Showing posts with label 117. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 117. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2015

Today's Teamster News 03.27.15

Teamsters
Teamsters At Northwest Steel And Pipe Vote Unanimously To Strike  teamster.org   ...Teamster warehouse workers, operators, and drivers at Northwest Steel and Pipe voted unanimously to strike last night. The strike vote took place Tuesday evening outside the company’s facility in Tacoma...
Teamsters Urge Support For Sen. Sanders' Pension Amendment  teamster.org   ...“Sen. Sanders is trying to do the right thing for retired Americans who receive benefits from a multiemployer pension plan like thousands of Teamsters do...
US Foods Volume Declines While Waiting For Merger With Sysco  Chicago Tribune   ...Sysco's attempt to buy US Foods for $3.5 billion was dealt a blow in February when the Federal Trade Commission, on a 3-2 vote, sought to block the deal along with 11 attorneys general. A district court hearing on the preliminary injunction is set to begin in Washington on May 5...
Students’ mosaic to Light up the Night at autism gala  Boston Herald   ...Longtime supporters of the Teamsters Local 25 
Autism Gala know to 
expect a dazzling piece of artwork at tomorrow’s Light up the Night party. And judging from the 
effort the autistic students in Chris Hall’s art class put into their 54,000-piece 
mosaic, they won’t be disappointed...
EXCLUSIVE: NYCHA quietly sold off supplies needed for repairs and cleanup  New York Daily News   ..."They'd say they didn't have material to clean with. It was a continuous complaining and concern. They didn't have mops. They didn't have buckets," said Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which represents 8,000 NYCHA workers. "Now to find out that the Housing Authority was sitting on all of these things? Some of my members didn't have uniforms. Come to find out they had uniforms. They were warehousing all this material."...
Teamsters, ITF Warn Of Possible Disruptions Of LAN Airline Flights  Aero News Network   ...A number of flights of South American LAN Airlines could be affected as the unions of LAN Airlines began a series of actions on Wednesday, March 25th in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Miami...
Trade
Despite Leak Of TPP Text, Obama Officials Say Trade Deal Will Not Let Companies Overturn US Laws  International Business Times   ...Less than three weeks after a classified draft of its proposed 12-nation trade pact included provisions that critics say empower foreign companies to overturn domestic regulations, the Obama administration explicitly declared that the deal would not permit such actions...
Germany’s SPD Won’t Back Down In US Trade Talks  The Nation   ...Germany’s economy minister has promised to block any clauses in a trade deal between the European Union and the United States that go against the ideals of his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), including investor protection clauses wanted by the Americans...
State Battles
A Rare Victory for Black Voting Rights in the South  The Nation   ...Today the Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Breyer, sided with the black plaintiffs and ordered a district court in Alabama to reexamine whether specific districts, like Ross’s, were improperly drawn with race as the predominant factor...
Indiana income growth slows  Indianapolis Star   ...The income Hoosiers received last year grew slightly slower than the national average, dropping the state from 38th to 39th in per capita income, according the Bureau of Economic Analysis...
Dayton Pushes For $10 Minimum Wage For Airport Workers  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...“They deserve it, the airline industry can afford it, and one thing about raising the minimum wage at the airport is it’s not going to be a threat to move to South Dakota or China or somewhere else. It’s our airport, it’s a public facility and it ought to better reflect the values of the citizenry.”...
War on Workers
Yes, You Should Ask For A Raise (opinion)  U.S. News and World Report   ...In 2015, nearly 5 million American workers might get a pay raise. By joining together to ask for one. Through a union. Minimum wage hikes, overtime expansion, paid sick leave and other policy improvements are important to raise wages in America. But the best way for workers to get a raise is by asking for one with a collective voice. That’s what workers do – bargain together in unions to improve our lives...
Household Debt Is A National Crisis (opinion)  Truthout   ...Family debt is no personal failing — it's a national crisis. Even as unemployment declines, the debt crisis is holding back a full economic recovery and pushing more people into poverty...
Connecticut Farm Worker Dies After Corn Collapses On Him  New York Daily News   ...A Connecticut farm worker died Monday after a pile of milled corn collapsed and buried him, police said. Donald Merchant, 54, was using equipment to move corn from a large mound at the Square A Farm in Lebanon when some of it toppled onto him when he got off the vehicle...
North Carolina DOT Worker Dead In Accident In Wayne County  WTVD   ...State officials said a North Carolina Department of Transportation worker was killed in an accident on U.S. Highway 70 in Wayne County Monday. It happened just before 11 a.m. at Capps Bridge Road. The area is west of Goldsboro...
A Campaign Finance Idea Whose Time Has Come (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The bill — also known as the Government by the People Act  — would provide House candidates with a way to raise funds without auctioning off themselves to Wall Street and K Street. If candidates chose to limit contributions to their campaigns to no more than $1,000, every contribution they received of $150 or less from residents of their state would trigger a contribution of public funds at a 6-to-1 ratio: A $100 donation would yield $600 in public funds; a $150 donation, $900. To qualify for matching funds, candidates would also have to reject contributions from political action committees, unless those PACS also raised their money in contributions of $150 or less...
Miscellaneous

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Today's Teamster News 09.30.14

