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Today’s Teamster News For January 11, 2017
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Applaud Introduction of Legislation to Close Executive Pay Tax Loophole Teamster.org …The Teamsters Union fully supports the Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act as an important step toward ensuring corporations pay their fair share in taxes and curbing the trend of excessive executive pay. The Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act closes a loophole in the tax law that allows corporations to claim commission and performance-based executive compensation as a deduction…
Teamsters strike disrupts UC Santa Cruz campus Santa Cruz Sentinel …A strike protesting alleged unfair labor practices and violations of state law disrupted the UC Santa Cruz campus Tuesday, the second day of the winter quarter. Roughly 80 Teamsters Local 2010 workers demonstrated near the main entrance and west entrance of UCSC, snarling traffic and creating delays throughout the morning and into the afternoon…
Teamsters strike at UC San Diego hospitals Union-Tribune …Administrative and clerical workers picketed near UC San Diego’s hospitals in Hillcrest and La Jolla on Tuesday as part of a one-day strike that unfolded at University of California facilities statewide. About 1,500 of the 12,000 workers at UC campuses across the state work in San Diego County, most of them at UC San Diego’s main medical centers…
UC Davis workers hold one-day strike at main campus and medical center SacBee …The Teamsters proposed an average 30 percent raise over six years, according to Jason Rabinowitz, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010. He said the UC proposal, which is based on performance, would only benefit 80 percent of the employees. Some would not meet performance goals and others have reached the top of the pay scale in their job category, he said…
Teamsters Welcome New Labour Minister Newswire …The Teamsters Union, which represents over 115,000 workers across the country, is congratulating Patricia Hajdu on her appointment as Minister of Labour. Ms. Hajdu is taking over from MaryAnn Mihychuk. “We’re hoping to meet with the Ms. Hajdu as soon as possible in order to continue the constructive dialogue we established with the outgoing minister,” explained Francois Laporte, the President of Teamsters Canada…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
UK: London tube maintenance workers to ballot for more industrial action Times …As Southern train drivers and British Airways cabin crew continue to strike, more transport workers are to be balloted for industrial action. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced that maintenance workers on London Underground will vote on a campaign of action over claims of a breakdown in industrial relations and breaches of agreements…
Oil workers go on strike at crude flow station in Niger Delta Times Live …Nigerian oil workers have gone on strike at the Oleh crude oil flow station in the Niger Delta oil hub because they have not been paid recently, a labour union official said on Tuesday. “The striking workers at Oleh flow station …, besides the struggle for good pay and conditions of service, are also asking for their right to be unionised,” said Cogent Ojobo, the Warri region chairman at oil labour union NUPENG…
South Africa: new dispute at Robertson Winery Ground Up …A new dispute has arisen at Robertson Winery with workers accusing the company of not respecting the agreement signed in November after a long strike. The company says it is complying fully with the agreement. In a deal reached after a 14-week strike, the workers’ union, the Commercial, Stevedoring and Allied Workers’ Union (CSAAWU), and the winery settled on a wage increase of R400 or 8%…
UK secretary on new U.S. administration: they want a trade deal ‘fast’ Politico …There is a “huge fund of goodwill to the U.K.” in Washington and the incoming Donald Trump administration wants a trade deal “fast,” Boris Johnson said Tuesday. The British foreign secretary was in the U.S. this week for talks with congressional leaders and the Trump transition team, the first such visit by a U.K. cabinet minister since the tycoon’s election win…
Restoring Trust After Our “Free Trade” Charade Ends (opinion) Huffington Post …The 2016 elections threw a bucket of cold water into the face of free-trade orthodoxy. It’s no surprise that voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere are deeply discouraged by decades of failed promises of boon from establishment leaders. The real surprise is, what took us so long?…
Outcomes of TTIP and Mercosur hinge on what happens with CETA Agriland …he outcome of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will determine what happens with other trade deals such as TTIP and Mercosur, Ireland Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy has said. Speaking to Agriland, he said that the European Parliament is to vote in February on a provisional green light to the deal and the evidence points to the parliament voting for it…
Volkswagen committed to Mexico, but workers worry CNN …Last week, Trump threatened to slap a “big border tax” on Toyota and GM for producing cars in Mexico and selling them in America. He also applauded Ford for canceling plans for a new plant in Mexico and instead invest and hire in after Trump had lambasted Ford during his campaign. Volkswagen leaders in Mexico aren’t blinking yet…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
New York bans salary histories for all government agencies Think Progress …As part of a slate of proposals in his State of the State address on Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced he is issuing an executive order that bans state entities from asking applicants for their salary histories or from evaluating candidates based on what they were paid in the past. Prospective employees can only be asked to provide the information after getting a job offer with compensation…
Only Organized Labor Can Save Illinois from Crisis In These Times …Illinois is heading for a major crisis. It has been more than a year and a half since the state had an official budget that appropriated funds for basic services. And, as of this month, the coffers will dry up and a public sector already on life-support will quickly slip into critical condition. For the millions of ordinary Illinoisans who rely on the state’s network of public institutions, the situation is dire…
The Push For Paid Sick Leave In Maryland CBS …Maryland lawmakers are hoping to ease the burden of low-income workers by requiring employers to offer some form of paid sick days. Political reporter Pat Warren looks at the prospects of passing a law this year. This is one of those issues that comes back again and again, and supporters hope this year the General Assembly looks past the politics, to the people…
