Teamsters Local 355

Local and National News

Attention Members
Updated Sept. 1, 2020 - Our September general membership meetings in Baltimore and Salisbury are canceled. The COVID-19 pandemic requires us to take steps that protect the health of our members and our staff as we continue to provide service and support. To that end, essential procedures instituted March 25 remain in effect. Click here to read these important notices regarding office and credit union hours of operation. If you need to see your business agent or have questions or concerns, give us a call at 410-566-5700.

Hoffa: Honoring Ginsburg, a friend to working, disenfranchised people
Sept. 21, 2020 | The following is a statement from Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President, on the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “On Friday evening, we lost this nation’s leading judicial voice for everyday Americans who have been repeatedly overlooked and cast aside in this country. When labor and civil rights advocates sought justice at the Supreme Court, we knew that Justice Ginsburg would be there for us. One example came in May 2018, when Justice Ginsburg authored a strong dissent to a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that … Continue reading here.

Update from the Teamsters Carhaul Division
Sept. 10, 2020 | Division Director Kevin Moore writes, “In mid-March, all U.S. automotive plants were idled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but by mid-May virtually all U.S. Automotive assembly plants began restarting production. As of September 2020, nearly all U.S. assembly plants are running at full production. This is welcome news as our unionized carriers were severely impacted by the loss of revenue during this period. Jack Cooper Transport exited bankruptcy on November 4, 2019. The sale and restructuring placed Jack Cooper in the best position to succeed. The company was able to begin an aggressive re-fleeting plan. This success and momentum was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these losses, our Teamster carriers are once again operating… Continue reading here.

Older news items are available at 355 News.

Elsewhere in the News

With Justice Ginsburg’s Death, Workers Rights Are at the Brink

Sept. 22, 2020 | OPINION | […] Conservative justices have already signaled their hostility to workers with decisions like Epic Systems v. Lewis. The stakes could not be higher—and what unionists must understand is that the next Supreme Court appointee may hold the power to destroy the last vestiges of legal power for public sector unions. If they do so, it will unleash an assault on the labor movement from which it will struggle to recover. The wish list for radical, anti-worker conservatives has been clear for years. Groups like the National Right to Work Foundation and Koch-funded State Policy Network affiliates have employed a legislative and legal strategy to peel back key union rights, especially targeting public sector labor… The Strike Wave

In Case You Missed It

• Watch: Teamsters march on Washington
• Striking LU 170 tankhaulers, mechanics prevail
• UFCW: OSHA’s Smithfield fine ‘a slap on the wrist’
• Hoffa on Teamsters Military Assistance Program
• Ohio auto workers watch a way of life circle the drain
• FAQs re the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
• 886,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week
• Unions eye long term as pandemic weighs on members
• The price of inequality? Lost annual income $42,000 for typical worker
• Workers at Republic Services need your help. Sign the petition here.

50 Reasons the Trump Administration is Bad for Workers

Sept. 18, 2020 | WORKERS’ RIGHTS | The Trump administration has systematically promoted the interests of corporate executives and shareholders over those of working people and failed to protect worker’s safety, wages and rights. This Economic Policy Institute report provides a review of the administration’s most egregious attacks on working people since Trump took office. This analysis reveals that President Trump’s time in office has been marked by a clear commitment to advancing a pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda. These attacks include failure to act to protect the health of workers during the pandemic; denied workers a minimum wage increase; obstructed workers’ right to fair union elections; prevented millions of workers from receiving overtime; and repeatedly nominated anti-worker candidates for positions at the Department of Labor. Read the report here.

OSHA Offers Toothless Response to COVID-19 Workplace Deaths

Sept. 17, 2020 | HEALTH & SAFETY | How much are the lives of essential workers who are keeping food on the tables of their fellow Americans worth? Not much, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A recent ruling by the federal agency fined two meatpacking plants in South Dakota and Colorado a measly $29,000 after at least 12 workers there died and some 1,500 were infected with the coronavirus. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) called the penalties “a new low,” and it’s hard to argue otherwise. OSHA could have issued a fine 10 times the size it did, but choose not to because, evidently, the agency felt these were not willful violations by Smithfield and JBS Foods. One only wonders how many would need to die for it to qualify as such… Teamsters

How Millennials Are Changing the Manufacturing Industry

Sept. 16, 2020 | THE FUTURE OF LABOR | […] Today’s manufacturing industry looks a lot different from the one of decades past, but manufacturing is still a vital part of the American business landscape. As the manufacturing industry tackles the challenges of the 21st century, millennials are beginning to put their own stamp on the industry in all kinds of ways. There are five ways that millennials are making big changes in the manufacturing workplace as they come into their own, including bringing back the unionized workplace… RT Insights