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Today’s Teamster News For March 14, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Nation’s Water Crisis Extends Beyond Flint Huffington Post …Other communities nationwide could face a similar public health emergency if elected officials don’t act to beef up U.S. water infrastructure. This matter is a ticking time bomb that must be addressed by policymakers at all levels of government. That’s why the Teamsters last year rolled out its “Let’s Get America Working” platform that specifically addressed the need to invest in better water facilities…
Cincinnati Teamsters End Strike at Airgas Teamster.org …Drivers and plant operation workers at industrial gas company Airgas returned to work this morning after ending their 24-hour strike. The workers, members of Teamsters Local 100 in Cincinnati, unanimously authorized a strike less than two weeks ago and went on strike yesterday to protest Airgas’ violations of United States and international labor laws…
Tentative Agreement with New Jersey Transit Reached BMWED …The Commuter Railroad System Division (CRSD) of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division reached a tentative agreement as part of the bargaining coalition with New Jersey Transit Rail Operations in the early evening of March 11, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. The Coalition consisted of every railroad Union on the property, signifying a historic event. The Labor coalition engaged in intense bargaining and showed a tremendous amount of solidarity…
Retired union workers rally at Minnesota State Capitol over pension cuts Star Tribune …Several hundred retired union workers and their families rallied Saturday at the State Capitol in St. Paul to denounce proposed deep cuts to Teamsters pensions. Trustees of the giant Central States fund want to reduce the pensions of nearly 275,000 people nationwide by an average of 34 percent. The proposal would affect more than 15,000 Minnesota retirees…
Teamsters Weigh in on Battle for Control of United Airlines Board of Directors Teamster.org …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union representing more than 9,000 United Airlines aircraft mechanics, is weighing in on the battle for control of the airline’s parent company – United Continental Holdings, Inc. News of the impending proxy contest came as United Airlines Teamster mechanics protested outside the JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Industrial Conference in New York City…
Teamsters Applaud Adoption of TAMC Language in House, Senate FAA Reauthorization Bills Teamster.org …The Teamsters, the Teamsters Airline Division and the Teamsters Airline Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) commend the inclusion of language sought by the TAMC in separate bills passed by both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The bills, which reauthorize and refund the Federal Aviation Administration, now both have provisions within their text to increase oversight…
Strike Looming Between Teamsters and Columbia Distributing Teamster.org …In contract negotiations with its employees last week, Columbia Distributing, the Pacific Northwest’s largest distributor of beer, wine and liquor products, abruptly walked away from the bargaining table after insisting that workers pay more for their health insurance and accept dozens of concessions that would destroy workers’ job protections…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Nigeria: Ogun Lawmakers Beg Striking Workers As Govt Declares ‘No Work, No Pay’ AllAfrica …The executive and legislature in Ogun State appear to have taken different positions on the strike by civil servants in the state. While the state lawmakers are appealing to workers to end the one-week-old strike, the executive has threatened to implement the “no work, no pay,” policy from Monday. The Assembly blamed the situation on the global oil price, saying the APC-led government in the state is a labour friendly one…
USA uses TPP-like trade-court to kill massive Indian solar project Boing Boing …The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was on track to deliver deploy 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022 but because India specified that the solar panels for it were to be domestically sourced, the USA sued it in WTO trade court and killed it. The Trans Pacific Partnership, a secretly negotiated trade agreement, expands the sorts of powers the WTO creates to allow multinationals to sue governments to repeal policies that undermine their profitability…
Secrecy around TTIP talks ‘undemocratic’ IOL.co …The British government is under pressure to allow MPs to disclose sensitive information on one of the most secretive trade deals ever negotiated. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed US-EU trade deal for which negotiations have largely taken place behind closed doors…
“Free Trade”: The Elites Are Selling It But The Public Is Longer Buying (opinion) OurFuture.org …Giant multinational corporations and billionaires do great under free trade, the rest of us not so much. Elites say increasing trade is always good. But when you close a factory here, then open the factory “there” and bring the same goods back to sell in the same outlets, you have “increased trade” because those goods now cross a border…
Thousands demonstrate against austerity as Fitch downgrades Finland New Europe …Thousands of Finnish people demonstrated against the austerity policies promoted by the Finnish government on Saturday, a day after Fitch downgraded the Finland’s credit grade to AA+. According to Finnish YLE website, the demonstrators rejected the public spending cuts and asked from the government to cancel the planned economic policies. The protesters chanted that everyone needs to be provided with a sufficient livelihood…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Another Statehouse Decides To Block Local Minimum Wage Raises Huffington Post …Following in the footsteps of other states, the GOP-controlled Idaho state Senate passed a bill Thursday that would bar local jurisdictions from raising the minimum wage on their own. The measure was already passed by the GOP-controlled house and will now head to the desk of Republican Gov. Butch Otter…
House members kill bills for equal pay, minimum wage Commercial Appeal …Bills to create a Tennessee minimum wage and require “equality pay” for women were killed in a Republican-controlled House subcommittee last week with Democrats complaining the measures — similar to legislation regularly defeated in past years — did not get an appropriate hearing…
Right-to-Work, Budget Deadlock Shape West Virginia Legislature Session Wheeling News-Register …The most pressing task of the year still remains unresolved: the state has a $466 million budget gap, and the standoff continues over whether to raise taxes, make more painful cuts or tap reserves to bridge about $130 million worth of disagreement between the House and Senate. Running for governor on a pro-business platform, Cole prioritized a right-to-work measure and the repeal of the state’s prevailing wage for public construction projects…
The Hard Power of ‘Soft’ Voter-ID Laws The Atlantic …A recent lawsuit accuses the state of Wisconsin of disenfranchising an eligible voter who had lost the use of her hands, because she could not sign a government document to get a voter ID. Another voter, who was born in a German concentration camp and could not produce a birth certificate, had to go to extraordinary lengths at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles in order to vote. Strict state voter-identification laws are proving disconcerting on the ground…
Thanks to Jim Crow Era Law, 1 in 4 African-American Adults Can’t Vote in Florida’s Primary Democracy Now …Almost 6 million people across the United States are prohibited from voting as a result of state felony disenfranchisement laws that forbid those with felony convictions to vote. Florida has the highest number of disenfranchised voters. Over 10 percent of adults in the state cannot vote because they have a felony conviction. Nearly one in four black adults is disenfranchised…
Amid Industry Downturn, Kentucky Considers Ending State Safety Inspections Of Coal Mines IBTimes …As an historic downturn grips the U.S. coal industry, Kentucky is considering ending state safety inspections of mines. A bill spawned by the state’s coal lobby and backed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin would leave inspections up to the federal government alone, effectively slashing the number of mandatory visits that underground mines in the Bluegrass State receive each year by more than half…
U.S. LABOR
Oreo bakery workers protest job cuts Chicago Tribune …Some employees who’ve already received layoff notices were among the dozens of protesters, organized by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 300. They marched in a tight loop on the sidewalk, chanting and wielding strongly worded signs. The demonstration lasted about an hour…
Greater Cincinnati logistics firm to close, lay off more than 300 workers Business Courier …More than 300 workers in Greater Cincinnati will lose their jobs at a logistics and e-commerce firm later this year. Innotrac L.P. filed a notice with the Kentucky Career Center that is will close its Hebron facility, which will result in 338 layoffs by July 2. The layoffs include 86 drivers and 96 packers who will lose their jobs beginning in early May…
CCSF faculty union votes to support strike if contract talks break down SF Examiner …City College of San Francisco’s faculty union Thursday announced that 92 percent of its members have voted in support of a strike, setting the stage for what union leaders say could be the first strike in the college’s history. The strike vote announced by the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 comes nearly two months after the union first announced it was at an impasse…
New Jersey State Workers Vote Dues Increase to Fund Campaign for Secure Pensions CWA …CWA state workers in the executive branch in New Jersey voted overwhelmingly to finance a constitutional amendment campaign to secure public workers’ pensions and hold elected officials accountable. Members in the judicial branch will vote separately. By 80.65 percent to 19.35 percent, CWA state workers voted to increase their dues by 50 cents per week so that they could successfully fight back against the attack on pensions…
In Union Case, Feds Charge Trump Las Vegas with More Unfair Labor Practices eNews PF …This week Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas is facing more heat for its labor record. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued another federal complaint against Trump Ruffin Commercial, LLC, alleging that the company unlawfully terminated one employee and discriminated against another based on their union support, and promised employees job opportunities if they abandoned the union…
U.S. labor powerhouse to launch anti-Trump ad campaign Reuters …The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. federation of labor unions, will launch digital attack ads targeting Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Officials at the AFL-CIO, an umbrella group of 56 unions representing 12.5 million workers, told Reuters the ads will depict Trump as anti-union…
As high-stakes labor case begins, McDonald’s insists it doesn’t control its franchisees Washington Post …After three and a half years of trading legal motions, arguments over whether McDonald’s should be responsible for the alleged labor law violations of its franchisees burst into the open Thursday, in a case that could carry far-reaching implications for the structure of the industry and the rights of workers within it…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Government Just Sent A Warning To Courthouses That Operate Debtors’ Prisons Think Progress …On Monday, officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) will send a letter to chief justices and court administrators across the country warning them against operating modern-day debtors’ prisons and deploying other tactics that harm the poor. The letter reiterates that courts shouldn’t jail people who don’t pay fines and fees levied by the court without first determining whether they are able to pay…
Undocumented Immigrants Contribute Over $11 Billion to Our Economy Each Year The Nation …The candidates could have looked at new economic data showing that in Florida, undocumented immigrants contributed some $588 million annually in state and local taxes. That revenue, which is paid by people who are powering the local economy like all other Floridians are, through their labor and consumption, is drawn from sales and excises taxes ($454 million) and property taxes ($134 million).
Women Over 65 Are More Likely to Be Poor Than Men, Regardless of Race, Educational Background or Marital Status Alternet …Women age 65 and older are much more likely to be poor than their male counterparts—and older, minority, and unmarried women are at greatest risk. Though EPI’s new report on the state of American retirement shows that the retirement gap between men and women is shrinking, this is not a feel-good story about women catching up to men. Instead, it’s a story about men sinking to the level of women…