Saturday, November 23, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.23.13

Teamsters Kick Off ‘IKEA Hurts Families’ Campaign  teamster.org   ...On Friday, the Teamsters Union launched the ‘IKEA Hurts Families’ campaign that highlights how far IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia, Canada store has departed from the original values of the Swedish company. IKEA has locked out 350 workers at its Richmond store without pay for more than six months because the workers voted down a contract proposal with a discriminatory two-tiered wage system...
MV Batavia Dispatchers Vote for Teamster Representation  teamsterslocal727.org   ...Dispatchers at MV Transportation Batavia voted unanimously for Teamsters Local 727 representation on Nov. 20...
Hoffa Lauds 'Reid Rule' Allowing Nominations to Move Forward  teamster.org   ...The following is an official statement of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on the Senate’s approval Thursday of a filibuster rule change that permits nearly all judicial and executive branch nominations to come to a vote based on the backing of a simple majority of senators...
Agreement Reached to Preserve Live Horse Racing at Illinois Racetracks  teamstersjc25.com   ...Full live racing schedules — and the livelihoods of hundreds of workers — are on their way to being preserved for all five racetracks in Illinois. Teamsters Local 727 represents dozens of racetrack employees at Arlington Park, Hawthorne Racecourse and Maywood Park...
Dying Sooner: America Falls Behind On Longevity  National Memo   ...Life expectancy at birth in America is now a year shorter than the average of 34 modern countries, while in 1970 it was a year longer, a detailed report just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows...
Walmart Protests Promised To Be Even Bigger This Black Friday  Huffington Post   ...Walmart workers and their supporters are planning to kick off this year's holiday shopping season with protests at 1,500 Walmart stores around the country on Nov. 29...
Retailers Agree On Safety Standards For Bangladesh Factories  Reuters   ...North American and European retailers announced Wednesday that they had agreed on fire and safety inspection standards for up to 2,000 factories in Bangladesh that supply such retailers as Gap, Wal-Mart and H&M...
Workers Strike At UC Hospitals, Campuses Over Safe Staffing Issues  CBSLA.com   ...The Strike stems from a coordinated campaign of illegal intimidation and harassment from UC Administrators against frontline service and patient care workers advocating safe staffing standards during a two day UC Hospital Strike in May, the union said...
Expanding Social Security (opinion)  New York Times   ... the elderly poverty rate is highly likely to rise sharply in the future, as the failure of America’s private pension system takes its toll....
Filthy Rich CEOs Are Lobbying to Cut Medicare, Social Security and Push the Retirement Age Back AlterNet ...The loudest calls for Social Security cuts are coming from CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security...
Home-Care Aides at Poverty’s Edge Are Hottest U.S. Jobs  Bloomberg News   ...Two years after the recession was over, 32 percent of working families didn’t earn enough to cover basic necessities, up from 28 percent in 2007, according to a report by the nonprofit Working Poor Families Project that analyzed 2011 U.S. Census data. In the home-care sector, workers make so little that 50 percent depend on some form of government assistance...
FCC chairman: cellphone usage ban on planes 'outdated and restrictive'  The Guardian   ...Rules against making cellphone calls during airline flights are "outdated," and it's time to change them, federal regulators said Thursday, drawing immediate howls of protest from flight attendants, airline officials and others...
Humans shipped across the country: How America exports inmates to private prisons  Salon   ...four states currently entrust their inmates to facilities in other states, all run by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). This year, Vermont sent prisoners to Arizona and Kentucky; Idaho sent prisoners to Colorado; California sent prisoners to Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi; and Hawaii sent prisoners to Arizona, about 2,900 miles away...
Son of Mexican cartel leader arrested at US border  Associated Press   ... His indictment filed under seal in San Diego on Sept. 27 offers little detail, saying only that he conspired to bring at least 500 grams of methamphetamine and 5 kilograms of cocaine to the U.S...
Tribune Co. to cut 700 jobs at newspaper division  Associated Press   ...Tribune Co. says it's eliminating about 700 jobs as part of a restructuring of its newspaper business...
Starbucks union-buster is ironic winner after liberals push nuclear option  Salon   ...With GOP obstruction defeated, attorney who helped Starbucks get away with firing union activists headed to bench...