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Today’s Teamster News For May 13, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Darigold Teamsters Gear Up For Strike Authorization Vote Local 117 …The bargaining team was back at the table with Darigold again today and said the situation is getting serious. The union team said it is committed to protecting the livelihoods of all Teamsters who work at Darigold and their families, but Darigold is coming after members’ hard-earned wages and benefits. A strike authorization vote will be held for Darigold Teamsters on Saturday, May 21…
UK Official Says Durham Workers Deserve Protection Teamster.org …Yesterday in Birmingham, England, one of the United Kingdom’s largest transport companies held its annual general shareholders meeting (AGM). For many National Express shareholders, this meeting was truly the tipping point. This company’s operations abroad under the name Durham School Services differs greatly from its operations in the UK. Workers in America report that they are systematically targeted by management with intense pressure when they show any interest in forming a trade union with the Teamsters…
New York City’s Private Garbage Collectors Are Treated Like Trash Village Voice …The Teamsters Union Local 813 is giving a middle finger to most of the 200 private waste-hauling companies in the city like the one that employed Marthone. “You got laws in effect now, but these companies don’t abide by any of those rules as the system currently stands because they don’t fear the fines,” says Allan Henry, a labor organizer for Teamsters Local 813…
Union Targets XPO Logistics Wall Street Journal …Labor activists seeking to unionize truck drivers are targeting XPO Logistics Inc. Unionized workers have staged strikes at around 20 XPO facilities in France, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are attempting to organize XPO terminals in the U.S. XPO has also had to pay out millions of dollars to settle claims by port truckers who said they were improperly classified as contractors…
Unions Mount International Effort Against XPO Logistics Global Trade Mag …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, together with representatives of labor unions from the UK, France, and Belgium, attended the annual shareholders meeting of XPO Logistics in Greenwich, Connecticut, today to confront the company’s management over what the Teamsters call “wage theft in excess of $200 million because of persistent misclassification as independent contractors”…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
French railway workers announce ‘unlimited & renewable’ weekly 48-hour strikes RT …French railway services are facing major and continuous disruptions after a major union announced weekly two day strikes starting from next Wednesday. Railway workers are battling for their rights amid EU push for more competition in this sector across France. “We have filed an advanced notice that is unlimited and renewable, for 48 hours each week over Wednesdays and Thursdays”…
Zimbabwe: NRZ Workers Refuse to End Strike Despite U.S.$3 Million Payment, Govt Looks to Fire Them All Africa …Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) workers have refused to end their strike after the government paid them $3 million, about four percent of the U.S.$68 million they are owed in unpaid wages, an official has said. Workers went on strike March protesting after going for 15 months without pay…
Workers set to push ahead with strike at major Argentina grains port Reuters …Workers at the Rosario grains export hub in Argentina will go ahead with plans to start a strike on Friday to demand higher salaries, a union leader said late on Thursday. Reuters has seen a copy of a letter written by the country’s labor ministry asking workers at the port, the largest in one of the world’s top grains producers, to call off the strike…
New Study Shows Past Trade Pacts’ Actual Outcomes Were Opposite of Agency’s Rosy Projections Public Citizen … The reliability or usefulness of an imminent government assessment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was called into question by a study released today that shows that past U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) projections of trade agreements’ benefits were systematically contradicted by the pacts’ actual outcomes…
TPP death watch Politico …Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he saw chances for Congress to vote on the proposed TPP agreement in the lame-duck session at no more than 50-50. He said that’s partly because the White House seems unwilling to budge on his top concern: test data protection for biologics. “Well, we’ve had multiple meetings with the White House, and they don’t seem to be willing to go beyond the five years,” Hatch said…
EU defends US TTIP deal amid growing opposition Economic Times …EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstroem said Friday a historic free trade deal between Europe and the United States could still be reached this year despite growing opposition. “We are working as hard as we can to do this,” Malmstroem, the trade commissioner of EU, said while arriving for talks with ministers from the European Union’s 28 member countries to discuss the deal. She spoke as about 100 activists protested outside the Brussels venue of the ministerial talks demanding that the negotiations be abandoned…
Union Says TPP Could Devastate Auto Industry Blackburn News …A government panel is in Windsor today for community consultations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The trade deal involving 12 countries around the world covers all industries including automotive, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. The Windsor District Labour Council made their objections clear…
Brazil Senate Votes for Impeachment Trial as Rousseff Vows to Fight ‘Coup’ Common Dreams …Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended for up to six months on Thursday as the country’s senate voted in favor of an impeachment trial. The senate voted 55 to 22 to suspend Rousseff in what one politician called “the saddest day for Brazil’s young democracy”…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Legislature Sends Voter ID Question to MO Voters Ozarks First …The state legislature is asking voters whether Missourians should have to have a photo ID to vote. Representative Tony Dugger (R-Dist. 144) has sponsored voter photo ID legislation in each of his 8 years in the Missouri House. The House and Senate voted to ask whether the state Constitution should be changed to allow for a photo ID requirement…
‘Paycheck protection’ veto override fails in Missouri Senate STL Today …Senators voted not to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a so-called “paycheck protection” measure Thursday night. After a roughly four-hour filibuster by Democrats Thursday night, the vote fell one vote shy of a two-thirds majority, 22-10. Two Republicans — Sens. Ryan Silvey of Kansas City and Gary Romine of Farmington — joined with the chamber’s eight Democrats to oppose paycheck…
