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Today’s Teamster News For September 27, 2016

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TEAMSTERS

Waste Workers From Teamsters Local 137 Ratify First Contract  Teamster.org  …Drivers at Waste Management, Inc. in Redding, California voted unanimously to ratify their first contract. The Teamster members, who are represented by Local 137, obtained the contract after a year of negotiating, following a two-to-one election victory on August 28, 2016. There are 22 drivers in the bargaining unit…

BLET reaches two tentative agreements with Wheeling & Lake Erie  BLE-T.org  …The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached two tentative agreements with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (W&LE) — one for the craft of locomotive engineer and one for the craft of trainman. The proposed agreements govern work rules, rates of pay, and health & welfare issues for approximately 150 members (75 locomotive engineers and 75 trainmen)…

UC Clerical Workers: Nickel and Dimed in a High-Rent Economy  Capital & Main  …Serious contract negotiations are now underway between the University of California system and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents nearly 14,000 clerical workers and administrative support staff. At issue is a union-proposed, five-year contract that includes six percent annual raises, plus cost of living increases and a freeze on employee parking rates, according to Teamsters Local 2010 spokesperson Christian Castro…

City, Teamsters to finalize CBA at city council  Spectrum  …The city of Mesquite and Teamsters Local 14 will finalize a collective bargaining agreement at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, bringing to an end the year-and-a-half long impasse between the city and the labor union. “The city is happy with the deal; we think it’s a very fair deal and we’re glad we were able to get it done,” Mesquite city attorney Bob Sweetin said…

Cleveland city lawyers cannot join Teamsters, judge rules  Cleveland.com  …Cleveland city lawyers’ four-year battle to form a union that would fight for higher wages and more fair disciplinary procedures has hit another setback. A Franklin County Common Pleas judge this month backed up the State Employment Relations Board’s earlier ruling that the Ohio law guaranteeing public employees the right to unionize does not apply to assistant city law directors…

 

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE

UK: Virgin Trains East Coast workers to stage 24-hour strike next week  The Guardian  …Workers on Virgin Trains East Coast will stage a 24-hour strike next week in a row over jobs and conditions, and members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will walk out on 3 October. The union suspended industrial action in the summer, but the dispute remains unresolved… 

Hyundai Workers on Full Strike for First Time in 12 Years  Wall Street Journal  …Hyundai Motor Co.  plants in South Korea were crippled by the first all-out strike by unionized workers in more than a decade on Monday, putting pressure on sliding profit and the supply of some of the company’s best-selling vehicles in the U.S. and around the world. Domestic assembly lines at South Korea’s largest auto maker were halted early in the day, affecting production of thousands of vehicles across three plants…

Kurdish teachers rally against austerity measures, delayed wages  RUDAW  …University and school teachers have organized rallies in dozens of cities across the Kurdistan Region this week in protest over reduced salaries and delayed payments to teachers. The protests started on Sunday, two days before schools in Kurdistan formally start the year. Many teachers have threatened to go on strike… 

Ministers aim to wrap up services trade deal in early December  Reuters  …Countries negotiating an international agreement on trade in services plan to meet in early December to try to finalize the deal, U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization Michael Punke told reporters on Monday. The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), which would provide stronger international rules for sectors such as communications and banking, is being negotiated among 23 WTO members…

TTIP: Negotiations ‘in the void’  EurActive  …Negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are forging ahead, despite opposition from a number of countries. And the American elections are almost certain to compromise the deal. Despite attempts by citizens and several governments to derail TTIP, EU member states have confirmed their aim of finalising the free trade deal with Canada (CETA) and pushing ahead with talks with the United States, despite the approaching elections…

In criticizing Clinton, Pence leaves out his own reversal on TPP  Washington Examiner  …Indiana Gov. Mike Pence contradicted his former view on the Trans-Pacific Partnership when he tried to defend Donald Trump’s position on Tuesday. Trump often rails against TPP, President Obama’s proposed trade deal with Asia, and Pence said he shares Trump’s view. But that wasn’t always the case…