Teamster News
Gov. Brown Signs Protections For Temp Workers Into Law  teamster.org   ...Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1897 into law Sunday. The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015, will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Teach-in this weekend about Bill Gates' burning, radioactive landfill in Missouri  TeamsterNation   ...There's only one place in the country where a landfill fire smolders hundreds of away a nuclear dump site, and there are hundreds of Teamsters families living near it...
Parents, Health Officials Search For Answers About Sick Kids  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Kirbi Pemberton pulled her 7-year-old daughter out of Rose Acres Elementary School in Maryland Heights this year over her concerns about potential health risks from the nearby radioactive West Lake Landfill...
Woot! Local 117 Teamsters ratify Fred Meyer contract!  TeamsterNation   ...Great news from Washington State, where our brothers and sisters from Teamsters Local 117 voted on Saturday to ratify a contract with Fred Meyer, a subsidiary of Kroger, Inc. They stood together and bargained a contract that maintains affordable health care and protects members against subcontracting...
Teamsters win arbitration award giving Corrections’ employees 9.8% raises over two years  The News Tribune   ...The ruling in favor of the Teamsters provides pay raises of 5.5 percent in July 2015 and another 4.3 percent in 2016 — with additional raises of 2.5 percent for select positions. About 6,000 employees at the Department of Corrections are covered by the Teamsters contract...
Trade
History’s largest trade agreements are being negotiated in secret  Aljazeera America   ...For the past four years, Froman and Selig have headed the U.S. team of unelected representatives secretly negotiating history’s two biggest trade agreements. If both treaties — drafted on behalf of 1.6 billion people — are approved, they will regulate almost three-quarters of all trade and investment in the world. The deals would void national legislation on environmental policy, labor rights, financial regulation and intellectual property...
Voters Will Oppose Politicians Who Support “NAFTA-Style” Trade Deals  Trade Reform   ...the polling overwhelmingly shows that the public “gets it” that these “trade” agreements have been used to send jobs out of the country and force wages down...
China's Tech Factories Turn To Student Labor  Wall Street Journal   ...Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world's largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice. "I was suddenly told I had to spend the summer making computers or I couldn't graduate," said a 16-year-old girl surnamed Xiao...
State Battles
Early voting in Ohio blocked (UPDATED)  SCOTUS Blog   ...With just sixteen hours before polling stations were to open in Ohio, the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon blocked voters from beginning tomorrow to cast their ballots in this year’s general election...
Large Oil Company Bolts From ALEC  National Journal   ...Occidental Petroleum sent a letter Friday to an investment-management company indicating its intention to sever ties with ALEC, a conservative coalition of state legislators and major corporations that actively opposes environmental regulations...
Expedia under fire over membership to rightwing lobby group Alec  Guardian   ...Expedia, the world’s largest online travel company, has declined to follow the lead of other big internet firms, instead choosing to remain a member of a controversial rightwing lobby group that works against climate change legislation...
Silicon Valley's Done With American Legislative Exchange Council  U.S. News   ...ALEC takes a conservative, national political approach down to the state level through model bills that do the bidding of big, corporate interests which provide the funding. ALEC bills are generally promoted word for word at the state level by GOP legislators on issues ranging from information technology to renewable energy...
45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below Poverty Line: Census  Huffington Post   ...Median household income barely budged last year, edging up to $51,939 from $51,759 in 2012, the Census Bureau noted separately. Median income is still far from the $56,436 in 2007 and the all-time high of $56,895 in 1999...
Taxis In Washington DC Losing Their Identity With Modern Makeover As Drivers Compete With Car-Sharing App Uber  ABC News   ...The car-sharing service launched in San Francisco in 2010 has since gone global, invariably causing a chorus of complaint and sparking legal challenges from local cab industries...
Arguments Set This Week In Arkansas Voter ID Case  Times Record   ...Arkansas’ highest court is set to take up a case this week that could decide whether the state’s voters will be required to show photo identification at the polls in the November election...
War On Workers
FAA Approves Drone Use For Hollywood Productions, Sets Guidelines – Update  Deadline Hollywood   ...The FAA has approved the limited use of drones as camera platforms for film and TV productions, opening the skies to swarms of small, camera-mounted planes and mini-helicopters over film locations across the country. Unmanned aerial cameras are legal elsewhere in the world, but have been prohibited for commercial use in the U.S. until now...
Finally, the Truth About the A.I.G. Bailout (opinion)  New York Times   ...the government has never provided a plausible explanation for why the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which had enormous leverage over banks like Goldman thanks to its role as their regulator, didn’t lean on them to accept less than 100 cents on the dollar in their payouts from A.I.G...
Almost Three-Quarters Of Big Companies To Increase Outsourcing  Computer Weekly   ...Almost three quarters of global businesses will increase their investment in outsourced services, according to research by KPMG. The research also indicates that more firms are taking advantage of global delivery models including functions such as finance, procurement and HR delivered centrally, often offshore...
Philadelphia zoo worker killed after being pinned under golf cart, report says  South Jersey Times   ...The 57-year-old employee became trapped under the cart around 11 a.m. at the zoo, located on West Girdard Avenue. He was then taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he died, according to the report...
Trump Seeks Pact To End Union Pension To Save Atlantic City Casino  Reuters   ...Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc is seeking to impose a new contract on its unionized workers and end pension contributions as part of a plan backed by billionaire Carl Icahn to save the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey...
Miscellaneous
NTSB: Truck showed no signs of trying to avoid North Texas softball team's bus  Dallas Morning News   ...National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Sunday that the truck drove through the median for 820 feet on a shallow angle before colliding with the bus. It did not brake or appear to take any action to avoid the crash. They found no apparent problems with the truck’s brakes...
Walmart Faults Tracy Morgan for Not Wearing Seatbelt During Car Accident (Exclusive)  Hollywood Reporter   ...Among nine affirmative defenses, Walmart says that injuries "were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiffs' failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device."...
Will More Coal, Oil Trains Rumble Through Northwest?  Public News Service   ...About two dozen projects have been proposed in the past two years to move the Northwest toward becoming a transportation hub for coal, oil and gas to Asia...

Monday, May 19, 2014

Today's Teamster News 05.19.14

Teamster News
Uber drivers meet with Teamsters to form new association  KING5.com   ...Uber and Uber-X drivers on Sunday moved forward with plans to form their own association. Dozens of drivers met at the Teamster's Local 117 headquarters in Tukwila. The Teamsters are helping the group form their own association to deal with labor issues and safety concerns...
Trade
Russia halts rocket exports to US, hitting space and military programmes  The Guardian   ...Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, has announced it will halt the export of rocket engines crucial to the US military defence and space programmes...
US, Japan 'not too far apart' on trade: analyst  ABC Australia   ...Pacific region trade ministers have gathered in Singapore, to try to hammer out agreement on a multilateral trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
Digging into Scott Walker’s talk of 17,000 job-producing new businesses  Politifact   ...his impressive-sounding talking point -- that 17,000 new ready-to-hire businesses have sprung up on his watch -- crumbles upon examination….An analysis by PolitiFact Wisconsin found Walker’s count includes: Hundreds of nonprofit organizations, often volunteer-run, including Scout troops, condo associations, youth sports leagues, volunteer fire departments, historical societies, "friends" fundraising groups, scholarship funds and many more...
Portland Is First U.S. City to Divest Funds from Walmart  Alternet   ...On Thursday, May 15, the city of Portland, Oregon got rid of $9 million, or 25 percent of its investments in Walmart. This marks the beginning of a divestment program that will purge Portland's investment portfolio of $36 million in Walmart bonds by 2016...
War on Workers
Unionization Is Next Step For Fast Food Workers  The Real News   ...Organizing a union is the ultimate goal, and workers like Tanaisha say they won't stop until they have it their way...
Data mining your children  Politico   ...The NSA has nothing on the ed tech startup known as Knewton. The data analytics firm has peered into the brains of more than 4 million students across the country...
The NSA’s Mantra  Counterpunch   ...“collect it all, sniff it all, process it all, partner it all, exploit it all...”
Congratulations, class of 2014: You’re totally screwed  Salon   ...the average student-loan borrower among you is now $33,000 in debt, the largest of any graduating class ever...
Swiss Voters Just Rejected A $25 An Hour Minimum Wage  Reuters  ...Swiss voters on Sunday rejected proposals to introduce the world's highest minimum wage and spend $3.5 billion buying new Gripen fighter jets from Saab...
Anti-World Cup protests across Brazil  The Guardian   ...The events follow industrial action in Rio earlier in the week by teachers, bus drivers, museum employees and geologists, and underline longer term concerns about public safety and transport infrastructure...
Turkey mine disaster: 18 people held on suspicion of negligence  The Guardian   ...Turkish police have detained 18 people suspected of negligence in connection with this week's deadly mine disaster, including executives from the mine operator, local media reported. Rescue operations ended on Saturday after the bodies of the last two trapped miners were recovered, following the country's worst industrial disaster, which killed 301 people...
Miscellaneous


