TNET Teamster Talk

Kudos to New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:32:13 +0000

Kudos to Kelly and Bloomberg for their tenacious and aggressive efforts to conduct sophisticated surveillance of Shi'ite mosques in New York City. Iran is a majority Shi'ite country and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly threatened to annihilate the United States and Israel. Kelly has been pummeled by civil rights and muslim groups for his close monitoring of entire neighborhoods and assembling databases on daily life in Muslim communities. Muslim groups assailed Kelly for his incorporation of a controversial movie about Muslims into NYPD training sessions. Homegrown Islamic radicalism is rising in the United States and in metropolitan New York, and Iran most certainly has sleeper agents here, and more chilling, perhaps, a nuclear weapon, in New York, Washington, or Boston, and they will activate them. Israel's tolerance of Obama's passivity with regard to the U.S.-Iran conflict has peaked, particularly given Iran's daily threats to end Israel's existence. The Israelis wanted to nuke Iran's nuclear facilities several years ago despite U.S. opposition. And they know as well as the high echelon of the U.S. military that Iran has had 5 to 7 nuclear weapons since 2007, they acquired from Russia and China. Iran's frequent testing of short and long range missiles, some of which have soared over Hawaii, is a prelude to their agenda of employing nuclear weapons against us. Obviously Obama lacks the backbone to beef with them, so it is incumbent on the Israelis to launch the preemptive nuclear strikes forthwith. Kelly and Bloomberg are cognizant of the Israelis concerns and they have been working feverishly to circumvent the efforts of treasonous Americans and other hostile elements determined to kill us.

Romney v. Obama

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:01:13 +0000

Romney will be the Republican nominee and Newt Gingrich, the Aristotelian sociopath, and his geisha girl, Calista, will retreat to anonymity. Obama will face the amiable Romney and his cadre of shrewd strategists, and the anti-American and anti-Christian, with an Islamic middle name, Hussein, will suffice succinctly his identity and representation as antagonistic to American tradition premised on his history and his unprecedented actions as the U.S. president and commander-in-chief. Romney is not irreconcilable, naive and weak. He is amicable, a realist and not a rationalist, a devoted and conscientious father, husband and Christian, a patriot unequalled since President Dwight Eisenhower, and equally tempered. Astute and shrewd, and cognizant of our enemies who view themselves as omnipotent and the United States as the ultimate target to conquer and enslave. Mitt Romney will retain the brightest and the bravest to assist him in managing and protecting our vulnerable country. Restraint with regard to the possible employment of nuclear weapons will be his mantra; however, if they are warranted, he will employ them aggressively. Merry Christmas will be Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays, and we will once again be a Judeo-Christian United States, and all the other un-American religions that have infringed on American culture, particularly the Muslim faith, which is so foreign to American culture, it sickens Americans that it is seemingly omnipresent and it has contributed greatly to eroding our culture. Obama's tenure in the White House, conversely, has adversely impacted our traditions and culture to such a degree, we are unlikely to recover and return to normalcy, and he has severely limited our civilian and military capabilities to address and suppress internal and external threats. And who propelled this anti-American Marxist to the white house? The degenerates in Hollywood; and two Massachusetts liberal Democrats: Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Kennedy, an alcohol and coke induced hedonist, and Kerry, a narcissistic elitist, who, in 1972, publicly discarded his war medals and denounced our involvement in Viet Nam and engaged in numerous anti-war actions short of accompanying Jane Fonda to Hanoi in 1972. Vote Romney and pray he will protect unions. But for the preservation of the United States, the nation's security takes precedence.

Here's why union membership keeps falling

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:13:50 +0000

Folks in Springfield, Ill., witnessed a bizarre scene two years ago. Thousands protested outside the Capitol, chanting: "Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes!"
Who protests for higher taxes?

Government unions do. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees helped organize the rally.

This is the new face of the union movement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this past Friday that union rates fell again last year. Fewer than one of every eight Americans now belong to unions.

