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Local and National News
Union stand in solidarity with UFCW, condemn Mississippi raids on workers
Aug. 9, 2019 | The Teamsters Union stands with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) as it works to protect its members against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that are tearing families apart. Federal authorities raided two food processing plants represented by UFCW [Wednesday] and arrested scores of union members there. Hoffa calls for an end to polices hurting workers and families… TeamstersPensions. Trade. Labor rights. What issue do YOU care about?
Aug. 9, 2019 | Candidates care about our support. They know working people are going to shape the outcome of this election. That’s why the IBT is conducting a member survey nationwide to hear from each and every one of us. It doesn’t matter what your politics are or who you plan to vote for – the Union wants to hear from you. By completing this survey, you’re giving the Union the information it needs to go to the presidential candidates with clear demands for what any candidate – left, right, or center – needs to do if they want Teamster support. Presidential debate drives Teamster action to influence election
Aug. 2, 2019 | The Teamsters continued its drive to getting 2020 presidential candidates focused on the needs of workers this week by having General President Jim Hoffa attend a Democratic Party debate and by holding separate events in South Carolina and New Hampshire where the union gathered insights on what issues matter most to its membership. Hoffa attended Wednesday night’s debate in Detroit in hopes of hearing from candidates where they stand on issues that matter most to Teamsters. And although several shared their thoughts on important issues such as trade and health care, there was a deafening silence when it came to an essential matter for this union – pensions. As Hoffa said on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” show, “what are we going to do about retirement security, those who worked hard and played by the rules? Those are the type of kitchen table issues I would like to see these debates focused on, and I’m not hearing that.” … Continued at TeamstersOlder news items can be viewed at 888 News.
Elsewhere in The News
Aug. 16, 2019 | BOOKS | (Excerpt from “Beaten Down, Worked Up” by longtime labor reporter Steven Greenhouse) In the United States, a country that by many measures is the world’s richest, life has taken a wrong turn for millions of workers. For far too many, the land of opportunity has turned into a land of downsized hopes and shrunken mobility. Many Americans who struggle to pay each month’s bills, who juggle two or three jobs, who bounce from one low-paid gig job to another, ask what has happened to this land of vaunted opportunity, a nation famed for its Horatio Alger credo: if you work hard, you will get ahead… WBUR
• The new servant class
• Md. recalls 8,000 Real ID driver’s licenses
• Why it’s immigrants that pack your meats
• Supreme Court: Storm clouds on the horizon
• Sysco South Florida workers vote Teamsters YES
• Justice Dept. challenges immigration judges’ union
• U.S. lawmaker wants to break barriers to women truckers
• Walmart anti-union video is another reason not to shop there
• Workers & allies lay the groundwork for labor law reform fight.
Aug. 15, 2019 | WAGES | The chasm between what the country's corporate leaders and their workers earn is widening to Grand Canyon-like proportions, according to new research that shows CEO compensation surged 940% between 1978 to 2018 while the average worker saw a meager 12% pay hike over the same 40-year period. "CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are increasing productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills…” CBS News
Aug. 14, 2019 | JOBS | The US economy doesn’t have enough workers. There’s no better time for working-class Americans to demand better wages, benefits, schedules, and work conditions. It also means immigration reform is more urgent than ever. In order to fill all the open jobs and keep the economy growing, Congress will need to allow more low-skilled immigrants to work — legally. The numbers are pretty clear about what comes next. If 7.4 million jobs are open and only 6 million people are looking for work, then employers need to find a lot more workers. They need to encourage more Americans to join the workforce… Vox
Aug. 12, 2019 | LABOR HISTORY | A dozen years ago, migrant workers in the “winter tomato capital” of Immokalee, Fla., arrived for work around 7 a.m. but had to wait up to four hours, unpaid, for the sun to dry the plants before they could start picking and start getting paid. For many, the goal was to earn $60 a day, which meant picking 4,800 pounds of tomatoes in the blistering sun without any breaks or shade. As Steven Greenhouse writes in his new book, “Beaten Down, Worked Up,” crew leaders regularly cheated pickers out of $10 or $15 of their wages or withheld pay altogether. “When workers complained, the crew leaders sometimes beat them or fired them,” Greenhouse writes. “Female workers had it worst of all. Crew leaders frequently groped them or demanded sex if women wanted to keep their jobs.”… Washington Post