Kentucky’s Attack on Unions Provides a Glimpse into the GOP’s Impending War on Workers American Prospect …When Tea Party darling Matt Bevin, who ran as the “right-to-work” candidate, rode the national GOP wave and succeeded Democratic Governor Steve Beshear in 2014, the Kentucky House became the sole bulwark blocking the implementation of his anti-union agenda. Naturally, heading into the 2016 elections, the right wing turned all its firepower against the Democrats’ six-seat house majority…
New Hampshire: Hundreds fill Representatives Hall for hearing on right-to-work bill Concord Monitor …Hundreds of union members turned up to the State House on Tuesday to oppose a controversial right-to-work bill, loudly cheering fellow workers’ remarks and at times jeering those who advocated the bill’s passage. The proposal’s lively first public hearing dragged on for four hours in a packed Representatives Hall. When it ended, the Senate Commerce Committee took less than hour to endorse the bill in a 3-2 vote along party lines…
Conservatives Plot Their Course on the Rising ‘Sea of Red’ in State Capitals ProPublica …The American Legislative Exchange Council — a nonprofit better known as ALEC — briefed its members and allied groups on the bright future for its agenda now that Republicans will effectively control 68 of the nation’s 99 state legislative bodies, as well as 33 governor’s mansions. Among other things, group members said they would push bills to reduce corporate taxes, weaken unions, privatize schooling and influence the ideological debate on college campuses…
U.S. LABOR
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers to vote on unionizing Baltimore Sun …Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers will vote Wednesday and Thursday on whether to unionize under the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a national union representing utility and other trade workers. The move would create a new local chapter of IBEW, Local 410, to represent 1,419 electric and gas workers of the Baltimore-based utility…
Most laid-off energy workers remain out of work, UH study says Houston Chronicle …Nearly 90 percent of oil and gas workers who lost jobs during the oil bust either remain unemployed or have left the sector for other industries, dramatically altering the size and shape of the global energy workforce, according to a study by University of Houston researchers…
The Rate of Hiring and Job-Quitting Appears Stuck in a Rut Wall Street Journal …The rates at which people quit old jobs or are hired into new jobs have been stuck in a rut for nearly all of 2016. New Labor Department data for November showed the number of job openings at the end of the month and the number of people leaving one job or starting a new job…
Wal-Mart plans to cut hundreds of jobs this month: WSJ Reuters …Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to cut hundreds of jobs before the end of January, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer plans to eliminate jobs at its headquarters and regional personnel that support stores, according to the report…
Repealing Obamacare Could Kill Jobs The Atlantic …A collection of reports released in recent weeks indicates that repealing those pieces of the ACA, which contribute massively to state and local economies, would remove millions of jobs and contract economic activity across states—making ACA spending reduction a move that’s bad for both individual families and the broader national landscape…
Prisoners to Strike Against ‘Prison Industrial Complex’ and Food Giant Aramark Common Dreams …Organizers of last year’s prison strike are planning a new protest against Aramark, a massive for-profit food provider of both sports stadium fare and prison meals nationwide. Leaders of the Free Alabama Movement, the organizers behind September’s nationwide prison strike that sought to draw attention to what they call modern-day slavery, are planning to march on January 14 in Washington, D.C. to protest the company…
Trump Labor pick Puzder’s hearing could be delayed until February CNBC …Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary choice Andy Puzder may not face the Senate until February as lawmakers shuffle the schedule for some key appointee hearings. Puzder, chief executive of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent CKE Restaurants, was originally scheduled to testify on Jan. 17 before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which is chaired by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Congress Quietly Passes New Rule Allowing House Members To Hide Records From Ethics Probes Huffington Post …Just when you thought ethics standards couldn’t get much worse on Capitol Hill, the House GOP quietly changed a rule last week to allow members to keep their records hidden from ethics or criminal investigations. The tweak allows politicians to conceal any information members produce if the Office of Congressional Ethics or the Department of Justice investigates them for criminal activity, the Center for Responsive Politics reports…
Jeff Sessions Has Spent His Whole Career Opposing Voting Rights The Nation …Last year, Sessions awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the foot soldiers of the Selma movement, but has refused to support restoring the Voting Rights Act that many of them nearly died to win. As Trump’s attorney general, Sessions could be disastrous to voting rights in a variety of ways. He could support a federal voter-ID law and/or a proof of citizenship law for voter registration, which would disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans…
As Sessions Confirmation Hearings Begin, Resistance Builds Near and Far Common Dreams …As confirmation hearings got underway Tuesday for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, widespread protests continued throughout the country, on social media, and within the chambers of Capitol Hill. CODEPINK protesters and other activists were escorted from the proceedings after disrupting the hearings. On social media, opponents tracked actions and posted their own messages of protest under the hashtag #StopSessions…
D.C. will go ‘beyond sanctuary,’ create legal defense fund for illegal immigrants Washington Post …The nation’s capital is joining several other heavily Democratic cities in pledging to spend tax dollars to defend illegal immigrants against efforts by the incoming Trump administration to deport them. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced Monday she plans to award grants to defense lawyers and nonprofit organizations to represent any of the District’s estimated 25,000 illegal immigrants who are faced with deportation…