L.A. warehouse workers describe horrifying conditions, join strike line

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9ABiyYePSo1LfZEFLV9K7t6pQBItq27JIffI-S0GNTYFzC88nPWbhBIiNglBsilyvd_5a9ggRIZS0-RJHvEFcaijL-uAtA4_T6aaq9GmZGh3Z0HC2Q9CkWKs2m-eaeQNi9pkb6vt_ym4/s1600/Teamster+warehouse+workers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9ABiyYePSo1LfZEFLV9K7t6pQBItq27JIffI-S0GNTYFzC88nPWbhBIiNglBsilyvd_5a9ggRIZS0-RJHvEFcaijL-uAtA4_T6aaq9GmZGh3Z0HC2Q9CkWKs2m-eaeQNi9pkb6vt_ym4/s400/Teamster+warehouse+workers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warehouse workers, striking port drivers and Teamsters walk the line yesterday.</td></tr></tbody></table>Workers at two dangerous California warehouses that move <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT" rel="nofollow">Walmart</a> goods marched with <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a> and port drivers striking their facility yesterday. The port drivers walked off the job in their fight against payroll fraud and poverty wages, while the warehouse workers joined the picket to protest their horrific working conditions.<br /><br />Our friends at <a href="http://www.warehouseworkersunited.org/lalong-beach-port-warehouse-workers-at-massive-walmart-contracted-facilities-face-daily-danger/" rel="nofollow">Warehouse Workers United</a> tell us about those conditions: workers trapped inside containers, blocked exits, men and women sharing one bathroom and inadequate safety gear. On Friday, the workers filed complaints with  the <a href="http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/" rel="nofollow">California Division of Occupational Safety and Health</a>, or Cal/OSHA. On Monday they spoke out. It was the first time non-union warehouse workers exposed working conditions in the port area.<br /><br />The two warehouses are in Carson, Calif. They are Pacer International, Inc., and American Logistics International, Inc. <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/11/port-drivers-who-haul-for-walmart-strike-in-la-with-Teamster-support.html" rel="nofollow">Port drivers, supported by Teamsters</a>, walked off the job at American Logistics International yesterday.<br /><br />According to Warehouse Workers United:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Warehouse workers are told to clean a mysterious oil-like substance, men and women must share a single bathroom and workers are forced to illuminate dark shipping containers with the light on their cell phones at massive Walmart-contracted warehouses near the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">“We deserve a safe work place where we are treated with dignity and respect,” said Susan Gutierrez , who is a warehouse worker at American Logistics.</blockquote>It was a bad day for Walmart. Not only were port drivers who haul Walmart goods on strike, but it was announced the <a href="http://nlrb.gov/" rel="nofollow">NLRB</a> would prosecute the retailer for retaliating against 117 Walmart strikers, workers walked off the job at Walmarts in Pennsylvania and Ohio and news spread widely about a <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11039" rel="nofollow">Walmart's food drive for its own employees</a>.<br /><br />Couldn't happen to a nicer company.<br /><br /><br />

hunger port drivers strike walmart warehouse worker safety L.A. warehouse workers describe horrifying conditions, join strike line

Warehouse workers, striking port drivers and Teamsters walk the line yesterday.Workers at two dangerous California warehouses that move Walmart goods marched with Teamsters and port drivers striking their facility yesterday. The port drivers walked o…

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Today's Teamster News 11.04.13

