Thursday, October 16, 2014

Today's Teamster News 10.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters, Highway Safety Groups Sue Feds To Force Tougher Rule For New Trucker Training  AFL-CIO   ...What happened to Dorothy Wert’s late husband, David, on an unlit Pennsylvania highway three years ago shouldn’t happen to anyone.  Thanks to the lack of a tough federal rule for training rookie tractor-trailer drivers, the Teamsters and highway safety groups say, it did.  Now they’re suing in federal court to try to prevent such further tragedies...
Judge Reinstates Port Truckers Fired In Labor Dispute  Los Angeles Times   ...“This sends a message throughout the Port of Los Angeles and the shipping industry that misclassified drivers are in fact employees,” said Julie Gutman Dickinson, the attorney for the truckers and the Teamsters Union port division...
Clallam Rejects Mediator Proposal, But Is Willing To Work With Teamsters Union On New Labor Contract  Peninsula Daily News   ...The Clallam County commissioners unanimously rejected Tuesday a mediator’s proposal but said they are willing to continue working with Teamsters Local No. 589. Both county and union officials said that the county and its largest union are close to settling a new labor contract that has been in the works for 22 months...
Performance-Based Pay Accepted In 'Historic' Union Agreement  Brainerd Dispatch   ...The county also approved contracts with Teamsters Local 346, which includes nine corrections and dispatch sergeants, and with the Law Enforcement Labor Services of Minnesota (LELS) on behalf of communications officers in the sheriff's office...
Domestic Relations Court union in limbo  The Chronicle-Telegram   ...The push by Lorain County Adult Probation Department employees to unionize has had the unintended effect of throwing into question the legality of the [Teamsters] union representing workers at the county’s Juvenile Detention Home and other residential facilities under the control of the county’s Domestic Relations Court...
Trade
‘Tough’ issues still remain in Japan-U.S. TPP talks  Japan Times   ...“We were encouraged by the progress made this week during our negotiations,” Cutler said. “But we need to underscore that issues before us are tough.”...
Street Demonstrations In 21 European Countries Held To Protest Against TAFTA/TTIP; Another ACTA Revolt Brewing?  TechDirt   ..."Self-organised European Citizens' initiative Against TTIP and CETA"... was only launched last week, it has already collected over 600,000 signatures from European citizens at the time of writing...
State Battles
House Speaker gives his thoughts on what could help Ferguson rebound from months of turmoil  Missouri Digital News   ...Missouri's House Speaker said one of the ways the legislature could help Ferguson is by passing right-to-work legislation...
Opponents Ask Supreme Court To Block Texas Voter ID Law  Reuters   ... Civil rights lawyers on Wednesday asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block a Texas law requiring voters in the state to show certain forms of identification in order to cast a ballot...
Judge blocks Wisconsin law used in Walker probe  Associated Press   ...A federal judge Tuesday blocked enforcement of a Wisconsin election law that's at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Investigation reveals influence of 'dark money' in Wisconsin against anti-mining senators  The Cap Times   ...The financial power and influence of an out-of-state mining company and business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce were used to directly target two Wisconsin lawmakers who stood in the way of the passage of a new state mining bill...
War on Workers
WalMart Makes Empty Gesture to End Minimum Wage Pay While Cutting Pay Levels  naked capitalism   ...pay levels, including benefits, are falling for WalMart workers, not rising...
Amid Ebola Fears, Airlines Share Few Cabin Cleaning Details  KSTP   ...flight attendants and others who work on planes are becoming increasingly concerned, while others are raising questions about just how clean airplane cabins are...
A Red Privatization Horror Story  Thom Hartmann  ...For Republicans, privatization is just a business opportunity. And they don’t care about the damage privatization does to our society because privatization destroys the one thing standing between them and the total corporate takeover of our democracy: our government...
Texas worker dies after electrocution at school  Associated Press   ...West Texas authorities say a contractor has died after being electrocuted while working on a light pole at a school...
Worker dies at nuclear facility in E. Tenn.  Associated Press   ... the employee fell into a vault where radioactive resins are unloaded before they are taken to be processed for disposal. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries...