Teamster News
City of Santa Rosa's biggest labor group affiliates with Teamsters The Press Democrat ...The 410 members of the Santa Rosa City Employees Association last week voted overwhelmingly to join the Teamsters Local 856, which represents about 8,000 workers in the Northern California...
Mayor Wants To Drive Horse-Drawn Carriages Out Of NYC WEKU ...Stewart's studios are just around the corner from the largest of New York's four carriage horse stables, called Clinton Park. It looks like Cinderella's parking garage, with rows of fancy carriages lined up against whitewashed walls. The stalls appear clean and roomy, 8 by 10 feet — with freshly laid hay and clean water available...
Why truck drivers are getting dinged on pay CNN Money ...Many port trucker drivers across the country are making fast-food wages. These truck drivers haul goods from ports to warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards so that products can get to stores. They make an average of $28,700 per year, working an average of 59 hours per week, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a labor rights advocacy group...
State Battles
VW workers may block southern U.S. deals if no unions: labor chief Reuters ...Volkswagen's top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized...
‘I’m sorry’ bill gets Assembly approval Wisconsin Law Journal ...The state Assembly approved on a voice vote Tuesday on a bill that would let doctors and other medical providers apologize or express fault for botched medical procedures without having to worry their words would be used against them in court...
Walker asked for daily call between campaign and official aides, e-mails show Washington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) instructed a top aide to organize a daily conference call that involved both official and campaign staffers when he was executive of Milwaukee County in 2010, according to documents released publicly for the first time Wednesday that could complicate Walker's future as he eyes another term and a possible run for president...
This Could Be the Start of Scott Walker’s Bridgegate Salon ... Walker's aides regularly exchanged emails about the campaign during business hours, but for the first time, one of those emails directly implicates Walker in breaking campaign law...
Trade
Poll: Voters Blame Trade Agreements For Job Losses Campaign for America's Future ...voters overwhelmingly see unfair trade agreements and outsourcing as a main cause of our job problem...
Politics to Shadow Obama’s Trade Talks in Mexico New York Times ...President Obama traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a brief but politically fraught visit aimed at forging closer trade ties with America’s two closest neighbors even as his party’s leaders back home have vowed to undercut his efforts...
The War on Workers
Wal-Mart Says ‘Looking’ at Support of Federal Minimum Wage Rise Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart is weighing the impact of additional payroll costs against possibly attracting more consumer dollars at its stores, David Tovar, a company spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. Increasing the minimum wage means that some of the 140 million people who shop at the chain weekly would “now have additional income,” Tovar said...
Walmart denies reports saying it is considering minimum wage increase The Guardian ...Walmart, America’s largest private employer, denied reports Wednesday that it is looking at supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage...
Government drops plan to collect license tag data Associated Press ...The Homeland Security Department abruptly reversed course Wednesday and dropped plans to ask a private company to give the government access to a nationwide database of license plate tracking information...
How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network Pro Publica ...Fundraising by the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch supports a tangle of nonprofits, sometimes referred to as the Kochtopus, all aimed at advancing conservative causes. Two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, handed out almost $264 million from mid-2011 to October 2012 to 30 other nonprofits...
A hopeful first day for players? ESPN ... an attorney for Northwestern ... conceded that the labor board could conclude that college athletes may be employees, something that Northwestern had steadfastly refused even to consider as a possibility since Colter and the College Athletes Players Association filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 28...
NSA, DHS drop parody complaint The Hill ...It isn't illegal to print the National Security Agency's (NSA) official seal above the words “Spying On You Since 1952” on a novelty mug, the agency acknowledged on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Another Apparent Suicide Brings Financial World Death Toll to 6 in 2014 truthdig ...A 33-year-old JPMorgan employee jumped to his death from the roof of the firm’s Hong Kong headquarters Tuesday, adding to a series of untimely deaths in the banking and big business arena in recent weeks...half from JPMorgan...
