2993 for, 232 against
Teamsters 705
Authorizes Strike Against UPS
YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwt2znM06Ws&fmt=6
Members of Teamsters Local 705, the big Chicago-area UPS local, voted today (Sunday, July 20) to authorize a strike against UPS. Local 705 has its own contract with UPS, separate from the National Contract. The vote was overwhelming: 2993 for a strike, 232 against. Video length 3:36.
The Labor Beat series is produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is affiliated with IBEW 1220. Views expressed are those of the producer, not necessarily of IBEW. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330.
Juan Campos, IBT 705 Recording Secretary

UNITY TWAC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Transit Workers Action Caucus, a group of AC Transit workers, is calling on all interested people to join them in protesting inhumane conditions on AC Transit buses. For years bus operators and passengers have suffered in the summer months from heat related stress. Now in these times of global warming and with the addition of the controversial Belgian Van Hool buses the situation has gotten worse.
In November of 2007 AC Transit was cited by Cal-OSHA for:
1. 3203(a) (6) Accident investigations not done for at least 7 employee injuries. Penalty imposed $335.
2. 3395(c) No water provided for bus drivers exposed to heat illness hazards. Penalty imposed $560.
3. 3395(d) No shade provided for bus driver exposed to heat illness hazards. Penalty imposed $560.
4. 3395(e) No heat illness procedures, no employee and Supervisor training on procedures and heat-related hazards. Penalty imposed $560.
AC Transit has appealed the citations claiming that the regulation is new to Transportation / Transit and will have widespread impact on many transit agencies. TWAC points out that most California transit agencies have air conditioned buses. Only 20% of AC’s buses have A/C but those buses are primarily used on Transbay routes - not the inner city routes that serve over 90% of AC riders and mostly communities of color. Despite four serious heat waves this spring and summer, AC Transit has done nothing to comply with the above regulations.

AA Flight attendant wins $1.2 million in suit for harassment & discrimination
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/BA7S11R9JJ.DTL&hw=discrimination&sn=001&sc=1000
Flight attendant wins $1.2 million in suit
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 18, 2008
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A federal court jury in San Francisco awarded more than $1.2 million in damages Thursday to a former American Airlines flight attendant who said the airline concocted reasons to fire her after she complained about an assault by a passenger.
The eight-member U.S. District Court jury found that American Airlines fired Greta Anderson in 2005 at least in part because of the company's belief that she was mentally disabled, even though she was able to do the job she had held since 1976. The jury awarded her $238,000 for wage losses and $1 million for emotional distress.
The airline said it dismissed Anderson for insubordination because she disobeyed supervisors' orders by repeatedly asking a psychiatrist for a copy of his report that found her unfit for duty. Company lawyers were unavailable for comment late Thursday, but Anderson's attorney, Gregory Redmond, said the airline's position during the trial left little doubt that it would appeal the verdict.

SF TWU250A Muni Drivers Get Extension Of Contract
http://www.examiner.com/a-1491584~Union__agency_fail_to_see_eye_to_eye.html
Union, agency fail to see eye to eye
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SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The existing pay scale and working conditions for Muni operators will likely be extended for another three years after union leaders and San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency officials failed to agree on a new contract.
Union members, who voted Tuesday afternoon, approved the contract extension by 82 percent of the rank-and-file, Muni officials said Wednesday. The contract is expected to go before the SFMTA board for final approval in mid-August, though the deadline could be extended.
“Over the course of a dozen meetings, SFMTA sought a variety of contract provisions describing work rules and other procedures, while the union primarily sought economic enhancement,” Muni spokesman Judson True said.

West Coast Longshore Workers stage port job action to pressure for contract
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9883062
Workers stage port job action
By Art Marroquin, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/14/2008 10:57:00 PM PDT
Amid stalled labor talks, dockworkers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are taking their shift breaks at the same time, resulting in interrupted cargo flows and a drop in productivity, West Coast shippers reported Monday.
Pacific Maritime Association officials say the action amounts to a temporary work stoppage that lasts for 15 to 30 minutes during each shift.
The simultaneous "unit breaks" have resulted in a 10 to 15 percent fall-off in productivity, the PMA claims.
The action comes amid a lack of recent progress in negotiations for a new, three-year contract between the PMA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
"Any actions that are being taken unilaterally by the ILWU are troubling to us at a very sensitive stage of our negotiations," said Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the PMA, a consortium of 71 shipping companies operating on the West Coast.
"Our focus remains on resolving the remaining issues in front of us," Getzug said. "We intend to reach an agreement that is fair and reasonable for both sides and keep the ports running smoothly and safely."

