Teamsters
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks MarketWatch ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants The Nation ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union Times News ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii Japan Times ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations The Intercept ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy RT News ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law Journal Times ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply Raleigh News and Observer ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About National Journal ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired Main St. ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States Wall Street Journal ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute Associated Press ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident WTNH ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank MyNewsLA ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion) New York Times ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns Associated Press ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...
