http:\/\/www.laborforsinglepayer.org\/<\/a>
\nUpdates in full
\n1. For Immediate Release: Wednesday January 9, 2013
\n Contact: Coral Itzcalli, 310-956-5712
\n TJ Michels, 415-213-2764<\/p>\nTruck Drivers Clinch New Power with First Union Contract at L.A. Ports; Collective Workplace Action Cited as Key to Winning 50% Hourly Raise, Retirement, and Real Health Care <\/p>\n
Triumph over Global Employer Toll Group Fuels Hope for More U.S. Workers Organizing to End Low Wages, Poor Conditions in Retail, Food, and Supply Chain
\nLOS ANGELES \u2013A set of truck drivers who haul shipments of imported merchandise from our shores to America\u2019s brand name stores will kick start 2013 with a raise that doubles their hourly pay. The extra $6+ change is part of a first-ever contract that shifts a bulk of their health care costs to their employer, grants overtime, paid sick leave and holidays, offers guaranteed hours and other terms for job security \u2013 not to mention a pension plan. The collective bargaining gains in an otherwise union-free private sector rival 21st century agreements in long-organized markets.
\n\u201cJustice\u2026it\u2019s sort of indescribable and overwhelming to finally have the American Dream at our reach,\u201d said Jose Ortega Jr., a driver for global logistics giant Toll Group who served on his co-workers\u2019 bargaining committee along with representatives from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters\/Local 848 in Long Beach, Calif. The Australian corporation operates at port complexes on both U.S. coasts and handles accounts for Guess?, Polo, Under Armour, and other sportswear lines sold at big box and department retailers like Walmart and JC Penney.
\nThe Toll drivers\u2019 efforts mirror the collective action that has recently erupted in retail and fast food chains. The landmark agreement culminates more than 24 months of worker struggle and employer resistance in which these truckers \u2013 aided by a community coalition, their children, and clergy \u2013 borrowed bullhorns, leafleted consumers, gathered signatures, practiced their picket lines, staged noisyprotests, and crashed shareholder meetings in a dogged campaign to end the Third World working conditions they once endured.
\nU.S. port drivers are the most underpaid in the trucking industry: A typical professional earns $28,873 a year before taxes. Their net incomes often resemble that of part-time or seasonal workers though they clock an average of 59 hours a week. They possess specialized skills and licensing to safely command an 80,000 lb. container rig, but they fit the profile of America\u2019s working poor. Food stamps, extended family, or church pantries are needed to get by; their children often lack regular pediatricians or only receive care at the public ER.
\nWith American wages in freefall due to the imbalance of power enjoyed by multinational corporations, the scope and significance of such a labor accord with a transportation titan that operates in some 55 countries is a jaw dropper alone. What observers further find remarkable: The 65 workers who secured these middle-class benefits with their $8 billion employer are blue-collar Latino-Americans who hold jobs within a deregulated, virtually union-free industry at the ports. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt upends the common wisdom that a workforce that lacks rights on the job cannot build the strength to take on the Goliaths of the global economy. But these drivers, like the workers at the warehouses and Walmart and Wendy\u2019s, cannot raise families on such low wages, so they are coming together to rewrite the playbook,\u201d noted Dr. John Logan, the director of Labor and Employment Studies at the College of Business at San Francisco State University. \u201cThe faces of this new movement are ordinary parents and churchgoers and community members who value the influence of a local priest as much as the expertise pouring in from strong trade unions overseas. Not only do they have the guts to strike \u2013 they have the faith they can win.\u201d
\nTheir collective resolve paid off. Mr. Ortega, a single father who works the night shift, will see his new per-hour rate of $19.75 reflected on his next paycheck, along with any overtime that will now be paid at a time-and-a-half rate of $28.
\n\u201cAs a truck driver, I wanted the assurance that things would be okay for my daughter if I was injured, that I could take her to see the doctor if she got sick,\u201d the 36-year-old explained. \u201cWhen we started organizing ourselves, we weren\u2019t asking for anything out of this world. Dignity. A fair day\u2019s pay for a hard day\u2019s work. Decent, sanitary facilities to make a pit stop, rest, eat\u2026you know, to perform our jobs safely.
\n\u201cBut we knew winning respect would take a fight at every turn. So if we were afraid to lose our jobs, we asked our allies for help. When it was time to take action, we prayed for courage to speak out. And we always stuck together, and never gave up.\u201d
\nElected leaders quickly praised the union contract as both a middle-class builder and noted its high-road business merits.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about the men and women who are the backbone of our regional and national economy, yet they have never shared in the prosperity of the corporations they make so profitable,\u201d said Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, whose district includes the largest port in America. \u201cThe standards that Toll Group, its workers, and Teamsters Local 848 set make it possible to reward and attract responsible port businesses that want a level playing field to compete on innovation and quality, rather than who can pay Los Angeles\u2019 vital workers the least.\u201d <\/p>\n
Contract Highlights include (Click here for a full summary & graphic comparison):
\nFair wages \u2013The day shift hourly rate increased from $12.72 to $19, and the night shift hourly rate from $13.22 to $19.75. In addition to the over $6\/hour increase in hourly pay rates, drivers won $0.50\/hour per year raises over the life of the contract, giving Toll port drivers over a 60% hourly wage boost over the life of the 3-year contract. Overtime pay of time-and-half kicks in after a typical full time 40 hour week, which is extremely rare in an industry where truckers are exempt from federal overtime laws and an average week hovers around 60 hours.
\nSecure retirement \u2013Prior to the contract, less than a dozen Toll drivers could spare any extra dollars, even pre-tax, to participate in the corporate 401(k) plan. As Teamster Local 848 members, they have been automatically enrolled in the union\u2019s Western Conference Pension Trust. Such a retirement plan at the port has rarely been seen since trucking was deregulated in 1980. Toll will make a pension contribution of $1\/hour per driver until 2014, and a $1.50\/hour per driver by 2015. <\/p>\n
Affordable health care \u2013 The Toll Group health care plan was financially out of reach for most of its truck drivers. The few who managed to meet the premium, deductibles, and copayments will now keep significant more money in their pocket without sacrificing coverage, and the rest of their co-workers finally have access to quality, affordable health insurance coverage, including dental and vision care. The company will pay 95% of the premium for individuals and 90% for family coverage. Drivers who previously had to shell out $125\/month for individual or $400\/month per family will drop to roughly $30 or $150, respectively.
\nStable work hours and paid time off \u2013 Most truck drivers lose a day\u2019s pay if they cannot work, are penalized by dispatchers for being unable to haul a load, and lack paid sick or holiday leave, making it stressful for family budgets and planning. But Toll drivers made substantial gains in all these areas. They will receive seven paid holidays, three paid personal days, and six paid sick days annually. They will accrue one or two weeks of vacation within the first two years of service, with longtime employees earning up to a month. They can also bank on guaranteed full- or half-day of pay regardless of seasonal slowdowns if they are scheduled to work.
\nCompetitive growth incentives to raise market and living standards \u2013 The agreement establishes a high-road business model that recognizes Toll\u2019s competitors have not yet embraced fair wages and conditions. Provisions to encourage a level playing field and wide-scale unionization allow drivers to re-negotiate more gains when a simple majority of the regional market is organized.
\n\u201cWe commend these truck drivers for their leadership in challenging the status quo at the ports. Workers everywhere are standing up to say enough to poverty wages, and Toll drivers have demonstrated that working families will fight for middle-class paychecks in America,\u201d said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa.
\n\u201cFor too long companies in the global supply chain have gamed the system by undercutting U.S. businesses that actually create good jobs. Toll Group and its drivers have raised the bar for responsible competition, and the Teamsters will not stop until the rest of the nation\u2019s port drivers have a shot at the American Dream.\u201d
\nAdditional Background
\nThe landmark contract caps over two years of struggle for union recognition that workers took online, to the truck yard, and in the LA streets; they zig-zagged to other U.S. seaports to shore up support, and even continent-crossed to meet their Aussie union workmates who stood in solidarity at their joint employer\u2019s doorstep.
\nIn so doing, this group of Latino immigrants became an unlikely symbol of hope for their underpaid counterparts \u2013 union and not-yet-union, working in an adopted homeland as well as American-born workers \u2013 who must endure low-wage jobs in other profitable sectors in the U.S. food, retail, and global supply chain industries.
