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Today’s Teamster News For December 8, 2016
TEAMSTERS
Salt Lake City Hertz Workers Win First Contract Teamster.org …Workers at Hertz rental car at the Salt Lake City airport have more to smile about after securing the first Teamster contract with Local 222 for the counter service, Gold Choice and Instant Return unit. The 22 new members are in good company as they work alongside mechanics and vehicle service attendants who have been members of the local union for a few years. “The Salt Lake City airport Hertz workers wanted stability,” said Britt Miller, business agent and organizer at Local 222, Salt Lake City, Utah…
Teamster Pilots At Amazon & DHL Contractor AAWW Voice Growing Frustration With Contract Delays Teamster.org …Days after pilots at DHL and Amazon contractor ABX went on strike, hundreds of pilots at AAWW say their company does not have enough pilots to meet clients’ needs and are looking for work at other airlines because their employer refuses to come to an industry-standard contract agreement that will address staffing shortages. The looming mass departure is revealed in two new surveys of current and former pilots at Atlas Air and Southern Air released December 7 by their union, Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224…
Pilots for Spirit Airlines and DHL contract carriers picket for new deals Sun Sentinel …A contingent of about 70 pilots from contract air cargo operators of DHL Express staged an informational picket Wednesday outside its U.S. headquarters in Plantation to voice their concerns over lagging contract negotiations. The unionized pilots — represented by the Airline Professionals Association, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224 — are seeking a resumption of contract negotiations…
First Student, union bus drivers reach agreement on contract WMUR …A school bus driver strike has been avoided, now that union drivers who work out of the First Student bus depot in Belmont have agreed to a contract after working without one since June. A short meeting at the Hampton Inn in Tilton was all it took for drivers in Teamsters Union Local 633 to accept their employer’s latest offer. The union has been struggling to reach a contract with First Student for months…
Teamster Renaissance Hotel Shuttle Driver Reinstated with Backpay Local 727 …After wrongful termination by Renaissance Hotel Rosemont, a Teamsters Local 727 shuttle driver recently returned to work and has received back pay thanks to Local 727 representatives. In August, the hotel claimed that the member backed up one of the shuttles into a pole at the hotel and that the incident was not reported. Local 727 immediately filed a grievance…
National Express warned: unions globally are up for action ITF …The campaign will launch in early 2017 and build on activity undertaken by the ITF and its member unions Unite in the UK and the Teamsters in the US to get National Express to act over longstanding concerns about the treatment of employees by its US subsidiary Durham School Services. In April, the Teamsters was the first union to invoke the ITF charter on corporate behaviour in relation to Durham…
Unions rally for vote against bonus for CEO of ASOS warehouse company Investment Observer …A coalition of international workers unions have called on investors to vote against a new plan giving lucrative equity to the CEO of XPO Logistics, the company behind the workers’ rights controversy at ASOS. In a statement,Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said: “We condemn this plan that could lavish Jacobs and other executives at XPO with massive stock awards that would be on the backs of workers in the United States and Europe”…
James Hoffa tells global union leaders: “Trade can’t be free if it’s not fair” ITF …James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) will tell representatives of the world’s road and rail workforce gathered in Brussels, Belgium, today that “Trade can’t be free if it’s not fair”. Mr Hoffa will address 171 representatives and leaders from 84 trade unions representing road and rail workers in 42 countries worldwide, who are meeting in the Belgian capital…
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Mexico: health workers strike over unpaid salaries Mexico News Daily …Since last week, health care workers in Nayarit have been taking job action to protest arrears in payments to workers and denounce shortages of drug, supplies and basic equipment. Only the most basic emergency care is being provided in the state’s five hospitals, 15 specialized medical units and the 205 health centers…
Tunisian Public Employees Win Wage Gains, Call off Strike Solidarity Center …Tunisian public employees will receive salary increases, bonuses and other key economic gains following negotiations between the country’s union federation, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) and the government. With the December 7 agreement, the UGTT canceled a public service general strike set to start December 8…
Vietnam Warns of Return of Protectionism as TPP Hopes Fade Bloomberg …Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc warned of the risk of returning protectionism as Southeast Asian nations brace for potentially tighter trade controls in the U.S. Economists have said Vietnam’s export-dependent economy would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of TPP…
Malaysia mulls trade options without TPP Asian Review …A Malaysian trade official said on Thursday that a regional trade pact involving China and Japan will replace the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is being scrapped in the wake of the U.S. presidential election last month. Speaking with reporters during a trade mission to Vietnam, Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysia’s minister of international trade and industry, said options are being studied…
The grim truth of Chinese factories producing the west’s Christmas toys The Guardian …An investigation with the US-based NGO China Labor Watch reveals that toys including Barbie, Thomas the Tank Engine and Hot Wheels were made by staff earning as little as 86p an hour. Overtime can run to nearly three times the legal limit. In some factories – including one producing Happy Meal toys for McDonald’s from the new DreamWorks movie Trolls – that means some are on 12-hour shifts and have to work with hazardous chemicals…
Suit against seafood company nets $86,500 for migrant workers AL.com …A two-year-old legal dispute involving pay for Mexican guest workers at a coastal Alabama oyster processor has ended with an $86,500 settlement approved this week in district court. The class-action complaint supported by the Southern Poverty Law Center was filed against R&A Oysters, of Bayou La Batre and Irvington…
Greeks strike against ‘repressive austerity’ Aljazeera …Greece’s leading unions have launched a general strike that shut down several key sectors in protest over planned new pay cuts and taxes called for by international creditors. Civil servants, bank staff, merchant seamen, railway workers and state-employed doctors were among professionals taking part in Thursday’s 24-hour stoppage…
