Teamster Local 773 recently awarded seven scholarships to the children of our members. The scholarships were provided by the proceeds of the Teamster Local 773 Scholarship and Charity Golf Tournament. Our 2010 Scholarship winners are:
Sep 162010
Posted: September 13, 2010 by Bob Samuels
President, University Council – AFT
Politicians and media pundits have joined the conservative effort to demonize unions, pensions, and public employees. In fact, if you landed on the planet today, you would think that the global financial meltdown was caused by greedy unionized public employees. Instead of blaming the super-wealthy for their huge gambling losses, there is a growing consensus claiming that the working poor and the downsized middle class are the cause of all of our problems.
In the case of pensions for public employees, the popular sentiment is that these benefits will starve local and state governments, and so they should be eliminated or at least severely reduced. Leading the media frenzy against pensions is the misunderstanding of the cause and effects of unfunded pension liabilities. What no one seems to be saying is that due to the unethical and possibly illegal activities of Wall Street, most pension funds lost close to a third of their value in 2007 and 2008. While the banks and financial institutions were bailed out, no relief came to these pension funds, and new accounting rules forced public pensions to declare all of their present and future pension liabilities. However, we should remember that these liabilities do not have to be paid for today; in, fact, the pension liabilities cover the present and future retirement costs of all people in the system.
Since reporters and the general public do not understand how pensions work, they are easily scared by what looks to be giant deficits. Furthermore, employers are using these huge numbers to get employees to accept reduced benefits, and the side effect of this scare tactic is that the public has turned on pensions, public employees, and unions. Unintentionally, the media, public employers, and the general public are playing into the hands of the wealthiest people in America who do not want to pay middle-class workers a decent wage with acceptable benefits.
Jul 232010
On Thursday, June 24th, the employees of the Barrett Township Public Works voted 8-0 in favor of representation by Teamster Local 773. The newly organized unit consists of nine (9) employees, four (4) full-time and four (4) part-time Road Crew employees and one (1) part-time Secretary.
Also, the Emmaus Borough secretaries joined their fellow members of the Emmaus Borough Public Works by voting for union representation. On Wednesday, July 14th, the nine (9) full-time secretaries of Emmaus Borough voted unanimously to be represented by Teamster Local 773.
