02/22/12

The Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports 
is
 an unprecedented alliance that is united against pollution and poverty 
at our nation's ports. You're receiving this message because you asked 
to receive updates from us.
Learn more about the coalition: visit our Web site | like us on Facebook
Imagine
 being subjected to daily doses of scare tactics and veiled threats 
about job security and loyalty to your boss. Or being forced against 
your will into a weekly mandatory meeting where you are divided into 
random groups and forced to watch anti-union videos. And this happens 
despite the fact that you’ve signed your name to several petitions 
demanding union representation.
Tell the Bosses at Toll to Stop the Union-Busting and Agree to a Fair Election!
“We
 couldn’t be more certain about our decision to form a union,” said 
Julio Ortega a truck driver at Toll Group. “All we want is to exercise 
our right to vote. Instead we are forced to waste our time in anti-union
 captive audience meetings. That’s time that I could be on the road 
doing my job, or – even better – at home with my family.”
Nearly
 a month has passed since truck drivers at Toll demanded a fast and fair
 election, but under the direction of their union-busting boss the company has used every tactic in the book to detour truck drivers and delay the vote.
Just
 the other week Toll used a hearing at the National Labor Relations 
Board to delay a union vote and to try to stuff the bargaining unit with
 non-driver staff in an attempt to dilute the current yes votes.
Tell the Bosses at Toll to Stop the Union-Busting and Agree to a Fair Election!

BREAKING: America’s Truck Drivers Shut Down Port of Seattle to Expose Dangers on the Job



The CleanAndSafePorts.org blog
is receiving unusually high traffic this week due to a stunning safety
work stoppage that Seattle truck drivers staged to put an end to the
death traps and dirty tricks in the port industry. News agencies appear
reluctant thus far to report on the growing protest -- port officials
are denying it -- so we’re bringing you the blog that has several
supporters buzzing about online.
We hope it inspires you to take a simple, from-the-heart action today as well.Will
you send an instant message of solidarity to one of the hundreds of
frontline workers who courageously walked off the job to protest the
dangerous, deplorable and diesel-soaked working conditions? We
will make sure this united group of men and women see your individual
name and collective outpouring of support. It will help keep their
spirits high as they stand for safety and fairness on the job.
Send your instant solidarity message now and let these workers know you have their backs!
Reposted from www.cleanandsafeports.org
Send your instant solidarity message now and let these workers know you have their backs!




House surface transportation bill: Bad for BLET, bad for all rail workers

http://www.ble.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5231
IT’S NOT USUALLY LIKE THIS: A
 five-year, $260 billion public works and surface transportation policy 
package will be on the House floor in two weeks, having survived an exceptionally heated and extraordinarily long (almost
 18 hours) debate in committee. The vote as 29-24 along party lines at 
about 2:45 this morning. Democrats called the measure the worst highway 
bill ever and proposed almost 90 changes, almost all of which were 
rebuffed. The most important amendment that was adopted (by a vote of 
33-32) dropped a provision that would have allowed states to increase 
their interstate truck weight and size limits and instead conduct a 
three-year study on the effects of heavier and longer rigs. The vote was
 a big win for safety groups and a big setback for the trucking 
companies.

For
 those who called or emailed their House representatives on this 
trucking issue...thanks so much!  Your activism is evident in this 
outcome.
CLEVELAND, February 2 - All BLET members are urged to call their member of 
the U.S. House of Representatives today and ask them to oppose H.R. 7, the 
"American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act." This legislation, in spite 
of its title, will kill jobs, decrease safety and erode labor protections 
for all workers.

The legislation will be voted on in the Transportation & Infrastructure 
Committee today and its passage is a priority for the House Republican 
majority.

"While the BLET has supported a long-term surface transportation funding 
bill, this bill simply has too many profoundly negative elements to be 
even worthy of consideration," BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce 
said. "The provisions in this legislation will cause nearly 15% of Amtrak 
employees to lose their jobs; it will push back the implementation of 
Positive Train Control; and will cause job losses and reduce highway 
safety by allowing even bigger trucks on our nation's highways. I am 
urging all members of the BLET to call their members of Congress to voice 
opposition to the legislation focusing first on members of the 
Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, but extending to all members 
because this bill will - in some form - be passed out of the Committee 
even if all our friends on both sides of the Committee aisle vote against 
it."

Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, along with many other labor 
organizations, announced strong opposition to the bill. Specifically, 
President Hoffa spoke out against the bill's provisions that would allow 
heavier trucks on the nation's highways.

"Many Teamsters drive for a living and they know up close the dangers 
involved if the size and weight of commercial trucks on our highways is 
increased," he said. "Heavier and longer trucks mean greater stopping 
distances and shorter reaction times. This legislation is treacherous to 
the driving public."

The bill also calls for the privatization of several aspects of Amtrak's 
operations - including food and beverage service and state-supported 
services receiving federal subsidies. By putting both these aspects of 
Amtrak services, in the hands of private contractors, the bill would 
assure major job losses at the passenger railroad. The contracting out of 
the food and beverage service would cause over 2,000 jobs to be lost, and 
while Amtrak has the right in the legislation to bid for the services, the 
process has been rigged against them as private operators could 
significantly reduce labor costs by offering minimum wage and no benefits. 
Thousands more employees work on state supported lines.

Additionally, Amtrak would also see significant cuts to its operating 
funding in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. In 2012, its funding would be 
decreased from $616 million to $466 million, and in 2013, it would be 
reduced from $631 million to $463 million - or by nearly one-third. There 
are other provisions in the legislation which significantly hurt Amtrak 
and its employees by making it more difficult for the railroad to run its 
operations.

The legislation also strikes at a key provision of the Rail Safety 
Improvement Act of 2008 by delaying the implementation of Positive Train 
Control (PTC) systems by five years, pushing back the date of 
implementation to December 31, 2020 for commuter systems and on or after 
December 31, 2020 for freight railroad. It also gives the freight 
railroads the ability to avoid implementing PTC all together, on lines 
carrying poisonous by inhalation or toxic by inhalation materials, by 
allowing for undefined "alternative" strategies instead of positive train 
control. The legislation offers no criteria at all for how this 
safeguarding would occur.

Regulations like PTC probably would not even be considered based on the 
bill, as the legislation will also make it more difficult for important 
safety issues to be addressed in the regulatory process. All regulations 
issued by the Department of Transportation - including the Federal 
Railroad Administration - will be subject to much stricter scrutiny than 
what is currently in effect. New regulations will have to be based on an 
undefined standard of evidence. This would tie the hands of the FRA making 
it difficult, if not impossible to create regulations that would be good 
policy.

The rail provisions are not the only portion of the over 800 page bill 
that raises alarm. The hazardous materials portion of the bill also 
eliminates and changes programs that the BLET and Teamsters support. 
Significantly, funding for the "Train the Trainer" hazmat program for 
first responders, which the BLET has long been involved with, has been 
eliminated by the legislation.

"This legislation is, through and through, a gift to corporate special 
interests," said John Tolman, BLET Vice President and National Legislative 
Representative. "It is a part of a comprehensive strategy by some in the 
majority to further enrich their corporate friends at the expense of the 
safety and livelihoods of all Americans. We need to ensure that the voices 
of the workers impacted by this legislation are heard by Congress - call 
your Representatives today."

A list of members of the U.S. House of Representatives with their phone 
numbers is available at:
<a href="http://www.house.gov/representatives" 
target="_blank">www.house.gov/representatives</a>