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Today’s Teamster News For November 18, 2016
TEAMSTERS
UC San Diego workers go on strike for higher wages CBS ..More than 200 UC San Diego campus and health system employees took to the picket lines Thursday over alleged labor violations. UCSD skilled trades workers represented by Teamsters Local 2010, such as campus and hospital electricians, mechanics and facilities workers, began the 24-hour strike one day after several hundred of their counterparts at UCLA took similar actions. Groups of striking employees picketed at three locations on campus…
Teamsters strike for higher wages at UC San Diego Health San Diego Union-Tribune …out 200 skilled-trades workers are picketing UC San Diego Health facilities in La Jolla and Hillcrest on Thursday to protest what they describe as below-market wages. Represented by Teamsters Local 2010, the 218 workers fill 15 job classifications — from carpenters and electricians to plumbers and painters…
School districts seek early warning on bus driver strike Eagle-Tribune …A Rockingham Superior Court judge is expected to rule Friday on an injunction filed by the Timberlane and Hampstead school districts against First Student Inc. and drivers with Teamsters Local 633. First Student, a national company that provides bus service to school districts, and the union representing its drivers are engaged in negotiations in Washington over retirement plan funding…
Owner-operators sue LA-LB terminals alleging collusion with Teamsters JOC …More than two dozen owner-operator truck drivers are suing six container terminals or their affiliates in Los Angeles-Long Beach. The Teamsters allegedly told the terminal operators that if they denied access to the 31 owner-operators who opposed Teamsters’ efforts to unionize drayage drivers, the union would agree not to picket those marine terminals…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Mexico: 30,000 health workers strike in Veracruz News Daily …More government workers are taking to the streets in Veracruz to press demands that they be paid as the state’s financial crisis continues. Health professionals, prison staff, police, teachers and other personnel on the state payroll are speaking up, going on strike, blocking highways and marching in protest…
Canada, Mexico leaders to discuss NAFTA strategy this weekend: source Reuters …The leaders of Mexico and Canada will hold talks this weekend on the potential impact that a Donald Trump presidency could have on the NAFTA trade pact, a source close to the matter said on Thursday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will meet on the sidelines of an Asian regional summit in Lima, Peru…
After Trump victory, Obama and Merkel stress benefits of EU-U.S. trade deal Reuters …German and U.S. employers, workers, consumers and farmers would “without doubt” benefit from a free trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the United States, U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Their comments were in sharp contrast to those of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump who made attacks on international trade deals a cornerstone of his election campaign, saying they have cost U.S. jobs…
Angela Merkel Sounds Death Knell for TTIP—But Don’t Thank Donald Trump Common Dreams …German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday at a joint press conference with U.S. President Barack Obama that negotiations over the corporate-friendly TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the United States “will not be concluded now” that Donald Trump has been elected to succeed Obama…
Australia: Labor joins Coalition in backing larger trade deal to replace TPP The Guardian …Labor has signalled its support for the concept of a much larger trade agreement than the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Turnbull government has sent similar signals after the election of Donald Trump, given the likely failure of the TPP. A new consensus is emerging in Canberra in the lead-up to a meeting this weekend of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Peru…
Sanders, DeLauro and Gabbard Celebrate Death of TPP Roll Call …Sanders was the main speaker at the rally celebrating the death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Sanders has long opposed. The senator used the rally to explain that after the heavy Democratic losses on Election Day, it’s time to change course…
Greeks march to mark 1973 student revolt, protest against austerity Reuters …Thousands of Greeks vented frustration at their economic lot on Thursday as they marched in Athens to mark the anniversary of the bloody 1973 student uprising that helped topple the then-military junta. Students, workers and pensioners held banners reflecting widespread fury at the leftist-led government which signed up to more austerity as part a third international bailout, despite its pre-election promises…
