News
Today’s Teamster News For February 25, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Send Section 6 Notice to Atlas Air, Southern Air Teamster.org …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division has sent a “Section 6 Notice” to Atlas Air, Inc., and Southern Air, Inc., on behalf of the pilots represented by the union at those airlines. Under the Railway Labor Act, the filing of the Section 6 notice on Feb. 16 signals the Teamsters’ intent to negotiate modifications to the pilots’ collective bargaining agreements…
Teamsters Protest Air Liquide at French Embassy in D.C. Teamster.org …Teamsters representatives protested Air Liquide outside the French Embassy, the day after Airgas shareholders voted to approve the purchase by France-based Air Liquide of Airgas for $10.3 billion. The Teamsters held signs and banners that read, “Air Liquide: Stop the Attacks,” and “Air Liquide: Arrêtez les Attaques,” demanding that Air Liquide stop Airgas’ attacks on workers and their rights to form unions and negotiate contracts in the United States and Canada…
Teamsters Denounce Anti-Worker Actions At NetJets Teamster.org …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 284 are warning of another serious labor dispute at NetJets. NetJets workers are speaking out against cost-cutting demands and proposals that they say undermine the ability to perform their jobs, which are essential to the safety of NetJets passengers…
BLET reaches tentative agreement with Illinois Railway BLE-T.org …The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative contract with the Illinois Railway (IR), governing rates of pay and work rules for approximately 35 train and engine service employees. Ballots and instructions, along with a synopsis of the agreement, are being mailed to active members working for the IR…
Local 727 Parking Member Reinstated With Back Pay Local 727 …An arbitrator emphatically ruled in the union’s favor and ordered Salstar Parking to reinstate a wrongfully terminated Teamsters Local 727 member with back pay. Parking hiker Syed Rivzi was fired without just cause in May 2015, so the union swiftly filed a grievance to have the wrongful termination overturned…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strikes and workers’ protests multiply in China Washington Post …In the Chinese region nicknamed “the world’s factory,” many workers are angry and disillusioned. Strikes and other labor protests have spiked across the country as manufacturing plants lay off workers and reduce wages in the face of mounting economic headwinds. But the unrest is particularly intense in the southern province of Guangdong, the vast urban sprawl bordering Hong Kong that is the heart of China’s export industry…
India: strike at Tata Motors’ plant enters second day Economic Times …Strike by a section of workers at Tata Motors plant here entered the second day as the company’s management and protesting employees remained adamant on their stand, a Labour Department official said. “Both the management and the workers, who are on strike, are adamant on their stand. The workers are demanding that suspension of all the 28 colleagues be immediately revoked”…
Tuna factory workers strike Nation …Hundreds of workers from Golden Prize Canning have gathered at Samut Sakhon’s labour protection and welfare office, seeking help for unpaid compensation, according to Andy Hall, an advisor to Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN). Hall said that the worker leader said that all 1,400-plus workers, mostly Myanmar nationals, at the Mahachai tuna factory would stop working after their shift finishes today…
Obama Sets Sights on 2016 TPP Approval, Despite Political Landscape ICTSD …US President Barack Obama said on Monday that he was “cautiously optimistic” that Congress will be able to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, pledging to submit the necessary legislation for lawmakers’ approval this year. “We’re going to sign to enter this agreement, presented formally with some sort of implementation documents to Congress at some point this year,” he told the National Governors Association…
The jobs tradeoffs in the TPP trade deal (opinion) LATimes …Working from the assumption that the TPP doesn’t change the trade balance, if the pharmaceutical industry starts getting more money for its drugs, then other American industries will start getting less money for whatever they try to sell overseas. Manufacturing is quite likely to be a big loser. In effect, the money foreigners might have spent on our cars and other manufactured goods will instead be used to pay Pfizer higher prices for its drugs…
NFU Contests TPP’s Benefits for U.S. Agriculture NFU.org …The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is having a hard time attracting much support on Capitol Hill, so the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) briefed reporters today about TPP’s benefits in hopes of reviving the fledgling trade deal. But one farm organization, representing 200,000 family farmers and ranchers, was quick to point out that USDA’s projections of job growth and rural prosperity closely mirror the failed promises of past trade pacts…
Is TTIP in crisis? DW.com …The free trade negotiations between the EU and the US in Brussels this week are not going well. This time the Americans are dragging their feet, and there’s talk of a trimmed-down version of TTIP. This week, the 12th round of negotiations is taking place in Brussels. Lange, a Social Democrat from the German state of Lower Saxony, believes the talks are not making much headway…
Jamaicans Vote on Government That Imposed IMF Austerity Plan Bloomberg …Polls opened Thursday in Jamaica’s first national elections since 2011 as voters weigh opposing plans for boosting a slow-growth economy weighed down by the heaviest debt load in the Americas. The Caribbean nation’s 1.8 million registered voters will choose between the ruling People’s National Party, led by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, and the opposition Labour Party. Simpson Miller, 70, has vowed to continue with austerity policies…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Bills would force unions to open books, ratify representation SacBee …A group of organized-labor dissidents have teamed up with Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove to introduce two long-shot measures intended to throw open government-union books and allow members to choose their representation. Assembly Bill 2753 would require California’s public employee unions post itemized budgets online and make them accessible to members…
California’s pioneering paid family-leave law may expand to help more low-income workers LA Times …Nearly 15 years ago, California became the first state in the nation to guarantee workers paid time off to care for a new child or an ailing family member. Now, as both Democratic presidential candidates tout their paid family-leave policies — and as Hillary Clinton gives shout-outs to California’s law — a measure to make the state program more lucrative for workers is on the fast track in the Legislature…
Voter ID in Missouri clears last hurdle before Senate floor debate Post Dispatch …A bill to require photo ID at the polls passed one last test Wednesday before heading to the Senate floor — where St. Louis Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat, has vowed to lead a filibuster to stop it. The Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee unanimously approved the bill, though its two Democratic members were absent…
At Kingston rally, Cuomo insists minimum wage hike won’t cost jobs Capital NY …Small businesses won’t be hurt by an increase in the minimum wage, Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted during a rally here on Wednesday, because of a tax cut he’s also advancing and increased consumer spending. Cuomo, a Democrat, stopped at a converted armory in the city’s Midtown neighborhood as part of a statewide tour with labor leaders to push for an increase the minimum wage…
Birmingham mayor signs ordinance increasing city’s minimum wage AL.com …Birmingham Mayor William Bell on Wednesday signed an ordinance implementing a $10.10 minimum wage in the city. Meanwhile, a bill intended to block Birmingham and other cities from passing their own minimum wages is making its way through the state Senate. It won approval in a committee today and could get final passage as early as Thursday…
U.S. LABOR
585 employees at IP Casino join union Sun Herald …Through a union card check, employees in three departments at IP Casino Resort said they want to join the Unite Here union. David Strow, spokesman for IP Casino parent company Boyd Gaming, said the union card check was held at the beginning of the year, and more than half of the employees in the housekeeping, food and beverage and uniform services departments indicated they wanted to join the union…
AFL-CIO slams VW for refusing to negotiate with UAW Detroit Free Press …The AFL-CIO’s Executive Council voted Tuesday to support the UAW’s effort to force Volkswagen to negotiate a contract covering 162 skilled-trades workers at its plant in Tennessee. The move gives the Detroit-based union a vocal ally. “Volkswagen’s refusal to bargain is not only a reversal of its pre-election statements, but violates its own Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships”…
As T-Mobile Rises, Questions Emerge Over Treatment of Workers, Consumers Huffington Post …The National Labor Relations Board accused T-Mobile of illegally firing several pro-union workers and an N.L.R.B. judge ruled last March that T-Mobile unlawfully prohibited employees from talking with one another or the news media about wages, workplace investigations and other workplace concerns…
OK Foods Completes OKC Plant Acquisition, Faces Union Complaints Times Record Although 100 new full-time jobs are being added by OK Foods at the facility that processes and cooks about 700,000 pounds of chicken a week, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1000 filed charges Monday with the National Labor Relations Board stating OK Foods did not recognize the union while hiring more than the “50 percent-plus one” threshold of union members from the previous company…
Trump Las Vegas Hotel Is Not Letting Up on Its Fight Against Its Own Workers Daily Kos …Workers at the Donald Trump co-owned Trump International Hotel Las Vegas voted to unionize. When hotel management challenged the union vote, the National Labor Relations Board rejected the challenge. But the Trump Organization fights on—to deny its workers their right to organize. The claim, of course, is that the big bad union intimidated the workers into voting to unionize…
Silicon Valley Firm Learns That Wage Theft Doesn’t Count as “Innovation” In These Times …Following an investigation of alleged wage violations, San Jose-based Fenox has agreed to pay $331,269 in back wages and damages to 56 workers who performed vital jobs for the company, but were treated as unpaid interns, the agency announced on Monday. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, interns may only work for free if their internship provides similar training to what they could receive in an educational setting…
Obama Has A Plan To Bring Paid Leave To 828,000 Workers Huffington Post …More than 800,000 U.S. workers may be getting more paid sick leave on their jobs, thanks to a federal rule outlined by the Labor Department on Wednesday. The proposal, set in motion by an executive order from President Barack Obama in September, would guarantee that workers under federal contracts could accrue up to a week of paid leave per year…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Still think America is the ‘land of opportunity’? Look at this chart. Washington Post …The American Dream — that anyone can achieve success through hard work, grit and determination — has always had a complicated relationship with the American Reality. Children born at the bottom of the income distribution are more likely than not to stay there. If you’re a person of color or your parents aren’t married, your odds of rising up are even worse…
The Undocumented Immigrants Who GOP Candidates Want To Deport Pay Billions In Taxes Think Progress …Particularly as GOP presidential candidates promise to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, there’s a lot of public debate over whether those people make any significant contributions in this country. But there is one area where they are clearly contributing. Undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay $11.6 billion in state and local taxes annually, according to an updated Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy report…