Today's Teamster News 08.03.13

Teamsters, other unions strike deal with Pennsylvania Convention Center  Daily News   ...Trade union members who went on strike early yesterday morning at the Pennsylvania Convention Center over proposed changes to work rules reached an agreement with the center's officials last night that put them back on the job...
Support for Teamsters Local 542 Strikers Grows as Families Joint Picket Line  CBS/El Centro, CA   ... Despite the 106 degree heat, 60 paramedics and EMTs in Imperial County continue to walk the picket line 24/7 as they fight for a pay raise and better health benefits...
Members of Congress Join Mayor Emanuel, Gov. Quinn to Support Striking Teamster Funeral Directors  IBT   ...Three members of Congress have joined Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and more than a dozen state legislators in support of striking Teamster-represented funeral directors...
BLET, SMART Advance Rail Crew Size Legislation  BLET   ...The Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation International Association (SMART) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET/IBT) have jointly announced that legislation requiring at least two crew members on all freight trains in the U.S. has been filed in Congress...
Paratransit to hire new personnel to replace striking Teamsters  Lake County Record-Bee   ...Paratransit Services personnel confirmed that they are hiring new permanent employees to replace workers who are currently on strike. About 25 Paratransit Services employees and Teamsters began the strike on Monday and has forced Lake Transit to reduce its services...
Study: Record Number 21 Million Young Adults Living With Parents  CBSDC   ...A new study from Pew Research finds that 36 percent of Millennials – young adults ages 18 to 31 – are living at their parents’ homes, the highest number in four decades. A record 21.6 million young adults were still living at home last year...
Flawed FBI Records Threaten Work Opportunities For Hundreds of Thousands of Job Seekers  National Employment Law Project   ...—A record 16.9 million FBI criminal background checks were run for employment or licensing purposes in 2012, a six-fold increase since 9/11. But serious flaws in the FBI records are jeopardizing work opportunities for hundreds of thousands of job seekers every year...
Swaps Probe Finds Banks Rigged Rate at Expense of Retirees  Bloomberg   ...U.S. investigators uncovered evidence that banks reaped millions of dollars in trading profits at the expense of companies and pension funds by manipulating a benchmark for interest-rate derivatives...
Banks Replacing Enron in Energy Incite Congress as Abuses Abound  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. government permitted Wall Street firms to expand in the energy industry a decade ago, when the collapse of Enron Corp. and its army of traders left a void in the market. The results aren’t pretty...
The Rule of Law in the Financial System (opinion)  Credit Slips   ...we cannot and will not see sufficient and durable financial regulatory reform without political reform...
Michigan Leads Nation in Massive Corporate Tax Breaks (The Untold Story of Detroit's Decline)  The Real News   ...Michigan leads the country with 29 mega corporate tax breaks, costing the state more than $7 billion and accounting for 12 percent of the megadeals nationwide...
Detroit automakers have right to object to Japan's currency manipulation (opinion)  Detroit Free Press   ...Last week, on the same day Japan finally jostled its way into the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks with the U.S. and 10 other nations, petitions signed by more than 80,000 autoworkers were sent to U.S. Congress members, urging that Japan be forced to stop rigging its currency to subsidize exports and keep out imports...
New labor movement emerges in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin  Salon   ...The legal protections that Walker took away were the fruits of decades of rank-and-file organizing, community partnership and direct action. What started in Wisconsin — which became the first state to recognize public sector unions in 1959 — is, after 2011, starting again...
