Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

New rules could boost union numbers for airlines
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-rules-could-boost-union-numbers-for-airlines-2010-03-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

March 16, 2010, 10:16 a.m. EDT
New voting rules could boost union numbers for airlines
Carriers face higher labor costs as workers fight to regain lost wages

By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A change in the way U.S. airline workers vote to organize could swell union numbers by the tens of thousands over the next two years and raise labor costs for the industry.

Under a new rule that could be announced as early as this week, the federal agency that referees labor-management relations for airlines would allow employees to organize if a majority votes in favor of unionization.

Reuters

Current rules by the National Mediation Board state that the majority of the entire workforce has to favor unionization, with absent ballots automatically counted as a "no" vote.

The change would align voting rules for airline labor -- governed under the Railway Labor Act -- more closely with those under the National Labor Relations Board.

The change in voting rules coincides with airline unions' ramped-up efforts to secure higher wages and benefits, drawing strength from a more labor-friendly administration in Washington as well as renewed industry growth after nearly two years of recession.

Militants win Philippine Airlines Ground Crew union elections after 12 year union struggle
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100228-255836/Militants-win-PAL-union-elections

Militants win PAL union elections

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:35:00 02/28/2010

Filed Under: Labor, Air Transport

MANILA, Philippines—Militants won a landslide victory in the elections for the Philippine Airlines (PAL) ground crew union on February 25, twelve years after the controversial moratorium in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) of 1998, the PAL Employees Association (Palea) said in a news release over the weekend.

“After 12 long years, PAL employees again have a union that will protect their rights and welfare, including job security,” said Gerry Rivera, who will assume the position of Palea president on March 29.

Rivera said his group, party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), campaigned on a platform of defending job security, will immediately face a challenge as PAL reportedly plans to spin off departments and lay off employees this coming April.

PM members won the top three national union positions and their local party called Sulong Paleans cornered 13 of the 21-member union board during the elections held last Thursday, February 25. But the ballots were only finally tallied Friday night with the winners proclaimed by the union Commission on Elections and representatives of the labor department’s Metro Manila office, the news release said.

Clearing the Air at American Ports And The Labor Green Coalition-Deregulation The Cause Of Environmental Degradation
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/business/26ports.html?scp=1&sq=envirornment trucking deregulation&st=cse

February 26, 2010
Clearing the Air at American Ports

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The Teamsters union and environmental activists have formed an unlikely and outspoken alliance aiming to clear the air in American ports, and perhaps bolster the Teamsters’ ranks in the process.

The labor-green alliance is getting under the trucking industry’s skin by asserting that short-haul trucking companies working in ports — and not the truck drivers, who are often considered independent contractors — should spend the billions needed to buy new, low-emission rigs that can cost $100,000 to $175,000 each.

The Teamsters union says seaport air is so dirty largely because port truck drivers earn too little to buy trucks that would belch out fewer diesel particulates, tiny particles that contribute to cancer and asthma. Working with environmentalists, the union helped persuade the Port of Los Angeles to adopt a far-reaching plan that bars old trucks from hauling cargo from the port and puts the burden of buying new vehicles on the trucking companies, not the drivers.

Ground Workers at Continental Airlines Vote to Join Teamsters
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/13union.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1266084107-CkCVDH8A/yjWcf5zFrslhA

Ground Workers at Continental Airlines Vote to Join Teamsters
E-MAIL

Published: February 12, 2010
DALLAS (AP) — Ground workers at Continental Airlines voted to unionize in the Teamsters, airline and union officials said Friday.

The Continental fleet service employees were among the largest groups of nonunion workers in the industry, according to labor officials.

“This is a big victory,” said James Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters. “It proves there are people to organize out there.”

Mr. Hoffa said the union won by generating excitement with big rallies at Continental’s hubs in Cleveland, Houston and Newark, and by reaching into the airline’s smaller bases where previous organizing campaigns had failed.

The Teamsters will represent a group that includes baggage handlers and cargo agents in bargaining with Continental over wages and other contract terms. The union already represents mechanics at the airline.

Continental’s senior vice president of labor relations, Mike Bonds, said, “We respect the choice our co-workers have made.” He promised that the airline would focus on working together.

Teamsters face deadline for organizing Continental ramp workers

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/6814697.html

Teamsters face deadline for organizing ramp workers
By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 13, 2010, 10:14PM
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The clock is ticking.
The Teamsters have less than a month to pull off what they hope is a successful bid to organize 8,000 Continental Airlines baggage handlers and cargo workers — including 2,800 in the Houston area.
On Feb. 8, a few minutes after 1 p.m., the union will know whether its massive investment in time and resources succeeded where other unions have tried and failed.
That's because it's not just a typical workplace election that lasts a day or two at the plant and the side that gets the most votes wins.
The federal Railway Labor Act, the 1926 legislation that governs transportation workers, requires a union to obtain a majority of votes of all the eligible voters in the bargaining unit. If someone doesn't vote, it's a no vote.
The union is in a five-week period that began Jan. 4 during which it may try to persuade eligible workers — including furloughed workers with recall rights — to vote either by phone or online. It has launched an all-out nationwide door-knocking effort to make sure everyone who is eligible has received a voter number and personal identification number by mail.

