Teamster News
New Orleans Union Membership Set to Double After Hotel and Casino Workers Win In These Times ...The hospitality and gaming union Unite Here and Teamsters Local 270 are in contract negotiations with Harrah’s Hotel and Casino after winning a card check election among 900 hotel and food workers...
NY Pol Legislates Against Carriage Horse Ban Yonkers Hamlet Hub ...The battle to save New York City’s city’s carriage horse industry has reached the state Capitol. NYS State Assemblyman, J. Gary Pretlow has introduced legislation that would countermand New York Mayor, Bill de Blasio's vow to ban the iconic horse drawn carriages in New York City...
Ports Of Los Angeles, Long Beach Truck Drivers Fast, Pray To Raise Awareness Long Beach Press Telegram ...A handful of truck drivers, who carry goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach took part Monday in a day of prayer and fasting to raise awareness of three area trucking firms they say misclassify drivers as independent contractors to skirt labor laws...
Trade
TTIP Threatens EU's Transparency On Clinical Trials (opinion) The Parliament Magazine ...positive progress on transparency is already being threatened by the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Huge economic interests are at stake and medical companies on both sides of the Atlantic ocean are doing their best to limit data disclosure, a fact brought to daylight in the leaked BigPharma wish list...
State Battles
Governor Scott Weighs In On Troubles Surrounding Florida Prisons WUSF News ...“The Secretary of the Department of Corrections is taking it seriously. He’s traveled the state, he’s made sure there’s new training programs, he’s made sure now there’s more transparency, and if there’s going to be investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement—which has a great reputation—will be involved in those investigations..."
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder defends education funding, right-to-work law in first town hall MLive ...An audience member contrasted the governor's 2010 pledge for government transparency with his use of the tax-exempt NERD Fund. He also noted Snyder's decision to sign a right-to-work law after originally saying the issue was not on his agenda. "Why would any voter believe you?" he asked...
Koch group faces investigation in N.C. over bogus voting info MSNBC ...Last week, the public learned that the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity created quite a mess sending out incorrect voting materials to many North Carolina voters. This week, the group finds itself under investigation...
Emanuel Prods Sister Agencies To Mandate $13-An-Hour Minimum Wage Chicago Sun Times ...Emanuel is pressuring all local government agencies under his control — CTA, CHA, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, City Colleges and Public Building Commission — to follow his lead. That would mean a pay raise for roughly 2,400 contract employees working as custodians, landscapers and bus drivers...
De Blasio’s Executive Order Will Expand Living Wage Law To Thousands More New York Times ...Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday significantly expanding New York City’s living wage law, covering thousands of previously exempt workers and raising the hourly wage itself, to $13.13 from $11.90, for workers who do not receive benefits...
This Is What's The Matter With Kansas New Republic ...By June of 2014, the results of Brownback’s economic reforms began to come in, and they weren’t pretty. During the first fiscal year that his plan was in operation, which ended in June, the tax cuts had produced a staggering loss in revenue $687.9 million, or 10.84 percent...
A Fiscal Tale of Two States: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin Econbrowser ...The two neighboring states of Wisconsin and Minnesota share a similar economic structure and size; and yet their fortunes have diverged over the past three years. One correlate of Wisconsin’s growth deficit is state and local government spending...
War On Workers
Iceland: Bankers convicted, unemployment down Angry Bear ...While Iceland suffered a great deal from the crisis and is by no means out of the woods, it looks like the country made the right call by not bailing out the banks. The economy is growing and unemployment is down to less than half of its peak crisis level...
Your medical record is worth more to hackers than your credit card Reuters ...Last month, the FBI warned healthcare providers to guard against cyber attacks after one of the largest U.S. hospital operators, Community Health Systems Inc, said Chinese hackers had broken into its computer network and stolen the personal information of 4.5 million patients...
Prison bankers cash in on captive customers Center for Public Integrity ...JPay and other prison bankers collect tens of millions of dollars every year from inmates’ families in fees for basic financial services. To make payments, some forego medical care, skip utility bills and limit contact with their imprisoned relatives...
The Ugly Face of Shareholder Value Exposed By Inversions Economic Populist ...Burger King has become Canadian, Pfizer seems to be trying to be British, and Walgreens has backed away from becoming Swiss only because of the outcry over their plan for a new nationality. Seeing what our companies are willing to do to escape paying income tax, people are beginning to wonder about how American our American companies are...
Worker killed at plant in north Charlotte Charlotte Observer ...state officials were told by Charlotte firefighters that the death took place at Source Recycling. She said state officials were told an employee was struck by a forklift...
Port worker dies after metal collapses on him The Monitor ...A San Benito man has died after he was pinned Monday under metal at a recycling center in the Port of Brownsville, authorities confirmed...
Worker dies after East Idaho spud harvest accident Capital Press ...Madrid-Rivera was working on a tarp covering his load at the side of his truck when another truck backed up and crushed him...
For A Worker With Little Time Between 3 Jobs, A Nap Has Fatal Consequences New York Times ...Emergency responders found the gas can open and overturned in the cargo hold and the S.U.V. filled with fumes, in what police said appeared to have been an accident. As commuters streamed by her counter in Newark, Ms. Fernandes was pronounced dead at 5:56 p.m. She was still in her uniform...
Miscellaneous
Driver in Fatal Oklahoma Crash Tells Police He Was Distracted Bloomberg ...The driver of a tractor-trailer that crashed into a bus and killed four college students on Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma told investigators he was distracted...
Trucker in Massive Rig Destroys Two Families in His Sleep Bloomberg ...Safety advocates say the rate is far higher and claim trucker fatigue kills hundreds each year. In a 2006 federal survey of truckers cited in congressional testimony this July, 47.6 percent said they had fallen asleep while driving in the previous year. Yet unlike drugs or alcohol, there’s no test for fatigue after a crash...
Tracy Morgan hits back at Walmart USA Today ..."After I heard what Walmart said in court I felt I had to speak out. I can't believe Walmart is blaming me for an accident that they caused...
Senators Ask For More Oil Train Notifications Bismark Tribune ...The letter, sent Monday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, says railroads should supply states with advanced notification of all high-hazard flammable liquid transports — including crude from outside the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, as well as ethanol and 71 other liquids...
Police Want to Get Rid of Their Pentagon-Issued Combat Gear. Here's Why They Can't. Mother Jones ...Even before police militarization made the news, hundreds of police departments were finding that grenade launchers, military firearms, and armored vehicles aren't very useful to community policing...