Of those, most work in the government; less than 7 percent of private-sector workers belong to unions. The Postal Service employs twice as many union members as the auto industry does.

Competition makes it difficult for private-sector unions to survive. During the 1950s, a third of Americans belonged to unions -- during a tightly regulated economy with few international competitors.

Americans could choose to buy expensive union-made cars from Ford, or expensive union made cars from General Motors, or expensive union-made cars from Chrysler.

Deregulation and free trade have since made the economy more competitive, giving Americans more choices. Now Americans can buy from whomever offers the most value. Unfortunately for the union movement, that company is often nonunion.

The auto industry. The steel industry. Trucking. Construction. Unionized companies have fallen behind in industry after industry. This makes organizing new members difficult.

Few workers want their company to wind up like General Motors or Bethlehem Steel. Only one of every 10 nonunion workers tells pollsters he or she wants to join a union. Unionization rates are lower now than when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.

Unions remain strong in government because government has no competition. It does not matter how efficiently or wastefully the government operates. Americans must pay their taxes or go to jail.

So in government, unions can raise costs without risking their jobs. The taxpayers must pick up the tab. Government unions have remained strong because of these factors. They now represent two of every five government employees.

This explains why the overall unionization rate fell last year. Union rates did not fall in either the private sector or in government. But while the mostly nonunion private sector created almost 2 million jobs, state and local governments cut spending.

That meant fewer unionized government employees. The strength of the union movement now moves in tandem with the size of the government. This would have surprised the early leaders of the labor movement.

They did not think unions belonged in government. Government unions bargain with elected representatives over how to spend taxes. They thought that made no sense. George Meany, the first president of the AFL-CIO, famously declared that "Bargaining collectively is impossible in government."

Today's union movement has a direct stake in big government, no matter how well that serves the public.

Government unions do not want more efficient government; that means fewer dues-paying union members. Government unions do not want reasonable benefits; they want to retire in their 50s.

Even President Obama believes that schools should remove bad teachers. But education unions disagree. They want their members to have jobs for life, whether or not their students learn to read.

Taxes pay for all this, which explains union opposition to tax relief. It means less money for them. Government unions have lobbied for almost every recent tax increase.

Illinois' union protestors got their tax hike. The Legislature increased the state income tax by two-thirds. Business taxes went up almost 50 percent. Government unions hit the jackpot.

The rest of Illinois suffered. Businesses fled the state, taking jobs with them. Last year, Illinois' unemployment rate increased the most in the nation. They would have done better to follow Wisconsin's example. The government should serve the public, not the other way around.

James Sherk is the senior policy analyst in labor economics at the Heritage Foundation.

Corruption at Local 879 goes unpunished

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:59:46 +0000

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/599499--teamsters-local-rocked-by-insider-allegations

In case you didn't read it, President and Vice president of local 879 were accused with pretty damning evidence from what I heard of spending members money for their own personal use. Teamsters Canada has shockingly done **** all about it. What a joke. Soo glad my dues are keeping these pricks in the lap of luxury. And shame on IBT for not doing anything to punish them.

anti-union legislation coming to Arizona

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:50:40 +0000

heads up West Coast

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/jan-brewer-arizona-gop-anti-union-bills_n_1244422.html

The Occupy movement And The National Defense Authorization Act (NDCC)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:31:52 +0000

The 400 Occupy Oakland protesters arrested Saturday, January 28, including the treasonous American communist who emerged from his break-in of Oakland City Hall with the American flag in hand and promptly set afire, should have been apprehended under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), President Obama signed into law the evening of December 31, 2011, and interned at a stockade on a U.S. Military installation indefinately and without trial, their U.S. citizenships revoked and promptly expelled from the United States. Saturday's violent protest was quintessential Bolshevism, an alarming phenomenon that is sweeping the United States and it must be stopped forthwith, to ensure government stability and demonstrate to the world's superpowers that this insurrection will not weaken our capabilities to repell enemy aggression. Equally disconcerting, unions have been active in supporting and participating in these raucous, threatening, and violent demonstrations and it has emboldened these Bolseviks to engage in incitant rhetoric and inspire threarening mobs to exceed the parameters of responsibility and restraint. The flag burning, for instance, was suggested strongly by the Oakland mob. And President Obama and Janet Napolitano of DHS failure to act decisively and swiftly when the Occupy movement erupted fall 2011 is demonstrable of support for this virulent movement and their inaction illuminates extraordinarily poor leadership and they, too, have contributed to and encouraged this vexing dissent. ---A.R. "Bobby" MacKeil, member of Local 25, Boston, Massachusetts.