The Cunningham Report
What's The Buzz
07/13/2008
Negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 71 waterfront employers, became increasingly sticky late last week with the PMA charging union members with slowing down production in Tacoma and Los Angeles-Long Beach while talks continue...ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees discounted the union actions in Tacoma and Southern California, saying that the PMA was making a mountain out of a molehill... Still pending is the PMA request to the National Labor Relations Board for the labor agency to file a charge against the ILWU over the May Day shutdown of West Coast ports for one shift by union workers as a protest against the war in Iraq.
-- The Cunningham Report

Oaklanders Deserve a Lifetime of Clean Air & Good Jobs. We Can't Wait
Any Longer!
* Port drivers work 11-14 hours a day for as little as $8 an hour.
* Port drivers do not receive health or pension benefits.
* While waiting in line, engines idle, and drivers and residents
breathe cancer causing fumes.
* Due to diesel pollution, West Oaklanders' risk of cancer is
more than double that of other Bay Area residents.
Join the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the California Labor
Federation & Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa
Demonstrate Support for Good Jobs and Clean Air at the Port of Oakland
March and Rally in Support of a Comprehensive Clean Trucks Program
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2:00pm
Meet at Oakland Marriott, 10th Street and Broadway
For more information contact:
Aditi Vaidya at (510)893-7106 ext. 324, Aditi@workingeastbay.org
__._,_.___

Two AFSCME Locals Call For National Strike Against the War-ILWU May Day Strike Inspired Workers
AFSCME LOCAL 304 originated the resolution and it's also been passed by Locals 341 and 843. For more information, Fred Hyde is at fhyde@igc.org]
For a national AFSCME strike to fund public services by ending the war and taxing corporations and the rich
WHEREAS the war to control Iraq's oil has already cost over $500 billion, with long-term costs that include healthcare for veterans estimated to be at least $3 trillion; and
WHEREAS the rapidly deteriorating economy is forcing at least 28 states and many local governments to face budget cuts (many of them severe like California's $16 billion shortfall) which will slash funding for vital services such as healthcare for the poor and elderly, education, libraries, and parks; and
WHEREAS thousands of AFSCME members are threatened with lay offs as a result of these cuts; and
WHEREAS neither Democratic nor Republican state legislators or governors are proposing even modest tax increases on the wealthy or closing tax loopholes on big business in order to fill these funding gaps; and
WHEREAS the federal tax burden has steadily shifted onto workers, while the percentage of federal tax receipts from corporate income tax has gone from over 30% in the 1950s down to less than 10% today; and

US Airline Bosses Want Regulation of Market In Oil To Survive
Date: July 11, 2008 7:13:11 AM PDT
An open letter to all airline customers
Dear
Last week, crude oil hit an all-time high of $146, and the skyrocketing cost of fuel is impacting our customers, our employees, the communities we serve, and the economy as a whole. United, and the majority of other major U.S. airlines, are asking our most loyal customers to join us in pushing for legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets. Please see the attached open letter from the leaders of the U.S. airline industry.
An Open letter to All Airline Customers:
Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.
For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

TWSC Statement of Solidarity With Doro-Chiba Against Raid By Japanese Police Forces During G-8 Meeting
The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee TWSC protests the vicious assault on the offices and members of Doro-Chiba union on July 4, 2008. Using false pretenses, the Japanese police forces were alledgedly looking for evidence of illegal activity in the protest against the G-8 conference in Japan. This effort to intimidate and silence those unions, workers organizations and many others who are protesting this governmental meeting is a flagrant violation of democratic rights. The record of the G-8 is a history of trampling on the rights of working people not only in the under-developed world but in the more industrialized countries. This organization which is fundamentally a tool of the United States and the multi-nationals which run it has pushed deregulation, privatization and the destruction of democratic rights for working people. The world drive by the G-8 and other organizations representing the billionaires to destroy the labor movement through privatization, deregulation and other union busting policies must be stopped. These neo-liberalism policies have been opposed by US workers including the shutdown of all West Coast ports by the ILWU to protest the November 1999 meeting of the WTO. The ILWU also joined with many other protesters.

Strike action hits German flights
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7493123.stm
Page last updated at 10:50 GMT, Monday, 7 July 2008 11:50 UK
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Strike action hits German flights
Lufthansa warned that further flights could be cancelled throughout the day
More than 200 flights in Germany and Europe have been cancelled by strike action at Lufthansa's regional carriers CityLine and Eurowings.
Members of the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union walked out at 2200 GMT on Sunday in a 24-hour strike over pay.
Flights from all major German airports, especially the hubs at Frankfurt and Munich, have been affected.
It comes less than a week after flights were hit by a strike by staff such as baggage handlers and check-in workers.
Lufthansa urged passengers to call before heading to the airport and consider alternative means of transport.
"We find it very unfortunate that passengers are bearing the brunt of this," a Lufthansa spokesperson said.
The airline warned that further flights could be cancelled throughout the day.

