The International Brotherhood of Teamsters scored a key victory in the union’s national fight to organise workers at Amazon after a federal judge ruled the Teamsters are allowed to picket the massive Amazon Air Hub without interference at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG).
The air cargo hub, known as KCVG, shares the same property with DHL, home to thousands of ramp and tug and sort workers actively organising and winning contracts with the Teamsters.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky said on Wednesday that the Kenton County Airport Board, which controls KCVG, could not restrict workers’ right to free speech.
The same board had earlier blocked demonstrations by the Teamsters against Amazon, prompting the union’s request for an injunction.
Teamsters General President Sean M O’Brien said: ‘This is a significant victory for Amazon workers in Northern Kentucky and around the country who are sick of being silenced by this trillion-dollar corporation.
‘Amazon workers everywhere are coming together to become Teamsters and win the rights and protections they deserve.
‘You can be sure the Teamsters will carry this precedent to other communities around the country, where Amazon is exploiting loopholes and breaking laws to take advantage of workers and inflate its bottom line.’
Teamsters Local 89 in Louisville has been meeting with Amazon workers and organising pickets and other rallies around KCVG this summer.
A permit filed by the local was denied in July after the airport board told the Teamsters the roadside site was not approved for demonstrations. In this week’s ruling, the District Court ordered the board to allow the union to picket on sidewalks and other public easements around KCVG.
More than 100 Amazon drivers in Skokie, Illinois, went on strike last month over the company’s unfair labour practices, and have been organising with other Amazon workers to extend their picket lines to warehouse and driver facilities in New York and California.
In June, 5,500 members of the Amazon Labour Union voted to affiliate with the Teamsters by a near unanimous 98.3 per cent.
The labour affiliation brings powerful resources to Amazon warehouse workers as they organise and demand strong first contracts.
ALU-IBT Local 1, newly chartered by the Teamsters, will represent workers at JFK8 in Staten Island, NY.
Meanwhile, workers at Republic Services have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 439.
The group consists of over 40 machine operators, labourers, and maintenance workers at the company’s Stockton, California, landfill facility.
Jose Zepeda, a spotter and new member of Local 439: ‘I’ve been working at Republic for years, and we organised with the Teamsters because we hit a boiling point over our pay, benefits, and working conditions.
‘I’m proud that my co-workers and I stepped up to the plate and fought for what we deserve.’
Workers at the Stockton landfill organised with the Teamsters to achieve the same gains that drivers at Republic, already represented by Local 439, have secured.
By voting to become Teamsters, the group will be able to negotiate for the wages, benefits, and working conditions enjoyed by Teamsters across the solid waste industry.
Sal Lomeli, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 439 said: ‘These workers deserve the same rights, pay, and benefits enjoyed by drivers already covered under a Teamsters contract.
‘I look forward to negotiating a strong contract that rewards them for their service to our community.’
During the organising campaign, Republic Services launched an intense union-busting campaign at the Stockton facility in a failed attempt to discourage workers from organising.
Chief executives at the United States biggest companies made $17.7 million on average in 2023, more than 268 times their median worker’s income, according to a new report released today by the AFL-CIO.
The new Executive Paywatch research, released annually by the AFL-CIO, presents a snapshot of the persistent inequality in the American economy, where the wealthiest corporate executives continue to prioritise their own salaries over the workers whose labour makes the companies’ profits possible.
AFL-CIO researchers reviewed compensation data for executives at 3,000 companies.
They found that it would take more than five career lifetime for workers to earn what these bosses receive in just one year – even as these corporations continue to raise prices on working people.
With Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda promising further tax cuts for the rich and big corporations, that extreme inequity will only worsens if Donald Trump is elected.
Fred Redmond, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO said: ‘Today, the very CEOs who benefited most from Trump’s tax gift to the wealthy are making 268 times what their workers are making.
‘And while corporate profits and stock prices surge, working people’s wages aren’t keeping up,’ said Redmond.
The 2024 AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch Report findings include that:
- Corporations raised prices on consumers even though their commodity costs went down, boosting corporate profits and CEO pay.
- Corporations across industries raised prices while giving their CEOs a raise, like ExxonMobil, Johnson&Johnson and Starbucks.
- While the average CEO received 268 times their median employee’s total compensation, several corporate CEOs made thousands of times more than what their employees made, including Abercrombie &Fitch (CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 6,076-to-1), Mattel (3,620-to-1), and AMC Entertainment Holdings (2,201-to-1).
- The UAW stands in solidarity with striking auto workers at the General Motors assembly plant in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
Workers at the facility are protesting against the company’s recent unjust layoffs and retaliatory firings, decisions that were made in the name of corporate greed.
Workers at the facility, who are represented by the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos, have conducted two strikes since last Friday.
They are demanding the reinstatement of 50 workers laid off by GM last week. They are also demanding job security and the opening of the Voluntary Dismissal Programme if layoffs are inevitable.
What’s been made evidently clear by these arbitrary decisions is that GM is attempting to union-bust and cut labour costs at a time when the company is raking in billions of dollars.
GM amassed over $10 billion in profits in 2023 alone. The company looks poised to have an even stronger year in 2024.
UAW Vice President Mike Booth said: ‘This type of behaviour by General Motors is unnecessary and unconscionable.’
Booth said: ‘There is absolutely no reason why this corporation should be cutting jobs that will so negatively affect the lives of its workers and the local community at a time of record profits.
‘The UAW is committed to supporting these brave workers and the Metalworkers Union in any way we can.’
The GM São José dos Campos plant produces the Trailblazer and S10 models, as well as engines and transmissions. The automaker employs around 3,150 workers in the city.
- The 2024 AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch Report findings include that:
- Corporations raised prices on consumers even though their commodity costs went down, boosting corporate profits and CEO pay.
- Corporations across industries raised prices while giving their CEOs a raise, like ExxonMobil, Johnson&Johnson and Starbucks.
• While the average CEO of an received 268 times their median employee’s total compensation, several corporate CEOs made thousands of times more than what their employees made, including Abercrombie& Fitch (CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 6,076-to-1), Mattel (3,620-to-1), and AMC Entertainment Holdings (2,201-to-1).
