Uncategorized
Today’s Teamster News For March 1, 2017
TEAMSTERS
Hoffa: Trade Deal Should Help Workers The Detroit News …Nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Michigan since the deal took effect, and it is estimated NAFTA has cost the U.S. more than 700,000 jobs overall as of 2013. House Resolution 132 outlines a number of key provisions that must be included in the text of any renegotiation of NAFTA. The Teamsters and other unions are endorsing this measure because it provides a roadmap for the U.S. Trade Representative and the Trump administration to follow if they want to fix this broken trade deal…
Recycling Plant Staffers Could Stop Working, Triggering Waste Backup: Union DNA.info …Workers trying to unionize at the city’s main curbside recycling facility in Sunset Park may hold a work stoppage in protest of the company’s efforts to block them — which could clog waste transfer stations across the five boroughs, according to city officials and Teamsters Local 210. About 70 employees who work for private contractor Sims Metal Management signed cards to join the Teamsters…
Recycling Workers Rally in New York City Hall Ahead of Hearing on Upcoming Strike Waste360 …The workers who sort and process all of New York City’s residential recycling rallied outside City Hall ahead of a City Council hearing on a potential strike at the Sims Municipal Recycling in Sunset Park. The workers at the facility are unionizing with Teamsters Local 210 and are calling on Sims to bargain a contract. Approximately 70 workers are employed at the plant…
Pre-Board Screeners at Saskatoon International Airport Join Teamsters Teamsters Canada …The pre-board screeners at the Saskatoon International Airport voted overwhelmingly to join the Teamsters. These 85 new members were looking for reliable representation — in other words, a union that people could count on to be there for them. “The endless hours Organizer Joshua Cenaiko put into this gave folks a sense of security,” added Randy Powers, Secretary-Treasurer of Local Union 395…
ABX Air pilots agree settlement Air Cargo News …A statement by the unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224, said: “This resolution puts an end to the issue that prompted the pilots to walk off the job: pilots were regularly forced to work overtime and called out on emergency assignments on their days off, creating strain and keeping pilots away from their families”…
Deadline looming, Correia calls on City Council to ratify Teamsters contract The Herald News …Mayor Jasiel Correia II has called a special meeting asking the City Council to ratify the Teamsters Local 251 contract that was introduced in the Feb. 21 meeting and sent for review to the Committee on Finance. The problem is, that in the contract that contains a settlement agreement, there is a March 1 deadline to pay $245,000 to the Department of Community Maintenance union members displaced from their positions after Correia privatized trash hauling…
Angry union members protest outside shipping conference in Long Beach Press Telegram …Long-simmering tensions between the Teamsters and a major trucking company owner played out in front of the Long Beach Convention Center Monday morning as dozens of union members rallied outside one of the largest regional shipping conferences in North America. Carrying signs “XPO Greed,” a group of several dozen protesters decried the fast-growing transportation company XPO Logistics Inc.’s labor practices, which include using contract truckers instead of truckers who are employees…
Teamsters, XPO CEO clash at TPM conference Supply Chain Dive …The Teamsters Union interrupted proceedings during JOC Events’ 17th Annual TPM Conference in order to confront XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs over various employment practices they deem unfair, JOC.com reported Monday. Besides alleged driver misclassification, other issues include accusations of wage theft, or illegal deductions from pay, and increasing income inequality…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Canada: Grand River Transit workers vote in favour of strike CBC …Transit drivers, service attendants and trades workers with Grand River Transit have voted to strike in mid-March if they cannot reach a deal for a new contract with the Region of Waterloo. The 644 workers, who are represented by Unifor Local 4304 have been without a contract since the end of 2016. Negotiations for a new contract began in December…
Escondida copper mine strike nears 3rd week; union denies new talks CNBC …A strike at the Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world’s largest, appeared far from ending on Monday as the conflict neared its third week, with the union denying a news report that it had returned to talks with mine owner BHP Billiton. Escondida’s approximately 2,500 workers began a strike on Feb. 9 after contract talks with BHP failed, pushing global copper prices higher on expectations of tighter supply…
Bangladesh: transport workers’ strike paralyses Dhaka Daiji World …Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka was almost cut off from the rest of the country on Wednesday as a nationwide indefinite strike by transport workers protesting conviction of two drivers continued for the second day. Transport workers have been urged to respect the court verdicts. The blockade was called by truck drivers’ union which has vowed to continue with the strike until the two drivers are released…
Asia advances free trade talks in wake of US TPP withdrawal DW.com …Negotiators representing 16 nations of the Asia Pacific region gathered in the Japanese city of Kobe on Monday to discuss a possible free trade agreement in the wake of the US’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While the China was not included in TPP, Beijing leads the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)…
Trump Is Off to a Slow Start on Trade Promises New York Times …President Trump keeps firing verbal broadsides at Mexico and China, but so far his new administration has not acted to keep specific campaign promises about trade policy. Mr. Trump did not declare China a “currency manipulator” on his first day in office, as he had vowed, nor has he after his first month…
‘None of these big quagmire deals’: Trump spells out historic shift in approach to trade Washington Post …President Trump on Friday spelled out a historic shift in the way America crafts trade deals — one that could leverage Trump’s deal-making abilities but also complicate life for companies that do business around the world and end up weighing on global growth. Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump celebrated his administration’s decision to withdraw from a 12-nation trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership …
Mexico will only stay in NAFTA if it suits it: minister Reuters …A defiant Mexico said on Tuesday it would only stay in NAFTA if it suited it and rejected the imposition of any tariffs or quotas when renegotiating the trade deal U.S President Donald Trump wants to recast to benefit the United States. Trump has vowed to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 accord which also includes Canada, if he cannot get better terms…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Missouri Supreme Court upholds St. Louis minimum wage hike Post-Dispatch …St. Louis will be able to raise its minimum wage to $11 by 2018, after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the city acted within its charter authority when it approved the hike. The decision reverses a circuit court judge who struck down the increase in 2015, just hours before it was set to take effect. The city was sued by business groups who said the ordinance conflicted with state law that caps the minimum wage at $7.65…
$15 per hour minimum wage headed to KC August ballot Kansas City Star …A $15 per hour minimum wage plan is officially headed to Kansas City voters in August. The Kansas City Council agreed Thursday to comply with a Missouri Supreme Court order and put a petition initiative for a higher minimum wage on the August 8 ballot. The proposal, which was backed by civil rights activists, urban core ministers and other social justice and low-wage worker advocates, calls for boosting the minimum wage to $10 per hour by Sept. 1 and gradually to $15 per hour by 2022…
Legislation calls for $15 an hour minimum wage in Michigan WZZM …Less than two months after Michigan’s minimum wage was bumped to $8.90 an hour, a state lawmaker wants to see the rate jump by more than 68 percent starting next year. State Sen. Coleman Young II, who last week announced his candidacy to become the next mayor of Detroit, introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2018…
GOP, unions to butt heads over Ohio prevailing wage Columbus Dispatch …The debate over how much workers should be paid on public construction projects may soon heat up again at the Statehouse as some Republicans seek to scale back the requirement for union-scale wages. Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, today rolled out a bill that would allow counties, cities, townships and universities to decide whether to pay workers less than the state-required prevailing wage on taxpayer-funded projects…
‘Plan A Protest, Lose Your House’ Bill, SB 1142, Killed by Arizona House New Times …SB 1142, the bill that would have allowed protest organizers to be prosecuted for racketeering if a demonstration turned violent, is effectively dead. House Speaker J.D. Mesnard has confirmed that he does not plan to consider the bill, which means that it won’t move forward in the legislature. SB 1142 was based on some questionable claims. Chief among them: The violence at recent protests in Washington, D.C., and Berkeley, California, was the work of paid protesters…
U.S. LABOR
SEIU Accuses Duke of Erecting Unionization Blockades Diverse …The Service Employees International Union is criticizing Duke University’s administration, following a vote to unionize Duke graduate students on Friday, alleging that Duke has done “everything it could for months to delay the vote and prevent hundreds of workers from receiving ballots” and Duke is “now contesting the eligibility of hundreds of student workers to participate”…
Rauner looks for temporary state workers amid strike threat Chicago Tribune …Responding to the possibility of a strike by state employees, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has launched a new website to try to recruit workers who could fill in during a walkout. More than 80 percent of the members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 last week voted to authorize a strike….
