Today's Teamster News 08.31.14

Teamsters
Wage Watch: Court ruling could upend FedEx's business model  Fortune   ...In a ruling with the potential to upend the logistics industry, a three-judge panel on Wednesday decided that FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery drivers are employees of the company and not independent contractors, as FedEx had characterized them...
Trade
Top TPP negotiators to meet in Hanoi for 10-day trade talks  Japan Times   ...Top trade negotiators from 12 countries will hold 10-day talks in Hanoi from Monday, aiming to clinch a broad accord on a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pact by the end of November...
Wake up America Champions  Trade Reform   ...Post World War II we had about 19 million people employed directly in manufacturing – a sector where producers work.  That was roughly 10% of the population.  Today there are about 330 million people living in the United States.  About 3.5% of the population makes the stuff we consume. ..

State Battles
John Ketzenberger: Right to work and unions  The Star Press   ...The Indiana Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case Sept. 4 from Lake County that found the right-to-work law unconstitutional. Another Lake County judge ruled the law unconstitutional in July. Both decisions hinge on the "particular services" clause of the state Constitution, which states "no person's particular services shall be demanded without just compensation."...
Who's Getting a Raise? Minimum Wage Hikes Gain Steam in States, Cities  NBC News   ...“Because Congress hasn’t acted, states and cities are doing it instead; $10.10 is the new starting point...”
Michigan hourly minimum wage rises to $8.15 on Labor Day  Oakland Press   ...It’s scheduled to increase regularly over the next few years before topping out Jan. 1, 2018 at $9.25...
War on Workers
Private equity's giant collusion case is over, as Carlyle folds  Fortune   ...The plaintiffs had argued that Carlyle and its co-defendants had conspired to not bid against each other on eight large “take-private” buyouts that occurred prior to the financial crisis...
Skydiving event in memory of worker killed in propeller accident  Journal-News   ...Sarah Rhoads, 24, of Miamisburg, died after being critically injured when she accidentally walked into an operating airplane propeller this past June...
More Jobs That Pay Decent Wages: How To Fight Poverty In The United States  IMF   ...nearly 40 percent of American adults will spend at least one year in poverty by the time they reach 60. During 1968–2000, the risk was less than 20 percent. More devastatingly, 1 in 5 children currently live in poverty and, during their childhood, roughly 1 in 3 Americans will spend at least one year living below the poverty line...
The Unprecedented Failure to Regulate Citigroup Continues  Wall Street on Parade   ...Wall Street’s self-regulator, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), charged Citigroup with cheating its customers out of fair prices on preferred stock trades — 22,000 times. Citigroup was fined a meager $1.85 million, ordered to pay $638,000 in restitution, allowed to neither deny or admit the charges, and sent on its merry way to loot the next unwary investor...

Today's Teamster News 08.30.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Warn Of Anti-Trust Obstacles To Sysco-US Foods Merger  IBT   ...The union hosted today’s call to educate investors, analysts and members of the press about the potential imbalance the merger would create within the food service industry - an imbalance that could have widespread, negative effects on customers, providers and consumers and workers across the country...
Sysco-US Foods Merger Under Fire From Teamsters  The Street   ...A major union representing workers at Sysco Corp. (SYY_) and US Foods  said Thursday the merger partners have underestimated the market share the combined company would have if their $8.2 billion combination is cleared by the Federal Trade Commission...
Uber Drivers Team Up With Teamsters Union  LA Weekly   ...A group of Los Angeles–area Uber drivers has teamed up with Teamsters Local 986. The affiliation doesn't mean the drivers are unionizing. At this point, they couldn't do so if they wanted to because they are not technically employees. But Joseph DeWolf Sandoval, a member of the California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) leadership counsel, says that could change if future court challenges are successful...
Taylor Farms 'Poster Child' Bill Passes Senate  Monterey Herald   ...The bill's author, Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina, and the Teamsters union used Taylor Farms repeatedly to gather support. Part of their argument was that temporary workers at the company's Tracy processing facilities are kept in that status for years without benefits or job security...
Groups Vote To Remain With Teamsters Union  WTVW   ...Two members of Teamsters Local 215 vote to remain members. The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation reports school secretaries and bus drivers voted not to disband from the Teamsters and work on a new contract individually...
Drivers At Carl's Jr. Contractor MBM Corporation Win Teamster Representation  Marketwatch   ...The National Labor Relations Board recently announced the certification of Teamsters Local 63 as the bargaining representative for 72 drivers at MBM Corporation in Ontario, Calif...
Trade
Imminent Terrorist Attack Warning By Feds on US Border  Judicial Watch   ...Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED)...
Supplier For Samsung And Lenovo Accused Of Using Child Labor  New York Times   ...China Labor Watch said it had found more than 10 children working at the factory of a China-based supplier for the technology giants Samsung Electronics and the Lenovo Group in an investigation in July and August...
State Battles
Disappointing Jobs Report For Wisconsin In The 12-month Period Ending In March  Cap Times   ..."Wisconsin turned in another subpar job creation report Thursday with news that it gained 28,653 private-sector jobs in the 12 months from March 2013 to March 2014, according to data released late Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development...
Wisconsin Forecasted to Lag Further Behind Minnesota  Econbrowser   ...the cumulative growth gap between Minnesota and Wisconsin (relative to 2011M01) is forecasted to grow — rather than shrink — over the next six months...
Legislature Approves New Insurance Requirements For Uber, Lyft, Sidecar  San Jose Mercury News   ...From the moment a driver turns on the company's smartphone app, the company will have to provide insurance amounting to $50,000 in liability coverage for death or injury to a single person; $100,000 in coverage for all damages in a single accident; and $30,000 for property damage, with excess coverage of $200,000. The company must then provide $1 million in coverage once the driver is matched with a passenger...
Top Official For GOP Governors Praised Their Strong Partnership With Koch Network  Huffington Post   ...One of the top officials responsible for electing Republican governors this November lauded the partnership between his organization and a leading arm of the Koch brothers' political network during a mid-summer conference...
Confusion Over Voter ID Law In Kansas Continues  KWCH   ...Gray says confusion over the state's Voter ID Law and problems with the DMV not accepting her paperwork kept her at home during the August primaries...
War On Workers
Public Higher Education: Another Casualty of the Great Recession  Washington Monthly   ...at some point in the last six years, 41 state legislatures in the United States slashed funding for their public universities and colleges...Only 14 states have re-invested in higher education at levels equal to or above their pre-recession levels. Last year, 20 states actually cut more funding from their public universities and colleges...

Divisions Grow as a Downturn Rocks Europe  New York Times   ...Six years after being struck by economic crisis, Europe is facing a fresh downturn, with few new ideas on the table for reigniting growth and deepening political divisions over the austerity policies that many blame for worsening the malaise...

