Teamster Nation Podcast

Couldn't make it to Unity? Listen to the latest Teamster Nation Podcast about how nearly 2,000 Teamster brothers and sisters came together earlier this month to gain inspiration from one another and advance a message in organizing and politics that puts hardworking Americans first! Listen here!

The WFTU supports NEHAWU in its struggle for universal health coverage in the form of the National Health Insurance.

25 May 2018

AFRICA, NEHAWU, SOUTH AFRICA

The World Federation of Trade Unions representing more than 92 million workers around the world fully supports its affiliated organisation in South Africa: National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) in its demands for universal health coverage.

From 1945, the WFTU during its first steps put in the front-line of its demands the universal health coverage, the social security for all the workers. Its affiliates in every country of the world were and are considering the free and public health system as a social right and are struggling for its implementation by any means.

The public health is an absolute priority of the WFTU and the international class oriented trade union movement. We struggle for a modern, public and quality health system with policies of prevention and healthcare infrastructure that cover the entire population. We fight for public and free medical care and accessible and quality medicines for all.

We reaffirm our position for public and high quality health services for all the people in South Africa and we demand the improvement and observation of this crucial sector workers’ working and living conditions.

The Secretariat

Study: The Next Wave of Retirees Will Struggle Even More

Alliance of Retired Americans
FRIDAY ALERT
25 May 2018

The increasing wage gap between the average worker and top earners will manifest in new ways when people reach retirement. A new study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that, 56% and 54% of low- and middle-income families are unlikely to be able to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living once they reach retirement, the highest earners only face a 41% risk.

There are many reasons for the shortfalls but the growing gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else exacerbates the issues created by the increased use of defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, rather than defined benefit pension plans, which affects low income workers more. Income also tends to rise at a much slower rate for workers on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, and employers who hire for lower wage jobs tend to not even offer saving options.

The wage gap is part of a larger problem. While financial experts stress the importance of working longer and waiting to claim Social Security, but the incentives for low income workers are just not there. High earners have a longer life expectancy and the ability to work longer, allowing them to delay Social Security. In contrast lower wage workers have a shorter life expectancy and tend to work labor intensive jobs, giving them a reason to retire earlier and a much lower incentive to wait for their benefits.

“This new study quantifies what we already knew, that the wage gap only gets harder for people once they hit retirement,” said Robert Roach Jr., President of the Alliance. “We need policies that allow everyone to have a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work. We need to defend defined benefit pensions and ensure that they remain a key part of the retirement equation.”

Supreme Court sides with employers in class action arbitration cases

By Ariane de Vogue and Maegan Vazquez, CNN

Updated 11:25 AM ET, Mon May 21, 2018

                                                                                                                                                  

Washington (CNN) In a victory for employers and the Trump administration, the Supreme Court on Monday said that employers could block employees from banding together as a class to fight legal disputes in employment arbitration agreements.

Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority, his first major opinion since joining the court last spring and a demonstration of how the Senate Republicans' move to keep liberal nominee Merrick Garland from being confirmed in 2016 has helped cement a conservative court.

"This is the Justice Gorsuch that I think most everyone expected," said Steve Vladeck, CNN contributor and professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. "Not only is he endorsing the conservative justices' controversial approach to arbitration clauses, but he's taking it an important step further by extending that reasoning to employment agreements, as well."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench, calling the majority opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis "egregiously wrong."

"The court today holds enforceable these arm-twisted, take-it-or-leave-it contracts -- including the provisions requiring employees to litigate wage and hours claims only one-by-one. Federal labor law does not countenance such isolation of employees," she said.

In the majority opinion, Gorsuch maintained the "decision does nothing to override" what Congress has done.

"Congress has instructed that arbitration agreements like those before us must be enforced as written," he said.

As the dissent recognizes, the legislative policy embodied in the (National Labor Relations Act) is aimed at 'safeguard[ing], first and foremost, workers' rights to join unions and to engage in collective bargaining," he wrote. "Those rights stand every bit as strong today as they did yesterday."

Gorusch, responding to Ginsburg's claim that the court's decision would resurrect so-called "yellow dog" contracts which barred an employee from joining a union, said that "like most apocalyptic warnings, this one proves a false alarm."

The case was the biggest business case of the term, and represented a clash between employers who prefer to handle disputes through arbitration against employees who want to be able to band together to bring their challenges and not be required to sign class action bans.

It also pitted two federal laws against each other.

One, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), gives employees the right to self organization to "engage in concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or protection" the other, the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) allows employers to "settle by arbitration."

Lawyers for employers, who have long backed arbitration as a means of resolving disputes, argued that class action waivers are permissible under the 1925 law. They say the NLRA does not contain a congressional command precluding enforcement of the waivers.

The Trump administration supported the employers in the case, a switch from the Obama administration's position.

Impact of ruling

"Today's ruling is a major blow for the rights of employees, who almost never have enough of an interest, by themselves, to take the time and resources to litigate claims against their employers -- especially claims concerning underpayment of wages," Vladeck said.

