Report: Union membership helps the next generation

The importance of unions is something that can't be underestimated. This blog has noted it many times. However, a new report goes even further. It states union membership could even help your kids' future.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) document says that union members make up a disproportionate amount of the middle class, due largely to the premium pay such workers receive. In addition, the offspring of union parents have higher incomes than the children of otherwise comparable non-union parents. And finally, kids hailing from communities with higher union density have higher average incomes than those from communities with lower union density.

As Business Insider wrote:

The correlation, the study said, could have serious implications in the way that the public thinks about unions.

"A strong union movement is not simply sufficient for high levels of intergenerational mobility and middle-class membership, but it could be necessary," wrote the researchers.

"If that is the case, it will be difficult to meaningfully increase intergenerational mobility and rebuild the middle class without also rebuilding unions or some comparable worker-based organizations."

The Teamsters have been outspoken advocates for union membership as well because it helps everyday Americans. It's a fact, as Bureau of Labor Statistics' data shows the median union worker makes more than $200 a week than the median non-union one.

Increasing union density is a top goal of the Teamsters' "Let's Get America Working" platform. Union jobs give hardworking Americans a path into the middle class, as the NBER report attests. That's why unions and workers need to join together. Union Strong, America Stronger!

Teamster port truck driver to speak at White House summit

Driver Alex Paz will be at the White House Wednesday.

Alex Paz, a Local 848 member, will be a panelist at the first-ever “White House Summit on Worker Voice” tomorrow in Washington. As a nonunion port truck driver, Paz was misclassified for years as an independent contractor but fought for, and won, the right to be recognized as an employee.

The professional driver, a husband and father to two young children, now works for Eco Flow Transportation and is in the process of negotiating his first union contract with the company and committee of co-workers.

Paz, who is based in Los Angeles, was selected among nominees from around the country to lend his voice to the summit. The event will focus on how workers can make their voices heard in the workplace, and energize a new generation of Americans to come together and recognize the potential power of their voice at work.

At the summit, Paz will be joined by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and International Vice President Rome Aloise, along with union leaders, workers and employers from around the country.

President Obama will deliver opening remarks and take part in a town hall at the summit.

The summit will be livestreamed starting at 10:30 a.m. EDT here: www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Stay tuned to this blog for an interview with Paz and more on the White House Summit on Worker Voice.

Workers' fight for justice takes on many forms

Calif. Assemblyman David Chiu

PHOENIX -- Workers are facing substantial challenges on the job. Whether it's low pay or work schedules that vary in hours per week and can change at almost a moment's notice, many are not earning enough to support themselves or their families. But they are not alone in trying to fight these issues.

Unions, worker allies and even some lawmakers said during the Netroots Nation conference here they are stepping up their efforts to challenge corporations that are trying to maximize their profits at the expense of their employees. And many involved in the movement told attendees they are beginning to win, and others can too.

California Assemblyman David Chiu helped lead the movement to force large retail companies in San Francisco last year to issue worker schedules two weeks in advance, and penalize those employers that change it. He said the debate is now moving forward elsewhere:

This is a conversation not just happening in San Francisco, but around the country. And the more it is, the greater the chance it will prevail. ... I have no doubt over the next few years we will prevail.

Part of the battle is trying to discuss the issue in a way that the public will understand. While the constant discussion of income inequality in the media and elsewhere over the past few years has raised awareness of the need for increasing the minimum wage, for instance, the discussion over the need for scheduling certainty still lags behind. It is part of an ongoing awareness campaign.

Nelini Stamp, co-director of Rise Up Georgia, said she originally began working in retail as a way to save up money for college. But the low wages and unpredictable schedules, mixed with the ever-increasing cost of higher education, has stalled that dream for now:

We want jobs. People want to work. But employers are taking it out of our hands. ... We believe we can push corporations to offer better schedules for their workers.

Of course, there are ways for workers to challenge these matters themselves. By organizing and joining a union like the Teamsters, workers can take these issues head on and win. It isn't always easy, but it can and does succeed.

Maria Neyoy, a bakery department employee for the El Super grocery chain in Arizona, is working to bring change that will help workers there. Since she got involved, the company has raised her salary by $4 an hour in hopes to get her to stop unionization efforts, but she said through an interpreter she won't until her coworkers can also receive a better salary:

This company ... does have the money to give us the raises we deserve. They are treating us like slaves. We are going to be out there until we get the contract we deserve.