What We Don’t Know about Foreclosure Practices May Still Hurt Us   The Gilmer Mirror   ...We already know that federal regulators have undermined accountability for the abuses by mortgage servicing companies. In another disturbing development, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are refusing to turn over information to members of Congress that could help them prevent such abuses from happening again...
IMF pressures Spain to weaken labor laws  CBS News   ...Currently, 26.3 percent of the nation's workforce is unemployed, down from an all-time high of 27.2 in the first quarter of 2013.The IMF called on Madrid to give more flexibility to employers when it comes to hiring and firing by reducing the legal requirements for temporary and permanent workers...
Greece: Anti-austerity protesters take campaign to Acropolis site in Athens  Associated Press   ...Greek civil servants protesting mass staff cuts took their campaign to the gates of the ancient Acropolis on Friday, after the government announced that 500 workers at the culture ministry would be suspended next month...
DOT Proposes to Cut ‘Burdensome’ Trucking Paperwork  Journal of Commerce   ...U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a proposal to eliminate a “burdensome” daily paperwork requirement for professional truck drivers, in order to reduce costs to the industry by an estimated $1.7 billion...
Is Oregon's mileage tax the future for the rest of us?  San Gabriel Valley Tribune   ...Two years from now, thousands of Oregon drivers could get a taste of what the future may hold for the rest of us: They will pay taxes not on the amount of gasoline their cars burn, but on the number of miles they drive...
Study: Wal-Mart Could Cost Taxpayers Millions Per Year in Employee Subsidies  CBS D.C.   ...While the fate of six Wal-Mart stores planned for D.C. remains unclear, a 2013 study says the company could cost taxpayers millions of dollars per year because of publicly funded benefit programs many of its 1.3 million U.S. employees are eligible for...
Michigan tells South Dakota Internet lender of cease-and-desist move over high interest rates  Associated Press   ...Michigan regulators say that Western Sky Financial charges interest rates of more than 340 percent. Michigan’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services said that it has given notice of its intention to issue a cease-and-desist order to the company that also charges loan fees of as much as 70 percent of the loan amount, 14 times the legal limit...
North Carolina’s Moral Mondays Keep Up Morale for the Long Haul  In These Times   ...On July 29, North Carolinians kicked off Raleigh’s last "Moral Monday" protest of 2013 before going on tour to organize other regions of the state. Despite reports that the movement had ended, organizers stressed the fight was far from over...
7-Eleven Sued for Representing Itself as Franchisor  Blue MauMau   ...Amid the other negative press, including litigation against franchisee and human trafficking, a lawsuit filed in the New Jersey federal court on Wednesday against 7-Eleven, Inc. and its Japanese entities accuses the franchisor of fraudulent business practices and abuses, related to misclassifying employees as independent contractors...
Motorola's New Smartphone: Made in the U.S.A., but Not for Much Pay  The Atlantic   ...Factory workers assembling the Moto X will make as little as $9-an-hour, if the help wanted ads are to be believed...
California to get America's fastest high-speed rail line  Gizmag   ...When people grumble about how they think the US isn’t as technologically advanced as it should be, they like to bring up bullet trains – Europe and Asia have them, so why doesn’t America? Well, it’s getting one...
Pennsylvania Will Extend Voter-ID Ban Through Next Election  Bloomberg News   ...Pennsylvania agreed to let a court order barring enforcement of the state’s voter-identification law continue through the November elections...
Illinois legislative leaders sue governor over pay veto  Reuters   ...The leaders of the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Pat Quinn's veto of lawmakers' pay during a legislative impasse over pension reform...

