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Today’s Teamster News For January 24, 2017
TEAMSTERS
First Contract For Orange County Workers Teamster.org …Residents of Orange County, Calif., may notice a spring in the step of county workers since 450 have recently ratified their first Teamster contract. Since voting in representation by Local 952 in December of 2015, county employees, along with staff of the local union, had been bargaining with the county administrators to win wage and benefit improvements. “These dedicated county workers had to endure sub-par wages and lack luster representation from the prior association which represented them,” said Patrick D. Kelly, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 952…
Teamsters Warn of Possible Lockout at Key Aerospace & Defense System Manufacturing Facilities in Minnesota Teamster.org …Honeywell may lock out approximately 1,000 Teamster-represented workers at four separate manufacturing facilities in an around Minneapolis, Minn., after their collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight Jan. 31, 2017. “Honeywell’s strategy will introduce operational problems at critical manufacturing facilities and significant production delays,” said Dave Hedberg, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1145…
Teamsters, Carhaul Employer Group Reach Tentative Agreement Teamster.org …The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry Negotiating Committee (TNATINC) has reached a tentative national carhaul agreement with the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division (NATLD). The TNATINC has unanimously endorsed this new tentative settlement and believes it meets the goals of the carhaul members and provides for their long-term job security while protecting members’ benefits and standard of living…
Hoffa: Withdrawal from TPP the Right Choice for U.S. Trade Policy Teamster.org …Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on President Donald Trump signing an executive order to formally withdraw the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership: “Today, President Trump made good on his campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With this decision, the president has taken the first step toward fixing 30 years of bad trade policies that have cost working Americans millions of good-paying jobs”…
New Contract For Niagara County Sewer District Workers Teamster.org …Teamsters Local 264 has ratified its most recent contract with the Niagara County Sewer District. It’s the sixth union contract Niagara County has ratified for public employees in the past two years. The contract with the 14 members of Teamsters Union Local 264 at the Sewer District means every county union has an active contract in force for the first time since 2012. The employees work in waste water maintenance and processing…
Teamster Locals Ordered to Modernize Bylaws Deadline …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has ordered its locals all across the country to modernize their bylaws. The changes, which were adopted at the IBT’s convention went into effect January 1. The locals were ordered to tell their members that they cannot discriminate against a fellow worker based on “mental disability” and “gender identity”…
Lee County Port Authority police unionize ABC …Officers’ concerns about mistreatment from higher ranking officers reached a breaking point in last spring. That’s when they called in Teamsters Local 79 chapter in Tampa to unionize. “The officers from LCPA police created a union with Teamsters local 79 because of the way they were treated by their management and an overwhelming sense of favoritism in the department…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers at Audi’s Hungarian arm set up strike committee Reuters …Workers at the Hungarian arm of German carmaker Audi have set up a strike committee to push for higher salaries, the AHFSZ union said, the latest sign of how labour shortages in the country are driving up wage expectations. The production and export of cars by foreign automakers is a key driver of economic growth in Hungary, where wages for skilled workers are well below Western European levels…
Trump pulls U.S. out of Pacific trade deal, loosening Asia ties Reuters …U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies, as China’s influence in the region rises. Fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States out of the 12-nation TPP…
Chile eyes new deals with Pacific trade pact members: minister Reuters …Chile will continue to pursue trade deals even though the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is off the table after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact, Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz told journalists on Monday. Munoz said that while another regional trade deal without the United States might be possible, “it wouldn’t be the TPP”…
President vows to start renegotiating NAFTA CBS …President Trump offered up a brief preview of his priorities for meetings with international leaders in the coming weeks, suggesting Sunday that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be on the chopping block in the near future. “We’re going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA,” Mr. Trump said in his opening remarks at a White House event…
Japan’s Suga says a ‘window’ exists to for a TPP trade pact with the US despite Trump’s no CNBC …Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary conceded the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal faces an uphill battle without the United States, even as Tokyo pressed other member countries to ratify the pact to keep the pressure on Washington, suggesting that Tokyo would work hard to convince President Donald Trump to rethink his stated opposition…
Mexico President Demands North America Stay Free-Trade Zone Bloomberg …Defying U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for border taxes, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Monday that North American trade should remain free of all tariffs. The president struck a bold tone in laying out 10 goals for his government in upcoming negotiations with the Trump administration, including demanding an orderly return of Mexican migrants and the free flow of remittances…
Cambodian migrants’ kin to testify in trafficking case Bangkok Post …Parents of Cambodian human trafficking victims who were rescued from fishing boats in the southern border province of Ranong have travelled to Thailand to testify for their children in court. “I just want to see [the lawsuit] end quickly so my son can come back home and hopefully receive some compensation,” said Gong Tu, 59, from the southwestern Cambodian province of Kampot…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right-to-work advocates in Missouri file lawsuits against labor-backed ballot initiative Post-Dispatch …The Missouri Senate only just began to debate right-to-work legislation on the floor on Monday, but neither the proposal’s supporters nor the state’s labor unions are waiting for final passage to make contingency plans. Sensing an inevitable passage of right to work legislation, which would limit unions’ abilities to collect dues from their members, AFL-CIO President Mike Louis in December filed petitions for the 2018 ballot that would essentially reverse any right-to-work law passed this year…
N.H. Senate Votes 12-11 To Adopt Right-To-Work NHPR …The New Hampshire Senate has narrowly approved a bill to limit the power of unions to charge non-members for representation. The debate of right-to-work was a essentials a formality in the GOP-controlled senate, but lawmakers still took two hours to air long-familiar arguments about what the law would mean for NH…
