Today's Teamster News 08.03.15

Teamsters
Silicon Valley Drivers Vote Unanimously in Favor of Contract Proposal  Teamster.org  ...Shuttle drivers for seven big Silicon Valley companies voted overwhelmingly today to approve a union proposal for a first contract that includes industry-leading wages and benefits. The drivers employed by contractor Compass Transportation/Transdev voted 75-0 in favor. The drivers are members of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The proposal is the result of nearly five months of negotiations with the company...
Fort Riley Veterans Graduate From Military Job Training Program  Teamster.org  ...Today, Teamster representatives were joined by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in a ceremony recognizing the graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ceremony was held at the Army’s installation in Fort Riley, Kan. The innovative six-week program is the result of a partnership between the Teamsters Military Assistance Program, the U.S. Army, Fort Sill, ABF Freight, Soldier For Life, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command...
Strike threat looms in anticipation of Sun Tran, Labor Union contract renewal  Tucson News Now  ...The threat of a bus strike looms again in Tucson, as talks continue between Sun Tran bus drivers and management over a new contract. The dangers bus drivers face, the risk on the road and their paycheck are all items that are up for negotiation. Sun Tran officials have provided the Teamsters Local Union with a final offer, and union members will vote on it during three meetings scheduled to take place on Saturday, Aug 1...
Apple, Yahoo shuttle drivers unanimously approve union wage package  USA Today  ...Shuttle drivers for Apple, Yahoo, eBay and several other Silicon Valley companies voted Saturday to approve a union wage and benefits package. The drivers who transport workers to and from those tech firms, as well as to Zynga, Amtrak, Evernote and Genentech, are employed by Compass Transportation. Back in February, the 160 drivers voted for representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
ABF Freight, Teamsters Graduate New Class Of Military Drivers  Times Record  ...A truck driver training program class jointly operated by ABF Freight, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the U.S. Army will graduate this week. ABF Freight is a subsidiary of Fort Smith-based ArcBest Corp. Known as the Teamsters Military Assistance Program, the program was created to help soldiers transition to civilian careers...

Global Labor & Trade
Talks for Pacific trade deal stall at a critical step  New York Times  ...Trade negotiators from the United States and 11 other Pacific nations were headed toward failure Friday, with difficult talks on the largest regional trade agreement ever breaking down over protections for pharmaceutical companies and access to agriculture markets on both sides of the Pacific. Negotiators will return to their home countries to obtain high-level sign-offs for a small number of final sticking points on the agreement...
Ministers fail to cinch major trade pact  Politico  ...Top trade officials from the United States, Canada and 10 other Pacific rim nations fell short of concluding the biggest trade pact in history on Friday because of differences over agricultural, autos and pharmaceuticals, but said significant progress had been made. “We’re confident that TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] is within reach,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said Friday...
U.S. Bends on Patent Data as Dairy Vexes Pacific Trade Talks  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. on Thursday abandoned its longstanding position on the confidentiality of some patent data as officials immersed themselves in the minutiae of Asia-Pacific dairy markets in a bid to clinch a landmark trade deal. A day marked by widespread frustration with the slow pace at which Canada took up talks on opening its dairy sector gave way to grinding, all-night talks on the quotas and tariffs that would be applied to products such as whey protein, cheese and milk powder...
Trans-Pacific Partnership delegates fail to reach final deal; pharmaceuticals, cars, dairy key sticking points  ABC  ...Delegates negotiating a Pacific free trade agreement have failed to reach a final deal after several days of intense talks in Hawaii. The talks were halted after a dispute flared between Japan and North America over autos, New Zealand dug in over dairy trade and no agreement was reached on monopoly periods for next-generation drugs...
McConnell warns Obama against tobacco carve-out in trade deal  The Hill  ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is warning U.S. officials negotiating a massive trans-Pacific trade agreement for President Obama not to target tobacco growers in a final deal. McConnell said singling out the tobacco industry would set a dangerous precedent for future trade deals, in a letter to Obama’s top trade representative...

Obama Administration Ignores Malaysia’s Trafficking Record   (opinion) New York Times  ...After one year on the State Department’s list of countries that are failing to combat modern-day slavery, Malaysia has been upgraded to a higher category. That judgment, part of an annual evaluation of how 188 countries deal with human trafficking, strains credulity, given how little Malaysia has done to address the problem. The decision has raised suspicions that Malaysia’s status was changed to advance the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Getting the TPP right: What needs to happen in Hawaii  (opinion) The Hill  ...When done right, on a level playing field, trade can be a powerful tool for global growth and rising living standards. But too often, past trade deals have not lived up to this standard. Instead, they’ve created a massively tilted playing field that has incentivized a global race to the bottom on labor practices, environmental protections and human rights...
Stocks Plunge in Greece as Athens Exchange Reopens  New York Times  ...Investors issued a vote of no confidence in Greece’s economy on Monday, dumping Greek stocks as trading on the Athens stock exchange resumed for the first time in five weeks. Shares on the exchange initially dropped by 22.8 percent as trading began, with bank stocks falling 30 percent. Banks have been among the hardest-hit sectors of the Greek economy, and they are dependent on emergency cash from the European Central Bank to stay afloat...
Black Unionists Try to Save South Africa From Becoming a Failed State  Truthout  ...Irvin Jim, the general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the largest union in South Africa, and Zwelinzima Vavi, the former general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) visited Washington, DC, this month to discuss the crisis within South African trade unions. They spoke of the betrayal by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in failing to implement the 1955 Freedom Charter and the deleterious impact of neoliberal economic policies...
Plane passengers face delays as Melbourne Airport workers strike  Herald Sun  ...The Community and Public Sector Union has warned of significant disruptions and delays at all Australian international air and shipping ports ahead of its latest round of industrial action. The union has detailed four-hour rolling stoppages in protest of the Federal Government’s approach to working rights, conditions and pay. Union members from the Depart of Immigration and Border Protection, Department of Agriculture, including quarantine, and Australian Border Force Marine Union will observe stoppages...
Oaxaca, Mexico, Faces Police Militarization as Governor Acts to Preempt Education Protests  Truthout  ...Thousands of federal and state police troops were dispatched in mid-July to the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico to guard strategic buildings, patrol the skies and ensure that protesters cannot take over local radio stations. The aim of this heightened police militarization? To prevent protesting teachers from exerting pressure on the administration of Gabino Cué Monteagudo, the current governor of Oaxaca, in their efforts to resist nationally imposed education reforms...

State & Living Wage Battles
A $15 Minimum Wage Would Increase The Price Of A Big Mac By Less Than 20 Cents  Think Progress  ...If the minimum wage were increased to $15 an hour, prices at fast food restaurants would rise by an estimated 4.3 percent, according to a new study. That would mean a McDonald’s Big Mac, which currently goes for $3.99, would cost about 17 cents more, or $4.16. The price increases would be a good deal larger if the minimum wage were raised to $22 an hour, or average private sector pay: the authors found they would increase by 25 percent, raising the price of a Big Mac by about a dollar...
Scott Walker Stresses Importance Of Education Days After Cutting Education Funding By $250 Million  Think Progress  ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went on Fox & Friends Thursday to discuss his entry into the 2016 presidential race. But the governor who recently earned negative headlines for cutting hundreds of millions from the state’s top-tier university system made a curious claim: that the key to boosting wages wasn’t the minimum wage, but education...
How Childcare Actually Causes Poverty in America  The Nation  ....Activists are pushing for a $15 hourly base wage for preschool teachers and childcare workers. Many are currently college grads earning poverty wages, which have basically stagnated for nearly twenty years. The raise would be a major step toward providing livable wages for the service working families can’t live without. As the Fight for 15 movement gains momentum for fast food and retail workers, advocates are asking, if the people who prepare your lunch deserve a living wage, surely so do the people preparing our toddlers for school?...
Chris Christie’s violent fantasies: National teachers union deserves a “punch in the face”  Salon  ...Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said during a television interview Sunday that the national teachers union deserves a “punch in the face.” While campaigning for re-election in 2013, the New Jersey Governor scolded a local teacher after she challenged him on his claims that the state’s schools were failing. “I am tired of you people,” Christie yelled at the teacher, “What do you want?”...
Report: About 40% of workers in Ariz., U.S. have no paid sick leave  Yuma Sun  ...Close to half of Arizona’s private-sector workers, more than 934,000 people, do not have access to paid sick leave, according to a report Wednesday by a group pushing for such laws. But the National Partnership for Women and Families said Arizona is not alone: More than 43 million people, accounting for about 39 percent of private-sector workers in the country, currently don’t have the ability to earn paid sick leave, it said...
Without prevailing wage, pay will plummet, leader says  The Times  ...Without the state's prevailing wage law, construction workers would see their wages drop dramatically, a local labor leader says. "You'll see minimum wage within a couple of years," said Kevin Dale, business manager for Laborers International Union Local 393 in Marseilles. "You'll be making the same amount as the person flipping hamburgers at McDonald's when there's no prevailing wage." Earlier this year, Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed repealing the prevailing wage law...
Hedge Funds Helped Wreck Puerto Rico’s Economy, And The Poor Are Paying The Price  Think Progress  ...Depending who you ask in Puerto Rico, the debt crisis was caused by neo-colonial and imperialist policies from the U.S., the Puerto Rican government’s wasteful overspending and corruption, or the cadre of hedge funds that are currently profiting from the island’s woes. Add to that toxic mix a series of free-trade agreements that triggered mass outsourcing, and a population in rapid decline due to out-migration...

U.S. Labor
Verizon Workers to Stay on Job Without New Contract  New York Times  ...Verizon and unions representing workers in nine states said employees will work without a contract as more negotiations are scheduled. The wireless carrier and leaders of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers announced the decision early Sunday, shortly after a contract covering 39,000 workers expired...
Bankruptcy Judge Gives Go-Ahead for Mass Firings of Unionized A&P Grocery Workers  In These Times  ...The mass firings of workers at the A&P supermarket chain is set to begin in mid-September, following action this week by a federal bankruptcy court approving a plan to quickly shed some 2,500 jobs at the ailing grocery retailer. The job cuts are a first step in a broader plan to dismember the entire 300-store chain, with expected job losses of 15,000 or more...
Negotiations begin for AT&T, Communications Workers of America  Local 10  ...AT&T has begun negotiations on contracts with 27,000 of its employees in the Southeast territory. Southeast region employees, who are represented by the Communications Workers of America, include employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The CWA issued a news release Sunday saying that representatives from both sides met Saturday. However, AT&T regional spokeswoman Kelly Starling said negotiations have been ongoing since June...
Why Unions Aren't Uniting Behind Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders  Bloomberg  ...In the failed fight to stop fast track, organized labor spoke—largely—with one voice. The main U.S. union federation, the AFL-CIO, announced a temporary freeze on PAC contributions, and its affiliate unions mostly complied. Unions across the industry spectrum warned Democrats against siding with Obama on trade. Some big unions were quieter than others, but none defected to shield the president. The same can’t be said for labor’s presidential endorsement process...