Today's Teamster News 06.26.13

(UPDATES to ADD Missouri paycheck deception veto)
Supreme Court stops use of key part of Voting Rights Act  Washington Post   ...The Supreme Court on Tuesday freed states from special federal oversight under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, saying the data Congress used to identify the states covered by it was outdated and unfair...
Supreme Court Ruled In Favor Of America’s Top Corporate Lobbying Group In 13 of 16 Cases This Term   ThinkProgress   ...after today, the Chamber’s record before the Roberts Court is 13 wins and just 3 loses this term...
Study finds business subsidies lead to few jobs  Evansville Courier & Press   ...Giant subsidy packages awarded by states and local governments to attract businesses or keep them from leaving have been growing steadily in size and occurring more frequently since 2008, according to a Washington, D.C.-based policy think tank...
Fired Walmart Workers Arrested in Protest at Yahoo Headquarters  The Nation   ...Five activists were arrested at Yahoo! headquarters Monday afternoon in a protest over the firing of eleven Walmart employees who this month went on strike...
Dilma Rousseff proposes referendum on political reform  The Guardian   ...Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has proposed a referendum on political reform and a new £17bn public transport programme in her latest attempt to mollify the protest movement that brought more than a million people on to the streets last week...
Grayson Announces Bill to Let Workers Personally Sue Bosses Who Retaliate  The Nation   ...In a Tuesday interview, Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) announced the introduction of a bill to dramatically expand the legal remedies available to non-union workers who are punished for workplace activism...
Nixon strikes down ‘paycheck protection’ measure  Missourinet   ...Gov. Jay Nixon today signed into law several bills, and vetoed Senate Bill 29, which supporters call “paycheck protection” and opponents call “paycheck deception.” The bill would have prevented labor unions from using member dues for political contributions...
Labor-backed bill tests supermajority control of California Legislature  Sacramento Bee   ...With Democrats set to lose their Assembly supermajority this week, moderates are in the hot seat as the house decides the fate of one of organized labor's top priorities. A measure, which seeks to bar Wal-Mart and other large employers from providing wages and hours low enough to qualify for Medi-Cal rolls, requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass...
NJ officials reconsider privatizing toll collection  Asbury Park Press   ...Privatizing cash toll collection on the state’s two major toll roads is back on the table, but a goal of cashless tolls is years away from happening...
Bill to revamp enterprise zone program advances to Senate floor   Los Angeles Times   ...Gov. Jerry Brown's push to overhaul California's controversial enterprise zone program is headed for floor debate in the state Senate after winning a crucial committee endorsement Monday. The measure would get rid of most of the $750-million-a-year incentive program and shift the money to three initiatives...
UPS Freight Agreement Not Accepted By Members  IBT   ...Members at UPS Freight have voted to reject their Tentative Agreement. To see the results of the UPS Freight vote, click here...
Teamster-Represented Funeral Directors Rally for New Contract  IBT   ...Funeral directors, drivers and their supporters from around Chicago rallied in front of SCI-owned Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn today. The rally was held to support the funeral directors’ bargaining team...
Republic Airways announces contract with Teamsters  Associated Press   ...Republic Airways Holdings Inc. says it has a deal with the Teamsters on a five-year contract covering more than 2,000 flight attendants…
Nev. police union votes 'no confidence' in city manager  Las Vegas Sun   ...North Las Vegas police union voted unanimously on Friday on a vote of "no confidence" in City Manager Tim Hacker. The vote came two days after the North Las Vegas City Council declared a state of emergency for the second year in a row to close an $18 million budget deficit after stalled negotiations with unions, including the Teamsters...
Truro Farmers plant will lose about 10 union jobs  Chronicle Herald   ...A Quebec dairy giant’s plan to stop making cheese at its Truro plant will result in about 10 unionized jobs being lost, a Teamsters Canada official said Monday...
Union Representing Rural Metro EMTs & Paramedics Approves Strike Notice  NBC WGRZ-2   ...Paramedics and EMTs at Rural Metro Medical Services in Buffalo, NY have authorized a possible strike. Teamsters Local 375, which represents the workers, informed the company Monday that the strike authorization vote was passed by their membership...
Riverside 7-Up distributors go on strike  Press-Enterprise  ...Distribution workers in Riverside, CA that ship beverages, mostly 7-Up, to area retailers went on strike this morning. About 100 workers walked off their jobs as part of a contract stalemate...
Building and Construction Teamsters: Bringing Light to Southern California Homes  IBT   ...Teamster members of Bloomington, Calif.-based Local 166 work at this vast facility as drivers, inventory control staff, parts managers, and shipping and receiving staff...
Teamsters Local 542 Awards Scholarships to Member's Children  Teamsters Local 542   ...Teamsters Local 542 awarded the “Rick Aceves Memorial Scholarship” to four of its member’s children graduating from high school...

Teamster rally recaps from CA, NE

Rally Girl is a Cornhusker, so her report on Local 554's rally in Omaha on Friday is especially insightful:

Even in Nebraska—home to some of the country’s most anti-union cities—supporters of Wisconsin workers turned up in great numbers over the weekend to protest a proposed budget bill that would end collective bargaining for government employees.

Braving below-freezing temperatures, hundreds, including Teamsters from Local 554, gathered at 72nd and Dodge—Omaha’s main intersection—holding signs and singing songs. Their demonstration was one of hundreds going on across the country to show solidarity for workers in Wisconsin.

Brother Scott Utech, an organizer with 554, said

The rally was very successful—a lot of brothers and sisters in organized labor and those who just wanted to support us participated. The public response to our rally was really positive and upbeat. I think these rallies are going to continue to grow.

What makes Omaha’s demonstration so inspiring is the fact that Nebraska is a traditionally conservative, right-to-work (for less) state, where unions are looked down upon and individual pride is placed above all else. Here, child labor laws are overlooked when it comes to the backbreaking work of detasseling. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of undocumented workers slave away in wretched meatpacking plants.

Yet, the voices of Nebraska unionists, concerned citizens and local politicians give me hope that even here, in the middle of the Midwest, tides are turning. Like others across this great nation, Nebraskans are waking up, taking a stand and letting their voices be heard. It is with solidarity and gusto that I proclaim, GO BIG RED!

Teamsters from Local 36, 481, 683, 542 and 911 participated in Saturday's "Support Wisconsin Rally," organized by the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council. More than a thousand people joined the action. Local 542 Business Agent Alvin Mitchell drove the San Diego Teamsters tractor trailer in the event. Let's hear it for our southern California brothers and sisters

The arrival of the truck got the twitterers going. @jasminepw tweeted

San Diego Teamsters making their presence known (honking) in support of Unions and Wisconsin! #WeAreWI