http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-08-14/article/30832?headline=Cal-OSHA-Files-Citation-Against-AC-Transit
Cal-OSHA Files Citation Against AC Transit-Bus Drivers Not Getting Protection From Heat Related Illnesses And Sufficient Water
News:
Cal-OSHA Files Citation Against AC Transit
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday August 14, 2008
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) has filed a citation and notification of penalty against the Alameda–Contra Costa Transit District, charging that the district is not adequately providing bus drivers with protection from heat-related illness, including not providing access to sufficient water.
AC Transit is challenging the Cal-OSHA citation, and an appeal hearing before a Cal-OSHA administrative judge in the state building in Oakland has been continued to September.
The Cal-OSHA citation noted that only 20 percent of AC Transit buses are supplied with air conditioning, a situation that bus drivers call a significant problem particularly in the summer months on routes running through southern Alameda County. In addition, while drivers may drink water while the buses are stopped, AC Transit rules do not allow drinking while the buses are in motion.

Iran's war on trade unions
President Ahmadinejad is stepping up the repression of labour activists. We should support them in their fight for basic rights
All comments (54)
Peter Tatchell
guardian.co.uk, Monday August 18 2008 18:30 BST
Article history
The anti-worker dictatorship in Iran has stepped up its attacks on labour activists, with a new wave of arrests and jailings.
Among those recently jailed were two workers' rights campaigners, Sousan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi. They have been sentenced to 15 lashes and four months in prison for the "crime" (under Iran's Islamic law) of participating in a May Day celebration in the city of Sanandaj earlier this year. The verdicts were issued by the criminal court of Sanandaj – branch 101.
On the same charges the same court sentenced Abdullah Khani to 91 days in prison and 40 lashes and Seyed Qaleb Hosseini to six months and 50 lashes.
In addition, Khaled Hosseini, a worker activist, was given a 91 day suspended sentence and 30 lashes because of his efforts to support the trade union leader, Mahmoud Salehi, who was imprisoned at the time and was being denied medical treatment. The charges against him include "disturbing public order and agitation."

http://www.permanentrevolution.net/entry/2258
Jack Heyman: ILWU: on the anti-war dockers strike and Barack Obama
ILWU (US dockers union) Executive board member who organised first strike against Iraq war on mayday this year, speaks about the recent strike against the war and Barack Obama.
The Mayday action was the first labor strike against any war in the US, not just Iraq, that was a critical fault of the anti-Vietnam war movement, that we weren’t able to link up the labor movement with the anti-war movement. I know its happened in France, Austrialia and some other countries but never the USA.
Background to the ILWU
The ILWU really became a force within the labor movement based on the 1934 strike, when all ports on the west coast were on strike and there was a general strike in SF. A large part of the leadershpio of that strike came from the CP. The politics of our union came from the Stalnists of that time. In 1995 there was a founding conference of a labor party in the USA, we attempted to intervene on the basis of a labor party that would fight on a programme in the working class. But it was an idea that dried on the vine, in large part because the TU bureaucracy in the USA is joined at the hip with the Democrats and they will do whatever they can to stop an independent working class movement in the US.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/15/transport.theairlineindustry
Gatwick and Stansted airport workers vote to strike on bank holiday
More than 400,000 holidaymakers face severe disruption at Britain's busiest airports for charter and low-budget flights
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday August 15 2008 18:03 BST
Article history
More than 400,000 holidaymakers face severe disruption at the end of the month after staff voted to go on strike at Britain's two busiest airports for charter airlines and low-budget carriers.
Union leaders warned that industrial action at Gatwick and Stansted could spread across the UK with workers at Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle airports also holding walk-out ballots.
Baggage handlers and check-in staff at Gatwick and Stansted will stage 24-hour strikes on bank holiday Monday on August 25, and August 29, after rejecting a 3% pay rise offer.
The strike by workers at airport services firm Swissport will affect services by Gatwick-based airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Thomsonfly, Monarch and First Choice and flights operated by Ryanair and easyJet at Stansted, where they are the biggest customers.
The Unite union said all airlines using Swissport's services would be grounded. "The flights could not operate. If these strikes go ahead it would effectively shut down the airlines' operations," said Steve Turner, Unite's national secretary for aviation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7562165.stm
Page last updated at 22:03 GMT, Thursday, 14 August 2008 23:03 UK
US airline 'broke safety rules'
American Airlines has joined forces with British Airways
US aviation officials have accused American Airlines of major breaches of safety, including intentionally flying planes known to need repairing.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it wanted to fine the company a total of $7.1m (£3.8m).
It said two MD-83 passenger jets were used on dozens of flights in 2007, even though repair work reported as necessary by pilots had not been done.
Problems with drug and alcohol testing were also found, officials said.
American Airlines, which can appeal against the fine, had no immediate comment.
The FAA statement comes hours after British Airways confirmed it had sealed an alliance with American Airlines, allowing the two carriers to agree fares, routes and schedules together.
The alliance also includes Spain's Iberia, which is merging with BA.
Safety regulations
In a statement, the FAA said that in December 2007, "American used the wrong provisions of its Minimum Equipment List (MEL) to return two MD-83 aircraft to service after pilots had reported problems, and flew the planes 58 times in violation of FAA regulations".