\nThe victory is also being celebrated across the Pacific Ocean where the Melbourne-based Toll Group employs some 12,000 of Australian drivers united in the Transport Workers Union (TWU). The members view their U.S. counterparts as their \u201cworkmates\u201d and have supported the port drivers from Day One to ensure that as Toll enters new global markets, the company replicates the constructive labor-management relations that made it so profitable Down Under. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be prouder of our mates in America. From the beginning we said \u2018your fight is our fight\u2019 and today we say your victory is our victory,\u201d said TWU Acting National Secretary Michael Kaine. \u201cThe standards of fairness and respect for workers should be upheld by Toll no matter where they operate. The message to industry is clear, in this global economy workers and unions across continents are already in alliance with each other and we will continue to support one another until we have a strong voice in our workplaces everywhere.\u201d
\nThe newly-inked contract with the Teamsters further gives another shot in the arm to the movement of port drivers fighting to overcome \u201cmisclassification\u201d \u2013 illegally denying workers W-2 employment and benefits, a scam that keeps the American Dream out of their reach.Workers are coming forward with evidence for state and federal authorities as part of a coast-to-coast multi-industry crackdown on employers who disguise their employees as independent contractors to evade taxes, commit wage & hour violations, and quell unionization. The controversial practice is widespread in the deregulated trucking sector.<\/p>\n
###
\nSee here for an infographic and a summary of the contract. For more background on the Toll drivers\u2019 campaign for justice, visit their website . Information on the blue-green coalition behind the nationwide movement to drive up worker standards and clean up U.S. seaports can be found here: www.CleanAndSafePorts.org <\/p>\n
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———————
\n5.
\n>
\n>>>
\n>>> On Dec 31, 2012, at 4:05 PM, C. M. Lawless wrote:
\n>>>
\n>>> Dear Joe Berry,
\n>>>
\n>>> I am writing to you on behalf of Colorado Adjuncts, a nascent group
\n>>> advocating for change in Colorado’s community colleges (a system that
\n>>> employs approx. 4,000 adjuncts). Our group is small but we have made many
\n>>> strides in our first year. You can see some of our work on our Web site,
\n>>> Colorado Adjuncts under “Did You Know?” We are in a difficult situation on our campus. We are
\n>>> banned from putting any communication in faculty mailboxes, using the
\n>>> faculty e-mail system, etc.
\n>>>
\n>>> However, we have done so much in our first year, and are now forming an AAUP
\n>>> chapter.
\n>>> https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/coloradoadjunctswiki\/home
\n>>>
\n>>> At present, we are promoting your book, “Reclaiming the Ivory Tower,” and
\n>>> are asking adjuncts and adjunct supporters to make a comment on our
\n>>> anonymous, online book blog. We follow your COCAL updates, of course.
\n>>> Everyone who has read the first chapter of the book is buzzing with
\n>>> confirmation, ideas, energy, etc.
\n>>>
\n>>> We are planning a second Film Series event in February, with a panel of
\n>>> state legislators and AAUP officials to field questions from the audience.
\n>>> We have no money, of course. However, I was curious if perhaps you might be
\n>>> in Colorado in February on some other business and would like to be on our
\n>>> panel. Our first Film Series\/Panel was modestly successful, and we got some
\n>>> coverage on the local NPR affiliate. We would go after that again, of
\n>>> course, and in our press release explain your background and national
\n>>> stature in the movement. I would like to see if this NPR affiliate would do
\n>>> a longer interview with you prior to the event.
\n>>>
\n>>> I realize ours is a very poor request, but I am making it, regardless, on
\n>>> the off-chance you might be out this way in February on other business. Even
\n>>> if you cannot attend our modest event, I wonder if you might be willing to
\n>>> post a small comment on our anonymous book blog (on our Web site). It would
\n>>> be like a shot in the arm, Mr. Berry.
\n>>>
\n>>> Thank you for any consideration you give this idea and even if you can do
\n>>> none of this, thank you for your excellent, helpful book. It is like a
\n>>> bright light in a dark storm to us, you can imagine.
