in California this week, alleging physical abuse, medical neglect, and retaliatory transfers while they were detainees. The complaint, filed on behalf of the ten former and current immigrant detainees by the immigrant advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), alleges multiple incidents of physical assault...
"It's Going to Burn Our Planet": Hundreds Protest "Unacceptable" Draft Climate Accord Inside COP21 Democracy Now ...It’s the final stretch of negotiations at the United Nations climate change summit, COP21, as representatives from nearly 200 countries attempt to reach a final deal before the weekend. A draft text released Wednesday has nearly 100 outstanding points of disagreement that still need to be resolved, including the role that wealthy and more advanced developing countries should play in helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of climate change...
The Psychology of the Affirmative-Action Backlash The Nation ...The Supreme Court re-hears Abigail Fisher’s case against the University of Texas today. If the High Court rules in her favor, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin will shake affirmative-action policy to its core. According to court documents, 49 students with lower scores and grades than Fisher were offered provisional admission to UT through the summer program. Only five of those arguably under-qualified students were black or Hispanic; the other 42 were white...
Showing posts with label strike authorization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strike authorization. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Today's Teamster News 11.16.15
TEAMSTERS
Air General Workers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Choose Teamsters Teamster.org ...Workers with Air General who provide cargo, mail handling and warehousing services at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have voted to join Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The 30 workers joined the Teamsters seeking better pay, benefits and working conditions...
Fort Polk Teamsters Vote for Strike Authorization Teamster.org ... Fort Polk federal contractors that work for URS/AECOM voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization last week following their rejection of a substandard last, best and final offer from the company. The workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 19 in Humble, Texas, voted down the contract proposal by a 90 percent margin...
Ballots Sent Out For San Bernardino County Contract Teamster.org ...Thousands of public employees in San Bernardino County, California, will now have an opportunity to use their voice in the workplace! Yesterday, ballots for the tentative agreement covering the 11,000 employees went in the mail to each union household. The bargaining committee and stewards from Teamsters Local 1932 (newly charted this year after the successful organizing campaign) unanimously endorsed the agreement...
Hoffa Opposes Highway Bill Measure Go By Truck ...Teamsters President James Hoffa penned an article for the Los Angeles Daily News expressing concern about a provision in the House of Representatives’ highway bill that he says would contribute to more dangerous highways. The provision would allow carriers to deny state-required rest and meal breaks to their drivers. Several judicial rulings have upheld California’s right to impose mandatory breaks for all workers, including truck drivers...
FRA: Northeast Rail Corridor Needs Significant Investment Teamster.org ...The Federal Railway Administration (FRA) issued a report this week on upgrades needed for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail system. Members of the Teamsters Rail Conference from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division work side by side on the NEC to keep the trains running efficiently and safely...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama urges Congress to approve Pacific trade pact early in 2016 Reuters ...President Barack Obama on Friday urged the U.S. Congress to quickly approve a 12-nation Pacific trade pact early in 2016, telling reporters the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was essential to the American economy as well as national security. Obama last week gave Congress 90 days' notice that he would sign the TPP deal, which seeks to remove trade barriers and set common standards in 40 percent of the world economy...
TPP uncertainties to dog Obama trip to Asia Politico ...President Barack Obama wraps up Group of 20 meetings today in Turkey, where the recent attack in Paris has taken center stage. That stop precedes a trip through Asia this week, where he hopes to build on the momentum of the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and to reassure allies...
Leaders of TPP states to meet in Manila Japan News ...The leaders of Japan, the United States and 10 other countries that reached a broad Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord last month will hold a meeting in Manila on Wednesday. At the meeting, the TPP leaders are expected to declare that they will aim for the early entry into force of the TPP pact...
APEC Business Council Calls on States to Ratify TPP as Route to FTAAP Sputnik News ...The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) is calling on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member states to ratify the deal as soon as possible, as it may lead to trade agreements encompassing larger areas such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the head of Australia’s ABAC delegation said Monday...
TTIP trade talks: Germany urges US to let MPs see texts BBC ...The German government has urged American authorities to give German MPs access to key documents in the EU-US trade negotiations known as TTIP. The request came amid widespread opposition to the confidential talks, which are aimed at creating the world's biggest free trade zone...
ILO says most Bangladesh garment factories must improve fire safety Reuters ...The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Friday 80 percent of export-oriented ready made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh needed improvement in fire and electrical safety standards. A spotlight was thrown on Bangladesh's garment sector, the world's second biggest which supplies many global brands, after the collapse of a factory complex in 2013...
French officials warned that austerity increased security peril Al Jazeera ...After the carnage in and around Paris Friday night, when eight assailants used explosives and automatic weapons to kill at least 128 people, recent warnings by security officials over the spiking threat of attack amid budgetary austerity have assumed a particularly grim prescience...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Lawmakers hear right-to-work comparative study Metro News ...In Sunday’s Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary meeting, WVU economics researcher John Deskins reported his findings in relation to the differences between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states. West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue spoke against right-to-work, pointing out that it hurts states’ economies more than it helps...
Wages, safety lower in right-to-work states, lawmakers told WV Gazette-Mail ...Legislators heard the pros and cons Sunday of proposed legislation to make West Virginia a right-to-work state, with proponents saying it will help grow the state’s economy, and opponents calling it an effort to destroy unions and hurt working-class families. Both sides agreed that average wages are lower in right-to-work states, but differed on whether that is a good or bad thing...
New York State Workers Laud Higher Minimum Pay New York Times ...The governor’s action highlights his larger efforts to increase the statewide minimum wage for all workers, in both the public and private sectors, to $15 an hour from the current rate of $8.75, which would require the approval of the State Legislature. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour...
Minimum wage: Pressure mounts on Oregon lawmakers to take up increase in 2016 OregonLive ...As the movement to raise Oregon's minimum wage gathers steam, everyone is looking to see if the Legislature — facing ballot measures for $13.50 and $15, a worsening housing crisis in Portland and pressure from Gov. Kate Brown — will pass an increase during the 2016 session. Most agree that an increase is likely next year...
The Right’s Anti-Minimum Wage Arguments Have Pretty Much Stayed the Same for 80 Years In These Times ...Over the past year, the campaign to raise the minimum wage has been steadily accumulating prominence, political allies and, most importantly, successes. Not surprisingly, it has also occasioned a pushback from conservative politicians and columnists who view its increase as a misguided, self-defeating folly...
U.S. LABOR
Kohler workers on strike Fight Back News ...On Nov. 15, at 9:00 a.m., about 2100 workers of Kohler Co., represented by United Auto Workers Local 883 in Kohler, Wisconsin voted by a 93.4% margin to strike, with about 1800 members voting. The strike started Nov. 15. The facility is shuttered and not operational. In 2010, Kohler pushed the workers to accept a concessionary contract...
Majority favor UAW-Ford contract in early voting Detroit Free Press ...Ford's emphasis on investment in its 26 facilities across the U.S. is paying off in early positive results as 52,900 UAW members continue to vote on a new four-year tentative agreement on Sunday even as workers at a big assembly plant in Claycomo, Mo. voted against the agreement...
Kaiser, mental health workers avert strike San Jose Mercury News ...Kaiser Permanente and its mental health workers have reached a tentative contract settlement, averting a strike that had been planned to start Monday, the union announced late Sunday. Health clinicians and Kaiser agreed on a tentative three-year contract overcoming two major sticking points...
Solano County and SEIU labor union reach impasse The Reporter ...After months of negotiations, an expired contract and a two-day strike, Solano County and Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 have reached an impasse. “Future discussion would be futile,” said the county in a press release issued Friday afternoon. It noted that the impasse was declared after negotiations reached late into the night Thursday...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Voices from a City in Mourning: Paris Reels After 129 Killed in Deadliest Attacks in Decades Democracy Now ...France has entered a third day of mourning after a string of suicide bombings and shootings targeted restaurants, a concert hall and the national soccer stadium on Friday night. The simultaneous attacks killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. It was the deadliest attack on French soil in decades...
After Paris Attacks, Critics Warn Against 'Wars of Vengeance' Common Dreams ...As details trickled out about Friday's deadly attacks in and around Paris, observers urged world leaders to avoid knee-jerk responses both at home and abroad. Beating the drum for "all-out war" would not be strategically sound, critics cautioned in the wake of the attacks...
We kicked the Koch Brothers’ ass: How Denver parents beat back big money, charter schools, right-wing lies Salon ...News stories told of a national program bearing down on the school district, with “money pouring in from Americans for Prosperity, the national organization founded by the Koch brothers,” in an effort to impose an agenda from outside the community that included a new history curriculum, new restrictions on teachers’ job security, and more privately-operated charter schools. The results came in last week, and voters recalled the board majority and voted in a new slate of progressive-minded candidates...
The Second Democratic Debate Was a Great Night for Republicans (opinion) The Nation ...The Democrats kept citing the examples of Republicans to explain—and justify—their policies on everything from progressive taxation to breaking up big banks. The Democrats were not referencing 2016 Republicans, who in each new GOP presidential debate further expose the extent to which the party of Lincoln has broken faith with every idea for which it ever stood. Saturday was a great night for the Republican Party that was...
Protests Erupt In Minneapolis After Cops Shoot Unarmed Black Man Think Progress ...Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis took to the streets on Sunday to protest the police shooting of an unarmed black man who, according to some witnesses, was already in handcuffs when the cops opened fire. The man was shot during a midday altercation on the street, as police officers reportedly tried to stop him from interfering with a paramedic crew assisting a victim of an assault...
Air General Workers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Choose Teamsters Teamster.org ...Workers with Air General who provide cargo, mail handling and warehousing services at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have voted to join Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. The 30 workers joined the Teamsters seeking better pay, benefits and working conditions...
Fort Polk Teamsters Vote for Strike Authorization Teamster.org ... Fort Polk federal contractors that work for URS/AECOM voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization last week following their rejection of a substandard last, best and final offer from the company. The workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 19 in Humble, Texas, voted down the contract proposal by a 90 percent margin...
Ballots Sent Out For San Bernardino County Contract Teamster.org ...Thousands of public employees in San Bernardino County, California, will now have an opportunity to use their voice in the workplace! Yesterday, ballots for the tentative agreement covering the 11,000 employees went in the mail to each union household. The bargaining committee and stewards from Teamsters Local 1932 (newly charted this year after the successful organizing campaign) unanimously endorsed the agreement...
Hoffa Opposes Highway Bill Measure Go By Truck ...Teamsters President James Hoffa penned an article for the Los Angeles Daily News expressing concern about a provision in the House of Representatives’ highway bill that he says would contribute to more dangerous highways. The provision would allow carriers to deny state-required rest and meal breaks to their drivers. Several judicial rulings have upheld California’s right to impose mandatory breaks for all workers, including truck drivers...
FRA: Northeast Rail Corridor Needs Significant Investment Teamster.org ...The Federal Railway Administration (FRA) issued a report this week on upgrades needed for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail system. Members of the Teamsters Rail Conference from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division work side by side on the NEC to keep the trains running efficiently and safely...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Obama urges Congress to approve Pacific trade pact early in 2016 Reuters ...President Barack Obama on Friday urged the U.S. Congress to quickly approve a 12-nation Pacific trade pact early in 2016, telling reporters the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was essential to the American economy as well as national security. Obama last week gave Congress 90 days' notice that he would sign the TPP deal, which seeks to remove trade barriers and set common standards in 40 percent of the world economy...
TPP uncertainties to dog Obama trip to Asia Politico ...President Barack Obama wraps up Group of 20 meetings today in Turkey, where the recent attack in Paris has taken center stage. That stop precedes a trip through Asia this week, where he hopes to build on the momentum of the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and to reassure allies...
Leaders of TPP states to meet in Manila Japan News ...The leaders of Japan, the United States and 10 other countries that reached a broad Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord last month will hold a meeting in Manila on Wednesday. At the meeting, the TPP leaders are expected to declare that they will aim for the early entry into force of the TPP pact...
APEC Business Council Calls on States to Ratify TPP as Route to FTAAP Sputnik News ...The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) is calling on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member states to ratify the deal as soon as possible, as it may lead to trade agreements encompassing larger areas such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the head of Australia’s ABAC delegation said Monday...
TTIP trade talks: Germany urges US to let MPs see texts BBC ...The German government has urged American authorities to give German MPs access to key documents in the EU-US trade negotiations known as TTIP. The request came amid widespread opposition to the confidential talks, which are aimed at creating the world's biggest free trade zone...
ILO says most Bangladesh garment factories must improve fire safety Reuters ...The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Friday 80 percent of export-oriented ready made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh needed improvement in fire and electrical safety standards. A spotlight was thrown on Bangladesh's garment sector, the world's second biggest which supplies many global brands, after the collapse of a factory complex in 2013...
French officials warned that austerity increased security peril Al Jazeera ...After the carnage in and around Paris Friday night, when eight assailants used explosives and automatic weapons to kill at least 128 people, recent warnings by security officials over the spiking threat of attack amid budgetary austerity have assumed a particularly grim prescience...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Lawmakers hear right-to-work comparative study Metro News ...In Sunday’s Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary meeting, WVU economics researcher John Deskins reported his findings in relation to the differences between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states. West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue spoke against right-to-work, pointing out that it hurts states’ economies more than it helps...
Wages, safety lower in right-to-work states, lawmakers told WV Gazette-Mail ...Legislators heard the pros and cons Sunday of proposed legislation to make West Virginia a right-to-work state, with proponents saying it will help grow the state’s economy, and opponents calling it an effort to destroy unions and hurt working-class families. Both sides agreed that average wages are lower in right-to-work states, but differed on whether that is a good or bad thing...
New York State Workers Laud Higher Minimum Pay New York Times ...The governor’s action highlights his larger efforts to increase the statewide minimum wage for all workers, in both the public and private sectors, to $15 an hour from the current rate of $8.75, which would require the approval of the State Legislature. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour...
Minimum wage: Pressure mounts on Oregon lawmakers to take up increase in 2016 OregonLive ...As the movement to raise Oregon's minimum wage gathers steam, everyone is looking to see if the Legislature — facing ballot measures for $13.50 and $15, a worsening housing crisis in Portland and pressure from Gov. Kate Brown — will pass an increase during the 2016 session. Most agree that an increase is likely next year...
The Right’s Anti-Minimum Wage Arguments Have Pretty Much Stayed the Same for 80 Years In These Times ...Over the past year, the campaign to raise the minimum wage has been steadily accumulating prominence, political allies and, most importantly, successes. Not surprisingly, it has also occasioned a pushback from conservative politicians and columnists who view its increase as a misguided, self-defeating folly...
U.S. LABOR
Kohler workers on strike Fight Back News ...On Nov. 15, at 9:00 a.m., about 2100 workers of Kohler Co., represented by United Auto Workers Local 883 in Kohler, Wisconsin voted by a 93.4% margin to strike, with about 1800 members voting. The strike started Nov. 15. The facility is shuttered and not operational. In 2010, Kohler pushed the workers to accept a concessionary contract...
Majority favor UAW-Ford contract in early voting Detroit Free Press ...Ford's emphasis on investment in its 26 facilities across the U.S. is paying off in early positive results as 52,900 UAW members continue to vote on a new four-year tentative agreement on Sunday even as workers at a big assembly plant in Claycomo, Mo. voted against the agreement...
Kaiser, mental health workers avert strike San Jose Mercury News ...Kaiser Permanente and its mental health workers have reached a tentative contract settlement, averting a strike that had been planned to start Monday, the union announced late Sunday. Health clinicians and Kaiser agreed on a tentative three-year contract overcoming two major sticking points...
Solano County and SEIU labor union reach impasse The Reporter ...After months of negotiations, an expired contract and a two-day strike, Solano County and Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 have reached an impasse. “Future discussion would be futile,” said the county in a press release issued Friday afternoon. It noted that the impasse was declared after negotiations reached late into the night Thursday...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Voices from a City in Mourning: Paris Reels After 129 Killed in Deadliest Attacks in Decades Democracy Now ...France has entered a third day of mourning after a string of suicide bombings and shootings targeted restaurants, a concert hall and the national soccer stadium on Friday night. The simultaneous attacks killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. It was the deadliest attack on French soil in decades...
After Paris Attacks, Critics Warn Against 'Wars of Vengeance' Common Dreams ...As details trickled out about Friday's deadly attacks in and around Paris, observers urged world leaders to avoid knee-jerk responses both at home and abroad. Beating the drum for "all-out war" would not be strategically sound, critics cautioned in the wake of the attacks...
We kicked the Koch Brothers’ ass: How Denver parents beat back big money, charter schools, right-wing lies Salon ...News stories told of a national program bearing down on the school district, with “money pouring in from Americans for Prosperity, the national organization founded by the Koch brothers,” in an effort to impose an agenda from outside the community that included a new history curriculum, new restrictions on teachers’ job security, and more privately-operated charter schools. The results came in last week, and voters recalled the board majority and voted in a new slate of progressive-minded candidates...
The Second Democratic Debate Was a Great Night for Republicans (opinion) The Nation ...The Democrats kept citing the examples of Republicans to explain—and justify—their policies on everything from progressive taxation to breaking up big banks. The Democrats were not referencing 2016 Republicans, who in each new GOP presidential debate further expose the extent to which the party of Lincoln has broken faith with every idea for which it ever stood. Saturday was a great night for the Republican Party that was...
Protests Erupt In Minneapolis After Cops Shoot Unarmed Black Man Think Progress ...Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis took to the streets on Sunday to protest the police shooting of an unarmed black man who, according to some witnesses, was already in handcuffs when the cops opened fire. The man was shot during a midday altercation on the street, as police officers reportedly tried to stop him from interfering with a paramedic crew assisting a victim of an assault...
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Today's Teamster News 03.02.13
Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says Washington Post ...Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move also would not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added...
Factory Expansion Spurs Growth as Budget Cuts Loom Bloomberg ...American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years, spurred by a jump in orders that is helping propel an economy about to be tested by federal government cutbacks...
Personal Income Hammered - Drops -3.6% for January 2013 Economic Populist ...Disposable income is worse. DPI dropped -4.0%, even when adjusted for inflation....
Since 2011, 105 Wage Supression Bills Have Been Introduced In State Legislatures ThinkProgress ... lawmakers in 31 states have introduced 105 bills aimed at suppressing workers’ wages, with a little help from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative group that provides model legislation on everything from union-busting to voter disenfranchisement:...
Looming federal spending cuts will hit hospitals where it hurts McClatchy ...More than 4,200 hospitals that are among the largest employers in their communities would lose nearly $3 billion under the Medicare cuts this year. That could trigger the loss of 73,000 hospital jobs nationwide...
Ahead of Singapore Round of TPP Negotiations, U.S. Public Opposition to Deal Grows Public Citizen ...With Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations slated to begin on March 4, opposition to the deal in the United States continues to mount. More than 300 groups signed on to a letter to Congress calling the lack of transparency in negotiations “inconsistent with democratic principles”...
Michigan governor clears way for state takeover of Detroit Reuters ...Friday's declaration by the Republican governor virtually assures that the state of Michigan will assume control of Detroit's books, and eventually decide whether the city should file the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...
Taylor schools, union sued over contract that skirts right to work Detroit News ...The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three Taylor teachers who object to a union security clause adopted by the school board and the Taylor Federation of Teachers...
At lager heads: Pa. beer distributors stoutly oppose Corbett privatization newsworks.com ...Any reservations beer distributors have about Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett's liquor privatization plan have brewed into outright opposition...
Nutter seeks high court's OK to impose his terms on city workers philly.com ...If Nutter succeeds, the case could change labor negotiations across Pennsylvania by significantly shifting power to mayors and governors...
Missouri House Votes To Exempt Schools From Prevailing Wage KCUR.com ...Democrats argued that waiving the prevailing wage requirement could lead to cut-rate contractors from other states taking jobs away from skilled workers in Missouri...
GOP lawmaker targets public employee unions with bills Cronkite News ...Two ... bills would restrict the ability of public employee union members to strike and to be paid for time spent on union activities. The other would require public employees represented by unions to sign off each year on having dues deducted from paychecks...
