Showing posts with label 25. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 25. 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

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Today's Teamster News 03.04.15

Teamsters
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR  nwLaborPress.org   …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student  WTOC   ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP  Law360   …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services  Teamsters Local 728   ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops  USA Today   …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax?  Boston Herald   …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger  Storm Lake Pilot Tribune   ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement  Yahoo! News   ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact  Reuters   …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries  Latin Times   …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address  Chicago Sun Times   ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions  WUWM   ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University.  Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota  State Representative Pat Garofalo   ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion)  Washington Post  ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate  PennLive   ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study  Indiana Public Media   ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018  NHPR   ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process  Bloomberg BNA   ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s  Washington Post   …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway  WITI   ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill  KSLA   ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support  Tenth Amendment Center   ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Today's Teamster News 11.01.14

Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In New Jersey Vote To Join Teamsters Local 701  teamster.org   ...A group of 113 drivers at FedEx Freight’s South Brunswick, N.J., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 701. The vote was 66 to 42...
Teamsters Local 988 Laundry Drivers Ratify Contract  teamster.org   ...Laundry drivers and members of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston have voted unanimously to ratify a two-year contract with Angelica Textile...
The Ballot Box Is The Great Equalizer For Workers (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...There are real consequences for workers if they don't make it to the ballot box,...
NYC Carriage Horses Clip-Clop Away While De Blasio Stalls  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...New York Mayor Bill de Blasio assured animal-rights activists during his run for City Hall that he would rid Central Park of horse-drawn carriages, which he called inhumane….Now, 10 months into his term, tourists still pay $50 for a 20-minute trot through the park, while at City Hall, a draft for legislation has yet to be written and no one is saying why....
Nicholas Lanzilli Secures Additional Endorsements  Medford Transcript   ...I am honored to receive additional endorsements by a number of respected groups in the area. ...Teamsters Local 25...
Teamsters Trumpet Unemployment Payout To LA-LB Port Truck Driver  Journal of Commerce   ...A Los Angeles-Long Beach port truck driver who said she was misclassified as an independent contractor was awarded a check for $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department this week, giving Teamsters fuel in their campaign to organize local drayage drivers...
Unfinished Construction Has Protesters Marching Near The West Lake Landfill  Fox 2 St. Louis   ...Unfinished construction work along St. Charles Rock Road has demonstrators raising public health concerns...
Trade
TTIP Debate Suffering From Lack Of Transparency  The Parliament Magazine   ...The transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated between the EU and the US, is by far the most controversial agreement the EU has ever negotiated. Since the start of discussions, opposition has been growing among the civilian population and certain political parties, despite the fact that the final content of the project cannot be discussed in detail, even one year on...
State Battles
McConnell victory could make Kentucky right-to-work  Politico   ... “Should the Kentucky House go Republican,” writes Labor & Employment’s Mike Elk, “state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has already said that his first priority will be to pass a right-to-work bill.” Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear would likely veto, but to no avail: In Kentucky, all it takes to override a gubernatorial veto is a simple majority of both houses...
Mark Schauer will ax the 'retirement tax' - and Republicans will help him  Michigan Live   ...If Mark Schauer is elected governor, you can probably kiss the reviled "retirement tax" and other tax hikes goodbye...
All about absentees? Michigan Democratic Party push appears to be paying off in early returns  Michigan Live   ...One out of every three or four residents who vote in Michigan's general election could do so via absentee ballot before the polls even open on Tuesday, and early indications suggest the trend may benefit Democrats...
Ohio May Disenfranchise Voters For Technical Errors  ThinkProgress   ...election officials in Ohio can throw out legitimate absentee and provisional ballots that have small errors — such as leaving out a middle name — and in many cases they don’t have to give the voter a chance to fix the problem...
Closing Argument: Kochs Fight To Save Candidate Cronies In Critical Election  RealKochFacts   ...learn more about Republican candidates who share the Koch agenda and are being propped up by the secretive billionaires in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon,Wisconsin, and Florida...
Midterms 2014: Candidates With Ties To Pension Business May Gain Control Of State Pension Funds  International Business Times   ...government ethics experts express concern that governors drawn from the ranks of companies that manage pension money could bring an inherent conflict of interest: Their duty to do right by taxpayers and retirees could be pitted against their personal financial interests and their loyalties to longtime Wall Street associates...
“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell  Salon   ...The needs of [Philadelphia] children are secondary, however, to a right-wing governor in Tom Corbett who remains fixated on breaking the district in order to crush the teachers union and divert money to unproven experiments like vouchers and privately run charters. If the city’s children are left uneducated and impoverished among the smoldering wreckage of a broken school system, so be it...
San Francisco To Raise Minimum Wage To $11.05 Per Hour  Reuters   ...San Francisco will raise the city's minimum wage to $11.05 per hour from the start of next year, up from $10.74 currently, the mayor's office said on Thursday...
Kansas tax cuts fail again, as new revenue numbers plague Sam Brownback but help Paul Davis  Kansas City Star   ...In October, individual income tax receipts were almost $27 million below what the state had estimated it would take in, or a jarring 15 percent off expectations. Why does that matter? Because this is the tax that Brownback and the Legislature cut in 2012. The promise then was that more jobs would flood Kansas, eventually pumping back up income tax collections. That’s not working — at all...
More Than 750 people Turn Out For Meeting On Oil-Train Study  Seattle Times   ...State officials are proposing more funding and more regulatory authority to step up oversight of the surging numbers of oil trains carrying crude through Washington, and to better prepare for any possible spills...
Donors get special access to GOP governors as potential 2016 contenders  Washington Post   ...One key to the [Republican Governors' Association] fundraising prowess is the exclusive donor access effort, called the Executive Roundtable program, which gives wealthy contributors up-close access to governors at quarterly policy seminars. The initiative has helped create a permanent network of high-net-worth donors who augment the group’s funding from corporation...
War on Workers
Judge in Maine Eases Restrictions on Nurse  New York Times   ...In a victory for a nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, a judge in Maine on Friday rejected arguments by the state that her movements should be firmly restricted, praising her “compassion” even as he acknowledged the public’s fears about the virus...
Casino Closings Take Toll On Atlantic City Travel  Press of Atlantic City   ...Fewer cars, buses, airport passengers and rail riders are heading to Atlantic City following the shutdown of three casinos in recent weeks, the latest travel figures show...
Police: Construction worker killed by dump truck  DelawareOnLine   ...State troopers and emergency crews are on the scene of a fatality in Lewes where a construction worker was hit by a dump truck, police said...
Lafayette construction worker dies on the job  KLFY   ...Scott Police responded to a 911 call just before 9 a.m. Tuesday regarding a Scott Materials employee that was fatally injured on the job...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to deliver coffee to your desk starting in 2015  Los Angeles Times   ...The delivery service will be available through Starbucks Corp.’s mobile app, which currently lets customers pay at the store through their phone, Schultz said...
Lack of mechanics threatens U.S. Air Force target date for F-35  Reuters   ...The U.S. Air Force may miss its target of August 2016 to start using the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet in combat if Congress blocks the service's plan to retire its A-10 tank-killer aircraft, a top U.S. general said...