Social Justice & Other News
Border Jails Facing Bond Defaults as Immigration Boom Goes Bust  Bloomberg  ...ails built to profit from an illegal immigration boom are weighing down the finances of rural counties in the U.S. Sunbelt as border apprehensions slow and the federal government orders the release of more migrants. In Texas, the heart of a jail-building boom over the past decade, nine of 21 counties that created agencies to issue about $1.3 billion in municipal bonds to build privately run correctional facilities largely for migrants have defaulted on their debt...
In St. Louis, Black Youths Bear Brunt of Dysfunctional Justice System  Common Dreams  ...Black kids in St. Louis, Missouri are being disproportionately impacted by unconstitutional and discriminatory miscarriages of justice within the Family Court system, according to a two-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. "In short, Black children are subjected to harsher treatment because of their race," the findings report reads...

Memorial Day magazine preview: Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP)

Jerry Winkler, Teamster military hero

This Memorial Day, as we honor the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country, we are paying tribute to our Teamster military heroes and the Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP).

In the last issue of Teamster Magazine, we introduced you to Jerry Winkler, a Local 416 Teamster who, in his capacity as an Air Force Reservist, took part in an action to save a Kurdish community from the ISIS terrorist group.

But Winkler is far from the only Teamster who proudly wears his military uniform while keeping a firm grip on his union card. Thanks to an innovative training program for veterans, even more of those who have served in the armed forces have the opportunity to transition to Teamster jobs.

Teamsters, through TMAP, have been assisting veterans in obtaining careers in the transportation industry for years.

In the next issue, you’ll meet several more people enlisted in the military who are transitioning to good jobs thanks to the Teamsters Union … people like Fiona O’Brien. From the story in the next issue:

Fiona O’Brien was among the first group of a dozen graduates that have completed the TMAP program at Fort Sill. The 16-year Army veteran had been deployed three times to Afghanistan, but when she completed her service, O’Brien needed to think of her next steps.

“It’s hard for many veterans to get out and find a job, to transition from Army to civilian life. This program gives us one less thing to stress about,” said O’Brien, who is now working for ABF Freight in New Jersey. 

The story details what happened during a recent ceremony at Fort Sill, Okla., honoring graduates of a program that helps military personnel transition to a career in transportation:

Recently, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing soldiers like Pitkin, the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to inaugurate the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. 

“This transition is seamless because the Teamsters, ABF and the Army are partnering. They’ve shown they care about veterans. The impact that this has on soldiers coming out is a tremendous thing,” Pitkin said.

In the next issue, you’ll also read about Covina, Calif.’s Local 396, which has been recognizing veterans at monthly membership meetings, bestowing special Teamster veteran jackets to members of the local in each branch of service.

In the meantime, enjoy this Memorial Day with family and friends -- and don't forget to stock your barbecue activities with American-made, union-made products. 

Unions provide a path to prosperity

The plight of the American worker has been well-documented by the Teamsters and others. Many don't know how much money they will bring home to their families because of uncertain hours and pay. The businesses that employ them are not being held accountable, and we all suffer because of it.

The Teamsters are helping those leaving the military find jobs.

Wages in recent years have been going down, not up, for a majority of workers when inflation is taken into account. Bad trade deals and pro-corporate legislation like so-called "right-to-work" is part of the problem. Retirements are uncertain. And it is having a huge effect on the outlook of many Americans, some of who are ready to give up.

A new study conducted by pollster Anna Greenberg on behalf of George Washington University professor Amitai Etzioni found:

The majority of Americans indeed experience an acute sense of economic anxiety. Americans are most concerned that Social Security will not be there when they retire. They also fear that they will not have enough money of their own when their working days are over. Indeed, even for now, the majority feels it may not have enough money to pay the bills and -- that they may lose their jobs. 

There is no one answer to how the U.S. can rebuild the confidence of our nation's workers and emerge victorious against the growing national scourge of income inequality. But the Teamsters are committed to doing our part, beginning with a partnership with ABF to get those leaving the military their commercial drivers' license and a trucking job.

Speaking to American Legion members today in Washington, D.C., Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said more parties need to work together to get people back to work:

The whole thing is about partnering. How do we get this job done? We take this tremendous job of transitioning 130,000 people out of the military every year, and find some way to get them into civilian life. And not dead-end jobs. We want to find good jobs, We want to find jobs where they can build their life, make good money, have a family, have health care, have pensions and have a real future.

The most recent election shows that workers can no longer rely on government to do what's right. Unions like the Teamsters, who help our members earn better wages, can play a critical role. Joining one is a way workers can get back on their feet.

