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Today’s Teamster News For May 20, 2016
TEAMSTERS
US Foods Teamsters in Denver Show Support for Picketing Md. Workers Teamster.org …Teamsters working at US Foods’ distribution facility here this morning refused to cross the picket line in solidarity with Teamsters in Severn, Md., who began an unfair labor practice strike against the company last month. The 280 members of Local 455 are just the latest group of US Foods workers to honor a picket line supporting the striking Maryland workers…
US Foods Strikes Continue With Sympathy From Denver Workers CBS …The second largest food distributor in the country is having worker issues and on Thursday a sympathy strike started for union workers at US Foods facility in Englewood. “The effect will start tomorrow. We deliver to hospitals, schools, restaurants, anywhere the general public can go out and have a meal,” said Mark Madsen, an employee at US Foods and member of the local Teamsters…
Con Edison Subcontracted Workers Authorize Strike Teamster.org …Workers at Allstate Power Vac – a Con Edison contractor – announced they have voted unanimously to authorize a strike, as negotiations drag into their seventh month without progress toward a first contract. “It is unacceptable that workers are risking their lives and maintaining this essential infrastructure for near minimum wage salaries,” said Sean Campbell, President of Teamsters Local 813, which Allstate Power Vac workers voted to join in November 2015…
U.S. Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Durham School Bus Workers in Florida Teamster.org …On Tuesday, Durham school bus workers scored a landmark victory in their three-plus-year effort to win union recognition in Santa Rosa County, Fla. In a decision handed down by the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., Durham School Services’ appeal was denied to contest the certification of the workers’ 2013 election to obtain representation from Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala…
Sandoz Workers Vote to Strike Teamsters Canada …Sandoz workers in Boucherville overwhelmingly rejected the employer’s offer and 91% voted in favour of a strike mandate at Saturday’s union meeting. The work stoppage will take place when deemed appropriate. At issue are wages and failure to respect seniority when assigning shifts and providing worker training…
Noel Canning, Teamsters Union dispute ends with appeals court upholding ruling Yakima Herald …A labor dispute between Yakima’s Noel Canning and the local Teamsters Union that prompted a widely watched U.S. Supreme Court case on recess appointments ended Tuesday when a federal appeals court upheld a 2014 National Labor Relations Board ruling in favor of the union. The NLRB ruled in December 2014 that Teamsters Local Union 760 had a bargaining agreement with the bottling company in December 2010…
Organizing wins fuel excitement at Teamsters Local 117 The Stand …Teamsters Local 117 has been on an organizing tear recently. Over the past two years, the local has brought over 900 members into the union. Bus drivers, parking attendants, clerical staff, warehouse workers, municipal professionals, dentists, construction-industry workers and many others — they are all new members of Teamsters 117…
Teamsters’ pension fund won’t submit another rescue plan Star Tribune …Trustees of the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund won’t submit another benefits-cutting plan to the U.S. Treasury. On Thursday, the head of the struggling $16.1 billion retirement fund said trustees met with fund actuaries and legal advisers and concluded there’s no Plan B. On May 6, the Treasury Department rejected the fund’s controversial plan to cut pensions…
Bremerton reaches agreements with police, Teamsters Kitsap Sun …Police officers, employees represented by the Teamsters union and other city managers will get bumps in pay under contracts approved Wednesday night by the Bremerton City Council. The new contracts represent most city employees except firefighters, whose union has yet to reach an agreement…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Nigeria: NLC enforces strike, storms state secretariats Punch …The strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress gained momentum in some parts of the country on Thursday as labour leaders stormed some secretariats to enforce compliance. Activities, however, picked up in some states where the residents had stayed indoors on Wednesday. In Lagos, labour leaders besieged the Lagos State Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja, where they forced their way in to stop the workers from working…
Transport minister calls on rail workers to spare France from strike during EURO 2016 Daily Sabah …The French government urged railway workers on Friday to spare millions of commuters, soccer fans and tourists the misery of more train strikes when the country hosts the Euro 2016 soccer tournament next month…
US Government’s Own Report Shows Toxic TPP “Not Worth Passing” Common Dreams …The government’s own assessment of the toxic Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) shows that the controversial trade deal will produce negligible economic benefits while damaging most Americans’ jobs and wages. The U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) report (pdf), issued Wednesday, shows that the TPP “would likely have only a small positive effect on U.S. growth,” Reuters reported…
Congressman: TPP Deal to Exact $24Bln From US Manufacturing Sector Annually Sputnik News …A report from the International Trade Commission revealed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement would have a negative impact on the manufacturing sector in the United States, US Congressman Dan Lipinski said in a statement on Thursday. “If approved, manufacturers and their hard-working employees will be hit the hardest by this trade agreement,” Lipinski stated…
Trade Commission Report Reveals Few Benefits From the TPP and Ignores its Costs EFF …The White House has been curiously quiet on the Trans-Pacific Partnership front, following its earlier fanfare about the agreement when it was signed in February. With the release of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)’s almost 800-page report on the TPP’s Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors, we can expect the rhetoric to be ramped up again. However, the USITC report doesn’t actually give the administration much to go on…
EU Given Written Warning That TTIP Could Be Used To Sue The NHS BuzzFeed …Britain’s biggest trade union, Unite, wrote last month to the EU’s trade commissioner to warn there are “areas of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership which could be used to sue the UK Government over decisions about the NHS,” BuzzFeed News has learned…