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Today's Teamster News 04.20.14

Teamster News
SeaTac airport workers fight exclusion from $15 minimum wage  PBS News Hour   ...Tracey Thompson, Teamsters Local 117: It’s not just the represented workers that matter. It’s the non-represented workers, and women and persons of color are the ones who are suffering most by having such low minimum wage and poverty level wages here...
Animal rights protesters march outside Liam Neeson's home in support of horse ban  New York Daily News   ...About 60 activists gathered in front of Neeson’s building on Saturday, criticizing the actor for his support of the carriage horse industry...
Mayor Bill de Blasio's horse sense (opinion)  Crain's New York Business   ...when the mayor changed his mind last week, saying he'd postpone the industry ban until the end of the year, we welcomed the reprieve. Still, Mr. de Blasio's capricious approach to one industry continues to leave us concerned for every law-abiding business in this town. Apparently, following the rules and paying taxes is no longer sufficient for the privilege to try to earn a living in New York...
Trade
U.S.-Japan Talks Said Unable to Overcome Deal Obstacles  Bloomberg   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Japanese Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari yesterday concluded talks in Washington on the Trans-Pacific Partnership without striking a deal on some of the most contentious issues...
State Battles
Local Media Fooled By Discredited Economic Competitiveness Report  Media Matters   ...Despite the uncritical, often glowing, pick-up by local media outlets, ALEC's competitiveness report has received scrutiny in the past, mostly due to evidence showing that economic data does not comport with the results of their study...
Column: Some fear Charles Koch's influence damages FSU's integrity  Tampa Bay Tribune   ...Koch's foundation has been funneling money to the economics department at FSU since 2008. This would be the same Koch who funds ultraconservative think tanks and preaches less government regulation...
Christina Bullins: Are our prisons safe in Florida?  Florida Public Employees Partnership   ...the inmate population had no significant changes.  Despite the addition of 245 positions last year, the number of officers reported in DOC’s budget request is 727 officers less than the year before...
War on Workers
Jon Stewart Demolishes the NCAA's Case Against Student-Athlete Unions  The Wire   ...players are forbidden from accepting nearly any gifts, including food – just ask the Oklahoma players punished for being served "pasta in excess."...
Student debt holds back many would-be home buyers  Los Angeles Times   ...Of the many factors holding back young home buyers — rising prices, tougher lending standards, a still-shaky job market — none looms larger than the recent explosion of college debt...
UConn’s 2,135 graduate assistants unionize  CT Mirror   ...The governing board of the state's flagship university unanimously voted in a "special meeting" last week to approve an agreement between the newly formed union -- UConn GEU-UAW -- and the university...
Miscellaneous
Senator Holds Commuter Safety Presser, Almost Gets Hit By Train  Gawker   ...Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal received an unexpected lesson in practicing what you preach at a press conference yesterday. Standing on the platform at the Milford Metro-North station, Blumenthal and his easel narrowly dodged an oncoming train as Milford Mayor Ben Blake spoke about commuter safety...

Monday, December 9, 2013

Today's Teamster News 12.09.13

Hampton O'Hare Housekeepers Ratify Contract with Annual Raises  Teamsters Local 727   ...Teamsters Local 727 representatives secured significant annual wage increases for the 18-member bargaining unit...
Teansters at Darigold Overwhelmingly Approve New Contract  Teamsters Local 117   ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, have overwhelmingly ratified a new labor agreement that provides wage increases, health care protections, and retirement security for 220 workers and their families...
My week as one of Amazon's HUMAN drones: Revealed, what it's REALLY like to work in online warehouse and Santa's grotto it ain't  Daily Mail   ...Shops employ 47 people for every $10 million (£6 million) in sales, according to research done by a company called ILSR. Amazon employs only 14 people per $10 million of revenue.
Listen Up, Budget Cutters. Austerity Can Lead to Blood on the Streets, Even in America  Alternet   ... economic shocks alone are not enough to cause people to flip out. It’s the way governments respond to them that sets the stage for blood in the streets...
Report: Most people in poverty have jobs  Salon   ...A new report in the U.K. decimates the tired right-wing myth that poor people are in poverty because they don’t work...
California business group uses “job killer” list to help Wal-Mart  Salon   ...Bills deemed hurtful to businesses have a tendency to go nowhere in the state Legislature...
Unemployment IS Down: When Good News Really Isn’t  truthdig   ...for every person who found a job between September and November, three other people stopped looking...
Obama Trade Deal Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Political Powers  Huffington Post   ...The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post...
Don’t Believe the Spin from ALEC  Center for Media and Democracy   ...This year, ALEC began stamping the materials it gives to legislators with a “disclaimer” asserting that the documents are not subject to any state’s open records/freedom of information laws, despite the laws in many states that have long required lawmakers to disclose communications from outside groups and constituents...
Don’t Be Evil? Google Funding a Slew of Right-Wing Groups  Bill Moyers   ...Google, the tech giant supposedly guided by its “don’t be evil” motto, has been funding a growing list of groups advancing the agenda of the Koch brothers...
NSA spying hurts business of large U.S. hardware makers  USA Today   ...in China … IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and, most notably, Cisco Systems have reported substantial drops in sales since the NSA surveillance program came to light...
Hell on Wings - Cellphones Don't Belong on Planes (opinion)  truthout   ...Cardiologist Sarah Speck, who runs the heart program at Seattle's Swedish Hospital, tells me that "we need our downtime." She says the stress of workplace demands, exacerbated by constant connectivity, is "the new tobacco" in American society, leading to earlier onset of heart disease, which she is now seeing in patients in their 40s...
Busted and Bankrupt Detroit Can Now Wipe Out Worker Pensions  Economic Populist   ...While the damage has been building by ineffective, hoodwinked and even obviously corrupt city officials, the deal which broke Detroit's financial back was with, you guessed it, the banks.  Specifically interest rate swaps along with derivative based loans is what did the city in and guess who originated these loans?  Bank of America, UBS and Merrill Lynch...

