Today's Teamster News 04.20.12

KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut's Owner Is the 12th Corporation To Drop ALEC  ThinkProgress   ...Yum! Brands, the owner of fast food brands KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut told Color of Change that they will no longer support the American Legislative Exchange Council, the right-wing front group that, until recently, was a driving force behind state voter suppression and “stand your ground” gun laws...
Foreclosure ripple effect: 8.3 million children in jeopardy  MSNBC   ...kids who switch schools have lower levels of math and reading achievement, even after controlling for other factors such as poverty...
A Study On Speculation in the OIl Market For Those Economists Who Have Apparently Not Seen It  Jesse's Cafe Americain   ...speculation contributed about fifteen percent to the increase in prices in the oil market during a recent price increase...
Text messages distracted pilot who botched landing, safety probe finds  The Star   ...An Australian Jetstar plane failed to make a proper landing at Singapore’s Changi International Airport after the captain was distracted by incoming text messages on his cellphone, while the first officer “probably” suffered from fatigue, a transportation safety body ruled Thursday...
Bankruptcy  judge gives Hostess more time  The Deal   ...Judge Robert D. Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in White Plains on Tuesday, April 17, approved a 90-day extension of the company's exclusive right to file a plan and solicit acceptances to it, to Aug. 8 and Oct. 7, respectively, a company spokesman said...
Teamsters Local 175 back at work following Coca-Cola strike  Bluefield Daily Telegraph   ...A union strike that started Thursday ended the same day after its leaders reached an agreement with a soft drink bottling company...

CEO pay is 380 times average worker pay

Yup, CEOs at the largest U.S. companies earned an average of $12.9 million a year, 380 times the wage of the average worker last year.

That's according to the AFL-CIO, which renamed its annual "Executive PayWatch" site as "CEO Pay and the 99%."

Reports CNN Money,

The data are searchable on the website paywatch.org, which is run by the union group. The site will eventually post CEO pay for all 500 companies as that data is released in proxies submitted to the SEC.

In 1980, CEOs at the largest companies received 42 times the pay of the average worker, according to the union. In 2000 the gap hit a high, with CEOs making 525 times the average worker.In 2010, the gap narrowed, with CEOs making 343 times the average worker.

And as we're all painfully aware, median pay for workers is actually falling.

It matters. A lot. Not just to workers who have to take pay cuts so CEOs can loot the companies they've been entrusted to manage. It's bad for investors (which include pension funds). As Robert Reich wrote,

Institutional investors are catching on to a truth they should have understood years ago: When executive pay goes through the roof, there’s less money left for everyone else who owns shares of the company.

Why strike Hostess? It's the management, stupid

The Hostess executives who looted the company while mismanaging it are (predictably) blaming the union for their own incompetence.

Yesterday was the last day of bankruptcy hearings in which the company asked a judge to abrogate union contracts.

You have to ask: Is it the drivers' fault that the Twinkie hasn't changed since 1933, when even Jell-O and Apple Jacks have reinvented themselves?

As the Boston Globe reported,
...consumption of healthy snacks is growing. About 32 percent of Americans ate yogurt at least once in two weeks in 2011, for instance, up from 18 percent in 2000.

“We’re less likely to be snacking on items that we shouldn’t be snacking on,’’ said Harry Balzer, at NPD Group, a marketing research firm. 

Privately held Hostess does not disclose sales figures. But analysts said the brand has been hurt by changing eating habits. 

Twinkies, a snack cake with a cream filling that epitomizes empty calories, have 150 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. A Ding Dong chocolate cake with filling has 368 calories and 19.4 grams of fat.

And consider how the company failed to streamline management. Rural Route, in a terrific DailyKos post, "Overpaid? A Day in the Life of a Hostess Brands Driver", explains:

At these twenty odd stops you often meet the other Hostess Brands drivers- the Hostess Cake driver from your depot, the Holsum Bread driver from their own depot just across town from yours, and the Dolly Madison Cake driver who runs out of a garage in the rental storage place. Yup, Hostess Brands has four delivery trucks and drivers delivering to essentially the same places, as over a decade after merging Continental and Interstate Baking they still haven't consolidated operations. The company claims union work rules won't let them consolidate, but you know that's BS- you've been through "dovetailing" by seniority before, and had a year long layoff to prove it. You and the other drivers suspect they keep the operations separate to avoid laying off all the multiple managers, who seem to often to be related to each other.

It's a great read, laying bare the long hours made longer by bakery screw-ups, the antique trucks, the dangerous driving conditions, the worn-out uniforms. You'll understand why Hostess Brands employees are good and ready to strike.

Woo-hoo! Another Teamster organizing victory in NY!

Please give a warm welcome to our 65 new brothers and sisters who voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 445 this week. They are police officers and detectives in the Newburgh City Police Department.

The MidHudson News reported on the organizing victory.

Newburgh police officers are among the lowest paid in the Hudson Valley, according to Adrian Huff, principal officer. Their pay has risen less than one-half of one percent over the past decade. Turnover is high and the city is a training ground for other police departments in the area.

We love what Michael Pitt, president of the Newburgh PBA, had to say:

It’s a tough city, and the police need a tough union.

