Teamster News
Striking VT Teamsters Fend Off Binding Arbitration, Enjoy Support of Local Community, Gov’t
The We Party ...In Burlington, Vermont nearly 70 bus drivers have gone on strike hoping to receive a fair contract from management. The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 597 and work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Chittenden County is Vermont’s most populated county...
Trade
Conn. suffers losses under U.S.-Korea trade treaty Stamford Advocate ...U.S. monthly net exports to Korea of helicopters -- Connecticut's second largest export -- have plummeted 81 percent on average under the FTA...
Tech Companies Urge Senator Wyden to Reject Fast Track and Bring Transparency to TPP Electronic Frontier Foundation ...More than 25 leading technology companies have joined a public letter urging Senator Ron Wyden, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to firmly oppose any form of "fast track" authority for trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In Trade Talks, It's Countries vs. Companies Bloomberg ...to many people, arbitration looks profoundly undemocratic. Countries that sign the treaties give away a lot: The arbitration panels are unelected tribunals of three experts (usually lawyers, one chosen by each side and one picked by mutual consent or a third party) that are empowered to overrule a nation’s highest authorities. The panels have come under attack from environmental groups, labor unions, and developing nations including Venezuela, Ecuador, and South Africa....
Rights group alarmed by Colombian port killings Associated Press ... illegal armed groups have forcibly disappeared scores if not hundreds of people in Colombia's main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the past two years, killing and dismembering some in so-called "chop-up houses."… the situation is among the most alarming it has seen in years…
State Battles
New York law makes it illegal to misclassify truckers Land Line ...Employers who misclassify truckers in New York face civil and criminal penalties under a new law that takes effect April 10. Classification has ramifications not only for employee drivers but also for owner-operators and leased operators...
Judge: Arizona can require proof of citizenship from new voters Capitol Media Services ...A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Election Assistance Commission to require would-be Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register...
Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting Los Angeles Times ...Gov. Jerry Brown diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit. A coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money...
Md. Senate chair seeks pay raise for workers who care for developmentally disabled Washington Post ...The chairman of a key Maryland Senate Committee said Wednesday that he does not plan to act on a bill to raise the minimum wage until a related issue is resolved involving the way the state reimburses workers who care for the developmentally disabled...
Michigan Plan Would Allow Students to Attend College 'For Free' Newsmax ...Students would be able to initially attend college for free under a new plan introduced recently in the Michigan Legislature, but they would have to pay for it down the road...
Pennsylvania among states to block food stamp cuts Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Pennsylvania will join more than a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia to block as much as $1.2 billion in food stamp cuts, relying on a wrinkle in federal law to preserve aid for millions of people...
Wisconsin Poised to Pass ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Bill Center for Media and Democracy ...Wisconsin could become the latest state to narrow access to the courts for asbestos victims in a bill up for a vote on March 20, joining a national coordinated effort that can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Gov Haley fires back after machinists union opens office for Boeing employees WCSC News 5 ...South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing...
War on Workers
Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government New York Times ...Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races...
Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App Alternet ...Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app...
Just 11% of US long-term unemployed find jobs Associated Press ...The number of people unemployed for more than six months has tripled since the recession began at the end of 2007...
This J.C. Penney Worker Was Fired For Telling The Truth About Its 'Fake' Prices Huffington Post ...J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the
department store for its questionable discounting practices...
Chicago voters support raising minimum wage The Chicago Reporter ...A symbolic victory on the non-binding referendum gives advocates and progressive aldermen the boost needed to press for an ordinance raising Chicago's minimum wage...
Walmart workers in China blockade store in protest at closure plan USI ...Nearly 150 workers have been picketing a Walmart store in the central Chinese city of Changde for two weeks, after management announced 4 March that the store would close down on 19 March...
Miscellaneous
New Report: Fortune 100 Companies Have Received $1.2 Trillion in Corporate Welfare Recently AlterNet ..Military contractors, oil companies and banks are the biggest 'welfare queens' around...
Starbucks to expand evening beer and wine service Guardian ...The chain first offered beer and wine after 4pm at one of its Seattle cafes in 2010. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year...
Residents Still Not Drinking Tap Water Two Months After West Virginia Spill Truthout ...It was a harsh start to 2014 for West Virginia, though in this state,
events over the last two months have been only the latest twists in a
long and familiar story...
NSA: Tech Companies Knew About PRISM The Whole Time Huffington Post ...Since leaked documents
revealed that Internet companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were
giving the National Security Agency vast access to people's online
information under a scheme codenamed PRISM, those Silicon Valley titans
have taken pains to deny participation in such a program. But now, the NSA's top lawyer says that just isn't true...
Bad news about American retirement McCook Daily Gazette ...How much do you have put away for retirement? A million dollars? Five hundred thousand? Five hundred dollars? If you're like a third of Americans, the final answer is closer to the truth...
