TEAMSTERS 

UPS Shooting

Hoffa Statement on Workplace Shooting at UPS in San Francisco  Teamster.org  …President James P. Hoffa on the tragic shooting that occurred at a UPS facility in San Francisco: “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families of this tragedy. The safety of our members is our top priority. As is usually the case with these situations, details are still forthcoming”…

Teamsters Joint Council 7 Official Statement On Shooting At UPS Facility  Morning Star  …Teamsters Joint Council President Rome Aloise on the workplace shooting that occurred yesterday at a San Francisco UPS facility that claimed the lives of three Teamsters: “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families who have suffered as a result of this senseless act of violence. Our entire Teamster family suffers when anything like this happens”…

Union Rep. Says San Francisco UPS Gunman Filed ‘Excessive Overtime’ Grievance  CBS  …A representative of the union that represents the UPS workers told KPIX 5 that the gunman, identified as Jimmy Lam, 38, of San Francisco, had recently filed an “excessive overtime” grievance. Joseph Cilia, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 2785, represents the UPS workers…

Broadway Teamsters

Casts of 20 Broadway Shows and Numerous Celebrities Join Campaign for Casting Directors Union  Joint Council 16  …As Broadway prepares to hold the Tony Awards, the campaign by Broadway casting directors for a Teamster contract is receiving a surge of support from Broadway casts and celebrities. Dozens of major actors are posting their support on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #FairnessForCasting…

Bernie Telsey, ‘Hamilton’ casting director, on the push to unionize  City and State  …”Once we become unionized for film and TV 12 years ago with the Teamsters (Local 817), it was always our intention and hope that the Teamsters would always be able to also cover us in theater. The real reason for unionizing is to really protect the profession continuing to grow. It’s about the next generation of casting directors”…

Locals

Teamsters at Auto Warehousing take a stand  Local 117  …Teamsters at Auto Warehousing are gearing up for a fight. In contract negotiations, the company has walked away from the bargaining table on multiple occasions and refused to bargain in good faith. “The first negotiation session lasted exactly 67 minutes before they decided they were done for the day,” said Randy Chronister, a nine-year Teamster Brother who serves on the union bargaining committee…

Teamsters 830 leader says 155 laid off thanks to Phila. Beverage Tax  Business Journal  …It’s no surprise to Teamsters Local 830 or our colleagues in the beverage industry that revenue generated by Philadelphia’s reviled beverage tax has been much less than the city projected. We predicted it. Meanwhile, the job loss carnage we predicted long ago has hit with a vengeance… 

Negotiation deadline approaches for Teamsters Sun Tran employees  KVOA  …The Teamsters’ Sun Tran bus employees have less than a month before their contract expires. Two years ago, the bus system took a big hit during a 42-day strike, creating a transportation nightmare for  riders. Some riders say they can’t imagine having to go through another strike… 

“Trash Kingpins of NYC” Site Exposes Private Waste Industry Record of Abuse  Teamster.org  …A new website launched today, called Trash Kingpins of New York City, exposes the corruption, racist and sexist comments, environmental damage, and labor abuses of some of New York City’s worst private sanitation companies. George Miranda, President of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said: “Private sanitation was once a good-paying, safe career, but that is no longer the case, thanks to these trash kingpins”…

Sean Campbell, President of Teamsters Local 813, Stands Out for Service to Members  Labor Press  … Sean T. Campbell, President and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 813, has consistently worked on measures designed to improve the wages and conditions of his members. One of the most important issues that Campbell has worked on is transforming the practices of the commercial waste industry in NYC…

Organizing & Contract Wins

West Contra Costa School District Workers Join Teamsters  Teamster.org  …Classified employees of West Contra Costa Unified School District voted overwhelmingly today to join Teamsters Local 856 as they push for improved wages, health care and other benefits. The workers voted by mail over the past month and ballots were counted today at the regional office of the Public Employment Relations Board. There are more than 1,800 members in the bargaining unit…

DHL Drivers Say Yes to Teamsters Local 251  Teamster.org  …Workers at DHL NH LLC had enough of management abuse and voted overwhelming to join Teamsters Local 251 in East Providence, Rhode Island on June 7. The 28 workers, who sort and deliver packages for DHL throughout Rhode Island, voted 23-2 for a union after enduring low wages, unaffordable health care and no retirement plan…

University of Chicago Student Library Employees Join Teamsters  Teamster.org  …University of Chicago student library employees have voted to unionize, with over 80 percent of voters supporting affiliation with Teamsters Local 743. These workers, 226 in total, will be the first nationally-recognized undergraduate and graduate student union at a private university…

Local 727 and Standard Parking Ratify New 5-Year Contract for Shuttle Bus Drivers  Local 727  …Teamsters Local 727 and Standard Parking ratified a new collective bargaining agreement for SP shuttle bus drivers. The term is for five years, commencing December 1, 2016 and extending through November 30, 2021. Among the major provisions that the union fought for and won were wage increases each of the five years…

More Than 400 Illinois School Bus Workers Ratify 3 Teamster Contracts  Teamster.org  …More than 80 percent of First Student school bus drivers and aides have voted to approve new contracts in Glen Ellyn, Elk Grove Village and Villa Park, Ill., increasing wages and other benefits for more than 400 school bus industry workers. The drivers and aides are members of Teamsters Local 777…

Pension Fight

Teamsters, Treasury officials discuss pension cuts  Times Union  …Van Auken was among the roughly 150 members of Teamsters Local 294, or the Upstate Teamsters, who gathered Wednesday for a Town Hall meeting about their pension. It was a chance for them to ask questions of officials at the Treasury Department which in the coming months will decide whether to approve the union’s pension trustees’ request to hold a vote on reducing pensions…

Political Action

Hoffa: DOL Should Not Rescind, Rollback Necessary Worker Protection Rules and Interpretations  Teamster.org  …Teamsters General President Hoffa on three Department of Labor announcements last week that reverse rules put in place during the Obama administration which required companies to report outside union busting activities, as well as two agency interpretations dealing with independent contractors and joint employment: “Workers need the DOL to expand its worker protection policies and employer compliance policies”…

Teamsters Submit Comments on NAFTA Negotiations  Teamster.org  …The Teamsters Union submitted its comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on the proposed renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The union’s comments stressed the importance of the renegotiation focusing on long-standing issues that have existed in past and recently proposed agreements…

Rail Teamsters

‘I’m lucky I didn’t kill anyone’: retired CN engineer says  CBC  …A representative with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union representing CN and CP employees, estimates that almost all train drivers involved in an accident suffer some level of psychological trauma, with 50 per cent expected to develop PTSD. Ontario vice-chairman Russ Archibald believes part of that comes from frequently being the first responder on the scene in rural areas…

Strike News

Teamsters Begin ULP Strike at Vistar to Demand an End to Pay Discrimination  Teamster.org  …Teamsters who work at Vistar Foodservice’s distribution facility in Ontario began an unfair labor practice strike today to protest Vistar’s violations of federal laws that protect workers’ rights. The 84 warehouse workers and drivers at Vistar, a division of Performance Food Group, are represented by Teamsters Local 630…

Ontario warehouse workers end strike against warehouse  Press-Enterprise  …Workers have ended a strike at an Ontario food services distribution center that supplies movie theaters with snacks, according to representatives of Teamsters Local 630. Vistar Southern California’s customers include Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and AMC Theatres, according to a news release from the Teamsters…

Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach truck drivers threaten to strike  Supply Chain Dive  …Truck drivers, warehouse workers, a Los Angeles City Councilmember and local Teamsters are banding together Thursday to announce a strike affecting operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to a Justice for Port Truck Drivers media advisory…

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE 

Egyptian regime responds to economic crisis by repressing workers  Il Manifesto  …Twenty-six workers from the Navy shipyards in Alexandria have been on trial for more than a year in a military court because of a strike. Many of them were forced to resign under blackmail, and 1,000 other employees (out of the 2,300 employees of the shipyards) were forcibly excluded from work…

South Africa’s Sibanye says sacks 1,500 workers over wildcat strike  Reuters  …South African mining firm Sibanye Gold has fired around 1,500 workers taking part in a wildcat strike at its Cooke mine, it said on Thursday, prompting an angry reaction from the biggest gold miners’ union. Workers at the mine downed tools over a week ago, angered by a company drive to root out illegal miners…

Argentine Teachers Continue Strike for Salary Increase  TeleSUR  …Thousands of Argentine teachers hit the streets of Buenos Aires Wednesday to protest for better salaries, moving forward with their planned 24-hour strike. The strike was called by the Front for the Teachers Unit of Bonaerense and brought together six of the city’s largest teachers unions…

50,000 Americans Speak Out on NAFTA Renegotiation  Citizen Trade Campaign  …Over 50,000 Americans submitted public comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) prior to the original June 12th deadline calling for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to put working families and healthy communities ahead of corporate interests…

NAFTA Is Broken. Trump Has All the Wrong Fixes.  (opinion) The Nation  …Of the many big promises candidate Trump made, there’s one even a tax-dodging billionaire can’t afford to break. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Clinton-era trade accord linking Canada, Mexico, and the United States that Trump dubbed the “worst deal” in history, symbolizes for millions of workers everything wrong with the neoliberal global economic order…

Revealed: reality of life working in an Ivanka Trump clothing factory  The Guardian  …The Guardian has spoken to more than a dozen workers at the fashion label’s factory in Subang, Indonesia, where employees describe being paid one of the lowest minimum wages in Asia and there are claims of impossibly high production targets and sporadically compensated overtime…

Across Russia, Protesters Heed Navalny’s Anti-Kremlin Rallying Cry  New York Times  …An extraordinary wave of antigovernment protests swept across Russia on Monday, as thousands of demonstrators gathered in more than 100 cities to denounce corruption and political stagnation despite official attempts to stifle the expression of outrage…

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES 

Missouri unions power up to get Right-to-Work legislation in front of voters  MissouriNet  …Organized labor is using a provision in Missouri law that’ll do nothing short of delaying Right-to-Work legislation from being implemented for at least a year. The group has a document that’s been approved for circulation to acquire the necessary signatures for the issue to be placed before voters… 

Puerto Rico votes in favor of statehood  The Hill  …Puerto Rico voted overwhelmingly in favor of statehood on Sunday in a referendum that begins the steps toward sending representatives to Washington, D.C. According to The Wall Street Journal, 97 percent of voters chose statehood, though turnout was only about 23 percent… 

Impact of new minimum wage on Arizona jobs  Tucson News Now  …Numbers released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Arizona added 10,800 new jobs in the food and beverage industry in the first four months of 2017. It was thought, when the new minimum wage kicked in on January 1, the industry would shed jobs…

Delaware Lawmakers Consider $15 Minimum Wage  Delmarva Public Radio  …The state Senate is poised to vote on legislation increasing Delaware’s current $8.25 minimum wage by $2 over four years. Tuesday’s scheduled vote comes after a similar measure stalled in the General Assembly last year…

Fla. Gov. Scott approves pay raise bill for state workers  WCTV  …Wednesday, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill approving a pay raise for state employees. The bill includes $183 million that will be used to offer varying levels of pay hikes for workers. Rank-and-file employees who currently earn $40,000 a year or less will get a $1,400 pay raise…

Alabama NAACP, SPLC file amicus briefs to fight for repeal of law that bans raising minimum wage  AL.com  …The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund have all filed amicus briefs to support the lawsuit that seeks to repeal the state law that forbids municipalities in Alabama from setting their own minimum wage… 

U.S. LABOR 

Unions Come Into the Justices’ Cross Hairs, Again  New York Times  …Last year, the Supreme Court seemed poised to deal a sharp blow to public sector unions. Then Justice Antonin Scalia died and the court deadlocked, granting the unions a reprieve. It may not last long. Last week, a new case raising the same legal question arrived at the court, which is back at full strength with the appointment of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch…

The Trump Administration Wants To Hide Union-Busting By Employers  Huffington Post  …American companies shell out millions of dollars a year to lawyers and consultants whose job is to kill union-organizing campaigns. Much of that work is done in the shadows, and the Trump administration is looking to keep it that way. In a blow to unions, the Labor Department on Monday proposed rescinding what’s known as the “persuader rule”…

Uber drivers should be legal employees with benefits: judge  New York Post  …Uber drivers should legally be considered employees of the company, a state labor judge has ruled. The decision could open the door to drivers suing Uber all their benefits, meaning that Uber would be on the hook for such worker benefits as overtime…

LSG Sky Chef workers hold wage rally  WCNC  …Workers who provide airline meals protested outside Charlotte Douglas Airport Sunday morning, saying airlines make billions but they barely make a living wage. Members of the Unite Here union called it their “Fed Up Protest.” They work for a third-party contractor named LSG Sky Chefs…

Half of the Country’s Retail Jobs Are at Stake  Racked  …With news of thousands of store closures hitting every fiscal quarter, what does this mean for American employment? Frankly, the cuts run deep. The retail sales associate is one of the most popular jobs in the country, with roughly 4.5 million Americans filling the occupation…

Gender Wage Gap Widens to 43 Percent by Age 45  NBC  …It’s no secret that women lag behind men in wages. But new research shows that wage gap widens dramatically by the time they reach their 40s. Using Census Bureau databases that track individual workers and firms over time, a team of economists found that at age 25, college-educated women make about 89 percent of what college-educated men do…

Hotel’s Workers at Santa Monica DoubleTree Announce Decision to Join Union  Santa Monica Lookout  …After a 16-year battle, hotel workers employed by the DoubleTree in Santa Monica announced Tuesday they are joining UNITE Here Local 11, a hospitality workers union already representing employees at some of the larger local hotels. The unionizing campaign started in 2001…

Watsonville Community Hospital workers launch three-day strike  Santa Cruz Sentinel  …More than 100 union workers at Watsonville Community Hospital launched a three-day strike Wednesday after hospital representatives halted negotiations mediated by a federal agency Friday. The workers, which are represented by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, plan to conclude the strike at 6:30 p.m. Friday… 

Future of unions in balance as Trump prepares to reshape national labor board  The Conversation  …There are two vacancies on the board that President Donald Trump will fill. Once the Senate confirms President Trump’s nominees, Republicans will control the board for the first time since 2007. The background of the three candidates reportedly under consideration suggests that the board will in fact be much friendlier to business interests under the Trump administration…

Three myths about the minimum wage  (opinion) Star Tribune  …At the end of the day, raising wages is about basic human dignity. Nobody working full time should live in poverty, struggling to put food on the table or worrying about not being able to pay the light bill. As we take this important step addressing the growing divide in our country, let’s not leave anyone behind… 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS

Senate GOP’s health care bill is so secret not even Trump’s health secretary has seen it  Think Progress  …No one seems to know what’s in the Senate’s Trumpcare bill. Not even Trump’s top health care adviser. The House passed its health care bill by a very thin margin just over a month ago, rushing to do so before the CBO scored the bill. When the CBO did release its analysis weeks later, members learned that their bill would be costly for the sickest and oldest Americans… 

As America’s Opioid Crisis Spirals, Giant Drug Distributor McKesson Is Feeling the Pain  Fortune  …Between 2007 and 2012, as the nation’s opioid epidemic spiraled out of control, wholesalers collectively shipped 780 million pain pills to West Virginia—or 433 doses for every man, woman, and child there. The big three drug distributors (including McKesson) delivered more than half of those, according to the Gazette-Mail’s analysis: some 423 million pills…

Remember Trump’s Promise Not to Touch Social Security? It’s Gone Now  (opinion) New York Magazine  …At a House subcommittee hearing, Mnuchin very casually walked away from Donald Trump’s long-standing promise never to touch Social Security benefits. Mnuchin’s concession on Social Security is significant. He has acknowledged Congress has the “prerogative” to write and pass a bill cutting Social Security. His opposition is essentially technical…

Donald Trump Is Now Facing Three Emoluments Lawsuits  Slate  …The attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland filed a suit on Monday alleging that the president’s receipt of foreign gifts and payments violated the Constitution. Two days later, nearly 200 members of Congress also sued Trump for the same purportedly unconstitutional conduct…

The Man Behind Trump’s Voter-Fraud Obsession  NYTimes Magazine  …Kris Kobach likes to bill himself as “the A.C.L.U.’s worst nightmare.” The A.C.L.U. has filed four suits against Kobach since he was elected in 2010. All of them challenge some aspect of his signature piece of legislation, the Secure and Fair Elections Act, or SAFE Act…

Trump’s planned EPA cuts will hit America’s most vulnerable  (opinion) The Guardian  …The Trump administration is using a deliberate and systematic approach to undermine, weaken and disempower America’s most vulnerable communities. The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed budget cuts are a clear-cut example of this attack…

Mueller investigating Trump for obstruction of justice, Washington Post reports  CNN  …Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening. Mueller is interviewing as early as this week three top intelligence officials as part of the probe, the Post reported, citing “five people briefed on the requests”…  

What we know about the congressional baseball shooting  ABC  …Rep. Steve Scalise underwent surgery today, his third procedure since suffering severe injuries Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on Republicans practicing for a congressional baseball game, sources told ABC News. The House majority whip and Louisiana Republican was rushed to a Washington trauma center Wednesday…

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