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Today’s Teamster News For October 24, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Denver US Foods Teamsters Launch Unfair Labor Practice Strike Teamster.org …US Foods’ ongoing labor woes extended to the Denver area today, where members of Teamsters Local 455 established an unfair labor practice picket line to protest the broadline foodservice provider’s alleged violations of federal labor law that protects workers’ rights. It’s the most recent strike at US Foods, the nation’s second-largest foodservice company, where allegations of labor law violations have resulted in strikes and picket line extensions throughout the country…
Teamsters Local 2727: Teamster Mechanics Who Maintain UPS Aircraft Begin Strike Vote Teamster.org …With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, mechanics and other workers who service UPS’ fleet of jet engine aircraft started voting Friday to authorize a strike. The strike vote comes after three years of prolonged negotiations during which UPS continues to demand huge concessions. UPS is calling for massive reductions in health benefits for 1,200 maintenance workers…
UPS Aircraft Teamsters May Go on Strike Santa Monica Observer …With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, mechanics and other workers who service UPS’ fleet of jet engine aircraft started voting Friday to authorize a strike. UPS mechanics and other maintenance workers are spread among more than 90 locations across the United States. Teamsters Local 2727 members began receiving ballots and voting on Oct. 21…
Teamsters Local 727 Opposes Job-killing Beverage Tax Local 727 …Teamsters Local 727 is calling all members to oppose a beverage tax recently proposed by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. In a misguided attempt to close Cook County’s budget gap, Preckwinkle wants a soda tax which would add more as much as 50 percent to a case of soda. The cent-per-ounce tax would be enforced on soda, lemonade, sports drinks and even diet drinks…
Bauer’s regains tech shuttle permit in SF after getting the boot in April SF Examiner …First, Bauer’s was out. Now, it’s back in. Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation was kicked out of The City’s commuter shuttle program in April because it accrued more complaints than any other shuttle service. The company also failed to foster “harmony” with labor unions, a stipulation of The City. As of Sept. 14, Bauer’s ended its long-running feud with California Teamsters and has begun unionizing its bus drivers…
Around 1,000 People March in Support of HUDS Workers Harvard Crimson …About a thousand people from across New England marched in support of Harvard’s dining services employees from Cambridge Common down Massachusetts Avenue late Saturday afternoon, stopping traffic as they headed toward City Hall. Speakers at the rally included UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang, women employees arrested in last week’s protest, Teamsters Local 25 President Sean O’Brien…
Garbage is a dirty business. L.A. is trying to clean it up. Grist …In 2012, the state fined one Los Angeles company $40,000 for 36 citations, saying conditions at the company’s facilities placed workers’ lives at risk. “In some [facilities], workers aren’t interested in pensions,” says Ron Herrera, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 396, which represents sanitation workers in Southern California. “They’re interested in gloves”…
California: Minimum wage hike, state-run retirement savings plan People’s World …Another law extended wage standard protections to the thousands of contract workers in the University of California system. The university system’s mistreatment of its unionized workers, represented by the Teamsters, is still a problem, though. Local 2010 Secretary-Treasurer Jason Rabinowitz reported mass rallies about the issue at campuses in Los Angeles, Berkeley and Santa Barbara, among others…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Ireland: Shannon Airport facing closure during Garda strike Limerick Post …With both the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) joining in a planned withdrawal of labour during every Friday in November, the action will result in the closure of the Shannon immigration unit and, as a consequence, the entire airport. Limerick Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins has called on the Departments of Justice and Public Expenditure to “step up” and intervene in the pay dispute…
Canada: strike parks West Vancouver’s Blue Buses Monday morning Vancouver Sun …Transit buses were not running in West Vancouver on Monday after last-minute negotiations between the district and the union representing West Vancouver Municipal Transit drivers and mechanics broke down Sunday night. There are no talks scheduled and workers are on an indefinite full-scale strike until a deal is reached…
China Developing Two Free Trade Deals for Asia-Pacific as TPP Loses Momentum Sputnik News …While the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal face mounting opposition among public and politicians, China is working out two alternatives, a report by the US intelligence company Stratfor read. TPP negotiations were finalized in October and must be ratified by all 12 signatories within the next two years…
The TPP and Free Trade: Time to Retake the English Language (opinion) Truthout …The proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are planning to do a full court press in the lame duck session of Congress following the election. We will be bombarded with speeches and columns from President Obama and other illustrious figures telling us how it is important to approve the TPP for a variety of reasons. We can be certain that one of the reasons will be the inherent virtues of free trade. They will not be telling the truth…
Hazards ahead for TISA talks Politico …The odds of the Trade in Services Agreement wrapping up by year’s end have grown longer after a mini ministerial meeting in Oslo on Friday and Saturday revealed a number of issues remain far from resolved — several of which center on the European Union, for one reason or another. Two of the biggest issues remaining involve data flows and new services…
Tim Kaine Leaves Door Open to (Non-TPP) Asia Trade Deal Wall Street Journal …Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine opened the door a bit to a Clinton presidency pushing an Asian trade deal, although not the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “We aren’t against trade,” Mr. Kaine, a Virginia senator, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “We want to find export markets for American businesses…
Signing EU-US TTIP Free Trade Deal Impossible Without EU-Canada CETA Sputnik News …The EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free-trade deal can only be signed, if the European Union and Canada seal their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a source in the EU Parliament told RIA Novosti Monday. The European Council failed to approve CETA due to Wallonia, a region in Belgium, not giving the country its approval to sign the agreement…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Illinois: 1,100 non-union state workers getting $3,016 bonuses SJR …Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is awarding one-time bonuses worth a total of between $3 million and $4 million to non-union workers whose bosses say are doing exceptional work. About 1,100 merit-compensation employees are in line to each receive a $3,016 bonus under the plan. The bonuses are available to non-bargaining unit employees whose base salary as of July 1 was less than $100,000. Those earning more were not eligible…
