New Calif. law will bring equal pay for all

http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2015/12/new-calif-law-will-bring-equal-pay-for.html

Once again taking the lead where the dysfunctional U.S. Congress failed to do so, California’s legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown – with significant lobbying from the Teamsters and other unions – pushed through a strong equal pay law that brings fairness of all workers.

Jerry Brown signed the bill into law in October.

The California Fair Pay Act (CFPA), which takes effect Jan. 1, closes loopholes created since the federal Equal Pay Act passed in 1963, at least in the Golden State, home to one of every eight people in the U.S. The CFPA is among almost two dozen pro-worker laws the Democratic-run pro-labor legislature approved in its 2015 session.

The California law expands federal equal pay rights by mandating that employers pay workers, regardless of sex or gender, equally for “substantially similar” work, not just strictly equal work. Federal courts have been increasingly strict in deciding what is “equal work” the federal law covers. They’ve turned most such pay discrimination cases down.

The California law also strengthens worker protection against employer retaliation and requires firms to keep employment records, including pay records, for three years, not two.

A legal summary says California bans paying workers of the opposite sex less for "substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility." And the employer must take account of "similar working conditions," not just wages at the worksite or company branch involved.

California employers could still discriminate in pay, but only if they can show the wage differences “are due to a seniority system, merit system, a system that measures the quantity or quality of production, or a ‘bona fide factor other than sex, such as education, training, or experience,’" the law adds.

And if they cite those reasons, they must be directly job-related – and show that the factor that produces wage discrimination is “consistent with business necessity." The new law then gives workers a defense against business necessity by showing “an alternative business practice exists that would serve the same purpose without producing the wage disparity.”

The California law also bans employers from retaliating against workers who disclose their own wages, discuss other workers’ wages, ask about others’ wages or help other workers exercise their rights. But if the worker asks about wages, the
employer can refuse to answer.

If the employer is guilty of breaking the law, the worker gets back pay plus interest, an equal amount in damages, and attorney’s fees.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report.

ONE YEAR LATER NMF/MIAMI REMAIN STRONG IN WORKING FOR COLLECTIVE BARGANING CONTRACT

Conway/XPO Forced to Follow Law and Negotiate Contract

https://www.nlrb.gov/case/16-CA-159605

Judge: Con-way Violated Rights of Workers in Los Angeles

https://teamster.org/news/2015/11/judge-con-way-violated-rights-workers-los-angeles

Teamsters

America's Strongest Union

Con-way Freight, Inc. violated the rights of workers who were trying to form their union with the Teamsters and must re-hire two workers it unlawfully fired during the organizing campaign, among other remedies, an administrative law judge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled.

“By instructing employees not to wear union insignia, threatening employees for supporting the Union, filing criminal charges against an employee, suspending employees, and terminating employees because they supported the Union, the Respondent has engaged in unfair labor practices…,” Administrative Judge Eleanor Laws wrote in her decision.

The workers at Con-way’s Los Angeles terminal were trying to join Local 63. The company must cease its illegal activities, reinstate the two fired workers and pay them back wages and benefits, and take other steps.

To read the decision, click here.

We received this message from the Justice for Port Drivers campaign and wanted to share it with you!

As Amazon announced a plan to hire 100,000 temps to handle the holiday rush, the ugly truth about the horrid conditions of those who work in the company’s supply chain are being revealed. Recently, warehouse worker Jeff Lockhart Jr., a married father of three, died working at an Amazon fulfillment center in Chester, Virginia. But it isn’t just in Amazon’s warehouses that workers are suffering. Consider the story of Julio Garcia, who hauls imports for Amazon off the docks at our nation’s largest seaport – the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach.

Day in and day out, Julio Garcia gets in the company’s truck, drives to the port, and transports the electronics, clothes, and toys that Americans buy online every day from Amazon,com . Julio Garcia consistently works 50-60 hour weeks as a professional truck driver, yet his family was denied a home loan by the bank because they deemed his income “unstable.”

How could this be? Julio Garcia drives full-time for one of Amazon’s contractors, a giant company called XPO Logistics that is valued at more than $2.5 Billion. XPO, like thousands of similar American corporations, engages in an employment scheme that leaves his family unable to show a “stable” income despite “stable” work by treating its workers as employees but paying them as “independent contractors.” This scheme not only allows them to avoid payroll taxes, but also lets the company deduct their business expenses from drivers’ paychecks. They charge the drivers to drive the company truck, charge him to register, insure, fuel, and maintain their truck, and they even charge drives to park the company trucks at the company yard! “There are weeks that they charge me so much that I make less than the minimum wage – and some weeks I owe the company for the privilege of working for them,” said Julio Garcia.

This is wage theft and it is illegal, so Julio Garcia is one of more than 700 professional truck drivers in California who have filed a claim with the state Labor Commissioner. This week, he and his coworkers delivered a petition with a list of their demands. It’s fallen on deaf ears, so XPO drivers are again on strike – their 8^thstrike in the last two years.

