The crushing load of student debt

People are being buried under the processes and payment of student loans, a new report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFRB) finds, pushing a quarter of the nation's 41 million people with student loans toward default.

The stunning findings of the CFRB are pushing the agency towards crafting new rules for the $1.3 trillion student loan market. It notes the problems are particularly acute in the servicing of student loans, which CFRB described as being unfair in part because borrowers are often mislead and assessed with unexpected fees.

As detailed in the report, the student loan market lags far behind other areas of consumer debt when it comes to defaults. And a lack of standards is a big reason why:

Student loan servicers are a critical link between borrowers and lenders. Servicers manage borrowers’ accounts, process monthly payments, manage enrollment in alternative repayment plans, and communicate directly with borrowers, including borrowers in distress. There are no consistent, market-wide federal standards for student loan servicing and servicers generally have discretion to determine policies related to many aspects of servicing operations.

This is no way to help prepare our next generation if we want it to lead this country. As the Teamsters and others have noted, the soaring cost of higher education is a major concern. The U.S. needs to make it easier for those seeking a college education to earn one, not saddle them with a lifetime of debt.

Government needs to do more to ensure student loan rates remain low so students can better afford their post-secondary schooling. And candidates for the 2016 election need to find innovative ways to address the problem. Some already have. But the hard work then needs to be done to implement the changes.

We can't allow America's future to drown in debt.

Today's Teamster News 09.30.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Statement on Presidential Endorsement Process  Teamster.org  ...On Tuesday, Sept. 29 the Teamsters Union General Executive Board decided to not endorse a presidential candidate at this time. The Teamsters look forward to meeting with Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and any other candidate, regardless of party affiliation, who is committed to improving the lives of America’s working families...
Teamsters Call on UPS CEO to Get Company Out of ALEC During Protest in Detroit  Teamster.org  ...Detroit Teamsters were joined by representatives from labor, environmental, community, and religious groups at a protest today outside a Detroit Economic Club luncheon where UPS CEO David Abney was the keynote speaker. The group staged the protest to call on UPS to cease all affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Seabury Connector drivers & attendants join Teamsters 639  UnionCity  ...Bus drivers and attendants at Seabury Connector have organized with Teamsters Local 639. "These drivers work hard every day transporting seniors around the nation’s capital and now have the opportunity to get the justice they deserve with a Teamster contract," reports Local 639. The organizing win is the seventh consecutive victory for Local 639, which notes that  "Expanding our membership brings greater power to all our members"...
Brockton custodians ratify Teamsters contract with city  The Enterprise  ...More than 120 custodians, craftsmen and truck drivers employed by the Brockton Public Schools have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in Easton. That includes members of the Brockton Public School Custodians Association, which agreed last fall during a controversial series of collective bargaining discussions to accept lower pay rates for school crossing-guard duty...
Homeless tech bus driver finds new home  SF Chronicle  ...Roughly 180 bus drivers organized by the Teamsters continue to fight for higher wages and a more comprehensive benefits package. Compass has not yet agreed to what the drivers have asked for. Among the points of disagreement: the number of paid holidays for drivers and the amount Compass should pay for drivers’ health care and 401(k) plans, union members said...

Global Labor & Trade
Japan, U.S. agree to aim for conclusion of TPP talks this week  Japan Times  ...Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden agreed Tuesday that the two countries will cooperate in an effort to conclude talks on a Pacific free trade initiative this week, according to statements by both governments. Biden and Abe agreed that their negotiating teams for the Trans-Pacific Partnership would work closely together “with the goal of resolving the limited number of outstanding issues at the upcoming ministers meeting in Atlanta”...
House Dems want investigation of Malaysia's raised trafficking status   The Hill  ...Six House Democrats have asked the State Department’s watchdog to investigate the process that led to an upgrade of Malaysia’s human trafficking status. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Alan Grayson (Fla.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.) are questioning whether the administration promoted Malaysia to preserve fast-track authority for a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal...
Thousands of Ontario jobs at stake in Pacific Rim trade talks  The Star  ...The livelihoods of thousands of Ontario autoworkers and farmers are on the negotiating table as Canada heads into a round of high-stakes trade bargaining this week with the United States and 10 other Pacific Rim countries. Concluding the talks, which would create a massive free-trade zone touching four continents, hinges on the participants’ ability to overcome deep divisions...
Ottawa area farmers hold tractor protest against the Trans Pacific Partnership  Canadians.org  ...Ottawa area farmers brought a long convoy of tractors into downtown Ottawa this morning for a protest against the concessions the Harper government is poised to make at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Atlanta this week. CBC has reported, "Canada is preparing to open the border to more American milk, without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the United States"...
EU ambassador: TTIP conclusion next year ‘feasible’  Politico  ...EU Ambassador the the U.S. David O’Sullivan said Tuesday that he believes Brussels and Washington could complete their bilateral trade pact by next year, but emphasized that the talks aren’t happening in a vacuum. “We are negotiating very seriously, and we have a common objective to try to conclude this agreement with this administration”...
NWC workers strike over health insurance coverage  Jamaica Observer  ...Over 1200 National Water Commission (NWC) workers stopped working islandwide this morning, further threatening the poor water supply caused by months of drought. They are protesting against a decision by the NWC’s management to transfer their health insurance coverage from Medecus to Sagicor. The workers are represented by four trade unions...
Kerala’s plantation workers’ strike: Poor pay and strong union  Indian Express ...Kerala’s plantation sector has come to a standstill following the agitation of three lakh estate workers demanding that the daily wage be increased from Rs 232 to Rs 500. The demand has suddenly arisen as a fall-out of the historic agitation of women workers at the Munnar Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Limited (KDHPL), earlier this month...

State & Living Wage Battles
7 Disastrous Effects Of The Illinois Budget Crisis  Think Progress  ...First term Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has been in office for eight months and the state has not had a budget for nearly half that time. The governor is trying to tie passage of the new budget to changes in labor laws — including creating “right-to-work zones” — that would hurt state workers and to changes in the tax code, but the legislature refuses to sign the package...
Immigration bill heads to Gov. Pat McCrory  News & Observer  ...The [NC] state House voted 70-43 Tuesday night to restrict forms of ID for non-citizens and ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. The bill will be sent to the governor. Supporters of the measure say local governments shouldn’t get to opt out of federal laws...
Right-to-work vote opens rift in Missouri’s GOP  Kansas City Star  ...Kidd was one of 20 GOP lawmakers who voted against overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a so-called “right-to-work” bill. The bill would have made it a misdemeanor for anyone to be required to become a union member or to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment. And Republican opposition killed it. That vote earned Kidd and his colleagues some powerful enemies...
W.Va. officials to reveal new prevailing wage Wednesday  Associated Press  ...West Virginia workforce officials say they are releasing the state’s new prevailing wage, which relied on a survey that received high participation marks from contractors. WorkForce West Virginia will release new minimum wages for public construction projects Wednesday. Agency spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby says 74 percent of contractors surveyed responded, with surveys sent to more than 5,000 businesses...
Minimum Wage Fight For $15: Oregon Ballot Measure Planned If Lawmakers Don't Pass Increase, Activists Say  IB Times  ...Oregon voters may get to raise the state’s minimum wage next fall if a group of labor unions and social activists gets its way. Unless state lawmakers pass a bill to increase the wages early next year, the Raise the Wage coalition will gather enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot in 2016, the group's leaders announced this week...
Group launches ballot initiative to mandate paid sick leave in Michigan  MLive  ...A group of activists on Tuesday announced a statewide ballot initiative aimed at enacting a law that would require Michigan employers to offer all workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The law would allow workers to take paid time off for personal or family health needs...
Protesters call for $15 minimum wage at Oak Park rally  Chicago Tribune  ...Dozens of fast food workers and supporters gathered inside Oak Park Village Hall Sept. 28 to call for the village to raise its minimum wage. Oak Park voters backed a "living wage" for village employees and contractors hired by the village in a 2009 referendum. The Oak Park Village Board has discussed the issue in the years since, but stalled on voting on any measure...