UFCW Members Reject Holten Meat Co. Offer CBS …Union workers at the Holten meat-packing plant in East St. Louis could hit the picket lines as early as Tuesday. United Food and Commercial Workers local 655 president David Cook says members voted almost unanimously on Saturday morning to reject Holten Meat’s three-year contract offer. Cook says opposition is largely not to the money involved in the contract proposal, but a lack of seniority benefits and substandard funeral leave…
UAW workers will keep working at Caterpillar as negotiations continue Journal Star …Caterpillar Inc. workers represented by the United Auto Workers will stay on the job as contract negotiations continue. The laborers’ contract with the world’s largest manufacturer of earth moving equipment expired at the end of the day Tuesday, before bargaining sessions that have been ongoing since last month reached a tentative agreement…
Acosta Labor Department May Go Light on Litigation Bloomberg …Labor secretary nominee Alexander Acosta has shown an interest in enforcing laws without engaging in courtroom battles. That may signal a DOL that’s more palatable to employers if he’s confirmed to the post. The employer community has been expecting the Labor Department to take a more collaborative approach to enforcement of wage-and-hour, workplace safety and other laws since President Donald Trump was elected in November…
Business, unions ramp up campaign for U.S. infrastructure spending Reuters …Business groups and unions are bulking up lobbying budgets and coordinating efforts to put pressure on Congress not to let President Donald Trump’s infrastructure spending plans fall through the cracks on Capitol Hill. “The more time goes on, the more frustration will build up if it doesn’t come around quick enough,” said Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions…
Republicans’ National Right-to-Work Proposal Faces Hurdles Bloomberg …The new GOP-controlled Congress has revived Republicans’ decades-long effort to get a national right-to-work measure signed into law, but there still may be hiccups getting the bill through both chambers. “We have continued to make progress. For about 20 years, this has been introduced in Congress and the support for it has been growing,” Greg Mourad, vice president for legislation at the National Right to Work Committee, told Bloomberg…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
“Keep Showing Up”: After Trump’s Address, Sanders Urges Continued Resistance Common Dreams …Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recorded a response to President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress on Tuesday night, breaking down the speech’s biggest takeaways—or lack thereof—and calling on viewers to keep up the resistance. “Sometimes, what is more important is what somebody does not say, as opposed to what they actually say,” Sanders said in a Facebook live video recorded immediately after the speech…
Trump Just Signed an Executive Order That Will Make Our Water Less Safe Mother Jones …Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at unraveling one of Barack Obama’s signature environmental policies designed to protect American waterways from pollution. The president’s move marked the first step toward fulfilling his pledge on the campaign trail to roll back Obama-era regulations…
Trump Seeks Record Pentagon Budget Eclipsing Spending by Ronald Reagan & George W. Bush Democracy Now …President Trump has proposed increasing the military budget to just over $600 billion—a 10 percent increase—while deeply slashing the budgets of other agencies, likely including the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. Speaking to a joint session of Congress, Trump said, “I am sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history”…
Fact check: Trump exaggerates the impacts of illegal immigration Washington Post …Trump exaggerates the impact of illegal immigration on crime, taxpayer money and jobs. Extensive research shows noncitizens are not more prone to criminality than U.S.-born citizens. The vast majority of unauthorized immigrants are not criminal aliens or aggravated felons. Trump appears to reference the cost of illegal immigration from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports lower levels of legal and illegal immigration…
With VOICE Agency, Trump Continues ‘Nativist Demonization’ of Immigrants Common Dreams …Groans and boos greeted President Donald Trump’s announcement of an Orwellian new government agency—”VOICE (Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement)”—during his address to Congress Tuesday night. “I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American Victims,” Trump said, eliciting gasps. “The office is called VOICE—Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media”…