Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Today's Teamster News 02.12.14

Salt and plow truck drivers ratify contract that avoided strike  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...Members of Teamsters Local 249, whose salt and plow truck drivers threatened to strike last week as snow loomed in the forecast, ratified a contract Sunday, according to a spokeswoman for the union...
Bay Valley strike continues  Sauk Valley Media   ...Negotiations between Bay Valley Foods and Teamsters Local 722 are expected to continue. The two sides met for 3 hours on Friday and Sunday with a federal mediator, but "very little progress" had been made...
CCTA Workers Vote Down Contract, Strike Looms
  My Champlain Valley   ...The workers at CCTA voted down the company's best offer by 53-4. The nearly 70 employees, represented by Local 597 in South Barre, Vermont could go on strike in two weeks...
Miller Waste talks in conciliation  Owen Sound  Sun Times ...Contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 879 and The Miller Group's waste division in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada have moved into the conciliation stage as they negotiate a first contract...
The Latest Attack on Public Sector Unions: Paycheck Protection in Pennsylvania and Missouri
  Truthout   ...The GOP offensive against public sector unions at the state level that began in earnest in Wisconsin and Ohio in early 2011 is far from over. In its more recent manifestation, Republican politicians in Missouri and Pennsylvania are once again promoting so-called "paycheck protection" legislation, which they claim will protect the interests of ordinary workers. Nothing could be further from the truth...
Republican caucus divided on RTW strategy for 2014  Missouri Times   ...“It’s a fractious issue for us as a caucus,” Rep. Myron Neth, R-Liberty said. “And for some of us, we see it as something that will likely lose us some seats in the legislature...”
Missouri House committee endorses ‘right to work’  Kansas City Star ...A Missouri House committee has endorsed a measure, known as “right to work,” that would bar labor contracts from requiring that all employees pay union fees...
Tenn. lawmakers issue incentive threat in VW union move  USA Today   ...Not only are Republican legislators accusing Volkswagen of backing the UAW, some of their leaders on Monday threatened to withhold tax incentives for future expansion of the 3-year-old assembly plant in Chattanooga if workers vote this week to join the UAW...
How Tennessee Papers Are Helping The Anti-Union Fight
  Media Matters   ...Two major Tennessee newspapers are aiding opposition to unionization efforts at a Volkswagen plant in the state by hiding the facts about union support and outside conservative influences...
Florida County Eliminates Minority-Heavy Polling Places  ThinkProgress   ...On a party-line vote, a Florida county’s Republican majority Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to eliminate almost one-third of Manatee County’s voting sites...
Labor Battle at Kellogg Plant in Memphis Drags On
  New York Times   ...For more than three months, Kellogg has locked out more than 200 workers, barring them from returning to their jobs making Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops until their union agrees to a new contract...
Flight Attendants Reach Truce with United Airlines Over ‘Involuntary Furloughs’  In These Times   ...United Airlines attendants still face furloughs and a possible shift to the Continental side of the company, but on the union's terms...
2013 Trade Data Show Why Fast Tracking a TPP NAFTA Expansion Is a Very Bad Idea  Huffington Post   ...The only good news in the just-released 2013 U.S. trade data is that it can only reinforce growing congressional and public opposition to more-of-the-same trade agreements...
Business groups want early TPP  The Japan News   ...Leaders of three major business groups requested that talks on a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact be concluded early...
A Walmart Worker Explains Why Walmart's Customer Service Is Horrible  Gawker   ...store manager's and assistant manager's incentive bonuses (to the tune of $80K for store managers and $20K for assistant managers, once yearly) are partially determined by how much they can bring scheduled hours/payroll DOWN from the year before (of course, while still keeping sales up...
London tube strike called off after talks produce breakthrough  The Guardian   ...Unions planning 48-hour strike from Tuesday will no longer take action after bosses come up with new proposals...
States Crack Down On Corporate Tax Loophole While Congress Does Nothing  Huffington Post   ...Montana isn't often considered a fiscal policy pioneer, but in 2003 lawmakers closed a corporate tax loophole that was costing the state millions of dollars in lost revenue. A decade later, other cash-strapped states are finally following Montana's lead...
Tech Giants Push US Gov To Limit Surveillance Programs
  Associated Press   ...A coalition of the nation's leading technology firms is urging changes in the government's spying programs...