Miscellaneous
'Google-Like' Search Engine Puts NSA Snooping Back In The Spotlight  Fox News   ...The National Security Agency’s surveillance machinery is again in the spotlight after a media report claimed that it is secretly providing data to almost two dozen U.S. government agencies via a powerful “Google-like” search engine...
Evidence Grows That Online Social Networks Have Insidious Negative Effects  MIT Technology Review   ...A study of 50,000 people in Italy concludes that online social networks have a significant negative impact on individual welfare...

Food prices to rise with Sysco-US Foods merger, Teamsters say

The proposed Sysco-US Foods merger will probably hurt workers and consumers if it is allowed to go through, a new report by the Teamsters concludes.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters warned the $8.2 billion merger would result in a virtual monopoly in many markets, costing workers' jobs and raising food prices. According to The Street:

The Teamsters found that the merged company would hold 60% in metro Chicago, 70% in Los Angeles and Southern California, more than 70% in metro Philadelphia, 75% in the midwestern region around Denver and 80% in Minneapolis-St. Paul. 

If corroborated by the FTC, the market shares estimated by the Teamsters would obligate the agency to require sizable divestitures for which there may not be viable buyers, the Teamsters warned.

The Global Competition Report today quoted Teamsters International Vice President Steve Vairma, director of the warehouse division, making that point:

Even with divestitures of physical assets, he said, a smaller competitor could not easily become a check on a combined Sysco and US Foods. 

“Nobody has bought a facility, loaded it with product and taken significant share overnight,” he said.

Teamsters have plenty of experience with what Wall Street likes to call 'rationalizing the supply chain': merging smaller distributors into one behemoth. To pay the exorbitant costs for the merger, companies borrow money. To be able to pay back the debt, they shut down some operations, fire workers and stop investing in new plant and equipment. Oh, and raise prices.

That's exactly what will happen if Sysco and US Foods merge.

The two companies say they will only have a combined market share of 25 percent, but the Teamsters dispute that. Again, from GCRI:

...critics of the tie-up such as the American Antitrust Institute and Food & Water Watch put it at 55 per cent. Alan Meyers, a mergers specialist in the Teamsters’ capital strategies department, said the union had performed an extensive field study to produce its own estimate. 

The union claims 11,500 Sysco and US Foods warehouse workers and truck drivers, who helped the Teamsters survey the number of employees at and the amount of available floor space in those facilities, which determines how much product can be moved through for distribution. Meyers said 70 per cent is an unweighted average of the markets the union has been able to verify, accounting for all types of customers for which Sysco and US Foods currently compete.

You can keep up with what's going on at Sysco and USFoods on the Protecting Sysco & US Foods Workers Facebook page.

Today's Teamster News 08.29.14

Teamster News
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union  IBT   ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers   IBT   ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986  IBT   ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis  BuzzFeed   ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs  EurActiv   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP  (opinion)   DailyCamera   ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations  Washington Post   ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment?  Slate   ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections  WisPolitics Budget Blog   ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality  Huffington Post   ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”?  Washington Center for Equitable Growth   ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged  Huffington Post   ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall  Missoulian   ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview  SF Gate   ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk  Bloomberg   ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...

Today's Teamster News 08.28.14

Teamster News
Teamsters At Fred Meyer Warehouse Vote To OK Strike  The Stand   ...Teamster warehouse workers employed at the Fred Meyer grocery distribution center in Puyallup voted overwhelmingly over the weekend to authorize a strike. The final vote was 241-2. Voting took place at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila...
Safety Agents and de Blasio Administration Reach Labor Deal  New York Times   ...Mayor Bill de Blasio and Teamsters Local 237, the municipal union representing school safety agents and special officers, announced a tentative contract and the proposed settlement of a pay equity lawsuit on Tuesday that would distribute $38 million in back pay to current and former school safety agents who are overwhelmingly female...
City Pays $38M To Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit From Female Safety Agents Being Paid Far Less Than Male Counterparts  New York Daily News   ...In a move timed to Women’s Equality Day, the city announced Monday it had settled a four-year-old lawsuit from a group of safety agents who were paid far less than their male counterparts. The suit was settled for $38 million as part of a new labor agreement with Teamsters Local 237...
Mayor’s Office: Union Contract Means Pay Equity For Largely Female School Safety Agents  CBS News   ...The deal with Teamsters Local 237, which represents both the largely female school safety agents and special officers, was reached Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office announced...
Union Employees Air Contract Dispute On MDI  Bangor Daily News   ...Municipal employees of three Mount Desert Island towns who are members of the Teamsters labor union are airing their grievances as they try to reach a new labor contract with the towns...
Contract Disputes Lead To Demonstrations On Mount Desert Island  Maine Public Broadcasting   ...Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are demonstrating on Mount Desert Island this afternoon to draw attention to ongoing contract disputes with three area towns...
Weary U.S. Workers Are Still Experiencing Hard Times (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Despite a dip in unemployment during the past few years, low pay continues to plague many employees while their corporate bosses rake in record profits...
Trade
TPP: Expansive Rights for Big Pharma, Expensive Medicines for U.S. Consumers  Public Citizen   ...Leaked draft intellectual property texts for the TPP reveal broad monopoly protections for pharmaceutical corporations, which elevate the costs of medicines and medical procedures...
Turkish Firms Hit By Anti-Dumping Duties On Steel Pipes To US  Todays Zaman   ...The US International Trade Commission (USITC) decided to impose anti-dumping duties on Turkish steel pipes last week following an investigation into export prices, a development that is likely to hurt Turkish pipe exporters to this country...
State Battles
Minimum Wage Bump Would Help Close Wealth Gap For 23% In S.F.  San Francisco Chronicle   ...If San Francisco voters approve raising the minimum wage law in November, 142,000 workers - or 23 percent of the city's workforce - would get a raise by the time it fully kicks in to $15 an hour by 2018...
Scott Walker, J.B. Van Hollen Again Ask Court To Reinstate Voter ID  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen are asking a federal court to reinstate Wisconsin's voter ID law, but they have not finalized a plan to comply with a different court's decision requiring the state to provide IDs to people who don't have birth certificates...
War On Workers
Market Basket Revolt Ends as Arthur T. Demoulas Wins Bid  Bloomberg   ...Arthur T. Demoulas, the ousted chief executive officer of the Market Basket supermarket chain whose employees gained national attention in a revolt to get him back, won his bid to buy the company...
Why America’s Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It  Economic Policy Institute   ...Comparing the first half of 2014 with the first half of 2013, real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages fell for workers in nearly every decile—even for those with a bachelor’s or advanced degree...
The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism (opinion)  New York Times   ...Sentinel Offender Services … oversees case management, including breath alcohol and drug-testing services, “all at no cost to county taxpayers.”…Sentinel is a part of the expanding universe of poverty capitalism. In this unique sector of the economy, costs of essential government services are shifted to the poor...
Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires (Exclusive)  The Nation   ...At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills...
At Koch Retreat, Top GOP Senate Candidates Credited Koch Network For Their Rise  Huffington Post   ...Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst and Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton directly credited donors present at the June 16 retreat in Dana Point, California, for propelling them forward. Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner told attendees that his race would likely be decided by the presence of "third party" money -- an obvious pitch for generosity from the well-heeled crowd...
Argentina Set for Second National Strike as Economic Woes Deepen  Bloomberg   ...Argentina is bracing for a day of road blocks and disruption as labor unions stage a second national strike in less than five months while July’s bond default threatens to fuel inflation and undermine growth...
40 Percent of Restaurant Workers Live In Near-Poverty  Mother Jones   ...The industry's wages have stagnated at an extremely low level. Restaurant workers' median wage stands at $10 per hour, tips included—and hasn't budged, in inflation-adjusted terms, since 2000...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Budget Gap Narrows to Smallest Since 2007, CBO Says  Bloomberg   ...The projected shortfall will be $506 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, compared with an April prediction for $492 billion and a $680 billion gap posted last year, the nonpartisan CBO said today in a report. In 2015 it’s projected to shrink for a sixth straight year, to $469 billion, capping the longest stretch of fiscal improvement since 2000, near the end of an era of surpluses...

