Thursday, March 28, 2013

Today's Teamster News 03.28.13

Iraqi oil: Once seen as U.S. boon, now it’s mostly China’s  McClatchy   ...Ten years after the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the country’s oil industry is poised to boom and make the troubled nation the No.2 oil exporter in the world. But the nation that’s moving to take advantage of Iraq’s riches isn’t the United States. It’s China...
Post analysis of Dow 30 firms shows declining tax burden as a share of profits  Washington Post   ...Most of the 30 companies listed on the country’s most famous stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average, have seen a dramatically smaller percentage of their profits go to U.S. coffers over time, even as their share prices have driven the Dow to an all-time high...
Cyprus crisis: capital controls loom as banks race to re-open  The Guardian   ...Protests are mounting in Cyprus as the full extent of Monday's EU-IMF bailout sinks in...
As Supreme Court Hears Challenge to ALEC Voting Bill, Two More States Introduce It  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Within days of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a challenge to an Arizona voting registration law that had been adopted as a "model" by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), two more states advanced bills that appear to track the ALEC/Arizona template...
 Michelle Rhee takes on teachers' unions  Los Angeles Times   ...StudentsFirst, the advocacy group Rhee founded … is positioning itself as the political counterweight to teachers' unions….Among StudentsFirst's major donors is the Walton Family Foundation, funded by heirs to the fortune generated by Wal-Mart, which has vigorously opposed unions...
When workers die: “And nobody called 911″  Salon   ...A man is scalded by nearly boiling water and citric acid. His fate points to a dark reality for temp workers...
Sweatshops still make your clothes  Salon   ...It’s been 16 years since Charles Kernaghan made Kathie Lee Gifford cry on national television, revealing that her Wal-Mart-sold clothing line was produced by Honduran children working 20-hour shifts. ... not that much has changed...
Howard Dean Launches Campaign To Flip State Legislatures  Huffington Post   ...Dean said that Democracy for America's "Purple to Blue Project" would work to swing state legislatures from Republican to Democrat, starting in Virginia, then adding three states in 2014...
Assembly passes rewrite of city labor laws by slim 6-5 margin  Anchorage Daily News   ...The Anchorage Assembly Tuesday night narrowly passed a rewrite of city labor laws that tips the balance of power in negotiations with city unions more toward management...
Union research shows pension overhaul will cost workers, taxpayers  Palm Beach Post   ...Public employee unions fighting the House pension overhaul rolled out research Tuesday that says the move will cost taxpayers more — challenging the view of House Speaker Will Weatherford and other proponents that closing the traditional plan to new workers will reduce state costs...
Jim Greer, Florida ex-GOP chairman, gets 18 months in prison  Orlando Sentinel   ...An Orlando judge on Wednesday sentenced Jim Greer, former high-flying chairman of the Florida GOP, to 18 months in prison for stealing $125,000 from the party...
Governor calls unions the voice of American workers  People's World   ..."We live in a time in which more and more capital is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told about 250 union delegates and activists here at the annual AFL-CIO Labor Legislative Conference on March 25 and 26...
Wisconsin gets an "F" for disclosing its spending  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Wisconsin is one of five states Tuesday that received an "F" for how it makes government spending available online...
Genesys Convalescent Center, Teamsters Local 332 reach first contract agreement  Michigan Live   ...After joining a union in the fall, Genesys Convalescent Center employees recently approved their first contract...
Teamsters-UNFI hearing in Moreno Valley  The Press-Enterprise   ...A hearing on whether United Natural Foods violated labor laws during a contentious union organizing campaign last year has been moved to Moreno Valley to accommodate Inland-area workers, a federal spokesperson said on Wednesday, March 27...
Teamsters leader says efforts to overturn right-to-work laws are 'swelling'  Michigan Live   ...The lame duck legislative push for so-called right-to-work laws in Michigan was driven by corporate special interests, chief among them being Grand Rapids’ own Dick DeVos...
Teamsters Take Demands For U.S. Workers' Rights To National Express Group Headquarters  IBT   ...Teamster school bus drivers who work at National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN) rallied with British members of Unite the Union outside the company's headquarters today, demanding the multinational transport company honor the human rights of its North American workers...