The court has approved some collective action bans in consumer contracts, and employers hoped for the same fate when it comes to employer contracts.

One of the three consolidated cases before the court concerned a grievance claim brought by an employee of a healthcare software company called Epic Systems Corporation. The employee, Jacob Lewis, sought to sue Epic in federal court on behalf of a group of employees who claimed the company had denied them overtime pay. Epic sought to dismiss the complaint arguing that Lewis had waived his right to pursue joint legal claims.

Neal Katyal, a lawyer for Epic, argued in court papers," like other contracts, employment contracts may require that arbitration be conducted on an individual basis." Lawyers for the employees, on the other hand, said the NLRA precludes such waivers.

Workers don't like the waivers because it's much more expensive -- and at times intimidating -- to bring individual claims.

The employees have the support of the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that protects the rights of private sector employees to join together to improve working conditions.

At oral arguments, the justices seemed closely divided along ideological lines. Justice Stephen Breyer worried that if the employers were to prevail they would be "overturning labor law that goes back to, for FDR at least, the entire heart of the New Deal."

At one point, Chief Justice John Roberts asked Ortiz, a lawyer for the workers, whether a decision in his favor would "invalidate agreements covering 25 million employees"

Ortiz said it would. 

Teamsters begin strike authorization process amid UPS contract negotiations

By Dave Schneider
Fightback! NEWS
May 3, 2018

Jacksonville, FL – On May 1, Teamsters Package Division Director and lead negotiator for the UPS contract Denis Taylor announced the international union would begin the process of taking a strike authorization vote. The news breaks amid ongoing contract negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS, as well as UPS Freight, which began earlier this year and are set to continue into June.

The first step of this process is a May 8 conference call between Taylor and the leadership of every UPS Teamsters local, in which local leaders will fax in their vote for whether or not to move forward with a union-wide strike authorization vote. A similar conference call for UPS Freight locals will take place the following day, May 9.

If the locals vote to progress with a strike authorization vote, the international union will send out ballot information to UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters, who will vote ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ to give the union strike authorization. According to Taylor, the vote will take place electronically. Each UPS and UPS Freight Teamster will receive information and a unique code to access their ballot online.

If UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters vote ‘YES’ to authorize a strike, it doesn’t necessarily mean the union will strike. The Teamsters and UPS have not yet reached a tentative agreement yet, which will eventually go before the members for a vote. However, a strong vote in favor of strike authorization sends a clear signal to UPS and UPS Freight management that Teamster members are united and willing to fight for a better contract. It presents a credible strike threat to the multi-billion-dollar logistics giant and strengthens the union’s hand at the bargaining table.

UPS demanding concessions despite record profits

Last year, UPS made record profits totaling $4.9 billion, helped in large part by the massive tax cuts passed by Donald Trump and the Republican-dominated Congress last year.

But while business has never been better for UPS management, Teamsters at the company are struggling. Part-time UPS workers, who make up around 70% of the workforce, start at $10/hour with only a 3.5 hour/day guarantee in the contract. They only receive health insurance after a year of working for the company, and face rampant safety violations and harassment by supervisors.

UPS drivers, most of whom are full time, face the opposite problem. Management forces drivers to work long overtime hours out on the road and flagrantly violate provisions in the contract designed to reduce forced overtime – the so-called “9.5 clause,” which allows drivers to file grievances if worked over nine and a half hours too many times per week.

The Teamster negotiators for the UPS contract released their proposals, drawn from members’ ideas, before bargaining began, which included raises for part-timers, tougher 9.5 protections, and monetary penalties for supervisor harassment. They also proposed language protecting workers from automation by drones and driverless vehicles, which threaten to eliminate cornerstone Teamster jobs in the next decade, among other measures.

Since negotiations began, however, leaks from the bargaining table have shown Taylor backing down from the union’s proposals. Earlier on May 1, hours before the strike authorization vote was announced, Taylor and the company discussed the creation a second-tier of UPS package car drivers, who would receive pay at a much lower rate than current full-time drivers. Taylor and others have reportedly dropped or significantly weakened the union’s proposals on 9.5 protections and harassment. Moreover, the company appears unwilling to raise part-timers’ wages to $15/hour and grant $5/hour bump raises to existing part-time employees – a key demand for part-time UPS Teamsters.

The Teamsters-UPS contract is the single-largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in the U.S., covering around 220,000 workers. The current agreement is set to expire in August 2018.

Teamsters ready to fight back

While negotiations continue, rank-and-file Teamsters at UPS and UPS Freight are getting involved in the struggle for a better contract. Militant rank-and-file workers, many involved with the Teamsters United movement, have organized a series of flyering events and parking lot meetings to educate and organize their coworkers.

