What real people tell Teamsters about wanting to join us

<a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a> hear from many, many people who want to join us. Most employers make it extremely difficult. They intimide and harass workers who want to form a union. Intimidation and harassment are illegal, but they did it anyway because they don't fear punishment. Sometimes we're amazed that people actually manage to join Teamster locals, given all the obstacles.<br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;">People want to join unions now more than ever. We've shared anonymous requests to join in the past, and today we bring you </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/workers-want-unions.html" rel="nofollow">more anonymous requests from workers</a> asking for help to become Teamsters. Our Organizing department is deluged with requests from workers who are bullied by employers, forced to work long hours, treated unfairly and exposed to dangerous working conditions.</span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;">Here's what they tell us: </span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The Teamsters have  been trying to organize  us. I know you have been in the production people. But what about  us folks in the office? We are being run into the ground by the management! I would  really like to know what's going on and be included in the conversation. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">...we would like some information on organizing ourselves, so that we might help focus the company's vision and attract other top professionals to our workplace.<br /> <br /><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Me and my fellow coworkers have no protection. All of us work overtime but the employer does not pay -- only 40 hours.  Nor do we get paid holidays or vacations or personal days. All workers agree to vote for the union without the employer being notified. We need help organizing a union secretly.</span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We are a printing company with minimum safety and they're making us run two presses at once while some pressman spend most of the time on the phone or the internet.  We are being exposed to chemicals while others are not. I'm sick and tired of being bullied and need some help.</span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Please help me organize my distribution center. We have been taken over ... and they are looking to make working conditions unbearable.</span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">My employer changes our wage at will. They spy on us with in-cab cameras. They spy on us and give us time off for violations of their safety rules, yet we drive trucks that are unsafe? They have hourly employees supervise several other hourly employees without compensation. Several years ago a group of men tried to unionize and when the company got wind of their efforts they were all fired.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It's tough out there. </span>

organizing unions What real people tell Teamsters about wanting to join us

Teamsters hear from many, many people who want to join us. Most employers make it extremely difficult. They intimide and harass workers who...

Read more »

NYC union construction workers twice as likely to be African-American

<span style="font-family: inherit;">A New York City construction worker who is union is twice as likely to be African-American as a New York City construction worker who is nonunion. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's the conclusion of the <a href="http://epi.org/" rel="nofollow">Economic Policy Institute</a> in a recent <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/racial-underrepresentation-construction/" rel="nofollow">study</a> by Larry Mishel. The study shows the pattern is similar for the workforce living in the larger New York City metropolitan area.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conversely, New York City Latinos are less likely to belong to unions -- and more likely to be killed on the job. The <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/10/24/new-york-latino-construction-workers-more-likely-to-die-on-job-report-says/" rel="nofollow">Center for Popular Democracy</a> studied OSHA statistics for New York City and discovered Latinos accounted for three-fourths of construction site deaths from 2003-11. According to <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/10/24/new-york-latino-construction-workers-more-likely-to-die-on-job-report-says/" rel="nofollow">Fox News Latino</a>,</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Construction safety advocates and a study by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association cited safety violations on job sites run by smaller, non-union contractors and an unwillingness by some undocumented workers to report violations as main reasons for the high number of deaths among Latino workers.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">The two studies paint a picture of unions as beneficial to the safety and prosperity of New Yorkers (something we all knew already, right?).</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">An alliance of unions --including <a href="http://www.teamsterslocal282.com/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters Local 282</a> -- called <a href="http://www.buildupnyc.org/about/" rel="nofollow">Build Up NYC</a> is advocating for a stronger and more vibrant middle-class in New York City. Build Up NYC is promoting development that pays workers good wages and maintains safe work sites. EPI's conclusions are welcome news for the alliance and for New York's middle class.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />

NYC unions workplace safety NYC union construction workers twice as likely to be African-American

A New York City construction worker who is union is twice as likely to be African-American as a New York City construction worker who is non...

Read more »

Four pro-union writers you should follow

UPDATES to correct headline from 'workers' to 'writers.'<br /><i><br /></i><i>Our friends at <a href="http://www.labor411.org/411-blog/429-the-best-pro-union-writers-to-follow">Labor 411</a> put together a list of four terrific writers who care about unions, and gave us permission to cross-post their blog about it.</i><br /><br />Here at Labor 411 we have to be on top of all the current labor news in the country. Admittedly, that news can often be quite dry, so I rounded up a few guys who love to talk labor, economics and the like, and make the topic accessible and often fun. And we just happen to share a similar point of view. Enjoy!<br /><br />If there’s a particular author you love, let us know in the comments!<br /><br /><b>Robert Reich</b><br /><br />One of the most well known and vocal proponents for unions and organized labor. Reich served as the Secretary of Labor for the Clinton administration, has authored more than a dozen books, teaches as a professor at UC Berkeley and recently released a full-length documentary currently out in theaters called “<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-film-exposes-inequality.html" rel="nofollow">Inequality for All.</a>”<br /><br />His quirky shorts on the economy are entertaining and easy to follow, which makes him very approachable as an educator on an often frustrating topic.<br /><br />See the trailer for his film, along with all his articles and shorts on<a href="http://robertreich.org/"> his web site</a>.<br /><br /><b>Harold Meyerson</b><br /><br />A long-time friend of labor, Meyerson writes political opinion regularly for the Washington Post, L.A. Times and sits as the editor-at-large for The American Prospect. Organized labor and unions are common topics in his articles, of which he writes several every week. He’s good at what he does, and he’s on our side.<br /><br />Read his latest articles <a href="http://www.haroldmeyerson.com/">here </a>(updated weekly).<br /><br /><b>Paul Krugman</b><br /><br />Krugman teaches as a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and regularly contributes to the Op-Ed section of the New York Times. Krugman tends to delve pretty deep into the world of economics (he’s a professor in the subject after all), so be prepared to take notes and have a dictionary nearby. He doesn’t explicitly discuss organized labor as much as Reich or Meyerson, but there’s a lot to be learned here.<br /><br /><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/paulkrugman/index.html?8qa">Krugman at the The New York Times</a><br /><br /><b>Gary Cohn</b><br /><br />For those in unions in California, Cohn is one of your biggest defenders. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Cohn writes on politics in California for Frying Pan News. Read his exposé on attacks on the middle class and unions in the Golden State at the link below.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fryingpannews.org/california-expose">California Exposé at Frying Pan News</a><br /><br />

unions Four pro-union writers you should follow

UPDATES to correct headline from 'workers' to 'writers.' Our friends at Labor 411 put together a list of four terrific writ...

Read more »

Workers still really, really want unions

Many American workers are treated badly on the job, as we have pointed out in our never-ending <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/workers-want-unions.html">series of posts</a> about their desire to join our union. Here we bring you more anonymous requests from workers asking for help to become Teamsters. Our Organizing department is constantly deluged with requests from workers who are bullied by employers, forced to work long hours, treated unfairly and exposed to dangerous working conditions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp182/bp182.pdf">Polls</a> show the number of workers who want to join unions is rising, even as corporations attack them for trying. But never mind the polls, just see for yourself what workers say about their jobs.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We have met a wage freeze, many mandatory hours, blatant favoritism, unresolved job hazards among a few of the struggles faced daily in our workplace. Many are good employees, and deserve better. Please help.</blockquote>Don't underestimate how hard it is to form a union:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We, the employees ...  have been trying to form a union for a long time now. We believe the teamsters would be the best choice. I could go on and on about the types of things the employees here are getting sick of, but I would much rather speak to someone directly about these issues.</blockquote>Fear of being fired for saying the word "union" is a constant theme:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Sorry if I seem a little apprehensive but the conditions we work under are that bad. We are constantly told we are replaceable. This company laid-off long time workers and replaced them with new hires... We were forced to lie to a workers comp hearing or lose our job. The owners ... are rude and liars, promising raises and when asked about the raise the layoff or fire the person who asks. Incompetence is covered up in favor of the group of employees who fall into a certain clique. We desparetely need a union but even talking to you will cost me my job with unemployment. </blockquote>Workers frequently cite bullying and unfairness on the job:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We have been talking about this a lot lately being truck drivers, merchandisers, and warehouse workers. We are the only plant of three in the area that is not union and tired of being bullied. Hoping to hear a response soon thank you.</blockquote>Here too:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">They  are  paying  their  drivers way below  the  national  average, no  overtime after 8 hours, no  federal  pay  on  federal jobs and  just  basically being  unfair  with  their  workers.</blockquote>Long hours and low pay are typical complaints. Like this:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We are getting poor pay, about 15% less than other companies, and we are forced to work on Saturday and Sunday....I believe we need a union and have reason to believe that my co-workers feel the same way.</blockquote>We like the spirit of optimism at the end of this comment: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">... long hours .. low pay.. unsafe vehicles...problems getting paid...no representation for worker issues .. labor board no help ...  they fire at will high turnover of employees because of conditions...need organization of workers to insure compant does not treat us unfairly.. I have been an employee for 4yrs now its time we fought back with your help we shall overcome.</blockquote>

organizing unions Workers still really, really want unions

Many American workers are treated badly on the job, as we have pointed out in our never-ending series of posts about their desire to join o...