Flight Attendants Face High-Pressure Cabins : Growing Nightmare For Airline Workers
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92222458
BUSINESS
Flight Attendants Face High-Pressure Cabins
by Frank Langfitt
Audio for this story will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET
Enlarge
Frank Langfitt/NPR
Erin Gailey has flown for Alaska Airlines for 25 years. She says the job of a flight attendant has changed dramatically.
Morning Edition, July 7, 2008 ·Flight attendants have one of the tougher jobs in America these days. Airline companies are reeling from high oil prices, and new baggage fees are annoying more customers. Caught in the middle is the flight attendant, the public face of an industry that's on the ropes.
When Stefannee Steffenhagen started working for Air Wisconsin — a US Airways commuter service — several years ago, she thought it was the beginning of what she called "that little-girl dream."
But the reality of the job doesn't quite measure up. In her brief career, Steffenhagen has seen a lot of change.
Today, she has fewer amenities to offer passengers, and they're increasingly angry about it. She says one of her toughest jobs is just getting women to put their purses in the overhead compartment.

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/2304
News online
ITF lends backing to US dockers’ contract negotiations
2 July 2008
The ITF has announced its support for a US dockers’ union during crucial contract negotiations with its employer.
The ITF, which is closely monitoring negotiations between the ITF-affiliated International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the employer organisation, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), expressed its commitment to back the union at a recent Dockers’ Section conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The union’s current employment contract expired on 1 July.
Conference delegates unanimously passed a resolution pledging international solidarity. It also called on the PMA and its member companies to exhaust all negotiations options in good faith with the ILWU in order to avoid a conflict similar to the one that occurred in 2002. During the contract dispute that took place then, 25,000 workers were locked out by their employers.
The ILWU has announced that dockworkers will continue to load and unload cargo to keep ports operating while negotiations are underway and pledged to work hard to reach a fair and reasonable agreement. The union’s key contract issues include: good jobs that support working families; safer work with fewer injuries and deaths; cleaner air for workers on the docks and families in nearby communities as well as health and retirement benefits protection.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1214780114109820.xml&coll=7
Pressure's on for dockworker pact
Labor - With a slowing economy, the union and the ports are trying hard not to repeat 2002's 10-day lockout
Monday, June 30, 2008
AMY HSUAN
The Oregonian Staff
With the expiration of a contract looming Tuesday, unionized dockworkers and the world's largest shipping lines have yet to reach a deal on a new labor agreement covering 29 West Coast ports.
But unlike the previous time the two groups sat at the table, there's little chance of a showdown like the one that escalated to a 10-day lockout in 2002.
Both sides say they want to continue talking after Tuesday's deadline and keep the ports, critical gateways for the U.S. economy, running smoothly. In an election year and with a slowing economy, the pressure is on both sides to reach an amicable agreement, analysts say.
"By all accounts, the process has been more productive and respectful this time," said Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 25,000 dockworkers from San Diego to Seattle. "The whole tone and tenor is different."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/qant-j28.shtml
Australia: Once again unions call off Qantas stoppages
By Terry Cook
28 June 2008
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For the third time in six weeks, union leaders have called off industrial action by 1,500 Qantas engineers in a bid to prevent a potentially explosive confrontation with the airline and the Rudd Labor government over the company’s demand for cuts to wages and conditions.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) intervened again last Thursday, arranging another round of negotiations on the new workplace agreement to commence on Monday. The truce was offered to Qantas despite the airline’s adamant refusal to budge from its position and its use of scab labour during this week’s rolling stoppages, which forced the cancellation of about 100 domestic flights.
Australian Licensed Airline Engineers Association (ALAEA) federal secretary Steve Purvinas said: “Hopefully we can sit down for the week and reach an agreement.” Earlier in the year, the ALAEA signed a deal with Qantas to impose a 3 percent annual pay rise limit, which is far below the soaring cost of living. The engineers threw out the agreement in an April ballot, and are fighting for a 5 percent increase.