Today's Teamster News 08.27.14

Teamster News
Teamsters vow to fight IDOT layoffs  State Journal-Register   ...Lawyers representing Teamsters Local 916 said Tuesday they want 55 members of the union who were put in Illinois Department of Transportation jobs as staff assistants … to be able to continue working for the agency...
1934 Minneapolis Teamsters Strike, One Key Precursor To Wagner Act  People's World   ...Wagner wrote the National Labor Relations Act(NLRA), the nation's basic labor law, in early 1935, then convinced a reluctant Roosevelt to support it. The Senate passed the NLRA 63-12, the House approved it by voice vote, and Roosevelt signed it on July 5, 1935...
Trade
Petition to Sen. Wyden — “Smart Track” cannot be “Fast Track” in Disguise  Public Citizen   ...Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden has been working on what he calls a new form of trade authority. What we need is a replacement for Fast Track — the Nixon-formulated process that allowed presidents to sign “free trade” deals before Congress got to vote on them, and then railroad the deals through Congress in only 90 days with limited debate and no amendments...
Import Competition and the Great U.S. Employment Sag of the 2000s  National Bureau of Economic Research   ...“Our central estimates suggest net job losses of 2.0 to 2.4 million stemming from the rise in import competition from China over the period 1999 to 2011...”
Registered Lobbyists Elbow Their Way Back Into TPP Committees  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...Special interests won a federal court ruling earlier this year, where the judge in the case suggested that President Obama's ban on registered lobbyists serving on federal advisory committees violated those lobbyists' rights...the White House has sent a memo specifying new rules, permitting lobbyists to once again officially serve on federal agencies if they are representing a specific client...
State Battles
John Nichols: Scott Walker, mine money and the 'appearance of corruption'  The Cap Times   ...Gogebic Taconite moved $700,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, which in turn steered resources to other groups that cheered on Walker and his Republican allies. "Because Wisconsin Club for Growth's fundraising and expenditures were being coordinated with Scott Walker's agents at the time of Gogebic's donation, there is certainly an appearance of corruption in light of the resulting legislation from which it benefited," argued Dean Nickel, the former head of the state Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Unit...
Nearly Half Of Workers In California Don’t Get Paid Sick Days, Analysis Finds  Washington Post   ...Forty four percent of workers in California don’t get any paid sick days, according to a new analysis...
Angry About Ferguson? Oppose Voter ID Laws  Daily Beast   ...Even a study that voter ID proponents frequently cite because it minimizes the problem readily admits that that “the adverse effects fall disproportionately on women, African-Americans, and Democrats.”...
O'Connell: Council Can Raise Minimum Wage  Louisville Courier Journal   ...Scott requested an opinion from the office on whether the council could establish a minimum wage. Council members have not introduced a proposed ordinance, but members of the Democratic majority have voiced their support for an increase...
War On Workers
Burger King swallows Tim Hortons; new firm is Canada-bound  Los Angeles Times   ...Burger King Worldwide Inc. said Tuesday it would buy the Tim Hortons coffee-and-doughnut chain for about $11.4 billion and place the new firm's headquarters in Canada, where the corporate tax rate is lower than in the U.S...
Burger King Fans Call For Boycott Over Tax Dodge  Huffington Post   ...People flooded the fast-food chain’s Facebook page on Monday with threats of a boycott after the company announced talks to merge with Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons. The combined company would be headquartered in Canada...
A New Reason to Question the Official Unemployment Rate  New York Times   ...there seems to have been an increase in the number of people who once would have qualified as officially unemployed and today are considered out of the labor force, neither working nor looking for work...
Contract Worker Killed In Accident At NewPage In Rumford  River Valley Sun Journal   ...A man was killed in an accident at the NewPage mill Monday afternoon, according to mill spokesman Tony Lyons...
Worker killed, others hurt in July explosion  Associated Press   ...The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says a fatal July explosion at a fish processing plant on the Mississippi Coast occurred during “hot work” on a tank...The board says no combustible gas testing was done on the contents of the tank before the hot work began...
Poor Door’ in a New York Tower Opens a Fight Over Affordable Housing  New York Times   ...A 33-story glassy tower rising on Manhattan’s waterfront will … also cater to renters who make no more than about $50,000. They will not share the same perks, and they will also not share the same entrance...
Miscellaneous
Amid job stagnation, a prosperous class grows (opinion) AlJazeera America   ...A small group of very well-paid workers is earning a third of the nation’s wages...

Teamsters settle pay equity case with NYC. Woot!

Local 237 President Greg Floyd in 2013, demanding a settlement. 

Teamsters Local 237 reached a settlement of its lawsuit with the City of New York for underpaying women who work as school safety agents -- a terrific Teamster victory for Women's Equality Day!!

The settlement covers more than 5,000 Teamster school safety agents, who brought the largest pay discrimination suit in the United States against New York four years ago, when Michael Bloomberg was mayor.

The school safety agents, mostly women, receive $7,000 less pay a year than male-dominated peace officers in the city. The new mayor, Bill de Blasio, intervened in the class action suit (as he said he would) to fix the problem.

Sister Kangela Moore, who worked as a school safety agent for over 22 years, said:

I'm ecstatic—we've made history! I'm thankful for the Mayor's commitment to ensuring full pay equity for all employees, and for Local 237 and President Floyd's critical work to ensure we're getting the same pay as other special officers around the city. This means so much to me, my family, and the over 5,000 school safety agents employed by the City.

The agreement, which must be approved by a judge, would put school safety agents on an accelerated schedule to achieve equal pay by March 2018. According to a press statement from the mayor's office,

In addition to equalization of salary, today's agreement creates a new seven-year step pay plan for both new school safety agents and new special officers, to take effect on September 1, 2014, making permanent the equalization of school safety agent and special officer salaries. 

Incumbent school safety agents will be put on an accelerated schedule in order to achieve full pay equity by March 2018. The City will provide retroactive pay for wages in the amount of approximately $7,000 for each active school safety agent employed for at least three years as of September 1, 2014, and for school safety agents who retired between March 5, 2010 and August 31, 2014. The City will also provide retroactive pay for wages of up to $3,000, pro-rated for time served, for school safety agents who have left service and did not retire and were not discharged for cause. 

Members of the bargaining unit will vote on the contract.

Said Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237:

Today, we celebrate a fair contract for our school safety agents that provides them and their families with the security they need and deserve.

The Whopper is about to become un-American

Burger King is the latest U.S. company to try to buy a smaller foreign country and move its mailing address there so it can pay lower taxes.

Burger King wants to buy Canadian restaurant chain Tim Horton's so it can take advantage of Canada's lower corporate tax rate.

Business Insider noticed the Burger King Facebook page was blowing up with criticism of the planned move:

Tax inversions have become a big corporate trend as companies seek to lower their tax bills. This time, though, we have a major household name taking advantage of it, and people have noticed. 

Thousands of Burger King's seven-million-plus Facebook fans have described the fast-food restaurant with words like "traitor" and "un-American."

We took a look. The comments are vivid and frequent:

• Now that Burger King is moving its headquarters to Canada (to take advantage of a lower corporate tax rate) will U.S. tax payers still be on the hook for food stamps and other benefits paid to Burger King's U.S. employees? If Americans are going to subsidize minimum wage workers they might want to eat their cheeseburgers from a company that at least has enough respect to fly its corporate flag in the U.S.
• No more whoppers for me.
• Congrats to BK. Great business thinking. Now that your gonna save all this money why not pass it on to the employees. Raise their pay with all the extra money. You can afford it now.
• Burger King as dead to me as Walmart.

Finally, here's a priceless rant:

• We don't believe you and refuse to do business with any corporation that moves from the USA. I will not be going to a Burger King again. Just greedy people trying to drive down the middle class and treating their workers like slaves. Shame on you and the whole corporate America. Your nasty food is no good for Americans to eat anyway. We do pray for the pitiful workers that will get the brunt of this. It is always the middle and lower class that gets the boot while people like CEO's get to pack in fortunes for themselves and their buds. Try to sell all of burgers in Canada. We don't want anymore of them. Fly a Canadian flag.

If you'd like to comment, just click here for the Burger King Facebook page, like it and comment away!

A public outcry against similar plans by Walgreen's forced that company to scrap its plans to flee America's taxes. Let's hope the same happens to Burger King.

Today's Teamster News 08.26.14

Teamsters
Teamsters concerned about cameras monitoring Massena town employees  Watertown Daily Times   ...Teamsters Union business agent Mickey S. Smith claims that town officials have refused to negotiate the use of security cameras in public areas throughout the town, but Supervisor Joseph D. Gray sees it differently...
Trade
UPS, Fedex get approval for express services in more Chinese cities  Reuters   ...After years of waiting, United Parcel Service Inc  and FedEx Corp have received licenses in China to extend domestic express package services to Beijing and other cities without needing joint-venture partners...
State Battles
New Doe document links Walker campaign, two national groups  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...A newly released document alleges Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with two national groups on political advertising in a way that went further than what had been previously known...
WEDC board OK'd Ashley Furniture getting $6 million tax credit, cutting 1,900 jobs  Wisconsin State Journal   ...The board overseeing the state’s flagship job-creation agency has quietly approved a $6 million tax credit for Ashley Furniture Industries with a condition allowing the company to eliminate half of its state workforce...
6 Reasons Why Rick Scott Is One of the Worst Candidates for Working Families in the 2014 Elections  AFL-CIO   ...Scott rejects policies that would raise wages. “When I hear a politician say that we have to raise the minimum wage so working families can make ends meet, I cringe,” he said...
Companies that hire disabled ordered to pay back wages  The Morning Call   ...The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Pennsylvania organizations to pay $118,000 in back wages to workers with disabilities since 2011, according to records PublicSource obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The workers, who mostly have intellectual and developmental disabilities, already were earning far below minimum wage because the employers have a special license to pay people with disabilities less...
The Con Artistry of Charter Schools  In These Times   ...Charter schools are such a racket, across the nation they are attracting special attention from the FBI, which is working with the Department of Education’s inspector general to look into allegations of charter-school fraud...
Missourians Fight ALEC Over Big Agriculture’s “Right to Farm”  Mint Press News   ...the conflict was essentially between large agricultural factories and consumers increasingly concerned with the sustainability and ethics behind the food they eat...
Educators protest corporate influence on public education  The Legislative Gazette   ...Protestors from New York State United Teachers demonstrated on the steps of the State Education Department building, shredding a Pearson testing contract while speaking out against what they call the growing corporate influence on teaching and learning in New York's public schools and colleges...
Ride-sharing firms shift into overdrive to kill insurance bill  Los Angeles Times   ...The fight pits companies such as Uber and Lyft against insurers, taxicab firms and some consumer advocates. At issue is how much and what kind of insurance should be required for ride-sharing drivers in case of an accident...
War on Workers
Retirees' Social Security checks garnished for student loans  CNN Money   ...It's a growing national trend. Last year, 156,000 Americans had their Social Security checks garnished because of student loans they had defaulted on. It's tripled in number from 47,500 in 2006...
Amazon at odds with Germany over strong union tradition  Seattle Times   ...Unions are a part of the cultural fabric in Germany. For Amazon, that poses a persistent challenge as thousands of its German warehouse workers fight for union recognition, striking occasionally to demonstrate their commitment...
Indiana county highway worker killed when hit by tire rim  Associated Press   ...State safety officials are investigating the death of a northwestern Indiana county highway department worker who was killed when a tire rim blew off a road grader...
McDonald's maintenance worker Jose Carillo, 81, won't let his age keep him from waging the fight for fair wages for fast-food workers  New York Daily News   ...Peruvian immigrant Castillo is paid $8.10 an hour at a Midtown McDonald's and can't afford to retire. He is one of hundreds of fast-food workers campaigning to have their wages raised to $15 an hour...
Despite Economic Recovery, Millions Of Workers Stuck In Part-Time Jobs  NPR   ...Americans who'd like to have full-time jobs are often working two or more part-time jobs to make ends meet. Some are hamstrung by increasingly difficult labor tactics used by their employers...
Taco Bell Owners Sued For Forcing Workers to Give Fake Money as Change  Jezebel   ...The operators of two Manhattan Taco Bells have been handed a class-action lawsuit alleging they forced underage workers to hand out counterfeit $20 bills to customers as change...
The Kochs' commercial appeal  Politico   ...This cycle, Koch-affiliated groups, such as Americans for Prosperity, are expected to spend up to a staggering $290 million to support conservative causes and candidates, much of it on advertising...

