Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.05.13

Cab Drivers Deliver Letter To Gray, Ask For Impoundment Halt  DCist   ...With the Teamsters behind them, a group of D.C. cab drivers gathered outside the Wilson Building to continue their fight against what they see as the problematic rollout of modernization efforts and to get Mayor Vince Gray's attention...
New grocery contract passes by ‘overwhelming majority’  Seattle Times   ...Grocery workers, who are represented by the Teamsters and UFCW in Western Washington, approved a new 3-year contract, ending a month-long series of negotiations that nearly led to a strike...
UPS driver wins praise for working 51 years without a crash  Detroit Free Press   ...UPS driver Tom Camp and his big, brown truck have done something no other UPS driver has accomplished: 51 years without an accident...
“We have the right to educate you”: Workplace indoctrination caught on tape  The Salon   ...In leaked recordings, bosses lecture workers not to unionize, and insist 'This truly is for your best interest'...
Despite Eight Ongoing Criminal/Civil Investigations of JPMorgan, the Bank’s a Law Enforcement Partner With the NYPD  Wall Street on Parade   ...The photo shows an employee of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s number one target for financial fraud investigations, JPMorgan Chase, working inside a high security spy center in Lower Manhattan to — wait for it — help the New York City Police Department catch crooks...
If 'Stop and Frisk' Is Such an Effective Tactic, Why Not Use an Electronic Version on Potentially Corrupt Bank CEOs?  Huffington Post   ...It's estimated that the 2008 financial crisis cost over $6 trillion. In 2009 alone, it's believed that an additional 5,000 people committed suicide due to the financial crisis and resulting unemployment, as the result of malfeasant senior bank officers...
Reich: The American Economy Is Cannibalizing Itself, and We the People Are Going to Pay a Huge Price  AlterNet   ...The bottom 90 percent of Americans have disappeared from official Washington...
One Million K-12 Students Are Homeless  Truthout   ...For many students, when they go to school each morning, they may have no idea where they will be sleeping that night...
Blaming the Poor for Poverty  Truthout   ...Most of the poverty in the U.S. is created from the sort of policies that cut taxes on the wealthy, do away with fiscal and other business regulations, shred the social safety net, and erode middle-class stability – all while singing the praises of self-reliance and individual responsibility...
How We Have Ended Up Paying for 1 Percenters Beach Vacation Homes  The Salon   ...It's time for the wealthy with vacation homes and valuable shoreline land to pay their own way -- and not rely on us...5 Ways Super-Rich Are Betraying America  AlterNet   ...This small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes...
Mexico gun battles leave many dead  The Guardian   ...Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs...
Immigration Reform Requires Dismantling NAFTA and Respecting Migrants' Rights  The Real News   ...“When the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed big U.S. grain companies, for instance, to dump cheap, cheap corn on the Mexican market, hundreds of thousands of Mexican farmers essentially were not able to sell their crops for the cost of growing it,” says Bacon.  “[They] had to leave home in order to survive, and wound up migrating to the north of Mexico, crossing the border, and coming here to the United States.”...
Colombian women on 'crossed legs' sex strike over crumbling highway  Global Post   ...Why, they asked, should they bring any more babies into the world when pregnant women were dying along the highway trying to get to the hospital?...
Bangladesh Garment Workers Get A Raise (But They Still Earn the Lowest Wages In The World) Associated Press ...A government-appointed panel in Bangladesh voted Monday to raise the minimum wage for millions of garment workers to about $66 a month — still the lowest in the world and well below what workers have been seeking...
Kochs’ Group Has Big Ambitions in Small Elections  New York Times   ...Backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity has been involved in local political contests in Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Iowa, but some are skeptical of its motives...
Koch group, unions battle over Colorado schools race  Politico   ...This fall, Americans for Prosperity is also spending big in the wealthy suburbs south of Denver to influence voters in the Douglas County School District, which has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise...
Fewer than 1/4th of Republicans Support Electing More Women to Congress  AlterNet   ...New poll reveals staggering partisan gender divide on women in politics...
Texas' Restrictive Voter ID Law Stops A Former U.S. House Speaker From Getting A Voter ID Card  Huffington Post   ...Former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright (D-Texas) unsuccessfully tried to get a voter identification card at a Texas Department of Public Safety office on Saturday...
As Pennsylvania Prepares to Fail, Other States Are Not Far Behind (opinion)  Talking Points Memo   ...It's hard to imagine that Pennsylvania is preparing to become a failed state, but it is. Despite world-class universities, active industries, and a global economic footprint, the Commonwealth has decided to cut funding for students and place its bets on a growing prison population...
Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen  Truthout   ...The United Auto Workers, so long frustrated in their attempts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., may have found a different way in...
BART union members approve contract  Progressive Railroading   ...Members of Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) two largest unions have ratified four-year contracts that will increase wages, require employee pension contribution, improve safety and allow BART to adopt technology to streamline operations…