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Local and National News
Victory for Teamster Retirees: Central States Pension Fund awarded $36B
Dec. 8, 2022 | Nearly 350,000 Teamster retirees are celebrating today over an announcement that the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) will be granted $36 billion by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The grant ensures they will enjoy their full pension benefits for the rest of their lives. The grant was made possible by the American Rescue Plan (ARP) that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. Rank-and-file Teamsters held rallies, made hundreds of visits to elected officials, and made thousands of phone calls to ensure their pensions would be secure. "This is an issue of fairness — of this country keeping its word to hardworking, honest people who did everything they were supposed to do in life," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien. TeamstersUnions form coalition to coordinate bargaining with United Airlines
Dec. 7, 2022 | Airline unions representing 78,000 workers at United Airlines, including 10,000 Teamster maintenance technicians, announced the launch of the United Airlines Union Coalition today. Together with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), the IAMAW District 141, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, and the Professional Airline Flight Control Association (PAFCA), the Teamsters will coordinate closely on bargaining and other issues. "The old adage says, 'It takes a village'," said General President Sean M. O'Brien. "United, we are stronger. We have each other’s backs always and will take on the fight together."Applications open for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund
Nov. 30, 2022 | The application process opens today for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship for sons, daughters, and financial dependents of Teamster members. Academic scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 are available for high school seniors planning to attend a four-year college or university, and Training/Vocational program awards of up to $2,000 are available for use at community colleges and trade schools. This year, the Fund awarded $1.2 million in scholarships. For more information on the 2023 JRHMSF application, visit www.jrhmsf.org. The submission deadline is early March 2023.
Elsewhere in the News
Week Ending 12/9/2022
• Congress must fund the NLRB
• What would it take for all rail workers to win?
• Teamsters at UC ratify strongest-ever contract
• The freight rail labor dispute was never about sick days
• Watch: The new Teamsters - bigger, faster, stronger (listen here)
• Costco ‘has taken a high road’ when it comes to unionization
• Study: Prevalence of workplace violence, harassment across the globe
• Wage theft spotlighted on late night…
Investors Pressure Railroads to Add Sick Time for Workers
Dec. 7, 2022 | ECONOMY | Major freight railroads are facing pressure to add sick days for their workers from a new front: An influential investment group says some of its members are now pushing the measure that Congress declined as part of the contracts they imposed last week to avert a potentially devastating nationwide rail strike. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility said Monday that two investment managers it works with to help promote social change at companies had filed proposals at Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads to give shareholders a vote on whether rail workers should get paid sick leave. Similar proposals are likely to be filed at CSX and at BNSF’s parent company of Berkshire Hathaway. Marvin Owens, with nonprofit investment manager Impact Shares, said companies should consider sick time as an investment in its workforce, not an expense. “In this day and age, this really boggles the mind why a company would not provide that given the need to retain workers and really provide workers with the kind of support needed to keep them in place and to keep them healthy. Paid sick leave is key to that.” PBS
We May Be At the Beginning of A New Era of Labor Power
Dec. 6, 2022 | OPINION | […] Wages have been stagnant for four decades in the US. Suddenly, workers are at a premium, but wage growth continues to lag inflation. It’s no wonder that workers are using their greater power to unionize. Unionization is a solid strategy for raising stagnant wages. Non-union workers make only 83 percent of unionized weekly earning. But unions ultimately raise wages for all workers. One report estimated that the decline in unionization from 1979 to 2017 cost the average worker the equivalent of $3,250 a year. Deunionization depresses the wages of middle-wage earners more than those of high-wage earners and so contributed to the 23-point growth in the wage gap between high and middle earners over the same period. If the US moves back toward higher union concentration, it will move toward a stronger, more affluent middle class and less inequality. Alternet
Week Ending 12/2/2022
• A new union rises in the South
• Labor’s winning weapon
• Labor Board outlaws T-Mobile’s company union
• Listen: Two Boomers and a Gen Z walk onto a podcast
• Life has been hell for UPS workers since the pandemic
• Amazon is refusing to comply with judge’s order
• Teachers are burned out; unions can help them understand why
• MLB prepares to negotiate contract with 5,000 minor league players
• How the pandemic changed the landscape of U.S. Labor organizing
• As more states legalize pot, more pot workers push for unionization
• Why America’s railroads refuse to give their workers paid leave
• Before Thursday's Senate vote...
Rail Unions Slam Senate’s ‘Anti-American’ Rejection of Sick Days
Dec. 2, 2022 | LABOR UNIONS | Some unions representing rail workers, as well as the nation's largest labor organization, blasted a Senate vote on Thursday denying workers paid sick days after the chamber passed a separate measure imposing a labor agreement and averting a nationwide rail strike. The bill, which gives rail workers seven paid sick days, passed the House but was defeated by a vote of 52-43 in the Senate. "It is extremely disappointing that 43 Senators voted to prioritize the corporate greed of rail carriers and CEOs over the needs and quality-of-life improvements that our members so desperately deserve," said the SMART Transportation Division, or SMART-TD, which represents about 28,000 conductors, making it the nation's largest rail union. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees division of the Teamsters [BMWED], which represents 12,000 members, sharply criticized the Senate vote. "It is shocking and appalling that any Member of Congress would cast a vote against any sort of provision that raises the standard of living for hard-working Americans," a union statement said. ABC News Related: Biden signs bill averting rail workers strike despite lack of sick days
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