U.S. Labor
At the ‘Big 3’ grocers, bargaining begins with UFCW  NW Labor Press  ...Bargaining has begun over new union contracts for 10,000 workers at Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons stores in Portland and Bend, Oregon. And for the first time, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 will be bargaining with all grocery, meat, central checkout, and non-food contracts at a single table...
Ford UAW workers threaten strike; FCA-UAW contract hangs in balance  MLive  ..Workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Kansas City, Mo. truck plant are on a five-day strike notice over disagreements with the Dearborn company. The Kansas City plant employs about 7,500 workers, who build the Ford F-150. The announcement Tuesday from Settles comes as Fiat Chrysler workers continue to vote on a tentative contract between the UAW and FCA...
UAW-FCA deal appears headed for defeat  Detroit News  ...The tentative four-year contract between the United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears headed for defeat, after a majority of members at both the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Toledo Assembly Complex voted it down, The Detroit News has learned. A UAW spokesman Wednesday said he the UAW was not commenting while voting is ongoing, and a FCA spokeswoman declined comment...
Labor talks ongoing for USW, U.S. Steel  Business Times  ...The United Steelworkers and United States Steel Corp. continue to meet in Pittsburgh over efforts to reach a new contract, but a final deal has yet to be reached, according to an update posted to the union's website Monday. "Our bargaining team met among themselves and with company representatives for several hours on Monday, discussing a wide range of issues"...
Rank-and-File Teachers Object As Nation's Biggest Union Weighs Early Clinton Endorsement  Common Dreams  ...A  rumored presidential endorsement by the nation's largest union is exposing a rift between rank-and-file members who are "feeling the Bern" and leadership who appear more willing to err on the Clinton side of caution. Various news reports have indicated that an announcement by the 3-million strong National Education Association is expected sometime this week...
Income Inequality Would Be Much Worse If Women Hadn’t Entered The Workforce  Think Progress  ...A new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP), which houses ThinkProgress, finds that between 1963 and 2013, income inequality among the bottom 95 percent of married couples increased by nearly 25 percent. Yet without a concurrent increase in women’s earnings, which rose fivefold over the same period, inequality would have grown more than 50 percent faster, rising instead by 38 percent...

Social Justice & Other News 
The Data Are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding  The Atlantic  ...In America, schools with a lot of minority students are chronically underfunded. Is that the case because these students are poor, and poor communities have fewer resources for funding their schools? Or, is it because of the color of these students’ skin?Unsettlingly, recent research from data scientist David Mosenkis finds that poverty alone does not explain the underfunding... 
Robert Reich: Donald Trump & Jeb Bush Plans Would Slash Taxes for the 1 Percent  Democracy Now  ...On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are proposing massive new tax cuts for the rich despite growing economic inequality across the country. On Monday, Donald Trump unveiled a plan to lower the income tax rate to the lowest level since 1931, cut corporate taxes and abolish the estate tax. Meanwhile, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has proposed broad tax cuts for individuals and corporations as part of his economic plan...

Battle against TPP heads to Atlanta

Trade officials involved in the negotiations of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may believe they are nearing the end of the process with meetings in Atlanta this week. But the Teamsters and other fair trade allies aren't going down without a fight.

Beginning tomorrow, unions members, environmentalists, health care advocates and others will take to streets of the Peach City as well as to the Internet to stress why this Pacific Rim trade agreement is bad. The pact, still largely a secret to the public, will result in thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, falling wages and unsafe food and products being shipped to our shores. It could also raise drug prices while hurting the environment.

Dissent remains rampant in this country and around the globe. This morning, for example, six House Democrats asked the U.S. State Department's inspector general to look into what led to Malaysia's upgrade on the agency's human trafficking list. Many believe the improved rating allowed fast track to proceed through Congress in June, The Hill newspaper reported:

The lawmakers said that given the significance of the report in helping to fight global human trafficking, they want to know if there was any request by officials at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Commerce Department, or any other federal agency to influence or change Malaysia's standing in the latest report. 

They also want information about whether Malaysia’s promotion in status was “unduly influenced” by political considerations instead of unbiased expert analysis.

Meanwhile, Canadian dairy farmers brought their tractors and cows to Ottawa today to protest dairy concessions contained in the TPP.

As the Teamsters have said before, there are just no good reason for everyday Americans to support this agreement. First and foremost is the deal won't create any new jobs here. That is significant and can't be pushed aside by proponents. After all, TPP backers like to insist it will result in new work for Americans, although they can never quite explain how. There's a reason why their responses are so vague.

There is something for everyone to lose if the TPP moves forward. The U.S. and participating nations should keep that in mind as they mull this deal. Can they in good conscience say it will benefit the citizens of the world?

The answer is no.

Today's Teamster News 09.29.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Retirees, Workers Deserve to Receive Their Pensions  Huffington Post  ...The golden years of everyday Americans who worked hard for decades to put away money for retirement are increasingly being jeopardized by the nation's pension system. Earlier this month, several hundred Teamster members and retirees came to Washington to voice outrage over proposed rules governing pension cuts and support for legislation offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) that would bolster multi-employer plans...
Teamsters Local 357, Republic Airways Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contract  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters Local 357 and Republic Airways Holdings Inc. announced today that they have reached a consensual tentative agreement on the terms of a new three-year contract for the 2,100 Republic pilots represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “This milestone is long overdue,” said Captain Jim Clark, Teamsters Local 357 president...
Teamsters-Sun Tran contract includes some 50% pay raises  Arizona Daily Star  ...A labor contract released Monday details pay raises of up to 50 percent for some Sun Tran workers. Teamsters Local 104 and Sun Tran management firm Professional Transit Management signed the two-year contract on Sept. 16, ending a 42-day bus strike in Tucson. Details of the contract were first made public Monday...
FedEx stockholders approve union-backed proposal  Commercial Appeal  ...FedEx stockholders on Monday approved a Teamsters-backed resolution that proposes an easier path for share owners to promote candidates for the board of directors. It was the only shareholder proposal adopted during the Memphis-based company's annual meeting, and the first such proposal to pass since 2010...
Browning-Ferris Joint-Employer Row Back At NLRB  Law360  ...The Teamsters on Friday filed an unfair labor charge against the successor company to Browning-Ferris Industries, bringing the parties at the center of the board’s decision changing the joint-employer standard head-to-head for another round after the company refused to bargain with the union. Workers at a recycling plant owned by Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc., now owned by Republic Services Inc., had voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 350...

