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Today’s Teamster News For February 16, 2017

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TEAMSTERS 

Teamsters protest retirement plan, unfair wages  Daily Californian  …Chanting and banging drums, Teamsters Local 2010 protesters made themselves heard Wednesday morning outside UC executive offices in Downtown Oakland protesting unfair wages for UC workers and a new 401(k)-style retirement plan. Teamsters are pushing back against the component that introduces a 401(k)-style retirement plan according to Timothy Mathews, a research analyst for Teamsters Local 2010…

Labor dispute emerging at major city recycling center  Politico  …A labor dispute brewing at a Brooklyn plant that is crucial to the city’s recycling operation could potentially have serious consequences if work should stop or slow down. Employees at the Sims Municipal Recycling facility in Sunset Park have been attempting to join Teamsters Local 210 since December, they said, citing excessive health care costs and what they claim is poor treatment from management…

Union contacts NetJets customers as dispute languishes  Akron Legal News  …As part of an effort to publicize an escalating labor dispute over aircraft maintenance subcontracting, union representatives are directly contacting customers of NetJets. In a statement released recently, Teamsters Airline Division and Local 284 announced that they have sent union letters to NetJets aircraft owners in the finance, retail, manufacturing and higher education sectors of the economy…

Corrections employees push for reforms in Olympia  Business Examiner  …More than 200 Teamsters working for the Department of Corrections, along with their families and supporters, converged on the state capitol in Olympia today to push for wage reforms. “Our top priority is to ensure that the state legislature invests in corrections employees by funding their contract,” said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117… 

Teamsters and the Red Ball Express  (history) Teamster.org  …During World War II, many of the dedicated soldiers and sailors serving in the the U.S. Armed Forces were African-American. Among the most famous were those who served on a re-supply operation known as the Red Ball Express. Most of the soldiers running the Red Ball Express were black and many of those drivers were Teamsters in civilian life…

 

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE 

World’s biggest copper mine Escondida hit by worker strikes amid labor law reform  DW.com  …Workers at the world’s largest copper mine in Chile entered the sixth day of strikes on Wednesday over a pay dispute. After collective negotiation efforts failed, workers at the Escondida mine voted to stop work last Thursday, crippling output. The strike, combined with export issues at the world’s second largest copper mine in Indonesia, pushed copper prices to an 18-month high…

Striking workers in Canada won’t stop until Molson Coors drops demands  Beverage Daily  …Molson Coors plant workers in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, have been on strike since January 12, 2017, after a list of concessionary demands were made by the brewer that negatively impacted employee benefits, pensions, and hours…

Spanish dock workers call off planned strike  Reuters  …Spanish dock workers on Wednesday called off a planned three-day strike next week after the government said it would delay plans to reform the sector and instead open talks with the unions. The strike was called after the Spanish government announced plans to overhaul the way ports are managed and allow companies to hire their own personnel instead of unionized staff…

Trudeau hails EU-Canada trade deal in speech to EU lawmakers  ABC  …Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday hailed a new trade pact with the European Union, telling the EU parliament that the deal they approved this week will create jobs and boost the middle class on both sides of the Atlantic. The deal was approved Wednesday amid strong opposition from free-trade critics who fear it gives too much power to multinationals…

The TPP lives — maybe  (opinion) Washington Post  …Among President Trump’s first acts was an order withdrawing from the TPP. it seems astounding that anyone would suggest that the TPP may rise from the dead, with a new name and slightly altered provisions. Yet that’s the message of a new study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank and unabashed advocate of TPP…

South Africa, a Nation With Sharp Inequality, Considers a Minimum Wage  New York Times  …Faced with rising discontent over the economy among black voters, the government is weighing something more common in developed economies: a national minimum wage. Late last year, a government panel recommended about $260 a month, or about $1.50 an hour — a small amount even in South Africa, but close to the median income in a country where the official unemployment rate is 27 percent and nearly half the population lives in poverty…

Greece’s Plea: No More Austerity Under the Bailout Deal  New York Times  …Greece’s economy has met its budget targets and there is therefore no reason for further austerity measures to be imposed as part of a deal with bailout creditors, the government spokesman said Thursday. Greece has been struggling for months to conclude negotiations with its creditors on spending cuts and reforms demanded by European creditors and the International Monetary Fund as part of its third bailout program… 

  

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES 

Iowa Moves To Restrict Collective Bargaining For Public Sector Workers  WBHM …Lawmakers in Iowa began debating a bill Tuesday to dramatically change how public sector unions negotiate their contracts, part of a wave of legislation in statehouses across the country to roll back union rights. The bill, similar to a 2011 law in Wisconsin, is high on the state’s legislative agenda and comes as Republicans control both chambers of the state Legislature and the governor’s mansion for the first time in nearly 20 years…

Right to work’s fate uncertain in GOP-controlled House  Star-Telegram  …The fate of so-called right-to-work legislation is uncertain this week in the GOP-controlled New Hampshire House, potentially handing new Republican Gov. Chris Sununu an early defeat on one of his priorities. House Speaker Shawn Jasper is warning the union-targeting legislation might fail Thursday due to long-standing opposition from a handful of Republicans…

‘Right-to-work’ push under way in Ohio  Dayton Daily News  …Conservative Republican lawmakers are moving to make Ohio a “right to work” state where union power would be significantly diluted by making membership and dues optional. “The momentum is moving in our favor. I think it’s no longer a question of if Ohio becomes a right to work state but when it becomes a right to work state,” said state Rep. John Becker, R-Cincinnati, architect of the bill…

