Friday, November 1, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.01.13

Teamsters Welcome Capital Trucking Drivers  teamster.org   ...Local 696 welcomes 20 short haul dump truck drivers from Capital Trucking to the ranks after a 13-2 organizing victory on October 30. Since Labor Day, Local 696 Teamsters have worked to organize these new workers...
National Master ABF Negotiating Committee Accepts ABF’s Final Offer for Central Region Local Cartage Supplement  teamster.org   ...In a conference call Wednesday, the ABF Master Negotiating Committee voted that in light of the overwhelming vote against authorizing a strike, the company’s last proposal for the Central Region Local Cartage Agreement would be accepted. As a result, the ABF-NMFA is now fully ratified...
Teamsters Request Immediate Meeting With Mayor to Discuss Drivers’ Issues  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 922 President Ferline Buie sent D.C. Mayor Gray a letter requesting a meeting to discuss a moratorium on fines and taxicab impoundment, a subsidy or reimbursement for the unfair costs associated with the new regulations and the appointment of a driver to the Taxicab Commission. (Read the letter.)...
More Independent Contractors Are Organizing. Meet Teamster Taxi Cabs  Bloomberg   ... Some freelance writers and physicians are also moving in the direction of unionization...
Teamsters vote in favor of new contract with city of South Bend  ABC 57 News   ...The 250 members of the Teamsters Local 364 were all set to vote on their contract last week until they learned about a disparity between their pay raise and the pay raises the mayor wants to give some of his department heads. In the end, the union decided to take the deal on the table that includes a 2 percent raise for each of the next three years...
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Teamsters to Start Talks  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev and the Teamsters union are about to begin contract talks for the first time since the Belgian brewer InBev purchased the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers five years ago...
Teamsters Call on Darigold to Return to the Bargaining Table  teamsterslocal117.org   ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, met throughout the day Wednesday to discuss the company’s last contract proposal...
Teamsters endorse Senate farm bill on nutrition, dairy  Agri-Pulse   ...The Teamsters Union weighed in last week in favor of Senate provisions in the farm bill, urging conferees to “reject the severe cuts” to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the House bill and dropping previous opposition to the “supply management” part of the Senate's dairy reform language...
Four months without a contract, 930 Penn State-Hershey workers will vote on offer  The Patriot-News   ...About 930 Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center support workers will vote on a proposed three-year contract to replace one that expired in June. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 776...
Rich people think the economy is doing just fine. Here’s why that matters.  Washington Post   ...any sense of urgency around getting the economy on track has almost disappeared within Congress ... Members of Congress tend to be relatively wealthy themselves, and tend to associate with big donors and other prominent folks…
Show Your Invisible Hand: Why the SEC Should Make Corporations Disclose Political Contributions  Next New Deal   ...corporate executives frequently spend on politics for their own personal advantage rather than the company’s bottom line. These personal benefits include things like prestige, a future political career, star power, or assistance for political allies...
Families brace as billions in food stamp cuts set in  NBC News   ...Benefit cuts to food stamp recipients kick in Friday, a move by Congress that will siphon $5 billion off a program that helps one in seven Americans put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table...
Elderly Family’s Eviction Fuels Growing San Francisco Housing Rights Movement  People Power Media   ...The Lee family’s fight to save their home appears to have become a flashpoint for a resurgent tenants’ and housing rights movement that has helped put evictions and displacement on the front pages—and, potentially, on the front burner of city policymakers who are under increasing pressure to stem a tidal wave of evictions...
Ractopamine: The Meat Additive on Your Plate That's Banned Almost Everywhere But America AlterNet   ...The asthma drug-like growth additive has enjoyed stealth use in the US food supply for a decade despite being widely banned overseas...
Chinese Imports are Poisoning Our Pets  TradeReform   ...Recently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sounded the alarm with warnings not to purchase some jerky dog treats that are resulting in a mysterious outbreak of illnesses...
Outsourcing Food Inspection Is Too Hard to Swallow   Huffington Post   ...For generations, Americans have relied on public service workers to inspect the food we eat. Now, the Department of Agriculture has proposed removing USDA inspectors from poultry lines and letting companies police themselves. That's right. The fox is literally guarding the hen house...
Newt’s revenge: Child labor makes a comeback   The Salon   ...In just two years, right-wing legislators weakened four states' child labor laws -- and a raft of other protections...
Social Security benefits to go up by 1.5 percent in 2014  Associated Press   ...Social Security benefits will rise 1.5 percent in January, giving millions of retired and disabled workers an average raise of $19 a month to keep up with the cost of living—an increase that is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975...
Arizona election law will be put to statewide vote   Washington Post   ...Arizona will vote next year on a controversial bill that made sweeping changes to the state’s election laws after Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) certified Tuesday that opponents of the bill had collected enough signatures to force the measure onto the ballot...
Port of Oakland truckers promise to keep working through negotiations   Oakland North   ...After forcing a one-day closure of the Port of Oakland over regulatory and wait-time complaints last week, independent truckers say they are pursuing negotiations with the California Air Resources Board, and have promised no further work stoppages through at least Monday, Nov. 4...