Today's Teamster News 07.23.14

Teamster News
Protecting Two-Person Crew Is Still Our Goal  BLET   ...We will continue to work with the National Representatives of SMART’s Transportation Division wherever and whenever in an effort to preserve and protect two-person crews...
Chicago Teamsters Will March to Department of Human Rights on July 28  teamster.org   ...A Chicago sink manufacturer that’s restricting employees’ time in the bathroom is now refusing to negotiate with unionized workers until they keep quiet about the discriminatory policy...
Seattle Teamsters Ratify Contracts With Three Major Grocers  IBT   ...Hundreds of Teamsters at three grocery warehouses – Safeway, SuperValu, and Unified Grocers – voted overwhelmingly to ratify their contracts over the weekend. The agreements contain annual wage increases and protections against subcontracting and the rising cost of health care...
GET Board To Vote On Proposal From Striking Union  Bakersfield Californian   ...he proposal was put forward by union negotiators during a Friday morning bargaining session between GET and Visalia-based Teamsters Local 517, which represents more than 250 striking GET bus drivers and mechanics...
Chesco Human Services Employees Ratify Contract  The Mercury   ...Unionized employees of the Chester County Department of Human Services have ratified a new contract that will guarantee them annual raises of about 9.25 percent over the next three years combined, according to those involved with negotiations. The contract comes about 15 months after the employees, who serve county residents needing social services, voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 384 ...
Trade
Administration Flooded with 26,000 Comments Opposing Proposal to Disguise Offshoring of U.S. Manufacturing  Public Citizen   ...More than 26,000 people nationwide have submitted comments opposing Obama administration proposals that would severely distort U.S. job and trade data by reclassifying U.S. corporations that offshore American jobs as “factoryless goods” manufacturers...
A quarter of McDonald’s restaurants in China may have been serving expired meat  Washington Post   ...  The supplier, Shanghai-based Husi Food Co Ltd, was forced to shut down after local television station Dragon TV (link in Chinese) ran footage of the company's factory workers picking hamburger patties and meat from off the factory floor and throwing them directly into meat mixers, and using bare hands to handle poultry and beef on the assembly line. The footage also showed sewage and trash spread on the floor of the processing plant; in addition, expired meat, which was described as “stinky” by workers themselves, was either concealed by mixing it together with non-expired meat, or simply altering its expiration date...
State Battles
Taxi Group Unveils Plan To Boost Fares, Fees To Help Drivers' Plight  Chicago Sun-Times   ...Mileage and waiting times that drive up Chicago taxicab fares would rise by 25 percent under a 10-point plan proposed Monday to put more money into the pockets of struggling cabbies...
Poor Job Growth Still Afflicts Kansas Despite Sam Brownback's Tax Cuts  Kansas City Star   ...Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and his advisers want to create an alternate reality when it comes to job growth in the state. They keep throwing out misleading numbers to the public while trying to cloud Kansas’ mediocre jobs picture...
War On Workers
BNSF Moves Toward Allowing Trains With Only One Engineer  Omaha World-Herald   ...BNSF Railway said Monday it has reached a tentative agreement with its largest labor union to permit single engineers to drive trains equipped with a pending new safety system mandated by Congress...
City of Austin worker killed in southeast Travis County crash  KXAN   ...A City of Austin worker was killed following a crash involving an 18-wheeler and a pickup truck on FM 973 just north of Highway 71...
Construction Worker Killed In 50-Foot Fall From Ladder  Q13Fox   ...A construction worker was found dead Monday at Bellevue College after what appeared to be a fall from a ladder around 50 feet above the ground, police said...
Miscellaneous
Imposter Uber Driver Reported In Virginia Highland Area  NBC News   ...She said when they arrived at her location she could see her friends standing on the sidewalk directly across the street, but the driver refused to let her get out and he quickly drove to another secluded location. She stated he demanded all of her money...
Workers At A Subway Sandwich Shop Vote To Unionize  Huffington Post   ...A group of Subway sandwich makers just proved that it isn't impossible for fast food workers to unionize. Workers at a Subway location in Bloomsbury, N.J., on Friday voted in favor of joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The 13 workers are employed by the Tennessee-based travel center company Pilot Flying J, but they all work inside the company's Subway franchise at the rest stop...

Today's Teamster News 06.24.14

Teamster News
Teamsters, Taylor Farms clash  The Packer   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which hopes to represent Taylor Farms employees at two Tracy, Calif., facilities, claims many were denied benefits as a result of prolonged stays in temporary worker status...
With help from Teamsters, LA Uber drivers try to organize  Southern California Public Radio   ...Organizers are expecting up to 500 Uber drivers – supported by Teamsters Local 986 – to hold a demonstration Tuesday morning in front of the Uber offices in Santa Monica...
D.C. Taxicab Drivers Organize Against Ridesharing Services  WAMU   ...local labor groups are focusing on pressuring the D.C. Council to help cabbies stave off competition from the unregulated, on-demand “ridesharing” services UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar. The Teamsters Local 922 is planning to hold a cab driver rally Wednesday at Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington to call on District legislators to level a playing field where the city’s regulated taxi fleet currently feels at a disadvantage to the innovative newcomers...
Arbitration Ruling Renews CN, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Agreement  Progressive Railroading   ...CN on Friday announced it will immediately begin to implement an arbitrator's decision that set the terms and conditions of a new three-year agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Conductors, Trainpersons and Yardpersons (TCRC-CTY)...
Trade
Thanks to Wikileaks, public can debate alarming new trade deal  Trade Reform   ...The draft agreement Wikileaks released on June 19 is fresh, written in May. It is a model of secret law, blatant in its disregard for transparency, democratic process and history. Its opening page says the terms are to remain secret for five years after negotiations formally end or the proposed new rules take effect. Talks to refine that agreement were to resume Monday in Geneva...
LIVEBLOG: Minnesota State Reps Demand Washington Act On Unfair Steel Trade  manufacture this   ...Jason Metsa, Tom Anzelc and several others followed Governor Mark Dayton’s powerful demand for federal action on unfair trade in steel ... especially tubular products being produced in South Korea and dumped at below-market prices in the U.S. market...
State Battles
We have a proven formula for success’ (opinion)  FortWayne.com   ...I recently vetoed an ordinance passed by City Council that would end collective bargaining for non-public safety union employees...
Labor Law Repeal To Hit Assembly, Again, On Tuesday  Anchorage Daily News   ...The latest effort to defeat a controversial city labor law will hit the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night as members consider a complicated array of options from repealing the measure outright to replacing it with a watered-down version to leaving it as a referendum question on the state ballot in November's election...
The Supreme Court Ruled In Favor Of An Alabama Whistle Blower. What Does That Mean For Others Who Expose Corruption?  Birmingham News   ...Edward Lane was the director of a statewide program for Alabama's at-risk youth when he saw State Rep. Sue Schmitz was drawing pay, but doing no work, for the program. Lane fired Schmitz in 2006 and later testified at her public corruption trials regarding the "no-show" job....
Mayors Put Focus On How To Raise Wages For Lowest-Paid Workers In Cities  New York Times   ...Here at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, which convened over the weekend, the subject of income inequality seemed to be on almost everyone’s lips, and mayors wondered aloud how best to use their powers to help the lowest-paid workers...
War On Workers
Starbucks baristudents should beware the green mermaid bearing gifts (opinion)  Guardian   ...For the first two years of their education, Starbucks students will qualify for a small scholarship from ASU, but the balance of their tuition payments will have to come from loans and students' own financial resources (aka their take-home pay as baristas)...
The CEO Aristocracy: Big Bucks For The Big Boss  Washington Post   ...Any CEO of a major company is virtually guaranteed to become a multimillionaire. In the Equilar survey, the median holding of company stock was $83 million. CEO compensation has vastly outstripped average wage gains...
Miscellaneous
Justices Uphold Emission Limits on Big Industry  New York Times   ...In a big win for environmentalists, the Supreme Court on Monday effectively endorsed the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from sources like power plants, even as it criticized what it called the administration’s overreaching...

Today's Teamster News 06.11.14

Teamster News
Teamsters’ salaries set  Tri-Town News   ...The Howell, (N.J.,) Township Council has adopted an ordinance that will provide retroactive salary ranges and raises for employees who are members of Teamsters Union Local 469...
Teamsters Union Joins Steel Industry Call for Trade Enforcement.  Trade Reform   ...America’s steel manufacturers and workers have joined forces to fight back against dumped imports of steel pipe used in the extraction of America’s oil and natural gas reserves. Now, another major American union is adding its support...
Job-killer Scott Walker goes to New York City, and Teamsters are there to greet him  TeamsterNation   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took a break from stifling jobs in his home state and flew to New York City for a fundraiser, where he was greeted by none other than Teamsters Local 553 President Demos Demopoulos -- and quite a few LOUD union members...
About 100 Cumberland County Employees Seek Unionization Through Teamsters  The Patriot News   ...Cumberland County has received notice that several employees are taking the initial steps of forming a union, which will be the fourth in the county. Chief Clerk Larry Thomas confirmed Monday that the county's court-related employees filed notice in May, indicating they are going through the process of unionizing through the Teamsters...
Trucker in Tracy Morgan crash hadn’t slept for more than 24 hours  Washington Post   ...Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa wrote in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday... “Drivers feel pressure from their employers to drive more than 60-70 hours a week with insufficient rest.”...
SEPTA To Impose Terms On Regional Rail Workers; Union Says Strike Likely  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...SEPTA moved Monday to impose management's terms in a long-running labor dispute with Regional Rail workers, which union leaders said could prompt a strike that would halt all commuter rail service at 12:01 a.m. Saturday...
Trade
New hacking allegations surface against China's military  manufacturethis   ...If we want to see China curtail its hacking activity, maybe we should consider revisiting the favorable trade terms that we grant the world’s largest police state...
War On Workers
Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns  Guardian   ...The Thai fishing industry is built on slavery, with men often beaten, tortured and sometimes killed - all to catch 'trash fish' to feed the cheap farmed prawns sold in the west...
These Waiters Don't Make Tips. Instead They Make $15 An Hour  Think Progress   ...Packhouse Meats, a restaurant that opened in Newport, Kentucky in January, doesn’t allow tipping. Instead, it pays its employees a decent wage. Servers at the restaurant make a minimum wage of $10 an hour. But they can also make 20 percent of their sales in commission — which is based on sales volume, the quality of service, and a few other factors — if it’s higher than that wage. This means that, on average, the servers are making $15 an hour...
Will Loan Forgiveness Offer Long-Term Student Debt Solution?  PBS   ...The average student who graduated last year had nearly $30,000 in student loan debt. Today, in the White House East Room, President Obama signed an executive order that would allow borrowers who took out federal loans prior to 2007 to tie their repayments to their incomes...
Number Of Unemployed Without A Safety Net Hits 3 Million  Think Progress   ...The number of long-term unemployed workers who would be getting benefits if the program hadn’t been allowed to lapse hit 3 million on Monday, according to the House Ways and Means Committee...
Miscellaneous
Union-Made Father's Day Shopping Ideas  AFL-CIO Now   ...If you're thinking of splurging, spring for some game-day tickets so you can watch your favorite baseball players, who are members of the Major League Baseball Players Association, and make sure dear old dad gets a heaping cup of Budweiser beer, made by the Teamsters and IAM...
Finding A Job Opening Has Gotten Easier, But Getting A Job Hasn't  FiveThirtyEight   ...The good news for the unemployed is that more openings means more chances to land a job. There were 2.2 jobseekers for every available position in April, the best ratio since before the recession began. But those openings don’t mean much if companies won’t fill them...
NSA: Our Systems Are So Complex We Can't Stop Them From Deleting Data Wanted For Lawsuit  Washington Post   ...The National Security Agency recently used a novel argument for not holding onto information it collects about users online activity: it's too complex...
Big Three Automakers Pledge $26 Million To Help Save Detroit's Art  Wall Street Journal   ...Top U.S. auto makers pledged $26 million to help protect Detroit's art collection from being broken up or sold during the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy case...
Union-Made Father's Day Shopping Ideas

Today's Teamster News 06.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Demand Crackdown On Cheap Korean Steel Imports  Digital Journal   ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and top leaders with the union's railway conference are calling on the Department of Commerce to fully weigh the concerns of the U.S. steel industry as it continues its anti-dumping probe looking at cheap imports being brought into this country by South Korea and eight other nations...
Fourth Cumberland County Union On Way? Court Related Employees Seek Membership  The Sentinel   ...Non-professional, court-related Cumberland County employees could receive union representation for the first time thanks to a National Labor Relations Board petition filed by Teamsters Local 776 on May 14, Chief Clerk Larry Thomas confirmed...
Hoffa Calls On House Of Representatives To Protect Highway Safety  teamster.org   ...“The tragic accident that claimed the life of comedian James McNair and injured many others including actor Tracy Morgan, could have been prevented had Walmart’s driver been properly rested rather than reportedly going 24 hours without a break,” Hoffa said. “...We must ensure that hours of service rules provide enough rest for drivers so cumulative fatigue doesn’t put the driving public at risk.”...
Trade
Japan Holding Up Free Trade Talks  13WHOtv.com   ...a major hold up in the talks are Japan’s proposal to maintain tariffs on sensitive products like beef, dairy, wheat, rice, and pork...
State Battles
Grocery workers in California see wages shrink  SFGate.com   ...A new look at California's $98 billion grocery industry shows it is a microcosm of the state's wealth inequality gap. While a private-equity firm is buying Safeway for $9 billion, 1 in 3 grocery workers is on some form of public assistance. While grocery chains are cash machines for investors, nearly 1 in 5 workers has cut back on meals because he or she couldn't afford to buy food...
War On Workers
Prosecutor: Trucker in Morgan crash lacked sleep  Associated Press   ...The Wal-Mart truck driver from Georgia accused of triggering a crash in New Jersey that critically injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian had not slept for more than 24 hours, a criminal complaint said...
Regular shoppers cite Walmart's low pay and poor treatment of workers as reasons to stay away  Daily Kos   ...Walmart's reputation is suffering among consumers, with 28 percent saying they have an unfavorable view of Walmart, compared to just 13 percent unfavorable for Target and just six percent unfavorable for Costco. Walmart's low wages and bad treatment of its workers are registering on shoppers...
Wal-Mart's Image Problem Under Scrutiny At Annual Shareholder Meeting  Al Jazeera America   ...Walmart workers speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Friday said the megastore’s staffing problems and poor pay were hurting the company’s image and contributing to lagging sales. Their statement comes after a week of rallies across the country by labor activists, union representatives and workers in cities such as Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
What’s the Source of Soaring Corporate Profits? Stagnant Wages  Washington's Blog   ...once capital can no longer make profits selling goods and services and wage-earners can no longer afford to buy goods and services, the system disintegrates...
Court probes Wells’ foreclosure steps again  New York Post   ...How exactly do the note endorsement processes described in Wells Fargo’s controversial Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual work? On March 12, The Post broke the news of this manual and allegations in court papers by attorney Linda Tirelli that the document provides detailed procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand. Wells Fargo denied the allegations...
Tipped Into Poverty  New York Times   ...When Senate Republicans recently blocked a vote to raise the federal minimum wage, they snubbed the estimated 27.8 million people who would earn more if the measure became law. The hardest hit are the roughly 3.3 million Americans who work for tips...
The US Chamber Of Secrets  Moyers & Company   ...The US Chamber of Commerce’s stated mission is “representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors and regions,” but watchdog groups say the US Chamber represents the interests of a select few big industry groups that want to crush worker organizing...
The Job Market's Five-Year Recovery In 10 Charts  FiveThirtyEight   ...Six-and-a-half years after the Great Recession began — and five years after it officially ended the U.S. has finally surpassed its precrisis employment peak. But the job market is far from fully healed...
Miscellaneous
Student Debt Relief To Expand  Wall Street Journal   ...An expansion of a federal program designed to reduce payments for student-loan recipients is expected to be announced Monday by President Barack Obama, the latest push by Democrats to address concerns about rising student debt...
How Much Did Snowden Take? Not Even The NSA Really Knows  Newsweek   ...It was just over a year ago this week that former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret National Security Agency documents detailing the agency’s massive online spy program. What and how much Snowden took remains a mystery...

Today's Teamster News 06.05.14

Teamster News
Teamsters To Remember Former President Killed In Crash  WLWT   ...Members of one union will gather to remember their former President after he was killed in a crash. Troy Stapleton was a member of the Teamsters for 40 years and served as President from 2005 to 2011...
Park Ridge patrol officers join Teamsters union  Park Ridge Herald-Advocate   ...Park Ridge police officers have changed their labor union representation as negotiations of a new contract with the city begin...
Workers At Rite-Aid's Poca Facility OK Contract  Charleston Daily Mail   ...Rite Aid's distribution center in Poca will remain open until 2017 under a new contract approved by union workers. Rite Aid had planned to close the facility in 2016...
Trade
U.S. Dairy Biz In A Churn Over TPP  The Register   ...Farmers, rather than economics or 'net freedom activists are once again putting pressure on Trans Pacific Partnership negotiators, with the U.S. dairy sector uniting against the proposed treaty...
US trade deficit at two-year high in April  Associated Press   ...The U.S. trade deficit jumped to a two-year high in April, as exports declined and imports surged to a record high...
China Angry About U.S. Tariff Hike On Solar Panels  Oil Price   ...China’s Ministry of Commerce on June 4 sharply criticized as protectionist a U.S. decision to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese-made solar panels by 35.2 percent...
State Battles
Michigan Senate Passes Plan To Ease Detroit Pension Cuts  New York Times   ...The Michigan Senate on Tuesday agreed to Gov. Rick Snyder's call for spending millions in state funds to spare the pensions of Detroit retirees from deeper cuts and to avoid the sale of artwork from the city's museum...
Wage Theft Bill Unanimously Passes First Vote  DCist   ...A bill that aims to increase the penalties for wage theft--when a company illegally withholds an employee's wages, or denies benefits--unanimously passed the first vote and reading by the D.C. Council today...
Vermont Passes Call for Convention to Overturn Citizens United!  RootStrikers   ...Vermont just became the first state to call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to reverse Citizen's United and get money out of politics...
German Official Vows Fight To Unionize Chattanooga VW Plant Is Not Over  Nashville Business Journal   ...The fight to unionize Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga is far from over despite the United Auto Workers narrow defeat in a February election in which workers declined to organize...
War On Workers
Wal-Mart workers strike in major cities  CNN   ...Union organizers said employees were set to walk picket lines through out the day in Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Francisco...
Walmart Pours Billions Into Share Buybacks Rather Than Investing In Its Workers  Daily Kos   ...As Walmart's shareholder meeting approaches, there's a slew of news on the effect the retail giant has on the American economy--and protests against how it treats its workers...
City Council members rip Walmart’s charity of ‘dangerous dollars’  New York Post   ...More than half the members of the City Council have fired off a letter to Walmart demanding that it stop making millions in charitable contributions to local groups here. Twenty-six of the 51 members of the Council charged in the letter that the world’s biggest retailer’s support of local causes is a cynical ploy to enter the market here...
How Privatizing Government Hollowed Out The Middle Class  MSNBC   ...The federal government employs more than three times as many contract workers as government workers and state and local governments spent a combined $1.5 trillion on outsourcing. One result, according to Demos, a non-profit public policy organization, is that the federal government effectively pays $12 or less to nearly two million contract workers...
The ZIRP Economy Unmasked: Zero Growth In Private Labor Hours Since 1998  David Stockman's Corner   ...in 2013—the year of 32% stock returns—the business sector of the US economy generated no more labor hours than it did way back in Bill Clinton’s blue dress period (1998) yet purportedly produced 42% more output in real terms...
$15 Minimum Wage Permits Few Luxuries In US Cities  ABC News   ...A $15 minimum wage like the one adopted in Seattle doesn't buy many luxuries in most American cities...
Luxury Housing for the Top One Percent Booms While the Rest of the Housing Market Stagnates  Counterpunch   ...Now the housing market appears to be stalling out, except for luxury purchases by the elite whose wealth was protected by virtually every economic policy advanced through the financial crisis...
Miscellaneous
America Still Needs Strong Unions  Detroit News   ...In the United States the middle class and working families keep getting less and less of the economic pie that they play such a critical role in creating. Why are workers in Western Europe, Scandinavia and Australia doing so much better? A key factor is a much higher percentage of these countries who belong to unions...

