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Today’s Teamster News For October 13, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Drivers at XPO Logistics in Aurora, Illinois Choose Teamster Representation Teamster.org …Drivers at XPO Logistics in suburban Chicago voted for Teamster representation yesterday, as workers across the country stand shoulder-to-shoulder to fight for fairness and respect at the one of the world’s largest transportation and logistics companies. The 74 drivers at the former Con-way Freight join workers in Miami; Laredo, Texas; and Vernon, Calif. who have already formed their union with the Teamsters…
Workers at XPO Logistics in Connecticut Choose Teamster Representation Teamster.org …In a historic vote, warehouse workers at XPO Logistics in North Haven, Conn. voted 72-49 for Teamster representation yesterday, becoming the first warehouse workers at the company to form a union in the United States. “This is all about us workers standing up to this corporate bully and demanding fair wages, affordable health insurance and an end to the mistreatment,” employee Ted Furman said…
Teamsters Local 2727: UPS Aircraft Mechanics Vow to Stand Up Teamster.org …With the start of the holiday shopping season just weeks away, mechanics and other workers who ensure UPS’s fleet of jet engine aircraft are operational and safe are heading into negotiations with the company. UPS, a multi-billion-dollar company, is calling for a massive reduction in both active and retiree health benefits for 1,200 maintenance workers who are critical to the company’s supply chain…
FedEx loses latest bid to decertify driver ‘micro union’ Reuters …A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday handed the National Labor Relations Board its latest victory in a challenge to the agency’s standard for approving bargaining units that include only certain groups of workers, dismissing a bid by FedEx Freight Inc to decertify a unit of delivery drivers. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the NLRB last year properly certified an International Brotherhood of Teamsters unit of about 50 FedEx drivers based in Stockton, California…
Teamsters can now boycott handbill in front of some Schnuck stores Labor Tribune …In a dramatic turn of events, Teamster boycott handbillers are now able to stand in front of almost two dozen Schnucks stores where the entire shopping center is not owned by Schnucks but instead a third party. This new tactic is the result of Teamsters Local 688 filing their original unfair labor practice charge against Schnucks that prevented them from picketing in front of stores…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
FCA Canada and Unifor announce tentative labour deal Just Auto …Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles Canada announced it had reached a new tentative agreement with auto workers union Unifor but, because the deal still needs union member ratification, it did not provide details. Unifor, however, was a bit more forthcoming, saying the accord “secures investment for Brampton and Etobicoke, and cements the economic pattern established with General Motors”…
New Zealand workers strike at aluminium firm NZ Herald …Nearly 150 workers at an aluminium company have walked off the job in protest over a pay offer, says the union that represents them. E tū, the union which represents workers in the manufacturing industry, said 147 of its members have taken strike action for 24 hours and walked off the job at McKechnie Aluminium Solutions in New Plymouth…
Colombian Unions Remain Committed to Peace Process Solidarity Center …In the wake of Colombia’s narrow rejection of a peace accord and the subsequent bestowing of the Nobel Peace Prize on the country’s president last weekend, Colombian trade unions vowed to remain part of the process to end the Western Hemisphere’s longest war and work toward a more inclusive society…
TTIP negotiators lower expectations EU Observer …The 15th round of negotiations over the EU-US free-trade deal TTIP ended last Friday (7 October) in New York without much fanfare. At the concluding press conference, US and EU chief negotiators Dan Mullaney and Ignacio Bercero spoke at length about the rationale for a transatlantic trade pact, rather than reporting on the round’s results. The previous one, in July, closed with the goal to conclude negotiations by the end of the year. That bar is now set much lower…
Four Reasons Why TTIP Agreement is ‘Unacceptable’ for Europe Sputnik News …The controversial TTIP deal between the European Union and the United States has faced serious opposition from politicians and businessmen across Europe. A German financial analyst said that the true motive behind this criticism is the actual risks for that the agreement creates…
