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Keyword: unionthugs

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  • French government offers to absorb '€35 billion of railway debt' to end strike

    05/25/2018 10:57:29 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 23 replies
    TheLocal.fr ^ | 25 May 2018 11:36 CEST+02:00 | AFP
    The French government has agreed to absorb €35 billion in debt from the state railway SNCF, a top union official said Friday, as it seeks an end to nearly two months of strikes. Luc Berille, the head of the UNSA union, said that the state had proposed taking on €35 billion ($41 billion) of the SNCF’s €46 billion of debt, starting with €25 billion as soon as 2020. “The prime minister was specific,” Berille said after talks with premier Edouard Philippe, adding that the government would increase infrastructure investment by €200 million a year to reach an annual total of...
  • Metra Overtime Soars To $119 Million From 2013 To 2017; One Mechanic Earned $366,000 [Chicago rail]

    05/14/2018 12:21:19 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 16 replies
    CBS Chicago ^ | May 10, 2018 at 10:20 pm | Brad Edwards
    A Metra track inspector and two mechanics have been paid a total of $1.2 million in overtime in the past five years. That payout, one lawmaker tells 2 Investigator Brad Edward, is out of control. “There’s excessive overtime being paid,” says State Rep. David Olsen (R-Downers Grove). “That creates mistrust from taxpayers.” In all, Metra’s overtime costs soared above $119 million from 2013 to 2017, according to interviews and records. 2 Investigators counted 351 employees who earned at least $100,000 in that span. Topping the list is a mechanic who earned more than $366,000 in overtime. “I think that …...
  • French economy minister Le Maire says Air France 'will disappear' unless crisis stops

    05/06/2018 8:23:52 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 11 replies
    France 24 ^ | 05/06/2018 | [France 24 with Reuters and AFP]
    France’s economy minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday that Air France employees must resume dialogue with bosses and restart efforts to improve the company’s competitiveness, otherwise the airline “will disappear”. “I appeal to the sense of responsibility of everyone involved: flight crew, ground staff, the pilots asking for unjustified pay increases,” he said on French TV news channel BFMTV. “Take responsibility — Air France’s survival is at stake.” Le Maire added that “the state is not there to pay off the company’s debts”. …
  • 'Privatization is hell': Protesting French rail workers defend their strikes

    04/19/2018 9:10:28 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 9 replies
    TheLocal.fr ^ | 19 April 2018 15:53 CEST+02:00 | AFP/The Local
    French rail workers spoke of their anger over the government’s proposed reforms to France’s national rail service as they took part in a day of mass protests on Thursday. President Emmanuel Macron faced mass protests Thursday as trade unionists seek to galvanize striking train drivers, angry students and public sector workers and into a joint movement against his multi-pronged drive to overhaul the French economy. The hard-line CGT union has urged the broad spectrum of groups opposed to Macron’s overhauls to come together on the streets, with some left-wingers dreaming of a re-run of the huge May 1968 demonstrations that...
  • French rail workers are striking 2 days out of 5 for the next 3 months

    04/03/2018 10:35:34 PM PDT · by Berlin_Freeper · 9 replies
    CNN ^ | April 3, 2018 | Judith Vonberg and Saskya Vandoorne
    Rail workers across France have gone on strike for the first day of a three-month rolling walkout, the latest and potentially biggest battle over labor laws in the country since President Emmanuel Macron took office last May promising to transform the jobs market. Train services have been severely disrupted, with around 87% of high-speed trains and 80% of regional services canceled Tuesday, according to SNCF, France's state-owned rail company. Eurostar services were also affected, with one in four services from Paris canceled. High-speed Thalys trains towards Belgium and the Netherlands were operating almost as normal, but there were no services...
  • Oklahoma teachers go on strike and rally at state Capitol

    04/02/2018 8:00:07 PM PDT · by BackRoads775 · 69 replies
    https://www.yahoo.com ^ | 04/02/2018 | unknown
    Teachers carried signs and marched during a rally at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday calling for higher wages. Last week, the legislature in Oklahoma City voted to give teachers an average raise of $6,000 per year, or roughly 16 percent, depending on experience. Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, signed the package into law, but teachers said it was not enough. They have asked for a $10,000 raise as well as additional funding for schools and raises for support staff like bus drivers and custodians.
  • Elimination of the MPRA: Russian labor unions hammered under the law on foreign agents