Today's Teamster News 05.31.14

Teamster News
Future Of Bus Driver's Union Up In The Air In Bennington  Daily Reporter   ...The outcome of a vote on whether employees of the Green Mountain Express company in Vermont will join the Teamsters Union is up in the air...
Bill de Blasio takes on Teamsters and Liam Neeson as he tries to ban New York's horse carriages  Guardian   ...The city's major newspapers have come out against the proposed ban and the powerful Teamsters union has mobilised in support of the carriage drivers, stable owners and stable hands...
Trade
153 Democratic Lawmakers Push U.S. To Toughen Up Trans-Pacific Partnership Rules  Raw Story   ...U.S. trade negotiators must insist on tough standards on human and workers' rights in a Pacific trading deal spanning 12 countries, more than 150 Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday...
Rip Up The TTIP opinion  The Scottish Farmer   ...It may sound like just another annoying agri-politics acronym, but European milk industry leaders should be very concerned about the TTIP--the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership...
State Battles
Scott Walker Is Falling Apart: The Little Corruption Problem He Just Can't Shake  Salon.com   ...Walker has a corruption problem he just can't seem to shake. In brief, the governor is being investigated by prosecutors for illegally coordinating with conservative groups, an investigation that sprang from an earlier one investigating Walker's previous tenure as Milwaukee County executive...
Scott Walker says he won't back away from allies in Doe probe  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Walker also expressed surprise with a recent Wall Street Journal editorial that criticized alleged settlement talks between the Walker campaign and special prosecutor Francis Schmitz...
War On Workers
What McDonald's Owes Its Workers  CNN Money   ...Thompson's pay for one day (based on 365 days a year) in 2013 was 1.4 times the average annual rate of a full-time fast food worker. McDonald's did not respond to a request for a comment on worker pay issues...
Walmart defends ‘overpaid’ executives  New York Post   ...Walmart is refusing to budge an inch after critics bashed the retail giant for overpaying its executives while they mishandled a probe into charges that it systematically bribed officials in Mexico...
Chicopee Walmart site of new skirmish over wages and work conditions  MassLive   ...At the customer service desk, she presented her boss with a letter outlining the reasons for her strike, including unreasonable scheduling, lack of benefits and other practices...
Will The Supreme Court Undermine Public-Sector Labor Rights?  The Hill   ...Before late June, the Supreme Court will rule on Harris v. Quinn, perhaps the most important labor case to come before it in several decades. If the court sides with the extremist National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW) which appealed the case after losing before the Seventh Circuit and lower courts, it could inflict a major blow on unions that represent public sector employees...
House GOP Votes Down Measure Aimed At Curbing Wage Theft  Huffington Post   ...Early Friday morning, House Republicans voted down a measure that would have discouraged the government from giving contracts to companies that have committed wage theft...
Big Money, The Koch Brothers And Me  Politico   ...The richest Americans have always used their fortunes to try and tilt America's political landscape to their liking. The robber barons spent unknown millions financing William McKinley's 1896 Presidential election...
Shinseki Resigns Amid Veterans' Health Care Issues  Christian Science Monitor   ... Lawmakers are now calling for a complete overhaul of the VA system, including Sen. Charles Schumer...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Ranks Alongside Indonesia And Thailand On Workers Rights  Think Progress   ...The United States ranks in the bottom half of the world when it comes to labor rights, according to a new global comparison from an international labor coalition that represents 176 million workers from 161 different nations...
Justice Department Seeks More Than $10 Billion From PNB Paribas  Wall Street Journal   ...U.S. authorities are pushing BNP Paribas to pay more than $10 billion to end a criminal probe into allegations the bank evaded U.S. sanctions...