Friday, November 1, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.01.13

Teamsters Welcome Capital Trucking Drivers  teamster.org   ...Local 696 welcomes 20 short haul dump truck drivers from Capital Trucking to the ranks after a 13-2 organizing victory on October 30. Since Labor Day, Local 696 Teamsters have worked to organize these new workers...
National Master ABF Negotiating Committee Accepts ABF’s Final Offer for Central Region Local Cartage Supplement  teamster.org   ...In a conference call Wednesday, the ABF Master Negotiating Committee voted that in light of the overwhelming vote against authorizing a strike, the company’s last proposal for the Central Region Local Cartage Agreement would be accepted. As a result, the ABF-NMFA is now fully ratified...
Teamsters Request Immediate Meeting With Mayor to Discuss Drivers’ Issues  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 922 President Ferline Buie sent D.C. Mayor Gray a letter requesting a meeting to discuss a moratorium on fines and taxicab impoundment, a subsidy or reimbursement for the unfair costs associated with the new regulations and the appointment of a driver to the Taxicab Commission. (Read the letter.)...
More Independent Contractors Are Organizing. Meet Teamster Taxi Cabs  Bloomberg   ... Some freelance writers and physicians are also moving in the direction of unionization...
Teamsters vote in favor of new contract with city of South Bend  ABC 57 News   ...The 250 members of the Teamsters Local 364 were all set to vote on their contract last week until they learned about a disparity between their pay raise and the pay raises the mayor wants to give some of his department heads. In the end, the union decided to take the deal on the table that includes a 2 percent raise for each of the next three years...
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Teamsters to Start Talks  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch InBev and the Teamsters union are about to begin contract talks for the first time since the Belgian brewer InBev purchased the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers five years ago...
Teamsters Call on Darigold to Return to the Bargaining Table  teamsterslocal117.org   ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, met throughout the day Wednesday to discuss the company’s last contract proposal...
Teamsters endorse Senate farm bill on nutrition, dairy  Agri-Pulse   ...The Teamsters Union weighed in last week in favor of Senate provisions in the farm bill, urging conferees to “reject the severe cuts” to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the House bill and dropping previous opposition to the “supply management” part of the Senate's dairy reform language...
Four months without a contract, 930 Penn State-Hershey workers will vote on offer  The Patriot-News   ...About 930 Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center support workers will vote on a proposed three-year contract to replace one that expired in June. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 776...
Rich people think the economy is doing just fine. Here’s why that matters.  Washington Post   ...any sense of urgency around getting the economy on track has almost disappeared within Congress ... Members of Congress tend to be relatively wealthy themselves, and tend to associate with big donors and other prominent folks…
Show Your Invisible Hand: Why the SEC Should Make Corporations Disclose Political Contributions  Next New Deal   ...corporate executives frequently spend on politics for their own personal advantage rather than the company’s bottom line. These personal benefits include things like prestige, a future political career, star power, or assistance for political allies...
Families brace as billions in food stamp cuts set in  NBC News   ...Benefit cuts to food stamp recipients kick in Friday, a move by Congress that will siphon $5 billion off a program that helps one in seven Americans put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table...
Elderly Family’s Eviction Fuels Growing San Francisco Housing Rights Movement  People Power Media   ...The Lee family’s fight to save their home appears to have become a flashpoint for a resurgent tenants’ and housing rights movement that has helped put evictions and displacement on the front pages—and, potentially, on the front burner of city policymakers who are under increasing pressure to stem a tidal wave of evictions...
Ractopamine: The Meat Additive on Your Plate That's Banned Almost Everywhere But America AlterNet   ...The asthma drug-like growth additive has enjoyed stealth use in the US food supply for a decade despite being widely banned overseas...
Chinese Imports are Poisoning Our Pets  TradeReform   ...Recently the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sounded the alarm with warnings not to purchase some jerky dog treats that are resulting in a mysterious outbreak of illnesses...
Outsourcing Food Inspection Is Too Hard to Swallow   Huffington Post   ...For generations, Americans have relied on public service workers to inspect the food we eat. Now, the Department of Agriculture has proposed removing USDA inspectors from poultry lines and letting companies police themselves. That's right. The fox is literally guarding the hen house...
Newt’s revenge: Child labor makes a comeback   The Salon   ...In just two years, right-wing legislators weakened four states' child labor laws -- and a raft of other protections...
Social Security benefits to go up by 1.5 percent in 2014  Associated Press   ...Social Security benefits will rise 1.5 percent in January, giving millions of retired and disabled workers an average raise of $19 a month to keep up with the cost of living—an increase that is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975...
Arizona election law will be put to statewide vote   Washington Post   ...Arizona will vote next year on a controversial bill that made sweeping changes to the state’s election laws after Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) certified Tuesday that opponents of the bill had collected enough signatures to force the measure onto the ballot...
Port of Oakland truckers promise to keep working through negotiations   Oakland North   ...After forcing a one-day closure of the Port of Oakland over regulatory and wait-time complaints last week, independent truckers say they are pursuing negotiations with the California Air Resources Board, and have promised no further work stoppages through at least Monday, Nov. 4...

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Today's Teamster News 10.12.12

