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You can take action by
supporting and advocating for these legislative priorities
that help workers and their families. Spread the word by
posting messages to blogs, writing letters to your local
newspapers and legislators, and keeping your family,
friends, and neighbors informed about these important
issues.
The Government Affairs
Department closely follows legislative and regulatory
issues that impact Teamster members and their families.
Below is a list of top issues that will maintain and grow
good jobs at home, protect workers at their jobsite and
help provide our members with good wages and benefits. As
Congress changes its focus and we identify other
priorities affecting our members, our agenda will be
modified accordingly.
Employee Free Choice Act
The Teamsters will continue to fight for passage of this
important bill. A bipartisan coalition reintroduced the
Employee Free Choice Act in Congress in April 2005 (S.
842 and
H.R. 1696). The act would strengthen protections for
workers to choose to form a union. It would require
employers to recognize the workers’ union after a majority
sign cards authorizing representation. It also would
provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract
disputes, and would authorize stronger penalties for
violation of the law.
Minimum Wage
The minimum wage has not been increased in 10 years, and
its real value has plummeted to a 50-year low. Teamster
members generally make more than the minimum wage, but all
workers should have an opportunity to earn a living wage
from their hard work. The Teamsters will support “clean”
bills that would raise the minimum hourly pay to $7.25 per
hour over two years. Such a change would affect nearly 5.6
million workers currently earning the minimum, and could
raise the pay of another 9.2 million who earn just above
the minimum. Workers in 26 states already have a higher
minimum wage than the federal $5.15 an hour.
Health Care
Now is the time to make universal health care a reality.
Despite a 7.7 percent rise in costs over the last year,
benefits are being reduced. Close to 16 percent of all
Americans do not have any health insurance. Eighty percent
of the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans are from
working families. Quality, affordable health care for all
Americans must be a priority for this Congress.
Retirement Security
We must ensure that all Americans are provided with
retirement security and work to reverse the decline in
defined benefit pension plans. More than 40 percent of
working families are in danger of not having enough
retirement funds.
Mexican Truck Pilot Program
The Teamsters will continue to fight to keep our borders
closed to unsafe Mexican trucks. Transportation Department
officials have indicated they intend to implement a pilot
program to initially allow 100 Mexican carriers that they
deem as meeting U.S. safety requirements access to the
United States beyond the currently permitted commercial
zones. Mexican trucks and drivers have not met all safety
requirements, especially hours of service, drug and
alcohol, and hazmat background checks.
NAFTA Superhighway
The Teamsters Union is educating members of Congress about
the Bush administration’s plans to construct a NAFTA
superhighway. This highway is intended to ease the
movement of imported goods from Mexican ports into the
United States to a major distribution point in Kansas
City. It would allow global conglomerates to exploit cheap
labor and nonexistent work rules, and to avoid potential
security enhancements at U.S. ports. If the Bush
administration succeeds, American drivers and their
families will be forced to share the roads with unsafe,
uninsured trucks, and millions more good paying American
jobs will be lost. One weapon of mass destruction in an
unchecked container will be too many.
A
New Fast Track Model
Fast-track presidential trading authority sunsets on June
30, 2007. The current model has not worked and does not
have sufficient support in the new Democrat-controlled
Congress. The Teamsters will work to change the model,
including how trade agreements are negotiated, what
criteria are met to ensure benefits for American workers
and businesses, and require Congress to vote before trade
pacts can be signed and finalized with other countries.
Peru
and Colombia Free Trade Agreements
These free trade agreements are almost identical in every
way to previous agreements that follow the flawed NAFTA/CAFTA
model. There are no labor or environmental protections,
and both agreements would permit foreign governments to
take control of vital infrastructure assets. The Teamsters
will fight these agreements and push for worker
protections, to stop the flow of jobs overseas and to stop
undermining U.S. domestic regulations.
Immigration
The Teamsters will continue to work for comprehensive
immigration reform that includes smart border security
measures and earned legalization for undocumented workers
who have contributed to our communities. The Teamsters
will oppose legislation containing a guest worker program.
Food
Safety
The Teamsters Union is pushing Congress to examine the
causes of the recent E. coli contamination of our nation’s
food supply. The Teamsters represent the largest number of
workers in fruit and vegetable processing in the nation,
and is providing information on sanitation practices,
enforcement and the kinds of protections workers need to
report violations without fear of reprisal.
Overtime Pay for Drivers
The Teamsters have blocked several attempts by FedEx and
UPS to reverse a change in SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy
for Users) that allows drivers of vehicles 10,000 pounds
or less to be paid overtime. This change in last year’s
highway bill removed this class of vehicle from the
authority of the Transportation Department secretary, and
consequently removed drivers of these vehicles from the
Motor Carrier Exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
It is estimated that close to 1 million workers are now
eligible for overtime pay. This issue is sure to come up
again in the new Congress, and the Teamsters will continue
to fight a reversal of this law.
Rail
Safety and Security
Any rail security bill must provide for secure
infrastructure and equipment, address hazardous material
storage, transport, monitoring and secure rail yards, and
enact procedures for reporting security breaches and
suspicious activities. The Teamsters also are fighting for
the following issues to be included: remote control,
whistle blower protections, infrastructure improvements,
rules covering switches on non-signaled track, increasing
the number of railroad police, access to passenger and
freight yards, nuclear waste shipments, public access to
equipment and train movements, and train car integrity.
Increased funding also will be necessary to ensure safety.
Amtrak
The nation’s passenger railroad continues to be starved
for cash and has received only enough funding to fail for
more than a decade, forcing the carrier to defer capital
maintenance to an unacceptable extent. The White House has
stocked the Amtrak Board with ideologues whose goal is the
dismantling and privatization of the system. Because of
chronic underfunding, contract negotiations have been at a
standstill and the vast majority of Amtrak workers have
not had a general wage increase since 1999. The Teamsters
Rail Conference and all of rail labor are committed to
securing full funding for Amtrak to address all deferred
issues and to provide a base for growth in the 21st
century.
Background Check Uniformity/Redundancy
The Teamsters Union has been in the forefront of
protecting workers’ rights and privacy, and limiting
offenses that disqualify them since Congress enacted
additional background checks after 9/11. Improvements were
made in limiting disqualifying offenses for drivers who
haul hazmat, giving them rights for appeal and limiting
look-back periods. While the Transportation Security
Administration followed the hazmat model to some degree
for port workers, additional improvements were made in
limiting disqualifying offenses. That model is the basis
for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).
Final regulations implementing TWIC have now been
released, and the Teamsters will continue to push the Bush
administration and Congress to make worker background
checks uniform and less intrusive across the
transportation modes. The Teamsters will also work to
ensure that workers do not have to bear the burden or
expense of undergoing multiple background checks to
satisfy security requirements in various sectors of the
industry.
Commercial Driver Licenses/Personal Vehicle Violation
Relief
Teamsters who incur certain serious traffic offenses while
driving personal vehicles face suspension or revocation of
their commercial driver license (CDL) driving privileges.
This provision was part of the Motor Carrier Safety
Improvement Act that passed the Congress and was signed
into law in 1999. The Teamsters Union fought these changes
in Congress and in the regulatory arena, filing a Petition
for Reconsideration with the Transportation Department.
Some improvements were made as a result of this action,
but some Teamsters are facing suspensions/revocations of
their CDLs and possible termination from employment
because of these laws. Hardship and temporary “work only”
licenses have been eliminated. The Teamsters Union is
urging Congress to review this law and will continue to
work to ease these onerous restrictions.
Federal Prison Industry Reform
Federal prison industries continue to unfairly compete
with the private sector by using cheap prison labor and
limiting competition for federal contracts. The Teamsters
will continue to support and work for passage of
legislation that removes these barriers and allows the
private sector to compete on a level playing field.
Kentucky River Decision
The National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that
some workers with minor authority over other workers were
supervisors and should not be able to belong to a union.
This new definition of supervisor could affect more than 8
million workers, and the Teamsters Union, along with all
of organized labor, is committed to reversing this
decision.
Source:
Teamsters International Brotherhood of Teamsters
2007 Legislative Priorities:
http://www.teamster.org/action/political/07agenda.htm
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