Today's Teamster News 05.28.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Hope To Keep ABF In Little Rock  Memphis Business Journal   ...The president of the Teamsters local in North Little Rock, Tim Nichols, says he will meet with Gov. Mike Beebe this week in hopes of preventing ABF from moving to Memphis...
Bus Company Workers To Vote On Joining Union  WAMC   ...Employees of the Green Mountain Express bus company in Vermont have scheduled a vote on whether to join the Teamsters union. William Kelly, trustee organizer for Teamsters Local 597, tells the Bennington Banner that 23 people at Green Mountain Express are eligible to vote Wednesday...
Pekin City Council approves Teamsters pact  Pekin Daily Times   ...The Pekin City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year contract with the Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local 697...
Hollywood Teamsters Back Patric Verrone For State Senate  Deadline Hollywood   ...Hollywood Teamsters Local 399 stood behind former WGA West President Patric Verrone when he led the 2007-08 Writers Guild strike, and it’s supporting him again in his run for the California Legislature...
Trade
European Milk Board opposes TTIP  Dairy Herd Management   ...A dairy farmer group representing organizations in 14 E.U. countries is not happy with current trade talks that would align European and U.S. trade and investment...
TTIP: The Lobby plague is coming  Access   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the United States and the European Union, aiming at increasing trade and (dangerously) seeking “regulatory coherence.” If adopted, TTIP would become the world’s largest free trade and investment agreement, opening both markets for exchange in goods, services, investment, and public procurement. While the negotiations are being held in secret on both sides of the Atlantic, a large number of concerns arose in Europe on the actual benefits of such a trade agreement and its potential impact on EU legislation on digital rights as well as environmental protection, public health, agriculture, consumer rights, and labour standards...
TPP: Bad for global health (opinion)  OakPark.com   ...On April 8, Oak Park Township approved putting a referendum measure on the November ballot that would declare Oak Park a "TPP-Free Zone."...
State Battles
Will The Supreme Court Kill Public-Employee Unions?  Mother Jones   ...Forget Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow union-bashing governors. Forget the partisan attacks on organized labor. The gravest threat to public-employee unions--which represent cops, firefighters, prison guards, teachers, nurses and other state workers, is a Supreme Court case named Harris v. Quinn...
Michigan's Snyder signs bill raising minimum wage  Associated Press   ...Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation Tuesday to raise the state's minimum wage by 25 percent gradually over the next four years to $9.25 an hour, as Republicans controlling the state government moved to head off a November ballot measure that could have raised pay even more.
Federal Judge Who Halted Walker Dark Money Criminal Probe Attended Koch-Backed Judicial Junkets  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The federal judge who ordered a halt to Wisconsin's "John Doe" criminal investigation into spending during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections has regularly attended all-expenses paid "judicial junkets" funded by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and other ideological and corporate interests...
States Consider Bills To Crack Down On Workplace Bullies  NPR   ...Bullying is a behavioral problem often associated with children in grade school, but according to a recent Zogby poll, more than a quarter of American workers say they've experienced abusive conduct at work...
War On Workers
Median CEO Pay Passes The $10 Million Mark For The First Time  Think Progress   ...The median CEO pay package hit $10.5 million last year, according to the Associated Press, cracking eight figures for the first time since the wire service began calculating the statistic...
Workers At This Giant Retailer Are Really Happy With Their Pay  Think Progress   ...In an analysis of employee feedback shared on Glassdoor over the past year, just one retailer comes in the top 25 for top marks on pay and benefits: Costco...
The Ripple Effects Of Rising Student Debt  New York Times   ...What are the roads not taken because students must take out loans for college? A collection of studies show that the burden of student debt may very well cause people to make different decisions than they would otherwise--affecting not just individual lives, but also the entire economy...
Miscellaneous
Europe's Secret Success  New York Times   ...Europe's financial and macroeconomic woes have overshadowed its remarkable, unheralded longer-term success in an area where it used to lag: job creation. What? You haven't heard about it? Well, that's not too surprising...
7 States Running Out Of Water  Huffington Post   ...In seven states, drought conditions were so severe that each had more than half it's land area in severe drought. Severe drought is characterized by crop loss, frequent water shortages and mandatory water use restrictions...

Today's Teamster News 05.22.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Strike Averted  Pekin Daily Times   ...After about five hours of mediation between the city of Pekin and Teamsters Local 627 officials the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to keep city services operational...
International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reports Taylor Farms Workers' Rights Violations  Insurance News Net   ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on May 15 evening to investigate workers' rights violations at the company's facilities in Tracy, California, according to a release from International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
ACTR Drivers To Vote On Union  The Eagle   ...Bus drivers of ACTR, Addison County Transit Resources, will vote to unionize June 11, according to driver Craig Bingham. Bingham says the drivers will decide to join the Teamsters Local 597...
Drivers Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners  Trucking Info   ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is reminding the trucking industry Wednesday marks the start of new regulations requiring that all U.S. DOT physicals must be performed by a qualified health professional listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
The new program sets baseline training and testing standards for medical professionals who perform commercial driver physicals and for tracking of driver medical certificates...
Teamsters Local 727 Defends Funeral Workers at SCI Shareholders Meeting  Teamsters Local 727   ...Teamsters Local 727 President John Coli Jr. on May 14 publicly denounced funeral giant Service Corporation International at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston for the company’s mistreatment of Chicago-area workers...
Trade
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe  TeamsterNation   ...The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks To Intensify As Key Players Remain Divided  Raw Story   ...Asia-Pacific trade ministers said Tuesday they would intensify talks on a vast trans-Pacific free trade agreement, but offered no clue on when a final accord would be reached. At the end of a two-day meeting in Singapore, ministers and chief negotiators of the 12 putative member economies of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remained divided on key issues...
State Battles
Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA  NJ.com   ...Another prominent labor union, the Communications Workers of America, says it will file a lawsuit in an effort to stop Gov. Chris Christie's plans to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget...
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, and More  Econbrowser   ... No turnaround for Wisconsin — it continues to lag Minnesota and the Nation...
War On Workers
U.S. Fast Food Protests Go Global  The Hill   ...Last Thursday, fast food workers in over 30 countries participated in protests over poverty wages, a lack of full-time positions, poor working conditions and management retaliation against union activism. U.S. workers protested in over 160 cities...
McDonald's Vacates Headquarters Ahead Of Massive Protest  Business Insider   ...McDonald's executives vacated the company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Wednesday ahead of a massive protest involving thousands of workers and supporters...
Why Is Credit Suisse Still Allowed to Do Business in the United States?  The Atlantic   ...Credit Suisse, the gigantic Swiss bank, is clearly a criminal organization. In its guilty plea yesterday, Credit Suisse admitted that it has been actively helping Americans (and no doubt people from all around the world) evade taxes for years...
Is Credit Suisse Really in Jail?  Baseline Scenario   ...no one will go to jail because of the conviction...
Hubris at the Top: The Imperial and Tone Deaf CEO  Wall Street on Parade   ...Yesterday, at the JPMorgan shareholders’ meeting, which has been held in Tampa, Florida for the past three years, more than 1,000 miles from the JPMorgan headquarters in New York (ostensibly to avoid mass protests), CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay package was rubber stamped by shareholders at $20 million for 2013. Over the past 18 months, the bank has been charged with ever alarming amounts of crimes, including the unprecedented two-felony count charge for aiding and abetting the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme which devastated financial lives across America...
Miscellaneous
TransCanada Considers Keystone XL Pipeline Alternative, Oil By Rail  Reuters   ...TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative route as its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on Wednesday...
Couple Fined $750, Threatened With Jail for Feeding Homeless People  Alternet   ...A Florida couple who fed more than 100 homeless people each week have been accused of breaking the law for their good deed...
Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time  IBT   ...The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals...