South Dakota lawmakers declare state of ’emergency’ to force repeal of voter-imposed ethics law Raw Story …Lawmakers in South Dakota are invoking emergency powers to overturn an anti-corruption law that was passed by a ballot measure during the 2016 election. The South Dakota Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act makes it illegal for lawmakers to receive more than a total of $100 annually from lobbyists in the form of “any compensation, reward, employment, gift, honorarium, beverage, meal, food, or other thing of value made or given directly or indirectly”…
Maryland: Leggett vetoes $15 minimum wage in Montgomery County Washington Post …Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett on Monday vetoed legislation that would have made the wealthy county the first jurisdiction in Maryland to require a $15 minimum wage. Leggett (D) said boosting the wage to the level embraced by national progressive activists, including former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), would harm Montgomery’s economy and its ability to compete for jobs in the Washington region…
These are the states set for battles on anti-LGBT laws Pink News …Already in 2017, 40 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced across 16 states – and many more laws are expected across the year, seeking “license to discriminate against LGBTQ people under the guise of religion; measures specifically targeting transgender people; and proposals to eliminate local LGBTQ non-discrimination protections”…
U.S. LABOR
Striking Momentive workers take fight to boss’ home WNYT …IUE-CWA members at the Momentive Plant in Waterford have been on strike since early November. Now, they’re taking their fight to the CEO’s home neighborhood in Saratoga Springs. The striking workers handed out flyers Monday afternoon to passing drivers and going door-to-door near Saratoga National Golf Club…
Federal workers fume over Trump’s vows to freeze hiring and shrink the government Politico …President Donald Trump is setting himself up for a messy clash with the country’s 2.1 million federal employees as his administration quietly preps plans to cut the size of the government workforce. Unions representing federal workers are already railing against Trump’s proposals. “Clearly, they have the right to speak up and speak out,” said AFGE president Jeffrey David Cox…
President meets with leaders of building, sheet metal unions Reuters …According to the White House, participants included North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Terry O’Sullivan, SMART sheet metal workers’ union President Joseph Sellers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters President Doug McCarron and Mark McManus, president of the United Association that represents plumbers, pipefitters, welders and others..
Supermarket chain Kroger to fill 10,000 permanent positions Reuters …Supermarket operator Kroger Co said on Monday it would fill 10,000 positions this year, joining a list of companies that have publicized routine hiring plans as President Donald Trump puts pressure on companies to employ more U.S. workers. The number of permanent jobs being filled this year, however, is lower than last year’s hiring and represents about 2 percent of Kroger’s total workforce…
Tech’s Gender Pay Gap Hits Younger Women Hardest Fortune …The salary database Comparably has released a new study exploring the pay gap between men and women in the tech industry. Among its most interesting findings is that the gap is largest for women early in their careers, with women under 25 earning on average 29% less than men their age, while the gap drops to only 5% for workers over 50…
IBM Touts Trump-Pleasing Hiring Plans While Firing Thousands Bloomberg …In late November, IBM completed at least its third round of firings in 2016, according to former and current employees. They don’t know how many people have lost their jobs but say it’s probably in the thousands, with many of the positions shipped to Asia and Eastern Europe. During the presidential campaign, Trump routinely criticized offshoring…
Uber Must Pay $20M For Luring Drivers With Inflated Wage Stats Forbes …If those ads offering $90,000-a-year jobs driving for Uber seemed too good to be true, it turns out your suspicions were right on the money–and now the company will pay the price. In response to a claim filed last week by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Uber has agreed to pay a settlement of $20 million for advertising jobs with un-feasibly high incomes around the country…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
New president to CEOs: Stay here, and I’ll wipe out 75 percent of regulations, fast-track factories Washington Post …In the opening hours of his first formal day in the White House on Monday, President Trump welcomed leaders from several of the country’s largest corporations and promised to wipe out at least 75 percent of government regulations that hinder their businesses, fast-track their plans to open factories and cut taxes “massively.” And he again threatened to impose a “substantial border tax” on companies that move production out of the country…
Federal agency still accepting applications providing deportation relief for some DREAMers Think Progress …For the time being, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is continuing to allow young undocumented immigrants to apply for an Obama-era executive action that provides temporary deportation relief and work authorization, according to Politico and CQ Roll Call. We are still accepting/processing DACA requests under existing policy,” Steve E. Blando, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services public affairs officer, wrote…
White House Advancing Keystone, Dakota Oil Pipelines Today, Source Says Bloomberg …President Donald Trump intends to take action today to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, according to a person familiar with the matter. TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone pipeline was rejected under former President Barack Obama, and Energy Transfer Partners LP’s $3.8 billion Dakota Access project was stalled…
New administration rejects new lawsuit over foreign payments to his firms Reuters …President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed allegations in a new lawsuit by prominent constitutional and ethics lawyers that he is violating the U.S. Constitution by letting his hotels and other businesses accept payments from foreign governments. Trump told reporters at the White House that the lawsuit filed earlier in the day by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington was “without merit”…
Marc Short: Koch Dark-Money Operative Is President’s Liaison to Congress (opinion) PR Watch …When the history of Donald Trump’s administration is written, people may point to the appointment of a Koch Brothers’ operative to a little-known White House position as a turning point in Trump’s evolution from unorthodox Republican candidate to doctrinaire corporate politician. His administration hires suggest that Trump, who ran a heterodox and intermittently populist campaign, has been joining forces with the more established corporate extremism of the Republican Party establishment…
Donald Trump’s Cabinet is complete: No Latinos for the first time since 1989 LA Times …Donald Trump’s preferred Cabinet is now complete — and it’s the least diverse by any president, Republican or Democrat, since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan. It’s also the first since 1989 not to include a Latino member. Overwhelmingly, Trump’s Cabinet is white and male…