Global Labor & Trade
Chief TPP negotiators race to wrap up broad trade deal  Japan Times  ...Chief negotiators from the United States, Japan and 10 other countries restarted talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative Saturday, seeking to conclude years of negotiations before tight political schedules in some countries crimp the chances of making a quick deal. Ahead of a TPP ministerial meeting beginning Wednesday, the top working-level officials will try to reduce differences over thorny issues...
The unexpected upshot of John Boehner’s ouster: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is in danger  Salon  ...Even if negotiators work out a tentative agreement this week, the biggest announcement on TPP may have already happened. That would be last Friday’s resignation of House Speaker John Boehner. We don’t even know if the meetings in Atlanta can produce a deal, given all the deadlocks and unresolved provisions between the nations involved. But even if there’s a big announcement this week, the administration won’t have John Boehner in their corner...
TTIP negotiations not even half done  Politico  ...Negotiations on a massive EU-U.S. trade agreement are not even halfway complete, according to a new European Commission internal assessment, and the lack of progress is raising questions about Brussels’ hopes for concluding the agreement before the end of the Obama administration...
Conservatives line up support from auto-parts makers for TPP deal  Globe and Mail  ...The governing Conservatives have lined up enough support for a massive Pacific Rim trade agreement from big auto-parts makers to expose a split in the industry ahead of talks this week that may yield a 12-country deal. Talks between trade ministers resume shortly in Atlanta and one of the most contentious subjects is provisions agreed to by Japan and the United States that some warn could sideswipe some of the 80,000 auto-parts manufacturing jobs in Canada...
Good chance for conclusion of TPP: Mustapa  News Straits Times  ...There is a 50:50 chance for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to be concluded in the US this Thursday, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. "It is 50:50 with a slight edge for conclusion," he told the Business Times before leaving for Atlanta this afternoon. The two-day ministerial round of talks opens tomorrow...
Japan considers making new offer on U.S. rice in Atlanta TPP talks  Japan Times  ... Japan is considering sweetening the pot for U.S. rice farmers in a bid to reach agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a source close to the matter said Monday. As talks resumed on Saturday between the United States, Japan and 10 other countries negotiating the bloc in Atlanta, Washington and Tokyo remained at odds...
Fiscal Austerity May Jeopardize Brazil's Poverty Alleviation Program  Truthout  ...Latin America's largest economy, Brazil, has succeeded in lifting 36 million people out of extreme poverty over the past 12 years. But it has still a long way to go towards promoting inclusive and sustainable growth. Financial crisis and fiscal austerity goals resulting in a cut to the 2015 budget of almost USD23 billion may imperil social achievements, according to experts...
UN Finally Puts Child Slavery on Development Agenda  Solidarity Center   ...Last week the United Nations passed its next set of commitments for development, the “Sustainable Development Goals,” for the coming 15 years and added important labor issues that its member states are obligated to prioritize. “This is significant,” said child labor crusader and Nobel Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi at the UN Summit, “because for the first time these goals include the issues of child slavery, labor and trafficking, and has brought forth the language to address them”...

State & Living Wage Battles
Immigration bill clears NC Senate  Charlotte Observer  ...The state Senate voted 28-17 to restrict forms of identification for non-citizens and ban counties and municipalities from having “sanctuary city” policies that limit enforcement of immigration laws. The bill was approved largely along party lines, with Sen. Josh Stein of Raleigh as the only Democrat voting yes...
Contractors Ask Legislature to Preserve Prevailing Wage  WDET  ...A group of construction contractors and trade unions is pushing back against an effort at the state Capitol to repeal prevailing wage requirements on many publicly funded projects. State and local prevailing wage rules require contractors to pay union-level wages on schools and other public building projects. A petition drive led by non-union builders has gathered signatures to put the question before the Legislature....
US politicians agree to delay minimum wage increase  Radio New Zealand  ...The United States House of Representatives has voted to delay until 2017 a 50 cent increase in the American Samoa minimum wage due to come into effect at the end of this month. The bill sponsored by American Samoa's congresswoman Aumua Amata now goes to the US Senate for consideration. If passed by the full Congress, the measure would still need to get to President Obama for approval...
Changes could be coming for Minneapolis workers  Kare11  ...The city of Minneapolis is looking to change how employers schedule and pay their workers. The "Working Families Agenda" has three key issues: fair scheduling, earned sick time and wage theft. "I'm here to continue to listen and that's what we're doing," said Elizabeth Glidden, city council vice president...
Support for fuel terminals is support for state’s workers (opinion) News Tribune ...The governor, the executives of King and Pierce County, the Seattle City Council, some members of the Tacoma City Council and others should seriously rethink their opposition to the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal in Bellingham and the Millennium Bulk Terminal and Vancouver Energy export terminals in Vancouver. While these export terminals provide construction and operational jobs, they are also important private investments in Washington’s trade infrastructure...

U.S. Labor
UAW gets yes vote at Warren Truck  Detroit Free Press  ...A majority of production workers at Warren Truck Assembly narrowly voted in favor of a proposed national agreement on Monday with Fiat Chrysler, giving the UAW its first glimmer of hope in recent days that it can convince a majority of workers to ratify the proposed contract. The UAW is scrambling to win support from about 40,000 Fiat Chrysler workers that it represents at 37 different UAW local units...
Al Jazeera America Will Not Recognize Union: NLRB Elections Underway  International Business Times  ...After several weeks, the management at Al Jazeera America (AJAM) has decided not to recognize the union drive announced by staffers on Sept. 3, putting into motion an election in which votes will be cast by employees and administered by the National Labor Relations Board, International Business Times has learned from a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Elections are happening Tuesday...
UFCW Local 5 still negotiating with Safeway  Supermarket News  ...United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5, which represents 14,000 Safeway employees in parts of Northern California, is continuing to negotiate with the company nearly a year after the previous contract expired.
UFCW Local 8-Golden State announced a tentative agreement last week with 9,000 Safeway employees in Northern and Central California...
Marco Rubio's paid family leave plan would do little to expand paid family leave  Daily Kos  ...Four in five Americans thinks companies should be required to "offer paid leave to parents of new children and employees caring for sick family members." So trust a Republican to come up with a paid family leave policy that doesn't require anything and benefits business, not workers. Marco Rubio is the one Republican presidential candidate with any plan on this issue...
After Decades of Discrimination, Farm Workers Get Pesticide Protections  Common Dreams  ...Farm workers will now have sweeping new protections from pesticides under new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules announced Monday—safeguards which labor leaders say eluded farm workers for decades due to racial discrimination. The new rules [were] announced by EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, and United Farm Workers (UFW) president Arturo Rodriguez...
In America, the Poorer You Are, the Poorer Your Children Will Be  The Nation  ...When people talk about “balancing work and family,” they’re usually talking more about the workplace than what’s going on at home. Now we’re starting to get data on what the workaday life looks like from a kid’s eye view, and it doesn’t look good...