<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15809/osha_weaknesses_force_workers_to_choose_report_safety_violations_or_keep_th/" rel="nofollow">OSHA Weaknesses Force Workers to Choose: Report Safety Violations, or Keep Their Jobs?</a>  In These Times   ... the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspects only 1 percent of workplaces in the United States in a given year. In the absence of inspections, that means more of the burden to report safety abuses falls on individual workers themselves. However, the CEG study shows that due to weak protection laws, many workers find themselves choosing between reporting a safety violation and keeping their jobs—creating a vicious cycle that can lead to workers too fearful to report potentially deadly workplace hazards...<br /><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/19786-state-department-apologizes-for-calling-unionization-a-security-threat" rel="nofollow">State Department Apologizes for Calling Unionization a Security Threat </a> truthout   ...at a private meeting with labor groups earlier this month, the State Department opened the door to collective bargaining by workers who perform critical services for the American government overseas...<br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483652/William-Gross-Californian-billionaire-apologizes-wealth-accumulated-workers-expense.html" rel="nofollow">Billionaire apologizes for wealth he accumulated 'at expense of workers' and says rich should pay more taxes</a>  Daily Mail   ...‘Congratulations. Smoke that cigar, enjoy that Chateau Lafite 1989. But (mostly you guys) acknowledge your good fortune at having been born in the '40s, '50s or '60s ... and having had the privilege of riding a credit wave and a credit boom for the past three decades,’ he writes...<br /><a href="http://www.greens.org/s-r/60/60-06.html" rel="nofollow">Inside the Psyche of the 1%</a>  Synthesis/Regeneration   ...Do the rich and super-rich tend to be psychopaths, devoid of guilt or shame? Are the 1% lacking in compassion? Does their endless accumulation of possessions actually bring them little to no happiness? To each of these, the answer is “yes”—but a very qualified “yes” with lots of subtleties...<br /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-rich-families-are-hoarding-cash-2013-11" rel="nofollow">CITI: Rich Families Are Hoarding Cash</a>  CNBC   ...A new survey of family offices by Citi finds that the wealthy are cash heavy—meaning they may fall short of the investment returns they're expecting...<br /><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/02/u-s-food-banks-struggle-to-meet-new-demand-caused-by-food-stamp-cuts/" rel="nofollow">U.S. food banks struggle to meet new demand caused by food stamp cuts</a>  Raw Story   ...37 million Americans were reliant on food banks to meet their nutritional needs in 2010, up from 25 million in 2006. The numbers have only grown through the recession brought on the deregulation of the financial markets and cuts to social programs...<br /><a href="http://angrybearblog.com/2013/11/another-congressman-and-stunning-subsidies-to-his-district.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hzoh+%28angrybearblog.com%29" rel="nofollow">Another Congressman and stunning subsidies to his district</a>  Angry Bear   ...AB had a post on Congressman Steve King, an advocate of austerity and shut down yet received $9.17 billion in subsidies 1995-2012 for his district without offering cut backs for his district to share the sacrifices needed for austerity...<br /><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-harry-belafonte-ku-klux-klan-99282.html" rel="nofollow">Koch brothers slam Harry Belafonte’s Ku Klux Klan remark</a>  Politico   ...“Already we have lost 14 states in this union to the most corrupt group of citizens I’ve ever known,” Belafonte said at the First Corinthian Baptist Church, according to Capital New York. “They make up the heart and the thinking in the minds of those who would belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They are white supremacists...<br /><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10952" rel="nofollow">Colombian Farmers and Union Activists Under Attack</a>  The Real News   ...In Colombia terror is systematically used as a weapon for social oppression, violence against farmers and unions continues; and while President Santos allowed protests, there are still scars of Uribe government’s alleged violence and ties to paramilitary organizations...<br /><a href="http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/11/exclusive-govchristie-to-teacher-i-am.html" rel="nofollow">EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: @GovChristie to Teacher: "I Am Tired Of You People!"</a>  Jersey Jazzman   ...Is it not obvious that there has been an enormous amount of frustration and anger building up over Chris Christie's condescension toward teachers, parents, and students?...

austerity Chris Christie Colombia hunger inequality Kochs organizing OSHA workplace safety Today's Teamster News 11.04.13

OSHA Weaknesses Force Workers to Choose: Report Safety Violations, or Keep Their Jobs?  In These Times   ... the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspects only 1 percent of workplaces in the United States in a given year. In the a…

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Today's Teamster News 11.02.13

