Uncategorized

Today’s Teamster News For January 30, 2017

news_18.jpg

TEAMSTERS

Teamster Horizon Air Pilots Take Legal Action to Protect Passengers, Mitigate Growing Staffing Concerns  Teamster.org  …Pilots at the SeaTac-based Horizon Air took legal action against their employer on Friday, claiming that executives at the airline broke the law by violating the terms of a labor contract. Horizon’s actions, the pilots say, are not only illegal, but also bad for business. In the face of a nationwide pilot shortage, Horizon is unable to hire and retain enough pilots to fly the company’s fleet of airplanes…

Local 710 Carl Buddig Warehouse Members Ratify Four-Year Contract  Local 710  …Employees at Carl Buddig represented by Teamsters Local 710 ratified a new four-year contract in October by a 2-to-1 margin. The agreement remains in effect through September 30, 2020. The new contract calls for wage increases totaling $1.90 per hour over the length of the agreement. Local 710 also successfully secured reduced employee health care contributions in almost every category and an additional personal day…

Hoffa Addresses Red Cross Meeting  Teamster.org  …Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa addressed 100 attendees, who gathered in Washington, DC at the Red Cross headquarters on January 24, 2017, to review the progress that has been made since 2014 and the challenges ahead. “We all know the story of the unions and the Red Cross and hopefully our battles are behind us,” Hoffa said…

UCLA union employees stage sit in at chancellor’s office  Daily Bruin  …About 30 UCLA employees crowded into the waiting room of the chancellor’s office Friday afternoon asking to speak with him about their contract negotiations. Members of Teamsters Local 2010, the union representing UCLA skilled trades workers and University of California clerical and administrative workers, used their lunch break to occupy Chancellor Gene Block’s office, asking him to authorize negotiations on terms for a contract with skilled trades workers…

Niles Fire Department Ratifies Strong Four-Year Agreement  Local 700  …Teamsters Local 700 members of the Niles Fire Department voted unanimously to ratify their contract on Wednesday, Jan. 11 with a 35-0 margin. The current contract between the Village of Niles and Teamsters Local 700 will expire on April 30, 2017, and the new contract will be effective on May 1, 2017. The new four-year agreement includes a nine-and-a-half percent raise for all members across the life of the contract…

Teamsters, school district to bargain Monday  Daily Iowegian  …Centerville Community School District representatives and representatives of the Teamsters Local 238 Drivers Unit will meet on Monday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. in the board room of the administration offices located at 634 North Main, Centerville. Representatives of the Teamsters Local 238 Driver Unit will present its initial bargaining position to the district for a 2017-18 negotiation agreement…

State sues trucking firms for $524,000 for stealing wages  Workday Minnesota  …The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry is suing three related trucking companies for $524,000 for allegedly committing wage theft against 95 employees by fraud. Teamsters Local 120, which represents the workers, released a statement noting that the suit comes “just over two months after Lakeville Motor Express closed . . . with no notice three days before Thanksgiving”…

Judge rules for Teamsters, notes plaintiff’s gambling bills  Indiana Lawyer  …The owner of a defunct trucking business who sued an Indianapolis Teamsters local alleging interference with business relationships lost her case, and a judge used his order to point out that money withdrawn from the company’s bank account for gambling sprees occurred at the same time the union alleged its health benefits went unpaid… 

 

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE 

UK: Atomic Weapons Establishment workers to strike again in pensions row  Belfast Telegraph  …Members of Unite will mount picket lines at AWE’s two sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire on Monday and Tuesday, following a previous stoppage earlier this month. The union claims “iron-clad promises” made in the early 1990s by the then-Tory government to AWE workers regarding the future of their pensions once they transferred to the private sector have been broken…

Jerusalem municipal workers to strike Sunday over stalled funding  Times of Israel  …Workers at Jerusalem municipality are set to hold a widespread strike Sunday to protest the delayed transfer of the city’s yearly budget by the Finance Ministry. As part of the strike, all services provided and run by the municipality will be shut down, with the exception of the education system…

Trump Avoids Making a Trade Promise He Can’t Keep  Bloomberg  …There’s an appetite on both sides for new negotiations for a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement, given last year’s referendum in the U.K. to exit the European Union. Earlier this month, Trump told the Times of London that he would work hard to get such a deal done “quickly and properly”…

