Hoffa: Get serious about good jobs
Aug. 8, 2017 | The Teamsters is fighting tooth-and-nail against the legal implementation of autonomous trucks in the US. Last week it successfully lobbied Congress to place a 10,000 pound weight-limit on current driverless vehicle legislation. The legislation represents a rare example of bipartisanship under the current administration; it passed with a vote of 54-0. thenextweb.com

Teamsters support bipartisan effort in Senate to repeal Cadillac tax
July 31, 2017 | Currently, the excise tax, commonly referred to as the Cadillac Tax, places a 40 percent tax on high-quality health care plans. This tax will only hurt working men and women who will see their premiums rise as costs are passed down the line. “Senators on both sides of the aisle are doing the right thing and fighting to repeal this harmful tax on good health care plans,” General President Jim Hoffa said... teamster.org

Older news items can be viewed at 888 News.

---

Nonprofit journalism groups are gearing up with flood of donations Dec. 6, 2016  | …The postelection uptick in support for journalism has not been limited to nonprofit media; the newspaper conglomerate Tronc Inc. (formerly Tribune Publishing) and The New York Times, among others, have reported thousands of new subscribers since the election. But for the growing number of nonprofit journalism organizations, the moment may provide the kind of opening they have needed to take on a much larger role for a field that continues to face significant financial challenges and sinking public trust… nytimes.com Why Gannett should take another stab at Tronc July 24, 2017 | The pursuit of the Chicago-Sun Times was thwarted by a Department of Justice decision to prevent the owner of the Chicago Tribune from also owning the city’s second-largest daily newspaper. So what’s next for Tronc, the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing that also ons the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel? thestreet.com 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

Nonprofit journalism groups are gearing up with flood of donations Dec. 6, 2016  | …The postelection uptick in support for journalism has not been limited to nonprofit media; the newspaper conglomerate Tronc Inc. (formerly Tribune Publishing) and The New York Times, among others, have reported thousands of new subscribers since the election. But for the growing number of nonprofit journalism organizations, the moment may provide the kind of opening they have needed to take on a much larger role for a field that continues to face significant financial challenges and sinking public trust… nytimes.com

Why Gannett should take another stab at Tronc July 24, 2017 | The pursuit of the Chicago-Sun Times was thwarted by a Department of Justice decision to prevent the owner of the Chicago Tribune from also owning the city’s second-largest daily newspaper. So what’s next for Tronc, the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing that also ons the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel? thestreet.com

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

	In Case You Missed It   • The latest on Teamster contracts & strikes.   • AFL-CIO decries "war on regulatory protections."   • Militant labor organizers catch PepsiCo off guard.   • House rejects repeal of federal prevailing-wage law.   • Foreign workers being used to build auto plants in U.S.   • Trump about to make US much crueler to unionized workers.   • Has Big Pharma made us a nation of opioid drug addicts?   • Senators pressure retailers to root out "shameful" abuse of truckers.   • UAW accuses Nissan of "scare tactics" as workers reject union bid.   • Nurses cheer ruling finding labor law-breaking at Md. hospital.   • Aug. 21 rare solar eclipse: Your guide to watching it.

	Under the Hood of Nissan’s Ugly Anti-Union Campaign to Suppress Workers’ Votes Aug. 9, 2017 | WAR ON WORKERS | … According to employee reports, and complaints from federal authorities, the auto giant threatened, coerced, and retaliated against those who supported joining in union. Managers screened anti-union videos on a continuous loop in plant breakrooms and pulled individuals into intimidating meetings to pressure them to vote against their own interest. Operating in a state scarred by slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the struggle for civil rights, Nissan has a shameful record of oppressing its predominately African-American workforce and suppressing their votes. It’s no accident that the Canton plant [Mississippi] is one of only three Nissan facilities in the world where the corporation resists working people negotiating over the terms of their work. During the most recent presidential election, managers told some employees they could not make an accommodations for them to vote if they were scheduled for 12-hour shifts that conflicted with voting hours…jobswithjustice.org

	Who Made ‘Entitlement’ a Dirty Word? Aug. 8, 2017 | SOCIAL JUSTICE | … So how did the word “entitlement” become such a mean spirited place where we listen to and even agree with arguments that “entitlements” must be slashed? Perhaps it is the politics of fear. When we operate from a zero sum mentality it is easy to become frightened that if we provide for others there will not be enough for us. If everyone receiving entitlements are viewed as just pigs, selfishly slurping at the trough, then indeed the rest of us will be left with nothing. But, what if it’s not a zero sum game? laborpress.com

	The UPS Strike, 20 Years Later Aug. 7, 2017 | LABOR HISTORY | Twenty years ago, the Teamsters’ national strike against United Parcel Service (UPS) produced panic, if not outright hysteria, in the corporate boardrooms of the United States. The editorial writers of the Wall Street Journal were at their wits’ end: “The UPS strike is so weird it’s hard to know where to begin. Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the mighty Teamsters has suddenly decided it must paralyze the nation’s parcel-distribution system to have it out over mostly voluntary part-timers and various pension arcana. These matters may be worth an argument, but Armageddon? What’s this weird, awful strike about anyway?” Everybody else, though, seemed to get it…jacobinmag.com

	$15 Wage Would Give 41 Million A Raise Aug. 2, 2017 | WAGES | Raising the minimum wage to a living wage level of $15 an hour over the next seven years would have the effect of raising the pay of more than 41 million workers nationwide, a new report stated. The document, released on the eighth anniversary of the last federal minimum wage increase by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), showed the greatest gains would come in the 21 states whose wage floor is tied to the $7.25 an hour federal standard. There, some 20.7 million workers would benefit… teamster.org