Read more »

True stories from Walmart hell

<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-sales-energy-use-statistics" rel="nofollow">Walmart</a> abuses its employees, let there be no doubt. The world's largest retailer keeps wages at poverty level by fighting hard against union organizing. As a result, many <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/news/companies/walmart-medicaid/index.html">Walmart employees rely on public assistance to survive</a>. Call it corporate welfare.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/walmart-heirs-waltons-wealth-income-inequality" rel="nofollow">six Walmart heirs</a> -- Sam Walton's widow, Christy, Jim Walton, Alice Walton, S. Robson Walton, Ann Walton Kroenke, Nancy Walton Laurie -- <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/31/bernie-s/sanders-says-walmart-heirs-own-more-wealth-bottom-/" rel="nofollow">own more wealth than 42 percent of the American people</a>.<br /><br />If all that doesn't make you sick to your stomach, Hamilton Nolan's true stories from Walmart hell will. He posts them periodically to the online publication <a href="http://gawker.com/" rel="nofollow">Gawker</a>. Here are a few samples: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Wal-Mart no longer pays a dollar above minimum wage; they start cart pushers and people greeters at minimum wage and everyone else based on what job they have. As a cashier, I am "level 3," so I started at $7.65 when minimum wage was $7.25. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The worst part is the benefits. We have to work all holidays except Christmas, and we don't get paid any extra. ... They refuse to make anyone full-time, but I never work less than 32 hours, and frequently work 39. I don't complain because I need the money.</blockquote>Or this:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...overtime was never and will never be approved, ever. If you should work any hours over 40 in one week, even if called in or requested or threatened by management that you must work, you will not get overtime pay. They will just cut your hours or say "take a 4 hour break today." which, for a 5 hour shift, was stupid and a waste of my own time at that point.</blockquote>Treatment of injured workers is about what you'd expect:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">I was loading boxes into a cupboard under a cash register at the front of the store one day when I caught my hand on an exposed nail or screw or something. I yanked out my hand in surprise and suddenly there was a huge pool of blood on the floor. The floor manager rushed over and immediately ushered me into a nearby washroom. "Get him away from the customers!" was the unspoken but obvious goal. We haphazardly swaddled my profusely-bleeding hand in paper towels and then the HR manager drove me to the hospital in her car, but not before they made me sign...something. Presumably promising that I wouldn't sue them. </blockquote>Sam's Club is just as bad:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Cashiers at Sam's club have it worse than cashiers at Wal-Mart as they are forced to make people upgrade their memberships. Sam's cashiers go through meetings called One on One's where the supervisor tells you how shitty you are doing. Those who fail to reach appropriate number of upgrades, renewals, etc. are usually yelled at. The worse part — you don't get any commission for convincing Wendy Whorebag to upgrade her membership. Sometimes management favors you with a reward — a McDouble from McDonald's, something that you can afford yourself....oh, that's right you can't afford a McDouble from McDonalds because you work at Sam's Club.</blockquote>It's comforting to know there are journalists like Nolan standing up for workers. Here's something he wrote last year, titled "<a href="http://gawker.com/5916267/why-we-need-unions" rel="nofollow">Why We Need Unions</a>."<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Companies know that unions represent a sort of power for their workers that their workers will otherwise never have. That power translates to better working conditions and higher wages. That, in turn, eats into a company's profits, as all expenses do. A union does not throw off the balance of power in the workplace—lack of a union does. The most basic sense of decency and respect for human rights dictates that there must be some mechanism by which the workers—the humans—can assert their interests. Otherwise, they will be crushed by the machine. It's all very plain to see. To despise unions is to despise workers. To despise workers is to despise people.</blockquote>If only all journalists believed that ...

low-wage workers unions walmart True stories from Walmart hell

Walmart  abuses its employees, let there be no doubt. The world's largest retailer keeps wages at poverty level by fighting hard against...