    03/30/2018 9:01:27 PM PDT · by NorseViking · 12 replies
    Eurasianet ^ | March 29, 2007 | Irina Meyer
    The liquidation of labor unions threatens to further weaken the entire system of protection of labor rights in the Russian Federation. On January 10, 2018, by decision of the St. Petersburg City Court, one of the strongest Russian trade unions was liquidated - the Interstate Trade Union Workers Association ( MPRA ). The union was accused of receiving foreign financing with simultaneous participation in political activities. The MPRA appealed the decision of the court and is awaiting further hearings. The judgment on the MPRA is not just a neutralization of the protest mechanisms before the elections. The extension of the...
  • Thousands of JetBlue flight attendants to vote on joining Transport Workers Union

    03/18/2018 9:22:31 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 20 replies
    New York Daily News ^ | Saturday, March 17, 2018, 10:27 PM | Ginger Adams Otis
    Nearly 5,000 JetBlue flight attendants will start voting Monday in an effort to join the Transport Workers Union. Ballots will be cast electronically or by phone in an election that will run until April 17. The National Mediation Board is overseeing the election. According to the TWU, an “overwhelming majority” of flight attendants last year signed cards declaring they wanted to unionize. […] JetBlue was not receptive to the TWU’s efforts to unionize its flight attendants. Inviting a “third-party” union was a bad idea, the airline wrote in flyers and emails to staffers in September. “TWU is an opportunistic and...
  • French trade union chief slams UK and US over lack of workers' rights

    01/12/2018 4:48:33 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 21 replies
    TheLocal.fr ^ | 12 January 2018 16:54 CET+01:00 | Evie Burrows-Taylor
    France does not want to treat its workers like the UK and US, with zero hours contracts and no protection for the unemployed, Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT, France’s biggest trade union, has said. Last year, Martinez and his leftist union fought an unsuccessful battle with President Emmanuel Macron over a raft of reforms aimed at freeing up France’s rigid jobs market. Those controversial reforms cut into the power of France’s trade unions and made it easier for firms to lay off staff. Martinez believes Macron is influenced by the “Anglo-Saxon” model but he does not want...
  • 'Right to Work' Designed to Keep Black Workers Poor

    12/01/2017 4:29:09 PM PST · by mdittmar · 17 replies
    AFL-CIO ^ | November 30, 2017 | Lew Moye
    In his commentary "Unions ignore long history of excluding minorities from jobs," Missouri Rep. Shamed Dogan (R) highlighted past discriminatory practices in organized labor’s history as reason for implementing our state’s currently pending "right to work" law, along with other anti-worker measures such as ending prevailing wage and minimum wage requirements. To claim that unions continue to exclude minorities and are detrimental to working people is ridiculous and erroneous in the face of the facts. The truth is, enacting right to work and other anti-worker laws would only hurt the minority communities Dogan seeks to protect, by lowering wages, reducing benefits and...
  • Happy Thanksgiving! Just this minute got back online from Spectrum vandalism in NYC.

    11/23/2017 1:30:37 PM PST · by EinNYC · 10 replies
    11/23/17 | Me, Myself, & I
    Internet, and for some, their phones and TVs went down at 1 a.m. 11/23/17, courtesy of some apparently disgruntled electrical union employee of Spectrum. It just came back up a few minutes ago! So thousands of people could not watch the Thanksgiving parade at Macys, get Black Friday shopping bargains, or read the latest on FR. This is like the 4th act of union vandalism against Spectrum and therefore against its customers. They don't care that we are grievously inconvenienced or may have emergency need for phone services. I spit on them. There is a $50K reward for the perp(s)....
  • Report: Puerto Rico Teamsters Union, “Frente Amplio”, Refuse to Deliver Supplies –..

    09/30/2017 3:09:00 PM PDT · by Impala64ssa · 28 replies
    Conservative Treehouse ^ | 9/30/17 | sundance
    ... Use Hurricane Maria as Contract Leverage… Puerto Rican born and raised, Colonel Michael A. Valle (”Torch”), Commander, 101st Air and Space Operations Group, and Director of the Joint Air Component Coordination Element, 1st Air Force, responsible for Hurricane Maria relief efforts, has the following comment: …They have the generators, water, food, medicine, and fuel on the ground, yet the supplies are not moving across the island as quickly as they’re needed. “It’s a lack of drivers for the transport trucks, the 18 wheelers. Supplies we have. Trucks we have. There are ships full of supplies, backed up in the...
  • Drowning in debt, Connecticut faces budget crunch