Monday, October 20, 2014

Today's Teamster News 10.20.14

Teamsters
Ikea and union to start mediation  Vancouver Sun   ...Mediation is set to begin Monday between Ikea and the Teamsters’ Union Local 213, which represents employees at the company’s store in Richmond...
Coakley, Baker rally supporters as election looms  Boston Globe   ...At a cavernous union hall in Charlestown Sunday morning, her voice resonating off the walls, Democrat Martha Coakley exhorted members of Teamsters Local 25 to get out the vote for her...
Casino question could be a jackpot  Boston Herald   ...“Obviously Question 3 (the repeal initiative) is a big question for organized labor and also for the economy of Massachusetts,” Teamsters Local 25 President Sean O’Brien said yesterday at a raucous Charlestown rally of hundreds of union members for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley...
Trade 
The TPP Would Enroll More Online Spies  Public Citizen   ... the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes draft rules that would increase significantly the role of online service providers in keeping an eye on their users, under the pretext of combatting copyright piracy. Even if you are not an infringer, your Internet service provider (ISP) will be watching you, just in case...
Jack Lew Sees No Evil: Treasury Fails To Name China as a Currency Manipulator for the 12th Time  Economic Policy Institute   ...China purchased $681 billion in total foreign exchange reserves between December 2012 and June 2014, and more than $2 trillion since this Administration took office. Currency manipulation by China and approximately 20 other countries has increased the U.S. trade deficit by $200 to $500 billion. Elimination of currency manipulation would create 2.3 million to 5.8 million U.S. jobs, without raising public spending at all (indeed, reducing the trade deficit through currency re-alignment would reduce the federal budget deficit)...
TPP proposal is a bad deal (LTE)   News and Sentinel   ...I do not want my children to wonder where they are going to work because manufacturing will be done in third world countries for pennies on the dollar...
State Battles
Snyder, Schauer spar over fairness of tax rewrite  Lansing State Journal   ...Democrat Mark Schauer is centering his populist message against Republican Gov. Rick Snyder around a 3-year-old tax overhaul that lowered the burden on business but raised it on individuals...
Letters: State worse under Walker (LTE)   Post-Crescent   ...the state’s median income has dropped from $54,210 in 2009 to $51,647 in 2013 and that the percentage of children living in poverty has risen from 13.3 percent in 2008 to 18.4 percent in 2013...
War on Workers
The Social Security office of judges who hear appeals for disability benefits is 990,399 cases behind  Washington Post   ...What’s left now is an office that costs taxpayers billions and still forces applicants to wait more than a year — often, without a paycheck — before delivering an answer about their benefits...
Poor kids who do everything right don’t do better than rich kids who do everything wrong  Washington Post   ...rich high school dropouts remain in the top about as much as poor college grads stay stuck in the bottom — 14 versus 16 percent, respectively. Not only that, but these low-income strivers are just as likely to end up in the bottom as these wealthy ne'er-do-wells...
Ebola fear, monitoring eases for some in Dallas  Associated Press   ...Ebola fears began to ease for some Monday as a monitoring period passed for those who had close contact with a victim of the disease and after a cruise ship scare ended with the boat returning to port and a lab worker on board testing negative for the virus...
Harold Meyerson: How workers lost the power struggle — and their pay raises (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The distribution of income is a function not just of global forces but also of social and institutional power. And over the past four decades, U.S. workers have suffered a loss of power that may exceed even their loss of income...
Behind Private Equity’s Curtain  New York Times   ...public employees are relying on their pensions for financial security. Private equity firms are relying on their pensions, too. Over the last 10 years, pension funds have piled into private equity buyout funds. But in exchange for what they hope will be hefty returns, many pension funds have signed onto a kind of omerta, or code of silence, about the terms of the funds’ investments...


