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Today’s Teamster News For December 1, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Cerro Gordo supervisors learn county’s response on Teamster contract Globe Gazette …Cerro Gordo County supervisors received the county’s response Tuesday to union contract proposals for sheriff’s department employees. As usual, there is plenty of room for negotiating. Among other things, the union, Teamsters Local 238 proposed a 6 percent increase for each year negotiated. The county’s counter-proposal calls for a 1 percent increase for the same time period…
Teamster aims to organize workers across Iowa Storm Lake …The new leader of Iowa’s largest union local, Storm Lake native Jesse Case, is embarking on a quest to restore the labor movement to its roots by transforming it into a community organizing force that also lands contracts to lift wages and improve working conditions. Case has been with the Teamsters union for 14 years, most recently as recording secretary of Local 238. He was elected secretary-treasurer of the local…
75 drivers out of work in Minnesota, company says it can’t pay what they earned TheTrucker.com … Management at longtime LTL carrier Lakeville Motor Express of Roseville, Minnesota, called drivers on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and told them they were out of a job, drivers said. And according to a letter sent from the company to the local union, there is no money to pay the drivers even what they have already earned, said Bill Wedebrand, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 120…
‘America’s Subway’ in Washington highlights infrastructure woes Business Insider …Metro workers flooded a board meeting this month to condemn the proposed cuts, which include hundreds of layoffs. “Metro’s budget should not be balanced on the backs of riders and workers,” said Steve Williams, vice president of Teamsters Local 922…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Kenya: Workers at Nandi’s Eastern Produce Tea Company strike over delayed pay rise Daily Nation …Workers in a leading multi-national tea company in Nandi County have downed their tools demanding improved salaries. They have accused the management of the Eastern Produce Tea Company of refusing to improve their pay, yet other companies in the region have already effected a 30 per cent wage increase as ordered by the Industrial court…
UK government starts review of ‘gig’ economy BBC …A team of four experts is preparing to tour the UK to explore how the “gig” economy is affecting workers’ rights. Mathew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Arts, was appointed last month to lead the review into the impact of “disruptive” businesses such as Uber and Deliveroo. New technology combined with new business models has led to a rise in workers doing short-term, casual work…
Georgia Alloy Factory Workers Make Big Gains in New Pact Solidarity Center …Workers at the Zestafoni Ferroalloy factory in Georgia’s Imereti region successfully negotiated a contract after five months of negotiations with their employer that includes wide-ranging workplace safety and health improvements, wage increases and social benefits. The three-year pact establishes 40 hours as the standard work week, provides employees with health coverage, boosts pay for overtime…
In India’s ‘Dollar City’, exploited garment workers are silent Reuters …A fish tank with expensive Arowana fish is prominently displayed in many factories making hosiery in the Indian textile hub of Tirupur – the owners believe it will bring them wealth. But any prosperity is limited to factory owners. Few profits trickle down to the tens of thousands of workers they employ…
Tech Pins its Trade Hopes on Bilateral Deals, NAFTA Re-write Bloomberg …Tech industry groups are looking to bilateral agreements and a North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation to advance their trade agenda, now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is almost certainly dead and another multilateral trade deal is stalled…
Is Globalization Dead? A Different View of the Data Says No Wall Street Journal …Souring trade data, falling cross-border banking flows and a surge in protectionism has fostered fears the golden age of globalization is over. But globalization hasn’t hit the skids, argues Sebastian Mallaby, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Rather, a careful study of cross-border finance, trade, immigration and data flows reveals strong evidence the global economy is still integrating steadily…
Greece calls on IMF to stop pressing for extra austerity ekathimerini.com …Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday called on the IMF not to seek a compromise that would be detrimental to Greece in comments at the 27th annual conference of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce. It is not a courageous step to press Greece for more austerity measures instead of clashing with major European countries to secure the reduction of Greece’s debt, Tsakalotos said…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Illinois: bill to help steelworkers moves forward St. Louis Public Radio …Many Metro East steelworkers who have been laid off by U.S. Steel could be on the verge of some financial help. A proposal to extend unemployment insurance benefits is expected to be discussed this week on the floor of the Illinois House. If approved, the legislation would move to the state Senate. Passage there would send it to Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk…
Michigan Senate set to vote on teacher retirement changes The Detroit News …The Michigan Senate is poised to vote Wednesday on a controversial plan to close the state’s defined-benefit teacher pension plan to new hires and instead offer them a 401(k)-style defined-contribution retirement plan. Modified bills are set for committee consideration Wednesday morning ahead of a likely floor vote later in the day, said Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive…
