-
Local and National News
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lays off 30 Local 211 Teamsters
Nov. 15, 2019 | Block Communications, Inc.’s unconscionable economic assault on unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continues with the illegal laying off Sunday of about 30 Teamsters and three pressmen who are also Teamsters. Those let go have decades of service to the paper yet have only been offered a paltry maximum of six weeks severance pay. In keeping with its cruel tactics, the Toledo-based, Block family-owned media company made sure that most of the Teamsters who remain were put on part-time status, meaning they will lose their health care benefits… TeamstersTeamsters honor veterans
Nov. 11, 2019 | Dear Active-Duty and Veteran Teamsters: Veterans Day is a time to remember the contributions of all those who are or have served in the nation’s armed forces protecting our freedom. The Teamsters recognize the sacrifice those in the military incur and are honored that so many have chosen to become a part of our union family. Since World War I, Teamster members have been involved in all our nation’s wars… Continued at TeamstersHoffa: 2020 presidential candidates must share vision for Labor
Nov. 7, 2019 |The 2020 presidential election, now less than a year away, is arriving at a key moment in U.S. history. Workers, long the backbone of this nation, are falling behind because they’ve been ignored at the expense of corporations. Next November’s vote is an opportunity to change that and pave a path to prosperity. But how should it be addressed? The Teamsters decided it wanted to hear from its membership on what the union should prioritize. Three months and some 22,000 surveys later (including from more than 700 Michigan Teamsters), they have made it clear: Preserve our hard-earned pension benefits; continue to protect our legally-guaranteed rights to bargain in good faith; and enact fair trade deals that take workers’ issues under consideration… Detroit NewsWe want your video questions for presidential candidates
Nov. 6, 2019 | The Teamsters Union is hosting a Presidential Candidate Forum on Dec. 7, 2019, featuring several of the leading Democratic contenders. We want the candidates to hear directly from Teamsters members – that’s why you’re being asked to submit a video with your question for the candidates. Details here.Older news items can be viewed at 888 News.
Elsewhere in The News
Nov. 15, 2019 | ORGANIZING | Under the supervision of two foremen, workers clad in white coveralls use a sandblaster and other power tools to remove corrosion from airplane parts. A sign posted nearby in all capital letters reads, "This is a union shop." Workers, the sign says, have the right to file a grievance if they have suffered a hardship or feel like they haven't been treated fairly. But this isn't a workplace. It's a classroom—and the workers are high school sophomores… Education Week
• The GM strike and the future of the UAW
• Want a four-day workweek? Unionize!
• ‘9 To 5’ is still a radical movie for 3 big reasons
• The hottest stop for 2020 candidates? The picket line.
• Survey: Workers feel pressure to work when they’re sick
• Push to raise minimum wage goes local, at airports, hotels
• Judge: Hogan administration violated labor laws against largest state union
• Teamsters: Garbage hauling no longer a dirty job but still essential to city life
• Why the workplace of the future must include older workers
• Latest data show Trump’s most touted economic policies have failed workers
• Hearst staffers vote to form one of the media industry’s largest unions
• Gift idea: 2020 calendar packed with positivity
Nov. 14, 2019 | ORGANIZING | The Teamsters for years have been at the forefront of pushing back on excessive CEO pay. Now the union is glad to see some on Capitol Hill agree. Lawmakers yesterday rolled out the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act, which would impose tax rate increases on companies with CEO-to-median-worker pay rates greater than 50-to-1. Penalties would begin with a 0.5 percent corporate rate tax increase for those at the lower end, rising to a five percent increase for companies with a ratio greater than 500-to-1. The tax is expected to raise $150 billion over 10 years. Several Teamster employers have been guilty of such pay disparity, including XPO Logistics, where CEO Bradley Jacobs’ pay exceed workers 361:1; Republic Services Group, where CEO Donald Slager’s pay is 183 times higher than the average worker; and UNFI, whose CEO Steven Spinner earns 96 times the company’s median worker… Teamster.org
Nov. 13, 2019 | COLLECTIVE ACTION | On the campaign trail, Donald Trump pledged to get rid of NAFTA, and once in office, he killed Barack Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership. Neither of those trade policies were worth mourning. But now he has produced a “renegotiated” NAFTA-the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA-whose purpose is the same as the original: to eliminate “rules that interfere with cross-border commercial activity” and “to craft laws that facilitate these activities,” according to the Canadian union, UNIFOR. In other words, the purpose of the new agreement is to provide profit-making opportunities for large corporations-the same purpose that led to the disastrous impact of the old one… Peoples World
Nov. 12, 2019 | UNION POWER | After decades of declining membership and seemingly sidelined authority, a series of national strikes have put unions back in the spotlight. And as economic inequality has become a hot-button issue for workers and candidates on the 2020 campaign trail, some experts have said a surge of emboldened organized labor movements could be on the horizon… "Union organizers I've talked to have said that there is a dramatic pick-up in the number of people interested in organizing and trying to gain collective bargaining," Larry Mishel, a labor expert and distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News… ABC News