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/12air.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Pilots Call for Resignation of United’s Chief
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 11, 2008
The union representing pilots at United Airlines urged the chief executive, Glenn F. Tilton, to resign Monday, accusing him of steering the carrier down a path to poor customer service, employee morale and financial performance.
Charles Krupa/Associated Press
Glenn Tilton, United’s chief executive, was hired in 2002.
A spokeswoman for the airline, based in Chicago, did not immediately respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.
The pilots have stepped up criticism of United’s top executives, angry that they have not gotten additional compensation since their pay was reduced sharply during the company’s bankruptcy overhaul from 2002-6. Their pension was also terminated while the UAL Corporation, the parent of United Airlines, was under bankruptcy protection.
In a statement, the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association said United needs new leadership and it has started a Web site to draw attention to what it says have been Mr. Tilton’s failures since he took over in September 2002.

http://www.unionvoice.org/stljwj/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=19868220
Local A-B Workers, community join InBev workers from Europe, Latin America and Canada
Community to Rally with A-B & InBev Workers
St Louis has cherished the tradition of Anheuser-Busch as a quality employer and important member of our economic community.
So news of A-B's takeover by global giant InBev has raised a lot questions in the minds of St Louisans. What does this mean for thousands of A-B workers, retirees and families? For our tax base? For the philanthropic presence that A-B has been in St Louis?
InBev has been quick to provide assurances and promises about its ongoing commitment to St Louis. But this Saturday the community will gather in Kiener plaza tolet InBev know we're watching, that we do hope we're beginning a new tradition with InBev.
We won't have to wait long to see if InBev will really "walk the walk". On August 18, 2008 A-B/InBev begins talks with 8,000 workers through their union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Their agreements on job security, pensions and health care coverage for workers, retirees and their families will send a signal to St Louis and 12 other communities throughout the country where InBev will take ownerhip of A-B breweries.

http://www.lrp-cofi.org/TWU100/trackdiv_election.html
LRP Supporter Wins Transit Union Post
In June, track worker Eric Josephson was elected Vice-Chair of the Track Division in Transport Workers Union Local 100, the powerful union of New York City’s subway and bus workers. Josephson is well-known in the union as a consistent fighter for workers’ interests. He is also widely known for his revolutionary socialist views and his support of the League for the Revolutionary Party and the newsletter it sponsors, Revolutionary Transit Worker.
Josephson’s election campaign literature highlighted immediate demands of struggle for track and all transit workers such as the fight for safe working conditions, preparations for the upcoming contract struggle and for democracy in the union. It also prominently championed revolutionary socialism as the alternative to increasing misery under capitalism and raised a perspective of union action over a range of issues from racist police brutality and anti-immigrant attacks to the imperialist occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Josephson won election to the same post previously, in 2000, running against both the old-guard bureaucracy and the “New Directions” caucus which at the time had a reputation among the ranks as a militant opposition. This time Josephson did not face competition from other opponents of the incumbent leadership. His electoral victory by a 2-to-1 margin over a supporter of incumbent Local President Roger Toussaint certainly expressed a protest by many against Toussaint’s betrayal of the union’s 2005 strike and his increasingly dictatorial rule over the Local. But it also indicated the support Josephson enjoys as a well-known fighter against the bosses and the willingness of many to back his proposals for action.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080807a8.html
Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008
Police: JR West chief at fault over deadly Hyogo train crash
KOBE (Kyodo) West Japan Railway Co. President Masao Yamazaki should be held criminally negligent in connection with the deadly 2005 derailment in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, of a commuter train, police will tell prosecutors, according to investigative sources Wednesday.
Police are expected to send prosecutors reports on 10 JR West officials, including Yamazaki, 65, in September at the earliest. The reports are expected to recommend that several of the officials face similar charges.
Suggesting someone "deserves to be held criminally responsible" is the second-strongest opinion police can attach to such papers to prosecutors, following the demand for "stern punishment."
The Kobe District Public Prosecutor's Office will determine whether it can build a criminal case against the officials after receiving the papers from police.
They have been questioning Yamazaki since late July on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. They sought to learn the level of operational safety he was enforcing at the time the seven-car rapid-service train jumped the tracks on a curve on the JR West Fukuchiyama Line and plowed into a high-rise, killing 106 passengers and the driver and injuring more than 500.