North Carolina: court orders state to redraw its legislative districts and hold 2017 special elections Daily Kos …A federal district court has ordered that North Carolina’s legislature must redraw its state legislative districts by March 15, 2017, following a ruling earlier in 2016 that struck down 28 of 170 districts as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. The court held in August that Republicans had impermissibly used race to pack African-American voters into a few seats…
Kentucky: state chamber eyes right-to-work law Messenger-Inquirer …Making Kentucky a “right-to-work” state, repealing prevailing wage laws on public construction projects and paving the way for charter schools are among 13 legislative priorities the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce will be pushing in January during the 2017 session of the Kentucky General Assembly in Frankfort. Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky chamber, laid out the organization’s business goals…
Workers Across U.S. ‘Fight For $15’ In Strikes For Wage Hikes Huffington Post …The Fight for $15 campaign began in 2012 with fast-food employees like Major but now includes day-care workers, airport baggage handlers and even some Uber drivers. The high-profile protests have helped drive minimum wage increases in cities and states around the country, including an aggressive one in New York…
U.S. LABOR
Major League Baseball, union agree on new collective bargaining agreement USA Today …Major League Baseball and the players union agreed to a new five-year collective bargaining agreement Wednesday night less than four hours before their current deal expired. The deal, announced late Wednesday but still needing ratification by the owners and players, means there will be 26 consecutive years without a work stoppage since the 1994-95 players’ strike…
Student Unionization Vote Count Will Extend Into December Harvard Crimson …The vote count for Harvard’s historic student union election will stretch into December, as University officials and union organizers worked through challenged ballots on Tuesday and will reconvene on Friday to continue sorting through the challenges. As a result, ballot boxes with student votes have remained sealed for nearly two weeks since the mid-November voting period, which is standard protocol until all of the questions surrounding challenges are resolved…
Brown administration warns of discipline for employees who strike next week SacBee …California officials are pushing back on SEIU Local 1000’s plans for a one-day strike next week, warning employees that they could be subject to disciplinary action if they participate in what the state regards as an unlawful walkout…
American Apparel Factory Workers Given Notice of Layoffs, Hope for a Reprieve from New Owners Apparel News …Hundreds of workers inside the American Apparel factory near downtown Los Angeles have been given written notice that they will have jobs until Jan. 7 and then they will be laid off unless the new buyer of the company decides to continue manufacturing in the building. Workers seemed resigned to the fact that they might be losing their jobs…
Millions of workers in limbo after rule expanding overtime pay eligibility is put on hold Washington Post …The Labor Department rule, which would have made overtime pay available to more than 4 million additional workers, was challenged in court by a number of business groups and a collection of states. The judge ruled that the department exceeded its authority when it more than doubled the salary limit that determines which workers should be made eligible for overtime pay…
The 7th Circuit Looks Poised to Rule That Anti-Gay Employment Discrimination is Already Illegal Slate …On Wednesday morning, the entire court heard arguments in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, a firecracker of a case that could overhaul nondiscrimination law across the country. The question: Does an existing federal civil rights law already prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation?…
Thousands of Fight for 15 protesters rise up in 340 cities across the US The Guardian …Tuesday’s large protest – the fast-food movement’s 12th one-day strike – was a far cry from four Novembers ago when the Fight for 15 held its first one-day strike. That day, just 200 workers walked out in one city, New York, calling for fairer wages. On Tuesday, 500 workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport alone went on strike, led by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Supreme Court considers whether those facing deportation can be held indefinitely Washington Post …the court was considering whether immigrants facing deportation are entitled to bond hearings and possible release while fighting deportation if they have been held more than six months. That deadline was set by one of the appeals courts that has considered the issue. The kind of immigrants covered by this case include a wide range of people…
Graham preparing ‘Dreamers’ bill Politico …Graham said he is working with both Democrats and Republicans, and named Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as one GOP supporter of the forthcoming legislation. While lawmakers are discussing the proposal now, actual legislation won’t be rolled out until the new Congress next year, Graham said. A spokesman for Flake said the senator is discussing “potential paths forward” in dealing with the DACA issue…
Charlotte cop who killed Keith Lamont Scott will not face charges Daily News …The North Carolina cop who killed Keith Lamont Scott will not face charges, a district attorney announced, saying that all evidence suggests the dad of seven was armed at the time of his death. “We are profoundly disappointed in their decision not to criminally charge Officer Brantley Vinson for his actions in taking the life of Keith Lamont Scott,” Scott’s family said in a statement…
Uber, Lyft no better than taxis with regard to discrimination Newsweek …Taxi drivers refusing to stop for certain passengers or to take them to particular neighborhoods have provoked outrage on the part of many a curbside cab hailer for years. But the authors of the new study say they are the first to find similar discrimination in the ride-sourcing or e-hailing companies Uber and Lyft…