|
Friday, 05 September 2008 |
Quarterly Union Meeting
Don't forget about the union meeting this coming Monday, September 8th. Attending the meeting is crucial is you want to bring up issues to the union officials or participate in any of the votes that happen there. Remember, you have to be paid up on your dues to come in.
starts at 7 PM held at PS 150 40-01 43rd ave. Long Island City, Queens |
|
|
Monday, 01 September 2008 |
Hanover: The Story ContinuesIt appears that the delivery service saga isn’t over at Hanover. According to one member, the company is not following regular 814 seniority rules. Apparently, the company has been working the bottom thirty guys on the list even while top seniority guys sit at home. Another member said he filed over thirty grievances on this issue alone, but when he went to the labor board about it, they told him that they had seen (in writing) a deal that made this practice legal. Now the question is, is this the same deal that ex-President Pete Furtado gave the company? Or is this a new deal that came from current President George Daniello? In either case, if there is a deal, then it never should have been cut without the input of the top seniority guys. Seniority needs to be respected, and should never be traded off for other gains. To discard seniority just pits one group against another, and no union can flourish under those circumstances. Do you work at Hanover or know someone who does? Please contact us with your side of the story, or post it on the forum . Or even just come to the next general membership (September 8th) and put your issue on the table. |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 September 2008 )
|
|
|
Friday, 01 August 2008 |
|
We promised we would give out some more details about the Sotheby's contract. Unfortunately, we don't have much more than we did before. |
|
|
Sunday, 13 July 2008 |
Your Weingarten Rights The boss wants to talk to you in the office for a minute. You've been late a few times this week, and you figure this is just another routine dose of harassment. But when you go in there, he's got the warehouse manager with him. And they do want to talk about lateness, but also about a few other things you weren't expecting. Out of the nowhere the boss asking you if Tommy's been taking long breaks again, and if Anthony's still showing up drunk after lunch. Now it's two against one, and guess what--you should've used your Weingarten Rights and brought the steward with you. Workers still have a few rights left in this country, and we should use them when we can. If the boss want to talk to you, you've got the right to say: "If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative, officer, or steward be present at this meeting. Without representation present, then...I choose not to participate in this discussion." Even if you think you know everything about Weingarten, Take this Quiz on Weingarten Rights provided by the Teamsters. You might be surprised what you learn. |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Wednesday, 09 July 2008 |
|
Though slightly out of date (about four years, actually), a member from Sotheby's has posted some pictures on the forum. A few are from a fundraiser the guys had a while ago, and the rest are from the 2004 lockout. Come on movers, we need to get on the ball! Does anyone have some pictures of the strike they can send us? |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Friday, 04 July 2008 |
|
At last: we have some action on our forum. We created this forum so that members would have a chance to discuss and debate their views on Local 814, the Teamsters Union, and the labor movement in general. Our goal was to promote intelligent discussion, without the bitter name-calling that afflicts so many message boards. As an example, we would like to highlight a very smart debate between members over the reform group Teamsters for a Democratic Union. |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Tuesday, 01 July 2008 |
|
We’ve been getting e-mails about it since last Friday, but we wanted to wait to post until we had some more facts…
Sotheby’s Teamsters Sign 3-Year ContractThe members at Sotheby's have been preparing for this contract for over a year. They started strike funds, attended union meetings, and elected a bargaining committee that took its job seriously.
In recent months, they stepped up their game even further. They ordered t-shirts that said “Sotheby’s Members United”, and wore them at rallies.
And it paid off. After an all night negotiation session, the bargaining committee walked away with a better deal than the guys had seen in years.
We’re not sure about all the details of the agreement, but we were told that they got a 5% raise in the first year, a 4% raise in the second, and 3% raise in the third.
On top of that, new employees will start at $15.89 per hour instead of $13.25, and over two years will go up to $18.47 per hour.
We’re not exactly sure about this point, but supposedly non-union temporary workers at Sotheby’s will now be 814 members, which is serious a victory in and of itself.
We’ll post more details as we get them, but for the time being we’d like to congratulate the union and all the members at Sotheby’s. Job well done.