http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=6863&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=390&volume_num=42&issue_num=45
Cash from cabbies
Yellow Cab pushes driver prepayment plan that city officials say is illegal
By Maria Dinzeo
› news@sfbg.com
The largest taxicab company in San Francisco is trying to squeeze more money from its drivers, who say they're already being hit hard by increased gate fees and rising fuel costs.
Yellow Cab has ordered its drivers to prepay for the privilege of driving each month, amounting to thousands of dollars for full-time drivers. Compounding that financial hardship is the apparent intention of the company to use prepaid gate fees to change the employment status of its drivers from employees to independent contractors who are no longer entitled to unemployment insurance and workers' compensation coverage.
While local officials say Yellow Cab's new policy is illegal, they have little power to compel the company to abandon the plan, which was supposed to go into effect Aug. 15 but has now been moved to December under pressure from city officials and the United Taxicab Workers union. Drivers are also threatening to bring legal action to stop Yellow Cab, relying on a past ruling barring the company from requiring deposits from its drivers and misclassifying drivers as independent contractors.

http://labornotes.org/node/1861
Not Quite Quiet on the Waterfront
— Marsha Niemeijer
Longshore workers at a port in Southern California take a break.
Longshore workers will consider a contract offer in mid-August, signaling the end of two weeks of job actions that slowed work at some West Coast ports. This year’s talks occurred as both dockers and port bosses worried about the economic downturn.
Both sides agreed not to release details of the contract, which covers 26,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The dock workers will review the proposal August 18 when about 100 delegates elected to the Longshore Division Caucus from each local decide whether to recommend the contract.
Until then, dockers at 29 ports will work under the old contract, which expired July 1. The union did not agree to extend the contract day-by-day once it expired, but had told members to work as usual.
The deal ends slowdowns that started July 14 after frustrated longshore workers in Southern California began using group coffee breaks to add some pep to talks with the dock bosses, the Pacific Maritime Association.
West Coast longshore workers generally stagger their coffee breaks so that trade isn’t interrupted. But “unit” breaks disrupted work for two weeks on otherwise well-oiled docks.

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_10028204
Tentative labor pact delivered
By Kris Hanson
Article Launched: 07/28/2008 11:43:30 PM PDT
Nearly five months of bargaining between longshore leaders and waterfront employers came to an end Monday, when a new tentative labor pact was reached for some 26,000 dockworkers along the West Coast.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association hammered out the final details of the six-year contract covering longshore workers at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle.
Neither side released details of the deal, which still must be ratified by union and PMA members.
"The ILWU negotiating committee is very pleased and feels like they met their goals of good jobs, safer jobs and an agreement that will help dockworkers and nearby communities," union spokesman Craig Merrilees told The Associated Press.
Added PMA spokesman Kevin Elliott: "We are thrilled to have an agreement that is going to return the ports to a productive, safe and efficient state. And that is good for the economy, good for workers and it is good for the industry."
The current six-year contract covering dockworkers expired July 1 without a strike or lockout, with both sides insisting they wanted to keep the ports running smoothly - even if they had to keep talking after the deadline.

