Local Union News

Contract Talks Continue With Merchants Terminal
FEB. 17, 2012 | Negotiations continue for a successor agreement for shipping and receiving workers at Merchant Terminal (MTC Logistics). The collective bargaining agreement expired Feb. 10, 2011, but the parties have agreed to continue negotiations under an extension agreement good until Feb.27, 2011. Pictured is 570's bargaining committee: (L-R) Joe Holmes, Dexter Harrison, Secretary-Treasurer Sean Cedenio, and Reginald Robinson.

Hostess Members Authorize Strike, Pending Court Action
FEB. 13, 2012 | The Teamsters Union announced today that its members working at Hostess voted overwhelmingly – over 90 percent in favor – to authorize a strike if Hostess is granted its motion to impose unfair contract terms as part of the bankruptcy process. IBT press release here.

Union Opposes Court Approval of Hostess CEO's Contract
FEB. 10, 2012 | Hostess has submitted a bankruptcy court application to fund the salary of the company's CEO in direct contrast to the major cuts the company wants imposed upon its unionized workforce. "We struggle to understand how Hostess' management team, its board and its advisors think that filing this motion to guarantee CEO Brian Driscoll's employment conditions, at a time when Hostess is seeking to dramatically modify the working conditions of its employees, is a good idea," said Ken Hall, IBT International Vice President, in a statement today. "We oppose an employment contract that does not follow the principles of shared sacrifice or have the proper incentives for a successful restructuring." Full statement here. More at Business Insider. Update: Company defers until March its motion for court approval of CEO contract.

Politicians Waging War on Workers Face Political Risk
FEB. 8, 2012 | "Already this year, state lawmakers have opened brutal new fronts in the war on workers. And America's workers are fighting back as never before, " President Hoffa wrote in a Detroit News op-ed today. "In Michigan, anti-worker bills aimed at weakening labor unions are gaining traction in the House. HB 5025, for example, would require employees' annual written authorization to have their union dues deducted from their paychecks. Working families in Indiana, Florida and Arizona are under especially fierce attack. State politicians loyal to their Wall Street paymasters are trying to lower workers' wages, benefits and safety. They're trying to turn taxpayer assets over to for-profit corporations, along with fat contracts and tax giveaways, at the expense of government employees." Read more at Local News

Union Warns Hostess Not to Misuse Bankruptcy Process
JAN. 26, 2012 | The Teamsters Union on Thursday warned Hostess not to misuse the bankruptcy process in an attempt to bully its way to unncessary operations changes, saying a consensual resolution with sacrifices by all stakeholders is what is required. The company filed motions on Wednesday to reject its collective bargaining agreements with all its major unions. Read the Teamsters press release here.

Elsewhere in the News

Trucker Power at the Ports

Feb. 21, 2012 | A group of LA port drivers who haul for major companies like Starbucks and Walmart have filed for an NLRB election for Teamster representation. Working conditions at the Australian-owned Toll facility are horrendous: "There are no restrooms for drivers," they wrote in a letter to Occupy activists early in their organizing campaign. "We keep bottles in our cabs. Plastic bags too. We feel like dogs." Despite working 60 or more hours a week, "we feel humiliated when we receive paychecks that suggest we work part-time at a fast-food counter." They get no healthcare or retirement benefits. "The drivers warn that their work conditions hurt not just them and their families, but everyone living around the ports where they work: New York, New Jersey, Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, Long Beach, and Los Angeles." Read more about the port truck drivers' determined struggle for fairness and dignity in LA and Seattle.

Did the Stimulus Work?

Feb. 20, 2012 | The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better know as the stimulus, was passed one year ago in February 2009. It was designed to stop the bleeding of our economy and turn things around by pumping billions of dollars into the economy. A new video by the Center for American Progress looks at the top three indicators of our economy - in bad shape before the stimulus began, and all three turned around at almost exactly the moment the stimulus started. Coincidence?

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• Check out the DOL's Labor Hall of Fame.
• 'Big Labor's favorite senator'? No. way.
• What homeowners can expect from the $25B bank settlement.

Why Manufacturing Still Matters

Feb. 14, 2012 | As one of a rare group of economists who believe that manufacturing matters for the health of the American economy, I was heartened to hear President Obama emphasize manufacturing in his State of the Union address. During the last two years, the manufacturing sector has led the economic recovery, expanding by about 10 percent and adding more than 300,000 jobs…Even with continuing labor-saving automation, stronger growth in American manufacturing would mean more middle-income job opportunities for workers both in manufacturing itself and in the many domestic business services that support it. Full story here.

The Hard Truth About Rebuilding the Labor Movement

Feb. 14, 2012 | Labor reporter Mike Elk believes "that despite major attacks on workers' organizing and collective bargaining rights, unions can take advantage of workers' backlash against these attacks and win big victories. They can still organize." Writing for Working In These Times, Elk points to 4 recent victories (GE, Cablevision, Longview Port and the Hershey foreign workers) that signal the hard truth about rebuilding the movement: "… the best way to make large gains is to focus on a lot of small workplaces where workers really want to organize." Agreed. And we think he could look to the Teamsters recent organizing victories for examples of how well that strategy is working.