Today's Teamster News 11.05.14

Teamster News
Teamsters, Human Rights Groups Decry Inaction By Salvadoran Government On Gilberto Soto Murder  teamster.org   ...A full-page ad scheduled for publication in tomorrow’s edition of El Salvador’s largest daily newspaper denounces the government for its continued inaction on the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Gilberto Soto, a representative of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Soto was killed while visiting El Salvador to establish fraternal relations with transport workers there and throughout Central America...
Rep. Marcy Kaptur celebrates victory at Teamsters Hall  NBC24.com   ...Rep. Kaptur arrived at the Teamsters Hall around 10 p.m. to thunderous applause from the crowd of about 100 that were assembled...
Voting No On 1 To Repeal AO 37 Will Save Anchorage Millions (opinion)  Alaska Dispatch News   ...Each year, Anchorage receives millions of dollars in federal grants that finance much of our public transit system. Since 2007, Anchorage has been awarded over $31 million in federal transit grants. If AO 37 remains law, Anchorage will lose eligibility for that funding, but will not lose the expense of replacing buses and maintaining bus stops...
ArcBest Sees Increase In Third-Quarter Revenue, Production Levels  Fort Smith Times Record   ...McReynolds said the new labor deal between ABF Freight and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified last October is “tracking as expected” and the savings of $55 million to $65 million would be realized...
Sysco Keeps Planning For US Foods Merger Amid Delay  Houston Chronicle   ...The Teamsters Union is worried that jobs will be cut in regions where Sysco and US Foods overlap. The group represents more 7,600 Sysco warehouse workers and drivers and 4,000 US Foods warehouse workers. It said in its October newsletter that 2,500 jobs are at stake...
Trade
Agribusiness: TPP Won’t Be Decided This Month  WHO   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman says the final agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not be made at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit this month in Beijing...
State Battles
Republican Scott Walker wins Wisconsin governor race  Capital Gazette   ...Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker has won re-election, Reuters/Ipsos projected on Tuesday, prevailing in a tough fight against Democratic challenger Mary Burke...
Gov. Paul LePage wins a second term; Michaud concedes  Bangor Daily News   ...Paul LePage, the outspoken former businessman who rode a Republican wave into the governor’s mansion and late-night talk show jokes in 2010, has won re-election in Maine...
Kasich, GOP roll in Ohio election  Newark Advocate   ...Gov. John Kasich led a Republican statewide trouncing of Democrats Tuesday night, assuring Kasich's spot in the discussion about GOP presidential candidates...
Wolf Ousts Corbett in Pa. Governor's Race  NBCDFW.com   ...Democrat Tom Wolf, who gave $10 million of his own money to underwrite an early TV ad campaign that endeared the businessman and first-time candidate to voters, unseated Gov. Tom Corbett on Tuesday, sending the unpopular incumbent to a historic defeat...
Republican Gov. Rick Scott Defeats Democrat Charlie Crist in Florida  Wall Street Journal   ...Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida won re-election Tuesday, fending off a vigorous challenge from Democrat Charlie Crist and providing the GOP a boost in a key swing state ahead of the 2016 presidential election...
GOP Gov. Rick Snyder Defeats Democrat Mark Schauer in Michigan  Wall Street Journal   ...Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who acknowledged voters’ discontent with the state’s economy recovery, locked up his re-election Tuesday on a promise to help place workers in better-paying jobs...
Brownback Wins in Kansas, Keeping Alive Tax-Cut Crusade  Bloomberg   ...Kansas Governor Sam Brownback won a second term, surviving a backlash to an anti-tax crusade that pitted him against fellow Republicans and tested voters’ patience for the Tea Party agenda...
California Voters Deal Blow To Prisons, Drug War  Huffington Post   ...Nonviolent felonies like shoplifting and drug possession will be downgraded to misdemeanors under the ballot measure, Proposition 47. As many as 10,000 people could be eligible for early release from state prisons, and it's expected that courts will annually dispense around 40,000 fewer felony convictions...
War on Workers
Riding Wave of Discontent, G.O.P. Takes Senate  New York Times   ...Propelled by economic dissatisfaction and anger toward the president, Republicans grabbed Democratic Senate seats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana and South Dakota to gain their first Senate majority since 2006...
To Angry Voters, Washington Comes Out the Biggest Loser  New York Times   ...Optimism about the future was in short supply in this a-pox-on-all-your-houses climate.  And the sense of pessimism appears greater than in the last big election:  Nearly two-thirds of voters say the nation is on the wrong track, up from a little over half in 2012...
Construction Worker Killed In Turnpike Crash  WMTW   ...A worker has been killed in an accident at a construction site on the Maine Turnpike in York, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Uber And Its Shady Partners Are Pushing Drivers Into Subprime Loans  ValleyWag   ...Instead of mortgages, this time a bubble has formed around auto loans, and reliably ruthless Uber is in the thick of it. Two "partners" in Uber's vehicle financing program are under federal investigation, but Uber hasn't slowed its aggressive marketing campaign to get drivers with bad credit to sign up for loans...
Chipotle Faces Wage Theft Allegations From Workers  Franchise Herald   ...Chipotle employees from Colorado and Minnesota are alleging that the company often makes workers continue their services "off the clock" without pay. Several of these employees wrote official court statements explaining that they had to continue to clean up their restaurant locations despite the time keeping system clocking them out at 12:30 a.m...
Judge Orders Joseph Esposito To Sit For Deposition After Ebola, ISIS Excuses Were Deemed ‘Not Satisfactory’  New York Daily News   ...City lawyers contended that Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito was too busy to be deposed for an Occupy Wall Street-related civil suit last week because of the Ebola crisis....Esposito, 64, was slated to answer questions under oath last week for a suit brought by a woman who says she was wrongly arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011...
Miscellaneous
NSA Chief Bet Money On AT&T As It Spied On You  Daily Beast   ...At the same time Gen. Keith Alexander was running the National Security Agency, the United States’ biggest spying outfit, he was also trading stocks in an obscure technology company that had a sweetheart deal with one of the NSA’s most important sources of intelligence—the global phone and Internet giant AT&T...