Read more »

Unions help improve salaries for all, group finds

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/US-households-are-now-earning-less-than-in-1989.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">written many times</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in this space about how union jobs provide a better standard of living for workers. And a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau stats released last week backs that up. Workers in states with higher union memberships </span><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/23/2665131/the-middle-class-does-better-in-states-with-lots-of-union-members/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">are earning more</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> than those in the least unionized states.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h_dGLMurMP4xjAAQj0karoMUOl4wh1xSKmQjij1iKjIlQg5kGdVQdvjSJRxotdzsOuZ0gl8uzlPMW7NiMsJReB0n9JsivDzCYPRVFautp0X9h_sMBwY7hZtbHzXxAfJCZea7c_zxMdpC/s1600/middle-class_I7bsn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h_dGLMurMP4xjAAQj0karoMUOl4wh1xSKmQjij1iKjIlQg5kGdVQdvjSJRxotdzsOuZ0gl8uzlPMW7NiMsJReB0n9JsivDzCYPRVFautp0X9h_sMBwY7hZtbHzXxAfJCZea7c_zxMdpC/s200/middle-class_I7bsn.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Center for American Progress’ Action Fund (CAPAF) looked at the income of the middle 60 percent of households in 2012. Middle-class families in U.S. states with the lowest unionization rates -- North Carolina, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia -- all earned below average income, while those in four of the five most unionized states -- Alaska, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island -- earned above average incomes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But CAPAF also </span><a href="http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/labor/news/2013/09/20/74751/middle-classes-are-stronger-in-states-with-greater-union-membership/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">delved deeper to uncover wider income disparities</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Further illustrating this divide is the gap between the average percent of total state income going to the middle class in the top 10 and bottom 10 most-unionized states. In the top 10 most-unionized states, households in the middle class received 47.4 percent of total state income on average; in the bottom 10 states, households in the middle class received only 46.8 percent. While a difference of 0.6 percentage points may not initially appear large, in 2012, 0.6 percent of Pennsylvania’s aggregate income, for example, would have equaled over $2 billion, or almost $700 per middle-class household.<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Even for those not part of a union, the labor movement’s added clout in those states with the highest union membership meant there was increased advocacy on behalf of workers’ interests both in the workplace as well as on the political agenda. CAPAF said unions “have an effect on the everyday lives of middle-class families.”</span>

middle class unions wages Unions help improve salaries for all, group finds

We’ve written many times in this space about how union jobs provide a better standard of living for workers. And a new analysis of U.S. C...

Read more »

Memo to Ontario: Collective bargaining benefits employers

Our brothers and sisters in Ontario are fending off a corporate-backed effort to pass a No Rights At Work law. Their version of a <strike style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/10/bombshell-kochs-sold-oil-equipment-to.html" style="color: #336699;">Benedict Arnold</a></strike> Koch brothers' <strike>stink</strike> think tank put out a study claiming No Rights At Work would boost manufacturing and create jobs.<br /><br />Andrew Jackson, a York University professor, wrote a terrific rebuttal in the <a href="http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/right-to-work-laws-are-no-solution-to-manufacturing-job-woes/article14086461/?service=mobile" rel="nofollow">Globe and Mail.</a> He cites a slew of studies that demonstrate: <br /><ul><li><a href="http://cms.bsu.edu/-/media/WWW/DepartmentalContent/MillerCollegeofBusiness/BBR/Publications/RightToWork/RightToWork.pdf" rel="nofollow">No significant link between anti-union laws and manufacturing employmen</a>t trends (by state) in the United States.</li><li>North Carolina, which has the lowest rate of unionization in the U.S., lost a third of its manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years. </li><li>Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which have significant high-tech industries, have unionization rates well above the American average and significant high-tech industries.</li><li>A <a href="http://elibrary.worldbank.org/content/book/9780821350805">World Bank study</a> found no relationship between the rate of unionization and national economic or employment performance.</li><li>Unions reduce inequality. </li><li>Unions result in higher productivity and lower turnover. </li></ul>Read the whole thing <a href="http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/right-to-work-laws-are-no-solution-to-manufacturing-job-woes/article14086461/?service=mobile" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />

Canada RTW4Less unions Memo to Ontario: Collective bargaining benefits employers

Our brothers and sisters in Ontario are fending off a corporate-backed effort to pass a No Rights At Work law. Their version of a  Benedict ...

