ILWU-IBU Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices
http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/08/21/oil-spill-response-workers-on-strike-for-first-contract/

Oil Spill Response Workers on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practices

by Mike Hall, Aug 21, 2008

Oil spill response workers, members of the Inlandboatmen's Union
(IBU), are on the picket line this week in Tacoma, Wash., striking
over what they say is illegal discrimination and intimidation by their
employer, the Marine Spill Response Corp. (MSRC).

In 2006, the workers voted to join the IBU, an affiliate of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). But the company
has dragged its feet in negotiations and failed to reach a fair
contract with the boatmen. The workers also say they have been
threatened with violence.

The oil spill workers are among the many employees across the country
who face employer harassment, threats and intimidation even after they
form unions. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act would allow for
mediation and arbitration for such first-contract disputes because
one-third of the time, private-sector employers do not negotiate a
first contract.

In June, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) office in Seattle

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.

http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1473

A union Defeated at United Air Lines
— Malik Miah and Terry O'Rourke
THE APRIL 1 certification of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) was no April Fool’s joke for the 8600 eligible mechanic and related United Airlines (UAL) employees who voted in the March 31 representational election. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which served the members for nearly five years under very difficult circumstances in the aviation industry, lost the vote by 4,113 to 2,631.
Many of us were surprised by the 75% participation of eligible voters (which included laid-off employees, some over six years) and the IBT’s three-to-two margin of victory. The IBT is known for corruption and a lack of internal democracy. Its leaders arrogantly stated that it supported secrecy in its dealing with UAL and called AMFA’s open negotiations with member observers a “circus.”
Many members, even supporters of the IBT in San Francisco, have praised AMFA’s communications. Their main charge was that AMFA did not have the resources to fight outsourcing and take on the company, pointing in particular to how AMFA failed to win the strike at Northwest Airlines in 2005-06. They also blamed AMFA for not defending the defined benefit pension plans lost during bankruptcy in 2005.

Delta flight attendants accuse management of suppressing union voters

http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/investing?type=hotStocksNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B7pJeHult9GszE37UXlSpmUm&src=blogBurst_investingNews&bbPostId=Cz4pcoaX1j6FbAMIDBuOwMUSCz2WXdgnjR4I4BEdQ8oJSU1CC&bbParentWidgetId=B7gSUbux1hpbz8uOa7TWsLnV
Delta flight attendants accuse management of suppressing union voters
POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2008
FROM BLOG: Cabin Crew News - News for and about flight attendants, by Bobbie Sullivan, PhD

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

Flight attendants at Delta Air Lines voted earlier this year to unionize. A majority of Delta flight attendants already have submitted signature cards to the National Mediation Board (NMB), indicating that they wanted to be represented by a formal collective bargaining unit, even though Delta management has openly opposed the move toward flight attendant unionization.

Last week, Delta flight attendants began the next phase, casting their votes to decide whether the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) will be certified as their collective bargaining representative. The voting process, carried out under the supervision of the NMB, will continue until May 28, 2008. According to the rules, a majority of the entire flight attendant workforce must cast a vote in order for the election to be valid. Anything less than this majority turnout will void the election entirely, even if the union gets a clear majority of the votes cast.

http://labornotes.org/node/1637

Members Drive Flight Attendant Organizing at Delta

— Joshua DeVries

Flight attendants deliver union cards requesting a representation election at Delta Airlines to the National Mediation Board. Voting runs through May 28. Photo: AFA.
Flight attendants at Delta Airlines are pushing to join the ranks of unionized cabin crews. With almost all major airlines organized for decades, only Atlanta-based Delta has held out. Now a growing number of flight attendants there—aided by a huge team of Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) member-organizers from other airlines—have decided their time has come.

Because of the likely merger with Northwest, one of the hottest issues is seniority. In airlines, seniority has an effect far beyond wages and vacations, even more than in most industries. It determines whether a flight attendant flies once a day with a 28-hour layover in Rome or six flights per day that pay half as many hours, with a nine-hour layover somewhere less pleasant.

Delta flight attendant Toni Weinfurtner in San Diego says, “We need a voice more so than at any other time, to be able to negotiate for our own future and to have a say in how a merger or a layoff might affect us.”

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the TWSC. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

Filed by Oren Liebermann - Wavy.com, April 3, 2008

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY.com) -- Chris Evans remembers the good ole' days of truck driving, not too long ago, when diesel prices were about two dollars a gallon.

"It was awesome. It was great to be a trucker then," remembers Evans.

But now, he says those days are gone, replaced by soaring gas prices and shrinking profits for independent truckers, who rely on driving more miles to make more money.

"I hold about 240 gallons, but I haven't filled up," Evans says. "I haven't topped off these tanks in three to four weeks now."

The U.S. Department of Energy says high worldwide demand for diesel has forced prices near the $4 per/gallon mark. Adding to the problem, a switch to low-sulfur diesel has slowed production for American refineries.

On Friday, many independent truckers - truckers like Derek Langley - will shutdown for a day to draw national attention to the problem.

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the TWSC. The image pictured to the right did not appear in the original article, we have added it here to provide a visual perspective. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

By JEFFREY GOLD - Associated Press Writer, April 2, 2008

To truckers and media:

Our members and organizers in the trucking industry have been hearing about the called for April 1, 2008 trucker shut down.

The IWW is not organizing or calling for this shutdown, but supports all truckers taking action to improve their lives and protest the skyrocketing fuel, low pay, unpaid waits and all the other conditions that grow worse by the day.

Truckers unite! Only through organizing a union across the transportation industry can we begin to change this.

The IWW is committed to building a democratic, fighting union in the trucking industry whether you are an independent contractor driver or company driver, intermodal, LTL or over-the-road. Please contact us if you and your co-workers need support or are interested in making trucking a job worth keeping.

Motor Transport Workers IU 530 contacts:

• Pat Tresca- Midwest (224) 381-4088
• Billy Randel- New York (646) 645-6284

Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Taxi drivers working for Oakland's Friendly Cab Co. have the right to unionize, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, more than five years after the cabbies first tried to form a union.

The drivers are employees rather than independent contractors, and therefore are covered by collective bargaining rules under federal law, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Although drivers lease their taxis from Friendly Cab and keep all fares and tips, the court said the company acts as an employer in controlling most aspects of their work.

The company's 90 to 100 drivers have been seeking union representation since 2002, when a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer ordered a union election and the company appealed, said Caren Sencer, attorney for the East Bay Taxi Drivers Association, a Teamsters affiliate.

"When it takes over five years and a federal court to let an employer know you have the right to organize, something has to change," Sencer said.

Written by Leslie Radford  - Friday, 27 April 2007

Independent truckers announce the LA port will shut down on May 1, the first victory for the 2007 May Day Mobilization for Immigrants' Rights.

PORT OF AZTLAN, April 27, 2007--The independent truckers of the Port of Aztlan, working with the Industrial Workers of the World, made good on their promise to shut down the Los Angeles port on May 1, in support of nationwide migrants' rights protests scheduled for that day and the truckers' struggle to organize.  This morning the Los Angeles Port Authority declared the port would be closed for a May 1 "holiday," thereby avoiding potential litigation from shippers facing dockers' and demurrage fees for goods left on the dock during the truckers' strike.

Ernesto Nevarez, spokesperson for the truckers, explained, "[The Port Authority] knows the truckers are going to do it [strike] anyway.  By calling it a legal holiday, they avoid liability for the shutdown.  We forced them to recognize May Day."

The announcement culminated several months' worth of planning, according to the IWW representative at the Harbor protest this morning, who added that he hoped that "the Port Authority would make May Day a regular holiday, and that the troqueros would remember it every year."

According to the IWW organizer, independent truckers of the Port of Aztlan lost their right to organize thirty years ago, during the deregulation of the Reagan presidency.  The IWW has joined with trucking organizers to "assist with their organizing."

Several truckers promised to use their day off on May 1 to join hunger strikers for immigrants' rights now in their fifth day of a fourteen-day strike at the feet of  La Virgen de Guadalupe mural outside La Placita Church.  Navarez recalled the independent truckers 2006 port shutdown in conjunction with last year's May 1 immigration boycott and their commitment to the May Day 2007 National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers.  "Migrants are just the victims of the global economy and politics, people who want to survive.  That's why we're out here."  Nearly every other truck honked for the half-dozen guys packing up their signs calling for the May Day strike, while two police cars parked just down the block watched the developments.