Headline News
Today’s Teamster News For January 20, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: We Stand With Flint Teamster.org …Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on the Flint, Mich. water crisis: “Over the past month the water crisis in Flint, Mich. has been brought to the nation’s attention. However, this is a tragedy that Michiganders have been aware of and the families of Flint have been dealing with since April 2014″…
Teamsters, Carhaul Employer Group to Meet Again Soon for Negotiations Teamster.org …The national carhaul contract negotiations wrapped up this week with more talks to be scheduled in the near future. “Both sides are working on difficult economic issues that are not easily resolved and the parties exchanged detailed proposals that require further evaluation,” said Kevin Moore, Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division. In the meantime, the union asks that all carhaul members continue to work as usual and look for updates…
Teamsters Rail Conference Opposes Hostile Takeover of Norfolk Southern Teamster.org …The Teamsters Rail Conference is adding its voice to the dozens of elected officials, shippers and labor unions that strongly oppose an apparent attempt at a hostile takeover of Norfolk Southern (NS) by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). The Rail Conference represents more than 70,000 active railroad workers whose constituent unions are the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED)…
Horse carriage industry, City Hall strike deal to keep carriage rides in NYC Daily News …Horses will be banned from traveling the streets outside Central Park, except when going to and from their current stables, starting in June. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement in concept on the future of New York’s horse carriage industry,” said a group statement signed by de Blasio, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Teamsters Joint Council 16 head George Miranda and carriage driver Steve Malone…
Teamsters to Vote on Jobs-Saving Deal at Safeway DC Labor …Safeway has made a contract offer that will save nearly 1,000 jobs at the grocery giant’s warehouse in Upper Marlboro, reports Teamsters Local 730. Members of both Local 730 and 639 will vote on the proposed deal Wednesday morning. Local 730 president Ritchie Brooks credited months of work with area political leaders, “especially Senator Muse and Delegate Braveboy,” as well as “strong support from the local labor movement” with reaching the deal…
Gilford Board of Selectmen ratifies Teamsters’ contract Citizen.com …The Gilford Board of Selectmen ratified a contract with a local chapter of the Teamsters Union and dismissed a zoning amendment request last week. This contract will raise the salaries of Gilford Police employees by $2,351 in 2016 and is projected to raise them by $2,413 in 2017…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
China’s Sluggish Economy Is Dragging the World Down With It Slate …Another week, another set of ugly economic indicators for the global economy. After an especially wild few weeks on the Chinese stock market, the International Monetary Fund cut global economic growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year on Tuesday. The world economy is now expected to grow at 3.4 percent in 2016 and 3.6 percent in 2017, both down 0.2 percent from the previous estimates in October…
Strike talks: NHS junior doctors and London Underground workers in crunch negotiations IBTimes …Crunch talks to avert two major industrial disputes will both be held at mitigation service Acas on 15 January. London Underground (LU) workers and drivers will get around the table with Transport for London (TfL) in a bid to stop their planned strike action, while the British Medical Association will hold its own negotiations…
Workers call off strike at 300,000-bpd Exxon Antwerp refinery – union Reuters …Workers at Exxon Mobil’s 300,000-barrels-per-day Antwerp refinery in Belgium have cancelled a planned walk-out after agreeing to a proposed deal from the company, a union spokesman said on Friday. Workers were originally planning to strike on Dec. 24 but agreed to defer their strike to the end of January…
TTIP, Tax Havens Contribute to Extreme Global Inequality, Says Oxfam Sputnik News …The total wealth of the poorest half of humankind has decreased by more than $1 trillion since 2010, in part as a result of measures such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the international justice and poverty confederation Oxfam told Radio Sputnik following a report published on Monday…
‘Crafted By and For Big Business’: TTIP Under Fire Across Europe Common Dreams …A new UK coalition is sounding the alarm over how the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), currently under negotiation between the U.S. and EU, would force European small businesses into unfair competition with U.S. firms with lower standards and lower costs…
Lobbyists Love TTIP: Big Business Already Exploiting New Trade Deal Sputnik News …The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade agreement has been exploited on several occasions by lobbyists who used the agreement to interfere with the legislative process in Europe, Der Spiegel reported on Monday. One aspect of TTIP negotiations between the US and EU uses the framework of “regulatory cooperation” to dismantle “regulatory barriers”…