Canada’s pitch to the G7: Now is not the time for austerity Globe and Mail …The Canadian government has a key message for its G7 counterparts: Get off the austerity kick and focus on jobs. Group of 7 finance officials are meeting in Japan today and tomorrow, to be followed by a summit of leaders. There’s a lot to talk about given the uncertainty roiling global markets…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Voter Suppression Measures on Trial in Walker’s Wisconsin PR Watch …The second day of a trial over a raft of measures implemented by Wisconsin’s GOP to restrict voting rights in the state commenced Tuesday in Madison in federal court with the testimony of Dr. Barry C. Burden, UW-Madison Professor of Political Science and Director of the Elections Research Center. The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson and is expected to last nine days…
Amended R.I. minimum wage bill cuts increase to $10.10 hourly Providence Journal …A new version of a minimum wage bill that would raise Rhode Island’s $9.60-an-hour minimum wage by 50 cents was brought forward Wednesday. The Senate Labor Committee is expected to vote next week on the proposal that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2017…
Virginia Democrats lose lawsuit over voter ID Washington Post …A federal judge on Thursday upheld Virginia’s voter- identification requirement, dealing a blow to a national push by Democrats to remove laws they say disenfranchise minority and poor voters. Republicans applauded the decision as “a victory for the integrity of Virginia’s elections,” while Democrats called it a disappointment and said they may appeal…
Advocates hope for last-minute conversion on paid family leave Workday Minnesota …Leaders of a variety of faiths surrounded Pastor Matt Bersagel as he called on the Minnesota House to address paid family leave legislation in the waning days of the 2016 session. “We’re asking for open hearts,” the pastor of Crown of Glory Lutheran Church in Chaska intoned. “We’re asking for action”…
White House supports Puerto Rico bill despite ‘mean spirited’ minimum wage push Market Watch …The Obama administration said Thursday it is supporting a House bill that puts Puerto Rico on a path to restructuring its debt, even though it contains what the White House says is a “mean-spirited” provision allowing the island’s governor to lower the minimum wage for younger workers…
Mpls. City Council gets an earful on paid sick leave proposal MPR News …Minneapolis City Council members heard from the public Wednesday on the city’s proposal to mandate paid time off for what could be tens of thousands of workers across the city. A push for a $15 an hour minimum wage in Minneapolis faltered in 2014, and a plan to mandate predictable scheduling failed last year…
U.S. LABOR
Verizon: Chronicles of a Strike Jacobin …Verizon customers suffer incompetent work by poorly trained replacement managers and scabs. Problems range from the mundane, and sometimes comic — damaged telephone poles duct-taped together, botched wiring procedures, failed phone and FiOS fixes — to the more serious: in Middletown, Pennsylvania, scabs dumped large amounts of polluted water into a roadside ravine, for which Verizon will likely be fined…
Laid off Oreo bakery workers question Mondelez CEO on job cuts Chicago Tribune …For the first time since the announcement last summer of 600 job cuts at the Nabisco plant on Chicago’s Southwest Side, Mondelez International CEO Irene Rosenfeld fielded questions directly from some of those affected by the layoffs at the company’s annual meeting in suburban Lincolnshire Wednesday…
What Obama’s New Overtime Rules Mean For You Huffington Post …The changes will make the rules more generous to workers, vastly growing the share of employees who have overtime rights under the law. The White House estimates they will extend overtime coverage to at least 4.2 million workers who are currently excluded. Other estimates put that number even higher…
VP Joe Biden Rips Donald Trump for Suggesting American Wages Are Too High ABC …Vice President Joe Biden went into attack mode today, slamming Republican presidential presumptive nominee Donald Trump for previously suggesting that American wages are too high. “All this stuff coming from Trump, you know, ‘American workers are getting paid too much?’ Where the hell does he live?” Biden exclaimed…
Republicans Are Trying To Roll Back A Key Obama Accomplishment For Workers Think Progress …Republicans are trying to keep taxpayer dollars flowing to companies that disregard employee safety and steal their workers’ wages. The House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes policy riders that would roll back two of President Obama’s signature achievements in the multi-billion-dollar world of government contracting…
Pope: Exploiting workers for profit is a mortal sin SF Gate …Pope Francis says employers who exploit their workers for their own profit are committing a mortal sin. During his morning homily Thursday, Francis said such labor exploitation is a modern-day form of slavery. He said those who exploit workers are no different than the human traffickers…
Can the Working Family Work in America? American Prospect …America’s work policies, pay and promotion practices, school schedules, and caregiving ideals continue to be based on that very nontraditional and fleeting family model, assuming that every employee has a full-time, stay-at-home partner to handle the homemaking and caregiving tasks that are incompatible with the ever-growing demands of work. Only 13 percent of American full-time workers have access to paid family leave…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
People Power Trumps Corporate Power: Oregon County Rejects Nestle Water-Grab Common Dreams …Voters in one Oregon county on Tuesday approved a ban on commercial bottled water production, stopping a years-long effort by Swiss transnational Nestle to sell over 100 million gallons of water a year from the Columbia River Gorge. “This is really a resounding victory for everyone who cares about protecting our water supply,” said Aurora del Val with Local Water Alliance…
Immigrant Families Aren’t Getting Their Day In Court Think Progress …A group of 64 Central American women and children are arguing that their evaluation processes — the first step in mounting a successful asylum case — were “inadequate,” resulting in their applications being unfairly denied. Those families are now serving as petitioners of a case to test whether the Obama administration is going too far to deport immigrants…
Occupied Canada: Indigenous & Black Lives Matter Activists Unite to Protest Violence & Neglect Democracy Now …Last month, First Nations people occupied the offices of Canada’s indigenous affairs department to demand action over suicides as well as water and housing crises in their communities. The protests came after the Cree community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency over attempted suicides…
The poor pay more for everyday purchases — and it’s getting worse, a new study warns Washington Post …The poor often spend more on all kinds of things. Households that have less money to spare in any given week, for example, are forced to buy toilet paper and similar goods in small packages, increasing the prices they pay. New research suggests that these disparities might only be getting worse…