Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Today's Teamster News 08.13.13

The No Jobs Economy is the New Economy  Economic Populist   ...Of the 161,000 reported private sector jobs gained in July, 157,000 or 97.5 percent, are in non-tradable domestic services. A non-tradable service is a job that produces services that cannot be exported, such as waitresses, bartenders, hospital orderlies, retail clerks, warehousemen....
Your mortgage documents are fake!  Salon   ... The lawsuit states that banks resorted to fake documents because they could not legally establish true ownership of the loans when trying to foreclose...
J.C. Penney, Best Buy Customer Data Collection Stirs Privacy Concerns  Associated Press   ...It's not just the government that might be keeping tabs on you. Many retailers are tracking you, too – or at least your merchandise returns...
It's Time to Do Something When a Corporation Like WalMart Won't Pay a Living Wage: Or Else We All Pay  AlterNet   ...Walmart employees are the single largest group of Medicaid recipients in the United States...
Supersize Those Wages, McDonald's (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Last month, McDonald's gave its workers a little gift -- a budget purporting to show how to survive on the starvation wages the burger behemoth pays. The bizarre financial plan made millionaire McDonald's CEO Don Thompson look like a real clown...
Mankind: Death by Corporation, Part III - the TPP as Corporate Deathstar (opinion)  Truthout   ...Instead of protecting US citizens, the Obama administration is enabling the ultimate corporate "Deathstar." The TransPacific Partnership will allow corporations "virtually unchecked control of our food supply, our land, air, water, wallets and our future..."
Six federal agencies investigating online payday lenders  Center for Public Integrity   ...A half-dozen federal agencies, including the Justice and Treasury departments, are probing the practices of online payday lenders that target the poor...
Banks test U.S. IRS anti-tax shelter weapon in STARS wars  Reuters   ...A sharp tool in the U.S. government's fight against corporate tax shelters will be put to the test in the months ahead as the IRS grapples with four major banks over structured transactions done a decade ago with Barclays Plc. The IRS contends the transactions, known as STARS deals, were designed purely to facilitate tax dodging...
Court Reverses Class Action Status in Rail Price-Fixing Lawsuit  Journal of Commerce   ...The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington recently reversed a ruling that turned a price-fixing lawsuit against four U.S.-based Class I railroads into a class action...
Judge grants Bay Area transit strike reprieve  Associated Press   ...San Francisco Bay Area commuters got a reprieve from a potential transit strike when a judge on Sunday granted California Gov. Jerry Brown's request for a 60-day cooling-off period in negotiations between the Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency and two of its largest unions...
North Carolina Voter ID Bill Signed Into Law By Gov. Pat McCrory, Sparking Lawsuits  Huffington Post   ...North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill Monday requiring photo identification at the polls and eliminating a slew of voting measures designed to protect against voter disenfranchisement...
North Carolina tax changes: Where you stand  Charlotte Observer   ...Sweeping new changes to the North Carolina tax code will touch the purses and wallets of virtually every taxpayer in the state. The legislation will affect everything from the size of our annual tax bills to the way we shop for back-to-school clothes. But that’s where the agreement ends...
Kinder suggests “Right to Work” will go on the ballot, unions are ready for the fight  Missouri Times   ...The efforts of both sides on the “Right to Work” debate have been vocal the last few months, after the Associated Press’ David Lieb reported that Missouri’s Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder made comments at the ALEC conference that the issue will likely be put on a voter referendum ballot...
Labor lifts Martin Walsh’s mayoral campaign  Boston Globe   ...Dozens of labor groups — Teamsters, painters, pipe fitters, firefighters — have helped Mass. State Rep. Martin J. Walsh forge a formidable campaign in his run for Boston mayor with six weeks left until voters head to the polls...
California minimum wage bill sidetracked for more negotiations  Los Angeles Times   ...A proposal to increase the minimum wage by $2 over five years was sidelined, at least temporarily, on Monday because it would cost the state millions of dollars...