Walmart mismanagement: Does it sound like a place where you work?

Walmart has an outsize impact on the U.S. economy as it depresses wages, increases the trade gap with China and destroys locally-owned competitors. The way it treats its workers may have also spread.

Consider this story from the peerless Hamilton Nolan at Gawker. Nolan received a memo from an Oklahoma Walmart manager who described how the company pitted him against low-income employees.

Here are some of the lowlights:

• Store managers can double their pay if they keep payroll costs down. "Which means gradually forcing the long time employees out. And replacing them with temporary workers, who are not eligible for healthcare, time off, or even a discount card. Most of these people start off at $7.90 an hour and are already on public assistance. That ends up backfiring because the new hires most of them end up quitting within a month."
• Plenty of labor law violations. "I've had to cut many of my Cashiers hours and as a result less registers have been open which means longer lines. We've even had to make many cashiers not take their 15 minute break. I've also had to work 60 hour weeks while not receiving any overtime pay."
• Wage theft by failing to pay overtime. "I ended up working 65 hour weeks (which has been hard on my family) doing tasks such as stocking shelves, running a register, while also being responsible for electronics." Walmart did not pay overtime.
• Ripping off the customer: A reader commented: Walmart forces managers to do all sorts of questionable things to insure their bonus. One example that is rarely mentioned is the practice of 'pricing mistakes'. Walmart is fond of making items ring up at a higher rate than the displayed signage. They typically do this for popular items and by a small amount. This is done at the store level so that there is not a systematic parity. This is also a violation of the law in most states. To be clear, Walmart doesn't just let this happen. They actively request it(or at least have in the past).

Does this sound like someplace you work?

Today's Teamster News 08.25.14

Trade
Cambodian rat meat: A growing export market  BBC News   ...A unique harvest is under way in the rice fields of Cambodia where tens of thousands of wild rats are being trapped alive each day to feed a growing export market for the meat of rural rodents...
Steel Institute, Others Visit South Carolina to Address Currency Manipulation  Trade Reform   ...unfair currency policies hurt American job creation and economic growth – impacting the more than 3,000 steel jobs in South Carolina...
State Battles
Troubled New York Hedge Fund Billionaire Sent Scott Walker $1 Million  Political Environment  ...The firm’s founder, Steven A. Cohen, has so far escaped criminal charges. But the firm that bore his initials agreed in November to plead guilty to an array of insider trading allegations and to pay overall penalties totaling $1.8 billion...
War on Workers
The US Is One Of The Last Developed Countries Where It Can Still Take Days For Money To Show Up In Your Bank Account  Business Insider   ...while regulators and some financial institutions are finally recognizing this should no longer be the case, it will likely take years for any reforms to take effect...
Study: Overtime rules could benefit 6M  The Hill   ...Regulations now under construction at the Labor Department could expand the sphere of workers eligible for overtime pay by more than 6 million, according to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)...
No to Walmart-Style Classrooms  Making Change at Walmart   ...the Walton family, who owns Walmart, is also trying to spread the Walmart business model to our classrooms...
Dollar stores in battle to double down on the poor  Reuters   ... Family Dollar Stores,, which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree. Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America...
Burger King the Latest to Jump on the Corporate Tax Inversion Bandwagon  naked capitalism   ...Burger King Worldwide Inc. is in talks to buy Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc., a deal that would be structured as a so-called tax inversion and move the hamburger seller’s base to Canada...
Robots Able to Pick Peppers, Test Soil, and Prune Plants Aim To Replace Farm Workers  Singularity Hub   ...Farm robots are increasingly capable of autonomously performing complex tasks including plowing, plant and soil surveillance, and even the harvesting of fruit and vegetables...

Today's Teamster News 08.24.14

Trade
John Birch Society CEO Exposes Trade Schemes on Alex Jones Show  The New American   ...the TPP and TTIP negotiations are still proceeding apace. However, they are flying under the radar in stealth mode, with the compliant assistance of the mainstream media, which dutifully keeps the American public distracted from the profoundly destructive effect these agreements would have on our constitutional Republic and our entire way of life...
WTO Panel Decides Against U.S. in Meat-Labeling Dispute  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. has lost a key round at the World Trade Organization in a trade dispute with Canada and Mexico over meat labeling, according to people familiar with the WTO's findings...
State Battles
Measure 3 support kicks off with labor union rally in Fairbanks  News Miner   ...The chants of the crowd filled the air at Myrtle Thomas Park in Fairbanks on Thursday afternoon during the rally officially launching the Measure 3 campaign to raise and inflation-proof Alaska’s minimum wage...
Charter schools making big profits for private companies  WTSP   ...10 Investigates found a much bigger pot of money CUSA has been able to tap into: rent. When the company helps open a new school, its development arm, Red Apple Development, acquires land and constructs a school. Then, CUSA charges the school high rent...
Labor Day Parade organizers tell Gov. Corbett he's not welcome  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...“I told them he wasn't invited,’’ said Jack Shea, the veteran Labor Council president. “You can’t be trying to do away with us for 364 days a year and then want to march with us.’’...
North Carolina judge rules private school voucher program unconstitutional  Jurist   ...The plaintiffs—public schools grades K through 12 and the taxpayers of North Carolina—will suffer irreparable harm if the state is not permanently enjoined from making unconstitutional disbursement of taxpayer funds to parents for the enrollment of their children in private schools...
New Quarterly Gross State Product Series: Wisconsin and Minnesota  Econbrowser   ...Minnesota per capita income has been statistically significantly higher than Wisconsin since end 2011 (equivalently, Wisconsin’s per capita income lower than Minnesota’s)...
War on Workers
It's Hard To Get Good Help: Trucking Industry Edition  Center for Economic Policy and Research   ...If we had more skilled people running trucking companies they would realize that they could bid away drivers from their competitors and get more people to learn to drive trucks if they offered higher pay...
The Housing Being Built in New York Doesn’t Meet the Needs of New Yorkers  New York Observer   ...The city demands cheaper, smaller housing units, with 57 percent of all adults in the city identifying as “single,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 54.5 percent of the city’s population classified as rent-burdened—or paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent—in 2011, up from 40.7 percent in 2000...
Highway worker killed in St. Michaels work-zone crash  Baltimore Sun   ...A contracted highway worker for the State Highway Administration died Thursday evening after being struck by a vehicle in a work zone in St. Michaels, according to the SHA and Maryland State Police...
Worker killed in fall from I-40 bridge  Commercial Appeal   ...A 52-year-old worker was killed in a fall from the Interstate 40 bridge Friday near West Memphis...
Worker killed after explosion in Northwest Houston  ABC 13 News   ...Police say an explosion caused a large piece of metal to fall on top of employees. One person died, and there are no reports of anyone else injured...
Those Koch Attacks Are Working  Wall Street Journal   ...Democratic Super PACs and party campaign committees are outraising the Republicans...

