Monday, February 14, 2011

Today's Teamster News 02.14.11

Workers protest outside Assembly speaker's home  Associated Press   ...At least 100 union workers marched in front of the home of Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald to protest the governor's plan to strip most public employees of their right to collective bargaining on many issues...
Public-Worker Unions Steel for Budget Fights  Wall Street Journal   ...As states and local governments seek to trim costs in a difficult economy, the unions are struggling to defend pay and benefit packages negotiated when times were flush...
The Egyptian Labor Uprising Against Mubarak  naked capitalism   ...Gamal (Mubarak) ... understood that the profit and power for his family lay in cooperating with foreign investors to squeeze labor as hard as possible...
Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable  New York Times   ...In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix...
Rising China Bests a Shrinking Japan  Wall Street Journal   ...For the U.S., while Japan was in some ways an economic rival, it also has been a geopolitical and military ally. China, however, is a potential challenger on all fronts...  
Valley truckers hit hard by rising price of diesel  Fresno Bee   ...Ten weeks of rising diesel fuel prices are the latest blow to the trucking industry...
City Council to consider firefighter contract, boulder removal  Billings Gazette   ...It would give firefighters the same 2.9 percent raise already awarded to the city's police union and the Teamsters, which represents the rest of the city's union employees...