TEAMSTERS
San Bernardino County Public Employees Ratify Teamster Contract Teamster.org ...San Bernardino County employees, who are members of Teamsters Local 1932, ratified their first collective bargaining agreement yesterday. The agreement, ratified by over 80 percent of the votes cast, supported improvements in wages and benefits for the 11,000 workers who provide critical services to the residents of California’s largest county. “This is another big win for working families in Southern California,” said Randy Cammack, President of Teamsters Joint Council 42...
American Airlines Workers with Teamsters, CWA Ratify Groundbreaking Agreement Teamster.org ...Passenger service workers with American Airlines, who are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Association, have voted to ratify a groundbreaking five-year agreement.The contract covering nearly 15,000 workers provides for initial average wage increases of 30 percent and improved benefits, among a number of other industry-leading gains...
American Air reservations agents approve contract with pay raises USA Today ...American Airlines reservations agents have voted to ratify a 5-year contract that gives pay raises to about 14,500 airline employees. The Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters said Monday that about 9,500 workers voted, with 73% voting to ratify the contract. According to the unions, workers will get immediate raises averaging 30%, putting them above pay levels for comparable workers at Delta Air Lines...
First Transit Agrees to Meet Again After Paratransit Drivers Unanimously Reject Contract Offer Local 727 ...First Transit management has agreed to meet again with the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee after drivers at the DuPage paratransit facility unanimously rejected the company’s unreasonable last, best and final contract offer on Nov. 24. The offer included meager wages and benefits far below the industry standards. “Over and over, we told the company that this offer was unacceptable and that they needed to do better, but they refused to listen,” said John Coli Jr., President of Local 727...
Coca-Cola Teamsters Demand Respect as Final Day of New Contract Negotiations Begins Local 727 ...The Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee and Coca-Cola Refreshments met for more than 14 hours on Nov. 30 to try to come to terms on a new contract. After bargaining late into the night and early morning hours, both sides have returned to the table on Tuesday, Dec. 1 for what is expected to be another marathon session of negotiations. Coca-Cola Teamsters overwhelmingly voted on Sunday to authorize an unfair labor practice strike...
Teamsters oppose longer tractor-trailers on roadways Tire Business ...The U.S. Senate on Nov. 18 removed language from a spending bill that would force states to allow an increase in the length of tractor trailers. Previously, the Senate had instructed the chamber’s negotiators on the long-term highway bill to oppose any federal mandate that would require states to accept twin 33-foot trailers on their roadways, according to the Teamsters, which noted that the trailers are currently outlawed in 39 states — with UPS and Fed Ex among companies pushing the policy change...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
In South Korea, a Dictator’s Daughter Cracks Down on Labor The Nation ...Following in the footsteps of her dictator father, South Korea’s President, Park Geun-hye, is cracking down on labor and citizens groups opposed to the increasingly authoritarian policies of her ruling “New Frontier” party known as Saenuri. The situation could reach a critical point this weekend, when tens of thousands of workers organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) join forces with farmers, students, and other civic organizations...
At Paris climate summit, environmentalists lobby against Trans-Pacific trade deal Washington Post ...Environmental activists are traveling to Paris this week, using the global climate conference as a platform to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal they say undermines the summit’s goals. Representatives and lobbyists for the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade plan to meet with delegates and host strategy sessions and other public events at the Paris conference to voice their opposition to the trade deal...
On World AIDS Day, Here Are 12 Reasons TPP Is Bad for People with AIDS AFLCIO ...December 1 is World AIDS Day, a day described as "an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died." The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a complex trade deal that we're still trying to figure out all the ramifications of. Here are 12 ways TPP could be bad for people with AIDS...
The TPP State of Play: How We Defeat the Largest Trade Deal in History EFF ...The official release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on November 5 not only confirmed our fears about how it would threaten our rights online and over our digital devices, but also kicked off a 90-day countdown to President Obama signing the deal. A few days later, the White House formally requested the International Trade Commission (ITC) to begin its study of the impacts of the TPP on the U.S. economy...
Vancouver city council considering officially opposing TPP deal Globe and Mail ...Vancouver city councilors, concerned about whether the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact will put the city at risk from lawsuits by global corporations, say they’ll decide next month whether to become the first Canadian city to officially oppose the deal. Councillors asked city staff on Tuesday to examine concerns that the TPP’s investor-state dispute settlement provision – also known as ISDS – will compromise the city’s authority...
Greece Media Workers Go on Anti-Austerity Strike – Trade Unions Sputnik News ...Greek journalists protest on Wednesday against austerity measures adopted by Athens, several trade unions announced in a joint statement. "Media workers, together with all the working people of the country, call for retaining social security (basic and supplementary pensions), social benefits, health care," the unions stated...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
New public-sector ‘right-to-work’ measure filed in Oregon NW Labor Press ...On Nov. 20, anti-union attorney Jill Gibson turned in the first batch of 1,432 signatures on a new Oregon ballot measure, aimed at November 2016, that would eliminate any requirement for public employees to pay union dues or “fair share” fees to cover the costs of union representation. Gibson submitted four other versions of the same measure in March, but withdrew them in April and October after she determined that the measures would do poorly among voters...
State Gives Back Government Money To Study Paid Leave, Says Leave Isn’t About Caregiving Think Progress ...In September, the federal Department of Labor announced that it had awarded $1.55 million in grant money to help states and cities research the need and design for potential paid family leave programs. Tennessee was one of the five lucky states to win money. But just two months later, the commission abruptly announced it was giving back the money it had itself applied for...
ALEC Invites Politicians to "Plan Your 2016 Agenda" at ALEC Confab in Scottsdale Truthout ...ALEC's Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force has been the source of a slew of anti-worker bills including attacks on organized labor, attacks on higher wages, and efforts to limit benefits for workers. In Arizona, legislators will get an update on the success of these efforts to crush the only representative of working families in the workplace entitled: "From Right-to-Work to Paycheck Protection, An Update on State Labor Issues"...
Fight against Voter ID law continues Daily Tarheel ...To chants of “Sí, se puede,” people of different ages, races and genders held posters with phrases like “Vote Your Dreams, Not Your Fears” at an N.C. NAACP press conference Tuesday. The news conference marked exactly 60 years since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. The conference announced the new “It’s Our Time, It’s Our Vote” campaign, with one of its goals to push voter registration for 80 days until registration cutoff for the spring primary elections...
Judge dismisses attempt to raise state minimum wage Daily Cardinal ...A Dane County judge dismissed Tuesday a 2014 lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker’s administration that attempted to raise the state’s minimum wage. The lawsuit, brought by liberal labor group Wisconsin Jobs Now, alleged the state was “failing to secure reasonable comfort, reasonable physical well-being, decency, and moral well being,” according to the original petition...
Scott Walker Boots 15,000 People Off Food Stamps In Three Months Think Progress ...In just three months, 15,000 people in Wisconsin have already lost food stamps thanks to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) decision to enforce full work requirements for the program in Milwaukee despite economic conditions dire enough to trigger a federal reprieve. Walker’s administration made the policy change in April. The 15,000 bumped from the rolls from May to July is only half the number the state predicts will ultimately lose food stamps...
Ohio House Republicans to proceed carefully on 'right-to-work' bill Cleveland ...Ohio House Republicans say they expect a lengthy discussion on a so-called "right-to-work" bill, though they hesitate to say whether they will ultimately pass it. A number of Republican leaders say they personally support House Bill 377, which would prohibit private-sector labor union membership as a condition of employment...
Submitting to Wall Street Vultures, Puerto Rico Narrowly Avoids Massive Default Common Dreams ...Debt-choked Puerto Rico on Tuesday "narrowly avoided" economic default by scrounging together an 11th-hour payment toward its $354 million debt to Wall Street vulture funds, an unexpected move likely resulting from the island's submission to austerity cuts and other drastic government measures. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), speaking after a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday morning with Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said the commonwealth had "narrowly avoided a complete default"...
California Cities Build Momentum on Minimum Wage Boosts KQED ...In the last three years, 15 of the 30 cities and counties nationwide that have voted to increase the minimum wage have been in California, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center. “California is a state that has made it very clear to cities and counties that they have the authority to pass a higher minimum wage,” said Laura Huizar, staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project...
Walmart Threatens City Council For Considering Minimum Wage Increase Think Progress ...A California city is experiencing a tactic Walmart has become known for: threats over a minimum wage hike. The city of Desert Hot Springs, California is considering a minimum wage increase to boost residents’ incomes and therefore help attract more retailers. But the proposal has drawn the protests of the country’s largest retailer, Walmart...
U.S. LABOR
UAW circulates 'scab' list in Kohler strike Sheboygan Press ...United Auto Workers Local 833 leaders have begun circulating a list of union members who have crossed picket lines in the now 2-week-old Kohler Co. strike, though they insist the individuals will be left alone. The list, which was obtained by the Sheboygan Press and verified by UAW Local 833 leaders, includes 13 circled names with the heading, “No longer our union brothers or sisters.” It goes on to state, “A scab is a scab”...
NLRB could impound VW ballots after Chattanooga union vote Times Free Press ...The National Labor Relations Board could impound ballots cast Thursday and Friday after the union election at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant pending a review of an appeal by the automaker. Jessica Kahanek, an NLRB spokeswoman, said Tuesday she couldn't say for sure that will be the case after the VW election in which 164 maintenance workers will vote on whether they want the United Auto Workers to represent them for collective bargaining purposes...
Cool Job: For IBEW official, Circle of Lights is a labor of love IndyStar ...Around Thanksgiving, many Central Indiana families look forward to another beloved local holiday tradition when the Circle of Lights, presented by the Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW No. 481, illuminates Monument Circle. Steve Menser, the business manager/financial secretary of the union local, has assisted with installing the Circle of Lights decorations for the past 26 years...
Dead, White, and Blue: The Great Die-Off of America's Blue Collar Whites Alternet ...While the lifespan of affluent whites continues to lengthen, the lifespan of poor whites has been shrinking. As a result, in just the last four years, the gap between poor white men and wealthier ones has widened by up to four years. The New York Times summed up the Deaton and Case study with this headline: “Income Gap, Meet the Longevity Gap”...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Congress reaches deal on 5-year highway bill Politico ...Lawmakers are on track to clear a massive transportation infrastructure bill as soon as this week, a legislative coup a decade in the making that will give new House Speaker Paul Ryan something to crow about. Negotiators from both chambers of Congress tasked with hashing out a final deal are set to announce an agreement Tuesday afternoon after a majority of conferees signed off on the package...
Supreme Court timetable gives President Obama an opening on immigration USA Today ...The Supreme Court moved President Obama a step closer Tuesday to getting a final verdict before leaving office on his plan to protect more than 4 million undocumented immigrants from threatened deportation. The justices turned down Texas' request for an additional month to respond to the Justice Department's request for a high court hearing, leaving open the chance for a spring showdown over the controversial executive action...
The Deadliest County for Police Killings in America The Atlantic ...While attempting to track every police killing in the United States during 2015, journalists at The Guardian discovered that cops in Kern County aren’t just the deadliest force in the state relative to the population, they are the deadliest in the nation. “In all, 13 people have been killed so far this year by law enforcement officers in Kern County, which has a population of just under 875,000”...
Police Officer Who Killed Tamir Rice Says He Shouted Warnings Before Shooting Slate ...The police officer who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland just over a year ago said he “continuously” shouted “show me your hands” in the moments before he decided to fire at Rice. Security footage of the park where Rice was shot on Nov. 22, 2014, showed that Officer Timothy Loehmann opened fire about 1.7 seconds after jumping out of the police cruise...
Showing posts with label American Airlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Airlines. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 12.01.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamsters at Coca-Cola Refreshments Authorize Unfair Labor Practice Strike Teamster.org ...More than 225 Coca-Cola Refreshments workers represented by Teamsters Local 727 voted Sun., Nov. 29, to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against the beverage industry behemoth. The Teamsters voted by a 10-to-1 margin to authorize the strike after Local 727 filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against the company in a fight for a new contract...