Today's Teamster News 05.15.14

Teamster News
Teamsters and California Hauling Company Reach Settlement through NLRB – Back Wages and New Bargaining Agreement Result  Beeson, Tayer & Bodine   ...Dispatch Transportation, the operating name for Commodity Trucking Acquisition, LLC, is paying $262,000 in back pay to the former employees of the predecessor to Dispatch, Valley Aggregate Transport, Inc.  Even better, perhaps, is that Dispatch has entered into a three-year collective bargaining agreement with Local 137 that includes a generous wage and benefit package in line with what other Union contractors provide in the industry...
Teamsters Take On National Express Group At Annual General Meeting  teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa led a powerful delegation of Teamsters, including North American school bus workers, in calling on the National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN) Board of Directors to address the company's poor worker rights record at its North American subsidiaries...
Road Bills Could Lead To Taxpayer Rage  Detroit News   ...Michigan's roads are in dire need of repair. But a House-passed package of bills in Lansing that would allocate upwards of $500 million a year to fix streets and bridges is a far cry from a permanent solution...
Adams County Board Approves Union Contracts  Quincy Journal   ...The Adams County Board unanimously passed three year contracts with most of its bargaining units....
Savannah-Chatham school bus drivers demand year-round pay  Savannah Now   ...Local school bus drivers are demanding new contracts and year-round pay in response to new legislation that bars them from claiming unemployment during the summer break. They protested at the First Student school bus transportation offices Wednesday and last week at the Savannah-Chatham public school board meeting...
Swift Transportation Shareholders Give Mandate: Eliminate Dual Class Structure  teamster.org   ... A Teamster shareholder proposal to address Swift Transportation’s dual class stock structure received 79.2 percent support by shareholders of the company’s Class A, publicly traded shares, based on results disclosed by the company in its 8-K dated May 13, 2014 and filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)...
IBEW, BLET joint statement regarding SEPTA negotiations  teamster.org   ...SEPTA’s decision on May 9 to decline the proffer of binding arbitration from the National Mediation Board (NMB) is regrettable. We continue to maintain that binding arbitration is a reasonable and expeditious method of resolving the dispute between the labor unions and SEPTA...
Teamsters Announce UPS Will Add Thousands Of New Union Package Jobs  teamster.org   ...Hiring has already started, and the new jobs will be in addition to the regular filling of jobs through attrition...
Trade
Is The Trans-Pacific Partnership An Environmental Disaster Waiting To Happen?  TreeHugger   ...President Obama's environmental legacy is in deep trouble and in large part will hinge on a trade deal that his administration is discussing in Vietnam the week of May 12...
State Battles
Governor Brown Signs SB 27 – Sheds Light on Dark Money  Common Cause   ...Today Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 27, reforming the Political Reform Act of 1974 to further regulate campaign financing, adding the requirement that committees disclose donors of $100 or more where those donations were solicited for the purpose of making contributions or expenditures in California. This essential campaign disclosure bill will go a long way toward improving California’s campaign disclosure laws by closing the nonprofit reporting loophole...
War On Workers
Walmart Warehouse Contractor To Pay $21 Million To Settle Wage Theft Allegations  Huffington Post   ...A Walmart contractor that operates many of the retailer's distribution centers has agreed to pay $21 million in back pay to warehouse workers in California who claim they were systematically shorted on pay for years...
Walmart US CEO Gets A $1.5 Million Bonus For Missing Expectations While A Worker Gets $0  Think Progress   ...Walmart US CEO William Simon's contract gave him the opportunity to earn a $1.5 million bonus on top of $10 million in salary and stock awards if the company's American net sales grew by 2 percent...
Nurses Launch New Campaign to Alert Public to Dangers of Medical Technology and Erosion of Care Standards  National Nurses United   ...An unchecked proliferation of unproven medical technology and sharp erosion of care standards are rapidly spreading through the health care system, far outside the media spotlight but frighteningly apparent to nurses and patients, says National Nurses United...
How Student Debt Keeps Young People From Buying Houses  Slate   ...It seems obvious that owing a lot of student debt should make it difficult to buy a house. After all, if you're stuck paying interest on college loans, it's hard to save up for a 20 percent down payment...
Big Tobacco's Secret Workforce: Child Farm Workers  Think Progress   ...Hundreds of children too young to buy cigarettes are working 60 hours a week on tobacco farms across the South, a new report from Human Rights Watch finds...
Spying Is Meant to Crush Citizens’ Dissent, Not Catch Terrorists  Washington's Blog   ...The record is suffused with examples of groups and individuals being placed under government surveillance by virtue of their dissenting views and activism – Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement, anti-war activists, environmentalists...

