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Local and National Union News |
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Teamster leaders meet for Warehouse Division Conference
 June 11, 2019 | About 150 Teamster leaders from local unions that represent warehouse workers met in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho last week to discuss the major issues and campaigns affecting the more than 200,000 warehouse Teamsters. "We have many challenges ahead, but by working together--the local unions, the Joint Councils and the International Union--we will take these challenges head-on to make sure our members' interests are protected," said Steve Vairma, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division. Leaders discussed the national organizing campaign under way at Sysco, and the campaigns to protect Teamsters at US Foods/FSA and UNFI/Supervalu… Teamsters
Status on UPS back pay
 June 5, 2019 | The company expects the back pay to be issued the first pay period of July. This contract was the richest in Teamster history and the back pay just for the nine months between August 1, 2018 and April 29, 2019 is approximately $660 million. The company is currently calculating back pay for 250,000 employees with various hours worked, multiple classifications and pay rates. Many employees work more than one classification with different pay rates in one week or even within one day. Any time a member works in more than one job in any one day, it triggers a calculation requiring someone to manually calculate the pay rate figures. The company estimates that there will be over 200,000 manual calculations required to ensure that the back pay is accurate and they will be working on this through June. UPS is keeping us informed and is working to make this happen as quickly as possible. UPS Rising
Union: U.S. workers deserve paid vacation time
June 3, 2019 | There’s been a lot of talk about the need for higher wages, quality health care and retirement security in this space. But what about paid time off? The U.S. is the only advanced economy that does not federally mandate any paid vacation days or holidays for workers. So as a result, companies don’t prioritize it, and nearly a quarter of the nation’s workforce doesn’t receive any paid time off, according to an updated report by the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)… teamster.org
Older news items are posted at 992 News.
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June 19, 2019 | WORKERS’ RIGHTS | A record number of workers in the United States decided to go on strike in 2018. Now congressional Democrats are trying to harness that momentum to pass a massive labor reform bill that would make it easier for workers to join unions and collectively bargain. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act was introduced on May 2 by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia). The bill would usher in a multitude of protections for workers and give them more bargaining power. Some of its features include penalties for businesses that illegally fire employees, sped-up union elections that prevent employers from holding anti-union meetings with their staff, and National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protections for many independent contractors who aren’t currently classified as employees… Truthout
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 June 19, 2019 | UNION RIGHTS | The rollback of union rights in favor of big business continues. Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) handed down a ruling that allows companies to bar non-employee union representatives access to public spaces on their property, overturning nearly four decades of precedent. The case was based on a 2013 incident where two organizers were ejected from a Pennsylvania hospital while meeting with members of its staff in its cafeteria. Previously, union organizers not working at a particular job site could not be banned from worker cafeterias and restaurants open to the public under the “public space exemption.” It is the latest anti-union strike levied against workers. Former Obama administration rules that sought to raise the salary threshold for workers eligible for overtime … Teamsters
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June 18, 2019 | WAGES | June 16th marked the longest period in history without an increase in the federal minimum wage. The last time Congress passed an increase was in May 2007, when it legislated that the minimum wage be raised to $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. Since it was first established in 1938, Congress has never let the minimum wage go unchanged for so long. When the minimum wage remains unchanged for any length of time, inflation erodes its buying power. As shown in the graphic, when the minimum wage was last raised to $7.25 in July 2009, it had a purchasing power equivalent to $8.70 in today’s dollars. Over the last 10 years, as it has remained at $7.25, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has declined by 17 percent. For a full-time, year-round minimum wage worker, this represents a loss of over $3,000 in annual earnings… People’s World
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 June 14, 2019 | HEALTH & SAFETY | The trucking industry is facing numerous challenges that are jeopardizing the well-being of drivers that must be addressed to ensure highway safety is a top priority for the traveling public, a Teamster official said today. Lamont Byrd, the Teamsters’ Director of Safety and Health, told members of a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee today that company pressure on drivers to be more productive, combined with the distressed state of infrastructure in this country and the effort of industry to lessen regulations could have a dire impact on all those on the nation’s roadways. “These pressures come from many sources and some are related to policies that either don’t exist or haven’t kept pace with a changing transportation system,” Byrd said. “Specific policy issues related to infrastructure, driver compensation, hours of service, driver harassment, driver health, driving training and retention, automation and globalization all contribute to these pressures.” Teamsters
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• Big Labor 
