Today in Labor History

September 20, 1887
According to folklorist John Garst, steel-drivin’ man John Henry, born a slave, outperformed a steam hammer on this date at the Coosa Mountain Tunnel or the Oak Mountain Tunnel of the Columbus and Western Railway (now part of the Norfolk Southern) near Leeds, Ala. Other researchers place the contest near Talcott, W.Va ~ Union Communication Services

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Teamster News Headlines

Leaders from Red Cross Locals Endorse Tentative Agreement

Teleforum Call for Red Cross Teamsters, 9/27

Power, Pride and Persistence

Episode 170: Rejecting Right to Work in Mo.

Believe, Dream and Achieve

Minnesota Labor Joins Together to Picket Center of American Experiment Event Celebrating Janus Decision

Read the Latest Edition of the Drive Up Standards Newletter!

Listen To The UPS Freight Members Teleforum From Sept. 9

Tentative UPS Agreement Increases Full-Time Package Car Driver Progressions

WCCUSD Teamster Wins Backpay in Grievance Settlement

Local and National Union News

UPS, UPS Freight members: It’s time to vote!
Sept. 18, 2018 | Balloting information was mailed to you last week. All the facts of the agreements have been made available to you (see the list and links below), and now it is up to you to make your decision. We are asking everyone to participate in this ratification. It is important that you exercise your right to vote. Your decision is critical to the process and the decision is yours. If you did not receive balloting information, call the union office now at 301-739-7550.

Hoffa: Appreciating truckers means keeping rules that make roads safer
Sept. 17, 2018 | The nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers do yeoman’s work keeping the U.S. economy humming by transporting goods from coast to coast. The Teamsters thank the President and other elected officials for recognizing the crucial role that these workers play in keeping our country moving forward. However, working as a trucker is dangerous and stressful … teamsters.org

Older news items are posted at 992 News.

UPS and UPS Freight members: Balloting materials were mailed to you last week.

• The 2018-2023 tentative Master Agreements and the tentative Supplemental Agreements are posted at UPSRising.org

• UPS member questions from Aug. 11 teleform call are answered here.

• 10 reasons to vote YES

• Vote YES to new jobs and a stronger contract. Click here to view and download the flier.

• UPS Freight TA strengthens protections against excessive forced overtime. Learn more.

• Listen to the UPS teleconference call from Aug. 25 here

• Listen to the UPS Freight teleconference call from Aug. 22 here

• Wondering how the UPS contract was negotiated? Get the facts here

• Balloting materials will be mailed to eligible members Sept.11-14, 2018. Ballots will be counted Oct. 5, 2018. Stay tuned for additional balloting instructions.

• UPS part-timers: Join the contract update teleforum Aug. 8 @ 5:30 pm, to learn more about the contract. Topics and call-in information here.

• UPS Freight members: Join the UPSF tentative agreement update conference call Sept. 9 @ 7 pm. Call in info here.

• UPS part-timers: The National Master tentative agreement provides higher wages and benefits for you. Take a look at this chart..

• Answers to your questions from the Aug. 25 teleconference call are here.

• UPS feeder drivers: The National Master tentative agreement provides improvements and protections. Take a look at these highlights.

• Listen to the Part-Time UPS Members teleforum call from Sept. 8 here.

• UPS package car drivers: The National Master tentative agreement increases progressions. Take a look at this chart.

• UPS Freight members: Listen to the teleforum call from Sept. 9 here.

Elsewhere in the News

Millennials United: Labor Unions Enjoy a Youthful Surge

September 19, 2018 | ORGANIZING | […] Millennial-aged workers are now leading growth in overall union membership, upending historical stereotypes that younger workers don’t identify with the labor movement. For decades, total union membership numbers were seemingly in terminal decline, coming down from 16.27 million in 1996 to 14.37 million in 2012. Between 2012 and 2017 too, the number of union members over the age of 35 dropped by 1,000. But over this period, the number of union members under the age of 35 rose by 452,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, leading to an overall increase in union memberships over the past five years, by 451,000. That means millennials are effectively offsetting dips in the membership of older workers, and adding tens of thousands more to union rosters… Ozy

Here’s Why Thousands of Steelworkers Just Voted to Authorize a Strike

September 18, 2018 | STRIKES | […] U.S. Steel was seen a significant bump in profits in 2018, thanks to increased demand for steel, as well as new tariffs that have pushed up the cost of steel and helped pad the bottom line for large corporations such as U.S. Steel, a publicly traded company worth over $6 billion. The question now is whether or not workers will share equally in the largesse generated by today’s boom times for steel production. ... U.S. Steel management has scored “more than $50 million in pay and bonuses since 2015 while the hourly work force has not received a wage increase over the same period” …Working In These Times

Amazon is Worth $1Trillion. It’s Workers Are on Food Stamps

September 17, 2018 | WAGES | Amazon just hit a $1 trillion valuation, but some of its workers feel poorer than ever. Jeff Bezos’s tech giant is the second U.S. company to be worth thirteen-digits on the stock market, following Apple, which hit $1 trillion in August. That’s all well and good for Bezos, whose net worth exceeds $150 billion. But workers at the growing network of Amazon-owned companies say they aren’t seeing the money and Senator Bernie Sanders rolled out a new bill that would penalize Amazon for leaving workers dependent on public assistance. The next day, The Wall Street Journal reported that employees at Whole Foods, a grocery chain recently acquired by Amazon, were seeking to unionize. This is on top of criticism from academics, who say Amazon’s size has warped the economy… The Daily Beast

In Case U You Missed It

• On the picket line
• Trump freezes federal pay
• New report outlines Trump’s anti-worker agenda
• Inside the prison labor strike
• 2018 midterms: stakes for Labor couldn’t be higher
• Trump woos labor unions as he tears up NAFTA
• The emerging plan to save the American labor movement
• Labor Dept. accused of allowing low-paid guest workers
• Federal workers brace for new push on Trump anti-labor goals
• The plot of Sorry to Bother You comes to life
• USW calls for strike authorization vote after impasse with U.S. Steel
• 20 yrs. of govm’t data says raising minumum wage good for workers, businesses, economy

Labor Union Approval Steady at 15-Year High

September 6, 2018 | ECONOMY | Sixty-two percent of Americans approve of labor unions today, which is consistent with the 61% who approved last year and up from 56% in 2016. Before 2017, public support for unions hadn't exceeded 60% since 2003, when 65% approved.The American public has long supported organized labor, starting with Gallup's earliest measure, taken in 1936 at the dawn of the U.S. labor movement. In fact, support for unions was relatively high across the first three decades of measurement, averaging 68% from 1936 to 1967. During this period, approval never dropped below 61%, and twice -- both times in the 1950s -- it stretched to 75%. Things changed in the 1970s when approval fell to 60%. Since then… Gallup

General Membership Meeting: Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018 at 10 a.m.
All membership meetings are held at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites,
241 Railway Lane, Hagerstown, Md. Please make every effort to attend!