Today's Teamster News 06.09.14

Teamsters
Teamsters Fear ABF Freight's Plans to Move  Arkansas Business   ...ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith is leaning toward moving ABF Freight, its largest subsidiary, to Memphis, which would result in a major reduction of its operations in North Little Rock....
Trade
TPP would hurt farmers, America (opinion)  Springfield News-Leader   ...these trade deals take power away from local and state elected representatives and make us subject to a virtual undemocratic corporate, global constitution that could undermine the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state laws and local control laws. Laws such as Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) would be in jeopardy — COOL is supported by the majority of farmers and consumers, but opposed by corporate agribusiness...
TTIP: EU Commissioner Defends Controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership  International Business Times   ...Politicians have also been labelled "undemocratic" for the perceived secrecy of negotiations. In May, a group of 120 European NGOs attacked TTIP's "lack of transparency and democratic procedures"...
War on Workers
Starting Out Behind  New York Times   ...The result has been an economy where young people starting out are at risk of prolonged underachievement...
Trafficked Teachers: Neoliberalism’s Latest Labor Source  In These Times   ...Between 2007 and 2009, 350 Filipino teachers arrived in Louisiana, excited for the opportunity to teach math and science in public schools throughout the state. They’d been recruited through a company called Universal Placement International Inc., which professes on its website to “successfully place teachers in different schools thru out [sic] the United States.” As a lawsuit later revealed, however, their journey through the American public school system was fraught with abuse...
The Great Deleveraging: Six and a Half Lost Years  New Yorker   ...The bad news is that for the American economy, whose leitmotif is expansion, to go for six and a half years without any net job growth is something we haven’t seen in eighty years. The only comparable period on record is the Great Depression...
Dark Money, Dirty War: The Corporate Crusade Against Low-Wage Workers  Portside   ...The U.S. Chamber is using its reports–plus attack ads, articles from right-wing think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute, and op-eds in major newspapers echoing similar refrains—to persuade the public and the government that all low-wage and immigrant worker organizing groups should be subjected to the same financial reporting and internal structuring requirements that unions face...

Today's Teamster News 05.28.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Hope To Keep ABF In Little Rock  Memphis Business Journal   ...The president of the Teamsters local in North Little Rock, Tim Nichols, says he will meet with Gov. Mike Beebe this week in hopes of preventing ABF from moving to Memphis...
Bus Company Workers To Vote On Joining Union  WAMC   ...Employees of the Green Mountain Express bus company in Vermont have scheduled a vote on whether to join the Teamsters union. William Kelly, trustee organizer for Teamsters Local 597, tells the Bennington Banner that 23 people at Green Mountain Express are eligible to vote Wednesday...
Pekin City Council approves Teamsters pact  Pekin Daily Times   ...The Pekin City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year contract with the Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local 697...
Hollywood Teamsters Back Patric Verrone For State Senate  Deadline Hollywood   ...Hollywood Teamsters Local 399 stood behind former WGA West President Patric Verrone when he led the 2007-08 Writers Guild strike, and it’s supporting him again in his run for the California Legislature...
Trade
European Milk Board opposes TTIP  Dairy Herd Management   ...A dairy farmer group representing organizations in 14 E.U. countries is not happy with current trade talks that would align European and U.S. trade and investment...
TTIP: The Lobby plague is coming  Access   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the United States and the European Union, aiming at increasing trade and (dangerously) seeking “regulatory coherence.” If adopted, TTIP would become the world’s largest free trade and investment agreement, opening both markets for exchange in goods, services, investment, and public procurement. While the negotiations are being held in secret on both sides of the Atlantic, a large number of concerns arose in Europe on the actual benefits of such a trade agreement and its potential impact on EU legislation on digital rights as well as environmental protection, public health, agriculture, consumer rights, and labour standards...
TPP: Bad for global health (opinion)  OakPark.com   ...On April 8, Oak Park Township approved putting a referendum measure on the November ballot that would declare Oak Park a "TPP-Free Zone."...
State Battles
Will The Supreme Court Kill Public-Employee Unions?  Mother Jones   ...Forget Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow union-bashing governors. Forget the partisan attacks on organized labor. The gravest threat to public-employee unions--which represent cops, firefighters, prison guards, teachers, nurses and other state workers, is a Supreme Court case named Harris v. Quinn...
Michigan's Snyder signs bill raising minimum wage  Associated Press   ...Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation Tuesday to raise the state's minimum wage by 25 percent gradually over the next four years to $9.25 an hour, as Republicans controlling the state government moved to head off a November ballot measure that could have raised pay even more.
Federal Judge Who Halted Walker Dark Money Criminal Probe Attended Koch-Backed Judicial Junkets  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The federal judge who ordered a halt to Wisconsin's "John Doe" criminal investigation into spending during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections has regularly attended all-expenses paid "judicial junkets" funded by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and other ideological and corporate interests...
States Consider Bills To Crack Down On Workplace Bullies  NPR   ...Bullying is a behavioral problem often associated with children in grade school, but according to a recent Zogby poll, more than a quarter of American workers say they've experienced abusive conduct at work...
War On Workers
Median CEO Pay Passes The $10 Million Mark For The First Time  Think Progress   ...The median CEO pay package hit $10.5 million last year, according to the Associated Press, cracking eight figures for the first time since the wire service began calculating the statistic...
Workers At This Giant Retailer Are Really Happy With Their Pay  Think Progress   ...In an analysis of employee feedback shared on Glassdoor over the past year, just one retailer comes in the top 25 for top marks on pay and benefits: Costco...
The Ripple Effects Of Rising Student Debt  New York Times   ...What are the roads not taken because students must take out loans for college? A collection of studies show that the burden of student debt may very well cause people to make different decisions than they would otherwise--affecting not just individual lives, but also the entire economy...
Miscellaneous
Europe's Secret Success  New York Times   ...Europe's financial and macroeconomic woes have overshadowed its remarkable, unheralded longer-term success in an area where it used to lag: job creation. What? You haven't heard about it? Well, that's not too surprising...
7 States Running Out Of Water  Huffington Post   ...In seven states, drought conditions were so severe that each had more than half it's land area in severe drought. Severe drought is characterized by crop loss, frequent water shortages and mandatory water use restrictions...

