Teamsters Trade Gains of 1997 UPS Strike for Deal to Organize Members at Freight Division — Mark Brenner In mid-November Teamsters (IBT) at United Parcel Service approved a controversial five-year agreement, more than eight months before the expiration of their current contract. The new contract will pull 44,000 Teamsters out of the union’s multi-employer Central States pension plan, and end conversion of part-time into full-time jobs at UPS. It also widens the gap between full-time and part-time standards, freezing part-timers’ starting pay and forcing new part-timers to work for a year before they are eligible for health care coverage. These givebacks were accepted in spite of the company’s healthy bottom line, UPS reported more than $4 billion in pre-tax net income last year... READ THE REST AT THE LABOR NOTES WEBSITE... http://labornotes.org/node/1451 Check out the opposition to this concessionary contract here... http://makeupsdeliver.org/news.php

As discussed on the Labor Express radio program, here are some important works of labor history and analysis released in the past few months. Kim Moody has long been an insightful analyst of developments in the labor movement as a former union organizer and one of the founders of Labor Notes. His new work - U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival from Below – takes a look at the reasons for organized labor’s precipitous decline in membership and power over the past few decades, and provides solid advice on what is necessary to turn the situation around. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK… http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844671542/ref=s9_asin_image_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1PRY0CX1MFXW8KT8N51D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=320448701&pf_rd_i=507846 http://www.versobooks.com/books/klm/m-titles/moody_k_labor_transition.shtml Kim Moody also has another important book out on the economy and labor in New York

Some of the most innovative and essential work being accomplished by both the labor movement and the movement for immigrant rights is, once again, happening right here in Chicago. The Chicago Committee Against No-Match Letters and the Rapid Response Network, lead by the UE (United Electrical Workers Union), Chicago Workers Collaborative, UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) Local 881, Interfaith Worker Justice and other Chicago area workers centers, has organized a fight back against Social Security “no-match” letters and ICE workplace raids in an effort to make Chicago a no-match and ICE raid free zone. The goal is to make the economic, political and social costs of terrorzing immigrant workers through no-match letters and workplace raids so high for employers and their friends at DHS (Department of Homeland Security) that they will be forced to back off. This is an extremely important effort, as no-match letters and ICE raids are a key strategy of the anti-immigrant forces who a

Yesterday (12-15-07) the newly formed Chicago Trade With Justice Working Group, held their first public action - a visit to the Chicago campaign HQ for Sen. Barack Obama. On the campaign trail, Obama has criticized those who supported NAFTA and CAFTA and promised to take a different direction in regards to trade policy if elected President. Yet he expressed publicly that he supported the recently passes U.S./Peru Free Trade Agreement and did not show up to vote against it when it was voted on by the Senate on Dec. 4th. The Working Group delivered a letter to Obama stating our disappointment with his decision not to take a stand against this dangerous extension of NAFTA to yet another country, and calling on him to oppose an upcoming trade deal with Colombia. Video of our visit to Obama campaign HQ can be viewed at the following links, thanks to the work of Larry Duncan from Labor Beat T.V… http://blip.tv/file/544160/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBw3IVwd58w You can view a copy of the

Where are our Senate and Congressional leaders when it is time to oppose unfair trade? Press conference to be held outside Obama for America HQ. Labor activists, fair trade advocates, Latin American solidarity activists, environmentalists, immigrant rights organizers, people of faith, and others are concerned with the recent lack of interest of our U.S. Congressional and Senate leaders when it comes to stopping un-fair trade deals - as evidenced by the recent House and Senate votes on the US-Peru “Free Trade” Agreement. We find it very troubling that one of our Illinois Senators, Barack Obama, a current candidate for President of the United States, skipped the vote on the Peru trade pact, missing an important opportunity to stand up for working people and the environment both here and in Peru. We are even more concerned that Obama, along with Sen Hillary Clinton, made public statements supporting the Peru Trade deal and that our other Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin voted in favor o