Saturday, March 15, 2014

Today's Teamster News 03.15.14

Teamster News
Donora OKs four-year Teamster contract for police
  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...The Donora, Penn. council unanimously approved a tentative four-year contract with Teamsters Local 205 that includes a wage increase and one-time bonuses for four full-time officers and several part-time officers...
Teamsters Secure New Contract with Richland Township  Penn Live   ...Richland Township employees will receive a raise of at least 75 cents per hour for this year, approved March 5, the same night that township supervisors endorsed a new five-year contract with Teamsters Local 205, based in White Oak, Penn., which represents six full-time public-works employees...
Food contracts cycle underway again for Southern Calif. Teamsters, UFCW  People's World   ...A historic core industry of the two major unions (Teamsters and UFCW) in Southern California, retail food, has begun its every-five-years-or-so cycle of bare-knuckle contract negotiations...
3 Labor Organizations Endorse Deb Goldberg for MA Treasurer
  GoLocalWorchester   ...Deb Goldberg's campaign for Massachusetts Treasurer received a boost Thursday after receiving endorsements from Teamsters Local 25, Painters DC #35 and Brookline Fire Fighters Local 950, citing her dedication to wage equality and respect for workers...
Time for Congress to Move on Income Inequality  teamster.org ...A Senate committee took up discussion of income inequality during a hearing this week focused on how to improve the lives of working families. But unfortunately, not everyone agreed that Capitol Hill needed to lend a hand to lift wages...
Trade
Teamsters: U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Marks Two Years of Failure  teamster.org   ...On the two-year anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the Teamsters Union denounces the pact as another failed trade deal that enriches global corporations while eliminating middle-class jobs in the United States...
REPORT: NAFTA’s Deadly Legacy: Corporate Profits Over People And Planet
  MintPress News   ...Ahead of Transatlantic and Transpacific trade deals, report authors warn: 'Remember NAFTA'...
State News
Attack on Labor  The Tribune-Review   ...In Harrisburg, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks...This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies that are rightfully due to unions. Automatic withholding is routinely used by employers to collect money owed for charitable contributions, for insurance premiums, for child support and for taxes...
Alabama House approves payday loan database  Associated Press   ...The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted to create a state database to enforce an existing $500 limit on how much people can borrow at one time from the short-term lenders...
Bill targeting predatory lending sent to Maine governor  Associated Press   ...The Democratic-controlled House and Senate gave final approval to the bill this week that aims to protect Mainers from unlicensed online lenders who offer illegitimate short-term loans that can drain consumers' bank accounts with high interest rates and fees...
New York union membership grows 8% from 2012 to 2013
  Long Island Newsday ...Unions in New York State added 145,000 members last year, the first increase since 2007, new federal data show. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the ranks of private-sector and government unions in the state totaled nearly 2 million in 2013, a gain of 8 percent from a year earlier...
War on Workers
Wall Street and Multinationals Get Theirs While America Suffers  Economic Populist   ...corporations are stockpiling cash, tax free, abroad and added $206 billion to their coffers in 2013.  The offshore cash holdings now are $1.95 trillion.  Three of the biggest labor arbitragers and offshore outsourcers of them all, Microsoft, IBM and Apple, account for 18.2% of the 2013 offshore cash holdings increase.  All of these companies have fired top tier Scientists and Engineers and replaced them with cheaper foreign guest workers as well as moved R&D jobs offshore...
Obama: If You 'Work More, You Should Get Paid More'  WBNI   ...President Obama signed a memo directing his labor secretary to rewrite the rules governing overtime in the country...
People Think We’re in a Recession. Don’t Blame Them.  New York Times   ... 57 percent still think the economy is in recession... for much of America, despite years of modest gross domestic product growth and strong stock market gains, the economy isn’t good...
A Relentless Widening of Disparity in Wealth  New York Times   ...the economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time...
Greek unemployment rises to 27.5 percent  Associated Press   ...Official figures show the unemployment rate in Greece increased to 27.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 as the economy struggled to emerge from a protracted recession...
New York City transit workers have personal info exposed
  Associated Press ...The Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 15,000 New York City transit workers has been found on a CD inside a refurbished computer sold by a retailer, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press...
Bank of America back in court over $2.1 billion fraud penalties  Reuters   ...A U.S. judge wrestled on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department request that Bank of America Corp pay $2.1 billion in penalties after being found liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit...
Debt Collectors Go After Service Members Despite Protections  Truthout ...Debt collectors are targeting members of the Armed Services by calling their superior officers, threatening reduction in rank and even courts-martial, despite stepped-up efforts to protect them from abuse, according to a government report issued last week...
More Than 900 Workers Have Already Died Building Qatar’s World Cup Facilities  Smithsonian   ...400 Nepalese migrant workers had already died at building sites. Between 2010 and 2012 more than 700 workers from India lost their lives working on construction sites in Qatar, too...
For the first time in years, contract talks between city and unions show both sides want a deal  New York Daily News ...Talks began this week between the de Blasio administration and city unions over labor contracts for 300,000 municipal workers. It was night and day compared to the Bloomberg era...

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Today's Teamster News 11.09.13