Read more »

Teamsters hear from workers: 'Please help us'

<div class="tr_bq"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LqyRvctUBVEvg133PAsTI5pdsmEmt56fpyQ5j40sWDf4FBcIDVwfS3_H0b61Hvoj0jDHHKhwuKlKIO5M5DAvXY_C9EHtEnvatgsg-jmUmeKQsgxqxg3lrjIB23wZQHApk7BkV1cBXsQR/s1600/godblessunions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LqyRvctUBVEvg133PAsTI5pdsmEmt56fpyQ5j40sWDf4FBcIDVwfS3_H0b61Hvoj0jDHHKhwuKlKIO5M5DAvXY_C9EHtEnvatgsg-jmUmeKQsgxqxg3lrjIB23wZQHApk7BkV1cBXsQR/s200/godblessunions.jpg" width="200" /></a>The Teamsters Organizing department is <i>deluged</i> with requests for help in forming a union. We expect other unions also hear from workers who very much want to join.<br /><br />We're sharing with you some comments from workers who've contacted our organizers in the hopes we can help them. All comments are anonymous, of course, because companies will fire workers who breathe the word "union":<br /><blockquote>Sorry if I seem a little apprehensive but the conditions we work under are that bad. We are constantly told we are replaceable. This company laid-off long-time workers and replaced them with new hires because the maintenance manager is friends/family with the new hires. We were forced to lie to a workers comp hearing or lose our job. ... We desperately need a union but even talking to you will cost me my job. </blockquote><blockquote>Please Help us Get a Union Vote!!!! </blockquote><blockquote>...I have almost 23 years and have been put into a different job and will lose over $10 per hour while people with 5 years -- and some who refuse to do a good job -- kept their positions? I think I might have been selected for demotion based on past efforts I made to unionize! Or I am being singled out for something else, we have no recourse. Our Ombudsman is our Human Resource rep. How impartial is that when they are the problem? We need some help </blockquote><blockquote>Right now the state ...  is depleting funding from education. Teachers have faced pay cuts, no raises for 7 years, and now they are taking away our job security.  I want The Teamsters, the most powerful union in the country, to help the state ... to begin the fight for workers' rights.  We have a chance to make history if we can organize all the teachers in the state to go on strike.  Please help us. </blockquote><blockquote>We are getting poor pay, about 15% less than other companies, and we are forced to work on Saturday and Sunday.... .I believe we need a union and have reason to believe that my co-workers feel the same way. </blockquote><blockquote>Like to do something about the hours we work and pay we make</blockquote><div class="MsoPlainText"><br /></div></div>

organizing unions Teamsters hear from workers: 'Please help us'

The Teamsters Organizing department is deluged with requests for help in forming a union. We expect other unions also hear from workers who...

Read more »

Why young workers love unions so much

The Pew Research Center came out with a new poll showing <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/27/favorable-views-of-business-labor-rebound/">that a majority of people have a favorable view of labor unions</a> -- 10 percent more than two years ago, the last time that Pew asked the question.  And over 60 percent of adults younger than 30 support unions – even if <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf">fewer than 5 percent of them actually are unionized</a>.  So why is there so much support?<br /><br />Younger workers are increasingly introduced to a crappy economy with no safety net.  After the housing crisis, <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/the_capital_of_exploitation_temp_town_usa_partner/">it has become harder and harder to find a full-time position</a>, since companies can get away with treating workers badly.<br /><br />Median pay has declined for workers, while corporate CEOs earn vast sums. Not only is America more unequal than ever, but <a href="http://thecontributor.com/daily-ceo-pay-now-exceeds-us-workers-annual-salary">the average CEO makes more in a day than an average worker makes in a year. <br /><br />Even college, the traditional step for the ambitious young, is no longer the step up it once was.  Only </a><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/index.htm">nine percent of low-income students can afford to even finish college</a>, a gap that has increased 50 percent in the past 20 years.  And unaffordable student debt looms over all who dare strive for higher education.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiE8fY01_P5jJxR0x8WnGK7OnNH3vgTAxzrwyDPIFCyJR3c0dxtuGuvmXi5b_ptFfwyxWLEa-AAWKrXojNlWWhhhebSfB_WoSEqKOB4cRjeDkmXn_jCGW598v-x0D4rIRtG08wwL5C8hAK/s1600/i+heart+young+workers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiE8fY01_P5jJxR0x8WnGK7OnNH3vgTAxzrwyDPIFCyJR3c0dxtuGuvmXi5b_ptFfwyxWLEa-AAWKrXojNlWWhhhebSfB_WoSEqKOB4cRjeDkmXn_jCGW598v-x0D4rIRtG08wwL5C8hAK/s320/i+heart+young+workers.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/03/30/number-of-the-week-college-grads-in-minimum-wage-jobs/">Over 280,000 college graduates work in minimum wage jobs</a>, qualifying them for government assistance and an overwhelming sense of depression.  In 2010, <a href="http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/research/studies/underemployment-of-college-graduates">15 percent of taxi drivers had bachelor degrees</a>.  And they are the lucky ones; <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2009/05/intern_abuse.html">permainterns</a>, with unpaid positions abound.  <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w18901">Little evidence has been offered that this new status quo is going to suddenly change</a> if the economy ever turns around. <br /><br />From Occupy Oakland to Moral Mondays, workers have protested for a better economic and political system, but changes to government are long and arduous.  On the other hand, labor protests are typically short and to the point.  Contract negotiations, strikes, and other labor tactics get people better working conditions and decent jobs time after time.  In 2012, <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">full-time union members made over $200 more than non-union full-time workers. </a><br /><br />With those kinds of benefits, who <i>wouldn't</i> want to be part of a union?