NYC TWU 100 Samuelsen’s Eye on Reuniting TWU 100
http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2009-12-18/News_of_the_week/Samuelsens_Eye_on_Reuniting_TWU.html

Samuelsen’s Eye on Reuniting TWU

Defeated Toussaint’s Choice in Bruising Battle
By ARI PAUL

TAKING BACK THE UNION: Flanked by supporters on election night, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President-elect John Samuelsen promised to end infighting in the union, dispel racial divisions and unify his rank and file against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. His Take Back Our Union slate has a two-vote majority on the executive board and won four of seven vice presidencies.
The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang
Just after 6 p.m. in the basement of the Park Central Hotel in midtown Dec. 7, the numbers were clear: the dissident Take Back Our Union slate of Transport Workers Union Local 100 had swept the four local-wide offices, with Track Inspector John Samuelsen taking the presidency over Curtis Tate, and the slate’s candidates captured four of the seven vice presidencies.

But election committee chair James Mitchell hesitated to announce the results for the official record. For the TBOU supporters gathered on the balcony overlooking the floor where election workers processed ballots, however, the celebration began with slaps on Mr. Samuelsen’s back and exclamations of “You won!”

Aviation and the South: Advantage Dixie
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15213323

Aviation and the South
Advantage Dixie
Jan 7th 2010 | COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA

After carmakers, weak unions are attracting the aircraft business

Getty Images

The strikebreaker
IN 1983 Nissan became the first foreign carmaker in America’s South when it opened an assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. Other Asian and European automakers soon arrived, bypassing Detroit for Dixie and building factories in Kentucky (Toyota), Alabama (Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Hyundai), Mississippi (Nissan), Texas (Toyota again) and South Carolina (BMW). A common attraction in each of the states was the anti-trade-union climate.

Now the aircraft industry is following suit. Late last autumn Boeing announced it would build a second assembly line (the first is in the Seattle suburb of Everett, Washington) for its 787 Dreamliner jet in North Charleston, outside the lovely old city of Charleston. The company chose to put its $750m factory in South Carolina because it was determined to distance itself from a fractious labour union in Everett. Machinists there went on a 57-day walkout in 2008 that cost the company more than $2 billion and led some airlines to switch their orders to Europe’s Airbus.

San Diego cabbie strike likely to grow
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/20/about-150-cabbies-go-on-strike/

San Diego cabbie strike likely to grow
BY DEBBI BAKER, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
LESLIE BERESTEIN, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 20, 2009 AT 2:21 P.M., UPDATED DECEMBER 21, 2009 AT 7:43 A.M.

Taxi cabs line up at Lindbergh Airport.

More San Diego taxi drivers are expected to go on strike Monday, joining striking Yellow Cab drivers who say they took at least 150 cabs out of circulation over the weekend.

Although drivers say it’s possible that 350 taxis could be out of service during the busy holiday week, the president of Yellow Radio Service put the number of cabs out of service this weekend at 30 or fewer.

“We have not missed a call or a customer,” said Anthony Palmeri, whose company handles dispatching and management services for the Yellow Cab owners.

Nearly 1,000 taxis have permits to operate in San Diego, and harbor police said yesterday that the strike by Yellow Cab drivers had not appeared to affect Lindbergh Field.

At a meeting of Yellow Cab drivers in City Heights Sunday night, a spokesman for the local taxi drivers association said about 400 drivers from other companies were expected to join the strike Monday. That could take about 200 cabs out of service because taxis that are not driver-owned are typically shared by two contracted drivers, each working a 12-hour shift.

Buenos Aries Subway workers announce they will not extend the strike

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/16946

They said the situation "is on the hands of" the Labour Minister
Subway workers announce they will not extend the strike

Subway workers announced they will not extend the subway and tram strike that started in the morning. Metrovías employees are demanding that the government grant their union a legal status to let them splinter from the UTA transport workers' union.

After a two-hour meeting, the subway delegates confirmed that the current strike will last until 5am tomorrow. Nevertheless, they warned there might be 48-hour strike next week if the Labour Ministry does not summon them to solve the problem.

Néstor Segovia, a prominent leader of subway workers, said that the situation "is now on the hands of" the Labour Minister Carlos Tomada.

The 24-hour subway and tram strike started this morning in Buenos Aires City, buses and taxis were full as all subway services were cancelled.

Some clashes were reported on Line B, between workers and the police, in the Federico Lacroze station. Some trains of the latter line were found vandalized, with- the seats broken. Metrovías accused the strikers of causing those damages in order to prevent the company from maintaining an emergency service.

SeaTV. Television for and made by seafarers

http://www.watchseatv.com/

Consult the updated database by using this link.

Seafarers have their own Television Station
SeaTV is television about seafaring. The programs are about aspects of the life of seafarers such as the need for legal assistance, health, family life, technology, art, entertainment, recreation and spiritual matters.

SeaTV can be watched on board. Free DVD-discs are available (soon) at seafarers centres in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Durban, London, New York, Rotterdam, Singapore and many other stations.

SeaTV can also be watched at the download section of this website. At our youtube channel even more movieclips can be found.

The SeaTV-DVD's also contain a port database. It gives access to information like the adresses of many seamen's centres in the world. The database can also be downloadedfrom this website.

SeaTV is partly made by seafarers themselves. Everybody working at sea can join the SeaTV-team and even earn some money. Click at the participate button to find out how!

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