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Today’s Teamster News For September 14, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Drivers at XPO Logistics in Aurora, Illinois Seek Teamster Representation Teamster.org …Drivers at XPO Logistics in Aurora, Ill. filed for Teamster representation today, the latest action by workers across the United States who are banding together to fight for fair treatment at one of the largest transportation and logistics companies in the world. The 72 drivers at the former Con-way Freight are planning to join workers in Miami; Laredo, Texas; and Vernon, Calif. who have already formed their union with the Teamsters…
Local 952, Kraft Heinz Reach Deal to Keep Plant Open Teamster.org …Some 350 Teamsters working for Kraft Heinz in Fullerton, Calif. will remain on the job after Local 952 and the company reached an agreement on a new contract that will keep the food processing facility open. Workers who make the “Lunchables” product there were told by the company last year that the facility would be closing this year or in early 2017…
Teamsters JC 53 Endorses Katie McGinty for U.S. Senate Teamster.org …Teamsters Joint Council 53’s Executive Board and delegates have unanimously endorsed Katie McGinty for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. The endorsement took place Monday, Sept. 12 during its meeting in Atlantic City, N.J., where Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and International Union Vice President Bill Hamilton resolved to win the historic organizing and bargaining campaigns at FedEx Freight…
Teamsters Continue to Bargain for a Fair Contract as UC Makes Second Insulting Proposal Local 2010 …At the most recent bargaining session, taking place on August 31 and September 1, the University made a second insulting economic proposal. Teamster bargaining team members acknowledged movement on behalf of UC, but noted how inadequate their offer was. The UC upped their initial proposal by only one-half a percentage point, offering a one-step increase, per year…
Teamsters criticize subcontracting at NetJets Financial News …The Teamsters Airline Division and Local 284 have criticized NetJets for continuing to subcontract critical aircraft maintenance to vendors and subcontractors as part of an effort to save money, rather than using its own workers, the company said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters Airline Division and Local 284 represent mechanics, maintenance control, aircraft fuelers, aircraft cleaners and stock clerks at the Columbus, Ohio-based airline…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
CGT urges French energy workers to join strike against labor reform Reuters …France’s CGT trade union on Wednesday urged energy sector workers to join a Sept. 15 nationwide strike against labor reforms which the organization has said will curb workers rights and make it easier for companies fire employees. The French government pushed through the bill using special powers in parliament in July, hoping that the law will help battle stubbornly high unemployment by making rigid French labor laws more flexible…
Why millions of Indian workers just staged one of the biggest labor strikes in history LA Times …Earlier this month, tens of millions of Indian workers staged a one-day general strike that unions billed as the biggest work stoppage in human history. By the unions’ count, 180 million workers stayed home to demand a slew of changes to labor laws, including establishing a $270 monthly minimum wage for unskilled laborers and ensuring social security for every worker…
UK Post Office’s future is in jeopardy – a strike is the only option The Guardian …This Thursday, thousands of Communication Workers Union members will go on strike from the Post Office in a dispute over job losses, the closure of their pension scheme and the very future of the industry. While the scale of what our members are fighting is stark – with 2,000 job losses this year alone – the truth is that over the past five years they have endured a relentless programme of cuts…
US in final drive to secure Europe trade deal Financial Times …The Obama administration is launching a final push to salvage negotiations on a trans-Atlantic free trade zone before it leaves office — despite growing political opposition in Europe. While Washington has been working on compromises to give new life to the talks, the US’s top negotiator acknowledged that the prospects of success were hit by factors such as Britain’s vote to leave the EU…
TPP members agree not to renegotiate sweeping free trade deal Japan Times …The 12 countries that signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact earlier this year agreed Monday that they will not renegotiate the deal, Japan’s TPP minister Nobuteru Ishihara said. The minister also told reporters the 12 nations confirmed they will move ahead with domestic processes quickly to adopt the U.S.-led trade pact…
Obama Makes Last-Ditch Push for Vote on Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Wall St. Journal …The Obama administration is enlisting business leaders in a last-ditch effort to win Republican support for its signature Pacific trade agreement after the election. A business-led advisory committee known as the President’s Export Council is expected Wednesday to call on Congress to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the “lame duck” session at the end of the year…
The Trans-Partisan Trade Revolt US News & World Report …The heated opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership in this year’s presidential election has surprised the policy elite and pundits. They may be even more astonished by what the public makes of it, because the politics of trade and trade agreements will never be the same. The American voter is now an irrepressible part of the story…
Venezuela’s Economic Downturn Forces Austerity Measures In Cuba NPR …Despite a tourism boom in the wake of warmer relations with the U.S., the Cuban economy is hurting. The island’s benefactor, Venezuela, is suffering its own economic spiral downward and has drastically cut oil subsidies to Cuba. For the first time in decades, Cubans are dealing with power outages and transportation shortages…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Report: Tentative deal reached on pay raises, $12 minimum wage for Washington state employees Q13 …Most Washington state workers would receive roughly 6 percent in pay raises over two years under a tentative agreement reached Tuesday between state officials and union leaders, The Olympian reported. The newspaper said the proposed labor contract would also establish a $12 minimum wage for about 30,000 general government workers…
