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Today’s Teamster News For October 3, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Call BFI’s Joint-Employer Fears Overblown Law 360 …Browning-Ferris Industries is exaggerating the implications of the loosened “joint employer” definition that the National Labor Relations Board adopted last year, a Teamsters local has told the D.C. Circuit in an appeal of the decision. In an intervenor’s brief filed Wednesday, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 350 urged the appellate court to reject a request by Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. that it review the board’s decision…
Allegiant Says It Has Met FAA’s Safety-Related Concerns Daily News …”Clearly the FAA thinks everything is fine, and that concerns us from the reports we have seen over the years,” said Greg Unterseher, director of representation for Teamsters Local 1224, which represents Allegiant pilots. The union has frequently accused the airline of cutting corners on maintenance and safety…
Sheriff’s department union declares impasse in contract talks with Franklin County Watertown Daily Times …The union representing employees of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department has declared its efforts to reach a new contract agreement with the county at impasse. Teamsters Local 687 Business Agent Mickey Smith notified the state Public Employees Relations Board on Thursday that the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement…
Saving Jobs, Union Asks Members For Pay Cut In Sikorsky Deal Hartford Courant …Teamsters Local 1150, which represents nearly 4,000 Sikorsky workers, is asking its members to approve a 25 percent pay cut for workers hired beginning next year, part of a state deal to ensure that the company continues manufacturing next-generation U.S. Navy helicopters in Stratford until at least 2032…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Norway oil and gas workers may strike, threatening UK gas supply Reuters …Workers at three onshore plants serving Norway’s oil and gas industry will strike from Oct. 7 unless they get a new wage deal, the SAFE labour union said on Monday, potentially threatening Britain’s natural gas supplies. Some 338 workers at Statoil’s Melkoeya LNG plant, Shell’s Nyhamna natural gas processing plant and ExxonMobil’s Slagen refinery terminal would go on strike if talks on a new pay deal break down, the union said…
Strike disrupts operations at Freeport’s mine in Indonesia US News & World Report …The U.S. owner of a gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia that is among the largest in the world says its operations have been disrupted by a days-long strike. Freeport-McMoran spokesman Riza Pratama said Monday that open pit mining has stopped and processing of ore has been reduced. A union official, Frans Okoseray, said about 1,200 workers began their strike on Wednesday to get bigger monthly bonus payments…
TTIP May be Dead, But We’re Still Facing TTIP by the Back Door Common Dreams …The architects of the current wave of trade deals have embarked on a desperate ploy to salvage something from the death of their flagship treaty. Sacrificing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP in order to get CETA (the close relation of TTIP, a deal between the EU and Canada) agreed was always going to be a risky strategy…
U.S. officials take flight, despite TPP’s dim outlook Politico …The prospects for congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are more unlikely than ever, but that’s not stopping the Obama administration from proceeding as if the deal won’t eventually be implemented. Officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and other agencies have traveled to Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in recent weeks…
Senators to Obama: Trans-Pacific Partnership shouldn’t be considered until renegotiated Highland County Press …Five Democrat senators – Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) this week told the Obama administration that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should not be considered by Congress until it is renegotiated. In a letter to the administration, the senators outlined TPP’s fundamental flaws and the need to fix them…
Myanmar trade organization calls for protection of migrant workers Global Times …The Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM) has called for adopting a specific law for protection of Myanmar migrant workers, saying there are still exploitation by the agents even though memorandums of understanding are signed between the government and overseas employment agencies, official media reported Thursday…
UK: Anti-austerity rally at ruling party conference Aljazeera …Thousands of protesters have rallied against the British government’s cuts to public services as members of the ruling Conservative Party gathered for its annual conference. Sunday’s protest, which started a short distance from the conference, drew a coalition of left-wing groups, including members of the opposition Labour Party, trade unions and student activists…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
N.J. minimum wage will increase next year NJ.com …New Jersey’s minimum wage, a matter of dispute between Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic Legislature, will go up six cents on Jan. 1 to $8.44 an hour, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. It will be New Jerseyans’ first increase since January 2015, when it increased from $8.25 an hour to the current $8.38…
Wisconsin lawmakers urge investigation of Scott Walker after ‘John Doe’ papers The Guardian …Nineteen Wisconsin legislators have called for an official investigation into alleged criminal misconduct by the Republican governor Scott Walker, based on their review of court documents leaked to the Guardian. The legislators have written to the prosecutor for Dane County, which covers the state capital Madison as well as Walker’s home residence…
Christie has final say on bill offering unemployment to striking workers NJ.com …With an Assembly vote Thursday, the Legislature sent Gov. Chris Christie a bill allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits. The legislation sprang up during a six-week Verizon worker strike that began in April. About 40,000 East Coast Verizon workers, including 4,600 in New Jersey, walked off the job in protest of the telecommunications giant’s contract demands…
Jerry Brown vetoes expansion of unpaid leave for new parents SacBee …Citing concerns about the potential liability for small businesses, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday vetoed legislation to expand unpaid leave for new parents to bond with their children. Senate Bill 654, by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, would have required businesses with at least 20 employees to offer workers six weeks of protected leave within the first year of a child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement…