\n>>>
\n>>>
\n>>> Caprice Lawless
\n>>> Co-Founder, Colorado Adjuncts
\n>>> coloradocaprice@gmail.com
\n>>> Ph. 720-939-3094
\n>>> 601 Lois Drive
\n>>> Louisville, CO 80027
\n>>>
\n>> —————–<\/p>\n
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nJan. 10, 2013
\nContact: Caprice Lawless, Communications Director, Colorado Adjuncts
\ncoloradocaprice@gmail.com
\nPh. 720-939-3094<\/p>\n
Colorado\u2019s Community Colleges 99% Speak Out<\/p>\n
While no official in the State of Colorado would admit that higher education for Coloradans doesn\u2019t matter, the Colorado Community College System places such a low value on higher education that it pays its part-time faculty (also known as adjuncts, who are 71 percent of its faculty) no benefits and an average of $15,000 per year. It has done so for more than five years. These adjuncts, many of whom teach \u00be time, teach 70 percent of all classes. They earn a tiny fraction of what campus full-time teachers, deans, administrators, specialists and even custodians are paid.
\nCommunity college enrollments have skyrocketed to 151,000. Budget-minded students (and their parents) benefit from low-priced courses, as compared to Colorado\u2019s four-year colleges and universities. The general public is unaware, however, of the devastating blow this Wal-Mart model is delivering to higher education.
\nIt is not uncommon for community college adjunct faculty to apply for food stamps, county services and emergency family assistance to meet their bills. They qualify for (and receive) hardship and charity-status at local health clinics and hospitals. Because they have neither health insurance nor sick leave pay, they go to work when ill. They work two or three jobs to make ends meet, and their teaching often reflects the stress. They cannot qualify for unemployment between semesters because they have no long-term contracts with the CCCS. As a result, hundreds of community college teachers are leaving the profession each year. Many qualified to teach walk away from job offers when they discover the low pay. What happens when there are no more qualified teachers, and word gets out in graduate schools that teaching in colleges is a dying profession? How will Colorado attract good jobs if its front-line teachers work in a type of academic apartheid?
\nMeanwhile, according to a recent CCCS report, the system has a $3 billion impact on the state each year, and taxpayers receive a $1.70 return on every dollar spent. The rosy pictures painted by such studies fail to include hidden costs to taxpayers when low wages in higher education are the norm. The growing Colorado Adjuncts Index (available on our Web site) reveals the thorns amid the roses. Take a look, and send us your thoughts. Your comments will be useful to us in our forthcoming presentations to Colorado lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Caprice Lawless, Sandra Keifer-Roberts and Carolyn Elliott
\nCo-Founders, Colorado Adjuncts
\nhttps:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/coloradoadjunctswiki\/<\/p>\n
Colorado Adjuncts Index<\/p>\n
Percentage of faculty in the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) who are adjunct: 71% 1
\nPercentage of all courses taught by adjunct faculty: 70% 2
\nAnnual average, before-tax income, CCCS adjunct faculty members: $15,000 3
\nAnnual median salary, Colorado State Employee Custodian III: $33,420 19
\nLiving wage, minimum, Jefferson County, Colorado, one adult: $19,275 4
\nNumber of adjuncts at work in CCCS, 2006-07(recent figure unavailable on CCCS Web site): 3,500 5
\nNumber of times the terms \u201cadjunct,\u201d or \u201cadjunct faculty\u201d appear in the CCCS Strategic Plan: 0 6
\nRanks of concern for salaries for full-time faculty and deans in 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: Top two 7
\nRecommended change to adjunct wages , 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: 0 7
\nAverage salary, full-time faculty (9-months\/year), per 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: $46,618 8
\nAverage salary, CCCS deans, per 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: $74, 959 8
\nAverage salary, CCCS vice-presidents, in 2010 per 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: $101,845 8
\nAverage salary, CCCS level III directors, per 2011 CCCS Salary Survey: $86, 703 8
\nAnnual Salary, CCCS President Nancy McCallin, 2009: $266,695 9
\nTotal CCCS revenue, all sources (tuition and government), 2009-10: $543.494 million 10
\nTotal CCCS expenses, 2009-10: $493.196 million 11
\nTotal CCCS full and part-time faculty and staff, 2009-10: 5,634 12
\nTotal CCCS full and part-time faculty and staff, 2009-10 less 3,500 adjunct faculty: 2,134
\nTotal CCCS combined payroll, 2009-10: $268.633 million 13
\nEstimated CCCS adjunct payroll (3,500 x $15,000), 2009-10: $52.5 million 14
\nNumber of students, CCCS statewide, 2009-10: 151,000 15
\nValue of unpaid labor CCCS adjunct faculty annually donate to Colorado taxpayers: $19 million 16
\nPrice tag, one-stop student center, completed 2012, Westminster campus: $5.253 million 17
\nThe number of people teaching in American colleges and universities: 1.5 million 18
\nThe number of those teachers who are adjunct or contingent faculty: 1 million 18<\/p>\n
Sources
\n1 Colorado Community College System. \u201cOur Funding,\u201d Colorado Community College Sourcebook,
\n 2008, p. 4. Web Jan. 6, 2013.