New Three-Year Contract For Teamsters At Hershey Medical Center  teamster.org   ...Hershey Medical Center members of Teamsters Local 776 concluded voting on a new three-year contract today. The proposed agreement was approved by a majority of those who cast ballots and covers more than 900 workers employed as clinical, supportive services and skilled trade workers at the medical facility...
Wegman's, Teamsters Announce Deal  WHAM News   ...The Teamsters Local 118 union announced Friday it reached a collective bargaining agreement with Wegmans, ending nine months of negotiations...
Calif. workers get $516M in bonus pay  Associated Press   ...A $1,000 bonus for parking attendants at the state Department of Food and Agriculture, a perk negotiated by the Teamsters Union...
Elected officials, union call for incoming NYC Controller to audit the city Housing Authority  New York Daily News   ...“We’re calling for a forensic audit of this agency so we can get things right,” Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) said at a meeting convened by Teamsters Local 237, the union representing 8,000 NYCHA workers...
Threat of a workers' strike looms at Shoreway Recycling Center in San Carlos  San Jose Mercury News   ...Almost all of South Bay Recycling's 100 workers -- including drivers, equipment operators, mechanics and clerks -- are represented by the Teamsters Local 350 under three collective bargaining agreements...
Global Labour Leaders Vow Action in Richmond Ikea Fight  The Tyee   ...The two international labour leaders are members of a fact-finding panel invited to investigate the strike/lockout by the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Teamsters Union, which represents the IKEA workers...
Dominick's warns of 5,600 layoffs as stores prepare to close  Chicago Tribune   ...Some 4,000 Dominick's workers are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546, with another 2,000 or so in UFCW Local 881. Teamsters Local 703 represents 65 drivers and 220 workers out of Dominick's Northlake warehouse...
D.C. Mayor: Apologize to City’s Taxi Drivers For Demeaning Remark  teamster.org   ...The Teamster-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association is calling on Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to publicly apologize for the shameful and callous comment made by his spokesman in an article about the lawsuit filed by the association...
Mayor's Spokesperson Is Sorry If Anyone Thought His 'Third-World Taxicab System' Comment Was Offensive  DCist   ...“For the past few years the drivers have been their own worst enemy,” Pedro Ribeiro told Washingtonian. “We barely have a third-world taxicab system in this city.” The Teamsters then sent out a release, saying Ribeiro's statement is "offensive and it demeans the more than 6,000 taxicab drivers in the District, many of whom are from developing countries in Africa and the Middle East..."
Boston Parking Workers Ratify Historic Contract  teamster.org   ...The contract is the first Teamster contract for parking workers in the Boston area. It provides workers with a pension and wage increases of up to 11.2 percent over the life of the contract...
October Unemployment Report Shows Almost a Million Drop Out of Labor Force  Economic Populist   ...There were 932,000 more people considered not in the labor force for October 2013 according to the BLS employment report.  The labor participation rate plummeted to a new low of 62.8%...
In Los Angeles, 50 Workers Arrested in Biggest Civil Disobedience against Walmart -- Ever!  Alternet   ...Hundreds protested against Walmart’s “poverty wages” outside L.A’s Chinatown Walmart...
OSHA plans online reports  Associated Press   ...Safety data would be public; industry groups opposed...
Oil Train Derails and Explodes in Alabama  Alternet   ...A 90-car crude oil train derailed and exploded in Alabama early Friday morning, spilling oil and causing flames that shot 300 feet into the sky...
Boeing says options open as workers protest 777X offer  Reuters   ...The 777X program would secure thousands of jobs in the Seattle area, which is competing with non-unionized workers in southern U.S. states where wages are lower...
State House for Sale: Big businesses pay off in jobs, political contributions  The State   ...There is good reason for S.C. politicians to feel an affinity for Boeing, Michelin and BMW. The three companies and tire maker Bridgestone have created – or promised to create – almost 8,000 jobs in work-starved South Carolina since 2008. In return, the four also have received – or stand to get – more than $800 million in state incentives and tax breaks. But that’s not all. Since 2008, the four companies also have contributed almost $600,000 to the campaign coffers of S.C. politicians, political action committees, political parties and caucuses, S.C. Ethics Commission records show...
Why Does JPMorgan Still Have A Banking License?  The Automatic Earth   ...JPMorgan's total assets amount to $2.509 trillion, its derivatives exposure is $70-$80 trillion, and it's certainly too big to fail and systemically important. But seeing a list like this, how can anyone not wonder that if this is what the system depends on, the system itself is so rotten we need to get rid of it?...
New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks  Huffington Post   ...The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that some of America’s largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing...
Spire, Beacon of 1 World Trade Light Up NYC  Associated Press   ...The beacon and spire together stand 408 feet tall and bring the building, formerly called the Freedom Tower, to its symbolic height of 1,776 feet...
Mexican Mayor Who Denounced Extortion Found Dead  Associated Press   ...Officials said Friday that a crusading small-town Mexican mayor who denounced cartel extortion has been found dead on a roadside, a killing that has drawn national attention...
Senate Republicans Take Aim At Working Americans  teamster.org   ...The war on workers went national this week, led by the Senate’s GOP leader...
Gov. Scott Walker says typical Wisconsin homeowner will save $680 in property taxes over four years  Politifact   ...We rate his claim Pants on Fire...
California was sterilizing its female prisoners as late as 2010  The Guardian   ...Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals – and there were perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s...
Homelessness a growing challenge for Illinois schools  Chicago Tribune   ...more than 600 schools — about 15 percent of Illinois schools — report homeless student populations of at least double the state average of 2 percent...