Teamsters' Contract With DHL Express Fully Ratified After Last Local Rider Approved  teamster.org   ...The remaining contract rider between the Teamsters Union and DHL Express was approved on Wednesday, October 9, paving the way for the national contract between the parties to take effect...
Teamsters Support SEC on Rule to Expose Gap Between Worker, CEO Pay  teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters supports the SEC’s proposal to require corporations to reveal the difference between the pay of their CEO and their average workers...
Vote Results Announced For 7 UPS Local Supplements, Riders  teamster.org   ...Five of seven UPS Local supplements and riders were approved by UPS Teamsters covered under them. The supplements and riders that passed were the Central Region, Local 243, Local 804, Metro Philadelphia and Michigan. The Ohio Rider and Local 623 Supplement did not pass. Complete results can be viewed here...
SCI Funeral Directors Rally After 100 Days on Picket Line  teamster.org   ...After 100 days on the picket line, locked out funeral directors and drivers in Chicago aren’t giving up the fight for workers’ rights...
Donna LeMay: 'We All Deserve Respect'  driveupstandards.org   ...I am a driver with Local 633 out of Manchester, N.H. We have been Teamsters in Salem since 1998. It has not been easy to get where we are today, but it was well worth the wait. I am a steward who to this day still learns new things as I go along...
School bus strike avoided  Ottumwa Courier   ...Teamsters Local 238 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has reached a tentative agreement with Southern Iowa Transit, averting a strike by the school bus drivers for the Ottumwa school district...
Ballots Mailed in Tentative BLET, Terminal Railroad-Alabama State Docks Agreement  BLET   ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative contract agreement with the Terminal Railroad-Alabama State Docks (TR-ASD). Ballots were mailed October 10 to active members of the BLET employed by TR-ASD who are eligible to vote...
Who said phone banking for your favorite Teamster candidates isn't fun? Teamsters Local 117   ...Phone banking gets a bum rap, often for good reason. The term conjures up images of stressed telemarketers squeezed into cubicles selling Aruba timeshares to unsuspecting retirees. But phone banking can actually be a lot of fun, especially when you’re a Teamster...
Corporations Ask to Write their Own Regulations via "Trade" Deal  Public Citizen   ...European government officials have been taking pains to entertain corporations' deregulatory demands for theTrans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA)...
43 Workers Win $664,000 Judgment Against Sacramento Landscaping Business JusticeNewsFlash   ...43 workers of a Sacramento landscaping firm were recently awarded more than $664,000 when a California Labor Commissioner determined the company cheated them out of their wages by misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees...
Google: Doing Evil with ALEC  Huffington Post   ...Quietly, Google has joined ALEC -- the American Legislative Exchange Council -- the shadowy corporate alliance that pushes odious laws through state legislatures...
States can open National Parks — ­­if they pay   Associated Press   ...The Obama administration has said it will allow states to use their own money to open some National Parks, but the states must pay to keep the parks open...
Financial Regulator Shutdown, Halts Investigations of Wall Street Crimes  The Real News   ...The main U.S. regulatory agency responsible for monitoring commodity markets has ceased most of its operations during the government shutdown...
JPMorgan’s Dimon Posts First Loss on $7.2 Billion Legal Cost  Bloomberg   ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported its first loss under Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon after taking a $7.2 billion charge to cover the cost of mounting litigation and regulatory probes...
Lawsuit claims NY Fed fired regulator who raised questions about Goldman Sachs  Washington Post   ...In a wrongful termination lawsuit, a senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says she was fired by the Fed after she refused to change a finding that Goldman Sachs had inadequate controls over conflicts of interest...
OUTRAGEOUS! Intern Can’t Bring Sexual Harassment Suit Because She's Not an ‘Employee,' Judge Says  AlterNet   ...Federal Court in NY rules that an intern doesn’t deserve human rights protection as an employee because she’s unpaid...
Judge nixes Nissan's $1B New York City taxi plan  USA TODAY   ...Plans to flood New York's streets with the Taxi of Tomorrow hit a roadblock Tuesday when a judge ruled that the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission went too far when it ordered operators to buy a only a single brand of vehicle...
Lost in Germany: Spanish Jobseekers Lured on False Pretenses  Der Spiegel   ...far worse for the Spanish jobseekers was finding out that there weren't jobs waiting for them after all. Hardly any of them received the job contracts they were promised...
Brown signs California immigration bills, wins activists’ kudos in pressing for reform  Washington Post   ...Brown (D) signed eight bills Saturday, including one prohibiting local law enforcement officials from detaining immigrants longer than necessary for minor crimes so that federal immigration authorities can take custody of them...
Ohio senator introduces legislation to protect correctional officers   CorrectionsOne   ...New bill would provide safeguards for correctional officers who are assaulted in youth correctional facilities...
Michigan contract for cigarette stamps questioned  Associated Press   ...Michigan wants to award a $9.6 million contract to Xerox to help make sure taxes are paid on cigarettes, despite allegations of bias in the selection process and an offer from a competitor to do the work for at least $1.7 million less...

Friday, October 11, 2013

Today's Teamster News 10.11.13

Hoffa: Secret U.S. - Euro Backroom Trade Talks Are More Of The Same  teamster.org   ...An article in Wednesday’s New York Times details how corporate leaders met last year with European officials on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) months before trade negotiations officially began...
Teamsters' Agreement Prevents Layoffs at Workforce Central  Teamsters Local 117   ...Members of Teamsters Local 117, employed at Workforce Central in Tacoma, have voted to forgo their contractual rights and significantly reduce their hours in order to prevent layoffs, which would have otherwise resulted during the federal government shutdown...
Five UPS Supplement Ballots Counted  teamster.org   ...Ballots have been counted for five UPS local supplements/riders so far, and four have passed. Go to www.teamster.org/UPS and http://www.upscontractrfacts.com/ to view the results...
Whitaker council approves police deal  McKeesport Daily News   ...Whitaker council unanimously approved a three-year agreement Wednesday for its police force with Teamsters Local 205 in White Oak, Pennsylvania. The workers will see their wages increase by $1.40 over the next three years...
Legislators Travel to Hanford Express Support for Marquez Brothers Workers  California Labor Federation   ...In August, 200 workers at a Marquez Brothers cheese production plant in Hanford (Kings County) voted to join Teamsters Local 517 in Visalia, Calif. Last week, three Assembly members drove eight hours to meet with them and demonstrate their commitment for California Latinos to realize the American Dream…
Hurst: Privatized sanitation might not cost jobs  Princeton Daily Clarion   ...The Teamsters Union represents half the workforce within Princeton’s (Indiana) water, sanitation and sewer departments, but according to Mayor Bob Hurst, only seven people would be affected if the city decides to privatize its sanitation system...
Berkeley: Pyramid Brewery workers protest layoffs  Vallejo Times Herald   ...Cat Wiest, a laid-off Pyramid Brewery worker and shop steward, doesn't buy her bosses' contention that the company must furlough the 15 workers at its Gilman Street location for six to nine months while the facility undergoes upgrades. She suspects the real reason for the layoffs is due to the August 7 election when 12 of the 15 workers voted to join the Teamsters...
Grocery strike looms as negotiations resume  KIRO News   ...Unions, including the Teamsters, are lining up to support Seattle-area grocery workers if they go on strike due to failed negotiations...
Florida Woman Threatens Bankster's Life With a Gun and Gets Dad's Million Dollars Returned  Truthout   ...Daphne Davis invited a top bank executive to her office at the Piggly Wiggly grocery in Apalachicola, pulled out a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol and threatened to shoot him dead. "I told him my face would be the last one he would see if he didn't get Daddy that paperwork," Davis said. The documents came 20 minutes later...
Hell No! to Citizens United 2.0  Common Dreams   ...The Supreme Court of the United States is poised to continue dismantling restrictions on money in politics in a new case that begins today: McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission...
White House to restore military death benefits denied in wake of shutdown  Guardian   ...Solution expected following mounting outrage over denial of benefits to families of service members killed in action...
Government efforts to protect health and safety are slowed or halted as shutdown lingers  Associated Press   ...The government shutdown has slowed or halted federal efforts to protect Americans' health and safety, from probes into the cause of transportation and workplace accidents to tracking foodborne illness...
This cancer patient’s treatment is on hold because of the government shutdown  Washington Post   ...In April 2012, Michelle Langbehn was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that affects 1 percent of cancer patients in the U.S.. After nine months of chemotherapy, she and her doctor began looking into other potential treatment options, including a trial at the National Institutes of Health, which is now on hold because of the government shutdown...
The 5 creepiest things about how the Koch brothers engineered the shutdown  Death and Taxes Magazine   ...This weekend, The New York Times revealed how the Koch Brothers and Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese engineered this here shutdown we’re dealing with right now, and how they’d been planning it ever since Obama was reelected...
Richest 1 Percent Hold 46 Percent Of The World's Wealth  Reuters   ...Global wealth has risen by 68 percent over the past 10 years to reach a new all-time high of $241 trillion and the United States accounts for nearly three quarters of the increase, Credit Suisse said in its World Wealth Report...
Anxiety As Stimulus Hike To Food Stamps Set To End  Associated Press   ...A temporary increase in food stamps expires Oct. 31, meaning for millions of Americans, the benefits that help put food on the table won't stretch as far as they have for the past four years...
TPP - Trading In Our Sovereignty Fast-Track to a Train Wreck  Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, Inc.   ...Imagine that all we have done to protect our lands, lives and livelihoods from fracking, secretively signed away. Imagine our right to redress grievances bypassed by a tribunal of private sector corporate lawyers, with no chance to appeal their legally binding determinations...
New Report: Preventable Medical Mistakes Account for One-Sixth of All Annual Deaths in the United States  Mercola.com   ...Our conventional health care system is in desperate need of radical change, and the findings published in a new report clearly backs up this assertion...
Dark Money Group Wins IRS Recognition as Tax-Exempt Nonprofit  Pro-Publica   ...The IRS has granted nonprofit status to America Is Not Stupid 2013 a so-called dark money group best known for a 2012 election ad featuring a talking baby who compared the smell of his diaper with a Montana senator...
AFSCME Members Fighting to Maintain Pension and Protect Public Against Tea Party Ballot Measure  AFSCME   ...If a tea party-backed ballot measure to privatize Cincinnati’s municipal employee retirement system passes, retirement security for 7,500 workers, retirees and survivors will be gone...