Inequality Is Still the Defining Issue of Our Time The Nation … The mobilization against the TPP will engage the populist energies in both parties. Sanders’s new organization Our Revolution will join with labor and the bulk of the activist Democratic base to drive an intense opposition that will make the Tea Party look like, well, a tea party. If the TPP is defeated, the next administration will be forced to rethink America’s globalization strategies…
Singapore backs Malcolm Turnbull’s call for US to ratify TPP Financial Review …Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has backed Malcolm Turnbull’s appeals for Washington to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the basis it is an important tool for the United States to continue to exert influence in the Asia-Pacific. With presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump opposed to the regional 12-nation trade pact, signatories including Australia and Singapore are hoping the US Congress will ratify the deal during the so-called lame-duck period…
UN Rights Chief Blasts Trump as ‘Dangerous’ for Global Community Common Dreams …In what one newspaper described as an “extraordinary intervention,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has said a Donald Trump presidency would be “dangerous” for the international community. Zeid made the comments Wednesday during a news briefing in Geneva, citing Trump’s “deeply unsettling and disturbing” views on torture and “vulnerable communities”…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Business Owners Rally for Minimum Wage Ballot Measure Eater.com …As November 8 approaches, the ads multiply and so do the mailers and volume of the advocacy. A group called Colorado Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is urging Colorado citizens to vote in favor of Amendment 70 to raise the minimum wage from the current $8.31. The increase would first go to $9.30 on January 1, 2017. After that, each year, it would go up by 90 cents until it reaches $12 in January 2020…
New Hampshire Wants Paid Family And Medical Leave Yet Only One Gubernatorial Candidate Openly Supports It NH Labor News …In August, the UNH Survey Center and Kristin Smith released a report showing overwhelming support for paid family and medical leave in New Hampshire. The poll showed that eighty-two percent (82%) support paid family and medical leave. Colin Van Ostern, the Democratic candidate for Governor, has been outspoken in his support for paid family and medical leave…
Judge files criminal summons against Chris Christie for his role in the Bridgegate saga Think Progress …New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is facing a possible indictment for his role in the Bridgegate scandal, which has already led to several arrests and federal charges of top Christie aides. During testimony in an ongoing case against two Christie officials who were behind the 2013 decision to close several lanes of the George Washington Bridge as an act of political retribution, key witnesses have leveled accusations that Christie himself was well aware of what was transpiring…
Labor unions and Tom Steyer to spend $60 million to mobilize progressive voters for presidential and down-ballot races Washington Post …For Our Future, a progressive super PAC, has raised $60 million to continue work toward its goal of mobilizing 9.5 million African American, Latino and millennial voters in several battleground states before Election Day. The super PAC is funding grass-roots groups to knock on doors rather than buying up radio and television airtime, in Florida, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin…
China Revives American Heartland, One Low Wage at a Time Industry Week …For six years, the General Motors factory that used to make Chevy TrailBlazers in Moraine, Ohio, sat abandoned, a rusting monument to the decline of the American auto industry. These days, the plant is humming again, fueled by a resurgent U.S. consumer — but now under Chinese management. On the shop floor, Chinese supervisors in sky-blue uniforms that carry the logo of the new owners, Fuyao Glass, teach American employees how to assemble windshields…
U.S. LABOR
Wages and overtime fuel strike by Libbey workers The Blade …Striking workers at Libbey Inc.’s North Toledo plant say wages and mandatory overtime are among the issues that led to the rejection of a tentative agreement reached this week. “Libbey’s told us straight up that we’re asking too much and we said no,” said Tom Glaze, a machine operator and 15-year company veteran. Mr. Glaze is a member of Glass Molders Plastics Local 59, one of four unions representing hourly workers at the Ash Street plant…
Starving Harvard Hires Scabs to Replace Striking Cafeteria Workers Daily Beast …On Monday, the Ivy League school entered the sixth day of its standoff with dining hall workers, who have gone on strike for the first time in over 30 years. The cafeteria staff are demanding affordable health care and base pay of $35,000 for year-round workers. But workers and Harvard negotiators can’t come to an agreement. And while dining hall workers strike for better wages, Harvard is hiring scabs…