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/george-miranda-named-board-global-gateway-alliance" rel="nofollow">George Miranda Named to Board of the Global Gateway Alliance </a> teamster.org   ...George Miranda, International Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 210, is joining the Board of Directors of the Global Gateway Alliance, an industry coalition dedicated to improving airports in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area...<br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/mcdonalds-scam-america" rel="nofollow">McDonald's Scam on America</a>  Alternet   ...We're subsidizing the wages and benefits of employees of highly profitable fast food chains. It costs the American taxpayer nearly $7 billion per year...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/us/as-cuts-to-food-stamps-take-effect-more-trims-to-benefits-are-expected.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow">As Cuts to Food Stamps Take Effect, More Trims to Benefits Are Expected</a>  New York Times   ...millions of Americans receiving food stamps will be required to get by with less government assistance every month, a move that not only will cost them money they use to feed their families but is expected to slightly dampen economic growth as well...<br /><a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/transatlantic-free-trade-agreement-job-claims/" rel="nofollow">Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement: Job Claims Are Pure Baloney</a>  Economic Policy Institute   ...U.S. trade with Mexico after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States nearly 700,000 jobs through 2010. U.S. trade with China has certainly failed to deliver on the promised benefits of growing exports. Since that country entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the U.S. has lost 2.7 million jobs through 2011 due to growing trade deficits with China. And the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) has also resulted in growing trade deficits with that country and the loss of more than 40,000 U.S. jobs...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/11/01/how_the_1_percent_always_wins_liberal_washing_is_the_rights_new_favorite_tactic/" rel="nofollow">How the 1 percent always wins: Liberal washing is the right’s new favorite tactic</a>  Salon   ...The famous examples of liberal washing come from the White House. A few decades ago, Democratic President Bill Clinton liberal-washed corporatist schemes like NAFTA and financial deregulation. Today, it is Democratic President Barack Obama liberal-washing the <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/31/single_payer_health_care_vs_obamacare/singleton/">insurance industry’s healthcare initiatives</a> and now <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-07-06/business/35267423_1_debt-talks-obama-plans-congressional-leaders">joining</a> with a handful of <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/26/sell_out_alert_9_democrats_already_caving_to_gop_on_social_security_cuts_partner/singleton/">Democratic legislators</a> to liberalwash – and legitimize – the right-wing crusade to slash Social Security benefits...<br /><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10946" rel="nofollow">House Passes Deregulation Bill Written by Citigroup </a> The Real News   ...the one that was driven by Citibank that would allow a wide range of financial derivatives to be done directly by the bank, which is to say, the insured entity, which is to say, the government would be on the hook if there were losses. And Dodd-Frank was designed to prevent or at least dramatically minimize that. So this is a truly awful bill...<br /><a href="http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Energy-Firms-Guilty-of-Market-Manipulation-to-Face-Criminal-Charges.html" rel="nofollow">UK Energy Firms Guilty of Market Manipulation to Face Criminal Charges </a> Oil Price   ...Ed Davey, the Energy Minister, has now stated that the government may charge energy firms that are found guilty of manipulating the markets, with criminal sanctions...<br /><a href="http://fannie%20mae%20sues%20banks%20for%20%24800%20million%20over%20libor%20rigging/" rel="nofollow">Fannie Mae Sues Banks for $800 Million Over Libor Rigging</a>  Bloomberg   ...<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FNMA:US">Fannie Mae (FNMA)</a> sued nine banks, alleging that their manipulation of the benchmark London interbank offered rate, which four of them have admitted, cost the mortgage-financing company about $800 million...<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/23/wall_streets_favorite_democrat_wants_your_pension/" rel="nofollow">Wall Street’s favorite Democrat wants your pension</a>  Salon   ...The financial services industry hopes to gain even more control over workers' retirement savings...<br /><a href="http://portside.org/2013-11-01/north-carolina-come-and-rise" rel="nofollow">North Carolina, Come On and Rise Up</a>  Portside   ...This past summer, "Moral Mondays" in North Carolina emerged as the locus of one of the country's most insistent state-level movements against extremist efforts to slash the social safety net and roll back civil rights...<br /><a href="http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/oct/24/union-lawyer-says-top-court-ruling-uphol/" rel="nofollow">Top court ruling upholds free speech, union lawyer says </a> Youngstown Vindicator   ...The Ohio Supreme Court delivered a major victory for labor unions when it ruled in a Mahoning County case. The court ruled that a state law requiring a union to give a public employer and the State Employment Relations Board 10 days’ advance notice of strike picketing does not apply to informational picketing...<br /><br /><br />

financial deregulation hunger job-killing trade dals LIBOR scandal mcdonald's corporate criminality Moral Monday Nafta social security TAFTA Today's Teamster News 11.02.13

George Miranda Named to Board of the Global Gateway Alliance  teamster.org   ...George Miranda, International Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 210, is joining the Board of Directors of the Global Gateway Alliance, an industry…

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Today's Teamster News 08.25.13