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Maryland: Hogan proposes 5 days paid sick leave for Md. businesses with at least 50 workers Washington Post …Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will propose legislation requiring companies with at least 50 employees to provide five days a year of paid sick leave, triggering a likely standoff with Democratic lawmakers who tried to pass a more expansive law this year. Hogan, who owned a real estate company before taking office, described his bill as a “common-sense” approach…
Illinois: Rauner moving on home care OT rules KPVI …Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is continuing to move forward with a revised proposal to cap overtime for workers who provide in-home care for people with disabilities despite a bill sitting on the governor’s desk that would block the policy. The administration has been trying for a year to restrict overtime in most situations for workers in the Illinois Department of Human Services’ home services program…
Maine: LePage urges lawmakers to alter voter initiatives on minimum wage and tax surcharge Portland Press Herald …Gov. Paul LePage swore in members of the 128th Legislature on Wednesday, but not before urging lawmakers to change two referendum measures passed by Maine voters in November. LePage said the ballot initiatives to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and to impose a 3 percent tax surcharge on individual income above $200,000 a year will hurt the state’s economy…
Wisconsin: strangling public-sector unions in Wisconsin has shrunk teachers’ pay and benefits The Atlantic …Beginning with the elections of 2010, when a wave of Tea Party, anti-government candidates won statewide offices across the country, states have passed legislation to diminish the power of unions, and that’s had a very real effect on middle-class Americans. Wisconsin passed Act 10 in 2010, and Indiana and Michigan both became right-to-work states in 2012…
GOP plans new state-level assault on unions The Hill …Republicans in crucial states across the country are planning a renewed assault on the political power of labor unions after GOP victories in November’s elections handed the party control of states where Democrats have long defended union rights. Labor unions have been on the defense in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and North Carolina in recent years…
DC mayor wants changes to landmark paid-leave plan WTOP …D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says she has concerns about landmark legislation approved by a D.C. Council committee to offer paid family leave to D.C. workers and says changes need to be made to the bill before it gets to her desk. “There will have to be some concessions made for small businesses,” Bowser told reporters Wednesday…
U.S. LABOR
Union chief for Greater Dayton RTA workers says strike date is set WHIO …The union representing Greater Dayton RTA bus drivers has set a strike date, which the union president said will be announced Friday. “The members have had enough,” Glenn Salyer, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1385, said to the Dayton City Commission at its regular meeting Wednesday night. “A strike date has been set”…
Nestlé workers rally in Danville as contract negotiations continue GoDanRiver …With signs reading “fair contract now!” and loud chants, a few dozen workers at the Nestlé Prepared Foods Co. factory held a rally outside the building with the United Steelworkers on Monday, as the union continues contract negotiations with the company. “We just want to get a fair contract and move on,” said USW staff representative Eddie Robtison. Robtison described the rally as an informational picket for Nestlé workers…
WSNA nurses at St. Joe’s score major victory The Stand …The Washington State Nurses Association is pleased to announce that we have reached a groundbreaking settlement of our lawsuit concerning meal and rest break violations against Franciscan Health System d/b/a St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. Under the terms of the settlement, St. Joseph will pay nurses $5 million in back pay for missed meal and rest breaks…
What Amazon’s cashier-free store could mean for millions of workers PBS …Amazon forayed into the brick and mortar grocery industry Monday by testing its first convenience store, Amazon Go. But the high-tech, small-scale market could drastically change the way people shop and eventually eliminate the need for millions of workers, industry experts predict. The first Amazon Go location is situated in Seattle and is only available to Amazon employees…
Holiday season is a tough time for low-wage federal contractors Washington Post …In a complaint filed Monday with the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the Lionel Henderson Corp. “has misclassified and underpays workers” who are customer service representatives for the National Flood Insurance Program. It’s called “wage theft” and Henderson is not alone as an alleged wage thief…
Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Pay for Collapsed Trucking Firm’s Workers Wall Street Journal …The Supreme Court pressed lawyers for a closed New Jersey trucking company to explain why a legal settlement that left workers unpaid didn’t violate bankruptcy law’s strict repayment rules, which call for certain wages to be paid before other debts. Justices at a Wednesday argument session questioned whether the payout plan for Jevic Transportation Inc.’s final bills complied with bankruptcy law…
More U.S. Factory Workers Are Saying ‘I Quit’ Wall Street Journal …About 157,000 U.S. workers quit a manufacturing job in October, the highest level in more than eight years and a reminder of the massive churn across the labor market. Falling factory employment has been running theme of 2016…
How repealing Obamacare would punish the working class Washington Post …The number of people without health insurance could more than double under Republican plans to repeal President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, reaching nearly 59 million — or more than one in four Americans, according to a new analysis published Wednesday. The figures illustrate the challenges for newly empowered Republicans…
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
A Bigger Economic Pie, but a Smaller Slice for Half of the U.S. New York Times …Even with all the setbacks from recessions, burst bubbles and vanishing industries, the United States has still pumped out breathtaking riches over the last three and half decades. Yet for half of all Americans, their share of the total economic pie has shrunk significantly, new research has found…
Can cops kill with impunity? Now we know the answer. Slate …Two Aprils ago, Officer Michael Slager shot and killed Walter Scott, a 50-year-old resident of North Charleston, South Carolina. Slager is white; Scott was black. In the video footage, captured by a bystander on his cellphone camera, Scott can be seen running away from Slager following a brief scuffle. As Scott flees, Slager raises his gun and fires eight times, killing him…
Choosing Between Shelter and School The Atlantic …Dealing with the logistics of getting to school can be a major challenge for the increasing number of children in New York City who are homeless, many of them shuffled from shelter to shelter, according to a recent report by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO). The location of shelters is one major obstacle, as families are often placed in shelters far from their children’s original schools…