IBT Hoffa Team Takes Concessions in New US Carhaul Agreement
http://labornotes.org/node/1855
Teamsters Take Concessions in New Carhaul Agreement
— Mark Brenner
Less than a week after showing its muscle by forcing the second-largest carhauler out of business with a short strike, the Teamsters union reached a concessionary master agreement in mid-June with the remaining unionized carhaul companies.
Covering 9,000 drivers at four companies, the agreement contains far-reaching job security and wage concessions for carhaulers, who transport cars from factories to dealers.
Together with its larger competitor Allied Holdings, the liquidated company, Performance Transportation Services (PTS), had controlled half the market. Both companies had experienced years of instability. Under the contract, PTS employees are allowed to “follow the work” to other unionized carhaul firms and maintain seniority. But many PTS Teamsters remain out of work as non-union competitors have stepped in, while others have lost seniority.
According to Ken Paff, organizer for Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the union still has clout in the industry but is not using it. “The union is willing to strike PTS to thin the herd, to stabilize the industry, but they aren’t willing to use their power to bargain to protect member standards,” Paff said.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7971114554624864182
No Peace No Work! ILWU Shuts Down West Coast Ports On May Day 2008
On May 2, 2008, ILWU shut down west coast ports to protest the war and commemorate May Day. This video shows some of the speakers at the May Day rally initiated by the ILWU Local 10 and interviews longshore workers about why they are taking action against the war on May Day 2008.
For more information on this action go to
http://maydayilwu.googlepages.com/home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8lwKTguoo
Produced by the Labor Video Project
P.O. Box 720027
San Francisco, CA 94172
(415)282-1908
lvpsf@labornet.org

http://www.labournet.de/internationales/rumae/constanta_eng.html
Updated: 28.07.2008 13:21
Europe 's Eastern gateway blocked: Strike in the docks of Constanta
In Romania the strike wave continues: on Thursday morning, 17th of July 2008, five hundred dock workers at the Agigea Sud terminal went on indefinite strike. The terminal belongs to the container port of Constanta , a town at the Romanian coast of the Black Sea . Their main demands: a wage increase of 700 RON (about 200 Euro), a bonus for seniority, extra-payment for over-time and a clear regulation of the working-time.
The author of this article, Ana Cosel (contact per mail: ana.cosel[at]web.de) , has been in Constanta and was able to talk to the workers.
The first day of strike
At the main gate of the container port Constanta Agigea Sud a wind-torn leaflet announces an indefinite strike, starting at 7 am, 17th of July 2008. On the port premises no movements can be seen, the cranes remain silent and unused. The company has locked out the strikers. About 150 workers on picket-line have gathered at the gate, shouting slogans: "We work, and we want to be paid for it!", "Thieves, thieves" and "We won´t be slaves in our own country!". The Constanta South Terminal is run by DP World, well equipped with modern facilities. 85 per cent of the total container turn-over of Romania 's biggest port happens here. According to their own figures last year the company made twelve Million Euros profit.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080725-9999-1m25colonet.html
Bid details expected soon for big port project
By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 25, 2008
TIJUANA – Mexico's federal government plans to publish bid specifications for the massive Punta Colonet container port and rail project south of Ensenada by the end of September, Luis Téllez, the country's secretary of transportation and communications, said yesterday.
“We are very advanced with Punta Colonet,” Téllez said during a news conference in Mexico City, speaking of the government's preparation of its rules for the project. “I don't want to commit to a date . . . I will commit to before the end of this quarter.”
The megaport would be about 150 miles from San Diego, and it would route Asian cargo through Mexico to the American heartland. It would be built in tandem with a rail link that would carry containers from Punta Colonet to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project would transform a small coastal community into a port that rivals Long Beach and Los Angeles, which both face increasing congestion with the rapid growth of trans-Pacific trade.
A number of groups have expressed interest in the project, which Téllez said would entail an initial private investment of $4.5 billion. The release of bid specifications by the Mexican government had been announced for last month, but the magnitude of the project caused delays, Téllez said.

