Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Today's Teamster News 05.14.13

Teamster News
USF Reddaway Teamsters in Las Vegas Approve First Contract  teamster.org   ...USF Reddaway workers, represented by Teamsters Local 631 in Las Vegas, have unanimously ratified their first contract which provides excellent benefits and a grievance procedure, among other improvements. There are 45 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamster Taxi Association Representatives, Drivers Blast D.C. Council Committee Bill  teamster.org   ...The representatives and drivers said the Council bill, titled the Transportation Network Services Innovation Act of 2014, favors the private sedan service companies and continues to give them an unfair competitive advantage over D.C. taxi drivers...
First Teamsters Contract For Warehouse Workers At IKEA  teamster.org   ...Congratulations to 64 warehouse workers at the IKEA distribution center in Frederickson, WA who voted overwhelmingly last night to ratify their first union contract.  Welcome to Teamsters Local 117!..
National Express Faces Joint Attack From Unite And Teamsters  The Guardian   ...National Express will face combined union pressure from Jim Hoffa Jr. president of the American Teamsters, and Len McClusky from Unite at its annual meeting on Wednesday...
Trade
No final deal on Pacific trade pact expected next week -US official  Reuters   ...Pacific trading partners are not expecting to reach a final agreement on an ambitious free trade pact at a ministerial meeting in Singapore next week, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday...
Surging Steel Imports Put Up To Half a Million U.S. Jobs at Risk  Economic Policy Institute   ...The U.S. steel industry is facing its worst import crisis in more than a decade...
State Battles
Filling in the blanks on ALEC  Burlington Free Press   ...The American Association for Justice characterizes ALEC as “ghostwriting the law for corporate America,” because it develops legislation funded and designed by those corporations...
War On Workers
Sadness, Shock as Hundreds Perish in Turkish Coal Mine Tragedy  ABC News   ...Women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies Wednesday from an underground explosion and fire that killed at least 238 workers...
Sallie Mae, Navient To Pay $139 Million Settling Probes Into Cheating Troops On Student Loans  Huffington Post   ...The Department of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. accused Sallie Mae and its loan unit, now called Navient, of intentionally violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by overcharging active-duty troops beginning in 2005, a period in which service members were fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The FDIC said Sallie Mae and Navient processed borrowers’ monthly student loan payments in a way designed to maximize late fees...
Banks At Walmart Are 'Exploiting The Poor': Investor  Huffington Post   ...Christopher Grisanti, co-founder of Grisanti Capital Management, said many of the independently-operated banks located in the retailer’s stores take advantage of cash-strapped consumers with nowhere else to turn. They allow poor Americans to overdraw their checking accounts and then subsequently charge overdraft fees...
The National Restaurant Association Spends Big to Keep Wages Low  Center for Media and Democracy   ...A majority of the Senate voted to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour recently, yet the bill failed to clear the 60 vote hurdle necessary for passage -- thanks in no small part to the political power of the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant industry's trade association...
Miscellaneous
When Driverless Cars Break the Law  New York Times   ...There is little doubt that the technology behind driverless cars is nearly advanced enough for mainstream use. Google plans to make its biggest public display yet of its cars on Tuesday...
Germany Sets New Record, Generating 74 Percent Of Energy Needs From Renewable Energy  Think Progress   ...On Sunday, Germany's impressive streak of renewable energy milestones continued, with renewable energy generation surging to a record portion --nearly 75 percent-- of the country's overall energy demand by midday...