The United States, on the verge of a retirement crisis
The Yucatan Times June 30, 2014 View the original piece “For retirement, the answer is 4-0-1-k,” proclaimed Tyler Mathisen, then editor of Money magazine in 1996. “I feel sure that someday, like a financial Little-Engine-That-Could, it will pull me over the million-dollar mountain all by itself.” For this sentiment, and others like it, Mathisen was soon rewarded with an on-air position at financial news network CNBC, where he remains to this day. As for the rest of...
Local 43 Merges into Local 200
Olivia Hitchcock The Journal Times June 26, 2014 View the original piece With the addition of Racine Teamsters, the Milwaukee-based Teamsters chapter now has more than 600 new members. After an “overwhelming” vote by the Racine Teamsters chapter, Local 43, the group will be merging with Milwaukee in an attempt to increase resources and power for members, according to a press release sent by the Milwaukee group. Click here to read more at The Journal...
Give Veterans the Health Care They Deserve, Staff the VA
Mike Hall AFL-CIO June 25, 2014 View the original piece The recent revelations of long waiting lists for military veterans seeking treatment at Veterans Affairs (VA) health care facilities and of management cover-ups has prompted AFGE to again call on Congress to fully staff the VA in order to provide the health care veterans deserve. Click here to read more.
Unions Boost Women’s Earnings, Benefits, and Workplace Flexibility
Center for Economic and Policy Research June 19, 2014 View the original piece Over the past four decades, women have played increasingly important roles as breadwinners in their families. At the same time, women’s share of unpaid care work and housework has remained high. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), “Women, Working Families, and Unions,” explores the role unions play in addressing the challenges facing working women and families...
Teamsters Ask Judge to End 25 Years of Federal Oversight
Kris Maher The Wall Street Journal June 17, 2014 View the original piece For the first time, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is asking a federal judge to end 25 years of strict oversight intended to root out corruption and alleged Mafia influence in the union's highest ranks. "The union's rank-and-file members and duly elected officers should be allowed to reclaim control of their union's affairs," Teamsters lawyer Viet Dinh wrote in a June 4...
UPS Announces Dimensional Weight Changes
Seeking Alpha June 17, 2014 View the original piece UPS today announced that, beginning December 29, 2014, in the United States, dimensional weight will be utilized to calculate the billable weight of a shipment on all UPS Ground services and UPS Standard to Canadapackages. UPS already applies this method for UPS air services (domestic and international), UPS Standard" to Mexico ground services and for UPS Ground packages and UPS Standard to Canada packages measuring 3 cubic feet in size or larger. "UPS has been researching the...
Breaking Pension Promises is No Solution at All
Kyle Garrett Pension Rights Center June 11, 2014 View the original piece Complexity is to be expected when discussing an issue like pensions. So for the moment let’s make things simple: 150 to 200 multiemployer plans are severely underfunded and may run out of money in 15 to 20 years if no action is taken. There are approximately 1.5 million workers and retirees in these plans. To solve this problem, members of Congress are considering a...
Teamsters against HoS restart changes
Truck News June 11, 2014 View the original piece The accident involving a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. driver and comedian Tracy Morgan’s entourage has yet another industry organization weighing in about potential hours of service changes. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters sent an open letter to the US House of Representatives saying any steps to “delay, revise or replace the current hours of service 34-hour restart provision” or allow increases in truck size and weight, “especially...
Leslie Orear, 103, Helped Bring Together Black and White Packinghouse Workers in the 1930s
Stephen Franklin In These Times June 11, 2014 View the original piece Leslie Orear, a lifelong labor activist, died in Chicago on May 30 at the age of 103. After entering the Chicago stockyards at a time when the idea of unions for blue-collar workers was spreading like wildfire, Orear quickly emerged as a voice for stockyard workers. Leslie Orear started in the giant packing house’s sweet-pickle shipping department in 1932, tying string onto hunks...
Convention Center dispute fires up a dissident Teamster
Jane M. Von Bergen The Inquirer June 09, 2014 View the original piece For the last 21 years, Michael Conway, 58, has worked at the Convention Center, along with 160 other Teamsters on the seniority list. That has ended. And Conway is not happy about it. Alleging that his union "violated its duty of fair representation to its members by failing and refusing to timely execute" an agreement with the Convention Center management, Conway last...