Social Justice & Other News
What John Boehner’s Surprise Resignation Means For Immigration Reform  Think Progress  ...House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is the favorite to succeed John Boehner (R-OH) after his surprise resignation as the House Speaker last week. The appointment of McCarthy, who represents a heavily Latino district, to preside over a more radically conservative Republican caucus could have implications for immigration reform...
Humane Criminal Justice Is Not Hopeless  Slate  ...Pope Francis concluded his historic first visit to the United States on Sunday, spending most of his final few hours with women and men imprisoned at Philadelphia’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility and putting an exclamation mark on a central theme of his visit: the need to infuse more dignity and hope into America’s criminal justice system...
US supreme court: conservatives set to retake reins after year of liberal wins  The Guardian  ...The supreme court returns on Monday for a new series of cases, and all indications point to equally dramatic plot twists involving race, class and murder. While 2014-15 will be remembered for surprise wins by the liberal wing of the court, particularly two blockbuster decisions endorsing gay marriage and Obamacare, legal experts expect this year will see a clutch of decisions that reassert the power of the conservative majority...
Trump’s Tax Plan Is A Big Giveaway To The Wealthiest  Think Progress  ...On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will unveil a detailed tax reform plan — and he is already positioning it as a populist proposal. In a press alert about the plan, the campaign states, “Essentially, the plan is a major tax reduction for almost all citizens and corporations, in particular, those in the middle and lower income classes.” But the plan has a number of provisions that will overwhelmingly help the already well off...

New jobs don't make dent in U.S. poverty rate

The U.S. economic recovery is not everything it might seem to be at first blush. Anyone looking at the number of jobs created or the falling unemployment rate would certainly be encouraged by the nation's path forward since the end of the Great Recession, for instance.

But when it comes to standard of living, however, the economy is not delivering. In nearly every state in the nation, the poverty rate remains higher than where it stood pre-recession. And despite the growth in jobs, poverty overall has remained persistent, according to new U.S. Census Bureau statistics this month.

Data culled from the 2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement found:

• Changes in income inequality between 2013 and 2014 were not statistically significant as measured by the shares of aggregate household income.
  
• The poverty rate for families and the number of families in poverty were 11.6 percent and 9.5 million in 2014, neither statistically different from the 2013 estimates.
  
• In 2014, 6.2 percent of married-couple families, 30.6 percent of families with a female householder and 15.7 percent of families with a male householder lived in poverty. For married-couple families, both the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased. For families with a female householder, the poverty rate was not statistically different from 2013, while the number in poverty declined. Neither the poverty rates nor the estimate of the number of families in poverty showed any statistically significant change between 2013 and 2014 for families with a male householder.

Here's one thing we do know -- the jobs being created are paying low wages. They don't allow everyday Americans to earn enough to support their families. They are not going to put this country on a real path to economic recovery.

That's why the Teamster rolled out a plan earlier this month called Let's Get America Working that would create good-paying jobs by investing in infrastructure and vocational education. These are sustainable opportunities that will help not only workers, but U.S. businesses as well.

It's time for America to move beyond being a fast-food jobs nation. It must become a real jobs nation that provides employment that gives respect and dignity to workers.That's how this country will truly get back on track.

Today's Teamster News 09.28.15

Teamsters
Waste Workers at Five Locations Join Teamsters Across the Country  Teamsters.org  ...More than 200 waste workers at five locations, in California, Washington state, Oregon and Ohio, recently took action to become Teamsters. The workers are employed at the two largest waste companies, Waste Management and Republic Services, and at Recology. “Waste workers across the country are seeking protections on the job and the workers at Waste Management, Republic Services and at Recology have taken the bold step by forming their union," said Ron Herrera, Director of the Teamsters Solid Waste, Recycling and Related Industries Division...
Tri-City Goodwill votes to join Teamsters  Tri-City Herald  ...The two dozen employees at seven Goodwill Industries of the Columbia stores in the Tri-Cities, Walla Walla and Wenatchee are joining Teamsters Local 839 after a vote last week. In a news release, the union said employees spoke out against low wages, substandard benefits and unsafe working conditions. Workers approached the Teamsters about representing them, said Russell Shjerven, secretary-treasurer for the union...
'Firm' school bus strike deadline to be set this week, union says  Newsday  ...A labor dispute between a private school bus firm and its workers over pay, working conditions and benefits remains unresolved, leaving open the possibility of a strike for about 35 districts in Nassau and Suffolk. The conflict is between Ronkonkoma-based Baumann and Sons Buses Inc. and Teamsters Local 1205. If the union strikes, it could affect 15,000 students. The contract expired June 30...
Bus drivers transporting eBay workers will get pay raise  SF Gate  ...Bus drivers who transport eBay employees are getting a huge wage increase as part of the company’s deal with vendor Compass Transportation. EBay said drivers of large shuttles will now make $26.40 per hour and drivers of smaller vans will make $23.10 per hour. The drivers’ previous wage was between $17 and $20 per hour. Compass continues to negotiate a contract with the drivers, organized by the Teamsters...
Hoffa Backs Bipartisan House Push To Address Currency Manipulation  Teamster.org  ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to a letter signed today by 158 House members, both Republican and Democrat, calling on the White House to include enforceable provisions against currency manipulation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): "At a time when partisan gridlock has largely shut down Capitol Hill, it is telling to see all these lawmakers come together to raise serious questions about how currency manipulation negatively affects U.S. trade"...

