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Today’s Teamster News For May 12, 2016
TEAMSTERS
U.S., European Workers Hold Rally Outside XPO Logistics Shareholder Meeting Teamster.org …Today, XPO workers from the United States and Europe, along with union leaders, gathered outside the XPO Logistics shareholder meeting to call for CEO Bradley Jacobs to meet with them to address a laundry list of serious concerns. XPO is a top 10 global logistics company and its employees around the world are angry about the company’s anti-worker actions and abuses…
Unions protest outside XPO shareholders’ meeting Greenwich Time …A crowd of more than 60 port and freight drivers, Teamsters and international union members gathered outside the Delamar Hotel in Greenwich on Wednesday morning, chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, XPO has got to go,” as they rallied against XPO Logistics’ treatment of its workers…
US Foods Teamsters in Illinois are Latest to Honor Picket Lines from Maryland Teamster.org …Some 40 Teamsters working at US Foods’ distribution facility here tonight refused to cross the picket line in solidarity with Teamsters in Severn, Md., who began an unfair labor practice strike on April 27. The members of Local 722, of which there are 87 at the facility, are just the latest group of US Food workers to honor a picket line supporting the striking Maryland workers…
Teamsters Applaud New OSHA Rule to Modernize Worker Injury & Illness Reporting System Teamster.org …The Teamsters Union applauds the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) announcement today of a new rule to modernize and streamline the reporting system that tracks occupational injuries and illnesses…
Teamsters end strike at Denver DC Supermarket News …Members of Teamsters Local 455 in Denver returned to work Sunday following a 10-day strike at a distribution center operated by Supervalu on behalf of Kroger Co. Union members agreed to a new five-year contract May 5 and went back to work two days later after striking at the Advantage Logistics facility on April 27…
Truck Stop: How One of America’s Steadiest Jobs Turned Into One of Its Most Grueling The Atlantic …By the early ‘80s, the industry was in turmoil, with employers slashing wages and busting the Teamsters union to cut costs. At the same time, bigger and more sophisticated shippers were demanding that freight move farther and faster, further degrading trucking jobs…
Federal Court Judge Rules in Union’s Favor Against Funeral Employer Local 727 …A federal court judge has ruled in the union’s favor by determining that Olson Burke-Sullivan Funeral Home and Cremation Society are a single employer and are bound to the current FDSA collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 727. “All along we knew this employer was in the wrong, and we are pleased that justice has been served,” said John Coli Jr., President of Local 727…
Port-Trucking Firms Run Into Labor Dispute Wall Street Journal …Justice for Port Drivers, a campaign supported by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is organizing drayage drivers at ports around the country—most heavily in Southern California. The organizers say that trucking companies push their costs, such as fuel, insurance, maintenance and lease payments, onto the drivers…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Australia: Power workers strike threatens blackouts Sydney Morning Herald …Power workers that operate the electricity network across most of NSW will walk off the job from Monday week without leaving a skeleton staff to deal with power outages. The Electrical Trades Union NSW said this would be the first time since protected industrial action began earlier this year that it would not provide a skeleton staff during the stop work period…
Wall St. groups threaten to sit out trade pact push The Hill …Power players in the financial services industry are threatening to sit out the push for President Obama’s Pacific Rim trade deal. Banks, insurance companies and other financial companies oppose a provision in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that would give foreign governments the ability to require that U.S. businesses maintain data servers within their borders, fearing it could create high costs and security risks…
TPP not dead yet Politico …In the words of Monty Python, TPP’s “not dead yet.” The Trans-Pacific Partnership may be battered and bruised by the toughest trade rhetoric in years, but U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is telling anyone who will listen that he still believes Congress will approve the landmark deal before President Barack Obama leaves office…
Obama, Australian Prime Minister Discuss Need to Approve TPP Deal in 2016 Sputnik News …President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull discussed by phone on Wednesday the importance of getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement approved by US Congress by the end of 2016, the White House said in a press release. “President [Obama] underscored his commitment to securing [US] Congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year,” the release stated…
New Zealand: Trans-Pacific Partnership legislation passes its first hurdle NZ Herald …The Trans-Pacific Partnership legislation has passed its first hurdle with support from National, Act, United Future – and one Labour MP. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Amendment Bill will now be considered by the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee, after passing its first reading 62 to 59…
Few U.S. Workers Receive Federal Assistance for Trade Deal Consequences Bloomberg …TAA is a small program. In 2014, according to the Labor Department, 20.4 million American workers lost their jobs. Of those, 63,000 were eligible for TAA, which offers either retraining grants or small wage subsidies to make up the difference for those who take lower-paying work after their jobs vanish overseas…
Leaked docs reveal TTIP unfriendly to environment, consumers, democracy Eco-Business …Greenpeace Netherlands turned up the heat on the already troubled Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations last week when it published 248 pages of the negotiation texts, covering 13 of the 17 chapters which are currently being discussed by United States and European Union trade representatives behind closed doors…
World Labor Leaders Call For ‘Global New Deal’ To Combat Demagogues Like Trump Huffington Post …Dozens of senior European labor union officials gathered this week at the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. federation of labor unions, to trade ideas for fighting a xenophobic far right ascendant on both sides of the Atlantic. The conference on Monday and Tuesday illustrates the extent to which progressive movements across the developed world have begun to view the far right as a common, and urgent, threat….