Hearing @ local 25 about barred member Jo Burhoe and Company Demers ?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:37:03 +0000

During a hearing at Local 25 Presdient Sean O'brien who previously made a statement that " anyone can file charges against him because he is well insulated by two of Massachusetts top Labor lawyers" Well even being well insulated as he said , looks like Sean and the E - board is now the focus of an investigation by the Federal US A G office ( due to his Small Size he tries to make up for it with his cockyness and this time he stepped way out of line)

This hearing was held because Barred member and John Perrys side kick and Paid FBI Informant JOJO the RAT Burhoe.

This rat made calls to members to hire them for a show that Demers Expo was doing last week at the Hynnes Convention Center. Demers recently hired Burhoe dispite the heat he brought on the company as a city manager. Burhoe was seen working in the same capicity as a teamster pushing freight and other labor related jobs, Burhoe is barred for life from being a Teamster and or working with affiliated companies, he also cannot talk to teamster directly or indirectly. His Position as city manager required him to give out work orders asign jobs etc. All memebrs from local 82, now local 25 were told to not be in contact with any barred members if they did there would be a hearing held and charges would be filed against them.

After a number of complaints were made to 25 about this a select few were given certified letters rquireing them to appear at this hearing and give testimony. Well during this hearing Sean O'brien over stepped his power and asked questions irrelavent to the hearing. Obrien asked members if they testified at a Grand Jury that is currently investigating 25 for trouble created when the union was local 82 and this investigation stems from a number of violations from federal laws to IBT Constitution and CBA violations.

O'brien asked a few of these members if they testified at the Grand Jury and if so in what capacity witness or defendant? and who they testified about. Well all I have to say is if I was a lawyer wich i'm not is this was a very very bad idea, this would and could be considered interfereing with a grand Jury investigtion, a from of intimidation , etc all of these charges are serious and could cause major troubles for the quote " well in sulated Local 25 " why would a bald midget who wants to a have political future in the Teamsters ever put himself in harms way?

After watching the fall of Cashman of 25 and then see his good ole pal from JC 10 get picked apart by members haring after hearing and then see the IRB take Perry and the whole E board out he still chose to be a corrupt leader and let his arrogance take over, I hear alot from other union leaders that Sean O'brien is a smart guy, oh he's intelligent well look wo is in the room with youe either have David Laughton , John Perry John Murphy of 122 need I say any more. Sean you climbed the latter very quick and the power went to your head you lost your here and it stunted your grouth but in the end your not as smart as you think you are look at your most recent mishap wasn't so smrt now was it good luck at the Grand Jury let me ask are you a defendant or a witness? Ha Ha HA ha ha ha

Right to Work in Rhode Island

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:23:56 +0000

This must be stopped.

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/rhode-island-lawmaker-senator-nicholas-kettle-to-introduce-teachers-right-to-work-bill

Although it is a bill just for teachers, this would open to door for broader right-to-work-for-less laws.

Right-to-Work hits Minnesota

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:43:08 +0000

......next the nation

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/01/27/minn-labor-unions-gop-fight-over-right-to-work/

all hands on deck!

A TRUE TEAMSTER SHOWDOWN

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:33:54 +0000

On March 4, 2012 at 10am, at a place to be determined. I will be completely by myself, allow any and all of you to show up and ask anything you want. I will answer every question and I will direct you to the appropriate place to prove whatever any of you want proven. I will record it for my safety and legal protection as well as to prove what was said. I will determine the place once all of you have expressed your desire to attend. Just indicate that you're in so I can figure out the appropriate setting.

