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Today’s Teamster News For December 5, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Union Disappointed in Latest Pipeline Decision Teamster.org …The Teamsters Union is disappointed in a decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to not grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. The decision blocks two years of review, approvals by four states and approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and two federal courts upholding the project…
UPS mechanics complain of faulty, dangerous equipment LA Daily News …Teamsters Local 2727 has repeatedly raised concerns with the company and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding malfunctioning lifts and truck booms it says have dropped workers on multiple occasions. “Our position is the lifts are unsafe and we haven’t determined the cause,” union president Tim Boyle said. “We’ve asked them to quarantine them until we figure out the cause. That’s why we filed the injunction”…
Victims of San Bernardino terrorist attack ‘never forgotten’ at memorial Press-Enterprise …Nearly 60 Teamsters from Local 1932, whose members include survivors employed by San Bernardino County, brought 400 white carnations and a wreath. The Teamsters carried flowers in their hands down Waterman Avenue as they walked from their union hall in downtown San Bernardino south to the memorial…
Teamsters Question Proposed New Stock Compensation Cap at XPO Logistics Transport Topics …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is concerned about a proposed change at XPO Logistics that would increase the maximum number of shares it can issue as compensation 400%, from 500,000 shares to 2.5 million, the union wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to the company’s board of directors. The Greenwich, Connecticut carrier is asking shareholders to approve a compensation plan that would allow it to issue 3.4 million new shares in total, but the union is concerned about the size of potential grants to about 300 upper-level employees…
South Roxana police give back The Telegraph …The police department recently donated over 50 toys to the South Roxana Dad’s Club for their Breakfast with Santa on Dec. 3, and the department joined forces with Teamsters Joint Council 13, Roy Gillespie, to provide more gifts to our children, according to South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Greek port workers strike Seatrade Maritime …Greek ports ground to halt with scores of vessels tied up in port or at anchor as Greek seafarers extended a 48-hour strike on all types of vessels for a second 48 hours to 6 December in protest of the pending abolition of their long standing special tax status and other planned changes to labour and insurance rights, pensions and retirement ages…
What is TISA? Could the EU trade deal be the next TTIP? Express …The EU is ploughing ahead with plans for another international trade deal, called TISA, between the US and more than 20 other countries. Campaign group Global Justice Now said that there has not yet been as much public anger over TISA as the EU’s infamous trade deal TTIP. But its latest report on the deal warned: “Defeating TTIP may amount to a pyrrhic victory if we allow TISA to pass without challenge”…
TPP may be dead – now let’s stop Obama’s other bad trade deals (opinion) Huffington Post …After six years of campaigning by international civil society, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) appears to be dead. Yet the TPP is not an isolated one-off agreement; it is part of a dangerous new trade trio that forms a corporate blueprint for the global economy and that threatens workers’ rights and the planet…
World Trade Organization ‘green goods’ negotiations collapse DW.com …Representatives from the EU and 16 other World Trade Organization (WTO) members had been set to discuss which “green goods” should qualify for lower import tariffs as part of the Environmental Goods Agreement. The list of some 300 products under discussion – which included LED light bulbs, air quality monitors and wind turbines – had been compiled by the European Union and the United States. The talks on Sunday collapsed, however…
1,000s of Spaniards march against corporations & austerity RT.com …Thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday in the latest Dignity March – a protest against the government’s austerity policies. Participants in Saturday evening’s demonstration walked about two kilometers from Plaza de España to Plaza de Neptuno carrying banners demanding that the government put an end to budget cuts and act independently from Brussels. They also accused their government of protecting the interests of big multinational corporations at the expense of the Spanish people…
E.U. court’s decision on Uber will set precedent for the gig economy Il Manifesto …The European Court of Justice will decide whether Uber is a taxi transportation company or a digital platform. A Barcelona judge submitted the request for a decisive clarification for the future of platform capitalism in Europe. On Aug. 7, 2015, the judge referred the decision to the Luxembourg-based courts after a complaint of the Spanish company Elite Taxi against Uber…
Italian prime minister resigns in populist revolt Washington Post …Europe’s embattled political establishment lost another round Sunday in its effort to thwart the anti-elite movement, as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after voters rejected his constitutional reforms. But a center-left presidential candidate in Austria handily defeated his far-right challenger…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Labor’s uphill battle to stop right-to-work in WV WV Metro News …West Virginia labor organizations are mounting a legal challenge to the state’s right-to-work law. Friday, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey heard both sides in the debate over whether the law passed by the Legislature earlier this year making West Virginia the 26th right-to-work state is legal…
Missouri moves closer to becoming ‘right-to-work’ state KSHB …State leaders expect to once again take up the issue of whether or not to make Missouri a “right-to-work” state when they reconvene in January. On Thursday, a number of proposals were put forward, including House Bill 42. State Representative Holly Rehder (R – District 148) authored the bill, which aims to allow employees to have the option to join a union and pay dues…