Union workers at Jim Beam distillery vote to go on strike WDRB …Union workers at the Jim Beam distillery in Bullitt County have voted to strike. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 111D president confirms to WDRB the vote Tuesday night among union members was 201-19 to strike. It takes effect at midnight this Friday…
Safeway, Giant Often Slow to Post Work Schedules, Union Says Bloomberg …Managers at Safeway and Giant Food stores in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., often don’t post work schedules at the times employers agreed to in labor contracts, a UFCW official said amid negotiations over new agreements with the grocery chains. The managers’ actions hurt retail food store employees because many are part-time workers who have other jobs, child care responsibilities or attend school…
Northwestern modifies handbook to treat football players like employees Chicago Tribune …Northwestern University may not consider its football players to be employees, but it changed provisions in its handbook to treat them as such, avoiding legal action by the National Labor Relations Board and signaling that questions about the workplace status of student-athletes remain very much alive…
1 in 3 Workers Employed in Gig Economy, But Not All By Choice US News & World Report …Nearly 3 in 10 American workers earn some form of income through independent work and gig opportunities like Uber and Airbnb – dwarfing the government’s outdated employment metrics while shedding light on an often overlooked segment of the labor market. A new study published by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates the U.S. holds between 54 million and 68 million “independent workers”…
LeBron James said he’s ‘very optimistic’ new NBA labor deal coming soon Cleveland.com …LeBron James seemed to confirm a Vertical report from Thursday that the NBA and the players’ association could reach a new labor agreement within the next several weeks. “I think the best thing about it, we started the conversation a long time ago,” James said Monday…
Employers Shift Higher Health-Care Costs to Workers Wall Street Journal …Open enrollment season is under way, and when workers get their health-plan information, many of them can expect higher out-of-pocket costs. As employers cope with rising health costs, some are shifting more of the burden onto their workers, often in the form of health insurance plans that carry high deductibles…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Donald Trump Would Raise Taxes on Single Parents. How Despicable. Slate …How appalling is Donald Trump’s tax plan? Consider this: While showering trillions of dollars on America’s wealthiest families, it would somehow manage to raise taxes on working-class single parents. That’s according to a new Tax Policy Center analysis of the Republican nominee’s most recent proposal, which, like its predecessor, is an enormous gift to his fellow millionaires and billionaires…
The Problem With Only Letting In the ‘Good’ Immigrants The Atlantic …American culture contains several competing, powerful psychological narratives about how immigration works—or at least how it should work. There is America as a glorious “melting pot” of cultures and America as a benevolent shelter for the tired, poor masses. There is also a view of a country threatened by new arrivals, typically non-white aliens with inferior cultures…
Not in My Locker Room The Nation … It is because of people like Donald Trump that a locker room can become an incubator of rape culture and a fortress against anyone who would challenge it from the outside. Inside the locker room, all athletes need to pledge that this will not fly. The predators need to be confronted and removed. Don’t be a rape-culture bystander. Just be clear that “pulling a Trump” will not be tolerated…
Hillary Clinton is proposing a policy to tackle deep poverty Vox …On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton unveiled what is arguably among the most important policies she’s announced during her entire presidential campaign. It is an ambitious but politically attainable plan that will lift huge numbers of families with children out of poverty. It is targeted exclusively at the poor, and the extreme poor in particular…
Donald Trump’s confused portrait of black America Politico …According to Census data, around 25 percent of African-Americans in cities and a third of blacks under the age of 18 lived in poverty in 2015, high numbers but nowhere near Trump’s statistic. Trump’s mistake is part of a long and, to many people, bewildering aspect of his campaign, in which he consistently harps on the economic fortunes of black Americans and the state of U.S. cities…