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Local and National Union News |
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Critical pension legislation moves to House for vote
July 12, 2019 | The Teamsters Union applauds the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means for today’s vote to approve H.R. 397, the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, more commonly referred to as The Butch Lewis Act. There are more than 300 multiemployer pension plans across the country — including the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund — that are in danger of failing. The Teamsters have been fighting for years for a legislative solution and have worked with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to do so. The measure would boost financially troubled multiemployer pensions plans so they don’t fail. It would create a new agency under the U.S. Treasury Department that would sell bonds in the open market to large investors such as financial firms. Those proceeds would then be used to bolster faltering pension plans as part of a 30-year loan program… Teamsters
 Water. Rest. Shade.
June 27, 2019 | The stagnant hot, humid air over our region is contributing to poor air quality. A "Code Orange" Air quality alert is in effect Thursday, indicating unhealthy conditions for sensitive groups, including children, the elderly and people with heart or lung illnesses. Temperatures around Baltimore are forecast to reach the lower 90s Wednesday and Thursday, could approach the mid-90s on Friday, and again reach the lower 90s Saturday. Little relief is in the forecast beyond that, with temperatures in the mid- and upper-80s going into next week... Baltimore Sun Heat illness can be deadly. If you work outside you need to protect yourself: Drink water often. Rest in the shade. Report symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Both heat illnesses require emergency care… Teamster Fact Sheet on Heat Stress here.
 Do you have your REAL ID license yet?
June 26, 2019 | If you recently received a letter in the mail from MVA about your driver's license, do not ignore it! For many of you, a valid license allows you to earn a good living so don't put it at risk. The deadline for being REAL ID compliant is fast approaching. If you are not REAL ID compliant by Oct. 1, 2020, a police officer will confiscate the revoked license if you are stopped for a traffic violation and you’ll have to go through the trouble to go to an MVA office with the proper documentation to get it back. Here's what you need to know... 992 News
Older news items are posted at 992 News.
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 July 16, 2019 | STRIKES | The United Auto Workers union is set to start bargaining new contracts covering 150,000 workers at Detroit’s Big Three on Monday in what could be the most contentious negotiations the auto industry has seen in years. The union will be looking to make significant gains over the most recent four-year contracts with the companies, ratified in 2015. Automakers are looking to cut labor costs relative to foreign competitors building cars and trucks inside the U.S. with lower-earning workers. Industry-watchers believe the starkly different expectations create the possibility of a major strike… Huffington Post
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July 15, 2019 | LABOR HISTORY | We’ve all had one of those days when the clock seems frozen in time and the workday drags on, and on, and on. Eight hours can feel like a lifetime, the minutes crawling by, your mood souring by the second. Now imagine how much worse you’d feel if you had been standing on a hard factory floor for eight hours already and were staring down two more hours, or four, or even more than that? And what if you were pulling those kinds of interminable days six times a week—or seven? That’s what a typical day used to be like for the typical worker in an American city… Teen Vogue
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July 11, 2019 | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD | National Labor Relations Board Chair John Ring has filed a formal complaint against agency Inspector General David Berry, the official who got a 2017 NLRB decision reversing an Obama-era “joint employer” rule voided. Ring’s complaint to the panel overseeing federal inspectors is that Berry allegedly treated agency employees harshly. But three current and former senior NLRB personnel and four congressional staffers, speaking to Bloomberg Law on condition of anonymity, said Ring’s main motive is replacing Berry with someone more compliant with the Trump administration’s anti-union agenda… Labor Press
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 July 10, 2019 | VOTE 2020 | By this point, we're all aware of how quickly and easily political misinformation can spread. Whether it comes from a concerned friend or a Russian bot, fake news can easily infest your social media feeds, and perhaps influence your vote. The only way for a population to survive this plague is to be better informed. New research identifies one way to accomplish that goal: increasing union membership. "Union members, particularly those with less formal education ... are significantly more politically knowledgable than their non-union counterparts,” tending to be "better informed about where political parties and candidates stand on the issues”… “Union members engage in more frequent workplace discussion of politics" than non-members… Pacific Standard
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• Americans surveyed see AI as 
