Thursday, February 21, 2013

Today's Teamster News 02.21.13

U.S. Banks Bigger Than GDP as Accounting Rift Masks Risk  Bloomberg News   ...Applying stricter accounting standards for derivatives and off-balance-sheet assets would make the banks twice as big as they say they are -- or about the size of the U.S. economy...
JPMorgan Leads U.S. Banks Lending Least Deposits in 5 Years  Bloomberg News   ...The biggest U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are lending the smallest portion of their deposits in five years as cash floods in from savers and a slow economy damps demand from borrowers...
The European debt crisis claims a new victim: Bulgaria  Marketplace   ...The government of Bulgaria has quit after nationwide protests against austerity measures...
Watchdog Group Sues IRS Over Dark Money Rules  Talking Points Memo   ...Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) ... sue(d) the IRS, accusing the agency of creating a loophole that has allowed groups like the American Action Network to flourish...
U.S. Ups Ante for Spying on Firms  Wall Street Journal   ...The White House threatened China and other countries with trade and diplomatic action over corporate espionage as it cataloged more than a dozen cases of cyberattacks and commercial thefts at some of the U.S.'s biggest companies...
Michigan Weighs Detroit Takeover  Wall Street Journal   ...This city inched closer to a state takeover on Tuesday after a review team appointed by Michigan's governor concluded Detroit was in a state of financial emergency with no realistic plan to resolve the crisis...
Risky business tax breaks cost Maine $100 million per year  Portland Press Herald   ...Reducing or eliminating what critics call corporate welfare has proved difficult because of the political clout of businesses, experts say...
Right-to-work law doesn't apply to us, state employees unions say in lawsuit  Detroit Free Press   ...Several state employee unions are asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to formally declare that new right-to-work laws do not apply to labor agreements that affect the 34,500 unionized state workers...
Dayton signs bill ratifying state employee contracts  Minnesota Public Radio   ...The contracts give a two percent across-the-board pay increase to 35,000 state workers...
Beer distributors oppose privatization  TribLive.com   ...A new proposal by Gov. Tom Corbett's administration to privatize wine and liquor sales and expand where beer is sold could pose the greatest threat to businesses like (Cox Distributors) since the 1930s...
Teachers, unions cry foul over legislators' surprise move to prevent dues collections  Evansville Courier & Press   ...A House panel advanced a measure Tuesday that would bar schools from deducting union fees from teachers’ paychecks — a move backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce...
Rick Scott's first job creator, Vision Airlines, charged with grand theft  Miami Herald   ...The airline abandoned its flights to Fort Walton Beach in less than two years. It also, local officials say, abandoned its contractual obligations to the area. In December, county commissioners sued the company for nearly $150,000 in unpaid airline fees...
Prison Unions Skeptical as Bipartisan 'Smart Justice Bill' Filed in Legislature  Sunshine State News   ...As many as 1,200 prisoners could get a new lease on life if two of the Florida Legislature's leading figures on criminal justice issues have their way; one of the state's largest unions is supporting the gist of the reform package, but taking strong issue with its prison privatization component...
Anti-union bills held back in Arizona Legislature  Phoenix Business Journal   ...Two anti-union bills in the Arizona Legislature are being held back after drawing concerns from police and firefighter groups...
Senior Flexonics Workers Overwhelmingly Join Teamsters Local 330  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...By a 3-to-1 margin, approximately 350 automotive, energy, medical and aerospace supply manufacturers in suburban Chicago voted to join Teamsters Local 330 on Feb. 15...
Teamsters Local 237 Backs Incumbent Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes  New York Daily News   ... The Teamsters' biggest local is backing Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes for election to a seventh term...