Well now let us all see if the reform952 half dozen have the balls to show up for a face to face. I bet they do not show up.

"HOT OFF THE PRESSES!" Teamsters vs. Teamsters

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:58:10 +0000

I am a proud 21 year Teamster Waste Driver out of Local 330, who happens to have a friend that works for the NLRB in Chicago. Although we're friends and we have fun joking around at times, the news she gave me today was no joke.

Earlier today, one of her co-workers told her that the Teamsters filed for another election. My friend replied, "And?" Then her co-worker said "Against themselves." She began to give me the low down which pissed me off to no end. She stated that the I.B.T. Organizers were the ones that filed.

Am I the only one that thought the Organizers were represented already? How can our great Union not acknowledge the brothers and sisters that are basically on the front lines helping our great Union grow. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't organizing one of General President Hoffa's main platforms this campaign. Wasn't it his fathers main belief that organizing is the future of the Teamsters? Most of the videos I have seen on youtube from the last Las Vegas Convention were about growing the Teamsters Union through organizing. I know for a fact that FedEx, Walmart, bus drivers and my brothers at other Waste Management Barns that aren't represented can't organize themselves.
I truly think this will get out of hand like the fight between the I.B.T. office workers and the I.B.T. What an embarrassing time that was.

As far as I'm concerned, my dues should be used to grow and strengthen our Union, not to make our Union a Corporation that treats our brothers and sisters like employees. Wait until the right wing media gets a hold of this when states are fighting to eliminate Unions altogether and the Republican party is just looking for excuses to attack the middle class. Let's not give them more ammunition against the fragile middle class.

Please General President Hoffa, let's not make our great Teamsters Union into a joke. Let us stick to what made us the strongest, greatest Union in the world. LET'S FIX THIS **** QUICK!

Protest Union Busting By US Coast Guard. Oakland, CA

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:22:50 +0000

Title: Protest Union Busting By Coast Guard START DATE: Monday January 23 TIME: 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM Location Details: PRESS CONFERENCE 1:30 pm
Homeland Security Office, 1111 Broadway, Oakland, CA

RALLY 2:30 pm
Federal Building, 1301 Clay St., Oakland, CA

MARCH 3pm
to Coast Guard Island, Embarcadero in Oakland Event Type: Protest DEMONSTRATION TO DEFEND WASHINGTON DOCK WORKERS

PROTEST USE OF U.S. COAST GUARD FOR UNION BUSTING

PRESS CONFERENCE 1:30 pm
Homeland Security Office, 1111 Broadway, Oakland, CA

RALLY 2:30 pm
Federal Building, 1301 Clay St., Oakland, CA

MARCH 3pm
to Coast Guard Island, Embarcadero in Oakland

On Monday, January 23, the Occupy Oakland Labor Solidarity Committee and the Committee to Defend the ILWU will demonstrate to protest the use of armed Coast Guard cutters and helicopters to escort a grain ship which is to be loaded at the port of Longview, Washington at a terminal operated by EGT, a giant grain consortium. The terminal is being picketed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). EGT, which built a new $200 million dollar terminal, is violating the port's contract which provides for ILWU workers to perform waterfront labor.

In the SF Bay Area, ILWU Local 10, the SF Bay area longshore union which supports the demonstration, Occupy Oakland and the SF Labor Council are organizing a caravan to Longview to meet the ship upon arrival, possibly this month. Occupy movements in Longview, Portland and Seattle are also mobilizing supporters to go to Longview. Solidarity with the Longview workers was one of the motivations behind the November 2 and December 12 port shutdowns in Oakland.

Local and state police are expected to be out in force. There have been 220 arrests of union supporters in Longview and fines of over $300,000 for blocking trains and trespassing on EGT port property. Introduction of the Coast Guard, however, is the first time that federal authorities have become involved in the dispute.

