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Today’s Teamster News For June 7, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Foodservice Drivers Join Teamsters Local 630 Teamster.org …About 30 foodservice drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles, Calif. late last month. The drivers work for Jacmar Foodservice Distribution, a major regional food distributor, at its Southern California terminal. The vote was more than 2-to-1 in favor of joining the union. “We decided it was time to come together to fight for a better life for our families,” said Esteban Ochoa, a Jacmar driver…
Teamsters’ Leafleting at XPO/Con-way, Port Actions Spark Nationwide Interest Teamster.org …Teamsters from across the country are taking part in a National Action handing out leaflets at XPO/Con-way terminals to coincide with actions taking place at the Ports of LA, Long Beach and locations in San Diego as XPO workers are standing united to fight for fairness on the job. XPO is mistreating former Con-way workers who are being kept in the dark about terminal closures, subcontracting and layoffs…
Union Asks Ports of L.A., Long Beach to Ban Trucking Companies That Misclassify Drivers Workers Comp Central …The Teamsters union has asked the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to ban from the premises trucking companies that classify drivers and independent contractors, the union’s Port Division director told the American Journal of Transportions. Hundreds of drivers and warehouse workers attended a special meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners…
Drayage driver classification fight reawakens at NY-NJ port JOC …Drayage companies that service the Port of New York and New Jersey are once again squaring off with the Teamsters union in the divisive national debate over whether truck owner-operators are contractors or employees, this time over a bill in the New Jersey legislature. The bill, which is intended to clarify the issue in New Jersey, got approval from a state assembly committee late last month…
Striking Port Truckers Protest Ends with Return to Work Trucks.com …Teamster-backed truck drivers striking Southern California’s ports to protest what they say are unfair labor practices ended their job action after a noisy protest march through the port district Monday afternoon. Even as hundreds of the port drivers and supporters marched to protest labor practices at the nation’s largest port complex Monday, others put down their picket signs and returned to work after a 7-day strike…
Workers at Sandoz Begin 24-Hour Strike Teamsters Canada …Workers at the Sandoz Factory in Boucherville begun a 24-hour strike at 7 am this morning. Progress made by workers over the past few years, pensions, and wages are at the core of the labour dispute. These 267 workers are affiliated with Teamsters Canada Local Union 1999 voted 91% in favour of a strike on May 14th…
In Albany, Teamsters protest possible pension cuts Times Union …A group of retired Teamsters demonstrated in front of the Leo W. O’Brien federal building in Albany Monday to protest pending threats to their pensions and to highlight the need for Congress to take action. The march, largely by retired truck drivers, comes as dozens of union pensions nationwide are in danger of serious shortfalls or insolvency…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
This Is What Goes Into Your Cheap T-Shirt The Nation … Overwork, abuse, and economic destabilization are bound to dog the international garment-supply chain unless retail giants take labor rights seriously. The workers who take the brunt of the company’s notoriously exploitative labor practices can’t be any further from Arkansas; they’re likely huddled over a sewing machine in Java…
The U.S. is causing a major controversy in the World Trade Organization. Here’s what’s happening. Washington Post …The World Trade Organization and its dispute-settlement system usually operate quietly in the background — but there was a great deal of controversy last month over an Appellate Body (AB) judge’s reappointment. But on May 12, the U.S. government announced that it would block the reappointment. The international trade community responded quickly to the U.S. announcement…
US DoS Delays Clinton’s TPP Emails Until After Presidential Election Sputnik News …The US Department of State will not release emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pertaining to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement until after the November presidential elections despite completing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding Clinton’s correspondence…
The TTIP trade deal is lost at sea The Conversation …The future of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and European Union seems bleak. Beset by doubts and stumbling alongside the UK’s referendum on EU membership, the TTIP is starting to look like an awful lot of effort for unremarkable gains. US president Barack Obama may have given the negotiation process a shot in the arm in recent weeks, but there is a good possibility that a deal will not be struck during his administration…
Labor pledges to review trade deals that let companies sue Australia The Guardian …Labor is promising to review three of the major free trade agreements signed by the Abbott and Turnbull governments in the hope of removing a controversial clause that allows foreign corporations to sue the Australian government. It will also make Australia’s involvement in a proposed huge free trade zone in the Asia Pacific subject to stricter entry conditions
Families of Death Squad Victims Allowed to Sue Chiquita Executives Common Dreams …In what supporters described as “a victory for accountability for corporate crimes,” a U.S. judge ruled in favor of allowing Colombians to sue former Chiquita Brand International executives for the company’s funding of a paramilitary group that murdered plaintiffs’ family members. “Chiquita poured $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 into the outlawed far-right paramilitary group AUC”…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Puerto Rico Candidates Head to Washington to Fight Debt Bill Bloomberg …Puerto Rico’s next governor and Congressional representative plan to travel to Washington this week to speak out against a bill that would create a federal control board to oversee the island’s budgets. Their opposition may be too late. Nominees from the island’s main political parties for governor and Resident Commissioner, the commonwealth’s non-voting member in the U.S. House, plan to urge Congressional members against passing the Puerto Rico bill…