Trans-Pacific trade deal a hard sell for PM Turnbull Scoop …Prime Minister Turnbull faces an uphill battle convincing members of the U.S. Congress to support legislation for the TPP, given recent studies which show negligible or negative impacts from the TPP on the Australian and US economies, and threats to environmental laws…
TPP Will Cost Canada 58,000 Jobs, Won’t Grow Economy Behind the Numbers …Even the loudest advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership concede that the macroeconomic benefits for Canada will be small. Canada’s former trade minister promised a $3.5 billion boost to the Canadian economy—a fraction of a percent—if the massive trade treaty goes ahead. The most optimistic forecasts, including a recent report from the World Bank, point to an increase of around 1% to the Canadian economy by the year 2030…
IMF cuts global growth forecasts The Guardian …The International Monetary Fund has added to concerns about the health of the global economy by cutting its growth forecasts for the next two years and warning that recovery from the financial crisis could be derailed altogether if key challenges are mishandled…
5 Union Organizers Imprisoned in Cambodia Released Today Solidarity Center …Five leaders of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) in Cambodia were released from detention today after spending nearly a week in prison for seeking to assist striking garment factory workers who sought their support. The Solidarity Center legal team in Phnom Penh was instrumental in securing the five men’s freedom…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Maryland State Sen. Catherine Pugh will be ‘right there’ with paid sick leave bill again Business Journal …State Sen. Catherine Pugh has confirmed what many businesses were already preparing to hear: She’ll be pushing for her paid sick leave bill again this year. Some employers and business groups have objected to the paid sick leave proposal, which would have required employers to provide workers with earned sick time, as an onerous mandate…
West Virginia House holding prevailing wage public hearing Daily Telegraph …The West Virginia House of Delegates is holding a public hearing about a push to repeal the state’s prevailing wage for public construction projects. The House Committee on Government Organization hearing will take place in the House chamber Friday at 8 a.m. A repeal of the prevailing wage is a top priority of the Republican-led Legislature…
Consitutional amendment on “right to work” faces second hurdle News & Advance …A referendum on a “right to work” amendment to the Virginia Constitution may appear on the November ballot alongside congressional and presidential candidates. The amendment would enshrine a post-World War II-era statute that prevents union membership from being a requirement for employment…
Bill Would Increase N.H.’s Minimum Wage to $9.50 By 2019 NHPR …A proposal to increase New Hampshire’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2019 goes before a House committee Tuesday. The bill would re-establish a state a minimum wage, setting it at $8.25 next year. New Hampshire lawmakers repealed the state’s minimum wage in 2011, and the state has since deferred to the federal minimum wage of $7.25…
Judge refuses to halt voter ID requirement in March election Charlotte Post …A federal judge refused Friday to block North Carolina’s photo identification requirement to vote in person from taking effect with the March 15 primary elections. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroder’s ruling denying the preliminary injunction motion of the state NAACP and allied voters likely ensures that voter ID will be implemented…
Union submits signatures for $15 California minimum wage San Jose Mercury News …A faction of California’s largest union began submitting signatures Tuesday for a ballot initiative asking voters to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021, one of two competing proposals vying for the November ballot. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom joined SEIU’s United Healthcare Workers West in San Francisco as union officials turned in signatures…
Airport workers brave cold to call for higher wages Chicago Tribune …Other acts of civil disobedience were planned inside airport terminals, along bridges and in front of airport contractor headquarters in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami, Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., and Newark, N.J. They follow national strikes and rallies at airports nationwide just before Thanksgiving…
Walmart Is Walking Away From The Poor D.C. Residents It Agreed To Serve Huffington Post …the two stores east of the river were a lynchpin of the Walmart deal. If the company would agree to build those locations, and hopefully spur new development in the process, then city officials would give Walmart the entree to the better-off neighborhoods that it wanted. The agreement helped Walmart boosters overcome loud opposition from labor and community groups. But after building three stores west of the river, Walmart is walking away from the neighborhoods that needed it most…
U.S. LABOR
Suburban Phila news groups pressed for labor deals Philly.com …Bargaining units employing 1,000 journalists and support staff “will be negotiating for new contract at the same time,” backed by “sizable” financial support from the Communications Workers of America, locals of the CWA-Newspaper Guild affiliate said in the statement. They said some of the papers have not raised pay for “more than eight years”…