In a resolution adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on January 9, the council condemned, "in the strongest terms," this "first known use of the US military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years." In 1971, President Nixon called out the U.S. Army and National Guard in an attempt to break a postal strike. The Obama Administration's planned action is strongly reminiscent of Reagan's wholesale firing of PATCO workers, using 1248 military air traffic controllers to replace the union strikers in 1981.

The use of the military against longshore workers illuminates the hypocrisy of the U.S. government which chides governments around the world for unleashing their armed forces against their own citizens.

Longshoreman Anthony Leviege, called the Longview union struggle "a watershed struggle for organized labor. No more PATCO's!".

The ILWU has a record of militant dock actions over contract issues and social protests including South African apartheid and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Weakening of the ILWU and work standards it has negotiated over decades will lead to the erosion of conditions for all workers. If ever there was a time that the union cry "An injury to one is an injury to all" is relevant, that time is now.

640_protest_us_military_u...
original image ( 388x659)

More Teamsters On Strike

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:10:48 +0000

Teamsters strike at Nichols Aluminum
Thomas Geyer The Quad-City Times |

Members of Teamsters Local 371 picket Friday outside of the Nichols Aluminum plant on Rockingham Road in Davenport. The union went on strike at 4:30 p.m. after negotiations for a new contract reached an impasse. The last four-year contract expired Nov. 15. (Thomas Geyer/Quad-City Times)

...Members of Teamsters Local 371 walked off their jobs at Nichols Aluminum and onto the picket line Friday as negotiations on a new contract reached an impasse.

"The union indicated they were going to go on strike at 4:30 p.m. today and they did so," Thomas Brackmann, president of the west Davenport manufacturer, said Friday night.

"We have been working on this since the beginning of October," Brackmann added. "We will endeavor to come to an agreeable settlement."

The contract between the company and the union expired Nov. 15.

Standing with union members outside the company's plant on Iowa 22, Local 371 president Howard Spoon said the biggest sticking point in the negotiations is health insurance.

"The company is saying that the employees cannot keep the quality of health insurance they currently enjoy," Spoon said. Nichols wants to replace the current health care insurance policy "with something that is not as good," he said.

"They want to ship a lot of the cost back onto the employees," he said.

Local 371 represents about 254 Nichols employees, Spoon said.

Several non-economic issues also need to be settled, he added.

Spoon said he hopes the union and company can get back to the negotiating table soon, maybe as early as Monday. There hasn't been a strike against Nichols since the 1960s, he added.

In addition to the plant on Iowa 22, Nichols has a facility on Rockingham Road where striking union members also carried signs on Friday.

In October, Nichols laid off 34 production workers indefinitely from Iowa 22 facility, and eliminated a production shift.

At that time, Brackmann said weakened demand for aluminum by the construction industry prompted the company to cut its work force. The plant remelts aluminum scrap to produce coiled sheet, which is sold to customers who fabricate it into final products.

Brackmann said two-thirds of the plant's volume is eventually turned into building materials - particularly for the housing industry. Its aluminum, which it sells bare or coated, is used to make products such as gutters, downspouts, window screen frames, soffits, fascia and trim sheet.

"All our customers are seeing a downturn in their business because the housing market is on its butt," Brackmann said at that time.

Nichols Aluminum has a total of 350 employees at its two Davenport operations. It is a division of Quanex Building Products.

Source: Quad City Times

Bad times in Local 381

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:20:38 +0000

Yesterday was a sad day for members in Local 381. Over 160 employees from The City of Lompoc Ca. voted to decertify from our Local. It is a very bad reflection on the leadership of this once great local. They sited bad contracts and lack of representation as part of the reason. Our Sec. Tres. NEEDS TO RESIGN!!!!!!

Teamsters Local 830 stalker of women

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:07:12 +0000

How can the VP of a local union be alowed to continue to represent when they plead guilty to stalking women? This make no sence. We have women in this union, don't we?

TELFORD

Glenn Fulcher, 51, Telford, approved for ARD program for 11 months on charges of stalking Feb. 28. Agreed to have no contact with victim or residence.