Uber threatens to pull out of Maryland if state requires fingerprint-based background checks Washington Post …Maryland has become the latest battleground in the fight between Uber, Lyft and government regulators who say the companies must subject their drivers to more thorough screening. The state is seeking to become the nation’s first to require fingerprint-based background checks for ride-hailing drivers, and Uber is threatening to pull out if that happens — potentially disbanding a network of 30,000 drivers, thousands of whom serve the D.C. region…
Minimum wage increases by US states fueled earnings growth in low-wage jobs Vox …Over the past three years, 18 states plus the District of Columbia have implemented minimum wage increases, joining ten other states that have raised their minimum wages at least once since the last Federal increase in 2009. A broad range of households have seen their incomes rise, with stronger income growth for households in the middle of the income distribution and especially strong growth at the bottom of the distribution…
Labor Activists Fear Freeze On New Workforce-Related Laws In D.C. DCist …As D.C. nears the possible passage of one of the most generous paid family leave laws in the country, one would expect to find labor activists happily cheering it across the finish line. Indeed, they are planning to show up en masse to Tuesday’s markup of the Universal Paid Leave Act bill at the D.C. Council. But they are also deeply worried that the bill could come at a steep cost to other issues they care about…
U.S. LABOR
Biggest Union Reaches Deal With California Government ABC …California’s largest public-employee union announced Saturday that it had reached a contract agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration. If workers ratify the deal, it would bring to a close contentious negotiations that led to a strike threat and allegations of bad-faith bargaining. Service Employees International Union Local 1000 didn’t immediately release the terms of the deal…
Delta pilots approve new contract, get immediate 18% raise Business Courier …Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots on Thursday ratified a new contract with the airline that gives them an 18 percent raise. The agreement takes effect immediately and runs through Dec. 31, 2019. Pilots get an 18 percent raise now followed by 3 percent raises in 2017 and 2018, then a 4 percent bump in 2019…
MMA fighters form union: We’re tired of getting screwed NY Post …Several prominent fighters, including former champions Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and T.J. Dillashaw, have united together in the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association in hopes of making drastic changes at the UFC. Current UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy says the issues being raised by the group have existed in the sport for years, but only now are high-profile fighters banding together to make real change happen…
Airlines Swim in Cash But Leave Airport Workers High and Dry Bloomberg …After losing more than $50 billion in the decade following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. airlines have been enjoying some financially robust times of late. On the front lines, airline employees are reaping billions of dollars in wage and benefit increases, plus profit-sharing plans that spell record payouts amid record income. Yet this largesse hasn’t been spread equally…
DOT approves contested Norwegian Air flights USA Today …The Transportation Department agreed Friday to allow Norwegian Air International to fly to the U.S., in a decision that domestic airlines, their unions and some lawmakers opposed as unfair competition. The unit, a subsidiary of European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, had applied in December 2013 to serve the U.S. The parent carrier established routes at several U.S. airports with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and hundreds of locally hired workers while awaiting the decision…
Why Violence Against Nurses Has Spiked in the Last Decade The Atlantic …Around one in four nurses has been physically attacked at work in the last year. Patients often kick, scratch, and grab them; in rare cases even kill them. In fact, there are nearly as many violent injuries in the healthcare industry as there are in all other industries combined. Healthcare workers make up 9 percent of the workforce. There are currently no federal rules mandating that hospitals attempt to protect nurses from violence in the workplace…
Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.6 Percent, Lowest Level Since 2007 NPR …Unemployment dropped by 0.3 percentage points, to 4.6 percent, last month — the lowest rate since 2007 — according to the monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report wasn’t all good news: Wages dropped slightly in November, instead of showing a hoped-for increase, although they are still 2.5 percent higher than this time last year…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
What’s the future of US for-profit immigrant detention? Al-Jazeera …A large portion of the more than 180 immigrant detention centres in the US are operated by private contractors. The Department of Homeland Security cast doubt on the future of the private detention facilities in August, when the agency’s security secretary said President Barack Obama’s administration may stop using the facilities to effectively incarcerate immigrants…
Deadly Oakland Fire Was Symptom of Bay Area Housing Crisis: Advocates Common Dreams …The deadly warehouse fire in Oakland, California that claimed the lives of at least 36 people at a Friday night dance party was a symptom of the Bay Area’s massive housing crisis, artists and advocates are saying. The Fruitvale-area warehouse, known as Ghost Ship, was a live-work space that supported underground artists and provided makeshift residences for people priced out of rapidly gentrifying Bay Area cities…
Army Halts Construction On Dakota Pipeline NPR …The Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The decision essentially halts the construction on the 1,172-mile oil pipeline about half a mile south of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The Army Corps says it intends to issue an Environmental Impact Statement with “full public input and analysis”…
Cities prepare to lead the way on climate action Think Progress …The idea that cities are a crucial place for climate action is not a new one. Cities were often in the spotlight leading up to, and during, the U.N. Paris climate conference in December 2015, and were credited with helping nation-states enact the strong agreement that emerged at the end of the conference…