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/24/2523101/john-lewis-march-washington-going-stand-let-supreme-court-vote/" rel="nofollow">John Lewis At March On Washington: ‘I’m Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away’</a>  ThinkProgress   ...Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who was the youngest speaker during the March on Washington in 1963 — delivered a passionate address about the importance of protecting voting rights at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial fifty years later, as thousands gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the historic event on Saturday...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/thousands-march-to-mall-to-mark-dream-anniversary/2013/08/24/2a20d512-0cbe-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html" rel="nofollow">Thousands march to Mall to mark ‘Dream’ anniversary</a>  Washington Post   ...Saturday was a day to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington, and a vision one man delivered so forcefully that five decades later, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech ranks with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress as among the most memorable in U.S. history...<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/us/citizens-without-a-country-wage-battle-with-liens.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow">In Paper War, Flood of Liens Is the Weapon</a>  New York Times   ...liens, legal claims on property to secure the payment of a debt, were just the earliest salvos in a war of paper, waged by a couple who had lost their home to foreclosure in 2009 — a tactic that, with the spread of an anti-government ideology known as the “sovereign citizen” movement, is being employed more frequently as a way to retaliate against perceived injustices...<br /><a href="http://www.juancole.com/2013/08/include-stalking-girlfriends.html" rel="nofollow">NSA abuses include Stalking ex-Girlfriends</a>  Informed Consent   ...now we have LOVEINT or NSA analysts occasionally reading the emails of ex-lovers. It doesn’t happen a lot, the NSA told the WSJ, but often enough that there is a word for it...<br /><a href="http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3402#" rel="nofollow">The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat--against us! </a> Hightower Lowdown   ...The nullification of our people's right to direct expenditures of our own tax dollars is but one of the horror stories being quietly packed into a political-and-economic bombshell benignly labeled TPP --the Trans-Pacific Partnership...<br /><a href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/08/health-advocates-denounce-obama-for-caving-to-big-tobacco-in-tpp.html" rel="nofollow">Bloomberg, Health Experts Denounce Obama's Gift to Big Tobacco in the TPP</a>  Public Citizen   ...The Obama administration has drawn sharp criticism from leading health organizations, U.S. state representatives, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg by caving to pressure from Big Tobacco to abandon safeguards for tobacco control policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the pending "free trade" deal with 11 Pacific Rim countries...<br /><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/24/2522701/jersey-senate-candidate-single-mothers-need-food-stamps/" rel="nofollow">New Jersey Senate Candidate To Single Mothers: Stop Relying On Food Stamps And Go To Work!</a>  ThinkProgress   ...Lonegan, who is the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, encouraged single mothers to roll up their sleeves and go to work, adding that free market policies and less government will free “individuals to achieve their best potential..."<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/how-to-roll-back-police-militarization_n_3749272.html" rel="nofollow">Drawing Down: How To Roll Back Police Militarization In America</a> (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Today in America, SWAT teams are deployed about 100 to 150 times per day, or about 50,000 times per year -- a dramatic increase from the 3,000 or so annual deployments in the early 1980s, or the few hundred in the 1970s. The vast majority of today's deployments are to serve search warrants for drug crimes...<br /><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/who-are-the-long-term-unemployed/278964/" rel="nofollow">Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?</a>  The Atlantic   ...The long-term unemployed tend to be people who 1) are a little bit older, and 2) got laid off from their last job...<br /><a href="http://billmoyers.com/wp-content/themes/billmoyers/transcript-print.php?post=39010" rel="nofollow">Mark Leibovich on Glitz and Greed in Washington</a>  Bill Moyers   ...The tragic story is that what has grown up in this city that was supposedly built on public service is this permanent feudal class of insiders, of people who are not term limited. Of people who never leave and never die, figuratively never die. And who are there and who are doing very, very well for themselves, very, very well for Washington, and not very, very well for the United States...<br /><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/federal-grand-jury-indicts-pa-cyber-charter-school-founder-nick-trombetta-and-his-accountant-700493/" rel="nofollow">Feds: PA Cyber Charter School founder Trombetta schemed to steal $1 million</a>  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...For more than a year, federal investigators pursued suspicions about Nicholas Trombetta, a high-flying educator with small-town origins who created the biggest, richest cyber school in the state...

Corruption foreclosure hunger Koch March on Washington police militarization spying TPP unemployment Today's Teamster News 08.25.13

John Lewis At March On Washington: ‘I’m Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away’  ThinkProgress   ...Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who was the youngest speaker during the March on Washington in 1963 — delivered a passio…

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