Trump just took credit for stopping Ford from moving a plant to Mexico. But it wasn’t planning to. Washington Post …President-elect Donald Trump claimed credit on Thursday for keeping a Ford plant in Kentucky from moving to Mexico. But the company never planned to move the entire plant, only one of its production lines. Ford has never announced plans to move to Mexico either its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, which produces the Lincoln Navigator, or the Louisville Assembly Plant, which produces the Lincoln MKC and the Ford Escape…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right-to-Work Backers Plan Push for Laws in Three States Bloomberg …Lawmakers in three states plan to introduce right-to-work bills in 2017 based on recent Republican election victories in Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire, a proponent of such laws said. Economic development opportunities would expand significantly in those states if the bills become law, business leaders said…
Ohio: Will lawmakers block cities from raising the minimum wage? Columbus Dispatch …A bill aimed at overriding a Grove City law dictating where pet stores can get dogs could get another addition. “A House GOP source said there also has been talk of adding an amendment to the bill that would prevent Ohio cities from approving higher minimum wages,” Dispatch reporter Jim Siegel writes. “Cleveland City Council, for example, voted in September to place a $15 minimum wage on the May 2017 ballot. Ohio’s minimum wage in 2017 will be $8.15 per hour, an increase of a nickel”…
Illinois advances effort to automatically register two million voters Think Progress …An overwhelming majority of the Illinois State Senate voted Wednesday to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of automatic voter registration. If the House also passes the veto override bill, the state will add approximately two million more voters to the rolls in the state starting in 2018. Illinois is following on the heels of Oregon, California, West Virginia, Vermont, Alaska, Connecticut, and D.C…
Clock ticking for Rauner to sign $215M CPS teacher pension bill Chicago Sun Times …The clock is ticking for Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign or veto a teacher pension bill with the potential to blow a $215 million hole in the Chicago Public Schools budget and trigger devastating classroom cuts. On Nov. 7, the teacher pension bill was quietly moved to the governor’s desk, giving the governor 60 days to make a decision on it…
Arkansas high court bars union from protesting at Wal-Mart WTOP …Arkansas’ highest court has banned a labor union from protesting or demonstrating at Wal-Mart’s stores and offices in the state, scaling back a judge’s order prohibiting the group from entering the retail giant’s property for anything other than shopping. The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Benton County judge’s trespassing order against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union…
U.S. LABOR
Labor Ruling on Donald Trump Hotel Takes on Heightened Implications Wall Street Journal …A routine National Labor Relations Board case moving through federal court took on greater implications with the election of Donald Trump as the first president in modern history who owns a large and well-known business. That is because the NLRB has found itself with a unique opponent—the future president—in its effort to force a hotel in Las Vegas to come to the bargaining table with a union there…
O’Hare Airport low-wage workers threaten holiday-season strike Chicago Sun Times …Labor leaders Thursday said “hundreds” of low-wage workers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have voted to strike, and warned that those employees may not show up during the busy holiday travel season. The vote was taken among an estimated 2,000 non-unionized workers who have been attempting to organize with the help of Service Employees International Union, SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff said at a news conference at the union’s headquarters…
Workers at Reagan National Airport stage ‘sleep-in’ to protest low wages Washington Post ….Workers at Reagan National Airport staged a “sleep-in” Tuesday night to protest low wages as part of their ongoing campaign to pressure the authority that oversees the facility. Flights and operations at the airport were not disrupted. According to a statement from 32BJ SEIU, which represents many of the workers, roughly 100 workers have contracts at Dulles International and Reagan National airports but “can’t afford rent or transportation to and from work”…
Factories that made clothes for Forever 21, Ross paid workers $4 an hour, Labor Department says LA Times …Forever 21 is one of several companies that have been supplied by independent Southern California factories that pay workers much less than the state minimum wage, the Labor Department announced Wednesday. The department said that from April to July, it investigated 77 local garment companies that were supplying some of the biggest clothing stores in the nation…
DOL Persuader Rule Blocked by Federal Judge Bloomberg …A rule that would have increased disclosure requirements for employers that use advisers, such as law firms, to help them fight unionization drives was permanently stopped. The Labor Department’s “persuader rule” is inconsistent with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and therefore unlawful, Judge Sam R. Cummings ruled Nov. 16 in a brief order. The National Federation of Independent Business and other challengers were entitled to permanent, nationwide injunctive relief, he said…
