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Today’s Teamster News For April 18, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Sysco Workers in West Palm Beach, FL Win Teamster Representation Teamster.org …In a major victory, Sysco workers in West Palm Beach voted to join Teamsters Local 769 in Miami. With 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, the vote for Teamster representation was 66 to 15, an 81.5-percent margin of victory. It is the first Sysco facility in Florida where workers have formed a union…
Cargill Workers Overwhelmingly Reject Contract Proposal Teamster.org …Meat packing workers represented by Teamsters Local Union 455 in Denver, Col. overwhelmingly rejected a substandard contract proposal from Cargill Meat Solutions this week by a 98 percent margin. The contract proposal, which was not endorsed by Teamsters Local 455, not only offered the more than 1,700 workers inadequate wage increases, but drastically slashed health care benefits…
Teamster Dispatchers, NetJets Reach Agreement in Principle Teamster.org … Teamsters Local 284 and NetJets reached an agreement in principle for the 48 dispatchers employed at NetJets. This will be the first contract for the dispatchers since they voted to join the Teamsters. “I’m proud of our dispatchers,” said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division…
Teamsters: Safety Culture At Amtrak Must Be Changed Teamster.org …Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and Freddie Simpson, President of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference on the recent collision between an Amtrak train and maintenance of way equipment: “We fully support our brothers and sisters at the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division who are calling on Amtrak for a complete overhaul of their safety culture”…
Teamsters: Demand Lobbying Disclosures & Accountability at UPS Teamster.org …UPS does not disclose to shareholders its lobbying expenditures or rationale for contributing to groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. These groups aggressively undermine legislative priorities of UPS and UPS Teamsters such as addressing climate change; ensuring workplace safety and protecting workers’ rights…
Local 727 Protects Union Parking Jobs at Northwestern Hospital Local 727 …Teamsters Local 727 representatives were able to preserve members’ jobs when ABM took over parking operations at Northwestern Memorial Hospital last month. ABM initially refused to hire the five A&R Janitorial members who had worked at the location for many years. The union filed a grievance, citing the company’s violation of the master parking agreement…
Why Chipotle Is Getting Hit With Farm Worker Protests Eater …Taylor distributes its products through third parties like Golden State Foods, a supplier to Chipotle, McDonald’s, and several California school districts. The union representing these workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has publicly condemned Taylor’s management in media releases, and is using the visibility of Chipotle locations to draw attention to its cause…
BLET dedicates new National Division headquarters building BLE-T.org …Approximately 150 members, officers, dignitaries and guests were in attendance yesterday at a dedication ceremony for the new National Division headquarters building of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in Independence, Ohio…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Thousands of Kuwait oil workers go on strike against pay cuts RT …More than 7,000 oil workers in Kuwait have begun an open-ended strike to protest government plans to cut wages and benefits. The strike threatening a slash in production comes during talks in Qatar discussing an output freeze to boost oil prices. “The overall number of workers exceeds 13,000, and here we have 7,000 [taking part in the strike],” the oil workers union chief Saif al-Qahtani was quoted as saying…
14 Honduran Unionists Attacked or Threatened in Past Year Solidarity Center …Since April 2015, at least 14 Honduran union leaders and members have suffered threats or violence, including one who was disappeared and another one who was murdered, part of a campaign of intimidation against worker rights documented in a new report by the Union Network against Anti-Union Violence in Honduras…
Auditing the Administration’s TPP “Tax Cut” Claims: Funny Math and Misdirection Citizen.org …With job-creation claims about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) falling flat, the Obama administration has shifted to a “tax cut” narrative to sell the deal, claiming it provides 18,000 “tax cuts” for “Made in America” goods. But a review of TPP tariff schedules reveals the 18,000 figure is dramatically inflated…
Japan panel resumes debates on TPP Japan Times …A House of Representatives special committee on Monday resumed deliberations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal and relevant bills for the first time in 10 days. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other ministers attended the debates at the Lower House committee on the TPP. The Democratic Party said that debate on the TPP was not appropriate after powerful earthquakes caused deaths and widespread damage in central Kyushu last week…
Did The Administration Offer New Balance A Big Contract For TPP Silence? OurFuture.org …Last year President Obama went to Nike headquarters to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But Nike doesn’t make shoes in the US, and TPP would force companies like New Balance to stop making shoes here. New Balance kept quiet about this, but now says the administration offered the company a big contract in exchange for its silence…
