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Today’s Teamster News For October 27, 2016

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TEAMSTERS

Union threatens possible school bus strike  SI Live  …A union representing school bus drivers serving some Staten Island students is threatening to call a strike, a move that potentially could leave hundreds of kids without a way to get to class. Teamsters Local 553 members could vote on whether to authorize a strike sometime Wednesday. If the vote is affirmative, drivers could walk off the job November 1…  

Port strike: wage theft hotline launched for federal contract workers  Workday Minnesota  …Good Jobs Nation estimates workers are losing millions of dollars in pay every year and the organization has launched a special hotline, 1-844-PAY-FAIR, to report wage theft. The workers are employed by companies that contract with the federal Department of Defense. They say they have been misclassified as “independent contractors,” had their wages stolen and have been retaliated against for exercising the right to organize with the Teamsters… 

Teamsters File Motion for Contempt at Flexjet, Flight Options  Teamster.org  …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division and Local 1108 filed a motion for contempt and injunctive relief against Flexjet and Flight Options yesterday, following the company’s continued failure to bargain in good faith with the Teamsters. The Teamsters represent over 600 pilots working for Flexjet and Flight Options, luxury jet carriers for the ultra-wealthy that operate under the umbrella of aviation conglomerate OneSky Flight, LLC…

Animals suffer at Peninsula Humane Society, whistle-blowers say  SF Gate  …Some animals suffer because of poor living conditions at the Peninsula Humane Society, say employees who released a series of haunting photos and videos. “This is very typical from corporate to blame the employees,” said Tim Jenkins, a representative from Teamsters Local 856 who led the news conference, adding that the employees had reached out to White weeks prior to the news conference asking for a sit-down to discuss their concerns…

Uber Found an Unlikely Friend in Organized Labor  Bloomberg  …In California, the Teamsters union says it’s building a driver association that will eventually seek some form of recognition from Uber. “Unlike some other unions that have to continue putting up a fight just to look relevant to their members, we don’t necessarily have to,” says Rome Aloise, a Teamsters vice president. He says he’ll secure broad support from drivers before making a deal…

East Chicago running out of time on budget adoption  NWI.com  …The council approved the Civil City budget on second reading by an 8-1 vote. Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th, cast the lone vote against it and after the meeting said he wanted to see “more fairness across the board.” He said the Civil City budget does not include a bonus for Teamsters Union 142 and that either everyone should receive a bonus or no one at all…

JCPS approves attendance bonus for bus drivers  Courier Journal  …Over the summer, JCPS redid several of its schools’ bus routes to try to reduce the number of buses on the road, bringing the number of routes from 964 last school year to about 900 this year. John Stovall, president of Teamsters Local 783, has said that the district’s attendance pilot could be a step in the right direction and said the idea is one his union had previously suggested to the district…

 

GLOBAL LABOR & TRAD

India: government toughens stance against striking NHM employees  The Tribune  …The state government has decided to act tough against workers of the National Health Mission (NHM), who have intensified their strike throughout the state after termination of six members of their association. he NHM Employees’ Association has sought audience with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for airing their grievances…

Vietnam’s reluctance to ratify the TPP is bad news for Washington  Asian Review  …Vietnam’s decision to hold off ratifying the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a further blow to the beleaguered trade pact and a setback for American economic ambitions in Asia. The 12-nation TPP is aimed at liberalizing trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, and Vietnam has been hoping that its participation in the deal will lead to an increase in exports… 

AFL-CIO Report Warns TPP Will Force Another Mass-Migration Into US  OurFuture.org  …On a Monday press call discussing the report Celeste Drake, Trade and Globalization Specialist with AFL-CIO, explained how the report shows that TPP is likely to make working families in TPP countries less secure. The agreement fails workers by offering no transition assistance or safety net for workers who lose their jobs. Mass displacements are not easily remedied which can spur mass migration…

Swiss cheese threatened by TTIP  SwissInfo  …The report by Switzerland Global Enterprise, which offers government assistance to Swiss companies angling to get a foothold abroad, takes a look at the expected damage to the Swiss economy if the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) gets off the ground. TTIP would lower tariffs and technical trade barriers on a range of goods and services traded across the Atlantic…

Peruvians urge Himes to oppose TPP  (opinion) Stamford Advocate  …It might be surprising to some in the United States that presidential nominees from both parties are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But, as people struggling for our lives and livelihoods in Peru, it comes as no surprise. If anything, we ask what took so long for the elites in the United States to wake up to the failures of the so-called “free trade” policies like the TPP…

Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal doomed, ex-Canada PM Brian Mulroney predicts  CBC  …Former prime minister Brian Mulroney says the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is doomed to fail because of hostility in the U.S. Congress and widespread antipathy to trade initiatives in general. Mulroney made the prediction Wednesday when he was asked about Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the 12-nation accord, which the Democratic presidential nominee says benefits drug companies and does not address currency manipulation…

Is America’s trade deficit good for Chinese workers? The answer may surprise you.  The Week  …America’s trade balance with China is way out of whack. Our trade deficit with them — and their mirroring trade surplus with us — began in the early 1990s and has exploded since. By 2014, it had reached $342.6 billion. Most everyone now acknowledges this has been a bad deal for American workers. But what if it has also been a bad deal for Chinese workers?…

170 years from now, women will earn as much as men  USA Today  …About 170 years from now, women worldwide will earn as much as men and account for half the world’s bosses. That’s how long it will take to achieve economic parity between the sexes, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, an annual study made public Tuesday that measures the relative gaps between women and men in education, health, economic opportunity and political power in 144 countries…

 

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES

Idaho: federal judge upholds state’s ‘right-to-work’ law  MagicValley.com  …A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s “right-to-work” law. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 370, which represents about 400 workers at the Boise locomotive manufacturer MotivePower, sued a year ago to overturn the law, which says employees can’t be required to pay union dues or join a union as a condition of employment…

Ohio: Homeless Advocates, Democrats Appeal Voting Rules  AP  …Advocates for the homeless and the Ohio Democratic Party filed a longshot appeal with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking the justices to block election rules that could disqualify thousands of absentee and provisional ballots because of minor mistakes or omissions. The high court typically is reluctant to impose last-minute changes on election procedures…

West Virginians ready to vote as early voting begins  Metro News  …The line was long Wednesday morning outside Kanawha County’s early voting location in downtown Charleston. The start of the 10-day early voting period brought out residents ready to make their voices heard. Early voting across West Virginia continues, except for Sundays, through Saturday, Nov. 5…

The Battle for North Carolina  The Atlantic  …Bitter and unyielding contests have placed the state at the center of national debates about race, civil rights, violence, and elections. In the span of a year, an anti-transgender bathroom bill sparked rallies and a fierce debate over civil rights, flames licked the streets of a resegregated Charlotte during protests over a police shooting, a local GOP office was firebombed, and a collection of new laws have been enacted. But the most contentious and sustained rift has been in the arena of voting rights…

Kentucky: After Two Votes, Lexington Council Keeps Minimum Wage Increase  WEKU  …A motion to remove Lexington’s minimum wage ordinance from the books failed in a Tuesday council meeting.  It took two votes before the matter was addressed at the work session. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled last week that Lexington and Louisville’s minimum wage increases were invalid. A motion seeking to repeal the minimum wage statute ultimately failed on a 5-9 vote… 

This is why you can’t survive on the minimum wage  Market Watch  … In every state in the country, it’s impossible to get by on the minimum wage and that’s particularly true if you have student debt. A single adult needs to earn $17.28 an hour on average, or nearly $36,000 a year, to make ends meet, according to a report released Tuesday by People’s Action Institute, a network of state, local and national groups looking to address inequality…

 

U.S. LABOR

Harvard Workers Declare Victory As Strike Ends  BuzzFeed  …Striking dining hall workers at Harvard University claimed a “historic victory” on Wednesday, saying their three-week battle against the wealthiest university has ended with the school bowing to most of their demands. The strike had “turned into a struggle for the soul of this institution,” said Brian Lang, the local union president, in a press conference Wednesday…

Donald Trump’s Grand Opening For His Hotel Is Greeted With A Boycott  Huffington Post  …As the real estate developer cut the ribbon at a grand opening ceremony inside the hotel Wednesday, anti-Trump protesters assembled outside its doors to denounce the Republican presidential nominee and call for a boycott of his properties. Unite Here, the national union representing the workers, has called for boycotting various Trump properties around the country until the Republican nominee comes to the bargaining table…

Striking Libbey union OKs contract; all unions will go back to work  The Blade  …After nearly two weeks, the strike at Libbey Inc. is over. Dave Nelson, president of Glass Molders Plastics Local 59, said his membership overwhelmingly approved a new three-year deal this afternoon. The union, which has about 100 members, had been on strike since Oct. 12. It was the last of the four local unions that represent Libbey’s Toledo-area employees to be without a contract… 