New York’s “Carwasheros” Push for Safer, Fairer Workplaces Truthout …Car washes are among the most dangerous and exploitative places to work – employees often deal with hazardous chemicals and unguarded machinery – but organizers such as Hernandez have come a long way in their fight to clean them up. In New York City, carwasheros at about 10 shops have won union contracts with the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU) guaranteeing them higher pay and benefits…
Charleston Workers March For Higher Wages Outside The Democratic Debate Think Progress …After 10 years working in fast food, South Carolina native Rachel Nelson hung up her apron and walked out of Hardee’s early Sunday morning, joining hundreds of other minimum wage workers in the rainy streets of Charleston calling for $15 an hour pay and the right to join a union. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, but I was not nervous,” Nelson told ThinkProgress. “I was excited that my voice was finally going to be heard”…
Fast-Food Workers Plan Wave of Strikes for 2016 Primaries Truthout …Fast-food workers announced last Friday that an unprecedented wave of strikes and actions calling for $15 and union rights will hit this primary season to hammer home to candidates that the nearly 64 million Americans paid less than $15 an hour are a voting bloc that cannot be ignored. The program kicked off Sunday, when fast-food workers striked in Charleston, S.C…
Why Some States Want Strong Public-Sector Unions The Atlantic …Many states want effective and well-resourced unions, even though those unions will be on the other side of the bargaining table. That much is apparent from California’s robust defense of its collective-bargaining law in Friedrichs, as well as the amicus briefs filed by 21 states and the District of Columbia and a list of cities, counties, elected officials, and school districts…
Walmart Closing 269 Stores Sends “Chilling Message” to Workers UFCW …Responding to news that the company will close 269 stores globally, including 154 in the United States, Jess Levin, communications director for MCAW, said, “Walmart is a company that, time and again, will say one thing and then do the opposite. Public relations matters more to them than their customers, the community, or their employees”…
Income inequality will become more pronounced as US ages Aljazeera …The wide economic disparity between minorities and white people and between men and women is likely to broaden as the nation’s increasingly diverse population ages. Among Americans 65 or older, black people and Latinos are much more likely than white people to rely solely on Social Security for income. And older women are more likely to live alone than men and twice as likely to be poor…
How the Astronomical Cost of Child Care is Forcing More Women to Quit Their Jobs Fast Company …Recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that in 33 states and the District of Columbia, infant care costs exceed the average cost of in-state college tuition at public four-year institutions. It’s ironic, given that as millennials become parents, many are still paying back loans for their own college educations…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
On Behalf of City Poisoned By Water, Residents File Suit Against Gov. Snyder Common Dreams …Michigan residents who say they’ve suffered injury from drinking lead-contaminated water have filed a class-action lawsuit against Gov. Rick Snyder, the state, and the city of Flint. Plaintiffs Doris Collins, Robin Pleasant, and Jason Phinisee, all Flint residents who paid for—and in some cases continue to pay for—undrinkable water, filed the suit on behalf of approximately 31,000 household residents who have also been affected by the public-health crisis…
Advocates Hopeful Supreme Court Will Reject ‘Extremist’ Attack on Immigration Common Dreams …After months of limbo, immigrants and children of immigrants will now have their “day in court” after the U.S. Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will hear the case challenging President Barack Obama’s executive actions, which could shield as many as 5 million people from deportation…
We’ve Been Conned by the Rich Predators of Davos Alternet …This week, some of the richest people on Earth will gather high up a snowy mountain in the world’s biggest tax haven. Most will have paid big money to attend the three-day meeting in Davos: the most exclusive memberships cost somewhere in the region of £100,000 each. From there, they will relay thoughts on global risks and opportunities to the ski-jacketed press corps…
The Unfair Opacity of Credit Cards Peddled to the Poor The Atlantic …One would hope that financial offers geared toward the underbanked—who often have low credit scores, histories of financial instability, and limited education—would include modest interest rates, easily decipherable language, and enough oversight to ensure that already-struggling families don’t get taken advantage of. But that is often not the case…
Sparks Fly Between Bernie and Hillary Over Health Care and Wall Street in Democratic Debate Truthout …Their responses – with Sanders emphasizing bigger themes and systemic corruption that must be challenged, and Clinton emphasizing progress comes from pushing the existing system toward better results – showed why they are virtually tied in the opening states that will caucus and cast ballots for the Democratic Party’s nominee…