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Local and National Union News
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
UPS Has 260,000 union workers and they’ve just authorized a strike
June 6, 2018 | United Parcel Service workers authorized their union to call what would be the first strike since 1997, giving negotiators more leverage in talks to replace a labor contract that expires at the end of July. Of the workers from the package unit who voted, 93% favored the authorization and 91% of UPS freight employees agreed to the measure, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced on a webcast. The rate of voter participation wasn’t provided. A strike authorization is common during negotiations to put pressure on the company, said UPS spokesman Glenn Zaccara. Even with that, the union can’t go on strike until after the current contract expires on July 31…Fortune
For Bimbo Bakeries, Teamsters do it best
June 6, 2018 | The benefits of hiring a union driver instead of an independent operator are obvious to Teamsters. Every once in a while, it becomes obvious to large multinational corporations as well. The story of how the Teamsters and Bimbo Bakeries provides a fantastic model for building mutually beneficial relationships for union members, the companies they work at and the customers they serve… Teamsters
Older news stories can be found at Local News
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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
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 June 12, 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
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June 12, 2018 | WAGES | A scathing new report finds that hundreds of major corporations in the United States are repeat wage-theft offenders—committing the violations and then paying the subsequent fines as part of the cost of doing business. Jointly published on June 5 by Good Jobs First and Jobs with Justice Education Fund, the report finds that, since 2000, 450 firms have each paid at least $1 million each in settlements or judgments related to wage theft. And 600 companies paid a penalty in multiple cases of wage theft, indicating that punitive measures are not deterring these companies’ violations. In some cases, the number of settlements and fines was stunning, with Hertz seeing 167 cases since 2000 and Walmart seeing 98 cases and shelling out $1.4 billion… Working In These Times
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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
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