\nhttp:\/\/www.cccs.edu\/Docs\/Communication\/sb\/Funding.pdf
\n2 Colorado Adjuncts. \u201cAn Informal Q&A with President Andy Dorsey.\u201d Adjunct Network, 1.2, p.
\n 4, Spring, 2012, Web 6 Jan. 2013.
\nhttps:\/\/docs.google.com\/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjb2xvcmFkb2FkanVuY3Rzd2lraXxneDo2OGEzMmU3MzczOTUwNGQ0
\n3 Colorado Community College System. \u201cOur Funding,\u201d Colorado Community College Sourcebook,
\n2008, p. 3. Web Jan. 6, 2013.
\nhttp:\/\/www.cccs.edu\/Docs\/Communication\/sb\/Funding.pdf
\n4 Gastmeier, Amy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. \u201cLiving Wage Calculation,
\n Jefferson County, Colo.\u201d Living Wage Calculator: Poverty in America, 2012, Web 6 Jan. 2013.
\n http:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/counties\/08059
\n5 Cashwell, Allison. \u201cFactors Affecting Part-time Faculty Job Satisfaction in the Colorado
\n Community College System.\u201d Diss. Colorado State University, 2009, p. 5. Web 21 May 2012.
\nhttp:\/\/digitool.library.colostate.edu\/\/\/exlibris\/dtl\/d3_1\/apache_media\/L2V4bGlicmlzL2R0bC9kM18xL2FwYWNoZV9tZWRpYS84MDMyNQ==.pdf
\n6 Colorado Community College System. Strategic Plan, n.d., CCCS, Web 6 Jan. 2013.
\n http:\/\/www.cccs.edu\/Docs\/About\/StrategicPlan.pdf
\n7 McDonnell, Barbara (Executive Vice President, CCCS). Salary Survey Discussion. State Board of
\n Community Colleges and Occupational Education, May 11, 2011, p.1, Web 6 Jan. 2013.
\nhttp:\/\/www.cccs.edu\/Docs\/SBCCOE\/Agenda\/2011\/05May\/051111-WrkSessionAgnda%20I-J-Salary%20Survey%20Discussion.pdf
\n8 Heier, Cynthia (Executive Director, Human Resources, CCCS). Salary and Benefits Comparison. State
\nBoard of Community Colleges and Occupational Education, May 11, 2011, pp. 63-87, Web 6
\nJan. 2013.
\nhttp:\/\/www.cccs.edu\/Docs\/SBCCOE\/Agenda\/2011\/05May\/051111-WrkSessionAgnda%20I-J-Salary%20Survey%20Discussion.pdf
\n9 Perez, Gayle. \u201cCSU Chancellor Lower Pay Not Uncommon,\u201d The Pueblo Chieftain, July 25, 2009,
\n Web 6 Jan. 2013.
\nhttp:\/\/www.chieftain.com\/news\/local\/csu-chancellor-s-lower-pay-not- uncommon\/article_29919f7a-7540-5305-ae0c-31ee7393f26e.html
\n10 Economic Modeling Specialists, Int. Economic Contributions of the Colorado Community College System,
\n Main Report, Jan. 2012, p. 11. CCCS, Web 7 Jan. 2013.<\/p>\n
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