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...

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.11.13

Low-Wage Workers Hit Hardest In The Recovery: Study  Huffington Post   ...Workers in low-wage industries have lost a greater share of their inflation-adjusted income during the economic recovery than better-paid workers have, according to a new analysis from the National Employment Law Project...
Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor  ThinkProgress   ...On Wednesday, the Charles Koch Foundation launched a $200,000 media campaign in Wichita, Kansas, with a hint of expanding it elsewhere...
The Big Problems in Obama's Big Trade Deals (opinion)  US News   ...The U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) make up the majority of the world's global domestic product and are already plagued by oversight and accountability issues. The vulnerable communities that will be impacted are wide-ranging, spanning the environmental, labor and health sectors...
The wheels are coming off the whole of southern Europe  Telegraph   ...Europe’s debt-crisis strategy is near collapse. The long-awaited recovery has failed to take wing. Debt ratios across southern Europe are rising at an accelerating pace. Political consent for extreme austerity is breaking down in almost every EMU crisis state...
Smithfield CEO Faces Grilling in Senate on Food Safety  Reuters   ...Chinese plans to buy America's Smithfield Foods—the world's biggest pork producer—faces scrutiny Wednesday when U.S. senators question Smithfield's chief executive about food safety and foreign ownership...
FAA Ups Requirements for Co-Pilots on Passenger Planes  NBC News ...The federal government is toughening the qualifications for co-pilots on American passenger planes — days after a crash landing in San Francisco in which pilot experience has become a question...
Two Supreme Court Cases That Could Hurt Organized Labor  The Atlantic   ...Amid the ruckus over its voting rights and gay marriage rulings, the justices quietly accepted a pair of cases that could make it nearly impossible for private sector unions to organize new members...
FedEx Settles Lawsuit Over Claims It Overcharged Customers  Bloomberg News   ...FedEx Corp. agreed to settle a lawsuit over claims the company was “systematically overcharging” customers by billing for deliveries to businesses and government offices at higher residential rates...
Judge blocks portion of Michigan state Capitol access policy  Sheboygan Press   ...Groups of up to 20 people can gather in the state Capitol without a permit, a federal judge ruled, striking down portions of the current policy requiring permits for all activities as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech rights...
D.C. Council approves ‘living wage’ bill over Wal-Mart ultimatum  Washington Post   ...D.C. lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill requiring certain large retailers to pay their employees a 50 percent premium over the city’s minimum wage, a day after Wal-Mart warned the law would jeopardize their plans in the city...
Teamsters ratify new OTS contract with 6.4 percent raise  Honolulu Star Adviser   ...Honolulu’s bus drivers ratified a new five-year labor contract Tuesday with Oahu Transit Services, Inc. The new pact covers 1,400 bus drivers, clerical and maintenance members of Teamsters Local 996...
Mass. Teamsters back Clark in run  Wicked Local Winchester   ...Teamsters Local 25, representing more than 11,000 workers in Massachusetts, this week announced its support for state Sen. Katherine Clark in the race for U.S. Congress to represent the fifth district...
City lawmakers delay approving contract with Rural/Metro as ambulance strike looms  Buffalo News   ...For Buffalo residents, this might not be the best time to have a medical emergency. The Common Council on Tuesday put off renewing a contract with Rural/Metro Medical Services, which handles as many as 34,000 emergency calls a year in the City of Buffalo...
Rural/Metro Putting Profits Ahead Of People  Tony Trupiano Show   ...Labor radio host Tony Trupiano interviews Local 375 members in Buffalo about their fight to win a fair contract with Rural/Metro medical service. Download the audio here...
Hoffa: Congress Must Vet the Pacific Rim Trade Proposal  IBT   ...Workers across Michigan and the U.S. are working harder today for less pay than they received just a few years ago. Jobs that once allowed wage earners to support their families disappeared during the last recession, replaced by jobs that pay poverty wages. But more importantly, millions of good jobs have been exported over the past 20 years because of bad trade deals...
30 arrested during UMWA protest in W.Va.  WHTM   ...United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard told the crowd that every union is threatened if Patriot gets away with shedding legacy costs and breaking promises...