TEAMSTERS General Secretary Treasurer, Ken Hall, has testified at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on self-driving technology, urging for the exemption of commercial vehicles from pending legislation and the need for further analysis of the safety, jobs and cybersecurity impact of developing technologies.
‘It is incumbent upon the members of this committee to help ensure that workers are not left behind in this process. It is essential that American workers are not treated as guinea pigs for unproven technologies that could put their lives at risk,’ Hall said.
Hall noted the Teamsters Union is concerned about the impact of advanced automated technologies on highway safety. ”The safety and reliability of these vehicles must be ensured before passing legislation to put them on the road. We’re not there yet,’ Hall said.
Hall expressed grave concern over combining personal vehicles with commercial vehicles — such as 80,000 pound, 18-wheeler trucks — in the same legislation.‘The issues facing autonomous commercial trucks are fundamentally different, and potentially more calamitous than those facing passenger cars, and warrant their own careful consideration,’ Hall said.
The US House of Representatives recently passed, and the Teamsters Union supported, an exemption for commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds in its version of automated vehicle legislation. Hall told the committee that the Teamsters Union: ‘Looks forward to working together to ensure that the priorities and concerns of working families remain at the centre of this debate.’
Hall mentioned that many of the corporations that employ Teamsters are responsible, but also noted the risk of ‘bad actors’ in an environment without robust, thoughtful regulations for autonomous technology. The US Department of Transportation has released revised automated vehicle guidelines that allow industry to submit safety assessments on a voluntary basis.
The National Transportation Safety Board has also concluded that a Tesla automation system’s operational limitations played a major role in a high-profile, fatal crash. Hall was joined on the panel providing testimony with representatives from safety, law enforcement and auto industry groups.
• Following the deportation of a long-serving Teamster member last week, Teamsters Joint Council 16 today passed a resolution to become a ‘sanctuary union’. As a sanctuary union, the Teamsters will not assist federal immigration agents in deporting its members and will proactively provide training, legal assistance, and organise support for immigrant Teamsters.
Joint Council 16 and its 27 affiliate local unions represent 120,000 workers in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and Puerto Rico. Our members can be confident that we stand behind them 100 per cent, regardless of where they were born or what kinds of papers they have,’ said George Miranda, President of Teamsters Joint Council 16.
‘Being a sanctuary union means we will do all that is in our power to keep our immigrant members safe and keep their families together. The Teamsters have fought against racism since our first days as a union, and this is the next step.’
The action follows last week’s deportation of Eber Garcia Vasquez, a 26-year member of Teamsters Local 813. The union had circulated petitions, organised members across the country to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for his release, and held a rally outside of ICE’s New York City office. Despite widespread outcry, Garcia Vasquez was deported on September 6th, 2017.
Under the resolution, the union pledges to not cooperate with ICE and to not collect information that could be used in immigration proceedings. The union will hold ‘Know Your Rights’ training and share legal services with immigrant members. It will seek to bargain provisions to protect undocumented workers in its labour contracts with Teamster employers.
The Teamsters Union will also continue and expand its support of organising by New York’s immigrant communities, including opposing the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
‘Standing up for immigrants is part of standing up for workers,’ Miranda continued. ‘Companies will take advantage of undocumented workers to drive down wages and safety standards for everyone. Politicians will promote racial resentment in order to divide workers and weaken the working class. Unions know that workers are strongest when we are united and it’s on us to strengthen that shared compassion and solidarity.’
Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders – backed by 15 Democratic US Senators has introduced Medicare For All to the Senate saying ‘Health care coverage for everyone in the country as a human right.’ Sanders says working families will be better off financially paying for Medicare For All than giving money to for-profit insurance companies that can literally nickel and dime us to death when we get sick.
Senator Sanders said: ‘Under Medicare For All the average American family will be much better off financially than under the current system because you will no longer be writing cheques to private insurance companies.’
Melissa Johnson-Camacho, a National Nurses United Registered, said: ‘To me it’s immoral that anyone profits off another person’s need for health care. And it it is repugnant to me that this profit comes from denying care.
‘I see the suffering and pain this causes every day in the faces of my patients. This system is killing too many of my patients and I say no more! ‘Let’s put an end to this immoral system that’s putting profit before patients’ needs.’
MCS Industries CEO, Richard Master, says a single payer Medicare For All health system that gets rid of the private insurance health system is also good for business. Master said: ‘It is a totally unnecessary middleman whose very existence costs businesses a fortune and adds no value. Other industrialised countries get better health results at half the price. The way we finance health care keeps wages flat, discourages businesses from hiring full-time employees and causes discrimination against employees in their fifties and sixties.’
Senator Elizabeth Warren summed up the Medicare For All position. She said: ‘So that’s our argument. Everyone gets covered. No one goes broke and families, in some of the toughest moments in their lives will not be left alone.’
• The grad employees at Boston College worked really hard. They worked for several years to both form their union by talking to their co-workers but also to make their way through all of the legal steps this took before the National Labour Relations Board.
So there’s a great deal of excitement. And I think they’re celebrating and feeling that we have just moved that movement for grad organising just one step forward,’ said UAW Region 9A Director Julie Kushner talking about the union election win for Boston grad student workers.
Kushner says these young workers are an inspiration for the future of the labour movement.
‘These workers are amazing. They’re so determined to organise and be part of the labour movement.
‘And what I see in them is really the hope of the future. These young workers are so dedicated to not just building the labour movement but really engaging politically to see that we can build a better society. It’s pretty exciting to be part of this movement and I feel like we’re at the verge of a really monumental victory in this field.’
The UAW is active on other campuses as this grad student labour movement continues.
• Poultry producers like Tyson want the USDA to approve a speed-up on chicken processing lines to 175 birds a minute. The United Food and Commercial Workers says it’s a horrible idea for worker and consumer safety. The union, representing thousands of chicken processing workers, say workers are already working at breakneck speed, making thousands of forceful cuts a day with sharp knives.
The UFCW says workers endure extreme conditions in cramped quarters, slippery conditions and deafening noise while being exposed to acidic chemicals sprayed over the poultry or meat moving down the line. Current line processing speed for chicken is 140 birds a minute. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says chicken workers are often denied rest room breaks to keep the lines moving at full speed and many workers end up soiling themselves while processing the poultry.
