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Today’s Teamster News For July 6, 2016
TEAMSTERS
CP, Teamsters dispute railway’s staffing obligations Ag Canada …The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) on Tuesday called on Transport Canada to “take prompt action before it is too late” and invoke the federal Railway Safety Management System Regulations to order the workers’ reinstatement. CP, the Teamsters said Tuesday, “refuses to undertake a risk assessment even though it has the obligation to do so pursuant to the Regulations”…
Teamsters Canada: Garda Arbitration Decision Sets Precedent Local 362 …An issue regarding training was brought forward recently for Garda pre – board screening members at Edmonton and Calgary International Airports. “This was great precedent to set going forward for future issues of training that may occur in one of our many industries that we look after,” said Jordan Madarash, Business Agent with Teamsters Local 362…
Teamster Business Agents Show Solidarity at Davenport UPS Facility Local 710 …Teamsters Local 710 UPS Business Agents Del Schaefer, Ron Dillon and Simon McNamara have been busy building solidarity and addressing workplace issues at the Davenport UPS facility in Iowa. The agents held multiple meetings with members to work through issues at the worksite, including members’ problems getting eight-hour requests to difficulties with management…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
French government forces labor law through parliament, shrugs off protests Reuters …France’s government, overriding street protests and rebels in its own ranks, invoked special powers on Tuesday to impose labor legislation by decree that will make it easier for employers to hire and fire staff. President Francois Hollande’s government hopes the labor reform will cut stubbornly high unemployment…
Thousands of Teachers Across England Go on Strike Against Austerity Common Dreams …Decrying widespread funding cuts, ballooning class sizes, lengthening workdays, and the Conservative government’s emphasis on austerity in public education, thousands of teachers across England walked out of classes on Tuesday for a 24-hour nationwide strike.”I’m striking because the education system is terrible,” a teacher named Lisa told the Guardian…
What could Australia’s more trade-sceptic Senate mean for the Trans-Pacific Partnership? ABC …The results of Saturday’s federal election remain unclear, but it appears that Australian voters have returned a deeply divided and more protectionist Senate. That could prove challenging for whichever major party forms government, with the arliament set to consider ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during this term…
Goodbye TTIP? US-European Trade Deal’s Fate Hangs in the Balance Sputnik News …Brussels is set to host another round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a controversial trade deal proposing the creation of a comprehensive free trade zone between Europe and the US. But according to some analysts, with President Obama set to leave office in January, time for negotiations is running out…
Sanders Keeps Up Pressure on Trans-Pacific Partnership Bloomberg …As Barack Obama joined Hillary Clinton in their first joint campaign rally Tuesday, Bernie Sanders was doing his best to make sure the president’s signature trade agreement would go down in flames. “The Democrats must go on record in opposition to holding a vote on the TPP,” Sanders said in one of several Twitter messages…
Despite What Media Says, TPP Isn’t About Free Trade — It’s About Protecting Corporate Profits (opinion) The Intercept …The news media and advocates of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement have repeatedly described opponents of the deal as “protectionist” or opposed to trade itself. But opposition to the TPP is not accurately described as opposition to all trade. The deal’s major impact would not come in the area of lowering tariffs, the most common trade barriers. The TPP is more focused on crafting regulatory regimes that benefit certain industries…
Talib Kweli Joins Tom Morello-Organized Tour Protesting Trans-Pacific Partnership Billboard …Rapper and activist Talib Kweli will join the Seattle stop of Rock Against the TPP, an upcoming protest tour looking to halt the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal that organizers — including Tom Morello — call the “biggest corporate power grab in history.” The free tour kicks off at Denver’s Summit Music Hall on July 23 with a lineup that includes Morello, Anti-Flag, Downtown Boys, Taina Asili and others…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
More states consider family leave laws, but barriers remain Reporter- Telegram …Early this year, in his State of the State address, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo got personal: He confessed that he “kicked” himself every day for not spending more time with his father when he was on his deathbed. And then Cuomo made his pitch: “We should have a paid leave program.” The U.S. is the only industrialized country without a national paid family leave program…
‘Right to work’: measure backers withdraw bid to limit union dues Oregon Live …Oregonians won’t vote this fall after all on whether to let public employees opt out of paying union dues, after the sponsor of a proposed “right to work” measure dropped her effort this week. Jill Gibson, a Portland attorney who was the initiative’s chief petitioner, said Friday that a lengthy dispute over the ballot title language left supporters without time…