Friday, September 27, 2013

Today's Teamster News 09.27.13

Hundreds of Manufacturing Workers Ratify First Teamster Contract  teamster.org   ...Approximately 340 manufacturing employees at Senior Flexonics overwhelmingly ratified their first contract with Teamsters Local 330 on Sept. 15...
Teamsters at Darigold Vote Unanimously To Reject Company's Latest Offer  teamster.org   ...“Darigold is disrespecting its workers and undermining the bargaining process,” said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.  “The company broke the law when they walked away from federal mediation, leaving no one with the authority to bargain.  They have spied on workers and illegally attempted to circumvent the union...”
Wegmans to Teamsters: Here's our best, final offer  Rochester Democrat and Chronicle   ...The contract represents about 900 employees working in transportation and distribution for the supermarket company...
Local teamsters endorse Paul  Stratford Star   ...Teamsters Local 1150, which represents workers at Sikorsky Aircraft, the largest private employer in Stratford, endorsed Joe Paul’s run for mayor of Stratford at their September monthly meeting...
Companies Admit They Fixed Prices of Car Parts  New York Times   ...In an expanding global antitrust investigation, nine Japanese automotive suppliers, along with two former executives, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and pay more than $740 million in criminal fines for fixing the price of auto parts sold in the United States and abroad...
US economic growth slows as GDP estimate disappoints economists  The Guardian   ...In the January-March quarter, GDP rose by 1.1% and while the latest figure represents a marked improvement it is still weak by historic standards. Economic expansion following the 2008 recession has been the weakest of the post-second world war era...
Looting the Pension Funds  Rolling Stone   ...All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers...
HSBC still laundering money for terrorist groups, says whistleblower Everett Stern  Ian Fraser   ... Although the bank paid a $1.9 billion penalty as part of a record-breaking money laundering settlement with the U.S. authorities in December 2012, Stern claims the London-headquartered bank is still laundering money with impunity and that the much vaunted “anti-money-laundering compliance team” it put in place to assuage US regulators as part of last year’s settlement is “a sham”...
The Wall Street Journal Is Hiring a Mansions Reporter, Because Guess Who Won the Recovery  The Atlantic   ... this apparently involves advertising for and about billionaires...
Tea Party Support Dwindles to Near-Record Low  Gallup   ... Today's 22% support nearly matches the record low found two years ago...
Federal Contractors Employ More Low-Wage Workers Than Walmart and McDonald's Combined, While Paying Top Execs. $24 billion  The Real News   ...we have got to get a handle on raising wages throughout this country so that workers do not depend upon starvation wages...
Latest Fukushima Crisis Shows Catastrophic Threat of Nuclear Power Companies  truthout   ...it is a model example of why nuclear power of any sort should not be privatized...
Parent Arrested After Asking Questions at School Meeting  truthdig   ...“I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of the Common Core standards isn’t to prepare kids for full-fledged universities, it’s to prepare them for community college,” Small asked before he was approached by a man wearing a shirt with “security” on the back and a badge around his neck...
Michigan House panel approves bill penalizing illegal mass pickets  Lansing State Journal   ...Legislation that would institute steep fines for individuals and labor unions who engage in illegal mass pickets is headed to the House floor...
Teamsters Union Backs McCord  PoliticsPA   ...Mere days after finally officially declaring his entry into the gubernatorial race, State Treasurer Rob McCord won the backing of the Teamsters union. The endorsement is the first major piece of news from the McCord campaign since he announced his candidacy earlier this week...
NC Teachers Consider Walkout to Protest Poor Working Conditions  Triangle News   ...Teachers are considering a statewide walkout to get lawmakers' attention. They are fed up with education funding cuts, lay-offs, lack of raises, and even more importantly, what they see as a lack of respect for their profession...
Bill would loosen rules for high-capacity water wells  Wall Street Journal   ...Water pumping has become a hot topic in Wisconsin, with large agricultural interests and food processors pushing back against further restrictions while environmental groups and lake property owners favor more rules for wells that draw 100,000 or more gallons of water a day...

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Today's Teamster News 09.24.13

Warehouse Workers in Georgia Join Teamsters Local 528  teamster.org   ...On September 11, warehouse workers at Americold in McDonough, Georgia voted to become Teamsters...
Teamsters at Darigold Leaflet Walmart & Sam's Club Shoppers at 10 Locations  Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, distributed leaflets at ten Walmart and Sam’s Club locations throughout the day to inform consumers about the company’s multiple violations of federal labor law and the growing threat of a potential lockout or strike...
Wegmans Employees Disgruntled Over Retirement Payments  Rochester Homepage   ...Dozens of people were outside Wegmans' company officers Friday practicing picketing over disagreements with Wegmans on retirement payments and wages. Current warehouse and driver employees are represented through the Teamsters Union...
The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business  AlterNet   ...That's more than an insult—it's an attack...
White House rebuffed union pleas to ditch Walmart  Salon   ...Labor leader says allies in the Administration tried to persuade First Lady to dump retail giant -- but were denied...
Bank of America goes to trial over U.S. mortgage fraud charges  Reuters   ...Bank of America Corp heads to trial this week over allegations its Countrywide unit approved deficient home loans in a process called "Hustle," defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government enterprises that underwrite mortgages...
One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds  Washington Wire   ...A new academic paper digging into presidential betting in the final weeks of the 2012 election finds that a single trader lost between $4 million and $7 million placing a flurry of Intrade bets on Mitt Romney—perhaps to make the Republican nominee’s chance of victory appear brighter...
Child Labor Dropped By One-Third Over The Past Decade, But UN Officials Urge Faster Progress  Associated Press   ...The number of children doing hazardous work dropped by half to 85 million from 2000 to 2012, but the rate of progress isn't fast enough to meet the goal of having no child laborers by 2016...
Suicides Spiked One Year After Great Recession: Study  Huffington Post   ...The Great Recession resulted in 5,000 additional suicides worldwide in 2009, according to a recent study -- the first to look at suicide trends globally in the wake of the crisis...
At 77, He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage  Bloomberg News   ...At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, he juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator, the other flipping burgers…
Why are 47 million Americans on food stamps?  Washington Post   ...There's a fairly basic question underlying the current food-stamp debate in Congress. Why has the program grown so rapidly over the past few years — to the point where 47 million people, one-sixth of the country, now receive food stamps?...
Buy a House, Make Your Payments, Then Discover You've Been Foreclosed On Without Your Knowledge  AlterNet   ...This should never happen, but it did, thanks to the sordid mortgage servicing industry...
Chiquita Asks Court To Block Suits Blaming Banana Giant For Violent Deaths  Associated Press   ...Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war...
Ag-gag resurfaces, threatens whistleblowers  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette   ...Opponents of ag-gag legislation reasonably fear that it obstructs First Amendment rights. Such legislation also protects illegal and unethical practices while punishing whistleblowers...
Major police union will sit out race for New Jersey governor  Star-Ledger   ...In a blow to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, one of New Jersey’s two largest police unions has decided to sit out the election for governor...
Florida offers to cut loan balances for 'underwater' homeowners  Orlando Sentinel   ...Florida homeowners with "underwater" mortgages may now qualify to have as much as $50,000 chopped from their loan balance under a new program announced Friday by the state...
Amazon to collect 6 pct sales tax in WV  Associated Press   ...Amazon will start collecting a 6 percent sales tax on purchases shipped to West Virginia starting Oct. 1...
BART prepares for another possible worker strike  Associated Press   ...As another potential strike looms, Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are preparing other ways to get commuters to work, including possibly allowing managers to drive a limited number of trains...

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Today's Teamster News 09.21.13

Striking railroad Teamsters ordered back to work, no single operators allowed  TeamsterNation   ...An Akron, Ohio, district court judge this afternoon ordered striking locomotive engineers and trainmen at the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway back to work. He also ordered the railroad to refrain from allowing supervisors or management to operate trains...
Warehouse Workers At IKEA Vote To Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Warehouse workers, employed at the IKEA distribution center in Frederickson, Wash., have voted to join Teamsters Local 117. The 64 workers at the facility came together seeking job security, fair and equal treatment, strong representation, and respect...
Hoffa, Brune: Trade Is Good When It's Fair  teamster.org   ...It's been almost 20 years since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and families and communities are still reeling from its consequences...
Teamsters Picket Rochester Wegmans  teamster.org   ...Wegmans-picketing Teamsters from Local 118 are calling on their employer to protect good jobs in Rochester and stop retaliating against employees for standing up for their rights under Federal law. Today the union will file an unfair labor practice charge against Wegmans due to the company’s actions against employees...
Sullivan settles five-year contract with Teamsters  Mid-Hudson News   …Ratifying a new contract was a tossup among members Teamsters Local 445 who work for Sullivan County in New York. The union narrowly agreed to the new five-year deal by a 152 to 141 vote...
Teamster Women Get Fired Up  teamster.org  ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall addressed the Women’s Conference on Friday, the second day of the annual event, in New Orleans. Get the full coverage of the conference here... |
Rural/Metro Files Two Critical Documents—Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement  teamster.org   ...Rural Metro filed two critical documents outlining how the company plans to emerge from bankruptcy on Sunday, September 15. Those documents are the Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement...
ABF Teamster Wins National Four-Axle Competition Championship  Teamsters Local 492   ...Teamster and Albuquerque ABF Line Driver Ralph Garcia won first place in the four-axle competition at the 2013 National Truck Driving Championships, which was held in Salt Lake City late August...
Labor Leaders React to Hotel Latest  Tristate   ...The Southwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council said Thursday it stands in full support of the proposed downtown hotel. Chuck Whobrey, president of Teamsters Local 215, wasn't at the meeting, but said the hotel is necessary for downtown redevelopment...
Employers cut jobs in 20 US states in August  Associated Press   ...Unemployment rates rose in 18 states, fell in 17 and were unchanged in 15...
Target to Hire 18,000 Fewer Seasonal Workers This Holiday Season; Expect Other Retailers to Do the Same  Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis   ..."Target lowered their expectations for the rest of the year, citing a tougher-than-expected spending environment..."
L.A. homeless hired to buy latest iPhones  USA Today   ...Many driven from Skid Row to Pasadena say they were unpaid and stranded after Apple Store halted scheme...
GOP's misguided attack on food stamps (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...Unable to push a $20-billion cut in food stamps through the House in June, Republicans are now seeking to cut $40 billion over 10 years by tightening eligibility and cutting off able-bodied adults who don't find or train for jobs. ...But while it may motivate some idle adults to get to work, it would also punish those who simply can't find jobs at a time when there are three applicants for every opening...
Offshoring Linked to Declining U.S. Labor Share, Likely to Continue  Brookings   ...The decline in the U.S. labor share – now at its lowest level in the post-war period after the Great Recession – has been concentrated in sectors that face increased import competition in the wake of the overall rising role of imports in the U.S. economy, according to a new paper presented today at the Fall 2013 Conference on the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA)...
LinkedIn Customers Allege Company Hacked E-Mail Addresses  Bloomberg   ...LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), owner of the world’s most popular professional-networking website, was sued by customers who claim the company appropriated their identities for marketing purposes by hacking into their external e-mail accounts and downloading contacts’ addresses...
Unions launch offensive against potential government shutdown  Washington Post   ...Federal employee unions, having guided their members through government shutdown threats in 2011 and 2012, are arming for another possible shutdown in 11 days if Congress cannot resolve its partisan fiscal battle...
Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter  Washington Post   ...USIS, the Falls Church, VA government contractor that handled the background check for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday that it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his ­secret-level clearance in 2007...
Arkansas lawmakers back cuts to food stamp program  KATV ABC 7   ...Arkansas' four congressmen have voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from the food stamp program, a 5 percent reduction to the nation's main feeding program used by more than 1 in 7 Americans...
Ex-Halliburton manager charged in Gulf of Mexico spill probe  Associated Press   ...A former Halliburton manager was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a case that coincides with a guilty plea to a related charge by the Houston-based oilfield services company...
Chase Bank, JPMorgan Chase to refund customers $309 million for unfair billing  Sacramento Bee   ...Federal regulators on Thursday ordered Chase Bank and JPMorgan Chase to refund $309 million to more than 2 million customers for illegally billing them for credit-monitoring services they never received...
Federal Reserve Program Is Socialism For The Rich  firedoglake   ...Why is there such a gap between the haves and the have-nots? Probably because the Federal Reserve is pumping up assets for the haves to the tune of $85 billion, a month...
Elites’ strange plot to take over the world  Salon   ...Western elites in America and Western Europe after World War II made a serious effort to get rid of nations altogether, and combine all “freedom-loving peoples” into one giant “Atlantic Union,” a federal state built on top of the NATO military alliance...
Don't take ax to public's right to know (opinion) The Cap Times   ...If Wisconsinites were looking for a measure of how far out of control things have gotten under Gov. Scott Walker’s hyperpartisan approach to governing, they need look no further than an incident involving a key confidante of the governor and a process server seeking to deliver paperwork related to the state’s open records law...