Coca-Cola workers authorize strike at plants in Niles, Alsip Chicago Tribune ...Workers at two Chicago-area Coca-Cola plants have voted to authorize a strike against the beverage giant to protest unfair labor practices in the final days of negotiations for a new three-year contract. Members of Teamsters Local 727 could head to the picket line as early as Wednesday morning after their contract with Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Refreshments expires at midnight Tuesday...
Portland’s General Distributors Inc., at Odds with Teamsters Union Brewbound ...A federal mediator is slated to oversee negotiations this Wednesday between Portland, Oregon’s Teamsters Local 162 and General Distributors, Inc (GDI), a beer wholesaler responsible for getting brands like Corona, Coors, Sierra Nevada and a number of craft products to market. The strike left some local craft brewers without a route to market as replacement workers struggled to distribute beer in time for the Thanksgiving holiday...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
More Than 30 Trade Unionists Have Been Killed in Honduras Since 2009 The Nation ...Honduras’s products and people are entangled in a social crisis driving international pressure for an independent investigation into our Central American “trade partner’s” Banana Republic–style anti-labor tactics. Several trade unionists have reportedly faced death threats in recent months amid rising labor and political tumult...
Truckers to picket container company, but inks contract with six others Vancouver Sun ...Container truck drivers put strike plans into gear Sunday to pressure a company they allege is shorting its drivers on retroactive pay. The truckers planned to picket Harbour Link’s main yard in Delta early Monday to spur it into honouring the terms of the deal that ended last year’s one-month port strike, said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s B.C. area director...
Furnace workers of imitation jewellery units on strike Times of India ...Around 500 furnace workers of the city's famed imitation jewellery business have gone on a strike to demand better wages. This is the first time that the imitation jewellery market of Rajkot, one of the biggest in India, has witnessed a strike...
Big Oil, TTIP and the Scramble for Europe Counterpunch ...If sanctioned, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would be the biggest trade deal ever seen. Yet the public continue to be kept in the dark about it. Large corporations have been granted privileged access to officials and have been allowed to shape the talks agenda from the outset. Throughout the process, organisations representing the public and civil society have been sidelined...
Domestic Manufacturers Launch New Anti-TPP Currency Ad Blitz on Capitol Hill American Economic Alert ...The U.S. Business and Industry Council (USBIC) announced today the start of a media campaign to highlight the lack of enforceable currency provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The group, which represents domestic manufacturers, many seriously hurt by currency cheating, has initiated a series of print ads appearing in major media serving Capitol Hill...
Wisconsin lawmakers split — not on party lines — on Trans-Pacific Partnership Wisconsin State Journal ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal seven years in the making before it was unveiled this month, has quickly moved into the sights of some on Capitol Hill — including a vocal cadre of Wisconsin Democrats. The partnership is a proposed free-trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations bordering the Pacific Ocean. After being negotiated in secret, the deal was finalized last month...
Portugal divided by austerity FT.com ...The real-life repercussions of the austerity debate that has gripped the west in the wake of the global financial crisis are experienced daily in Portuguese homes, hospitals, schools, job centres, companies and cafés, with almost every aspect of people’s lives having been affected by severe cuts and tough reforms. For the past four years the country has been held up by EU commissioners and international creditors as a model of how to behave in the face of a sovereign debt crisis...
2 arrested at anti-austerity march CBC News ...Two people were arrested following a protest Monday night that turned violent and involved rocks being thrown at police cars and officers. The anti-austerity and anti-capitalist march, organized by students at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal, began at 8 p.m. at Philipps Square. No itinerary was given to police, and the march was declared illegal. Police say mischief was reported shortly after the march began...
Economist Has Convincing Theory on How Extreme Inequality Creates Extremist Violence Common Dreams ...Influential French economist Thomas Piketty is raising important questions this week after positing a theory that the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS) can be attributed, at least in part, to extreme regional inequality in the Middle East fueled largely by oil wealth. Piketty argues in a column published Le Monde last week and translated by the Washington Post on Monday that the concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few petro-monarchies has made the region the "most unequal on the planet"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Ohio House panel to hear testimony on right-to-work bill WOWK ...A state legislative panel in Ohio plans to hear testimony on a proposal that would bar private employers from requiring workers to join or pay dues to a labor organization. Such right-to-work laws have been enacted in 25 states. Ohio's bill is slated to get its first hearing Tuesday afternoon before the House Commerce and Labor Committee. Right-to-work proposals have not gained traction in the Ohio Legislature...
A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois New York Times ...The rich families remaking Illinois are among a small group around the country who have channeled their extraordinary wealth into political power, taking advantage of regulatory, legal and cultural shifts that have carved new paths for infusing money into campaigns. Economic winners in an age of rising inequality, operating largely out of public view, they are reshaping government with fortunes so large as to defy the ordinary financial scale of politics...
Tennessee seeks to dismiss voter ID lawsuit The Tennessean ...A lawsuit that contends age discrimination was written into Tennessee's voter identification law because it does not allow use of student IDs has stalled as a federal judge considers whether it is a valid case. Lawyers for a group of students and those for the state disagree on how to interpret the 44-year-old constitutional amendment...
Teamsters at Coca-Cola Refreshments Authorize Unfair Labor Practice Strike Teamster.org ...More than 225 Coca-Cola Refreshments workers represented by Teamsters Local 727 voted Sun., Nov. 29, to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against the beverage industry behemoth. The Teamsters voted by a 10-to-1 margin to authorize the strike after Local 727 filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against the company in a fight for a new contract...
Coca-Cola workers authorize strike at plants in Niles, Alsip Chicago Tribune ...Workers at two Chicago-area Coca-Cola plants have voted to authorize a strike against the beverage giant to protest unfair labor practices in the final days of negotiations for a new three-year contract. Members of Teamsters Local 727 could head to the picket line as early as Wednesday morning after their contract with Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Refreshments expires at midnight Tuesday...
Portland’s General Distributors Inc., at Odds with Teamsters Union Brewbound ...A federal mediator is slated to oversee negotiations this Wednesday between Portland, Oregon’s Teamsters Local 162 and General Distributors, Inc (GDI), a beer wholesaler responsible for getting brands like Corona, Coors, Sierra Nevada and a number of craft products to market. The strike left some local craft brewers without a route to market as replacement workers struggled to distribute beer in time for the Thanksgiving holiday...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
More Than 30 Trade Unionists Have Been Killed in Honduras Since 2009 The Nation ...Honduras’s products and people are entangled in a social crisis driving international pressure for an independent investigation into our Central American “trade partner’s” Banana Republic–style anti-labor tactics. Several trade unionists have reportedly faced death threats in recent months amid rising labor and political tumult...
Truckers to picket container company, but inks contract with six others Vancouver Sun ...Container truck drivers put strike plans into gear Sunday to pressure a company they allege is shorting its drivers on retroactive pay. The truckers planned to picket Harbour Link’s main yard in Delta early Monday to spur it into honouring the terms of the deal that ended last year’s one-month port strike, said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s B.C. area director...
Furnace workers of imitation jewellery units on strike Times of India ...Around 500 furnace workers of the city's famed imitation jewellery business have gone on a strike to demand better wages. This is the first time that the imitation jewellery market of Rajkot, one of the biggest in India, has witnessed a strike...
Big Oil, TTIP and the Scramble for Europe Counterpunch ...If sanctioned, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would be the biggest trade deal ever seen. Yet the public continue to be kept in the dark about it. Large corporations have been granted privileged access to officials and have been allowed to shape the talks agenda from the outset. Throughout the process, organisations representing the public and civil society have been sidelined...
Domestic Manufacturers Launch New Anti-TPP Currency Ad Blitz on Capitol Hill American Economic Alert ...The U.S. Business and Industry Council (USBIC) announced today the start of a media campaign to highlight the lack of enforceable currency provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The group, which represents domestic manufacturers, many seriously hurt by currency cheating, has initiated a series of print ads appearing in major media serving Capitol Hill...
Wisconsin lawmakers split — not on party lines — on Trans-Pacific Partnership Wisconsin State Journal ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal seven years in the making before it was unveiled this month, has quickly moved into the sights of some on Capitol Hill — including a vocal cadre of Wisconsin Democrats. The partnership is a proposed free-trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations bordering the Pacific Ocean. After being negotiated in secret, the deal was finalized last month...
Portugal divided by austerity FT.com ...The real-life repercussions of the austerity debate that has gripped the west in the wake of the global financial crisis are experienced daily in Portuguese homes, hospitals, schools, job centres, companies and cafés, with almost every aspect of people’s lives having been affected by severe cuts and tough reforms. For the past four years the country has been held up by EU commissioners and international creditors as a model of how to behave in the face of a sovereign debt crisis...
2 arrested at anti-austerity march CBC News ...Two people were arrested following a protest Monday night that turned violent and involved rocks being thrown at police cars and officers. The anti-austerity and anti-capitalist march, organized by students at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal, began at 8 p.m. at Philipps Square. No itinerary was given to police, and the march was declared illegal. Police say mischief was reported shortly after the march began...
Economist Has Convincing Theory on How Extreme Inequality Creates Extremist Violence Common Dreams ...Influential French economist Thomas Piketty is raising important questions this week after positing a theory that the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS) can be attributed, at least in part, to extreme regional inequality in the Middle East fueled largely by oil wealth. Piketty argues in a column published Le Monde last week and translated by the Washington Post on Monday that the concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few petro-monarchies has made the region the "most unequal on the planet"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Ohio House panel to hear testimony on right-to-work bill WOWK ...A state legislative panel in Ohio plans to hear testimony on a proposal that would bar private employers from requiring workers to join or pay dues to a labor organization. Such right-to-work laws have been enacted in 25 states. Ohio's bill is slated to get its first hearing Tuesday afternoon before the House Commerce and Labor Committee. Right-to-work proposals have not gained traction in the Ohio Legislature...
A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois New York Times ...The rich families remaking Illinois are among a small group around the country who have channeled their extraordinary wealth into political power, taking advantage of regulatory, legal and cultural shifts that have carved new paths for infusing money into campaigns. Economic winners in an age of rising inequality, operating largely out of public view, they are reshaping government with fortunes so large as to defy the ordinary financial scale of politics...
Tennessee seeks to dismiss voter ID lawsuit The Tennessean ...A lawsuit that contends age discrimination was written into Tennessee's voter identification law because it does not allow use of student IDs has stalled as a federal judge considers whether it is a valid case. Lawyers for a group of students and those for the state disagree on how to interpret the 44-year-old constitutional amendment...
Del. lawmaker calls for $15 / hour minimum wage Delaware 105.9 ...Delaware's minimum wage would rise to $15.05 an hour by 2023, under an amendment to legislation filed in the General Assembly. State Senator Robert Marshall, D- Wilmington West, cites the increasing numbers of people with low-wage jobs as well as a rising rate of poverty as the reasons for his measure. The minimum wage increase would be phased in on June 1st of each year...
How One City Is Making Sure Bosses Comply With Wage Theft and Paid Sick Leave Laws In These Times ...Over the past five years, Seattle has implemented sweeping labor laws, instituting paid sick leave, discouraging discrimination against those with prison records, incrementally raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2017 and strengthening wage-theft protections. But these new laws can’t enforce themselves...
Bangor’s minimum wage debate could be decided in two weeks Bangor ...The City Council could finally bring closure to the months-long debate over whether the city should raise the local minimum wage during a meeting in two weeks. Councilors and city officials met Monday night for a workshop to hash through some of the concerns that have made this an issue of contention for months...
U.S. LABOR
American Passenger-Service Workers Approve 5-Year Contract Bloomberg ...American Airlines Group Inc. said a union representing 14,500 reservation agents and airport passenger-service workers approved a five-year contract that included “significant” pay raises. The agreement provides an average initial increase of 30 percent, 2 percent raises at the end of the first and second years and 2.5 percent in each of the following two years, according to a statement on the Communications Workers of America website...
Health care remains sticking point in USW contract talks NWI.com ...Negotiations with steelmakers broke off for the Thanksgiving holiday but resumed Monday. The United Steelworkers union is fighting efforts by ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel to slash health care insurance benefits, which the union says could cost steelworkers and retirees as much as $6,300 more a year in out-of-pocket expenses. Steelworkers would suffer an effective pay cut as a result...
Kohler Strike Continues, Union Seeking Donations WHBL ...United Auto Workers Local 833 have now spent two full weeks on the picket line after they and the Kohler Company failed to reach an agreement on a new contract earlier this month. With the strike now entering its third week, the union is focusing some attention on helping its members get through the impact of being on strike...
NLRB strikes down two more companies' class action waivers Reuters ...The U.S. National Labor Relations Board last week continued to expand its rule prohibiting class and collective action waivers in employment agreements, upholding rulings by two administrative judges who struck down such provisions, including one that was voluntary. The board rejected a bid by California grocery store chain Bristol Farms to approve a proposed settlement with an NLRB regional director that would have allowed its workers to opt out of signing the waivers...
SEIU claims court victory on health insurance Capitol Fax ...The St. Clair County Circuit Court has ruled in favor of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, which was granted a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bruce Rauner and Comptroller Leslie Munger. The ruling issued late Wednesday protects health insurance for nearly 5,000 low-wage home healthcare workers in Illinois. The home healthcare workers serve adults with disabilities in Illinois’ Home Services Program...
Stronger Together: Envoy Agents Vote for CWA Representation CWA-union.org ...Nearly 5,000 Envoy Air agents (formerly American Eagle) joined together and overwhelmingly voted for representation by the Communications Workers of America in an election conducted by the National Mediation Board. The agents work at 102 stations nationwide and have a broad range of responsibilities for passenger service and fleet service work. Envoy is owned by American Airlines Group...
Collective Action Stops Retaliation Against Cal Cartage Warehouse Workers Labor Press ...Warehouse Workers at California Cartage in the Los Angeles port neighborhood of Wilmington faced retaliation from their employer after temporary workers joined direct hires in a pair of three-day strikes in September and October. The strikers were calling for 15$ an hour minimum wage, a safe work environment, a lunch area free of rats and cockroaches and an end to wage theft...
Robert Reich: Why the High-Tech 'Sharing Economy' Is All About Impoverishing Workers Alternet ...The so-called “share economy” includes independent contractors, temporary workers, the self-employed, part-timers, freelancers, and free agents. Most file 1099s rather than W2s, for tax purposes. It’s estimated that in five years over 40 percent of the American labor force will be in such uncertain work; in a decade, most of us. This trend shifts all economic risks onto workers.
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Behind Hillary Clinton’s $250 Billion Infrastructure Plan Think Progress ...Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced on Monday her plan to spend $250 billion over five years to improve the nation’s infrastructure. The plan — which includes proposals to improve roads and bridges, transit systems, energy systems, and electric grids — is the first phase of Clinton’s month-long focus on jobs. In March, Senate Republicans defeated a Democratic amendment to the proposed 2016 budget which was offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders and called for $478 billion in new spending. Sanders has proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan...
Hillary Clinton's Modest Infrastructure Proposal The Atlantic ...It’s hard to call a plan that spends $275 billion in taxpayer dollars over five years “modest” and keep a straight face. But that may be the best way to describe the proposal Hillary Clinton unveiled on Monday to upgrade the nation’s ailing infrastructure. The reaction from advocates of more robust infrastructure spending has been less than enthusiastic, a nod to the fact that the size of the Clinton plan falls well short of what studies have shown the country needs...
Why Do Former Goldman Sachs Bankers Keep Landing Top Slots at the Federal Reserve? The Nation ...During the last year, three vacancies have opened up to head regional Federal Reserve banks around the country. One by one, all three of the spots have gone to former insiders from Goldman Sachs. First, Goldman Sachs trustee Patrick Harker essentially picked himself to lead the Philadelphia Fed, stepping down as chair of the Philadelphia Fed Board of Directors to allow for his own selection...
White Collar Whistleblower Sentenced To Prison While The Criminals He Exposed Are Free Think Progress ...Over the holiday weekend, the man who’s done more to expose the financial crimes of the rich and powerful than almost anyone else in the 21st century was sentenced to five years in a Swiss prison. The harsh punishment to protect bank secrecy comes amid a comparatively lax pursuit of justice for in cases where the public has been wronged by banking industry actors...
Defying the 'Shock Doctrine' in Paris as Thousands March Despite Protest Ban Common Dreams ...It was people power versus "shock doctrine" on the streets of Paris on Sunday as thousands dared to defy the French government's ban on protests during the much-anticipated global climate summit. An estimated 10,000 demonstrators linked arms in a human chain along the 3 kilometer cancelled march route—joining the millions worldwide who took to the streets to demand that the assembled world leaders commit to bold action to confront the growing threat of climate change...
Two Expert Reports Slam Cleveland Cops for "Reckless" Killing of Tamir Rice Mother Jones ...On Saturday, attorneys for the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was shot to death by a Cleveland cop last November, released two new reports concluding that the actions of the two officers involved, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, were "reckless" and "objectively unreasonable" by legal and professional standards. The reports were authored by Roger Clark, a former Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, and by Jeffrey Noble, a former deputy police chief for Irvine, California...
How One City Is Making Sure Bosses Comply With Wage Theft and Paid Sick Leave Laws In These Times ...Over the past five years, Seattle has implemented sweeping labor laws, instituting paid sick leave, discouraging discrimination against those with prison records, incrementally raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2017 and strengthening wage-theft protections. But these new laws can’t enforce themselves...
Bangor’s minimum wage debate could be decided in two weeks Bangor ...The City Council could finally bring closure to the months-long debate over whether the city should raise the local minimum wage during a meeting in two weeks. Councilors and city officials met Monday night for a workshop to hash through some of the concerns that have made this an issue of contention for months...
U.S. LABOR
American Passenger-Service Workers Approve 5-Year Contract Bloomberg ...American Airlines Group Inc. said a union representing 14,500 reservation agents and airport passenger-service workers approved a five-year contract that included “significant” pay raises. The agreement provides an average initial increase of 30 percent, 2 percent raises at the end of the first and second years and 2.5 percent in each of the following two years, according to a statement on the Communications Workers of America website...
Health care remains sticking point in USW contract talks NWI.com ...Negotiations with steelmakers broke off for the Thanksgiving holiday but resumed Monday. The United Steelworkers union is fighting efforts by ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel to slash health care insurance benefits, which the union says could cost steelworkers and retirees as much as $6,300 more a year in out-of-pocket expenses. Steelworkers would suffer an effective pay cut as a result...
Kohler Strike Continues, Union Seeking Donations WHBL ...United Auto Workers Local 833 have now spent two full weeks on the picket line after they and the Kohler Company failed to reach an agreement on a new contract earlier this month. With the strike now entering its third week, the union is focusing some attention on helping its members get through the impact of being on strike...
NLRB strikes down two more companies' class action waivers Reuters ...The U.S. National Labor Relations Board last week continued to expand its rule prohibiting class and collective action waivers in employment agreements, upholding rulings by two administrative judges who struck down such provisions, including one that was voluntary. The board rejected a bid by California grocery store chain Bristol Farms to approve a proposed settlement with an NLRB regional director that would have allowed its workers to opt out of signing the waivers...
SEIU claims court victory on health insurance Capitol Fax ...The St. Clair County Circuit Court has ruled in favor of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, which was granted a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bruce Rauner and Comptroller Leslie Munger. The ruling issued late Wednesday protects health insurance for nearly 5,000 low-wage home healthcare workers in Illinois. The home healthcare workers serve adults with disabilities in Illinois’ Home Services Program...
Stronger Together: Envoy Agents Vote for CWA Representation CWA-union.org ...Nearly 5,000 Envoy Air agents (formerly American Eagle) joined together and overwhelmingly voted for representation by the Communications Workers of America in an election conducted by the National Mediation Board. The agents work at 102 stations nationwide and have a broad range of responsibilities for passenger service and fleet service work. Envoy is owned by American Airlines Group...
Collective Action Stops Retaliation Against Cal Cartage Warehouse Workers Labor Press ...Warehouse Workers at California Cartage in the Los Angeles port neighborhood of Wilmington faced retaliation from their employer after temporary workers joined direct hires in a pair of three-day strikes in September and October. The strikers were calling for 15$ an hour minimum wage, a safe work environment, a lunch area free of rats and cockroaches and an end to wage theft...
Robert Reich: Why the High-Tech 'Sharing Economy' Is All About Impoverishing Workers Alternet ...The so-called “share economy” includes independent contractors, temporary workers, the self-employed, part-timers, freelancers, and free agents. Most file 1099s rather than W2s, for tax purposes. It’s estimated that in five years over 40 percent of the American labor force will be in such uncertain work; in a decade, most of us. This trend shifts all economic risks onto workers.
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Behind Hillary Clinton’s $250 Billion Infrastructure Plan Think Progress ...Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced on Monday her plan to spend $250 billion over five years to improve the nation’s infrastructure. The plan — which includes proposals to improve roads and bridges, transit systems, energy systems, and electric grids — is the first phase of Clinton’s month-long focus on jobs. In March, Senate Republicans defeated a Democratic amendment to the proposed 2016 budget which was offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders and called for $478 billion in new spending. Sanders has proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan...
Hillary Clinton's Modest Infrastructure Proposal The Atlantic ...It’s hard to call a plan that spends $275 billion in taxpayer dollars over five years “modest” and keep a straight face. But that may be the best way to describe the proposal Hillary Clinton unveiled on Monday to upgrade the nation’s ailing infrastructure. The reaction from advocates of more robust infrastructure spending has been less than enthusiastic, a nod to the fact that the size of the Clinton plan falls well short of what studies have shown the country needs...
Why Do Former Goldman Sachs Bankers Keep Landing Top Slots at the Federal Reserve? The Nation ...During the last year, three vacancies have opened up to head regional Federal Reserve banks around the country. One by one, all three of the spots have gone to former insiders from Goldman Sachs. First, Goldman Sachs trustee Patrick Harker essentially picked himself to lead the Philadelphia Fed, stepping down as chair of the Philadelphia Fed Board of Directors to allow for his own selection...
White Collar Whistleblower Sentenced To Prison While The Criminals He Exposed Are Free Think Progress ...Over the holiday weekend, the man who’s done more to expose the financial crimes of the rich and powerful than almost anyone else in the 21st century was sentenced to five years in a Swiss prison. The harsh punishment to protect bank secrecy comes amid a comparatively lax pursuit of justice for in cases where the public has been wronged by banking industry actors...
Defying the 'Shock Doctrine' in Paris as Thousands March Despite Protest Ban Common Dreams ...It was people power versus "shock doctrine" on the streets of Paris on Sunday as thousands dared to defy the French government's ban on protests during the much-anticipated global climate summit. An estimated 10,000 demonstrators linked arms in a human chain along the 3 kilometer cancelled march route—joining the millions worldwide who took to the streets to demand that the assembled world leaders commit to bold action to confront the growing threat of climate change...
Two Expert Reports Slam Cleveland Cops for "Reckless" Killing of Tamir Rice Mother Jones ...On Saturday, attorneys for the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was shot to death by a Cleveland cop last November, released two new reports concluding that the actions of the two officers involved, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, were "reckless" and "objectively unreasonable" by legal and professional standards. The reports were authored by Roger Clark, a former Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, and by Jeffrey Noble, a former deputy police chief for Irvine, California...
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.01.15
Teamsters
American Airlines Passenger Service Agents Reach Tentative Agreement Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters/Communications Workers of America Association has reached a tentative first agreement with American Airlines covering 15,000 passenger service agents. The Association is the joint bargaining group (IBT and CWA) that represents agents at American Airlines. Details of the tentative agreement are being provided to members and a ratification vote will be scheduled...
Southern California Teamsters seek “employee” recognition for harbor truckers AJOT ...A watershed battle between the Teamsters Union and Pacific 9 Transportation in Southern California may be the tipping point in the union’s efforts to force harbor-trucking companies to reclassify drivers from independent contractors to employees. If that happens, there will be major changes in the compensation for drivers picking up and delivering containerized truckloads at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Teamsters tell Whole Foods: Black Lives Matter USI Live ...This past weekend, protesters from the Teamsters and the Sierra Club group Sierra Rise educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo East convention about Whole Food’s exploitation of prison labour for profit. The protestors distributed leaflets that read “Whole Prison Labor.” The leaflets were also sponsored by the Organic Consumers Association and the Food Chain Workers Alliance...