Today's Teamster News 08.23.14

Trade
U.S. Steel Producers Win Anti-Dumping Case Against Cheap Imports  Reuters   ...The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday voted to impose anti-dumping duties against steel pipe imports from six countries, exempting two, handing a victory to domestic producers who had complained that the cheap imports were undercutting their prices...
State Battles
Documents Allege Scott Walker Pressured Groups To Donate To Campaign  Huffington Post   ...Newly released court documents include excerpts from emails showing that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall election campaign team told him to instruct donors to give to a key conservative group that would run ads for Walker and distribute money to other conservative groups backing him. … The documents are part of a secret investigation into whether Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups during the run-up to the June 2012 recall...
Minimum Wage Ballot Campaign Begins  KGTV   ...A campaign spearheaded by local businesses to put the minimum wage ordinance before voters kicked off Thursday. The San Diego Small Business Coalition announced the referendum campaign at a news conference Thursday morning in Sorrento Valley...
Appeals Court Delays Wisconsin Voter ID Decision  WCWF   ...A federal appeals court put off a decision until next month on whether to put Wisconsin’s voter ID law back in place...
Survey: Economy Slows Down In Rural Areas Of Kansas  KMUW   ...A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is slowing down in rural areas of Kansas, Missouri and eight other states...
Cruel Cuts: Philadelphia Public Schools Pay The Price For Pa.’s Expanded Neo-Voucher Program  Americans United   ...For the second year in a row Philadelphia’s public schools are struggling to open on time, and it appears deep budget cuts – including money siphoned for a voucher-like program – are to blame...
War On Workers
Bank Of America Papers Show Conflict And Trickery In Mortgages  New York Times   ...A founder of Countrywide Financial warned three years before the housing market collapsed that his company could face “financial and reputational catastrophe” if it continued holding certain risky mortgages on its balance sheet. Still, Countrywide continued to sell these loans to investors...
Few homeowners expected to benefit from Bank of America's $16.65B settlement  Associated Press   ...Only a fraction of homeowners would be eligible for refinancing under the settlement. And the process by which people would qualify and receive aid could drag on for years, with payouts set to be completed as late as 2018...
Man Claims Uber Driver Promised Him A Low Fare, Then Charged Him $814  LAist   ...A man says that Uber charged his group a whopping $814 for a ride from El Monte to Culver City even though his driver promised it wouldn't be much more than $150...
Rebuilding America, One Bridge At A Time (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Our public infrastructure is rusting, rotting and, in some cases, falling apart, and we now lag behind nations that are investing in modern, efficient, low-carbon infrastructure...
Economic harassment and the Ferguson crisis (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...the Ferguson court is a "chronic offender" in legal and economic harassment of its residents. There's not much of a secret why: the municipality collects some $2.6 million a year in fines and court fees, typically from small-scale infractions like traffic violations. This is the second-largest source of income for that small, fiscally-strapped municipality...
A Walmart Manager Describes Walmart's Mismanagement  Gawker   ...Last week, we received an email from a current Walmart manager in Oklahoma asking to share his story. Below is his description of the policies that America's largest employer uses to pit managers against low-level employees, for the benefit of the richest family in America...
A first for Jackson Hole — protesters are here, and they don’t want rate hikes  Marketwatch   ...Protesters, worried that the central bank is about to put its foot on the brakes, have come to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole retreat this year to urge the central bank to hold off and give the economy more time to heal. This is believed to be the first time there ever has been protesters at the event...
Miscellaneous
Americans' Satisfaction With Job Security at New High  Gallup   ...In the U.S., 58% of full- or part-time workers are completely satisfied with their job security. This represents an increase from the levels recorded during the aftermath of the Great Recession -- from 2009 to 2013 -- when roughly 50% of Americans said they were completely satisfied...

Today's Teamster News 08.22.14

Teamster News
What the Hell Went on Between Boston’s Teamsters and the ‘Top Chef’ Crew?  Boston Globe   ...Teamsters Local 25 have released a statement about the Deadline Hollywood story and vehemently disagree with the details offered by the unnamed “Top Chef” crew members...
Teamsters Ratify Contracts At Stroehmann, Grocery Haulers Inc.  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 264 members at Stroehmann Bakeries and Grocery Haulers Inc. (GHI) in Olean, N.Y., have voted overwhelmingly to ratify contracts providing for significant workplace improvements...
Local 135 Strikes Against Trucking Company  Kokomo Tribune   ...Members of Teamsters Local Union 135 went on strike Wednesday morning against Diamond Trucking Inc. after new contract negotiations broke down Tuesday night...
Carpenters Locked Out Of Pa. Convention Center Since May Seek End To Dispute  CBS News   ...Carpenters who claim they’ve been locked out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center were back out on the street on Wednesday protesting management’s refusal to put them back to work...
Protest-Stalled Ship At Port Of Oakland Finally Unloaded, Sails Away  Contra Costa Times   ...During the protest, the Teamsters had issued a statement calling on longshore workers to "immediately unload the ship" and said their issue was not the Gaza conflict, but the impact the protests have on local jobs...
Sodexo Workers Overwhelmingly Ratify First Teamster Contract With Local 633  IBT   ...Seventy (70) Teamster members employed by Sodexo, Inc., who provide cafeteria services, have overwhelmingly ratified their first ever Teamster contract...
Trade
TPP: The “Trade” Deal that Could Inflate Your Healthcare Bill  Public Citizen   ...Leaked draft TPP texts… contain expansive rules that would constrain the ability of the U.S. government to reduce medicine prices...
Trade Data Pours Cold Water on "Rising Star" Outlook for American Manufacturing  manufacture this   ...The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures surged by $21.6 billion, or 19%, in the second quarter, compared with 2013, following an 8% increase in the first quarter. In the opposite direction, the Chinese surplus increased in the second quarter by $20.0 billion, or 9%...
State Battles
Scott Walker’s Offshoring Flip-Flop  In These Times   ...Mr. Right-to-Work is trying to divert attention from his administration’s abysmal record on jobs and labor in a state still mired in the effects of the Great Recession...
War On Workers
Prayers For Atlantic City As Closings, Layoffs Loom  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...Gaming analysts and industry experts have said Atlantic City has too many casinos and not enough gambling demand to sustain them all. After the three casinos fold, the resort will be left with eight...
Microsoft Leaves ALEC: Horsetrading & The Price to Pay  firedoglake   ...President Obama may soon decide on executive action regarding “a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders, now barred from working in the U.S., to get jobs.” The H-1B high skill guestworker visa allows employers to hire non-citizens for skilled work often in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...
One Paragraph Cuts Through The Hype Of Robots Taking Your Job  Business Insider   ...people have tended to overestimate, historically, the effect of technology on labor. And while robots are good at performing some repetitive tasks, jobs that require judgment are not so easily replaced by robots (these include jobs at the low and high end)...
How the Largest Worker Owned Co-op in the US Lifts People Out of Poverty  YES! Magazine   ...New York City is going—in a big way—for worker-owned cooperatives. Inspired by the model of CHCA and prodded by a new network of co-op members and enthusiasts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council allocated $1.2 million to support worker cooperatives in 2015’s budget...
There Are Zero States Where The Percentage Of People Employed Has Gone Up Since The Recession  Washington Post   ...From 2007 to 2014, the employment rate among 25- to 54-year-olds has declined in the United States by 3.5 percent, and no state reported employment gains during that time, according to data released by the Pew Charitable Trust on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Health Care Data Breaches Have Hit 30M Patients And Counting  Washington Post   ...the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' database of major breach reports (those affecting 500 people or more) has tracked 944 incidents affecting personal information from about 30.1 million people...
Home and Jobs Data Suggests Momentum  Reuters   ...Sales of existing homes in the United States rose in July to a 10-month high, and the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, signaling strength in the economy early in the third quarter...

Today's Teamster News 08.21.14

Teamster News
Labor Voices: Debbie Stabenow Pushes To Bring Jobs Home (opinion)  Detroit News   ...Speak with any elected official, and inevitably he or she will stress the need to create more U.S. jobs. But given the opportunity to do so just before Congress went on its annual August recess, Senate Republicans decided they would rather do nothing instead...
Trade
Michael Froman’s PR Blitzkrieg  Trade Reform   ...Ambassador Michael Froman is blitzing the country trying to push the economy-killing, sovereignty-outsourcing Trans-Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Microsoft Ditches ALEC In Latest Blow To Conservative Group  Talking Points Memo   ..."In 2014 Microsoft decided to no longer participate in the American Legislative Exchange Council's Communications and Technology Task Force, which had been our only previous involvement with ALEC," the software company said in a statement, per CNET...
Fresno Business Groups Vow To Fight Bill On Labor Violations  Fresno Bee   ...A bill that would punish California employers for labor violations committed by their subcontractors is being called unnecessary by Fresno business groups. Assembly Member Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina, introduced Assembly Bill 1897 as a way to hold employers accountable for serious worker's rights violations such as wage theft...
(Not) The Leader of the Pack: Wisconsin and Her Neighbors  Econbrowser   ...Only the disastrous trajectory of Kansas’s economy makes Wisconsin’s performance look tolerable...
OPINION: Hoosier workers not gaining on the nation  Indiana Economic Digest   ...From May 2003 to the same month in 2013, Hoosier wages rose by 19 percent, while median wages rose by 25 percent nationally...
Change In State House Could Put Right To Work Back On Table, McClure Says  Albuquerque Business First   ...This year, the New Mexico House of Representatives could be in line for a change this fall, and if that happens, some major initiatives – including right-to-work – could be on the table...
Want To Raise The Minimum Wage? Take It To The Ballot.  Fortune   ...“A higher minimum wage is incredibly poplar,’ says David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. “If legislature is not being responsive to the public’s desires, advocates are going the ballot measure route because it’s been successful.”...
Labor Organizing Underway At Boeing, MUSC Despite Anti-Union Climate In S.C.  Charleston City Paper   ...It is famously difficult to start a union in South Carolina. The state has the third-lowest union participation rate in the country, with just 4.7 percent of workers represented by unions. Part of the reason has to do with the Palmetto State's right-to-work laws, which prevent an employer from making an agreement with a union to only hire unionized workers...
War On Workers
Hoxie Crash Highlights Railroad Safety Issues  Arkansasmatters.com   ...A railroad crash investigator says the most recent head-on crash in northeast Arkansas is symptomatic of an industry struggling to adapt new safety regulations...
Whose Presidential Campaign Will Your Pension Finance?  Nation of Change   ...last week, the GOP filed a federal lawsuit aimed at overturning the pay-to-play law that bars those governors from raising campaign money from Wall Street executives who manage their states’ pension funds...
How Starbucks Grinds Its Workers  New York Magazine   ...If Starbucks employees like Navarro could quit, or could refuse to work insane shifts on short notice, or could demand more accommodation of their needs, they would. They can’t. So they don’t...
New report details depth of hunger crisis in the United States  wsws.org   ...about one in seven in the US, 46 million people, rely on food banks in order to feed themselves and their families. The number includes 12 million children and 7 million senior citizens...
National Group Tries To Halt Union Election Of Personal Home Care Providers In Minnesota  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...U.S. District Judge Michael Davis ... said at a hearing Tuesday that he’ll decide by noon whether to issue a temporary injunction that would halt an election, now in progress, to determine if nearly 27,000 personal home health care workers will be represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The injunction is being sought by the National Right to Work Foundation...
Miscellaneous
More than 50 UPS Stores across the US hit by cyber attack  Business Technology   ...UPS Store said credit and debit card details, names, addresses, and email addresses may have been stolen from payments between January 20th and August 11th this year...
We Just Witnessed A Historic Month For Commercial Aircraft Orders  Business Insider   ...People ordered a ton of airplanes in July...

Today's Teamster News 08.20.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Local Union Ratifies New Agreement With Penn State  Penn State News   ...Members of Teamsters Local Union No. 8 employed by Penn State have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the University to replace the current agreement, which expired June 30. Teamsters Local Union No. 8 represents the bargaining unit consisting of approximately 2,600 technical-service employees at University locations throughout the Commonwealth...
Negotiations Continue Between EVSC And Teamsters  WTVW   ...While there is still no contract in hand, communication is still open between the EVSC and Teamsters Local 215 Union. ...The Teamsters Union is made up of bus drivers, custodians, and secretaries, or about 20 percent of the EVSC's staff...
Dubuque's unions name grand marshal for annual Labor Day parade  KWWL.com   ...This year, members of Dubuque's United Labor Participation Committee selected long-time local Teamsters leader Dave Baker as the parade's grand marshal...
Trade
China fines Japanese car parts firms for price-fixing  BBC News   ...he country's anti-monopoly regulator said the companies were found to have colluded to reduce competition. Japan's Sumitomo Electric and Mitsubishi Electric were among the firms that received the heaviest fines...
If America Won’t Invest in America’s Infrastructure, China Will  manufacture this   ...there is a big gap between eastern and western China in terms of transportation infrastructure. China will strengthen infrastructure construction in central and western areas while promoting exports in technology and high-speed railway and highway equipment. China is willing to join the United States in upgrading transportation infrastructure...
State Battles
WEDC is marketing industrial properties owned by Walker donors  WKOW.com   ...The only private properties being marketed through a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) land development program are owned by companies whose executives have donated extensively to the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin)...
Group Backing Minimum Wage Hike Submits More Signatures  Arkansas News   ...A group seeking to place on the November ballot an initiated act to raise the state minimum wage submitted what it said were 69,070 additional signatures in support of the measure to the secretary of state’s office Monday...
San Diego Defies Mayor, Raises Minimum Wage  CNN Money   ...San Diego is the latest city to pass a minimum wage hike despite a veto from Mayor Kevin Faulconer. On Monday, the San Diego City Council overrode his veto to approve a gradual wage increase and paid sick days...
Students Appeal to 4th Circuit for Stay of Voter Suppression Law  Camel City Dispatch   ...On Monday Students who have filed suit against the state of North Carolina over new voter suppression legislation (HB589 which Republican messaging call a voter ID bill) have filed a notice of appeal of U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder’s August 8 ruling denying a stay of the new law, pending the 2014 elections...
War On Workers
Wendy's Worker Says She Was Fired For Being Sick  Huffington Post   ...A 6-year veteran Wendy's worker in Alabama is alleging that management fired her for "job abandonment" while she was being treated for an ovarian cyst that would require surgery...
Lawn Worker Killed By Vehicle On McIntosh Road  WWSB   ...Authorities are investigating the death of a lawn maintenance worker that was struck by a vehicle while he mowed along McIntosh Road Monday morning...
Outside Campaign Spending Jumps In 2014  The Hill   ...Outside political groups are on track to eclipse their spending during the 2010 GOP wave election, but only a fraction of that money has been reported to the public. ... outside groups have spent $72 million on independent expenditures in nine Senate races, a pace set to exceed the $97 million that such groups spent on 37 Senate races in the 2010 cycle...

Today's Teamster News 08.19.14

Teamster News
Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 President Nowak, Executive Board Re-Elected Without Opposition  IBT   ...Michigan Teamster local union officers who gathered at the Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, Mich. for Joint Council 43’s 2014 Fall Delegates Meeting voted unanimously to re-elect Joint Council 43 President Greg Nowak, Secretary-Treasurer Jim “Cinci” Cianciolo and the entire Executive Board to a new three-year term...
Trade
Awash In Coal, U.S. Imports Even More  Wall Street Journal   ...Coal imports surged 44% to 5.4 million metric tons during the first six months of 2014, compared with a year ago, according to Global Trade Information Services...
State Battles
Nebraska: Minimum Wage Increase to Be on Ballot  New York Times   ...A proposal to increase Nebraska’s minimum wage has qualified for the November ballot. The secretary of state’s office said Friday it had verified enough signatures. If approved by voters, the measure would increase the state’s minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2016 from $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal minimum...
California teachers union fears right-to-work law inevitable  Washington Examiner   ... the change might be inevitable based on various lawsuits that could reach the Supreme Court...
With close ties to sugar, Florida’s next House speaker admits taking King Ranch trip  Miami Herald   ...Crisafulli, who will become the most powerful man in the Florida House of Representatives this fall, has been a major beneficiary of the state’s sugar industry. During the past two election cycles, agricultural interests have contributed at least $200,000 to Rep. Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, and his political action committees...
How Much Of Wal-Mart Is Really Made In America?  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...At least one company, Kent Bicycles, has said it located a new factory in South Carolina because of the state’s right-to-work law. The chief executive noted that Wal-Mart had introduced him to South Carolina’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley...
Democracy A Casualty Of Voter-Suppression Politics (opinion)  Billings Gazette   ...When same-day voter registration and voting is being cut back, as pushed in Montana by the Republican Legislature, and evidence shows that the majority of late registrants do not vote the Republican way, no wonder many Montanans think someone is trying to stop them from voting because of where they stand philosophically...
6,000 Lack Proper Voter ID Locally  The Robesonian   ...More than 6,000 Robeson County (North Carolina) residents will have to get a voter ID if they they want to vote in the 2016 General Election...
War On Workers
Blame Employers, Not Workers, for Any Skills Gap, Economist Says  Wall Street Journal   ...The “obvious solution” to “virtually all the skill problems reported by employers is to increase training and produce the skilled workers they want themselves.” Much of the evidence in support of a skills gap could be explained by employers who are no longer willing to train their employees or raise salaries, and instead want to be able to hire people with exactly the right skills–and on the cheap...
Average cost of raising a child hits $245,000  CNN   ...To raise a child born in 2013 to the age of 18, it will cost a middle-income couple just over $245,000, according to newly released estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's up $4,260, or almost 2%, from the year before...
Feds: Red light camera firm paid for Chicago official’s car, condo  ars technica   ...The former chief executive officer of Redflex, a major red light camera (RLC) vendor, has been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a contract with the City of Chicago...
Worker Killed In North Side Industrial Accident  KSAT   ...A man in his 60s was killed Monday when a 3,500 pound sack of fracking sand fell on him...
Efforts Advance To Stabilize The Schedules Of Part-Time Workers  Kansas City Star   ...The movement to support “schedules that work” for employees includes a bill by that name, introduced this summer in the U.S. House and Senate, that would let employees request changes to their work schedules “without fear of retaliation,” among other things...
Money in Politics: Rising in Intensity as a 2014 Election Issue  Huffington Post   ...candidates all over the country, in red states as well as purple and blue, are taking up the fight against money in politics, to take the country back from the Koch brothers, Wall Street, and the big business interests that run things right now...
Miscellaneous
Community Health says data stolen in cyber attack from China Reuters   ...Community Health Systems Inc (CYH.N), one of the biggest U.S. hospital groups, said on Monday it was the victim of a cyber attack from China, resulting in the theft of Social Security numbers and other personal data belonging to 4.5 million patients...