Teamsters
Facebook shuttle drivers ratify new Teamsters contract: WSJ Reuters … Loop Transportation, the contractor that employs the drivers and negotiated with Teamsters Local 853, cautioned that the agreement was not finalized and must be approved by Facebook...
Canadian Pacific and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference agree to binding arbitration Transport Intelligence …Canadian Pacific and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have agreed to enter into binding arbitration to put an end to the work stoppage by CP's locomotive engineers and conductors...
Trade
Obama to make TPP free trade sales pitch to American people Big News Network …US President Barack Obama on Saturday began a major sales pitch to the US public to bring them round to the merits of free trade deals, an area in which he faces stiff resistance from many in his own Democratic party...
Europeans Want TTIP Trade-Deal, though Obama Blocks Making Its Terms Public RINF Alternative News …TTIP is a secretly negotiated trade deal between the U.S. and the EU, and all indications are that it will replace each nation’s drug-safety, product-safety, food-safety, environmental, and worker-protection, regulations and laws, placing them into the hands of panels composed of appointees of large international corporations, no longer in the hands of publicly elected officials, no longer in the hands of elected politicians, who need to face voters periodically in order to stay in power...
State Battles
Wisconsin Could Be Right-To-Work In A Matter Of Days Huffington Post …It's been more than two decades since Gov. Scott Walker (R) first pushed right-to-work legislation as a state lawmaker in Wisconsin. Now, all these years later, the famously anti-union governor may finally be getting his wish -- whether he likes it or not...
Second fight over union rights comes to Wisconsin as right-to-work debate looms Associated Press …The first step is a public hearing Tuesday before the state Senate's Labor Committee before the Senate takes it up for debate on Wednesday...
War on Workers
Trend in Temp Workers may not be Temporary Economic Populist …America's third largest job creator is a temp agency called Kelly Services, which provided employment to 555,000 employees in 2014...
Ex-Im critics pounce after bank yanks data The Hill …Critics of the Export-Import Bank are seething over the removal from a government Web site of previously public data earlier they say helps them detect cronyism…
Amid controversy, oil trains quietly rerouted through Virginia towns Reuters …CSX Corp is temporarily rerouting up to five oil trains through this small riverside town to bypass the site of an explosive oil train derailment that occurred 90 miles north in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, on Monday...
Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy Reuters …Across the U.S. Midwest, the plunge in grain prices to near four-year lows is pitting landowners determined to sustain rental incomes against farmer tenants worried about making rent payments because their revenues are squeezed...
Will America's Shale Boomtowns Bust? A Report From the Heart of North Dakota's Fracking Country Fortune …After reaching a 12-month high of $108 last summer, U.S. benchmark petroleum prices have dramatically declined, to a price now hovering near $50 per barrel. That has shaken global markets and energy companies alike, causing oil producers to slash their capital expenditure budgets and announce layoffs...
Worker dies in Canton's second fatal snow-related fall in 5 days WCVB …A worker fell 40 feet to his death Sunday while checking the roof of a building for snow removal...
Showing posts with label temporary workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temporary workers. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Hoffa comes to California to fight abuse of temporary workers at Taylor Farms
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today told Taylor Farms workers in Sacramento that the Teamsters are backing them in their fight to join a union and to change the law to protect temporary workers.
Hoffa met with workers before speaking at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol. Taylor Farms worker Armida Galeana thanked Hoffa for joining the fight. Maria Carranza fought back tears when telling him her story about her treatment at Taylor Farms.
Jose Gonzalez works at Taylor Farms, but is employed by a labor contractor called slingshot. He said he's been a temp workers for 10 years.
Hoffa called it a shell game that contributes to today's jobs crisis.
While its workers generated $1.8 billion in revenue for the company in 2012, Taylor Farms claims that it has no responsibility for how its “temporary” workers are treated. Many are paid the minimum wage and even that gets stolen from them. They've been fired for getting injured or ill,
discriminated against for their ethnicity and sexual orientation and confronted by dangerous working conditions. They often have to provide their own safety equipment like gloves and warm clothes. They're even denied breaks to use the bathroom.
Read more about the corporate scam that lets corporations abuse temporary workers here.
 |
| Teamsters President Jim Hoffa with Taylor Farms workers today in Sacramento. |
Hoffa met with workers before speaking at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol. Taylor Farms worker Armida Galeana thanked Hoffa for joining the fight. Maria Carranza fought back tears when telling him her story about her treatment at Taylor Farms.
Jose Gonzalez works at Taylor Farms, but is employed by a labor contractor called slingshot. He said he's been a temp workers for 10 years.
Why not pay me the money going to the temporary agency for my labor? As a temp worker I have no health care, sick or vacation pay or retirement security. I have no future. It’s like I’m a modern-day slave.Hoffa said,
While there are 900 of you at Taylor Farms, you have 1.4 million Teamsters with you.California Teamsters are working with Taylor Farms workers to press for a bill that would protect temporary workers from abuse by employers. The bill, AB 1897, was approved by the Assembly and passed out of the Senate Labor Committee yesterday. It would hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers.
Hoffa called it a shell game that contributes to today's jobs crisis.
More and more people are working harder with less to show for it. Their low wages, unhealthy working conditions, and lack of benefits subsidize the greatest wealth at the top in the history of the world. Holding corporations accountable for violations of basic worker rights on their premises would be an important step in the right direction.Taylor Farms is the world’s largest salad processor, supplying to McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Subway, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden and Red Lobster), and many other restaurant and food chains. At its processing plant in Tracy, a majority of the people who do the work actually are employed by two temporary staffing agencies and not by Taylor Farms. Slingshot has its office on the company’s premises, and Taylor Farms is its only customer.
While its workers generated $1.8 billion in revenue for the company in 2012, Taylor Farms claims that it has no responsibility for how its “temporary” workers are treated. Many are paid the minimum wage and even that gets stolen from them. They've been fired for getting injured or ill,
discriminated against for their ethnicity and sexual orientation and confronted by dangerous working conditions. They often have to provide their own safety equipment like gloves and warm clothes. They're even denied breaks to use the bathroom.
Read more about the corporate scam that lets corporations abuse temporary workers here.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
California bill to make employers responsible for temp hires moves forward in Legislature
The Teamsters bill to establish joint employer liability for employers when their temporary agencies break California labor laws passed the Assembly Floor with 45 votes.
That's the great news from Brother Doug Bloch, political director for Teamsters Joint Council 7 in California.
You may remember how Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers lobbied lawmakers earlier this month on the bill. Here's a picture:
Brother Doug continued:
That's the great news from Brother Doug Bloch, political director for Teamsters Joint Council 7 in California.
You may remember how Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers lobbied lawmakers earlier this month on the bill. Here's a picture:
Brother Doug continued:
This was a tremendous collective effort on the part of many of our Joint Council 7 and 42 Local unions. We really saw what happens when our Locals get involved in politics on the local level -- making endorsements and DRIVE contributions -- and how that helped us influence legislators. We reached out to legislators in their districts, making a big difference.
Furthermore, in our effort to connect organizing and legislation, we put Taylor Farms and their temporary agencies front and center in this fight, with workers and Teamsters hitting the capitol on three separate lobby days, mobilizing over 100 people. The bravery of Taylor Farms workers and the horror stories they told led some opponents of the bill to distance themselves from Taylor Farms as a "bad actor" in this industry.
Next we move on to the Senate. A great effort so far with more work to come!Looking forward to another Teamster victory!
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Inequality begins in college, with presidents' pay
College students are experiencing inequality even before they enter the workforce, according to a new study by the Institute for Policy Studies.
Students at public universities with the highest paid presidents have the fastest growing student loan debt and the lowest paid graduate assistants, the study concludes.
And here's a shock: Two-thirds of all faculty in U.S. colleges and universities work on a contingent basis with relatively low pay and with little or no benefits. (Sounds like the rest of the U.S. work force, doesn't it?)
Indebted college students are now graduating with an average of $29,400 in debt per borrower, Al Jazeera America reported. Once they get a diploma, it isn't easy finding a job -- unemployment among youth 16-24 in March was over 14 percent. And of the low-wage, temporary jobs being created, perhaps the less said the better.
The five most unequal universities in the United States are The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and the University of Washington.
Pennsylvania State University hired its new president, Eric Barron, for a 'competitive and reasonable; $1 million-plus a year. But some of the most respected public universities in the country pay their presidents less than $500,000: University of California, Berkeley; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Students at public universities with the highest paid presidents have the fastest growing student loan debt and the lowest paid graduate assistants, the study concludes.
And here's a shock: Two-thirds of all faculty in U.S. colleges and universities work on a contingent basis with relatively low pay and with little or no benefits. (Sounds like the rest of the U.S. work force, doesn't it?)
Indebted college students are now graduating with an average of $29,400 in debt per borrower, Al Jazeera America reported. Once they get a diploma, it isn't easy finding a job -- unemployment among youth 16-24 in March was over 14 percent. And of the low-wage, temporary jobs being created, perhaps the less said the better.
The five most unequal universities in the United States are The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and the University of Washington.
Pennsylvania State University hired its new president, Eric Barron, for a 'competitive and reasonable; $1 million-plus a year. But some of the most respected public universities in the country pay their presidents less than $500,000: University of California, Berkeley; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.12.14
Teamster News
Teamsters, Greece Central Agree To New Contract Democrat & Chronicle ...The union representing Greece Central School District central office, food service, transportation and facility employees has inked a new contract with the district...
Teamsters endorse Pasco contract Tampa Bay Tribune ...The Teamsters Local 79 overwhelmingly voted to ratify their first contract with Pasco County. Union members voted 248-63 to endorse the contract, which took 3½ years to negotiate...
North Las Vegas Strikes Deals With 2 Unions San Francisco Chronicle ...North Las Vegas officials reached agreements with two of their public employee labor unions on Wednesday after talks involving Gov. Brian Sandoval and Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, putting the city closer to staving off a potential state takeover...
Trade
Mexico now exports more cars to the U.S. than Japan does The Raw Story ...Mexico’s booming auto industry has reached a major milestone, claiming to have overtaken Japan as the second biggest car exporter to the United States in the past three months...
TPP Foreign Policy Arguments Mimic False Claims Made for Past Pacts Public Citizen ...foreign policy arguments have consistently proven baseless when used to sell trade deals over the past two decades...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Risks Splitting Asean, Manila Warns South China Morning Post ...A US-backed pacific free-trade pact could cause resentment in Southeast Asia, leaving some nations in the region better positioned to access the American market than others, a top Philippean official said...
State Battles
Missouri becomes latest Right to Work battleground Washington Post ...The national battle between conservative groups and big labor unions is moving to Missouri as outside groups on both sides gear up for a vote that could come as early as Monday on controversial legislation that would strip unions of the power to compel workers in union shops to join...
Editorial: Dark money vultures pick away at Missouri's legislative carcass St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...They direct big donors in the age of dark money. They are nothing but vultures, and they are winning...
Teamsters, Greece Central Agree To New Contract Democrat & Chronicle ...The union representing Greece Central School District central office, food service, transportation and facility employees has inked a new contract with the district...
Teamsters endorse Pasco contract Tampa Bay Tribune ...The Teamsters Local 79 overwhelmingly voted to ratify their first contract with Pasco County. Union members voted 248-63 to endorse the contract, which took 3½ years to negotiate...
North Las Vegas Strikes Deals With 2 Unions San Francisco Chronicle ...North Las Vegas officials reached agreements with two of their public employee labor unions on Wednesday after talks involving Gov. Brian Sandoval and Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, putting the city closer to staving off a potential state takeover...
Trade
Mexico now exports more cars to the U.S. than Japan does The Raw Story ...Mexico’s booming auto industry has reached a major milestone, claiming to have overtaken Japan as the second biggest car exporter to the United States in the past three months...
TPP Foreign Policy Arguments Mimic False Claims Made for Past Pacts Public Citizen ...foreign policy arguments have consistently proven baseless when used to sell trade deals over the past two decades...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Risks Splitting Asean, Manila Warns South China Morning Post ...A US-backed pacific free-trade pact could cause resentment in Southeast Asia, leaving some nations in the region better positioned to access the American market than others, a top Philippean official said...
State Battles
Missouri becomes latest Right to Work battleground Washington Post ...The national battle between conservative groups and big labor unions is moving to Missouri as outside groups on both sides gear up for a vote that could come as early as Monday on controversial legislation that would strip unions of the power to compel workers in union shops to join...
Editorial: Dark money vultures pick away at Missouri's legislative carcass St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...They direct big donors in the age of dark money. They are nothing but vultures, and they are winning...
War on Workers
Temp Workers Claim Unfair Treatment, File Lawsuits 5 NBC Chicago ...Thousands of Chicagoans are being treated unfairly by local temporary staffing agencies that require them to work long hours without always getting full pay, according to several class-action lawsuits currently being litigated in U.S. District Court...
Newly started foreclosures head higher in 19 states MarketWatch ...While national trends for troubled properties are improving, there are 19 states where newly started foreclosures are heading higher...
Start saving now: Day care costs more than college in 31 states Washington Post ...the annual cost of day care for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges in 31 states...
Jamie Dimon got a raise that conveniently looks like a paycut Salon ...The bumbling JPMorgan chief is rewarded, a bit sneakily, for his disastrous 2013 performance...
Gentrification’s quiet tragedy: How sweetheart deals are brutalizing the public The Salon ...Private companies are tricking public officials into bonanzas that line the companies' pockets -- at a big expense...
Thousands losing tax refunds to parents’ decades-old debts Washington Post ...Some taxpayers are finding that because of a debt they never knew about — often due to a decades-old Social Security overpayment — the government has confiscated their refunds...
Miscellaneous
Crude oil is displacing other commodities on trains, critics charge McClatchy ...Grain producers, manufacturers and coal shippers told federal regulators Thursday that rail service has deteriorated drastically in the nation’s midsection in recent months, leaving crops in piles on the ground and fuel stocks low at electric power plants as resources go undelivered. Railroad representatives told the federal Surface Transportation Board that a brutal winter, combined with a record grain harvest, was to blame for the delays, but the industry’s critics charge that their shipments are taking a side track to crude oil...
Can You Buy A License to Speed? Priceonomics ...With a (license plate) frame announcing that the driver has contributed a substantial amount of money to a fund that benefits highway patrol officers, donors believe that cops won’t give them speeding tickets...
Bus Crash Investigator: Tracker On Fedex Truck Likely Destroyed NBC News ...Ten people, five of them teenage students en route to a college recruitment event, died when the truck swerved across the median of Interstate 5 and slammed head-on into the motor coach full of students from the Los Angeles area on Thursday...
Temp Workers Claim Unfair Treatment, File Lawsuits 5 NBC Chicago ...Thousands of Chicagoans are being treated unfairly by local temporary staffing agencies that require them to work long hours without always getting full pay, according to several class-action lawsuits currently being litigated in U.S. District Court...
Newly started foreclosures head higher in 19 states MarketWatch ...While national trends for troubled properties are improving, there are 19 states where newly started foreclosures are heading higher...
Start saving now: Day care costs more than college in 31 states Washington Post ...the annual cost of day care for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges in 31 states...
Jamie Dimon got a raise that conveniently looks like a paycut Salon ...The bumbling JPMorgan chief is rewarded, a bit sneakily, for his disastrous 2013 performance...
Gentrification’s quiet tragedy: How sweetheart deals are brutalizing the public The Salon ...Private companies are tricking public officials into bonanzas that line the companies' pockets -- at a big expense...
Thousands losing tax refunds to parents’ decades-old debts Washington Post ...Some taxpayers are finding that because of a debt they never knew about — often due to a decades-old Social Security overpayment — the government has confiscated their refunds...
Miscellaneous
Crude oil is displacing other commodities on trains, critics charge McClatchy ...Grain producers, manufacturers and coal shippers told federal regulators Thursday that rail service has deteriorated drastically in the nation’s midsection in recent months, leaving crops in piles on the ground and fuel stocks low at electric power plants as resources go undelivered. Railroad representatives told the federal Surface Transportation Board that a brutal winter, combined with a record grain harvest, was to blame for the delays, but the industry’s critics charge that their shipments are taking a side track to crude oil...
Can You Buy A License to Speed? Priceonomics ...With a (license plate) frame announcing that the driver has contributed a substantial amount of money to a fund that benefits highway patrol officers, donors believe that cops won’t give them speeding tickets...
Bus Crash Investigator: Tracker On Fedex Truck Likely Destroyed NBC News ...Ten people, five of them teenage students en route to a college recruitment event, died when the truck swerved across the median of Interstate 5 and slammed head-on into the motor coach full of students from the Los Angeles area on Thursday...
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.12.14
Ohio’s right-to-work sideshow can’t become main event (opinion) Toledo Blade ...The real discussion Ohio needs to conduct is about job creation and economic revival...
U.S. Politicians Want to Fast-Track the Super-Secret, Super-Controversial TPP Slate ... “Blindly approving or disapproving agreements that have largely been negotiated in secret would represent a derelict of duty for Congress. If there is nothing to hide in these agreements, we should be allowed to debate and amend these deals in the open...”
Why House Democrats Might Kill Obama's Big Trade Deal Huffington Post ...President Barack Obama's international trade agenda is dead in the water if he doesn't do a better job engaging with Democrats in Congress, and his administration appears to be getting that message, Democrats said Friday...
Camp-Baucus Bill Would Revive Controversial 2002 Fast Track Mechanism Public Citizen ... the Camp-Baucus bill would empower the president to sign a trade pact before Congress votes on it, with a guarantee that the executive branch could write legislation to implement the pact and obtain House and Senate votes within 90 days, with all amendments forbidden and a maximum of 20 hours of debate permitted...
We Must Stop Fast Track Trade Authority from Being Granted! Trade Reform ...TPP would subject the U.S. to the jurisdiction of foreign tribunals under the authority of the World Bank and United Nations. These unelected, unaccountable panels would constitute a judicial authority higher than the U.S. Supreme Court...
A National Strategy Funds State Political Monopolies New York Times ...a sophisticated political apparatus (is) designed to channel political money from around the country into states where conditions were ripe for Republican takeover...
Inside the $400-million political network backed by the Kochs Washington Post ...a coalition of nonprofit groups backed by a donor network organized by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch raised more than $400 million in the last election cycle...
Reid backs down in unemployment fight The Hill ...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he is now open to considering Republican amendments to a bill extending emergency unemployment benefits through most of 2014...
Water Ban Continues in West Virginia Wall Street Journal ...Doctor Says Several Hundred Thousand Could Have Been Exposed to Contaminated Water for Seven Hours Thursday...
US doctors warn Congress cutting food stamps could mean higher medical bills The Guardian ...Among the health risks of hunger are spiked rates of diabetes and developmental problems for young children down the road...
December's Dismal Payrolls Mark Recession Six Year Anniversary Economic Populist ...over half, 54.6%, of December's jobs were temporary...
Career Advice for Central Park's Carriage Drivers Wall Street Journal ... Consider the plight of the many guys (and four gals) who drive carriages in Central Park. Some got into the business straight out of high school and did nothing else the past 30 or so years. Then along comes Mayor Bill de Blasio...
If firms like Target won't protect privacy, make 'em pay (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...The Target hack underlines the vulnerability of consumer data at a time when businesses large and small are doing their darnedest to amass as much of our info as possible...
U.S. pork producers move to reform factory farm abuses Salon ...Reform, for pigs destined to the dinner plate, means they’ll be given space to stand, turn around, lie down and even stretch their legs. Sick and injured animals, per Tyson’s new guidelines, will no longer be killed using “manual blunt force...”
Portuguese opposition party challenges country’s austerity measures in court Agence France-Press ...The constitutional court has made a series of rulings blocking austerity measures by the government, including plans to trim the civil service, causing a political crisis that nearly brought down the government which is implementing reforms and balancing public finances under Portugal’s 78-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout...
NAFTA Strengthened Canada's Corporate Class The Real News ... it's been bad for Canadian workers. It's undermined Canadian workers' bargaining power with companies...
U.S. Politicians Want to Fast-Track the Super-Secret, Super-Controversial TPP Slate ... “Blindly approving or disapproving agreements that have largely been negotiated in secret would represent a derelict of duty for Congress. If there is nothing to hide in these agreements, we should be allowed to debate and amend these deals in the open...”
Why House Democrats Might Kill Obama's Big Trade Deal Huffington Post ...President Barack Obama's international trade agenda is dead in the water if he doesn't do a better job engaging with Democrats in Congress, and his administration appears to be getting that message, Democrats said Friday...
Camp-Baucus Bill Would Revive Controversial 2002 Fast Track Mechanism Public Citizen ... the Camp-Baucus bill would empower the president to sign a trade pact before Congress votes on it, with a guarantee that the executive branch could write legislation to implement the pact and obtain House and Senate votes within 90 days, with all amendments forbidden and a maximum of 20 hours of debate permitted...
We Must Stop Fast Track Trade Authority from Being Granted! Trade Reform ...TPP would subject the U.S. to the jurisdiction of foreign tribunals under the authority of the World Bank and United Nations. These unelected, unaccountable panels would constitute a judicial authority higher than the U.S. Supreme Court...
A National Strategy Funds State Political Monopolies New York Times ...a sophisticated political apparatus (is) designed to channel political money from around the country into states where conditions were ripe for Republican takeover...
Inside the $400-million political network backed by the Kochs Washington Post ...a coalition of nonprofit groups backed by a donor network organized by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch raised more than $400 million in the last election cycle...
Reid backs down in unemployment fight The Hill ...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he is now open to considering Republican amendments to a bill extending emergency unemployment benefits through most of 2014...
Water Ban Continues in West Virginia Wall Street Journal ...Doctor Says Several Hundred Thousand Could Have Been Exposed to Contaminated Water for Seven Hours Thursday...
US doctors warn Congress cutting food stamps could mean higher medical bills The Guardian ...Among the health risks of hunger are spiked rates of diabetes and developmental problems for young children down the road...
December's Dismal Payrolls Mark Recession Six Year Anniversary Economic Populist ...over half, 54.6%, of December's jobs were temporary...
Career Advice for Central Park's Carriage Drivers Wall Street Journal ... Consider the plight of the many guys (and four gals) who drive carriages in Central Park. Some got into the business straight out of high school and did nothing else the past 30 or so years. Then along comes Mayor Bill de Blasio...
If firms like Target won't protect privacy, make 'em pay (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...The Target hack underlines the vulnerability of consumer data at a time when businesses large and small are doing their darnedest to amass as much of our info as possible...
U.S. pork producers move to reform factory farm abuses Salon ...Reform, for pigs destined to the dinner plate, means they’ll be given space to stand, turn around, lie down and even stretch their legs. Sick and injured animals, per Tyson’s new guidelines, will no longer be killed using “manual blunt force...”
Portuguese opposition party challenges country’s austerity measures in court Agence France-Press ...The constitutional court has made a series of rulings blocking austerity measures by the government, including plans to trim the civil service, causing a political crisis that nearly brought down the government which is implementing reforms and balancing public finances under Portugal’s 78-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout...
NAFTA Strengthened Canada's Corporate Class The Real News ... it's been bad for Canadian workers. It's undermined Canadian workers' bargaining power with companies...
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.04.13
BLET, Tacoma Rail sign new 5-year agreement teamster.org ...This agreement covers about 20 locomotive engineers and contains a signing bonus and significant wage and paid time off improvements, as well as health and welfare benefits equal to other city workers in Tacoma, Wash...
Safety alert for rail workers teamster.org ...All distractions, electronic or otherwise, reduce your focus on safety and can be fatal. This is true whether you are on or near the track or highway...
Henry J. "Hank" Breen, Founder and First Director of Airline Division, Passes Away teamster.org ...he assumed the position of Airline Division Director in 1961 at a time when the air cargo industry was largely unrepresented within an industry represented by other unions in the passenger airline industry...
2013 Teamster Women's Conference Registration teamster.org ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...
Obama underscores need to finish Asia-Pacific trade deal this year The Hill ...the president once again underscored his stance that the 12 nations involved in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should conclude talks this fall, the White House said...
Don't Let Corporations Hijack Another Trade Deal AFL-CIO ...Corporations are trying to manipulate the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement being negotiated right now that would be bigger than NAFTA—to increase their power over the global economy, so they have a say in everything from your rights at work to the prices of your prescriptions and the safety of your child’s toys...
Labor’s Thomas Perez: ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ Washington Post ...I’ve traveled the country in my short time here on the job, talking to CEOs...
Why This Particular Recovery Is So Bad at Creating New Jobs Pacific Standard ...Businesses are reluctant to invest their record profits in new workers, and instead, they’re hoarding cash—because they aren’t convinced people can afford to buy the goods and services they sell. Too many of them are unemployed!...
ECONOMISTS: Summers As Fed Chair Would Shave 0.5% Off GDP And Cost Us 350,000 Jobs Business Insider ...10-year Treasury rates have already risen because of the expectation that Summers will be nominated...
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed Mother Jones ...Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temp sector, federal data shows. But according to the American Staffing Association, the temp industry's trade group, the pool is even larger: Every year, a tenth of all US workers finds a job at a staffing agency...
What's Killing Poor White Women? The American Prospect ...For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why...
Across U.S., bridges crumble as repair funds fall short Los Angeles Times ...Engineers say thousands are close to collapse. And between the recession, sequestration and congressional gridlock, money to fix them is scarcer than ever...
Koch Family Sinks Big Money Into New Pro-Lhota PAC New York Observer ...David Koch and his wife, Julia, have each contributed $145,050 to “New Yorkers for Proven Leadership,” which will begin airing television ads tomorrow touting the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor, sources said...
Moral Monday Activists in North Carolina Demand Republicans Pay Attention to Their Constituents PolicyMic ...the protests were North Carolina’s new civil rights movement: especially as they resist the racially charged voter suppression legislation — described by some as the most restrictive in the country — that that impedes democracy for people of underprivileged racial and economic backgrounds...
Safety alert for rail workers teamster.org ...All distractions, electronic or otherwise, reduce your focus on safety and can be fatal. This is true whether you are on or near the track or highway...
Henry J. "Hank" Breen, Founder and First Director of Airline Division, Passes Away teamster.org ...he assumed the position of Airline Division Director in 1961 at a time when the air cargo industry was largely unrepresented within an industry represented by other unions in the passenger airline industry...
2013 Teamster Women's Conference Registration teamster.org ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...
Obama underscores need to finish Asia-Pacific trade deal this year The Hill ...the president once again underscored his stance that the 12 nations involved in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should conclude talks this fall, the White House said...
Don't Let Corporations Hijack Another Trade Deal AFL-CIO ...Corporations are trying to manipulate the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a free trade agreement being negotiated right now that would be bigger than NAFTA—to increase their power over the global economy, so they have a say in everything from your rights at work to the prices of your prescriptions and the safety of your child’s toys...
Labor’s Thomas Perez: ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ Washington Post ...I’ve traveled the country in my short time here on the job, talking to CEOs...
Why This Particular Recovery Is So Bad at Creating New Jobs Pacific Standard ...Businesses are reluctant to invest their record profits in new workers, and instead, they’re hoarding cash—because they aren’t convinced people can afford to buy the goods and services they sell. Too many of them are unemployed!...
ECONOMISTS: Summers As Fed Chair Would Shave 0.5% Off GDP And Cost Us 350,000 Jobs Business Insider ...10-year Treasury rates have already risen because of the expectation that Summers will be nominated...
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed Mother Jones ...Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temp sector, federal data shows. But according to the American Staffing Association, the temp industry's trade group, the pool is even larger: Every year, a tenth of all US workers finds a job at a staffing agency...
What's Killing Poor White Women? The American Prospect ...For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why...
Across U.S., bridges crumble as repair funds fall short Los Angeles Times ...Engineers say thousands are close to collapse. And between the recession, sequestration and congressional gridlock, money to fix them is scarcer than ever...
Koch Family Sinks Big Money Into New Pro-Lhota PAC New York Observer ...David Koch and his wife, Julia, have each contributed $145,050 to “New Yorkers for Proven Leadership,” which will begin airing television ads tomorrow touting the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor, sources said...
Moral Monday Activists in North Carolina Demand Republicans Pay Attention to Their Constituents PolicyMic ...the protests were North Carolina’s new civil rights movement: especially as they resist the racially charged voter suppression legislation — described by some as the most restrictive in the country — that that impedes democracy for people of underprivileged racial and economic backgrounds...
Monday, August 19, 2013
Walmart warehouse workers get justice and a huge raise
About 75 temporary workers got permanent jobs at a Walmart-controlled warehouse in Riverside, Calif., as a result of a federal lawsuit alleging massive wage theft by the giant retailer and its contractors. The permanent jobs come with a 60 percent wage increase, health benefits and paid sick time.
Warehouse Workers United tells us warehouse workers filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court nearly two years ago to recover back pay, penalties and damages. They claim Walmart-contracted warehouses forced them to work off the clock, denied them overtime pay, and retaliated when they stood up for their rights. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled Walmart could be added to the suit as a defendant.
It is unclear how, exactly, the lawsuit led to the 75 workers getting full-time jobs and raises. What is clear is that two of the contractors, Schneider Logistics and Rogers-Premier Unloading Services, tried to fire every single worker in retaliation for bringing suit. The workers, who actually worked for temp agency Impact Logistics, got a restraining order in February against the companies.
Five months earlier, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement raided the warehouses in October and fined them more than $1 million for inadequate recordkeeping alone.
According to Warehouse Workers United, the workers were offered full-time jobs with Schneider. They are about to get raises. Said warehouse worker Reynaldo Rios Ibanez
If you fight, you can win.
Warehouse Workers United tells us warehouse workers filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court nearly two years ago to recover back pay, penalties and damages. They claim Walmart-contracted warehouses forced them to work off the clock, denied them overtime pay, and retaliated when they stood up for their rights. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled Walmart could be added to the suit as a defendant.
It is unclear how, exactly, the lawsuit led to the 75 workers getting full-time jobs and raises. What is clear is that two of the contractors, Schneider Logistics and Rogers-Premier Unloading Services, tried to fire every single worker in retaliation for bringing suit. The workers, who actually worked for temp agency Impact Logistics, got a restraining order in February against the companies.
Five months earlier, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement raided the warehouses in October and fined them more than $1 million for inadequate recordkeeping alone.
According to Warehouse Workers United, the workers were offered full-time jobs with Schneider. They are about to get raises. Said warehouse worker Reynaldo Rios Ibanez
I haven’t received my first paycheck just yet, but it will be about double. It means it will be easier to take care of my family. Before I could not buy one single extra thing.Guadalupe Palma, director of Warehouse Workers United, said:
This demonstrates that the minute the staffing agencies were forced to comply with the law they began losing money because they could no longer cut corners. But the fact that now all workers at this critical Walmart-contracted warehouses will make a living wage with benefits shows that improving the quality of warehousing jobs is entirely within reach for major retailers like Walmart.The Riverside workers aren't the only ones fighting for a living wage against Walmart contractors. Last month, 32 warehouse workers walked off the job at a Mira Loma, Calif., warehouse and successfully returned to work two days later.
If you fight, you can win.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.01.13
New Study Shows 1/3 of Jobs Prone to Offshore Outsourcing Economic Populist ...The occupational groups identified as being vulnerable to offshoring include office support (e.g., data entry and payroll clerks), auditors and tax preparers, computer programmers and software engineers, medical transcriptionists and paralegals, and technical writers...
Without full-time jobs, workers flock to temp towns Salon ...Short-term work has become a mainstay of the American economy, intensifying the rise in income inequality...
An Unstoppable Climb in C.E.O. Pay New York Times ...the executive compensation analysis firm, found that the median 2012 pay package came in at $15.1 million — a leap of 16 percent from 2011. ..
No, manufacturing jobs won’t revive the economy Salon ...Stop claiming a factory boom will save the country and lift people up. Here's what these jobs really look like...
Key US-EU trade pact under threat after more NSA spying allegations The Guardian ...The prospects for a new trade pact between the US and the European Union worth hundreds of billions have suffered a severe setback following allegations that Washington bugged key EU offices and intercepted phonecalls and emails from top officials...
New Bank of America whistle-blower emerges: More customer abuse secrets Salon ...Bank of America whistle-blower details latest scheme to abuse homeowners, evade settlement rules and pocket cash...
MF Global and Wall Street: Whose Job Is It To Take the Keys Away (opinion) Wall Street On Parade ...Isn’t it the job of Congress to pass laws to ensure that checks and balances exist that prevent powerful men from gaming the system and dipping into customer funds to make casino bets...
War On the Unemployed (opinion) New York Times ...there’s a nationwide movement under way to punish the unemployed, based on the proposition that we can cure unemployment by making the jobless even more miserable...
Protests overshadow football final in Brazil al-Jazeera ...Protesters hurling petrol bombs have clashed with riot police in Brazil at the Confederations Cup football match, overshadowing the host nation's victory over world champions Spain in the final...
SCI Rejects Last and Best Offer from Teamsters Benzinga ...Houston-based funeral giant Service Corporation International ... rejected a last and best offer from Teamsters Local 727 and countered with its original proposal to eliminate the employees' pension, health and educational assistance benefits...
Without full-time jobs, workers flock to temp towns Salon ...Short-term work has become a mainstay of the American economy, intensifying the rise in income inequality...
An Unstoppable Climb in C.E.O. Pay New York Times ...the executive compensation analysis firm, found that the median 2012 pay package came in at $15.1 million — a leap of 16 percent from 2011. ..
No, manufacturing jobs won’t revive the economy Salon ...Stop claiming a factory boom will save the country and lift people up. Here's what these jobs really look like...
Key US-EU trade pact under threat after more NSA spying allegations The Guardian ...The prospects for a new trade pact between the US and the European Union worth hundreds of billions have suffered a severe setback following allegations that Washington bugged key EU offices and intercepted phonecalls and emails from top officials...
New Bank of America whistle-blower emerges: More customer abuse secrets Salon ...Bank of America whistle-blower details latest scheme to abuse homeowners, evade settlement rules and pocket cash...
MF Global and Wall Street: Whose Job Is It To Take the Keys Away (opinion) Wall Street On Parade ...Isn’t it the job of Congress to pass laws to ensure that checks and balances exist that prevent powerful men from gaming the system and dipping into customer funds to make casino bets...
War On the Unemployed (opinion) New York Times ...there’s a nationwide movement under way to punish the unemployed, based on the proposition that we can cure unemployment by making the jobless even more miserable...
Protests overshadow football final in Brazil al-Jazeera ...Protesters hurling petrol bombs have clashed with riot police in Brazil at the Confederations Cup football match, overshadowing the host nation's victory over world champions Spain in the final...
SCI Rejects Last and Best Offer from Teamsters Benzinga ...Houston-based funeral giant Service Corporation International ... rejected a last and best offer from Teamsters Local 727 and countered with its original proposal to eliminate the employees' pension, health and educational assistance benefits...
Friday, August 10, 2012
Today's disposable workers: Anxious and in danger
"A massive, Xanax-fueled public health crisis driven by chronic employment worry is headed our way," writes Lynn Parramore.
Here's the worse news: Temp hiring is rising. The number of temporary employees in the U.S. increased to 2.5 million during the first three months of 2012, up from 2.1 million in early 2009.
NPR tells us why:
Companies use temps because they can pay fewer benefits, take on fewer legal responsibilities and fire them easily.
Isn't that charming? What's worse, temporary workers can die on the job. According to the IUF,
Lax regulations, loose enforcement and employer resistance to union health and safety committees inflict a ghastly toll of illness, injury and death on the job. The grisly death of a contract worker at a US Nestlé plant provides further evidence that agency workers face even greater risks due to their precarious employment status.
Last month, a contract worker at the Taunton, Massachusets Tribe Mediterranean Foods factory was crushed to death when he was pulled into the machine he was cleaning and sterilizing. The worker had received no training in shutting off the machine and its power supply before performing any work. Other contract workers performing the cleaning had likewise received no training.
Tribe Foods is a subsidiary of the Israeli-based Osem Group, majority-owned by Nestlé, with operations in Israel, Europe and the US. The worker, Collazo Torres, was employed by a temp agency, Monroe Staffing.Welcome to the war on workers.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Amazon warehouse: Ambulances wait outside on hot days
That's according to the Allentown Morning Call, which deserves props for a terrific story on the brutal conditions inside the Lehigh Valley facility. The Morning Call interviewed 20 employees and found,
Workers said they were forced to endure brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse and were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said. The consequences of not meeting work expectations were regularly on display, as employees lost their jobs and got escorted out of the warehouse. Such sights encouraged some workers to conceal pain and push through injury lest they get fired as well, workers said.
During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn't quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time.
An emergency room doctor in June called federal regulators to report an "unsafe environment" after he treated several Amazon warehouse workers for heat-related problems. The doctor's report was echoed by warehouse workers who also complained to regulators, including a security guard who reported seeing pregnant employees suffering in the heat.
In a better economy, not as many people would line up for jobs that pay $11 or $12 an hour moving inventory through a hot warehouse. But with job openings scarce, Amazon and Integrity Staffing Solutions, the temporary employment firm that is hiring workers for Amazon, have found eager applicants in the swollen ranks of the unemployed.Many of the workers are temporary, hired by Integrity Staffing Solutions. Check out their website. It features a pretty blonde woman smiling next to the caption, "Apply Now and Find Your Dream Job."
As the peerless Harold Meyerson wrote last year, California warehouse workers suffer similar plights as temporary workers for companies that service Home Depot, Loew's, Target and, of course, Walmart. Wrote Meyerson,
The warehouses, in fact, are part of an elaborate system enabling Wal-Mart and its competitors to keep their prices low and their revenues high by depressing wages and labor costs all along their supply chains—and to protect outfits like Wal-Mart from responsibility for working conditions. The giant retailers that have come to dominate much of the American economy don’t own many of the hundreds of warehouses in Fontana or anyplace else.
In Fontana, the warehouses are owned by local commercial realtors and operated by logistics companies. But the logistics companies don’t formally employ a majority of the warehouse workers, either. Rather, the workers are employed by some of the region’s 270 temp agencies. The way a famously demanding employer like Wal-Mart ensures that the warehouses are running as it sees fit is to contract with a few large logistics companies (Wal-Mart likes Exel, a British firm), which in turn contract with a few large temp agencies (Exel likes Staffmark).Talk about class warfare.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Today's Teamster News 12.20.10
FedEx To Acquire MultiPack Logistics Week ...FedEx Corp. ... signed an agreement to acquire MultiPack, a Mexican domestic express package delivery company...
Food-safety measure passes Senate in Sunday surprise Washington Post ...The bill would require importers to verify that products grown and processed overseas meet U.S. safety standards...
Weighing Costs, Companies Favor Temporary Help New York Times ...Since the beginning of the year, employers have added a net 307,000 temporary workers, more than a quarter of the 1.17 million private sector jobs added in total...
This Bonus Season on Wall Street, Many See Zeros New York Times ...Wall Street firms ...raised base pay substantially in 2009 and 2010...seeking to placate regulators who had argued that bonuses based on performance encouraged excessive risk...
The Bipartisanship Racket (opinion) New York Times ...No Labels ... leaders seem utterly clueless about why Americans of all labels are angry: the realization that both parties are bought off by special interests who game the system and stack it against the rest of us...
Food-safety measure passes Senate in Sunday surprise Washington Post ...The bill would require importers to verify that products grown and processed overseas meet U.S. safety standards...
Weighing Costs, Companies Favor Temporary Help New York Times ...Since the beginning of the year, employers have added a net 307,000 temporary workers, more than a quarter of the 1.17 million private sector jobs added in total...
This Bonus Season on Wall Street, Many See Zeros New York Times ...Wall Street firms ...raised base pay substantially in 2009 and 2010...seeking to placate regulators who had argued that bonuses based on performance encouraged excessive risk...
The Bipartisanship Racket (opinion) New York Times ...No Labels ... leaders seem utterly clueless about why Americans of all labels are angry: the realization that both parties are bought off by special interests who game the system and stack it against the rest of us...
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