Today's Teamster News 12.06.13

TurboTax Discount for Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Teamster households now have access to a leading branch of tax preparation software, TurboTax, at a discount of up to $20 off the price of Federal products. Part of the purchase price is donated to the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Give the Gift of Teamster Pride  teamster.org   ...If you are searching for that perfect gift for your favorite Teamster, check out the Teamster Store. Proceeds from these sales will help provide dozens of annual scholarships to children and grandchildren of Teamster members...
Bristol Twp., bus driver's union begin negotiations  Bucks County Courier Times   ...Negotiations have begun between officials of the Bristol Township School District and a union that now represents 32 district bus drivers...
ABF Closing 30 Terminals  Truckinginfo   ...Less-than-truckload carrier, ABF Freight System, is cutting its number of terminals from 277 to 247...
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, dies aged 95  The Guardian   ...Nelson Mandela, the towering figure of Africa's struggle for freedom and a hero to millions around the world, has died at the age of 95...
ALEC’s Extreme Legislative Agenda for 2014  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Opposing U.S. Consumers' Right to Know the Origin of Our Food...Undermining Workers' Rights...Undermining the Rights of Injured Americans to Hold Corporations Accountable...Undermining Public Education and Lining the Pockets of For-Profit School Companies...
US fast-food workers strike over low wages in nationwide protests  The Guardian   ...Thousands of fast food and retail workers went on strike across the US on Thursday in a signal of the growing clamour for action on income equality...
Pension Theft: Class War Goes to the Next Stage  Center for Economic Policy Research   ...in 21st century America, contracts and the rule of law apparently don't mean anything, at least not if the people at the other end are ordinary workers. So, rather than inconvenience all those rich folks at the Chicago Board of Trade or other highly successful businesses with a larger tax bill, the plan is to stiff the firefighters, the schoolteachers, and the people who collected garbage for 30 years...
Big Banks Don't Pay A Third Of Tellers Enough To Live On  Huffington Post   ...A staggering number of bank tellers in New York City use public assistance to get by, according to a report released Wednesday...
The Real People Whose Lives Will Be Turned Upside Down If Congress Doesn’t Act In The Next Three Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...Millions of people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more will be cut off unless Congress acts by the end of the year...
UK government paves way for driverless cars  BBC News   ...The government has announced that it wants to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars. It said it would conduct a review next year to ensure that the legislative and regulatory framework is in place for such vehicles to be incorporated on Britain's roads...
New Study Confirms that Lower Corporate Tax Rates Don’t Create Jobs  Naked Capitalism ...Corporate executives love to peddle the notion that they need to have their low tax payments reduced even further, even as the share of company profits is at unprecedentedly high levels...
The Fight Continues to Prevent Billions in International Money Laundering and Tax Shelters  Center for Public Integrity   ...Offshore havens are under attack again, but the tricky part is getting past toothless pronouncements...
Congress' Cushy Jobs: 239 Days Off While Workers Guaranteed Zero  AlterNet   ...In contrast to the rest of the developed world, American workers are not guaranteed paid holiday or vacation days...
JP Morgan warns customers of possible data theft after cyber hack  BBC News   ...The pre-paid cards were issued for corporations to pay employees and for government agencies to issue tax refunds, unemployment compensation and other benefits...
Mexican authorities find stolen truck containing radioactive material   The Guardian   ...Mexican police have found a truck containing radioactive material that was stolen as it was being transported from a hospital near Mexico City. Thieves who removed the cobalt-60, which is used in hospitals to treat some cancer, from its protective container have been exposed to potentially life-threatening levels of radiation, a Mexican nuclear safety official told a local TV station...
In Greece, 3.8m people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012  Enet English   ...In 2012, 3.8m people in Greece – or 34.6% of the country's population – were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 31% in 2011 and 28.1% in 2008, the European Union's statistical arm said on Thursday...
As Boeing charts plans for a new airliner, doubts arise about where to build it  Washington Post   ...Judging from the early returns, the Boeing Company’s 777X will be a hit by combining fuel-efficient materials and technology with a popular existing-plane design. Now, comes the crucial question: Where will it be built?...
Nelson Calls Florida Absentee Ballot Directive Voter Suppression  Talking Points Memo   ...Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said Tuesday that a new directive in Florida that limits where voters can drop off their absentee ballots is a form of voter suppression...
County social workers strike over pay, high caseloads  Los Angeles Times   ...Los Angeles County social workers took to the picket lines on Thursday, the first county strike in more than a decade and a sharp escalation of a labor dispute between the county and its biggest employee union...

Today's Teamster News 11.03.13

Canada's CN Rail reaches tentative deal with Teamsters union  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, agreed to a new labor contract for some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators represented by the Teamsters union, the railway said Thursday...
Arkansas Best, teamsters ok five-year contract  Log Cabin Democrat   ... The contract will take effect on Nov. 3, 2013 and run through March 31, 2018...
Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance  The Guardian   ... It is indiscriminate in the information it is collecting. Nothing appears to be too small for the NSA. Nothing too trivial. Rivals, enemies, allies and friends – US citizens and 'non-Americans' – are all scooped up...
10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How  PolicyMic   ...It's not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies...
One Thing Major Media Hid From You During the Debate on Syria  PolicyMic   ...at least 22 of the commentators and seven of the think tanks that advocated for military action in Syria had ties to companies that would profit from such a strike...
More on secrets in trade…TPP  Angry Bear   ...“This really is a deal that’s being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental.” ... “There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public...
The Global Corporatocracy Is Almost Fully Operational  naked capitalism   ..."...we are witnessing the advancement of a new and unprecedented global project of transatlantic corporate colonization.“... as a recent leak of part of the TPP document has shown, the new rules would limit how governments regulate such public services as utilities, transportation, healthcare and education, including restricting policies meant to ensure broad or universal access to those essential needs...
Now Is Time To End Trade Deal Job Growth Lie  teamster.org   ...The recently implemented U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement was supposed to create 70,000 new jobs, yet in the 18 months it’s been in place it has cost this country 40,000...
You Can Go To Jail For An Overdue Library Book  Consumerist   ...A Texas man was arrested this week for failing to return a GED study guide he simply spent too long studying — three years — and was sent to jail to mull over his actions, or lack thereof...
Daily Meme: Congress Hits America's Poorest While They're Down  American Prospect   ...Nearly 1 million military vets use food stamps and will see cuts...
GOP 'extremist movement' prompts NC candidate to switch to Democrat  Charlotte Observer   ..."The government shutdown was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I guess being an American just isn’t good enough anymore and I refuse to be part of an extremist movement in the GOP that only appears to thrive on fear and hate mongering of anyone and everyone who doesn’t walk their line.”

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...

Today's Teamster News 10.31.13

Teamsters Hold First Meeting Of D.C. Taxi Operators Association  teamster.org   ...Hundreds of taxicab drivers in the nation’s capital attended the first meeting of the new Washington, D.C., Taxi Operators Association Tuesday in overwhelming support for a strong affiliation with the Teamsters as the city imposes major, costly industry changes affecting their livelihoods...
DC Cabbies to Be Represented by Teamsters  WUSA9 News   ...A big vote in Northeast DC has forever changed the political landscape for DC cab drivers. See the video...
DC Taxi Drivers Organize  DC Labor   ...DC taxi drivers chanted "We will win! We will win!" at yesterday's first meeting of the Washington DC Taxi Operators Association, which formalized its affiliation with Teamsters Local Union 922...
Teamsters members reject Wegmans contract  Democrat and Chronicle   ...For the second time during this round of contract talks, Wegmans' Rochester-based distribution and transportation employees have rejected the contract proposal that was agreed to by Wegmans and Teamsters Local 118...
Arbitrator rules on Teamsters Local 320 and Wadena County (Minnesota) contract issues  Wadena Pioneer Journal   ...Nearly 11 months after the county’s new labor agreements went into effect on Jan. 1, arbitrator Stephen F. Befort delivered his decisions on the unresolved issues between the county and its unit of 19 essential public safety employees represented by Teamsters Local 320...
City delays budget vote after Teamsters delay contract vote  ABC 57 News   ...The vote happens Tuesday and Wednesday and will affect about 250 city employees who are members of Teamsters Local 364...
YRC Worldwide, Teamsters Set to Meet in Dallas  Journal of Commerce   ...YRC Worldwide, fresh from a terminal network restructuring and change in leadership at $3.2 billion less-than-truckload carrier YRC Freight, will meet with the Teamsters union early next month to discuss the company’s future...
County, Teamster Union agree to 4-year contract Albany  Democrat-Herald   ...Linn County in Oregon has reached a four-year wage and benefits contract with Teamster Local Union No. 670, which represents about 42 of the county’s 600 employees...
Corporations Take, Take, Take While Workers Pay The Bill (opinion)  teamster.org   ...What do mega-corporations like communications giant Verizon and big pharma drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb have in common, besides their billions in earnings? They both paid an effective tax rate of zero percent over the past year...
ABF Update: Central Region Local Cartage Teamsters Overwhelmingly Decline To Authorize A Strike At ABF  teamster.org   ...In a vote with 77 percent turnout, a majority of the membership covered by the Central Region Local Cartage Supplement has overwhelmingly (70% to 30%) chosen not to authorize a strike at ABF...
Anheuser-Busch, Teamsters start contract talks  The Post-Standard   ...Negotiations will start next month on a new labor contract that could determine the future for the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery near Baldwinsville, New York...
Is Funeral Home Chain SCI's Growth Coming at the Expense of Mourners?  Bloomberg   ...For traditional funerals, SCI charges $6,256 on average (excluding casket and cemetery plot), 42 percent more than independents...
Union-Made Halloween Treats  unionplus.org   ...When those little ghosts and goblins come collecting on Halloween, make sure you have a full supply of union-made-in-America treats for them like Jelly Belly's candy corn. Find out about other goodies that are made by union workers...
Today's College Grads Won't Be Able to Retire Until They're 73  Bethlehem Patch   ...Student loan debt likely will force today's college grads to work longer...
Stop The Social Security Stupidity: A Q&A With Bernie Sanders  Talking Points Memo   ...The Koch brothers, Pete Peterson and other billionaires are spending huge amounts of money trying to cut Social Security and other vitally important federal programs. As part of this campaign, an enormous amount of misinformation is floating around...
America’s new hunger crisis  MSNBC   ...“When 50 million people in the richest country on the planet are hungry, that’s a crisis...”
US budget deficit down to $680B, lowest in 5 years  Associated Press   ...For the first time in five years, the U.S. government has run a budget deficit below $1 trillion...
U.S. trade official pushes Congress to renew trade promotion authority  Reuters   ...The Obama administration's top trade official said on Tuesday that the United States is aiming to finalize a giant trade deal with 11 other Pacific Rim nations by the end of year, but that it needs Congress to approve a rule to speed up the talks...
Brazil protests: Sao Paulo bus station attacked  BBC News   ...Friday's protests began with a march through the city that lasted about three hours. Violence erupted when a section of the crowd broke off and attacked a bus terminal in the city centre, police said...
Census: More Ohioans living in poverty than since before the 'Great Recession'  Associated Press   ...A U.S. Census report shows there are more Ohioans living in poverty than before the Great Recession. The numbers show one in six Ohioans was living in poverty last year. The state's poverty rate increased from 13.1 percent in 2007 to 16.3 percent in 2012...
GOP GOVERNOR: 'There Seems To Be A War On The Poor' With Republicans In Washington  Business Insider   ...Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) criticized members of his party in Washington in an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, saying there "seems to be a war on the poor."...
Lower middle-class workers get trampled  Indianapolis Star   ...Consumer confidence has plunged for lower middle-class Americans in recent years...
Alabama Blogger Arrested, Jailed For Writing About Former Governor’s Son  ThinkProgress   ...this sort of order is what is known as a prior restraint on First Amendment expression and is almost certainly unconstitutional...
Detroit Will be Democracy's Decisive Battle  Black Agenda Report   ...Detroit is the battleground chosen by Wall Street to crush the last vestiges of American democracy by creating “the template for direct corporate rule.”...