Arizona court ruling OKs ‘release time’ for public employees’ union work AZ Central …A five-year legal battle between the Phoenix police union and a conservative think tank ended Tuesday when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that public employees can be paid public money for time spent working on behalf of their union. The 3-2 decision found the city’s agreement with its police union for paid “release time” doesn’t violate a provision in the state Constitution…
Companies Can’t Set Own Rules For Injured Workers, Okla. Court Says NPR …A national campaign to rewrite state laws and allow businesses to decide how to care for their injured workers suffered a significant setback Tuesday when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma’s version of the law is unconstitutional. The 2013 legislation gave Oklahoma employers the ability to “opt out” of the state workers’ compensation system…
Ohio is making it harder for inactive voters to become active again Think Progress …Nearly two million Ohio voters — a full third of the swing state’s electorate — mailed in their ballots in 2012. This year, many who wish to do so may be denied that choice. The state has been aggressively purging voters who have skipped three or more federal elections, as well as those who have moved and failed to update their address…
The Fight to Save UMass Labor Center Is a Fight for Worker Power In These Times …The plight of the Labor Center is rooted in a very common problem: state divestment in public higher education. Public university systems that were once so adequately funded that they charged little-to-no in-state tuition to students have seen their state funding decline over a period of decades. For a state as wealthy and as liberal as its reputation, Massachusetts’ divestment in its university system is particularly egregious…
U.S. LABOR
MBTA workers rally against possible privatization Metro …The Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, the T’s largest labor group, organized the rally at 10 Park Plaza to voice opposition against a recent report issued by the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board that said it could outsource bus operator and maintenance positions. “By being here today, you are putting a face on this issue,” state Sen. Marc Pacheco said to the crowd. “You’re showing people the people who have the potential of losing their jobs”…
Worker Strike Could Cause A Significant Peeps Shortage Next Easter Huffington Post …Last week, 400 employees at the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania factory that manufactures Peeps, Mike and Ikes and Hot Tamales went on strike. Workers are protesting new wage and benefits proposals from their employer, Just Born Quality Confections. Members of BCTGM Union Local 6 say Just Born proposed eliminating workers’ pension plans in favor of a 401(k) and upping employee healthcare contributions and didn’t offer sufficient wage increases…
Dominion lockout continues WDTV …A lockout of more than 900 workers across six states continues, as Dominion and the United Gas Workers Union Local 69 look for common ground on negotiations. The two sides met last week, but no resolution was reached. Both sides tell 5 News they are keeping the door open for future negotiations. The union members have been working without a contract since April 1…
Sakuma farmworkers vote to join Familias The Stand …At 4:30 yesterday afternoon the nervous anticipation was so thick you could cut it with a knife, as 150 workers and community members waited in the parking lot of the United Steelworkers Local 12-591 in Mount Vernon for the results of the historic union vote by members of Familias Unidas por la Justicia. An agreement had been struck between the union and Sakuma Brothers Farms to hold a union recognition election on Sept. 12…
Unions Knocking on the Academy’s Doors (opinion) NY Times …a recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board now requires private universities to bargain with graduate-employee labor unions over compensation and working conditions. Columbia University’s graduate assistants are likely to be first to the negotiating table, because the ruling was in response to their petition…
The middle class gets a big raise – finally CNN Money …After years of watching their incomes go nowhere, America’s middle class finally got a big raise last year. Median household income rose to $56,516 in 2015, up 5.2% from a year earlier, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday. It marks the first increase in median income since 2007, the year before the Great Recession started…
Trump’s maternity leave plan looks a lot like Bill Clinton’s from 1999 Washington Post …Donald Trump released Tuesday a paid maternity leave plan — the first from a Republican presidential nominee. The measure, a pillar of the real estate mogul’s child-care proposal, bears close resemblance to an idea floated by Bill Clinton in 1999. Trump’s plan would guarantee six weeks of paid maternity leave to women…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
GOP Bill Described as ‘Avalanche of Deregulatory Rubbish’ Advances Common Dreams …A House committee on Tuesday took a dangerous step towards incapacitating Dodd-Frank, the reform law passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, by approving a new bill that, as one watchdog put it, contains “an avalanche of deregulatory rubbish that would imperil consumers and the entire financial system”…
Donald Trump lays out his education plan: Gut public schools Daily Kos …Donald Trump gave a big education policy speech Thursday afternoon, choosing to deliver it at an appropriate location: a poorly performing charter school with a lot of lobbying money in its background. Trump offered up the usual Republican privatization wish list of vouchers, charter schools, and online charter schools bleeding money from public schools…
Trump’s Unholy Trinity: How Three of His Biggest Donors Are Cashing In On California’s Housing Crisis HedgeClippers …During the current presidential race, Donald Trump has come under fire for outrageous and offensive positions on a range of issues. His history of bragging about how he would profit from the real-estate market crash that fueled the Great Recession has drawn considerable scrutiny. In 2008, his supposed institution of higher learning offered workshops to students on how to make money off the foreclosure crisis in hard-hit places like California…
North Carolina Sees Economic Fallout from Anti-LGBT Law as NCAA Moves Championships Out of the State Democracy Now …The NCAA has announced it will move its seven championship events out of North Carolina in response to the state’s decision to pass the anti-LGBT law known as HB 2, or the “bathroom bill.” The law nullifies ordinances protecting LGBT people from discrimination and prohibits transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity…