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Today’s Teamster News For July 14, 2016
TEAMSTERS
N.Y. UNFI Drivers Join Teamsters Progressive Grocer …One hundred drivers who distribute food from United Natural Foods Inc.’s (UNFI) Montgomery, N.Y., facility to Whole Foods Market and other organic, natural and specialty food stores in the New York metropolitan area have voted to join Teamsters Local 445. The Montgomery facility opened in 2014 to support Whole Foods’ expansion in the Empire State…
Teamsters Local 117 announces tentative deal with Darigold The Stand …Teamsters Local 117 has achieved a fully-recommended tentative agreement with Darigold over a contract involving 220 dairy workers and lab technicians employed at the company’s processing plants in Seattle and Issaquah. The union and the company reached the agreement late Tuesday night at the Teamsters Union Hall in Tukwila. A contract ratification vote will be held in the next few weeks…
Local 727 Pepsi Membership Ratifies Four-Year Contract JC 25 …More than 600 Pepsi employees represented by Teamsters Local 727 voted by a 3-to-2 margin to ratify a new four-year contract, which includes retroactive wage increases, merged language, improved health care and more stringent job protections. The Teamster members work out of four Pepsi facilities in Chicago, Elk Grove Village and Kankakee…
Unions Representing Healthcare Workers Petition for Workplace Safety NH Labor News …A coalition of unions—including the AFL-CIO; American Federation of Teachers; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; American Federation of Government Employees; Communications Workers of America; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Service Employees International Union; and the United Steelworkers—petitioned the U.S. Department of Labor to promulgate a workplace violence prevention standard to protect all workers in healthcare…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
S.Korea: Hyundai Motor Workers Set to Strike for Fifth Straight Year Wall Street Journal …Hyundai Motor Co. workers are set to strike for a fifth straight year, adding to pressure on South Korea’s largest auto maker, which is already grappling with flagging sales in its major markets. In Korea, it is common around this time of the year for labor unions to put down tools, hurting corporate profitability, after wage negotiations initiated in the second quarter have been unsuccessful…
UK: North Sea workers vote ‘overwhelmingly’ to strike Telegraph …The North Sea’s first major strike in a generation could take place within weeks after almost half the workers on Shell’s giant Brent oilfield platforms voted in favour of industrial action. An overwhelming 99pc of the 200 oil workers employed by Wood Group to work on Shell’s rigs said they are prepared to down tools over new contracts…
Multiexport Foods workers to strike in Chile over pay dispute Undercurrent News …An inability between a union and the management of Chilean salmon producer Multiexport Foods to reach an agreement on pay has led to a strike at the Puerto Montt plant, Chile’s Radio del Mar reported. On July 11, 256 out of 350 members of a union of plant workers voted to strike after a failure to reach agreement during the collective bargaining process…
TPP outlook more grim by the moment Politico …Skepticism continues to grow about the ability to get the TPP deal through Congress before President Barack Obama leaves the White House, and much of the blame is being laid upon the feet of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. “I don’t see, with both major candidates for the presidency against it, how it’s going to come up. I think that’s a big issue,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a free-trade supporter…
TPP Opponents Take Aim at Pelosi: Let’s Build a Firewall of Resistance Common Dreams …Social change network CREDO Action has amplified its call to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), calling for “an onslaught of grassroots opposition” coupled with a “firewall” of Democratic resistance in the House of Representatives to prevent the trade deal from being rammed through Congress…
TPP: Australia wants to steal US medicine patents, Senator Orrin Hatch says ABC …With the rising tide of anti-trading sentiment within the United States, support from pro-traders has become crucial to ensure trading deals, such as the TPP, get passed. One important pro-trader has been Senator Orrin Hatch, US Senate Finance Committee chairman, who has been holding out on passing the TPP through the US Congress…
Are Obama and Clinton Counting on Republican Majorities to Pass TPP? (opinion) Counterpunch …Support for the TPP has always been majority Republican, despite considerable Democratic support in the Senate and Obama’s own unflagging dedication. If lame duck Republican majorities pass the TPP, Obama can claim his vicious, anti-worker trade legacy, and Hillary can take office without taking the heat…
TTIP, EU Ag Policies Likely to Change Due to British-EU Breakup KTIC …U.S. experts on Europe and global food markets think Britain’s exit from the European Union adds a great deal of uncertainty to investing in Europe and agricultural in England. U.S. agribusinesses hoping for approval of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to improve their access to Europe may need to temper such hopes. The Brexit vote, coupled with elections next year in key EU countries, damages a trade deal already appearing to be in jeopardy…
New UK chancellor Philip Hammond to scale back austerity Financial Times …Philip Hammond, the new chancellor, has signalled a scaling back of austerity as he prepares to work with Bank of England governor Mark Carney on a plan to tackle the economic “shock” of Brexit. Mr Hammond said the economy was entering “a new phase” and it was right to review the pace at which the government balanced the books…
From South Africa to Ireland, #BlackLivesMatter Finds Solidarity Worldwide Common Dreams …As the U.S. reels from multiple shootings that made international headlines last week, the country’s grassroots movement for racial justice and against police brutality has been met with solidarity around the world. People marched and rallied over the weekend and through Tuesday for the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Survey shows support for paid family leave fund Business Record …New public opinion survey results from 15 states released today show strong support for new national policies that support working families. By a nearly 2-1 margin, 61 percent of voters in these states, which include Iowa, support the creation of a national paid family and medical leave fund, 69 percent support a paid sick days law, and 57 percent support increasing access to high-quality, affordable child care, according to the survey…
How State Voter ID Laws Could Be Problematic For Presidential Election Wisconsin Public Radio …This November, U.S. citizens will cast a vote for president without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act for the first time in 50 years. In June of 2013 a Supreme Court decision struck down a key part of the law, allowing nine – mostly southern – states to change their election laws without advance federal approval…