Walmart, Nike and Others Decline to Back $40 Monthly Wage Hike in Cambodia’s Garment Industry  In These Times  …Major Western retailers sourcing clothing from Cambodia—a country marked by authoritarian rule and regularly ranked as one of the world’s worst countries for workers—are declining to endorse a proposed hike in the garment industry’s minimum wage that amounts to roughly $40 a month. Cambodia is a popular spot for American and European brands to subcontract production of textiles and shoes… 

Missing Mexican Students Never Found? The Iguala Kidnapping, 2 Years Later  IBTimes  …Two years ago Monday, 43 students left their teachers’ college in Mexico to attend a protest and never returned. The Iguala mass kidnapping, which occurred in the country’s Guerrero state, remains a tragic topic for families of the missing men, who are all presumed dead, and a sore one for the Mexican government…

 

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES

Court throws out suit over Wisconsin ‘right-to-work’ law  Journal-Sentinel  … A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit challenging a 2015 law that banned labor contracts requiring workers to pay union fees. The ruling by U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller is the latest setback for unions, which have challenged the state’s “right-to-work” law in state and federal courts…

No state help for public employees over wage disputes  KUTV  …Utah’s Wage Claim Act carves out all sorts of protections for workers, then takes all those protections away for state employees. The enrolled law reads, “None of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to the state.” “It prevents us taking any action on claims that are filed against a public entity and there’s also a statute that says a public charter school is a public entity,” Adams-Perlac said…

Voting Rights: Will Court Protections Deliver?  American Prospect  …Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County, state legislators representing nearly half the country rolled back effective reforms and erected new barriers to voting. It was a throwback to the era before the 1960s, when Jim Crow laws finally triggered passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)…

John Nichols: The fight for voting rights is not finished  The Cap Times  …We now know that the reaction of Gov. Walker’s allies to a close election in Wisconsin was an urgent discussion about how to gin up talk of “widespread election fraud” — even though there was no evidence of fraud. The Guardian newspaper recently revealed emails between business and political backers of the governor, who were peddling what The New York Times referred to as “the voter fraud myth”…

Which Voters Show Up When States Allow Early Voting?  Truthout  …According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states now offer voters some way to cast ballots early and avoid lining up at the polls on Election Day. These options are popular. About one-third of voters made use of them in the 2012 election. But so-called “convenience voting” remains controversial…

Families of school maintenance workers and bus drivers won’t be getting higher death benefits  LA Times  …Citing the high cost of government employee pensions, Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday vetoed an effort to boost the death benefit paid to families of public school cafeteria workers, maintenance staff and bus drivers. Assembly Bill 1878 would have allowed for annual increases, based on inflation, in the death benefits promised to classified school employees…

Californians To Decide Record-High 650 Local Ballot Measures This November  CA Public Radio  …When California voters open up their November election ballots, they won’t just see 17 statewide propositions. There are a record 650 local ballot measures — including 425 tax and bond measures that seek to raise or extend local revenues. Michael Coleman tracks local ballot measures on behalf of the League of California Cities. He says some of the statewide measures are driving all this local action… 

 

U.S. LABOR

Union seeks to organize Uber drivers in NYC  Crain’s NY  …The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, best known to New Yorkers as the school bus drivers’ union, is making a bid to organize drivers who work for Uber and Lyft. The local, which has collected close to 14,000 signed union cards, is demanding—as one of its flyers says—that the Taxi and Limousine Commission “hold an election so all NYC Uber and Lyft drivers can vote for the union of their own choice”…

Volkswagen faces bumpy road in challenge to ‘micro-union’  Reuters  …Volkswagen has joined other large companies and a chorus of business groups and Republican lawmakers in challenging a union strategy of organizing splinter groups of workers, but experts say recent court decisions approving the tactic suggest it is here to stay. The German automaker’s U.S. subsidiary earlier this month brought a case in a Washington, D.C.-based federal appeals court seeking to overturn a vote by a group of skilled trade workers… 