Sincerely,

Justice for Port Drivers campaign

P.S. Support us by signing this petition demanding changes from employer XPO Logistics.please sign petition

FEDEX FREIGHT GARDENA,CA STRIKES!

  Monday,nov. 9, in the City of Opportunity, our courageous brothers and sisters have taken a step toward a brighter future by  striking for the right to vote for Teamster representation. The decision to strike follows the successful Stockton campaign as well as other triumphant campaigns across the nation.
  The journey to this point has been a long one. Over the years, we have faced the deceptive anti-union tactics of FedEx Freight including harassment, wrongful termination and the blatant spread of misinformation. But despite their best efforts, we have stood strong in our fight to bring the Teamsters to FedEx because we know that a union contract is our only opportunity for a better future. 
  The choice to strike is a difficult one, but nothing worth having has ever been easy. Today and for however long it may take, we stand with our brothers and sisters in Gardena.  

Stay strong and fight on!

-The Change FedEx to Win Team

L

XPO closes purchase of Con-way; layoffs begin within Con-way system

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20151030-xpo-closes-purchase-of-con-way-layoffs-begin-within-con-way-system/

More than 10 percent of workforce is cut at HQ, IT center, source says; rebranding to XPO name takes effect.

By Mark B. Solomon

It wasn't long after XPO Logistics Inc. announced today that it had finalized its $3 billion acquisition of trucking and logistics provider Con-way Inc. that the bloodletting began at Con-way's headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., and elsewhere.

XPO will cut more than 10 percent of Con-way's workforce at Ann Arbor and at its Portland, Ore.-based technology center, according to an individual familiar with the situation. Between 2,500 and 3,000 employees work at both locations, the individual estimated. Included in the cuts will be an entire layer of Con-way upper management, whose elimination will save its new owner about $28 million a year; the managerial segment was not adding much value to the organization, according to the individual.

Also on the chopping block is an 80-person group devoted to developing and implementing "lean" management principles, an ambitious efficiency program that Con-way has championed for years. Shortly after the deal was announced in early September, Bradley S. Jacobs, Greenwich, Conn.-based XPO's chairman and CEO, met in Ann Arbor with leaders of the project and came away dubious that the benefits of the work justified the size of the current headcount, according to the individual.

The individual said that Con-way's drivers are likely not included in the layoffs. It is also unclear whether there will be further rounds of cutbacks

Executives who remain with XPO will be required to sign a two-year noncompete agreement, the individual said. The requirement could result in an exodus of top-level employees, who may wish to stay, but may worry they will find their hands tied should they subsequently find opportunities elsewhere in the industry.

The cuts, which had been expected internally for weeks, include employees in administration, operations, sales, and information technology, according to the individual. XPO declined comment other than a statement from Jacobs in announcing the deal's close that "we're moving quickly to eliminate redundancies and leverage our scale to better serve our more than 50,000 customers." At the time the deal was announced, XPO pledged to improve Con-way's operating profit by up to $420 million over the next two years. Part of that will come from cost cuts.

Con-way's four operating divisions—Con-way Freight; truckload carrier Con-way Truckload; third-party logistics-services provider Menlo Worldwide Logistics; and freight broker and intermodal marketing company Con-way Multimodal—have been rebranded as XPO Logistics. Menlo and Con-way Multimodal will be immediately integrated into existing XPO Logistics units operating in identical segments. Con-way Truckload, which as Contract Freighters Inc. was bought by Con-way in 2007 for $750 million and which today might fetch a little more than half that, will likely be sold for what Jacobs believes is the right price. He has said the unit might have value as a hauler of brokered freight.

Jacobs said earlier this month that XPO had received three unsolicited offers for Con-way Truckload. He wouldn't identify the bidders or the price of each offer.

Con-way Freight generates about $3.3 billion in annual revenue, which is more than half of the parent's $5.8 billion in revenue. It is known for providing excellent customer service, but in recent years has struggled to operate efficiently, or as profitably as many investors would like. Con-way Freight has specialized in the premium segment, where time in transit is compressed and service levels are relatively high. However, about three-quarters of LTL traffic moves in slower, more economical services, an area where the unit had little, if any, involvement.

Jacobs said earlier this month the new LTL unit will focus far more on the economy category, and could leverage the network of the former Pacer International, an intermodal provider with a great deal of equipment that XPO acquired in early 2014.

XPO has engaged recruiting firm Spencer Stuart to find a replacement for Joseph M. Dagnese, the head of Con-way Freight, who had been expected to leave the company at the time the deal closed. The complexity of integrating Con-way, and in particular positioning the LTL unit for future success, means that XPO will take its foot off the acquisition brake for at least a year, Jacobs said recently. Through 17 acquisitions in the past four years as well as internal expansion, XPO has gone from a company that didn't exist in late 2010 to a $15 billion firm today.