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Today’s Teamster News For October 25, 2016
TEAMSTERS
UPS aircraft mechanics picket outside Amazon in Jeffersonville WDRB …With signs in hand, about 75 to 100 aircraft mechanics from UPS gathered outside of the Amazon fulfillment center in Jeffersonville Monday. Amazon depends on UPS to deliver thousands of packages to its customers every day. That’s why workers decided to picket there to send the message that they’re ready to strike if company leaders refuse to meet their demands. Members of Teamsters Local 2727 say they hope that the message is received…
South Bend Common Council votes on controversial budget issues WSBT …The South Bend Common Council approved items in the $369 million plan late last night. The council unanimously approved a two-percent increase in salary for South Bend Police. Police officials say they hope it helps with the shortage they have of about 20 officers. City workers under Teamsters Union Local 364 say, they’re pleased with a one percent raise…
250 gather outside EA offices to support voice actors strike Develop …After recent comments from the lawyers behind the game companies suggesting that SAG-AFTRA’s strike would be too insignificant to make a difference, representatives from the WGA, Musicians Union, IATSE and the Teamsters have shown up on the picket line and taken up signs. Teamsters Local 399 secretary-treasurer Steve Dayan also told Deadline “We support our brothers and sisters at SAG-AFTRA, and we’re here to walk in solidarity with them”…
Harvard dining hall workers’ strike gains momentum People’s World …In a show of strong support, other unions including the Teamsters Local 25 and other labor organizations, joined hundreds of UNITE Local 26 workers and union brothers and sisters from UNITE/HERE locals 33, 34 and 35 from Yale University in Connecticut converged to rally solidarity and support for the strikers. Teamsters Local 25 President Sean M. O’Brien assailed what he called the “white-collar crime syndicate” which runs Harvard…
Some Peninsula Humane Society workers link poor conditions to animal deaths KTVU …A group of employees at the Peninsula Humane Society spoke out Monday about allegations at the shelter, including charges that poor conditions have led to animal deaths and injuries and that the facility is understaffed. The Teamsters Local 856 Union is representing the workers and a union official joined over a dozen employees of the PHS & SPCA’s Coyote Point Shelter outside the facility to speak to reporters…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
UK: Sheffield waste workers back out on strike as pay dispute continues The Star …Members of the GMB union employed by waste firm Veolia took part in a half-day walkout on Tuesday morning. Veolia deals with the city’s rubbish on behalf of Sheffield Council. Dozens of workers gathered outside Veolia’s Lumley Street centre on Tuesday morning as part of the ongoing dispute…
Women in Iceland to Leave Work at 2:38 PM Iceland Review …Women in Iceland are encouraged by unions and women’s organizations to walk out of their workplaces at 2:38 pm today. In Reykjavík, they will convene on Austurvöllur square, where a program begins at 3:15 pm to protest the gender pay gap in Iceland. Similar protests are planned all over the country. The timing, 2:38 pm, is no coincidence. Compared to men’s earnings, women work without pay after that hour every day…
Trans-Pacific Partnership makes Australia vulnerable to court challenges, report claims The Guardian …Australia could face a growing number of expensive legal claims from foreign corporations if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) comes into force, a new report has warned. Dr Kyla Tienhaara, from the Australian National University, said Australia ought to learn from Canada’s experience after it signed the North America Free Trade Agreement…
The future of trade has rarely looked more uncertain Telegraph …At least two other major, controversial agreements – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – are on political “life support”. TTIP, which would create an economic bloc between the United States and the EU accounting for around 50pc of global GDP…
EU’s precautionary principle haunts TISA talks Politico …he European Union is insisting that its refusal to make concessions on “new services” in the Trade in Services Agreement is not new. A European Commission source said it was originally agreed that in exchange for Brussels making its market access offer on a negative list basis, it would be able to reserve its right to discriminate on services that have not yet been invented…
West Virginia Lawmakers Oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal The Intelligencer …CEOs who lead companies with a combined $6 trillion in annual revenues believe the Trans-Pacific Partnership would help West Virginia businesses grow, but members of the state’s congressional delegation oppose the controversial deal. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., remain extremely skeptical of the agreement…
Brazil: Congress urged to pass austerity, reforms BRICS Post …A leading Brazilian politician is urging Congress to quickly pass pivotal austerity measures and fiscal reforms to avoid a financial disaster in the country. There is a fear that they may be stalled, as they have done for over a year, as legislators argue about how harsh the austerity measures are on the public…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Iowa governor: time to talk about minimum wage after election Radio Iowa …Governor Terry Branstad today said he doesn’t like the “hodgepodge” of city and county minimum wage hikes that are going into effect in Iowa. After the election’s over, he plans to talk with legislators about the issue. The state’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, identical to the federal minimum wage. Every state that borders Iowa has raised its minimum wage higher than that…
Wisconsin: Federal Judge Approves Expanded Voter ID Education Efforts WPR …A federal judge has approved the state’s plan for additional voter ID education before Election Day, but the groups challenging the ID law in court say the expanded efforts still aren’t enough. Earlier this month, Federal Judge James Peterson ordered the state to increase education efforts about the ID law, particularly a petition process for people who can’t easily get a state-issued ID for voting…