Global Labor & Trade
U.S., Pacific Partners Seek to Conclude Trade Pact in Atlanta  Wall Street Journal  ...Senior officials from the U.S., Japan, and 10 other countries around the Pacific will meet [this] week in Atlanta in another attempt to finish a wide-ranging trade agreement designed to lower border barriers and boost economic growth. The previous high-level negotiations, two months ago on Hawaii’s island of Maui, ended without a deal, with the talks souring over the dairy trade, automotive manufacturing and intellectual-property protection for drugs...
Presidential politics complicate trade talks  Politico  ...If negotiators had completed the pact two months ago in Maui as hoped, President Barack Obama could have submitted the legacy-burnishing deal to Congress as early as December, setting the stage for approval before Iowa and New Hampshire hold their presidential nomination contests in early February. Instead, the largest trade deal in history is facing the potential for increasing pushback from the left, with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton coming under intense pressure from progressives to reject the deal...
Pacific trade deal close, but doubts linger: Chile trade head  Reuters  ...The conditions are now present to finalize a Pacific trade deal, although talks would likely still go down to the wire, Chile's head of international trade told Reuters on Thursday. The United States has called negotiators from the 12 nations discussing the Trans-Pacific Partnership to a meeting in Atlanta [this] week in a bid to finish the pact that will cover 40 percent of the world economy...
Trans-Pacific Partnership could include big dairy concession  CBC  ...Canada is preparing to open the border to more American milk, without getting reciprocal access for Canadian dairy farmers in the United States, CBC News has learned. Trade Minister Ed Fast will leave the campaign trail to join his counterparts in Atlanta on Wednesday, intent on concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks. Chief negotiators from the 12 Pacific Rim member countries meet starting Saturday...
Canada's auto sector 'nervous' about TPP talks  CTV News  ...As negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership continue, the Conservative government is being accused of sending mixed messages on what the deal will mean for the auto sector. But speaking to CTV’s Question Period, Trade Minister Ed Fast assured a worried auto sector that the government is keeping its interests in mind at the TPP negotiating table.  In the past, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has said the auto sector may not "necessarily like everything" in the TPP deal...
Nearly 160 House lawmakers warn Obama on currency provision  The Hill  ... Bipartisan group of lawmakers is leading the call in the House for the Obama administration to include enforceable provisions against currency manipulation in a sweeping Asia-Pacific agreement. As talks continue heading into this weekend on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Dave Brat (R-Va.) warned in a call with reporters on Friday that the 12-nation pact faces failure in the House without provisions to crack down on currency manipulation...
Obama reaches out to Mexico, but not Canada, in push to wrap up TPP deal   Globe and Mail  ...U.S. President Barack Obama is reaching out to his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto, as Washington launches a charm offensive to close a massive Pacific Rim trade deal [this] week. There’s rising concern, meanwhile, in Canada’s 80,000-job auto-parts manufacturing sector that the Trans-Pacific Partnership could seriously harm the industry...
Bunnings workers continue to strike at stores across New Zealand  Stuff.co.nz  ...Bunnings workers continued striking at locations across New Zealand on Saturday with protests planned for 17 stores across the country. Organisers said their main gripe was the introduction of a new roster that would mean workers' shifts could be chopped and changed with just two weeks notice. First Union organiser Dave Cooney, on-site at the Manukau protest, said there had been great support from the public...
2 More Honduran Union Leaders Threatened, Harassed  Solidarity Center  ...Another union leader in Honduras has received death threats and a second union leader was arrested in the department of Colon during a peaceful rally protesting government corruption, according to the Honduras-based nonprofit ACI-Participa. Earlier this year, one Honduran union leader was murdered and another disappeared and is presumed dead. The latest incidents bring to nine the number of attacks on union leaders in 2015...

State & Living Wage Battles
Minimum wage will top list as Oregon lawmakers gather at Capitol this week  Oregon Live  ...Legislators will gather in Salem this week for the first time since the 2015 session ended, offering a preview of issues they may tackle in 2016. Topics at the top of the list? The state economy and the minimum wage.  Oregon Employment Department economists will brief lawmakers Monday on job growth and the minimum wage...
Florida lawmakers living on $17 a day this week to demonstrate minimum wage  Sun Sentinel  ...At  least 18 Florida lawmakers plan to live on a minimum wage this week to draw attention to efforts to increase the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour. Starting Monday, the lawmakers will live for five days on $17 per day. That figure represents what a minimum wage worker has after the costs of taxes, childcare and housing are deducted from an $8.05-an-hour paycheck...
Legal challenge to N.C.'s voter ID law to go forward next year  INDY  ...This week, a Superior Court judge denied North Carolina's motion to dismiss a pending voter ID lawsuit. State lawyers attempted to argue that the case—brought by plaintiffs that include the League of Women Voters of N.C. and the A. Philip Randolph Institute—should be dismissed after lawmakers approved an amendment to their mammoth voter law in May...
Construction workers fight to keep Prevailing Wage Law  WLNS  ...It’s a discussion that has been ongoing for months, deals with the state’s 50-year-old Prevailing Wage Law. On Monday Construction Association members will be holding an event to discuss why repealing the Prevailing Wage Law would be bad for the state. The current law requires workers on state financed construction projects to be paid prevailing union-scale wages...
Two halves of California have wide gap in health costs  SacBee  ...When it comes to health care costs, it’s clear: Where you live matters. And in California, the gap is especially sharp between the north and south. Take, for instance, common procedures like a cesarean section or a total knee replacement. The total average price tag for a typical C-section in the four-county Sacramento area is $28,828; in east Los Angeles County, it’s $17,567, according to a health care comparison tool unveiled last week...

U.S. Labor
Detroit workers deal another blow to FCA-UAW contract  Detroit Free Press  ...Workers at Fiat Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant have resoundingly rejected a four-year tentative agreement between the UAW and the automaker, further jeopardizing chances of approval nationwide. At UAW Local 7, whose workers make the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango at the Detroit assembly plant, 66% of the production workers who cast ballots voted against the contract and 77% of skilled trades workers voted against the deal...
Even the Wall Street Journal Smells a Rat in A&P Supermarkets Bankruptcy  In These Times  ...Workers at the bankrupt A&P grocery chain have been complaining for weeks that corporate executives have been looting the failing company, but nobody seemed to be paying much attention until Wall Street’s favorite newspaper came out with a story backing up the workers’ charges. Wall Street Journal reporter Peg Brickley uncovered part of the truth September 18, with a dispatch that revealed A&P “paid out $9.4 million in bonuses and other extra payments to insiders"...
Uber Is Using Fine Print To Control Its Drivers. But They Might Not Get Away With It.  Think Progress  ....Disgruntled Uber drivers are taking their beef with the taxi-killing startup to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in hopes of restoring hundreds of thousands of drivers’ ability to participate in suits against the company. The legal team who won class status for a lawsuit against Uber earlier this month are hoping that the NLRB will invalidate mandatory binding arbitration clauses in the company’s contracts...
ThinkProgress Staffers Unionize With Writers Guild  Huffington Post  ...The editorial staff of the progressive news site ThinkProgress has joined the Writers Guild of America, East, making it the latest in a string of Web-based publications to unionize. The union said in a statement late Wednesday that management at the site had chosen to voluntarily recognize the employees' decision, allowing them to forgo a secret-ballot election...
SEIU prepares for potential strike after Mercy Health Muskegon RN unit rejects contract with hospital  MLive  ...The state's largest healthcare union is preparing for a potential strike over a contract dispute affecting workers at a Mercy Health Muskegon nursing unit. SEIU Healthcare Michigan, which represents nurses, hospital staff, nursing home employees and homecare workers, said Friday that it plans to notify hospital system administrators of a pending strike vote. Marge Robinson, the organization's president, said the alert comes after RN workers at the Mercy Campus on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected a contract...
The Long, Strange Tale of a California Farm’s Attempts To Break Its Workers’ Union  In These Times  ...The strategy by one of the nation's largest growers to shed its obligation to sign a contract with the United Farm Workers was dealt a key setback last week. An administrative law judge not only threw out what union organizers say was one of the dirtiest decertification elections in recent labor history, but did so because California growers had given tens of thousands of dollars to set the union-busting scheme in motion...
Hundreds mark anniversary of farmworkers' labor movement  SCPR  ...Hundreds of people flocked to Delano over the weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of the Delano grape strike, when grape pickers on Sept. 8, 1965 walked out to protest years of substandard pay and poor working conditions. That walkout, led by Cesar Chavez, sparked an international boycott and eventually led to the creation of the United Farm Workers...

Social Justice & Other News
When America Was 'Great,' Taxes Were High, Unions Were Strong, and Government Was Big  The Atlantic  ...Trump’s supporters might not appreciate what an economic return to the ’50s—even a ’50s lacking overt discrimination against women and political, racial, and sexual minorities—would entail. The ’50 were, as Stiglitz puts it, “a time of war-induced solidarity when the government kept the playing field level.” In other words, they were a time of Big Government. And Big Labor: As Alternet reports, “By 1953, more than one out of three American workers were members of private sector unions. That means there was a union member in nearly every family”...
Asians to surpass Hispanics as largest group of US immigrants by 2065: study  The Guardian  ...In a major shift in immigration patterns, Asians will surge past Hispanics to become the largest group of immigrants heading to the US by 2065, according to estimates in a new study. An increase in Asian and Hispanic immigration also will drive US population growth, with foreign-born residents expected to make up 18% of the country’s projected 441 million people in 50 years, the Pew Research Center said...
Elizabeth Warren Delivers Stirring Defense Of ‘Black Lives Matter’  Think Progress  ...Senator Elizabeth Warren offered a full-throated endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement at a speech today at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. Warren called the activists protesting police brutality around the country the “new generation of civil rights leaders.” She painted them as a direct extension of civil rights heros like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. She dismissed critics who claim Black Lives Matter activists are responsible for instigating violence...
Shell Just Scrapped Its Arctic Drilling Plans for "the Forseeable Future"  Mother Jones  ...After years of botched attempts, mountains of red tape, billions of dollars, and countless face-offs with protestors, Royal Dutch Shell announced today that it is pulling the plug on all oil and gas exploration in the Arctic ocean "for the forseeable future." From the press release: "Shell has found indications of oil and gas in the Burger J well, but these are not sufficient to warrant further exploration"...

Increased job deaths show need to focus on workplace safety

Why do we need unions? The reasons are many, but a key statistic released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlights an often-overlooked one -- to monitor workplace safety.

Too many people die at the workplace. The Labor Department reported that 4,679 workers were fatally injured on the job in 2014, up two percent from the previous year. The numbers were particularly grim for the workforce's oldest participants, who saw fatalities rise by nine percent. The 1,621 recorded deaths for those 55 and over is the highest since the agency began tracking such numbers in 1992.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez said the numbers are not acceptable:

Far too many people are still killed on the job -- 13 workers every day taken from their families tragically and unnecessarily. These numbers underscore the urgent need for employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees as the law requires.

Construction injuries – many of them falls – killed 874 workers last year, up from 828 the year before, BLS reported. The construction death rate is triple the death rate among all workers from occupational injuries, which was 3.3 per 100,000 last year, unchanged from 2013.

Meanwhile, BLS said 181 oil and gas extraction workers died on the job last year, 17 percent more than the year before. That industry’s death rate was 14.1 per 100,000 workers, second only to agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (24.1 deaths per 100,000 workers) in fatality rates. The most-dangerous occupations last year were loggers (109.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers), fishers and related occupations (80.8), aircraft pilots and engineers (63.2) and roofers (46.2).

Some of the most economically vulnerable workers are also among groups with high on-the-job death numbers. Perez called 789 Hispanic-named workers who died on the job last year a figure that’s “unacceptably high.” And 827 of 2014’s dead workers were foreign-born.

Unions have a long history of overseeing safety concerns. That's because the Teamsters and others labor groups have workers’ interests at heart. Legislation like so-called right-to-work hampers their ability to do so. Workers don't feel safe to air their concerns when they don't have an advocate.

Everyday Americans deserve better. That's why the Teamsters and other unions continue their push to make workplace safety a reality.

• Press Associates contributed to this report.

Today's Teamster News 09.25.15

Teamsters
Brockton Custodians Ratify First Teamsters Contract  Teamster.org   ...By a vote of 90-6, custodians, craftsmen and outside ground crews in the Brockton township public school system have voted to ratify their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. This continues the tradition of strong contracts and benefits that has been a hallmark of Local 653’s representation of its members...
Labor Unrest At California Ports Continue As More Subcontracted Workers Go On Strike  In These Times   ...The nation’s largest port—spread across parts of both Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA—is a strangely varied workplace. And after years of tenacious effort, workers throughout the port may soon share one important tool their predecessors once had: a union and, therefore, a better job...
Drivers Who Shuttle Genentech Workers Will Get Wage Increase  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Shuttle drivers who transport Genentech employees received a wage increase Thursday as negotiations continue between their employer, Compass Transportation, and the Teamsters...
Teachers, Drivers Team Up Against Violence From Students  WHAS   ...For the first time the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the union for the bus drivers, are teaming up and fighting back...
Truck Driver Run Over By Own Trailer At Port Of Long Beach Last Week, Police Say  Long Beach Post   ...A truck driver was fatally struck by his own vehicle last week at the Port of Long Beach (POLB) when he attempted to unlatch a trailer from his tractor, which was not adequately parked, authorities said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters held a press conference yesterday demanding more information from port. Details regarding the fatality were released by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) today...
Union Questions Plan To Shift City Workers To GSD  Chicago Tribune   ...On Monday, Paul Berkowitz, an attorney for Teamsters Local 142, in Gary, sought clarification from the GSD commissioners. He said 37 Teamsters received a letter from the city's human resources department stating they would be transferred to the GSD by Dec. 4. He said 14 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) would also shift to GSD...

Global Labor & Trade
Car Industry 'Buried Report Revealing U.S. Car Safety Flaws Over Fears For TTIP Deal'  The Independent   ...The motor industry has been accused of withholding a report that reveals US cars are substantially less safe than European vehicles - for fear that the findings would hamper the drive to harmonise safety standards as part of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal...
Japan TPP Chief Negotiator: Broad Agreement Is Within Reach: Jiji  Reuters   ...Japan's chief negotiator for the 12-nation pan-Pacific trade talks said on Friday a broad agreement of the ambitious trade pact was within reach, Jiji news agency reported...

State & Living Wage Battles
The Great Divide In Workplace Benefits  New York Times   ...For a small, lucky set of parents, the work-family juggle is relatively easy. Their employers give them paid leave; nannies to accompany them on business trips; flexible hours; child and elder care; and even on-site haircuts and nap rooms. For the rest of American workers, life tends to be much more difficult...
Fairness For Franchise Businesses And Workers  New York Times   ...In California today, nearly 83,000 fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and other franchise businesses generate $94 billion in annual revenue and employ almost one million people. In California, and in the rest of the nation, however, developments in franchise law in recent decades have increasingly reduced the power of franchisees in dealings with their corporate parents. The result has been lower franchisee profits and lower worker pay, while corporate profits and executive compensation soar...
Council Will Consider $15 Minimum Wage For Santa Monica  Santa Monica Lookout   ...Santa Monica’s lowest wage earners could soon get a raise. The City Council on Tuesday will consider a gradual minimum wage hike that calls for it to reach $15 in 2020...