Virginia: unions prepare for Right to Work amendment PR News …With Election Day right around the corner, labor unions in Virginia are preparing voters to fight against Right to Work advocates’ most significant push yet. Already one of 26 states with Right to Work laws in effect, labor supporters in the state are rallying against a proposed amendment that would make the controversial legislation part of Virginia’s constitution. Union leaders around the country are uniting behind their efforts…
New York: de Blasio urges the Port Authority to pay Newark Airport workers $15 an hour like LaGuardia, JFK employees Daily News …Mayor de Blasio is pressing the Port Authority to raise wages for workers at Newark Airport to $15 an hour. Employees at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports are set to see their pay go up to $15 under New York’s new state minimum wage – but their counterparts at Newark are covered by a lower, Port Authority-imposed minimum of $10.10…
Maine: people to decide state’s minimum wage debate Sea Coast Online …Question 4 is really two wage initiatives in one. The first part increases the minimum wage to $9 an hour starting this coming January, and then stipulates increases of $1 a year to $12 an hour by 2020. After that, increases are pegged to the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast region. The second part deals with tipped workers…
Washington: initiative fight between union, conservative group Herald & Review …The ongoing fight between a powerful labor union and a conservative group has spilled over into Washington’s state election. Initiative 1501 on the Nov. 8 ballot would stiffen penalties for identify theft and consumer fraud when seniors or disabled citizens are targeted. SEIU 775, which represents independent state workers who provide in-home care, has bankrolled nearly all of the $1.46 million raised by the campaign…
Many Americans unaware of their states’ voter ID laws Pew Research …With less than a month to go before Election Day, not all American voters are aware of their states’ voter ID requirements. A new national survey finds that the confusion runs two ways: Some voters live in states that do not require identification to vote but think it is needed, while others living in states that do require IDs mistakenly believe they do not need one to vote…
U.S. LABOR
One Bourbon, One Strike and No Fear: Jim Beam Workers Win a Better Contract In These Times …After a nearly weeklong strike, more than 200 whiskey workers in Kentucky, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 111D, voted Friday to accept the company’s latest contract proposal. They went on strike October 14 after members overwhelmingly approved a work stoppage…
As third week of strike ends, there is still no deal for Harvard dining workers Think Progress …After more than four months of contract negotiations, Harvard University dining workers went on strike. Now those 750 workers are in their third week of the strike, and the university administration is barely moving to arrive at a deal, students and union spokespeople say. Dining workers have been trying to secure annual wages of at least $35,000…
Egg facility workers strike over pay, working conditions Chicago Tribune …Nonunionized workers at an Illinois egg production facility are striking over what they claim to be poor working conditions and low pay. About 70 workers walked out on their jobs Monday at the National Pasteurized Eggs facility in Lansing, about 30 miles south of Chicago, and continued to picket outside the plant Thursday. The employees are trying to unionize in an effort to ensure better working conditions…
The UFC’s Dirtiest Move Yet: Union Bashing New Republic …The UFC has refused to give up one dirty move in its path to mainstream success: union bashing. For years, the Culinary Workers Union has tried unsuccessfully to organize workers at Nevada casinos owned by the Fertitta brothers, who have fought the unionization drive. To apply pressure, the culinary workers convinced the New York state assembly to ban the UFC from staging bouts, even after every other state in the country had legalized MMA…
The people who pick your berries in Washington will now be represented by a union PRI … In Washington, a conflict between Driscoll’s supplier Sakuma Brothers berry farm and their workers reached a climax this summer in the form of protests, consumer boycotts, work stoppages and, eventually, an historic resolution. For three years, workers at Sakuma Brothers, a 1,000-acre farm in the state’s lush Skagit Valley, fought for improvements to what they claimed were unjust labor practices…
Black Workers See Fastest Wage Growth in More Than 15 Years Wall Street Journal …More than seven years after the recession ended, black workers’ earnings are accelerating sharply. Median usual weekly earnings for full-time black workers rose 9.8% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the fastest rate of growth on records back to 2000, according to data the Labor Department released Thursday…
Beating Trump is personal, not just political, for Nevada unions SF Chronicle …Hillary Clinton has inched ahead in battleground Nevada polls not just because of what she’s done, but because of whom Republican Donald Trump has offended: the people who work at his signature hotel. To many of those union waitresses, housekeepers and bartenders, this campaign is personal. They are fighting the boss…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
These are the people Trump is referring to when he talks about ‘bad hombres’ Think Progress …It’s a lot easier to be a “bad hombre” than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would have you believe when it comes to the undocumented immigrant population. During the final presidential debate on Wednesday, Trump spoke one word of Spanish, promising that his immigration policy plan would include a proposal to deport criminal undocumented immigrants …
Why Debt Balloons After Graduation for Black Students The Atlantic …Black college graduates are more likely than their white peers to leave school with student debt and to default on those loans. Those are both well-known, widely covered issues. Now a Brookings Institution report from a pair of researchers at Columbia University points out a troubling new finding: The gap in debt between black graduates and white graduates more than triples just several years after college…
Trump loyalist plans to send army of supporters to inner cities on election day Think Progress …According to the Guardian report, Stone plans to dispatch members of his Citizens for Trump to “600 different precincts in nine Democrat-leaning cities with large minority populations, a tactic branded highly irregular by experts, who suggested that organizers could potentially use the polling as a way to intimidate voters”…