Posts tagged Wisconsin
Teamsters president’s RNC speech highlights Trump’s efforts to lure working-class voters
July 17, 2024 // An internal straw poll from the Teamsters showed 37 percent support for Trump, 46 percent for President Joe Biden and 5 percent for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The rest were undecided, uncommitted or may not vote, board member John Palmer told POLITICO. But he added that not every local participated because they did not want to provoke tensions in their memberships. At Trump’s interview with the Teamsters in January, one campaign staffer said he already had the endorsement of the Teamsters’ membership, and that it was a win just to get an interview. Palmer believes there’s not been enough education from the Teamsters leadership explaining policy differences between Biden and Trump, such as in National Labor Relations Board appointments and Biden’s signing into law the Butch-Lewis Act, which saved some member pensions. The board member also acknowledged that an endorsement does not necessarily dictate how rank-and-file members will vote.
Union workers at downsizing tractor factory weigh Biden vs. Trump
July 16, 2024 // Trump and his populist strain of protectionist policies such as tariffs on Chinese goods accelerated a drift toward Republicans by unionized workers. A question in this year’s race is whether unions such as the UAW can reverse this migration. “Joe Biden is the most pro-union president in American history, the first president to walk a picket line, the defender of more than 1 million pensions, and a champion for working people over greedy corporations," a Biden campaign spokesperson said. A campaign spokesperson meanwhile said Trump has made "historic gains with longtime Democrat constituencies including African Americans, young people and union workers."
WISCONSIN: Unions respond to Act 10 decision
July 11, 2024 // The 2011 law created two categories of public workers — public safety employees, and general employees. The law prohibited unions representing general employees from collectively bargaining for any benefits outside of raises that would be capped to inflation. The judge ruled that the state Legislature did not have a "rational basis" for how it created those different categories, and the law is unconstitutional because of that.
Act 10 lawsuit: Wisconsin judge strikes down parts of bill
July 9, 2024 // "The issue was, are people receiving equal treatment?" UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mordecai Lee said. Republicans argue that Act 10 solved Wisconsin’s deficit problem, while Democrats say it hurts schools and public employee pay.
Opinion: Trump, Republicans Must Resist Dem-Funding Union Leadership’s Attempt To Con Them
July 3, 2024 // A new report from the Center for Union Facts, first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation, shows that the Teamsters spent $9 million on politics between 2019 and 2022. Of that, a staggering 99% funded Democrat-aligned groups and anti-Trump media outlets. More than $2.6 million in Teamsters political donations went toward registered Democrats and Democratic campaign arms. The Teamsters also funded anti-Trump activist groups that plan to bury a second Trump presidency in litigation. Given that nearly all of the Teamsters political spending went to Democrats and far-left causes, it would be reasonable to assume that rank-and-file union members uniformly vote Democrat. That is not the case: In 2020, 40% of households with a union member voted for Trump.
Biden, Trump battle for blue-collar voters as steel merger looms
June 30, 2024 // But Rudy Sanetta, a maintenance worker at US Steel, prefers Trump on the economy and because of his stance on gun rights. "I like him for his resistance to the politicians," Sanetta said of Trump. "The other guy, I have no confidence." Working class voters "are the most pivotal because they're the ones who have actually demonstrated that they're willing to select either Trump or Biden," said Jonathan Cervas, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Teaching doctors to unionize
June 27, 2024 // Once mostly self-employed or part of physician-owned groups, doctors are increasingly employees of hospitals or private equity firms. And, as employees, they have a right to organize, prompting unions of all stripes to make the case. Doctors who’ve joined say they’re persuaded by a desire to reclaim control over their lives, and to bargain for better pay and work conditions that they believe private equity and hospital ownership threaten.
Workers at Americold Logistics Win Campaign to Remove Teamsters Union from Workplace
June 10, 2024 // Garcia filed the petition on May 16 with the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Garcia’s petition contained support from a majority of employees, which is more than is required to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. When it became clear that the election would be scheduled, Teamsters Local 695 disclaimed recognition on May 23, 2024, stating in an email to the employer that the union “unequivocally disclaims its interest in representing and collectively bargaining for the unit at Americold in Darien, Wisconsin…that this will end processing of the Petition.” On May 24, NLRB Region 18 acknowledged the union disclaiming recognition, meaning no election would be needed since the workers’ desired result – the removal of the union – had already been accomplished.
Strike Halts Work At Many SE Wisconsin Construction Sites
June 10, 2024 // Roughly 800 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 went on strike last Saturday for better pay. That’s caused work stoppages at construction sites in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington and Ozaukee counties. Some of the job sites where work came to a standstill include a parking garage near Froedtert Hospital, apartments on the east side of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County Human Services building and a new recreation center at Marquette university, union officials said.