Deal reached for $15 minimum wage in D.C., unions say Washington Post …The District’s largest labor unions say they have struck a deal with members of the D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to abandon a minimum-wage ballot measure fight if the council on Tuesday approves a $15 minimum wage for most workers. Under the deal, the nation’s capital would join New York and California in a vanguard of states boosting low-wage pay to try to combat growing income inequality…
Voters to decide whether to raise minimum wage, extend paid sick leave Fox …A plan to raise the minimum wage and extend paid sick leave in San Diego will quietly go before voters in Tuesday’s primary election. Proposition I is just one of nine ballot measures that city voters will have to decide on. The rest are mostly benign amendments to the City Charter. If passed, San Diego’s minimum wage would increase almost immediately to $10.50 an hour, and go to $11.50 an hour on Jan. 1…
Democrats file for New Hampshire State Senate NH Labor News … Twenty-five Democratic State Senate candidates filed their candidacies with the Secretary of State this afternoon. “This year’s exceptionally strong roster of candidates has us all very optimistic about this November’s elections,” said Senator Jeff Woodburn, the Senate’s Democratic Leader. “Our candidates represent all Granite Staters”…
5,576 signatures gathered for paid sick leave Albuquerque Journal …Supporters of the Healthy Workforce Act – a proposal to require paid sick leave in Albuquerque – have gathered about 5,576 signatures so far, or about 39 percent of what’s required to get the proposal on the ballot. They have until July 11 to turn in at least 14,218 signatures from city registered voters…
U.S. LABOR
Sheet Metal Workers Suspend Union Strike, Briefly Disrupted North Construction Chicago Maroon …A strike of the union local representing sheet metal workers briefly disrupted construction of Campus North Residential Commons last week. Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 73, which represents several thousand employees in Cook County and Lake County, negotiates a single contract with the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), which represents local contractors…
Tentative ArcelorMittal contract includes bonuses, job security NWI …The tentative agreement between ArcelorMittal and the United Steelworkers union includes significant investment in Northwest Indiana mills, job security, bonuses tied to steel prices, and the current 90/10 health care plan with increases in co-pays. Union locals have been meeting with the 9,500 ArcelorMittal employees in Northwest Indiana…
Allina nurses vote down contract offer, authorize strike plans Star Tribune …Nurses for five Allina Health hospitals “overwhelmingly” voted to reject a three-year contract offer from their company that would have eliminated union-backed health insurance and moved nurses to the plans covering other employees. The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) reported the voting results late Monday night…
More than 100 Beaver County workers set to strike Tuesday WPXI …After failing to reach an agreement Monday, more than 100 Beaver County workers, including many at the courthouse, are preparing to strike. Many courthouse workers, clerical workers and other union members of the Beaver County Commissioners Residual Unit will go on strike at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The union said one of the main sticking points has been health care costs…
Union: No Room for Old Technology in New Airport Towers AP …Two state-of-the-art airport towers due to go into operation this fall in San Francisco and Las Vegas will first need extensive remodeling to make room for technology that dates backs to the early days of air traffic control, according to union officials of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association…
More Time to Unwind, Unless You’re a Woman NYTimes …Keynes probably underestimated how much safer and more pleasurable many jobs have become, but he made another, perhaps even greater, miscalculation. He failed to foresee a significant shift that underlies these statistics. Women are working far more than they once did, and probably more than they would choose to do, if they were able to balance their work and family lives freely…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Muhammad Ali: The Original Activist-Athlete Think Progress …There are a couple nagging questions all successful, high-profile athletes inevitably have to grapple with: What does it mean to have a voice? What does it mean to truly be great? Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer who died on Friday at the age of 74, didn’t just redefine both of those concepts; he absolutely shattered them…
“Just Take Me to Jail”: Remembering Muhammad Ali’s Refusal to Fight in Vietnam Democracy Now …Thousands are expected to gather in Louisville Friday for the funeral of Muhammad Ali, one of the world’s most iconic figures of the 20th century. He was considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time, but he will also be remembered for his activism against racism and war…
Trump University Told Recruiters to Target Single Parents With Hungry Kids New York Mag …On Tuesday, U.S. district court judge Gonzalo Curiel ordered the public release of Trump University’s “playbooks” — guides the (bait-and-switch scheme masquerading as a) real-estate school used to recruit (or con) its enrollees. The playbooks show that prospective students were encouraged to pay for the program, which could cost up to $35,000, by going into credit-card debt…
How the Panama Papers Firm Helped US Clients Escape Tax Rules Common Dreams …Documents including “confidential emails, copies of passports, ledgers of bank transactions and even the various code names used to refer to clients” show that Mossack Fonseca went beyond simply creating shell companies for some of the 2,400 Americans implicated in the leak. The firm “offered a how-to guide of sorts on skirting or evading United States tax and financial disclosure laws”…
Backlogs in immigration courts keep asylum seekers in limbo for years Chicago Tribune …The number of pending removal cases in the nation’s immigration courts has steadily grown over the past 10 years, from about 170,000 in fiscal year 2006 to over 485,000 this fiscal year, according to records analysis by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. About 20 percent of those cases, which are overseen by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, are applications for asylum…
Temer Convicted of Breaking Election Laws As Thousands March for Democracy in Brazil Common Dreams …Upheaval in Brazil continued this week as a court handed down a conviction against right-wing president Michel Temer. On the same day Temer was convicted, suspended president Dilma Rousseff joined 5,000 women marching for women’s rights and democracy in Rio de Janiero…