U.S. Labor
Troubling Signs Emerge In UAW-FCA Contract Voting  Detroit Free Press   ...Signs began to emerge late Thursday that a proposed contract between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in early trouble as large UAW locals in Sterling Heights, Center Line and Kokomo, Ind. voted against the new four-year deal...
I'm Making Only $2.64 An Hour Working As An Uber Driver   AlterNet   ...Twenty-six-year-old Takele Gobena is part of the “on-demand” economy, working full-time as a driver for Uber and part time for Lyft. The Ethiopian immigrant quit his job at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and purchased a new car to drive for the ride-hailing firms, believing it would make him a better provider for his one-year-old daughter. Instead, Gobena now finds himself in debt and, after expenses, making well below minimum wage. But because Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors, Gobena is not protected by minimum wage laws...

Social Justice & Other News
We Need To Protect And Preserve Public Housing In New York City  New York Amsterdam News   ...May 19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his 10-year plan to eliminate NYCHA’s operating deficit to prevent the downfall of a program that houses over 600,000 and employs over 11,000 New Yorkers. In fact, 1 out of every 8 New Yorkers lives in NYCHA housing...
John Boehner To Resign From Congress At End Of October  Huffington Post   ...House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will resign from Congress at the end of October, his office announced Friday...
Pope Francis’ Challenge To America  New York Times   ...In an address of memorable passion and nuance, Francis focused widely on the divisive immigration issues at home and abroad, the economic divide driving poverty, the threat to the environment, the “brutal atrocities” and “simplistic reductionism” of the world’s continuing conflicts, and the need, above all, for “courageous actions and strategies” rather than “facile proposals” from leaders responsible for solutions...
Pope To U.N.: Economics, Climate Change, And War Are All Connected  Think Progress   ...Pope Francis spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, articulating an urgent — but intentionally nuanced — call to address the world’s many interconnected problems, especially economic inequality, climate change, and war...
China Says It Will Start The World's Biggest Carbon Market By 2017  Mother Jones   ...On Friday, Chinese president Xi Jinping will announce that China will start the world's largest carbon trading system by 2017, according to a statement released Thursday night by the White House...
Astounding Drug Prices Show How U.S. Government Is In Cahoots With Big Pharma  AlterNet   ...While Shkreli’s move may have been extremely ostentatious, and drawn the public’s attention, the issue of overpriced drugs in America is one that is not confined to Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals...
How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen's Pollution Scandal Cause?   Vox   ...Using these figures, the extra pollution from Volkswagen's US cars can be expected to lead to an additional 5 to 27 premature deaths per year. If we extrapolated worldwide to all 11 million vehicles, that would come to somewhere between 74 and 404 premature deaths each year...

Report details power of collective bargaining

As awareness grows nationwide about the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots, so do the opportunities to combat it. A new AFL-CIO report notes that more than 2.4 million workers are set to bargain on new contract through the end of 2016, creating an opportunity for sizable wage growth for many everyday Americans.

According to the report, working people who bargained for new contracts in the first half of 2015 saw their wages increase by an average of 4.3 percent, an increase of $1,147 a year for an average wage earner in the U.S. These increases are up from 2.9 percent in the first half of 2014, with substantial wage wins occurring in sectors from nursing and oil to airline pilots and teachers.

The Teamsters have registered their share of contract victories this year, whether its was a deal recently struck covering Silicon Valley shuttle bus drivers serving Apple, Yahoo and eBay or an agreement covering nearly 500 Tuscon, Ariz. transit workers who came to an agreement after a 42-day strike. These contracts show the value of union membership.

As the collective bargaining document notes:

We are in the midst of an exceptional moment for raising wages through collective bargaining. Millions of American workers will have bargained contracts by the end of 2016, and considering that most of the largest organized workforces are going to the bargaining table, it is likely that more workers will be seeking raises through the collective bargaining process in 2015–2016 than at any other point in recent American labor history. 

Collective bargaining is our best tool for raising wages in America. It should be front and center as Congress considers policy and as presidential candidates announce agendas. Moreover, the results will illuminate the larger issue underpinning chronic wage stagnation: that vibrant worker organizations are key to restoring the balance of economic power in our country.

That's why the Teamsters and other worker advocates fight so hard against the forces who try to do away with them, like the recent victory in Missouri. Workers lose when so-called right-to-work legislation wins, with big business raking in additional profits.

Unions play a pivotal role in the future of this country. If workers want better salaries, the best way is to join one like the Teamsters. That way workers have a bigger voice at the bargaining table.

Today's Teamster News 09.24.15

Teamsters
Worker advocates turn sights on warehouse industry in Southern California  JOC  ...In what could be the beginning of a larger effort to focus on working conditions and eventually organize the warehouse sector of the transportation industry, workers at a warehouse near the Port of Los Angeles walked off their jobs Tuesday, attracting the support of the Teamsters union. The job action at California Cartage Company was sponsored by the Warehouse Worker Resource Center...
Warehouse Workers of Los Angeles, Unite!  The Nation  ... A few dozen workers at the California Cartage warehouse went on strike on Tuesday to protest poverty wages and harsh working conditions. Though backed by the advocacy group Warehouse Workers Resource Center (WWRC), with support from the Teamsters, the strikers don’t have a union—many aren’t even permanent employees...
Port truckers continue to strike  Fleet Owner  ...As they await a ruling from the California Labor Commissioner on their wage and hour claims totaling in excess of $6 million, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, port drivers from Pacific 9 Transportation (Pac 9), who say they have been misclassified as independent contractors, have entered their 11th week on strike, according to the Teamsters Port Division. They plan to continue picketing at the company’s Carson-based yard and conduct “ambulatory picketing”...
Safe Mover Members Ratify New Contract With Raises  Local 727  ...Teamsters Local 727 members at M. Lange, Inc. have ratified a new three-year contract with annual raises and vacation fund increases. Local 727 representatives also secured employer-paid contribution increases to allow members to retain their top-notch union benefits. “These members are another part of our local union’s diverse and growing membership,” said John Coli Jr., President of Local 727...

Global Labor & Trade
Pacific trade pact negotiators move closer to deal on rules for autos  Reuters  ...Japan, the United States, Mexico and Canada are moving closer to a deal on rules for the automotive industry in a landmark Pacific trade deal, a leading obstacle to agreement on the 12-nation pact, officials briefed on the talks said on Wednesday.` Although two-day talks between negotiators from the four nations on auto trade did not reach a final agreement, ministers were readying for meetings in Atlanta...
Canada heads to TPP talks in Atlanta with key auto content issue unresolved  Globe and Mail  ...Canada’s Trade Minister Ed Fast is heading to Atlanta to join a pivotal round of talks that could yield a massive Pacific Rim trade deal – even though Japan has so far refused to give ground on rules in the proposed accord that could hurt Canada’s auto sector. The very same unreconciled differences between Canada and Mexico on one hand, and Japan on the other, stalled a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord last summer...
Malmstrom and Froman Discussed Upcoming TTIP Negotiations  EIN News  ...EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström today met with her American counterpart, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in Washington DC. The purpose of the meeting was to take stock of the ongoing negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Both sides agreed on the need to accelerate discussions and achieve progress in all areas under negotiation. To give an additional boost to the talks, contacts between negotiating teams will be intensified...
Brazil hit by anti-austerity protests  Agence France Presse  ...Hundreds of demonstrators besieged government offices in Brazil Wednesday to protest plans for deep budget cuts as part of an austerity plan. President Dilma Rousseff, faced with a deepening recession and rising inflation, has put forth an austerity plan that involves $17 billion in cuts to bring the federal budget out of the red. Opposed to that plan, several hundred protesters blocked the entrance to the Finance Ministry's Sao Paulo headquarters...
EU Refugee Crisis: How Will European Countries Pay For The Influx Of Thousands Of People?  International Business Times  ...As refugees from the Middle East and North Africa continued Wednesday making dangerous sea crossings into Europe, EU officials were meeting in Brussels deliberating over increased emergency funding to cope with the influx of people. The crisis comes at a time when many states are still trying to dig themselves out from deep economic problems...

