Monday, June 24, 2013

Today's Teamster News 06.24.13

(UPDATES to ADD Detroit march)
The Retirement Savings Crisis: Is It Worse Than We Think?  National Institute on Retirement Security   ...the average U.S. working-age household has virtually no retirement savings...
Employers Test Plans That Cap Health Costs  New York Times   ...Hoping to cut medical costs, employers are experimenting with a new way to pay for health care, telling workers that their company health plan will pay only a fixed amount for a given test or procedure, like a CT scan or knee replacement...
United States of ALEC, A 2013 Follow-Up  Moyers & Company   ...In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would, among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for harm caused to consumers — each accomplished without the public ever knowing who’s behind it...
$10 Minimum Wage Would Push More Than Half Of Working Poor Out Of Poverty: Study  Huffington Post   ... nearly 58 percent -- or roughly 6 million -- of the 10.4 million U.S. workers living below the federal poverty level in 2011 would be pulled out by such an increase...
Control over food is at stake with Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)  OpEdNews   ...The agriculture section of the Ecology Branch of the Green Shadow Cabinet opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the latest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) assault against food sovereignty, where the profits of multinational companies are placed ahead of the food security needs of individual nations...
Tens of thousands march in Rome against unemployment  Reuters   ...Thousands of workers and unemployed people marched in Rome on Saturday to protest against record unemployment and call on Enrico Letta's two-month-old government to deliver more than empty rhetoric on the issue...
Latest Brazil protests bring 250,000 on to streets  Associated Press   ...More than 250,000 anti-government protesters have again taken to the streets in several Brazilian cities and engaged police in isolated intense conflicts. Demonstrators vowed to stay in the streets until concrete steps are taken to reform the political system...
U.S. and Other G8 Governments Move to Prevent Tax Evasion and Avoidance, But Is It Enough?  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...the leaders of the G-8 countries meeting in Northern Ireland released a declaration that included cracking down on the use of shell corporations for tax evasion and principles related to this goal, while the White House released a national action plan to implement these principles...
Cutting wages won’t create jobs (opinion)  The Hill   ...With few supporters on their side, restaurant industry advocates are now appealing to outdated myths about the impact of raising the minimum wage, in order to justify their campaign to block a long-overdue increase...
Martin Luther King Jr. Detroit March Of 1963 Commemorated 50 Years Later With Walk Down Woodward  Associated Press   ...Thousands participated in a Detroit march commemorating the 50th anniversary of one that Martin Luther King Jr. led in 1963...
Asheville group off to Moral Monday protests  Black Mountain News   ...A coalition of groups opposing a state takeover of Asheville’s water system have organized a bus trip to the protests Monday, adding about 100 area residents to into the Moral Monday mix...
NC Gov. McCory Repeals Racial Justice Act, Restores Legal Lynching on Juneteenth Liberation Holiday  Daily Kos   ...North Carolina Governor McCrory secretly signed Republican passed legislation (The Legal Lynching Act of 2013) repealing North Carolina's Racial Justice Act on June 19, Junteenth, the African American holiday of liberation of the enslaved...
Ohio GOP to raise taxes on the poor, elderly  Plunderbund   ...The conference committee for the Ohio budget has reported out a plan with completely different tax provisions than either chamber. It dramatically raises sales taxes and property taxes to finance a tax cut for business investors and an income tax cut for the rich...
Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers speak out against police department allegations  Uniontown Herald-Standard   ...Representatives from Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local Union 491 of Uniontown said they welcome an independent investigation of the Brownsville Police Department...