This surge of Teamster activity incudes Teamsters Local 344, which covers all UPS Teamsters in the state of Wisconsin, who plan to hold parking lot meetings with members to discuss the contract negotiation process, starting on May 7 at the Oak Creek hub.

Kas Schewerdtfeger, business agent and organizer for Local 344 and former UPS package car driver, said, “Rank-and-file Teamsters are encouraged to speak their mind and say what they want about the contract negotiation process and the fight for a better agreement. Our contract demands are the same proposals that the IBT [International Brotherhood of Teamsters] brought forward to the table at the beginning: No 70-hour work week. No packages delivered after 9:00pm. An end to harassment with strong language to protect workers, and more.”

He added, “It’s important that rank-and-file Teamsters stand up and do whatever it takes to win a good contract. If there are concessions on the table, it will be up to the members to decide what – if anything – they’re willing to take.”

Vote ‘YES’ on strike authorization and a credible strike threat

While strike authorization does not mean the Teamsters will strike UPS, it gives the union more leverage to extract concessions and secure a better contract at the bargaining table. Each ‘YES’ vote adds to the credibility of a strike threat and effectively strengthens the union’s hand.

Dustin Ponder, a UPS Teamster out of Jacksonville, Florida, who was elected chief steward of his sort in March on the Teamsters United platform, said, “It’s crucial we present UPS with a credible strike threat at the negotiating table. This company has made billions of dollars off our backs, and they have the audacity to demand concessions from us. We need our Teamster sisters and brothers to stand united and vote for strike authorization if we want to secure a better life for ourselves and our families.”

Joint Declaration of PEO, DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS, BES, KOOP-SEN, DAU-SEN

26 April 2018


We, the working people of Cyprus, honor Worker’s May Day this year too as the international day of struggle and solidarity of the working people.
We honor the pioneering heroes of the 1886 uprising in Chicago, who through their sacrifices became a shining example and a guiding beacon of the struggles of the international working class.
We pay homage to the pioneering and vanguard workers of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot worker's movement, who through the waging of common fierce class struggles won fundamental gains for the working class of Cyprus, such as social insurance, an 8 working day and the right to organize workers into trade unions.
This year’s May Day finds workers across the world facing imperialist interventions and wars, the exacerbation of social inequalities, the vicious consequences of the capitalist crisis and attacks on worker’s rights.
We denounce in the strongest possible terms the brutal interventions of the imperialist forces that are continuing and intensifying in the region of the Middle East, and which are seeking to gain control of the rich resources, spreading death, destruction and the uprooting of thousands of people into refugees.
We express our international solidarity with the working people of Syria, Palestine and all the peoples struggling for peace, justice and labour rights.
In our homeland, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are suffering from the consequences of neo-liberal policies, a fact which highlights even more the common class interests of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot workers and the need to intensify the struggles and solidarity between them.
In these harsh socio-economic conditions the solution of the Cyprus problem remains a priority and an urgent need.
For the workers of Cyprus international Worker’s May Day is also a day to reaffirm our commitment to the struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem and for the reunification of our country and people.
We remain firmly committed to a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution for a united state with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship, a single international personality with the political equality of the two communities, as described in relevant UN decisions.
Bi-communal talks are the only way to reach an agreement between the two communities and for a solution that will reunify Cyprus and make it a free, independent and demilitarized common homeland of all Cypriots.
The suspension of the talks and the stalemate which the Cyprus problem finds itself today is not only unproductive, but also extremely dangerous. This stagnation is to the detriment of the Cypriot people as a whole.
We urge the two leaders to rise to the occasion and by adopting a creative approach to proceed as soon as possible to the resumption of the negotiation procedure with the safeguarding of the convergences achieved to date within the framework outlined by the UN Secretary-General Mr. Guterres at Crans Montana.
At the same time, we call on Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to rally around the class-based trade union movement of our country and united to fight together against austerity and labour deregulation policies, against privatizations and the dismantling of the welfare state.
We call on them to promote common class struggles to defend the labour and social gains handed down to us by the vanguard Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot trade unionists.
The organizers PEO, DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS, BES and KOOP-SEN, DAU-SEN, all affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) are organizing yet another year under the slogan "We insist: Solution, Reunification, Social Justice" the International Worker’s Day Celebration on 1 May at 7.30 p.m. in the Buffer Zone opposite Ledra Palace. The mass meeting will be preceded by pre-gatherings and marches to the venue where the joint event will take place. In the south, the pre-meeting will take place at 6.00 p.m. outside the Finance Ministry and in the north at Kyrenia Gate.
Through the joint celebration of May 1st we are sending from one end of Cyprus to the other, the powerful message of unity and determination
to continue waging together the struggles and for the ideals for which the Chicago pioneering martyrs sacrificed their lives.

Program of International Workers Day in Nicosia:
• Musical group "United Cyprus Teacher’s Platform”
• Common text to be read by the General Secretary of PEO and the President of DEV-IS.
• Bicomunal music band “Cyprus Songs Association”.