It was great to be in Austin for Netroots Nation. I had the chance to talk to a lot of progressive people blogging on a daily basis all over the Internet. I had the awesome opportunity to share a lot about UnionReview.com and the Teamsters; our campaigns and our victories. I came away thinking we have a lot of work to do .. .folks just don't understand labor, so it seems. But that's cool -- we will slowly educate these allies and they will eventually help us get the word out about our struggles and our victories.

Today, on Daily Kos, I posted a piece about about one victory at a bus yard and another awesome move by the Governor of Iowa; while I am not sure they'll get it right away ... it is a start. 

Anyway, by an overwhelming vote of 18-2, drivers with First Transit in Newark, Ohio voted to join Local 637 in Zanesville; a huge margin. Just like all the other drivers, monotors and aides at First Transit or First Student, they are ready to organize and get what they deserve. From what I am told, this particular yard has a lot of the workers possessing prior knowledge, meaning they were either Teamsters once before or they are spouses of Teamsters; so that helped this drive... a lot, I am sure. 

"The workers sought out representation from our local because they are looking to make improvements in their job, including fair wages, better health care insurance and fair treatment," said John Sheriff, Secretary-Treasurer and Business Agent with Local 637.         

The above quote about the workers looking to make improvements with wages and health care is like an old LP skipping ... it is the same shit over and over and amazing that the workers put up with this stuff for as long as they did. I am just glad that they will be heading to contract negotiations beginning in August -- which was also revealed in a release the union put out on Friday of last week.

I don't know if the readers and writers at Kos and Netroots truly get how labor rights are civil rights and how a lot of people are being shat on every day of the week. I talked a lot about misclassification while in Austin with the hope of explaining the point. We handed out a study on FedEx and its misclassification lawsuits, and some seemed interested, but ... it will take a while. Before I got too discouraged about how  much time it will take to mobilize these new allies of ours, I mentioned another news item that took place in Iowa.

Iowa's Governor Chet Culver signed an executive order to explore employee misclassification among Iowa companies attempting to cut employee and state benefits to illegally save millions of dollars each year.

Culver’s signing of Executive Order 8 would create a five-member Independent Contractor Reform Task Force to study employers’ attempts to exploit workers and avoid paying millions in taxes to the state.

"Governor Culver took a step in the right direction toward ensuring that hardworking families and law-abiding employers will once again be protected from tax cheats throughout Iowa," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "Employers intentionally misclassifying workers illegally funnel tax dollars into their own pockets, forcing the majority of Iowans to pick up the tab on this illegal underground economy."

I know that Culver is not alone, and I know that a lot of people won't give a shit about this news ... but if we can bring it back to what it means for us, our co-workers and future members of our unions, maybe folks will get it; I don't know, as others have said about me, I am a little delusional.

I hope you are all enjoying Sunday.