Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

600 ILWU Local 30 Boron miners have been locked out now for 2 ½ months by Britishbased Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining conglomerates in the world. If we don’t stop this attack, ILWU warehouse Local 20 also employed by Rio Tinto at the Borax terminal in the port of Los Angeles could be next. Their contract expires in one year. And Rite Aid warehouse workers near L.A., ILWU’s greatest organizing success recently, will find it tough negotiating
their contract. The Longshore Division has always said that Warehouse is our critical flank in the fight against PMA employers.

Scab borax cargo from Boron is being loaded onto ships in LA harbor now! In fact, scab cargo was being loaded in LA while the Longshore Caucus was in session. (This is public information at www.track-trace.com, Hit “container” on top of the page, then put in container #SEAU7838112, reported by locked out Boron miners. It shows the “full load” scab box was put on the Maersk Altair voyage #1004 @ 13:58 April 5 at APM terminal Pier 400 in LA.) That was the first day of the Longshore Caucus. Nuff said! You can be sure PMA is watching this one closely.

IBT Pres Hoffa Jr. removes Richard Berg, Chicago Local 743 Teamster President, from office
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/5/10/hoffa-removes-richard-berg-local-743-teamster-president-office?utm_source=Fight Back! News
Hoffa removes Richard Berg, Local 743 Teamster President, from office
Members fighting mad
By Staff | May 9, 2010
Read more articles in Teamsters
Chicago, IL - Fight Back! learned May 9 that Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., at a meeting in Las Vegas, has joined with the corrupt Teamsters officials in Chicago to remove President Richard Berg and Secretary Treasurer Gina Alvarez from office in Local 743. Berg and Alvarez are rank-and-file reformers who fought for years against the gangsters who ran their union while Hoffa and officers of the Joint Council in Chicago turned a blind eye to the corruption in the local.

While the official decision has yet to be received, Berg confirmed that he has been notified. The decision rests upon a charge brought against Berg and Alvarez by other officers in 743 who had turned against the reform agenda.

The factual basis of the charge is that Berg had let go a former staff member who was no longer able to perform his duties. A severance was agreed upon, which the local executive board was informed of and to which they assented. Six months later, the same board members cooked up a scheme with the top Teamster old guard in Chicago. These ex-reformers knew the Joint Council was dominated by officials who were hostile to Berg and Alvarez’ agenda - reviving a fighting union with power in the hands of the members. The sole charge upon which the two are being removed was Berg’s failure to get an official vote from the board.

Storm at the port-ILWU Workers Want No Scab Labor At Stockton Port
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090425/A_BIZ/904250315

Storm at the port
Pickets want no nonunion labor at facility
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By Reed Fujii
Record Staff Writer
April 25, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - Union warehouse workers, aggrieved that a fertilizer company that pays them in Sacramento may shun them for nonunion labor when it moves its facility to Stockton, mounted a picket line that shut down Port of Stockton dock operations Friday afternoon.

Everett Burdan, business agent for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 17 in Sacramento, said the protest was aimed at Yara North America and its apparent intent to use temporary workers and other nonunion labor at its new dry fertilizer warehouse in Stockton.

"This is a callous decision that these corporate people make every day, even though they're profitable," Burdan said. "It's immoral."

"We have been bagging Yara fertilizer for the better part of 20 years," he said. "They should be good corporate citizens and pay the workers decent wages and benefits."

Friday's picket line was primarily intended to prevent workers from unloading a ship of Yara fertilizer from Norway but also disrupted the loading of rice onto another ship destined for Japan.

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
Warehouse Workers Sit-Down in California’s Inland Empire
with
Isabel Castelan, Warehouse worker (sit-in participant)
Esther Portillo, Community Organizer (sit-in participant)
Greg Denier, Communications Director, Change to Win

A southern California rally calling for improved warehouse jobs turned
into a sit-in action that led to the arrest of 13 people. The workers were
protesting the economic tragedy which is unfolding in the “hub” of the
new global economy— the Inland Empire region of southern California
which houses massive warehouses for the nation’s biggest retailers.
This region is in the middle of a depression with one of the highest
rates of unemployment, however, its low- wage, temporary workers
are speaking out and are at the core of a growing fight back.
*************************************
To Download or listen to this 27 minute program,
which is listed on Pacifica's Audioport - Menu Option “Weekly
Program Section" dated Sunday, April 26, 2009,

Manpower Inc. to Take BA Teamster Jobs-Teamster Power Under Hoffa?
http://tdu.org/node/2731

Manpower Inc. to Take Teamster Jobs
January 10, 2009: Teamster pressmen are raising the alarm about a plan to outsource good union jobs at the San Francisco Chronicle.

In 2006, the Chronicle signed a 15-year, $1 billion deal to out source printing of their newspaper to Transcontinental, a large Canadian printer.

On July 1, the Chronicle will stop production at its San Francisco and Union City printing facilities. More than 200 Teamsters, members of GCC Local 4-N, will lose their jobs. Local 4-N is part of District Council 2 of the Teamsters Graphic Communications Conference.

Transcontinental will move production to a new printing facility in Fremont, Calif. The new pressroom will be nonunion.

Teamsters who want to move to the new facility can’t apply directly with Transcontinental—they’ve outsourced hiring to Manpower, Inc., the temporary agency and union-buster.

“I know of at least ten other pressmen who went for a group interview,” said Local 4-N member Tom Wibberley.

“Only two people got called back for a second interview. It seems pretty clear to me that Transcontinental and Manpower are trying to weed out potential union supporters.”

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.

Whereas, the ILWU has been attempting to organize Blue Diamond Almond Workers for 2 years, and

Whereas, almonds are the largest export in the port of Oakland totaling some $1.4 billion dollars, and

Whereas, 70% of California almonds are shipped overseas with Pacific Rim nations receiving much of that cargo, and

Whereas, the owners have been using massive anti-union tactics like firing, intimidating workers, and threatening the loss of benefits, and

Whereas even the Bush-controlled NLRB has found Blue Diamond in violation of labor laws and those violations are arrogantly practiced today without penalty,

Therefore be it resolved that the Blue Diamond Almond workers will only get their just demand for a union of their choice by solidarity actions, and

Therefore Be It Finally Resolved that this international conference of transport workers goes on record calling for concrete acts of solidarity to achieve a union victory.