Today's Teamster News 10.16.13

ABF Teamsters Approve Western Office Supplement  teamster.org   ...Teamsters at ABF, who work under the Western Office Supplement, have approved the supplement. Ballots were counted on Monday, October 14. About 67 workers are covered by the supplement...
A union against Inquirer publisher  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...On Tuesday, the battle over The Inquirer shifted to employees. Outside the newspaper's Center City headquarters, members of the Teamsters locals who package and deliver the paper inflated a 15-foot rat and protested for two hours against publisher Robert J. Hall...
Teamsters Warn of Possible Strike or Lockout at CN Rail  Waterloo Region Record   ...The Teamsters Union is warning of a potential strike or lockout at CN Rail starting on Oct. 28 after an offer to continue a conciliation effort was rejected by the company...
Unions, pension funds fight to kick Detroit out of bankruptcy court  Detroit News   ...All the big acronyms will be in federal court at 10 a.m. as labor unions, retirees, pension funds and others try to convince a judge that Detroit is not eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection...
Bodies Double as Cash Machines With U.S. Income Lagging: Economy  Bloomberg   ...Hair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans...
Here Are The Sleaziest Things Congress Has Done During The Shutdown  Huffington Post   ...After almost two weeks into the shutdown, recent polling has shown record levels of support for replacing every member of Congress, and lawmakers are now less popular than witches and dog poop...
Hypocrites! Corporate Leaders Bemoan the Default Crisis Created by Tea Partiers They Funded AlterNet   ...Now big-wigs are begging these yo-yos not to crash the economy...
Support for GOP's Budget Strategy Falls Further Still  Slate   ...New poll, same takeaway: No one's winning the shutdown/debt ceiling blame game, but congressional Republicans are losing it worse than either congressional Democrats or President Obama...
Mrs. Ted Cruz: VP Goldman Sachs, Economic Policy Advisor to Bush-Cheney  Daily Kos   ...These people don't even hide their conflicts of interest anymore…
World Bank support for China solar and wind power may have cost U.S. jobs  Washington Post   ...As investment in alternative energy rebounded in 2011, U.S. wind and solar companies found stiff new competition — Chinese firms dominating the green industries that American officials looked to for growth...
Irish Unveil Austerity Budget, Seek Bailout Exit  Associated Press   ...Ireland unveiled its seventh straight austerity budget Tuesday, a plan to slash 2.5 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from next year's deficit and pave the way for the nation to escape from its international bailout...
Should Rich Kids Get Most of the Scholarships?  Truthout   ...it makes a heck of a big difference to your scholarship chances if you don’t have to work 25 hours a week...
Google’s Privacy Violations Under Fire  Fire Dog Lake   ...Everyone’s favorite tax dodger, Google inc., is trying to put out multiple fires concerning their seeming total disregard for user privacy. In an effort to snatch even more revenue in search – a category they may already be violating anti-trust laws in…
There's an International Plan to Censor the Internet in the Works -- Let's Stop It in Its Tracks  AlterNet   ...How the Trans Pacific Partnership making its way through Washington seriously undermines citizens’ rights to participate in a free and open Internet...
Burger Cooks Cost $7 Billion a Year in Government Aid  Bloomberg   ...Hamburger grillers and other fast-food workers at restaurants such as McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Wendy’s Co. get about $7 billion a year in U.S. government aid, a report recently published shows...
California Now Seventh State To Bar Employment Discrimination Against Domestic Violence Victims  ThinkProgress   ...On Friday, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a law that bars employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence and those who experience stalking or sexual assault...
Petitions seek ‘right-to-work’ vote in 2014  Columbus Dispatch   ...Supporters of a proposed “right-to-work” issue on Ohio’s 2014 statewide ballot said they have gathered 100,000 signatures and plan a big push next month for more names...
Scott Walker Creates Phantom Jobs To Boost Aides’ Pay  ThinkProgress   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who has so far fallen well short on his promise of 250,000 new jobs by 2015, at the same time has created phantom jobs to boost his employees’ pay, including some top aides...

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...