Teamsters
Hoffa Calls on House to Vote Down Flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa challenged House representatives to vote down a severely flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill in a letter delivered this morning. Hoffa questioned the lack of funding and protection for public service workers in the TAA bill...
Teamsters Corrections Employees Picket, Protest Threat Of Washington State Government Shutdown Teamster.org ...Teamster corrections employees picketed at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe and the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla on Thursday to demand that the legislature pass a budget that funds their contract and prevents a costly government shutdown. Picketers at both facilities held signs that read: DOC Corrections Employees – Keeping our Communities Safe – and they urged the public to support them...
Teamsters get back into Convention Center Philly.com ...In yet another complicated twist to the Pennsylvania Convention Center saga, members of the Teamsters local that had lost the right to work in the building are back in the building working. In May 2014, two of the six unions that worked in the building setting up trade shows lost jurisdiction when their leaders failed to sign a new customer satisfaction agreement by a management-imposed deadline.
Global Labor & Trade
Obama’s Trade Bills Face Tough Battle Against House Democrats New York Times ...President Obama’s ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating powers faces a final congressional showdown on Friday, but lawmakers in his own party — pressed hard by organized labor, environmental groups and liberal activists — are threatening to bring down the entire package of trade bills...
Could liberals bring down Obama’s big trade agenda? Washington Post ...President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives...
Backlash Against TPP Grows as Leaked Text Reveals Increased Corporate Control of Public Health Democracy Now ...As the Obama administration praises the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), backlash continues to grow against the deal. WikiLeaks has just published another section of the secret text — this one about public healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Newly revealed details of the draft show the TPP would give major pharmaceutical companies more power...
Trade Bill in Jeopardy as Democrats Hold Back National Journal ...The fate of President Obama's fast-track trade bill remained uncertain Thursday afternoon even after clearing a key hurdle, as Democrats expressed growing concern with the slice of the package that helps train workers who lose their jobs as a result of a future trade deal. The Trade Adjustment Assistance bill—a key provision for Democrats—is vital to passing Trade Promotion Authority, legislation that gives Congress and up-or-down vote on trade deals negotiated by the president...
Republicans Tie Their Favorite Causes to the Trade Agreement New York Times ...For Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, there is language promising that no trade deals can compel the United States to address climate change. For anti-immigrant firebrand Steve King, Republican of Iowa, another provision would prohibit future trade deals from loosening immigration laws or expanding visa access...
Why the Founding Fathers Would Oppose Fast Track Eyes on Trade ...Morrison warns in a letter to Congress that the TPP’s proposed expansion of a controversial parallel legal system for foreign corporations, known as “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS), “improperly removes a core judicial function from the federal courts and therefore violates Article III of the Constitution.” TPP’s expansion of ISDS would newly empower thousands of foreign corporations to bypass the entire U.S. legal system...
Obama’s trade deal is a Trojan horse (opinion) MSNBC ...President Barack Obama has ditched his renowned cool to go on the warpath against Democratic senators, small business leaders, American unions, and faith, environmental and health organizations that oppose the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement he wants to enact. Improbably, Obama is united with the Wall Street titans, big business interests and Republican congressional leaders who tried to keep him out of office to revive a Nixon-era procedure called “fast track” that could railroad the TPP through Congress...
Child Labor Stems from Lack of Good Jobs for Adults Solidarity Center ...Some 168 million children remain trapped in child labor—11 percent of the world’s child population—even as 200 million youth in 2012 were working but earning less than $2 per day, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report released this week. “Both child labor and the youth decent work deficit are symptomatic of the general lack of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the global economy and in developing economies in particular,” according to the report.
State & Living Wage Battles
Virginia Democrats sue over voter ID law Associated Press ...Virginia Democrats are trying to strike down the state’s voter ID law, joining efforts in two other swing states to challenge voting laws ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic Party of Virginia said it filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the State Board of Elections seeking to undo the state’s voter photo ID provision...
There Is No Budget Surplus in Wisconsin PR Watch ...Walker does not have a surplus. He has a $2.2 billion deficit and a big problem. With his budget committee now caught up in a hot debate over how to fund the Bucks’ new arena and bankroll new road-building, Joint Finance is stuck, with no new meetings scheduled. The standoff could delay Walker’s much-anticipated announcement as a candidate for president...
“Something is rotten in Michigan”: Poisoned water supplies, dissolved school districts and a massive unraveling of American democracy Salon ...If you’re thinking, “Who cares?” since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer and former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to be a “legal adviser” to Atlantic City...
The Koch Brothers Usually Have Scott Walker's Back. Not This Time. Mother Jones ...The Koch brothers and their political machine have long been key allies of Wisconsin governor and presumptive 2016 hopeful Scott Walker. With the GOP presidential field getting more crowded by the day and political observers wondering who will win the Koch Primary—and the financial backing of these billionaires and their donor network—Walker has sparked a controversy in his home state in which and he and Team Koch are on opposite sides...
Why Scott Walker is Even More of a Menace Than He Seems Counterpunch ...Having gutted public sector unions in Wisconsin, attacking organized labor in one of its proudest strongholds, Governor Scott Walker now has his sights set on another of his state’s glories, the University of Wisconsin. His target is the entire university and college system, but what sets him off most is Wisconsin’s “flagship” campus in Madison...
Emanuel to rely on worker complaints to enforce higher minimum wage Chicago Tribune ...en the minimum wage in Chicago increases to $10 an hour July 1, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will rely mainly on workers filing complaints against their bosses to make sure thousands of businesses big and small comply with the new standards. Emanuel was out Wednesday reminding people about the $1.75-an-hour wage hike, casting the bump in pay for about 200,000 workers in human terms for struggling families...
Chris Christie Suggests College Students Should Sell Themselves To Investors To Pay Tuition Think Progress ...Christie also mentioned income share agreements, which allow students to essentially issue stock in themselves. It allows people to invest in college students, or to “own human capital contracts,” which means that an investor could pay a portion of the student’s tuition to attend college in exchange for that student giving the investor a certain percentage of their income for so many years...
U.S. Labor
USW Ratifies New Contract at Hawesville, Kentucky Smelter MarketWatch ...Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership (the "Company"), a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, announced today that a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the United Steelworkers Local 9423 on June 11, 2015 for the Company's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter. The new contract is effective today through April 1, 2020...
Hayward, SEIU Local 1021 reach tentative contract agreement Contra Costa Times ...The city reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing its clerical and maintenance, ending a lengthy labor dispute. The agreement with SEIU Local 1021 was announced Thursday following a 12-hour negotiating session Wednesday. Details of the agreement were not available pending a vote by union members...
Better Enforcement of Farmworker Heat Rules as UFW and Brown Administration Settle Lawsuit Huffington Post ...Timelier, more effective, and more consistent inspections of farm and other outdoor worksites under California's recently improved heat-illness-prevention regulations will follow the settlement of two lawsuits between the Jerry Brown administration's work-safety agency and farmworkers partnering with the United Farm Workers (UFW)...
AFSCME members continue to voice displeasure with contract negotiations at rally State Journal-Register ...Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees continued their string of protests against Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday at the Old State Capitol. An AFSCME bulletin obtained by The State Journal-Register in May states the governor wants a salary freeze, reduced vacation time and cuts to health insurance...
New DC JWJ Report Reveals Unfair Scheduling Practices in DC DC Jobs with Justice ...In line with previous research, it finds that “just in time” approaches to scheduling negatively impact many D.C. employees’ lives, often resulting in erratic and unpredictable hours for the women and men who serve our food, stock our shelves and sweep our floors. Employees are granted too few hours on too short notice, resulting in unpredictable incomes and work schedules that make it hard to budget, arrange childcare, continue with education or hold down a second job to try to make ends meet...
National labor board says tribal sovereignty trumps NLRB protection in Chickasaw casino case Tulsa World ...Tribal sovereignty trumps federal protection by a national labor board in a case of union-organizing complaints at the state’s largest casino, the board found this month.
The June 4 opinion by the National Labor Relations Board contradicts a recent appeals court decision regarding a similar dispute with another tribe and its casino...
Miscellaneous
Iceland Jailed Bankers and Rejected Austerity—and It’s Been a Success TruthDig ...When the global economic crisis hit in 2008, Iceland suffered terribly—perhaps more than any other country. Now, less than a decade later, the nation’s economy is booming. That’s because it took a different approach. Instead of imposing devastating austerity measures and bailing out its banks, Iceland let its banks go bust and focused on social welfare policies...
Big Pharma's Hidden Hand In Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Common Dreams ...From the World Health Organization to the National Academy of Sciences, scientists are warning that rising antibiotic resistance poses a public health threat across the world. Now, a new report from consumer advocacy group Sum Of Us examines an often-overlooked factor behind this crisis: the complicity of pharmaceutical giants in the dangerous dumping of drug waste throughout the supply chain...