British protesters call on Cameron to resign PressTV …More than 150,000 people have taken to the streets of the British capital to voice their anger at the harsh austerity measures by the conservative government. The Saturday rally, which was organized by activist group the People’s Assembly, saw demonstrators from across the UK on the streets of London protesting against cuts to health, social housing, jobs and education…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Judge enters final order striking down right-to-work law Star Tribune …A Madison judge entered a final order Friday declaring Wisconsin’s right-to-work law unconstitutional, finalizing a decision he handed down last week and setting the stage for state attorneys to appeal. State Justice Department officials said they would file a request Monday morning to put the ruling on hold while an appeal is settled…
It’s Been 25 Years Since Restaurant Workers Got a Raise Bill Moyers …Twenty-five years is a long time to go without paying a significant portion of your workers — servers, bussers, hosts, bartenders — at least the minimum wage, let alone a wage that enables a family to make ends meet. And as a result, servers are twice as likely to need food stamps than the rest of the US workforce, and three times as likely to live in poverty. The restaurant industry now includes 7 of the 10 lowest paying jobs in the country…
Florida debates minimum wage hike Daily News …A movement to raise the minimum wage is growing, with California and New York recently approving increases that in coming years will raise minimum pay to $15 per hour. State Sen. Dwight Bullard is seeking to capitalize on the momentum. For the past three legislative sessions, the Miami Democrat has filed bills seeking to raise Florida’s minimum wage…
Working People in Unions Stand with LGBTQ Brothers and Sisters Against Discrimination (opinion) AFL-CIO …H.B. 2 not only discriminates against our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, but it also means employers can now fire anyone because of their religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, disability or veteran status. North Carolina abolished 30 years of legal protections against workplace discrimination. This law even bars cities and municipalities from passing legislation on nondiscrimination, paid leave, fair scheduling and raising the minimum wage…
U.S. LABOR
Trucks Are Getting More Dangerous And Drivers Are Falling Asleep At The Wheel. Thank Congress. Huffington Post ..Congress has been caving, very quietly, to lobbying from trucking interests that want to roll back, block or modify at least a half-dozen important safety regulations. Significant parts of the hauling industry have long opposed many of the federal rules governing working hours, rest periods, size and weight limits, and safety standards…
SEIU Texas Gets Ready To Negotiate New Working Conditions For Houston’s Janitors Public Media …The Texas chapter of the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, is getting ready to negotiate the new working conditions of 3,500 janitors who clean and maintain Houston’s office buildings. The janitors’ current contract was signed in 2012 and it guarantees them a minimum hourly wage of $9.35. Getting $15 per hour is one of the goals of the union, along with sick days…
On Verizon picket line, a demand for dignity Boston Globe …Lowell McAdam, the Verizon CEO, somehow manages to survive on $18 million a year. Much of that compensation package is in stock shares, which gives McAdam a greater incentive, as if he needs it, to keep Verizon’s stock price high and labor costs low. The top five executives at Verizon pull in a total of more than $47 million a year…
New York Times Absurdly Claims Verizon Workers Make Average of $130,000 a Year: Here’s Why That’s Not True Alternet …Some readers may have been misled by a statement in a NYT article on the Verizon strike that the union members at Verizon receive an average of $130,000 a year in wages and benefits. This is what the company pays in labor costs per worker. This includes not only straight pay, but also overtime pay, employer-side Social Security and Medicare taxes, health insurance, and pension benefits…
What Follows the Fight for $15? The Atlantic …Labor activists in Seattle have set their sights on a facet of low-wage work that sounds dull but is critically important to workers’ quality of life: how employers schedule their workers’ hours. As a result, Seattle’s city council has recently begun drafting scheduling regulations, and since the initiative has the public support of a majority of councilmembers as well as the mayor, it’s expected to pass sometime this summer…
Farm board backs ruling that grower interfered with election Quad-City …The decision Friday by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board marked the latest victory for organized labor in the decades-long fight. he board found Gerawan allowed employees who favored breaking from the United Farm Workers to gather signatures during work time to hold an election and unlawfully granted a wage increase during the decertification campaign to win the favor of workers…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
For The First Time In History, Undocumented Immigrants Will Have A Voice At The Supreme Court Think Progress …The U.S. Supreme Court will convene on Monday for oral arguments in a case that could determine the fate of millions of undocumented immigrants hoping for relief from the looming threat of deportation. At stake are two of President Obama’s executive actions — the Deferred Action for Parents and Americans (DAPA) and its sister initiative, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA+)…
Pro-Democracy Forces Converge for Final Day of Spring Revolt Common Dreams …The battle against big money in politics continued over the weekend and into Monday, as Democracy Spring gave way to Democracy Awakening, a landmark mobilization calling for restoration of voting rights, campaign finance reform, and environmental justice. In what the Washington Post described as “one of the biggest public protests against big money,” thousands converged in front of the U.S. Capitol building on Sunday…