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Today’s Teamster News For August 17, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters National Black Caucus 41st Conference Ends with an Awards Banquet Teamster.org …TNBC members, delegates and guests gathered Saturday morning for a prayer breakfast featuring Rev. Joshua A. Harris, Senior Pastor of St. Timothy Baptist Church, located in Cleveland. The evening was dedicated to honorees and recipients of the Pioneer Leadership and Lifetime Achievement Awards. International Vice President Ron Herrera addressed the crowd at the banquet with a warm welcome on behalf of the Western Region…
In a major shift, city to launch zoned-collection system for private carting industry Politico …Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration will begin implementing a “zoned-collection” system for the city’s private carting industry, undertaking an historic change in how commercial waste is collected and managed in New York City. Teamsters Local 813, which represents some industry workers, along with a slew of environmental advocacy groups, have assailed the private carting industry as wasteful and exploitative of workers…
Trade Debate Lands In Atlanta And Political Parties Split WABE …Georgia union activists gathered to protest a visit from Ambassador Robert Holleyman, deputy U.S. trade representative, who spoke to corporate leaders at the Commerce Club about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “We don’t want it put on the floor during the lame-duck session,” said Eric Robertson, the political director for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta…
Unions object to JCPS bargaining approach Courier-Journal …A coalition of unions that represent Jefferson County Public Schools employees sent a letter to the school board objecting to the approach the district has taken to this summer’s salary negotiations. The letter was signed by representatives from the teachers union, the Teamsters union and local chapters of both the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union and sent to board members Monday, according to Bo Johnson, a representative of the local AFSCME chapter…
Union’s Newly Established Employee Relations Committee at Pepsi Set to Meet Aug. 18 Local 727 …As part of the new four-year Pepsi contract, an Employee Relations Committee (ERC) was established and will meet quarterly to discuss issues of concern to the union and the company. During negotiations, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee and Pepsi management agreed that the ERC would meet within 45 days after contract ratification to review and discuss all Pepsi company policies…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
S.Korea: Hyundai Heavy workers to go on indefinite strike from August 31 Splash24/7 …Workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) three yards will go on an indefinite from August 31, protesting the huge restructuring plans reverberating through the world’s largest shipbuilder. Workers at HHI’s main yard in Ulsan, Hyundai Mipo and Hyundai Samho will down tools demanding management relook at its strategy to lay off thousands of workers…
UK: A Sharing Economy Strike Jacobin …Last Friday, a throng of around 150 couriers for the online food delivery company Deliveroo massed on a street in central London, shouting together at a management that went from smug to terrified in seventy-two hours. Having organized face-to-face and via WhatsApp and without initial union support, the striking workers are now demanding a London living wage…
Obama Provokes Progressive Outrage with All-Out TPP Push Common Dreams …In defiant opposition to this election’s anti-trade sentiment, President Barack Obama is provoking progressive outrage with events around the country in an “all-out push,” as Politico puts it, to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress. The nationwide campaign was announced by the White House on Tuesday…
Clinton team can’t shake TPP Politico …It looks like another Hillary Clinton acolyte is throwing into question the sincerity of her opposition to the TPP — this time it’s Ken Salazar, a former Colorado senator and Interior secretary, who will lead Clinton’s transition team. Salazar, like Clinton running mate Tim Kaine initially, has views on trade that run counter to hers…
Forget the TTIP row, now the American TTP trade deal looks set for collapse Independent …Just like the debate over TTIP at home, in the US another controversial trade deal is causing political ructions, and will play an important role in deciding the tough decisions that will face the next American president come January…
Airbus and Boeing Brace for a Crucial Phase in Their Subsidies Dispute Fortune …The world’s two largest jetmakers are bracing for the next round in a transatlantic spat over billions of dollars of aircraft subsidies, amid accusations of widening U.S. support for Boeing and persistent European aid to Airbus. The world’s biggest trade dispute will enter a crucial phase in coming months, potentially casting a shadow over faltering efforts by the European Union and United States to negotiate a wider free-trade deal…
The Soft Pinch of Austerity in Saudi Arabia Could Backfire Bloomberg …The cost of Saudi living is on the way up, and the kingdom’s rulers are watching out for a backlash. Consumer spending growth is already weakening as the fiscal retrenchment bites. It’s forecast to slow to between 2 and 3 percent in 2017 and 2018, from 6 to 7 percent during the past decade, according to London-based Capital Economics…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Sides line up as workers’ comp rate hike weighed Miami Herald …With a legislative battle brewing, state regulators listened to hours of testimony Tuesday as they decide whether to approve a 19.6 percent increase in workers’ compensation insurance rates. The proposed hike stems mainly from an April ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that said a limit on attorneys’ fees in workers’ compensation cases was unconstitutional…
New hurdle for $12 minimum wage in Arizona Tucson.com … bid to get a public vote to hike the state’s minimum wage is now facing a new hurdle. Election officials in Pima, Pinal and Yavapai counties have concluded that 276 names on petitions to put the issue on the November ballot cannot be verified. The Secretary of State’s Office sends counties a random sample of petitions with just 5 percent of all names submitted…
