TEAMSTERS

Teamsters Stand Up for Taxi Drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport   Teamster.org  …Today, Teamsters in coordination with the MSP Taxi Drivers Association will testify in opposition to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) ordinance proposal that would increase wage disparities for communities of color…

Teamsters: DOJ Antitrust Enforcers Miss Opportunity in Mega Beer Deal  Teamsters.org   …Without addressing capacity concerns that Teamsters warned will contract supply, increase prices, and harm competition in the U.S. beer market, the U.S. Department of Justice today provided antitrust approval for the megamerger of the world’s two largest brewers, Anheuser Busch InBev and SABMiller, along with the related $12 billion divestiture of SAB’s stake in the MillerCoors Joint Venture to partner Molson Coors… 

Teamsters vs US Foods   Labor Press   …Teamsters who work at US Foods distribution facilities in Buffalo New York and Streator Illinois refused to cross picket lines extended by Teamsters from Severn Maryland – who began an unfair labor practice strike against the company in April. These were just the latest groups of US Foods workers to honor picket lines in support of the striking Maryland workers…

LA-LB drayage company arises after misclassification suits   Journal of Commerce   …This case has significance for harbor trucking companies nationwide, and especially those in California, where drivers in recent years have filed an estimated 700 claims contending that they have been wrongly classified as independent contractors. Drivers, oftentimes supported by the Teamsters union, have won virtually all of the cases that have been litigated before state agencies and courts in California…

NLRB Says Chemical Co. Must Bargain With Teamsters   Law 360   …The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Monday that chemical and plastics distributor Nexeo Solutions LLC must bargain with workers represented by the Teamsters at a warehousing company purchased by Nexeo, saying the company illegally made unilateral changes to employees’ wages and benefits at a California worksite…

Anti-TPP Concerts Put a Spotlight on a Hollywood Trade Divide   Wall Street Journal  …The tour, dubbed Rock Against the TPP, is sponsored by unions including the Teamsters and environmental groups including the Sierra Club—left-leaning groups often allied with celebrities and against the business groups that take the lead backing trade agreements in Congress…

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE

Murder Charges for Rana Plaza Disaster ‘Much Delayed’  Solidarity Center  …Bangladesh courts this week charged 38 people with murder for their role in the collapse of Rana Plaza factory building that killed more than 1,130 garment workers in April 2013. Solidarity Center Asia Region Director Tim Ryan calls the move “a much-delayed step in the right direction,” but adds: “Over the past three years, the Bangladesh government has approved fewer and fewer union registration applications”…

Mexico Teachers March, Present Demands on Peña Nieto’s ‘Neoliberal’ Reform   TeleSUR  …More than a thousand teachers affiliated to the radical CNTE union have taken to the streets of Mexico City on Tuesday, as their leaders hold talks with authorities to discuss the education reform that has led to two months of mass protests across the country…

US seeking bilateral trade deal with UK to press EU on TTIP  The Guardian  …A potentially swift bilateral trade and investment deal with the UK is being suggested by American officials as a way of pressing the European Union to speed up its own stalled transatlantic trade deal, as well as cementing a commitment to the UK-US economic relationship. A bilateral UK-US deal would focus on business investment more than trade tariffs…

Top British Think Tank: Brexit Is A “Serious Blow” to TTIP  Global Research  …here are, and will continue to be, many implications of the momentous Brexit vote; but one implication that has got less media coverage than it deserves is how it further impedes and complicates TTIP negotiations. In an article for one of the most influential organisations in the UK, the Royal Institute for International Affairs (or Chatham House), Geo-Economics Fellow, Marianne Schneider-Petsinger, admits that the Brexit vote is a “serious blow” to the chances of TTIP being concluded…

NFU Hoping Candidates Keep Opposing Trans Pacific Partnership  WNAX  …Both Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates are opposed to free trade which may not bode well for approval of the Trans Pacific Partnership. National Farmers Union leaders who have also expressed opposition to the deal say they’ll work to make sure Congress doesn’t approve the pact during the lame duck session as well as into the new year when the new President takes office…

`Even chance’ of TPP ratification: Biden  Yahoo  …US Vice-President Joe Biden thinks there’s “an even chance” the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement will be ratified. Both US presidential contenders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have said they oppose the 12-nation agreement but there’s a period before the inauguration that ratification could take place…

IMF Say Brexit Will Batter the Global Economy   Fortune Magazine.  ..In a report issued Tuesday, the bank predicted that as a result of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union, the U.K economy will grow 0.2 percentage points slower, or 1.7%, this year and 0.7 percentage points slower, or 1.3%, in 2017. Notably, this means that the British economy will avoid a recession, despite many analysts predictions that leaving the EU would plunge Great Britain and Northern Ireland into negative growth…

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES

The Country’s Worst Voter-ID Law Was Just Struck Down  The Nation  … The most conservative court in the country just struck down the nation’s most restrictive voter-ID law. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in a 9-6 decision this afternoon that Texas’s law violates the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against black and Hispanic voters. The law “imposes significant and disparate burdens on the right to vote”…

State to crack down on dry cleaners and other businesses suspected of exploiting workers   Crain’s New York Business  …Touting $4 million in back wages that his Task Force to Combat Worker Exploitation has secured for workers over the past year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced increased scrutiny for 15 industries, including retail, car washes, cleaning, farming, trucking, airports, landscaping, construction and home health care…