Today's Teamster News 04.24.14

Teamster News
New Teamsters Report Details Mounting Liabilities For One of Republic Services' Nuclear Waste Landfills  Teamster.org   ...Today the Teamsters released a report that details the escalating costs to the public and investors for Republic Service Inc's management of its Bridgeton/West Lake Superfund landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri...
Teamsters, Other Unions Pledge Support to Regional Pilots  Teamster.org   ...The head of one of the largest Teamster pilot unions joined other union leaders across the industry in spearheading an agreement to set new standards for regional pilot contracts and to stand together during negotiations...
UPS Employees Union votes to override local bargaining units  Atlanta Business Chronicle   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in the memo that the UPS national negotiating committee "voted overwhelmingly" to declare the new contract in effect...
Workers Memorial Day to highlight jobs that kill  People's World   ..."Forty-three years ago, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, promising every worker the right to a safe job," Teamsters President James Hoffa adds.  "Decades of struggle by workers and their unions resulted in significant improvements in working conditions...
Trade
Obama trade push gets thumbs down from Democrats  Politico   ...In an atmosphere in which populism is driving both parties’ bases and more represented in the Senate than ever, convincing members to sign on to multinational trade deals is next to impossible...
Obama fails to secure breakthrough in Japan trade talks  CNN Money   ...Trade talks between the United States and Japan failed to produce a breakthrough Thursday, in yet another blow to the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement...
State Battles
Paycheck Protection heard in Senate  Missouri Times   ...So-called “paycheck protection” legislation that would be placed on the 2014 ballot if approved was heard in a senate committee today, marking another step in the fight between labor leaders and conservative Republicans...
Karl Rove And Americans For Prosperity Join Forces To Aid ALEC Stalwart in North Carolina Race  PR Watch   ...Some powerful players are coming to the aid of ALEC board member Thom Tillis, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, who seeks to challenge Democrat Kay Hagen for her U.S. Senate seat...
War On Workers
Massive new fraud coverup: How banks are pillaging homes — while the government watches
Salon   ...Joseph and Mary Romero of Chimayo, N.M., found that their mortgage note was assigned to the Bank of New York three months after the same bank filed a foreclosure complaint against them; in other words, Bank of New York didn’t own the loan when they tried to foreclose on it... Housing Rebound in U.S. Losing Steam as Prices Rise  Bloomberg   ...Sales dropped a surprising 14.5 percent to a 384,000 annualized pace, lower than any forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the weakest since July, Commerce Department data showed today in Washington. Three of the four regions saw setbacks, with demand in the West slumping to the lowest level in more than two years...
The Koch Brothers Extra Baggage  Washington Post   ...The Republican Party's biggest sugar daddies, the Koch brothers are a mixed bag for the GOP: They bring money, but lots of baggage. Their downside isn't only that they're a convenient foil for Democratic turnout, but they could exacerbate existing tensions within the Republican Party...
Fast Food CEOs Earn Super Sized Salaries; Workers Earn Small Potatoes  NPR   ...At a time when fast-food workers earn an average of about $9 an hour, what are the chief executives bringing home? According to a new report, YUM! (Owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut) compensated its CEO $22 million in 2013...
Kellogg Locked Out Kevin to Cut Costs, Paid CEO $8 Million  AFL-CIO Now   ...For 13 years Kevin worked at the Kellogg Co.’s Memphis, Tenn., cereal plant, until the company locked out him and 225 of his co-workers in October. While they missed the rest of the year’s paychecks—and continue to do so—Kellogg CEO John Bryant pocketed nearly $8 million in 2013 compensation...
Northwestern Football Players To Vote On Union Friday  Chicago Tribune   ...Northwestern University football players are scheduled to vote Friday morning on whether they want to be represented by a union. Northwestern, which is a private university, is not allowing reporters on campus at Welsh-Ryan arena, citing the players' wishes to avoid media attention...
US Workers Were Once Massacred Fighting For The Protections Being Rolled Back Today  Moyers & Company   ...On April 20, 1914, the Colorado National Guard and a private militia employed by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company opened fire on a tent camp of striking coal miners at Ludlow, Colorado. At least 19 people died in the camp that day, mostly women and children...
Miscellaneous
Students Seek Loan Forgiveness In Overwhelming Numbers  MSNBC   ...Enrollment in federal student loan debt forgiveness programs skyrocketed nearly 40 percent in the last 6 months, the U.S. Education Department told the Wall Street Journal as education costs rise...
New Records: IRS Targeted Progressive Groups More Extensively Than Tea Party  ThinkProgress   ...A series of IRS documents, provided to ThinkProgress under the Freedom of Information Act, appears to contradict the claims by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that only Tea Party organizations applying for tax-exempt status “received systematic scrutiny because of their political beliefs.”...

UConn star goes to bed 'starving' because he can't afford food

Like other low-wage workers in America, UConn Huskies star Shabazz Napier sometimes goes to bed hungry at night because he can't afford food.

And yes, the UConn Huskies are low-wage workers, at least according to a recent ruling by an NLRB regional director.

Here's the good news. Connecticut lawmakers want to enact a law letting Napier and other athletes at public colleges to organize. CNN reports:

The remark got the attention of state lawmakers in Connecticut, who are now exploring legislative ways to allow athletes at UConn, a state institution, to unionize -- much like athletes are attempting at Northwestern University. 

Rep. Matthew Lesser said he and other state lawmakers are considering legislation. Unlike at Northwestern, a private institution governed by the National Labor Relations Board, Connecticut law governs whether employees at a public institution can unionize. 

"He says he's going to bed hungry at a time when millions of dollars are being made off of him. It's obscene," Lesser said. "This isn't a Connecticut problem. This is an NCAA problem, and I want to make sure we're putting pressure on them to treat athletes well."

The NLRB ruled college athletes at private institutions are employees because they meet four criteria under common law. The athletes are:

1. performing work for another person or entity under
2. a contract of hire who is
3. under that entity’s control, in return for
4. payment or other compensation.

Or as Napier said,

"I just feel like a student-athlete, and sometimes, like I said, there's hungry nights and I'm not able to eat and I still got to play up to my capabilities. ... When you see your jersey getting sold -- it may not have your last name on it -- but when you see your jersey getting sold and things like that, you feel like you want something in return."

Oh, and congratulations, Huskies!