Alaska lawmakers raise labor cost concerns Associated Press ...Alaska legislative leaders are urging Gov. Sean Parnell to negotiate no raises in union labor contracts amid concerns about state budget costs...
Waste Management Workers In California Vote To Join Local 683 In San Diego IBT ...sanitation drivers, helpers, mechanics and yard crew from El Cajon‘s Waste Management facility overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters, Local 683. The vote was 144 to 37 in favor of forming their union. There are 191 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Organizes Sleepy Hollow Employees Tarrytown-SleepyHollow Patch ...The new Teamsters span a broad array of workplaces and duties, from village hall clerks and other office staff to rec workers, crossing guard and the village’s parking-law enforcer...
Fairbanks school bus drivers vote to authorize strike Daily News-Miner ...Local school bus drivers overwhelmingly approved a strike vote on Thursday against First Student, but union officials say no work stoppage is imminent. Members of Teamsters Local 959 voted to strike after unsuccessful negotiations...
Cleveland city lawyers want to join Teamsters, citing years of low pay and job insecurity The Plain Dealer ...Civil attorneys in the city of Cleveland's law department have petitioned to join the Teamsters and become the first municipal law department in Ohio to unionize...
Negotiations for county workers hit seniority snag Tampa Bay Times ...Representing about 400 county employees, Teamsters Local 79 pushed hard Thursday to get the county administration to agree to use seniority as the main factor in filling county jobs...
Hoffa Calls On Congress To Act On Sequester IBT ...Hoffa on the failure of Congress to replace the sequester by today's deadline: "Austerity is destroying the economies of Europe and worsening the European debt crisis. Austerity will destroy America's economy and increase our deficit. Cutting government spending is exactly what Congress should not be doing during an economic slump...
Factory Expansion Spurs Growth as Budget Cuts Loom Bloomberg ...American factories expanded in February at the fastest pace in almost two years, spurred by a jump in orders that is helping propel an economy about to be tested by federal government cutbacks...
Personal Income Hammered - Drops -3.6% for January 2013 Economic Populist ...Disposable income is worse. DPI dropped -4.0%, even when adjusted for inflation....
Since 2011, 105 Wage Supression Bills Have Been Introduced In State Legislatures ThinkProgress ... lawmakers in 31 states have introduced 105 bills aimed at suppressing workers’ wages, with a little help from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative group that provides model legislation on everything from union-busting to voter disenfranchisement:...
Looming federal spending cuts will hit hospitals where it hurts McClatchy ...More than 4,200 hospitals that are among the largest employers in their communities would lose nearly $3 billion under the Medicare cuts this year. That could trigger the loss of 73,000 hospital jobs nationwide...
Ahead of Singapore Round of TPP Negotiations, U.S. Public Opposition to Deal Grows Public Citizen ...With Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations slated to begin on March 4, opposition to the deal in the United States continues to mount. More than 300 groups signed on to a letter to Congress calling the lack of transparency in negotiations “inconsistent with democratic principles”...
Michigan governor clears way for state takeover of Detroit Reuters ...Friday's declaration by the Republican governor virtually assures that the state of Michigan will assume control of Detroit's books, and eventually decide whether the city should file the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...
Taylor schools, union sued over contract that skirts right to work Detroit News ...The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three Taylor teachers who object to a union security clause adopted by the school board and the Taylor Federation of Teachers...
At lager heads: Pa. beer distributors stoutly oppose Corbett privatization newsworks.com ...Any reservations beer distributors have about Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett's liquor privatization plan have brewed into outright opposition...
Nutter seeks high court's OK to impose his terms on city workers philly.com ...If Nutter succeeds, the case could change labor negotiations across Pennsylvania by significantly shifting power to mayors and governors...
Missouri House Votes To Exempt Schools From Prevailing Wage KCUR.com ...Democrats argued that waiving the prevailing wage requirement could lead to cut-rate contractors from other states taking jobs away from skilled workers in Missouri...
GOP lawmaker targets public employee unions with bills Cronkite News ...Two ... bills would restrict the ability of public employee union members to strike and to be paid for time spent on union activities. The other would require public employees represented by unions to sign off each year on having dues deducted from paychecks...
Alaska lawmakers raise labor cost concerns Associated Press ...Alaska legislative leaders are urging Gov. Sean Parnell to negotiate no raises in union labor contracts amid concerns about state budget costs...
Waste Management Workers In California Vote To Join Local 683 In San Diego IBT ...sanitation drivers, helpers, mechanics and yard crew from El Cajon‘s Waste Management facility overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters, Local 683. The vote was 144 to 37 in favor of forming their union. There are 191 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Organizes Sleepy Hollow Employees Tarrytown-SleepyHollow Patch ...The new Teamsters span a broad array of workplaces and duties, from village hall clerks and other office staff to rec workers, crossing guard and the village’s parking-law enforcer...
Fairbanks school bus drivers vote to authorize strike Daily News-Miner ...Local school bus drivers overwhelmingly approved a strike vote on Thursday against First Student, but union officials say no work stoppage is imminent. Members of Teamsters Local 959 voted to strike after unsuccessful negotiations...
Cleveland city lawyers want to join Teamsters, citing years of low pay and job insecurity The Plain Dealer ...Civil attorneys in the city of Cleveland's law department have petitioned to join the Teamsters and become the first municipal law department in Ohio to unionize...
Negotiations for county workers hit seniority snag Tampa Bay Times ...Representing about 400 county employees, Teamsters Local 79 pushed hard Thursday to get the county administration to agree to use seniority as the main factor in filling county jobs...
Hoffa Calls On Congress To Act On Sequester IBT ...Hoffa on the failure of Congress to replace the sequester by today's deadline: "Austerity is destroying the economies of Europe and worsening the European debt crisis. Austerity will destroy America's economy and increase our deficit. Cutting government spending is exactly what Congress should not be doing during an economic slump...
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Today's Teamster News 10.24.12
WTO Hands Obama Victory In U.S.-China Steel Case Trade Reform ... The World Trade Organization barred China on Thursday from imposing duties on certain U.S. steel exports, siding with U.S. President Barack Obama in a dispute with Beijing over a type of steel made in two election battleground states...
Thousands in Madrid protest 2013 budget cuts RT ...Cordoned off by police riot vans, the crowd outside the government headquarters in Madrid yelled slogans lambasting further austerity measures and political corruption, demanding the resignations of the deputies of both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists...
UPS Rises After Asia Exports Post Surprise Increase Bloomberg News ...United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) rose the most since March after posting third-quarter earnings that matched analysts’ estimates, buoyed by higher export shipments in Asia and a gain in U.S. deliveries...
Ohio County Mailer Sends Wrong Voting Location And Date To 2300 People ThinkProgress ...The Ohio Democratic Party is calling for corrections to an Ottawa County Board of Elections mailer riddled with errors...
Bankrupt San Bernardino halts payments to CalPERS pension fund Los Angeles Times ...the delinquent payments would not have any immediate effect on pension payments to retirees, but eventually could if the situation persists...
Teamsters, Joint Logistics reaches impasse Quad Cities Business Journal ...Negotiations between members of Teamsters Local 371 who work for Joint Logistics Managers Inc., or JLMI, at the Rock Island Arsenal, and the company, are at an impasse, according to Howard Spoon, president of Local 371. He said union members have approved a strike authorization...
Thousands in Madrid protest 2013 budget cuts RT ...Cordoned off by police riot vans, the crowd outside the government headquarters in Madrid yelled slogans lambasting further austerity measures and political corruption, demanding the resignations of the deputies of both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists...
UPS Rises After Asia Exports Post Surprise Increase Bloomberg News ...United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) rose the most since March after posting third-quarter earnings that matched analysts’ estimates, buoyed by higher export shipments in Asia and a gain in U.S. deliveries...
Ohio County Mailer Sends Wrong Voting Location And Date To 2300 People ThinkProgress ...The Ohio Democratic Party is calling for corrections to an Ottawa County Board of Elections mailer riddled with errors...
Bankrupt San Bernardino halts payments to CalPERS pension fund Los Angeles Times ...the delinquent payments would not have any immediate effect on pension payments to retirees, but eventually could if the situation persists...
