Members & Stewards: Helpful union resources are only a click away
Sept. 24, 2018 | Do you know what a contract campaign is? Do you know why it's important to file a grievance in a timely manner? Are you aware that besides what is in your contract, your workplace may have its own unwritten rules? Every Monday we provide answers to those questions and quick tips to help you learn more about the Local Union and your role in it. Available under Weekly Tip for Members. Stewards, do you know what the 'Cardinal Sins' are? Do you know how to use a grievance as a tactic tool? When past practice is relevant? The Weekly Tips for Stewards under the Shop Stewards link is updated every Monday with helpful tips to make your role as steward a bit easier. (Note: If you've forgotten your password, email teamstersjc62@gmail.com for assistance.)

Hoffa: Appreciating truckers means keeping rules that make roads safer
Sept. 17, 2018 | The nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers do yeoman’s work keeping the U.S. economy humming by transporting goods from coast to coast. The Teamsters thank the President and other elected officials for recognizing the crucial role that these workers play in keeping our country moving forward. However, working as a trucker is dangerous and stressful …  teamsters.org. 

Posting will resume on September 17th
Sept. 10, 2018 | Your webmaster is on vacation this week. See you back here next Monday.

Hoffa: Americans recognize union value
September 5, 2018 | Most workers this week received an extra day off for Labor Day, which honors hardworking Americans who for generations have fought for higher pay, better benefits and improved safety on the job. But Labor Day isn’t just about the past; it is still very much about the present. In 2018 alone, thousands of Teamsters gathered in Detroit and Columbus, Ohio demanding that their earned pensions be protected. Teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and elsewhere walked out of their classrooms because of low pay and lack of respect on the job. And just last month, more than two-thirds of voters in Missouri overturned so-called Right-to-Work legislation that curbs the ability of workers to come together and negotiate for fair compensation and workplace conditions. Why is this happening? …  teamsters.org

Older news items can be viewed at 888 News.

It looks like Tronc is about to be chopped up, sold for parts Sept. 17, 2018 | While it still requires some deal jiu-jitsu, Tronc looks to be on the brink of being broken up. Will Wyatt’s new Donerail Group, several confidential sources tell me, has now gotten the financing in place to do a deal to buy Tronc. Donerail would purchase Tronc’s 10 daily newspaper properties, take the company private, and then most likely sell the papers off to individual buyers — some of whom it already has lined up… Neiman Lab And this: Tronc in talks to sell to McClatchy? Sept. 17, 2018 | A second firm is in talks to potentially acquire Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc. California-based newspaper chain McClatchy is in “early stage” discussions to buy Tronc, owner of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, a source familiar with the negotiations said Friday. McClatchy, a publicly traded company, generated about $904 million in revenue last year, according to filings with the SEC… Chicago Tribune Tronc to ditch ridiculed name June 29, 2018 | After one of the most lampooned rebrandings of the digital era, Tronc is going to return to the name Tribune Publishing. An insider said that the name change for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News was awaiting the completion of Tronc’s spinoff of the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and several other papers in its California Media Group to health tech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong… MarketWatch

It looks like Tronc is about to be chopped up, sold for parts Sept. 17, 2018 | While it still requires some deal jiu-jitsu, Tronc looks to be on the brink of being broken up. Will Wyatt’s new Donerail Group, several confidential sources tell me, has now gotten the financing in place to do a deal to buy Tronc. Donerail would purchase Tronc’s 10 daily newspaper properties, take the company private, and then most likely sell the papers off to individual buyers — some of whom it already has lined up… Neiman Lab

And this: Tronc in talks to sell to McClatchy? Sept. 17, 2018 | A second firm is in talks to potentially acquire Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc. California-based newspaper chain McClatchy is in “early stage” discussions to buy Tronc, owner of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, a source familiar with the negotiations said Friday. McClatchy, a publicly traded company, generated about $904 million in revenue last year, according to filings with the SEC… Chicago Tribune

Tronc to ditch ridiculed name June 29, 2018 | After one of the most lampooned rebrandings of the digital era, Tronc is going to return to the name Tribune Publishing. An insider said that the name change for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News was awaiting the completion of Tronc’s spinoff of the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and several other papers in its California Media Group to health tech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong… MarketWatch

	Workers Overdose on the Job, and Employers Struggle to Respond September 24, 2018 | HEALTH & SAFTEY | As the opioid epidemic continues to rage across the country, with a record 72,000 drug overdoses estimated in 2017, the fallout is increasingly manifesting itself at construction sites, factories, warehouses, offices and other workplaces. A stunning 70 percent of employers reported that their businesses had been affected by prescription drug abuse, including absenteeism, positive drug tests, injuries, accidents and overdoses, according to a 2017 survey by the National Safety Council, a research and advocacy organization. But despite the growing problem, many employers have turned a blind eye to addiction within their work force, ill-equipped or unwilling to confront a complicated issue they do not know how to address… The New York Times

	Millennials United: Labor Unions Enjoy a Youthful Surge September 19, 2018 | ORGANIZING | […] Millennial-aged workers are now leading growth in overall union membership, upending historical stereotypes that younger workers don’t identify with the labor movement. For decades, total union membership numbers were seemingly in terminal decline, coming down from 16.27 million in 1996 to 14.37 million in 2012. Between 2012 and 2017 too, the number of union members over the age of 35 dropped by 1,000. But over this period, the number of union members under the age of 35 rose by 452,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, leading to an overall increase in union memberships over the past five years, by 451,000. That means millennials are effectively offsetting dips in the membership of older workers, and adding tens of thousands more to union rosters… Ozy

	Here’s Why Thousands of Steelworkers Just Voted to Authorize a Strike September 18, 2018 | STRIKES | […] U.S. Steel was seen a significant bump in profits in 2018, thanks to increased demand for steel, as well as new tariffs that have pushed up the cost of steel and helped pad the bottom line for large corporations such as U.S. Steel, a publicly traded company worth over $6 billion. The question now is whether or not workers will share equally in the largesse generated by today’s boom times for steel production. ... U.S. Steel management has scored “more than $50 million in pay and bonuses since 2015 while the hourly work force has not received a wage increase over the same period” …Working In These Times

	Amazon is Worth $1Trillion. It’s Workers Are on Food Stamps September 17, 2018 | WAGES | Amazon just hit a $1 trillion valuation, but some of its workers feel poorer than ever. Jeff Bezos’s tech giant is the second U.S. company to be worth thirteen-digits on the stock market, following Apple, which hit $1 trillion in August. That’s all well and good for Bezos, whose net worth exceeds $150 billion. But workers at the growing network of Amazon-owned companies say they aren’t seeing the money and Senator Bernie Sanders rolled out a new bill that would penalize Amazon for leaving workers dependent on public assistance. The next day, The Wall Street Journal reported that employees at Whole Foods, a grocery chain recently acquired by Amazon, were seeking to unionize. This is on top of criticism from academics, who say Amazon’s size has warped the economy… The Daily Beast

	In Case You Missed It   • On the picket line   • Trump freezes federal pay   • New report outlines Trump’s anti-worker agenda   • Inside the prison labor strike   • 2018 midterms: stakes for Labor couldn’t be higher   • Trump woos labor unions as he tears up NAFTA   • The emerging plan to save the American labor movement   • Labor Dept. accused of allowing low-paid guest workers   • Federal workers brace for new push on Trump anti-labor goals   • The plot of Sorry to Bother You comes to life   • USW calls for strike authorization vote after impasse with U.S. Steel   • 20 yrs. of govm’t data says raising minumum wage good for workers, businesses, economy