Teamster News
Massachusetts Highway Workers Unanimously Ratify Contract teamster.org ...Workers with the Newbury Highway Department in Newbury, Mass., have voted unanimously to ratify a strong contract, securing wage increases and job protections. The highway workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, Mass., joined the union in December and quickly negotiated a solid agreement...
Baltimore City School Bus Workers Win $1.25 Million Wage Settlement teamster.org ...Baltimore school bus drivers and attendants have reached a $1.25 million wage settlement with their employer, Durham School Services, the transportation contractor for Baltimore City Public Schools...
Pleasanton-based Safeway in discussions to sell company San Jose Mercury News ...In a move poised to rattle the supermarket industry, one of the East Bay's largest employers, Safeway, announced Wednesday that it is in talks to sell the company...
Film tax credit bill goes live Sacramento Business Journal ...Democratic Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra and Mike Gatto released a film tax credit bill Wednesday that supporters say will protect jobs by keeping film crews in California....
Why privatizing toll collection is a horrible idea teamsternation ...If the New Jersey Turnpike Commission privatizes toll collection, workers who have already taken enormous cuts to pay and benefits will suffer...
Eight lies ‘advocates’ told about carriage horses New York Post ...the carriage industry is well-regulated and safe. NYCLASS attacks us not with facts and well-reasoned arguments, but with emotional manipulation and outright lies...
Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline Dallas Morning News ...A Nebraska judge on Wednesday struck down a law that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state, a victory for opponents who have tried to block the project that would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries...
The War on Workers
GOP’s Social Security disaster: Conservatives just lost their chance to cut benefits Salon ...The president dropping Chained CPI from his budget is a reprieve for the left -- and a message to the right...
Federal Government Soon to Know Everywhere You've Driven American Prospect ...There are more license-plate cameras installed all the time. Now the government wants to put all the data together in one database...
Flu Deaths Rise Among Young and Middle-Aged U.S. Adults Bloomberg ...While influenza traditionally affects children and the elderly hardest, adults under age 65 accounted for 61 percent of hospitalizations so far this season, an increase from 35 percent last year, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report...
New Report Exposes America's Highest Paid Government Workers truthout ...America’s highest paid "government" workers are not your local teachers, nurses, or sanitation workers. Rather, they are corporate executives who sign lucrative contracts to take over public services and then pay themselves and other executives eye-popping salaries...
Victoria's anti-protest laws pass lower house by one vote The Guardian ...Controversial new laws giving police unprecedented powers to disperse protests have passed Victoria’s lower house...
New Report: Port Trucking Companies Steal More Than $1 Billion in Wages From Drivers In These Times ...The port brings in close to $16 billion per year, but the drivers only see a tiny bit of that money. This is in large part because they're “misclassified” as independent contractors...
State Battles
Concerned Missourians Deliver More than 6,850 Letters Calling on Speaker To Drop ALEC's 'Right-To-Work' Legislation Attacks Progress Missouri ...“We need to be building an economy that works for everyone, not political attacks and favors to special interest donors...”
Employers could pay less in lawsuits over unpaid wages Indianapolis Star ...Long-sought changes limiting employers’ liability when being sued by workers for unpaid wages may come to pass under a House bill backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The bill also would set up a framework to allow employers to take money out of wages of employees — if they agree — to repay loans for work-related equipment and job training...
The Top Five Things You Need to Know about the John Doe Emails Center for Media and Democracy ... in 2010 while Walker was running for governor, he corresponded consistently with key campaign and county staff from a private account in the middle of the work day and apparently on the secret Wi-Fi system set up by top aide Tim Russell...
Scott Walker Ordered Doctor Fired Because She Was Once A Thong Model Huffington Post ... In April 2010, Scott Walker and his staff realized they had a potential problem on their hands that would require them to quietly fire a woman who appeared to be completely competent at her job. The issue was that she had what they perceived to be a "checkered" past: She used to be a thong model...
Chris Christie's Mansion Fund Collected Millions From Political Favor Seekers Huffington Post ...A review of IRS records and Drumthwacket donor lists, however, suggest that prospective donors saw the mansion as something more than just an altruistic investment. Contributions to Drumthwacket often coincided with the donors' attempts to win tax breaks, political appointments or other support from Christie and his appointees. In many cases, the donors, like the Strangfelds, got what they wanted...
SC guv says she wears heels to kick unions teamsternation ...South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would rather let the people of her state go without jobs than let them get union jobs...
Trade
“Free Trade” Pacts Were Always About Weakening Nation-States to Promote Rule by Multinationals naked capitalism ...the idea behind getting rid of these barriers wasn’t about free trade, it was about reorganizing the world so that corporations could manage resources for “the benefit of mankind”...
Miscellaneous
Madoff said JPMorgan executives knew of his fraud: lawsuit Reuters ..."JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them," the lawsuit said. "But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits," it added, "JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye."...