Florida: there are no people backing state’s deceptive solar amendment – only corporations. Think Progress …Solar companies usually back solar amendments. But they have all lined up solidly against Florida’s Amendment 1 — “Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice,” which, despite its title, is not about consumer rights or choice. In fact, it would effectively work against solar, by allowing utilities to add special charges for solar customers…
In most battleground states, a brightening job picture CBS …Over the past year, unemployment has dropped in nine out of the 13 swing states. That’s according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found that only three swing states saw a worsening jobs market. One state remained flat compared with a year earlier…
Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage is crumbling The Hill …While Republicans continue to refuse to compromise on key issues like appointing a new Supreme Court Justice, there’s one Republican roadblock that’s beginning to crumble: opposition to raising the minimum wage. That’s no surprise. Poll after poll shows that by substantial margins and on a bi-partisan basis, voters support raising the minimum wage…
U.S. LABOR
Harvard and Dining Workers Reach ‘Tentative Agreement’ Harvard Crimson …Harvard and its dining workers reached a “tentative agreement” around 1:05 a.m. Tuesday morning—the closest the two parties have come to a contract settlement during months of tense negotiations. Brian Lang, president of UNITE HERE Local 26—the Boston-based union that represents Harvard’s dining workers—said the accord “accomplished all of our goals.” The deal is yet to be ratified…
Hundreds of Harvard students stage a walkout, occupy building to support striking dining hall workers Washington Post …An estimated 600 students at Harvard University walked out of class Monday and staged a sit-in at an administration building in support of dining hall workers who have been on strike since the beginning of the month. “The workers are there every day, making us three meals a day, plus a night snack,” said Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, a senior at Harvard…
Baggage handler group serving airlines at Sea-Tac Airport join union Business Journal …Workers employed by Air Serv Corporation, a contractor at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, have organized and won recognition for their union. More than 275 Air Serv workers at Sea-Tac will now become members of the Service Employees International Union Local 6, and will begin negotiating a new contract, SEIU spokeswoman Marakah Mancini said…
Fusion’s Union Effort Faces Resistance Wall Street Journal …Earlier this month, a majority of editorial staffers at Fusion signed union cards to join the growing list of digital journalism outlets embracing collective bargaining. But now some employees at the millennial-geared web publisher are frustrated by the response from Univision Communications Inc., Fusion’s parent company. Employees say executives have applied subtle pressure in “captive audience meetings” at four offices across the country…
Union Leaders, Activists: Latino Voting ‘Wall’ Will Block Trump NBC …Using Donald Trump’s words, Latino leaders say “the wall” that will keep the Republican presidential nominee from getting elected, especially in swing states like Nevada and Arizona, will be the Latino vote. “We are the wall between Trump’s hate, disrespect, insults – and we are the wall that will keep Trump out of the White House,” Rocio Saenz, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said…
Why Trump resonates: Wages plunged for ‘middle skill’ workers CNN …Millions of workers in middle America have seen their wages plunge — a concerning trend that helps explain why Donald Trump’s message of “bringing the jobs back” from Mexico resonates with so many. These 38 million workers are not entirely blue or white collar, but they’ve seen their wages fall by more than anyone else — and many of them live in areas where Trump has polled well at times this year…
For some low-income workers, retirement is only a dream AP …Studies have found that about one-third of low wage workers like Strawbridge say they’ll never be able to afford retirement. The problem is particularly acute among minority women. A 2016 study by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that one-quarter of workers 50 and older say they won’t retire. Among low wage workers, earning less than $50,000 a year, it was 33 percent…
The Slow Slog Toward ‘Full’ Employment The Atlantic …Part of the reason the upward climb has stretched on for so long is just that the low-point—the recession—was so low. From the nadir of the Great Recession, employment took longer to hit its pre-recession peak than it did during any of the last three economic recoveries: 11 months after the recession of the early 1980s, 23 months after the one in the 1990s, 39 months in the early aughts, and a lengthy 51 months following the Great Recession, according to the Economic Policy Institute…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
With Corporate Tax Fight Brewing, Warren Warns Against Bailing Out Tax Dodgers Common Dreams …There’s a huge corporate tax break brewing in Congress, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is warning against the plot, which she has called “a giant wet kiss for tax dodgers.” Both The Intercept and The New Republic wrote this month about percolating bipartisan plans for so-called corporate tax reform—”reform” that journalist David Dayen described in the latter as “a form of corporate blackmail”…
Another Time a Trump Company Was Sued for Discriminating Against Black People Mother Jones …The suits claimed that an African American plaintiff inquiring about an apartment in a Trump building “was not told of or shown these apartments because Kraham [a leasing agency] and Trump follow a practice of not telling blacks of the availability for rent or inspection of apartments” in this building. It alleged that Trump and the other landlords in the case “have evidenced a pattern, practice and policy” of racial discrimination…
Justice Department replaces New York team investigating Eric Garner’s death Think Progress …In an unusual move that could jump-start the stalled investigation into Eric Garner’s death, the Justice Department has reportedly replaced the New York-based team working on the case with outside agents. Garner died in 2014 after he was placed in an illegal chokehold by Officer Daniel Pantaleo on a street corner in Staten Island…