Thursday, October 3, 2013

Today's Teamster News 10.03.13

NYC Teamsters begin campaign to create good commercial waste jobs  TeamsterNation   ...New York City Teamsters and their allies have high hopes for a campaign launched today to increase good jobs, recycling and justice in the commercial waste industry. New Yorkers are paying attention...
Teamsters at work after rejecting Wegmans contract  Democrat and Chronicle   ...Truck drivers, warehouse workers and other Wegmans Food Markets employees, who are members of Teamsters Local 118, were at work as scheduled Tuesday following a union vote Monday rejecting a company contract offer...
Northumberland County agrees to union raises  News-Item   ...Northumberland County commissioners approved Tuesday a collective bargaining agreement with court-appointed, non-professional employees that grants them at least a 3 percent raise next year. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 764, based in Milton, Pennsylvania...
Rail Safety Report Shows Increase in Fatal Incidents in Fourth Quarter  BMWED ...A comparison of roadway worker fatality data over a span of 21 years (1986–1994 and 1997– 2010) indicates that the highest number of roadway worker incidents occur in the 4th Quarter...
How Less Than 5% Of The US Population Caused The Government To Shut Down  Business Insider   ...it's just stunning that such few people — a group slightly larger than the population of Illinois — can hold that much power...
Union calls for fed workers to ‘fight back’ against shutdown  Washington Post   ...A labor leader representing federal employees is exhorting them to “take to the streets” to protest a partial government shutdown that began Tuesday...
Which lawmakers will refuse their pay during the shutdown?  Washington Post   ...Hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file federal employees were forced out of the office Tuesday morning because of the start of a government shutdown and won't be paid over the course of the impasse. As of noon Wednesday, here is the tally of  lawmakers who have said that they plan to donate or refuse compensation earned over the course of the impasse...
Fixing exorbitant CEO pay: All is not lost  Fortune   ...Despite what has felt like relentless insanity, the prognosis for positive changes to executive pay looks better than it has for a decade...
NOT SHOCKED: Five States With the Worst Food Insecurity are “Right-to-Work” States  We Party Patriots   ...A recent USDA report provides details on our growing trend of food (in)security. In 7 million homes, a family member has skipped meals because money was tight. A look at the five states where food insecurity is a problem (North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi) are also “Right-to-Work” states...
Independent Contractors – Keeping it Real  Construction Citizen   ...Real independent contractors are easy to identify. They are hired to perform a specific project, bring their own tools, have their own business cards, and send you an invoice when the work is done. If people are hired to perform ongoing work, told when to show up and what to do, those workers are not independent contractors...
The Cost of Crushing Dissent in New York City  Wall Street on Parade   ...Today, we have still not restored the Glass-Steagall Act, the largest Wall Street banks of 2008 are even larger and more dangerous today, and unprecedented levels of wealth and income inequality, enforced by the structure of Wall Street, is spreading economic misery to ever greater numbers of Americans...
GOP’s newest target: The postal service  Salon   ...The government itself wasn't enough. Led by Darrell Issa, they now want to go after your mail delivery...
Google Accused of Wiretapping in Gmail Scans  New York Times   ...Wiretapping is typically the stuff of spy dramas and shady criminal escapades. But now, web company giant Google must defend itself against accusations that it is illegally wiretapping in the course of gathering data about Internet users and showing them related ads...
Bill would require Michigan cities to buy American-made flags for veterans' grave sites  Detroit Free Press  ...A bill unanimously passed by the state Senate Wednesday would require Michigan cities to buy American-made flags and flag holders for veterans’ grave sites if those flags are competitively priced with foreign-made products...
New York to Sue Wells Fargo Over Mortgage Settlement  New York Times   ...Fielding complaints from borrowers struggling to save their homes, New York’s top prosecutor is preparing a lawsuit against Wells Fargo, accusing the bank, the nation’s largest home lender, of flouting the terms of a multibillion-dollar settlement aimed at stanching foreclosure abuses...
Poll: Majority in state support fully privatizing wine, spirit sales  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...Millions of dollars in lobbying efforts by groups on all sides of the liquor privatization issue had little impact on the opinions of everyday Pennsylvanians, according to two groups that released a poll Tuesday...
An overdue trash overhaul (opinion)  New York Daily News   ...Cleaning up commercial collection would help Bloomberg burnish his environmental legacy...
NY Thruway Authority cuts more workers  Times Union   ...New York’s Thruway Authority last week quietly laid off about a half-dozen non-union employees. Saying it was a personnel matter, Thruway spokesman Dan Weiller declined to comment on the precise nature of the job cuts or the reason...
N.C. voting rights advocates applaud federal lawsuit  USA TODAY   ...Voting rights advocates applauded the U.S. Justice Department's move Monday to sue North Carolina for racial discrimination over its tough new voting rules while Republicans in the state called the allegation "baseless."...
Pennsylvania House nudged to implement online voter registration  NewsWorks   ...A bipartisan coalition is urging the state House to pass a proposal allowing online voter registration in Pennsylvania. The measure, which passed unanimously in the Senate earlier this year, is currently before a House committee...