State & Living Wage Battles
'Right-to-work' bill being drawn up in Ohio House  Cleveland.com  ...An Ohio lawmaker said he plans to introduce a "right-to-work" bill that would prohibit private-sector labor union membership as a condition of employment. State Rep. Tom Brinkman said Wednesday that his bill, which he plans to introduce next month, would ban "closed shops" and forbid unions from charging "fair-share fees" to non-union workers at private-sector workplaces. The Cincinnati Republican said he intends to introduce the bill sometime next month...
Hinsdale District 86 to petition state leaders to change prevailing wage rates  Chicago Tribune  ...Hinsdale High School District 86 will petition state leaders to use a new method of calculating the prevailing wage rate. The school board passed a resolution asking that the Illinois Department of Labor use both private and public wage rates when setting the prevailing wage rate for the counties. The district will send the resolution to Gov. Bruce Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and the state senators and representatives for the areas that District 86 encompasses...
Poll: New Yorkers support $15 minimum wage  Syracuse.com  ...New York voters strongly support Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour, according to a new Siena College poll made public Thursday. The poll found 59 percent of voters support Cuomo's plan to gradually phase in the higher minimum wage, compared to 38 percent who oppose the increase...
Judge allows voter-ID lawsuit to proceed  Associated Press  ...A judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s photo identification requirement to vote that starts next year, even though lawmakers recently eased the mandate for some without IDs wishing to cast ballots. Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan denied the motion of attorneys for the state to toss out the suit...

U.S. Labor
Judge Rules Nation’s Largest Peach Grower Interfered with UFW Vote  AllGov.com  ...Gerawan Farming Inc., America’s biggest peach grower, thought it was rid of the United Farm Workers (UFW) 20 years ago when the elected bargaining representative of its field hands walked away (out of frustration, they say) and did not return—until October 2012. The UFW sought to sit down at the bargaining table with Gerawan after the long absence, but the Fresno-area company refused and tried to decertify the union...
Workers at Alabama auto supplier vote to join UAW union  AL.com  ...Employees at a northeastern Alabama auto parts manufacturer have voted in favor of joining the United Auto Workers union. The 89-45 vote was at Commercial Vehicle Group Inc. in Piedmont. A press release posted on the UAW's website cited low pay -- ranging from $9.70 to $15.80 per hour for production workers -- high health care costs and the plant's increasing use of temporary workers as some of the reasons behind the successful union vote...
First Student, AFSCME negotiating Unit 5 bus contract  Pantagraph   ...School bus drivers and monitors who work for Normal-based McLean County Unit 5's bus service are finally on their way to a union contract. First Student Inc., the Cincinnati-based bus provider contracted by Unit 5, has recognized and started negotiating with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees...
Republican Senator Offers A Serious Idea For Combating The Gender Wage Gap  Think Progress  ...After years of Republicans standing in lockstep against a Democratic bill aimed at closing the gender wage gap, a Republican senator just introduced a bill that looks nearly identical to it. On Tuesday, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) introduced the Gender Advancement in Pay (GAP) Act, a bill aimed at gender wage discrimination. The bill’s elements look nearly identical to those in the Paycheck Fairness Act, a measure backed by a number of Democrats...
Cab Drivers Stop Traffic at Chicago Airports, Protesting Rahm Emanuel’s Uber-Friendly Proposal  In These Times  ...Hundreds of cab drivers at O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago halted service late Wednesday morning in protest of new rules in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 2016 budget. The action, which was organized by Cab Drivers United/AFSCME Local 2500 (CDU), saw drivers blocking traffic. Drivers acted in response to Emanuel’s proposed rules, which would allow rideshare services like Uber and Lyft access to the airports while maintaining their exemption from many of the regulations to which traditional taxi services are subject...
Charter School Network Challenges NLRB Ruling Allowing Teach for America Members To Unionize  In These Times  ...Detroit 90/90, the charter school management group that operates University Prep, the city’s largest charter school network, furthered its challenge of ongoing union organizing by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), recently appealing a ruling made by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last month that stated that Teach for America (TFA) members should be in the same bargaining unit as professional teachers...

Social Justice & Other News
Sanders: We Must End For-Profit Prisons  Common Dreams  ...The U.S. has less than five percent of the world's population, yet we incarcerate about a quarter of its prisoners -- some 2.2 million people. There are many ways that we must go forward to address this tragedy.  One of them is to end the existence of the private for-profit prison industry which now makes millions from the incarceration of Americans... 
"We Are Living at a Critical Moment of History": The Pope on Poverty, Immigration & Climate Change  Democracy Now  ...Pope Francis heads to Capitol Hill today to become the first pope ever to address Congress. On Wednesday, he spoke at the White House, then addressed hundreds of U.S. bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. At the White House, Pope Francis spoke about poverty, immigration and climate change. "Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution," Pope Francis told President Obama...
Women Walk 100 Miles To See Pope Francis, Plead For Immigration Reform  Huffington Post  ...When more than 100 women arrived at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, they had made it 97 miles by foot, and only had three to go to the middle of D.C. The women, who are mostly immigrants, some of them undocumented, started their pilgrimage in Pennsylvania on Sept. 15 and traveled to Washington to see Pope Francis...
With Letter and Hug, Five-Year-Old Takes Immigration Plea to Pope Francis  Common Dreams  ..."I believe I have the right to live with my parents. I have the right to be happy." With a message and a hug, five-year-old Sophie Cruz on Wednesday transformed a few minutes of Pope Francis' first U.S. visit into a resounding call for immigration reform. Cruz, who was attending Francis' cavalcade on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with her father and a group of immigration activists, caught media attention when she ran through a barricade to meet the Popemobile and deliver a letter to the Catholic leader...
USDA Does Not Have The Cash To Keep Food Stamps Running If The Government Shuts Down  Think Progress ...Tens of millions of vulnerable Americans would lose their food stamps benefits if Republicans bent on defunding Planned Parenthood force the second government shutdown of the Obama era next week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) warned on Tuesday. Unlike the 2013 shutdown when cash reserves allowed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to be disbursed as normal, “USDA will not have the funding necessary for SNAP benefits"...