Thursday, March 14, 2013

Today's Teamster News 03.14.13

Out of Control – New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise  naked capitalism   ...as you read the report, it’s hard to see the bank as anything but a criminal racket just days away from imploding, were it not propped up by implicit bailout guarantees and light-touch regulators...
Oil Riding Rails Creates Jobs as Buffett Puffs Chest: Freight  Bloomberg News   ...They’re boosting employment in the process: Rail transportation payrolls have climbed by 9.1 percent, a pace more than twice as fast as total job growth, since the end of 2009...
Sales at U.S. Retailers Advance by Most in Five Months   Bloomberg News  ...Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Ford Motor Co. are benefiting as employment gains bolster confidence and enable Americans to withstand the payroll tax increase that took effect in January...
Europeans want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules  Trade Reform   ...Obama keeps pushing a Trans Atlantic trade deal with Europe, despite the fact that other trade deals have helped make the trade deficit worse. One of the goals for Europeans is to get rid of Buy American rules in the U.S...
Majority of British children will soon be growing up in families struggling 'below the breadline'  The Independent   ...The impact on children of the economic downturn and austerity measures was underlined by an analysis that concluded that the number of under-18s living in households below minimum income standards would increase by 690,000 between 2010 and 2015...
Getting rich off of schoolchildren  Salon   ...Stop pretending wealthy CEOs pushing for charter schools are altruistic "reformers." They're raking in billions...
Measure May Undermine Union Politics  Arizona Public Radio   ...Voters may get a chance next year to decide on a measure that would undermine union political influence...
What tax changes mean for Michigan's working class  Michigan Public Radio   ...many poor, working-class families saw an increase in their taxes in addition to tax increases they felt from other legislative changes...
Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please.  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Early Tuesday morning, while some of those workers were helping roll over your grandma or grandpa at the nursing home so they didn’t get bed sores, the Republicans who lead the state Senate set things right. They gave initial approval to a bill that will make it a little harder for the unions that represent those public employees to collect fees that might be used to elect thoughtful people to elected office...
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns amid state, federal probe of non-profit veterans group  Miami Herald   ...Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity organization at the center of a $300 million multi-state racketeering investigation...
Report: Some Pa. lawmakers received $117K in gifts; legislators deny freebies influenced votes  The Republic   ...Some Pennsylvania lawmakers took free trips to Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. Others accepted tickets to Steelers, Penn State, Pitt and 76ers games, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the State Ethics Commission...
Governor trying to reduce pensions for state workers/teachers  WHTM   ..."Our (Pennsylvania) members did pay for a lot of years and they continued to pay," said Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "They earned those benefits and they played by the rules. Now this governor comes along and kind of forgets that the state got a pass."...
Scott Walker signs bills on worker training, secretary of state powers  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...La Follette sharply criticized the measure, which is the latest in a long line of steps to strip the secretary of state's office of most of its meaningful powers...
Hoffa, Floyd Demand Mayor Bloomberg Negotiate Settlement Of Equal Pay Class Action Suit By School Safety Agents  IBT   ...More than 5,000 current and former school safety agents—70 percent of whom are women—have joined the gender-based wage discrimination suit, which seeks to remedy the fact that other peace-officer titles, which are 70 percent male, receive $7,000 more in annual pay...
Judge orders Pratt to rehire truck drivers  McClatchy-Tribune   ...The ruling could also result in the truck drivers getting union representation. The company in April terminated Lower Nazareth resident Christian Salazar, who was speaking with other truck drivers about organizing a union with the Teamsters. Shortly afterward, the company laid off 11 additional truck drivers...
Teamsters to rally  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Teamsters Local 377 will have a rally and leafleting event today at the headquarters of Exal Corp. at One Performance Place to stir up support and inform employees of its efforts to unionize 364 workers at the aluminum-can-making company...