Posts tagged Teamsters
Teamsters: South Jersey cannabis workers unionizing in Mays Landing
May 7, 2025 // Teamsters set out about three years ago to unionize the cannabis industries. It has recorded more than 30 collective bargaining agreements among workforces in California, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan. “This is inherently a core industry for our union,” union spokesman Matt McQuaid said this week. “If you look at most of the core segments of the cannabis supply chain — agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, and retail — these are all jobs where the Teamsters have represented workers for decades.”
Opinion: One mother’s fight against forced union dues
April 29, 2025 // Every pay period, a portion of my hard-earned wages disappears into the Teamsters’ “Health and Welfare Trust Retiree Plan.” It is likely this deduction isn’t just about healthcare for retirees. A portion of the funds may be channeled into the union’s shareholder activism — buying shares in companies and then pressuring corporate boards to adopt political positions I never agreed to support. The lawsuit challenges California’s Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, which essentially traps public employees like me in a financial relationship with unions we’ve explicitly rejected.
Trump’s tariffs hurt the working class. Why are some unions on board?
April 28, 2025 // “In truth, our trade deals were not really trade deals; they were investment deals. Their goal was not to promote America’s exports — it was to make it easier for global corporations to move capital offshore and ship goods back to America,” Richard Trumka, the former president of AFL-CIO, said in 2015. “The logical outcome was trade deficits and falling wages, and that’s exactly what we got.” For unions, tariffs were a part of the answer to failures of free trade along with other protectionist policies. But to free trade proponents, tariffs represent a break from consensus and threaten to break down trade relations across the globe.
Amazon faces legal complaint for refusing to negotiate with unionized S.F. workers
April 24, 2025 // A hearing is scheduled for August before an administrative law judge. If the judge rules against Amazon, the company could be ordered to begin negotiations — a move that may influence similar union efforts at warehouses in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Southern California. The San Francisco workers were part of a national strike last December, calling for higher wages, improved safety and official union recognition.
Strike at Nestlé Purina plant in US ends after seven weeks
April 24, 2025 // More than 450 workers affiliated with the labour union Teamsters Local 773 participated in the seven-week strike at the plant in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. In a statement announcing the development, the union said the agreement with Nestlé includes “substantial” wage increases, an “expedited” grievance procedure, and enhancements to several workplace conditions.
Michael Watson: Big ESG’s Big Partner: Big Labor
April 20, 2025 // Unions’ principal interest in the ESG activism movement is on the “S” or “social” prong of the acronym. Both unions themselves, like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and critics of unions, like the Institute for the American Worker, will argue that Big Labor views ESG as a category for advancing union organizing and other core union priorities. Proxy Preview shows unions and union-aligned groups (like city and state pension funds and the largely union-owned and union-controlled Amalgamated Bank) pushing shareholder resolutions demanding that companies “adopt a noninterference policy respecting freedom of association” or “respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining”—euphemisms for neutrality in union organizing. Under a neutrality agreement, the employer agrees not to present its views on the potential consequences of union organizing to employees, and it may agree not to confirm union majority support by a government-supervised secret-ballot election, instead using public union-card signatures (known as “card check”).
Toledo Art Museum Workers Move to Unionize
April 18, 2025 // Organizing under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), some 100 workers will form the new union, which emerged after TMA’s glass technicians came together under Teamsters in 2007. The new unit will include staff from the visitor services, glass studio, research, education, curatorial, and library departments, among other eligible sectors, and is expected to grow upon selecting a representative.
Casino Workers At Caesars Southern Indiana Go On Strike
April 16, 2025 // The work stoppage started after the property reopened. Flooding from the Ohio River temporarily closed the casino. Teamsters Local 89 officials and the property, which is owned by VICI Properties and operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, have not been able to agree to a contract during negotiations over the last few months. The union’s current contract expired a month ago.
Freedom Foundation Takes the Teamsters to Court
April 16, 2025 // Although Ms. Tarbah is not a member of the Teamsters, a portion of her wages is automatically deducted every pay period and directed into the union’s “Health and Welfare Trust Retiree Plan.” While the plan is presented as a retiree health benefit, the lawsuit alleges that the funds are routinely used for union-driven initiatives that include political and ideological activity. “Karima Tarbah has a constitutional right to decide where her money goes and what causes she supports,” said Timothy Snowball, Litigation Counsel for the Freedom Foundation. “This case is about the fundamental right of every public employee to make choices that align with their own political conscience. California’s laws must align with the Constitution—not empower unions and governments to coerce funding.”
Truckers tell Ninth Circuit that California law unfairly bans independent contractor drivers
April 10, 2025 // Though a business-to-business exemption is available under the law, the association says members can't apply because they have to follow contradictory federal law that says trucking companies need to have exclusive control over trucks involved in interstate commerce. “One of the requirements of the business-to-business exemption is that the worker be free from the control of the business. Leased owner-operators in inter-state commerce must comply with federal regulations called the Truth In Leasing regulations which require the motor carrier to have exclusive possession and control of the vehicle and the operation of that vehicle in inter-state commerce. Whatever the scope of that control is it can’t be squared with the B2B requirement that the worker be free from control. It’s irreconcilable,” Cullen said.