Adjuncts Embrace Unions in Bid for Stability, Wage Boost  Bloomberg  …The USW is one of several unions waging campaigns across the U.S. to organize non-tenure-track faculty, addressing issues such as wages, predictable course loads and having a voice in the institution’s decision-making process. The organizing has resulted in wins and losses in recent years…

Chicago Teachers Union puts off vote on contract to next week  Chicago Tribune  …The Chicago Teachers Union has delayed a vote by membership on a four-year contract proposal until next week, citing a “printing delay.” The vote on the tentative contract agreement had been set for Thursday and Friday, but the union’s more than 20,000 members instead will begin casting votes Monday, CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said…

RTA workers threaten strike  Dayton Daily News  …The threat of a strike looms over a contract dispute between Greater Dayton RTA union workers and the agency’s executive leadership. Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1385 object to proposed changes to their health care plans and have called for “better” working conditions and raises. The union does not want to strike but members may decide it is necessary because RTA leadership has not meaningfully budged on its offer…

The Worker-led Fast Food Union Campaign Building Power on the Shop Floor  In These Times  …Disgruntled Burgerville workers began covertly organizing in 2015. The Burgerville Workers Union went public on April 26 with a march of more than 100 people through Portland, Oregon, and the delivery of a letter to the corporate headquarters in Vancouver. BVWU demands include a $5-an-hour raise for all hourly workers, recognition of a workers organization, affordable, quality healthcare, a safe and healthy workplace, and fair and consistent scheduling with ample notice…

Long Haul Truck Drivers Are Scarily Close to Being Put Out of Business  Mother Jones  …This doesn’t mean the nation’s truck drivers need to start working on their résumés. Technology like this may eventually displace human truck drivers, but the tech is several years away from causing mass unemployment. The key reason is that Otto’s self-driving technology is initially limited to highways… 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS

Private Prison Company Backs Super PACs For Donald Trump, Senate Republicans  Huffington Post  …The GEO Group, one of the two largest private prison companies in the country, emerged in 2016 as one of the very few publicly traded companies making significant contributions to super PACs. The Florida-based company contributed $673,200 through the end of September, putting its weight behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Republican control of the Senate…

“Treat Them Like the Heroes They Are”: Fmr. Black Panthers Call for Release of Those Still Locked Up  Democracy Now  …Some members of the Black Panther Party have been behind bars for more than four decades and are now suffering from poor health. In some cases, court documents show they were punished essentially for being in the black liberation struggle. Many continue to face parole board denials based on their relationship with the party…

Marked for death by Trump when he was 15  SocialistWorker.org  …Yusef Salaam is one of the Central Park 5–five young men of color wrongfully convicted in 1989 of sexually assaulting Trisha Meili, a white woman jogging in Central Park. The “Central Park Jogger” case became national news. Fanning the flames of the witch hunt was Donald Trump, who bought full-page ads in four New York City newspapers using the Central Park Jogger case to call for New York state to bring back the death penalty…

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is officially charged with criminal contempt in racial profiling case  LA Times  …The longtime sheriff of metropolitan Phoenix has been charged with criminal contempt of court for ignoring a judge’s order in a racial profiling case. Democratic challenger Paul Penzone said Arpaio, through his acts of political defiance, has no one to blame but himself for the charge. “It’s another example of the sheriff putting his own personal objectives ahead of the best interest of the community at our expense,” Penzone said…

Sen. Jeff Sessions considers eliminating H-1B program  Des Moines Register  …It’s the same program that Trump’s wife, Melania, used to enter the United States in 1996. “We shouldn’t be bringing in people where we’ve got workers,” Sessions said during an appearance in Indianola. “There are a number of ways to fix it. I don’t think the republic would collapse if it was totally eliminated.” He said the program allows American companies to go over to countries like India and bring graduate students and workers back to the United States to work…

Protesters Block Upper Level of George Washington Bridge  NBC  …The inbound upper level of the George Washington Bridge was closed by an immigrant rights protest on Wednesday morning, snarling traffic on one of the region’s most important crossings at the height of rush hour. The protest organization, Laundry Workers Center — which was using the hashtags #WeAreVisible and #SomosVisible on social media — was already planning a rally in Union Square Park Wednesday night…