Federal Court Strikes Down Part of Georgia’s Right to Work Law National Law Review …A federal court in Atlanta has struck down part of Georgia’s right to work law that sought to allow employees to withdraw from union membership and stop paying dues at any time. Federal law permits unions to impose irrevocable authorizations up to one year. The law at issue became effective July 1, 2013…
Do Minimum-Wage Hikes Mean Healthier Babies? The Atlantic …A new working paper, published last month by researchers at the University of Iowa, the University of Illinois, and Bentley University, shows that a wage hike in a given area can benefit the health of newborn babies born there. The study is one of the first to explore the impact of minimum-wage hikes on infant health…
Social service groups assess impact of stop-gap state budget WQAD …Social service providers working without pay because of Illinois’ budget troubles say they still haven’t been compensated after lawmakers approved a short-term spending plan. The providers say they will push ahead with a lawsuit to force funding. The Pay Now Illinois coalition is suing Gov. Bruce Rauner and state agencies because of fallout from the budget impasse…
U.S. LABOR
Taj Ultimatum: Take Casino Health Deal by Monday or Its Gone ABC …A strike against Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino grew more contentious Wednesday as strikers rallied outside the New York offices of Donald Trump, who opened the casino, and Carl Icahn, his fellow billionaire who now owns it. As the protest unfolded, Icahn’s management team issued an ultimatum to Taj Mahal strikers: Accept the company’s health care offer by Monday or it’s gone…
Nurses’ Union Asks OSHA for Violence Standard Bloomberg …The Occupational Safety and Health Administration should put in place a workplace violence prevention standard, National Nurses United said in a petition to the agency. The petition, announced July 11, dovetails with OSHA’s stated goal to start work on a violence prevention standard for the health-care sector…
Walker Machinery layoffs put 78 West Virginians out of work Metro News …Seventy-eight West Virginians lost their jobs after Walker Machinery announced layoffs Tuesday. The layoffs include employees across nine Walker Machinery locations in West Virginia, including one in the eastern Kanawha County town of Belle. Whayne Supply also announced the layoff of 87 employees at the 16 locations in Kentucky and southern Indiana…
UAW Workers At Bridon American Approve New Labor Contract With Numerous Gains WORT …UAW workers at Bridon American in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania have ratified a new three year labor contract. The workers overwhelmingly approved the new deal. Bridon makes high quality steel wire for cranes, oil fields, and both surface and underground mining projects…
Holsum Bakery Workers Ratify New RWDSU Contract UFCW …Last week, members of RWDSU Local 835 who work at Holsum Bakery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract. The 78 RWDSU members at the plant work in maintenance and production of breads under the Lewis Bakeries label. The new agreement provides many improvements in the areas of seniority and overtime, schedules, funeral leave, paid holidays and sick days, job classifications, and maintenance advancement programs…
Manchin stands up for Miners Protection Act on Senate floor Tuesday Metro News …U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin gave a floor speech Tuesday to defend the Miners Protection Act. After Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) questioned the MPA, Manchin reiterated that the bill was a promise made in the 1940’s during the Truman administration that should be honored. miners are in danger of losing their health benefits by the end of the year, Manchin said. He denied that defending the MPA was about favoring the UMWA or any union…
In Bill, Lawmakers Propose New Limits for Seizing Workers’ Pay Over Old Debts NBC …For the first time in nearly 50 years, a new federal bill seeks to lower how much lenders and collectors can seize from debtors through the courts. The Wage and Garnishment Equity (WAGE) Act of 2016 would substantially reform protections for debtors by exempting many lower-income workers from garnishment and reducing what collectors can take from the paychecks and bank accounts of others…
Bill That Lets Bosses Fire Single Women For Getting Pregnant Gains Steam Huffington Post …In wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Republicans are pushing legislation that aims to protect Americans who oppose these unions on religious grounds. But critics say the language is so broad, the bill creates a license to discriminate that would let employers fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Donald Trump is getting ZERO percent of the black vote in polls in Pennsylvania and Ohio Washington Post …In a moment when racial tensions are high, in an era with a stark divide between a mostly white Republican Party and a population of black Americans who are mostly Democrats, it’s probably not surprising that new polls of the 2016 presidential race show a stark divide between how blacks and whites view the candidates. What is surprising is just how stark stark can get…
ACLU Sues Baton Rouge Police for Violating Rights at Alton Sterling Protests Common Dreams …The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana and other local civil rights groups filed suit against the Baton Rouge police department on Wednesday for violating the first amendment rights of demonstrators protesting the recent fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling…
Clinton vows to expand Obama’s immigration executive actions USA Today …Hillary Clinton will announce Thursday her plans to expand President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Clinton will address the LULAC National Convention and Exposition in Washington on Thursday, where “she will discuss her plans to keep families together. She will call out Donald Trump for his attacks on Latinos and painting them as less American just because of their heritage”…
Diapers, and Welfare Policy, Need Changing in Washington The Nation …Nationwide, diapers are persistently one of the costliest aspects of raising a baby, and like food, both cost and need are relatively inelastic; diapers cost parents about $70 to $80 monthly, averaging six to 10 diapers each day. But unlike food stamps, a federal entitlement, there’s zero government assistance for diapers…
GOP Uses Debt They Created As An Excuse For Program Cuts Think Progress …The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an updated outlook on the country’s long-term fiscal future on Tuesday. The budget outlook projects that the national debt will grow at a faster rate than the CBO projected in last year’s outlook, and some Republicans have already seized the news to attack programs that support low- and middle-income Americans…