Workers Wait To See If Trump White House Reverses Overtime Pay Rule NPR …The rules that govern who gets paid overtime are about to change. On December 1, an additional 4 million workers become eligible to earn overtime, although it is not clear for how long. The incoming administration of Donald Trump has not said what it will do with the new regulations…
The number of workers joining the gig economy has slowed dramatically, says study CBS …Growth in the number of workers joining the gig economy has slowed and wages for these jobs have declined in the last two years, according to a new study from the JPMorgan Chase Institute. Slowing growth is happening both at companies that let people sell or lease assets as well as ones that connect workers with part-time jobs the study found. For the average worker, dwindling paychecks are the new reality…
How to Make Technology Actually Work for Workers The Nation …A collection of analyses of technological transformations in global labor, published by the Just Jobs Network, gives some clues about how we can navigate future labor markets that will come with no borders, and endless risks. The report acknowledges that technology leads to disruption and displacement, but transformation doesn’t have to be brutal. If mediated by fair labor policies that balance “efficiency with equity,” tomorrow’s workers will benefit from technological innovation…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Bankers celebrate dawn of Trump era Politico …Christmas has arrived early for Wall Street in the early days of the Donald Trump era. A populist candidate who railed against shady financial interests on the campaign trail is now putting together an administration that looks like an investment banker’s dream. Former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin has been seen at Trump Tower amid rumors that he’s the leading candidate for Treasury secretary…
Has Trump changed his mind on Clinton’s infrastructure bank proposal? Politico …The finance chairman for Donald Trump’s campaign said Wednesday that he and Trump have talked about creating a national infrastructure bank, even though his campaign criticized Hillary Clinton for having the same idea. Steven Mnuchin, an executive committee member of the Trump transition team and veteran of Goldman Sachs, talked to reporters this morning and said he and Trump had also discussed tax policy…
Koch umbrella group took in $139 million last year USA Today …Billionaire Charles Koch’s sprawling political network took in $139 million last year and spread much of that money to more than a dozen aligned groups and corporations to help push the industrialist’s free-market agenda in Washington and around the country, new documents show. Americans for Prosperity, the largest grassroots arm in the organization, received $23.25 million in 2015, according to the federal tax return of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella organization for Koch groups…
Mike Pence Will Be The Most Powerful Christian Supremacist in U.S. History The Intercept …Trump is a Trojan horse for a cabal of vicious zealots who have long craved an extremist Christian theocracy, and Pence is one of its most prized warriors. With Republican control of the House and Senate and the prospect of dramatically and decisively tilting the balance of the Supreme Court to the far right, the incoming administration will have a real shot at bringing the fire and brimstone of the second coming to Washington…
Trump-Loving GOP Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Define Protests as a Form of ‘Terrorism’ Alternet …A Trump-supporting Republican lawmaker is trying to legally define protests, like some of those erupting across the country against his candidate of choice, labeled a form of “terrorism.” In a statement issued Wednesday, Washington state Senator Doug Ericksen says he is drafting a bill that would allow for felony prosecution of protesters…
Sanders Warns President-Elect Trump: ‘We Are Not Going Backwards’ Common Dreams …Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday called on Donald Trump to rescind his appointment of alt-right figurehead Stephen Bannon, vowing to hold the president-elect accountable for his campaign promises while fighting against “the expansion of bigotry.” In a speech at George Washington University that was live-streamed for thousands of viewers, Sanders admitted that last Tuesday night was “a very, very depressing evening for me”…
In America, the rich outlive the poor by up to 9.5 years, study says MSN …The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, but it would look dramatically different if its 50 states were organized according to income instead of geography. If that were the case, residents of the poorest state in the union would have a median household income that’s just above the federal poverty line for a family of four. They would also expect to live shorter lives than people in more than half of the world’s countries…