Initiatives on minimum wage, paid sick leave, guns likely on November ballot Seattle PI …A pair of ballot initiatives, designed to put more money in peoples’ pockets and keep guns out of the hands of the potentially violent, have garnered signatures needed for a place on Washington’s November ballot. Initiative 1433 would increase the state’s minimum wage, currently at $9.47 an hour, in phases to $13.50 an hour by 2020. I-1433 would allow workers to earn an hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours spent on the job…
Economists weigh in on new minimum wage law Statesman Journal …Oregon’s new minimum wage law took effect July 1, giving more than 100,000 residents a raise. But what do economics professors around the state think of the legislation? The Statesman Journal surveyed Oregon’s economics professors, and responses indicate no consensus on the law’s effects…
Higher Minimum Wages Are Good for Newborn Health City Lab …The NBER study examines how state-level minimum wages affect birth weight, length of gestation, and fetal development among births in the U.S. between 1989 and 2012, focusing on a sample of women with low educational status. The findings? Increases in minimum wage are associated with significant net positive effects for newborn health…
U.S. LABOR
A Thousand Workers At The Trump Taj Mahal Are Still On Strike Huffington Post …Roughly a thousand housekeepers, doormen, busboys and other service workers have been on strike for more than four days after failing to ink a new contract with the casino. There were no signs of an imminent deal to end the strike as of Tuesday. The workers lost many of their benefits during bankruptcy proceedings in 2014, according to the workers’ union, Unite Here Local 54…
As Workers at Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino Go on Strike, a Look at Trump’s Long History of Labor Abuse Democracy Now …About a thousand housekeepers, cooks, bellmen and servers at Trump’s Taj Mahal Atlantic City casino went on strike on Friday and through the weekend demanding reinstatement of health, pension and other benefits eliminated during 2014 bankruptcy proceedings. This is only the latest in decades of labor disputes Donald Trump has faced…
San Joaquin County workers strike ABC …The San Joaquin County workers union began their strike with a press conference and rally at the County Administration at noon Tuesday, July 5. Instead of reporting to work Tuesday morning, nearly 4,400 San Joaquin county workers — represented by SEIU 1021 — grabbed picket signs and shut down all county operations…
NLRB Will Report Federal Contractors’ Labor Violations Bloomberg …The National Labor Relations Board is preparing to report alleged labor law violations by government contractors named by regional directors in unfair labor practice complaints, the agency disclosed in a memorandum to its field offices. Associate General Counsel Anne Purcell wrote July 1 in Memorandum OM 16-23 that the NLRB will ask charged employers to provide information that could identify them as federal contractors…
Judge’s Ruling Re-Opens a Major Loophole that Allows Union Busters To Remain in the Shadows In These Times …Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) passed the “persuader rule” that closed a major loophole, which has for decades allowed employers to hire attorneys and consultants to secretly assist them in what is politely referred to in the industry as “union avoidance.” Last week, a Texas federal district court judge issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting the DOL from implementing the rule…
OSHA’s Injury Tracking Rule: A Reasonable and Urgent Step Forward for Worker Safety and Health (opinion) CTW …The Department of Labor has finally entered the age of “Big Data.” The Labor Department is making a significant step forward into the 21st Century by requiring employers in the highest-risk sectors to electronically provide OSHA information that employers have been recording since shortly after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1971…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
U.S. factory orders fall, but rising backlogs hint at stabilization Reuters …New orders for U.S. factory goods fell in May on weak demand for transportation and defense capital goods, but growing order backlogs and lean inventories suggested the worst of the manufacturing downturn was probably over. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday new orders for manufactured goods declined 1.0 percent after two straight months of increases…
The Surprising Collection of Politicos Who Brought Us Destructive Airline Deregulation Alternet …The Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law by President Carter, but the liberal role in this legislation certainly isn’t limited to the 39th president. Its legislative history is a case study on the birth of a new kind of Democratic politics, one that disowned the Keynesian near-consensus of the 1960s in favor of supply-side economics…
New England Protesters Call Out Donald Trump’s Outsourcing Record and Divisive Rhetoric NH Labor News …Donald Trump’s visit to New England concluded with a stop in Manchester yesterday. Protesters were on hand at every turn to stand against his divisive rhetoric and his businesses outsourcing jobs overseas, despite his claims of favoring American workers. “Donald Trump’s claims of being for American jobs are utterly disingenuous,” said NH Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley. “His companies employ low-wage workers in China, Bangladesh and Honduras”…
The Fines and Fees That Keep Former Prisoners Poor The Atlantic …Life after prison can be a huge challenge—and this is definitely true when it comes to money. The formerly incarcerated often have trouble finding work and stable housing because of prohibitions against people with criminal records. But some of the biggest financial challenges for the formerly incarcerated may stem directly from their crimes…