Today's Teamster News 11.15.13

Teamsters Support Walmart Strikers   teamster.org   ...Teamsters are out front supporting Walmart worker protests in the run-up to the nationwide strike planned for Friday, Nov. 29, or Black Friday. Walmart workers want respect, a living wage and the right to form a union...
Teamsters Support 'SAFE SKIES ACT Of 2013  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union applauds today’s re-introduction of the ‘Safe Skies Act of 2013’ by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The bill would bring air cargo and supplemental pilots under the same safety regulations as air passenger pilots, standardizing rules within the industry...
Teamsters Condemn Cab Commission's Denying Driver Time To Speak At Public Meeting  DCist   ...At yesterday's extremely chaotic D.C. Taxicab Commission meeting, which was attended by over one hundred city cabbies, a driver without copies of his testimony for the commissioners was told he could not speak...
Maine Teamsters Endorse Michaud For Governor, Jackson For Congress  Teamsters Local 340   ...Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine announced that its executive board unanimously voted to endorse both Rep. Mike Michaud (D-2nd District) in his run for governor and State Senator Troy Jackson who is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Michaud...
Hoffa: Lawmakers Increasingly Realize Fast Track Is a Fraud  Huffington Post   ...The Teamsters for years have been an outspoken critic of fast-track trade authorization which allows bad proposed trade agreements to move through Congress on just a quick up-or-down vote. And in the last week, we were joined by 185 House lawmakers who feel the same way...
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you’ll like it  The Guardian   ...That is why it's been negotiated in secret meetings dominated by governments and corporations...
US trade deficit widened 8% in September  Associated Press   ...imports increased to the highest level in 10 months while exports slipped. The wider gap suggests growth was somewhat slower over the summer than previously estimated...
US mobility for young adults falls to 50-year low  Associated Press   ...Among adults ages 25-29, just 4.9 million, or 23.3 percent, moved in the 12 months ending March 2013. That's down from 24.6 percent in the same period the year before. It was the lowest level since at least 1963. The peak of 36.7 percent came in 1965, during the nation's youth counterculture movement...
Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds  The Guardian   ...State Policy Network rejects climate change, opposes workers' rights – and is backed by some top US tech and telecoms firms...
Koch-backed nonprofit spent record cash in 2012  Center for Public Integrity   ...Americans for Prosperity — the main political arm of billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch — spent a staggering $122 million last year as it unsuccessfully attempted to defeat President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of documents filed in Colorado...
How McDonald's And Walmart Became Welfare Queens  Bloomberg   ...It seems that welfare queens are back in the news these days. This time, they are even bigger, richer and less deserving of taxpayer support...
An example of how the banking cartels control countries  the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens   ...The biggest private banks created a complex financial environment with complex financial destructive "tools" which governments are unable to manage. Governments are forced to turn to the same banks for "advising services" while they are flooded with former bank executives placed in key positions. This explains why the biggest private banks receive bailout packages of billions at the expense of taxpayers, loading governments with more debt...
Justices grill lawyers over neutrality agreements between employers and unions  Washington Post   ...Supreme Court justices seemed reluctant Wednesday to disallow a type of agreement between employers and unions that has become increasingly important to the labor movement as it tries to grow its ranks...
Poverty Is America's #1 Education Problem (opinion)  AlterNet   ...Teachers' unions are not the reason America's schools are in trouble...
Troubled Youth Prison Company Wins Even More Contracts  Huffington Post   ...Despite voluminous evidence that inmates have suffered violence, sexual abuse and neglect inside the facilities of a private juvenile prison operator, the state of Florida has in recent weeks awarded fresh contracts to the company...
Lockheed to cut 4,000 jobs as U.S. government spending wanes  Reuters   ...Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp said on Thursday it plans to cut 4,000 jobs, or more than 3 percent of its worldwide workforce, to cope with declines in U.S. spending...
Swiss voters likely to reject salary cap bill for executives  Raw Story   ...Swiss voters look set to reject a law to rein in executive pay in a looming referendum, with a poll released Wednesday showing only around a third back the plan...
German union's incoming boss warns VW about avoiding unions  Reuters   ...The incoming leader of an influential German union warned Volkswagen AG on Wednesday about trying to avoid unions in Tennessee, where the German automaker has an assembly plant...
Giant, Safeway workers authorize possible strike   Washington Post   ...Unionized employees at Washington area Safeway and Giant Food stores voted Wednesday to authorize a strike against the grocery chains if the two parties fail to agree on a new contract...
Any proposal to ban BART workers from striking is not a simple matter (opinion)  San Francisco Examiner   ...The California Supreme Court has gone back and forth on whether public-sector employees, such as these BART workers last month, are allowed to walk off the job...
Boeing machinists soundly reject labor deal Reuters   ...Boeing machinists soundly rejected an eight-year labor contract extension on Wednesday that would have let them build the company's newest jetliner in Washington, a historic decision that could forever alter the course of Boeing's 97-year presence in the state...

