Teamsters join legal challenge to presidential executive orders that impair union and employee rights
June 13, 2018 | Today, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined with 12 other labor unions in bringing a lawsuit to stop the implementation of three executive orders issued by the President on May 25. Two of the orders impair long-established federal labor relations procedures by limiting the ability of federal workers and their union representatives to perform union business and by weakening the process for negotiating contracts on behalf of unionized federal employees. The third order seeks to impair the due process rights of employees alleged to have performance problems… Teamsters

Hoffa pledges solidarity with UAW during union’s convention
June 13, 2018 | General President Hoffa addressed the 1,100 delegates at the United Auto Workers (UAW) 37th Constitutional Convention in Detroit yesterday. “Their is no greater solidarity than that between the Teamsters and the UAW,” he said. “Next year is a pivotal moment for the UAW as you had into negotiations with the Big 3 [automakers]. I am here to tell you that the 1.4 million members of the Teamsters Union will be there to stand shoulder to shoulder with you.” More at Teamsters

Tronc blocks European readers over new privacy rules
May 25, 2018 | American news outlets including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Arizona Daily Star abruptly blocked access to their websites from Europe on Friday, choosing to black out readers rather than comply with a strict new data privacy law in the European Union that limits what information can be collected about people online. The most notable blackouts were by news organizations tied to the American media company Tronc. In addition to The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, newspapers including The New York Daily News, The Orlando Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun were also unavailable to readers in Europe… New York Times

Older news items can be viewed at 888 News.

tronc shows its true colors in a tweet Feb. 1, 2017  | For a few says, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune [and Baltimore Sun] told us everything we need to know about its contempt for reporters and cynicism about journalism. Just after 3 p.m. last Friday, @troncCareers posted a tweet with a Dilbert cartoon mocking the idea of hiring reporters… robertfeder.com Tronc Sells LA Times to Local Billionaire, Ending a Long-Troubled Relationship Feb. 7, 2018 | The Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Times completed its sale of the newspaper on Wednesday in a surprise move that probably spells the end of its long-troubled relationship with Southern California’s leading news outlet. The buyer is Patrick Soon-Shiong, a Los Angeles-area physician and a major shareholder of the paper’s former parent company, Tronc. As part of the $500 million deal, he will also buy its sister newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune…. Washington Post Is Tronc due for a crash? Mar. 12, 2018 | [Last] Thursday marked a day of reckoning for Tronc. The company — the last big public newspaper company to report year-end earnings — released those numbers for 2017. They weren’t good, as I had signaled in my earlier reporting on the chaos at and subsequent sale of the Los Angeles Times. But what followed seems to be much more than a reaction to that report. In a single stunning trading session, Tronc lost almost a quarter of its market value — or $160 million, down 24 percent.… Neiman Lab

tronc shows its true colors in a tweet Feb. 1, 2017  | For a few says, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune [and Baltimore Sun] told us everything we need to know about its contempt for reporters and cynicism about journalism. Just after 3 p.m. last Friday, @troncCareers posted a tweet with a Dilbert cartoon mocking the idea of hiring reporters… robertfeder.com

Tronc Sells LA Times to Local Billionaire, Ending a Long-Troubled Relationship Feb. 7, 2018 | The Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Times completed its sale of the newspaper on Wednesday in a surprise move that probably spells the end of its long-troubled relationship with Southern California’s leading news outlet. The buyer is Patrick Soon-Shiong, a Los Angeles-area physician and a major shareholder of the paper’s former parent company, Tronc. As part of the $500 million deal, he will also buy its sister newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune…. Washington Post

Is Tronc due for a crash? Mar. 12, 2018 | [Last] Thursday marked a day of reckoning for Tronc. The company — the last big public newspaper company to report year-end earnings — released those numbers for 2017. They weren’t good, as I had signaled in my earlier reporting on the chaos at and subsequent sale of the Los Angeles Times. But what followed seems to be much more than a reaction to that report. In a single stunning trading session, Tronc lost almost a quarter of its market value — or $160 million, down 24 percent.… Neiman Lab

	Experts Say Auto Tariffs Would Raise Prices, Cost Jobs June 18, 2018 | ECONOMY | Every workday, about 7,400 trucks mostly loaded with automotive parts rumble across the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Canada, at times snarling traffic along the busy corridor. But if President Donald Trump delivers on threats to slap 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles and components, there will be far fewer big rigs heading to factories that are now humming close to capacity on both sides of the border. The tariff threat could be a negotiating ploy to restart stalled talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement. But it also could be real, since the administration already has imposed duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, as well as steel and aluminum from China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico… myndnow.com

	Millennials: Unions Good, Corporations Bad June 13, 2018 | ORGANIZED LABOR | Pew Research Center has just released it’d annual survey on public opinion and unions in the United States. As in the last few years, the general public views the decline of organized labor negatively. Fifty-one percent of respondents agreed the “reduction in union representation over the past 20 years has been mostly bad for working people” while just 35 percent said it was “mostly good.”… The union favorability margin increases among both young people and low-income people… Jacobin

	Boeing Workers in S.C. Have Finally Unionized, But… June 13, 2018 | ORGANIZING | Trump’s Labor Board could kibosh it. On May 31, technicians at the Boeing factory in North Charleston, South Carolina voted to unionize and join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers …The labor victory follows two prior attempts to form a union. In 2015, the machinists withdrew a request for a union vote, claiming that a fair election couldn’t be held due to “an atmosphere of threats, harassment and unprecedented political interference.” Last year, the union suffered a huge defeat after employees voted 2,097-731 against joining the union. This time, the union voted within a smaller bargaining unit, often referred to as a “micro unit,” and secured a 104-65 win on May 31. However, this win could be in jeopardy as Boeing has appealed the vote, arguing that the micro-unit election violates federal labor law… In These Times

	In Case You Missed It   • The rogue world of one of NYC’s major trash haulers   • Trade war would cause casualties   • How the NFL Players’ union can block ban on protests   • No bubbles on the horizon   • The class struggle according to Donald Trump   • WWE superstars would be insane not to unionize   • N.J. bolsters union rights of public sector workers   • Local 727 drivers overwhelmingly reject American Bottle Group’s final offer   • 15 default privacy settings you should change right now   • Why our nation is watching Illinois case Janus v. AFSCME   • SCOTUS attack on workers requires voter resolve in 2018   • ‘Jaw-dropping’ report reveals rampant wage theft among top US corporations   • Standing Teamster Strong in the face of Janus vs. AFSCME:

	Unions Forge Partnerships With Communities for The Common Good June 8, 2018 | ORGANIZED LABOR | Not surprisingly, the West Virginia strike—like similar teacher strikes in Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma—has inspired a groundswell of union activism. “Common good bargaining is exciting because it allows unions to bargain for the world they want to see,” says Marilyn Schneiderman, director of the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University. “There is a real thirst on the part of union leaders and members to join together with activists to build better communities and a better world.” Social justice unionism is not a new idea, but it’s significant that unions have recently started “going on the offense in a time of cutbacks and anti-union attacks"… truthout.org