The Fight for $15 Is Starting to Fight for Fair Schedules The Nation … New York City’s original Fight for 15 is becoming a fight for full time. After helping turn $15 an hour into the new normal by setting in motion a phased state minimum-wage hike to $15 by 2021, the fast food workers’ movement is taking on the second shift of its campaign to promote fair, decent work: a consistent, predictable schedule…
New Grants Announced: Education Dept. Continues to Pour Millions into Charter School Blackhole PR Watch …Today, the U.S Department of Education announced today that it had approved $245 million in grants to eight states under the federal Charter School Program. The states, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, will receive $177 million in grant money. These awards continue to fund a program that has been plagued by significant fraud and waste…
Here’s how much Ohio’s minimum wage will increase next year Business Courier …The Ohio minimum wage will increase by 5 cents next year to adjust for inflation. State officials say non-tipped workers must be paid an hourly wage of at least $8.15 beginning Jan. 1, 2017. Tipped workers will receive a minimum of $4.08 an hour starting next year — a 3-cent increase…
U.S. LABOR
Delta, pilots negotiators reach deal for new contract Reuters …Delta Air Lines Inc and its pilots union have reached an agreement in principle for a new contract that has been more than a year in the making, the parties said on Friday. The deal, reached with the help of U.S. federal mediators, requires the approval of union leaders before it can become a so-called “tentative agreement,” which pilots can vote to ratify or reject…
AT&T, CWA Reach Three Tentative Agreements Covering Former DIRECTV Employees Yahoo …AT&T has reached tentative agreements with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in negotiations covering CWA-represented former DIRECTV field services employees in the company’s Midwest, Southeast and Southwest regions. The three regional agreements cover about 200 employees in two states in the Midwest Region, about 1,050 in eight states in the Southeast, and about 900 in five states in the Southwest…
Harvard’s Dining Hall Workers Preparing for Strike ABC …Harvard University dining hall workers are preparing to go on strike. The workers, represented by the Unite Here Local 26, say they’ll strike starting Wednesday if a new contract isn’t reached by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Union negotiator Michael Kramer says the 750 workers demand “the ability to earn at least $35,000 a year and a health insurance program that does not shift costs onto those who can least afford it”…
NLRB Moves Forward with Another Massive Complaint Against Mega Hospital Chain CHS Common Dreams …Registered nurses across the nation welcome the National Labor Relations Board Office of General Counsel’s decision to move forward with yet another massive consolidated complaint against healthcare giant Community Health Systems, and for the first time, Quorum Health Corporation, for numerous alleged labor violations, National Nurses United announced today…
Congress goes overtime on overtime Politico …Republicans in Congress really hate the Obama administration’s final overtime rule, which will double (to $47,476) the salary threshold under which virtually all workers are guaranteed time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours in any given week. The rule is set to take effect in December, and suddenly there’s a flurry of legislative efforts to push the deadline back…
Hedge Funds Have Cost Workers Billions. This is How They’re Fighting Back. In These Times …The total value of public employee pension funds in the United States is $4.7 trillion. That’s money that supposedly belongs to workers, but labor often has little-to-no say in how employee pensions are invested. In fact, most of this money is funding the same corporations and financial institutions that have been aggressively attacking the interests of working people for decades…
Trump wanted unattractive women fired, golf club workers say USA Today …On the heels of Monday’s debate in which Hillary Clinton attacked Trump for his alleged treatment of a former Miss Universe comes a report that Donald Trump only wanted to see young, attractive women when he visited the restaurant at Trump National Golf Club in Racho Palos Verdes, Calif. The allegations are made by former employees of the golf club in court documents related to a 2012 lawsuit published by The Los Angeles Times Thursday…
Why black workers who do everything right still get left behind Washington Post …It used to be that low-skilled black workers suffered the greatest disadvantage relative to their white counterparts. But there has been a strange reversal in the past 40 years. EPI finds that the black-white wage gap has become wider — and is widening faster — among those with more education…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Transportation Secretary Foxx Moves to Heal Scars of Urban Renewal American Prospect …With his tenure at the department coming to a close, Foxx has called for a new way of thinking about transportation policy through high-profile speeches and talks across the country. “The role of the secretary bully pulpit is very visible,” says Puentes. “Foxx is talking about the negative impacts of these policies, about the connections between housing and transportation…
Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades, The Times Found New York Times …Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years. The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s…
Wells Fargo settles with government for illegally repossessing 413 U.S. military members’ cars Daily Kos …Between 2008 and 2015, Wells Fargo illegally repossessed from 413 service members. The Justice Department charged Wells Fargo with illegally repossessing cars without the proper court order, and Wells Fargo has agreed to settle the case for $24 million. Of that, $20 million are in fines for denying military members banking protections such as capping interest rates…
Trump goes on offensive against former beauty queen, Clinton calls him ‘unhinged’ Reuters …Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump increased his attacks on a former beauty queen with a vague and unsubstantiated allegation about a sex tape in predawn Twitter posts on Friday, and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton denounced him as “unhinged.” Trump’s refusal to drop his invective against Alicia Machado threatened to damage his already weak standing among women and Hispanics…
NY Attorney General’s Probe Of Trump Foundation Appears To Widen TPM …The New York attorney general’s investigation of the Donald J. Trump Foundation appears to have broadened to include new allegations of self-dealing by Trump that surfaced after the probe began, TPM has learned. The town of Palm Beach, Florida, has provided documents to the New York Attorney General’s Office as part of the probe, a lawyer for the town confirmed to TPM on Wednesday…