Today's Teamster News 11.05.13

Cab Drivers Deliver Letter To Gray, Ask For Impoundment Halt  DCist   ...With the Teamsters behind them, a group of D.C. cab drivers gathered outside the Wilson Building to continue their fight against what they see as the problematic rollout of modernization efforts and to get Mayor Vince Gray's attention...
New grocery contract passes by ‘overwhelming majority’  Seattle Times   ...Grocery workers, who are represented by the Teamsters and UFCW in Western Washington, approved a new 3-year contract, ending a month-long series of negotiations that nearly led to a strike...
UPS driver wins praise for working 51 years without a crash  Detroit Free Press   ...UPS driver Tom Camp and his big, brown truck have done something no other UPS driver has accomplished: 51 years without an accident...
“We have the right to educate you”: Workplace indoctrination caught on tape  The Salon   ...In leaked recordings, bosses lecture workers not to unionize, and insist 'This truly is for your best interest'...
Despite Eight Ongoing Criminal/Civil Investigations of JPMorgan, the Bank’s a Law Enforcement Partner With the NYPD  Wall Street on Parade   ...The photo shows an employee of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s number one target for financial fraud investigations, JPMorgan Chase, working inside a high security spy center in Lower Manhattan to — wait for it — help the New York City Police Department catch crooks...
If 'Stop and Frisk' Is Such an Effective Tactic, Why Not Use an Electronic Version on Potentially Corrupt Bank CEOs?  Huffington Post   ...It's estimated that the 2008 financial crisis cost over $6 trillion. In 2009 alone, it's believed that an additional 5,000 people committed suicide due to the financial crisis and resulting unemployment, as the result of malfeasant senior bank officers...
Reich: The American Economy Is Cannibalizing Itself, and We the People Are Going to Pay a Huge Price  AlterNet   ...The bottom 90 percent of Americans have disappeared from official Washington...
One Million K-12 Students Are Homeless  Truthout   ...For many students, when they go to school each morning, they may have no idea where they will be sleeping that night...
Blaming the Poor for Poverty  Truthout   ...Most of the poverty in the U.S. is created from the sort of policies that cut taxes on the wealthy, do away with fiscal and other business regulations, shred the social safety net, and erode middle-class stability – all while singing the praises of self-reliance and individual responsibility...
How We Have Ended Up Paying for 1 Percenters Beach Vacation Homes  The Salon   ...It's time for the wealthy with vacation homes and valuable shoreline land to pay their own way -- and not rely on us...5 Ways Super-Rich Are Betraying America  AlterNet   ...This small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes...
Mexico gun battles leave many dead  The Guardian   ...Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs...
Immigration Reform Requires Dismantling NAFTA and Respecting Migrants' Rights  The Real News   ...“When the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed big U.S. grain companies, for instance, to dump cheap, cheap corn on the Mexican market, hundreds of thousands of Mexican farmers essentially were not able to sell their crops for the cost of growing it,” says Bacon.  “[They] had to leave home in order to survive, and wound up migrating to the north of Mexico, crossing the border, and coming here to the United States.”...
Colombian women on 'crossed legs' sex strike over crumbling highway  Global Post   ...Why, they asked, should they bring any more babies into the world when pregnant women were dying along the highway trying to get to the hospital?...
Bangladesh Garment Workers Get A Raise (But They Still Earn the Lowest Wages In The World) Associated Press ...A government-appointed panel in Bangladesh voted Monday to raise the minimum wage for millions of garment workers to about $66 a month — still the lowest in the world and well below what workers have been seeking...
Kochs’ Group Has Big Ambitions in Small Elections  New York Times   ...Backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity has been involved in local political contests in Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Iowa, but some are skeptical of its motives...
Koch group, unions battle over Colorado schools race  Politico   ...This fall, Americans for Prosperity is also spending big in the wealthy suburbs south of Denver to influence voters in the Douglas County School District, which has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise...
Fewer than 1/4th of Republicans Support Electing More Women to Congress  AlterNet   ...New poll reveals staggering partisan gender divide on women in politics...
Texas' Restrictive Voter ID Law Stops A Former U.S. House Speaker From Getting A Voter ID Card  Huffington Post   ...Former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright (D-Texas) unsuccessfully tried to get a voter identification card at a Texas Department of Public Safety office on Saturday...
As Pennsylvania Prepares to Fail, Other States Are Not Far Behind (opinion)  Talking Points Memo   ...It's hard to imagine that Pennsylvania is preparing to become a failed state, but it is. Despite world-class universities, active industries, and a global economic footprint, the Commonwealth has decided to cut funding for students and place its bets on a growing prison population...
Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen  Truthout   ...The United Auto Workers, so long frustrated in their attempts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., may have found a different way in...
BART union members approve contract  Progressive Railroading   ...Members of Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) two largest unions have ratified four-year contracts that will increase wages, require employee pension contribution, improve safety and allow BART to adopt technology to streamline operations…

Today's Teamster News 10.23.13

Teamsters Union optimistic for deal with CN Railway this week  Reuters   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union is optimistic that talks with Canadian National Railway Co, Canada's largest rail operator, will produce a deal this week…
Hershey Medical Center, Teamsters Continue Talks  Lebanon Daily News ...Negotiators for the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Teamsters Local 776 were expected to sit down with a federal mediator to hammer out a new contract...
'Local Union Communications: The Social Art of Educating Members' TLA to be Held December 3-4  teamster.org   ...This two-day Teamsters Leadership Academy (TLA), hosted by Local 986 in Los Angeles, will explore effective ways Teamster affiliates can communicate with members through the use of social networking, flyers, newsletters, websites and media. Don’t forget to register for this program...
Grocery Workers Strike in Puget Sound Averted  Sky Valley Chronicle   ...The large grocery store workers strike that was headed to begin October 21, by some 21,000 union employees against four large grocery chains, was averted at the wire by a tentative agreement reached by the negotiating teams for both sides in the dispute...
Top Five Ways Lobbyists Will Win and We Will Lose If a Major Corporate Trade Deal Goes Through  Alternet   ...The next time you want to share a song or a recipe online, you’d have to ask yourself: Am I a criminal? Interested in writing some fan fiction based on your favourite detective series and sharing it online? Ask yourself that very same question. That’s how TPP provisions could characterize you based on what we know about its Intellectual Property chapter...
Billion Dollar Pay Check? 10 CEOs in America Break All Records for Executive Pay  Alternet   ... the top 10 CEOs in this year's poll took home over $4.7bn between them and for the first time ever none earned less than $100m. "I have never seen anything like that," said Greg Ruel, GMI's senior research consultant and author of the report. "Usually we have a few CEOs at the $100m-plus level but never the entire top 10..."
College campuses see rise in homeless students  USA Today   ...Though hard data are lacking, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid estimates that there are 58,000 homeless students on campuses nationwide...
Plutocrats at Work: How Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy  Truthout   ...For a dozen years, big philanthropy has been funding a massive crusade to remake public education for low-income and minority children in the image of the private sector...
Tax breaks could ease pain of JPMorgan deal  Politico   ...JPMorgan Chase has struck a tentative deal with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion over dodgy mortgage products — but the biggest U.S. bank may be able to slash that bill by paying Uncle Sam less in taxes...
Following Nationwide Strikes, Bangladesh Garment Workers Win Minimum Wage Increase  The Real News   ...Garment workers in Bangladesh are poised to receive a 50 to 80 percent increase in the minimum wage following massive protests in September which closed more than 100 factories and caused a 20 percent decline in national production, according to a Reuters report citing the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association...
Limited service delays BART commuters as strike ends  Los Angeles Times   ...Despite having reached a deal Monday night to end a four-day Bay Area commuter-rail strike, staffing issues made for a rocky start for BART riders Tuesday morning...
Hatred of unions is misplaced, as they created the strong middle class (opinion) Canton Repository   ...I cannot understand why so many Americans have hatred for unions, which gave us a strong and vibrant middle class in the past...
Your prescription history is their business  Los Angeles Times   ...A secretive, for-profit service called ScriptCheck keeps track of all your prescriptions, even those you pay for with cash. Life insurers pay for the data...
More Americans pessimistic about economy after shutdown, poll shows  Los Angeles Times   ...Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the economy after the partial government shutdown and debt limit fight, according to poll results released Tuesday...
Feeding antibiotics to livestock is bad for humans, but Congress won’t stop it   Washington Post   ...The farm and pharmaceutical lobbies have blocked all meaningful efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising livestock in America, a practice that contributes to a major public health risk, according to a study released Tuesday...
Ohio State University has invested millions with friend of Gov. John Kasich and Gordon Gee, but officials won't share details about the deal  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ... Ohio State University has invested tens of millions of dollars in a new, untested fund co-founded by a venture capitalist who enjoys close relationships with recently retired university president E. Gordon Gee and Gov. John Kasich. The deal was done behind closed doors, right around the time trustees changed OSU policy to allow top administrators more leeway over how to invest operating funds...
Court Holds Wisconsin Officials In Contempt For Enforcing Scott Walker’s Anti-Union Law  ThinkProgress   ...A Wisconsin judge who declared Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) union-busting law unconstitutional more than a year ago held the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission in contempt of court on Monday for continuing to enforce that law against school and municipal workers...
Capitol Hill Needs to Save the Middle Class (opinion)  teamster.org   ...America’s ever-shrinking middle class is not only feeling pain in their wallet from lower take-home pay. Many are also witnessing a change in the places they live and the schools their children attend that could alter the fabric of our society for years to come...

Today's Teamster News 10.22.13

Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Awards Scholarships   Teamsters Joint Council 25 … The Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus awarded $6,000 in academic scholarships on Oct. 16 to a dozen Illinois Teamsters and the sons and daughters of active Teamster members...
Chester Upland approves deal with Teamsters  Delaware County Daily Times   ...Chester Upland School District (Pennsylvania) approved a one-month contract extension with the district’s custodial and maintenance employees, who represented by Teamsters Local 312...
BART Strike Has Commuters Facing Gridlock  Associated Press   …San Francisco Bay Area commuters started the new work week on Monday with gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day, while investigators are searching for clues to a train crash that killed two workers...
ILA Halts Strike at Baltimore  Journal of Commerce   ...International Longshoremen’s Association workers agreed Friday to return to work for 90 days while negotiators work on a local contract that triggered a three-day strike at the Port of Baltimore. An arbitrator ruled that ILA Local 333’s walkout over a local contract violated the no-strike clause in the union’s coastwide master contract…
AFL-CIO To Democrats: We'll Work To End Your Career If You Cut Social Security Or Medicare  Huffington Post   ..."We will never forget. We will never forgive. And we will never stop working to end your career..."
McDowell County, USA Has Close to Haiti's Life Expectancy: Welcome to Third World America  Alternet   ...Many Americans, especially in the South, can look forward to dying far younger than their counterparts in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe...
Suicide Rate Climbs by 30 Percent in Kansas as Government Slashes Mental Health Budgets  The Nation   ...the recession may have pushed already troubled people over the edge. Being unable to find a job or settling for one with lower pay or prestige could add “that final weight to a whole chain of events...”
JP Morgan to Pay $13 Billion in Fines, NYT Says, but Still No Criminal Charges Against Top Wall Street Execs  Buzzflash   ...Neither has there been any serious DOJ attempt -- as BuzzFlash has repeatedly written commentaries about over the past few years -- to hold the Wall Street execs criminally accountable for acts of fraud with a devastating financial impact that almost crashed the US economy. Our prisons are filled with burglars, check kiters, income tax evaders and others who are pikers compared to the masters of the universe who run Wall Street...
BofA Said to Face Three More U.S. Probes of Mortgage-Bond Sales  Bloomberg   ...Bank of America Corp., sued by U.S. attorneys in August over an $850 million mortgage bond, faces three additional Justice Department civil probes over mortgage-backed securities, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation...
SEC Files Charges in Magnetar Deal  Pro Publica   ...Magnetar worked with investment banks to build CDOs that the hedge fund also bet against.  Magnetar would buy the riskiest part of the CDO, which gave it influence in picking which bonds would be included in the CDO. In turn, the hedge fund pushed riskier bonds that would make the investment more likely to fail...
Nissan under mounting pressure as United Auto Workers union targets Mississippi plant  Raw Story   ...The United Auto Workers is ratcheting up pressure on Nissan in the hopes it may finally succeed at organizing the Japanese automaker’s plant in the typically anti-union southern US state of Mississippi...
Privatization Benefits the 1%: Public Services Benefit Everyone  Truth-Out   ...Private systems are focused on making profits for a few well-positioned people. Public systems, when sufficiently supported by taxes, work for everyone in a generally equitable manner. The following are six specific reasons why privatization simply doesn't work...
How Taxpayers Get Punished by Private Prison “Lockup Quotas"   Demos   ...In the Public Interest (ITPI) recently released a shocking study on the alarming frequency of state private prison contracts that contain “occupancy quotas” that guarantee for-profit prison companies a steady stream of revenue even if prison populations decline...
More U.S. students borrowing for college  CBS News   ...The number of U.S. students who borrow money for college continues to climb, while the number of graduates who are paying off these loans is slipping...
Smithfield Foods Acquisition: A Lot of Bacon for China  Journal of Commerce   ...Chinese consumers soon could be in line for a lot more U.S. pork in mainland grocery stores. Shareholders in Smithfield Foods voted Sept. 24 to approve the company’s $4.7 billion purchase by Shuanghui International Holdings, the largest acquisition of a U.S. company by a Chinese business...
How dare you filthy peasants know…  Fire Dog Lake   ...Pretty much, oh 99 percent, of the country knows that the pay ratio of corporate CEOs to their workers is obscene. But to the CEOs the real obscenity is that people know just how obscene...
Secret probe spreads to five Wisconsin counties  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Sources familiar with the probe told the Journal Sentinel that it was scrutinizing a wide variety of state-related issues, including the recall races. Sources suggested the probe is looking at a current legislative leader and the governor's contest...
Judge holds employment commissioners in contempt in Act 10 ruling  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Monday's ruling by Circuit Judge Juan Colás will give teachers and local government workers the ability to immediately enter labor negotiations with their bosses; likely result in the cancellation of union recertification elections set for November; and grant official state recognition of a Kenosha teachers union that had been decertified...
Pennsylvania inmates on work detail declared public workers  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...A jail inmate on a work detail can be considered a public employee, Commonwealth Court has ruled in a decision that could open the door to liability against a government entity for injuries that may stem from such work assignments...

Today's Teamster News 10.19.13

Teamsters Stop FMCSA Attack on Truck Drivers  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union helped score a victory for truck drivers this week when H.R. 3095 was signed into law compelling the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to follow the formal rulemaking process to set strict guidelines for when they can require screening, testing and treatment for sleep apnea...
Star-Ledger unions ratify new 4-year contracts, agree to buyouts   Star-Ledger   ...After months of negotiations under the cloud of a threatened shutdown of the state’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger’s production unions, including the Teamsters Union, have ratified new four-year contracts, agreeing to buyout packages for at least 55 workers...
Since End of U.S. Recession, More Seniors in Workforce  Gallup   ... There has been a three-point increase since 2010 in the percentage of Americans aged 65 and older who are in the workforce -- employed full time through an employer, self-employed, working part time, or unemployed but actively searching for work. At the same time, there has been a two-point decrease in the percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who are in the workforce...
Millennials still lag in forming their own households  Pew Research   ... most Millennials (adults ages 18 to 32) are still not setting out on their own. As of March 2013, only about one-in-three Millennials (34%) headed up their own household...
Is The Debt Still Worth The Degree?  zero hedge   ...The price of a college education has increased 1,000% or more over the past 3 decades...
You Thought the Government Shutdown Was Over. You Were Wrong. New Republic ...It was an awful time. Federal employees had to take unpaid furlough days. Beneficiaries were thrown off of federal programs. Courthouses had to be sold. Federal agencies like the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health strained to meet commitments, leading to more crime, more outbreaks of disease and less basic research, among other horrors. This may sound like a description of the recent government shutdown, which ended October 16. But this describes the fallout from sequestration...
Pro-Coal Kids' Pages Pulled from Government Site as Public Pressure Increases Alternet ...The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has removed coal-related educational sections from its website, less than two weeks after the launch of a grassroots campaign demanding that the pages be taken down...
Food Stamp Outage Highlights Problems With Privatization of Public Services  Truthout   ...Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a subsidiary of Xerox since 2000 that specializes in privatizing government administrative services for the most economically vulnerable Americans, has taken heat in the past for siphoning excessive fees from welfare recipients, mismanaging Medicaid payment systems, and failing to complete multimillion dollar contracts for public agencies...
"Fix the Debt's" "Fix the Debt Q&A" needs to be fixed (hilarious)  Storify   ..."Fix the Debt" decided to have a Twitter Q&A about fixing the debt. I'm not sure it went the way they wanted...
How Mexico is upending the U.S. auto industry  Washington Post ...More U.S. automakers have been shifting their plants south of the border, attracted by Mexico's lower wages and dense industrial clusters…
States Clamping Down on Workers Mislabeled as Contractors  Bloomberg News   ...When construction slowed during the recession, some companies hired workers and wrongly designated them as independent contractors to avoid paying insurance, taxes, fair wages and overtime...
Scott Walker Steers State Funds to Union Busters  PolicyMic   ...Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) made headlines in 2011 with his plans to bust public sector unions and strip unions of their collective bargaining powers, which led to mass protests in the Madison Capitol building. Now he is back with his latest contribution to increasing jobs in Wisconsin: making them up and steering them to his supporters...
Moral Monday Leader Comes To Boone Oct. 28  High Country Press   ...Moral Monday leader Rev. William Barber II will address “The Necessity of a Moral Movement in North Carolina and the Nation” on Monday, Oct. 28...
BART strike: About 400,000 S.F.-area commuters to be affected  Los Angeles Times   ...Bay Area residents were without commuter rail service and facing a morning of frustration Friday as BART workers went on strike after a week of marathon negotiation collapsed overnight...
Michigan Walmart worker says he was fired for helping assaulted woman  Associated Press ...A Michigan man says he was fired from his job at Walmart after he tried to help a woman being assaulted in the parking lot of one of the retail giant's stores and ended up fighting with her attacker...
Wal-Mart workers on strike, defying firings  The Salon   ...In protest of paltry hours and defiance of firings, over 80 Wal-Mart workers in Hialeah, Florida walk off the job...
The U.S. Blows Everyone Else Out Of The Water In 1 Key Way  Huffington Post   ...That one way? We're really, really good at creating really, really rich people -- like, $50 million-plus rich. Just ignore the fact that our 400 wealthiest people are worth more than the entire bottom half of the country combined. Look at the chart…
Krugman on GOP’s “top-down class warfare”  The Salon   ...The New York Times columnist explains how the GOP policies have stalled a true economic recovery...
McDonald's Has Their Hands in All of Our Pockets  AlterNet   ...Do you want to pay for billion dollar companies to make more money? Of course not, but in recent studies, we learned that we are, in fact, playing billions of dollar to support low-wage fast food workers for America's top seven restaurant chains...
Euro Capitals Tighten Fiscal Leash as EU Polices Cuts  Bloomberg News   ...Even with the 17-nation euro area projecting economic expansion next year, policy makers are keeping a fiscal leash on growth by maintaining austerity policies to save the euro...

Today's Teamster News 10.17.13

Gov't reopens after Congress ends 16-day shutdown  Associated Press   ...The government reopened its doors Thursday after a battle-weary Congress approved a bipartisan measure to end a 16-day partial shutdown and avert the possibility of an economy-jarring default on U.S. obligations...
Government shutdown has cost US economy $1.5bn a day, S&P says  The Guardian   ...Ratings agency says impasse has shaved 0.6% off US GDP in the fourth quarter – equivalent to taking $24bn from the economy...
The Perpetual Budget Crises Have Already Cost 900,000 Jobs  ThinkProgress   ...The reliance on crisis-driven governing since the House changed hands in the 2010 elections has already cost 900,000 jobs, according to a study commissioned by the conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation...
South Dakota's cattle cataclysm: why isn't this horror news?  The Guardian   ...Ranchers in South Dakota lost tens of thousands of cattle from a freak storm. Thanks to the shutdown, no one is paying attention...
U.S. Standard of Living Index Sinks to 10-Month Low  Gallup   ...The index is a summary of whether Americans are satisfied with their current standard of living and perceive it as getting better or worse...
Greek union calls general strike for Nov 6   Associated Press   ...Greece's largest labor union has called a new general strike for Nov. 6, warning that unemployment has reached "nightmare" levels and that working rights are continually being eroded by austerity measures...
ILA Strike Closes Baltimore Port  Journal of Commerce   ...The Port of Baltimore closed Wednesday when International Longshoremen’s Association members went on strike after voting down a proposed local contract with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore...
San Francisco Bay-area rail strike again averted; Morning commute to proceed as talks continue  Associated Press   ...San Francisco Bay-area commuters again waited late into the night before federal mediators announced late Tuesday that a planned rail strike would once more be delayed and contract negotiations would continue...
DHL, BP Sign Five-Year Freight Forwarding Deal  Journal of Commerce   ...DHL has signed a new, five-year agreement to provide global freight management and forwarding services for BP, the London-based oil and gas company...
‘Black Bloc’ anarchists emerging as a force amid unrest in Brazil  Raw Story   ...On Tuesday, they fought police in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo at the close of a march by striking teachers, hurling firebombs and tearing metal shutters from buildings to use as shields against police who responded with tear gas and pepper spray...
Group Says Haitian Garment Workers Are Shortchanged on Pay  New York Times   ...Garment factories in Haiti, the backbone of an effort to revive the country’s earthquake-shattered economy, have seriously shortchanged workers of their wages to keep costs of their T-shirts and other export goods low, according to a report issued by a labor rights group...
Fast-Food Giants Make Billions While Their Workers Use Billions In Welfare Benefits  AlterNet   ...Two new studies profile the worst employers in America...
UN Official Slams GOP as Shutdown Delays US Human-Rights Review  The Hill   ...A United Nations official tore into House Republicans this week after the government shutdown forced the Obama administration to postpone a long-awaited review of its compliance with its international human-rights obligations...
Outsourced Cities, Brought to You by CH2M Hill  Center for Media and Democracy ...When Wall Street collapsed the economy in 2008, one company was eager to buy public assets from cash-strapped governments. Across the country, for-profit companies are engaged in a hostile takeover of our schools, roads, prisons, drinking water, and even government itself...
JPMorgan paying $100M, admitting manipulation of prices in settlement over $6B trading loss  Associated Press   ...JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and admitted that it “recklessly” distorted prices during a series of London trades that ultimately cost the bank $6 billion in losses...
Employers grapple with workplace safety amid new gun laws  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Offices around the nation are struggling with laws that allow employers to ban guns in the workplace, but not in the parking lot, The Wall Street Journal reports...
Calif. Governor Signs Prevailing Wage Bill  Reuters  ...Starting Jan. 1, 2015, charter cities in California will be required to pay prevailing wages for public works construction projects or face not receiving any state funding, according to Senate Bill 7 that was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday...
North Carolina is first state to cut welfare amid federal shutdown  Reuters   ...North Carolina has become the first state to cut off welfare benefits to poor residents in the wake of the partial federal government shutdown, ordering a halt to processing November applications until a deal is reached to end the federal standstill...
About half of Maidenform’s 1,330 employees to lose jobs in Hanesbrands deal  Winston-Salem Journal   ...Hanesbrands Inc. said it will close the New Jersey headquarters of Maidenform Brands Inc. as part of a large-scale merger of the two apparel companies, resulting in the loss of nearly half of Maidenform’s 1,330 global workforce...

Today's Teamster News 09.24.13

Warehouse Workers in Georgia Join Teamsters Local 528  teamster.org   ...On September 11, warehouse workers at Americold in McDonough, Georgia voted to become Teamsters...
Teamsters at Darigold Leaflet Walmart & Sam's Club Shoppers at 10 Locations  Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, distributed leaflets at ten Walmart and Sam’s Club locations throughout the day to inform consumers about the company’s multiple violations of federal labor law and the growing threat of a potential lockout or strike...
Wegmans Employees Disgruntled Over Retirement Payments  Rochester Homepage   ...Dozens of people were outside Wegmans' company officers Friday practicing picketing over disagreements with Wegmans on retirement payments and wages. Current warehouse and driver employees are represented through the Teamsters Union...
The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business  AlterNet   ...That's more than an insult—it's an attack...
White House rebuffed union pleas to ditch Walmart  Salon   ...Labor leader says allies in the Administration tried to persuade First Lady to dump retail giant -- but were denied...
Bank of America goes to trial over U.S. mortgage fraud charges  Reuters   ...Bank of America Corp heads to trial this week over allegations its Countrywide unit approved deficient home loans in a process called "Hustle," defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government enterprises that underwrite mortgages...
One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds  Washington Wire   ...A new academic paper digging into presidential betting in the final weeks of the 2012 election finds that a single trader lost between $4 million and $7 million placing a flurry of Intrade bets on Mitt Romney—perhaps to make the Republican nominee’s chance of victory appear brighter...
Child Labor Dropped By One-Third Over The Past Decade, But UN Officials Urge Faster Progress  Associated Press   ...The number of children doing hazardous work dropped by half to 85 million from 2000 to 2012, but the rate of progress isn't fast enough to meet the goal of having no child laborers by 2016...
Suicides Spiked One Year After Great Recession: Study  Huffington Post   ...The Great Recession resulted in 5,000 additional suicides worldwide in 2009, according to a recent study -- the first to look at suicide trends globally in the wake of the crisis...
At 77, He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage  Bloomberg News   ...At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, he juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator, the other flipping burgers…
Why are 47 million Americans on food stamps?  Washington Post   ...There's a fairly basic question underlying the current food-stamp debate in Congress. Why has the program grown so rapidly over the past few years — to the point where 47 million people, one-sixth of the country, now receive food stamps?...
Buy a House, Make Your Payments, Then Discover You've Been Foreclosed On Without Your Knowledge  AlterNet   ...This should never happen, but it did, thanks to the sordid mortgage servicing industry...
Chiquita Asks Court To Block Suits Blaming Banana Giant For Violent Deaths  Associated Press   ...Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war...
Ag-gag resurfaces, threatens whistleblowers  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette   ...Opponents of ag-gag legislation reasonably fear that it obstructs First Amendment rights. Such legislation also protects illegal and unethical practices while punishing whistleblowers...
Major police union will sit out race for New Jersey governor  Star-Ledger   ...In a blow to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, one of New Jersey’s two largest police unions has decided to sit out the election for governor...
Florida offers to cut loan balances for 'underwater' homeowners  Orlando Sentinel   ...Florida homeowners with "underwater" mortgages may now qualify to have as much as $50,000 chopped from their loan balance under a new program announced Friday by the state...
Amazon to collect 6 pct sales tax in WV  Associated Press   ...Amazon will start collecting a 6 percent sales tax on purchases shipped to West Virginia starting Oct. 1...
BART prepares for another possible worker strike  Associated Press   ...As another potential strike looms, Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are preparing other ways to get commuters to work, including possibly allowing managers to drive a limited number of trains...

Today's Teamster News 09.20.13

Strike, lockout possibilities for Darigold workers  KIRO TV   ...Workers at Darigold, who have worked without a contract since June 1, staged an informational picket line a couple of weeks ago with signs that read "just practicing." Now the members of Teamster Local 117 believe their company has set the stage for a lockout or strike...
Middle-Class Decline Mirrors The Fall Of Unions In One Chart  Huffington Post   ...This week the Census Bureau reported the latest depressing decline in middle-class incomes during the so-called economic recovery. But it may have missed an important factor in this story. As union membership declines, middle-class incomes shrink...
Income, Poverty, and Healthcare 2012: The Patient Did Not Get Worse But Remains Seriously Ill  Corrente   ...A comparison of real household income over the past five years showed an 8.3 percent decline since 2007, the year before the nation entered an economic recession, and a 9.0 percent decrease from the 1999 peak of $56,080...
The Era of Cheap Gasoline is Over  OilPrice   ...The last time the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was below $3.00, however, was the day before Christmas Eve 2010. AAA said that, on average, prices may never be that low again...
As President’s Export Council Meets, No Chance to Meet Obama’s Export Doubling Goal; Exports Fall Under Free Trade Agreements  Public Citizen   ...recent government data show it will be virtually impossible to meet Obama’s stated goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. The same data shows that in 16 out of 16 months since the Korea “free trade” agreement (FTA) took effect last year, U.S. goods exports to Korea have fallen below the average export level in the year before the deal...
Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control  New York Times   ...Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite recriminations from critics...
Search for L.A. film czar drags on at City Hall  Los Angeles Times   ....L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is still searching for a film czar to serve as an industry advocate in City Hall and to help stop runaway production...
AAR: Rail Traffic increased in August  Calculated Risk   ...The Association of American Railroads (AAR) ... reported increased total U.S. rail traffic for the month of August 2013, with intermodal setting a new record and carload volume increasing overall compared with August 2012...
Union rep: Cutbacks cost lives in Navy Yard shooting  USA TODAY   ...A top union official for Washington Navy Yard police says he believes fewer lives would have been lost had the department not been understaffed during the attack that left the shooter and 12 of his victims dead...
Tensions Between BART and Unions Escalate, Transit Strike Looming  SF Weekly   ...After another full day of negotiations Wednesday, it's fair to say things between BART and its unions are getting worse, not better...
Labor to “play heavily” in state elections next year  People’s World   ...Organized labor, with its community allies, will "play heavily" in state gubernatorial and legislative races next year, its top two political operatives say...
Watch the growth of U.S. income inequality with this animated map  Washington Post   ...Here's a fascinating visualization of how inequality in the United States has evolved over the years...
Postmaster says USPS may need emergency rate hike  Associated Press   ...The Postal Service may need an emergency rate increase to stay afloat, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe who says the agency’s cash balance next month likely will cover only five days of its average daily expenses...
The Monsanto Protection Act Is Back!  Huffington Post   ...The agrichemical companies may have the best lobbyists in town. Last May, the agrichemical giants -- Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont, BASF -- pulled off a stunning maneuver to protect their massive profits. These companies could have legal protection to continue selling their products even if the courts pulled the products from the market...
In JPMorgan case, a rare admission: bank broke the law  Los Angeles Times   ...The $920-million settlement JPMorgan Chase and Co. struck with regulators in the "London Whale" fiasco contains something rare: an admission the bank broke the law...
More Amazon Warehouse Workers Sue Retailer Over Unpaid Security Waits  Huffington Post   ...A growing number of Amazon.com warehouse workers are suing the online retail giant and its contractors for requiring them to undergo time-consuming and unpaid security screenings in order to do their jobs...
Misplaced Idea to Private the Tennessee Valley Authority Brings Unions, GOP Together  The We Party   ...The budget proposed by President Barack Obama in April floated an idea to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a crown jewel of the New Deal. Labor unions expressing deep opposition to the idea are being joined by unlikely allies in the fight...
Ohio unions keep watchful eye on Right to Work legal challenge in Indiana  PR News Channel   ...Ohio union supporters are anxiously watching the developments in Indiana on the heels of the state’s controversial Right to Work law being ruled unconstitutional by a Lake County judge last week…
Wisconsin's Anti-Voting Law Heads to Federal Court  Huffington Post   ...With deceptively little fanfare or attention, a federal judge in Wisconsin is poised to preside over the first trial challenging a photo ID law under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott seeks Supreme Court review of worker drug test  Associated Press   ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of his executive order requiring random drug tests for thousands of state employees...
Senator: 'Flawed' bidding process led to privatization of prison food service  Lansing State Journal   ...A Republican senator told the Civil Service Commission on Wednesday that a flawed bidding process led to the state’s decision to privatize food service for 45,000 Michigan prisoners and eliminate about 370 state jobs...

Today's Teamster News 08.20.13

DeKalb County Workers Nearer to Union  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...DeKalb County took a huge step toward having its first union representing nonpublic safety workers...
Don’t Forget to Register for the Teamster Women’s Conference  IBT   ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Sign up to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers in this dynamic event while space is still available!...
Shaheen: High Sugar Prices Not Sweet for Jobs  Portsmouth Patch   ...Speaking to union representatives at the Teamsters Bakery and Laundry Conference in Portsmouth Monday, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said high sugar prices are killing manufacturing jobs across the country...
Rally for fair trade Tuesday in Minneapolis  Workday Minnesota   ...Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen will headline a rally Tuesday by union members, community groups and others to protest the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal...
Fast-food workers call for nationwide walkout Aug. 29  Washington Post   ...Emboldened by an outpouring of support on social media, low-wage fast-food and retail workers from eight cities that staged walkouts earlier this year are calling for a national day of strikes on Aug. 29...
Moral Monday protesters rail against 'Mecklenburg trio'  Charlotte Observer   ...One of the city’s largest protests – police estimated about 2,000 demonstrators – packed into uptown’s Marshall Park...
Despite nearly 300 arrests, Capitol protest grows  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Participation in the noontime Capitol protest against Gov. Scott Walker continued to crescendo Monday despite nearly four weeks of almost daily arrests for gathering in the rotunda without a permit...
Americans Get Fewer Paid Sick Days Than Two Decades Ago  Think Progress   ...Compared to 1993, Americans now get fewer paid sick days from their employers on average, dropping from 10 days a year to eight for a worker who has been with a company for a year. The decrease becomes bigger the longer an employee stays on...
Bangladesh’s Workers Deserve Better  New York Times   ...Four months after a building collapse killed more than 1,100 factory workers in Bangladesh, their families are still waiting for adequate — and in some cases, any — compensation. This is a shocking lapse by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government...
Democrats push back on voting rights  Washington Post   ...After crying foul over Republican efforts to modify election laws in key states, Democrats are launching their own wide-ranging push to change the way Americans vote, kicking off the latest battles in a fight over voting rights that’s as old as the republic itself...
Congressman Brags About ‘Savings’ In Farm Bill, Ignoring Devastating Food Stamp Cuts  Think Progress   ...Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) flagrantly misrepresented what the House has done with the farm bill at a recent constituent breakfast in Turlock, California. Denham claimed the House farm bill cuts twice as much spending as it actually does, misled about the nature of those cuts, and ignored his party’s unprecedented decision to drop food stamps and other anti-hunger and anti-poverty spending from the bill...
The Incredible Con the Banksters Pulled on the FBI (opinion)  OpEdNews   ...criminal referrals have virtually vanished against the "accounting control frauds" that drive our recurrent, intensifying financial crises...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Said to Avoid Billions in Write-Offs  Bloomberg News   ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have reported record profits after a taxpayer bailout, are ignoring billions of dollars in potential losses on delinquent loans as they take three years to adopt a new accounting system, a government auditor said in a letter made public today...
Samsung hit with lawsuit over labor conditions  Washington Post   ...Samsung has been named in a lawsuit filed by a Brazilian labor group, which said working conditions at the technology firm’s assembly lines were in violation of Brazilian law. The group is asking for at least $108 million in damages...
Obama goes to bat for Big Tobacco in TPP  Action on Smoking and Health   ...Legal analysts for the public health community, who were briefed Friday morning in a closed session by administration officials, agreed that the new proposal will do little to protect governments’ right to regulate tobacco...
1,800 Ohio jobs lost  Dayton Daily News   ...Offshoring continues to impact Ohio with companies cutting at least 1,800 jobs in the state since January, according to petitions for federal assistance from employees, labor groups, and company officials...
Support lacking for BART strike ban  San Francisco Examiner   ...BART remains the busiest public transit system in the U.S. that does not have a worker strike ban in place, and the route to blocking that right could be a long journey...
There's A New Push To Raise Seattle Minimum Wage To $15 Per Hour  Associated Press   ...Washington already has the nation's highest state minimum wage at $9.19 an hour. Now, there's a push in Seattle, at least, to make it $15...
Indiana customers due $32M from 6 utilities  Indianapolis Business Journal   ...Indiana's largest power companies are set to reimburse their customers $32 million after falling short on spending for energy efficiency last year...
Minnesota factories' output up, employment down  Minnesota Public Radio   ...Minnesota's factories are churning out lots of products like airplane parts and medical devices these days, but they're not exactly going on hiring sprees...

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...

