Monday, December 24, 2012

Today's Teamster News 12.24.12

Art Pope, Koch Brothers Ally, Picked To Run North Carolina Budget  Huffington Post   ...On Thursday, when the incoming North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) announced that Art Pope, the state's single largest donor and a founding board member of the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity, would be in charge of his state's budget as deputy budget director...
The Crass Cynicism of Right-to-Work Laws  Counterpunch   ...in the neo-liberal order that arose in the aftermath of the PATCO strike and, later, the coal miners’ strike in Great Britain, capitalists found that they again have everything to gain by reverting back to their old ways: enriching themselves by impoverishing their workers. This is why the most nefarious among them are now pouring money into efforts to legislate the right to work...
Right-to-work states have lower unemployment but also lower wages  Charlotte Business Journal   ...In the Northeast, where no states have right-to-work laws in place, the employer cost per worker per hour, including benefits, is highest in the nation at $33.18, according to the report. The cheapest labor, $26.32 per worker per hour, is in the South, where all but a couple of states have right-to-work laws on the books...
Yvonne White: Repealing right-to-work is a matter of economic justice (opinion)  Detroit Free Press   ...Decades before passage of the Civil Rights Act, labor unions served as the ladder to the middle class for people of color. In Michigan this month, a coalition of anti-worker interests swept away years of progress by crippling unions in the state where organized labor was born...
When Hedge Funds Trump Governments  Economic Populist   ...While Greece suffers to the point of revolution and suicide, hedge funds made out like bandits on Greek sovereign debt...
Gasoline Prices near Low for Year, Expected to Increase  Calculated Risk   ...It looks like prices will finish the year near the low, but probably increase soon...
Why Do Americans Have Less Vacation Time than Anyone Else?  Big Think   ...yes, the United States is the only OECD country that does not require employers to provide even a day of paid leave to its employees...