Malloy: Connecticut to cut over 2,500 jobs under state budget deal Fox …The Senate plans to meet Thursday. As for Connecticut’s House of Representatives, Friday has been floated around but there has been no confirmation about whether that will happen or not. The budget bill has to pass through both the House and the Senate before Governor Dannel P. Malloy can sign it. Malloy is urging the legislature to get it passed…
How Payday Lenders Are Beating Back Reform in Alabama Truthout …The payday loan industry has made sure Alabama lawmakers are swimming in dirty cash, and the House Finance Committee is filled with these legislators. One member, Rep. Ken Johnson (R-Moulton) owns Trinity Financial, a commodity and security brokerage firm, and is close friends with Moulton Mayor David Grissom…
Nannies And Housekeepers In Illinois Just Won A Major Victory Think Progress …The bill, if it gets signed into law, will guarantee domestic workers — including housekeepers like Zylinska as well as nannies and home care workers — the right to make minimum wage, be paid for all hours they work, get one day off a week, and be protected from sexual harassment at work…
Will Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis Spark a Humanitarian Disaster? The Atlantic …The debt crisis in Puerto Rico has been discussed mostly in terms of its dire economic outlook, with wide-reaching consequences from potential defaults, including destabilized municipal-bond markets and litigation. The fallout could spread to the mainland, and it has already impacted the economy of states like Florida as a factor in mass emigration…
Minimum Wage in Cleveland to go Before City Council WTAM …The minimum wage in Cleveland will soon be in the hands of city leaders. In a statement, the mayor’s office says the group, Raise Up Cleveland, has enough signatures to start legislative proceedings to raise the minimum wage in the city. The group, which is supported by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) wants the minimum wage to be $15 per hour…
U.S. LABOR
Verizon Strike Exposes Broader Shifts in Telecom Labor Conditions Truthout …The strike by 36,000 Verizon workers — represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) — is about to enter its second month. Now, as the strike drags on, both sides of the labor issue are digging in for a long bitter struggle…
The cruel reality the people who bring you cheap chicken allegedly endure Washington Post …While concerns about food safety and animal welfare dominate discussions about the perils of the modern food system, there’s a downside that many might find just as troubling: the often inhumane conditions people who work in the industry face. A new report by Oxfam America alleges that poultry industry workers are “routinely denied breaks to use the bathroom”…
Blankenship in prison Metro News …Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship self-reported to the Taft Federal Prison in Taft, California Thursday afternoon after a federal appeals court denied an appeal that sought to keep him out on bond pending his appeal. Blankenship will spend up to a year in prison after he was convicted last year on a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate mine safety laws…
Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital workers may strike next week KSBW …A possible strike looms for employees at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Contract negotiations between the hospital and the National Union of Healthcare Workers have hit a road block. Union members spent Wednesday afternoon assembling picket signs as they plan to strike next Tuesday. NUHW represents roughly 700 employees at SVMH…
Crushed Toes and Lost Fingertips: Workers at Fuyao Auto Plant Request ‘Wall-to-Wall’ Inspection EHS Today …Auto workers at Fuyao Glass in Moraine, Ohio filed a complaint with OSHA on May 9 calling for a “wall-to-wall” investigation into what they claim is a wide range of dangerous conditions found throughout the plant, including fire hazards, electrocution risks and laceration injuries, among other hazards…
Top French Official Calls on His Government to Help Workers at Mississippi Nissan Plant Alternet …A top deputy in the French National Assembly is calling on the French government to weigh in on behalf of workers at the giant Nissan plant in Canton, Miss., who want to have a union vote without management intimidation and threats…
How A Giant Restaurant Conglomerate Teamed Up With Banks To Stiff Its Workers Think Progress …The struggling corporate giant behind The Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and other national restaurant chains is forcing tens of thousands of workers to effectively pay rent on their own money. Workers at Darden Restaurants chains are routinely told they must accept prepaid debit cards instead of paychecks, according to a new report from the worker organization Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United…
Public to get online access to US workplaces’ injury and illness records The Guardian …Workers and the public will for the first time be able to go online to see details of employee injuries and illnesses – for instance, the number of broken ribs or amputations – at tens of thousands of American workplaces, under a new Labor Department rule announced on Thursday…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigration To Renew Effort To Deport Central American Immigrant Families NPR …U.S. immigration officials are planning to detain and deport immigrants who were part of the surge of Central Americans who crossed into the U.S. illegally over the past two years, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. NPR’s John Burnett reports that immigration agents are mainly targeting young mothers with small children…
As Wealthy Surge, U.S. Poor and Middle Class Incomes Have Gone Backward Common Dreams …Middle- and low-income households in the U.S. made less money in 2014 than they did in 1999 as the middle class lost ground in almost 90 percent of the country’s metropolitan areas, a new analysis by the Pew Research Center released Wednesday has found. The report looked at 229 of the 381 federally designated “metropolitan statistical areas” in the U.S., from Seattle to Boston…
Sweeping Obama Decree Will Tell School Districts Nationwide to Allow Transgender Bathroom Access Slate …The fight over transgender rights and continuing forms of discrimination has manifested itself in America’s bathrooms. A number of laws, notably in North Carolina, have tried to tie bathroom usage to an individual’s birth gender. That is problematic for transgender individuals and the Department of Justice informed North Carolina lawmakers last week it is also discriminatory…