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Today's Teamster News 08.22.13

Teamsters Sue Florida Governor And State Agencies   IBT   ...Teamsters Local 2011, the bargaining agent for 19,000 officers employed by the Florida Department of Corrections, has filed a law suit in Leon County Circuit Court that seeks to stop the state from forfeiting time accrued by correctional officers for work performed on statutorily-established state holidays throughout the year...
Reinstated Teamster corrections officers will get back pay  The Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 117 won $350,000 in back pay and benefits to three recently reinstated Washington State Reformatory corrections officers and a demoted sergeant who were unfairly disciplined after their coworker, Jayme Biendl, was killed by an inmate in 2011...
Teamsters, City of Kelso agree to new contract with raises  Longview Daily News   ...The city of Kelso and Teamsters Local 58 in Vancouver, Washington, have negotiated a contract that includes pay raises in each of the next three years for nine city library and clerical workers...
Sen. Clark to visit families  Daily Times Chronicle   ...Massachusetts State Sen. Katherine Clark, who has been endorsed by unions, including Teamsters Local 25, has had enough of a Congress that doesn't care about the issues affecting women and families. She is launching a kitchen table tour to talk to voters about the family issues and listen to their concerns...
Councilwoman Schipske Picks Up Endorsement From Teamsters   Everything Long Beach   ...The Teamsters Joint Council 42, representing over 200,000 workers, announced that it was throwing its support behind Gerrie Schipske, who is running for Mayor of Long Beach, Calif...
Organized Labor Throws Support behind March  Washington Informer   ...Bill Lucy wasn’t among the more than 250,000 people who took part in the 1963 March on Washington, but on the 50th anniversary of the seminal civil rights event, he said organized labor would be well represented...
Unions, public pension funds file formal objections to Detroit bankruptcy  MSNBC   ...Wall street and bondholders are on a collision course with unions and 21,000 retired pension holders in Detroit, most of them elderly. Yesterday the unions and two public pension funds filed formal objections to Detroit's bankruptcy filing ahead of a midnight deadline...
The Wisconsin Uprising Is Coming Back  Huffington Post   ...Erwin's strategies of chilling dissent aren't working, just as Walker's so-called "job creation" proposals are still falling short of the national average...
For retailers, low wages aren’t working out (opinion) Washington Post   ...This Wal-Mart low-prices, low-wages thing isn’t working out so well — even for Wal-Mart...
Walmart board chairman target of protests  The Californian   ...This weekend, former Walmart employees and supporters passed out flyers at the Salinas store in Salinas about Rob Walton, chairman of the board. “The Waltons are a very rich family and there is nothing wrong with that. But when … your employees have to look for a second job, because their pay rate is too low, that is injustice,” said Tony Barrera, a Salinas City Councilman...
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe  truthout   ...For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care...
Warren asks DOJ to explain 'timid' FHA settlement  The Hill   ...Warren wondered if a portion of a broad government settlement with mortgage servicers amounted to a drop in the bucket, and a sign of the government's "timid enforcement strategy" when it comes to chasing bad actors in the financial sector...
Port of Oakland Terminal Reopens After Trucker Protest  Transport Topics   ...The Port of Oakland, Calif., said Wednesday there are no protesters in the area and terminals are open, after protesting truck drivers had shut down a terminal Monday...
NSA Can Tap Three-Fourths Of Domestic U.S. Internet Traffic, Wall Street Journal Reports Huffington Post   ...The National Security Agency has developed surveillance programs that reach more Internet communications of Americans than have publicly been disclosed, according to current and formal officials cited in a Wall Street Journal article posted online Tuesday night...
The Business Community Finally Realizes Republicans Are Screwing Them Over PoliticusUSA   ...Guess who’s sorry they fell for the Koch brothers baloney? Oh, none other than the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and other business interests”. See, it turns out that what is good for the Koch brothers isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the business community, the country or Wall Street...
Welfare Can Pay More Than That Entry-Level Job   National Journal   ...Welfare programs pay more than minimum wage in 35 states. That's according to a new study released this week. Here is something to chew on: In 11 states, these programs pay more annually than the average teacher after his or her first year on the job...
The Three Factors That Put Lower-Income Americans At Greater Risk From Extreme Weather   Think Progress   ...As extreme weather batters communities across the country, a new report from the Center for American Progress details how these events disproportionately harm middle and lower-income Americans because they simply have fewer resources to prepare for and recover from such disasters...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to address Alabama Republicans on Friday  Huntsville Times   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a political firestorm when he moved to eliminate collective-bargaining rights for teachers and public employees, will the keynote speaker at the Alabama Republican Party's 2013 summer fundraising dinner...
Colorado Internet tax jumps hurdle  Associated Press   ...A federal appeals court has ruled Colorado's law requiring large online retailers to collect millions of dollars in state taxes on Internet sales is legal. The court ruled Tuesday a lower court overstepped its jurisdiction in tossing out the law last year...