Our next General Membership Meeting will be held Sunday, December 8 at 10 a.m. at the Union Hall.
Please be present and on time.
Local and National Union News
Woo hoo! Organizing victory at Rhee Bros., Inc. Dec. 5, 2013| Please welcome our new Teamster brothers and sisters who voted overwhelmingly to join Local 570. They are 35 warehouse workers employed by Rhee Bros., Inc. — a distributor of produce, and dry and canned goods, located in Hanover, Md. The workers are seeking job security, and dignity and respect on the job. Organizer Moses Jackson, also a Local 570 trustee, said the union was contacted after the workers — in a brave showing of solidarity — recently conducted a brief work stoppage in the warehouse. Though the diverse workforce speaks Spanish, Korean and English, those differences didn't get in the way of their unified drive to organize. "It's been three years since these workers have had a raise, and recent management personnel changes have them worried about their own jobs." Welcome to our great union! (Photo: Local 570 Trustee and Organizer Moses Jackson, left, with Rhee Bros. warehouse employee Raphael Diaz following the Dec. 4, 2013, vote count. Diaz acted as the union's observor during the in-plant voting.)
Buy Made in America (or Canada) this holiday season Dec. 3, 2013| We know we don't have to remind you to shop at Costco, buy-union made beer and ship your holiday packages by UPS. You can also buy union-made Teamster gear at the Teamster Fund store: Teamster Power golf shirts, Teamster flip flops, Teamster earrings, Teamster trailer hitch cover, and our fav – the Teamster Hero T-shirt (shown at right). More ideas for gifts produced by American workers at Teamster Nation.
Black Friday protests held at 1,500 Walmart stores; more than 100 arrested Dec. 2, 2013| OUR Walmart, the non-union group arguing for labor protections, confirmed that protests were held at 1,500 stores on Black Friday to protest pay and calling for a minimum annual salary of $25,000 and better health care for hourly workers. (The average worker makes $8.81 an hour, forcing many to rely on taxpayer-funded public assistance programs to make ends meet. ) The protests took place in large cities — Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Alexandria, Va. and D.C., Boston and Orlando — and stores in smaller cities and towns like Lakeside, Co., Granbury. Tx., and Hyattsville, Md. The company brought in $17b in profits last year. More at CBS News. Related: DC area Walmart workers, community supporters join protests. Also: Walmart's latest lie: "Unions paid $50 to anyone who protested."— Pictured: Brother Gilbert Castillo, IBT Local 396, arrested last month at a Los Angeles protest in support of Walmart workers. More at TeamsterNation.
7 tips for staying on budget this holiday season Nov. 27, 2013| Do you overspend during the holidays? Holiday spending isn't a competition. Forget what you gave and how much you spent (and received) last year. Create and stick to a budget based on what you can afford this year. Union Plus has seven helpful tips and discounts to keep you within this year's budget.
Dec. 6, 2013|HUMAN RIGHTS| Working people worldwide yesterday marked the loss of former South African President Nelson Mandela, whose unyielding struggle to attain equality, human dignity and social justice for his countrymen and women will remain an inspiration to all who still carry on the fight for human rights. More at dclabor.org. Related: "He was a gentle, yet determined, man who fought for his convictions." Learn about Mandela: his trials, tribulations, and transformation to a national leader beloved by people around the globe at People's World.
Dec. 6, 2013 | WORKERS' RIGHTS | Strikes in 100 cities signal a sea change in attitudes about low-wage work…One of the cities that saw fast food demonstrations for the first time was Baltimore. Local labor activists staged modest protests at two separate McDonald's franchises, though there were no instances of McDonald's employees actually walking off the job. John Fariani, a student at Johns Hopkins University and a local spokesperson for the Low Pay is Not OK campaign said the demonstrators at a McDonald's near the city's famed Fort McHenry national park had been organized through online promotions and local networks of labor activists…Coming out of the Great Recession, the number of low-wage jobs is growing 2.7 times faster than that of middle- or high-paid jobs… Full story at In These Times.
Dec. 5, 2013| THE MIDDLE CLASS | In a wide-ranging speech on the state of the economy, President Obama took sharp aim at income inequality, citing the growing gulf between the rich and the rest of us. And he declared that strengthening collective bargaining is one way to close that gap. But the president didn't stop there…[He] laid out a "roadmap" of principles to close the income and wealth gap and pledged to keep fighting for them for the rest of his term. And he said, to applause, that one part of his roadmap is "to ensure our collective bargaining laws function as they're supposed to so unions have a level playing field to organize for a better deal for workers and better wages for the middle class." Full story at Peoples World.
Dec. 5, 2013| PENSIONS | In the past two days we've seen a federal judge rule that Detroit can go bankrupt, putting its workers' pensions in jeopardy, and we have seen Illinois' Legislature vote for substantial cuts in its retirees' pensions. Undoubtedly these two actions are just the tip of the iceberg. We have opened up a new sport for American's elite: pension theft…The disturbing aspect about the Illinois situation is that the underfunding of the pension was a deliberate choice. For years the governor and Legislature approved budgets that did not make the required contribution to the pensions…This was a deliberate shafting of workers in which most of the state's leading political figures acquiesced. Full story at Truthout.org.
Current Campaigns
UPS Teamsters ratified the National Master UPS Agreement on June 26, 2013. The five-year contract includes increases in wages, health care and pension contributions and many other improvements. Several local Supplements and Riders did not pass, and the union is working through an internal, democratic process to resolve the issues. At UPS Freight, contract negotiations are taking place to address members’ concerns.
In July 2011, the plan to restructure YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) aimed at saving more than 25,000 Teamster freight jobs was successfully completed. The restructuring has saved good Teamster freight jobs. This page is dedicated to providing our YRCW members updates about developments that affect them.
This Web page provides updates to Allied Systems Holdings Teamsters about the company’s financial restructuring efforts after Allied announced a new Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in June 2012. The Teamsters Union’s team of experts continues to monitor the company’s financial restructuring to make sure members’ interests are protected.
The Teamsters have stood in solidarity with worker struggles in other countries since our founding. With economic globalization, our ability to organize increasingly depends on our ability to build alliances with workers on a global scale.
More than ever, Teamsters are organizing and bargaining with multi-national companies. A key objective of our Global Strategies Campaign is to build strong alliances with unions around the globe who organize and bargain with common employers. Our focus is on workers in the emerging global supply chains – the infrastructure of globalization.
Globalization creates new opportunities for international worker solidarity. We seek common cause with workers around the world to build social justice for all workers and the communities in which they live.
After years of unfair regulations and lack of respect, we are fighting back by forming the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association. Our association will be backed by Teamsters Local 922 and the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Teamsters at Republic Services/Allied Waste have stood together in recent years to fight for strong contracts, including going on strike and supporting their fellow striking workers. Workers continue to fight for strong contracts that include retirement security at the second largest solid waste company. This campaign page is dedicated to those ongoing efforts.
You've heard it said that the best defense is a good offense. In the war on workers, Teamster Organizing is on the offensive! We're winning power for workers across industries and across North America. Join us!
Join the movement to stop the war on workers. Corporate CEOs and billionaires are attacking you, your family and your job. The battlefield is in statehouses throughout the country. Our jobs, our health, our kids, our retirement and our standard of living are all at risk. Check this page frequently for updates.
Welcome to the Teamsters Law Enforcement League web page—a special site dedicated to law enforcement officers across North America who are represented by the Teamsters. Those officers who have joined the Teamsters have a voice in working conditions, pay, and benefits. You and your fellow officers can also have a say when you elect the Teamsters and will have the strength of 1.4 million members to support your decisions.
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