Can the Trans Pacific Partnership survive after Trump?  Business Standard  …The TPP would not be the same without the US. The economic size of the agreement would reduce significantly, along with its geostrategic importance. The Trans Pacific Partnership was a key element of the Obama Administration’s “pivot to Asia”: a strategy for establishing a US-led regional order in the Asia Pacific. All non-US members are strategic allies and partners of the US…

Bishop urges US not to retreat from Asia-Pacific  9 News  …Mr Trump this week scrapped US involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal with Australia and 10 other Pacific nations. But Ms Bishop warned now was not the time for the US to retreat. “Most nations wish to see more United States leaership, not less,” she said. Trump has also vowed to examine every trade deal the US has and negotiate better deals for America…

Germany urges EU to speed trade deals after Trump, Brexit  Reuters  …Germany called on the European Union on Friday to speed deals to open trade with a dozen or more countries, mainly in Asia, and to boost support for free trade around the world in response to skepticism about it from new U.S. President Donald Trump. In a paper presented to EU finance ministers at a meeting in Brussels and seen by Reuters, the bloc’s leading economic power repeated its view that Trump, along with Britain leaving the EU, posed risks for the world economy…

Greece ‘has three weeks to make austerity deal or faces explosive debts’   Independent  …Greece must agree an austerity deal with creditors within the next three weeks or it faces being plunged back into another major debt crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in a leaked report, adding that the country will need further substantial relief from EU nations…

 

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES 

Next up on GOP radar: Missouri’s prevailing wage laws  Post-Dispatch  …As Republicans continue their push to make Missouri a right-to-work state, lawmakers are already poised to move to their next pro-business target: Eliminating the state’s prevailing wage laws. With former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon no longer blocking anti-union legislation with the threat of his veto pen, the GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate are working to send a long-sought laundry list of initiatives to new Gov. Eric Greitens’ desk… 

Illinois Gov. Vetoes Bill on Overtime Pay for Home-Care Workers  ABC  …Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed a bill allowing overtime pay for home-care workers. The bill passed by the Legislature was in response to a ruling by the U.S. Department of Labor requiring payment of time-and-a-half for each hour worked over 40 hours. In his veto message Friday, Rauner said the Illinois Department of Human Services has attempted to reasonably address the overtime being worked by individual providers…

Taxes, voter ID debates expected in fourth week of Arkansas General Assembly  Times Record  …Taxes, voter identification, higher-education funding and the date of the Arkansas primary are among the topics expected to see debate in the fourth week of Arkansas’ legislative session. Matching House and Senate bills containing Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s proposed $50 million income-tax cut for Arkansans earning less than $21,000 a year passed by overwhelming margins in those chambers last week…

Wyoming minimum wage bill rolled back to federal minimum  Washington Times  …A proposal to raise the minimum wage in Wyoming has been ratcheted back to match the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The amended wage change cleared its first hurdle at the state Legislature on Friday. The bill would not change much for most Wyoming employees, The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported . But it would no longer make Wyoming tied for the lowest minimum wage in the country among the states that have minimum wages…

Right-to-work won’t attract workers to N.H.  (opinion) Concord Monitor  …Gov. Sununu says we need right-to-work to make New Hampshire more attractive to new businesses. But the economic challenge we face is a lack of workers. New Hampshire has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and employers complain about the jobs they can’t fill. Suppressing workers’ rights and wages is not the way to attract more workers…

 

U.S. LABOR

Nissan rejects charges by union-led protests in Marietta  AJC.com  …Scores of protesters gathered outside a Marietta car dealership on Thursday, objecting to what they said were violations of workers’ civils rights at a Nissan plant in Mississippi. Organizers accuse Nissan of forcing temporary workers to labor in unsafe conditions in the Canton, Miss. plant… 

#DeleteUber Started Trending After A Taxi Strike Against Trump’s Refugee Ban  Buzzfeed  …Hundreds of people tweeted they are deleting their Uber accounts Saturday amid accusations the company took part in taxi cab strike-breaking in New York during protests against President Trump’s refugee ban. Cabbies affiliated with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance refused to pick up passengers at New York’s JFK airport for an hour Saturday in solidarity with those protesting President Trump’s executive order banning refugees…

Thousands of security officers unionize in Silicon Valley  SF Chronicle  …Thousands of security officers who work on hundreds of sites in Silicon Valley, including at Facebook, Cisco and Genentech, have unionized to push for higher wages and better benefits, SEIU United Service Workers West, a union that represents California workers, announced Saturday…

Baltimore’s Black Worker Center organizes  Post Examiner  …The UNITE HERE-backed Baltimore center is one of nine across the nation, sponsored by the National Black Worker Center Project. Some are recently formed. Others, like the Black Workers for Justice (BWJF), launched in North Carolina in 1981, have racked up major successes in organizing to lift the living standards of workers in their surrounding communities…

New Congress on Track to Block Long-Sought Workplace and Public Health Protections  In These Times  …Occupational and public health protective policies finalized by the Obama administration are now jeopardized by antiregulatory legislation already passed by the 115th Congress. It remains to be seen if this legislation will become law and actually used. But, says University of Texas School of Law professor Thomas McGarity, the likely outcome is “that this will make people sick and unsafe”…

Trump Administration Wants Time to Rethink Overtime Rule  Bloomberg  …The Justice Department wants a federal appeals court in Louisiana to pause a case challenging the Labor Department’s pending overtime rule so the Trump administration can decide whether to defend the rule. DOJ lawyers Jan. 25 asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for a 30-day extension on the deadline to file a brief in the overtime case…

Starbucks pledges to hire thousands of refugees in response to Trump ban  The Hill  …Starbucks will hire 10,000 refugees in 75 countries, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced in a memo to all employees on Sunday. “We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question,” Schultz wrote in the statement…

NYC union workers stand with refugees, immigrants at Battery Park protest  NY Daily News  …Hundreds of New Yorkers poured into lower Manhattan Sunday afternoon in a show of solidarity with immigrants and refugees seeking entry into the United States – and many of the city’s union workers were among them. Powerhouse progressive union 32BJ SEIU, whose members acted as marshals as well as participants, sent a large contingent in a show of force for the march it had helped organize…

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS

Budget nominee says increasing Social Security retirement age should be considered  Market Watch  …President Donald Trump’s pick to head the White House budget office said Tuesday that increasing the retirement age for Social Security should be considered, as Democrats pummeled him over protecting that program and Medicare. Mick Mulvaney, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, made the statement during an exchange with Sen. Lindsey Graham…

ACLU Celebrates as Court Blocks Deportations  Common Dreams  …A federal judge on Saturday issued an emergency ruling halting deportations under President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim countries. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) celebrated the victory that came after several refugees were detained at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York, including a former U.S. government contractor…

Let Them In”: Thousands Descend on Nation’s Airports to Protest Trump’s Refugee & Muslim Ban  Democracy Now  …Thousands of protesters flooded airports across the United States over the weekend after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday temporarily banning all refugees from entering the country, and barring access for 90 days to nationals from seven majority-Muslim nations. The draconian measure instantly cut off access to the U.S. to 218 million people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen…

The First Week in Donald Trump’s Kleptocracy Was Very, Very Kleptocratic  Slate  …Ethics experts and good-government watchdogs spent months warning that Donald Trump would face a swirling mess of conflicts of interest once he took office. One week into his presidency, the full scope of that ethical catastrophe is already coming into focus…

Trump’s Threat to Investigate American Voters Is a Danger to Democracy  (opinion) CAP  …President Donald Trump’s threats to launch another investigation into baseless claims of widespread voter fraud is another assault on American democracy and our constitutional rights. Rather than spending millions of tax-payers’ dollars on an investigation into fake claims of voter fraud, the Trump administration and fellow Republican officials should focus their attention on the real threats to the integrity of U.S. elections: voter suppression…

Flint residents still can’t drink the water 1,000 days into the crisis  Think Progress  …This week, Michigan officials announced that after the latest round of testing, Flint’s water now meets federal guidelines for lead. The EPA’s lead and copper rule says that when a water system has lead at levels of 15 parts per billion or more, steps must be taken to control the issue. Flint’s water now has 12 parts per billion, the state said. But residents aren’t comforted by the news…

Chief Strategist Steve Bannon Label Media ‘Opposition Party,’ Says it ‘Should Keep its Mouth Shut’  Newsweek  …President Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon has labelled the media the “opposition party” in an interview reported in The New York Times. The senior counselor said on Wednesday that the press should “keep its mouth shut and listen for a while,” according to the newspaper. The administration’s rhetoric against the media has escalated since the president’s inauguration…