Teamsters, Joint Logistics reaches impasse Quad Cities Business Journal ...Negotiations between members of Teamsters Local 371 who work for Joint Logistics Managers Inc., or JLMI, at the Rock Island Arsenal, and the company, are at an impasse, according to Howard Spoon, president of Local 371. He said union members have approved a strike authorization...
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Today's Teamster News 10.23.12
Workers accuse Wal-Mart of breaking wage, OT laws Chicago Tribune ...Twenty-one individuals named in the suit allege that from early 2009 and continuing through today, Wal-Mart, Brookfield, Wis.-based QPS Employment Group Inc. and Labor Ready Midwest Inc., a division of Tacoma, Wash.-based True Blue Inc., failed to keep accurate records of workers' time and provide workers with forms verifying hours worked, thereby making it "impossible for workers to make claims that they were not paid by the temp agencies for all of the hours they worked," according to the suit...
Money Changers in the Temple The Mudflats ...The event was to raise money to buy access to a new database sold by the reactionary Koch Brothers. The database actually marries church records and Internet shopping histories to better target voters likely to oppose — in the present case — the Alaska Senate Bipartisan Working Group. Minnery explained that this little invasion of privacy was for “the Glory of God and to get conservatives in power...”
NPR Sets Straight All Those Silly People Who Thought Unemployment Was the Country's Biggest Problem Beat the Press ...lmost five years after the start of the recession we still have close to 25 million people who are unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up work altogether. Given that this is ruining the lives of millions of workers and their children we might think that this is the country's most important problem. Fortunately, we have National Public Radio (NPR) to set us straight...
Across Corn Belt, Farmland Prices Keep Soaring New York Times ...farmland prices have continued to rise. From Nebraska to Illinois, farmers seeking more land to plant and outside investors looking for a better long-term investment than stocks and bonds continue to buy farmland, taking advantage of low interest rates...
A Real Foreign Policy Debate Should Talk Trade and Human Rights (opinion) The Nation ...the political and media elites ... don’t like it when foreign policy discussion turn to trade issues, and they especially don’t like it when the focus turns to the way in which bad trade policies harm American workers and communities...
Wis. judge rejects request to reinstate union law Associated Press ...A Wisconsin judge refused Monday to put on hold his earlier decision repealing major parts of Gov. Scott Walker's law effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers...
Teamsters tell Uniontown Hospital 'no,' authorize work stoppage Uniontown Herald Standard ...Members of the Teamsters Local 491 employed at Uniontown Hospital voted Sunday to reject the hospital’s contract offer...
Money Changers in the Temple The Mudflats ...The event was to raise money to buy access to a new database sold by the reactionary Koch Brothers. The database actually marries church records and Internet shopping histories to better target voters likely to oppose — in the present case — the Alaska Senate Bipartisan Working Group. Minnery explained that this little invasion of privacy was for “the Glory of God and to get conservatives in power...”
NPR Sets Straight All Those Silly People Who Thought Unemployment Was the Country's Biggest Problem Beat the Press ...lmost five years after the start of the recession we still have close to 25 million people who are unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up work altogether. Given that this is ruining the lives of millions of workers and their children we might think that this is the country's most important problem. Fortunately, we have National Public Radio (NPR) to set us straight...
Across Corn Belt, Farmland Prices Keep Soaring New York Times ...farmland prices have continued to rise. From Nebraska to Illinois, farmers seeking more land to plant and outside investors looking for a better long-term investment than stocks and bonds continue to buy farmland, taking advantage of low interest rates...
A Real Foreign Policy Debate Should Talk Trade and Human Rights (opinion) The Nation ...the political and media elites ... don’t like it when foreign policy discussion turn to trade issues, and they especially don’t like it when the focus turns to the way in which bad trade policies harm American workers and communities...
Wis. judge rejects request to reinstate union law Associated Press ...A Wisconsin judge refused Monday to put on hold his earlier decision repealing major parts of Gov. Scott Walker's law effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers...
Teamsters tell Uniontown Hospital 'no,' authorize work stoppage Uniontown Herald Standard ...Members of the Teamsters Local 491 employed at Uniontown Hospital voted Sunday to reject the hospital’s contract offer...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)