Teamster News
County sets public hearing on contract with Teamsters Topeka Capital Journal ...The Shawnee County Commission made plans Monday to hear public comments at its March 31 meeting regarding an impasse between Shawnee County and its approximately 470 employees represented by the Teamsters Union...
Trade
The TPP Tries to Put a "No Exit" Sign on America's Crapified Health Care System by Allowing Medical Procedures to be Patented World-wide truthout ...if some guy decided to patent a medical procedure like, oh, looking at a patient’s teeth using a dental mirror (“tilt the mirror at the correct angle to display the crown or other surface”) that patent could be approved, if the examiner had a bad day, even though the procedure is neither new nor revolutionary. That would raise the price of dental care world-wide...
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala truthout ..."In several CAFTA countries things are worse now than when CAFTA went into effect..."
State Battles
Ohio Mistrusts Democracy New York Times ...Ohio Republicans must not think their political candidates can win a fair fight against Democrats...
GOP Bill Designed to Disrupt John Doe Dark Money Probe, Court Filings Confirm Center for Media and Democracy ...New court filings confirm that Wisconsin's John Doe campaign finance investigation hinges on how state election law treats "issue ad" groups coordinating with political campaigns, shedding new light on a Republican effort to quietly change the law in advance of Governor Scott Walker's reelection campaign...
The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen In These Times ...“Work is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but that’s exactly what it is, unless you’re protected [by a union],” says Gravett, who since graduating from high school in 1985 has worked in various factories, including Dupont, Cleveland Tubing, Polyloom and Volkswagen...
Pensiongate? Christie Campaign Donors Won Huge Contracts The Nation ...While trumpeting “pension reform,” the New Jersey governor placed retiree assets in the hands of hedge fund managers bankrolling his political career...
The War on Workers
Hunger crisis: Charities are strained as nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers depend on aid for food New York Daily News ...In a city of wealth, 1.4 million people rely on a network of 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens to eat. That's an increase of 200,000 people in five years, and the city's programs are struggling to keep up with that need...
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape New York Times ...More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation...
Wells Fargo foreclosure manual under fire Washington Post ...lenders, including Wells Fargo, used forged and shoddy paperwork during the recession to quickly foreclose on struggling homeowners, a practice known as “robo-signing.” Those charges led to a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that was supposed to put an end to such abusive practices, but bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli says nothing has changed...
Miscellaneous
Obama auto rescue saved 2.6 million jobs and over $100 billion examiner ...The total loss of jobs would have topped 2.6 million if the entire auto industry would have been left to collapse and the report also notes that the bailout "saved or avoided the loss of $105.3 billion in transfer payments and the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections -- or 768% of the net investment...”