Today's Teamster News 08.13.13

The No Jobs Economy is the New Economy  Economic Populist   ...Of the 161,000 reported private sector jobs gained in July, 157,000 or 97.5 percent, are in non-tradable domestic services. A non-tradable service is a job that produces services that cannot be exported, such as waitresses, bartenders, hospital orderlies, retail clerks, warehousemen....
Your mortgage documents are fake!  Salon   ... The lawsuit states that banks resorted to fake documents because they could not legally establish true ownership of the loans when trying to foreclose...
J.C. Penney, Best Buy Customer Data Collection Stirs Privacy Concerns  Associated Press   ...It's not just the government that might be keeping tabs on you. Many retailers are tracking you, too – or at least your merchandise returns...
It's Time to Do Something When a Corporation Like WalMart Won't Pay a Living Wage: Or Else We All Pay  AlterNet   ...Walmart employees are the single largest group of Medicaid recipients in the United States...
Supersize Those Wages, McDonald's (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Last month, McDonald's gave its workers a little gift -- a budget purporting to show how to survive on the starvation wages the burger behemoth pays. The bizarre financial plan made millionaire McDonald's CEO Don Thompson look like a real clown...
Mankind: Death by Corporation, Part III - the TPP as Corporate Deathstar (opinion)  Truthout   ...Instead of protecting US citizens, the Obama administration is enabling the ultimate corporate "Deathstar." The TransPacific Partnership will allow corporations "virtually unchecked control of our food supply, our land, air, water, wallets and our future..."
Six federal agencies investigating online payday lenders  Center for Public Integrity   ...A half-dozen federal agencies, including the Justice and Treasury departments, are probing the practices of online payday lenders that target the poor...
Banks test U.S. IRS anti-tax shelter weapon in STARS wars  Reuters   ...A sharp tool in the U.S. government's fight against corporate tax shelters will be put to the test in the months ahead as the IRS grapples with four major banks over structured transactions done a decade ago with Barclays Plc. The IRS contends the transactions, known as STARS deals, were designed purely to facilitate tax dodging...
Court Reverses Class Action Status in Rail Price-Fixing Lawsuit  Journal of Commerce   ...The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington recently reversed a ruling that turned a price-fixing lawsuit against four U.S.-based Class I railroads into a class action...
Judge grants Bay Area transit strike reprieve  Associated Press   ...San Francisco Bay Area commuters got a reprieve from a potential transit strike when a judge on Sunday granted California Gov. Jerry Brown's request for a 60-day cooling-off period in negotiations between the Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency and two of its largest unions...
North Carolina Voter ID Bill Signed Into Law By Gov. Pat McCrory, Sparking Lawsuits  Huffington Post   ...North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill Monday requiring photo identification at the polls and eliminating a slew of voting measures designed to protect against voter disenfranchisement...
North Carolina tax changes: Where you stand  Charlotte Observer   ...Sweeping new changes to the North Carolina tax code will touch the purses and wallets of virtually every taxpayer in the state. The legislation will affect everything from the size of our annual tax bills to the way we shop for back-to-school clothes. But that’s where the agreement ends...
Kinder suggests “Right to Work” will go on the ballot, unions are ready for the fight  Missouri Times   ...The efforts of both sides on the “Right to Work” debate have been vocal the last few months, after the Associated Press’ David Lieb reported that Missouri’s Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder made comments at the ALEC conference that the issue will likely be put on a voter referendum ballot...
Labor lifts Martin Walsh’s mayoral campaign  Boston Globe   ...Dozens of labor groups — Teamsters, painters, pipe fitters, firefighters — have helped Mass. State Rep. Martin J. Walsh forge a formidable campaign in his run for Boston mayor with six weeks left until voters head to the polls...
California minimum wage bill sidetracked for more negotiations  Los Angeles Times   ...A proposal to increase the minimum wage by $2 over five years was sidelined, at least temporarily, on Monday because it would cost the state millions of dollars...

Today's Teamster News 08.09.13

Oxford deputies to vote on joining the Teamsters Union  Oxford Hills Sun Journal   ...Oxford County Sheriff's deputies in Maine are set to begin voting on whether to drop their current bargaining agent and become members of Teamsters Local 340...
Talks break down between Ikea and striking Teamster workers  Vancouver Sun   ...The union representing Ikea workers in Richmond, British Columbia has rejected the company’s latest offer, including an automatic wage increase, as talks ground to a halt in the four-month labor dispute...
Little Campbell train trestle talks on track   Peace Arch News   ...Meetings between BNSF and Semiahmoo First Nation are planned later this month to discuss replacing the Little Campbell River railway bridge that union leaders, including Bill Brehl, President of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division, have voiced concerns about safety...
ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress   PRWatch   ...The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report: "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress." The new report identifies and analyzes 466 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bills introduced in 2013 that reflect corporate agenda...
ALEC Meeting In Chicago Draws Conservative Lawmakers, Protesters  Associated Press   ...As meeting participants handed out awards and dined at a meal sponsored by the Texas Oil and Gas Association, picketers denouncing "corporate greed" paced the sidewalks and clogged the street in front of the Chicago hotel hosting the conference...
Wisconsin Capitol Protesters Defiant Despite Growing Crackdown  The Real News   ... In the past two weeks alone, more than 100 demonstrators have been arrested during the weekly held Solidarity Sing-Along protests, with this most recent wave of arrests taking place on Tuesday, August 6...
JPMorgan Under Criminal and Civil Investigation Over Mortgages  firedoglake   ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. disclosed in a SEC filing that it was under criminal investigation and had already been notified by the Department of Justice’s civil division that it had violated federal securities laws in offerings of subprime and Alt-A residential mortgage securities during 2005 to 2007...
Bank of England governor calls for change in banks' culture  The Telegraph   ...There must be a change of culture in “socially useless” banks that disconnect themselves from the real economy, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney has suggested...
Walmart pays $190,000 fine and agrees to improve safety at 2,800 stores  The Guardian   ...Walmart has agreed to improve safety conditions at more than 2,800 stores in 28 US states after inspectors discovered "repeat and serious" health and safety violations at a store in Rochester, New York...
Fast-Food Fight (opinion)  New York Times   ...As measured by the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, low-paid work in America is lower paid today than at any time in modern memory...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Shrank In June  TradeReform   ...The enormous, humongous, vast, staggering, unbelievable, job-sucking, economy-sucking US trade deficit shrank to “only” $34.2 billion from a revised $44.1 billion in May. Exports of US goods and petroleum were up, imports of petroleum and consumer goods were down....
Chasing costs, a ‘sweatshop locator’  New York Times   ...Disasters at garment factory buildings in Bangladesh, such as the collapse of this building earlier this year, have the clothing industry looking for new locations to place factories. To find such places, it turns to Li & Fung, a company most American shoppers have never heard of...
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...
Hearing reveals huge gap between BART management, unions  KTVU News   ...A fact-finding panel appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown heard firsthand Wednesday how far apart BART and its labor unions remain even though they've been bargaining since April 1...
Tennessee Takes a Bite out of Worker Misclassification  Construction Citizen   ...A new law in Tennessee gives the state’s Department of Labor (DOL) sharper teeth with which to take a bigger bite out of workers’ compensation fraud in the construction industry...
Ohio payday lenders keep loaning under other laws 5 years after effort to limit such business  Associated Press   ...Payday lenders targeted by Ohio legislation that banned short-term, high-cost loans five years ago are skirting that crackdown by offering high-interest loans under other laws...
In a state with high voter turnout, a GOP bill targets elderly, early voting  MSNBC   ...While voting rights advocates have zeroed in on North Carolina where the governor is getting ready to sign a controversial voting law, Republicans in Wisconsin are readying their own voting overhaul...