Japan JR West chief grilled over Amagasaki crash; negligence alleged
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080726a8.html
Saturday, July 26, 2008
JR West chief grilled over Amagasaki crash; negligence alleged
KOBE (Kyodo) Police started questioning West Japan Railway Co. President Masao Yamazaki on Friday over the fatal derailment of a JR West commuter train in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in April 2005.
They will question him further on several occasions by mid-August with an eye to turning their case of professional negligence against him to prosecutors as early as September, investigative sources said.
Police will investigate how Yamazaki, 65, worked to ensure operational safety when the crash claimed 107 lives, as they believe the accident could have been avoided if an advanced Automatic Train Stop system had been installed, the sources said.
The Kobe District Public Prosecutor's Office will consider if it can build a criminal case against Yamazaki.
The crash involved a rapid-service commuter train on the Fukuchiyama Line on the morning of April 25, 2005. The seven-car train was overspeeding when it jumped the tracks on a curve and slammed into a condo high-rise between Tsukaguchi and Amagasaki stations.

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080725.waircanada0725/BNStory/Business/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080725.waircanada0725
Globe and Mail July 25, 2008 at 4:19 PM EDT
Ottawa rejects Air Canada's request for layoffs
Ross Marowits
Montreal -- Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has rejected Air Canada [AC.A-T]'s request for a waiver that would have allowed the airline to lay off flight attendants Nov. 1 without first setting up a joint union-company committee to examine ways to ease the impact of the cuts.
"After carefully examining the application, I have decided that there are insufficient grounds to grant a waiver to Air Canada," Mr. Blackburn said in a statement Friday.
The minister has offered the airline and the union access to mediators and instructed department officials to monitor the situation to ensure that any affected Air Canada employees receive their entitlements under the Canada Labour Code.
Under the code, the airline must create a joint committee with employees to try to minimize the impact of the Montreal-based carrier's planned streamlining of about 2,000 jobs, including more than 600 flight attendants, from its 24,000-employee work force.

Retaliation at the Rails-Union Pacific Railway Targets Workers In Vegas
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=8726422&nav=menu102_2
Build Your Own Newscast
Threats and Warnings Against Former Rail Yard Employees
I-Team: Las Vegas Safety Derailed Part 1
I-Team: Las Vegas Safety Derailed Part 2
Federal inspectors have found a notable absence of security here.
Also on LasVegasNow.com
I-Team: Las Vegas Safety Derailed Part 1
I-Team: Las Vegas Safety Derailed Part 2
Former employees of Union Pacific who gave information to the I-Teamsay they've received death threats and other warnings because they were willing to talk to us.
Two men who worked at the Union Pacific yards for a subcontractor say they've received threatening phone calls and knocks on the door since providing information about serious problems at the train yards.
And neither the railroad nor its subcontractor wants to talk about it.
Las Vegas Safety Derailed Part 1
"They're not acting like what I interpreted a big business to act like. They're acting like thugs or actual criminals." The former rail yard employee nicknamed Tony says his former employer is acting like a street punk in the wake of I-Team stories detailing glaring security lapses within the Union Pacific facilities in Las Vegas.

Oakland IBT Charges Port Companies With Setting Up Company Unions: Port firms breaking city's wage law
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6212638
Teamsters: Port firms breaking city's wage law
Union files lawsuit against three companies, alleging violation of Oakland ordinance
By Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 06/23/2007 02:49:45 AM PDT
OAKLAND — Three companies with operations at the Port of Oakland are in violation of the city's living wage law and should immediately raise employees' hourly wage, according to a lawsuit filed by Teamsters Local 70.
The companies — GSC Logistics, Duluth Services and Aerotek — either operate or provide employees to distribution centers near the docks. The suit was filed on behalf of all employees of the companies who have worked at a facility in the Port of Oakland during the past three years.
"They don't want to pay their employees a living wage, so they just didn't pay it," said Chuck Mack, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 70. "This is a direct violation of the ordinance."
The city's living wage ordinance was expanded by city voters in 2002 to cover operations at the Port of Oakland. The law sets hourly wage requirements for companies with more than 20 employees according to whether they provide health insurance. The wage increases each year and now requires companies to pay $10.39 per hour if benefits are offered or $11.95 per hour without benefits.