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Sunday, 29 June 2008 |
New Comments Feature! We have a brand new feature at Voice of 814: comments. Now when we post a news story, you can respond with your reactions, right on the front page. First you have to create a user ID and log-in of course, but after you do you’re free to comment away. If your comment is intended as a question for us, we will do our best to respond, that is if we know the answer. Feel free to go back and comment on earlier articles. Now you’ve got the chance to say what’s been on your mind. |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Monday, 09 June 2008 |
|
Wow, things are even worse at Lehman than everyone thought. Today a New York Times article reported losses for the quarter totaling $2.8 billion. The issue came up tonight at the union meeting when a member asked Daniello how the union was responding to the crisis at Lehman Brothers. George said that the trustees are scheduled to meet with Lehman Brothers later this week to discuss the situation. But it’s easy to see that Lehman’s just doing damage control. Talking to them won’t do any good. At this point we don’t need another sales job—we need professional advice from a neutral analyst. Hopefully the trustees will see this and take some action. |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Sunday, 08 June 2008 |
|
Going Down With the Ship Lehman Brothers is in trouble. Last week the brokerage reported a $2 billion second-quarter loss, and had to scramble to come up with enough cash to reassure investors that things were okay. To make matters worse, Lehman is the smallest Wall Street brokerage still in the game, and therefore has the potential to go down just the way Bear Stearns did. (Check out this very scary article at the Huffington Post) Why is the fate of this small brokerage important to Local 814 Teamsters? Because they have our money--all of it. Last time the trustees of Welfare and Pension Funds gave us an update at a union meeting, it was to say that they had decided to hand over their money to Lehman Brothers. If the situation has changed since that meeting, we haven’t heard anything about it. So if Lehman Brothers fails, what will happen to our medical and pensions? We’re not professional analysts, so we don’t really know. The federal government insures money invested with brokerages up to $500,000, but Local 814 probably has $50 million invested with Lehman. The trustees of the funds, both union and management, should meet with neutral financial analysts to evaluate the safety of our funds. If Lehman goes down, we don't want to go with them. |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 June 2008 )
|
|
|
Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
Contract Time: Will George Deliver? It's contract time again at Sotheby's, only this time Daniello's in charge. Now the question is, will things go down the same way they did under Pete? When Furtado was president, we all knew the bargaining strategy: give management anything they want and hope we get something in return. Pete's attitude was that if the members didn't like the bad deal, then they could vote it down. If they did vote no, then the union would take them out on strike, hoping the guys would crumble on their own. This is the way the old leadership handled the Moving and Storage Contract and the Sotheby's contract as well. This time is going to be different. The members at Sotheby's look as ready as they could possibly be. They have a strike fund, they're informed and they're not going to take just anything the company throws at them. Oh yeah, and about thirty of them showed up to the last union meeting. So the question remains, will Daniello take his cue and change with the times? From the looks of it, the guys at Sotheby's are going to stand up for themselves and do whatever they is necessary to get a good contract. Will the union get behind them and show the company that they know how to fight too? For everyone's sake, we hope so. |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 May 2008 )
|
|
|
Saturday, 03 May 2008 |
|
Striking Workers to Receive Unemployment For once New York state legislators have changed labor law in our favor. Now striking and locked-out workers will receive unemployment insurance starting from the day their companies hire scabs to replace them. Previously, workers in New York had to wait seven weeks on the picket line before receiving unemployment checks. Now many will get it immediately. For Local 814 members, this is particularly significant. Members at Sotheby’s are heading into contract negotiations, and they may have to strike to get a fair deal. Now each member will receive $405 per week that he or she is out on the street. Movers will also benefit from the new law. In 2005 Local 814 movers went on strike for three weeks. Next year they may have to do so again, and this law will ensure every member will have some money coming in while they’re out on strike. |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Sunday, 13 April 2008 |
|
Members Press Daniello At Stewards Meeting On March 25th, President George Daniello called a mandatory shop stewards' meeting. Thirteen stewards attended. The stewards pushed George on two major issues. First, they asked why some moving companies are allowed to work while the bargaining companies are on strike. Wouldn't the strike be more effective if it affected all the companies covered by the contract? In response Daniello said that he would talk to his lawyer and get back to the members at the quarterly meeting in June. Second, brother Walter Taylor, representing Mega Van Lines, asked why Wage Scale Committee members are chosen by the union and not elected by the membership. "It's the same guys, year after year, and some of them don't even want to do the job anymore," said Taylor. Taylor also expressed his concern that the Wage Scale Committee did not always represent Industry guys and Apprentices. If the committee was elected, it would stand a much better chances of representing the whole bargaining unit. ***On a side note, more stewards should come to these meetings. By missing them they are wasting a valuable opportunity to present their issues.
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 14 April 2008 )
|
|
|
Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
|
UPDATE: Union Says Moving Contracts on Their Way At the March 10th quarterly meeting, Daniello stated that the contract books are being printed. He also said that any additional changes would be mailed to the members. We are coming up on our third year without a contract book. Hopefully we'll get those contracts soon. |
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 March 2008 )
|
|
|
Tuesday, 18 March 2008 |
Union, Members Defeat Hanover “Delivery” Scheme After a two-year fight, members have finally forced Hanover Moving and Storage to cancel its “delivery service.” The twenty-four members who worked for the “service” have been added to the seniority list and will now receive full union wages and benefits. This was great news for Local 814. The delivery service set a bad precedent and was a danger to every mover in our union. The problem was that the company was paying the delivery guys much less than union scale. Though the delivery service was only supposed to make small deliveries, Hanover was using them to do full commercial moving jobs. By using this “service”, the company was saving thousands of dollars on wages and benefits. And the more Hanover used the delivery service, the less they needed their list. It was a great scheme for the company, but a bad deal for both the seniority list and the low-paid delivery workers. The victory over this scheme did not happen over night. Two years ago Teamsters For Change published a newsletter about“Hanover’s Dirty Secret” that talked about the "delivery service" sham. The newsletter raised awareness of the issue and put pressure on the union to take some action. Members at Hanover were getting fed up as well. They held a shop steward’s election and elected Jim M., a guy with some guts who was willing to stand up to the company. But standing up wasn’t easy. When the union took the delivery service case to arbitration, they lost. It wasn’t until the members and the union teamed up on the company that Hanover gave in and added the guys to the list. Now the delivery service is no more and the Hanover list is working again. Congrats—this win shows what can happen when members get involved, get organized, and the union gets behind them. |
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 March 2008 )
|
|
|
