Friday, January 30, 2015

Today's Teamster News 01.30.15

Teamsters
Allegiant Travel Reports Narrower Profits, Helped By Lower Fuel Costs  Las Vegas Review Journal   ...With the threat of a pilot strike looming on the horizon, Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel, parent company of Allegiant Air, on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that were spurred by lower fuel costs that have benefited all the nation’s airlines...
Local Union Reps Say Opt-Out Rates Low In 2014  Traverse City Record Eagle   ...Bob Donick, an area business representative for Teamsters 214, said he hasn't seen the right-to-work law significantly affect the roughly 1,600 public employees he and Dave Meachum represent in northern Michigan...
Lifespan Workers To Picket Rhode Island Hospital  GoLocalProv   ...Nearly 2,500 Teamster employees are in negotiations at Rhode Island Hospital for a new contract. As part of the negotiations, Local 251 has been joined by community organizations to make proposals to protect and improve quality patient care...
Sysco’s $8.2B U.S. Foods Merger May Spoil: Source  New York Post   ...The Federal Trade Commission this week sent a subpoena to a third-party food distributor asking for more information, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said. Blackstone Group-owned Performance Food Group agreed in early December to buy assets from Sysco with roughly $5 billion in revenue, a source said, noting PFG did not get the subpoena...
Trade
Plane above N.J. skies tells Obama: Keep trade deal 'away from our medicines'  Staten Island Advance   ...Doctors Without Borders This week is sending a plane from Central Jersey Regional Airport in Hillsborough over the skies of New York and New Jersey to protest the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and under-negotiation regulatory and investment treaty. The plane is flying a banner that reads "Doctors to Obama: Keep #TPP Away From Our Medicines."...
Don’t Repeat America’s Mistakes On Trade Partnerships (opinion)   ...The TPP would further weaken our manufacturing base and financial stability with damaging economic and national security implications. The administration is following a policy that has failed U.S. workers in the past and has not strengthened foreign policy. We must look not to promises, hopes or theories but to experience. We cannot make the same mistakes again...
India Child Labor: 200 Children Rescued In Hyderabad Raids  International Business Times   ...The children, as young as 6 years old, were from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Briar in northern India and were making bangles and leather products, according to NDTV. They were brought to Hyderabad after their captors paid their parents 20,000 rupees ($325.)...
State Battles
Right-to-work bill approved by 8-5 vote in House committee  Associated Press   ...The debate over whether to make New Mexico the nation’s 25th state with a right-to-work law got off to a rousing start today. After nearly five hours of debate, members of the House Business and Employment Committee voted 8-5 in favor of the legislation, which now advances to the House Judiciary Committee...
Leaked Emails: GOP leaders seek fake report to push right to work and ‘sugar daddy’ to fund it  Progress Now NM   ...A new review of secret campaign emails leaked from Susana Martinez’s campaign account by former staffers located emails between the Rio Grande Foundation and Republican operatives looking for a “sugar daddy” to pay for a fake report and new narrative designed to “win all close elections” against Democrats “dumb” enough to oppose it...
Republican Wisconsin Senate leader renews call for passing right-to-work bill  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald issued a statement Thursday saying debate of right-to-work needs to occur along with consideration of the state budget. Walker will release his budget plan on Tuesday...
Northrop Grumman Cuts Ties With ALEC  National Journal   ...Behemoth defense contractor Northrop Grumman is the latest blue-chip corporation to end its affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group that has endured the departure of several prominent tech companies in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Labor debate floods Clark County Fiscal Court  The Winchester Sun   ...Talk of instituting right-to-work laws in Clark County drew supporters from both sides of the debate at the fiscal court's regular meeting Wednesday...
Voter ID bills are back St. Louis American   ...“On the anniversary of the March on Selma, the fight for voter rights have been exposed and celebrated,” said state Rep. Stacey Newman (D-87). “But they’ve also taught us that this never ends.”
Ind. Gov. Mike Pence faces criticism over proposed state run news Web site  WDRB   ...Indiana Governor Mike Pence admits there's been some confusion about his planned state run news website.
He now says he will get rid of the site if it doesn't respect the role of a free and independent press...
Lobbyists See Brownback Budget Before Legislators  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Gov. Sam Brownback's budget director, Shawn Sullivan, used his personal Yahoo account to email the rough draft to Brownback's former chief of staff, David Kensinger, and his former campaign manager, Mark Dugan. Both are lobbyists...
Gov. Rick Scott Proposes Cutting 1,000 State Positions  Tallahassee Democrat   ...Gov. Rick Scott is recommending the elimination of more than 1,000 state-worker positions as part of his budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year...
War on Workers
Gas blast at children's hospital in Mexico City leaves at least 2 dead; truck driver detained  FOX News Latino   ...A gas tank truck exploded outside a maternity and children's hospital in Mexico City on Thursday morning, leaving much of it in ruins. At least two people were killed and 56 injured, said Claudia Dominguez, spokeswoman for Mexico City's civil defense agency. Officials earlier had said at least four and as many as seven had been killed at the explosion site at the Maternity Hospital of Cuajimalpa...
Uber’s Business Model Could Change Your Work  New York Times   ...The larger worry about on-demand jobs is not about benefits, but about a lack of agency — a future in which computers, rather than humans, determine what you do, when and for how much. The rise of Uber-like jobs is the logical culmination of an economic and tech system that holds efficiency as its paramount virtue...
Work At Bridgeton Landfill Causing Strong Odors  KSDK   ...A foul smell is wafting across parts of north St. Louis County this weekend and it's coming from the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill...