Showing posts with label AL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AL. Show all posts

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Today's Teamster News 04.19.14

Trade
One-Fifth of China’s Farmland Is Polluted, State Study Finds  New York Times   ...The Chinese government released a report on Thursday that said nearly one-fifth of its arable land was polluted, a finding certain to raise questions about the toxic results of China’s rapid industrialization, its lack of regulations over commercial interests and the consequences for the national food chain...
Progress but no deal in US-Japan TPP trade talks  Agence France-Press   ...The United States said Friday there had been progress but no final deal in talks with Japan that are crucial to advancing the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal...
State Battles
Nebraska Joins States Banning Employers from Asking Job Applicants About Criminal History  Alternet   ...Gov. Dave Heineman  signed a bill Wednesday making Nebraska the 11th state that bars employers from asking prospective employees if they have a criminal record. The prohibition is a provision in a law designed to reduce prison overcrowding...
War on Workers
The tea party radio network  Politico   ...conservative groups spent nearly $22 million to broker and pay for involved advertising relationships known as sponsorships with a handful of influential talkers including Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh between the first talk radio deals in 2008 and the end of 2012...
Inmates to strike in Alabama, declare prison is “running a slave empire”  Salon   ...Inmates at an Alabama prison plan to stage a work stoppage this weekend and hope to spur an escalating strike wave...
Judge says American can't end retiree benefits yet  Associated Press   ...A federal judge has rejected an attempt by American Airlines to quickly cut off benefits for many of its retirees...
Job Loss Would Quickly Lead to Hardship for Many in U.S.  Gallup   ...A substantial minority of U.S. workers say they could go just one week (14%) or one month (29%) before experiencing significant financial hardship if they lost their job...
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy  Talking Points Memo   ...Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power...
Big banks lend to corporations over consumers  CNN Money   ...Lending was up in the first quarter, but that jump has hidden the fact that individuals are still having a tough time getting loans...
As we sweat government surveillance, companies like Google collect our data  Guardian   ...Google confirmed this week what many people had assumed: even if you're not a Gmail user, your email to someone who does use their services will be scanned by the all-seeing search and the advertising company's increasingly smart machines...
Miscellaneous
Keystone decision delayed yet again  Politico Pro   ...The State Department declined to specify how long the delay will last, saying only that it needs to extend its review because of an ongoing dispute in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state...

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Today's Teamster News 06.08.13

Bulk of U.S. Payroll Gain in Jobs Paying Less-Than-Average Wages  Bloomberg   ...Occupations paying below-average wages accounted for more than half of last month’s U.S. payroll increase, a dynamic that may restrain consumer spending and the economic recovery...
Austerity hampered job growth (opinion)  MarketWatch   ...Sharp cuts in government spending implemented March 1 as part of the sequester are slowing the recovery...
Under Korea FTA, U.S. Trade Deficit Surges to Highest Point in History (Again)  Public Citizen   ...The monthly U.S. trade deficit with Korea soared to its highest point in history, topping $2.5 billion for the month of April alone...the unprecedented deficit surge implies 13,500 U.S. jobs lost to trade with Korea in just thirty days...
Walmart Activism Is Effecting Change At World's Largest Retailer, Organizers Say   Huffington Post   ...“On the store level, people have won all kinds of victories,” said Dan Schlademan, a campaign director for the United Food and Commercial Workers…
More Dissent Is Expected Over a Wal-Mart Scandal   New York Times   ...A year after a shareholder meeting with strong opposition to Wal-Mart board members after a bribery scandal in Mexico, many investors are asking why more change has not occurred...
NLRB judges give scrutiny to employer confidentiality policies  Thomson Reuters   ...Confidentiality clauses in the code of conduct and employee handbook used by an American Red Cross unit in Toledo, Ohio, were so broad that they cannot be enforced and must be rescinded, an administrative law judge has found...
Intelligence chief declassifies details of phone-records program after uproar over snooping Associated Press   ...Moving to tamp down a public uproar spurred by the disclosure of two secret surveillance programs, the nation’s top intelligence official is declassifying key details about one of the programs while insisting the efforts to collect America’s phone records and the U.S. internet use of foreign nationals overseas were legal, limited in scope and necessary to detect terrorist threats...
Could Right-to-Work be overturned? (opinion)  Michigan Radio   ...The ACLU has filed a lawsuit, claiming that the way in which right to work was passed violated the state’s Open Meetings Act...
Koch Brothers Admit They're Interested in Buying Sun-Sentinel  Broward Palm Beach New Times   ...After months of hot and sweaty speculation, we're finally getting some answers out of the Koch Brothers about their interest in the media game...
Majority of women, blacks and Latino seniors on cusp of poverty  Los Angeles Times   ...A new report on the senior population found a majority of elderly women, blacks and Latinos are precariously close to poverty, according to the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute report released Thursday...
15K Alabama consumers to get a check in foreclosure settlement  Birmingham Business Journal   ...Approximately 15,000 Alabama consumers will receive payments this month, totaling $21.8 million, as a result of the state’s participation in the National Mortgage Settlement...
Feds to pay OSHA whistle-blower $820,000 settlement  Charlotte Observer   ...U.S. Department of Labor will pay former OSHA official Bob Whitmore $820,000 - one of the largest federal whistle-blower settlements ever approved-under a deal that will end his four-year fight against the government. Whitmore says he was fired because he publicly criticized his agency for allowing companies to underreport workplace injuries...
US Airways Election Dates Announced!   IBT ...Telephone electronic voting and Internet voting will take place from July 8 through August 12 for US Airways mechanics and related workers to decide on Teamster representation...
Carson officials support union organizing by port truckers  Daily Breeze   ...A Teamster Union-organizing campaign by truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach won the support of the Carson City Council this week...
Negotiations Spur Multi-Year Contracts for Anne Arundel’s Unions  Business Monthly   ...Twelve out of 13 unions have ratified contracts or have reached tentative agreements with Anne Arundel County, Maryland...
Teamsters Local Awards $36,000 in President's scholarships  Teamsters Local 743   ...Thirty-six sons and daughters of Teamsters Local 743 members were awarded the President’s Scholarship for outstanding academic achievement during the local’s general membership meeting on June 3...