August 17, 2018

Trane and workers agree on contract, strike ends

A three-day strike has ended at Trane Company in La Crosse.

The company and two of its unions -- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Locals 66 and 1115 -- have worked out a deal on a new four-year contract.

Roughly 500 workers are back on the job after disagreements related to pay and mandatory overtime.

http://www.1410wizm.com/index.php/home-m/item/34487-trane-and-workers-agree-on-contract-strike-ends

August 17, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh Sided With A Union-Busting Employer After It Violated Workers' Rights

When a New York manufacturer created a new, spinoff company to avoid bargaining with unionized workers, federal regulators and a panel of appellate judges said the manufacturer broke the law and violated its employees’ rights.

There was, however, one judge who dissented in the appeals decision and sided with the employer: Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

The decision fits a pattern of Kavanaugh’s in which the conservative judge has ruled in favor of corporations over workers, several times as the lone dissenter. If confirmed, the 53-year-old could potentially push the Supreme Court further to the right on labor and employment issues as unions and worker groups are already facing major judicial setbacks.

The ruling shows Kavanaugh will “find any interpretation of the law that helps corporations avoid their obligations to working people,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said in an emailed statement to HuffPost. “Kavanaugh has consistently sided with corporate interests, including going out of his way to write a dissenting opinion arguing that corporations should be allowed to create sham, spin-off companies in order to skirt their responsibility to negotiate with workers and their unions for better wages, working conditions, and benefits.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-union-busting-employer-workers-rights_us_5b732521e4b025e3596b88c7

August 15, 2018

Safeway.com Grocery Delivery Drivers in WA Ratify 1st Teamster Contract

Grocery delivery drivers working for Safeway.com in Washington state have voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first-ever Teamster contract last night, following a year of negotiations that led to a strike authorization vote in June.

Made up of 60 Local 174 (based in Tukwila) members and 30 Local 313 (based in Tacoma) members, the drivers are anticipating many improvements to their working conditions and lives, including increased wages, with some of the lowest-paid drivers receiving double-digit percentage increases. Other benefits will include:

Affordable health care for both drivers and their families, which most of the drivers did not previously have access to, as they were held to part-time hours and the costs were prohibitive

Joining the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan – an unusual benefit for a group ratifying its first contract – which will begin the process of building a secure retirement with a defined benefit pension plan

https://progressivegrocer.com/safewaycom-grocery-delivery-drivers-wa-ratify-1st-teamster-contract

August 15, 2018

Giant Eagle Unionized Workers Ratify New 3-Year Contract

https://progressivegrocer.com/giant-eagle-unionized-workers-ratify-new-3-year-contract

Pittsburgh-area Giant Eagle associates represented by United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776 Keystone State (KS) “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of a new three-year contract that boosts wages and benefits for about 5,500 employees of the supermarket chain at 35 corporate-owned stores in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the union.

Among the new contract’s features:

Increase to a $10-per-hour starting rate, rising to $11 in two years

Substantial wage increases for current and future associates in each year of the contract

August 8, 2018

Missouri 2nd Congressional District

Currently held by Ann Wagner (R) looks to be interesting for the upcoming November election. Sorry The Copy & Paste didn't line up as well as one would have hoped, but the total party turnout looks to be worth noting.

Democratic Primary

CANDIDATE VOTE PCT.
Cort VanOstran
45,248 41.7%
Mark Osmack
27,389 25.2
Bill Haas
21,151 19.5
Others 14,824 13.6
108,612 votes, 100% reporting (450 of 450 precincts)

Republican Primary

CANDIDATE VOTE PCT.
Ann Wagner*
72,173 89.9%
Noga Sachs
8,115 10.1
80,288 votes, 100% reporting (450 of 450 precincts)

https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/missouri-house-district-2-primary-election

August 8, 2018

Results from St. Louis County Election Board on Voter Turnout for Yesterday's MO Primary

PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 650). . . . . 650 100.00
REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL . . . . . 648,163
BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL. . . . . . . 271,506
BALLOTS CAST - REPUBLICAN . . . . . 70,955 26.13
BALLOTS CAST - DEMOCRATIC . . . . . 190,652 70.22
BALLOTS CAST - LIBERTARIAN. . . . . 1,374 .51
BALLOTS CAST - CONSTITUTION . . . . 283 .10
BALLOTS CAST - GREEN. . . . . . . 372 .14
BALLOTS CAST - NONPARTISAN. . . . . 7,870 2.90
VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL . . . . . . 41.89

August 8, 2018

Right To Work Goes Down in Missouri

Proposition A: Keep Right-to-Work Law

Missouri voters will decide the fate of the state’s so-called right-to-work law, which, if it went into effect, would ensure that private sector workers no longer had to join a union or pay a fee if their workplace was unionized.

ANSWER VOTES PCT.
Yes
443,406 32.9%
No
905,186 67.1
1,348,592 votes, 98% reporting (3,157 of 3,228 precincts)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/07/us/elections/results-missouri-primary-elections.html

Not a big enough margin in my opinion, nevertheless it was good to see this effort by the legislature soundly defeated. That said, at least one of the GOP legislators has commented that they will simply pass it again.

August 8, 2018

Proposition A: Keep Right-to-Work Law

Missouri voters will decide the fate of the state’s so-called right-to-work law, which, if it went into effect, would ensure that private sector workers no longer had to join a union or pay a fee if their workplace was unionized.


ANSWER VOTES PCT.
Yes
3,642 29.3%
No
8,802 70.7
12,444 votes, 1% reporting (28 of 3,228 precincts)


This is still very early.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/07/us/elections/results-missouri-primary-elections.html

August 7, 2018

Missouri Primary Today.

Those in the Show Me State, please vote and please vote against Prop A (Right to Work).

August 6, 2018

Missouri Primary is tomorrow August 7

I encourage all my fellow Missourians to vote and encourage you to Vote NO on Prop A (Right to Work).