CTU members give OK to strike, union says  Chicago Tribune  …The Chicago Teachers Union on Monday said its members have authorized its leaders to call a strike if contract talks break down. The union said just over 90 percent of its members voted in a petition distributed over three days last week, and about 95 percent of those who voted gave the go-ahead for a strike…

Alabama prison guards went on strike, Department of Corrections confirms  AL.com  …The Department of Corrections said Monday that a number of guards at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore failed to report to work on Saturday. Bob Horton, a spokesman for the department, emailed a statement to AL.com that confirmed reports by inmate advocacy groups that a strike took place at the prison over the weekend…

Lincoln University faculty look to start collective bargaining unit  ABC  …The Missouri National Education Association announced it is working with faculty members at Lincoln University to organize a collective bargaining unit Monday. The group held a pledge drive last week to see if faculty members were interested, according to Dr. Abdoulaye Bah, a professor at Lincoln University. Bah expects faculty to vote on the move in the next month or so… 

Robots could replace 1.7 million American truckers in the next decade  LA Times  …At risk is one of the most common jobs in many states, and one of the last remaining careers that offer middle-class pay to those without a college degree. There are 1.7 million truckers in America, and another 1.7 million drivers of taxis, buses and delivery vehicles. That compares with 4.1 million construction workers…

Religion Versus Unions  The Nation  …A recent crisis of faith at the National Labor Relations Board presents some tough lessons for the academic labor movement. Although the non–tenure track faculty members at Seattle University scored the board’s blessing for their hard-fought union vote, with a 73-to-63 majority approving unionization with SEIU, 15 faculty members were excluded from the bargaining unit…

Clinton to Trump: Apologize to workers you stiffed  Politico  …Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Donald Trump to apologize to people who have worked on the real estate mogul’s properties who have not been paid in full. Do “the thousands of people that you have stiffed over the course of your business not deserve some kind of apology from someone who has taken their labor, taken the goods that they’ve produced and then refused to pay them?”…

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Press Pointed Attacks in Debate  NY Times  …In a relentlessly antagonistic debate, Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed over trade, the Iraq war, his refusal to release his tax returns and her use of a private email server, with Mr. Trump frequently showing impatience and political inexperience as Mrs. Clinton pushed him to defend his past denigration of women and President Obama…

Trump, Clinton debate fact-checks  Politifact  …Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate tonight, hitting familiar notes on the economy, national security and each other’s records. The two candidates traded attacks that were largely accurate, but they had some trouble with facts when it came to their own records. Trump repeated false claims that he opposed the war in Iraq and that Clinton’s 2008 campaign started the birther movement. Clinton overstated when she said Trump doesn’t pay federal income tax…

McConnell threatens shutdown to keep corporate political spending secret  The Hill  …Most Americans are worried about too much secret corporate money in politics, and this week, Republicans in Congress seem to be doing everything in their power to justify those fears. Senate Republicans are risking a government shutdown at midnight on Oct. 1 for two reasons: to keep the citizens of Flint, Michigan from getting long-needed federal aid and to keep corporate political spending hidden from the voters…

Questions Remain as Police Release Footage of Fatal Charlotte Shooting  Common Dreams  …Following days of demonstrations, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Saturday released footage of the fatal shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott. The release of dashboard camera and body camera footage came just one day after NBC released footage from Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, of the fatal encounter last Tuesday…

Earth Could Reach Critical Climate Threshold in Decade, Scientists Warn  Common Dreams  …The planet could pass the critical 1.5°C global temperature threshold in a decade—and is already two-thirds of the way to hit that warming limit, climate scientists warned on Thursday. Speaking at a University of Oxford conference this week, led by leading U.K. climate researcher Richard Betts, scientists said global greenhouse gas emissions are not likely to slow down quickly enough to avoid passing the 1.5°C target…

Time to Treat Bank CEOs Like Adults  (opinion) Truthout  …The country’s major banks are like trouble-making adolescents. They constantly get involved in some new and unimagined form of mischief. Back in the housing bubble years it was the pushing, packaging and selling of fraudulent mortgages. Just a few years later we had JP Morgan, the country’s largest bank, incurring billions in losses from the gambling debts of its “London Whale” subsidiary…