Global Labor & Trade
Rift Over Drug Protections Complicates Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Talks Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how long to protect certain high-end drugs from lower-cost imitators has emerged as the leading obstacle to negotiations aimed at completing a 12-nation trade agreement spanning the Pacific. While officials from the U.S. and other counties cite some progress on two other thorny issues, the drug debate continues to divide Australia and other countries from America in the high-level talks that began Wednesday...
Lawmakers push for 'meaningful' sugar market access in TPP Reuters ...Forty-five U.S. lawmakers are pressing trade representative Michael Froman to boost U.S. sugar imports as talks over a Pacific trade agreement resume this week, ratcheting up pressure on a sticking point in prior rounds. Led by Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Democrat Earl Blumenauer from Oregon, the legislators are urging Froman to seek a Trans-Pacific Partnership pact with "commercially meaningful liberalization" of sugar trade...
Pacific trade talks step closer to clearing auto parts hurdle Reuters ...Negotiators trying to clinch a Pacific Rim free trade deal made headway on Wednesday over how to remove a stumbling block and give automakers a freer hand to sell cars in the United States with more parts purchased in Asia. People briefed on the closed-door talks said Canada and Mexico signalled a willingness to open the North American auto market to more parts made in Asia...
Pacific Trade Deal Talks Resume, Under Fire From U.S. Presidential Hopefuls New York Times ...Trade ministers for the United States and 11 other Pacific nations gathered in Atlanta on Wednesday to try to reach agreement on the largest regional free-trade pact ever. But knotty differences persist, and antitrade blasts from American presidential candidates have not eased prospects for any deal. The talks in a downtown Atlanta hotel are picking up where ministers left off two months ago after deadlocking at a Maui resort...
Push grows to target tobacco, health in Pacific trade rules Reuters ...Pressure is mounting on Pacific trading partners over potential steps to block foreign investors from suing governments over anti-smoking measures, under a free trade pact that is nearing completion. Trade ministers from 12 countries are discussing possible exemptions from rules letting foreign companies sue governments over damage to investments as they try to wrap up talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Protesting Big Pharma 'Death Sentence,' Cancer Patient Arrested Outside TPP Talks Common Dreams ...A cancer patient was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday after allegedly "disrupting" the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in a protest aimed at maintaining access to affordable cancer medicines in the dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, that would be impacted by the colossal trade deal...
Portugal goes to the polls with voters resigned to austerity Yahoo News ...Portugal exited the bailout scheme in May 2014 but only after the government imposed harsh austerity and the biggest tax hikes in living memory. The jobless rate has fallen to 12 percent from a peak of 17.5 percent at the beginning of 2013. But the recovery has yet to be felt on the streets. One in five Portuguese continue to live below the poverty line with an income of less than 5,000 euros per year...
State & Living Wage Battles
Alabama to stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters Raw Story ...The state of Alabama, which requires a photo ID to vote, announced this week that it would stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties where 75 percent of registered voters are black. Due to budget cuts, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that 31 satellite DMV offices would no longer have access to driver’s licenses examiners, meaning that residents will need to travel to other counties to apply for licenses. The move comes just one year after the state’s voter photo ID law went into effect...
Proposed Fla. bill to require 6 weeks paid family care leave NBC ...Florida Senator Dwight Bullard proposed a bill that, if passed, will require employers to allow six weeks of paid leave for workers after children are born or adopted. "I totally agree with it," said Shellie Desmaret. "I think the bill is long and coming in the state of Florida," said Paul McRae, who supports the bill...
WV has new prevailing wage; critics remain MetroNews ...West Virginia once again has a prevailing wage but there remain critics of how the numbers were calculated. WorkForce West Virginia filed the information with the Secretary of State’s Office Wednesday. The prevailing wage is the wage required for different jobs on construction projects that are totally funded by the state...
Washington state behind the curve on minimum wage KGMI ...Since the 1990s, Washington state has led the nation in raising minimum wage. But will the state’s minimum wage increase again next year? In short, no. And state officials say the reason is because inflation, as measured by the National Consumer Price Index, didn’t increase over the past year either. That index decreased by 0.3 percent...
Details emerge on Sacramento minimum-wage hike plan SacBee ...acramento would require larger businesses to pay a higher minimum wage before small businesses with fewer than 40 employees, according to a draft of the ordinance obtained by The Sacramento Bee. A task force convened by Mayor Kevin Johnson recommended last month that the city gradually increase its minimum wage to $12.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020...
U.S. Labor
Political Appeal of Bashing American Unions May Have Peaked Bloomberg ...Unions might never recover the strength they had decades ago, but recent signs suggest renewed support for labor, or at least an end to its run as a Republican bogeyman. After building a campaign around his battle with government workers, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker abruptly ended his presidential campaign Sept. 21. His decision came a month after a Gallup Poll found that support for unions jumped 5 percentage points...
United Auto Workers reject contract deal with Fiat Chrysler CBS ...United Auto Workers union members have rejected a proposed contract with Fiat Chrysler in a rebuke of union leaders who had praised the deal. Official totals weren't released, but workers at many large factories voted against the pact by large margins, making victory impossible...
The Fight For 15 Just Landed at America’s Busiest Airport In These Times ...Encouraged by an energetic rally of more than 100 janitors and other members of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 1, a group of low-wage security, cleaning and passenger service workers at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Tuesday launched a campaign to organize 5,000 airport workers to win higher wages and the right to form a union without intimidation. The O’Hare organizing drive hopes, first, to bring the non-union workers at the airport into the Fight for $15 movement, initiated three years ago among fast food workers...
Janitors march for their jobs, benefits Philly.com ...Thousands of union janitors marched through Center City Wednesday, hoping to preserve their benefits and earn what they call fair wages. The rally on Chestnut Street included brief speeches by mayoral candidate Jim Kenney, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke. Members of SEIU 32BJ gathered outside a high-rise apartment building at 2116 Chestnut...
IBEW Local 125 Pickets Pacific power headquarters NW Labor Press ...Nearly 200 outside linemen and wiremen from several electrical utilities in Oregon, Washington, and Utah picketed Sept. 23 outside the corporate headquarters of PacifiCorp in the Lloyd District. The union workers at Pacific Power, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, have been bargaining for a new contract for more than a year. They have rejected two proposals. The most recent was on Sept. 1, at which time they also voted to authorize a strike if needed...
Are Deere, UAW headed for a strike? Des Moines Register ...A dramatic tail-off from record profits a couple of years ago for Deere & Co., Iowa's iconic equipment manufacturer, could set the stage for prolonged, and potentially contentious, labor negotiations once the current 6-year contract expires Thursday, economists and analysts say...
Don Blankenship faces more prison time for lying to Wall Street than 29 deaths at Upper Big Branch Daily Kos ...With Don Blankenship, the notorious former Massey Energy CEO, about to go on trial for multiple charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 miners in 2010, Mother Jones' Tim Murphy takes an in-depth look at Blankenship's brutal business practices and consolidation of political power in West Virginia...
Social Justice & Other News
Senators to Unveil Bipartisan Plan to Ease Sentencing Laws New York Times ...A long-awaited bipartisan proposal to cut mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent offenders and promote more early release from federal prisons is scheduled to be disclosed Thursday by an influential group of senators who hope to build on backing from conservatives, progressives and the White House...
Hedge Funds Keep Winning Government Auctions To Buy Family Homes. Elizabeth Warren Is Crying Foul. Think Progress ...At a rally with dozens of local government officials from around the nation in Washington, D.C., Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will call on the Obama administration to stop inviting Wall Street speculators into the landlord business and start doing more to keep struggling borrowers in their homes and neighborhoods...
'Exxons of Agriculture' Wielding Power to Block Real Climate Solutions: Report Common Dreams ...The publication by GRAIN describes how the fertilizer industry, whose products the group says are responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, has joined forces with major corporations like Walmart in order to cast itself as a purveyor of "climate smart" policies while protecting its interests...
Dead Man Walking: Richard Glossip vs. The Death Penalty Democracy Now ...Just moments before death row inmate Richard Glossip was scheduled to be killed on Wednesday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued a stay of execution citing questions over the execution protocol and the chemicals used for lethal injection. Richard Glossip’s case has attracted international attention. On Wednesday, Pope Francis urged Governor Fallin to commute the death sentence over questions of Glossip’s guilt...
American Airlines Passenger Service Agents Reach Tentative Agreement Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters/Communications Workers of America Association has reached a tentative first agreement with American Airlines covering 15,000 passenger service agents. The Association is the joint bargaining group (IBT and CWA) that represents agents at American Airlines. Details of the tentative agreement are being provided to members and a ratification vote will be scheduled...
Southern California Teamsters seek “employee” recognition for harbor truckers AJOT ...A watershed battle between the Teamsters Union and Pacific 9 Transportation in Southern California may be the tipping point in the union’s efforts to force harbor-trucking companies to reclassify drivers from independent contractors to employees. If that happens, there will be major changes in the compensation for drivers picking up and delivering containerized truckloads at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Teamsters tell Whole Foods: Black Lives Matter USI Live ...This past weekend, protesters from the Teamsters and the Sierra Club group Sierra Rise educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo East convention about Whole Food’s exploitation of prison labour for profit. The protestors distributed leaflets that read “Whole Prison Labor.” The leaflets were also sponsored by the Organic Consumers Association and the Food Chain Workers Alliance...
Global Labor & Trade
Rift Over Drug Protections Complicates Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Talks Wall Street Journal ...A fight over how long to protect certain high-end drugs from lower-cost imitators has emerged as the leading obstacle to negotiations aimed at completing a 12-nation trade agreement spanning the Pacific. While officials from the U.S. and other counties cite some progress on two other thorny issues, the drug debate continues to divide Australia and other countries from America in the high-level talks that began Wednesday...
Lawmakers push for 'meaningful' sugar market access in TPP Reuters ...Forty-five U.S. lawmakers are pressing trade representative Michael Froman to boost U.S. sugar imports as talks over a Pacific trade agreement resume this week, ratcheting up pressure on a sticking point in prior rounds. Led by Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Democrat Earl Blumenauer from Oregon, the legislators are urging Froman to seek a Trans-Pacific Partnership pact with "commercially meaningful liberalization" of sugar trade...
Pacific trade talks step closer to clearing auto parts hurdle Reuters ...Negotiators trying to clinch a Pacific Rim free trade deal made headway on Wednesday over how to remove a stumbling block and give automakers a freer hand to sell cars in the United States with more parts purchased in Asia. People briefed on the closed-door talks said Canada and Mexico signalled a willingness to open the North American auto market to more parts made in Asia...
Pacific Trade Deal Talks Resume, Under Fire From U.S. Presidential Hopefuls New York Times ...Trade ministers for the United States and 11 other Pacific nations gathered in Atlanta on Wednesday to try to reach agreement on the largest regional free-trade pact ever. But knotty differences persist, and antitrade blasts from American presidential candidates have not eased prospects for any deal. The talks in a downtown Atlanta hotel are picking up where ministers left off two months ago after deadlocking at a Maui resort...
Push grows to target tobacco, health in Pacific trade rules Reuters ...Pressure is mounting on Pacific trading partners over potential steps to block foreign investors from suing governments over anti-smoking measures, under a free trade pact that is nearing completion. Trade ministers from 12 countries are discussing possible exemptions from rules letting foreign companies sue governments over damage to investments as they try to wrap up talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
Protesting Big Pharma 'Death Sentence,' Cancer Patient Arrested Outside TPP Talks Common Dreams ...A cancer patient was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday after allegedly "disrupting" the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in a protest aimed at maintaining access to affordable cancer medicines in the dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, that would be impacted by the colossal trade deal...
Portugal goes to the polls with voters resigned to austerity Yahoo News ...Portugal exited the bailout scheme in May 2014 but only after the government imposed harsh austerity and the biggest tax hikes in living memory. The jobless rate has fallen to 12 percent from a peak of 17.5 percent at the beginning of 2013. But the recovery has yet to be felt on the streets. One in five Portuguese continue to live below the poverty line with an income of less than 5,000 euros per year...
State & Living Wage Battles
Alabama to stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties with 75% black registered voters Raw Story ...The state of Alabama, which requires a photo ID to vote, announced this week that it would stop issuing driver’s licenses in counties where 75 percent of registered voters are black. Due to budget cuts, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said that 31 satellite DMV offices would no longer have access to driver’s licenses examiners, meaning that residents will need to travel to other counties to apply for licenses. The move comes just one year after the state’s voter photo ID law went into effect...
Proposed Fla. bill to require 6 weeks paid family care leave NBC ...Florida Senator Dwight Bullard proposed a bill that, if passed, will require employers to allow six weeks of paid leave for workers after children are born or adopted. "I totally agree with it," said Shellie Desmaret. "I think the bill is long and coming in the state of Florida," said Paul McRae, who supports the bill...
WV has new prevailing wage; critics remain MetroNews ...West Virginia once again has a prevailing wage but there remain critics of how the numbers were calculated. WorkForce West Virginia filed the information with the Secretary of State’s Office Wednesday. The prevailing wage is the wage required for different jobs on construction projects that are totally funded by the state...
Washington state behind the curve on minimum wage KGMI ...Since the 1990s, Washington state has led the nation in raising minimum wage. But will the state’s minimum wage increase again next year? In short, no. And state officials say the reason is because inflation, as measured by the National Consumer Price Index, didn’t increase over the past year either. That index decreased by 0.3 percent...
Details emerge on Sacramento minimum-wage hike plan SacBee ...acramento would require larger businesses to pay a higher minimum wage before small businesses with fewer than 40 employees, according to a draft of the ordinance obtained by The Sacramento Bee. A task force convened by Mayor Kevin Johnson recommended last month that the city gradually increase its minimum wage to $12.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020...
U.S. Labor
Political Appeal of Bashing American Unions May Have Peaked Bloomberg ...Unions might never recover the strength they had decades ago, but recent signs suggest renewed support for labor, or at least an end to its run as a Republican bogeyman. After building a campaign around his battle with government workers, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker abruptly ended his presidential campaign Sept. 21. His decision came a month after a Gallup Poll found that support for unions jumped 5 percentage points...
United Auto Workers reject contract deal with Fiat Chrysler CBS ...United Auto Workers union members have rejected a proposed contract with Fiat Chrysler in a rebuke of union leaders who had praised the deal. Official totals weren't released, but workers at many large factories voted against the pact by large margins, making victory impossible...
The Fight For 15 Just Landed at America’s Busiest Airport In These Times ...Encouraged by an energetic rally of more than 100 janitors and other members of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 1, a group of low-wage security, cleaning and passenger service workers at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Tuesday launched a campaign to organize 5,000 airport workers to win higher wages and the right to form a union without intimidation. The O’Hare organizing drive hopes, first, to bring the non-union workers at the airport into the Fight for $15 movement, initiated three years ago among fast food workers...
Janitors march for their jobs, benefits Philly.com ...Thousands of union janitors marched through Center City Wednesday, hoping to preserve their benefits and earn what they call fair wages. The rally on Chestnut Street included brief speeches by mayoral candidate Jim Kenney, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke. Members of SEIU 32BJ gathered outside a high-rise apartment building at 2116 Chestnut...
IBEW Local 125 Pickets Pacific power headquarters NW Labor Press ...Nearly 200 outside linemen and wiremen from several electrical utilities in Oregon, Washington, and Utah picketed Sept. 23 outside the corporate headquarters of PacifiCorp in the Lloyd District. The union workers at Pacific Power, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, have been bargaining for a new contract for more than a year. They have rejected two proposals. The most recent was on Sept. 1, at which time they also voted to authorize a strike if needed...
Are Deere, UAW headed for a strike? Des Moines Register ...A dramatic tail-off from record profits a couple of years ago for Deere & Co., Iowa's iconic equipment manufacturer, could set the stage for prolonged, and potentially contentious, labor negotiations once the current 6-year contract expires Thursday, economists and analysts say...
Don Blankenship faces more prison time for lying to Wall Street than 29 deaths at Upper Big Branch Daily Kos ...With Don Blankenship, the notorious former Massey Energy CEO, about to go on trial for multiple charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 miners in 2010, Mother Jones' Tim Murphy takes an in-depth look at Blankenship's brutal business practices and consolidation of political power in West Virginia...
Social Justice & Other News
Senators to Unveil Bipartisan Plan to Ease Sentencing Laws New York Times ...A long-awaited bipartisan proposal to cut mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent offenders and promote more early release from federal prisons is scheduled to be disclosed Thursday by an influential group of senators who hope to build on backing from conservatives, progressives and the White House...
Hedge Funds Keep Winning Government Auctions To Buy Family Homes. Elizabeth Warren Is Crying Foul. Think Progress ...At a rally with dozens of local government officials from around the nation in Washington, D.C., Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will call on the Obama administration to stop inviting Wall Street speculators into the landlord business and start doing more to keep struggling borrowers in their homes and neighborhoods...
'Exxons of Agriculture' Wielding Power to Block Real Climate Solutions: Report Common Dreams ...The publication by GRAIN describes how the fertilizer industry, whose products the group says are responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, has joined forces with major corporations like Walmart in order to cast itself as a purveyor of "climate smart" policies while protecting its interests...
Dead Man Walking: Richard Glossip vs. The Death Penalty Democracy Now ...Just moments before death row inmate Richard Glossip was scheduled to be killed on Wednesday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued a stay of execution citing questions over the execution protocol and the chemicals used for lethal injection. Richard Glossip’s case has attracted international attention. On Wednesday, Pope Francis urged Governor Fallin to commute the death sentence over questions of Glossip’s guilt...
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.17.13
Waste Workers in California Vote to Become Teamsters IBT ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California have voted overwhelmingly to join Local 683 in San Diego. There are approximately 80 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters End Representational Campaign at American Airlines IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters yesterday announced an end to the year-long campaign to represent aircraft mechanics and related personnel at American Airlines...
AMR-US Airways Merger Limbo Puts CEOs to Workers on Hold Bloomberg News ...About 1,000 white-collar employees with jobs on the block at US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) and American Airlines (AAMRQ) got a temporary reprieve when the U.S. government sued to block the carriers’ planned $14 billion merger...
Allied Selects Black Diamond/Spectrum As Winning Bidder; Teamsters, Others Object IBT ...On Thursday, August 15, Allied Systems completed two days of an auction for its assets at a law office in Wilmington, Delaware. The company (Allied) declared the winning bid to an acquisition company formed by Black Diamond/Spectrum, over a bid by Jack Cooper Transport, whose employees are represented by the Teamsters...
Striking Teamsters at Lake Transit vote to return to the job Lake County News ...A day after they failed to get intercession from the Lake Transit Authority Board in a labor dispute, striking transit workers voted to immediately return to work. The striking members of Teamsters Local 665 voted to return to work unconditionally in order to restore full service yesterday...
BLET to Conduct Advanced Local Chairman Workshop, October 20-26 BLET ...The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the BLET Arbitration Department, is proud to host an Advanced Local Chairman Workshop scheduled for October 20 through October 26, 2013...
McDonald's, Walmart Feel The Pinch As Low-Income Shoppers Struggle In The Slow Recovery Reuters ...From Wal-Mart Stores and Gap to Macy's and McDonald's, chains that cater to middle- and lower-income Americans, say they are feeling the pinch of an uneven economic recovery...
Mexico-L.A. drug ring hid meth, heroin in pipes on big rigs, feds say Los Angeles Times ...Federal prosecutors unveiled indictments Thursday against 57 members of an alleged drug trafficking ring that authorities said smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico to Los Angeles, using hidden compartments and PVC piping that were further concealed in tractor trailer axles. Firearms have also been transported...
That awkward moment when an American-made beer company gives away a Made in China hat at a baseball game in the nation's capital manufacture this ...One has to wonder why a company that takes care to brand itself as Made-in-the-USA would sponsor Made-in-China souvenirs...
Unions sue to block SunRail contractor Orlando Sentinel ...Two unions filed a lawsuit Thursday objecting to the state's attempt to side-step an agreement from 2009 to use federally certified union workers in construction of the signal system that will guide trains on the $1.6 billion SunRail commuter line...
Mass. legislature tackles minimum wage issue Telegram & Gazette ...As many as half a million of the lowest paid workers in Massachusetts could be getting a raise next year if a proposal to increase the minimum wage as high as $10.50 an hour is approved by the Legislature — or by a 2014 statewide voter referendum being urged by unions, community organizations and individuals, and supported by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren...
North Carolina law takes war on voting rights to a new low Washington Post ...In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, that gutted of the Voting Rights Act, it’s difficult to say which of the many recently passed voter-suppression bills constitutes the greatest threat to that most sacred of American freedoms: the right to vote...
Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Barred From Enforcement In November Election By Judge Huffington Post ...A state judge issued an order Friday that is expected to block enforcement of Pennsylvania's strict voter-identification law in the Nov. 5 general election...
NorCal mayor demands bank drop foreclosure lawsuit Associated Press ... Richmond plans to "seize" underwater loans from banks, reimburse them at market value, and then resell the cheaper loans to the original homeowner at current mortgage rates...
California attorney general announces $750M refund from Canadian utility Powerex Sacramento Bee ... the Canadian utility was buying California electricity, shipping it to Canada and then exporting it back to the state at huge markups...
Judge: Special prosecutor will review Perry veto Associated Press ...A Texas judge said Thursday he plans to have a special prosecutor review allegations that Gov. Rick Perry abused the powers of his office and broke the law over a veto that cut funding for state public corruption investigators...
Teamsters End Representational Campaign at American Airlines IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters yesterday announced an end to the year-long campaign to represent aircraft mechanics and related personnel at American Airlines...
AMR-US Airways Merger Limbo Puts CEOs to Workers on Hold Bloomberg News ...About 1,000 white-collar employees with jobs on the block at US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) and American Airlines (AAMRQ) got a temporary reprieve when the U.S. government sued to block the carriers’ planned $14 billion merger...
Allied Selects Black Diamond/Spectrum As Winning Bidder; Teamsters, Others Object IBT ...On Thursday, August 15, Allied Systems completed two days of an auction for its assets at a law office in Wilmington, Delaware. The company (Allied) declared the winning bid to an acquisition company formed by Black Diamond/Spectrum, over a bid by Jack Cooper Transport, whose employees are represented by the Teamsters...
Striking Teamsters at Lake Transit vote to return to the job Lake County News ...A day after they failed to get intercession from the Lake Transit Authority Board in a labor dispute, striking transit workers voted to immediately return to work. The striking members of Teamsters Local 665 voted to return to work unconditionally in order to restore full service yesterday...
BLET to Conduct Advanced Local Chairman Workshop, October 20-26 BLET ...The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the BLET Arbitration Department, is proud to host an Advanced Local Chairman Workshop scheduled for October 20 through October 26, 2013...
McDonald's, Walmart Feel The Pinch As Low-Income Shoppers Struggle In The Slow Recovery Reuters ...From Wal-Mart Stores and Gap to Macy's and McDonald's, chains that cater to middle- and lower-income Americans, say they are feeling the pinch of an uneven economic recovery...
Mexico-L.A. drug ring hid meth, heroin in pipes on big rigs, feds say Los Angeles Times ...Federal prosecutors unveiled indictments Thursday against 57 members of an alleged drug trafficking ring that authorities said smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico to Los Angeles, using hidden compartments and PVC piping that were further concealed in tractor trailer axles. Firearms have also been transported...
That awkward moment when an American-made beer company gives away a Made in China hat at a baseball game in the nation's capital manufacture this ...One has to wonder why a company that takes care to brand itself as Made-in-the-USA would sponsor Made-in-China souvenirs...
Unions sue to block SunRail contractor Orlando Sentinel ...Two unions filed a lawsuit Thursday objecting to the state's attempt to side-step an agreement from 2009 to use federally certified union workers in construction of the signal system that will guide trains on the $1.6 billion SunRail commuter line...
Mass. legislature tackles minimum wage issue Telegram & Gazette ...As many as half a million of the lowest paid workers in Massachusetts could be getting a raise next year if a proposal to increase the minimum wage as high as $10.50 an hour is approved by the Legislature — or by a 2014 statewide voter referendum being urged by unions, community organizations and individuals, and supported by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren...
North Carolina law takes war on voting rights to a new low Washington Post ...In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, that gutted of the Voting Rights Act, it’s difficult to say which of the many recently passed voter-suppression bills constitutes the greatest threat to that most sacred of American freedoms: the right to vote...
Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Barred From Enforcement In November Election By Judge Huffington Post ...A state judge issued an order Friday that is expected to block enforcement of Pennsylvania's strict voter-identification law in the Nov. 5 general election...
NorCal mayor demands bank drop foreclosure lawsuit Associated Press ... Richmond plans to "seize" underwater loans from banks, reimburse them at market value, and then resell the cheaper loans to the original homeowner at current mortgage rates...
California attorney general announces $750M refund from Canadian utility Powerex Sacramento Bee ... the Canadian utility was buying California electricity, shipping it to Canada and then exporting it back to the state at huge markups...
Judge: Special prosecutor will review Perry veto Associated Press ...A Texas judge said Thursday he plans to have a special prosecutor review allegations that Gov. Rick Perry abused the powers of his office and broke the law over a veto that cut funding for state public corruption investigators...
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.14.13
Teamsters, St. James heading to mediation Billings Gazette ...The Teamsters Union and St. James Healthcare will start labor contract mediation on Aug. 20. Members of the union, one of three at the hospital, have been working without a contract for over a year, according to Dan Doogan, secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters regional district...
37.5-hour work week proposed for union members Times Leader ...With six union contracts expiring at the end of the year, Luzerne County Council members in Pennsylvania are trying to set pay and benefit goals they want negotiated into new collective bargaining agreements for workers, including members represented by Teamsters Local 401...
Justice Dept, states challenge proposed airline merger between US Airways, American Associated Press ...The federal government is challenging the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines, a deal between two of the largest airlines that it says would result in “substantial harm to consumers” in the form of higher fares and fees...
Police arrest 20 protesters at Wisconsin Capitol WBAY ...Police have arrested more protesters in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda. Protesters have been showing up in the rotunda almost every noon hour for more than two years to sing songs against Republican Governor Scott Walker...
At March on Washington, organized labor gave MLK a hand The Republic ...Fifty years ago this month, Hank Lacayo, an up-and-coming labor leader in Southern California, received a call instructing him to come to Washington, D.C. Something big was in the works. The phone call was placed at the direction of Walter Reuther, the legendary national president of the UAW. The big thing on the horizon was a planned March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom planned Aug. 28...
Inequality is hindering economic growth Baltimore Sun ...Our economy has grown at roughly the same rate as other advanced industrial economies. But unlike other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, our growth has overwhelmingly benefited the well off...
Higher wages won’t increase unemployment! Salon ...Conservatives on the right contend that higher salaries mean fewer jobs. A wealth of research suggests otherwise...
5 Reasons Congress Should Be Deeply Ashamed About Jobs AlterNet ...Congress has not only made the job search more difficult for average Americans, but has also impeded the process...
New Jersey Republicans Nominate Koch Brothers Operative For Senate Think Progress ...The New Jersey Republicans voted Tuesday — in a low-turnout primary — to nominate Steve Lonegan for the remainder of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) term. Lonegan, the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, will face Newark Mayor Corey Booker (D) in an October 16 special election...
U.S. automakers praise G-20 for opposing currency manipulation Detroit News ...U.S. automakers on Sunday praised a group of 20 major nations for recognizing the harm caused to the global trading system by countries like Japan, who are manipulating their currencies to gain a competitive advantage for their exporters...
Two Minnesota public employee unions ratify new contracts Star Tribune ...About 32,000 unionized state employees have ratified contracts that call for pay hikes of 3 percent per year, the biggest increases they’ve received since the national economy nosedived in 2007-08...
Minimum wage in CT will increase to $9 an hour The Shelton Herald ...The minimum wage in Connecticut will increase by 75 cents during the next year and a half. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation that hikes the minimum wage in two stages — from the current $8.25 an hour to $8.70 on Jan. 1, 2014, and then to $9 on Jan. 1, 2015...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hillary Clinton: NC Voter ID Bill 'Reads Like The Greatest Hits Of Voter Suppression' (Video) Huffington Post ...Hillary Clinton denounced recent voter identification legislation in a speech at the American Bar Association's annual conference on Monday. Clinton criticized the Supreme Court decision that she believes "stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made [the Voting Rights Act] so effective..."
'Disney Princesses For Equal Pay' Is Brilliant, Hilarious And Informative Huffington Post ...All women want equal pay -- even Disney princesses. Jenny Joslin and Annette Mia Flores of the production company Texpats came up with a hilarious and creative way to raise awareness about the wage gap. Because who doesn't like Disney?...
State must pay $500,000 to end court fight over overtime pay for prison guards Patriot News ...A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the state to pay $500,000 to end a class-action lawsuit filed by 247 Pennsylvania state prison corrections officers who claimed they were illegally denied overtime pay...
Billions in federal transportation funds riding on California's new pension law Sacramento Bee ...Less than a year after California lawmakers mandated sweeping changes for state and local government pensions, federal officials are poised to cut off billions of dollars in transportation funding because of the new laws. The Teamsters and two other unions have backed a measure that would exclude 20,000 mass transit workers statewide from the pension-change law...
37.5-hour work week proposed for union members Times Leader ...With six union contracts expiring at the end of the year, Luzerne County Council members in Pennsylvania are trying to set pay and benefit goals they want negotiated into new collective bargaining agreements for workers, including members represented by Teamsters Local 401...
Justice Dept, states challenge proposed airline merger between US Airways, American Associated Press ...The federal government is challenging the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines, a deal between two of the largest airlines that it says would result in “substantial harm to consumers” in the form of higher fares and fees...
Police arrest 20 protesters at Wisconsin Capitol WBAY ...Police have arrested more protesters in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda. Protesters have been showing up in the rotunda almost every noon hour for more than two years to sing songs against Republican Governor Scott Walker...
At March on Washington, organized labor gave MLK a hand The Republic ...Fifty years ago this month, Hank Lacayo, an up-and-coming labor leader in Southern California, received a call instructing him to come to Washington, D.C. Something big was in the works. The phone call was placed at the direction of Walter Reuther, the legendary national president of the UAW. The big thing on the horizon was a planned March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom planned Aug. 28...
Inequality is hindering economic growth Baltimore Sun ...Our economy has grown at roughly the same rate as other advanced industrial economies. But unlike other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, our growth has overwhelmingly benefited the well off...
Higher wages won’t increase unemployment! Salon ...Conservatives on the right contend that higher salaries mean fewer jobs. A wealth of research suggests otherwise...
5 Reasons Congress Should Be Deeply Ashamed About Jobs AlterNet ...Congress has not only made the job search more difficult for average Americans, but has also impeded the process...
New Jersey Republicans Nominate Koch Brothers Operative For Senate Think Progress ...The New Jersey Republicans voted Tuesday — in a low-turnout primary — to nominate Steve Lonegan for the remainder of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) term. Lonegan, the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, will face Newark Mayor Corey Booker (D) in an October 16 special election...
U.S. automakers praise G-20 for opposing currency manipulation Detroit News ...U.S. automakers on Sunday praised a group of 20 major nations for recognizing the harm caused to the global trading system by countries like Japan, who are manipulating their currencies to gain a competitive advantage for their exporters...
Two Minnesota public employee unions ratify new contracts Star Tribune ...About 32,000 unionized state employees have ratified contracts that call for pay hikes of 3 percent per year, the biggest increases they’ve received since the national economy nosedived in 2007-08...
Minimum wage in CT will increase to $9 an hour The Shelton Herald ...The minimum wage in Connecticut will increase by 75 cents during the next year and a half. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation that hikes the minimum wage in two stages — from the current $8.25 an hour to $8.70 on Jan. 1, 2014, and then to $9 on Jan. 1, 2015...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hillary Clinton: NC Voter ID Bill 'Reads Like The Greatest Hits Of Voter Suppression' (Video) Huffington Post ...Hillary Clinton denounced recent voter identification legislation in a speech at the American Bar Association's annual conference on Monday. Clinton criticized the Supreme Court decision that she believes "stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made [the Voting Rights Act] so effective..."
'Disney Princesses For Equal Pay' Is Brilliant, Hilarious And Informative Huffington Post ...All women want equal pay -- even Disney princesses. Jenny Joslin and Annette Mia Flores of the production company Texpats came up with a hilarious and creative way to raise awareness about the wage gap. Because who doesn't like Disney?...
State must pay $500,000 to end court fight over overtime pay for prison guards Patriot News ...A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the state to pay $500,000 to end a class-action lawsuit filed by 247 Pennsylvania state prison corrections officers who claimed they were illegally denied overtime pay...
Billions in federal transportation funds riding on California's new pension law Sacramento Bee ...Less than a year after California lawmakers mandated sweeping changes for state and local government pensions, federal officials are poised to cut off billions of dollars in transportation funding because of the new laws. The Teamsters and two other unions have backed a measure that would exclude 20,000 mass transit workers statewide from the pension-change law...
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.06.13
Teamsters, strikers call on Lake Transit, county leaders to take action Lake County Record-Bee ...Teamsters, Paratransit employees and members of the community gathered Friday at noon in front of Lake County’s City Hall to picket, address the media and call on county leaders and Lake Transit to take action on the public transportation issue...
New Hampshire Waste Workers Win Card-Check Recognition to Become Teamsters IBT ...Waste workers with Casella Waste Systems in Brentwood, N.H., will now be represented by the Teamsters Union, after Local 633 in Manchester, N.H., secured a card-check agreement. The workers overwhelmingly signed up to become Teamster members...
Gold Cross Strike Continues for EMTs, Paramedics Imperial Valley Press...Friends, families, and supporters of Teamsters Local 542 picket in front of Gold Cross Ambulance on Sunday afternoon in El Centro. Check out this photo gallery...
U.S. Trustee Objects to AMR Chief's $20 Million Severance, Again Wall Street Journal ...Justice Department officials monitoring the American Airlines bankruptcy case again objected to a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, AMR's current chief executive, according to a court filing made late Friday...
U.S. Issues New Rail Safety Rules After Quebec Disaster Journal of Commerce ...The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday issued an emergency order aimed at making the hauling of hazardous materials safer, following last month's deadly Quebec fuel train accident...
Politicians must step up and make rail safety a top priority (opinion) Rabble ...Transport Canada's emergency safety directive issued following the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy is welcome but more can be done...
100 homes evacuated in southern Louisiana after train derails Los Angeles Times ...About 100 homes remained evacuated on Monday as officials worked to clean up the area around the derailment of a train carrying chemicals near the town of Lawtell, Louisiana. The accident took place Sunday and derailed 27 cars of a Union Pacific train...
40 Percent Of U.S. Workers Make Less Than What A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker Made In 1968 Men's News Daily ...Are American workers paid enough? Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today...
Bernie Sanders: Walmart family’s ‘obscene’ wealth subsidized by taxpayers Raw Story ...Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” on Saturday and scoffed at the idea that major corporations like Walmart can’t afford to pay their workers a living wage and that to raise the U.S. minimum wage would be bad for the economy...
The rich are saving cash at a record pace CNBC ...Since the financial crisis, the wealthy have become the nation's top cash hoarders, filling up deposit accounts and money markets at a rapid clip...
Massive Toxic Black Cloud, Brought To You by the Koch Bros, Blows Over Detroit Common Dreams ...Mind-boggling video of a billowing, high-carbon, high-sulfur cloud from the mountain of petroleum coke - waste from Canadian tar sands shipped from Alberta to Detroit, and the dirtiest potential energy source ever - illegally stored by the Koch Brothers along the Detroit River...
Eight Ways Privatization Has Failed America (opinion) Truth-Out ...Some of America's leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the "free market." They're right. A little analysis reveals that privatization doesn't seem to work in any of the areas vital to the American public...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? You Guessed It: ALEC In These Times ...As working Americans speak out for higher wages, better benefits and respect in the workplace, a coordinated, nationwide campaign to silence them is mounting—and ALEC is at the heart of it...
Report: State workers need raise to match private sector Denver Post ...Colorado's roughly 32,000 state workers need a 3.8 percent raise to catch up to their counterparts in the private sector, the state Department of Personnel and Administration said...
Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Washington Post ...Ultimately, the paper’s financial challenges prompted the company’s board to consider a sale, a step once regarded as unthinkable by insiders and the Graham family...
Indiana senator to push for municipal bankruptcy law Associated Press ...A northwestern Indiana lawmaker says he will push a measure next year that would change state law to allow local governments to file for bankruptcy like Detroit did in July...
Judge to open documents in Idaho prison lawsuit Associated Press ...A federal judge has ordered that several documents be unsealed in a lawsuit between Idaho inmates and Corrections Corporation of America just days before a hearing is set over whether the private prison company should be held in contempt of court...
Four-day bus strike in suburbs east of Phoenix ends Associated Press ...First Transit bus drivers in the Phoenix suburbs tentatively reached an agreement Sunday with a national bus company to end a four-day strike by the drivers that would let bus service resume in time for Monday morning's commute...
BART strike averted as Governor orders inquiry Associated Press ...Hundreds of thousands of San Francisco Bay area commuters got at least a temporary reprieve from a massive transit strike today when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered an inquiry into a labor contract dispute...
New Hampshire Waste Workers Win Card-Check Recognition to Become Teamsters IBT ...Waste workers with Casella Waste Systems in Brentwood, N.H., will now be represented by the Teamsters Union, after Local 633 in Manchester, N.H., secured a card-check agreement. The workers overwhelmingly signed up to become Teamster members...
Gold Cross Strike Continues for EMTs, Paramedics Imperial Valley Press...Friends, families, and supporters of Teamsters Local 542 picket in front of Gold Cross Ambulance on Sunday afternoon in El Centro. Check out this photo gallery...
U.S. Trustee Objects to AMR Chief's $20 Million Severance, Again Wall Street Journal ...Justice Department officials monitoring the American Airlines bankruptcy case again objected to a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, AMR's current chief executive, according to a court filing made late Friday...
U.S. Issues New Rail Safety Rules After Quebec Disaster Journal of Commerce ...The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday issued an emergency order aimed at making the hauling of hazardous materials safer, following last month's deadly Quebec fuel train accident...
Politicians must step up and make rail safety a top priority (opinion) Rabble ...Transport Canada's emergency safety directive issued following the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy is welcome but more can be done...
100 homes evacuated in southern Louisiana after train derails Los Angeles Times ...About 100 homes remained evacuated on Monday as officials worked to clean up the area around the derailment of a train carrying chemicals near the town of Lawtell, Louisiana. The accident took place Sunday and derailed 27 cars of a Union Pacific train...
40 Percent Of U.S. Workers Make Less Than What A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker Made In 1968 Men's News Daily ...Are American workers paid enough? Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today...
Bernie Sanders: Walmart family’s ‘obscene’ wealth subsidized by taxpayers Raw Story ...Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” on Saturday and scoffed at the idea that major corporations like Walmart can’t afford to pay their workers a living wage and that to raise the U.S. minimum wage would be bad for the economy...
The rich are saving cash at a record pace CNBC ...Since the financial crisis, the wealthy have become the nation's top cash hoarders, filling up deposit accounts and money markets at a rapid clip...
Massive Toxic Black Cloud, Brought To You by the Koch Bros, Blows Over Detroit Common Dreams ...Mind-boggling video of a billowing, high-carbon, high-sulfur cloud from the mountain of petroleum coke - waste from Canadian tar sands shipped from Alberta to Detroit, and the dirtiest potential energy source ever - illegally stored by the Koch Brothers along the Detroit River...
Eight Ways Privatization Has Failed America (opinion) Truth-Out ...Some of America's leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the "free market." They're right. A little analysis reveals that privatization doesn't seem to work in any of the areas vital to the American public...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? You Guessed It: ALEC In These Times ...As working Americans speak out for higher wages, better benefits and respect in the workplace, a coordinated, nationwide campaign to silence them is mounting—and ALEC is at the heart of it...
Report: State workers need raise to match private sector Denver Post ...Colorado's roughly 32,000 state workers need a 3.8 percent raise to catch up to their counterparts in the private sector, the state Department of Personnel and Administration said...
Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Washington Post ...Ultimately, the paper’s financial challenges prompted the company’s board to consider a sale, a step once regarded as unthinkable by insiders and the Graham family...
Indiana senator to push for municipal bankruptcy law Associated Press ...A northwestern Indiana lawmaker says he will push a measure next year that would change state law to allow local governments to file for bankruptcy like Detroit did in July...
Judge to open documents in Idaho prison lawsuit Associated Press ...A federal judge has ordered that several documents be unsealed in a lawsuit between Idaho inmates and Corrections Corporation of America just days before a hearing is set over whether the private prison company should be held in contempt of court...
Four-day bus strike in suburbs east of Phoenix ends Associated Press ...First Transit bus drivers in the Phoenix suburbs tentatively reached an agreement Sunday with a national bus company to end a four-day strike by the drivers that would let bus service resume in time for Monday morning's commute...
BART strike averted as Governor orders inquiry Associated Press ...Hundreds of thousands of San Francisco Bay area commuters got at least a temporary reprieve from a massive transit strike today when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered an inquiry into a labor contract dispute...
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.04.13
Teamsters: We Did Not Raid American -- We Were Invited In Forbes ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says it did not raid mechanics and related workers at American Airlines, but rather was invited in by the incumbent union...
Teamsters Local 25 Endorses Boston City Council Candidates Charlestown Patch ...Endorsements for the at-large race went to incumbent Ayanna Pressley, former city councilor Michael Flaherty and newcomers Jack Kelly, a Charlestown resident, and Michelle Wu...
Teamsters union hall is first Los Angeles County Property Assessed Clean Energy-funded project Long Beach Press-Telegram ...Every month, Teamsters Local 848 pays an average of about $2,500 in energy bills to power its meeting hall on the 3800 block of Cherry Avenue. But when it's done with its energy-efficient project, the group representing some 7,000 delivery and bus drivers and warehouse workers can see that cost shrink to as low as $10 a month...
Teamsters, strikers call on community Record-Bee ... Teamsters, Paratransit employees and members of the community gathered Friday at noon in front of City Hall to picket, address the media and call on county leaders and Lake Transit to take action on the public transportation issue...
"We Are Slowly Dying": Fast-Food Workers Launch Strike for Living Wage and Right to Unionize Democracy Now ...A national strike for a living wage and the right to unionize in the fast-food and retail sectors has spread across seven cities...
Recession Forever? 10 Reasons American Workers Are Screwed Alternet ... real median wages fell by about 2.8% between 2009 and 2012...
GOP Pushing More Low-Paying Guestworker Visas Economic Populist ...The House will propose nearly 400,000 new H-2B visas for temporary foreign guest workers in non-agricultural work (for unskilled and semi-skilled labor.)...
U.S. Manufacturing Gains Only 6,000 jobs in July 2013. TradeReform ...Our trade deficit with China is rising. Public investment in construction and infrastructure is declining. Aggregate demand is weak...
U.S. Cuts Take Increasing Toll on Job Growth New York Times ...the economy continued to add jobs in July and that the unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent, from 7.6 percent. But the pace of job growth slowed somewhat from the first half of the year and remains modest enough that the economy is years away from a full recovery. Contributing to the hangover from the worst financial crisis in decades is a wave of cuts in domestic and military spending, known collectively as the sequester, which is causing government furloughs as well as job losses and curtailed hours among federal contractors...
How Vast Error-Prone Databases Are Trashing Our Economic Lives American Prospect ...more than a million low-income Americans have been denied the opportunity to open bank accounts because of little-known databases that penalize them for sometimes minor banking mistakes in their past, including bouncing checks, overdrawing bank accounts, and accumulating fees...
Scott Walker's Crackdown on Free Speech Backfires Huffington Post ...As the news of the mass arrests at the singalong attracts the attention of national cable news networks, Walker's approval rating has taken a plunge in the latest polls...
What's next for Moral Mondays? Facing South ...The first action planned outside Raleigh will take place in Asheville on Aug. 5 and is being billed as Mountain Moral Monday, with Rev. Barber as a featured speaker...
The Comments Detroit's Emergency Manager Will Wish To Take Back Forbes ...“For a long time the city was dumb, lazy, happy and rich,”...
Teamsters Local 25 Endorses Boston City Council Candidates Charlestown Patch ...Endorsements for the at-large race went to incumbent Ayanna Pressley, former city councilor Michael Flaherty and newcomers Jack Kelly, a Charlestown resident, and Michelle Wu...
Teamsters union hall is first Los Angeles County Property Assessed Clean Energy-funded project Long Beach Press-Telegram ...Every month, Teamsters Local 848 pays an average of about $2,500 in energy bills to power its meeting hall on the 3800 block of Cherry Avenue. But when it's done with its energy-efficient project, the group representing some 7,000 delivery and bus drivers and warehouse workers can see that cost shrink to as low as $10 a month...
Teamsters, strikers call on community Record-Bee ... Teamsters, Paratransit employees and members of the community gathered Friday at noon in front of City Hall to picket, address the media and call on county leaders and Lake Transit to take action on the public transportation issue...
"We Are Slowly Dying": Fast-Food Workers Launch Strike for Living Wage and Right to Unionize Democracy Now ...A national strike for a living wage and the right to unionize in the fast-food and retail sectors has spread across seven cities...
Recession Forever? 10 Reasons American Workers Are Screwed Alternet ... real median wages fell by about 2.8% between 2009 and 2012...
GOP Pushing More Low-Paying Guestworker Visas Economic Populist ...The House will propose nearly 400,000 new H-2B visas for temporary foreign guest workers in non-agricultural work (for unskilled and semi-skilled labor.)...
U.S. Manufacturing Gains Only 6,000 jobs in July 2013. TradeReform ...Our trade deficit with China is rising. Public investment in construction and infrastructure is declining. Aggregate demand is weak...
U.S. Cuts Take Increasing Toll on Job Growth New York Times ...the economy continued to add jobs in July and that the unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent, from 7.6 percent. But the pace of job growth slowed somewhat from the first half of the year and remains modest enough that the economy is years away from a full recovery. Contributing to the hangover from the worst financial crisis in decades is a wave of cuts in domestic and military spending, known collectively as the sequester, which is causing government furloughs as well as job losses and curtailed hours among federal contractors...
How Vast Error-Prone Databases Are Trashing Our Economic Lives American Prospect ...more than a million low-income Americans have been denied the opportunity to open bank accounts because of little-known databases that penalize them for sometimes minor banking mistakes in their past, including bouncing checks, overdrawing bank accounts, and accumulating fees...
Scott Walker's Crackdown on Free Speech Backfires Huffington Post ...As the news of the mass arrests at the singalong attracts the attention of national cable news networks, Walker's approval rating has taken a plunge in the latest polls...
What's next for Moral Mondays? Facing South ...The first action planned outside Raleigh will take place in Asheville on Aug. 5 and is being billed as Mountain Moral Monday, with Rev. Barber as a featured speaker...
The Comments Detroit's Emergency Manager Will Wish To Take Back Forbes ...“For a long time the city was dumb, lazy, happy and rich,”...
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.04.13
Privacy issue hinders U.S-E.U. trade talks Washington Post ...European leaders tell citizens not to patronize U.S. companies due to concerns over privacy...
New Study: The Wealthy are more Unethical Economic Populist ...Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods, reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals...
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement New York Times ...postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail...
Arizona firefighters lacked a proper escape route Los Angeles Times ...The 19 wildland firefighters killed in Arizona appeared not to have established an escape route to a safe site large enough for the entire group, a forestry official said. Safety protocols require crews to have a place to go in case fire overtakes them. That did not happen in the Yarnell Hill fire...
Truckers Are Losing Sleep Over 70-Hour Work Limit Wall Street Journal ...The changes—the most significant overhaul of rules governing truck-driver hours in a decade—shorten the workweek, restrict how many nights truckers can be on the road and require rest breaks during the day...
Critics sue to block American-US Airways merger Associated Press ...Opponents of the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the deal, claiming it would hurt consumers by driving up airfares...
Supreme Court Rejects Cablevision Request To Block NLRB Trial In Union Dispute Deadline New York ...The National Labor Relations Board can go ahead with its administrative trial this month on charges that Cablevision resorted to intimidation, bribery and harassment to stop some of its workers in the Bronx from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA)...
Eurozone crisis: Portugal sends stock markets tumbling The Guardian ...Stock markets were spooked by Portugal's descent into political chaos on Wednesday as the threat of a government collapse sent the country's borrowing costs into critical territory and threatened a new phase in the eurozone crisis...
West Virginia’s food sales tax eliminated this week Morgan Messenger ...The West Virginia sales tax on food was completely eliminated Monday, July 1, in the final step of a food tax reduction plan that went into effect in 2005...
Rhode Island to Become Third State With Paid Family Leave Opposing Views ...The Rhode Island House voted on Tuesday to provide paid time off to care for a new child or sick family member, a bill activists believe will be signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and make Rhode Island the third state to provide paid family leave...
Progress made in SF Bay Area transit talks Associated Press ...Negotiators for Bay Area Rapid Transit and its striking train workers made progress during overnight contract talks, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that a deal might be struck when talks resume later in the day...
Teamsters File Challenge Against State of Florida IBT ...Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 17,000 officers of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), filed a formal complaint against the state with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the state committed an unfair labor practice by trying to force illegal working conditions on corrections officers – taking away officers’ earned, paid time off...
Corrections workers ratify collective bargaining contract with New Hampshire Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 633, which represents more than 300 Department of Corrections' employees, has ratified a new two-year contract that provides workers with their first pay increase in five years...
Strike ends at Austintown beverage distributor WFMJ News ...Union members vote to end their strike of beverage distributor R.L. Lipton. The members of Teamsters Local 377 accepted a modified wage agreement during voting yesterday afternoon. They'll return to work on Monday...
New Study: The Wealthy are more Unethical Economic Populist ...Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods, reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals...
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement New York Times ...postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail...
Arizona firefighters lacked a proper escape route Los Angeles Times ...The 19 wildland firefighters killed in Arizona appeared not to have established an escape route to a safe site large enough for the entire group, a forestry official said. Safety protocols require crews to have a place to go in case fire overtakes them. That did not happen in the Yarnell Hill fire...
Truckers Are Losing Sleep Over 70-Hour Work Limit Wall Street Journal ...The changes—the most significant overhaul of rules governing truck-driver hours in a decade—shorten the workweek, restrict how many nights truckers can be on the road and require rest breaks during the day...
Critics sue to block American-US Airways merger Associated Press ...Opponents of the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the deal, claiming it would hurt consumers by driving up airfares...
Supreme Court Rejects Cablevision Request To Block NLRB Trial In Union Dispute Deadline New York ...The National Labor Relations Board can go ahead with its administrative trial this month on charges that Cablevision resorted to intimidation, bribery and harassment to stop some of its workers in the Bronx from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA)...
Eurozone crisis: Portugal sends stock markets tumbling The Guardian ...Stock markets were spooked by Portugal's descent into political chaos on Wednesday as the threat of a government collapse sent the country's borrowing costs into critical territory and threatened a new phase in the eurozone crisis...
West Virginia’s food sales tax eliminated this week Morgan Messenger ...The West Virginia sales tax on food was completely eliminated Monday, July 1, in the final step of a food tax reduction plan that went into effect in 2005...
Rhode Island to Become Third State With Paid Family Leave Opposing Views ...The Rhode Island House voted on Tuesday to provide paid time off to care for a new child or sick family member, a bill activists believe will be signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and make Rhode Island the third state to provide paid family leave...
Progress made in SF Bay Area transit talks Associated Press ...Negotiators for Bay Area Rapid Transit and its striking train workers made progress during overnight contract talks, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that a deal might be struck when talks resume later in the day...
Teamsters File Challenge Against State of Florida IBT ...Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 17,000 officers of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), filed a formal complaint against the state with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the state committed an unfair labor practice by trying to force illegal working conditions on corrections officers – taking away officers’ earned, paid time off...
Corrections workers ratify collective bargaining contract with New Hampshire Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 633, which represents more than 300 Department of Corrections' employees, has ratified a new two-year contract that provides workers with their first pay increase in five years...
Strike ends at Austintown beverage distributor WFMJ News ...Union members vote to end their strike of beverage distributor R.L. Lipton. The members of Teamsters Local 377 accepted a modified wage agreement during voting yesterday afternoon. They'll return to work on Monday...
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.20.13
American middle-class prosperity is pure fantasy Salon ...New research reveals that the US ranks 27th in the world when it comes to middle-class wealth...
Wages in U.S. fall amid overseas pressure Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Competition from China and other low-wage rivals, coupled with fallout from the 2007-09 financial crisis, has put American wages under such unprecedented strain that they have shifted into reverse -- not merely stagnating, but falling...
Brazil protesters win U-turn on fare rises The Guardian ...A quarter of a million people took to the streets in at least 12 cities on Monday to call for better public services, an end to corruption, punishment for police brutality, and less wasteful spending on the World Cup. Sporadic protests have continued since and spread to smaller cities...
U.S. piracy law opens new possibilities for exporters The Hindu ...The Unfair Competition Act (UCA), an anti-piracy law that was recently introduced in the United States, may provide Indian rubber exporters a chance to improve their presence in the fast growing U.S. rubber products market...
Port truckers unite Connect Savannah ...Oh, how we struggle with our love/hate relationship with cheap stuff. We knit our brows over children toiling away in faraway places like Saipan and China, but we can't help but help ourselves to six-dollar Old Navy t-shirts and 50 percent off tube socks at Sam's...
U.S. lawmakers urge careful review of American-US Airways deal Reuters ...Two U.S. lawmakers with antitrust oversight have urged the Obama administration to carefully review a planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways Group to ensure that it will not lead to higher prices for air travelers...
Moral Monday Protests Lead To 84 More Arrests In North Carolina: 'We Cannot Be Silenced' Huffington Post ...For the seventh week in a row, protesters crowded into the North Carolina General Assembly building on Monday in a boisterous demonstration against state GOP policies that ultimately led to 84 arrests...
Brewer signs controversial election bill into law Arizona Republic ...Her signature Wednesday on House Bill 2305 ushers in a wave of changes, from limits on who can return a voter’s ballot to the polls, to stricter controls on citizen initiatives, to tougher requirements for minor-party candidates to qualify for the Arizona ballot...
RI senate committee approves biweekly pay bill sought by business Providence Journal ...Over the objections of organized labor, a Senate committee has approved a bill that would relieve private-sector employers from having to pay their workers weekly...
Amazon dumps Minnesota affiliates to avoid collecting online state sales tax Pioneer Press ...In advance of having to collect online state sales tax, Amazon.com said that at the end of the month it will sever ties with its Minnesota-based affiliate websites that receive a fee for referring shoppers to the retail giant's online store…
Walker’s anti-union law heads for new test in court People’s World ...Here we go again in Wisconsin: Right-wing Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union law is headed for another test in the state's Supreme Court....
Hoffa: CEOs Want To Hide Riches Through Repeal Of Wage Gap Disclosure Requirement (opinion) Huffington Post ...The divide in pay between top executives and regular workers is out of control. A recent Bloomberg News calculation concluded that chief executives on average take home 204 times more than their rank-and-file employees...
First Student Drivers Join Local 174 IBT ....More than 370 First Student school bus drivers in Seattle have joined Teamsters Local 174 in Tukwila, Wash. The drivers, who work at four First Student yards, join the 17 school bus mechanics who are already members of Teamsters Local 174.
Teamster clerical workers at Washington Hospital get raises The Daily Review ...Clerical workers at Washington Hospital in Fremont, Calif., who are represented by Teamsters Local 856, will see their pay jump 5 percent under a deal approved by the board of directors...
UPS trucker wins Oklahoma driving championship The Oklahoman ...UPS driver Richie Guess, who has worked for UPS for 29 years, is one of nine truck drivers who will represent Oklahoma at the National Truck Driving Championships in August. Guess was named grand champion at this month's Oklahoma Truck Driving Championships...
Wages in U.S. fall amid overseas pressure Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Competition from China and other low-wage rivals, coupled with fallout from the 2007-09 financial crisis, has put American wages under such unprecedented strain that they have shifted into reverse -- not merely stagnating, but falling...
Brazil protesters win U-turn on fare rises The Guardian ...A quarter of a million people took to the streets in at least 12 cities on Monday to call for better public services, an end to corruption, punishment for police brutality, and less wasteful spending on the World Cup. Sporadic protests have continued since and spread to smaller cities...
U.S. piracy law opens new possibilities for exporters The Hindu ...The Unfair Competition Act (UCA), an anti-piracy law that was recently introduced in the United States, may provide Indian rubber exporters a chance to improve their presence in the fast growing U.S. rubber products market...
Port truckers unite Connect Savannah ...Oh, how we struggle with our love/hate relationship with cheap stuff. We knit our brows over children toiling away in faraway places like Saipan and China, but we can't help but help ourselves to six-dollar Old Navy t-shirts and 50 percent off tube socks at Sam's...
U.S. lawmakers urge careful review of American-US Airways deal Reuters ...Two U.S. lawmakers with antitrust oversight have urged the Obama administration to carefully review a planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways Group to ensure that it will not lead to higher prices for air travelers...
Moral Monday Protests Lead To 84 More Arrests In North Carolina: 'We Cannot Be Silenced' Huffington Post ...For the seventh week in a row, protesters crowded into the North Carolina General Assembly building on Monday in a boisterous demonstration against state GOP policies that ultimately led to 84 arrests...
Brewer signs controversial election bill into law Arizona Republic ...Her signature Wednesday on House Bill 2305 ushers in a wave of changes, from limits on who can return a voter’s ballot to the polls, to stricter controls on citizen initiatives, to tougher requirements for minor-party candidates to qualify for the Arizona ballot...
RI senate committee approves biweekly pay bill sought by business Providence Journal ...Over the objections of organized labor, a Senate committee has approved a bill that would relieve private-sector employers from having to pay their workers weekly...
Amazon dumps Minnesota affiliates to avoid collecting online state sales tax Pioneer Press ...In advance of having to collect online state sales tax, Amazon.com said that at the end of the month it will sever ties with its Minnesota-based affiliate websites that receive a fee for referring shoppers to the retail giant's online store…
Walker’s anti-union law heads for new test in court People’s World ...Here we go again in Wisconsin: Right-wing Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union law is headed for another test in the state's Supreme Court....
Hoffa: CEOs Want To Hide Riches Through Repeal Of Wage Gap Disclosure Requirement (opinion) Huffington Post ...The divide in pay between top executives and regular workers is out of control. A recent Bloomberg News calculation concluded that chief executives on average take home 204 times more than their rank-and-file employees...
First Student Drivers Join Local 174 IBT ....More than 370 First Student school bus drivers in Seattle have joined Teamsters Local 174 in Tukwila, Wash. The drivers, who work at four First Student yards, join the 17 school bus mechanics who are already members of Teamsters Local 174.
Teamster clerical workers at Washington Hospital get raises The Daily Review ...Clerical workers at Washington Hospital in Fremont, Calif., who are represented by Teamsters Local 856, will see their pay jump 5 percent under a deal approved by the board of directors...
UPS trucker wins Oklahoma driving championship The Oklahoman ...UPS driver Richie Guess, who has worked for UPS for 29 years, is one of nine truck drivers who will represent Oklahoma at the National Truck Driving Championships in August. Guess was named grand champion at this month's Oklahoma Truck Driving Championships...
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