    08/23/2017 5:59:04 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 38 replies
    Reuters ^ | August 23, 2017 | 7:28 AM | Hillary Russ
    Connecticut, home to hedge fund billionaires alongside cities mired in poverty, is racing against the clock to pass a budget or face further spending cuts to education and municipal aid across the state. Nearly two months without a budget, Connecticut is getting crushed by a burdensome debt load that has squeezed spending and amplified legislative discord. State lawmakers must agree on a biennial budget soon or else Governor Dannel Malloy’s executive order to slash state aid to municipalities and eliminate school funding for some districts will go into effect in October. The state faces a $3.5 billion deficit over the...
  • Government to create up to 20,000 public sector jobs [Spain]

    07/06/2017 10:44:26 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 5 replies
    TheLocal.es ^ | 6 July 2017 14:30 CEST+02:00
    The government, in collaboration with trade unions, has announced an ambitious plan to create 15,000 to 20,000 public sector jobs, according to various sources. Just about 7,000 roles will be created for general state administration, with an additional 3,360 roles to be added to the judiciary. The remaining more than 4,000 roles will supplement the national tax authority, the civil service and social security institutions, according to a report in El Mundo. …
  • Norway's biggest trade union angers Israel with boycott

    05/12/2017 10:25:25 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 17 replies
    TheLocal.no ^ | 12 May 2017 17:19 CEST+02:00 | AFP
    Norway’s biggest trade union voted Friday in favor of a boycott against Israel, a decision immediately condemned by Israeli diplomats who judged it “immoral”. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) went against a recommendation from its leadership and voted 197 to 117 in favor of an international economic, cultural and academic boycott against Israel because of the current impasse over the Palestine issue. LO, which also called for Norway to recognize a Palestinian state according to the 1967 borders, was criticized by the government. ”Norwegian government strongly opposes Norw Labor Union’s decision: #boycott of #Israel. We need more cooperation...
  • Workers at Boeing's South Carolina plant reject union

    05/05/2017 6:58:43 AM PDT · by central_va · 33 replies
    Business News ^ | Feb 15, 2017 | Alwyn Scott
    Boeing Co (BA.N) handily defeated a union drive by workers at the company's aircraft factory in South Carolina on Wednesday, as almost three-quarters of workers at the plant who voted rejected union representation. The secret ballot vote, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at polling locations throughout the North Charleston plant, was the first for Boeing and a high-profile test for organized labor in the nation's most strongly anti-union state. The NLRB said 74 percent of the 2,828 workers who cast ballots voted against joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
  • Another Case Showing Why People Shouldn't Be Forced Into Unions

    03/23/2017 10:50:24 AM PDT · by reaganaut1 · 10 replies
    Forbes ^ | March 23, 2017 | George Leef
    Labor unions have been known to do many despicable things to grab dues money from workers who don’t want anything to do with them. A current Minnesota case is about as bad as you’ll ever find. In 2013, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) got one of its favored politicians, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, to sign an order declaring that home healthcare providers who receive Medicaid money to care for disabled family members were government employees. But they were “employees” only because that made them eligible for unionization. The SEIU figured that it had a good shot at finagling a...
  • Tesla worker: long hours, low pay and unsafe conditions

    02/10/2017 6:12:16 AM PST · by artichokegrower · 47 replies
    San Jose Mercury ^ | February 10, 2017 | Louis Hansen
    Disgruntled Tesla employees have reached out to the United Automobile Workers, claiming they work long hours for low pay under unsafe conditions while the electric vehicle company sets aggressive production deadlines. California lawmakers have also questioned Tesla for making its employees sign broad confidentiality agreements, which they say chill worker communications.
  • Attacking Immigrants and Refugees Hurts All Working People

    01/31/2017 6:44:41 PM PST · by mdittmar · 25 replies
    AFL-CIO ^ | January 31, 2017 | AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
    AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made the following statement about last week’s immigration executive orders:President Donald Trump has announced three executive orders addressing immigration that are an affront to core union and American values. Building a wall on our border, scapegoating immigrants and refugees, and shutting out people of Muslim faith will do nothing to uplift working people in our country. To the contrary, these orders sow fear of raids among workers, promote racial profiling and erode core constitutional protections. As such, they are a clear attack on our members, and elevated fear is a direct obstacle to workers’ rights to...
  • Union membership down nearly 40 percent in Wisconsin

    01/27/2017 7:32:45 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 11 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan 27, 2017 3:38 PM EST
    Union membership in Wisconsin has declined nearly 40 percent since legislation was passed that gutted collective bargaining for public workers, according to federal data. The percentage of public and private workers who were union members was about 8 percent, or 219,000 people, in 2016, down by 136,000 members from 2010 levels, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The agency’s report shows the percentage of Wisconsin workers in unions is below the national average of 10.7 percent, The State Journal reported. …