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
N.J.’s $15 minimum wage battle returns with some tough talk NJ.com …A state Senate committee will vote Monday whether to raise the minimum wage here to $15 an hour, setting in motion what’s likely to be a lengthy and public fight over wages. The proposed update would increase New Jersey’s current minimum wage, $8.38, 70 percent to what advocates consider a more livable wage…
Voter ID Measure Passes Missouri Senate CBS …A proposal that’s key to Republican efforts to require people to show photo identification when voting has passed the Missouri Senate. Senators voted 24-8 along party lines Wednesday to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow for such a law…
New Reports On Voter ID Spell Disaster For Students And Latinos This November Think Progress …Two reports released this week — one focusing on Wisconsin and one on Latino voters across the nation — show the serious impact voter ID laws and other restrictions could have on voter participation in this November’s general election. The Latino advocacy group NALEO published a study Wednesday estimating that more than 875,000 Latino voters could face difficulty voting in 2016…
Georgia Moves to Protect Utility Workers on Roadways IBEW.org …The so-called “move over” laws have for years applied to police, fire and ambulance services. But until now, utility workers operating close to the roadway have enjoyed such protections in just three states: Tennessee, North Carolina and Indiana. On April 19, the tiny club expanded to four when Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed House Bill 767 into law…
Cleveland Council to introduce legislation setting $15/hr minimum wage Cleveland.com …Compelled by a petition drive that caught fire last month, Cleveland City Council on Monday will introduce legislation boosting the minimum wage in the city to $15 an hour. Council Clerk Pat Britt has notified Raise Up Cleveland, a group that petitioned for the wage hike, that it collected enough signatures to compel the council to take up the issue…
U.S. LABOR
How the Verizon strike could impact workers, employers ABC …The current Verizon strike could have far-reaching effects on both workers and employers. While a projected end to the nearly month-long strike is unknown, an amicable truce depends largely on how long both sides are willing to endure the disruption. “I think the workers feel pretty threatened and would be willing to hold out for a fairly long time,” said Jeremy Schwartz, associate professor of economics at Loyola University…
Cleveland teachers consider a fall strike as frustration grows over evaluations, Cleveland Plan Cleveland.com …The Cleveland Teachers Union is making early threats of a strike in the fall as teacher frustration continues to rise over some controversial parts of the district’s improvement plan – mainly over teacher evaluations and the district’s first-of-its-kind pay plan. Union leaders are asking teachers this week to vote to give them power to call a strike next school year…
Farm Workers Sue Over Labor Rights in Landmark Case for ‘Dignity and Humanity’ Common Dreams …Farm workers have sued New York for the right to organize in a groundbreaking lawsuit that demands they receive the same rights as “virtually every other worker,” the New York chapter of the ACLU said on Tuesday. The lawsuit claims that laborers are being forced to work in “life-threatening, sweatshop-like conditions” and are prevented from organizing under threat of retaliation…
Workers go on strike at aircraft parts plant in Spokane area Komo News …Some 400 Machinists went on strike Wednesday at the Triumph Composite Systems factory in the Spokane suburb of Airway Heights. The strike at the aircraft parts maker began right after midnight, following weeks of contract negotiations that failed to resolve disagreements regarding money, retirement plans, health care and job security…
ConAgra Workers Join UFCW Local 700 ufcw.org …On May 5, the hard-working men and women at a ConAgra plant in Indianapolis voted to join the UFCW union family and become part of UFCW Local 700. Nearly 300 workers make Marie Callendar’s pies at the plant, which was formerly owned by another company and purchased by ConAgra about three years ago…
The Six-Hour Workday Works in Europe. What About America? Bloomberg …For about a year, nurses at the Svartedalens retirement home have worked six-hour days on an eight-hour salary. They’re part of an experiment funded by the Swedish government to see if a shorter workday can increase productivity. The conclusion? It does. Even with encouraging results, it’s unlikely that the U.S. will soon shift to shorter days…
It’s a Tough Job Market for the Young Without College Degrees NY Times …Only 10 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds have a college or advanced degree, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute, although many more of them will eventually graduate. And for young high school graduates, the unemployment rate is disturbingly high: 17.8 percent…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
New Rules on Corporate Secrecy Have Glaring Loopholes Truthout …The Treasury Department released a new rule and several proposals last week that they said are intended to address the problem of corruption and dirty money in secret US shell companies. After examining the details, several watchdog groups are warning that the new regulations and proposals leave open several glaring loopholes…
Dangerous New Normal as 400 ppm Carbon Baseline Expected Within Days Common Dreams …The planet is hurtling towards a disturbing milestone as researchers predict that the southern hemisphere “within days” will reach a new atmospheric baseline of 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon, signifying that humanity has entered a new phase in our climate impact….