Over 150 drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 117, met on Saturday, May 12, at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila for a contract update. After the meeting, the group voted to authorize the strike, sending a powerful message of union solidarity to the two corporate giants of the solid waste industry.

“Recycle and yard waste drivers put themselves in harm’s way every day to keep our environment clean. This vote demonstrates that these workers are 100% committed to achieving a contract that reflects the important public health service they provide to our communities,” said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled yesterday that the NLRB lacked a quorum when it approved the measure in December. In response, the board today “temporarily suspended” the rule and pledged to “move forward” on the issue. Only two members voted when three are needed for a quorum.

Jesse Choper, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said the judge’s legal reasoning constituted a “technicality” and can be easily resolved.

“The worst that can happen is they go back and have a meeting of three or five,” Choper said. “They can make their quorum.”

In his decision, Boasberg said representation elections will have to continue under previously established procedures unless the board votes with a proper quorum. The rule went into effect on April 30.

A federal bankruptcy judge denied Hostess' motion to scrap a labor contract with the Teamsters in a ruling late Monday. That was a victory for workers at Hostess, which employs 505 in eight communities in Maine. Most of those workers are in Biddeford, where Hostess operates a bakery and distribution center.

"It's a rare day when a bankrutpcy judge denies a company's request to reject its union contracts," said Teamster General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall.

"We told our hostess members all along that we would vigorously oppose the imposition of unjust working conditions since Hostess first filed bankruptcy, and we have done just that."

Last week, a smaller union at Hostess wasn't so lucky. Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Hostess could abandon some contract agreements and modify some retirees' benefits with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

 Unions at Hostess have threatened to strike if the labor contracts are voided and the company imposes new work rules. Hostess has said a strike would force it to liquidate.

Posted May 17, 2012

Republic locked out 80 of its workers who are members of Teamsters Local 215 in Evansville, Ind., in an attempt to force the workers to give up their pensions. Local 215 had been in negotiations for a new contract with Republic since March 2. The workers and their union wanted to continue negotiations, but Republic locked them out instead.

“Despite nearly seven weeks of cancelled blood drives across the state, Red Cross is only offering six hours of bargaining time to the Teamsters -- and not until June 19,” said Mike Parker, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 580 in Lansing. “This is an insult to the City Council of Lansing which passed a resolution in support of our members. By the time June 19 rolls around, our members will have been on strike 11 weeks.”

Out of work and out of luck, local white collar employees were not out of ideas.

With our nation’s economic engine sputtering, they decided to check under the hood to look for another way to get moving.

They found it by turning the key and turning the corner. Shifting gears by discovering the “blue jeans, blue collar” world of trucking. For these faces of the economy, it’s been a full turn to a road less traveled.

Rapper Jasiri X Releases Anti-Scott Walker Video 'You're Fired'

I was in Madison, Wisconsin when the citizens took over the statehouse and it was one of the most amazing events I've witnessed. I saw firsthand the power of regular people coming together in unity to fight back against corrupt politicians and corporate influence. I'm honored to add my voice to this historic campaign to recall Scott Walker and rebuild Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's time for a Recall
Untied we stand divided we fall
We tired of being treated like we small
You forgot you work for us and we the boss

So let's tell Scott Walker you're fired
Go clean out ya desk cause you're fired
Cash that last check cause you're fired
You don't wanna show us respect now you're fired [...]

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is headed to the state to raise money for Barrett later this month. And, Obama for America state director Tripp Wellde is working full-time on the recall effort.

“We are completely committed to electing Tom Barrett,” said DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse. “Any suggestion of a lack of commitment or engagement on the part of the DNC/OFA is off the mark and does nothing more than play into the hands of Scott Walker and his billionaire buddies who launched their frontal assault on working families in Wisconsin.”

Added Wisconsin Democratic state party executive director Maggie Brickerman: “The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has always had and will continue to have a strong relationship with the DNC and OFA.”

Absentee ballots that were supposed to be mailed out Tuesday for the June 5th recall election, will not go out to voters until Friday...

By state law, absentee ballots are required to go out 21 days before an election...

GAB Director Kevin Kennedy said that means some voters, who will be temporarily overseas for the next three weeks, may not get a ballot on time.

...deceptive absentee ballot request mailers were sent out by the Koch Brothers-funded Americans For Prosperity and a number of other Rightwing groups. 

At face value, this might seem like a compelling pitch for the Republican governor. As has been widely reported, job creation in Wisconsin in 2011 was the worst in the nation -- literally, 50th out of 50 states -- but here's Walker boasting about over 23,000 new jobs created last year.

Wisconsin Democrats weren't pleased that the governor's campaign operation seemed to be coordinating with state employment officials, and published data that wasn't supposed to be released until late June -- after the upcoming gubernatorial recall election.

Despite annual sales of around $5 billion, Hendricks' company, ABC Supply, paid nothing in state corporate income tax between 2005 and 2008, the most recent years for which the information was available.

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has made this abundantly clear through its ongoing ALEC Exposed project, bringing sunshine to the tax-deductible, statehouse-level influence-peddling efforts made by corporations through the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC has been described by CMD as a "corporate bill mill." (Full disclosure: Steve Horn is a former reporter and researcher at CMD. He was on the team that broke ALEC Exposed in the summer of 2011.)

ALEC, though, is not the only "corporate bill mill" playing this game.

"I resent when they talk about families like mine that I grew up in. I resent the fact that they think we're talking about envy, that's it's job envy, it's wealth envy. That we don't dream," he told a crowd of about 600 at a Youngstown manufacturing facility, deep in the nation's Rust Belt.

"My mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams!" he said to mounting applause. "They don't get us! They don't get who we are."

Echoing the campaign's new TV ad hitting Romney's record as the head of Bain Capital, Biden accused the GOP nominee of gutting companies without regard for hundreds of employees who lost their jobs and benefits when they were shuttered.