LA Times: Dockworkers Protest Against The War Was Really Only A "demonstration Of Union Power Directed At The Pacific Maritime Ass."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-longshoremen28-2008jun28,0,6745811.story
Dockworkers need a deal
Dockworkers and shippers appear headed for a new contract. That's good news for the local economy.
June 28, 2008
While the media breathlessly follow the talks between the studios and the Screen Actors Guild, negotiators in a much less glamorous industry are quietly trying to avert a strike that could be more damaging to the local and national economies.
The six-year contract that covers about 25,000 dockworkers up and down the West Coast expires Tuesday. The last time the contract came due, in 2002, there were union work slowdowns that prompted a 10-day lockout by shippers, driving President Bush to invoke the rarely used Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 to compel operations to resume. The dispute cost the U.S. economy an estimated $15 billion.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle roughly 40% of the nation's container cargo, and the international trade business employs more people in L.A. County than Hollywood does, so there's every reason to take the current dock talks seriously. Fortunately, a repeat of 2002 is very unlikely. Despite what looked suspiciously like a saber-rattling stunt by union leaders two months ago, the two sides show every sign of being close to a deal.

Anti-G8/Railroad Workers Union Doro-Chiba Protesters Denounce Tokyo Police Ban Of 6/29 Demonstration
June 27 2008
On June 27 the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission decided to ban the demonstration in front of Shibuya station planned on June 29 as a part of Anti-G8 Summit Workers’ National Rally against war, poverty, unemployment and privatization. (The application of the demonstration with a course passing in front of Shibuya railway station (downtown Tokyo) had been filed by the Organizing Committee of the Anti-G8 Summit Rally to the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission.) This ban is an impermissible brutal crackdown by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on the movement to oppose the G8 Summit.
The Organizing Committee of the Anti-G8 Summit Rally denounce this outrageous measure and declare our firm determination to carry out the demonstration as was planned in front of Shibuya station in defiance of the police ban.
The streets running in front of Shibuya station are usually open for marches and demonstrations of every kind and are regarded as the most popular course. The only reason given by the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Committee to ban the demonstration is that it could provoke disturbance. We shall never admit the right of workers to demonstrate to be regulated and infringed in such way.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008020772_apportlabor.html
Friday, June 27, 2008 - Page updated at 09:20 AM
West Coast dockworkers stay in contract talks
A six-year contract covering thousands of West Coast dockworkers is set to expire Tuesday, but both sides insist they want to keep the ports running smoothly - even if they have to keep talking after the deadline.
By RYAN NAKASHIMA
AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES —
A six-year contract covering thousands of West Coast dockworkers is set to expire Tuesday, but both sides insist they want to keep the ports running smoothly - even if they have to keep talking after the deadline.
That would be a welcome break for the already teetering U.S. economy, since the billions of dollars in cargo handled by those ports represents about 11 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
In addition, neither side wants a replay of the bitter, 10-day lockout in 2002 that caused an estimated $15 billion in economic losses.
"The hope is we can reach an agreement without the kind of disruption that we've seen in the past," said Steve Getzug, spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 72 shipping companies.

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/2290
News online
Tehran bus union man arrested in new attack
25 June 2008
The ITF has expressed acute concern following the arrest yesterday of Gholamreza Gholamhosseini, another member of its Iranian bus affiliate.
Gholamhosseini, a member of the Vahed Syndicate Executive Board
was arrested by police in Tehran while visiting Shirodi Stadium, where an event to mark Iran’s Women's Day was taking place. The gathering was sponsored by the municipality of Tehran and by the bus company, Sherkat Vahed.
Security personnel prevented Gholamhosseini from entering the stadium; police then apprehended him and took him to Gisha Police Station.
Today, June 25th, Judge Hassan Dehghan Dehnavi, who is also involved in the case of the union’s General Secretary Mansour Osanloo, ordered Gholamhosseini’s detention in Evin prison. Hassan Dehghan Dehnavi declared that Gholamhosseini, who is not charged with any crime, should be detained for an indefinite period whilst his case is investigated.
Gholamhosseini had been dismissed from the company for taking part in the strike action of January 2006. Although the court has ordered his reinstatement, the company is refusing to comply.

www.doro-chiba.org
Declaration of 59th Regular Central Committee of Doro-Chiba
Doro-Chiba adopted today a new policy of struggle on the 59th Regular Central Committee meeting held in the Union Hall. We have confirmed the achievement of the struggle of the first half of 2008, which was focused on crushing the corporate policy of enforcing the so-called “Life Cycle System” and outsourcing of inspection and repair work. The most outrageous corporate plan is the “Life Cycle System” that intends to deal with serious shortage of station personnel, a result of failure of the company, by a makeshift measure, that is, by periodically transferring drivers in rotation to the station duty. JR companies are fully responsible for all these precarious situations. They have put their absolute priority on greedily seeking profit by means of outsourcing and cutting down personnel costs in total negligence of rail safety. Currently, necessary driving personnel are barely maintained by sacrificing days off and forcing even elderly drivers of the retirement age to run the train at 130 km/h. Another deadly Amagasaki rail accident is inevitable and worsening working conditions as well as further outsourcing is anticipated.