Global daily news 03-15.08.2011
***Teamsters Local 495; Teamsters Protest Union-Hostile Law Firm Jackson Lewis
13 August 2011

Journal of Transportation

 

2011 AUG 13 - (VerticalNews.com) -- Today, hundreds of BMW employees and Teamster members protested outside the offices of law firm Jackson Lewis in Los Angeles, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., Chicago, Ill. and New York City. Jackson Lewis is the top union-hostile law firm in the United States, and auto-giant BMW is using Jackson Lewis to help it outsource good, middle-class jobs at its parts distribution center in Ontario, Calif.

The workers distributed leaflets that read, "Jackson Lewis helps BMW destroy American jobs" and a link to the website www.BMWUltimateMisery.com [http://www.BMWUltimateMisery.com]. They also held signs in English and German that read "Jackson Lewis: Betraying America for BMW $$" and "BMW zerstort den amerikanischen Traum" (BMW destroys the American dream).

BMW has announced it plans to fire nearly 100 Ontario employees at the end of August and immediately re-open the facility the very same day with an outsourced, poverty-wage, inexperienced work force. The Teamsters are asking BMW to postpone these moves for three months and give them an opportunity to work with BMW to develop a win-win alternative to this devastating decision. Teamsters Local 495 represents 68 workers at the Ontario parts distribution facility.

"BMW got bailed out with nearly $4 billion in low-interest American taxpayer loans, and in exchange, they've hired union-hostile lawyers to mock America's plant closing laws," said Teamsters Local 495 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Lennox. "BMW is planning to layoff its longtime, dedicated workforce, and their Jackson Lewis lawyers keep sending us letters saying they refuse to discuss alternatives with us."

Randy Cammack, President of Teamsters Joint Council 42, said, "Together, BMW factory, distribution and port workers in America and all over the world are uniting to stop BMW and Jackson Lewis' plans to rob workers of union representation by outsourcing good jobs to low-wage and low-quality contractors."

"We are shocked that BMW is treating their American workers in a way they would never dare to treat their German employees. We will fight with you to stop BMW's war on workers," said Paddy Crumlin, President of the International Transport Workers' Federation.

Each weekend, Teamster members and their families have been protesting BMW's greed outside BMW dealerships across the U.S. The protesters are distributing leaflets and holding banners that read "BMW: The Ultimate Misery" to inform BMW customers about the company's treatment of its American workers and communities.

"Many of these employees have worked at BMW for 10, 20, 30 years," Lennox said. "BMW and its lawyers at Jackson Lewis are condemning 68 American families to poverty and misery."

The German automobile giant, Bavarian Motor Works AG is America's most popular automaker for luxury-class autos. BMW had the highest earnings ever in its 95-year history last quarter, with global sales of almost $81 billion in 2010, or about $848,000 per employee, ranking it number 82 on Fortune's Global 500 Companies. BMW also received over $3.6 billion in secret low-interest loans during the 2008-2009 U.S. taxpayer bailout.

This article was prepared by Journal of Transportation editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Journal of Transportation via VerticalNews.com.

 

 

 

FROM TRADEWINDS NEWSPAPER:

 

 

***Seafarers breath easier after wages deal

 

 

A new collective-bargaining wage agreement reached in Miami appears to mark the end of a two-year wage freeze that followed the 2008 recession. But a closer look reveals it is more like the start of a slow thaw, as gains for seafarers remain limited.

International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) affiliate Nautilus International was quick to point to the headline figures of a 7.5% increase over three years agreed at the International Bargaining Forum (IBF) meeting.

Seen from the employers’ perspective, however, the deal represents a significantly lower increase.

Added to the three years over which the pay increase is spread is the two years when wages were effectively frozen, a period which should have been covered by a fresh agreement starting in 2008.

International Maritime Employers Committee (Imec) secretary-general Giles Heimann said: “The agreement now reached provides for an increase of 2% in 2012, 2.5% in 2013 and 3% in 2014. However, since the last adjustment was effective in January 2008, this represents an annual increase of 1.24% between 2009 and 2014. A somewhat different perspective than aired by certain ITF affiliates.”

The agreement is spread over three years rather than the traditional two, again seemingly reflecting the stronger bargaining position of employers.

The percentage increases also include changes to ITF fund agreements, while ITF affiliates will negotiate how the increases apply to officers and ratings at a local level.

Welfare-fund rebates to IBF members will also be increased by up to an additional 5% if the number of vessels using the agreements increases by an agreed level between 2012 and 2014.

But both sides appear happy to have come to an agreement at a time when the recession threatened to end shipping’s largest collective-bargaining negotiations.

The ITF’s Dave Hindell said: “The agreement bears testament to the strength of the IBF process and its ability to reach conclusions in difficult times on difficult issues.”

Imec’s Heimann adds that the talks were about much more than simply the wage issue.

“A great deal has been achieved that supports the IBF process into the future, as well as agreeing a pay settlement,” he said.

 

 
 
 
 
FROM THE SINGAPORE BUSINESS TIMES:
 
 
 

Air France pilots halt cooperation in 2009 crash probe

(PARIS) Air France's largest pilots union suspended cooperation on Wednesday with investigators seeking to identify the causes of a fatal 2009 crash of a Rio de Janeiro-to-Paris flight, in protest of what it said was a decision by investigators to downplay the role of the plane's stall warning system in an interim report last week.

The move followed French media reports suggesting that text and recommendations related to the stall alarm system of the Airbus A330-200 jet were part of the investigators' working draft and had circulated within the Bureau of Investigations and Analyses, or BEA, as recently as last week. However, those references did not appear in the 117-page report made public last Friday.

The union, SNPL Air France Alpa, said the media reports had 'seriously damaged' its confidence in the investigation. In a statement, the union, which represents 71 per cent of Air France's pilots, said it would withdraw its support from the investigation until the BEA explained its reasons for not publishing any findings related to the stall alarm.

Martine Del Bono, a BEA spokeswoman, confirmed that Alain Bouillard, the bureau's chief investigator, had proposed a stall warning recommendation in a confidential draft of the report last month. The proposed recommendation was dropped early last week, she said, on the advice of the bureau's technical experts, who felt there was not yet sufficient evidence to justify it.

'It was felt that this needed further in-depth study,' Ms Del Bono said, adding that a discussion of the stall alarm's role would appear in the investigators' final report, expected early next year. She said that she 'deeply regretted' the union's decision and stressed that dialogue with all parties involved was critical to the investigation.

The report released on Friday found that the two co-pilots of Air France Flight 447 had not been trained to fly the aircraft in manual mode at high altitude or promptly recognise and respond to a speed-sensor malfunction at high altitude - skills that experts say could have helped avert disaster, although they were not part of standard industry training at the time. The report appeared overall to support suggestions by outside experts that fundamental errors by the pilots caused the plane to stall and plummet 38,000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people aboard.

At a news conference as the report was released, investigators conceded that the pilots may have been confused by intermittent stall warnings that began shortly after a failure of the plane's airspeed sensors disabled the autopilot and autothrust.

Jean-Paul Troadec, the BEA director, said a working group of behavioural psychologists and cockpit design experts had been tasked with studying the effect the alarms may have had on the crew's responses.

Air France itself has also blamed the 'misleading' pattern of stall warnings for contributing to the crew's difficulties. The airline sent a letter to the European Aviation Safety Agency this week asking it to study and, if necessary, make safety recommendations about the design of stall alarm systems in commercial aircraft\. \-- NYT