Bowser Returns Paid Family Leave Bill To D.C. Council Unsigned, Allowing It To Become Law  WAMU  …A bill granting more than a half-million workers in the city up to eight weeks of paid family leave will become law without Mayor Muriel Bowser’s signature, giving progressive activists and their allies on the D.C. Council a significant victory on an issue that has become a rallying cry for many Democrats across the country…

Right To Work Hurts All Workers And Will Not Magically Create New Jobs  (opinion) NH Labor News  …The New Hampshire legislature is once again considering the so-called “Right To Work” law that special interests have been pushing for more than 40 years. Those lobbyists will tell you that “everyone should have the right to work” – but the so-called “Right to Work” law has nothing to do with getting a job. Passing “Right to Work” will not magically make new companies appear out of thin air… 

Dozens of risky Kentucky dams in poor condition  Courier Journal  …Kentucky since 2010 has more than tripled the number of emergency action plans for high-hazard dams in the state to help in a crisis like the one playing out in California, but state regulators still have 45 more to go. And a report submitted last year to a national dam inventory counted as many as 79 high-hazard Kentucky dams in poor condition…

 

U.S. LABOR 

Andrew Puzder Withdraws From Consideration as Labor Secretary  New York Times  …The fast-food executive Andrew F. Puzder withdrew his nomination to be labor secretary on Wednesday as Republican senators turned sharply against him, the latest defeat for a White House besieged by infighting and struggling for traction even with a Republican-controlled Congress. The toppling of one of President Trump’s cabinet picks was a victory for Democrats, unions and liberal groups…

Boeing’s South Carolina Mechanics Reject Union in Blow to Labor  Bloomberg  …Boeing Co. employees in South Carolina voted overwhelmingly against unionization, dealing a blow to the embattled labor movement’s efforts to expand its ranks under President Donald Trump. The vote is a loss for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers but not a surprise in a right-to-work state traditionally hostile to collective bargaining…

Republican Governor Told Boeing Workers to Reject Unionization Effort  Labor 411  …Should a governor interfere with a unionization vote on the day of the vote? No. Did a governor just try to do that? It appears so. The Associated Press reports: “South Carolina’s chief executive says Boeing’s workers should reject an effort to unionize the aviation giant’s North Charleston facilities”…

‘A Day Without Immigrants’ Promises A National Strike Thursday  NPR  …In cities around America, thousands of construction companies, restaurants and other businesses are bracing for “A Day Without Immigrants,” a combination boycott/strike that highlights the contributions of immigrants to U.S. business and culture. The movement is a response to President Trump’s immigration agenda, which includes a pledge to seal the U.S. border with Mexico…

Momentive workers’ three-month strike ends as they vote to approve labor contract  NY Daily News  …Workers at Momentive chemical plant in upstate New York voted to approve a new labor contract Tuesday — ending a three-month strike. The union representing the 700 chemical plant workers reached a tentative deal last week with Momentive management — but only after elected officials across the state pushed both sides back to the bargaining table…

Thrillist Staff Announces Plan To Unionize  Huffington Post  …The majority of editorial, video and distribution staff at the lifestyle website Thrillist has decided to unionize, leaders of the organizing effort announced on Wednesday morning. Over 80 percent of Thrillist’s roughly 65 eligible writers, editors, producers and social media professionals signed cards designating the Writers Guild of America, East, as their collective bargaining representative, according to the union…

Trump sides with Associated Builders and Contractors  UComm  …Trump has chosen the former chief lobbyist and Vice President of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Geoffrey Burr to join the Labor Department as part of the “beachhead team.” Burr, who spent 7 years as the Vice President for Government Affairs, lobbying against protections that the Building Trade unions hold dear…

Time For Unions To Figure Out The Internet  (opinion) Deadspin  …There are only a few viable online organizing platforms today, but it’s clear that the internet has tons of potential for the labor movement if they ever get around to figuring it out—it is, in fact, the only practical tool for organizing a modern workforce that is scattered across the country… 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS 

Trump signs his first significant bill — killing a transparency rule for oil companies  Vox  …President Donald Trump signed his first significant piece of legislation on Tuesday, repealing an Obama-era rule that forced energy and mining companies to disclose any payments they made abroad. Outside of a few firms like Exxon Mobil — which once lobbied against the rule and whose former CEO Rex Tillerson is now Trump’s secretary of state — it’s hard to find too many people overjoyed that this regulation is dead…

Elizabeth Warren Breaks Down the Biggest Trump Scandal You Haven’t Heard About  Politico  …”What Donald Trump wants to do is fire one of the most important financial cops and then say to the American people, you keep walking down this dark alley and, you know, what happens is what happens,” Warren revealed. The cop in question is Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray…

Sanctuary Cities May Not See Borrowing Hit From Trump Order  Wall Street Journal  …The municipal-bond market has an early read on President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening sanctuary cities: more bark than bite. The Jan. 25 order’s threat to cut federal funds to cities and counties that decline to cooperate with federal authorities enforcing policies on illegal immigrants is unlikely to hurt the municipalities’…

Innocent Man Finally Pardoned After Mike Pence Refused to Clear His Name  Daily Beast  …For years, Mike Pence refused to pardon an innocent man. But one month after he left office as Indiana’s governor, his successor Eric Holcomb moved to clear Keith Cooper’s name. Keith Cooper of Elkhart, Indiana, has maintained his innocence since he was charged with robbery and attempted murder in 1997…