inequality student debt unions Why young workers love unions so much

The Pew Research Center came out with a new poll showing that a majority of people have a favorable view of labor unions -- 10 percent more...

Read more »

A Teamster writes: In unity there is dignity

Brother Charles Wilkinson, a Teamster retiree from Local 222 in Provo, Utah, writes a wonderful op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. We thought we'd share some of it with you. To read the whole thing, click <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56488914-82/dignity-working-thank-labor.html.csp">here</a>.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...maybe the most important definition of dignity is this: the quiet knowledge of self-worth that lies within the human heart. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I have known and worked with folks who labored physically. They came to work clean but returned to their homes tired, with soiled clothes and hands. They held no official position, had no title and were not part of a privileged class. But most of them had a sense of dignity. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Many working people, though not all, struggle with their own self-worth. Perhaps they are underpaid and treated in the work place as if they are of no importance. Or perhaps they have been taught that a life of labor is undignified and not a desirable way to earn an income. I know many who feel this way... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I plead with working people, no matter what your position, not to accept this evaluation. All work, no matter what the duty, is of great importance to an organization. </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YaIloYtRd7dPlajuu_q5s7vvQXU2Sxxck_IuJuoOBzvzb3oGXUXprObZDKI7m4-YyFsBgBpnSAidaKjC7R6bofKuMu60NusnhlnTn2_LTWC9vP-nRItYXcKa1r6BrD3Q2CyZCPURSt3J/s960/wilkinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YaIloYtRd7dPlajuu_q5s7vvQXU2Sxxck_IuJuoOBzvzb3oGXUXprObZDKI7m4-YyFsBgBpnSAidaKjC7R6bofKuMu60NusnhlnTn2_LTWC9vP-nRItYXcKa1r6BrD3Q2CyZCPURSt3J/s200/wilkinson.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Every politician who puts on his fine suit and shoes each morning should thank the tailor for the skill it took to make his clothing; thank the sheep man for the wool; thank the cotton farmer and the field hand; thank the truck driver for transporting the materials to market; thank the maintenance people who clean the building where the manufacturing took place and the machinist for the necessary machines... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">There are occasions when a businessman threatens a working person with: "You can easily be replaced." He is right. As an individual, you can be replaced. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">But that is when dignity can be maintained through unity. Alone, we may be at the mercy of an unjust tyrant, but together, working people can demand the respect they so well deserve. Yes, you, the person who prepares fast food, or who stocks the shelves on the night shift at the big-box store. You, who empties the trash and sweeps the floor. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">You are invaluable to that organization and are a valuable part of our society. Let no one try to persuade you otherwise. You, laborers, are worthy of a living wage, health care, shelter from the storm and whatever else is necessary to live a life with dignity. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">But you can only accomplish this through unity.</blockquote>Brother Wilkinson runs a terrific Facebook page, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/267405143716/?fref=ts">Friends of Teamsters Local 222</a>, which is well worth reading. Just click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/267405143716/?fref=ts">here</a>.<br /><br />

unions A Teamster writes: In unity there is dignity

Brother Charles Wilkinson, a Teamster retiree from Local 222 in Provo, Utah, writes a wonderful op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. We thought w...

Read more »