Domestic workers hail new law that includes wage, OT protections Chicago Sun Times …The Illinois Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which Gov. Bruce Rauner signed Friday, will grant domestic workers a minimum wage, protection against sexual harassment, and one day of rest per week, starting Jan. 1. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-8th), as well as House Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez (D-24th)…
Gender wage gap costs minority women more than $1m in some states The Guardian …Black and Latino women will lose more than $877,000 and $1m respectively over a 40-year career compared to their white male counterparts, according to a report by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). The report, which breaks down the gender wage gap by race and state, found that Latina women lose more than a million dollars over their careers in 23 states…
Blue laws won’t hold Amazon back in Mass. Boston Globe …An effort by Massachusetts stores to classify their big-footed competitor Amazon as a traditional retailer not only failed but the online behemoth ended up with looser rules on Sunday operations. After failing in their annual attempt to scuttle overtime pay for those working on Sundays, retailers targeted Amazon…
In Show of Force, Fight for 15 Plots Its Political Path American Prospect …The Fight for 15’s first-ever national convention convened in Richmond, Virginia, this past weekend attracted diverse groups of low-wage workers from across the country in a stunning demonstration of the movement’s continued strength and ambition…
U.S. LABOR
Striking Taj Mahal workers revisit Icahn’s N.Y. office Press of Atlantic City …Striking Unite Here Local 54 members from Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City protested Monday outside owner Carl Icahn’s Manhattan office as they continue to put pressure on the billionaire to settle the ongoing labor dispute and keep the property open. Icahn, who owns Taj, said earlier this month that the casino would close after Labor Day weekend…
Cleveland teacher strike would start just before Labor Day Cleveland …The Cleveland Teachers Union will go on strike the Friday before Labor Day, unless it and the district can reach a new contract, the union announced today. Union leaders decided Monday night to issue the 10-day notice of a strike that is required by law, after three days of negotiations last week failed to bring an agreement…
Mayo Clinic’s plan to outsource its Minnesota food service met with union backlash Fox 9 … The largest private employer in the state is facing union backlash after announcing plans to outsource its food service division. From in-room meal service to cafeteria dining, the Mayo Clinic will transition all food service to Morrison Healthcare out of Atlanta, Georgia. But SEIU Healthcare Minnesota claims the hospital is trying to push out hundreds of loyal employees…
Dallas County workers ask commissioners for pay raise Fox 4 …Dallas County workers urged county commissioners to approve a pay raise for employees on Tuesday. The number of Dallas County workers — including sheriff’s deputies, health and social service workers, courts and courtroom personnel — has been shrinking. The issue was discussed during a public hearing at commissioner’s court and brought out dozens of uniformed sheriff’s department employees…
When Unequal Pay Makes Everyone Less Productive Wall Street Journal …When workers are paid differently for little reason, even the higher-paid ones are less productive and happy, a new study suggests. Economists at Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, have shown that workers seem to be highly averse to pay inequality, just as primatologist Frans de Waal’s capuchin monkeys famously threw food at their keepers when they were rewarded differently…
Can grad students unionize? Academia awaits major labor board ruling Chicago Tribune …A major ruling expected soon from the National Labor Relations Board could be a game changer if it deems graduate students to be university employees and therefore entitled to collective bargaining rights. The academic world is watching to see if the NLRB reverses a 2004 Brown University decision that found grad students have a primarily educational relationship with the school and are not statutory employees…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Trump’s voter intimidation plan: Deploying poll watchers to fight nonexistent voter fraud is a November dirty trick Salon …Over the weekend, the Trump campaign rolled out a sign-up page in order to muster and deploy a goon-squad who will apparently monitor polling places on Election Day as a means of stopping “crooked Hillary from rigging this election.” It’s unclear what Trump’s goons will achieve since they won’t be allowed to electioneer inside polling places…
U.S. seeks Latin American help amid rise in Asian, African migrants Reuters …Washington is seeking closer coordination with several Latin American countries to tackle a jump in migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who it believes are trying to reach the United States from the south on an arduous route by plane, boat and through jungle on foot. U.S. agents deployed to an immigration facility on Mexico’s southern border have vetted the more than 640 migrants…
Flint Is About To Run Out Of Bottled Water And Filters Think Progress …Without any extra funding, the city of Flint, Michigan will run out of the money it needs to keep buying bottled water and water filters for residents in 51 days. The federal government declared a state of emergency for the city in January after news of the water contamination crisis…
Inequality is deeply entrenched. We’ll have to think big to fix it. (opinion) Washington Post …Whether the next president should try to reduce economic inequality is beyond question. How to go about reducing inequality is another matter. Republicans, including Trump, default to the same old trickle-down tax cuts that, if anything, make after-tax inequality worse. A true anti-inequality policy agenda must begin with an accurate diagnosis of the problem, which simply can’t be that the wealthy aren’t wealthy enough…
In 70 Years, The Earth Could Be Too Hot For The Summer Olympics Think Progress …Rio de Janeiro has seen its share of problems in preparing for and hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. But preliminary results of an ongoing study published Friday in the journal Lancet warn that infrastructure and security issues could be dwarfed by another huge problem for potential host cities in coming years: it could become simply too hot and humid for many cities to host the games at all…