Local 445 has tough members who stand up for themselves and for their right to a contract. Here's what they have to say for themselves:

Our Union stands for the proposition that employees at every workplace deserve the right to negotiate a contract to protect and improve their wages, benefits, working conditions, time off, and protection from unfair discipline or termination. 

We live in a time when that proposition is challenged. We must rise to that challenge. 

...We were recently honored to host a  widely-publicized rally of nearly a thousand people at our Union Hall featuring legendary folksinger Pete Seeger; check out the photo gallery for more. We also organized a large rally outside the Sullivan County Government building, and helped the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation put together a  massive protest at the intersections of Rts. 17K and 300 in Newburgh.  

Teamsters Local 445, the strongest union in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, is headquartered in Rock Tavern. It also represents police officers in Walden, the Village and Town of Chester, Greenwood Lake, the villages of Goshen and Harriman, and the Town of Mount Hope.

Today's Teamster News 04.19.12

Trucking industry abuse widespread, report says  Crain's New York Business   ...a report to be published today says transport companies routinely evade taxes by misclassifying workers to deny them the rights and obligations of full-time employees...
Torture Suits Against Companies Blocked by Top U.S. Court  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of a law that protects American citizens from torture in other countries, ruling that victims can sue only individuals, not organizations or corporations...
Why the U.S. Economy Is Biased Against Men  The Atlantic   ... surveys report that childless women under 30 make more than men. More than 90 percent of workplace deaths, military deaths, and severe workplace injuries (e.g., amputations, black lung disease) occur to men. Such dangerous work justify higher pay for men...
Debtor’s Prison for Failure to Pay for Your Own Trial  Marginal Revolution   ...Debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States but today poor people who fail to pay even small criminal justice fees are routinely being imprisoned. The problem has gotten worse recently because strapped states have dramatically increased the number of criminal justice fees...
BREAKING: REPORT SHOWS SCOTT WALKER EDUCATION CUTS FAR WORSE THAN EXPECTED  Politiscoop   ..This report, in totality, refutes distorted statements Walker himself has made about how his educational "reforms" are working.The alarming key findings of the report include proof that Walker’s cuts have caused: 73 percent of school districts in the state reported cutting teachers this year... 
Teamster Waste Workers in Columbus, Buffalo Reach New Agreements With Republic Services  IBT   ...The agreements guarantee wage increases and health care and retirement protections over the next several years...

Woo-hoo! Another Teamster organizing victory in CA!

Please give a warm welcome our 150 new brothers and sisters who voted to join Teamsters Local 856 in San Bruno, Calif. They all work for the City of Concord as maintenance technicians, police dispatchers, landscape gardeners, crime scene technicians and in other classifications vital to city operations.

Greg Fabian, an equipment mechanic who was worked for the city for nine years, said workers have never been more united. The election involved two units that voted to become Teamsters by margins of 100 percent and 93 percent.

The employees struggled with layoffs, rising medical costs and furloughs in recent years.

Landscape gardener Lance Rivera said the employees need better working conditions.

It gets harder to work with less. It’s great to know that Teamsters 856 is looking out for us now.

Lisa Conner, a 10-year custodian for the city, said they're excited about the Teamsters' experience representing workers.

Local 856 represents fellow public sector workers in San Francisco, San Bruno, Orinda, Fremont, and Millbrae as well as in other cities, counties and districts in the Bay Area, North Bay and Central Valley. The Local also has members working in private sector industries such as hotel, produce, airline and healthcare.

Principal Officer Joseph Lanthier said he's "elated" to welcome hardworking City of Concord employees to the Teamsters Union, where they will enjoy dignity, strength and respect.

We're all elated. Welcome!

Whoa! Tax dollars funding jobs in MI for Koreans

We're just going to cross-post this from We Party Patriots. It's an outrage that doesn't need embellishing:

When President Obama and Vice President Biden broke ground at two Michigan electric car battery plants in 2010 — both built with $300 million of stimulus money — unemployed workers in the region rejoiced. Two years later, though, it turns out that the two Korean companies in charge of the plants, LG Chem and Dow Kokam, have used many Korean parts and hired Korean nationals to fill jobs, according to CBS. 

“I think there’s a lot of anger out there, not to be confused with any sort of prejudice against anyone from another country,” said Mark Mangione, who represents 1,000 labor union members in west Michigan. “This is American taxpayer dollars and there should be American jobs that are created with those American taxpayer dollars.” 

Adding to the outrage is LG Chem and Dow Kokam’s ignorance of transparency on the matter. The number of Korean workers currently working in Michigan on the projects is difficult to ascertain.  The two companies claim all of their workers are skilled workers, but Michiganders nonetheless feel slighted. Training of Americans on U.S. soil is what they want. 

Unions, which have received little cooperation in their inquiry, have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, hoping to look at LG Chem’s payroll. 

Energy Department officials say they’re confident all laws are being obeyed, but declined our interview request to talk about foreign workers on stimulus jobs. The companies pointed us to broad totals, saying stimulus money has indirectly helped create 2,000 temporary construction jobs and 300 full time jobs. 

The stimulus brought new jobs to Michigan, and for that everyone is thankful. It just seems that not all of these jobs were filled by Michigan workers…or American workers at all for that matter.