Arizona’s Higher Minimum Wage Crusaders Win Small Battle  KJZZ  …Arizonans looking for a higher minimum wage won a small battle Tuesday. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge denied a request seeking to slow signature validation needed to get the minimum wage measure on the November ballot. The Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association sought a restraining order to prevent validation of the 250,000 signatures gathered…

City Council approves wage theft prevention ordinance, contract for hotel development project   The Daily Californian   …Berkeley City Council voted eight in favor and one in abstention to adopt a multi-year contract with a developer that would provide financial assistance to facilitate the construction of a hotel development project and approved a wage theft prevention ordinance at its Tuesday meeting…

Minneapolis $15-an-hour minimum wage petition has enough signatures for November ballot   Minneapolis Star-Tribune   …The push to raise Minneapolis’ minimum wage to $15 per hour has cleared an important first step to getting the issue on the November ballot — setting off a process that could yield a legal battle between workers and business groups. City officials announced Wednesday that organizers looking to raise the wage through a charter amendment had gathered enough valid signatures to send the issue to voters if the proposal clears additional procedural hurdles…

U.S. LABOR

Hundreds of Nurses Walk the Picket Line at Kaiser Permanente Hospitals   KABC Los Angeles …Hundreds of nurses walked the picket line at seven Kaiser Permanente hospitals throughout California on Wednesday. The nurses say there is a shortage of workers and inadequate training, which they say amounts to “unsafe” and “eroding” standards of patient care. The union says in 2014, Kaiser agreed to add more nurses but has failed to do so, despite earning record profits of $1.9 billion in 2015…

After avoiding strike, Brigham and Women’s nurses approve 3-year contract  Boston Globe  …Unionized nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital voted Wednesday to approve a new three-year contract, formally ending a bitter labor dispute with one of the state’s largest hospitals. Officials at the Massachusetts Nurses Association declined to say how many nurses turned out for the vote, or how many voted in favor of the contract. The union represents 3,300 Brigham nurses…

Pickets, but no deal, on tap in Atlantic City casino strike   Hawaii News Now   …With a strike against the Trump Taj Mahal casino about to enter its fourth week with no end in sight, Atlantic City’s main casino workers union plans to turn up the heat by surrounding the massive gambling hall with 1,000 picketers…

Construction Workers Strike Over Water Issue  News Channel 5  …The heat of summer has caused some construction workers to go on strike. A strike happened at the scene of a construction site near downtown Nashville Wednesday. The iron workers said they haven’t been provided water and have other wage issues, so they turned in a strike letter. They said working in this heat without water has been physically challenging…

Clinton: ‘When unions are strong, America is strong’  Las Vegas Sun  …Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton advocated for expanding unions, Social Security and employee rights as she spoke to nearly 4,000 union workers at two Las Vegas rallies on Tuesday.“When unions are strong, America is strong,” Clinton told members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees gathered at the Las Vegas Convention Center for their conference, held every two years…

Unionizing the Digital Newsroom   Dissent Magazine   …When workers unionized last October, Al Jazeera America joined what seemed like an organizing “wave” among all-digital news outlets. They were preceded by Gawker in June, the Guardian US in July, Salon in August, and ThinkProgress in September. Then, in January 2016, the Huffington Post—with 262 union-eligible workers, by far the largest digital unit to wade in—was finally recognized by management. The campaigns were small but reported in great detail, and with an unusual level of praise…

The Republicans Just Passed a Platform That Would Eviscerate Workers’ Rights  In These Times  …The Republican Party’s official 2016 platform, released this week, proudly states “the greatest asset of the American economy is the hard working American.” The writers must have a twisted sense of humor. In a not particularly unexpected move, the party platform eviscerates the “hard working American,” denying workers of their right to unionize…

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND OTHER NEWS

Undocumented and Unafraid, Immigration Activists Give Trump His Wall  Gawker  …On Wednesday, a coalition of leftist groups, led by organizers from the Latinx group Mijente, raised a handmade wall in front of the Republican National Convention. This made life very difficult for delegates trying to get in or out of the Quicken Loans Arena. The demonstrators were there to protest not just Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, but the attendant rhetoric he has used to justify this ludicrous proposal…

Hot Hot Heat: New Data Shows World is Baking in 2016   Common Dreams  …The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) announced Tuesday that June 2016 was 1.62° F above the 20th century average, breaking last year’s record for the warmest June on record by .04° F. This made June the 14th consecutive month to shatter records. What’s more, NOAA reported, the globally averaged sea surface temperature was at a record high for June as well as the year-to-date…

Blacks Are Still Significantly Less Likely to Get Approved for a Mortgage than Whites   Fortune Magazine   …Black borrowers in cities like St. Louis, Missouri, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are less likely to get a mortgage than their white counterparts in similar economic situations, according to a new study by advocacy group the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). The study’s authors looked closely at St. Louis and found that lending activity was highly correlated with race in the most segregated regions of St. Louis…

Black Man Shot by Police While Lying on the Ground With His Hands Up  Slate  …Charles Kinsey, is a caregiver at a Miami-area mental health center. On Wednesday, Kinsey was tending to a 23-year-old autistic man who had wandered from the center and into the street, when police arrived. Kinsey got on the ground with his hands raised when police pulled weapons, and it apparently didn’t make any difference—he was shot once in the leg by the North Miami officers…

A quarter of Americans worry about running out of money in retirement   Washington Post …According to a new survey from the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council, our biggest fear is running out of money. Twenty-five percent of Americans are worried about that. And it’s not the first survey to show that trend…